DEMOLITION OF THE STANDING SETS
/ [ENDGAME] SETS

Source: ST:M which contains the diary of the show's final days by scenic art Geoffrey Mandel.

With the end of the series in sight, in March-April 2001 the standing sets were demolished. Sometimes they were replaced by sets for the show's two-part finale [#171 and #172 Endgame].

Thursday 22 March	Voyager's science lab was being demolished: big dumpsters were parked outside Stage 9 and the (de-)construction crew busily dumped in armfuls of plywood and Plexilgas. This was to make space on the stage for the show's two-part finale [#171 and #172 Endgame].
Monday 26 March	This was the last day of shooting on the messhall set. This set may have been torn down on this day, although the Star Trek official site says the messhall set was the first standing set to be struck, on 1 April - the Star Trek website says this, although the science lab (see 22 March entry) was a standing set and the messhall's demolition began on 29 March (see below) - maybe the website means the final part of the messhall set was struck on 1 April and also that it considers the science lab not to be a major standing set.
Wednesday 28 March	The last scene was shot in Janeway's ready room, presumably for [#171 and #172 Endgame] in which Janeway talks with her future self. The set was then redressed as the ready room of USS Rhode Island for [#171 and #172 Endgame], a set which included Geoffrey Mandel's large backlit graphic of the galaxy.
Thursday 29 March	On Stage 8 the (de-)construction crew demolished the messhall and Janeway's quarters=>Kim's quarters on USS Rhode Island. The (de-)construction crew also dismantled a turbolift and the section of Voyager's corridor which linked them. The star backdrop (the cloth with thousands of tiny sequined stars) was put away, as was the 'greenscreen', the bright emerald-green backdrop which is lowered outside the windows for special effects shots. Also dismantled was the lighting grid i.e. the metal scaffolding which hung above the set and provided a working platform for the lighting crew and their stage lights. Next door, on Stage 9, a hospital room set was constructed, which in [#171 and #172 Endgame] represents Tuvok's room in Starfleet Medical on Earth in an alternate future. This set was built in the gaping hole left by the extraction of the science lab. On Stage 9, all the backlit control panels and monitors were now missing from Voyager's engineering set.
Friday 30 March	Another swing set, a section of the bridge of USS Rhode Island, was constructed next to the rubble of the messhall. It was Geoffrey Mandel's first Starfleet bridge set and he says he was "unreasonably proud of the colorful, blinking graphics." He adds, "As I step onto the stage, the lighting seems a little too bright, and I suddenly realise that the big doors of Stage 8 are open to the sunlight. For the first time in 14 years, you can actually stand at one side of the stage and see all the way to the other side!"

Tuesday 3 April

The messhall and Janeway's quarters have completely gone - even the carpets and floorboards have been ripped out of the stage. The construction crew relaid and repainted the stage floor. Voyager's dedication plaque (mounted on a wall on the bridge - its location and existence are seen/mentioned in [Equinox, Part Two]) has gone. Mandel remarks, "Not surprising, considering what a nifty souvenir it would make." A group of Paramount executives posed for pictures in the captain's chair. On Stage 9 the construction crew applied crowbars and screw guns to the upper level of engineering. As they tossed loads of painted wood and metal trim onto the floor below, they listened to oldies on the radio. The warp core remained for a time, but gaping open - a hollow tube - so that you could see straight through to the other side. The two control pannel behind the warp core were the last remaining Polarmotion panels on Voyager: backlit graphics which used a rotating polarised filter to simulate the flow of energy.

the warp core, partly dismantled

Thursday 5 April	Voyager's engineering set was now a bare wooden framework. Demolition began on the cargo bay/hangar deck/holodeck (formed one set). That was a set which had been largely left intact from [Star Trek: The Next Generation]. The Borg regeneration alcoves in cargo bay 2 were packed up and put in warehouse storage, some of the few items to be kept for possible future re-use.
Friday 6 April	A surprise party was held for the retiring members of the Voyager production staff e.g. Richard James the production designer. To add to the feeling of unreality the set dressing crew placed oversize props around the brightly lit bridge set - a giant roulette wheel, an Egyptian sarcophagus, golf club and Martini glass. The whole cast and crew turn out and sit at folding tables lavishly set with gold or silver tablecloths. The fully costumed Borg (who appear in [#171 and #172 Endgame]) are there, and Alice Krige (the Borg Queen) sat in full costume and make-up next to Jeri Ryan and Robert Beltran.
Monday 9 April	This was the last official day of shooting. The second unit crew still had a couple of scenes to finish shortly afterward, but otherwise it was the last day for many of the crew including most of the actors. Some of the production team, including scenic artists Michael Okuda and Jim Van Over had already started work on the new series [Enterprise]. Some of the production team would move onto new jobs completely, while a few would take a holiday before taking up their next jobs. On Stage 8 the last scenes ever aboard Voyager's bridge were shot, but as they were being shot already the skeleton of a new ship Enterprise was rising from where Voyager's messhall and Janeway's quarters once stood - bulkheads and doorways for the corridors were already in place. Magazine reporters and film crews were following Voyager's actors around, chronicling their last day although they seemed indifferent to the fate of the sets.
Wednesday 11 April	The 'wrap party' was held at 'W', a trendy Los Angeles hotel. One of the concoctions served in a glass was bright green and called a 'Borg Blaster'. Some Star Trek alumni attended, including John de Lancie (Q), Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Federation computer voice on [Star Trek: Voyager] with acting roles in other Star Trek series), Chase Masterson (Leeta), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Brent Spiner (Data). The latter two appeared briefly in/were mentioned on [Star Trek: Voyager] respectively.
Wednesday 23 May	[#171 and #172 Endgame], the show's finale was aired in the USA. The Mayor of Los Angeles officially declared the day Star Trek Voyager Day. It would be 25 February 2002 before Britons would be able to see [#171 and #172 Endgame], by buying the Paramount video, while on the BBC as at 25 February [#154 Nightingale], from rather earlier in Season 7, had just been aired for the first time following a delay of four weeks due to the airing of the Winter Olympics. (I travelled a long distance home from holiday specially to buy and watch [#171 and #172 Endgame], before going back to my holiday - I was there when the shop opened and 10 minutes later I was watching it.) The Paramount video of [#171 and #172 Endgame] was issued in certain other parts of the world at about the same date; the future date of [#171 and #172 Endgame]'s video release in the USA is unknown.

Below left: Part of one of the sets for [#171 and #172 Endgame], here part of Admiral Janeway's quarters - the stairs leading up to the entrance door. Below right: Bright close-up of the doorway in order to show the back of the flat of another set was put right up next to it.

Source ST:M

Source ST:M

the above as seen in the screened episode: