Star Trek: 10 Secrets About The USS Dauntless You Need To Know

In terms of the original Dauntless, the engine room was suggested by director Winrich Kolbe, as noted in Terry J. Erdmann's Star Trek Action!, to look and sound dangerous with "the Voyager crewmembers able to stand on it and look down."

That plan would have required a lot of optical shots and dictated a much higher floor level which was ultimately canned due to the ceiling height on Stage 9 at the Paramount Lot. In fact the core was shrunk down with a catwalk that circled the core that did allow for shots down onto it but not on such a grandiose scale.

Richard James' second sketch of the core was actually based on commercial lighting equipment as noted in Action! Someone had attended the studio demoing neon lights which wound up being incorporated into the final design. At its centre was a very recognisable glass ball crackling with electrical arcs which was similar to ones available in gift shops but considerably bigger!

The aluminium floor grating used also caused massive issues for the production as every single footstep could be heard meaning that there would be a considerable amount of looping required to add the dialogue for the scenes on that set.