Re-Used Props - Stationary Consoles
by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider
ViewscreensFree-Standing ConsolesWall Consoles
Many props and pieces of decoration in Star Trek were later modified or recycled without changes to represent equipment for a different purpose or of another civilization. Here are many examples of stationary computers, control consoles and displays. Please take the following statements with a grain of salt and don't try hard to find explanations why equipment looks the same everywhere in the galaxy.
Viewscreens
Starfleet & alien viewscreen
The viewscreen of the Enterprise-D's battle bridge (which was no permanent set) first showed up in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint". The whole set, including the viewscreen, was then modified to act as the USS Stargazer bridge in TNG: "The Battle". The battle bridge was returned to its state of the pilot episode for TNG: "The Arsenal of Freedom". For the Atlec ship in TNG: "The Outrageous Okona", the viewscreen was slightly modified. It could then be seen on the USS Lantree in TNG: "Unnatural Selection" and in the courtroom in TNG: "The Measure of a Man". For the latter episode the whole bridge set was extensively modified. The viewscreen alone was incorporated into the geological lab set for TNG: "Pen Pals". In "The Best of Both Worlds II", the battle bridge including the viewscreen could be seen again. The viewscreen then appeared on the USS Brattain in TNG: "Night Terrors", Baran's pirate ship in TNG: "Gambit" and the USS Pasteur in TNG: "All Good Things"
After some more extensive modifications, the viewscreen could be seen on Kazon ships in VOY: "Initiations" and in "Maneuvers". It was then returned to a Federation look and finally appeared on the Raven both in VOY: "The Raven" and "Dark Frontier".
Engineering display
In TNG: "Booby Trap" an arch with a glass display behind Leah and Geordi shows the warp core status. It has a distinctive rounded edge. In "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" crew members flee an explosion aboard the Enterprise-A. Note the display in the middle; it seems that the design for the Enterprise-D's core has traveled backwards in time! The display appears again on the particle fountain in TNG: "Parallels" (with added alien graphics) and on the Enterprise bridge in a parallel timeline in TNG: "Parallels" (with graphics of the exterior of the Enterprise-D).
Risan & Zalkonian screen
The computer screen seen on Risa in TNG: "Captain's Holiday" later appears on the Zalkonian ship in TNG: "Transfigurations", albeit in a little prominent place somewhere in the background.
Klingon viewscreen
An octagonal viewscreen that we normally associate with the Klingons also appears on the Lokirrim vessel in VOY: "Body and Soul".
Ktarian & Romulan viewscreen
The command chair as well as the main screen of the Ktarian ship from TNG: "The Game" show up on the Romulan Warbird in TNG: "Face of the Enemy". What does it tell us about the state of the empire that the Romulans need to steal their furniture from minor races? ;-)
The viewscreen, like so many other familiar items, also shows up on the Mari homeworld in VOY: "Random Thoughts", here as a wall niche.
Free-Standing Consoles
TOS control console
Essentially the same console appears in TOS: "Return of the Archons" (as "absorption" control console), "I, Mudd" (as Norman's console), "The Enterprise Incident" (on the Romulan ship, holding the cloaking device), "Whom Gods Destroy" (in the mental institution on Elba II) and "The Lights of Zetar" (at Memory Alpha).
Pool table
The famous "pool table" in the Enterprise-D engineering with its distinct bone-shaped table top previously appeared at Starfleet Command in "Star Trek: The Voyage Home".
After its use on the Enterprise-D, the table served the same purpose on the Enterprise-E in "Star Trek: First Contact", with a new graphic and monitors on top of it. It is barely noticeable in the movie itself but behind-the-scenes photos confirm this is still the same prop. For "Insurrection", it was replaced with a new table altogether.
Tall sloped console
This type of computer consoles appears on the Enterprise-D in TNG: "When the Bough Breaks" and on several other occasions in the 24th century, such as in TNG: "Coming of Age", "The Schizoid Man", "The Emissary" and a few more TNG episodes. But we can also see it as Starfleet equipment of the 23rd century, in "Star Trek V".
Hexagonal console
The Custodian console on Aldea from TNG: "When the Bough Breaks" reappears in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" as a Klingon communications console on Nimbus III. It is also visible on the Romulan Warbird in TNG: "Contagion" and on the Pakled ship Mondor in TNG: "Samaritan Snare".
Radar console
A console with something looking like a 20th century radar screen can be seen on the terraforming station in TNG: "Home Soil", on Ventax II in TNG: "Devil's Due" but also on the Uxali homeworld in the Delta Quadrant in VOY: "Friendship One". The prop could be rented from Modern Props (#195-820-1).
