Shuttlebay One

[CaptainSpirk]

Sorry if this has been asked before. Couldn't find any reference in the search.

Was Shuttle-bay One ever used on TNG? They always seemed to use Shuttle-bay two and three which was on Deck 13. They never showed the angular doors of the main shuttle-bay. I'm rewatching all the episodes again, so I could be mistaken or has anyone else noticed this?

 

[danellis]

The closest we come to seeing Shuttlebay 1 is in "Cause and Effect." We see the the door opening but that's all.

dJE

 

[CaptainSpirk]

It's stupid. Why have the main shuttlebay if you're not going to show it? From the blueprints, it would have been awesome to have seen the full set. Who cares about money. Hollywood's got plenty.

 

[Tosk]

They never showed the angular doors of the main shuttle-bay.

They never showed the angular doors of Shuttlebay 2 or 3 either. For *ahem* some reason, the doors were upright on the inside and angled on the outside.

 

[Timo]

...Or the bays were angled inside, making their doors flush with the angled hull.

Apart from the miniature work of "Cause and Effect", the big saucertop bay is implied to be in use when the ship transports the three runabouts to DS9 in "Emissary". They wouldn't conveniently fit in the smaller bays, after all (although they could be singly squeezed in, just as they could be squeezed into the cargo bays that in TNG were portrayed by the same set and had the same mysteriously flush-with-outer-hull-yet-vertical outer doorways).

Every other shuttlebay episode either shows the neck bays in use or features no plot element calling for the bigger bay. I wonder what alternate use it could have been when not serving its intended purpose - it wouldn't even be needed for sports events, what with the holodecks and all. (I guess Picard could give further all-crew speeches there, especially if the supporting cast from "Encounter at Farpoint" was again invited as in "All Good Things...".)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MacLeod]

The closest we come to seeing Shuttlebay 1 is in "Cause and Effect." We see the the door opening but that's all.

dJE

From memory I think did actually see the interior of the Main Shuttlebay in BOBW, Pt II. Whilst perhaps not directly mentioned as being the main shuttlebay, it would make sense for them to launch the shuttle from the saucer section was being ignored by the Borg.

 

[Timo]

Good catch! So the glimpse through the side window of the shuttle is our only "live action" (non-miniature) look into the facility...

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s4/4x01/bestofbothworldstwo307.jpg

With a bit of work with the pause button, somebody could check whether that bay has an appropriately slanted doorway or not.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[CaptainSpirk]

Good catch! So the glimpse through the side window of the shuttle is our only "live action" (non-miniature) look into the facility...

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s4/4x01/bestofbothworldstwo307.jpg

With a bit of work with the pause button, somebody could check whether that bay has an appropriately slanted doorway or not.

Timo Saloniemi

Once again, we don't see the whole shuttlebay. We just see them leaving the shuttlebay in a shuttle. and we don't really see the doors do we?

 

[Jedman67]

Good catch! So the glimpse through the side window of the shuttle is our only "live action" (non-miniature) look into the facility...

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s4/4x01/bestofbothworldstwo307.jpg

With a bit of work with the pause button, somebody could check whether that bay has an appropriately slanted doorway or not.

Timo Saloniemi

It's a plate of the "Shuttlebay 2" set.
The massive main shuttlebay would only be in use for a large number of shuttle launches; else one of the smaller secondary bays would be adequate. In the old Hollywood axiom of "Time = Money" and with Star Trek budgets being slightly skimpy, it was easier to transform the shuttlebay to the cargobay instead of building an additional set.

 

[Timo]

In in-universe terms, what would the saucertop bay be used for? Launching a shuttle from there isn't more hassle than doing so from the smaller bays, because there's no depressurizing involved in that era. If anything, finding a shuttle that's ready to go would be easier up there than down at the smaller bays. OTOH, if the idea is to deliver personnel or precious cargo, then a "private" bay might be better.

