Star Trek : Kirk vs Gorn (1967) - The Filming Locations
All clips used for entertainment & educational purposes only
A detailed account and recreation of the scenes from the 1967 Star Trek TOS / The Original Series episode titled Arena . The famous match up between Captain James T Kirk and The Gorn . Located at Vasquez Rocks in California used as the fictional spot for both Cestus III and the astroid picked by the Metron.
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Thanks to Erik Peter Carlson for extra camera help
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Transcript
0:04
welcome everyone Adam the whoo here
0:04
coming to you from Vasquez rocks in the
0:07
desert of Southern California it's open
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to the general public every single day
0:14
except for occasions when they are
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filming movies and television shows and
0:19
that is the focus of this adventure over
0:24
50 years ago a half a century ago an
0:27
episode of the original series Star Trek
0:31
was shot right amongst these rocks of
0:35
the epic fight between Captain Kirk and
0:39
the Gorn
0:47
join me shall we step one with any
0:47
project is you need the appropriate
0:50
props did you didn't a digit attention
0:56
to didn't intend to do today injured in
0:58
its go-time
1:00
not much remains in this empty field
1:02
that played the part of cestus 3 where
1:04
they fired the grenade launcher this
1:07
whole area played the part of two
1:09
separate locations in the episode most
1:12
the action took place right over there
1:17
which was considered to be an asteroid
1:21
also pay close attention to this tree
1:24
with the reveal of the lizard his
1:26
creature with his grand turnaround
1:35
there was one of the trees planted right
1:35
there as well as the spot Kirk climbed
1:40
up and ripped a branch off he ripped the
1:44
branch off not a prop but a real tree at
1:47
least it looks like that tree I showed a
1:49
second ago
2:03
one of the slowest fight scenes in
2:03
history took place right here and it
2:05
looks precisely the same of course the
2:07
fake Boulder at the bottom of the screen
2:10
is gone and that tree has been removed
2:12
and once he realized that his adversary
2:15
was much stronger than him he hightailed
2:17
it onto that rock at the far right of
2:20
the screen Shatner threw the first stone
2:22
which all it did was angered his
2:24
opponent who picked up an even bigger
2:27
object to launch back at him well will
2:39
whoa watch out that thing's got some
2:41
serious weight to it or does it you know
2:45
now you know what I think it might be a
2:47
it might be fake paper mache most likely
2:50
as best I can tell when the Gorn is
2:52
listening in to the conversation he was
2:54
standing on the other side of that lip
2:56
with his hand on the rock in his head
2:59
poking above look at the rock formations
3:02
back here they match up pretty well most
3:10
likely standing on that surface giving
3:12
him the proper elevation to look over
3:15
this facing that way even if the stunt
3:19
actor was close to my height it makes
3:23
sense check it out hand here camera
3:28
facing me that's the shot
3:39
there was an assortment of colorful
3:39
jewels placed in these crevices most
3:43
noticeably right there and some red ones
3:46
in that hole and Kirk stood here talking
3:50
to his transmitter wondering where the
3:53
weapons were
3:54
what kind he first notices on the left
3:57
some thatch brush and some bamboo tucked
4:01
away right over here
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most likely props not real bamboo but
4:07
this is the spot you can see a little
4:09
bit of foliage but no remnants no
4:12
remnants of the bamboo and the first
4:15
unveiling at the top of that far bottom
4:18
pinnacle right here was this first
4:23
weapon of choice don don don don don don
4:26
don dada zoom shot success for real
4:33
that's quite a ways up there as classic
4:36
and amazing as the original as the
4:39
original Star Trek series is this is a
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little bit elevated the boulder after
4:44
its drop by Kirk onto Gorn from way up
4:47
there can be seen a few minutes later
4:49
reappearing at the top of that peak just
4:52
ignore it just just just go if I just
4:57
oh well this is I'm good it's a ways up
5:05
here they had it tied about in this spot
5:09
sitting in one of these holes in fact if
5:11
you look at the clip you could see a
5:13
rope over the boulder tying it down so
5:16
it doesn't roll down that hill but the
5:20
camera would have been facing us and you
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can see these indentations in the rock
5:25
formation and he rolled it off whatever
5:28
you do don't look no joke this is
5:33
slightly terrifying I'm just gonna hoist
5:36
you over the edge right now
5:50
it's freaking intense I'm also just now
5:50
noticing these some nuts and bolts screw
5:54
pegs there and there probably for
5:58
makeshift stairs or the production crew
6:00
to place their camera equipment just
6:04
smashed inside the rock itself even
6:06
though the far away shots of the boulder
6:07
was up where I just was there and they
6:09
rolled it off this particular ledge
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where Shatner overlooks was where I'm
6:15
standing now and the Gorn was right now
6:18
and they are whittling his weapon a
6:21
little bit farther down the hill and
6:23
even more of these relics have been
6:26
hammered into the side of the mountain
6:29
they miss one though that one that one's
6:32
not hammered crawled down the side just
6:34
a little bit further center of the
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screen that's the precise angle where he
6:40
was working
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unbeknownst to him he was being watched
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from a bird's eye from above his every
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move was being watched
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spoiler alert the boulder which was
6:52
thought to be up there from the close-up
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shots now they were for the wide angles
6:57
but when they do the close-ups it was
7:00
right here
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really close to the ground you have to
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look closely but you could match up the
7:07
indentations and the cracks
7:09
on the side of the mountain right up
7:12
there he peeked over and that fake
7:16
Boulder can kind of be seen just over
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the ledge so close to the ground here's
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a close-up of where he was feet planted
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firmly right there next to this very
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unique looking rock and straight up
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through the beauty of editing where his
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demise was falling straight down when in
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reality the close-up shots we're right
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there keep pushing don't give up keep
