My god, it’s full of chairs
October 19, 2023 9:00 PM Subscribe
Ex Astris Scientis has identified over 160 different commercially-available chairs that have appeared in Star Trek productions.
So many classic modern chairs.
(via)
This is truly best of the web.
posted by feckless at 9:13 PM on October 19, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by feckless at 9:13 PM on October 19, 2023 [7 favorites]
+1 for the post title
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:16 PM on October 19, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:16 PM on October 19, 2023 [14 favorites]
A little disappointed to learn that the TOS chairs (Burke 115 & 116) were so heavily modified.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:18 PM on October 19, 2023
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:18 PM on October 19, 2023
Sent this to my trek friends
posted by AngelWuff at 9:22 PM on October 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by AngelWuff at 9:22 PM on October 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Obviously, there are a lot of antique collectors aboard all those Enterprises.
posted by y2karl at 10:15 PM on October 19, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 10:15 PM on October 19, 2023 [5 favorites]
Harp Chairs....Harp.chairs.
posted by clavdivs at 10:26 PM on October 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 10:26 PM on October 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Derail, did the comedian Lucille Ball put a lot of money into the Star Trek TV series?
posted by Narrative_Historian at 10:31 PM on October 19, 2023
posted by Narrative_Historian at 10:31 PM on October 19, 2023
Wow. I've watched lots and lots of Star Trek in my life, and I've failed to notice some truly extraordinary chairs.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:35 PM on October 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:35 PM on October 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Derail, did the comedian Lucille Ball put a lot of money into the Star Trek TV series?
Well, Duh...
posted by y2karl at 10:46 PM on October 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Well, Duh...
posted by y2karl at 10:46 PM on October 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
Once again I recommend the Trek Ticonderoga set tour, which is a complete recreation of the original series soundstages complete with those modified Burke chairs. It’s fascinating to see all the props made from everyday 60s stuff.
posted by kinnakeet at 12:13 AM on October 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by kinnakeet at 12:13 AM on October 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
You could do a similar thing for Babylon 5, but by all accounts they mostly just went to Ikea.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:29 AM on October 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:29 AM on October 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
Along similar lines, if you want the mug they drink raktajino out of in Ops on Deep Space Nine, it's called a Hotjo mug and they're sold on Amazon.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:35 AM on October 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:35 AM on October 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
I just looked at the chair and tried to ID the year, So many that look "space-age" are in fact anything but. And I love Charles Rennie Mackintosh!
But, every time I said to myself, "I bet that's from the 80's!" - Reader, it was from the 80's.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:58 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
But, every time I said to myself, "I bet that's from the 80's!" - Reader, it was from the 80's.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:58 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Hah, wow, Model-576 was designed by my grandfather Lawrence Peabody, who designed "mid-century" furniture in the well, mid century. I never knew this!
By the way, it looks like there's a similar website called Star Trek + Design that has more information on all of these chairs (including my grandfathers.)
His designs are still licensed and produced today and you can get Captain Kirk's living room chair in your home for the low low price of $7500 (unfortunately the fabric is neither vintage 1960s nor future 2260s).
posted by jeremias at 4:08 AM on October 20, 2023 [26 favorites]
By the way, it looks like there's a similar website called Star Trek + Design that has more information on all of these chairs (including my grandfathers.)
His designs are still licensed and produced today and you can get Captain Kirk's living room chair in your home for the low low price of $7500 (unfortunately the fabric is neither vintage 1960s nor future 2260s).
posted by jeremias at 4:08 AM on October 20, 2023 [26 favorites]
I have to admit I never looked at the chairs on Trek and thought they looked comfortable and this doesn't change my mind but I love that someone has done this.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:40 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 4:40 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Went looking for Ikea, was not disappointed.
Does anyone also have a link to those people who track the mugs and glassware? My faves. Plus any time a prop is made out of a Thing.
posted by lokta at 4:53 AM on October 20, 2023
Does anyone also have a link to those people who track the mugs and glassware? My faves. Plus any time a prop is made out of a Thing.
posted by lokta at 4:53 AM on October 20, 2023
See also: The chairs of Blake's 7.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:12 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:12 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
A different program in a different genre was famously one of the first on US network TV to feature a modern, Breuer-like chair in its production, and SNL's Kevin Nealon wrote a sketch about it.
posted by zaixfeep at 5:34 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by zaixfeep at 5:34 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is what the internet is for.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 5:39 AM on October 20, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by Cardinal Fang at 5:39 AM on October 20, 2023 [7 favorites]
This was like a time travel trip back to the earlier, better Internet. Thanks.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:58 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 5:58 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Does anyone also have a link to those people who track the mugs and glassware?
I've seen Picard drink from these a lot.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:13 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've seen Picard drink from these a lot.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:13 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
jacquilynne, I never thought any of the furniture on Star Trek looked comfortable. What was up with those orange sequin bedsheets?
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 6:13 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 6:13 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Obviously, there are a lot of antique collectors aboard all those Enterprises.
