the old old Bridge...

[RobertScorpio]

To me, having been in the military, and been on many ships in that time, the colors of the Cage, and its overall look, was more realistic. The newer bridge looks like they paid Richard Simmons a bunch of money to 'spiff' it up with new bright colors...oh well. It was the 60s

Rob

 

[Warped9]

I could see updating the TOS while retaining colour yet a bit more muted. One thing you could do would be to make the red trim around the outer edges of the consoles into a form of padding in case you smack against it when the ship is being shaken around. The red railings must some sense so you can see exactly where they are rather than black rails against a darker background. Those rails could be padded as well.

 

[CoveTom]

I'll give another vote for The Cage design. I like the more "serious" look, as has been discussed here. Of course, as has also been discussed, NBC wanted the sets full of color because they were, at the time, owned by RCA who was trying to justify to people the expense of buying color TV sets. But I think it hurt the production design.

 

[Red Ranger]

I much prefer the bridge used in most of the other TOS eps. I found the gooseneck appliances rather goofy, and the lighting was too muted. Glad they changed it for the actual show. Now, the only improvement I would've made to the bridge is Kirk's chair. I much preferred the one from Mirror, Mirror, and the one Commodore Wesley used in The Ultimate Computer. The high back promoted authority, and it's the kind of chair I'd sit in if I were captain. It says, "Captain's Chair."

 

[RandyS]

I guess I'm in the minority here. While I like the TOS bridges (The Cage moreso than the series, all that red....meh.), my most favorite Enterprise bridge design is the one from Star Trek V. I was disapointed when we didn't see it again in VI.

 

[Warped9]

^^ Definately in the minority. That isn't even one of the choices in question..

 

[RandyS]

^^ Definately in the minority. That isn't even one of the choices in question..

I know, but I felt free to speak up anyhow.

 

[RobertScorpio]

^^ Definately in the minority. That isn't even one of the choices in question..

I know, but I felt free to speak up anyhow.

And that's cool..especially since it was the STAR TREK V bridge you were boosting. And everyone here knows my feelings on V vs NEMESIS...

I like the Cage set becaues, for me, having been in the military, it was more 'military' looking than the usual TOS bridge which, as I said, looked as if Richard Simmons was hired to re-decorate it...

But, even then, the TOS bridge is far better than the Love Boat-D bridge..

Rob

 

[Maurice]

I think there's a practical reason they changed the area around the upper screens from black to gray: dark hair tends to disappear into black backgrounds unless you use a backlight to rim light it. For speed of setups, you want a set where there are a minimum of lighting changes required to make sure there is adequate separation between background and actors, etc.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

^^ Definately in the minority. That isn't even one of the choices in question..

I know, but I felt free to speak up anyhow.

Amazing, isn't it?

The ST V bridge is my favorite of all the movie bridges - the designers were very conscious of the TOS production bridge in creating it, and the cues referencing that are numerous throughout. It's the closest we'll ever see to a big-budget version of the TOS design - Meyer really ruined the aesthetics of it in ST VI.

 

[Orcus]

I could see updating the TOS while retaining colour yet a bit more muted. One thing you could do would be to make the red trim around the outer edges of the consoles into a form of padding in case you smack against it when the ship is being shaken around. The red railings must some sense so you can see exactly where they are rather than black rails against a darker background. Those rails could be padded as well.

Yep - ditto that. I preferred the original colour scheme but agree that red must serve some purpose and health and safety will do it...

 

[RandyS]

^^ Definately in the minority. That isn't even one of the choices in question..

I know, but I felt free to speak up anyhow.

Amazing, isn't it?

The ST V bridge is my favorite of all the movie bridges - the designers were very conscious of the TOS production bridge in creating it, and the cues referencing that are numerous throughout. It's the closest we'll ever see to a big-budget version of the TOS design - Meyer really ruined the aesthetics of it in ST VI.

The ST V bridge is my favorite bridge period. I took it as the TOS desgin making a first step toward the TNG aesthetic eighty years later.

