Scifi TV Discussion Thread

[Mincaldenteans]

What bridge design is your favorite?

I honestly really do like the TNG bridge, but there are just so many different bridges that I can't pick a favorite.

I didn't care for the TNG bridge, just got used to it (what else can one do ). I did like Voyager's and Enterprise-E (First Contact) bridge layout. I wish they showed a complete layout of a Cardassian bridge though, I was alway curious about that.

[New Roma Republic]

What bridge design is your favorite?

I honestly really do like the TNG bridge, but there are just so many different bridges that I can't pick a favorite.

I didn't care for the TNG bridge, just got used to it (what else can one do ). I did like Voyager's and Enterprise-E (First Contact) bridge layout. I wish they showed a complete layout of a Cardassian bridge though, I was alway curious about that.

I think the TNG bridge layout is better than TOS, but I agree that it is not the best. I personally like the Defiant's layout

[Drayxaso]

I didn't care for the TNG bridge, just got used to it (what else can one do ). I did like Voyager's and Enterprise-E (First Contact) bridge layout. I wish they showed a complete layout of a Cardassian bridge though, I was alway curious about that.

I think the TNG bridge layout is better than TOS, but I agree that it is not the best. I personally like the Defiant's layout

I personally just really like the 'wishbone' part of the TNG bridge. I wish they had added it to more bridges.

[The Great Devourer of All]

What bridge design is your favorite?

I honestly really do like the TNG bridge, but there are just so many different bridges that I can't pick a favorite.

The TNG bridge is my favorite, but Voyager's bridge was pretty cool. I'd say the bridge of the Prometheus gets an honorable mention for having a significantly different structure, and overall a different feeling to it.

As a side note, I never knew how cramped the ENT bridge was until I saw a bird's-eye view of it. How did they not go insane and start shooting each other with the lack of personal space? For Roddenberry's sake, it was smaller than the bridge of the Defiant! On the other end of the spectrum is the DS9 command center, which was more like an open plaza with computer terminals than a bridge.

[Drayxaso]

What bridge design is your favorite?

I honestly really do like the TNG bridge, but there are just so many different bridges that I can't pick a favorite.

The TNG bridge is my favorite, but Voyager's bridge was pretty cool. I'd say the bridge of the Prometheus gets an honorable mention for having a significantly different structure, and overall a different feeling to it.

As a side note, I never knew how cramped the ENT bridge was until I saw a bird's-eye view of it. How did they not go insane and start shooting each other with the lack of personal space? For Roddenberry's sake, it was smaller than the bridge of the Defiant! On the other end of the spectrum is the DS9 command center, which was more like an open plaza with computer terminals than a bridge.

Looking at an image of the Prometheus bridge now, it actually looks really cool.

In regards to the ENT bridge, I'm still wondering where all of those doors go. It has several doors, and only one seems to be a turbolift.

Interestingly enough, there's actually a bridge in STO which has consoles so low the crew have to kneel to access them. What could be the possible use of that?

[The Great Devourer of All]

The TNG bridge is my favorite, but Voyager's bridge was pretty cool. I'd say the bridge of the Prometheus gets an honorable mention for having a significantly different structure, and overall a different feeling to it.

As a side note, I never knew how cramped the ENT bridge was until I saw a bird's-eye view of it. How did they not go insane and start shooting each other with the lack of personal space? For Roddenberry's sake, it was smaller than the bridge of the Defiant! On the other end of the spectrum is the DS9 command center, which was more like an open plaza with computer terminals than a bridge.

Looking at an image of the Prometheus bridge now, it actually looks really cool.

In regards to the ENT bridge, I'm still wondering where all of those doors go. It has several doors, and only one seems to be a turbolift.

Interestingly enough, there's actually a bridge in STO which has consoles so low the crew have to kneel to access them. What could be the possible use of that?

