posted
I did a search of the forum and didn't see a thread related to this, so I thought I'd just start a new one because...
...I recently read a big argument over the location and orientation of the TOS Bridge (you know, the old "does it face forward or 36 degrees port" chestnut), and in the discussion someone brought up that we never saw the ceiling of the set. Well, actually, we did...sorta...at least once, in "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
Look, up above the curved parts.
Now, that could be a vertical bit to imply a ceiling, but I think it's meant to BE the ceiling.
Make of that what you will.
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
The model shows a little dot that supposedly corresponds to the turbolift stop directly behind the bridge dome, on the centerline. Therefore, the bridge set was inexplicably turned one set segment to match this. I've yet to hear a truly satisfying explanation for why this would be done.
posted
TrekBBS had an extremely acrimonious thread of several hundred posts about this earlier in the year. On one side were people saying that the set must fit the model and therefore be rotated 30-odd degrees. On the other side were those that maintained that the bridge and viewscreen had to point forward and that the cylinder on the model did not represent the turboshaft. The real-world answer is probably that the turbolift was offset for better camera angles but that the viewscreen was supposed to be at the front and that the model simply didn't match the set. There's also something about Enterprise originally being a much smaller ship.
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Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
You know, when I was very very young I thought the entire saucer was the bridge. That would make for a very tiny ship.
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Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
The turboshaft isn't that much of a problem, since later Trek lit suggests the lift cabs move to these nifty "alcoves" when letting people on or off. The main shaft would be on the centerline, the boarding alcove would be offset to port (perhaps to allow other cabs to continue straight up into a starbase docking tube). Works nicely if we move the bridge a few feet down, to get extra circumferential clearance.
The "my eyes!" aspect of the above pic is easily explained by pointing out that the window on top is made of *really* thick glass, which magnifies, refracts and otherwise mangles the image of the interior.
And the fact that it looks gray from the inside? Wouldn't worry about that. The next thing that happens in that scene is that Kirk commands "viewer on". Which probably also automatically means "depolarize the skylight curtain".
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
This goes to Starships. Thread moved.
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Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Timo: The turboshaft isn't that much of a problem, since later Trek lit suggests the lift cabs move to these nifty "alcoves" when letting people on or off. The main shaft would be on the centerline, the boarding alcove would be offset to port (perhaps to allow other cabs to continue straight up into a starbase docking tube). Works nicely if we move the bridge a few feet down, to get extra circumferential clearance. Timo Saloniemi
That's the best theory yet!!
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Registered: Nov 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Timo: The turboshaft isn't that much of a problem, since later Trek lit suggests the lift cabs move to these nifty "alcoves" when letting people on or off. The main shaft would be on the centerline, the boarding alcove would be offset to port (perhaps to allow other cabs to continue straight up into a starbase docking tube). Works nicely if we move the bridge a few feet down, to get extra circumferential clearance.
This was discussed at length on TrekBBS and had a number of people doing diagrams and 3D renders to determine if it would work.
Interestingly, looking at the various plans posted (Jeffries, McMasters, FJ) none of them were accurate to quite a number of details when I looked at photos of the set. Notably, the width of the command console platform where it meets the ring by Uhura's station is wrong on every plan shown.
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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