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pushing you're almost there a little bit
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further keep pushing yeah
8:23
insert some smoke from a machine that
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would have been stationed here wafting
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upwards nice nice I got a hand it's a
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Shatner back then he was rooting around
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on the side of those ledges finally
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jumping down onto the ground running
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towards this set of rocks where his
8:50
opponent laid crushed but then he
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realized he had not died he had not
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conquered him and he started to move he
9:07
attempts to make a quick getaway by
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sprinting along this route although a
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trap was set up on the ground that he
9:16
did not see and he ended up tripping
9:18
right here and falling over into this
9:22
open area and I mentioned that open area
9:24
because the very next frame he somehow
9:27
magically is pinned up here
9:30
not down there where he landed but up
9:33
here on the next level a few feet away
9:35
how the heck did that happen leaning in
9:38
this very spot it's about to get really
9:41
dangerous I always like to notice weird
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little details notice the crack above
9:46
his head very distinct that's the crack
9:50
right there which means his head his
9:53
noggin would have been placed about
9:56
there and to take it a step further the
9:59
over-the-shoulder view from the gorn's
10:01
perspective as he reaches in for attack
10:05
right there he's coming up with a plan I
10:11
hope he has a plan he's looking around
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like he has one but you never know
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what's inside his mind I think I think
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he knows I think he knows how to escape
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and who could forget that horrifying
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moment when he's not giving up and he's
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making his way right towards the camera
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extreme close-up in the same spot that
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it happened as if he was coming into our
10:48
homes they sprinkled yellow powder right
10:57
here to symbolize sulfur and as he sat
11:00
there talking to the encoder this place
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is a mineralogist dream but when he
11:06
stood up to walk away they forgot to
11:09
edit out the freeway which you can see
11:12
in the background and way back then
11:15
there's cars driving through space in
11:18
the shot for real it took me a few times
11:22
watching it to notice that but there's
11:24
vehicles back there on an asteroid there
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really is no rhyme or reason or order to
11:31
where the characters were in each exact
11:35
shot at one moment they could be on the
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opposite side of the property and the
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next one of them could come jaunting out
11:43
of that formation which happened Kirk
11:47
was running right towards me when the
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Gorn made contact I would be merciful
11:54
and quick
12:10
but he wasn't giving up so easily he
12:10
found some potassium nitrate and we know
12:12
that because spock alerted the crew of
12:14
that fact picks him up with his hand
12:17
place it down in the bamboo chute get a
12:20
good handful more than enough you only
12:24
get one chance at this fill that bamboo
12:26
up good good he picked up a few more
12:32
substances back that way
12:34
shoved him inside the cylinder but the
12:37
last one was the tough one to find Kirk
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making his way up the slight embankment
12:42
on the road in the background notices
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the same thing we just did takes an
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immediate right there is a cubby hole
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tucked away back here and in this
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precise spot was the coal the final
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ingredients he needed slowly stood up
12:59
and made his way over to this section
13:03
where there was a stack of rocks lined
13:06
up for him to mix the components need it
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right there right there I'm nerding out
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just a little bit I'm geeking out a
13:17
teeny tiny bit cuz this is the spot
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where he was hunched down grinding the
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hole in the bamboo mixing it all
13:26
together he had a plan better make it
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quick he's coming in hot is he gonna
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make it
14:20
as he laid helpless right here he
14:20
thought about grabbing the steak and
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spearing it into his heart but he had a
14:25
moment of compassion he spared his life
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after that moment the Gorn disappeared
14:34
never to be seen again and in his spot
14:36
the Metro appeared does my appearance
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surprise you captain I am approximately
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1500 of your earth years old that's
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gonna do it from out here at Vasquez
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rocks home of one of the most popular
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Star Trek original series episodes
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titled arena or is some appropriately
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college the Gorn episode one of my
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personal favorites thanks for watching
15:08
I'll see you next time
15:12
duh-duh-dunnnnn don't don't don't don't
15:32
you to the final frontier these are the
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voyages of the animal his continuing
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mission to explore strange new things
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and seek out exotic locations to boldly
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go
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you're doing good doing good right right
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look at this horse poop the horse poop
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which out