I suppose the doors with stairs go down to the deck below the bridge, and perhaps the door in the back with no stairs leads to the Command Center (or a random storage facility, depending on what season of ENT you're talking about). I mean, it makes sense for the Command Center to be near enough to the bridge that you could get from one place to the other without having to run the length of a football stadium or take a turbolift.

As for the kneeling consoles, maybe the ship was designed for aliens with bizarre fetishes. I don't know. In all seriousness, it does seem like a pretty inefficient way to set up the bridge.

"Bring the ship about, helmsman! The Klingons are firing on us!"

"I can't, sir! My knees hurt like hell and my back is cramped in a thousand places. The Klingons might as well put me out of my misery!"

[Drayxaso]

Looking at an image of the Prometheus bridge now, it actually looks really cool.

In regards to the ENT bridge, I'm still wondering where all of those doors go. It has several doors, and only one seems to be a turbolift.

Interestingly enough, there's actually a bridge in STO which has consoles so low the crew have to kneel to access them. What could be the possible use of that?

I suppose the doors with stairs go down to the deck below the bridge, and perhaps the door in the back with no stairs leads to the Command Center (or a random storage facility, depending on what season of ENT you're talking about). I mean, it makes sense for the Command Center to be near enough to the bridge that you could get from one place to the other without having to run the length of a football stadium or take a turbolift.

As for the kneeling consoles, maybe the ship was designed for aliens with bizarre fetishes. I don't know. In all seriousness, it does seem like a pretty inefficient way to set up the bridge.

"Bring the ship about, helmsman! The Klingons are firing on us!"

"I can't, sir! My knees hurt like hell and my back is cramped in a thousand places. The Klingons might as well put me out of my misery!"

I'm pretty sure they showed behind that door in the episode with the Ferengi, but I can't remember what it looked like.

I think it might be some special buttons, not normal consoles. Perhaps they couldn't fit them anywhere else?

[New haven america]

For the prime universe, Inquire like TNG's and Voy's bridges.

Though, I really do like the Kelvin universe's Enterprise's bridge, it looks very spacious while still being easy to get to stations.

[Nation of Quebec]

Voyager and the Enterprise E.

None of the bridge designs were particularly bad.

Didn't care for the NX-01 bridge though. It was way too cramped, but considering that the NX-01 is quite small compared to even the TOS Enterprise, that's understandable.

[The Great Devourer of All]

Though, I really do like the Kelvin universe's Enterprise's bridge, it looks very spacious while still being easy to get to stations.

Agreed, but I not just because of that. I really like the idea of the viewscreen just being a holographic projection onto an aesthetically pleasing plus-size viewport, as opposed to a glorified plasma TV screen made to look like a window. With the former, the bridge crew could literally look out onto the surface of the saucer section, allowing for shots like the one (in Into Darkness, I believe) where we get a view from above the saucer of Kirk standing just a meter or so from the vacuum of space. I don't know why, but that kind of thing just really appeals to me. Another thing I like is the sterile white aesthetic of the bridge's walls and furniture. It somehow manages to exemplify the optimism that was present in TOS and early TNG without making the bridge scenes feel like snippets from an overdone hospital drama.

I do hope that the viewport I so love is reinforced with transparent duranium or whatever, because otherwise the bridge would be the first thing to go once a ship's shields went down. A single well-aimed shot from a TOS-era phaser emitter would probably vaporize a window made out of shatterproof glass, regardless of its thickness.

[Drayxaso]

Though, I really do like the Kelvin universe's Enterprise's bridge, it looks very spacious while still being easy to get to stations.

Agreed, but I not just because of that. I really like the idea of the viewscreen just being a holographic projection onto an aesthetically pleasing plus-size viewport, as opposed to a glorified plasma TV screen made to look like a window. With the former, the bridge crew could literally look out onto the surface of the saucer section, allowing for shots like the one (in Into Darkness, I believe) where we get a view from above the saucer of Kirk standing just a meter or so from the vacuum of space. I don't know why, but that kind of thing just really appeals to me. Another thing I like is the sterile white aesthetic of the bridge's walls and furniture. It somehow manages to exemplify the optimism that was present in TOS and early TNG without making the bridge scenes feel like snippets from an overdone hospital drama.

