Re-Used Building Interiors
by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider
Many sets used in Star Trek were later modified or even recycled without changes to represent a different building. Here are a couple of examples. But everything on this page should be taken with a grain of salt. We are not supposed to watch attentively enough to notice that two different locations look the same.
Single Walls
Square wall
The wall with its characteristic square and rectangular segments at Starbase 11 in TOS: "The Menagerie I" (both in the original and in the remastered version) reappears on Argelius in "Wolf in the Fold" and on Platonius in "Plato's Stepchildren".
Wall with star pattern
The same wall can be seen in Kor's office on Organia in TOS: "Errand of Mercy" and behind Sylvia's throne in "Catspaw".
Wall with embedded pipes
A technical looking wall piece appeared in several Star Trek films, including "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock", and multiple times in each of the films. A very similar wall could be seen in TNG: "Hide and Q" and got re-used in several later episodes, including "Too Short a Season" on Mordan IV, "A Matter of Honor" on the Klingon ship, "Q Who" on the Borg cube, "The High Ground" on Rutia IV, "Liaisons" on the crashed freighter and VOY: "Rise" on the Etanian ship. While the scale of the TNG version may be different, the pattern is nearly identical.
Also, all possibly different versions of the wall seem to include the sonobuoy container.
Illuminated grating
The illuminated wall of the 21st century courtroom in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint" later appears in the Edo hall in "Justice". A set with the same gratings, but in the ceiling, was built for Mordan IV in "Too Short a Season" and re-used on Omicron Theta in "Datalore". The walls of the Enterprise-D computer core in "Evolution" and "The Bonding" are built with the same elements. They are used in Jefferies tubes and even as furniture. Two wall pieces made of the material are present all the time during TNG, in the Enterprise-D transporter room set. The gratings can be seen on Romulan and on Klingon ships likewise. They appear as the famous ceilings on Deep Space 9. We can also see that the Kazon are fond of them, as for instance in VOY: "Investigations". More than 20 years later, the same material is used several times even in season 3 of Star Trek Picard.
A separate article shows all appearances of the wall elements and reveals their real-world origin: Re-Uses of Freezer Spacers.
Wall with narrow windows
The wall in Groppler Zorn's office in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint" reappears on Relva VII in "Coming of Age", as well as in the transporter room of the Klingon Bird-of-Prey in "Star Trek V".
Wall with round window
The same partial set can be seen on the Tarellian ship in TNG: "Haven", on Aldea in "When the Bough Breaks", in Manheim's lab in "We'll Always Have Paris" and on Gagarin IV in "Unnatural Selection".
Window dome
A large concave window on Aldea later reappears as a ceiling dome in the terraforming station on Velara III. This is likely the same dome that can also be seen in Paradise City. The structure and scale seem about right.
Round base
The round base on top of which the distortion formed in TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris" was originally seen aboard the Batris in TNG: "Heart of Glory" where it formed part of the ceiling of the Talarian warp core.
Ribbed wall and windows
The windows and the ribbed wall panels can be seen on Aldea in "When the Bough Breaks" and on Relva VII in "Coming of Age". The window also appears on Angel I in "Angel One", on Gagarin IV in "Unnatural Selection" and, now with horizontal orientation, on Gravesworld in "The Schizoid Man".
Round floor/ceiling element
The round floor element of the phaser training range in TNG: "A Matter of Honor" appears to be the same as the ceiling of the operating room in "Samaritan Snare". The phaser range will appear once more with slight changes, in "Redemption I".
Klingon wall and window
A red ribbed wall appeared in the mess hall on the Klingon Bird-of-Prey Pagh in "A Matter of Honor". The wall and an additional window could be seen in the Klingon Rite of Ascension simulation in "The Icarus Factor". Both the window and the ribbed wall panels then appeared in TNG: "The Vengeance Factor". The window and part of the wall panels showed up on Rutia IV in TNG: "The High Ground". A single rib element of the wall appeared above a door in the Old City on Qo'noS in TNG: "Sins of the Father", while a structured panel could be seen in a nearby location.
Klingon glass panes
The transparent elements in the ceiling of Klaa's bridge and in the wall of the transporter room in "Star Trek V" can also be seen in the interrogation room of the Enterprise-D.
Wall with recessed panels
These panels were originally created for the brig and for the infamous turboshaft on the Enterprise-A in "Star Trek V". They were also seen in the Darwin genetic research station in TNG: "Unnatural Selection", in the Tanuga IV research station in TNG: "A Matter of Perspective", on the parallel reality Enterprise-D in TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" and in the USS Phoenix ready room in TNG: "The Wounded".
Staircase
The same staircase can be seen in Ard'rian McKenzie's house in "The Ensigns of Command" and in the Uxbridge house in "The Survivors".
Octagonal ceiling
The characteristic octagonal lowered ceiling of the Enterprise-D cybernetics lab from TNG: "The Offspring" can be seen in later reconstructions of this room. It also appears in the medical lab, on the bridge of the USS Brattain and even in the hospital on Malcor III. The central portion was modified each time.
