Any franchise, any universe. What's your favorite spacecraft command area design ever? Bridge, command deck, tower, whatever. What makes the most used set of any given SF series or movie COOL for you?
And by the same token, what's the WORST design you've ever known? And why?
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For me, one of my favorites was the design of the Lar Caillum class battleship from the Gundam movie "Char's Counterattack". It was actually two bridges at once - the everyday bridge was a semicircle of consoles facing outwards onto a panoramic window view forward, with large displays built into the ceiling and walls above the windows. The CO sat on an elevated chair allowing him access to both the windows and displays, and behind him was a large situation display.
THEN, during actual combat the CO chair would descend into a combat bridge chamber below the main bridge. It was more protected, had large displays for everyone plus a holographic sphere in the middle, and the CO, helm, weapons and communications stations were all bunched shoulder to shoulder in the very small room for ideal communication between them and the ship.
Mark
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Hmmmm, so many choices.
For effectiveness/budget, I always liked the Earth:Final Conflict shuttles. Came before the over-hyped Minority Report version by at least a couple years, looked cool, and seemed practical. Also the concept is so easy to screw-up, see B5:LotR.
For atmosphere, the Star Destroyer bridges are nice. Stark imposing lines, literally putting the main characters above the crew (perhaps symbolising the unimportance of individual human life in a facist society....or it just looks cool). Just looks efficient and evil without anything too overt.
The Firefly bridge is an obvious pick for the "I wouldn't mind living there" factor. But I imagine that others will be able to describe it much better.
As for worst, I'll have to think about it more.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
WORST bridge....the "Executor" from Star Wars.
I always liked the Millenium Falcon's bridge, but that is quite possibly because it was a modified B-29 cockpit. Though I admit the placement really pulled vacuum. "Hey Chewie, anything coming from the left?"
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
For atmosphere, I loved the Enterprise-A bridge, personally. It was busy while still not being crowded, and it had a very efficient design. I also liked the Enterprise-E bridge.
For non-Trek, the Galactica CIC is awesome, with the sole exception of the dangerous combination of rolling chairs, plate glass separators, and computers stacked in a tower config.
I agree with Wiz that the Executor is the worst bridge, because it's so damn inefficient. For such a damn huge ship, the bridge is so tiny and uncoordinated.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Huh? How can a bridge so "tiny" have an A-Wing crash through it and still have room for everyone to dive out of the way?
Mark
[ September 05, 2006, 01:42 PM: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
I agree that the Star Destrooyer bridge is pretty neat with it's darkness and forboding lines. But I also like the mon cal bridge because of the giant transparisteel bubble that gives you an unhindered veiw of space.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
While not really a "bridge" per se, I'd put in my vote for the big CIC area on the Minbari Sharlin cruisers. 3-D surround can where you're standing in the middle of the battle? Fuck yes awesome. Similarly, the White Star bridge. Your main people are just to your right & left, & those shiny little pods that zip together right in front of the CO during combat.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Those pods were only ever seen moving once, and never again. Supposedly they were so that the people in those chairs could have a better view through the windows, but that doesn't make too much sense given that they had a COUCH in the way. Later, even in battle, the pods were always seen squished up against the wall a la Hathaway. Perhaps it was only a temporary measure, as back then the White Star didn't yet have its command chair or secondary stations.
Speaking of couches, the Liberator from Blake's 7 had an AWESOME command deck. Pilot in the middle, four stations within gabbing distance, and a comfy lounge in the front? Awesome. You even had a hand weapons station off to the side, a coffee table for Orac, and the big glowing Fortran ball that was Zen! BBC low budgets forced as much as possible to be crammed into one set, so here we had the one room that could do it all, from bridge to science lab to armory to computer interface.
Mark
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: Huh? How can a bridge so "tiny" have an A-Wing crash through it and still have room for everyone to dive out of the way?
Well, for all its open space, how much of it is actually used for starship operations? It's really nothing but really tall walkways for the Sith Lords to stalk up and down and terrorize everyone below. Remember those quick shots in Empire when we actually saw into the crew pit, and there was barely enough space to walk? Very strange and inefficient.
Also, if my command ship were seventeen fucking miles long, I'd want an actual command chair station (notice how Admiral Piett was perpetually stuck looking over someone's shoulder?), true two-deck command facilities (rather than some puny cramped slave pit), and some kind of big holo-projector for strategic and tactical analysis. For all its space, the Star Destroyer's bridge was mostly empty and wasted.