I do hope that the viewport I so love is reinforced with transparent duranium or whatever, because otherwise the bridge would be the first thing to go once a ship's shields went down. A single well-aimed shot from a TOS-era phaser emitter would probably vaporize a window made out of shatterproof glass, regardless of its thickness.

It only took a few shots from a hand phaser to crack in Beyond, so it doesn't seem very reinforced. But considering that Star Trek ships are basically paper without shields anyway, the enemy is probably too busy firing on the warp core to notice the bridge.

[The Great Devourer of All]

Agreed, but I not just because of that. I really like the idea of the viewscreen just being a holographic projection onto an aesthetically pleasing plus-size viewport, as opposed to a glorified plasma TV screen made to look like a window. With the former, the bridge crew could literally look out onto the surface of the saucer section, allowing for shots like the one (in Into Darkness, I believe) where we get a view from above the saucer of Kirk standing just a meter or so from the vacuum of space. I don't know why, but that kind of thing just really appeals to me. Another thing I like is the sterile white aesthetic of the bridge's walls and furniture. It somehow manages to exemplify the optimism that was present in TOS and early TNG without making the bridge scenes feel like snippets from an overdone hospital drama.

I do hope that the viewport I so love is reinforced with transparent duranium or whatever, because otherwise the bridge would be the first thing to go once a ship's shields went down. A single well-aimed shot from a TOS-era phaser emitter would probably vaporize a window made out of shatterproof glass, regardless of its thickness.

It only took a few shots from a hand phaser to crack in Beyond, so it doesn't seem very reinforced. But considering that Star Trek ships are basically paper without shields anyway, the enemy is probably too busy firing on the warp core to notice the bridge.

I've never understood why the enemies in Trek never hit the bridge when Federation ships lost their shields. A single photorp hit to the bridge and a few seconds of phaser fire concentrated on each nacelle would leave any Fed ship dead in the water whether or not its warp core was online. It might be beneficial to take out the impulse engines as well, but it's not like a ship could get very far at sublight speeds while its assailant was picking apart other ships.

[Drayxaso]

It only took a few shots from a hand phaser to crack in Beyond, so it doesn't seem very reinforced. But considering that Star Trek ships are basically paper without shields anyway, the enemy is probably too busy firing on the warp core to notice the bridge.

I've never understood why the enemies in Trek never hit the bridge when Federation ships lost their shields. A single photorp hit to the bridge and a few seconds of phaser fire concentrated on each nacelle would leave any Fed ship dead in the water whether or not its warp core was online. It might be beneficial to take out the impulse engines as well, but it's not like a ship could get very far at sublight speeds while its assailant was picking apart other ships.

They probably don't hit the bridge as much due to the fact that most Fed ships have auxiliary control rooms or battle bridges which operations of the ship could be taken over from. I'm pretty sure Khan told his crew specifically not to hit the bridge of the Enterprise in Wrath of Khan, because he wanted Kirk to suffer the most or something.

[The Great Devourer of All]

I've never understood why the enemies in Trek never hit the bridge when Federation ships lost their shields. A single photorp hit to the bridge and a few seconds of phaser fire concentrated on each nacelle would leave any Fed ship dead in the water whether or not its warp core was online. It might be beneficial to take out the impulse engines as well, but it's not like a ship could get very far at sublight speeds while its assailant was picking apart other ships.

They probably don't hit the bridge as much due to the fact that most Fed ships have auxiliary control rooms or battle bridges which operations of the ship could be taken over from. I'm pretty sure Khan told his crew specifically not to hit the bridge of the Enterprise in Wrath of Khan, because he wanted Kirk to suffer the most or something.

But still, like I said, the ship wouldn't be able to go much of anywhere even with its auxiliary bridge if the nacelles were strafed with phasers.

