A failsafe, perhaps - or then a destination-selecting device? Perhaps one twists the handle to select a destination, then informs his or her fellow passengers about the selection one just made because the machinery itself doesn't make the selection visible or audible. Timo Saloniemi
Oh back on the Enterprise D turbolift being on the same level as the Bridge (not separate) I do remember seeing an episode where Picard or someone made it to the bridge while the turbolift was being faulty and he had to climb out while it was lower then the floor of the bridge, so it was movable in regards to stage production, etc. Then again, I think I've kind of lost what the topic is now, I just figured I'd toss that little nugget out there :P
The lever could stop the turbollift anywhere on the journey IIRC. Basically like the "stop" button in elevators today.
Indeed, that was Disaster I think, the episode in which the Enterprise computer went down and the whole ship wasn't working, and it was Ensign Ro who climbed up the shaft to the bridge
Now the problem with Disaster is why did the turbolift fall to the bottom of the shaft when there's no real gravity on the ship other than the generators in the decks?!?!
Both the turbolift entrances on the bridge have a primary car and a "wait" car. This is likely because the turbolift on the bridge is the most important station. Other turbolifts throughout the ship we've seen people wait for. (The only time I can recall someone on the bridge waiting for a lift is in "Yesterday's Enterprise" where it's likely the higher population and reduced power usage made a bridge-wait for a lift necessary.) As for their only being one set of doors and not seam between the car and the lift? Well in the real world they probably just thought no one would notice. In the Trek world we can just assume they're there and we just can't see them because they're so well hidden.... or something. (Really there's no good explantaion in-universe.) On the topic of seams there's a seam in the back of the uniforms where the "real-world zipper" is. We're not supposed to notice these as they're "not there" or are simply a design feature of the uniform. The uniforms have a "seamless fastener" inthe front that is beautifuly displayed in "Ensign Ro" when she takes off her uniform tunic and gives it to a girl planetside. It's worth nothing Ro wears the standard women's uniform which looks like it's all one piece put it appears there's the tunic and then a onepiece jumper under it. So, yeah, it seems in the 24c they are really good at hiding seams and the seperation between two objects. So the seam in the floor and between the two sets of the doors is there, we just can't see them.
We know the turbolift was a separate set - it almost had to be, for the necessary camera angles. But do we know that all three turbolifts on the E-D bridge were separable set components? Or was there just one movable standard lift set, plus fixed (or missing) sets for the other standard lift and the Battle Bridge express lift? I guess one of the backstage books would show this clearly enough... So, do we have some sort of confirmation that the E-D bridge turbolift would indeed lack that floor seam? A screencap or something definite like that? So far, it still sounds like an urban myth. Timo Saloniemi
It would seem to me there'd at least have to be a track in the floor for the sliding set doors to work. It's probably worth pointing out we only saw the Battle Bridge emergency turbolift used once in the entire series. (I think there's points where see people heading towards it but we only actualy see it entered and the inside of it once, in the pilot episode.)
Well I'm not sure if it's accurate to call it an "urban myth". It is true I could be remembering wrong as I haven't watched any TNG in a long time, but I'm very sure I thought it cute in a nitpicky way that the carpet seemed to go right on without a break.
Ah. I don't want to doubt your memory of this or anything... Sorry about sounding irreverent. Do you have any recolletion about the context of the shot that revealed the lack of seam? Was it a rare top-down shot where Picard's head shone nicely and reflected the microphone boom? Or a close-in of LaForge's untied shoelaces? Or simply a long-distance shot that extended down to the actors' feet? Timo Saloniemi
I, too, am pretty sure the carpet goes uninterrupted from bridge to turbolift. I don't remember the episode where this is visible, but it sure is no urban myth.
Still probing... Would that be the aft bridge turbolift, or the forward one? Or perhaps both? I'm doing my best to go through the TrekCore caps, but it's slooooow going... Timo Saloniemi
I think it may have been visible many times, but the shots are so mundane (people entering/exiting the bridge) that you don't look at the floor much. It may have been any of them, I don't recall.
That's a great pic too! So there is a change of color in the carpet...I sort of remember that now, the different color running along the walls. So i guess we can assume that the the in-world explanation is is that's where the small seam is.
Yeah from my memory, the carpet in the turbolifts match that of the main corridors of the ship..... in regards to the turbolift doors, from the look of the above picture, there appears to be enough thickness and area there to have two sets of doors back to back (one set for the bridge and the other set for the turbolift.) Meanwhile the living quarters, Picard's ready room, etc. would only have one set.
How could that possibly be? It would have to be the inner door because there is always a door visible on the bridge even when a turbolift is moving to it/away from it. If that's true then there would be many doorless turbolift alcoves haphazardly around the ship.
Looking at the Geordi-roll picture the doors look pretty thick and it looks like there's a seam there, so it looks as if there are two sets of doors.