Star Trek corridors

[Brian G Turner]

In the discussion thread for ST: II - The Wrath of Khan. I mentioned about the attention to small detail in that film, to help make it feel real - specifically, in regard to the corridors of the Enterprise.

Which, if you look at the various designs, helps underline that point:

In Star Trek: The Original Series, the corridors have an industrial appearance - as if we're in factory rather than a ship, with wide corridors more suited for moving large loads perhaps. But presumably in the 1960's that look provided some sense of a technological future.

In Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan, the corridors plainly look like they are part of some nautical vessel. The corridors are perhaps wide enough just for two people to pass. The corridors are also angled to compensate for the changing shape of the outer hull. IMO this look helps make this film all the more gripping for the subtle cues for the viewer that they really are on a naval vessel - and all the dangers that entails.

But in Star Trek: The Next Generation the corridors are wide, spacious, tall, straight. There's a lot of wasteful space. Four people could walk abreast. And it's carpeted. This isn't a nval vessel as much as a luxury hotel. Risk = none.

In the Abrams reboot, the Enterprise corridors have lost any sense of realism again. They strive to give some wonderful, well-lit, futuristic effect. But this doesn't really look like the interior of a starship, as much as a conference centre. Or Apple's new headquarters.

 

[Ursa major]

But in Star Trek: The Next Generation the corridors are wide, spacious, tall, straight. There's a lot of wasteful space. Four people could walk abreast. And it's carpeted. This isn't a nval vessel as much as a luxury hotel. Risk = none.

Given that TNG's Enterprise is meant to be family friendly -- with facilities for children of all ages -- it's no wonder that it's meant to look "risk-free".

 

[HoopyFrood]

Yeah, the ones used in the TV series definitely felt more suited for people who were basically living in space. Plus, as TV series, there had to be way more socialising and character interaction so it makes sense to have the communal areas and the nicely decked out living quarters. Also Star Trek is supposed to be the shiny, optimistic future so the light, airy and sleekly designed corridors are more reflective of that, I reckon.

 

[HareBrain]

In the Abrams reboot, the Enterprise corridors have lost any sense of realism again.

They sure have. Why are they concave on both sides? Will the obesity crisis really get that bad?

 

[Biskit]

Perhaps I am overly cynical, but having a minor background in amateur theatre stage crew, the tv sets have the look of things that are easy to move or re-arrange, so my first suspicion would be they were designed for ease of working for cast and crew, and to provide space for easy interaction between characters. They also look very modular, which actually would make sense in the context of a naval vessel, but is also hugely convenient if you need to unbolt sections and move them around. So far as I can tell, set design for episodic tv like ST has a certain commonality with theatre - you want to re-use as much as possible with as little effort as possible. A scene change in theatre wants to be fast because the audience is there and waiting; on a tv set, all the time spend re-building, re-decorating etc costs money.

 

[Ursa major]

you want to re-use as much as possible with as little effort as possible

I recall reading somewhere that Engineering wasn't going to be featured in the pilot (or the first episode) of TNG, but the script was changed so that it had to be. This was done on the basis that if it wasn't part of the series set-up budget, the (rather complex) set for Engineering would likely be too expensive to put on the budget of a single episode, meaning that Engineering would never appear, at least in the form it does.

 

[Biskit]

This was done on the basis that if it wasn't part of the series set-up budget, the (rather complex) set for Engineering would likely be too expensive to put on the budget of a single episode

It wouldn't surprise me - whoever has the purse strings has a lot of control. Many years back we were at a Con where someone on a panel was talking about the screenplay he worked on for a BBC production. There was some sort of period banquet scene and apparently back then the BBC had a department who could put together a convincing spread, but the budget couldn't cover it. The panel member said he crossed out the grand banquet and wrote 'soup course'.

Back when I was a student, we did a production of Grease. The set was a complex multi-level beast built in scaffolding, but that left peanuts in the budget for Grease Lightning, so we had the challenge of putting a convincing car on stage with next to no money. We solved it with a touch of irony and a deal with a local scrapyard. We put a Mini on stage (a real one) - we did the work of taking the engine out, and anything else heavy that wasn't needed, the scrappy delivered the shell and took it away at the end.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Interesting comment. I remember hearing that someone (probably the director) wanted Wrath of Khan to feel like submarines battling underwater, and for the ships to feel claustrophobic.

 

[Galactic Journey]

In the discussion thread for ST: II - The Wrath of Khan. I mentioned about the attention to small detail in that film, to help make it feel real - specifically, in regard to the corridors of the Enterprise.

Which, if you look at the various designs, helps underline that point:

View attachment 36417


In Star Trek: The Original Series, the corridors have an industrial appearance - as if we're in factory rather than a ship, with wide corridors more suited for moving large loads perhaps. But presumably in the 1960's that look provided some sense of a technological future.

With wide corridors more suited for moving camera dollies through!

I have always said that TNG Enterprise was a cruise ship, not a science/military vessel. But you'll notice that the TNG corridors are narrower than those in TOS...