Some people prefer the TMP layout, but I'm personally a fan of the additions that Nick Meyer demanded. Well, other than those chairs. Same chairs, but I don't like the addition of those back covers. The TMP versions were amazing as they were (they'd be better with some ergonomics, but c'est la vie.). @Donny, if this shot exists it's escaping me at the moment. Is there an oblique view of the main viewer that really shows the shape of the viewer's little support brackets there? I had something different way back when and now I'm wondering where I got the idea to do them the way I did. All I can find now, at least in TMP, is straight-on shots of the viewer. One last question...those floating green lights on the helm/nav...another thing I haven't been able to decipher is whether there is a plastic dome there or if it's just a flat sheet of clear acrylic supporting those details. Kinda looks like a dome in some shots, flat in others, but only judging by the say the green plastic bits seem to sit.
I just like the look and feel of the TMP through TVH bridge. It looks and feels cohesive and well designed. Even with the patchwork they had to do for the end of TVH. The TNG bridge had that going for it too. Once you get into later trek shows, the bridge always looks cut up and mashed together. Even the Ent-E bridge felt like that to me. 09 was trying to get back to that look it felt like, but then they had to put all this extra console... stuff... everywhere and ruined the look. Don't get me wrong, I still love those Bridge of the Week visits we get in the shows, and I do like what they were trying to do with the Sovereign, but they never quite match up to that first walk onto the bridge in TMP or when Kirk gets to walk onto his bridge again in WoK. That's not nostalgia, that's me looking at it from a modelers stand point and realizing how much work went into designing those lines and the bridge walls and making it all fit together just right to look freaking awesome and then looking at the Sovereign bridge and realizing I can build 2 wall consoles and cut them up and have all the bridge walls and most of my work already done and it just makes me sad. Donny, Love what you have so far!
I actually think the TFF/TUC bridge is the closest relative to the TOS bridge, and the Refit bridge was a purposeful departure from the "ubiquitous bank of consoles" look of its predecessor and successor. The Refit bridge also took a few more artistic chances, with its oddly shaped chairs, arced consoles with angled "flaps", and elliptical monitors. The Phase II bridge would have interestingly been the wackiest bridge we've ever seen, with its own transporter pads/console and holographic tactical display, had those features not been reigned in during TMP's pre-production. (Okay, maybe the Relativity bridge is the wackiest...) The Enterprise-D bridge took similar artistic chances to depart from the TOS wall-of-consoles look, and the Voyager bridge IMO ended up being a great balance. Yes, the Refit bridge does have some elegant lines, doesn't it? Only rivaled by the TNG bridge, I think. I do, however, enjoy the Sovereign bridge design very much and one day wanna try my hand at modeling it myself. I'm actually looking forward to modeling the chairs as we saw them in TMP this time around. I haven't modeled them before! I actually found shots of your amazing model and will be using them as a reference. I think the best angle we get of those brackets is this shot in TWOK from the Reliant bridge: http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=34948&fullsize=1 It's a shallow dome, and those protruding green-lighted tick marks rest just inside the outer edge of the dome. You can tell by the way they're angled that they're on a curved surface. (Funny, Trekcore doesn't have the up-close shot of this dispaly which I would use to demonstrate. I'll post my screencap of it this evening when I get home) This is also supported by the Phase II concept art which shows an admittedly more bulbous glass dome on the astrogator panel:
Hey Donny, Amazing work (as usual)! Seeing the viewscreen completed really makes this recreation seem to come alive. I never noticed the difference between the TMP and TWOK versions until you pointed them out here. Since we never got to see it on screen, how do you think the viewscreen’s chasing lights would be depicted in the TVH configuration? Ok, technically these lights aren’t really seen on the E-A until TFF (and again slightly differently for TUC). I think a common belief on these parts is that the bridge in TFF was a different module than the TVH bridge, so, their presence in TFF does not in itself imply they were present in TVH. However.... ...even though the viewscreen wasn’t shown in those last 10 seconds of TVH, the SOUND that was most commonly associated with those chasing lights in TOS was. We don’t hear this sound in TMP, TWOK or TSFS on the Enterprise bridge (not counting the TMP DE) as those did not have the lights (pretty much*). This sound was heard briefly on the Excelsior during breakdown scene in TSFS but we never see its viewscreen, In TFF, we see the loss viewscreen lights and hear that sound effect. So this seems to imply that there are some form of viewscreen lights in the TVH bridge. So how would they look? Should there be a strip of lights below the screen like ST 5 and 6? Or should they be displayed graphically on screen like ST2 ( * there were a couple instances of seeing a form of chasing lights in the first two films. In TMP, I think when Kirk orders the tactical view (either on approach to the cloud or when VGER launches the fireballs at earth - I forget which), you see a line of white chasing light squares within the image. In TWOK, when Kirk first arrives on the bridge of the E, from his POV there is a view of the viewscreen from the turbollift. In a blink and you miss it moment, you can see red dual chasing lights along the bottom of the screen. These “lights” seem to be created graphically as a part of the image.
