The general layout maybe (although I'd personally disagree on that too), but definitely not the computer displays. The STIII Excelsior displays look extremely dated (dig those blocky letters!), which is why it's often a good idea to eschew 'current' cutting edge. Visually, I'd wager that ST11's bridge will actually date much faster than STVI's, for example. But only time will tell.
No, it's a physical patch, like the soft half of Velcro. While Spock having a handful of Viridium Patches strains credibility, it's still more reasonable than whipping up a chemical at his console. Besides, Kirk would have said something other than "I'm wearing a Viridium Patch on my back. Spock slapped it there..." He would have said something like "Spock smeared me with Viridium just beofre beaming over to Gorkon's ship."
A "patch" would still not be a device IMHO - and it would still be a chemical even if it were applied in the form of a patch (quite a bit more effective than smearing it on from a jar!). The name "viridium", with its "-ium" ending, heavily suggests it's a substance, perhaps even an element. The idea that the viridium would eventually leave the application patch is useful for two reasons: it'd explain why the stain changes shape and position slightly between shots, and it'd be a more sensible approach for leaving a tracer on Kirk. After all, Spock should expect the Captain to lose his jacket at some point before rescue became feasible. We might argue that the ST3 bridge was one dedicated to the early test flights, not an operational one - a temporary construct made of the 23rd century equivalent of plywood. It would have been quickly replaced by a "standard" bridge of the era. Timo Saloniemi
Too bad they didn't have the money to realize the concept art. http://www.ottens.co.uk/forgottentrek/images/movies/excelsiorbridgeconcept.jpg You might have to copy and paste the link in order to see it.
Agreed, it may even be a standard practice for whenever the captain is coerced to leave his/her ship and perhaps be put into a hostile situation on board another unknown alien/non-friendly vessel or planetside situation that fits the criteria. Any scenario would justify the protocal. Robau and Pike were in similar situations, and it was apparent that the crew, at the very least, could track their vital signs from their respective ships in Trek11. There could be a container of these "patches" at the ready on the bridge for just such a situation. By the by, it couldn't of been the first time a captain was forced to leave their ship for any given situation, either that the ship or crew would be destroyed by a stronger opposing force if the captain did not comply, or in the situation seen in Trek6, even as the situation began on an unsteady peace, hostilities could escalate and once again endanger ship and crew. In my mind, it seems totally resonable that a covert tracking plan would already be in place at the time of Trek6.
What's less likely is that the authorities on the Klingons' prison world for aliens don't also have ways of checking for tracking devices attached to said aliens. Best way round that is that either Rura Pentha didn't yet know about the Starfleet's latest variant of tracking device (but Klingon intelligence would probably work it out from sensor scans once it had been used, so it's a one-use device till another apporach can be developed), or that the Rura Pentha Governor was corrupt and incompetant, and Spock's plan wouldn't have worked if he'd been doing his job properly (but Spock, being Spock, knew enough background info to be confident that he wasn't).
Though it would have made more sense had Spock given him an injection with a hypospray or something. What if they had been forced to change their uniforms to prison jumpsuits?
Yeah that's true, maybye the patch does release a hypospray dose of tracking fluid into Kirk's system (thru his shirt and jacket just as we've seen normal hypo spray's do) so even if his uniform was confiscated or searched it wouldn't matter, the veridium (sp?) was in his bloodstream, or under his skin... plus, it curved his dependence on cigarettes.
Or that the Klingons simply didn't care. Rura Penthe is deep within Klingon territory, protected by a giant shield, a wintry nightmare where survivability is nil, and a place where alien prisoners basically go to spend the rest of their natural days hopelessly -- why would the Klingons care in the least that anyone would, let alone could, be rescued? The point the film was making was that the ability of the starship Enterprise's crew to even get to the planet in the first place was such a highly unlikely scenario and made possible only by the chaos caused by the unexpected explosion of Praxis that the Klingons were simply unconcerned about Starfleet sensors.