[Drayxaso]

They probably don't hit the bridge as much due to the fact that most Fed ships have auxiliary control rooms or battle bridges which operations of the ship could be taken over from. I'm pretty sure Khan told his crew specifically not to hit the bridge of the Enterprise in Wrath of Khan, because he wanted Kirk to suffer the most or something.

But still, like I said, the ship wouldn't be able to go much of anywhere even with its auxiliary bridge if the nacelles were strafed with phasers.

Well, that was shown pretty clearly in Star Trek: Beyond.
I feel like the ship dies the shot after losing its shields so often that the Star Trek universe really hasn't fleshed out fighting without shields that much.

[Drayxaso]

"Bring the ship about, helmsman! The Klingons are firing on us!"

"I can't, sir! My knees hurt like hell and my back is cramped in a thousand places. The Klingons might as well put me out of my misery!"

I honestly feel like sigging this part.

[Tarsonis Survivors]

The TNG bridge is my favorite, but Voyager's bridge was pretty cool. I'd say the bridge of the Prometheus gets an honorable mention for having a significantly different structure, and overall a different feeling to it.

As a side note, I never knew how cramped the ENT bridge was until I saw a bird's-eye view of it. How did they not go insane and start shooting each other with the lack of personal space? For Roddenberry's sake, it was smaller than the bridge of the Defiant! On the other end of the spectrum is the DS9 command center, which was more like an open plaza with computer terminals than a bridge.

Looking at an image of the Prometheus bridge now, it actually looks really cool.

In regards to the ENT bridge, I'm still wondering where all of those doors go. It has several doors, and only one seems to be a turbolift.

Interestingly enough, there's actually a bridge in STO which has consoles so low the crew have to kneel to access them. What could be the possible use of that?

Could be designed for a crew of Scotty's midget friend

[Auristania]

I've never understood why the enemies in Trek never hit the bridge when Federation ships lost their shields. A single photorp hit to the bridge and a few seconds of phaser fire concentrated on each nacelle would leave any Fed ship dead in the water whether or not its warp core was online. It might be beneficial to take out the impulse engines as well, but it's not like a ship could get very far at sublight speeds while its assailant was picking apart other ships.

They probably don't hit the bridge as much due to the fact that most Fed ships have auxiliary control rooms or battle bridges which operations of the ship could be taken over from. I'm pretty sure Khan told his crew specifically not to hit the bridge of the Enterprise in Wrath of Khan, because he wanted Kirk to suffer the most or something.

Aliens always hit the bridge. When Star Fleet shoots Aliens, they target weapons, engines etc. But when Aliens shoot, then bridge consoles explode.

There are many scenes set on Klingon ships, Cardassi, Dominion etc. I don't remember Alien consoles exploding except in Alternate evil Universe.

Maybe Aliens build their consoles out of metal rather than explodium.
I don't remember any Alien ships being killed with cheese either.

[Drayxaso]

They probably don't hit the bridge as much due to the fact that most Fed ships have auxiliary control rooms or battle bridges which operations of the ship could be taken over from. I'm pretty sure Khan told his crew specifically not to hit the bridge of the Enterprise in Wrath of Khan, because he wanted Kirk to suffer the most or something.

Aliens always hit the bridge. When Star Fleet shoots Aliens, they target weapons, engines etc. But when Aliens shoot, then bridge consoles explode.

There are many scenes set on Klingon ships, Cardassi, Dominion etc. I don't remember Alien consoles exploding except in Alternate evil Universe.

Maybe Aliens build their consoles out of metal rather than explodium.
I don't remember any Alien ships being killed with cheese either.

I think it's more that the consoles on the bridge are tied to the power net in federation ships, so they tend to blow up the instant the enemy messes with the power net.

[The Great Devourer of All]

They probably don't hit the bridge as much due to the fact that most Fed ships have auxiliary control rooms or battle bridges which operations of the ship could be taken over from. I'm pretty sure Khan told his crew specifically not to hit the bridge of the Enterprise in Wrath of Khan, because he wanted Kirk to suffer the most or something.

