10 Times Star Trek Reused Footage And Hoped You Wouldn't Notice

9. Cardassian Ship - Call To Arms/Caretaker

Bird Of Prey Star Trek
CBS

The Cardassian Galor-class warship is a fantastic design, one that pays tribute to the Egyptian inspirations behind the Cardassians themselves. While they're not a straight lifted from the Pharaohs, there is something in the architecture, design, and brutal subjugation of the Bajorans that is reminiscent of Ancient Egypt.

When filming began on Caretaker, the opening depicted the Val Jean's desperate run to the badlands to escape Gul Evek. While the visuals on the badlands themselves were less than stellar, the close-up shots of the Cardassian ship were wonderful, offering some of the greatest detail of this class that had yet been seen in Star Trek.

Naturally, letting shots like that go to waste would have been a crime, so they found their way back into the franchise during the battle of Deep Space Nine, in the fifth-season episode Call To Arms. Here, a combination of new and stock footage gave the impression of an enormous fleet battle against the station, with these shots of the Galor-class being called upon again. There is another shot that is lifted from Caretaker also.

When Evek enters the badlands, a column of plasma rises, hitting the wing of the ship and disabling it. That shot, with the plasma removed, is used to depict a ship taking a torpedo blast. This clever reuse allowed a slight save on budget, while still keeping the episode impressive.

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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick