Poll TVH 1701-A Bridge or TFF 1701-A Bridge?

[Vger23]

Engineering, the obs lounge and the "President's Office" aside, my general feeling is that slightly more effort went into disguising reused TNG sets in STVI than in STV. But I maybe need to rewatch the movie again to be sure

That one shot of Scotty standing at Geordi's work station *does* take one out of the moment just a little (maybe they should've changed the colored lights on the warp core to white or another color? And turned up the lights a bit to make it look at least a little bit different to TNG's set?)

The only major offenses in STV were the shots of the corridors (which is for a grand total of 6 seconds probably) and sickbay, which uses a very tight shot on Scotty and Uhura so as to not make it too obvious.

TUC was way worse, in my opinion.

 

[Lance]

The only major offenses in STV were the shots of the corridors (which is for a grand total of 6 seconds probably) and sickbay, which uses a very tight shot on Scotty and Uhura so as to not make it too obvious.

TUC was way worse, in my opinion.

Having recently rewatched TUC for the first time in years, I have to admit I agree with you. Considerable effort is put into making the corridors and the crew quarters look different and even the obs lounge isn't too obviously the obs lounge, but every time they go to the transporter room or engineering it feels really obvious.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm a die-hard Trekkie but if I was a Paramount head honcho, I'd tell Shatner and Meyer that they already had standing sets for a giant starship and no, they can't build all-new slightly different ones.

If that Picard/Next Gen reunion series ever happens, it'll be the USS Discovery sets standing in for the Enterprise-E.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I prefer TVH bridge set. It slightly updated the consoles, which I suppose had to happen, and I like that it's all so clean, white and shiney like the reboot Enterprise. The bridge set used for TFF (SEEN HERE) uses consoles, for example, that are very awkwardly placed. If you're standing, for example, none of the monitors is at eye-level. And just every frigging where you look, there's some big ass light fixture, just about. There's even one on the Helm that's facing nobody and nothing but the frigging View Screen, so as you're watching the damn thing, there's going to be a big ass stripe of white light reflecting on it. It's just really badly designed. I know everybody loves Herman Zimmerman in this era, but I really hated his work, outside of the bridge of the Enterprise-D. He was just not my kind of an Art Director, I'm sorry. Being a sweet guy who delivers on time are nice qualities, but you have to have a sense of style ...

 

[Lord Garth]

I like both the ones in TVH and TFF but, for some reason -- subliminally, I don't know why -- the TFF bridge looks like the first "modern" bridge to me. As far as the 23rd Century goes.

 

[Paradise City]

A blend of the two aesthetics would've done the job. A mix of monitors and panels. A monitor gave us a good scan shot of the Bop at one point & that I liked.

 

[2takesfrakes]

http://makenolittleplans.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/All_Bridges2.png

This pic's kind of rough, however it perfectly illustrates how busy the bridge sets have gotten since TFF and how quiet and easy on the eyes the TMP bridge was. The Enterprise "E" looks particularly bad, with all of that purple and those huge ass light fixtures everywhere with the weird-ass markings all over them. Really cheap and tacky looking, I always hated that. But, yeah, TMP's bridge all the way ...

 

[Lestatdelc]

Was a bit torn, but ended up voting for TVH set. I like some of the elements of TFF set, like the kickboard padded panels on the lower portion of the workstations, but think the actual workstations themselves in TVH (i.e. the TMP style shaped "desks") but greatly appreciate the Okudagram style graphical treatments a little more than some of the displays in the TMP/TWOK/TSS such as the yellow/orange "Christmas light" panels for the science station computer monitors panels. That was and remains an embarrassing display.

I much prefer the touch surface style "keyboard less" interfaces in the mode of the later LCARS style touch surfaces (ala Encom's VP Ed Dillinger's desk from Tron). Though I wish there was more animation int he workstation screen displays.

I think a nice blend of Lee Cole and Dennis Okuda graphical treatments with lots of "animated" graphics, in a TMP bridge workstations, with more dramatic lighting but not quite as "white" as TVH sets would be my "ideal" Enterprise bridge.

 

[Lestatdelc]

Ack. As a newbie I really wish there was an edit post feature because I often make typos and sometimes my grammar coulduse some work when I am simply basing out a quick stream of thought post.

 

[Lance]

Ack. As a newbie I really wish there was an edit post feature because I often make typos and sometimes my grammar coulduse some work when I am simply basing out a quick stream of thought post.

Don't worry, after you've been here a while and passed the initial restrictions new crew members are, um, restricted with, an edit post button becomes available.

Interesting thoughts btw. And welcome aboard the USS Trekbbs.

 

[Lance]

http://makenolittleplans.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/All_Bridges2.png

This pic's kind of rough, however it perfectly illustrates how busy the bridge sets have gotten since TFF and how quiet and easy on the eyes the TMP bridge was. The Enterprise "E" looks particularly bad, with all of that purple and those huge ass light fixtures everywhere with the weird-ass markings all over them. Really cheap and tacky looking, I always hated that. But, yeah, TMP's bridge all the way ...

