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From its design origins to behind-the-scenes production secrets, here are 10 fascinating facts every Star Trek fan should know.
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00:00A floating mushroom or a galactic table lamp are two things that Spacedock 1 might well resemble.
00:05But since its debut in the search for Spock some 40 years ago, the Earth orbital docking structure
00:11has lived on in both live action and animated Star Trek. It has proved to be a versatile
00:17structure with its design used across the Federation in various incarnations and reused
00:22footage. The original station itself has become almost as iconic a part of the franchise as its
00:28gorgeous array of starships and is one of the most recognisable structures to exist in Star Trek.
00:35So recognisable, in fact, that it would be brought back recently for Picard's final season. Shuffling
00:41across the stars with a little help for some warped tugs, it serves now as the Fleet Museum at 8th
00:46and
00:46Prime, housing legendary starships from all eras, including a classic Constitution class.
00:51This standard home base for much of the Star Trek cinematic adventures, this list will not only
00:58focus on its exterior, but also the interior, as well as its legacy across the generations,
01:04both live action and animated. Engage the autopilot, sit back and let the Dockmaster take control as we
01:10explore what's aboard, and not just in Hangar 12. I'm Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture and here are 10
01:16secrets about Spacedock 1 you need to know. Number 10. A matter of perspective.
01:24The live action appearances of Spacedock are, for the most part, re-usage of footage from Star Trek 3.
01:30The approach of the Enterprise and the entrance through the gigantic space doors instantly became
01:36iconic. It's suggested that the doors and the enclosed bay are designed in such a way as to allow
01:43work crews to operate in the vacuum, yet still be protected from prolonged radiation exposure
01:49without the need of enclosed spacecraft such as the travel pods or tugs. In Star Trek 6, the audience is
01:57shown the first appearance of the executive shuttle and future kitbash into the USS Ginolan. It is also
02:04the only time in the franchise that Spacedock is viewed from a ventral angle. This was a conscious
02:10decision from the effects team to find a different way to look at the base, providing a better look at
02:15the
02:15underside of the station's surfaces as well as that smaller hub where the Enterprise D would be
02:20resurrected in the 25th century. One thing that you won't find on Spacedock but was part of the
02:27original concept with a designation similar to those you would find on a starship. In the case of Spacedock
02:341, in the original artwork for the search for Spock, it was labelled as NC7011S, though this never made it
02:41a screen. Looking for a VPN? Well, we've got a great deal from Nord. Get 73% off and three
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02:49free. Just click the link in the description down below. Number 9. Digital distinctions. The design for the
02:57Spacedock station was seen outside of live-action Star Trek with its most significant appearance in
03:03the third season of Lower Decks. Douglas Station was the launch site for the Texas-class automated craft
03:10sponsored by Vice Admiral Les Buenamigo. This offered a rare chance to see the Spacedock type utilize its
03:18defense systems as it combated the rogue ships, although these phaser turrets proved fairly ineffectual
03:24against the drone Starfleet prototypes. Douglas Station was also used as the launch site for the
03:31USS Cerritos in Mariner's Crisis Point rewritten holodeck adventure. The introductory scene of the
03:38Cerritos in that movie pastiche has all the trademarks of the motion picture combined with the aesthetic of
03:44the blue-hued Spacedock interior as per Star Trek 3. Douglas Station was also the final destination for the
03:52generation ship in moist vessel, as well as the site for repairs following the incident with the
03:57pack-led clump ships in no small parts. In fact Lower Decks has also allowed fans inside the living
04:04space in the structure and the offices of its top brass, something never done in the movies. Size
04:09suggests that this version is more in line with the original Spacedock 1 design than the upscaled
04:14edition used for its various next generation episode appearances. Number 8. Ship shapes in shot.
04:22Over the course of its live-action appearances, we have seen seven starships inside the Spacedock
04:28structures. There were three types of Enterprise with the refit, A and D. The Excelsior was shown in
04:34Star Trek 3 along with an unnamed Miranda-class ship in the voyage home, and that reuse of the
04:40Planet of the Titans concept hidden in the background. According to graphics later sold at auction which were
04:46used in the Spacedock scenes, this Miranda-class might be the USS Intrepid. Eagloid viewers can
04:52spot an Oberth-class ship present as the crew is transported to the Enterprise A for the first time
04:58at the end of the voyage home. The registry on the craft is NCC 640, the USS Copernicus. The Oberth
05:06-class
05:06model would next appear as the SS Tielkovsky in the next generation's The Naked Now. As the model
05:13was shown from a distance in said episode with no close-ups, at least in 1987, nothing was changed.
