Hey, I never noticed that before....

[Maurice]

Well, it may indeed (as it were) be that the room does not have the dimensions that it appears to in the shot analyzed with vanishing points. The blank cube could just be a default pattern, to indicate that the holographic projectors are on, working, and able to render images that exceed the room's actual dimensions. I'd never assumed that was the case, but....

The room HAS to be biggish because if Uhura, Bones and Sulu stood with their arms extended, fingertip to fingertip, they'd be effectively 16–17' feet across (the average person's height is roughly their armspan). That's the absolute minimum the room could be across or they would find a wall just doing that (maybe smaller if they happened to land on the diagonal). Not that anything on Star Trek Animated is well thought-out...least of all this loser episode.

 

[plynch]

Counting down till Christopher weighs in on the merits of Filmation . . . 3, 2, 1 . . .

 

[Commishsleer]

Anway where would you fit such a big room on the Enterprise and theres another huge different room in TMP Has the Enterprise got space for two great big empty spaces? .
The holodecks in VOY seem a lot smaller.but maybe thats improved technology.

 

[Mytran]

Anway where would you fit such a big room on the Enterprise and theres another huge different room in TMP Has the Enterprise got space for two great big empty spaces? .
The holodecks in VOY seem a lot smaller.but maybe thats improved technology.

TLDR
Due to the more complex shape of Voyager’s Holodeck accurate measurements are not possible without further analysis, but we get a pretty good idea with TNG’s version thanks to the grid
Measuring wall to wall (width) and door to rear wall (length):

• TNG Holodeck: 20’x36’
• VOY Holodeck: 24’x38’

HOW I GOT THERE...
In terms of size, the set plans show a maximum space available of 28' wide by 56' long which was usually dressed as the shuttle/cargo bay. However, thanks to the convenient grid lines it's clear to see that the Holodeck was much smaller than that:

https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/season-6/6x05/schisms-hd-171.jpg
If those grids are 2 feet wide as this pic indicates then the holodeck was only 10 squares wide. Other pics (and the later Voyager set) suggest dimensions of 20' wide by 32' long, plus another 4' of length for the "arch"

TNG sometimes showed an enormous square Holodeck

https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x21/hollow_pursuits_hd_428.jpg
However, the lines are much chunkier and I suspect this version only existed in CGI - or maybe it was a miniature?

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Holodeck?file=Hoerter_with_holodeck_model.jpg

All the physical sets consistently showed a rectangular shape

https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x04/codeofhonor_hd_075.jpg

However, sometimes the camera angles cheated to make the room appear larger than it was:

https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x14/a_matter_of_perspective_hd_399.jpg
https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x14/a_matter_of_perspective_hd_400.jpg
(remember, the set was only 10 squares wide!)

Voyager's Holodeck changed the walls but kept the convenient grid flooring. The bays on the walls actually expanded the width of the floorspace to 22' in places. They also pushed the outer walls to 26’ wide!

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Holodeck?file=Voyager_holodeck.jpg
The regular size of the bays also allow us to approximate the length of the room at 32', plus an extra foot or two granted by the bays at the end of the room

https://voy.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/5x11/latentimage_535.jpg
The design of the "arch" was altered for Voyager's Holodeck but the 4' extension was retained.

 

[Maurice]

[...]Voyager's Holodeck changed the walls but kept the convenient grid flooring. The bays on the walls actually expanded the width of the floorspace to 22' in places. They also pushed the outer walls to 26’ wide!
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/m...dth-down/694?cb=20120425004714&path-prefix=en

Bad link.

 

[Mytran]

Bad link.

Sorry about that. I've tried a different link now

 

[Maurice]

Still doesn't work.

 

[BK613]

It's memoryalpha; they've always been restrictive about linking to images used on their site.

 

[Mytran]

It's memoryalpha; they've always been restrictive about linking to images used on their site.

How annoying! I guess it wasn't showing up on my PC because it was already in my browser cache. I have now checked on my phone and neither MA link work. Hmmmm...

