10 Other Times Star Trek Used The Vasquez Rocks

You know, whether it was Bob Justman's huge cyclorama stage drop of shifting planet sky colors in the 1960s

or the modern Toronto Trek's AR wall in the 2020s, the physical and filmable off-ship Strange New Worlds of Star Trek over the decades

has tended to be ingenious uses of design sets, which is why Star Trek taking cast and crew to shoot on location has tended to be so memorable

You know, for all the years I've led Star Trek fan tourists around greater L.A. to Trek film sites, whether it was the multi-day Geek Nation tours edition or my own Trekland Trek's day tours, the most requested location site is, of course, the iconic Vasquez Rocks, a natural formation and a county park in Los Angeles County

Why? Go and fight! Hmm. What are the Vasquez Rocks, anyway? Geologists would tell you that they are the result of sedimentary layering exposed by later seismic uplift and erosion

Thanks to offshoots of the San Andreas Fault 25 million years ago, during the Oligocene epoch

And again, even more so, during the Lower Miocene epoch up to 20 million years later

Historians would tell you that they're named for the 19th century bandito, Tibercio Vasquez

who used the giant rocks northeast of L.A. as a stash and a hideout

Forty years into California's era as a fully American state, the invention of the automobile generation later would end their reclusiveness

while the invention of the movie camera made them a scene-stealing star

Best of all, though, for the studio bean counters, they presented a bleak and wild landscape only 25 miles from downtown L.A

Who knows how many silent movies were filmed out there? But since the film office records began in 1928, over 200 films and TV episodes have used the Vasquez Rocks as real-life backdrops

And just like so many of the original series Human Stars, they also appeared in Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Maverick, The Wild Wild West, and later, even Kung Fu

Now occupying close to 932 acres, Vasquez Rocks has been a Los Angeles County park

ever since the original 40 acres was donated in 1971. Meaning that all those original series shoots occurred when it was in private hands

But did you know the initial location used in arena that we see

the Cestus III base under attack, was also filmed at Vasquez. The camera turned 180 degrees around in the opposite direction

and used an abandoned fortress set from a one-season wonder, Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers

to Star Trek's tightly budgeted lucky game. When it's Dr. Trek, Larry Nemechek

and yes, I am on Trek Culture, and I am so glad to be beaming here in with you now

for a visit every so often. But wait, I promised you 10 other times Star Trek used Vasquez Rocks

Number 10. Shoreleave. Star Trek The Original Series, Season 1, Episode 17

Yes, you Trekademics, you know. The scenes where Kirk fights with Finigan, Reminisces with Ruth

plus the samurai, the tiger, Don Juan, and that strafing fighter plane

they were all shot, not at Africa USA alongside the Glade Meadow scenes with the Black Knight

but over most of two days at Vasquez Rocks, about three miles to the north

on the backside of the famous Gordon Battle Rocks, so they don't steal the show

Or actually, who didn't steal from whom? It was actually the Metrons who must have wanted fresh looks

as Arena was filmed two weeks after shore leave, which makes the Finnegan fracas Star Trek's first visit to the classic landscape

It would not be the last. Not just because the variety of landform looks available in one area

but even more so, the rocks are within Hollywood's so-called 30-mile zone radius

That's your TMZ. That was negotiated so as to allow cheaper location shooting costs

without the studio having to pay out meals and transport for the cast and crews

or even mandated overnight travel stays. After two days of filming those scenes there

first-run U.S. audiences originally saw the Vasquez site on Star Trek on December 29, 1966

Number 9. The Alternative Factor. Star Trek The Original Series Season 1 Episode 20

Yes, the episode with so many questions. And would John Barrymore have been a better choice than Robert Brown

And how does a native from an anti universe walk around on a matter universe starship without causing a little cataclysmic reaction problem Look the alternative factor is dogged with so many problems But that is indeed Vasquez Rocks on display when the landing party scrambles around

Lazarus's little mini ship. Actually, it's the backside of the famous angle of the rocks that we

see, or at least most of the time. You know, the middle of the three planned shoot days on location

was lost due to bad weather, and the makeup shoot? Well, let's just say this alien planet's sun sure

cycles in and out of flat-seeming daylight at times, flat as a Fresnel lamp lens on Desilu Stage 10

Number eight, Friday's Child, Star Trek The Original Series Season 2, Episode 3. So after a

threefer in season one, and a round of budget cuts for season two, the original series would make one

more visit out to Vasquez Rocks and stage it all from a totally different angle. Friday's Child

remains my favorite undervalued and overlooked original series episode for so many reasons

So much McCoy. McCoy fully taking his place structurally in the Trek Trinity. McCoy actually

giving the landing party briefing. We actually seen a landing party briefing. Scotty in command

and to the rescue. A laughing Flintstones ha-ha ending for the ages

Leonard James Aka-R? And two words. Julie freaking Neumar. Thank you, Dorothy D.C. Fontana

