Why does Picard call for a confrence while engaged with enemy?

[The Old Mixer]

Look at it this way: Taking it to the conference room (which is only seconds away from the bridge) allows their stations to be actively manned by fully qualified personnel who are on alert, leaving the senior staff free to jibber-jabber and brainstorm while not neglecting their posts.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Stinknut relief for the fill-in officer.

 

[Samuel]

It would've been handier if they had a conference table right on the bridge as Roddenberry reportedly wanted. That said simply having conferences themselves never bothered me much. It was after the results of these conferences never seemed to result in any decisive action.

 

[Mojochi]

That's a good point, but it just made me realize: Why even go the Conference Room? What are they going to say there that can't be said a few steps away on the Bridge in front of what few non senior crew members present?

It's communal. It falls in line with the TNG utopian ideal. The conference room has chairs for everybody. I'd say that if it has a reason, It's a way to make everyone feel like they are on some level playing field, unlike some guy sitting in a central chair, handing out orders all the time, even when he's asking for opinions or suggestions. It's there to make everyone feel like a team, & not just a hierarchy

Unfortunately it got overused, because it was one of the sets they had to alternate with

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It's a great question.

 

[Kronos]

LOL
I watched the episode " I don't remember the title" where they hit a quantum filiment or whatever and Picard is stuck in the turbo lift with the kids.
So left on the bridge is Troi, O'Brien, Ro and Some other guy.
The three of them go into the conference room and discuss what they should do.
[eyeroll]
Why did they go in the conference room?
Why leave that one guy out of any decisions?
[total eyeroll]

That guy was obviously a spy.

 

[velour]

It's communal. It falls in line with the TNG utopian ideal. The conference room has chairs for everybody. I'd say that if it has a reason, It's a way to make everyone feel like they are on some level playing field, unlike some guy sitting in a central chair, handing out orders all the time, even when he's asking for opinions or suggestions. It's there to make everyone feel like a team, & not just a hierarchy

Unfortunately it got overused, because it was one of the sets they had to alternate with

Yes. And I suppose there was a bit of irony in what Picard did.

The Borg was a collective, the kind that is the antithesis to individual human freedom. Oddly enough, Picard apparently felt a need for him and his underlings to engage in their own collective gathering in a setting where everyone can feel parity.

 

[Mojochi]

Yes. And I suppose there was a bit of irony in what Picard did.

The Borg was a collective, the kind that is the antithesis to individual human freedom. Oddly enough, Picard apparently felt a need for him and his underlings to engage in their own collective gathering in a setting where everyone can feel parity.

"Now that were all assembled, let's have a show of hands. Who doesn't want to assimilate into a collective?"

 

[The Rock]

It's at the root of TNG, sort of: our heroes fly such a big ship that they can afford to get shot at while deciding whether to shoot back.

Which is probably my most favorite thing about TNG. "Heroes" who shoot their enemies dead under the excuse that they are underdog heroes who must "do unto others before others do unto them" are... well, nothing short of disgusting. Picard doesn't have that flimsy excuse for killing his enemies; he must actually apply morals and ethics for acting.

Timo Saloniemi

So are you saying the Rebellion in Star Wars is disgusting?

 

[Herbert]

TNG shot first - I fully support this. Let's get some t-shirts made up

 

[Timo]

So are you saying the Rebellion in Star Wars is disgusting?

I do feel for the poor Stormtroopers. But killing for a cause calls for a cause worth the killing, and "staying alive" should never count as one.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[at Quark's]

Well, it is the same series that put a therapist on the bridge, after all

 

[Mytran]

It would've been handier if they had a conference table right on the bridge as Roddenberry reportedly wanted. That said simply having conferences themselves never bothered me much. It was after the results of these conferences never seemed to result in any decisive action.

I was always rather fond of that 2 level Bridge design with the integrated conference table. The wishbone arch made much more sense that way too!

 

[Xhiandra]

As someone hinted at previously: the strange aspect lies not in the fact that they're having a conference, but in the fact that they're staying right beside the cube.

Call me a coward, but if I'd been in the captain's chair, I'd have fucked off at warp 9 the moment the cube was temporarily disabled.

Then you can have your conference, be it in the conference room or on the bridge, it doesn't matter.

 

[Lance Warren Baylis]

It's a running gag from (I think?) The Worst Of Trek review series that the big difference between TOS and TNG is that while the TOS characters often hasmd conferences during tense situations (eg while held by Balok in "The Corbimite Maneuver"), more times than not Kirk held his conferences on the bridge, canvassing the advice of senior officers before making a seat of the pants descision. Picard by contrast will call everyone into a 20 minute meeting in the ops lounge while the Ferengi or Borg are facing them down right there in space. :lol

 

[Marynator]

I think that this is also affected by more errors in later series, which confuse the scope and make space seem smaller.

While the ships look close for the sake of the camera in exterior shots, they are really tens of thousands of kilometers away from each other. Communications to Starfleet would take days to go back and forth (we see this sometimes in TNG). It would take weeks to cross the Federation. They would really have a relatively large response time if any movement from the other vessel was detected.

 

[gakelly]

I like it that after the Enterprise has been hit by enemy fire, Picard finds the need to ask for a damage report before firing back.
And after an attack, Worf gets casualty and damage reports within seconds from every deck and post. There must be crew members just hanging out hoping the Enterprise is attacked so he/she can deliver the report to the bridge ASAP

 

[MAGolding]

It's at the root of TNG, sort of: our heroes fly such a big ship that they can afford to get shot at while deciding whether to shoot back.

Which is probably my most favorite thing about TNG. "Heroes" who shoot their enemies dead under the excuse that they are underdog heroes who must "do unto others before others do unto them" are... well, nothing short of disgusting. Picard doesn't have that flimsy excuse for killing his enemies; he must actually apply morals and ethics for acting.

Timo Saloniemi

So are you saying the Rebellion in Star Wars is disgusting?

I'm sure that there could be a discussion of that in the proper forums.

Certainly the more powerful someone is compared to their opponents, the less justification they have for killing those opponents.

That is why most versions of Superman, for example, follow a strict no killing code. And it is easy to see how a version of Superman who didn't totally avoid killing could quickly become terrifying.

I remember seeing an episode of Arrow a few years ago where Oliver queen righted some wrongs by killing someone. Specifically he murdered someone who as I far as I can tell was not guilty of murder, in order to prevent him from doing bad but not evil things.

Oliver Queen is never going to run out of wrongs to right, and if his preferred method of righting wrongs is to murder wrongdoers - even including those who are not themselves murderers - he's never going to run out of targets to murder. I can't help wondering what, if anything, makes him any better than Dexter, the protagonist of a series which I have never watched and don't feel any inclination to watch based on what I have heard.

So after that episode I don't have any interest in watching Arrow or have any interest in Oliver Queen. I prefer to only watch shows where the protagonists are totally innocent of murder.

 

[JesterFace]

Well, it is the same series that put a therapist on the bridge, after all

Perhaps she was there because she could sense emotions, Picard could use her abilities to help in making correct decisions.