I'm actually curious about this too. I don't recall seeing any concrete floors on the ships specifically. But I do recall the floors of the TOS Enterprise actually where concrete. So to me it seems a bit hypocritical to say that the 2009 movie is wrong because it did something TOS did. Anyway, just my own opinion.
^^ At least the concrete stage floor was painted to not look like concrete. Since they can manipulate gravity and subspace, can't they have space-concrete? How tough and strong would the ship be if it was made out of some 23rd Century exotic reinforced concrete? The hull could be made out of sections consisting of some exotic composite material that's poured into shape like concrete. And then joined to the hull sub structure with those self-sealing stembolts. But no more brewery or water processing plant in the next movies.
Maybe they route their domestic hot water through the warp core to save on heating costs? Could be lots of things, I guess.
I'm all for adding a sense of scale and realism to sets, however JJ failed miserably. But did anyone really think that this guy was a genius like Probert and company? 1701-D connects the outside and inside (with windows and the shape of Deck 1) in a very satisfying way. Perhaps we got spoiled. Perhaps, we got shafted. I for one would hate to work on JJ's ship. If it's not the grunge of the brewery its the eye blistering brightness of an Apple store. Gravel driveway? No problem, more ecologically friendly I suppose. Apparently flying debris is no longer a problem. Drexler's original sketch for the shipyards would have been faaaaaaar more appropriate. A shipyard in Iowa? Bothering me less and less,...does anyone REALLY want these enormous machines built in San Francisco or other urban center? What possible advantage would that have aside from shortened supply lines,...in exchange for air and ground space congestion, light and sound pollution, and if it it's really as 20th century as it appears then industrial hazards.
Bit doesn't STXI connect the inside and outside of the ship pretty clearly too? It's impossible to mistake the bridge window, we see the how the giant hanger deck leads straight to engineering (you have to pass through the lowest level of engineering on your way in and out), and we see the warp cores eject through the cieling and emerge from the lower neck, right where they should.
In XII the shuttle bay will be replaced by the paring garage at Disneyland, Sickbay by a walk-in clinic in Burbank and the gym by a basketball hoop mounted on the front of some guys garage.
I don't think any Trek production has done a very good job of visually connecting the ship's exterior with its interior. Some of the better efforts have been... TOS The very first "fly-in" to the bridge in "The Cage" was pretty effective. TMP The drydock scene made the ship seem suitably large, and following Kirk from the travel pod into the hangar area with the open aft doors helped to fuse the interior and exterior pretty well. VGR The teaser scene in "Good Shepherd" took us through a Deck 1 window, through the ship and out a Deck 15 window. Pretty cool. ENT I didn't watch enough of this show to see any good visual ties between the interior and exterior, but I would imagine that there were at least a few. STXI The "outside looking in" shot of the bridge worked pretty well.
Excellent point. Some of the better efforts have been... Similarly that is what worked for me is in the beginning ST V FINAL FRONTIER the initial arrival of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Uhura in the shuttlecraft inside the massive 1701-A Hangar deck set. They are greeted by Scotty and immediately take the turbolift directly up to the bridge giving a sense of the operations on board the starship.
This is an exterior, but it's the same idea. It's a shot from the 1970s Buck Rogers TV series that combines the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles with a matte painting. Still looks pretty cool if you ask me.
Absolutely, that scene from Buck Rogers In The 25th Century 1979-81 series "Awakening" pilot episode that was first released theatrically in 1979 still looks great.