posted
Hi everyone! I'm the "new kid on the block" so to speak, and I'd like to ask a few burning questions if you have the time.
Why is the bridge on most ships in such an exposed location? It's right on the top of the saucer section, making it more vulnerable to attack!
I've noticed a strange circle with a cross in the center on many consoles...I first noticed it on the transporter console, but then I saw it at tactical, ops, navigation (or helm, whatever it's called). I was wondering...does anyone know what that control does?
Also, why when ships get fired on do the consoles blow up so easily? Wouldn't they be more protected than that? They should have some way of rerouting the energy and directing it back to the target...
I think that's all for now...thanks again for your time!
Sorak First Year Cadet
-------------------- Petty Officer 1st Class Sorak Chief Tactical Officer USS Gemini NCC-74680 Task Force 44 Task Group 3 Bravo Fleet
Registered: Aug 2002
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1. It's no different than the bridges on naval vessels. Plus, just because the bridge is in an exposed position doesn't mean that it's the smartest place for an attacker to hit. I would go for the ship's engines, which are equally vulnerable, before the bridge. Plus, adequate shielding should be efficient enough to ward off attackers anyway.
2. I have no idea what you're talking about.
3. Because if consoles didn't blow up, the FX guys would have nothing to do.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
Registered: Jun 2000
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
3a) Because circuit breakers have gone out of fashion (as many a fried redshirt can attest to).
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
The bridge is in the center of the top of the saucer because Gene Roddenberry wanted it there. I believe he wanted it to indicate that the ships were exploring, not looking for a fight, so to the command crew weren't cowering down inside the bowels of the ship.
The only time I recall seeing that round set of buttons used was on the helm console to control the thrusters.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
The position of the bridge was later rationalized with the invention of the bridge module. The bridge is replaceable, to allow for relatively easy upgrades of main control systems.
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
As well, the "cross" buttons are used for a variety of purposes, from thrusters, to torpedoes, etc.
This thread should actually be in Starships. There it goes.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I think the best analogy for that cross is that it's the LCARS equivilant of a set of cursor buttons. So it can probably do all sorts of things.
posted
Yeah. Almost all the display/keyboard surfaces in TNG, DS9 and VOY Starfleet hardware were customized for the purpose - it was cheap and simple for Okuda to churn them out in unique configurations. Yet they all had common elements, and this "cursor key" cluster was one of them. Okuda just copy-pasted it to the spot where the actor's hand would most likely rest.
In early TNG, and in the late TOS movies, the panels often had a bright silver baseball-sized hemisphere in a corresponding spot. It was more expensive to build, but it was even more clearly a motion control device. A futuristic combination of trackball and joystick or something. It seemed to be the primary control of shuttlecraft in ST5 and in the type 7 shuttle interior of early TNG.
The bridge is on top because of Roddenberry's explicit say-so, yes. He probably wanted a visually interesting configuration where the camera could zoom in on the known location of our main heroes. An extreme version of this was done in the first TOS pilot where the camera zoomed all the way in through a ceiling window.
quote:Originally posted by Cadet Sorak: I saw it at tactical, ops, navigation (or helm, whatever it's called).
Wrong and double wrong sir. You lose.
It's called "conn". Short for "flight controller", it's an amalgamation of the old helm and navigation consoles done when they realised that with the massive technological sohpistication of a starship, it was pointless for one person to say "we should go this way", and for someone else to actually do it.
Extra note where I become a nerd!
You quite cleary see Picard use the cursor pad in "Booby Trap", to fire the the port and starboard thrusters.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- "Tom is Canadian. He thereby uses advanced humour tecniques, such as 'irony', 'sarcasm', and werid shit'. If you are not qualified in any of these, it will be risky for you to attempt to decipher what he means. Just smile and carry on." - PsyLiam; 16th June
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
More fresh observations that were certainly never made 37 years ago: Did you notice that starships don't have seatbelts? And there should not be sound in space. Also, sometimes Kirk talks about Space Command, but sometimes UESPA!
But I kid because I am happy. Welcome to Flare, Cadet Sorak.
Registered: Mar 1999
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"It's called 'conn'. Short for 'flight controller'..."
I never really understood that. The entirety of "flight controller" has only one 'n' in it anywhere. Where did the other one come from?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Oh, those LCARS cross things were also used by Riker in Insurrection to move the ship around. When that didn't shake off the Son'a, he brought out the joystick.
Welcome to the forums... you'll need to buy asprin btw.
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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