Amazing job as usual Donny!
I have to say, this was my least favorite bridge, but seeing these renders make me really like it. I realize now actually a pretty good design. I think a problem was how it was lit in the movie, coupled with the number of "unused" screens. In the film, the displays had a sort of washed out look, with the colors looking more like a faded turquoise and light green, instead of the more saturated blues and greens of TUC. I think it actually works for the narrative of the ship not quite working right. But with the light colored carpeting this set is much brighter than the previous bridges, so they may not have been able to dial in the lighting to read the screens well. This issue is especially present once they hit the great barrier. It looks better in some parts than others like when they were en-route to Nimbus III. But many of the scenes just look like they are lit from the front (viewscreen side) without much fill lighting. You can see actors casting shadows on the walls in
many of the scenes.
The other issue was the that many of the displays appeared "off" or empty. Not sure whether this was due to a lack of available artwork, or a conscious choice, or if they actually were on but completely washed out by the light. I could see a lack of artwork being an issue - this set had so many more "screens" then the previous set, so even if they could reuse artwork that Okuda made for TVH it wasn't enough to fill the whole set. This was an issue to differing extents for all the previous films. Ironically, many of Okuda's designs were images that would work with now abandoned circular/oval displays of the older bridge set.
Probably the biggest issue is that many of the displays are
actually monochrome in either a sickly clinical light green-teal or just black and white. Even though they are kept mostly in the background for brief shots, its enough to register. When other displays are so washed out, seeing a bank of solid monochrome displays stood out. This probably is was most led me to remember the displays in TFF being "colourless." This appears to have been solved by TUC. To be fair, this was an issue with the previous movies - probably the biggest offender were those TSFS computer graphics with huge pixels. And of course, TOS with screens filled with just a couple colored lights. But when entire wall is a bank of screens like a 90's newsroom, then the look is going to be defined more by what is or isn't on those screens. My gut is that the art department and cinematographers just were not prepared for what challenges this new set brought - relying on the previous films to inform their scheduling. TFF came out in 89, so I think most of the displays would still have to be done in camera. Which means that save for a handful of insert shots, artwork had to be completed in advance of filming the bridge scenes.
Much of these issues were addressed in TUC, however at the expense of completely changing the aesthetic. I would have like to see how this bridge could have looked - if they had more time to prepare and figure out how to light the set.
Definitely not to the extent that I've seen you employ.
