- 30/06/2025
If there's one thing that Star Trek can do well, it's counting those pennies to make a saving.
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00:00Did you know that Squarespace are offering a free trial and 10% off your first purchase
00:04if you use our discount code? Squarespace.com forward slash Triculture. What are you waiting for?
00:11To anyone watching, particularly those who have worked in any production or in film or
00:16stage or television, you will understand the importance of keeping costs down. Why blow a
00:20ton of money on the backgrounds when it's the writing and the acting that should be taking
00:24centre stage, correct? Well, sometimes it really is worth dropping a few extra euros. Wait,
00:31did Sean write this? Sometimes it really is worth dropping a few extra pennies
00:36on the surrounding actors so that frankly they don't stand out so much. And let's spare a thought
00:41for the production teams behind these examples. There is to be fair a lot of very savvy examples
00:46of how they cleverly reuse bits and then there's one where they just kind of plonk it in a different
00:50direction. But I can't judge though. I've been using this same green screen since 2018.
00:55I'm Marcus Bronzi. This is Trek Culture and this is 10 times they reused sets in Star Trek
01:02and hope you would not notice. Number 10, 10 forward slash the president's office.
01:09The cheek, the gore, the gumption, the audacity to think us the audience would not notice. I mean,
01:14they even left the diagonal panelling on the walls. But anyway, to be fair, we bloody love it here at the
01:18Trek Culture Towers because 10 forward is one of our favourite spots. I mean, it was introduced in
01:23the Next Generation second season, serving as the base for the lovely Guinan. This was Roddenberry's
01:28answer to an old west saloon, although far less piano playing and more synth the whole,
01:33which would also serve as a function room when the situation called for it. I mean,
01:37I think we all remember Riker hitting that trombone a few times in there. It was a large standing set,
01:42so it made sense to try and get as much use out of it as possible. Therefore, when the undiscovered
01:47country went into production, 10 forward was quickly adopted by the theatrical production.
01:55The space setting was swapped out for Paris and the bright sunshine flowed onto the president's table.
02:01In the scenes featuring the discussion of Kirk and McCoy's arrest, this was the setting of the
02:05large office, which Starfleet and Federation representatives gather to watch the show trial.
02:10It's also where we catch an early glimpse of the beloved Rene Aubergine-Roy, depending on which
02:14version of the film you're watching. Number 9, La Sirena slash the Shrike.
02:20Star Trek Picard's third season served as a bit of a soft reboot to the series,
02:24one which had been largely fractured as it was. The first and second season saw much of the starship
02:29action aboard La Sirena, which was Cristobal Rios's unregistered freighter. La Sirena would appear,
02:35albeit briefly, in the third season, now under the command of Rafi Musica. The entire cargo section of La
02:41Sirena appeared several more times throughout the series. Captain Vodic obviously had a thing for
02:46Rios and Musica's ship, but she borrowed the cargo section to transform it into the bridge of her
02:50vessel, the Shrike. While the transformation is fairly extensive, there is some positivity to this.
02:55The third season of the show clears many of the characters from the first two seasons, but this
03:00inclusion of La Sirena could in a way be seen as retaining a little bit of Rios, even if the Shrike is
03:06desperately trying to kill our heroes. Number eight, St. Clair slash Fairhaven.
03:12Star Trek Voyager's fourth season was enormous in terms of scope. It opened with the concluding
03:18part of Scorpion before barrelling forward into the year of hell, which was quite literally a year of
03:24hell. Other episodes like Prey saw a large amount of digital work being realised, so the killing game
03:29may not have been met with the same enthusiasm granted to other scripts, but it was a big one.
03:35The Hirogen were going to take control of Voyager, forcing everyone into holographic death matches.
03:40The first part opens with Janeway taking on a Klingon dagger to the chest before suddenly
03:44appearing in a French village. This village of St. Clair was filmed on Universal Studios' European
03:50Street or Little Europe set, which actually offered the cast and crew a chance to get away from stage
03:54work and get to shoot on location. Roxanne Dawson and Jerry Ryan were both very glad for a change of
03:59scenery. When it came to Fairhaven in the show's sixth season, the crew once again returned to
04:04Universal Studios, the sets were redressed, though the same physical buildings were used in both.