I would have loved it if TNG had inherited that set and used it for the E-D bridge, particularly since The Best of Both Worlds provided a perfect excuse for it.

 

[CoveTom]

Count me as another one whose favorite bridge of all time is the TFF bridge. It adds the warmth of the TNG bridge, as well as the touch panel interfaces, while still retaining the utilitarian nature and traditional layout of the TOS bridge. I absolutely hate what Meyer did when he had it redressed for TUC. His insistence that it have all sorts of physical buttons, levers, and what have you makes absolutely no sense for the technology of the time. And, frankly, I just think it looks ugly compared to its TFF counterpart.

 

[Warped9]

Odd. The TFF bridge was perhaps my least favourite.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Count me as another one whose favorite bridge of all time is the TFF bridge. It adds the warmth of the TNG bridge, as well as the touch panel interfaces, while still retaining the utilitarian nature and traditional layout of the TOS bridge. I absolutely hate what Meyer did when he had it redressed for TUC. His insistence that it have all sorts of physical buttons, levers, and what have you makes absolutely no sense for the technology of the time. And, frankly, I just think it looks ugly compared to its TFF counterpart.

Absolutely agreed.

The TFF bridge dumped that "echo chamber" dome that TMP had stuck the movies with in favor of surrounding black control panels with red padding replacing the original TOS red trim and angled overhead viewers resembling the TOS stations (McMasters' blueprints were consulted, although not literally transposed, in figuring the vertical angles of the stations). The captain's chair was enhanced in size and profile relative to the smaller pedestal chairs of other stations, again resembling TOS as opposed to TMP. And the main viewer was given a more modern, built-in look. Oh - and they returned to carpet for the "deck" rather than using that coin-patterned vinyl flooring.

All in all, entirely satisfactory.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Count me as another one whose favorite bridge of all time is the TFF bridge. It adds the warmth of the TNG bridge, as well as the touch panel interfaces, while still retaining the utilitarian nature and traditional layout of the TOS bridge. I absolutely hate what Meyer did when he had it redressed for TUC. His insistence that it have all sorts of physical buttons, levers, and what have you makes absolutely no sense for the technology of the time. And, frankly, I just think it looks ugly compared to its TFF counterpart.

Absolutely agreed.

The TFF bridge dumped that "echo chamber" dome that TMP had stuck the movies with in favor of surrounding black control panels with red trim and angled overhead viewers resembling the TOS stations (McMasters' blueprints were consulted, although not literally transposed, in figuring the vertical angles of the stations). The captain's chair was enhanced in size and profile relative to the smaller pedestal chairs of other stations, again resembling TOS as opposed to TMP. And the main viewer was given a more modern, built-in look. Oh - and they returned to carpet for the "deck" rather than using that coin-patterned vinyl flooring.

All in all, entirely satisfactory.

..and another reason why its a far better movie than Nemesis!!!

Rob

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Nah, TFF sucked way harder than Nemesis - rather a pointless distinction, as the two race for the absolute bottom.

 

[S'kai]

Yep - ditto that. I preferred the original colour scheme but agree that red must serve some purpose and health and safety will do it...

Why do the railings need to be red? Nobody's EVER going to bump into them or get thrown around on the bridge. The inertial dampers will take care of all that stuff. That's why we don't need seat belts.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

This is why trying to rationalize Star Trek diminishes it after a certain point - it drags primarily artistic decisions into the realm of functionality.

Red is currently fashionable as a dramatic color choice particularly for single or standalone interior walls. It's entirely possible that the red accents throughout the TOS Enterprise were completely aesthetic preferences - as Roddenberry and others were quick to point out, some thought was given to the fact that the characters had to live entirely enclosed in this ship for long periods of time.

 

[Maurice]

I still think that some of the color choices were to make different elements of the bridge stand out from one another and from the actors. Consider a black railing in front of a black console with black-panted actors standing between them.