Aliens always hit the bridge. When Star Fleet shoots Aliens, they target weapons, engines etc. But when Aliens shoot, then bridge consoles explode.

There are many scenes set on Klingon ships, Cardassi, Dominion etc. I don't remember Alien consoles exploding except in Alternate evil Universe.

Maybe Aliens build their consoles out of metal rather than explodium.
I don't remember any Alien ships being killed with cheese either.

If the aliens actually targeted the bridge, their disruptors would blast a hole in the saucer so large you could see all the way to the 'neck' of the ship. The only reason the bridge consoles explode is because, well, they just do. All the time. The shuttle bay gets hit with a torpedo? A console explodes. A vacant living space depressurizes? A console explodes. One of the windows in ten-forward collides with a piece of debris the size of a skin cell? A bridge console explodes, dammit!

But yeah, as Drayxaso said, Trek ships are usually destroyed with a single shot after their shields go down, so we never really see combat sans shields. It would be rather like an intense firefight between tanks without any armor plating.

[Drayxaso]

Aliens always hit the bridge. When Star Fleet shoots Aliens, they target weapons, engines etc. But when Aliens shoot, then bridge consoles explode.

There are many scenes set on Klingon ships, Cardassi, Dominion etc. I don't remember Alien consoles exploding except in Alternate evil Universe.

Maybe Aliens build their consoles out of metal rather than explodium.
I don't remember any Alien ships being killed with cheese either.

If the aliens actually targeted the bridge, their disruptors would blast a hole in the saucer so large you could see all the way to the 'neck' of the ship. The only reason the bridge consoles explode is because, well, they just do. All the time. The shuttle bay gets hit with a torpedo? A console explodes. A vacant living space depressurizes? A console explodes. One of the windows in ten-forward collides with a piece of debris the size of a skin cell? A bridge console explodes, dammit!

But yeah, as Drayxaso said, Trek ships are usually destroyed with a single shot after their shields go down, so we never really see combat sans shields. It would be rather like an intense firefight between tanks without any armor plating.

They probably don't hit the bridge as much due to the fact that most Fed ships have auxiliary control rooms or battle bridges which operations of the ship could be taken over from. I'm pretty sure Khan told his crew specifically not to hit the bridge of the Enterprise in Wrath of Khan, because he wanted Kirk to suffer the most or something.

Aliens always hit the bridge. When Star Fleet shoots Aliens, they target weapons, engines etc. But when Aliens shoot, then bridge consoles explode.

There are many scenes set on Klingon ships, Cardassi, Dominion etc. I don't remember Alien consoles exploding except in Alternate evil Universe.

Maybe Aliens build their consoles out of metal rather than explodium.
I don't remember any Alien ships being killed with cheese either.

All of this talk about exploding bridge consoles reminds me of this:

Edit: Also, I've found something which kinda explains why the consoles blow up so much:
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/exploding-consoles-of-doom-explained-at-last.131768/

[Wisconsin9]

If the aliens actually targeted the bridge, their disruptors would blast a hole in the saucer so large you could see all the way to the 'neck' of the ship. The only reason the bridge consoles explode is because, well, they just do. All the time. The shuttle bay gets hit with a torpedo? A console explodes. A vacant living space depressurizes? A console explodes. One of the windows in ten-forward collides with a piece of debris the size of a skin cell? A bridge console explodes, dammit!

But yeah, as Drayxaso said, Trek ships are usually destroyed with a single shot after their shields go down, so we never really see combat sans shields. It would be rather like an intense firefight between tanks without any armor plating.

Aliens always hit the bridge. When Star Fleet shoots Aliens, they target weapons, engines etc. But when Aliens shoot, then bridge consoles explode.

There are many scenes set on Klingon ships, Cardassi, Dominion etc. I don't remember Alien consoles exploding except in Alternate evil Universe.

Maybe Aliens build their consoles out of metal rather than explodium.
I don't remember any Alien ships being killed with cheese either.

