20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)
12. The Giant Mushroom In The Sky
The film introduces the massive Earth Spacedock model to Star Trek. Like several other designs shown in Star Trek III, it is both instantly recognisable, yet used somewhat sparingly outside of the films.
There were a number of elements inherent to its creation. First, the main model itself, measuring 1 meter in height, was constructed with plexiglass. This allowed the model makers to solve the issue of how they would create the thousands of windows that needed illuminating on the station. Rather than create separate window spaces, they painted the plexiglass, then scratched off the paint that revealed the windows. The entire model was then lit from the inside with a core of neon lights.
For scenes showing the interior of the station, a larger, 20ft model was constructed. This consisted of the actual docking ring, with removable parts to allow the camera crew to get inside.
The scenes filmed inside of Spacedock would prove to be some of the most difficult to capture in the entire film.