Still doesn't work.

I had hoped to avoid this, but I have rehosted the images myself.
And since I did those two images, I may as well do it for the others.
And display the images.

So much for a quick post!

 

[Timo]

The sad thing is that the TAS room would have easily fit inside the E-D (indeed, the "ocean shore" and "hedgerow maze" simulations it was projecting would have fit in there just as easily!), making those size considerations moot in general. The whole range of different TNG ones could be in there, too.

NCC-74656 may only ever have hosted a single holodeck, but fitting something like four would still not require much effort. Only the TAS one presents an "issue", and probably calls for the "default simulation is that of a vast room" rationalization... Although obviously Uhura would be in error when thinking they can defeat the computer by walking in a straight line, since the computer would already have fooled them with treadmill effects many times over during the forest stroll. Then again, her trick never worked anyway, irrespective of assumptions on holodeck size.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BK613]

@Mytran Nice overview on the holodeck. Had I been in charge, that yellow grid would have been portrayed as a default environment setting ( like you see when you open a 3D program like Blender.)

 

[Methuselah Flint]

@Mytran Nice overview on the holodeck. Had I been in charge, that yellow grid would have been portrayed as a default environment setting ( like you see when you open a 3D program like Blender.)

Isn't that exactly what it is?

 

[BK613]

Isn't that exactly what it is?

I meant that the grid wouldn't bet the actual walls of the physical space but a default hologram. But the times we see the fragmented failure of the holodeck suggests that the grid is the walls of the physical space.

 

[Mytran]

I meant that the grid wouldn't bet the actual walls of the physical space but a default hologram. But the times we see the fragmented failure of the holodeck suggests that the grid is the walls of the physical space.

Maybe it is - the Enterprise-D was designed with civilians in mind (hence the extra safety barrier of the yellow grid) whereas Voyager wasn't.

 

[BK613]

Maybe it is - the Enterprise-D was designed with civilians in mind (hence the extra safety barrier of the yellow grid) whereas Voyager wasn't.

Great idea. I was just thinking of the times like "Homeward" when we can see the grid under the failing hologram.

 

[publiusr]

The problem with the idea of the holographic room being smaller than portrayed is then where is the POV...but then... Filmation Quality™!

I’ve always like that TAS Enterprise was much larger. I also think it fair for its shuttlebay to be, say, half the length of a Battlestar arm. It fits in with the Disco Enterprise quite well now.

Each window is an arboretum, with a larger than life stature peering out looking human scale but larger. My head canon. Now all of a sudden Star Wars ships look smaller...perfect!

 

[Dale Sams]

I've mentioned before that, in City on the Edge of Forever, when the hobo vaporizes himself....in my headcanon he set it to overload and then fired it disentigrating himself and the phaser.

If true, thats a nice little suicide device. One click of a wheel, push a button and zap!

Handy things those phasers. Stunners, vaporizers, heaters, grenades...

 

[dupersuper]

I was just thinking of the times like "Homeward"

Oh no, don't do that to yourself.

 

[Henoch]

I've mentioned before that, in City on the Edge of Forever, when the hobo vaporizes himself....in my headcanon he set it to overload and then fired it disentigrating himself and the phaser.

If true, thats a nice little suicide device. One click of a wheel, push a button and zap!

Handy things those phasers. Stunners, vaporizers, heaters, grenades...

Do phasers even vaporize the vapors? Maybe it doesn't really vaporize things at all. I still think the "vaporize" setting acts like a transporter and first converts a given mass into energy, then phases the energy into subspace. No mess.

 

[Dale Sams]

Do phasers even vaporize the vapors? Maybe it doesn't really vaporize things at all. I still think the "vaporize" setting acts like a transporter and first converts a given mass into energy, then phases the energy into subspace. No mess.

Thats exactly what I thought until TNG came along said otherwise....still doesn't explain how those horrid screams can be heard even after the person is gone.