05:19It's fair to say that no one expected a remaster to follow in the years to come. As for smaller
05:23craft,
05:24two types are utilised inside Spacedock. One is the travel pod first used in the motion picture to
05:30transport Kirk and Scotty to the refitted USS Enterprise, and the second is termed as an
05:35orbital shuttle and in some cases a Starfleet tug. It would be seen in the 3rd, 4th and 5th movies
05:41with
05:42reused footage featuring it in the first season of The Next Generation. Number 7. A Different Class
05:49Sovereign, Nebula, Constitution all evoke images of Starship classes and the same goes for space
05:55stations. Memory Beta simply refers to this one as a space dock type, while several fan sites suggest
06:02it belongs to the Ornal class. This is never mentioned on screen and in official materials,
06:08aside from the Eagle Moss Starships collection. There is no mention of this designation for this type of
06:13space structure. Even the graphics used to detail the ships of the Museum Fleet state it as a space
06:19dock type. Furthermore, attempting to get a definition for the word Ornal also seems to be difficult,
06:25with everything defaulting to Journal. Maybe the J just fell off? The first reference to it as this
06:31class seems to appear back in Eric Jackal Christensen's Starfleet reference manual,
06:37Ships of the Fleet Volume 2 from 1993. Fan association Starfleet International uses this
06:44as a class designation for its chapters choosing the design as their fictional base, such as the UK's
06:50space dock Birmingham. In-universe, these locations are only ever referred to as space docks. Some beta
06:56canon sources list an Ornal 2 class station large enough for the Enterprise-D to dock through the main
07:03doors, which could include Starbase 47 and accounts for the identical design.
07:08Number 6. Afterlife. The search for Spock is the only time that the extensive central dock and the
07:1620-foot wall section would be used as both were destroyed after filming wrap. This meant that for the
07:22unveiling of the Enterprise-A in the Voyage home, as well as shots in the undiscovered country, a new and
07:28less
07:28intricate interior was built. That recreated interior would also be used for the sequence in which space
07:34dock is shown losing power when approached by the whale probe in the Voyage home. The control room area
07:39was still in existence for that later sequence, composited with new shots of the interior. Star
07:45Trek V would rely purely on reusing existing footage for the sequences in space dock. The scale miniature of
07:52the exterior would return for Star Trek III, IV and VI as well as The Next Generation. The sequences filmed
08:00for 11001001 would be the only ones created for that series that would then be reused for all future
08:07encounters. That first season episode of The Next Generation would also include a new docking port that
08:12would be reused for one other episode. This was a sideshot matte painting was created by Enterprise-D
08:18designer Andrew Probert and then augmented with tiny people walking across the gangway for scale.
08:24Its second appearance would come in season four's Remember Me, this time as the docking port at
08:30Starbase 133, though this was all archive footage. Number five, big and blue. As the USS Enterprise stops
08:40inside the vast hall of space dock 1, it passes by a series of large windows and a lounge. All
08:46rise and
08:46watch as the patched up and scarred starship arrives at the base. Keep an eye out for Grace Lee Whitney
08:51among the crowd. This lounge would then house that janitor complete with mop and bucket who gets to
08:57witness that same Enterprise reversing towards the very closed space doors. At the time, the only way
09:04to create that effect was to use the world's largest blue screen which was housed at ILM's Marin County
09:10headquarters. In one of those ironic franchise twists, it was also the same blue screen that was
09:16used for the speeder bike and Jabba's sail barge sequences in some other sci-fi sequel called Return
09:23of the Jedi, I think. Some 40 extras were drafted in for the arrival of the Enterprise while additional
09:30height and scale was added to the set for the inclusion of a matte painting to the top and sides.
09:35The interior wall model of space dock and the USS Enterprise were then composited into that shot.
09:41The cafeteria was contained within the central structure and fans can also spot part of the
09:46Excelsior docked just to the left of the screen. In a near homage to the docking shots in the search
09:52for Spock, a smaller control room was featured in 11001001 with the Enterprise D docking through the
10:00windows in the background. This would also mirror the Enterprise D's theft by the binars where the
10:05ship is seen reversing out past the same windows again. Number four, a second lease of life.
10:12Athan Prime, the early 25th century and what better place to line up a series of classic starships than
10:17at a classic starbase. The familiar shape of space dock 1 loomed up on the view screen during the third
10:24and
10:24final season of Picard. Its outer shell had now been supplemented with a series of rings in which
10:30famed vessels from yesteryear were housed for display. In Vox it is suggested that not only is
10:36the Enterprise D stored here in the secretive hangar 12, but that the Enterprise E may be at least nearby
10:43as well.
10:44Viewers know that it wasn't an option for combating the Borg, but the throwaway line that it wasn't an option
10:50teases a possibility that there is one other Enterprise parked at the museum waiting for
10:55Geordi's engineering expertise. Hangar 12 is in the lower structure of space dock rather than the
11:00large mushroom section, thus neatly solving the issue of scale presented by Starbase 74.
11:06Production designer for Picard Dave Blass revealed that James Chung was responsible for the basic
11:11design work on the CG version of space dock, which combined with several existing models for
11:17reference materials. The team created a light wave model, then refined it down to what was seen on
11:22screen. Blass also said that space dock was towed to its new location by warp tugs, possibly by the
11:29Wallenberg class seen around Mars during Picard's first season and part of the Romulan evacuation fleet.
