So where exactly did Kruge's shot hit the Enterprise?

[Ginger]

I always thought it hit about 'C deck', just aft of the big windows beneath the bridge level docking port. The pictures linked above do nothing to dissuade me of this.

I always thought the TOS Enterprise engineering we saw was in the saucer, forward of the impulse engines" thus the area hit would likely be engineering space. In my mind the automation centre could have been hit by a lucky shot, aimed at the engines, that knocked out Scotty's work, crippling the ship.

 

[ConRefit79]

I thought it was near Impulse Engineering. Another "lucky shot" for Kruge. You would think after damage done by Khan, Scotty would make sure at least the shields work. I noticed the automation center was able to load a couple torpedoes.

 

[Ginger]

Or perhaps they were preloaded from before they left space dock by Scotty, just in case. The rate of fire suggests several torpedoes can be queued up ready to fire before you need to go through the ridiculousy slow loading process as seen in TWOK.

 

[Ithekro]

My guess is around the rectangle ahead and on the port side of the impulse units. I don't recall what those were for, but I see them on several drawing of the ship.

 

[Workbee]

Perhaps the torpedo didn't "hit" the ship so much as detonate in the vicinity like a kind of warhead. Resulting in both the port nacelle and rear of the saucer being caught in the blast radius.

In actuality, I imagine ILM found themselves caught between what was indicated by the dialogue "target engines only" and what had been filmed on set depicting a blast and near the bridge and sparks on the control panels. Trying to reconcile the two, ILM depicted the shot in a somewhat ambiguous way, suggesting effects on both the nacelle and saucer, with a sort of lens flare on the bridge.

 

[ConRefit79]

We frequently see consoles overload and explode in Star Trek, even though the shot isn't near the bridge.

 

[FormerLurker]

What bridge consoles need is a series of surge suppressors. Then they wouldn't explode.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

What bridge consoles need is a series of surge suppressors. Then they wouldn't explode.

That sounds like pretty sophisticated technology. Do you thing such a thing would have been created even in the 23rd century?

 

[Maurice]

I figured it out! He shot the Enterprise right in the jiblets!

 

[Marsden]

I thought it was strange that it so much, like instead of a torpedo Kruge cast Call Lightning Surge.
It blasted the Enterprise with so much power, to bad they didn't have the capacitors empty to receive it. It didn't seem to do any physical damage at all but just arcing electricity and Scotty had all of those pennies in the fuse box, so boom.