Ok Donny, I have to ask - any plans to model that Phase II bridge once you're done with the canon versions?
I think it would make sense that the TVH bridge would also have a graphical representation of the viewscreen chaser lights, but I could go either way. Since we never see the viewscreen of the TVH bridge, I could add a bank of physical lights below if I wanted. Whenever I get to actually making that version of the bridge, I'll experiment and see how it looks. For those curious, I plan on wrapping up the TMP/TWOK/Reliant bridges first and then moving on to other parts of the ship, and then coming back around to do the TVH bridge at a later date. I'm going to be fatigued with this bridge soon, so I'll need a break. And (hint) I'm anxious to get around to touching some sets I have yet to ever attempt, like the cargo/shuttle complex and all the various TMP-era auxiliary craft. I've been asking myself that all morning, actually. I'd love to, but as stated above, it will probably be a later date. I so want to model that big comfy captain's chair though
Taking a look at a shot of my turbolift, you'll see that I've departed from the canon turbolit by adding a set of curved inner doors in addition to the straight outer doors, although the turbolift set actually just had one set of straight doors. This is because I was thinking ahead to the cargo bay complex and rec deck with their cylindrical turbolift shaft exteriors, which would require that the inner turbolift doors be curved.
Wouldn't it also be a safety hazard to only have the outer doors? I can see it now, someone sneezes while the lift is in motion, puts their hand out to steady themselves and WHOOSH goodbye hand...
Yep! The fact that two sets of doors (one set on the lift, one set at each stop) are required for an elevator/turbolift system is something the producers overlooked, either by accident or ignorance, beyond TOS. AFAIK, TOS is the only Trek series to have an inner and outer set of doors in the turbolifts!
DS9 was very visibly lacking in turbocar doors, no doubt because Cardassians don't like having things from which revolting Bajoran slave labourers could potentially spring!
I have not a clue any more about the Phase II version of the bridge, sorry. So many years ago...so many years...where was I? Oh yes; things were being designed and rebuilt for the TMP version very quickly and it was really hard for one person to keep track of it all, especially when I personally wasn't involved with most of that. I was 90% focused on the control panel and signage things, and only occasionally piped up to Hal Michelson, our production designer, about small suggestions about colors and hardware stuff. TMP set design was a controlled tornado, and I'm amazed it all got done. - Rick
Relevant of nothing: When you think about it, moving the science station over to the port side of the port turbolift wasn't enough to make the refit bridge layout like the TOS layout. To accomplish that they would have needed to put the communications station between the turbolifts. On TOS Uhura sat right behind Kirk.
I think they moved the science station to the starboard of the Captain more for cinematic/framing purposes rather than trying to harken back to TOS. Having the main character needing to turn around 180 degrees anytime he has to talk to the second-billed character is kind of messy.
I vaguely remember an interview where that was the EXACT reason for moving the science station. Because it was ridiculous to have Kirk spin completely around every time he talked to Spock.
I think the best we're gonna get is something like this. The good morning america video I linked is the only source of images I've seen other than the fleeting shot at the end of TVH. Essentially, white walls, red carpet. No underlighting, just the top lamps.
I honestly don’t think they’d look all that different. Hell, they didn’t change THAT much when used in TNG, except for the “widening” of the concentric hallways by taking out the angled bulkheads. I’ll probably make minor cosmetic changes when I get around to it, like slightly changing the lighting intensity and color, and perhaps change out the black rubber flooring for red carpet like in the Good Morning America video, even though that red carpet was probably only added specifically for that video, not for TVH (or so I’ve read ;-)). I like the red carpet, actually.
Holy crap! I never realized those were support brackets. All these years, I thought I was looking at some kind of segmentation of the viewscreen frame. I love learning new things about these films :-). Great eye for detail Donny and Scribble!