How would you improve the bridge?

[Arpy]

To be fair it's only elevated enough so that everyone's not looking down on their captain. And you could also ask why the guy at Ops is staring down Tomalak.

I disagree, no one is looking down at the captain except tactical, and I imagine they're mostly listening to the captain and looking at their station or the view screen. Everyone is level with each other. Even so, the center chair is distinct and undeniable. And I love love love the command bench/bank/whatever with the captain's chair flanked by the top two advisors, each with their own consoles, and each of those flanked with additional seating for additional crew and visitors. It's downright regal.

The stations at the back don't seem to actually be necessary for whatever is happening in the actual episodes. I imagine them to just be extra work stations, almost like in the early bridge concept art with the couches and so on.

But the idea of the D bridge is that they've automated ship's functions enough that a minimal crew could run the bridge, if not the entire ship being run from the captain's chair armrests.

Also, everyone looks up to their captain, wherever they may be.

(Let's face it, everyone's looking at Andreas Katsulas when he comes on screen no matter what direction their console is facing).

Facts.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I would improve the bridge by taking the Generations version and making some additional changes. I'd ditch the two front stations and replace them with a single larger pilot station like Voyager's, the horseshoe can stay because it gives the bridge a distinct and interesting look but it would not be a regularly manned console. I would also reduce the number of consoles in the back to three to make it look less cramped, imagine five people sitting there next to each other on the regular TNG bridge, there'd be a lot of elbow bumping.

I like the idea of the one console at the front. They could essentially mirror the horseshoe but at a smaller scale and make it almost into an oval shape that encircles the command arena though of course with space at either side for Picard, Riker and Troi to get to their seats.

 

[Takeru]

I like the idea of the one console at the front. They could essentially mirror the horseshoe but at a smaller scale and make it almost into an oval shape that encircles the command arena though of course with space at either side for Picard, Riker and Troi to get to their seats.

Or not, Picard can sit in his chair and immediately judge every visitor on how they cross the horseshoe barrier.

Jump over it: Awesome
Crawl under it: Evil
Try to jump, trip and fall: Barclay

 

[Orphalesion]

Yeah those couches on the front of consoles and that meeting table right there on the bridge are silly beyond belief.
I mean I like the concept of a ship as living space, but still...it's a bridge not a home cinema.

 

[Takeru]

Yeah those couches on the front of consoles and that meeting table right there on the bridge are silly beyond belief.
I mean I like the concept of a ship as living space, but still...it's a bridge not a home cinema.

I think the table could have worked if it was a functional console like the ones in engineering or DS9's OPS, assemble for a quick meeting at the table where relevant information can be shown and the officers still have immediate access to the ship's functions if necessary would have been better in some cases than retreating to the conference room during a crisis.

But yeah, as designed the two level bridge with the table looked like a futuristic Starbucks, it wasn't a good idea.

 

[danellis]

Why do you (and others) think that characters in Star Trek don't have or have to use toilets? Because we've never seen Riker and Geordi stood next to each other at the urinals having a piss?!

I've never understood this myself. I doubt we've ever seen Captain America, Xander Harris, or the Witcher relieving themselves, so why's it such a big thing in anything with "Star" in the name?

I think the table could have worked if it was a functional console like the ones in engineering or DS9's OPS, assemble for a quick meeting at the table where relevant information can be shown and the officers still have immediate access to the ship's functions if necessary would have been better in some cases than retreating to the conference room during a crisis.

I *love* the situation tables at the back of the Defiant or the NX-01.

dJE

 

[Orphalesion]

I think the table could have worked if it was a functional console like the ones in engineering or DS9's OPS, assemble for a quick meeting at the table where relevant information can be shown and the officers still have immediate access to the ship's functions if necessary would have been better in some cases than retreating to the conference room during a crisis.

Sorry but I have to disagree with that as well. It just doesn't look good to me to have this silly table there. I prefer the conference room as a separate thing, and for impromptu meetings on the bridge they managed very well by standing together in the free space or using the consoles at the back.

 

[Takeru]

Sorry but I have to disagree with that as well. It just doesn't look good to me to have this silly table there. I prefer the conference room as a separate thing, and for impromptu meetings on the bridge they managed very well by standing together in the free space or using the consoles at the back.

I agree that the table didn't look good in the drawings (primarily because it looked like a dinner table) and wouldn't on the bridge set in place of the center seats. But in principle a table is something I can see work, and has been used in various trek shows.
The meetings at the back consoles were always kind of weird, often it was Data sitting there and the others looking over his shoulder, those consoles clearly weren't designed to accommodate meetings.

 

[Orphalesion]

The meetings at the back consoles were always kind of weird, often it was Data sitting there and the others looking over his shoulder, those consoles clearly weren't designed to accommodate meetings.

I agree with that. I could maybe see something like a proper alcove in back where there's more space to meet and analyse and to allow better camera angles.

 

[danellis]

The meetings at the back consoles were always kind of weird, often it was Data sitting there and the others looking over his shoulder, those consoles clearly weren't designed to accommodate meetings.

That said, I *have* been involved in "meetings" that amounted to somebody sitting at a computer, a number of people "looking over their shoulder," and discussing what was on the screen.

dJE

 

[shapeshifter]

So over here the discussion is about retro-changing TNG while over in the DISC/FoT forums the discussion is about NOT retro-changing TOS.

 

[Orphalesion]

So over here the discussion is about retro-changing TNG while over in the DISC/FoT forums the discussion is about NOT retro-changing TOS.

Okay, I could be so mean now and make a joke about how "that's because we TNG fans aren't afraid of change"

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

IMO central tables and that sort of thing in the "command centre" work better for space stations, starbases and other "static" locations than they do for ships.

 

[Kor]

I would give the tactical officer a chair.

Also, seatbelts for all.

As for clocks mentioned earlier, if TUC is any indication, Starfleet bridge clocks aren't accurate at keeping time. So perhaps it's better that the Ent-D doesn't have any.

Kor

 

[Arpy]

Did anyone ever see the Lost in Space movie with Matt Leblanc? One supercool thing in that was the “seat belts” they used in that. Not so much belts as like mini gravity wells or suction thingies that kept people in place. I much prefer those. Now ENT, that totally should have had belts.

 

[Orphalesion]

Also, seatbelts for all.

Next you're gonna ask for consoles that don't explode each time the ship shakes lightly.

 

[shapeshifter]

Okay, I could be so mean now and make a joke about how "that's because we TNG fans aren't afraid of change"

I might agree. <checks> Nope. No, TOS is The Sacred Holy stick up my... I do love TOS though.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Why does that remind me more of a Mall Lounge than a Bridge?

The designers seemed to be stuck in that luxury ocean liner / hotel frame of mind, which is the reason TNG's bridge is the least "Starfleet-esque" as it did not have even a hint of the utilitarian, quasi-militaristic feel of its predecessors, or bridge designs to follow.

 

[Orphalesion]

The designers seemed to be stuck in that luxury ocean liner / hotel frame of mind, which is the reason TNG's bridge is the least "Starfleet-esque" as it did not have even a hint of the utilitarian, quasi-militaristic feel of its predecessors, or bridge designs to follow.

Again, I would say that the TNG bridge (and general interior) is the only one that looks like it was designed for long-term habitation.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Next you're gonna ask for consoles that don't explode each time the ship shakes lightly.

Without the rocks inside!

I get that consoles as far as canon goes aren’t full of rocks, but what was the production thinking behind that?!