Presented below are some detailed photos of various screen used Star Trek: The Original Series control panel buttons from the U.S.S. Enterprise Bridge set on the Desilu soundstage. 
The following 2 photos show a pair of metal lamp housings that would shield individual 25 watt light bulbs which would be mounted beneath the control panels to provide panel illumination and also backlight various monitor display graphics...
In addition to the well known round and square colored resin buttons, real aircraft switches and lights also adorned the U.S.S. Enterprise control panels - a result of Art Director Matt Jefferies background and industry contacts as an accomplished aviator ...
Interestingly, most of the square buttons are single pieces of resin molded as a pair of square controls, frequently with a reinforcement affixed to the bottom to support the thin section of resin between the main button masses. As can be seen in the following photos, some of the square pieces have cylindrical holes drilled inside while others are solid throughout...
Several pieces in this button collection have striking color pattern and text similarities to the buttons seen on Mr. Spocks Science Station on the Bridge, and might very well be from that location...
In particular, a square button pair which possesses an unusual blend of three colors (green and yellow on the left button and red and yellow on the right button) and a drilled hole in the right button only seems to be a match for a Science Station button, as seen below ...
Some additional apparent matches involving aircraft buttons with text as well as some oversized round resin buttons and the buttons seen on the Science Station are illustrated below ...
Mr. Spock's Science Station was the subject of a previous article on this website, which may be viewed at: http://startrekpropauthority.blogspot.com/2008/06/mr-spocks-science-station-on-bridge.html
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Star Trek: The Original Series U.S.S. Enterprise Bridge Buttons
