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Re-Uses of the Little Europe Set

by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider

"Little Europe" is a permanent set on the Universal Studios lot. This set was used to represent European settings, for which Paramount's own New York Streets set was deemed unsuited.

We could see "Little Europe" in the following episodes:

1. Sainte Claire, a fictional French town (holographic) in the double episode VOY: "The Killing Game"

2. Fair Haven, a fictional Irish village (holographic) in VOY: "Fair Haven" and VOY: "Spirit Folk"

In the following we will identify the portions of the set that are visible in these episodes, comparing the screen caps with aerial views and with photos that Jörg took during a studio tour.

General Information

Just as on the Paramount lot, there are a number of permanent building sets on the ground of Universal Studios. Universal Studios too owns a "New York Streets" set, which is adjacent to the famous Courthouse Square, known from "Back to the Future" or from "Ghost Whisperer". This set was destroyed by a fire in 2008 and has been rebuilt in the meantime.

In addition, there is the "Little Europe" set that this article is about. The set is subdivided into six sections A to F with different functions and six areas of special interest S1 to S6.

Map of Little Europe set
(Open Street Map)

The single sections are described as follows:

A: This is the portion of Little Europe that can be seen most frequently in the Voyager episodes. The Universal Studios website shows some more information and pictures.

B: This area is called "Court of Miracles". It is not visible in any of the Star Trek episodes.

C: This is the so-called "Spartacus Square", which can be dressed as ancient Rome or Egypt. This part of the set is vaguely visible in "The Killing Game" and "Spirit Folk".

D: This is the "Mediterranean Square". This area is not visible in the Voyager episodes either.

E: This portion is called "Little Europe - Eastern Area". The large atrium is located in the center of the Little Europe area. It is connected with the main area and with the "Court of Miracles" by a big gate. We can see a portion of this set through the open gate in "The Killing Game"

F: Section F is a large open space located in a depression at the northern end of the set. We suppose that this section serves to erect additional buildings or a park, depending what is required for a particular movie. It is also possible that the area is deepened and left empty for operation with camera cranes and other bulky equipment.

S1: This is a big gate, to the left of the main building that serves as the Nazi headquarters in "The Killing Game". The gate is closed in the episode with a wooden wall. In "Spirit Folk", on the other hand, it is open, which gives rise to a blooper (more about that later).

S2: Here we can see a narrow lane between two building blocks with a archway on one end. It is where Neelix and Seven are hiding in "The Killing Game".

S3: This is another tunnel through a building, which connects the atrium with the street on the outside. Some shots from the atrium, as it could be seen in "Pirates of the Caribbean" are on display in Universal Studios' Studio Tour. On the very right we can see the tunnel. It is where the Nazis seek cover during a shooting with US soldiers.

S4: Here is yet another gate. It connects the main section A of Little Europe with the "Eastern Area" E. In "Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk" this gate is closed with a wooden fence. It is open in "The Killing Game".

S5: This is a Mediterranean square with a big tree and a small fountain.

S6: This is the train station. In "Fair Haven" we can even see a train mockup in the set, in the other episodes the station can only be seen in the background.

Overview of the Little Europe set
(Google Maps)

Sections of the Little Europe set
(based on Google Maps)

Note that in order to facilitate the description of the episodes our maps are upside down, so north is at the bottom. Also note that in the following the directions "up, "down", "left" and "right" always indicate where on a screen cap something can be found, rather than on the map.

Sainte Claire

For "The Killing Game" the set was transformed into a fictional town in northern France named "Sainte Claire" in the timeframe of 1944. Besides numerous French-language shops and posters we can also see German street signs and other signs, indicating that Sainte Claire is occupied by the Nazis.

The first three of the four maps show the lines of sight of the following screen caps and photos. The numbers are also referenced in the text in the left column of the table. The fourth map summarizes Sainte Claire's buildings that appeared in "The Killing Game".

Lines of sight in Sainte Claire, part 1
(based on Google Maps)

Lines of sight in Sainte Claire, part 2
(based on Google Maps)

Lines of sight in Sainte Claire, part 3
(based on Google Maps)

Buildings of Sainte Claire
(based on Google Maps)

Description

Screen caps

Photos

The scenes on the set begin with a long sequence, in which the camera films Neelix on a bicycle from various positions (1 to 6). Right at the beginning there is a blooper, because we can see the limits of the set and some stuff in front of the hill (a boat?) that certainly doesn't belong to Sainte Claire (1). Neelix traverses the portion of the set that is currently called "Pirates of the Caribbean Alley". He passes a lingerie shop with red canopies (2). This the future site of the post office of Fair Haven (see below). He continues his ride along the small square with the tree and the fountain S5, past the boundary of "Spartacus Square" (3) and past the "Café Chez Renée", where in Fair Haven the "Ox and Lamb" will be located (4). Then he drives past the tobacco store, the "O'Sullivan's" of Fair Haven (5). Finally he arrives at the big depression F, where a Hirogen-Nazi stops him (6).

