Why do they dismantle or destroy old Star Trek bridges?

[Elias Vaughn]

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?

I realize this is a Star Trek forum so admitting to liking a different franchise more is sacrilege, but do you have any idea how much money I would be willing to pay for an hour wandering around the 60's Batcave set?

All of the money.

ALL. OF. THE. MONEY.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Speaking of sets being struck, I'm reminded of the time back in 1963 when Roger Corman finished shooting THE RAVEN a few days early, so he shot a whole other horror movie, THE TERROR, on the same sets while they were still standing. Reportedly, the cast and crew had to rush to stay one step ahead of the demolition crew, filming scenes right before the the sets got struck!

When they were filming The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a major movie was being filmed on the MGM lot at the same time. When the movie would stop for the day, the U.N.C.L.E. crew would sneak on, repaint things and film their scenes. Then they'd paint it all back to the original colors so they wouldn't know.

I want to say it was Ice Station Zebra, but I can't be sure.

 

[1001001]

I realize this is a Star Trek forum so admitting to liking a different franchise more is sacrilege, but do you have any idea how much money I would be willing to pay for an hour wandering around the 60's Batcave set?

All of the money.

ALL. OF. THE. MONEY.

Hopefully including the Bat Poles.

 

[The Wormhole]

The literal Defiant bridge set (or parts thereof) was used for ships-of-the-week on VGR and ENT after DS9 ended.

EAS left out the Earth freighters ECS Fortunate and ECS Horizon. Well, the Fortunate is definitely a reuse of the Defiant bridge, I remember the old Star Trek The Magazine even saying so in an issue that was released around the time Enterprise's first season aired. I've always assumed the Horizon's bridge was also the Defiant bridge since the Horizon's helm certainly resembled the Defiant's.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Hopefully including the Bat Poles.

BTW, along the lines of the TOS "Hey, I Never Noticed That Before" thread, I never noticed until I bought the complete Batman series on BluRay that when they open up the secret entrance to the Batcave, the batpole for Bruce is significantly thicker than the one for Dick.

 

[Greg Cox]

When they were filming The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a major movie was being filmed on the MGM lot at the same time. When the movie would stop for the day, the U.N.C.L.E. crew would sneak on, repaint things and film their scenes. Then they'd paint it all back to the original colors so they wouldn't know.

I want to say it was Ice Station Zebra, but I can't be sure.

Watch KING KONG (1933) and THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932) back to back and you'll see Fay Wray running through some of the same "jungle" sets.

 

[drt]

BTW, along the lines of the TOS "Hey, I Never Noticed That Before" thread, I never noticed until I bought the complete Batman series on BluRay that when they open up the secret entrance to the Batcave, the batpole for Bruce is significantly thicker than the one for Dick.

Ha, I just got those BluRay’s recently and noticed the exact same thing.

 

[somebuddyX]

I had a wildly different image in my head about how sets were built up to and in the 2000s so I really didn't understand how they couldn't be put in storage. There's a quote I read recently from one of the production dudes at the time the Enterprise sets were demolished who said something along the lines of if they wanted to they could just rebuild it and it wasn't that hard.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Storage is one of the most expensive things, both in film/TV sets and in publishing.

Sometimes a publisher accidentally overruns the number of books printed. Ordering in huge quantities drops the price per unit very low, but if the books will spend too long in storage, a publisher will sometime pulp what is left and reprint them if the shops suddenly require more. It seems incredibly wasteful, but wasting money on storage is worse.

Haven’t rewatched any ENT since it ended in 2005, but wasn’t the NX-01 Enterprise bridge based around the USS Defiant bridge set?

No. The soundstage was completely cleared after VGR wrapped production. Underneath the USS Voyager bridge was TNG's battle bridge, which of course had been the movie USS Enterprise bridge. When they stripped it down, underneath was the "Phase II" bridge's support beams, riddled with wood rot, having been in situ at Paramount since 1977 and later modified for TMP.

