The Voyage Home Enterprise Bridge should have stayed

[newtontomato539]

I really like The Voyage Home Enterprise-A bridge. I wish it had stayed for The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country. When I saw TNG's Stargazer episode, played Starfleet Academy (TMP version and their version of the E-A bridge) and saw In The Pikering I leapt for joy.

Comments? Questions? Photoshops?

 

[AggieJohn]

Well for STV it was pretty close to STIV they changed the chairs and added more detail to the paneling, going with more a TNG look. For STVI they wanted more a gritter bridge which I understand.

 

[RandyS]

If I remember correctly, that Bridge was also use for the E-D's Battle Bridge in Encounter at Farpoint.

That said, I prefer the version of the Bridge seen in The Final Frontier. It made sense that Starfleet was starting to develop the look that ended up being the E-D's main bridge. I was disapointed that set wasn't reused for Star Trek VI.

Of course, I have nothing against the bridge seen in Star Trek IV, I just think the version in V was better.

 

[Warp Coil]

In its very brief appearance at the end of TVH, I always thought that the Enterprise-A bridge was a bit too... bright. The set was lighter and there was this stark white lighting which I guess was intentional to emphasize that the ship was all shiny and new. But it was just a bit overdone for my tastes. My absolute favorite bridge design from the TOS era was the Enterprise-A bridge in TUC, so ultimately I am okay that they chose to re-design the set for TFF and TUC.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

From what I hear, the ST IV bridge for the Ent-A was never intended for full-time use, it was just something they literally threw together at the last minute just for filming that one scene. Who knows, that may have been true in-universe as well!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

From what I hear, the ST IV bridge for the Ent-A was never intended for full-time use, it was just something they literally threw together at the last minute just for filming that one scene. Who knows, that may have been true in-universe as well!

That's exactly what happened -- the Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV was a redress of the TMP onward bridge set, painted white. What we saw on screen was literally the one angle from which it could be shot. There's a picture of it that shows the point where it becomes "unfinished" with the older beige color scheme.

 

[Angry Fanboy]

Angry Fanboy

I loved the Enterprise bridge from The Undiscovered Country - it was all so wonderfully tactile and metallic!

 

[Workbee]

From what I hear, the ST IV bridge for the Ent-A was never intended for full-time use, it was just something they literally threw together at the last minute just for filming that one scene. Who knows, that may have been true in-universe as well!

That's exactly what happened -- the Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV was a redress of the TMP onward bridge set, painted white. What we saw on screen was literally the one angle from which it could be shot. There's a picture of it that shows the point where it becomes "unfinished" with the older beige color scheme.

Anyone have this picture? I don't remember seeing any pictures showing a transition. I think there was some interview with Gene and some of the cast on the set shortly after Star Trek IV wrapped where it showed more of the set.

 

[Warp Coil]

From what I hear, the ST IV bridge for the Ent-A was never intended for full-time use, it was just something they literally threw together at the last minute just for filming that one scene. Who knows, that may have been true in-universe as well!

Well, I suspect that it would have been used again for the Enterprise-A bridge in TFF had the set not been given to TNG and re-dressed as the Enterprise-D battle bridge, Stargazer bridge and ultimately numerous other sets over the next several years.

 

[Workbee]

^It is a shame they couldn't leave the set intact. They probably could have redressed the BOP bridge from TVH as the Battle Bridge and for story purposes it would have worked fine. Especially since there was only 3 times the battle bridge appeared in the series. And that would have left a fully intact set to use for the Stargazer and other federation ships instead of the partial pie-slice shaped version that we ultimately got.

 

[Ryann866]

From what I hear, the ST IV bridge for the Ent-A was never intended for full-time use, it was just something they literally threw together at the last minute just for filming that one scene. Who knows, that may have been true in-universe as well!

That's exactly what happened -- the Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV was a redress of the TMP onward bridge set, painted white. What we saw on screen was literally the one angle from which it could be shot. There's a picture of it that shows the point where it becomes "unfinished" with the older beige color scheme.

Actually they painted pretty much the entire bridge set white, added those silver bulkhead supports, the baseboard lighting panels, and altered most of the main consoles with the first ever Okudagrams.

You can see this best in the footage included in Entertainment Tonight's Trek 20th anniversary special.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDy-7vOkKVw

You can see most of the set in this clip during the intro with the host. During James's Doohan's interview he's sitting at the science station which has Okudagrams on both of it's roll out consoles which were never seen in the film. When they get to Nichelle Nichols' interview, she's sitting at the engineering station (to the right of the communications console) which still has the old TMP style flashing lights and graphics. During Walter Koenig's interviews you can see the console behind him has also been altered. So they probably only made new graphics for that back half of the bridge.

In this clip from GMA (also from 1986) at 5:18 you see a reverse shot of Joan Lunden interviewing the cast and you can clearly see that the console to the right of the main viewer has been painted white, has a silver bulkhead support but doesn't have any Okudagrams.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgtjG66nbno

Judging by the fact that they redressed most of the set all the way around, they were either doing it to make sure Nimoy could get any coverage he wanted for that last scene of TVH or just doing as they much as they can in anticipation of the new film.