Medical console
A medical laser console from TNG: "Samaritan Snare" reappears as the reconstruction of the strange alien instrument in TNG: "Schisms" and on the Mari homeworld in VOY: "Random Thoughts". Many years later, it can be seen in Soong's lab in PIC: "Et in Arcadia Ego I". This prop was also available from Modern Props (#195-60-1).
Desk with round monitor insets
The control console of the Promellian battlecruiser in TNG: "Booby Trap" later appears on a Romulan warbird in TNG: "Face of the Enemy".
Ship control console
The same basic console design can be seen on a Ferengi shuttle, as a Romulan console and on a Tamarian warship. The paint and the controls are different each time though.
Console with pyramid
This console originally appeared in the Enterprise-D cybernetics lab in "The Offspring", "The Best of Both Worlds II" and "Interface". The distinctive pyramid was added for the Cardassian generator in TNG: "Chain of Command I" and was kept for Lore's console in "Descent II". The console appears again, now without the pyramid and with a new interface, in ENT: "Civilization". Finally, it can be seen with still different controls in ENT: "These Are The Voyages".
Boxy console with integrated tube
The characteristic big console seen to the right of Ba'el in TNG: "Birthright II" has appeared once before, aboard the Ferengi Marauder in "Ménage à Troi". The integrated tubular "laundry hamper" looks different now, and the larger boxy part is probably integrated to the wall in a way that only one of the small hemispheres on top is visible.
Console with sphere
The console from the Stellar Cartography department of the Enterprise-D in TNG: "Lessons" was later redressed to appear as a Nezu console in VOY: "Rise".
Octagonal console table
The Romulan engineering console from TNG: "Timescape" reappears as the control console in the auxiliary control room of the USS Raman in TNG: "Interface" and then (with heavy modifications) as an engineering console on the USS Pegasus in TNG: "The Pegasus". The octagonal basic shape with the angular control panels is clearly identifiable in all three versions.
Horseshoe-shaped control console
A characteristic large horseshoe-shaped control console can be seen on the bridge of the USS Pasteur in TNG: "All Good Things". It reappears on the Raven both in VOY: "The Raven" and "Dark Frontier" but also in the Quarren power plant in the two parts of VOY: "Workforce".
Defiant console
A typical Starfleet console appears both on the Defiant bridge and in the ship's transporter room. In Star Trek: Voyager, we can see the same console (or another copy with slight modifications) in various different places and functions: in the Nakan camp in VOY: "Memorial", on the Borg ship in "Collective", in Dr. Zimmerman's lab in "Life Line" and on the Hirogen holostation in "Flesh and Blood".
Small Romulan console
This one is hard to see, but the small free-standing consoles on the bridge of the Romulan Warbird in DS9: "The Die is Cast" were later reused in the Defiant's engine room at each side of the warp core in DS9: "The Adversary" and other episodes.
Console with lateral screens
A console that consists of a central column and two lateral transparent screens appears as the blood gas infuser console in VOY: "Phage", which is used to keep Neelix alive before the Doctor creates holographic lungs. But it can also be seen as something like an information display in front of a flower shop in the alternate reality of VOY: "Non Sequitur".
Kazon console
The Kazon computer console from VOY: "Investigations" can be seen again on the Mari homeworld, on the Hirogen holoship and in Chaotica's hideout.
Small round console with big red light
This console appears in many Voyager episodes. It could be rented from Modern Props (#195-2286-0).
Desk with console
Chakotay and Tuvok have the same type of desk with a built-in console in their offices that can be found on the USS Prometheus and in Dr. Zimmerman's lab. However, we can see the very same desk also more than 200 years earlier on the ECS Fortunate, on Menos's ship and in Shran's ready room aboard the Kumari (the latter along with the Ergoform Workseat).
Console with sloping base
A side table on the Prometheus in VOY: "Message in a Bottle" later became the transporter console of Enterprise NX-01 since ENT: "Broken Bow". More precisely, there must have been two of these tables because the transporter console and another console of the same basic structure (which we haven't identified yet in an episode) were both on sale at Christie's and It's a Wrap, respectively.
Two-storied console rack
This large console could be seen in VOY: "Hope and Fear", "Bride of Chaotica!" and possibly some more episodes.
Round inclinable console
A console of unknown purpose with a round superstructure and large blinking lights can be seen in the Captain Proton simulation in VOY: "Night", as well as on the Son'a command ship in "Insurrection", on the Talaxian asteroid in VOY: "Homestead", as a Xindi device in ENT: "The Shipment" and on the Orpheus station in ENT: "Demons". It could be rented from Modern Props (#195-2497-1 or #195-2495-1).
