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What bridge design do you like?

Look at the bridges of existing, real-world vessels for examples of how such installations really function, and look at the design of their equipment. Trek bridges function well dramatically and visually, but they don't necessarily make real sense. It is not, for example, terribly consequential that most personnel face the commanding officer or that most of them have visual line-of-sight to big video displays and charts that don't concern their own work.

Jefferies' designs look to have been equally inspired by the dramatic/budgetary demands of the show, probably the look of then-current space stuff like the American space program's Mission Control facilities, and then to some degree by naval control rooms.


Why do you trouble me with that creepy looking face? Its just staring at me...it SCARES me.

it scares my children! get it off there...lol
 
Um, Captan, no one's yelling at you or telling you your posting off topic. No one's getting pissy or starting fights.

And I've never met a moderator over my 10 years of message board experience who ever started a post by saying, "BEHOLD! I AM THE MODERATOR AND THIS I DECREE..." :)

TFF and Excelsior bridges were good.Voayager too.Hated the hideous gray of TMP.I would use cgi to colorize that bridge.

I think they should from now say that:-

"BEHOLD! I AM THE MODERATOR AND THIS I DECREE..." [/QUOTE]

By the way do moderators get paid or do they do it just for the total power?
 
They do it to help people.

I'm sure you may be full of idealist eAnarchy, but on a big board like the TrekBBS... a modless environ would result in chaos, I assure you, my good sir.
 
Eh, never cared for the E-D bridge, where were all the chairs?

James

I assume you mean mine. Tactical Has NO chairs.
the 3 command chairs lay below as I suggested. the 2 forward stations obvously have chairs.

back stations have chairs that are along the back circle peace of the bridge where apropraite. these chairs dispersed unlike the command area chairs are a little more less about function than comfort.
I think he meant the Enterprise-D...
 
Look at the bridges of existing, real-world vessels for examples of how such installations really function, and look at the design of their equipment. Trek bridges function well dramatically and visually, but they don't necessarily make real sense. It is not, for example, terribly consequential that most personnel face the commanding officer or that most of them have visual line-of-sight to big video displays and charts that don't concern their own work.

Jefferies' designs look to have been equally inspired by the dramatic/budgetary demands of the show, probably the look of then-current space stuff like the American space program's Mission Control facilities, and then to some degree by naval control rooms.


Why do you trouble me with that creepy looking face? Its just staring at me...it SCARES me.

it scares my children! get it off there...lol
Cut out the personal 'shots'. Also, you've already been cautioned about multiple posts in a row - don't do it again.

Oh yeah - "BEHOLD! I AM THE MODERATOR AND THIS I DECREE..."
 
I just thought of something I that is not bridge design specific, but it would be a cool feature to have. I would like to have the ability to have holographic images projected up from, or down to, tables. You know, something where instead of always having to view a screen you can have the option of having it projected in front of you in 3-D on the table. And if you're viewing a planet you can have the option of touching a spot and enlarging it, kind of like on the iPhone. How cool would that be? I just remembered something. I read the first three Titan books and apparently the USS Titan has the ability to do this. I think that would be cool.
 
Tossup between the Pike-era Enterprise bridge and that of the Kelvin:

PikeEraBridge-1.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/JuanBolio/KelvinBridge.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/JuanBolio/KelvinBridgeAlert.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm actually really fond of the NX-class bridge (before those weird glowing columns were installed on the Columbia), where all the primary stations are organized in a simple circle surrounding the captain's chair, all with a clear view of the viewscreen. I don't really understand why there's a station for the Chief Engineer, however--shouldn't he be down in, y'know, Engineering? I suppose we could say that he was performing the same duties that would eventually become part of the Ops Station on 24th century bridges...

And now that I've seen those photos of the Kelvin's bridge, that's definitely up there on my list, too.
 
The D - it's got that comforting, we-are-explorers-feel. Everything else in the modern ST has been too obviously military or quasi-so.

Don't like.

Not even considering the TOS original. I met lino in my babyhood and that bridge stinks of it and all the other mid-1960s look. I don't recall it as having been a positive experience and that's the feel I get from the original bridge.

To each her own.
 
I think it was in The Art of Star Trek book they had some prelim bridge designs and there is one that has pit areas for various stations, I quite like that. Or go for the simplicity of the bridge of the USS Prometheus from Message in a Bottle.
 
