Re-Used Props - Various Objects
by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider
Musical InstrumentsTablewareVasesOther Objects
Many props and pieces of decoration in Star Trek were later modified or recycled without changes to represent items for a different purpose or of another civilization. Here are examples of musical instruments, tableware and other household objects. Please take statements made here with a grain of salt. There is no need for explanations why the same items are used in distant corners of the galaxy.
Musical Instruments
Sticks
The ivory-like sticks the Ligonians use to show approval or to applaud in TNG: "Code of Honor" are later seen again in "Frame of Mind", where an illusory Tilonian inmate plays with them.
Big gong
The Ligonian gong in TNG: "Code of Honor" is later seen in "The Perfect Mate" in the Kriosian Temple of Akadar.
Small gong
The octagonal Betazoid gong, as visible and (too often!) audible in TNG: "Haven" and "Manhunt", is essentially the same as the Taresian gong in VOY: "Favorite Son". The round frame was removed already prior to its second appearance in "Manhunt".
Edo instruments
The transparent lyre played by the Edo man on the left later appears on Aldea in "When the Bough Breaks". The harp of the Edo man on the right later also shows up in "When the Bough Breaks", where it is played by Katie in her quarters just as she gets beamed to Aldea. It seems to be based on Adam's guitar-like instrument in the TOS episode "The Way to Eden".
Vulcan lute
An even more notable instrument appears on Aldea too: the Vulcan lute.
Tableware
Golden tableware
The golden Ligonian tableware from TNG: "Code of Honor" and the Edo pitcher from "Justice" later appear on Aldea in "When the Bough Breaks".
Drinking glass
The Edo in TNG: "Justice" use characteristic glasses with a transparent blue ball at the bottom. These glasses reappear in the DS9 episode "Fascination" as decorative glasses. Alsia drinks from a similar glass in DS9: "Rivals".
Tin plate
The same type of plates with a stamped hole are used on the Enterprise-D when the two Klingons order Klingon food from the replicator in TNG: "Heart of Glory", by the Rutian terrorists in TNG: "The High Ground" and on Tilonus IV when Riker is held there in TNG: "Frame of Mind".
Carafe with floral pattern
This carafe is usually seen on the Enterprise-D, such as in TNG: "Symbiosis", "Up the Long Ladder" or "The Survivors", but also appears on the Ferengi Marauder in "Ménage à Troi".
Metallic tableware
The cups and pitcher used for the Klingon tea ceremony in TNG: "Up the Long Ladder" reappear in the DS9 episode "The Ship". In that episode, the Vorta Kilana brings food and drink to Sisko using this tableware.
Glass bottle with hole
A glass bottle with a characteristic "hole" from TNG: "Manhunt" appeared again many years later, in the Enterprise episode "The Communicator".
Soup bowl
A large soup bowl on Kataan in TNG: "The Inner Light" is later seen again in Pallra's home on Bajor in DS9: "Necessary Evil".
Black plates
The black, triangular plates used by the Klingons and Romulans on Carraya IV later appeared aboard the USS Enterprise-D in various season 7 episodes, such as "Liaisons", "Phantasms", "Parallels" and "Preemptive Strike".
Vases
Black or white vase
Vases like this can be seen on Ligon II in TNG: "Code of Honor" (white), on the Edo homeworld in "Justice" (white) and on Angel One in the eponymous episode (black).
Golden vase
A metallic vase that could be seen beside the golden tableware on Aldea in TNG: "When the Bough Breaks" (see above) reappears on the Enterprise-D in TNG: "Time Squared".
Semicircular vase
A semicircular object, apparently a typical vase of the 1980's, is partially visible behind Alexana Devos in her office on Rutia IV in TNG: "The High Ground". It will appear again in the O'Briens' quarters in DS9: "Hard Time".
Kivas Fajo's jar
Among Kivas Fajo's treasures in TNG: "The Most Toys" there is a striped jar with a handle, perhaps a teapot or a vase. Curiously this jar can be seen in Dr. Crusher's, O'Brien's and Worf's quarters in later TNG episodes. It is visible on Data's shelf in TNG: "Genesis" and even on Troi's table in ENT: "These Are The Voyages". Belated revenge? Anyhow, it seems like an intentional running joke that the item is passed around among the Enterprise crew, even 15 years after the original episode. The jar also appeared on Voyager.
Kivas Fajo's vase
Another piece from Fajo's collection, the angular red vase, can be seen again on K'mpec's Klingon attack cruiser in "Reunion", on the Klingon Homeworld in "Redemption I" and twice in Worf's quarters.
Other Objects
Black pen
Beata's pen from TNG: "Angel One" appears again many years later on the Alsaurian homeworld in VOY: "Resistance", where it is used by Caylem.
Holographic game
The Aldean holographic game from TNG: "When the Bough Breaks" also appears in a classroom aboard the USS Enterprise-D in "The Child".
Colorful pillow
It is kind of funny and kind of sad but the ugly colorful 1980's pillow a sick Rutian woman is resting on in TNG: "The High Ground" is the exact same pillow which Deanna's son Ian Andrew Troi II died on (or vanished from) in "The Child".
See Also
Re-Used Props - Furniture - tables, chairs, lamps, other furniture
Re-Used Props - Decoration - decorative windows, wall art, sculptures
Galleries - Various Objects - art, bottles, containers, holograms, etc.
Credits
Some screen caps from TrekCore and TrekCaps. Thanks go to Michael Minnick for spotting some of the props. Thanks to Andy Kinnear, who added more notable appearances of the black plate.