New panels had to be created for ST V because the consoles were left out in the open, under a tarpaulin, to allow the ST IV bridge to become the Enterprise-D's battle bridge (and the Stargazer bridge) when a huge storm hit.

The support beams under all the set pieces were marked in black felt pen, "Star Trek II", the original title of what later became known as "Phase II". Uncovered when prepping for ENT.

 

[mb22]

I though the "Phase II" title preceded Star Trek Phase II. As per Susan Sackett in The Making of Star Trek the Motion Picture:

 

[publiusr]

I realize this is a Star Trek forum so admitting to liking a different franchise more is sacrilege, but do you have any idea how much money I would be willing to pay for an hour wandering around the 60's Batcave set?

Just use them as lazer tags in the dead malls--I think it could make money--so long as there is a server farm--isn't one bridge in a dead mall as we speak?

 

[Greg Cox]

I realize this is a Star Trek forum so admitting to liking a different franchise more is sacrilege, but do you have any idea how much money I would be willing to pay for an hour wandering around the 60's Batcave set?

All of the money.

ALL. OF. THE. MONEY.

I'll cop to making a pilgrimage to the actual historic mansion where they filmed the first two DARK SHADOWS feature films. It was a field trip organized by a local DS fan club.

 

[jackoverfull]

Just use them as lazer tags in the dead malls--I think it could make money--so long as there is a server farm--isn't one bridge in a dead mall as we speak?

Laser Tag sets need to be sturdy to survive rough battles and also require hiding spots to be interesting, TV sets are quite fragile and would make for dull battles in any case.

 

[Mister Spock]

If it makes anyone feel better, Doctor Who managed to destroy two whole TARDIS sets between seasons due improper storage.

 

[Greg Cox]

Just use them as lazer tags in the dead malls--I think it could make money--so long as there is a server farm--isn't one bridge in a dead mall as we speak?

You're missing the point. If it's cheaper and easier to rebuild them as needed, why bother preserving them?

Why keep searching for ways to somehow preserve them at all costs when there's no practical reason to do so?

 

[Jayson1]

I understand why some sets are destroyed. I mean who is ever going to say they miss the idea of seeing or exploring the sets of Charles in Charge. But for something like Trek you would think people would understand the value of those sets due to the shows being iconic and beloved by a fandom that cares about such things. Even renting them out for comic conventions, fan films and so forth with the chance of reusing in future shows or movies would come in handy. Heck even putting them in a Trek museum or something would be of use.

 

[StarMan]

But for something like Trek you would think people would understand the value of those sets due to the shows being iconic and beloved by a fandom that cares about such things.

Playing TV Executive advocate for a moment, umm ... don't care. I have sets to build for other shows coming down the pipeline and needed the soundstages yesterday. These sets have served their purpose and storage is expensive.

Even renting them out for comic conventions, fan films and so forth with the chance of reusing in future shows or movies would come in handy. Heck even putting them in a Trek museum or something would be of use.

That seems like a lot of effort for a questionable return. Again, I have a metric shit ton of other content to budget, produce and get up on our streaming platform. Also, who are you and how did you get past security?

 

[Sci]

But for something like Trek you would think people would understand the value of those sets due to the shows being iconic and beloved by a fandom that cares about such things.

Being iconic and beloved by fandom is nice, but that and $4.90 will buy you a cup of coffee.

 

[Jayson1]

If they wanted they could just give it all away or donate it someplace. Doesn't cost much money to give away free stuff. Letting various people who worked on the show take home stuff you won't be using anymore like tricorders and and so forth. I mean if I worked for 7 years I would love to be able to go home with a phaser or something at the end of it all. Granted when TNG ended lots of that stuff was likely kept around for DS9 and Voyager so maybe instead they could let me haul off Worf's weird chair.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

But for something like Trek you would think people would understand the value of those sets due to the shows being iconic and beloved by a fandom that cares about such things. Even renting them out for comic conventions, fan films and so forth with the chance of reusing in future shows or movies would come in handy.

So now you don't only want the studios to pay for storing the sets, you also want them to pay for transporting the sets around the country multiple times a year.