Why *was* the bridge turbolift offset?

[Christopher]

I don't think that's meant to be a "window," since the shape is completely different from the shape of the pilots' main viewscreen -- also because that was quite clearly a video screen, not a window. Maybe it was supposed to be some kind of forward sensor array.

 

[uniderth]

And there was one on the port and starboard sides as well IIRC.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I don't think that's meant to be a "window," since the shape is completely different from the shape of the pilots' main viewscreen -- also because that was quite clearly a video screen, not a window. Maybe it was supposed to be some kind of forward sensor array.

The same is true of the bridge window in the 2009 movie (which did all the video screen stuff too), yet there's no doubt that's a window (and they fixed it for some shots in the second movie and all of the third)

And there was one on the port and starboard sides as well IIRC.

Are there any pictures showing them close-up? I've seen what looked like painted-on squares on the sides but I don't think they were like the forward one.

 

[Maurice]

Yeah, but there's also the fact that the viewscreen was an optical effect. They occasionally rear-projected footage onto it, like in "The Cage" or "Spock's Brain," or used a star backdrop, as in "The Doomsday Machine," but usually it was just a blank space to have an image matted into it in post-production. So setting up a shot of an actor with the viewscreen in the background would've been complicated for that reason as well as the reason you mention.

Sure, but the shot is a down-angle, and had the set been assembled it would have been trivial to frame it so the actual screen didn't show. My point is they likely didn't bother precisely because that section of the bridge was shoved off into some corner.

 

[Christopher]

The same is true of the bridge window in the 2009 movie (which did all the video screen stuff too), yet there's no doubt that's a window (and they fixed it for some shots in the second movie and all of the third)

Which is irrelevant, because TOS never, ever, ever implied that the main viewscreen was anything but a screen. In "The Cage," right at the start, we were shown the image on the screen disrupted by interference, and Spock referred to it as a screen in his second line. In "Where No Man," the first scene on the bridge showed the viewer inactive and Kirk's first line in the scene was "Screen on." Literally the first order of business in both pilots' debut bridge scenes was to tell the audience that the big rectangular thing in the front was a video screen and not a window.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Which is most likely why they removed the suspiciously window like apperature at the front of the bridge module on the model for the series proper.

 

[BillJ]

Why? Because TV.

 

[GNDN18]

“TOS never, ever, ever implied that the main viewscreen was anything but a screen.”

My crew.

 

[FormerLurker]

That's just showing what the camera on the outside is picking up.

 

[GNDN18]

I looked at the footage on Hulu and Kirk views the ship from the port side, not from the bow. This leads me to believe that either 1) he could see the bridge crew through the transparent dome; or 2) the shot of Kirk on the main viewer was inserted later in some effort to provide context.

Still, the implication is … exactly what you think it is.

 

[Christopher]

I looked at the footage on Hulu and Kirk views the ship from the port side, not from the bow. This leads me to believe that either 1) he could see the bridge crew through the transparent dome; or 2) the shot of Kirk on the main viewer was inserted later in some effort to provide context.

The dome isn't transparent, though. In the second pilot, when they enter the bridge, you can see a fair amount of the bridge's domed ceiling, and it's opaque. The opening shot of "The Cage" implied a transparent dome, but if that was intended literally and not metaphorically (as a "cutaway view"), it's an idea that wasn't kept beyond the first pilot.

I've always figured that the scripted intent was that Kirk was looking through the saucer windows, but they didn't have any footage of interior windows, so they just used a stock viewscreen FX plate as a stand-in. It was silly, since anyone who'd watched the show before and paid attention would know that you couldn't see in through the viewscreen, but it was the best they could manage to convey the idea.

Plus, of course, it was the third season, so attention to logic and consistency wasn't always a thing. Heck, the whole "Flint shrinks the Enterprise and by the way also freezes it in time" plot point was totally gratuitous and nonsensical anyway; the viewscreen silliness is one of its lesser problems. (Between TOS and Space: 1999, it's clear that a hallmark of Fred Freiberger's approach to science fiction was giving the antagonists whatever random, extreme, and nonsensical superpowers were convenient to the plot at a given moment.)

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It was silly, since anyone who'd watched the show before and paid attention would know that you couldn't see in through the viewscreen, but it was the best they could manage to convey the idea.

Plus, of course, it was the third season, so attention to logic and consistency wasn't always a thing. Heck, the whole "Flint shrinks the Enterprise and by the way also freezes it in time" plot point was totally gratuitous and nonsensical anyway; the viewscreen silliness is one of its lesser problems.

All true, but @GNDN18 still showed that this is false:

Which is irrelevant, because TOS never, ever, ever implied that the main viewscreen was anything but a screen.

 

[Flork]

I’ve always thought that the whole issue with the bridge turbolift was silly.

They filmed the TV bridge from certain angles to create more interest – Uhura’s station could then be more easily seen behind Kirk. The idea that the whole bridge was rotated because some cylinder in the back of the model conformed to the tubolift could just as easily been explained that the lift shaft was there (though that seems rather unsafe given it’s exposed to space rather than inside the dome) and the lift stopped before moving forward and then jogging to the right to the bridge doors.

They could just as easily have explained that this was for security reasons – before anyone got final access to the bridge, perhaps they were scanned or the computer could lock down the turbolift to prevent entry.

The Star Trek films seemed to deal with this better by putting flanking turbolifts to either side of Kirk’s chair, centering the bridge properly. I always assumed it just was even in the TV series.

 

[TIN_MAN]

I never took that scene from “RFM” as literally implying that Kirk was actually looking inside the ship and seeing his crew, but just looking at his now miniaturized ship and wondering aloud about the status of his crew.
His image on the viewscreen just implied to me that the (somehow still working) portside sensors were picking up his image, which kinda makes sense, since there’s usually an image of the “planet of the week” displayed there, and the ship is usually seen orbiting with the portside facing the planet, so ergo, the sensors were oriented portside as usual.
YMMV

 

[Maurice]

As as I've said, "front" doesn't matter on a ship with viewers instead of windows. The bridge could face backwards for all it matters.

 

[Forbin]

As as I've said, "front" doesn't matter on a ship with viewers instead of windows. The bridge could face backwards for all it matters.

That would certainly help when they hit the brakes suddenly!

 

[C57D]

Maybe that little bumpy thingy behind the bridge is not the turbo lift but the mystery jettionisable "Ion Pod" - hiding in plain sight all this time???

 

[Mytran]

Maybe that little bumpy thingy behind the bridge is not the turbo lift but the mystery jettionisable "Ion Pod" - hiding in plain sight all this time???

That would certainly make it easier for Finney to access "B Deck" I suppose!

For my money, I reckon the Ion Pod comes out of the centre of those 3 holes at the front of the saucer. It's the best place to do sensor work on the upcoming ion storm, since it is at the leading edge of the ship.

 

[Timo]

It also maximizes your odds of getting caught when sneaking to your hideout in Main Engineering, regardless of whether you think that is in the engineeting hull or saucer aft rim...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[C57D]

It also maximizes your odds of getting caught when sneaking to your hideout in Main Engineering, regardless of whether you think that is in the engineeting hull or saucer aft rim...

Timo Saloniemi

Which is a whole other can of worms to open lol !!!