Yeah I've always found the E's (and Voyager's) bridges to feel really cluttered, like they're made to look like cool studio sets on a movie backlot rather than feeling like functional workspaces. The same with the changes made to the D bridge for Generations. The television version was fine, but all those extraneous details on the E and VOY bridges, ugh.

 

[2takesfrakes]

No, you're exactly right about the studios just trying to make them look "cool," at the cost of A) any perceived functionality (despite labels like "Science Station" and whatnot) and B) they end up looking too cluttered so that everything's just a stew of blinking lights and pulsating panels. You know, I don't know whats with these graphic departments, but they're afraid to just show a monitor giving information, it's always got to have some busy image behind it, so that it looks like, if this were at all based in reality, nobody could read that easily in an emergency situation. I'm not sure what's behind these overbearing visuals, except an Art Director's desperation to impress and keep his job. See?! My set is just CRAMMED with stuff to look at ... which makes it interesting! "Oh! Ah! Yes ... you've got a point there!" Whatever ... it's just disappointing to look at something that looks like shit, because they overdid it.

 

[BillJ]

The Voyage Home.

 

[Lestatdelc]

Interesting thoughts btw. And welcome aboard the USS Trekbbs.

Thanks Lance.

 

[ItIsGreen]

if I was a Paramount head honcho, I'd tell Shatner and Meyer that they already had standing sets for a giant starship and no, they can't build all-new slightly different ones.

I fully agree with the sentiment, but hadn't the bridge set already been appropriated by TNG at this point and redressed six ways from Sunday? They certainly got a lot of mileage out of that set...

 

[Lance]

No, you're exactly right about the studios just trying to make them look "cool," at the cost of A) any perceived functionality (despite labels like "Science Station" and whatnot) and B) they end up looking too cluttered so that everything's just a stew of blinking lights and pulsating panels. You know, I don't know whats with these graphic departments, but they're afraid to just show a monitor giving information, it's always got to have some busy image behind it, so that it looks like, if this were at all based in reality, nobody could read that easily in an emergency situation. I'm not sure what's behind these overbearing visuals, except an Art Director's desperation to impress and keep his job. See?! My set is just CRAMMED with stuff to look at ... which makes it interesting! "Oh! Ah! Yes ... you've got a point there!" Whatever ... it's just disappointing to look at something that looks like shit, because they overdid it.

The Voyager bridge is quite bad for poor old Tuvok and Harry being tucked away in the back corners... it's like the set was designed to be seen in wide shots in widescreen rather than good old 4:3... the Tactical station on the D was perfectly centrally placed and Voyager even had an equivalent station just behind the two command chairs but it was nearly always staffed by a background artiste while Tim Russ is tucked away where noone could see him... just a bad design. The E is similarly poorly concieved.

The Defiant was a favorite of mine. It felt simple and streamlined and functional as an actual ship, if Starfleet really existed I'd hope all bridges were like that.

Straying from the thread topic now, admittedly.

 

[2takesfrakes]

And VOY loved having its bridge in deep shadows which I kind of get for certain sets. For example, in TMP, the transporter room is all dark and mysterious looking which kind of gives it a foreboding feeling, like some great force, something very unnatural that's going on in there ... an Abomination to Nature. The bridge of VOYAGER being so dark just makes it look like an accident that's waiting to happen. Somebody's going to trip and break their neck in here, turn on a damn light. That's the vibe I get from it. There's always, ALWAYS, this odd concern STAR TREK shows and movies have regarding the console displays. That they be bright and obvious and that the information on there, however irrelevant, shines bright into the camera. I guess they want their graphics people to keep up the good work, or whatever. I'm not sure what the infatuation is with that, but it's often at the expense of lighting that's making the cast look good. The worst of which is that so much of these shows takes place on the bridge. Just doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but do Trekkies love seeing the displays that much? Is it such a selling point to them?

 

[Lestatdelc]

I fully agree with the sentiment, but hadn't the bridge set already been appropriated by TNG at this point and redressed six ways from Sunday?

I remember reading somewhere that the original TMP (used through TVH) bridge set had been used and redressed for as the "battle bridge" of the Enterprise-D and the U.S.S. Stargazer bridge in the first season of TNG, but the the set pieces were then left in storage outdoors and basically ruined and left unusable by the elements.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I'd like to have seen more of the TVH bridge set, but I like TFF's sleek modern design a lot. TUC's bridge feels like a retrogressive step backwards to me in a lot of ways even though it looks kind of okay.

TFF bridge was the best looking out of TVH or TUC versions; it appeared the design was well thought out to showcase TOS cast. I also appreciated the color scheme from that Enterprise bridge, it felt new and fresh... a future design of what's to come (TNG). TUC's version was uninspiring in my opinion - changing things for the sake of changing them; that digital clock on the bridge was ridiculous; I'd rather the clock be a digital effect on the main viewer and on some small screens, the fonts small but clear enough to see.

 

[Maurice]

I remember reading somewhere that the original TPM (used through TVH) bridge ...

TPM = The Phantom Menace
TMP = The Motion Picture