Star Trek V is much maligned, but I actually like its production design (for everything they actually designed instead of reusing a TNG set), including the bridge. It has my favorite bridge design.

Here's my thought process: The original series bridge looked very well designed, but it was a product of the 1960's. I think it looked functional, but not entirely realistic. TMP came along and took that same basic design and made it more believable, more realistic, still extremely functional. Neither bridge, however, looked particularly comfortable or inviting. Just functional. Which is fine if you are on a modern day military vessel, but these people are supposed to be working in this environment day in and day out for years at a time.

So TNG comes along, and Herman Zimmerman under Gene Roddenberry's direction designs a bridge which looks much more warm, comfortable, inviting, but which, IMHO, loses all of the functional realism of the original. As others have pointed out many times, it looks more like a hotel lobby. Virtually everything is behind the captain, and there's tons of wasted space. All the science and engineering stations are way off in nowhere-land, but at least the captain has the counselor nearby. :rolleyes:

Then here comes Star Trek V. And what does Zimmerman manage to do? He manages to take all the warmth from the TNG bridge, including the carpeting, the wood accents, etc. and meld it with the 360-degree functional design of TMP. It is a beautiful harmony and -- had Meyer not discarded it in TUC -- would have served as a nice link or transitional stage between the TOS movie era and the TNG era, showing the gradual evolution in bridge design.

In short, I think the TFF bridge is the best combination of form and function, warmth and realism, of any of the Trek bridges.
 
I'm actually really fond of the NX-class bridge (before those weird glowing columns were installed on the Columbia), where all the primary stations are organized in a simple circle surrounding the captain's chair, all with a clear view of the viewscreen. I don't really understand why there's a station for the Chief Engineer, however--shouldn't he be down in, y'know, Engineering?
It probably wasn't a station for the chief engineer, per se, but it's always a good idea to have an auxiliary engineering station on the bridge in the event of an emergency--it would really come in handy if the engine room becomes compromised due to a coolant leak or excess levels of radiation and has to be evacuated.

Trip and Scotty seemed to use that engineering station as a means of keeping in touch with the engine room whenever they were on the bridge. Unlike LaForge and Torres, they appeared to have dual roles as chief engineers and second officers...
 
Look at the bridges of existing, real-world vessels for examples of how such installations really function, and look at the design of their equipment. Trek bridges function well dramatically and visually, but they don't necessarily make real sense. It is not, for example, terribly consequential that most personnel face the commanding officer or that most of them have visual line-of-sight to big video displays and charts that don't concern their own work.

Jefferies' designs look to have been equally inspired by the dramatic/budgetary demands of the show, probably the look of then-current space stuff like the American space program's Mission Control facilities, and then to some degree by naval control rooms.


Why do you trouble me with that creepy looking face? Its just staring at me...it SCARES me.

it scares my children! get it off there...lol
Cut out the personal 'shots'. Also, you've already been cautioned about multiple posts in a row - don't do it again.

Oh yeah - "BEHOLD! I AM THE MODERATOR AND THIS I DECREE..."

You sure love your power you manly man u. Because what I'm doing is harmless. I have a lot too say and I am addressing a particular statement. That is what Quote is for. That regulation defeats the Quote function.
 
I just thought of something I that is not bridge design specific, but it would be a cool feature to have. I would like to have the ability to have holographic images projected up from, or down to, tables. You know, something where instead of always having to view a screen you can have the option of having it projected in front of you in 3-D on the table. And if you're viewing a planet you can have the option of touching a spot and enlarging it, kind of like on the iPhone. How cool would that be? I just remembered something. I read the first three Titan books and apparently the USS Titan has the ability to do this. I think that would be cool.

Its touch screen but not 3d touch screens...I believe. and yes my Enterprise has this. They also have early prototypes for the Tricorders used in the future in End game though.
 
I'm actually really fond of the NX-class bridge (before those weird glowing columns were installed on the Columbia), where all the primary stations are organized in a simple circle surrounding the captain's chair, all with a clear view of the viewscreen. I don't really understand why there's a station for the Chief Engineer, however--shouldn't he be down in, y'know, Engineering? I suppose we could say that he was performing the same duties that would eventually become part of the Ops Station on 24th century bridges...

And now that I've seen those photos of the Kelvin's bridge, that's definitely up there on my list, too.

Because sometimes there are functions he must perform on the bridge. As a rule he is the only one who mans it and otherwise it isn't manned.
 
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