Freak out with my geekout
One year for Christmas, my parents bought me a wonderful book called The Art of Star Trek, featuring hundreds of photos of Star Trek props, sketches, costumes and more. It was really mind-blowing to get into the heads of some of these designers.
Yesterday, I wasted a lot of time at Memory Alpha looking at information about the sets from the Star Trek TV shows and movies. It’s very fascinating to me, because a lot of the sets were re-dressed and re-used over a decade after they were initially conceived.
For example, the engine room in Star Trek: The Next Generation was originally designed in the late 1970s for Star Trek: Phase II, an ill-fated TV show with Captain Kirk and a mix of new and old crew members. Interestingly, that set did see use under Kirk’s command in Star Trek VI.
The bridge they designed for Phase II became the bridge for the first three Trek movies, but also saw some use in The Next Generation, whenever Picard or his crew came across an older Federation vessel.
The hallways designed for Phase II became the hallways aboard the Enterprise D.
I guess my point here is, it’s fascinating that virtually none of this creative work on this TV show in the ‘70s went to waste. All of it got recycled, somehow. Not that the designers would have any way of knowing their work would still be in use 15 years later. But imagine how much pressure that would put you under if you did know?
It’s amazing how much creative history all has its roots in a TV show that never went on the air.