So much Hollywood magic has come to life on Stage 18 at Paramount Pictures, including more than a few visits to the Final Frontier. Though many Trekkies are more familiar with Stage 16 thanks to its reputation as Planet Hell, where The Next Generation, Voyager, and other Treks often filmed difficult cave and planet surface sequences, Stage 18 arguably holds a more meaningful place in Star Trek and entertainment/pop culture history. And just like the Pinewood Toronto Stage 8, Stage 18 is also referred to as The Star Trek Stage.
Several Star Trek productions filmed in part or almost entirely on Stage 18. Most notably, the majority of Star Trek: Enterprise made its home there and some sets from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Star Trek: Insurrection was also partly filmed on the famous sound stage, while J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) also utilized Stage 18.
It's not quite the same as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but for those who want to connect the dots from non-Trek productions to Star Trek properties, there are numerous familiar figures from the sci-fi franchise who have visited Stage 18 over the decades.
Veteran character actor Elisha Cook Jr., who guest-starred as the lawyer Samuel T. Cogley in The Original Series episode "Court Martial," co-starred in Shane. The classic supernatural romance Ghost featured both Star Trek: The Next Generation's Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan) and Vincent Schiavelli.
Madge Sinclair, who portrayed the USS Saratoga’s captain in The Voyage Home and Geordi La Forge's mother in the TNG episode “Interface,” played the wife of James Earl Jones’ character and the mother of Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem in Coming to America. And Trekkies know that Jones was considered for the role of Benjamin Sisko on DS9, and Murphy almost appeared in The Voyage Home.
And there’s more. Simon Pegg was the Kelvin Universe’s Scotty and played Benji in the Mission: Impossible films. Kelvin Timeline boss J.J. Abrams directed Mission: Impossible III. Michael McKean and Christopher Lloyd both co-starred in the big-screen adaptation of the board game Clue, with McKean playing Mr. Green and Lloyd assuming the role of Professor Plum. McKean guest starred as the Clown in the Voyager episode “The Thaw,” and Lloyd chewed the scenery in The Search for Spock as Commander Kruge.
Built in 1941, classic productions such as Cecil B. DeMille's Sunset Boulevard, the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope-led Road to Rio, Shane, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, the television Western Bonanza, and The Graduate were all filmed, at least in part, on Stage 18.
Additionally, Patriot Games, Vanilla Sky, Spider-Man 3, and even the Maroon 5 video “One More Night," spent time filming on the hallowed sound stage.
So, what are your impressions of Stage 18's place in Star Trek history? Is it deserving of being revered like the old Desilu stages, particularly Paramount 31 (Desilu 9), which was the home of all the USS Enterprise's interiors from The Original Series? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.