It was a standing set, but it was often redressed [link].
Has Star Trek ever done a bottle episode
- Thread starter tim0122
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I just realized, there IS a live action show that had only a single room for an entire episode.
Since Lord Garth is currently doing a review thread and it is his first time watching, I am putting this BABYLON 5 episode in spoiler tags.
Since Lord Garth is currently doing a review thread and it is his first time watching, I am putting this BABYLON 5 episode in spoiler tags.
Rewatching BABYLON 5 with my wife, it hit me... "Intersections in Real Time" is probably THE closest thing to having ONLY a single room episode a live action series can get.
There is literally just ONE dark room used (it's really two rooms, but they are both identical) and a corridor in the ENTIRE episode. (Except for the few quick black and white clips of the previous episode, of course.)
Also, Sheridan is the only regular who appears, except for a couple brief shots of Delenn standing. With only 4 extras as security guards and only 3 speaking guest stars (the interrogator, the Drazi, and the final interrogator), this might qualify as the most bottle show in television.
There is literally just ONE dark room used (it's really two rooms, but they are both identical) and a corridor in the ENTIRE episode. (Except for the few quick black and white clips of the previous episode, of course.)
Also, Sheridan is the only regular who appears, except for a couple brief shots of Delenn standing. With only 4 extras as security guards and only 3 speaking guest stars (the interrogator, the Drazi, and the final interrogator), this might qualify as the most bottle show in television.
The sitcom One Foot in the Grave (one of my all time favourites) had an episode set entirely in a waiting room with the two leads; and one set entirely in a car stuck in traffic. Great show with fantastic writing.
As for Trek, as others have pointed out, a bottle episode is not defined as set in a single room. It just means no new sets, and minimal if any guest stars and SFX. In which case, we’ve had a number. “Duet” remains the high watermark if you as me. That episode should have won awards.
As for Trek, as others have pointed out, a bottle episode is not defined as set in a single room. It just means no new sets, and minimal if any guest stars and SFX. In which case, we’ve had a number. “Duet” remains the high watermark if you as me. That episode should have won awards.
I agree that is the meaning of a bottle show. But one of the primary reasons for a bottle show is saving money, which is why you would have limited sets used and limited guests and visual effects.
This is why I mention the B5 episode... it checks all those boxes for saving money.
A single room was used, so filming likely took far less time than usual. (Time is money.)
And the room was all black, so very easy to alter for anything. Plus, there were hardly any new props... two chairs and a table on wheels, plus the Interrogator's briefcase. Doesn't really get more basic than that.
About the only visual effect used was the automatic restraints in Sheridan's chair.
Only 4 extras used as nonspeaking guards and 4 speaking parts, with one of them being a series regular. Even "Shades Of Gray" had more people and actors with dialogue. Same with "SHUTTLEPOD ONE".
I suspect this was done entirely because of the very effects driven episodes directly after "Intersections in Real Time". I do know JMS had to rush his arcs a bit for season 4 because he wasn't sure he was going to GET a season 5... TNT coming in was very last minute. Which is why season 4 feels like it moves at a much faster pace than the rest.
And the room was all black, so very easy to alter for anything. Plus, there were hardly any new props... two chairs and a table on wheels, plus the Interrogator's briefcase. Doesn't really get more basic than that.
About the only visual effect used was the automatic restraints in Sheridan's chair.
Only 4 extras used as nonspeaking guards and 4 speaking parts, with one of them being a series regular. Even "Shades Of Gray" had more people and actors with dialogue. Same with "SHUTTLEPOD ONE".
I suspect this was done entirely because of the very effects driven episodes directly after "Intersections in Real Time". I do know JMS had to rush his arcs a bit for season 4 because he wasn't sure he was going to GET a season 5... TNT coming in was very last minute. Which is why season 4 feels like it moves at a much faster pace than the rest.
Memory Alpha has a long list of bottle episodes with citations, though many of these episodes contain effects that I would argue that many of these fail the most stringent test.
Yeah, I don’t know how they picked a lot of those episodes. Like DS9’s “Explorers”, which had new sets, guest stars and what, if I recall, were quite expensive CGI shots. Good share, though!
I'd love to recommend a particular play, but it wouldn't be STAR TREK.
I'd love to recommend a particular play, but it wouldn't be STAR TREK.
I'm not sure it would be against the rules to share a particular piece of entertainment outside of Star Trek, if one is trying to make a point.
Seeing them in the same room, drinking booze from a bottle and/or playing spin the bottle would be incredibly lame for this show anyway. Well, apart from "The Enemy Within" like this:
(Mightn't a fizzy lemon/lime-flavored drink be healthier?)
(Great direction as well)
There you go, on this week's "Star Trek After School Special", a very special episode entitled "Kirk Gets Smashed".
It's rather a great episode. If anything, finding a way to negate the need for a shuttle but still have the transporter go goofy could have allowed more plot time to the meat of the episode, but the flip side is we lose out on Sulu commanding the team to go roast rocks with a raygun, which had importance at the time since away missions in dangerous environments were a big thing.
Also,
That's surely not the "the updated version for modern audiences" version?
(Mightn't a fizzy lemon/lime-flavored drink be healthier?)
(Great direction as well)
There you go, on this week's "Star Trek After School Special", a very special episode entitled "Kirk Gets Smashed".
It's rather a great episode. If anything, finding a way to negate the need for a shuttle but still have the transporter go goofy could have allowed more plot time to the meat of the episode, but the flip side is we lose out on Sulu commanding the team to go roast rocks with a raygun, which had importance at the time since away missions in dangerous environments were a big thing.
Also,
That's surely not the "the updated version for modern audiences" version?
"Bottle episode" is really descriptive rather than prescriptive or restrictive. Probably no one intentionally creates an episode on minimal resources on the basis of established rules. In most cases, "bottle episode " is a shorthand that is thrown around whenever cost saving measures are needed: reducing the production requirements that will still produce a compelling episode. No one says, "if we are doing a bottle episode, we can't do X." They say, "we blew the budget on the big musical number in episode 5. 6 will have to be a bottle episode."
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