I think the Star Trek V/VI bridge is my favorite, although I prefer the darker tones the bridge was painted in ST-VI.
Along the same lines, I liked the Excelsior's Star Trek VI bridge (I hated the ST-III bridge), as it showed the familiar design and layout that we'd come to expect from the TOS movie bridges, but combined with features we'd seen on TNG (the individual conn/ops posts).
I hated the bridge from ST II and III. So ... dull.
I liked the TNG bridge, but it seemed very open to me. I much prefered the "Generations" version, with extra computer posts (didja know they were originally going to do that during the 4th season or so? How cool would thata been!)
Defiant is another good bridge design. Not a lot of wasted space. Hell, the entire Defiant is pretty damn cool!
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted)
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
It's the first one I've seen that could actually hold enough people to handle a true space battle.
(Of course, I'm a Honor Harrington fan, so I like 'em big)
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"You left spacedock without a tractor beam?"
"It won't be installed until Tuesday."
-Captain James T. Kirk to Captain John Harriman
--Jonah
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"It's obvious I'm dealing with a moron..."
--Col. Edwards, ROBOTECH
I'm not sure, but I think the E-C-bridge looked cool too. Has anyone pics of it?
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"Second star to the right, and then straight on till morning."
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Predict the unpredictable, but how do you unpredict the unpredictable?
The Enterprise-D's bridge from TNG was all right, but I always felt it was too open, too spacy, and too undermanned to be the command center for a such a large starship. A lot of those problems were corrected, in my opinion, during Star Trek VII. I just wish those added stations had not looked so much like an afterthought (it seemed to detract a bit from the overall design) and all been labeled "Communications."
The Enterprise's bridge from Star Trek I/II/III (basically the same thing but with different station locations) was a good design. I liked the gray utilitarian feel to the bridge. It seemed so appropriate for the physical buttons, switches, and keys on the panels. The walls had character.
Voyager's bridge is okay, but I feel that there is underused and wasted space. Especially around the viewscreen and front bridge area. Plus, the viewscreen is tiny. The Defiant's bridge I felt was visually boring. But the command chair's side panels and the work area at the back were interesting design elements.
The Enterprise-E's bridge I liked better in Star Trek VIII than in IX. It seemed more lively and colorful. Star Trek IX's bridge was flat. However, I really don't like the brown color theme (I would have gone with gray or dark blue). I don't like those two freestanding consoles that seem to block the path to the turbolifts. And tactical should be closer to the command area and give the tactician comfort. Give them a darn chair! The Ops/Conn stations I love split up and in the design in ST 8/9.
The Prometheus' bridge from "Message in a Bottle" was another example of vastly wasted space. Plus, for a deep space tactical command whatever, the bridge seemed understationed as well as too light and cheery. Perhaps it was simply a test module? The Hathaway's bridge from "Peak Performance" had the interesting element of an Ops-like tactical console right next to the command chair. Very interesting. The Dauntless' bridge was a big ol' waste of space, but the side stations had a very cool and visually fascinating look to them.
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Nic: She's not a practicing lesbian. We need PRACTICING lesbians!
Me: I have a camcorder.
Nic: But no lesbians.
Me: Ahhh... no.
Nic: DAMN IT MAN! WE NEED LESBIANS! LOTS AND LOTS OF LESBIANS!
ICQ Conversation From January 23, 2001.
In all actuality though, and if I can muster up enough fanboy-ism to answer this thread, I'd say the ST-VI Enterprise, and the Enterprise-B were two asthetically pleasing sets.
[This message has been edited by Ultra Magnus (edited February 16, 2001).]
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Predict the unpredictable, but how do you unpredict the unpredictable?
I've got an urge..
I GOT THE BLUE GREEN LCARS POWERUP AND DESIGNED THE BRIDGE!
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"...screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" - Omega.
Irony ensues.
Free Jeff K
I say the Galaxy class battlebridge. No nonsense, just tactical, sensors, officers and a screen. NOT a goddamn disco-floor. Must be more shielded as well, tucked in there inthe gut of the ship, instead of ten feet from outer space. Where EXACTLY is the b-bridge placed, anyway?
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Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.
-Tleilaxu Epigram
Oh, and which set did they shoot the Lakota bridge-scenes in?
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Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.
-Tleilaxu Epigram
[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited February 16, 2001).]
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"I rather strongly disagree, even if I share the love of Dick. Speaking of which, that would be the most embarrasing .sig quote ever, so never use it."