1		2		3
4		5		6

Looking at the screen cap 6 again, the Nazi headquarters is located on the right. We can see how B'Elanna Torres approaches this building from the depression (7). The flag, by the way, is wrong because there was no official flag of Nazi Germany with a black swastika on red ground. Two Hirogen-Nazis are walking past the building. On the left we can see the closed archway S1 (8).

As Neelix is on his bike again, we can have a look at the square S5 with the fountain and the tree. The lingerie shop is located on the right, on the left there is "Marchand de Vins", a liquor and wine shop. Well, and there's another blooper, because the famous 2CV didn't yet exist in 1944 (9 and 10).

A look down from the balcony on the roof of "Chez Renée" shows us the corner of the aforementioned square. The archway is on the right, leading into the small lane S2 where Neelix and Seven take refuge (12 to 14). The other end of the lane is visible too for a moment (14).

7	8	9
10	11	12
	13	14

A look from the roof of the Nazi headquarters shows us a large portion of the whole area (15). On the left bottom we can see the deepening F, which is enclosed by a fence. The red canopy is on the upper right. After the Nazi headquarters has exploded there is one take in which the left portion of the image is still the real set, whereas the right portion was replaced with a CGI extension (16). In reality there is another building in this place. A similar view is possible from the roof of the wine shop (17).

We can see outside from the other aforementioned tunnel S3 near the marketplace S5 (18). Here the Nazis are hiding from the American soldiers during a skirmish. On the left we can make out the stairway leading up to the balcony on the roof of the "Chez Renée".

The railway station S6 too is adorned by a swastika flag (19). A better look at this building will be possible in "Fair Haven". We can also see the natural landscape beyond the set border, a hill sloping up right behind the station. In "Fair Haven" the natural background will be replaced with an Irish CGI landscape. On the right a part of a shop named "l'Odalisque" is visible. This is the same place as "O'Rourke's" in Fair Haven with a striking blue sign. In the foreground we can see the barricades as they are marked on the map too. From here the Résistance (from the side of station) and the Nazis (near the wine shop) engage in a firefight.

15		16		17
		18		19

We can also look through the open door S4 on the left side of the tobacco store and right of the "l'Odalisque" (20). In Fair Haven this door is closed with a fence. From here we can look at the section E of the area, the "Little Europe - Eastern area". Another shot shows us some details at a relatively far distance (21). In the foreground we can see the wine and liquor shop behind whose windows the Nazis are hiding. The background shows a roof on columns, as it is also visible in the aerial views. Behind these columns there is an exterior wall of the set, below the section F, the large deepening on the studio map.

At a wall opposite to the station resistance fighters are due for execution (22). If in this take the camera panned just a bit further to the left, we could see the section B, "Court of Miracles". But this part of the set is not visible in any Trek episode.

In the row of buildings on the left side of the Nazi headquarters, on whose left end the tobacco shop is located, the local office of the "Parti Français National Socialiste" is located, next to a chocolate shop (23). The next shop to the left is a bakery (boulangerie). On the ground floor of the Nazi headquarters a locksmith's workshop (serrurier) is located (24).

In one corner of the deepening F Tuvok and the US troops are seeking cover when they invade the town (25).

When the Nazis leave the holodeck, the holodeck arch materializes at the end of the small lane S2 in which Neelix and Seven were hiding, in a place where there is an archway in the set too (26).

Finally we can see towards the end of "The Killing Game, Part II" a portion of the center of the set, looking down from a corridor of Voyager. The whole town is a CGI set in this take (27).

23		24		25
		26		27

Interestingly the "Cœur de Lion" is never once shown from the outside, the bar where many scenes of the double episode take place. We can only guess the right direction to the bar at the beginning of the episode, when Neelix is going to deliver the latest codes on wine bottles to Janeway.

Fair Haven

Two years later the Little Europe set made two appearances as the Irish village "Fair Haven". All signs are in Gaelic as well as in English (the former with occasional mistakes though as we were told). Anyway, this bilingualism makes Fair Haven appear realistic. All in all, except some fresh paint nothing essential was changed about the buildings on the set since it appeared as Sainte Claire, only some doors that were open are now closed, and vice versa.

The map on the left shows the lines of sight of the following screen caps and photos. The numbers are also referenced in the text in the left column of the table. The map on the right summarizes Fair Haven's buildings that appeared in "Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk".

Lines of sight in Fair Haven
(based on Google Maps)

Buildings of Fair Haven
(based on Google Maps)

Description

Screen caps

Photos

VOY: Fair Haven

In the episode "Fair Haven" we can see the village looking from the platform of the station S6 (1a). On the left we can see the wall where the Résistance fighters were supposed to be executed in "The Killing Game". Directly behind the direction sign on the left there is a tobacco shop (with a blue stripe above the window) and further on the right a butcher (reddish with yellow letters). Both shops are much better visible in a close shot (1b).

