By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Deep down, many Star Trek fans wish they had their own Galaxy’s Edge…a way of stepping into the immersive world of their favorite “strange new worlds” and Starfleet heroes. However, one iconic actor from Deep Space Nine pointed out that producers more or less did recreate one of the show’s most brutal alien planets here on Earth, causing the cast to suffer even more than their characters. The planet in question is “Cardassia IV,” and after filming scenes for DS9’s Season 2 premiere “The Homecoming,” Kira Nerys actor Nana Visitor noted that their Soledad Canyon shooting location “was the perfect Cardassia IV, because it was like hell.”
The Real Cardassia IV
In the Deep Space Nine episode “The Homecoming,” Kira sets out to rescue a fellow Bajoran from a notorious prison camp on Cardassia IV. The Cardassians are the show’s equivalent to Nazis…between that and their in-universe reputation for being vicious jailers, viewers understood that Kira had her work cut out for her with this unconventional rescue mission. In real-life, though, shooting in Soledad Canyon meant that Nana Visitor and other actors had to watch out for more practical threats like snakes and bees, all while dealing with the kind of heat that would put the Fire Caves of Bajor to shame.
Ironically enough, the heat was the last thing producers were worried about when it came to shooting the Cardassia IV scenes. They were actually much more worried about the cast and crew getting bug bites, which is why they recommended everyone bring some Sea Breeze (this removes the painful sting of a bite). But while producers warned of bug bites, bee stings, and snake bites,it was the heat that ended up tormenting both Nana Visitor and Chief O’Brien actor Colm Meaney.
As she recalls, “Colm and I were sick to our stomachs.” This went beyond some kind of stomach bug…in Visitor’s words, “We were seriously wondering if we were going into heat prostration.” This made shooting the Cardassia IV scenes utterly miserable, but Visitor retained a sense of humor about the whole thing, later insisting that Solodad Canyon was a perfect shooting location because it emulated the hellish nature of Cardassia itself.
While shooting those Cardassia IV scenes for “The Homecoming,” the actors who hated the heat were hoping to never see Soledad Canyon again. Unfortunately, they didn’t get their wish: because producers loved how the canyon looked onscreen (it really is one of the show’s more stunning locations), they ended up shooting scenes there again for the Season 4 episode “Indiscretion,” the Season 5 episode “The Ship,” and the Season 6 episode “Rocks and Shoals.”
In those episodes, Soledad Canyon was used to portray other locations rather than Cardassia IV. Unfortunately for the actors involved, Soledad Canyon still retained the heat that made it the perfect location for a Cardassian prison camp (in-universe, these aliens really love the heat). Making matters worse is the fact that the heat was actually worse in subsequent episodes than it was for “The Homecoming,” making this one of the most hellish locations in Star Trek’s storied shooting history.
If you’re still wishing that you could step into the world of Star Trek, this tale of Soledad Canyon’s transformation into Cardassia IV might convince you otherwise. It had the kind of extreme heat that Cardassians love and humans absolutely hate. Plus, let’s be honest…who can enjoy a piping hot raktajino when the temperatures are soaring?