All of this talk about exploding bridge consoles reminds me of this:

Edit: Also, I've found something which kinda explains why the consoles blow up so much:
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/exploding-consoles-of-doom-explained-at-last.131768/

I mean, yeah, but with how often it happens, it seems like they must be buying from the Ferengi. And this in a setting where someone can jury-rig a transgalactic comm system given five minutes, a lump of bubblegum, and a small mossy rock.

[Brusia]

Aliens always hit the bridge. When Star Fleet shoots Aliens, they target weapons, engines etc. But when Aliens shoot, then bridge consoles explode.

There are many scenes set on Klingon ships, Cardassi, Dominion etc. I don't remember Alien consoles exploding except in Alternate evil Universe.

Maybe Aliens build their consoles out of metal rather than explodium.
I don't remember any Alien ships being killed with cheese either.

If the aliens actually targeted the bridge, their disruptors would blast a hole in the saucer so large you could see all the way to the 'neck' of the ship. The only reason the bridge consoles explode is because, well, they just do. All the time. The shuttle bay gets hit with a torpedo? A console explodes. A vacant living space depressurizes? A console explodes. One of the windows in ten-forward collides with a piece of debris the size of a skin cell? A bridge console explodes, dammit!

But yeah, as Drayxaso said, Trek ships are usually destroyed with a single shot after their shields go down, so we never really see combat sans shields. It would be rather like an intense firefight between tanks without any armor plating.

There was one alternate-timeline episode of Enterprise where the Bridge was definitely targeted after their shields went down ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7LnJPlRrBA ), one episode where it seems the warp nacelle was the first thing targeted after the ship lost hull plating ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eV8qR2IEHk ), and one mirror-universe episode where the first thing targeted after the Defiant's shields went down was the primary hull ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x38EH0PcxQ )but as far as I can recall it generally seems like the warp reactor is the main target after the shields go down (at least I seem to remember hearing "Target their reactor!" more than a few times) which might also explain why ships are destroyed pretty quickly once their shields are gone.

[The United Federations]

If the aliens actually targeted the bridge, their disruptors would blast a hole in the saucer so large you could see all the way to the 'neck' of the ship. The only reason the bridge consoles explode is because, well, they just do. All the time. The shuttle bay gets hit with a torpedo? A console explodes. A vacant living space depressurizes? A console explodes. One of the windows in ten-forward collides with a piece of debris the size of a skin cell? A bridge console explodes, dammit!

But yeah, as Drayxaso said, Trek ships are usually destroyed with a single shot after their shields go down, so we never really see combat sans shields. It would be rather like an intense firefight between tanks without any armor plating.

There was one alternate-timeline episode of Enterprise where the Bridge was definitely targeted after their shields went down ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7LnJPlRrBA ) , one episode where it seems the warp nacelle was the first thing targeted after the ship lost hull plating ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eV8qR2IEHk ) , and one mirror-universe episode where the first thing targeted after the Defiant's shields went down was the primary hull ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x38EH0PcxQ )but as far as I can recall it generally seems like the warp reactor is the main target after the shields go down (at least I seem to remember hearing "Target their reactor!" more than a few times) which might also explain why ships are destroyed pretty quickly once their shields are gone.

Well assuming that the reactor of a Federation vessel is using a Matter/Anti-matter reactor as they describe almost all of their ships using, it can be safely thought that the sooner you damage and ruin the capability of powering the ship (and ensuring it doesn't leave a devastating destructive explosion for the rest of the galaxy to deal with), the faster the ship is out of commission for a battle. Considering our knowledge of antimatter in real life and what Star Trek attempts to describe as our work around in harnessing said source for a limitless supply of energy, it can be foreseen that if the containment of such a reaction were to be disrupted or destroyed then the damage to known space would be devastating, easily destroying the ship that it was meant to be powering.

[New haven america]

Seeing older ST fans and people who started ST through the reboots argue is rather entertaining.