Saratoga bridge location

[F. King Daniel]

In "The Emissary" we see the USS Saratoga take a direct hit to the bottom saucer dome, causing the bridge to explode and we get told "direct hit, decks one through four!"

I always assumed the Borg beam striking the bottom dome was a VFX error, but after seeing the USS Shenzhou from DSC, with her bridge in the bottom dome, I'm wondering if DS9 was just ahead of it's time and maybe they meant for the bridge to be underneath?

Is there any reason why the Saratoga couldn't have her bridge underneath and decks numbered from the bottom upwards?

 

[Markonian]

Yes, there are. (Not ruling out the bottom location, btw).

1) We frequently got damage to the bridge in various series even if it wasn't hit. Especially TOS shakes through shield bubbles.

2) The Miranda class has been established with bridge on top and sensor dome at the bottom.

3) It can't be that they're on the bottom battle bridge to begin with because of the deck-counting given. Unless (1) applies.

 

[JasonJ]

Perhaps so many sensitive areas of the saucer (like the ventral sensor dome) link back to the main bridge that it renders the bridge susceptible to feedback surges when something overloads or gets blown to bits.

 

[Prax]

Wouldn't they say "Direct hit, decks 12 through 8" or something?

 

[Tenacity]

The Bridge was buried in the center of the saucer section, the most protect part of the ship.

Just kidding, the bridge was on top of the saucer, where it could be easily targeted.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Yes, there are. (Not ruling out the bottom location, btw).

1) We frequently got damage to the bridge in various series even if it wasn't hit. Especially TOS shakes through shield bubbles.

True.

2) The Miranda class has been established with bridge on top and sensor dome at the bottom.

The Reliant's bridge was established by some shots centring on the upper dome before cutting inside in Wrath of Khan, and some similar shots of the USS Brittain in "Night Terrors". The bottom dome is only established as anything in technical manuals, as far as I'm aware. The Saratoga has some external differences to the Reliant (sensor pods on the sides instead of the phaser/torpedo launcher roll bar) and she fires her phasers from the lower dome TOS style instead of the saucer phaser turrets you'd expect. There's some wiggle room for her to be something different.

3) It can't be that they're on the bottom battle bridge to begin with because of the deck-counting given. Unless (1) applies.

We also have endless random deck numberings/letterings used throughout Trek.

Anyway, it was just a random thought.

 

[Jedman67]

Perhaps so many sensitive areas of the saucer (like the ventral sensor dome) link back to the main bridge that it renders the bridge susceptible to feedback surges when something overloads or gets blown to bits.

Have they never heard of fuses, or circuit breakers?

 

[JasonJ]

Have they never heard of fuses, or circuit breakers?

There was another thread that dealt with this, I believe a guy stating himself to be an electrical engineer even chimed in; I think the consensus was that while such things were undoubtedly installed, the overloads were enough to jump the circuit gaps caused by the blown "fuses" and continue up the line to the main console. The thread had to do with why the bridge consoles ALWAYS explode...

 

[Prax]

Did he explain any possible benefits to putting rocks inside of the consoles?

 

[kkt]

Have they never heard of fuses, or circuit breakers?

But if the fuses blew, sparks couldn't fly out of the panels!
How would the audience know they were being hit?

 

[TheSeeker]

But if the fuses blew, sparks couldn't fly out of the panels!
How would the audience know they were being hit?

Obviously they could just [insert technobabble here]. See? Simple!

 

[Lakenheath 72]

A question I have about the late 23rd century starships, what is the critical component in the forward half of the saucer? When the Enterprise self-destructed, this section was the second one destroyed, after the bridge. When the Melbourne was disabled by the Borg cube, this section was destroyed and the ship lost direction, drifting.

Enterprise self-destruction

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Melbourne wrecked (0:44)

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Maybe the ship took another hit after their ventral dome was struck but it just wasn't shown onscreen.

As much as I love Emissary and our only glimpse of the battle, I do kinda wish it had been a little more epic in scale.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

The camera cut away from the Bolian tactical guy right after that line. For all we know, he actually said, "Direct hit, decks one through four... Are mostly fine! Just the bridge got bounced around a bit. Oh, and the computer's saying the warp core's going to breach. Le'ts call the USS Bonestell in close, maybe that will help us somehow. Orders, sir? How are the two attractive crew members at Conn and Ops?"

I also like the notion that the ship took more than one hit while the bridge was busy exploding. I've always been a proponent of the idea that while Sisko was busy evacuating people and mourning Jen, the REST of the ship was busy being assimilated by drones in engineering, the secret shielded room behind the Captain's ready room, what was left of the bridge, etc. You know, the important places besides the SIskos' quarters and hallways.

Point being, that shooting at the ship once and then holding it in a tractor beam for several minutes seems a little underwhelming and it makes sense for them to have done OTHER stuff besides what we actually saw, including firing that cutting beam at decks 1-4.

Mark

 

[F. King Daniel]

Just for kicks, I found an old fan-published cutaway of the Reliant (General Plans USS Avenger Class, from www.cygnus-x1.net) and swapped out the bridge on top, the sensor dome on the bottom, and the neck numbers:

 

[Ithekro]

A question I have about the late 23rd century starships, what is the critical component in the forward half of the saucer?

Phaser control rooms and arrays?

 

[Michael]

Just for kicks, I found an old fan-published cutaway of the Reliant (General Plans USS Avenger Class, from www.cygnus-x1.net) and swapped out the bridge on top, the sensor dome on the bottom, and the neck numbers:

I like it!