The 40 Acres: The Lost Studio Backlot
Stardate 5928.5 as we time travel to year 2015. Conventionally speaking of The Original Series as known to fans, the original voyage has ended, or at least has been suspended. Let’s pretend that post original Star Trek terminology doesn’t exist. An apology owed to the fans of Picard. No offense intended. Okay Captain, let’s beam down to the Back Forty and see what the inhabitants are doing. It’s commonly known as the 40 Acres, which is approximately 29 acres.
The Back Forty or RKO Forty Acres takes us to a “film studio backlot owned by RKO Pictures and later Desilu Productions, located in Culver City, California.”
In Season 1, Episode #28, titled The City on the Edge of Forever, McCoy accidentally injects himself with an overdose of Cordrazine: A powerful stimulant used to revive patients in an emergency, such as cardiac arrest. 25 ml is usually a lethal dose to humanoids, causing hallucinations, madness and death.
This is where Kirk & Spock emerge. They have just entered through a gateway of time. As we see time in the present, they see time through a different passage. Their mission is to find Dr. McCoy, because McCoy accidentally stepped through time unknowingly, due to his unstable mental condition. The year in their time was somewhere in the 2260′s.
The doorway through time takes Kirk and Spock back in time, during the 1930′s Great Depression. They land in in what looks like New York City. They do find McCoy and safely return to the Starship Enterprise eventually.
Another anomaly has taken place. They arrive at the year 1967, and a strange phenomenon occurs. Earthlings are filming a strange television program called Star Trek. The crew have filmed episodes 8, 21, and 28 at this strange location (Season 1). Also, Season 2 Episode 17 was filmed here.
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are stunned. Actors who look just like them are pretending to be them. It seems illogical.
We discover a triangular parcel of land that measures 28 1/2 acres, speaking in geographical lingo. It’s now referred to as Culver Studios.
Back in the day it was owned and ran by the famous actress named Lucille Ball. “Desilu Productions was an American television production company co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, best known for shows such as I Love Lucy, Star Trek, and The Untouchables.” I’m not sure but I think the name of the company was shared by Lucille and husband Desi—Desilu. The company later sold to Paramount Television and winds up in the hands of CBS Television Studios.
Several facts are intriguing to Trek fans. The Original Series almost didn’t make it and was probably saved by none other than Lucille Ball herself. The series was just too cerebral for the mainstream, or so they say. We will try to forgive them if we must. Live long and prosper dear friends.
Okay enough of Star Trek for now. Let’s get back to Pathé 40 Acre Ranch. “For nearly fifty years it was known for its outdoor full-scale sets such as Western Street and Atlanta Street or Main Street and was used in films like King Kong (1933) and Gone with the Wind (1939), and television shows like Bonanza and Star Trek.” Who hasn’t heard of the other famous television programs and movies? Additional to other is The Andy Griffith Show, which maybe you’ve heard of by now. Interesting stuff I tell you.
I won’t bore you with an endless list of famous television series and movies that were filmed on said location. However, the list is quite impressive if you read it.
There were core structures (Gone with the Wind, the antebellum Town of Atlanta) that remained from 1939 until 1976, Other were torched. “The two main arteries that traversed the Atlanta/Mayberry set were Atlanta or Main Street, which ran east/west and opened at one point onto a town square, and North Street, a cross street that bisected it at the four corners just west of the square.”
Live long and prosper dear friends.