On the downs, though. Those tall walking tassel carpets as alien warriors

look like they're burning up in that desert planet heat, but hey, you can't have everything. That's why, despite those tent camp scenes that

were obviously filmed on a stage, shooting the Overland Pursuit and our hero's strategy banner

over two long days at Vasquez Rocks had so much scope to this one, even a high-tech avalanche

You know, those Capella 4 scenes are actually across the main park road and opposite the main

rocks in their backside, which are all carefully kept out of frame here. Go to the site yourself

with some guidance, and you realize just how compact all that location shoot was accomplished

So much done with opposite angles, and close-ups on a rock wall, and a faux cave entrance that all

look far bigger on screen. Hey, it's the magic of Hollywood! On a budget, but still. It's another

case where you too can bring along your own flip-top communicator and imagine your hyper

frequency stopping some rebel alien pursuers right in their tracks. Number seven, Star Trek

IV The Voyage Home. No really, you'll blink and miss it. Hey, in the years after the original

series died and found resurrection through the rerun generation, fan savvy had time to grow

And even in the pre-internet days, hungry Trek folks had more and more making of books and magazines and articles that brought them the ins and outs of classic show details like the Vasquez rock shoots

Perhaps that's why Harv Bennett and Leonard Nimoy, producer and director on Star Trek IV The Voyage Home, who still had a little spare cash after two weeks on location in San Francisco, sent a small team out to Vasquez in April 1986

Their task was to film someone as Spock meditating atop the twin slant peaks

from their obvious and iconic side as a very organic representation of Vulcan

for the movie's pre-getaway opening scenes. Remember now? Future Star Trek creatives would

Stick a pen in that. Number six. Who watches The Watchers? Star Trek The Next Generation Season 3 Episode 4

Oh, fast forward to the Next Generation era, and one ambitious script early in Season 3

was actually going to spend money for an early season location shoot and even build a small alien village

We're talking about this tale about incognito-federation anthropologists studying a humanoid proto-Vulcan society from a duck pond until they're exposed

It needed a lot of scope to tell it well. So, why not take Trek back to Vasquez Rocks for the first time on a series in over 20 years

Only this time, tilt the camera up and use the full height of that Rocky Peak for Mintaka 3

The Next Generation crew spent two days at this site in August 1989, midway through their eight-day shoot

and I'm guessing none of them realized at the time what a spiritual impact the final location scene of the script would bring

That heartfelt moment when the Mntauken leader Nouria gives Picard the tapestry scroll that we see draped over the back of his desk chair for the rest of his career

Well, it obviously resonated as a pivotal moment in his journey. And yes, we know exactly where Tapestry Rock is located

Hi I Duncan Relic no relation and I collect relics from before the burn

Thanks to a temporal wormhole, I now have an unlimited supply of Trek culture t-shirts, and I'm selling them to you

You could be wearing this stylish down and up t-shirt. Or, how about this fish-watching design

Bright yellow on black, the colours I'd use in thumbnails, I tell you that for nothing

I plan to take these designs and transfer them via quantum duplication onto hats, mugs and posters

So look out for those. Back! Treat this unlimited supply as a limited time deal

Get your t-shirt quick. Who's your daddy? Number 5. Initiations. Star Trek Voyager Season 2, Episode 2

You know, Deep Space Nine went on many locations to film, from lush, cool gardens to sweltering gravel quarries

But sadly, DS9 never made it to Vasquez Rocks. Voyager, though, did find its way back once

The Rock stood in for the site of the Kazon training moon, Terok

Terok with a Kazon A, not a Cardassian E. The Voyager film crew spent a day there in July 1995 with Chakotay and the Kazon Ogley Youth Car

a.k.a. Aaron Eisenberg's other character, for initiations. Most of their scenes were located atop a series of vertical, close, thin rock folds

Literally just across the main park roll from the tilt rocks. But you'd never know it from the episode

Which was intentional. But it would be the last time that Star Trek, like Spock with his ears, would hide those two famous points

Number 4. Maps and Legends and The End is the Beginning. Star Trek Picard Season 1, Episodes 2 and 3

I don't know which seemed more unlikely at one point. That we'd ever revisit the later life adventures of Jean-Luc Picard

Or that Toronto-based Star Trek TV would ever find a way to once again shoot scenes at its most famous location

Much less brazenly identify the whole thing as Vasquez Rocks. But that's exactly what we got on screen in text with the L.A.-based Picard series and the introduction of troubled Starfleet retired commander Rafi Musiker amid her isolation from both Starfleet and her former mentor, J.P., who's been ghosting her for years

Film crews spent a number of days at the park in early May 2019

filming work that we would see in finished form nine months later, across both episodes

Now, the story of Rafi's drug addiction and her life in a trailer struck many fans as a sad turn for Starfleet

seemingly dumping on its veterans, and they echoed the character's bitterness at being shunned by her one-time senior

from his historic posh and family wine estate. That always struck me as a short-sighted point, though

seeing as Raffi apparently had the best Wi-Fi on the planet. And how could Starfleet force veterans into therapy and treatment

if they refused, if they didn't want to do it? How was she living in the Vasquez Rocks