In a 1987 Starlog interview about the then in production TNG, David Gerrold wrote that they had converted most of the bridge set to the battle bridge but that the rest of the set was being kept safely, ready for Trek V. For the pilot of TNG, they pretty much stripped and struck the entire bridge set except the two turbolift alcoves and the standing console between them. This clip also from ET shows the bear bones set after most of it had been taken down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi3X_6eEJBM

According to one of the commentaries on one of the dvds, the same set was supposed to be used for Trek V, but the walls and consoles that were saved (after they converted it into the battle bridge for TNG) were left outside and during a severe rainstorm the tarps covering them came undone. The wood framing warped and the set pieces no longer fit together causing the crew and production designer Herman Zimmerman to come up with a new design last minute for Trek V. The only things left from the original were the two door alcoves, the helm console, the railings and the platforms.

As much as I like both the Trek V bridge and the altered version for TUC, the one thing I wish they re-build was that great jet engine-like ceiling designed by Mike Minor. Interesting to note that those two turbolift alcoves survived all the way up to Nemesis when they were part of the Enterprise-E bridge.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I liked how the shiny white bridge screamed "NEW!", and it worked well for the finale of STIV (as did the same colour schemes on Voyager's USS Prometheus and the reimagined USS Enterprise in the last movie) but I can't see the bright shiny look working in STVI, where the Enterprise is (suddenly and inexplicably) supposed to be old, obsolete and heading for retirement along with the crew.

I've seen photos of the Star Trek Phase II bridge (the real Phase II, not the fan film series) with the white walls and shiny trims. It seems that look was originally meant for the aborted second TV series before the sets were repainted in grey for TMP.

 

[Workbee]

@Ryann - yes, that was the interview I was thinking about. I forgot just how much of the set you got to see. I wonder if those chrome supports were added to hide the gaps between each of the sections.

Too bad they didn't store those pieces indoors. It is like they finally got the set perfect and it was lost. I am sure that by TUC they could have used lower lighting levels and maybe some repainting to match the mood of the film.

If only they would remaster those interview segments in HD so we could get a better look at the set -- that probably is the best documentation remaining today of what the set looked like in the STIV configuration.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I always liked the Star Trek V bridge better. The Star Trek IV bridge was a bit too sterile for my liking, and the Star Trek VI bridge kinda seemed--I dunno, a little bit off (it seemed more befitting the Excelsior than the Enterprise to me).

 

[CoveTom]

As I have mentioned in other threads, the bridge design that Zimmerman came up with for TFF is my all-time favorite bridge design. It kept the simple, elegant, functional layout from TOS and movies I-IV and melded it nicely with the warmth and comfort of the TNG bridge. I know a lot of people like the way Nick Meyer changed the bridge for TUC, but that is perhaps my least favorite bridge of all time (tied with the Enterprise-E bridge). Although I love Nick Meyer, I am not a fan of many of his set design choices.

Having said all that, I thought the bridge look at the end of TVH was a good one, and I'd have liked to have seen more of it.

 

[Workbee]

The one thing that the TFF set really lacked was the inner curve of the walls as they went from floor to the ceiling. I really liked that aspect of the TMP-TVH set. There is something about that shape that really make the bridge seem more special than any of the later sets. That and that jet engine like ceiling.

Does anyone know if that jet-engine structure originally had an intended function? By TSFS they had put some blue and white lights in it, but there didn't appear to be lights in it in TMP or TWOK. Except maybe that one that doubles as a "speaker" during the kobayashi maru simulation.

 

[TwirlipMists]

Does anyone know if that jet-engine structure originally had an intended function?

The "Lee" mentioned in the extract is ST:TMP lead graphics designer Lee Cole. Make of that what you will.

Twirlip of the Mists

 

[Workbee]

^That's a very interesting tidbit! Would this be for the radial ridges along the ceiling, the bumpy nozzle bits along the outer ring?

 

[Galileo7]

I liked how the shiny white bridge screamed "NEW!", and it worked well for the finale of STIV (as did the same colour schemes on Voyager's USS Prometheus and the reimagined USS Enterprise in the last movie) but I can't see the bright shiny look working in STVI, where the Enterprise is (suddenly and inexplicably) supposed to be old, obsolete and heading for retirement along with the crew.

I've seen photos of the Star Trek Phase II bridge (the real Phase II, not the fan film series) with the white walls and shiny trims. It seems that look was originally meant for the aborted second TV series before the sets were repainted in grey for TMP.

Agree on all points.

 

[Workbee]

I don't think redressing that set to give old obsolete look would have been a problem. In fact, they did just that for the Stargazer -- though much more extreme.

I still would have like to see that set used for one good movie before it got replaced. When ever I read the novel "Probe," I imagine that set instead of the STV bridge. It makes it seem more connected to the universe of STIV.