Probably because Picard insisted the room also serve as a conference room, IMO. On another Galaxy-class ship, there might not be a conference table or chairs in that room at all. Yet another might have just a couple of sofas perhaps...
Thing is; it's right next door to the bridge. It seems an odd location for a room with such a casual function that anyone can stroll into.
I don't think anyone can stroll into the observation lounge. You probably need to have authorization or a VIP invitation by the commanding officer. I think it's a reserved/exclusive area unlike the Ten-Forward Lounge.
...An idea somewhat contradicted by the two random kids Riker has to shoo away in the episode whose identity I forget. Then again, random kids can infiltrate Main Engineering as well, so probably exclusivity is a relative concept aboard that ship. It doesn't seem too difficult to lock or unlock the connecting doors as needed. Thus, the conference center is separated from the bridge in the usual case, yet can be connected for those occasions where the conference folks are trusted Federation operatives or allies and will benefit from bridge access. And even when there are shady characters in the conference facility, our heroes are in the immediate vicinity of their workstations and can respond to a developing crisis on two fronts - either pushing PADDs and talking politics, or pushing phaser triggers and commanding maneuvers... For purely ceremonial occasions, separate facilities appear to be used, even on starships that have this lounge directly adjoining the bridge. In ST:INS, there's that ballroom on Deck 9; in TNG "Sarek", special "indoors" facilities on the lower decks are used for the conference; in ST:TMP, the Recreation Deck caters for a major "public meeting"; etc. Timo Saloniemi
Actually not at all. In fact, Riker told the kids that they knew the observation lounge was off-limits. It does seem to indicate that there are areas aboard the ship that are restricted from public access.
Also, I'm pretty sure that episode was from the first season, where the observation lounge - or at least that one - was not behind the bridge. At the time, when the door opened you could see a standard corridor there that did NOT fit in with the layout of the bridge deck. The nondescript corridor we're more familiar with only showed up later on. I always thought that the particular observation lounge the crew used in the first season or so was some other lounge on some other deck. Said kids were STILL not allowed in there, but at least it wouldn't have been tough to sneak in if it was just an officers-only room on a deck that also had their quarters on it. Mark
As for security and "secured" areas, this is the same ship where people are just asked really nicely to behave themselves please (Picard, in the Neutral Zone)
Umm, why not? The Sternbach blueprints show curving ramps behind each of the end doors of the Obs Lounge. But when we do see what lies behind these doors, it's not curving ramps, not in S1, not later on. Clearly, curving ramps going down to Deck 2 would be an excellent idea, because the mute Riva is able to exit the area through one of these doors even though turbolifts (the ones without buttons, although some models do have buttons) ought to present an obstacle to him... Just remodel the ramp areas so that they do a slightly longer dogleg aft, and the problem is solved: a "standard corridor" stretch lies behind the door, and astern it suddenly does the U turn down to Deck 2, while forward it truncates in the turbolift on port side (the reasonable thing to have, contrary to Sternbach's blank wall), and in the corridor to the bridge on starboard side. ...The somewhat steep ramp down that we glimpse in "Lonely Among Us" behind the starboard door we can dismiss as a temporary cover that allows people to walk over the men-at-work pit that has been opened into the corridor floor... Timo Saloniemi
That pretty much sums up security aboard Federation starships, IMO. It definitely seems lax (if not at times non-existant) by current day standards, but I think a higher priority is placed on main computer access than specific areas of the ship (it's real easy to steal a shuttlecraft, for example). In a really dire situation, all control functions can probably be rerouted to the main bridge.
Ahh, here we go: http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x05/lastoutpost118.jpg I'm pretty sure most, if not all of the first season saw the adjoining corridor as such. This was because the observation lounge was ALSO the sickbay set, draping simple carpet over the windows to turn it into the latter. Therefore, the corridor seen outsdie would visually be the standard coridor set for the show. I found it wierd-looking since the back of the set was SUPPOSED to follow the curvature of the exterior hull, but the corridor seems to show it extending into the space beyond. That's why I often wondered that the conference lounge as seen in the first season wasn't the room at the back of the bridge at all, but somewhere else on the saucer... I can't think of any examples offhand where someone in the first season was specifically looking outside at something from that set (at something aft of the ship); Geordi occasionally would look out the window because his VISOR was somehow more awesome than the ship's sensors at some things in the first season, but that was most definitely a re-dress of the crew-quarters set: http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x09/justice156.jpg When they built the "permanent" observation lounge for the second season onwards, not only did they add in new screens (getting rid of the cool holographic displays while they were add it), but they changed where the door was! http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s4/4x02/suddenlyhuman177.jpg That's when the nondescript corridor (that better fits the curvature of the hull) appears. Could the S1 and S2-7 sets be one in the same? Maybe. But I like to think that the CONFERENCE lounge in S1 was just that, somewhere else, and the OBSERVATION lounge may have been just that but converted as has already been proposed later on because ol' man Picard didn't want to walk to another deck to talk about stuff that was happening on the bridge, and for some reason his ready room wasn't appropriate. Mark
holy schnikes. in all the decades since that first season eps where riker chases the kids out of there... i never saw that one of the kids was vulcan. i can't believe it.
Kirk doesn't have a ready room because they never spent $$ to build a set, nor was there a story reason for it when the show started. I've always figured a good retcon is that he just didn't use it. In reality, many commanding officers chiefly use their port cabins for accommodation and a typical meeting room for conferences. Kirk just preferred to work out of his quarters. Maybe he liked to be away from the bridge when off duty but doing work. Some commanders are like that. They'll be pestered to no end about little stuff if they remain too accessible when off duty. Decker may have had the TMP quarters fitted to feature an office at Kirk's suggestion. (Decker DID see Kirk as a mentor until Kirk stole his job)
you crack me up, man you could probably cook up a sober apologia for the chompers on the Protector EDIT: That you could is a compliment.
If we never saw Kirk use a ready room, I'm just gonna assume Kirk didn't HAVE a ready room. Just because a later series featured one, doesn't mean TOS had one. That doesn't mean someone writing a TOS novel or fic can't create one for the story, of course. But there's no reason to go finding excuses for a "missing" one in TOS.
The Enterprise DID more than double in crew capacity from Pike to Kirk. Perhaps in the intervening years, between all the rooms being juggled around and adding crew quarters and support systems for a couple hundred people precluded a ready room on deck 2 for the latter Captain. Kirk may not have had a choice! Mark
Possibly, possibly not. I mean, one of the two rooms did feature an apparent pull-out bed - but so did Picard's Ready Room. Kirk might have been bunking in a far more comfortable space somewhere else, had the mission in ST:TMP featured time for bunking. In ST2:TWoK, Kirk was but a guest on a three-hour tour; again, the place where he put down his spectacles need not be a Captain's Cabin; the Captain's Office would be a much more logical venue for, say, the scene where the Genesis file is read for Spock and McCoy. Timo Saloniemi