Looking into roughly the opposite direction we can see the blue tobacco shop on the left (2). The white building in the center of the picture is the "Ox and Lamb". Further on the right we can see the station, and finally the "O'Sullivan's" with its characteristic green and yellow colors. We can also see that the real hill was replaced with a taller and greener CGI hill, to look more like Ireland (Fair Haven's intended location is in the western part of Ireland, in County Clare).

		1a		1b
				2

The next screen cap shows a part of the square S5 with the tree and the fountain (3). In the place where lingerie was sold in Sainte Claire we can now see the post office (green building). Behind the post office we can make out the row of buildings that Neelix passed by at the beginning of "The Killing Game" and where the border of the set was visible. The building in the foreground on the right is the "Ox and Lamb". Moving away from the square we can see the tobacco shop once again, the post office in the background and the "Ox and Lamb" on the right - with a "Failte" (welcome) sign (4).

Looking out from a window on the first floor of "O'Rourke's" we can see the left side of the station in the background (5). The next view shows the O'Rourke's on the right, the same place where "l'Odalisque" was located in "The Killing Game" (6). Once again the station is visible in the background. To the left of the "O'Rourke's" there is one more shop, as the sign above the door indicates. It is the "Fenwick's".

The next shot shows the "O'Sullivan's", filmed from the tobacco shop (7). In the foreground we can see Maggie O'Halloran with her flower cart, which remains at the corner of the tobacco shop with its blue walls for the whole episode "Fair Haven". To the right of the "O'Sullivan's" we can see the row of houses that leads directly to the gate S1 beside the Nazi headquarters. We have to wait until "Spirit Folk" to see more of this portion of the set.

Finally we are shown Tom and Harry in front of the "Ox and Lamb" (8). On the right we can see the green/yellow walls of the "O'Sullivan's", to the left the closed archway S4, the entrance to the "Eastern Area" of the set. In "The Killing Game" this gate was still open, and a cart was parked here.

3		4		5
6		7		8

VOY: Spirit Folk

In "Spirit Folk" we are shown a bit more of the portion of the set around the Nazi headquarters of "The Killing Game". At the beginning of the episode Tom Paris drives from the former Nazi headquarters to the market place S5. We can see the building, with fresh paint, and the archway S1, which is open now (9). There is a blooper, because we can glimpse a bus through the open gate. As the aerial views reveal, the set does not continue beyond the gate, there is a normal tarred street behind it and an open space that could be a parking lot.

The two following screen caps show the same view from the roof of the former Nazi headquarters (10a - day, 10b - night). The tobacco shop is on the left, with the deepening F in front of it. On the right we can see the shop "Doheny & Ryan". During the shot of Tom's ride we can also see that the building next to the archway beside the Nazi headquarters is labeled "Alimentation". We can see the entrance to the "O'Sullivan's" and a window of the "Ox and Lamb" on the left.

Tracing Tom Paris's way through Fair Haven, we can notice that he drives past some of the buildings more than once (as it is almost customary, see also Re-Uses of the New York Streets Set). On his way we can look into the street to the left of the tobacco shop (11). This part of the set was not supposed to come into sight, as we can see a brown portable toilet and some spectators with apparently modern clothing. On the left in the background we can have a glance at "Spartacus Square". Tom finally arrives on the square S5, where his car bumps into the barrels.

9		10a		10b
				11

Harry kisses Maggie, who was transformed into a cow by Tom, on the market place with the tree and the fountain (12). Some time later, a bit more in the direction of the post office, the arch appears, when Harry and Tom are going to leave the holodeck (13).

In this episode Maggie's cart is no longer parked in front of the tobacco shop but always in front of the "Ox and Lamb" (14).

An important place in Fair Haven that isn't visible from outside in "Spirit Folk" is the church. As the set doesn't include anything that looks like church we can only see its interior. When the villagers of Fair Haven take Harry and Tom to the church, we can conclude that the building is somewhere to the right of the train station, as they are all running in this direction.

Addendum: Storm Front I

In ENT: "Storm Front, Part I" there is a brief scene in which a Nazi-Na'kuhl demonstrates his superior weapons. This is a black&white film sequence. When the Na'kuhl takes aim, we can see the famous corner of the New York Streets set, in which "Eva's Kitchen" was located, and "Alexandria Books" to the right. When the Na'kuhl shoots, there is a cut to stock footage of the explosion of the Nazi Headquarters (quite ironically!) from "The Killing Game". So this scene takes place on the two most frequently used street sets.

A Na'kuhl in the "New York Streets"...

...destroys a building in "Little Europe".

Addendum: Patterns of Force

In TOS: "Patterns of Force" (original and remastered) Kirk watches an Ekosian newsreel, in which one shot isn't actual footage from World War II but from a yet unidentified war movie. Very likely it was shot in the Little Europe set. More about this shot at Memory Alpha.