We saw special craft in TAS that would seriously crowd smaller bays. But all we saw in the saucertop bay in "Cause and Effect" was a row of the regular Type 6 boxcars. Was that statistically unrepresentative, perhaps, with Bay 1 mostly holding types that would see little use in the plots we got - interceptors, ground attack craft, large troop transport or medical evacuation barges, flying submarines?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Verteron]

If you're wondering what it might have looked like, someone did a recreation based on the blueprints using the Unreal Engine and put it on YouTube. It's pretty impressive. Shuttlebay is from 1:40 onwards, also some of the upper decks, an escape pod, the bridge and observation lounge are shown later on in the clip.

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[CaptainSpirk]

If you're wondering what it might have looked like, someone did a recreation based on the blueprints using the Unreal Engine and put it on YouTube. It's pretty impressive. Shuttlebay is from 1:40 onwards, also some of the upper decks, an escape pod, the bridge and observation lounge are shown later on in the clip.

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Seen this before. Quite extraordinary piece of work I presume.

 

[Verteron]

Seen this before. Quite extraordinary piece of work I presume.

Yeah, I think he was intending on doing the whole ship, but I haven't seen any updates in a while. Big project though, could take years to finish so I don't blame him!

 

[sbk1234]

In in-universe terms, what would the saucertop bay be used for?

Timo Saloniemi

I could see the big shuttle bay being used for major evacuations - either from or to the ship, larger craft, as has been mentioned already, even some training and repair situations.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I could see the big shuttle bay being used for major evacuations - either from or to the ship, larger craft, as has been mentioned already, even some training and repair situations.

The virtual tour depicts the Galaxy class as carrying at least one Danube-class Runabout in addtion to the Type-6 and Type-7 shuttles, shuttlepods and workbees that have previously been been depicted as part of the E-D's standard complement.

Given that DS9: Emissary pt I & II established that the E-D is capable of carrying up to three runabouts as cargo and TNG: Timescape suggested that the E-D may at least occassionally carry one for their own use, does anyone think that having regular access to a runabout or similar medium-range support vessel, would have improved TNG?

 

[Verteron]

The virtual tour depicts the Galaxy class as carrying at least one Danube-class Runabout in addtion to the Type-6 and Type-7 shuttles, shuttlepods and workbees that have previously been been depicted as part of the E-D's standard complement.

Given that DS9: Emissary pt I & II established that the E-D is capable of carrying up to three runabouts as cargo and TNG: Timescape suggested that the E-D may at least occassionally carry one for their own use, does anyone think that having regular access to a runabout or similar medium-range support vessel, would have improved TNG?

Quite possibly yes. I don't really buy how the Delta Flyer got built by the Voyager crew, but something like that provided to the Enterprise-D could have made for some interesting adventure-type episodes every now and then. A more intimate setting lets you focus more on particular characters and knowing our heroes are on a much smaller ship with limited capabilities makes space seem just that little more dangerous!

 

[Tosk]

does anyone think that having regular access to a runabout or similar medium-range support vessel, would have improved TNG?

Improved? Nah, not really. But would have been cool. I know if I was Geordi, I'd have gone stark raving stuck in that tiny little shuttlepod all the way to Risa. (Or whereever it was he was off to in The Mind's Eye.)

 

[CaptainSpirk]

I could see the big shuttle bay being used for major evacuations - either from or to the ship, larger craft, as has been mentioned already, even some training and repair situations.

Did "Star Trek: Generations" use the main shuttlebay then?

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Did "Star Trek: Generations" use the main shuttlebay then?

While that would have made sense, this photo would appear to suggest otherwise:

 

[Takeru]

While that would have made sense, this photo would appear to suggest otherwise:

Using the bay would have made no sense in that situation, the inside was obviously trashed during the saucer's landing. Why would they clean it up to be used by shuttles when they could use the saucer itself as a landing pad?
And for the crew it really doesn't make much of a difference if they walk to the shuttlebay or up to deck 1 to climb out of the observation lounge windows.