There's potentially a delightful, in-cannon explanation for this care of Strange New Worlds and Carol Kane's character who is more than a bit of a hoarder.
(Also, Carol Kane in Star Trek! How awesome is that? It's almost enough to get me to watch Strange New Worlds despite of the Gorn squick)
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:25 AM on October 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
There's potentially a delightful, in-cannon explanation for this care of Strange New Worlds and Carol Kane's character who is more than a bit of a hoarder.
(Also, Carol Kane in Star Trek! How awesome is that? It's almost enough to get me to watch Strange New Worlds despite of the Gorn squick)
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:25 AM on October 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
I would never have imagined that the set designers would be using real actual classic pieces of furniture, rather than throwing together random things in a workshop. I love it.
posted by EllaEm at 6:29 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by EllaEm at 6:29 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you love this, there's an Instagram account called "StarTrekDesign" that goes deep on the regular on furniture, light fixtures, glassware, tables, etc. All the episodes they were in, who designed them, etc.
posted by KrampusQuick at 6:33 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by KrampusQuick at 6:33 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I know of no better argument than this for a Universal Basic Income.
posted by Naberius at 6:37 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Naberius at 6:37 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
jeremias! I have one of your grandfather's chairs in my living room! It's super comfortable and my cat and I fight for squatter's rights on it.
posted by KingEdRa at 6:37 AM on October 20, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by KingEdRa at 6:37 AM on October 20, 2023 [11 favorites]
We were watching the TNG episode Parallels last night, where Worf experiences small changes to the world around him as he moves through different universes after entering a quantum rift in a shuttle.
One of my favourite tiny details from the episode is just after the opening credits, when the crew are throwing Worf a surprise birthday party in his quarters - someone's left a bag on the Opsvik/Stokke Globe Garden chair in Worf's quarters. You can just about see it in this screengrab, the brown lumpen object on the seat of the chair just behind Troi's shoulder.
Nobody even has a bag in the TNG universe most of the time, they all seem to travel with rigid cylindrical luggage (that surely none of their actual stuff tessellates into at all well); huge kudos to whatever writer or set dresser was like "yeah someone would definitely leave their bag on Worf's big stupid statement chair that he never uses at this party he didn't want in the first place", because I found that detail absurdly pleasing and it took me at least three watches to notice it.
posted by terretu at 6:55 AM on October 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
One of my favourite tiny details from the episode is just after the opening credits, when the crew are throwing Worf a surprise birthday party in his quarters - someone's left a bag on the Opsvik/Stokke Globe Garden chair in Worf's quarters. You can just about see it in this screengrab, the brown lumpen object on the seat of the chair just behind Troi's shoulder.
Nobody even has a bag in the TNG universe most of the time, they all seem to travel with rigid cylindrical luggage (that surely none of their actual stuff tessellates into at all well); huge kudos to whatever writer or set dresser was like "yeah someone would definitely leave their bag on Worf's big stupid statement chair that he never uses at this party he didn't want in the first place", because I found that detail absurdly pleasing and it took me at least three watches to notice it.
posted by terretu at 6:55 AM on October 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
If this is your jam, you might also enjoy the serious Behind the Seams: The complicated history of the Star Trek minidress video and the snarky Fashion It So tumblr.
posted by autopilot at 7:12 AM on October 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by autopilot at 7:12 AM on October 20, 2023 [6 favorites]
I remember watching a Next Generation episode back in the original syndication run and spotting crew carrying cargo around in large bins with flip-top lids I could buy at the hardware store.
But I was also the type to read the TNG:Technical Manual back to front and tried to read whatever was happening on those fancy touch-screen displays, so I was in pretty deep at the time.
posted by mainly apples at 7:20 AM on October 20, 2023
But I was also the type to read the TNG:Technical Manual back to front and tried to read whatever was happening on those fancy touch-screen displays, so I was in pretty deep at the time.
posted by mainly apples at 7:20 AM on October 20, 2023
Does anyone also have a link to those people who track the mugs and glassware?
Not nearly as expansive, but if you want a raktajino mug… They aren't great mugs — oversized and thin walled. A true warrior's mug would have heft and balance.
posted by nathan_teske at 7:21 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Not nearly as expansive, but if you want a raktajino mug… They aren't great mugs — oversized and thin walled. A true warrior's mug would have heft and balance.
posted by nathan_teske at 7:21 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yeah I looked at that mug, no thanks. How do you clean the damn thing? Also the manufacturer's web page features a very white woman in a leather hat looking wistfully into the distance with a hint of dude ranch or autumnal landscape and i was like .... this is not my market segment. Contigo steel vacuum flask mug with spill-proof, locking screw on sippy lid, that is my jam.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:24 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:24 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
No recliners in the future. No big comfy couches. Maybe I can just set my quarters to zero g and float.
posted by emjaybee at 7:32 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 7:32 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
I think it explains a lot about some 80's furniture if you imagine it as having been designed for bodies that are very different from ours. (Well, mine, anyhow. I don't know what you look like.) (No pictures, please.)
