The problem with the Voyager bridge

[TommyR01D]

A search online confirms that it was a redress of an existing bridge set.

A reference book "Delta Quadrant" claimed that it was redressed Defiant bridge set, which seems unlikely.

Online sources suggest that it was a redress of the Excelsior bridge from Flashback that was also the source for the Prometheus bridge, which seems more likely than redressing the Voyager bridge as this would have substantially slowed down filming either of those episodes or subsequent ones.

Five years ago I tried to compile a list of all the battle bridge redresses.

I think your reference book may be confusing phenomena. The exterior design of the Nova-class was derived from an early concept sketch for the defiant, and this may have been claimed as the case in-universe as well. The bridge can't really be a redress though, since their layouts are very different.

 

[jackoverfull]

We also got a very good look at a nebula class Sutherland bridge when Data is in command in Redemption…and what a bridge it was?! It was so odd that many speculate it was no bridge at all, but some kind of backup control room.

 

[NCC-73515]

Overview:

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/gallery/bridges1.htm

 

[jackoverfull]

And of course EAS has this kind of page.

 

[TommyR01D]

And of course EAS has this kind of page.

That page was the main source I used to make the list.

 

[Richard Baker]

Overview:

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/gallery/bridges1.htm

Good reference!
My only problem with those bridge illustrations is that some have the crew members sized too large

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I think your reference book may be confusing phenomena. The exterior design of the Nova-class was derived from an early concept sketch for the defiant, and this may have been claimed as the case in-universe as well. The bridge can't really be a redress though, since their layouts are very different.

AFAICT, no such claim was ever made in-universe, in fact Janeway's implication that the Nova-class is a relatively weak combatant (compared to Voyager?) would if anything imply the contrary.

However, I agree that that was probably the source of the confusion.

 

[TommyR01D]

AFAICT, no such claim was ever made in-universe, in fact Janeway's implication that the Nova-class is a relatively weak combatant (compared to Voyager?) would if anything imply the contrary.

However, I agree that that was probably the source of the confusion.

I don't think anything was said that way on screen, but it might have been written in some other spin-off books (e.g. DS9 Technical Manual).

 

[F. King Daniel]

I thought the "command sofa" arrangement was a bit weird. But the big problem with the Voyager bridge to me is having Tuvok and Harry standing in those little booths for their shifts. I think they're supposed to have little seats in there according to some technical diagrams but it looks to me that they're standing for hours.

Also it's huge, much like the Discovery bridge, they'd be yelling across the bridge to hear each other.

 

[Timo]

It would IMHO have added to the show if they actually made a point that the standing-only bridge was related to the ship having been designed for three-hour tours: after a couple of episodes, the heroes would install a couple of chairs, which would stand out for their makeshift looks... And remind us for the next seven years that the heroes were up the creek with a teaspoon for a paddle.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[at Quark's]

Not sure what the problem is. TNG had three roughly similar chairs, though of course the Captain's chair would be the one in the middle. So if they wanted to put 2 command chairs there to indicate that Voyager was neither a giant such as a Galaxy nor a dwarf such as the Defiant, two chairs would be logical. So what should they have done? Put one more to the front? Or make one chair slightly larger/more elaborate?

 

[KennyB]

Add that to list list of things I never thought about.........

 

[Takeru]

I doubt it had anything to do with Janeway being a woman not even subconsciously, Voyager following TNG and the TNG production design department becoming Voyager's meant taking design cues from it and TNG established the XO having their own seat next to the captain but Voyager didn't have a counselor or anyone on the cast who could have filled a third seat so two it was.

How many chairs did the J have then? XD

None, by that point the captain wears an antigravity harness and floats in the middle of the bridge for easy access to the 4 bridge levels.

A search online confirms that it was a redress of an existing bridge set.

A reference book "Delta Quadrant" claimed that it was redressed Defiant bridge set, which seems unlikely.

Online sources suggest that it was a redress of the Excelsior bridge from Flashback that was also the source for the Prometheus bridge, which seems more likely than redressing the Voyager bridge as this would have substantially slowed down filming either of those episodes or subsequent ones.

I'm almost sure it's an Excelsior redress, the ceiling structure looks very similar, the layout of the consoles on the walls too and the structures between the consoles look like they were simply enlarged for the Equinox.

 

[StewMc]

The "Delta Quadrant" reference book has a few errors like that regarding sets which makes it (ironically) not a good book for referencing. It also claims the USS Relativity's bridge was a redress of the Enterprise-E bridge, which I'm not sure is true either.

The Equinox bridge was definitely a redress of the Excelsior/Prometheus bridge.

 

[Takeru]

The "Delta Quadrant" reference book has a few errors like that regarding sets which makes it (ironically) not a good book for referencing. It also claims the USS Relativity's bridge was a redress of the Enterprise-E bridge, which I'm not sure is true either.

I'm 98% sure he Relativity bridge is a a redress of Voyager's science lab, the curved walls behind the temporal transporter give it away and the layout of the set is very similar.

 

[NCC-73515]

I thought the "command sofa" arrangement was a bit weird. But the big problem with the Voyager bridge to me is having Tuvok and Harry standing in those little booths for their shifts. I think they're supposed to have little seats in there according to some technical diagrams but it looks to me that they're standing for hours.

Also it's huge, much like the Discovery bridge, they'd be yelling across the bridge to hear each other.

They did have chairs, and I do remember at least Harry sitting down.

 

[yotsuya]

I don't know if that is the reason. It might be, but for the two other female captains of note (Saratoga and Enterprise C) they had a single captain's chair.

Personally I don't think the CO and FO need to be on the same shift. The FO should be commanding away missions and one of the other shifts on the bridge. I had never noticed that design, but for whatever reason, equality between officers or sexism, it is a bad design. The 3 seats work on the Galaxy class because of the nature of the ship - full of families. Voyager should have had 3 or 1, not 2. That is just wierd.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I'm 98% sure he Relativity bridge is a a redress of Voyager's science lab,

Not sure if that's true, but I agree that it's definitely not a redress of an existing bridge set, the shape's all wrong for that.

 

[jackoverfull]

They did have chairs, and I do remember at least Harry sitting down.

i’m almost sure that they had chairs as well.

Personally I don't think the CO and FO need to be on the same shift. The FO should be commanding away missions and one of the other shifts on the bridge.

agreed, and this is another reason the single-chair arrangement makes sense.

 

[NCC-73515]

There's that outtake where Tuvok overacts getting hit by something and grabs the chair and spins around XD