Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The USS Defiant You Need To Know
4. A Nightmare To Shoot
The studio sets for the USS Defiant were supervised by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine production designer Herman Zimmerman, the man responsible for the interior look of the USS Enterprise-D from DS9's forbearer, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Intentionally designed to be smaller and more compact than the Enterprise-D's command center, the Defiant's bridge was so small that it presented unexpected production challenges.
According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block, the raised navigation console and captain's chair prevented the show's directors from freely moving the camera inside the cramped space. The issue of finding proper angles on the Defiant led director Kim Freedman to study World War II films when shooting "The Search, Part I" in order to replicate the feel of pilots sitting in their cockpits.
Lighting also proved difficult on the Defiant sets as each time the ship cloaked, filming had to be stopped so the crew could manually replace the lights with dimmer bulbs to sell the effect.
The Defiant bridge set was upgraded (as was the lighting) as the series progressed and it was utilized as the bridge of the USS Valiant in season six's "Valiant" and went on to appear in Star Trek: Voyager as the fake Delta Flyer in "Live Fast and Prosper" and the Ferengi Marauder in "Inside Man".