The bowling alley
- Thread starter BoredShipCapt'n
- Start date
I think there was also a line in "Bread and Circuses" where Kirk and Spock talked about TV in the past tense . . ..
It stopped being the way people got information and entertainment.
But Captain Pike had a big-ass console TV in his quarters. Back in the day, patrolling the far reaches of space was no excuse for missing Bonanza.
I always took the bowling alley mention to be a facetious, off-the-wall reference on Riley's part, until I learned that some took it literally.
I always took the bowling alley mention to be a facetious, off-the-wall reference on Riley's part, until I learned that some took it literally.
We're Star Trek fans. We take every word literally!
We don't really know what that big console TV was used for though. It might have been some closed circuit ship's internal monitoring system, or a hotline to Starfleet.
Many Enterprise Captains seem to have this fondness.
I love the FJ blueprint packet as a thing unto itself, but within the TV show I don't think the ship was meant to have a bowling alley.
I think Kevin Riley's line was written to be the hilariously absurd rambling of a happy drunk. But it does open the door to having a bowling alley in any fan's personal continuity if you don't find it absurd. The issue is: how luxury-minded and recreational is the ship supposed to be?
I think Kevin Riley's line was written to be the hilariously absurd rambling of a happy drunk. But it does open the door to having a bowling alley in any fan's personal continuity if you don't find it absurd. The issue is: how luxury-minded and recreational is the ship supposed to be?
Thanks! That's what I was looking for.
The ill-fated, never to be released, PC game "The Secret of Vulcan's Fury" had some artwork of the ship's bowling alley:
I'm now imagining a Trek/Big Lebowski crossover..
Kelowitz: Oh, 7-10 split! Tough break, Freeman.
<< ship shakes from incoming fire >>
Freeman: Strike!
The ill-fated, never to be released, PC game "The Secret of Vulcan's Fury" had some artwork of the ship's bowling alley:
They don't have any Cosmic Bowling lanes? When is this ship from, the 60s?
So we're supposed to take the bowling alley literally, but not the TV? 
Another possibility is that "the bowling alley" was a popular nickname for part of the ship that wasn't literally a bowling alley...maybe the hangar deck?
Another possibility is that "the bowling alley" was a popular nickname for part of the ship that wasn't literally a bowling alley...maybe the hangar deck?
They make reference to the "ship's theatre" in Conscience of the Kingbut it turns out to just be the gymnasium with a few extra seats (the weighted pull-bars used by "Sam" in Charlie-X are clearly visible, along with the large mesh wall panel)
With this in mind I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that the bowling alley did exist but spent most of it's time covered over and used for other functions.
With this in mind I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that the bowling alley did exist but spent most of it's time covered over and used for other functions.
I was just about to post that I think that was the bowling alley.
Just because a current tech bowling alley needs standing equipment wouldn't mean they can't retract theirs into the floor or walls. They may even have the balls and pins stored in another state that comes out of a slot in the wall somewhat like those doors in the wall of the various rec. rooms.
I think there's a bigger room that is the gym/swimming pool/theater/bowling alley/recreation deck, especially if we include the recreation room from The Practial Joker (animated). I think it's believable to have a room that can at least partially generate these things and that could have been holographic sets for Hamlet when the crew was watching the play.
I know that wouldn't have been the creators intent, but why would Enterprise have 2x4s and paper for sets for a Shakespeare play?
Last edited:
We did a crazy bowling alley photoshop in a caption contest a few years back.
Haha! I'd be in that seat, right beside Bones.
We did a crazy bowling alley photoshop in a caption contest a few years back.
Haha! I'd be in that seat, right beside Bones.
+1 for Colonel Tigh on the scoreboard
The theatre and gymnasium were just redresses of the engineering set. In universe, they could be separate locations, since a theatre could also be used as a briefing room large enough for several dozen people.
Similar threads