Triangular ceiling
The triangular structure in the ceiling of the Tamarian ship in "Darmok" can also be seen above the mud bath in TNG: "Cost of Living".
Decorated stone wall
The walls and wall panels in the Risian resort in "Let He Who Is Without Sin" were previously seen in DS9: "To the Death" in the Iconian ziggurat.
Wall/window element with hexagonal holes
Small round and hexagonal windows and corresponding wall elements appear on Risa "Let He Who Is Without Sin". The same window/wall panels were later seen on Son'a starships in "Star Trek: Insurrection". These windows would also reappear in the Risian nightclub in "Two Days and Two Nights", so there is a certain Risian design continuity here. Finally, we can see the wall in ENT: "These Are The Voyages", just before Archer delivers his speech.
Nub wall with trusses
This wall can be seen on Amargosa Station in "Star Trek Generations". It then appears in VOY: "Time and Again". It is repainted or otherwise restyled for several later Voyager episodes.
"Gothic" wall
The wall element with curved struts (which can also serve as a window) is used by the Kazon in VOY: "Alliances", then appears in the lodge of the Mikhal Traveler in "Darkling" and finally in Chaotica's lab in "Shattered".
Riveted wall
The same wall with irregularly arranged riveted patches can be seen in at least three Voyager episodes. A similar wall appears in DS9: "Honor Among Thieves".
Wooden door
A big wooden door on Qo'noS in ENT: "Broken Bow" becomes a door on P'Jem in ENT: "The Andorian Incident".
Full Sets
Round corridor
The same corridor with a round cross-section can be seen in TNG: "11001001", "The Neutral Zone", "The Hunted", "Sins of the Father", "Legacy" and "Future Imperfect".
The corridors that can be seen in VOY: "Time and Again" and "The Phage" are quite possibly still the same set.
Big hall
This set can be seen four times altogether, in TNG: "Masks" as Masaka's temple, in DS9: "Blood Oath" as the hall of the Albino, in DS9: "The House of Quark" as the Great Hall on Qo'noS and in DS9: "Meridian" as the hall on Meridian. A stairway with a throne is located at one narrow side of Masaka's temple. The same stairs can be seen again in the Albino's hall, but here the throne has been replaced with a door. The next time we see the set in "The House of Quark". According to the DS9 Companion only a part of the set was built up, obviously the one without the stairway that is missing in the episode. The hall was enlarged by adding lateral corridors. In "Meridian" the big stairway is not visible either. There are corridors on both sides again, and the hall was opened at one end. It is interesting to note that the matte painting we could originally see as Carraya in TNG: "Birthright" was modified to comply with the features of the 1:1 scale set.
Klingon hall
This set can be seen twice. It is possible that parts of the above big hall were re-used, a set that existed two seasons earlier. The first time is in DS9: "Apocalypse Rising" where the hall is supposedly aboard the Ty'Gokor station. Note that curiously the Klingon emblem is backwards on the screen cap. For some reason this one shot was reversed. The second time a few episodes later in DS9: "Looking for par'Mach in all the Wrong Places" essentially the same set represents a hall in the legendary city of Qam-Chee, reconstructed in a holosuite. The pillars and wall elements remained the same, only the warrior statues were removed and the face side was modified.
Gaia set
The set originally built to represent Gaia in DS9: "Children of Time" reappears in the very next episode "Blaze of Glory", here as an interior on Athos IV. The DS9 Companion confirms this finding. Athos IV is quite dark and misty, so the similarity is not too obvious.
Hall with stairway/gallery
The impressive set of the Museum of Kyrian Heritage in VOY: "Living Witness" also appeared in "Star Trek: Insurrection" as the body enhancement facility aboard Ru'afo's flagship.
TOS cave set
The same cave entrance was used several times in season 3 of TOS, at one point ("The Cloud Minders") even as stock footage with no modifications.
TNG cave set
The same cave set appeared on Dytallix B in TNG: "Conspiracy", in Worf's holoprogram in "Where Silence Has Lease", on Galorndon Core in "The Enemy", on Risa in "Captain's Holiday", on Beta Agni II in TNG: "The Most Toys" and on Alpha Onias III in "Future Imperfect".
Voyager cave set
The cave set during the early seasons of Voyager was only slightly modified to represent different planets. Varying lighting and vegetation helped to establish distinctiveness though. Still, especially the entrance remained essentially the same. The caves are seen (in chronological order) in VOY: "Parturition", VOY: "Tattoo", VOY: "Innocence" and VOY: "Blood Fever".
Federation Headquarters
The 32nd century Federation Headquarters set from Discovery's seasons 3 and 4 was redressed as a 23rd century Starfleet courtroom for SNW: "Ad Astra per Aspera".
See Also
Re-Uses of the Barkonian Village Set - tracking the evolution of this set through five episodes
Re-Used Props - Decoration - decorative windows, wall art, sculptures
Credits
Thanks to Brandon Johannes for the hint about the round floor/ceiling element and to Lt. Washburn for pointing us to the nub wall in "Generations".