- Simon Sizer, 23/01/2001
As for the Lakota, her bridge was not one of the usual sets. We *barely* see any of it, and for less than a minute. But what we do see of it is wierd, as Benteen's seat is partly in front of some floor-ceiling post, and has some sort of concole in front of it. My guess it was slapped together from pieces of existing sets (possible the Defiant's engineering set), a couple free-standing consoles, and a close camera angle.
Mark
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"Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"
- Carl Sagan, "Contact"
That, and the alternate-continuity E-D from "Yesterday's Enterprise". Lots of stations, lots of people. And all those side stations weren't labeled "Communications".
Meanwhile, what's everyone's LEAST favorite bridge? My vote's for the Sovereign. It's big, but very cluttered and with lots of free-standing consoles that look like they'd fall over if you looked at the wrong. The forward stations were separate, but were so close together that that didn't matter. There're TWO doors to the conference lounge for no real reason, compounded by the fact that the lounge has no other exits - it's even wierder that the doors are only a few feet apart. Finally, all those free-standing stations have really sharp angles (placed obstensibly such that the bridge looks as "fast" as the ship). You could puncture a spleen if you walked into one of those - and given the clutter of the set, it's not unimaginable. At least in Insurrection they did away with Riker and Troi's consoles, but that makes even less sense as now they're given nothing to do except sit there. I think I'll stop complaining now.
Mark
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"Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"
- Carl Sagan, "Contact"
[This message has been edited by Mark Nguyen (edited February 16, 2001).]
And what was the deal with all those stations turning blood-red during red alert? That would have to hurt the eyes after a while.
The bridge set from TOS was okay, but I did have some "issues" with it. Those screens that were high up on the walls could have been put to better use. We only saw them being used, what, once? And the helm console bugged me. Whenever Sulu's scanner popped up, it came up through his main console of buttons.
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Nic: She's not a practicing lesbian. We need PRACTICING lesbians!
Me: I have a camcorder.
Nic: But no lesbians.
Me: Ahhh... no.
Nic: DAMN IT MAN! WE NEED LESBIANS! LOTS AND LOTS OF LESBIANS!
ICQ Conversation From January 23, 2001.
[This message has been edited by Siegfried (edited February 16, 2001).]
Of course, my favorite bridge of all would be commander Balok's, of the First Federation vessel Fesarius, as it was apparently just a nice comfortable lounge with retractable minibar.
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I will shout until they know what I mean.
--
Neutral Milk Hotel
****
Read three (three!) chapters of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Then, go insane!
[This message has been edited by Sol System (edited February 17, 2001).]
Of course, we must put 'em on every new Starship bridge.
Actually, I wonder how the E-D's bridge would've looked if they'd decided to go ahead and put the conference table on it like they'd first thought ...
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted)
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
The Voyager bridge is good, but I'd agree with Siegfried in that there is a lot of unused space. Those "fence" things look a bit dodgy too.
I think the Defiant bridge is very functional, with seated stations, which makes sense, as I think standing in the same place for long periods of time would get uncomfortable, this is a major shortcoming of many of the other bridges.
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*Kenshiro gets off bed made from solid stone*
*Bed made from solid stone explodes*
Fist of the North Star
[This message has been edited by Gurgeh (edited February 17, 2001).]
Come to think of it, there must be numerous ensigns and crewmen developing phobias for consoles. We've seen state-of-the-art ships getting steam and shortcircuits after the first hit, with shields only dropping to 80%.
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Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.
-Tleilaxu Epigram
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Terry: "Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, ...."
Max: "And?"
Terry: "I forgot."
Max: "Come on, Clinton was the fun one, then came the boring one."
Terry: "They're all boring."
- Batman Beyond (aka: Batman of the Future)
I have always preferred the Enterprise bridge designs from ST's: I-IV. They were modern improvements to TOS tv bridge. I prefer the lighting scheme shown at the opening of ST: III and the touch-panals -- with original Okudagams as shown in ST:IV. I also liked the silver wall-supports of that bridge-as a homage to the silver used throughout the bridge in 'The Cage'.
As much as I enjoyed the ST:VI bridge, I could never grapple with its size. Perhaps it was the way it was filmed, but I thought it was too big to fit in the space as shown on bridge module (the same one duplicated for the Excelsior model).
I also despised the 'graphic-equalizer' controls for the Helm console.
As far as just picking a bridge design, without consideration of the actual starship, I found that I liked the Prometheus layout and color-scheme.
--