(I was never fond of the crew pit in Babylon 5's C&C either, but at least there, it was supposed to be small because of limited space and technology.)
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
IIRC, the White Star's bridge was redesigned after its first appearance, and the moving pods disappeared. They were just the director's idea anyways and just "looked cool."
As for the Sharlin bridge, that is indeed a creative way of making a bridge on a budget Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
If I remember from the Star Wars roleplaying game schematic books there was a second area behind the bridge we see in the movies that housed a holoprojector and some other less important bridge functions. There was also a secondary bridge on the Executor but they couldn't activate it before it crashed into the death star.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
The TARDIS. I don't really know what version, offhand. Definitely the pre-movie style, though. And not the wood-panelled one Tom Baker had for a while, either.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Hmmm got to think about it but early front runners:
The E-A and the Excelsior (Hey Mark did you steal my idea from another thread)?
The TARDIS from the movie (Paul McGann).
Thor's ship - the Belisknar.
The best though: Ops (DS9).
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
The Beliskner had no standard bridge set, did it? They just threw together a random-looking Asgard room with Thor's nifty console on it. I'm sure it looked different nearly every time we saw it.
Ahh, here's a couple caps of the Liberator's command deck. All asymetrical and everything, just liek most of the TARDIS sets. Ahh, the way things were...
Well I liked the Asgard sets then. Actually I was going to post a thread or at least a comment on how GOOD Stargate sets have ALWAYS been. From the Hatak corridors to Thor's ship to well whatever.
Posted by Johnny (Member # 878) on :
Yeah, the Hatak corridors looked all nice and gleaming and pretty, but the design was pretty moronic. How often did SG-1 hide in those stupid panels that ran parallel with the corridor and then ambush all the Jaffa? Even worse, the first time they were seen, the panels served as doors into the landing bay, so SG-1 could plant C4 on all the death gliders without anyone seeing them.
Posted by Captain Boh (Member # 1282) on :
If anything drove home the fact that everyone in the galaxy is a moron but people from Earth, it was that.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
The Hatak sets changed all the time too - they were not standing sets but built as they were needed. In the first couple seasons the corridors were rather cavernous and very wide (i.e. taking up a lot of stage space), with those hidden wall panels and switches and no actual doors to important places. By the third season they had been downsized to more standard corridors wihtout ceilings, and by the fifth season they'd built the corridors that they've been using since then for all Goa'uld ships and bases (they were being built during the fifth season episode "Wormhole X-Treme!", where Martin was actually wandering among the incomplete sets as if they were from his show). The standard motif has always been those wall panels full of hieroglyphs, which remains to this day.
The Ha'tak bridge also used to be huge, with one command console and the sarcophagus, and room in the chamber for eeverl dozen worshipers. Over the years it too downsized, and today is a small, asymetrical room with three consoles and usually a throne, with the main viewer / window off to the side.
Mark
Posted by Fulgrim (Member # 1906) on :
Ooh. Erm, difficult question to answer - I don't take great notice of such things.
The original SeaQuest's bridge was pretty kewl. Not so much the second one though.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
SeaQuest has been on perpetual reruns here in Canada. I really liked the first bridge, with it decentralized command structure and lack of chairs for the CO and so on. Also cool tha thtey managed to have room for four pilot seats AND the forward viewer, too. Here's a Japanese site with a bridge floorplan. Cool!
Then they went and trekkified the whole thing with the second bridge, adding a freaking WINDOW among things. Didn't help that the show went down the tubes along with it...
Mark
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Ah SeaQuest! The little show that could, but didn't.
Posted by Lurker Emeritus (Member # 1888) on :
I give full marks to any bridge or command centre that has its own pool/sauna/fishing hole.
After all, command is a stressful job. The boss rarely has time to go on leave, so he's got to get it where ever he can!
And Stephanie Beacham was so definately asking for someone to rip off that blue jumpsuit and give her a good ravishing, but the writers seemed uninclined to oblige, so she left in search of more virile pasteurs where the men can take a hint and don't need to take two viagra with their tea beforehand. I once saw her on TV holding a rolling pin in a way I've never seen a rolling pin held before.
Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, starship bridge designs.
Yes, it's generally considered good to have somewhere from which to steer the ship which affords a good view of where you are going. That's my position on the matter. Also, have something that can detect planets and stars so you can steer around them.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
The Darwin tubes (was there supposed to be more than one dolphin on seaQuest? Seems an awful big deal for one fish) often provided the crew with a means of escape whenever the ship got taken over. I won't imagine how the sets for that show smelled after two years. Or tasted. Or the humidity on everyone's hair.
