When you hear the wordsStar Trek, certain images probably come to mind. Maybe it’s Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) distinctive pointy ears, the Starfleet rank insignia on everyone’s uniforms, or thevarious designs of the U.S.S.Enterpriseitself. Film and television history has no shortage of instantly recognizable costumes and props (take theruby slippers fromThe Wizard of Oz, for example), butStar Trekis arguably one of the rare franchises wheremultiple fictional itemshave entered the pop culture lexicon.
It’s not uncommon for actors to take home a prop that holds special significance for their character once filming wraps, or for eager fans to snatch up iconic items at an auction. Thecaptain’s chairfrom theEnterprisebridge might seem like a less obvious — and more unwieldy — prop for someone to take home, but hauling a large piece of furniture around apparently hasn’t stopped certain people from snatching upCaptain James T. Kirk’s (William Shatner) chair over the years.Only one captain’s chair ever made it from oneStar Trekmovie to the next without being stolen, and that same chair lived long enough to unconventionally grace the small screen.
How Did Chris Pine’s Star Trek Chair Wind Up in an Insurance Commercial?
In 2013, actor and stand-up comedianDarrin Rosestarred in a car insurance commercial tied to directorJ. J. Abrams' secondStar Trekreboot film,Star Trek: Into Darkness. The ad — also starringMr. and Mrs. SmithandBlue Eye Samurai’sMaya Erskine— spoofed the frequent ship-to-ship battles for which the franchise is known. After an alien vessel bumps into a Federation starship, the crew prepares for a hostile battle. Instead, the other captain awkwardly apologizes for grazing them andoffers to trade insurance information.
According to a dualpost on Rose’s Facebookand Instagram, the ad used the same captain’s chair prop from Abrams' 2009Star Trekmovie as well as itsfollow-up,Into Darkness. BecauseAbrams' company, Bad Robot, produced the commercial, they automatically had access tothe movies' props, costumes, and makeup, and replicated a high-budget starship bridge — which makes the already clever tie-in commercial even funnier. As for howChris Pine’sEnterprisechair factors into the ad, Rose learned during filming that every other captain’s chair from previousTrekmovies had met an unfortunate end. He wrote on social media:
“All the costumes and props [in the commercial] are authentic — the captain’s chair I sit in is the same one Chris Pine sits in in the movie. I was told it wasthe first Captain’s chair to be used twice(in the first two Chris Pine Star Treks) — all the other chairs had been stolen after each production wrapped.”
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Is the Captain’s Chair From J. J. Abrams' Star Trek Movies Still Safe?
Considering that Hollywood made10Star Trekfilmsbefore Abrams' reboot timeline kicked off in 2009 — six with the cast ofStar Trek: The Original Seriesand four starring the ensemble of the sequel series,Star Trek: The Next Generation— that means 10 different illegally obtained captain’s chairs are stashed away somewhere. Rose jokingly added that after filming the commercial,theInto Darknesschair was placed under humorously strict protection: “This chair had been stored in a box marked Biohazard.”
Even thoughthe seats that helped Shatner’s Captain KirkandPatrick Stewart’sCaptain Picardsave the galaxy would make an impressive addition to one’s memorabilia collection (or just a futuristic piece of furniture), obviously, we here at Collider don’t condone stealing. That said, for all the props not to survive from movie-to-movie,sneaking out with a chair seems a little more conspicuousthan, say, a pair of Vulcan ears.
Star Trek: Into Darknessis available to stream on Paramount+.
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Star Trek Into Darkness