04:10As an Irishman writing this article, however, if I knew it was Sean, knew it was Sean.
04:16If I was an Irishman, however, the reuse of sets would be the least of Fairhaven's issues.
04:21Number 7 Enterprise E Shuttle slash Runabout Cockpit
04:25Our recent list on the secrets of the runabout has covered the multiple times that this durable
04:30little ship has been used in Star Trek. It was reconstructed for Deep Space Nine, which needed
04:34additional support craft to allow the station's crew to actually trek through the stars. While
04:38the runabout itself would appear in many episodes of the series, it would also pop up in both The
04:43Next Generation and Voyager, as well as an animated appearance in Lower Decks.
04:47Star Trek Insurrection was released between Deep Space Nine's sixth and seventh seasons.
04:52The Enterprise E Shuttle, along with the captain's yacht and the mission scout ship,
04:56all saw materials carried over from the runabout set. The shuttle is perhaps the most noticeable,
05:01as the layout is almost identical to the older ship. There's even a transporter directly behind
05:05the pilot and co-pilot seats, though the colouring is slightly different in the theatrical version.
05:18Hi, I'm award-winning journalist and all-round truth seeker, L.E. Fontana.
05:26If you go to squarespace.com forward slash trekkulture, you can get a free trial and 10%
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05:41Build from scratch or be inspired by professional templates. Save time and Latinum with their
05:48integrated merchandise store. We are skipping impulse and jumping straight to war. Seriously,
05:56who wrote this? Don't wait a year. Do it yesterday. That's squarespace.com forward slash trekkulture
06:03for a free trial and 10% off your first website purchase. I'm L.E. Fontana. Stay safe out there.
06:13And remember, the truth will set you free. Number six, Enterprise D Engineering
06:20slash Enterprise A Engineering. Look, sharing sets between ongoing productions just makes sense from
06:27both a financial standpoint but also an aesthetic one. Though the stories may be set in differing
06:32points of history, Star Trek has attempted to keep something of a uniform look between Federation's
06:36starships. Star Trek IV, the undiscovered country borrows rather heavily from the next generation.
06:42So much so that there are three separate entries from the film in this list here. Here,
06:47there is the fact that the main engineering set is borrowed wholesale from Enterprise D.
06:52Nicholas Meyer does use the space in a clever way though. Rather than filming the core itself
06:57as it would be seen in the next generation, he aims the camera from the core looking down on
07:02Scotty and the rest of the team. Number five, Voyager's sickbay slash Enterprise E sickbay.
07:08When it came to introducing a new starship for the fourth live action Star Trek series,
07:12Star Trek Voyager updated some of the designs on the interiors of the Starfleet vessel.
07:17The bridge and the engineering sets were revamped, modernized and made to look as futuristic as
07:22mid-90s would allow it. The sickbay set, complete with yellow glowing walls and a new bio bed and
07:27an office for the chief medical officer, was constructed and proved to be so popular that
07:32the production team on Star Trek First Contact said, wait, we're gonna be borrowing that for the
07:37Enterprise E. First Contact was in production between Voyager's second and third seasons so the
07:41sets were just standing there, not making the production team any money so they redressed them,
07:45repainted them but they kept them structurally intact so that when the series began production
07:49again they literally transformed them back. Robert Picardo makes a cameo in First Contact
07:54as the Enterprise's emergency medical hologram so one would argue that the team borrowed everything
07:59from that stranded ship including the holograms. Number four, Enterprise Bridge slash Valdor Bridge
08:07Director Stuart Baird may have been named many things by Star Trek fans but we must say this for the man,
08:13he knew how to get the most out of his props and sets. Star Trek Nemesis arrived in 2002 and Voyager
08:19had wrapped production so this meant that sets like Sickbay were no longer available to borrow
08:23and thus they had to be built from scratch. Baird ordered the construction of a new bridge set for
08:28the Enterprise E. This differed from all previous iterations because it was built on gimbals that shook
08:33when needed which mean the crew could realistically lurch upon weapons fire. I mean up until this point they