Dr. Westphalen, well she DID get ravished by Bridger at the end of the first season. Then she left. And so did everyone over the age of 35, except for the captain, thanks to an NBC memo.
Mark
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
I remember the talking dolphin. It seemed a rather silly idea then and its still a silly idea now. At least the ship looked like a squid and had organic skin. That was cool. I don't know what the armaments were though.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Topedoes anc countermeasures only, first season. The following years, they suddenly gained lasers, grapplers, and eventually sub-fighters.
And the kicker? Darwin's fuzzy fractured voice was provided by Frank Welker, also known for Slimer, Scrappy Doo, and the original MEGATRON!!!
Mark
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Topedoes anc countermeasures only, first season. The following years, they suddenly gained lasers, grapplers, and eventually sub-fighters.
And the kicker? Darwin's fuzzy fractured voice was provided by Frank Welker, also known for Slimer, Scrappy Doo, and the original MEGATRON!!!
Mark
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
^More proof that Scrappy is evil!
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
If Darwin had used Megatron's voice, it would not have so incredibly sucked.
Okay- it still would have incredibly sucked, but the dolphin would have sounded menacing and cool instead of warbly and queer.
Posted by Johnny (Member # 878) on :
Could've been worse, the one on the Ent-D probably sounds like Mrs.Roddenberry.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. You're all going to die. Does not compute! Does not compute! ERROR!"
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Computer: "Please re-state the request." Crewman: E...mer...gency.....force..fie...ld!! (wheeze)" Computer: "Please re-state the request." Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
Stephanie Beacham, yes. But what about Stacy Haiduk? How did the male crewmembers not have to cross their legs every time she came into the room?
And Mark, that was a pretty feeble run-down of Mr. Welker's resume. You could at least have mentioned Dr. Claw.
But to the topic at hand... for best, I'd have to go with the bridge of the original Galactica. Enough room to move around in, the commander's Command Intelligence station was elevated above the rest. It just worked.
Worst I would have to say is the Star Destroyer bridge. Much good potential for the volume contained in the set, but poorly executed (pun unavoidable).
Coolest bridge detail -- the Playboy centerfold on the wall of the Tantive IV's bridge. Best "scenery" -- the bridge crew (sans Gloval) of the SDF-1. There are lots of subcategories to play with here...
--Jonah
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Frank's resume would be longer than any two arms. In SMALL print. What about Santa's Little Helper? Nibbler? Fred Jones AND often Scooby Doo? Slimer AND Ray Stanz? Bronx from Gargoyles? Orbity? Soundwave / Rumble / Frenzy / Laserbeak / Wheelie and a dozen other Transformers? Ahh, just read it for yourself.
Whatever American cartoon you liked in the 70s, 80s, 90s or today, HE WAS IN IT.
Back to bridges: stylistically, I've always liked non-Trek bridges with individual command pods for the occupants. The aforementioned Liberator was one.
Mark
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Liberator's "command pods" always looked as thogh they could rove around the bridge as bumper-cars.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
Nim reminded me I hadn't posted this yet. My stuff is still all in storage, but I do have one small picture on my HD. The arrow on the left is pointing to a tiny Star Wars movie poster. The arrow on the right is pointing to a tiny Playboy centerfold -- I'll be able to tell you who once I've got my reference materials out.
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Computer: "Please re-state the request." Crewman: E...mer...gency.....force..fie...ld!! (wheeze)" Computer: "Please re-state the request."
LOL! What is that from!?!
And what is the "Liberator" all I'm thinking is the busted up shuttle from Wolf 359.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Blakes (sic) 7! Honestly, I don't know, bloody uncultured colonials. . .
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Oh I read the post wrong - thinking some how the Liberator had the Playboy poster in the model.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
Neato with the scale set decorations.
I'd probably have to go with the SB Yamato's bridge. Big, busy, but also seemed practical.
I do love the TOS Enterprise bridge, but the off-axis thing sort of freaks me out and although there were worstations aplenty, their purposes seemed ill-defined and frequently redundant. Also the fact that no one seemed capable of buckling in for the inevitable sloshing about that space combat brings...
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
General Grievous' ship had a command bridge that wouldn't be anything special except for the fact that it had facilities both on the floor and on the ceiling. Never saw that on a Star Destroyer or Mon Calamari Star Cruiser bridge. Also I remember reading somewhere that the Venator Star Destroyer had two Bridges: one for controlling the vessel, the other to coordinate the ship's fighter squadrons.
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