Is the bridge at a funny angle?

[publiusr]

Just noticed on the Star Trek Blueprint Database, that Jim Botaitis revised his Enterprise deck plans to include a bridge concept that pulls the bridge forward from the centerline under the dome about 6 feet. This change puts the bridge in the "facing forward" orientation and leaves room for the turbolift to slide to the rear and enter the nub/turbolift feature (almost).
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/tos-enterprise-deckplans/1.jpg
JB sketched this for the Deck 1: "Original" Bridge, but I can see that it could apply for the Regular Series bridge (in the 947 ft. hull to boot) by sinking the bridge down about 4 feet. Getting the turbolift car into the nub tube is still a problem, but if the car drops down a little first, then slides into the tube, it might work. I even included a second vertical turbolift shaft to help with congestion.
My conceptional adaption to JB's plan:

The nub extension of the tube above the turbolift car could be for emergency ejection of the cars as lifeboats, or just a work space.

That is masterful. I can see the nub as a top docking port too.

Now I didn’t mean to have the screen facing backwards…although a case can be made that sitting with the back of your seat facing a planes nose in a ditching reduces eyes-out gs…
My point from a security standpoint is you don’t really want an exit behind your crew.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

My point from a security standpoint is you don’t really want an exit behind your crew.

I've worked in a Data Center with the doors directly behind my desk. It's an annoyance and a distraction, because every time you hear those doors open, you have to ask yourself if it's worth looking behind you to see who it is. If you do, it's just a security guard making his rounds. If you don't, it might be somebody who silently pads up behind you and is suddenly talking in your face.

It's not an arrangement the ship's Captain would want to suffer, if there's any way the architects can prevent it.

 

[Henoch]

I've worked in a Data Center with the doors directly behind my desk. It's an annoyance and a distraction, because every time you hear those doors open, you have to ask yourself if it's worth looking behind you to see who it is. If you do, it's just a security guard making his rounds. If you don't, it might be somebody who silently pads up behind you and is suddenly talking in your face.

It's not an arrangement the ship's Captain would want to suffer, if there's any way the architects can prevent it.

Maybe that is why Uhura had a fairly large mirror on her station, to see things around/behind her without having to turnaround as much. For example, she can see when the Captain creeps up behind her to start a conversation, she sees him and is ready for questions. Also, she tends to sit facing sideways toward Spock/Kirk, which often puts her back to the turbolift door.
https://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x04/thechildrenshall_315.jpg

 

[jackoverfull]

I don’t think that mirror was always there, always assumed it was an illusion.

 

[Henoch]

I don’t think that mirror was always there, always assumed it was an illusion.

I think you are right. Later in a wider view, Uhura is still "seeing" herself as old/ugly, but there is no mirror on her console for us to see.

 

[Mytran]

I would have it in front of the view screen…with people exiting to either side

You mean like how they did in TAS?

My point from a security standpoint is you don’t really want an exit behind your crew.

Well only half the crew - if the doors opened directly behind the captain the officers at the Navigational Subsystems, Science, Communication and Engineering consoles would be able to see the entrance just fine and take appropriate action.
Among the many responsibilities of the captain of a starship, I don't think that doorman is really among them

I've worked in a Data Center with the doors directly behind my desk. It's an annoyance and a distraction, because every time you hear those doors open, you have to ask yourself if it's worth looking behind you to see who it is. If you do, it's just a security guard making his rounds. If you don't, it might be somebody who silently pads up behind you and is suddenly talking in your face.

If the First Officer is doing his job then no-one should be approaching the captain like that in the first place! The captain's duties are the smooth running of the Bridge, not vetting everyone who walks in - which is precisely what we see in the teaser for Space Seed - Kirk calls for red alert and surveys the Bridge stations from his chair, not even glancing aside when two officers run out of the turbolift.

It's not an arrangement the ship's Captain would want to suffer, if there's any way the architects can prevent it.

In which case the layout we see in the episodes fails at that task because to see who it is the captain either has to crane his neck (Dagger of the Mind) or else rotate his chair almost 180 degrees (Galileo Seven). If it was really that important for the Captain to see who was entering the Bridge every single time then the doors ought to have been on his left or right (such as in ST6).

 

[Henoch]

You mean like how they did in TAS?

It does not look like a turbolift car behind the door to me, rather, it looks like it is the door leads to a narrow walkway behind the consoles probably leading to a gangway down and/or the bathroom.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It does not look like a turbolift car behind the door to me, rather, it looks like it is the door leads to a narrow walkway behind the consoles probably leading to a gangway down and/or the bathroom.

I disagree. It looks exactly like a turbolift car. The lighter colored stripe at chest height or so is the main giveaway.

For comparison, here's McCoy and Scotty coming onto the bridge through the main turbolift exit. You can see the same stripe:

https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/beyondthefartheststar_350.jpg
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/beyondthefartheststar_351.jpg
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/beyondthefartheststar_352.jpg
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1&page=16

A second observation is that the vertical paneling is the same.

