Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The Klingon Bird-of-Prey

Another entry in Star Trek's long history of cost saving measures, the bridge of the Kruge's Klingon Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was actually salvaged from another science fiction production – the name of which is seemingly lost to time.

Incorporating various leftover elements from both Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, along with futuristic-looking found items like sandwich containers (yep), the most distinctive element of Kruge's Bird-of-Prey's bridge was the the hideous, doglike creature which sat next to the captain's chair. Dubbed "monster dog" by The Search for Spock's VFX team, the creature was puppeteered by ILM Visual Effects Supervisor Ken Ralston who operated the puppet from beneath Kruge's captain's chair.

Bizarrely, the set was totally redesigned for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home when the very same ship, now dubbed the HMS Bounty, was used by the renegade crew of the USS Enterprise for their titular voyage home.

More than the design seen in Star Trek III, The Voyage Home's Bird-of-Prey bridge would go on to create the template for future iterations of Klingon architecture – the rusty brown walls and distinctive red control panels by newcomer Michael Okuda becoming standard in later versions of the Bird-of-Prey's bridge.

Yet another Bird-of-Prey bridge would be constructed for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, this time relatively faithful to The Voyage Home's rendition, but now featuring a Klingon periscope which would lower from the ceiling and attach to Captain Klaa's rotating gunner's chair.