1701 D Bridge

[shatastrophic]

In watching the series in Blu Ray I have been able to notice alot of the details on the filming models...

Is the bridge the tiny dome with the sunroof on top of the larger dome, or is it recessed within the larger dome and the tiny dome with the sunroof is just the ceiling?

I ask as Picards ready room window doesn't make sense to me as its not in line with any of the windows on the larger dome and I don't see any windows on the smaller one.

Also Blueprints suggest the ramp down into observation which could indicate the bridge is just the tiny dome, but observation could be on the same level as opps and the conn and we see the ramps down on either side of the bridge...

I know it could be a case of the sets not matching the model, we see it with 10 Forward as the windows on the model go right to the bottom of the saucer externally, but on the set there are a few steps down to get to the bar.

Im just curious and its fun! I know you pros on here can help me out!!

 

[Timo]

The basic idea is that you can see all the tops of the turboshafts from the outside. Looking at the very top of the saucer, around that tiny dome, there are two round features at the aft port corner (of which the forward one opens to the aft corner of the bridge, the aft one apparently to the corridor adjoining the Lounge); one round feature at the forward port corner (for the lift that opens next to the Ready Room); and one square feature at starboard (for the Battle Bridge express lift).

Those define the interior/exterior relationship pretty accurately. So the big oval with windows on the rounded rim is Deck 2, and the bridge is the multi-shaped thing atop that big oval - and the Ready Room is the thing at the forward portside corner of that multi-shaped thing. It has a bit of vertical wall, with sufficient room for the window we saw being used in the pilot episode already. It's just that such a tiny window would be nearly invisible in the model; I'm not sure if it really exists there, but failure to see it would not be a contradiction, not as such.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hober Mallow]

Not completely on-topic, but... when I was a kid watching the series it always bugged me that the angle the stars moved at warp outside the ready room window was often inconsistent, sometimes giving us more of a port view, sometimes more of an aft view.

 

[varek]

The Main Bridge on the Enterprise-D is the most artistic of any bridges I have seen. The sweeping arms (as I call them) that surround the command chairs and separate them from Tactical and the other stations along the rear wall.
I also love the Observation Lounge behind those stations. The layout is beautiful, a work of art!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Too bad the bridge's symmetry came at the expense of giving Troi a permanent place to park her butt.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

It always seemed that the Picard, Riker, Troi seating must have been an incredibly boring place to be all day, every day. How much small talk can one endure?

But I agree with varek, it looks very nice!

 

[Captain Rob]

I was watching an episode the other night and loved how Dr Crusher stole Deanna's chair. She just plopped down in it while no one was looking. Hey, if the Chief Engineer gets a chair then the Chief Medical Officer does too.
On TOS McCoy was on the bridge so often. He should have had a chair.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The ready room window doesn't match anything on the Enterprise-D model, where the deck is recessed into a larger area.

I know it could be a case of the sets not matching the model, we see it with 10 Forward as the windows on the model go right to the bottom of the saucer externally, but on the set there are a few steps down to get to the bar.

Ten Forward is also twice as large on the inside as it should be. The area was originally envisioned as a small observation corridor around the saucer rim with both upper and lower windows.

Both dodgy sizing and mis-matched windows have been Trek staples since TOS.

 

[urbandefault]

What would the ship look like if the outside were made to represent what we've seen inside?

 

[Lance]

I always suspected the "smaller" of the two domes represented the sunlight window as seen on the actual set.

 

[Takeru]

Is the bridge the tiny dome with the sunroof on top of the larger dome, ...

Yes, it's pretty obvious if you look at it, you can even see the turbo lifts. The observation lounge is at the back of the bigger dome.

 

[Salinga]

Fits:

 

[F. King Daniel]

Fits:

From the top down, yes. But no room for that tall ready room window, since the bridge is recessed into the larger dome, rather than sitting on top of it.

(and I see that they've drawn in the window on Takeru's pic, hoping nobody would notice the physical impossibility of it!)

 

[publiusr]

Not completely on-topic, but... when I was a kid watching the series it always bugged me that the angle the stars moved at warp outside the ready room window was often inconsistent, sometimes giving us more of a port view, sometimes more of an aft view.

There was an article about the creative decision used as an excuse for that.

Later on, they fixed it however.

Then too, wasn't there a mention in a novel about "side-warp"

I can imagine a sideways nacelle before and behind....now that I think of it. Naceles like bumpers.

 

[Ro_Laren]

In watching the series in Blu Ray I have been able to notice alot of the details on the filming models...

You're making me want to watch TNG in Blu Ray!

 

[shatastrophic]

Thanks everyone!!
So what have we confirmed? The bridge is just the tiny dome, or is it recessed within the larger dome and the tiny dome is just the ceiling?

The Engineering wall shows that it is recessed, however some screen shots of "Galaxy's Child" on Ex Astris show the bridge head on and its pretty defined.

If it is just the tiny dome WOW! Imagine standing there in the middle of the bridge and 360 degrees horizontially around you a mere few meters away is open space, below is some 20 to 30 levels and you have this whole mass of saucer and ship in front of you to the bow. I would love to see a re imagining of the show as we've seen with the new movies to see if the awesome size of this thing could be better captured!

 

[Squiggy]

It's partially recessed in the larger dome. If it were just the very top bump it would only be a couple of feet tall.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Doesn't the layout make crystal clear that the bridge is the smaller dome, partially recessed as Squiggy said? I didn't realize there was even a question in anyone's mind about it. When the crew enter the observation lounge from the bridge, we see them walking down a sloping corridor.

 

[Timo]

Only in one episode, though. In others, that very same corridor has a perfectly horizontal floor.

Perhaps during that early episode, there was some maintenance work going on beneath the corridor floor, and the workers had erected a bridge over the pit, meaning our heroes had to walk up and down to get from the bridge to the lounge?

Saying that the bridge is "the smaller dome" risks somebody thinking that it is the oval dome at the very top of the ship. But that's just the skylight atop the bridge - somehow, we have to transmit it to the audience here that the bridge is the complex shape between the tiny dome of the skylight and the big oval of Deck 2...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hober Mallow]

Only in one episode, though. In others, that very same corridor has a perfectly horizontal floor.

Are you sure it was only one episode?