Why do they dismantle or destroy old Star Trek bridges?

[PCz911]

The Star Trek Experience was Nerd Heaven! I went 4 times while it was open.

I can still taste the Warp Core Breaches…

sorry it’s a bit off topic for this discussion…. But I, too, spent way too much time and money there. Sure, I did the experience a few times but I’m not really one for the “rides”. However siting at the bar, having dinner and drinks…interacting with the talent they hired …. It was so awesome. I think I went through a few shifts. My work expenses were substantial…. so much so that my poor company (sic) probably helped underwrite the entire operating expenses of the attraction for that day. It helped that my boss was also a Star Trek fan and we just hung out there instead of the tables. If we had phones and cameras back then…..

 

[jackoverfull]

It doesn't have to be seen in the 2360s. We just saw one in 2401

and it was defined something like “ancient”.

They could have it used as another Galaxy Class starship, or have it show up in Discovery as a museum piece, or in SNW with an episode filled with scenes set into their future.... like TATV, only better

yeah, very contrived stuff.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I'd imagine a lot of it has to do with how expensive it is to store and deal with storage place in the first place. They essentially can't store these sets indefinitely when there aren't ongoing productions using them as they would need the space for other sets, especially if those sets can't be used by other productions. So, rather than having to deal with aging sets, I assume they put them out to pasture when they know they're done with them.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

and it was defined something like “ancient”.

yeah, very contrived stuff.

They used excelsiors throughout TNG. They could easily use galaxies for decades to come.

I could imagine an interesting episode of SNW if a galaxy class ship (ideally not the Enterprise) got bounced back to the 23rd century and Pike was involved with helping them get back.

 

[C.E. Evans]

For all the talk of TOS having "carboard sets," construction materials for television shows and movies really haven't changed much over the past 50+ years. The sets for TOS, TNG, and PIC were made with the same basic stuff--wood and paint. As mentoned a few times upthread, storing set pieces is expensive, especially for years and years. It probably is cheaper to rebuild an old set like the bridge of the Enterprise-D than keep it in storage, even if only in the long run. It likely would be a different story if the next TV series or movie returned to that ship, otherwise there's no good financial reason to keep it in the hope they might need it again someday...

 

[F. King Daniel]

TV is an industry. Shows end, and the sets are destroyed for the next show to use that limited and expensive space.

I remember when Stargate Universe ended, and a few years later I watched some godawful Syfy movie which was filmed on the SGU sets, but they'd been painted white.

 

[jackoverfull]

They used excelsiors throughout TNG. They could easily use galaxies for decades to come.

they could. And I wish they did. But obviously they didn’t. Things changed, a chariot built in 1749 will look similar to one built in 1820, but a car built in 1949 will look absurdly out of place in a movie set in 2020.

I could imagine an interesting episode of SNW if a galaxy class ship (ideally not the Enterprise) got bounced back to the 23rd century and Pike was involved with helping them get back

write it and try submitting it to paramount, if it’s a VERY good script then they might use that bridge set in the 23rd century once. And then never again.

 

[SJGardner]

Storage is really expensive, and sets stored in situ would also have to be insured (case in point, the original Enterprise-A bridge that was stored outside and consequently got destroyed by water damage from a storm, hence why there was an entirely new bridge set built for The Undiscovered Country). As storage space is at a premium, they only keep sets that they can reutilize, which usually means sets that can be easily modified and most likely modular like the segmented setup of the Enterprise refit bridge or the corridors were. Most of the sets originally built for The Motion Picture in 1979 were kept and endlessly redressed, repainted, rearranged and reused to portray various starship interiors from the Enterprise-D to Voyager and even alien ships, most emblematic being the bridge set of the USS Odyssey in DS9's The Jem'Hadar that was a really weird Frankenstein set literally built from whatever leftover pieces of the Enterprise Refit bridge/TNG battle bridge and the Enterprise-A/Excelsior bridge were not used at the time for the Enterprise-B in Generations. Its last appearences were a Romulan warbird bridge in Deep Space Nine's season 3, then it served as various interiors of the USS Defiant for most of DS9's run, necessitating Voyager to reconstruct the Excelsior bridge from scratch for the 30th anniversary specal in Flashback, which was then itself reused as the bridges of the Prometheus and the Equinox later on. And then we have the Defiant bridge that portrayed basically every alien bridge under the sun in the last two seasons of Voyager and the run of Enterprise once it was no longer needed for DS9.

 

[Finn]

and it was defined something like “ancient”.

I wouldn't take an one-liner like that as gospel, especially when it was said during a crisis.

yeah, very contrived stuff.

Not as contrived as many things Trek has done.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

As storage space is at a premium, they only keep sets that they can reutilize, which usually means sets that can be easily modified and most likely modular like the segmented setup of the Enterprise refit bridge or the corridors were.

