Show me one.
Deck Plans VI: The Undiscovered Bowling Alley
- Thread starter Captain Robert April
- Start date
Show me one.
I'm trying to make a point. So many of us think we know what's in those drawings, 'cause we've seen them so many times, but the truth is something quite different.
Having the bridge at an angle depends entirely on the assumption that the structure to the rear of the bridge dome actually is part of the turbolift tube. That never made sense to me because...
1 - No other place on the ship needs (or has) any structure on the outer surface of the hull devoted to the turbolift system. Why would the system be completely internal everywhere but there...?
2 - Having an external structure for the turbolift at that position creates an extreme vulnerability for the ship. A hull breach at that point (which is maybe three meters across) could potentially decompress every deck in the primary hull...
According to the last schematic posted by Captain Robert April, that structure houses the subspace transceiver array, which makes a lot more sense to me. Maybe the bridge does face forward and the bridge dome is a little bigger than most of us think. Then there would be enough space between the bridge interior consoles and the outer wall so that the turbolift can fit just port of center rear...
1 - No other place on the ship needs (or has) any structure on the outer surface of the hull devoted to the turbolift system. Why would the system be completely internal everywhere but there...?
2 - Having an external structure for the turbolift at that position creates an extreme vulnerability for the ship. A hull breach at that point (which is maybe three meters across) could potentially decompress every deck in the primary hull...
According to the last schematic posted by Captain Robert April, that structure houses the subspace transceiver array, which makes a lot more sense to me. Maybe the bridge does face forward and the bridge dome is a little bigger than most of us think. Then there would be enough space between the bridge interior consoles and the outer wall so that the turbolift can fit just port of center rear...
And so we come full circle...in more ways than one.
That "maybe" is the heart of the argument between the people who are mindlessly married to the math of making the bridge fit in the dome vs. the ones who aren't afraid of a little artistic license and creativity in favor of what makes more logical sense as a real design, numbers be damned.
You gotta love this one. "Mindlessly married to math"! Versus "the ones who aren't afraid of a little artistic license and creativity". Like 2+2=6. If that's not being mindless, what is?
Anyone can interpret this damned ship anyway they want. The interpretation that's going to win adherents, however is the one that successfully incorporates what is known with what might be desired. Unless the bridge is dropped almost all the way to deck 2, it can't fit in the dome that's on the model unless you make the ship bigger than what was shown in the scale drawing in "Day of the Dove", make the dome bigger than what was on the model, or change the turbolift tube position from being directly behind the bridge. That kind of reinterpretation might win fans among those that want the bridge to face forward, but not among those that want the resulting plans to fit with what is known.
This opinion comes from someone that is not entirely unsympathetic to the desire to make the thing face forward. I think Jefferies was trying to make it work when he dropped the bridge as far as he did in his cross section drawing. I can't imagine why he would have done such a thing otherwise. BUT he didn't drop it far enough and probably didn't because at some point it becomes ridiculous. The thing is round and has a dome on top and yet is down on deck two? I think his cross section is an attempt to fudge the issue, but if you're actually trying to figure out how it all fits together, you don't have that luxury. You either put the round room with the dome on deck two or you make it face off-center. Or, you ignore the size of the ship as shown onscreen:
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/i...triangle-schematics-theenterpriseincident.jpg
So it ain't about mindlessly worshipping numbers. It's about whether you prefer to work within the evidence, or disregard some of it. If you're exercising your creativity to make your own starship design, then disregard away. But when you're documenting the most well-known spaceship in science fiction history for savvy viewers, you might want to pay heed to what is known. IF you want to avoid such epic struggles over minutiae as what we've born witness to in this thread and its multiply-locked ancestors.
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You're the one that brought up the difference in domes between the pilots and regular production, and according to Shaw's preliminary results, the pilot dome IS big enough to accommodate a forward facing bridge.
Just take out that circular briefing room, which we never saw past the pilots anyway (another reason why this works so well), drop the whole works down to that level, and voila, problem solved. No recalibrating of inertial dampeners, no moving of turboshafts, just lower the sucker about ten feet, close up the gap in the outer hull, and job done.
Again, why don't more people like this?
Just take out that circular briefing room, which we never saw past the pilots anyway (another reason why this works so well), drop the whole works down to that level, and voila, problem solved. No recalibrating of inertial dampeners, no moving of turboshafts, just lower the sucker about ten feet, close up the gap in the outer hull, and job done.
Again, why don't more people like this?
Well, it's a tremendous waste of space. You want to waste a deck height's worth of space just so you don't have to rotate the bridge or move the nub. If one was looking at it from an in-universe perspective, what do you think they would do?
Kirk or Pike: "I want to see people as they enter the bridge, so lets rotate the stations slightly so I can see it."
Engineer: "No problem, Captain."
or
Kirk or Pike: "I want to see people as they enter the bridge, so lets rotate the stations and gut the area underneath the bridge to lower the whole thing just so it can remain facing perfectly forward."
Engineer: "Er, you're the captain, Captain."
If anything is a waste of space, it's that circular briefing room, especially since there are apparently plenty of briefing rooms scattered throughout the ship.
Try again.
Try again.
Waste of space appears to almost on the starship design criteria. The interiors we saw on the show all had 10' high ceilings, 8' wide corridors and so forth. Yes there were practical Hollywood reasons for those dimensions, but since it's what we saw onscreen...
Anyway, I would like to propose a slight modification to your idea about sinking the bridge after the pilots. What if; instead of the area under the bridge being the circular briefing room, it was the main bridge computer machinery (or similar). With Starfleet technical advances made following WNMHGB, a new machinery module (complete with new bridge) was inserted, only this time the machinery module only occupied half the depth of the old one. This has the effect of "sinking" the bridge, relative to its old position.
The only change to the structure of the ship is that the bridge module "socket" now extends down through the entire height of Deck 2. But now - its always been that way; no ripping out of briefing rooms required!
Further to my above point, what happened to the "briefing lounge" (as it was referred to in WNMHGB)? Well, it may have been used as a rec room for the junior officers throughout the series (fullfilling its "lounge" role), which is why we never saw it again. After all, we never saw the Gym or the Botany lab after their one-episode appearances either, yet presumably they're still present on the ship.
Actually, the briefing lounge to me looks like a blantant holdover from the originally conceived smaller ship. It appears to double in function as a briefing room and a rec room, not too different (from what I understand) to an officers' wardroom on a ship today. Once the series began production, there were numerous distinct rec rooms and briefing rooms scattered throughout the ship. But that's a different kettle of fish altogether...
Actually, the briefing lounge to me looks like a blantant holdover from the originally conceived smaller ship. It appears to double in function as a briefing room and a rec room, not too different (from what I understand) to an officers' wardroom on a ship today. Once the series began production, there were numerous distinct rec rooms and briefing rooms scattered throughout the ship. But that's a different kettle of fish altogether...
You try again. You could put anything you want in the space you would be wasting to accomdate a perfectly forward facing bridge. I'll take an extra laboratory, ships stores, or a pub over the briefing room, but at least I could put something of use there.
I think increasing the relative safety of the bridge is a tad more useful than a pub.
Besides, that's on Deck 7, right behind those three round portholes.
Besides, that's on Deck 7, right behind those three round portholes.
Give that man a cupie doll!
I don't think those are portholes. They're placed at center height on a section of hull established to be two decks tall. If they were portholes, you'd see the deck across the center of them...
I believe that area should be the forward sensor array...
I believe that area should be the forward sensor array...
Silly goose. It's a floor wax and a dessert topping!
Who says sensors have to be opaque?
Who says sensors have to be opaque?