11:35The decision to use the structure from the movies came down to Terry Metallus' love of the design
11:41and the fact that it was such an iconic piece of classic Star Trek fitting with the collection
11:46it housed. Number 3. State of the Interior
11:51For two of Star Trek III's most memorable sequences, the script required interior shots of space dock
11:57featuring the Enterprise and the Excelsior. The models weren't made so that the interior and the two
12:03ships were all on scale. In fact, all the shots of the 8-foot Enterprise and brand new 10-foot
12:11Excelsior
12:11involved compositing images together to get the scale right. They did build a section of the interior
12:18measuring some 20 feet across, with the exterior model measuring in at 6 feet from top to bottom.
12:25The central docking structure was one element while the curved wall of the vast bay was the second.
12:32The magazine for the Eagle Moss special goes into detail about this, noting that the exterior wall
12:38was covered in photocopies of the patterning to save time and money. It would only ever be seen from a
12:44distance and no one in 1983 had ever considered the possibility of 4K. The beams of light firing up
12:52into the docking chamber were created by Fresnel lamps placed outside. The production team also needed fans to
12:59stop the photocopied interior detail from getting too warm and peeling due to those very same lamps.
13:05To create an even more unique look, a faint smoke haze was used with multiple takes overlaid to create
13:11the desired atmosphere and enhance the lighting beams. The model was also reversible so that if you
13:17walked outside it represented the exterior of space dock complete with motorized doors. The big win here
13:25was that more detailed shots could be filmed that could not be achieved on the smaller 6 foot miniature.
13:322. Other uses
13:35Besides turning up in 4 motion pictures, the space dock model was also used during the years of the
13:41next generation. It appeared as Starbase 74 in 11001001, Starbase 133 in Remember Me and Lya Station Alpha in
13:51Ensign Row. Its final appearance in the next generation would come in Season 7's Phantasms as
13:56Starbase 84 where the Enterprise D would receive its problematic new warp core. All of these reuses of
14:03the footage shot for 11001001 with tweaks dependent on the planet and location. The latter two appearances of
14:11the space dock type base did not include any interior shots. But its legacy doesn't just stop in live action
14:18Star Trek as Lower Decks has resurrected the familiar design for Douglas Station. The initial appearances
14:24in the next generation were jarring for Enterprise D designer Andrew Probert due to the huge shift in
14:30scale. The sequel series showed the vast galaxy class vessel slipping through the doors to the cavernous
14:37interior. Probert had suggested that given the relative scale of the original design, the Enterprise D
14:43should dock at the edge of the mushroom head rather than enter the structure. This wasn't used with
14:49the large starship navigating inside even though Probert indicated it could have attached via a
14:55dorsal transfer umbilicals incorporated into the original galaxy class design. 1. Substantial
15:02Spatial Superstructure Starbase 1 made its first appearance in Star Trek III The Search for Spock. It
15:09served as the new base replacing the orbital dry dock that had been seen in both previous films. At a
15:15size of 3 miles in diameter, Space Dock could house a variety of starships up to and including the
15:21Excelsior class as well as the odd concept model docked just in the corner to fill a space. It would
15:27be the
15:27first in a line of stations designed to dwarf the hero ships of the franchise and was imagined by future
15:34generations director David Carson and Nilo Rodas Jumero. The concept from Carson was to make the
15:40station look massive rather than the Enterprise look small, and his way to achieve this, according to
15:46the Eagle Moss Starships collection, was to include interior windows. He was inspired by watching planes
15:51arrive at Los Angeles airport. This helped to replace the original plan to dock the Enterprise externally.
15:58That 3-mile diameter also, when it first appeared, made this the largest spacebound Starfleet structure
16:05to have graced the screen. Adding to that scale, the original model was filled with neon tubes and
16:12then had its external plating layer etched with hundreds of holes to give the impression of tiny windows
16:18across its surface. This in turn meant that space dock had to be cooled with compressed air while being
16:24filmed to keep the heat down. Though in terms of size it has since been surpassed by stations such
16:30as Starbase 74 and Yorktown from Star Trek Beyond, space dock 1 remains one of the earliest most striking
16:37examples of Starfleet design evidenced by its enduring use. That's everything for our list today folks,
16:44thank you so much and thank you very much Clive Borrell who wrote the article that this is based on,
16:47you can check that out over on whatculture.com. I have been Sean and you have been wonderful,
16:52please make sure that you are subscribed to the channel, it makes a massive difference when you do.
16:57Please follow us on the various socials, we are at trekculture or at trekcultureyt,
17:02I am at Sean Ferrick on those socials as well. Thank you so much to the wonderful Pedro who edited
17:06this
17:06video, you know you are wonderful. Everyone until I see you again make sure that you live long and
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17:28much
17:28everyone, you are wonderful.
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