I am in the process of building my 1/350 scale Enterprise (a fantastic anniversary gift from my wife!), and I am building a a bridge scene for it. It's small. Very small... Regardless, I am torn between the bridge from TMP or TWK. I like TMP's because of it's simple grace. It is very clean looking for the most part. I like the piano black finish on the helm/nav. But- I like the arrangement of the stations on TWK. The stand up station behind Kirk (formerly the science station). BUT, I don't like the changes to the helm/nav console, OR all the little greebles they added to the bridge walls to add "details". Granted, I will never be able to put those details on my microscopic bridge. But it did make me want to pose the question: What is your favorite bridge from the two movies, No 1, or No 2? They are relatively subtle, but they are there non-the-less.
How about a bridge that mixes all the features you like about both of them? They did the same thing with the Enterprise D for the last Enterprise episode. Took the best elements from both the four foot and six foot models.
Agreed, How about building the bridge with TWOK layout, (science station relocated, etc) TMP colour scheme (TWOK was much darker and grimy looking) and you could do away with some of the TWOK tweaks you didn't like. IIRC, wasn't the bridge seen at the end of TVH put together after scavenging TMP and TWOK sets and then using a bright white colour scheme?
Yes, that's a swell option, combining the two bridges. Maybe the difference between TMP and TWOK bridges isn't the swappable module route, maybe it was an interior remodeling job. Your bridge could be some unseen version at some point between films, where some features of both were present (your choice).
I always preferred the TMP version better. I always liked the idea of Spock's station being directly behind Kirk. This allowed them to have more private conversations that worked well dramatically in TMP. Also, it allowed Nimoy to easily be in any shot from the front to the back of the set.
I am a combo fan myself. I do love TMP's clean lines , but it is a bit plain. I tend to prefer the richer colors of TWOK and TSFS (part of which can be attributed to the costume changes) as well as the revised station arrangement. As for the greeble details, I like a few of them, but not so much the ones that look like someone just put up generic cassette tape holder molds. I also preferred the TWOK chair upholstery for many years, but for the past few years I haved leaned back to the TMP originals. TMP's helm is preferable to me as well. I also prefer some of the display screen graphics in TMP as they were achieved by different means than just the video screens used in the later films. Also, one important thing to remember about the change over between films was how the rearrangement also changed the stations' outlying frame molding and background border areas. In TMP the molding ran from segment to segment crossing separator lines, framing multiple stations, and connecting them within a single background border. For TWOK those frames are reset to surround a single station within an independent segment. I've never been able to choose which version I prefer, though I think I lean TMP.
I've honestly never thought about the bridge geography enough to notice that it changed between movies, but in terms of color scheme and lighting, I prefer the set as it was shown in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by a country mile.
That's a good suggestion. I mean, there can be a stage of change between the movies that could accept that. I was looking at those pics (from TVH) just a minute ago. The white is a very optomistic bold statement, but man, it's just too much for me. I noted that the controls are a wee different from TWK- I'm surprised they went through the trouble to change them for such a brief scene. I thought that maybe colour/ lightening might have made it look more complex. It was a very subdued and dull movie as far as colours went- though very 70's I guess. With the exception of the bold pearlecence panelling that was lost in the subsequent movies. Exactly. The XO was 2 feet from the Captain in that arrangement. It just seemed to make sense from a command structure POV. It also gave th XO a commanding view of the bridge. Though I like how the console arrangement in TWK looked in comparison. I noted that about the segments. There was a fluid look in a sense in TMP. Almost making the stations more dynamic. Whoa there... A country mile? What's that in Canadian? ----- I think, based on this so far, I will go with the simplicity of TMP (though that's largely in part because at 1/350 scale, detail is very difficult), keeping pretty much everything from TMP with the exception of adding the stations on either side. We'll call it a transitional course of the bridge, leading into TWK. I think it's more than acceptable to suppose that the bridge in this case wasn't a complete swap. Adding a couple of stations doesn't seem out of the realm of plausibility, eh?
^^Spock wasn't the XO in TMP, Decker was. Also, I don't think the siting of the science station had anything to do with giving the XO a good place to sit. Not every Captain makes his Science Officer the XO and I even wondered if, by the time of TMP, the jobs were still being combined with a division chief. XO of a starship really is a big enough job by itself.
I never really liked either that much...the displays were tiny, the layout didn't flow, the video on the screens wasn't formatted right... RAMA
I don't think anyone mentioned that Spock was the XO in TMP. As for Decker, he was only given the Science Officer chief position after Xon was killed- and it was partly because he was rated for it- and partly because I think Kirk was being a bit of a prick and wanted to lay it on top of his XO duties. I always assumed spock was in both positions in the past and after Decker, simply because, well, he was Spock! There were obvious exceptions to the rule on the Enterprise, eh? They were certainly different then before and after. They used to be my least favorite, but I came to appreciate them as I got older. Maybe a nostolgia thing, or just change in taste. I loved that bridge when i first saw it. I thought it was the cleanest of them all. Bright, but not white. And we got to see the stations wrap around the bridge again like TOS. Some people don't like who TNG it felt, but I thought it just made sense. In a way, TNG's bridge was very TMP in how empty it felt.
Agreed...although along with the new Shuttle and Phasers (thats not what this is about though). Another vote for a mixed bridge, definitely use the TMP chairs as they always looked better and made a return for the bright white 'Apple Store' bridge in THV.
I don't know where I read this, but I distinctly remember reading that the Enterprise bridge from TVH was a quick fix job because the set had suffered water damage, which destroyed most of the electronics in the consoles.. This is also why the camera only shows a limited angle of said bridge set, nothing behind the camera was still screen worthy. I also believe that shortly after the bridge scene was shot, the set was struck and pieces were reused for the enterprise battle bridge set in encounter at farpoint.