I mean, on one level, it was a cute wink, sure. But for me, it opened up a whole can of worms more troubling than Raffi's status

The question of whether, in our utopian 24th century Earth, Vasquez Rocks was no longer a public park, no matter who owned and operated it

I mean, if not, then did Starfleet randomly make it a practice and had the access to place its troubled veterans in small housing units and park lanes

Is that part of the park off limits to regular citizen use

Does it defeat the goal of sharing an amazing natural landmark with the public if its most famous attraction is occupied by private housing

Troubled veteran or otherwise? And if it's no longer a park, then why

And who does own it? If land ownership in 300 years has any semblance to our grubby little system today

Of course, many fans saw that scene and that text graphic and just smiled and said

Cool! Now, I promised you 10 other times Star Trek used Vasquez rocks

The truth is, only seven of those other visits were in the flesh, so to speak

You may think you saw those famous tilted ledges on screen thrice more, and you did

but not as a result of live on-screen shooting. Here, hold on, hold on

Number three, other uses. The rocks are depicted in a Zerillian holosim of their home world in Unexpected for Enterprise AKA the pregnant trip one then on the big screen as Vulcan itself in Star Trek 2009 blended into CGI landscapes and as Vulcan again or more precisely Navarre in the 32nd century of

All is Possible on Discovery, showcasing the still bumpy Burn Era unification at last of Vulcans and

Romulans. Again, these were not live shoots, but all either stills or video and then heavily

manipulated with CGI and inserted as background. Number two, outside of Star Trek. But forget CGI

Vasquez Rock's Natural Area County Park is very real and it's easy to locate and visit. If you

find yourself in Greater Los Angeles, it's an easy 45 minutes outside a rush hour, out northeast

from Hollywood up the 14th freeway via the 5 in Agua Dulce and sporting a very spiffy visitors

nature center. They're waiting for you, including some Trekkie items in their little gift shop

They also do mention the geology of the place, as well as the original indigenous native dwellers

Note that the center and the whole park, though, are closed on Mondays. But even then, you can park along the roadway down from the gate and walk in along the Pacific Crest Trail

And that visitor's center even gives a nod to the Rock's full IMDb resume

Everything from Roswell 24 and CSI to Alien Nation, Sliders, Buffy. And for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fans, it's a bit confusing

Vasquez Rocks was used as a setting for the Rangers Command Center

even though the building itself that you see was actually on the other side of Los Angeles

just in Ventura County. The Brandeis Bardeen Institute's House of the Book

Or as we know it, Camp Kittimer! Unless, of course, Lorsborg are hiding around out there

Now on the big screen, you've seen Vasquez Rocks everywhere from the original

Bela Lugosi 1931 Dracula to Blazing Saddles, Army of Darkness, Austin Powers, and Planet of the Apes for stars

Not to mention the spoofs of that famous Kurt Gorin face-off, Bill and Ted's excellent Journey, Jay and Silent Bob strike back, and of course, the Big Bang Theory in season four

Although, those are studio fake rocks standing in for real ones. Because once again, that's a studio backdrop and CGI behind our cosplaying quartet of actors

Not the actual location on site. In fact, this TBBT episode wants you to think that the boys with their stolen car and no phones are stuck miles from anywhere and have to hitchhike

But when you make your own away mission to Vasquez Rocks and look around, you wonder why our heroes didn't simply approach any of a half dozen alms within a half mile of the place

Ah, Hollywood magic. Number one, the Vasquez Rocks on tour. All right, I'm fudging this one a little bit

But hey, if you enjoyed that list in details, welcome to Dr. Trek's world

Look, it's just a reminder that there's a lot of this information out there to visit Vasquez Rocks on your own

But if you want the comfort of a customized and concierge tour and takeaways with Dr. Trek to Vasquez Rocks or over 50 other location Trek sites, large and small around L.A., get in touch with me at TreklandTreks.com

What's more, 2026 is not only the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, but also the return after 10 years of the big hashtag LA to Vegas Trek film site location five-day tour that I lead for Terrace Cassidy and his Geek Nation tours

The big tour also features on-site appearances by Armin Shimmerman, Tim Russ, Sirach Lofton, Gorn Captain Bobby Clark, and more to be announced

The big tour in July and August is cozy. It needs 10 fans minimum, but cuts off at 20 maximum

It runs July 30th through August 3rd, and the bus visits Vasquez Rocks, as well as many more locations

until it winds up in Las Vegas, the day before the big Trek to Vegas convention at the Rio Hotel

Though, con admission is not required. There's also a one-day tour out to the Kirk death scenes of Generations, and more, in Nevada's Valley of Fire State Park, too, if you like

But whether you jump aboard the big Geek Nation tour's LA to Vegas group next year for the 60th

or take a private day tour trek sometime with me next time in LA

or just set out to catch these sights yourself, there's nothing like standing in the places of iconic Star Trek moments

like Vasquez Rocks in uniform or out and in a time when peeps want experiences not souvenirs

Trek Tourism can we call it that? has truly got to be

the undiscovered country of fandom Trek well everybody