As I recall, the Oval Office set from The West Wing was kept around after that show ended, as other shows and movies could make use of it. (I know that Smallville used TWW's Oval Office set for a flash forward of Lex Luthor as President.) However, according to this reddit thread, Washington nixed anyone else from using TWW's Oval Office because it was too close to the real thing. I don't know why they couldn't just modify the set somehow and keep using it, however. Is the basic structure of the set that big of a security concern?

I watched The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek TV series the other day, and in the VOY episode, Robert Picardo recalled that the crew started striking the briefing room set as soon as the actors finished shooting their last scene in it. Picardo was struck by the abruptness of it, as it seemed very "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

 

[Richard Baker]

The 60's Batman series was going to switch networks from ABC TO NBC for it's fourth season but someone decided to save a few bucks and had all the sets destroyed. Being too expensive to replace the show was canceled instead.

IMO the concept of swappable bridge modules is brilliant. It solves two problems at once- it explains the the new bridge sets and provides an excuse for having the nerve center for entire ship perched on top as a target

 

[Finn]

As I recall, the Oval Office set from The West Wing was kept around after that show ended, as other shows and movies could make use of it. (I know that Smallville used TWW's Oval Office set for a flash forward of Lex Luthor as President.) However, according to this reddit thread, Washington nixed anyone else from using TWW's Oval Office because it was too close to the real thing. I don't know why they couldn't just modify the set somehow and keep using it, however. Is the basic structure of the set that big of a security concern?

I watched The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek TV series the other day, and in the VOY episode, Robert Picardo recalled that the crew started striking the briefing room set as soon as the actors finished shooting their last scene in it. Picardo was struck by the abruptness of it, as it seemed very "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

To be fair, such a set would be used far more often the trek sets....

 

[jackoverfull]

wouldn't take an one-liner like that as gospel, especially when it was said during a crisis.

the ship was literally in a museum.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Fun fact: While the Enterprise bridge set was dismantled and stored between Star Trek '09 and Into Darkness, it was painted black for the latter as the Vengeance and then supposedly sold off. The near-identical bridge set in Star Trek Beyond was entirely newly built.

 

[Finn]

the ship was literally in a museum.

Not when Raffi made that line and I doubt she knew Geordi was restoring it while Picard, Riker, etc were unaware of it…

And being a “museum piece” doesn’t equate ancient. There are museums with aircraft still in use…

 

[Greg Cox]

Just to belabor the point, back in 1969, when STAR TREK was cancelled, there was no reason to believe that Trek was ever going to be a going concern again, let alone that the bridge set would someday be seen as iconic or historic. Heck, even if they'd somehow known that TMP was going to happen in 1979, I can't imagine it would be cost-effective to store the set for ten years because they might need it again someday. Cheaper and more efficient just to build a new set.

Meanwhile, what about ever other canceled series back in the day? Were the studios supposed to store the sets for every defunct series on off chance that they might be revived at some distant point in the future? And if not, how they were supposed to guess which shows might become cultural phenomenons down the road?

Were they also supposed to save the sets for VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and THE TIME TUNNEL and BATMAN and THE MAN FROM UNCLE, just in case?

That way madness lies . . .

 

[E-DUB]

If someone would just invent the holodeck all this wouldn't be necessary.

 

[UssGlenn]

Why would they have kept the TOS bridge? In 1969, TOS was essentially considered a finished TV series. No one knew it would develop a large following in syndicated reruns in the 1970s, which would lead to an eventual revival. As far as anyone was concerned in 1969, Star Trek was done and it was time to move on. There was no practical reason to hold onto any of its sets. At all

Its a miracle that the original Captains Chair and Helm console survived as intact as they did.

 

[Tuskin38]

As I recall, the Oval Office set from The West Wing was kept around after that show ended, as other shows and movies could make use of it. (I know that Smallville used TWW's Oval Office set for a flash forward of Lex Luthor as President.) However, according to this reddit thread, Washington nixed anyone else from using TWW's Oval Office because it was too close to the real thing. I don't know why they couldn't just modify the set somehow and keep using it, however. Is the basic structure of the set that big of a security concern?

Stargate SG-1 also used an existing Oval Office set from somewhere, thought I doubt it was The West Wing, as that was filmed in LA, not Vancouver.

Edit: It was the one made for the second X-Men movie.

 

[The Wormhole]

When (at the time) US Air Force Chief of Staff General Jumper filmed his scenes for SG-1's S7 finale on their Oval Office set he was impressed with how accurate it was to the actual Oval Office, though he noted the President doesn't actually keep liquor in the Oval Office like the President in SG-1 did. The producers said they included the liquor since that's what they've always seen in various movies and other TV shows set in the Oval Office.