Star Trek Set Tour
We went to the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour in Ticonderoga, NY.
Why Ticonderoga? Some of the people who worked on the show were given blueprints for the set, and one died and left his copy to a man who recreated the Enterprise for fun, then decided it should be shared with fans. He did it in his home town.
All of the rooms were built from the blueprints, and the props on the tour were made from scratch, except for two items that were actually used in the show. A lot of things have changed since 1966, and one of them is how to make the things they used. The blinking light displays, for instance, are cheap and easy electronics these days, but were very futuristic back then, not like anything that existed in real life. The ones in the tour are electronic, but for the show it was done by a person behind the wall moving a panel back and forth, to let the light shine through different bulbs. When he would get tired, the lights would blink more slowly, and you can see that when you watch the show, if you’re looking for it.
Lots of scenes took pace in the hallway. A magic hallway. The Enterprise had 23 decks, each with a 360 degree circular hallway, but to make the show they used only what you can see here:
By swapping out panels of different colors, they could make it look like lots of hallways, and the actors could chase each other for miles past different rooms on a huge starship.
There was sick bay
The Transporter Room
Kirk’s quarters
which was the same room, redecorated, for anyone else’s quarters needed for a scene.
This mirror was in Kirk’s room, and they turned it upside down when it was someone else’s room and forgot to put it back, so Shatner had to bend down to look in it.
The conference room, which was also the crew’s lounge.
Engineering
including the dilithium crystals
The turbolift, which could move up, down, or sideways, fast or slow, as the man behind the wall moved the panels.
And, of course, the bridge.
The only thing we were allowed to touch was to sit in the captain’s chair on the bridge. The tour guide said to assume your favorite pose from the series.
I won the prize.
The crew of the show liked to plant jokes around the set.
This particular one was probably made for the tour, because the owner has had a 30-year career as an Elvis impersonator.
It was a fun day. Watching the reruns now will be more interesting.
The show existed only because of Lucille Ball. She used over $600,000 of her own money in 1964 to make the pilot (featuring Captain Pike), and it was turned down by NBC. So they made some changes, added Kirk and Spock, and made a second episode, which of course required even more money. Yet another reason to be grateful for one of the most talented and most loved entertainers, ever.
And that string on the side there? That’s what the man pulled on to open and close the automatic doors as the actors went through.
