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The Cage bridge.

As a safety consideration the red on the railings and the console edges make sense.

Well, as a safety concern, the railings are an accident waiting to happen. Until you're actually standing next to it, you don't really get a sense of how insecure they make you feel. If you are "down below," they're great. But if you're on the upper level, you notice that they catch you right at about knee level. They feel more like tripping devices than safety features. UFP OSHA would have a field day.
Well, they probably have mandatory safety force fields to keep people from tripping over the railings.

Unless the script says otherwise. ;)
 
"The Cage" bridge is very nice and if you were doing a show like TOS today then that's the aesthetic you probably go with.
And is almost exactly the aesthetic they went with in the movies; IMO, the TMP bridge and even the TUC redesign show a direct lineage from The Cage primarily.
 
Yeah the Cage bridge does have a very Forbidden Planet, "classic 50s scifi" feel to it that I really like. Especially with all the black and silver, and with those goose-necked viewers everywhere.

It was probably a little too subdued for the Trek that came later though, so I can see why they wanted to "liven it up" a bit more.
 
Eliminating the goose-neck displays, in retrospect, was probably a mistake. While I am approaching this from a 21st century POV, the helm, navigation, and captain's chair really need some kind of graphic display available to them to make certain they're doing what they think they are when they manipulate their controls. This may not have been a consideration in early computing, but we know better now. At least Sulu did eventually get that tactical display to help with his steering and fire control.
 
Eliminating the goose-neck displays, in retrospect, was probably a mistake. While I am approaching this from a 21st century POV, the helm, navigation, and captain's chair really need some kind of graphic display available to them to make certain they're doing what they think they are when they manipulate their controls.

But that's what the beeps and boops were for -- auditory feedback. And the patterns of the status lights would've given feedback about the state of the device.
 
Yeah I suspect the main reason they got rid of those viewers was because it would cut back on the number of optical effects needed for the little TV screens.
 
They might have had a tendency to get in the way when trying to frame an actor's face too. And if those goosenecks were actually adjustable, there could have been continuity errors between scene takes.
 
Attach the display directly to the console and the continuity problem goes away. Simple back-lit graphics could be easily assumed to be tactical displays and what-not by unassuming audiences. But once again, I'm approaching this from a 21st century perspective. The auditory feedback was probably what they were going for, even though we know now that that only works for letting one know one has indeed hit the control, sometimes too often. (bawp instead of beep)
 
Well, as a safety concern, the railings are an accident waiting to happen. Until you're actually standing next to it, you don't really get a sense of how insecure they make you feel. If you are "down below," they're great. But if you're on the upper level, you notice that they catch you right at about knee level. They feel more like tripping devices than safety features. UFP OSHA would have a field day.

I've often thought as much. It looks like if the ship rocked in battle, you could break both knees on your way to doing a face-plant in the well. Ouch.
 
^There could conceivably be multiple different tones denoting different responses/states.

Right. Audio tones, plus changing button color indicators, maybe some force feedback tactile indicators on the controls. Many combinations could have been used to eliminate the need for graphic display screens.
 
Well, as a safety concern, the railings are an accident waiting to happen. Until you're actually standing next to it, you don't really get a sense of how insecure they make you feel. If you are "down below," they're great. But if you're on the upper level, you notice that they catch you right at about knee level. They feel more like tripping devices than safety features. UFP OSHA would have a field day.

I've often thought as much. It looks like if the ship rocked in battle, you could break both knees on your way to doing a face-plant in the well. Ouch.
Best way to prevent this if you're on the upper level? Sit in your f***ing chair!
 
The chairs aren´t particularly safe either, since they

  • can rotate
  • are not fixed to the floor
  • don´t have restraints of any kind
So by sitting in a chair when all the shaking and rocking starts, you just fly around from a different position than when standing up - but down you´ll go ;)
 
^I knew that would come up, but at least you're in the wrong position to go tripping over the railing.
 
Which proves once again how difficult it is, to convey such subtleties of meaning using only the written word. Even with all the modern day "smiley icons" at our disposal :)
 
I've alway figured that the bridge railing was never meant to be at safety height for the upper stations. It was designed to be at Kirk-lean-upon height from below.

But take a look at the railings in Wrath of Khan: Standing on the lower level, Kirk is able to rest his chin on them while declaring that he "feels young." There you have a functional guard rail. It's about the only feature of the movie-era bridge that I like better than TOS.

M.
 
I've alway figured that the bridge railing was never meant to be at safety height for the upper stations. It was designed to be at Kirk-lean-upon height from below.

I say it was designed so that in a bumpy situation Yeoman Rand would have the choice whether she wanted to fall into Kirk's arms or grap on to the railing instead.

...or both. :D

Bob
 
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