Did the entire bridge module get replaced?

[ancient]

I've been looking at some bridge refit pictures & I got to thinking:

The bridge of the ENT-D changed a lot in TNG & Generations. They never really addressed this in the show. 'In universe' do you think that it was just new carpets, wall panels, consoles, etc - or did the entire bridge get swapped out? We know that swappable bridges were intended to be a thing 'in universe'. Is the Season 1 bridge a completely different bridge?

 

[MacLeod]

It's possible, but I suspect it was more of a retrofit than a new module.

 

[Timo]

We know that swappable bridges were intended to be a thing 'in universe'.

But we don't know if they were intended 'in universe' to be a thing - nor if they were a thing 'in universe'.

That is, we never hear of an in-universe character or organization that would have intended for the bridges to be swappable, and we never see in-universe evidence of a swappable bridge.

Why go to the trouble of swapping when you can simply recarpet? Why build an all-new bridge if all you really want to achieve is update a few consoles and move a couple of turbolift stations?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

In the novel Rogue Saucer, they replaced the entire saucer.

I'm certain at least one novel mentioned swappable bridge modules, if not one of the technical books.

It makes sense, what with the number of bridge consoles that explode from the slightest phaser or torpedo hit. It would be the most easily replaceable modular part on the ship, other than nacelles.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

In the novel Rogue Saucer, they replaced the entire saucer.

That was only as part of a test, though, wasn't it

 

[BillJ]

Why go to the trouble of swapping when you can simply recarpet? Why build an all-new bridge if all you really want to achieve is update a few consoles and move a couple of turbolift stations?

Because of ease. Why change the actual structure of the bridge while its still attached, when you can simply plug a new one in? I would think the difference between the Enterprise-A bridge during The Voyage Home and The Final Frontier would lend some credit to swapable bridge modules.

I'm certain at least one novel mentioned swappable bridge modules, if not one of the technical books.

Mentioned in the TNG Technical Manual, I believe.

...or did the entire bridge get swapped out?

I think it got swapped out.

 

[Finn]

It'd explain the huge difference between Odyssey's bridge (including the ODN panels) and the Enterprise D...

 

[BillJ]

According to the TNG Tech Manual (pages 31,32), the idea of swappable bridge modules came from Herman Zimmerman during work on Star Trek V. The idea was to explain the differences in the bridge between the two films.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

That was only as part of a test, though, wasn't it

It's been a long time, but yeah, I think it was a "test" saucer. But since the separation can be done so easily, it wouldn't surprise me if they swapped it for other reasons.

 

[tomswift2002]

In the novel Rogue Saucer, they replaced the entire saucer.

I'm certain at least one novel mentioned swappable bridge modules, if not one of the technical books.

The saucer was only replaced for the duration of the book, while the usual sauce was undergoing upgrades and repairs. And the "Rogue" saucer was a saucer that was being tested to see how it would hold up during a crash landing.

As for the replaceable bridge module, I think you are thinking of A Flag Full Of Stars and the other Lost Years novels where the Enterprise is in spacedock between TAS and TMP.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I think I remember the E-E bridge module being replaceable, but so many books and magazines over the years.

 

[Paradise City]

Okuda is a big on the whole replacement thing. Seems to make sense to me. Gives production a bit more space to work with as well. I assume the bridge in Generations is merely refurbished mind you.

 

[Griffeytrek]

You kinda figure when the bridge consoles explode every few days, and you have a gold shirt piss themselves and die on the bridge floor weekly, you're gonna need some new carpets. I mean Picard is a refined gentleman of taste. The lingering stench of burned dead crewman pee just would not do for his bridge. No matter how many spritz's of fabreeze you give it.

 

[Timo]

Why change the actual structure of the bridge while its still attached, when you can simply plug a new one in?

But "plugging a new one" is the very same thing as "changing the actual structure". It's completely unnecessary when your goal is simply to get a few consoles updated. The consoles are already modular (in real life, so why not in-universe, too?), and so are the turbolift stations etc. Just swap those.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BillJ]

But "plugging a new one" is the very same thing as "changing the actual structure".

No. It really isn't. Look at the "A" bridge change and tell me they just updated the consoles.

 

[Timo]

That's a non sequitur - plugging a new one is the very same thing as changing the actual structure by definition, as the old goes out and the new comes in. There's no way around that. You just dumped X tons of futuromaterials in the waste bin and installed X new tons in their place, after first going to the trouble of building an all-new bridge out of the latter X tons.

Wholly apart from that, I do tell you they just updated the consoles. After all, that's what they did. In reality. Which could just as well be the in-universe reality.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BillJ]

That's a non sequitur - plugging a new one is the very same thing as changing the actual structure by definition, as the old goes out and the new comes in. There's no way around that. You just dumped X tons of futuromaterials in the waste bin and installed X new tons in their place, after first going to the trouble of building an all-new bridge out of the latter X tons.

Who says the old bridge get tossed in the waste bin? Why can't it be refurbished while not part of a particular ship?

 

[Timo]

Why can't it be refurbished while part of a particular ship? The yanking out and plugging in processes sound wasteful and destructive enough in themselves - and if the idea is that a bridge can't be re-consoled in situ, why should this be any more possible ex situ?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BillJ]

Why can't it be refurbished while part of a particular ship? The yanking out and plugging in processes sound wasteful and destructive enough in themselves - and if the idea is that a bridge can't be re-consoled in situ, why should this be any more possible ex situ?

Timo Saloniemi

Because you aren't holding up an entire starship for the upgrade. I don't understand why "plug-and-play" is so hard to understand in this day and age?

 

[Long Syntax]

I'm getting popcorn - it's getting interesting