08:39simply would move themselves while the camera was shaken. With such an expensive set having been built
08:42Baird wasn't about to waste the penny of it, he had it redesigned and redressed to serve as the bridge
08:47of the Romulan warbird Valdor in a very similar move to the Wrath of Khan. Other examples of hidden
08:52redressing were those freestanding consoles on the Riemann Bridge nicked from the old Deep Space Nine lockers
08:58as they were Cardassian in design. Number three, Observation Lounge slash Dining Room. This is one of the more
09:05obvious set redresses on this list although it is still not the only one to feature in the next
09:09generation and undiscovered country. With the series in full swing at the time of the sixth film's
09:15production it made complete sense that there would be a lot of crossing over which also sets the stage
09:20for the evolution of the Enterprise lineage. Though of course the Observation Lounge was constructed for
09:24the next generation, the redress and transformation to turn it into Enterprise A's dining room was a brilliant
09:30and very simple move. Where else would the party dine in such style on a starship? Surely the mess hall
09:36would be a bit cramped and Kirkshead Courts were already depicted as being a far cry from the luxury
09:42of Captain Pike's stateroom. If there was one regretful part of that set share it would be the
09:46destruction of that lovely dining room. I mean the portraits adorning the walls including the great
09:51Sarek himself were obliterated by a torpedo from General Chang's bird of prey. But at least we were able
09:57to put the wall paneling back together again for Picard's next sit down briefing. Number two,
10:02Federation HQ slash the courtroom. Once the USS Discovery warped into the future Starfleet had to
10:09adapt to a new 32nd century setting. Therefore once the ship arrives at Federation headquarters the crew
10:14and the audience are treated to an astonishing sight. The ship could break into several smaller support
10:20craft to aid in evacuation as was shown in coming home. The interior of the vessel was distinctly
10:25circular in structure often comprising of rings around a central hollow space. The look was so
10:30distinctive however that when it shows up in strange new worlds it is immediately recognisable.
10:35The courtroom at Starfleet headquarters in which Una's trial takes place is the redress of this set.
10:40Much like several other entries on this list the general shape is what gives it away immediately.
10:46Though perhaps the biggest clue is the large circular space in the middle of the room.
10:50This having served as a stellar map in Discovery is now only there to keep witness and prosecution as
10:56far away from the judges as possible. Despite its recognisable look it was still fun to see where
11:01the USS Federation took its inspiration from. Number one, Enterprise Bridge slash Reliant Bridge.
11:08In a way this is the ultimate example of hiding something in plain sight. Director Nicholas Meyer joined
11:13the Star Trek family with Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. The stakes were high. Admiral Kirk and the rest of the
11:19crew began to feel quite old and from the depths of space a madman sought revenge. However this madman
11:25wasn't just mad. They were cost conscious. First it would appear as the simulation room during the
11:30Kobayashi Maru test. Then it would appear as itself when Lieutenant Savick commanded it out of dry dock.
11:35Then of course it would serve as the Enterprise Bridge for the rest of the film. The bridge also served as
11:39the main bridge of the USS Reliant, commanded by Khan Noonien Singh himself. As the hero and villain of the film
11:45famously never ever met face to face this was a clever way to get around the recycling of the set.
11:50As an audience we're paying far more attention to the performances being given rather than the deck
11:55plating underneath these actors feet. Well played team. Well played. So there you have it. Ten times
12:03Star Trek have reused sets and hoped you wouldn't notice. But we did. We noticed didn't we? Huh? Any others
12:09you can think of? Chuck them in the comments below. And of course make sure you like and subscribe. You can find us on
12:14Twitter at trekculture or on Instagram at trekcultureyt. I am on all social medias at Marcus Bronzy
12:21M-A-R-C-U-S-B-R-O-N-Z-Y and my award-winning podcast How To Kill An Hour Is Out There and
12:26another one called Ain't Got A Clue is a great listener as well. Get those wherever you listen
12:29to your pods. Until next time, peace!
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