@Savage Dragon: Agreed! Even if they wanted a brand new Enterprise, the fact that they completely demolished the TNG bridge at the end of Generations' production should be considered a war crime. @cardinal biggles and @TOMFAN: I also heard that it was because of the cost of having extras always manning those stations. I just wish they'd gone the Future Imperfect route, with those added LCARS at the sides. Those offered up a lot more visual interest, without needing extra people on set. Okey, new commission started! Very early stages of course, but this is the USS Frontier, a Galaxy-Class starship. A lot of stuff here is temporary and will get replaced, but broadly speaking the layout is in place. Spoiler: Images
@Rekkert, is this one of the Galaxy class that was built during the Dominion War? The bridge appears smaller and more tactical, plus it looks like the turbolift arrangement has changed. And a chair at the tactical station? Klingons do not sit! Just had an interesting idea: What if the horseshoe area where the captain sits was an escape pod. A bubble would form over the horseshoe, and the whole section would eject out the top of the bridge dome. Plus, the bubble could protect the top bridge officers against sudden explosions, decompression, or rocks flying out of the consoles.
I like that the Tactical officer finally has a chair! Hardly seemed fair that they were expected to be on their feet for a whole (8 hour?) shift, while everyone else got to sit down!
With the new turbolift layout, everyone has to use the head in the Captain's Ready Room, so the Captain isn't going to be getting much work done.
That's where the replicator is, so they must be going in and out of there for refreshments already. The observation lounge set really ought to have had its own replicator.
@Matthew Raymond: Well, if we go by the Technical Manual, the whole deck 1 structure of Galaxy-class ships is a big escape pod. Once again, something that we had started to play around with and were planning on working into Stage 9... @FormerLurker: The aft doors connect to a corridor where there's a head, so people can leave the Captain alone. @Nevets: The steps are indeed temporary at this point, as is most of the floor. Once the final shape's in place, the floor carpeting will be mostly blue, with only the borders being red (as was the case in TNG). @Norsehound: The ship's a Galaxy-class built around the time of the Ent-E, so it's sort of a merge between the two Enterprise bridges of the TNG era. I've been working on the frame and on joining pieces together, so not a lot of visible changes at this stage, however I've extended the ceiling lights from the Odyssey all the way to the back end of the bridge. These will require further refinement and details, but at least I can show the bridge better illuminated going forward. Also, I've done the first of many planned modifications to the horseshoe, giving its stand a V shaped cutout similar to those the Ent-E standing consoles had. Spoiler: Images
The “V” shape cutout matches the horseshoe on the USS Dauntless from the video game Star Trek Bridge Commander. A nice touch to add it in the post sovereign class era galaxy class.
Another great looking Galaxy class bridge in the offing, can't wait to see this progress! The horseshoe-step interface looks like a complicated area to sort out. I'd be tempted to modify the horseshoe in order to avoid seeing the steps underneath/through it?
@Finn: Thanks! @EchoSierraPi: Indeed! I'm now thinking of doing the Dauntless when I have some free time hahaha @SCE2Aux: Yeah, I've got a feeling that area will change a lot before this bridge is done. Slight deviation from the topic for a bit, last week I was contacted about doing a small commission and yesterday I pretty much did it entirely. The ship's the refit Excelsior-Class USS Courageous, and the bridge is a redressed version of the everlasting Constellation set. It's pretty similar to the Potemkin, but upgraded to the First Contact color pallet. Originally I created an Enterprise-B style aft section for it, but we decided to return to the classic Excelsior version in the end. Spoiler: Images Here's the finished version:
Love the art. TNG faulty design: As Captain, I would prefer to have bridge stations where no one is lurking behind my back, constantly peering over my shoulder. Can't we stick that guy in a cubby hole on the side someplace, or have the helm execute the functions. (Sulu and Chekov did them and they didn't appear overworked.)
Gotta say, I like the Enterprise-B version better. In part because it fits better with the darker grey carpet and because it creates sort of a tactical alcove, where you could replace the ship schematic with a tactical display. It'd be a nice place for a couple characters to have Important Semi-Private conversations.
@Henoch: Haha, I agree there, which is why I don't have standing consoles looking towards the center in the bridges of my own design. @PepeWan: I also would've prefered to keep the Ent-B version, but in the end the Excelsior style version was chosen. More progress on the Frontier, we've decided to scrap the back end and make the 4 consoles on each side connected. The aft section is now wider and lost the steps it previously had. Spoiler: Images
@Rekkert, I like the new console arrangement, and it definitely fells roomier. The very back looks a little plain, almost as if you're not done with it. Are you planning to put something there?