Small control console
The same prop can be seen as the lateral control console of "Alice" and as a free-standing console for the captain's chair on the ECS Fortunate.
Console with levers
A console with untypical (for Star Trek) mechanical levers can be seen on a the Ferengi ship in ENT: "Acquisition", but also on a Suliban ship in ENT: "Shockwave" and on a Xindi-Insectoid vessel in ENT: "Azati Prime".
Wall Consoles
TOS wall display
A display panel with a "printed circuit board" look in the Enterprise engineering is also visible behind Balok's puppet on the Fesarius in TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver".
TOS wall computer
This is an obvious one: Gary Seven's computer in TOS: "Assignment Earth" and the Atavachron terminal operated by Mr. Atoz in TOS: "All Our Yesterdays" are identical.
Hexagonal wall panel
On the Romulan ship in TOS: "The Enterprise Incident" we can see elongated hexagonal wall panels beside the doors with something like a button, a light, and/or a sensor in the center (part of a Romulan style that comprises several more hexagonal shapes, such as notably the Romulan emblem). They reappear on the Eymorg homeworld in TOS: "Spock's Brain".
Console with octagonal screens
Consoles with octagonal screens appeared in one way or another in the first four Star Trek feature films. They were seen on the aft section of the bridge of the Klingon battlecruiser Amar in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". Then they showed up in main engineering in "Star Trek III: The Wrath of Khan". In "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock", only the small octagonal displays were used and seen on the bridge of Kruge's Klingon Bird of Prey. In "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" the whole console walls finally appear on the Klingon Bird-of-Prey. Note that in "Star Trek II" and "Star Trek "IV" the console can be seen together with the same wall piece with holes in it.
The consoles also appear in several TNG episodes, such as in TNG: "Coming of Age" in Wesley's "psycho test" but also on the Ferengi bridge in TNG: Peak Performance".
Light fixture or console element
This versatile set decoration, consisting of a box with beveled edges in a frame, started off as a light fixture on the Enterprise-A. One of them can be seen dangling from the ceiling on the damaged bridge in "Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country". The boxes apparently serve the same purpose on USS Voyager where they can be identified above the side doors of the bridge.
In the course of the series, we can see the box as a part of various alien consoles, such as in the Vidiian lab in VOY: "Faces", on Jetrel's Haakonian ship in VOY: "Jetrel" and on the Hierarchy ship in "Renaissance Man".
Floor/overhead console
The central console in the sensor control room that Worf and Geordi are working on in TNG: "Lonely Among Us" appeared several more times on TNG. One early re-use is in "The Outrageous Okona" on the bridge of the Straleb vessel.
Wall console with sloped panel
This console appears in many places and serves very different purposes. We can see it in the reactor control room on Tagra IV, in the Enterprise-D sickbay lab, as an engineering console on the USS Pegasus and in the weather control station of Caldos. The upper part is modified each time.
Wall console with large display
The console labeled "Guidance Sys" with an old-fashioned TOS-style display on the Amargosa station in "Star Trek Generations" later found its way into the wardroom on Deep Space 9. It also appeared in the sickbay of the Enterprise-E in "Star Trek Nemesis".
Light column or console
The copper-colored columns (partially illuminated) in DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin" originate in the engine room of the Enterprise-E in "Star Trek: First Contact". These pillars would later appear in Star Trek: Voyager, on the Borgified USS Voyager and on Borg ships.
In another universe, the light columns also appeared in the TV movie "The Osiris Chronicles" aka "Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy", produced for the UPN network in 1998. Its production design is very reminiscent of that of Star Trek anyway.
Large wall console
The console on the Kazon raider from VOY: "Maneuvers" was modified and later appeared in Marayna's control room in VOY: "Alter Ego" and on two Caatati ships in VOY: "Day of Honor".
Control panel
A control panel first appeared on the thermal array in Neelix's kitchen and later on a Serosian ship.
See Also
Variations of TOS Computers - investigation of the evolution, variations and re-uses of the TOS computer props
Consoles Built for Star Trek - list of console props specially built for the Star Trek production
Consoles by Modern Props in Star Trek - list of console props rented from Modern Props
Re-Used Props - Mobile Computers - desktop computers, handheld computers
Credits
Some screen caps from TrekCore. The re-used Enterprise-D engineering display was found by Nathan Koga and Tadeo D'Oria, the "pool table" and more TOS consoles by Michael Minnick. Simon Allen and unitron6991 spotted the lever consoles, Ron Ferrara the pyramid console and Christopher Havel the "Alice" console. Special thanks to Tadeo D'Oria and Brian Bennett for various additions!
