• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Is the bridge at a funny angle?

Tallguy said:
Oh dear. I've just got an idea! (An awful idea! A wonderful, awful idea!)

Taking the sections that were "standing", i.e. the set as it was most often used with the section missing for the cameras and the set ends at Mr. Spock's station, I'd be interested to list whenever we saw more. I'd be curious to know how often this was done and what it looked like when they did it.

Was it rare or more often than we expect?
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head, we got reverse angles of the bridge in The Corbomite Maneuver, The Man Trap, The Doomsday Machine, The Tholian Web, and Is There in Truth No Beauty.
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x10hd/thecorbomitemaneuverhd090.jpg
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x01-2-hd/themantraphd566.jpg
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x06hd/thedoomsdaymachinehd0052.jpg
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x09hd/thetholianwebhd0109.jpg
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x05hd/isthereintruthnobeautyhd0609.jpg
 
 
Last edited:
For The Cage, they built the entire bridge outer raised platform and railing. they made a station between the camera and the rest of the set, but it was not a full height section. If you have the episode handy, go to 52:16-52:20.

For Where No Man Has Gone Before they included a higher ceiling. The first shot of the bridge (at 3:55) shows the viewscreen and the one station to the right and the two to the left. You can mostly make out the railing, but not enough to count the sections. It looks like the steps in front are directly in front of the viewscreen, but the ones to the left are moved along with the island (one half section). At 4:14 you can see the end of Spock's science station and it is painted gray. At 9:32 we get a good view of the port side of the bridge. all 3 stations and the railing. The camera is behind the same half-height station used in The Cage which obscures the starboard railing. It nicely explodes a few seconds later. At 10:11 we see Spock use the starboard stairs. Kirk goes up them a minute later.

So in the two pilots we see a full circle platform and railing and all but two of the sections with a partial section that the camera can shoot over. The railing was mostly in the series configuration in the second pilot so I'm assuming that since they had the full railing in The Cage that there were no parts missing and only the end caps (for The Cage they only needed 4 but for the additional steps they needed 8) had to be made.

They third shot of The Corbomite Manuever shows the aft half of the bridge form above. Quickly following is a shot of the port side of the bridge showing all the stations. At 7:07 the bridge doors open showing the two missing sections for the first time. It is clear one is distinct from the other sections. You can see the railing and platform. The other section (the one next to Spock's) has the same top portion as the two full sections to port. The shot follows Kirk and shows every starboard station.

I can't recall the episode right now, but the only time I'm aware that we see every station in one shot doesn't actually show every station. They moved Spock's station over one. So I don't know if they ever built the entire bridge. But if they didn't build all of them, they only omitted one and they did it for the very first production episode.
 
 
I know what should be next as we dance on the head of a pin. Well, “you,” since I don’t really participate, but sit back and lurk in amazement.

So next, how about …

A complete list/cataloguing of pictures that appeared on the big monitors above the stations, and on which stations?

I had forgotten until I saw those early screencaps, they just featured little “sweeps” of lighting coming up from the corners: https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x10hd/thecorbomitemaneuverhd090.jpg
 
plynch said:
I know what should be next as we dance on the head of a pin. Well, “you,” since I don’t really participate, but sit back and lurk in amazement.

So next, how about …

A complete list/cataloguing of pictures that appeared on the big monitors above the stations, and on which stations?

I had forgotten until I saw those early screencaps, they just featured little “sweeps” of lighting coming up from the corners: https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x10hd/thecorbomitemaneuverhd090.jpg
Click to expand...
The lighting sweeps were first replaced by other art in "Charlie X".
 
Side note:
I still wish they had taken advantage of the opportunity to tweak or enhance some of those screens with the Remastered Editions. Nothing super dramatic or distracting, just something more visually interesting and tied into the story a bit.
 
Richard Baker said:
Side note:
I still wish they had taken advantage of the opportunity to tweak or enhance some of those screens with the Remastered Editions. Nothing super dramatic or distracting, just something more visually interesting and tied into the story a bit.
Click to expand...

They did replace some imagery on the overheads, when it was featured closely. In "Friday's Child" it was the sensor screen with a Klingon blip on it.
 
Last edited:
It looks like when the bridge got its paint touched-up, the railing segments were removed and they sanded off all the sharp edges. My guess is it was done to help hide mismatches between the railings segments making their fit look better and pieces could be freely interchanged. For example in the Gamesters pic above, we see a rather poor fit of the end piece of the railing by Scott's shin. https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x16hd/thegamestersoftriskelionhd0352.jpg
 
BK613 said:
@Yonder Star @Henoch I think they redid the supports as well. I haven't found a screenie yet of the first season that has the bolts.
Compare
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x24hd/thissideofparadisehd447.jpg

with
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x07hd/catspawhd0734.jpg

I guess the real question is, did they refurbish the rails and supports or just replace them?
Click to expand...

In S3 "The Mark of Gideon," you can see a railing in the foreground with no bolts, while the railings on the far left and far right do appear to have bolts:
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x16hd/themarkofgideonhd0061.jpg

It seems clear that when they rebuilt the railings between S1 and S2 with a bolted design, one of the old no-bolts railings was kept in service. And they often but not always sneaked a partial railing in, either to give the camera more floor space, or to clear its field of view.
 
ZapBrannigan said:
In S3 "The Mark of Gideon," you can see a railing in the foreground with no bolts, while the railings on the far left and far right do appear to have bolts:
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x16hd/themarkofgideonhd0061.jpg

It seems clear that when they rebuilt the railings between S1 and S2 with a bolted design, one of the old no-bolts railings was kept in service. And they often but not always sneaked a partial railing in, either to give the camera more floor space, or to clear its field of view.
Click to expand...
I agree with that bolded idea.
I think it is also used in this shot from The Changeling (maybe just a bit of upper deck and the rail)
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x03hd/thechangelinghd0155.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Callum MacLeod
Star Trek: Mjolnir - Worldship
Replies
6
Views
401
Callum MacLeod
Callum MacLeod
A
Transition and explanation of SNW into TOS technology
5 6 7
Replies
135
Views
4K
HotRod
HotRod
Robert Bruce Scott
Jan/Feb Challenge Entry: Star Trek Hunter Episode 27.9 - T'May
Replies
4
Views
382
BohandiAnsoid
B
Callum MacLeod
Star Trek: Mjolnir - Dogs Of War
Replies
14
Views
713
Callum MacLeod
Callum MacLeod
Callum MacLeod
Star Trek: Tales Of The Wanderer Episode 2 - The More Things Change
Replies
6
Views
295
Robert Bruce Scott
Robert Bruce Scott
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top