Another view of the secondary exit, with a slightly different perspective, from the same page:
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/beyondthefartheststar_356.jpg

 

[GNDN18]

I disagree. It looks exactly like a turbolift car. The lighter colored stripe at chest height or so is the main giveaway.

For comparison, here's McCoy and Scotty coming onto the bridge through the main turbolift exit. You can see the same stripe:

https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/beyondthefartheststar_350.jpg
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/beyondthefartheststar_351.jpg
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/beyondthefartheststar_352.jpg
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1&page=16

A second observation is that the vertical paneling is the same.

Another view of the secondary exit, with a slightly different perspective, from the same page:
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/beyondthefartheststar_356.jpg

The yellow rectangle next to the door would seem to be a repainted dedication plaque, too.

 

[Henoch]

I was comparing the TAS cartoon look to my memory of a TOS turbolift. Thanks for research on the TAS turbolift redesign.

TAS Turbolift:

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I was comparing the TAS cartoon look to my memory of a TOS turbolift. Thanks for research on the TAS turbolift redesign.

No worries. It has to be an apples to apples comparison, after all.

Not to sound pedantic, but I don't necessarily think of it as a redesign, so much as a rendition, or a way of rendering it. Obviously, the perspective is a little jacked in the screenshot you posted. On top of that the railing is curved, the helm gun sight is always set-up, the switches don't look the exactly same, the blinking status monitors are different, and so on, and so forth. Then there are the colors. Oh, and there's a multi-barreled computer-controlled weapons bank hanging over their heads. Now, the last one is an actual difference between TOS and TAS.* But the others? For me it's more down to rendition, or interpretation, if you will. At least a lot of the time. YMMV.

* - Countdown to someone coming in and asking, "But is it really?", in five... four... three....

TAS Turbolift:

Right. I would hypothesize that that choice simplified the artwork pipeline, in someone's mind anyway, and that that was the reason for that design choice. But I do not know this.

 

[Mytran]

I was comparing the TAS cartoon look to my memory of a TOS turbolift. Thanks for research on the TAS turbolift redesign.

TAS Turbolift:

Yikes, I hadn't really clocked just how simplified the turbolift design was in TAS! The panel with the motion indicator on it has been yanked out entirely, leaving just the plain wall panels.
Unlike TOS very few scenes occurred in the turbolift during TAS - in fact I can only think of one, in The Survivor.
Interestingly enough, the motion indicator panel has magically returned!
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/blu-ray/106-BR/thesurvivorhd0177.jpg
https://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/blu-ray/106-BR/thesurvivorhd0182.jpg

 

[Maurice]

It's not an arrangement the ship's Captain would want to suffer, if there's any way the architects can prevent it.

This is how many navy ship bridges are laid out, but in real life that's because the bridge has actual windows.

 

[BK613]

This is how many navy ship bridges are laid out, but in real life that's because the bridge has actual windows.

Exactly. And the ever-day traffic of watches and watch changes, and other such activities occurs in the back of the bridge space. Not impeding or distracting the operation of the ship.

 

[Mytran]

Exactly. And the ever-day traffic of watches and watch changes, and other such activities occurs in the back of the bridge space. Not impeding or distracting the operation of the ship.

I knew that the aft exit of the Bridge had commonality with an aircraft's cockpit (reflecting Jefferies' and Roddenberry's own experiences) but since Starfleet is supposed to be the space-navy it's good to hear that such a layout is not uncommon there as well.

 

[publiusr]

You mean like how they did in TAS?

I love that shot even if it is just the head. There was talk about Spock’s hand on a ledge (there for shooting film) but TAS had a doorway there too IIRC. That larger bridge and a good 1,760 ft length that we talked about elsewhere lends authenticity to the Enterprise.

 

[Richard Baker]

IIRC one reason the lift doors are off center was to give the camera view a good composition of Kirk at his good angle and whoever is entering the bridge appearing off his shoulder. Shatner could just glance to his left to address whoever arrived instead of spinning his chair around. Not sure if it is true but the majority of the TOS Bridge shots seemed to work that way...

 

[CorporalCaptain]

By the way, is there any hard documentation that the turbolift was placed off center to better frame shots of the captain? Apologies, if I've missed it.

 

[Maurice]

By the way, is there any hard documentation that the turbolift was placed off center to better frame shots of the captain? Apologies, if I've missed it.

Not to my knowledge. I think that's just fan presumption. But maybe it's discussed in the Jefferies book?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I've worked in a Data Center with the doors directly behind my desk. It's an annoyance and a distraction, because every time you hear those doors open, you have to ask yourself if it's worth looking behind you to see who it is. If you do, it's just a security guard making his rounds. If you don't, it might be somebody who silently pads up behind you and is suddenly talking in your face.

It's not an arrangement the ship's Captain would want to suffer, if there's any way the architects can prevent it.

I briefly had a similar setup at one of my old jobs. My bosses tried to put my drafting board so that my back was to the door of the office. I explained that I had to turn the desk around so I could see the door and I wouldn't constantly be startled by whomever was walking into the room.