Is there a suitably large grassy area in Golden Gate Park where a cloaked Klingon Bird-of-Prey could land? I don't think there are any hints in the film.
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1I always wondered why didn't anyone bump into it in the several days they were there.– Daniel RosemanCommented Sep 26, 2019 at 21:00
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@DanielRoseman: So did I: see scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/80140– PraxisCommented Sep 27, 2019 at 2:11
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@RobertF: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/80140 might already answer your question.– PraxisCommented Sep 27, 2019 at 2:13
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1 Answer
The film wasn't on location in the real Golden Gate Park but on the polo field of the Will Rogers State Park.
‘Golden Gate Park’, though, where the crew parks the ‘Bird of Prey’, is actually Will Rogers State Park, 14253 Sunset Boulevard, Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles. The park is the former estate of humorist Will Rogers in the Santa Monica mountains.
As to the specific location of the Bird of Prey, the script tells us that they're parked approximately 15km into the park, on an almost direct west bearing to the township of Sausalito, San Francisco where the Cetacean Institute is based.
KIRK: We'll stick together till we get orientated. Bearing to the whales?
UHURA (with tricorder) 283 degrees... 15.2 kilometers...
Unfortunately, such a bearing would place them squarely in the Gulf of the Farralones.
Assuming she meant due north (bearing 0), that would still place them about five kilometres outside of the park.
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3Right - but staying in-universe I'm curious if there is a location in Golden Gate Park where Sulu could discretely land the ship without crashing into trees?– RobertFCommented Sep 26, 2019 at 21:00
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1@RobertF - Have you tried google maps?– user62584Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 21:02
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2@Jeeped Good point - Looks like Bison Paddock or the Polo Field would be the two most likely spots (assuming they existed in 1986). Now we just need a consistent estimate of the size of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey: ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/bop-size.htm :-)– RobertFCommented Sep 26, 2019 at 21:21
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Excellent detective work! :-) Looks like this was a major oopsie in the script. Perhaps the scriptwriters got the bearing wrong but the distance of 15.2 km is correct (so swing your vector south)? However that still doesn't quite work, Golden Gate Park is only about 12 km from the northern-most part of Sausalito. If we place the Cetacean Institute on the other side of Richardson bay the distance may work, but of course the bearing is still off. Unless the definition of kilometers and compass bearing have changed in the 23rd century.– RobertFCommented Sep 27, 2019 at 13:31
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1@Robertf would a bearing from a tricorder be a relative or absolute bearing? If you take it to be relative to the direction she was facing at the time then you can make it whatever compass bearing you want– mgh42Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 5:43