20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
4. Build A Bridge And Get Over It
The war over the budgets actually went as far as shutting down production on Star Trek VI for several weeks. Meyer, before the $27million figure was settled, had managed to bring the proposed budget down from $40million to $30million, which to be fair is a hell of an achievement. He took this number to Paramount, who stuck to their guns. After a highly-charged meeting, the film was canceled.
However, some creative studio moves got the film back in production again, though still with the slashed budget. Herman Zimmerman was brought in to help, as there was a fairly large issue that required cash to fix: there was no standing Bridge set ready for use.
In Star Trek IV, the bridge of the Enterprise-A was simply a re-dress of the Motion Picture Bridge, while in Star Trek III, the Excelsior had its own set entirely. Star Trek V saw a new set constructed for the Enterprise, but this had been destroyed after that film wrapped production, as had the Excelsior's. A new set, with moveable panels and lighting, was constructed, serving as both the Enterprise-A and the Excelsior, with the latter's scenes being filmed first.