Universal Studios Universal Studios , " aka " Universal Pictures or Universal for short , is one of the subsidiaries of NBCUniversal and , having been founded on 30 April 1912 , the oldest movie studio in Hollywood . The second oldest , though only by a few months , is Paramount Pictures . While owned and produced by Paramount , Universal " has " made contributions to the " Star Trek " franchise , but these were usually not directly discernible to the public eye . Being industry competitors notwithstanding , Paramount and Universal joined forces when they , as equal partners , established Cinema International Corporation ( CIC ) in 1971 ( as of 1981 : United International Pictures – UIP – ) as a joint venture , and responsible for the distribution of feature films outside the US , which included all of the later . This action was necessitated partly for cost - cutting reasons , partly for anti - trust rules , specifically aimed to break the hold individual studios hitherto had on the entirety of the industry , otherwise known as the traditional " " ( " see also Desilu Studios in this regard " ) . With the advent of the VHS and Betamax video tape home media format , a subsidiary division , CIC Video , was established two years later , responsible for the distribution of this home media format – exclusively through the rental circuit initially – , including all the " Star Trek " productions released in this format . Yet , CIC Video as a joint venture was dissolved in 1999 ( corresponding with the demise of the video tape in favor of such later home media formats as the LaserDisc , VCD , DVD , and later still , the Blu - ray Disc ) when Paramount reasserted full control over the release of their home media formats through their own division , Paramount Home Entertainment . As of 2016 however , UIP is still in operation and still equally shared by Paramount and Universal . It was not only for the distribution of " Star Trek " live - action productions , that the two industry competitors cooperated ; while licensed by Paramount , it was somewhat ironic that it was not the official franchise , but rather Universal who produced and organized one of the very first official " Star Trek " attractions , the two 1988 - 1996 variant , largely overlapping " " Star Trek Adventure " " live - performance attractions , housed on its two " Universal Studios Tour " theme - park premises in Hollywood , Los Angeles , California and in Orlando , Florida . . On later occasions , parts of the episodes , and were filmed on location at Universal Studios in California on a redress of their " Little Europe " backlot set , as the exteriors of the cities Sainte Claire and Fair Haven . Some of the buildings can be seen in both episodes . For the episode , the production crew went to the Universal Studios backlot set " Western Town " , which was used to portray the city . The friendly cooperation between the two studios was , aside from the use of each other ' s standing sets , also exemplified by Universal allowing the " Star Trek " production to occasionally use production materials and clippings from their ( movie ) productions as recycled footage . Two such examples were the of the Relva VII outpost matte painting for , and the of clippings from Universal ' s 2000 war movie seen in the title sequences of the two mirror universe episodes , . Despite the cooperation with Paramount , Universal was one of the Hollywood studios that became increasingly envious of Paramount for its " Star Trek " franchise due to the property ' s stable and highly profitable revenue stream for that studio , especially in the early - to - mid 1990s when " Star Trek " was at its peak in popularity , being Paramount ' s most profitable property for a period of time , admitted as such by them . ( " " , pp . 50 - 51 ) Having already missed out on the " Star Wars " franchise when it turned down its creator , George Lucas , in the mid - 1970s , Universal became one of the studios that invested most heavily trying to create something akin to the " Star Trek " franchise for themselves – the other ones being Warner Brothers ( " Babylon 5 " , 1993 - 2002 ) " and " 20th Century Fox ( " Firefly " , 2002 - 2005 ; " Terra Nova " , 2011 ) which , though having been the production company , declined to become further involved in " Star Wars " as a franchise . Early attempts by Universal to create a science fiction franchise of their own encompassed ' s original " Battlestar Galactica " franchise ( 1978 - 1979 ) and his follow - up " Buck Rogers in the 25th Century " ( 1979 - 1981 , and both productions served by future " Star Trek " production staffers ) , but both did not succeed in achieving the hoped for success , neither surpassing a two - season run , even though both have attained something of a cult status later on . Universal ' s first serious ( post - ) emulation attempt , " SeaQuest DSV " ( 1993 - 1996 ) , was an unadulterated expensive flop . Future , but then " SeaQuest " , production staffer Ben Betts elaborated , " " They definitely wanted to have something like " Star Trek " . They wouldn ' t say that aloud , but that was what they were going for . They were trying to find " Star Trek " under water . Everything was there , except for the stories . They didn ' t have enough of a human element so they ' d get caught up in the technology . . . kind of fall back on the technology to bail everybody out by the end of the episode . It was plain as day to people working on the show . Everything was right . They were spending the money to make the graphics look good , the CGI " [ note : produced by Amblin Imaging , especially established for " SeaQuest " , and later working on the CGI of the first two seasons of " Voyager " ] " looked great , the sets were well lit , they had a pretty good cast . . . but it didn ' t work . It still wasn ' t " Star Trek " . " ( " " , p . 54 ) Becoming a minor , obscure footnote in science fiction television history , " SeaQuest DSV " has all but been forgotten . More successful was Universal ' s second attempt , when they revisited their own older , nearly forgotten and short - lived science fiction property : Ronald D . Moore ' s re - imagined 2003 - 2012 " Battlestar Galactica " franchise . Though highly successful in the time period 2003 - 2008 , both in popularity and acclaim – especially in light of the , at the time , very poorly received – , while the primary revamped " Galactica " series was in production , after production was suspended , interest in " Battlestar Galactica " as a franchise petered out quickly , particularly due to the failure of its spin - off productions ( most notably the " Caprica " series and therefore sharing a similar fate with Warner Brothers ' " Babylon 5 " franchise ) , and it had nowhere near the longevity the " Star Trek " franchise had enjoyed . Unlike " SeaQuest DSV " though , " Battlestar Galactica " , both the revamped version as well as its original 1970s progenitor , " does " enjoy a cult status . Universal ' s third attempt however , the more recent " Defiance " series ( 2013 - 2015 , and on which – like the revamped " Battlestar Galactica " – many former " Star Trek " visual effects staffers had worked ) , has fared little better than " SeaQuest DSV " . Incidentally , the Hollywood studio that came closest to emulate the longevity " and " format of the " Star Trek " franchise , had been MGM , ironically the very first studio to turn down back in 1964 , with its " " franchise ( its primary series " Stargate SG - 1 " ran for an all - time science fiction show record breaking ten seasons ) , which ran from 1994 through 2011 , though interest in that franchise , despite its likewise cult status , has waned too , after live - action production had been suspended in 2011 .