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 7:38 AM on October 20, 2023
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 7:38 AM on October 20, 2023
rigid cylindrical luggage
Check out the image and notice that's Data's luggage, and it's labeled with his full Starfleet designated name NFN NMI Data (No First Name, No Middle Initial).
posted by Servo5678 at 7:40 AM on October 20, 2023 [12 favorites]
Check out the image and notice that's Data's luggage, and it's labeled with his full Starfleet designated name NFN NMI Data (No First Name, No Middle Initial).
posted by Servo5678 at 7:40 AM on October 20, 2023 [12 favorites]
jeremias! I have one of your grandfather's chairs in my living room! It's super comfortable and my cat and I fight for squatter's rights on it.
Woohoo! Cool, that's a version of the chair that he won an interior design award for in 1962, seen here in all of its swanky original early-60s glory, although the original backing was rattan with the cushion made oftribbles rubber foam .
posted by jeremias at 8:02 AM on October 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
Woohoo! Cool, that's a version of the chair that he won an interior design award for in 1962, seen here in all of its swanky original early-60s glory, although the original backing was rattan with the cushion made of
posted by jeremias at 8:02 AM on October 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
Check out the image and notice that's Data's luggage, and it's labeled with his full Starfleet designated name NFN NMI Data (No First Name, No Middle Initial).
One of the "joys" of my job is pointing out that having a single name is completely valid, and that our computer systems should not require more than that!
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:56 AM on October 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
One of the "joys" of my job is pointing out that having a single name is completely valid, and that our computer systems should not require more than that!
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:56 AM on October 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
*chef's kiss* for that title
posted by supermedusa at 9:23 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 9:23 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
immediately adds all of these chairs to my wishlist
posted by limeonaire at 10:00 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by limeonaire at 10:00 AM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is absolutely my jam, thank you! Great post!
posted by mochapickle at 10:26 AM on October 20, 2023
posted by mochapickle at 10:26 AM on October 20, 2023
I always thought that thing in Worf's quarters was a futuristic martial arts practice dummy. Or a piece of Klingon sex furniture. Or maybe a Klingon sex arts practice dummy. A chair? Nope.
posted by cocoagirl at 10:27 AM on October 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by cocoagirl at 10:27 AM on October 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
Mid(wedidn'tsaywhich)century Modern
posted by kirkaracha at 10:55 AM on October 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 10:55 AM on October 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
This is what the internet is for.
So much so, I was sure I'd seen a website like this cataloging chairs in a variety of classic SF media linked on MetaFilter more than a decade ago, but the closest I can find are in the Related Post from 2020:
The Chairs of Blake's 7 which includes a link to The Chairs of Doctor Who 1963-1989
posted by straight at 11:10 AM on October 20, 2023
So much so, I was sure I'd seen a website like this cataloging chairs in a variety of classic SF media linked on MetaFilter more than a decade ago, but the closest I can find are in the Related Post from 2020:
The Chairs of Blake's 7 which includes a link to The Chairs of Doctor Who 1963-1989
posted by straight at 11:10 AM on October 20, 2023
Oh, and also from that thread: The interior design of Moonbase Alpha.
(I tried to explain to my nephew the other day how iconic and impossibly-distant dates like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Space: 1999, or Gateway 2000 used to seem. I think it was completely incomprehensible.)
posted by straight at 11:20 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
(I tried to explain to my nephew the other day how iconic and impossibly-distant dates like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Space: 1999, or Gateway 2000 used to seem. I think it was completely incomprehensible.)
posted by straight at 11:20 AM on October 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Related: The Riker Maneuver
I'm extremely disappointed that this list doesn't come with a Riker-ability rating for each chair, so that I know when I kick my leg up over the back that I won't inadvertently pull something in my thigh, or even worse find myself stranded in mid-air with nowhere to land.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:41 AM on October 20, 2023 [11 favorites]
I'm extremely disappointed that this list doesn't come with a Riker-ability rating for each chair, so that I know when I kick my leg up over the back that I won't inadvertently pull something in my thigh, or even worse find myself stranded in mid-air with nowhere to land.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:41 AM on October 20, 2023 [11 favorites]
This is the internet I love!
posted by mazola at 3:37 PM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by mazola at 3:37 PM on October 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I also love this kind of thing. There are similar sites for radios, computers, tape decks, Tektronix oscilloscopes, source code, Minox cameras, cars and aircraft. Now I can add chairs to my list.
posted by offog at 11:29 AM on October 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by offog at 11:29 AM on October 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
"Riker!"
Definitely one of the best bits in the Strange New Worlds / Lower Decks crossover.
posted by Snowflake at 10:11 AM on October 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Definitely one of the best bits in the Strange New Worlds / Lower Decks crossover.
posted by Snowflake at 10:11 AM on October 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Mod note: [btw, this post has been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog]
posted by taz (staff) at 3:12 AM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 3:12 AM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
« Older It's about to become easier to die | Rufous Bettongs start a new life chapter — free of... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 9:05 PM on October 19, 2023 [1 favorite]