Captain Nemo's Viewscreen: the bridge of the Enterprise-D considered 

7:40 over the years mike at red letter media has pointed out all the dramatic shots of everyone rushing to the bridge and noting which characters are stepping out of the toilet door, implication that they were ordered to action stations mid-shit

The Liberator from Blakes 7, now that was a nice touch.

One of the things established outside the main canon is that bridge assignments, given their LCARS display nature can be swapped at the discretion of the captain. For example, on the Galaxy class USS Dauntless in Star Trek Bridge Commander, science and engineering shared the tactical rail and tactical and conn occupired the forward stations (probably for gameplay reasons). Encounter at Farpoint even featured OPS and the CONN in opposite places. In my head canon, tactical is slightly out of the way of the captain's view because Picard see's the forward stations as being the focus of their mission and tactical as a secondary concern. I did like the evolution of the E bridge where tactical became a flanking station and the senior offers moved closer to the MSD. I felt like it was a more practical design, but it defintely lost that theatrical aspect you discussed. Also, I visited the Vegas replica of the bridge back in 2005ish, and you're right - it's difficult to see the person behind you from the chair at a steep angle. It's defintely a cinematic conceit.

You should do a video on the different variations of this bridge I think that would be really cool to see all the minor or major details in each different episode as in most parallel episodes the bridge looks different

The ENT D viewscreen needed to be large so that the person or persons face from the other ship looked big (and readable) enough relative to a wide shot. How many shots do we remember from near the captains chair or behind the tac station looking forward? A smaller screen would have been unreadable from those angles. My conclusion is that the size of the screen was directly related to the size and filming requirements of the production, particularly when multiple actors needed to be in the shot at the same time along with whomever was on the main viewscreen. If the bridge was smaller, then the screen could have been closer in size to the viewscreens on other Fed ship bridges.

Very neat video. Also I greatly prefer a viewscreen over the giant window of modern trek...

You keep bringing the most unexpected and fascinating analogies and ideas. Keep them coming and thank you!

7:04 This is true, but consider Generations; Worf finally got a chair, and the ship got destroyed! What’s even more odd about the bridge toilet is that sometimes you see people, maybe even two, come out of there to take over positions as other characters leave the bridge. So were they just sat in the bathroom waiting to be assigned a station!?

7:30 Oh!! You had me litteraly laughing out loud!!

I love the Nautilus!!!

To be honest, I thought of the E-D bridge was a small movie theatre. Everyone was pretty much facing forward at a huge screen. The rear consoles seemed to be barely used in that first season, except for deeper study of something by Data, otherwise Worf a deck officer was there alone. I know that was designated as rather WC officially, but watching it and seeing people seem to head off to other parts of the ship, I thought of it as the way off the bridge, while the other was a corridor that led only to the conference room. It is definitely the Enterprise I’d rather be on. Bright, comfy with lots of recreation available including holocecks.

Well, most of the time, Picard merely tilted his head a bit when addressing Worf at tactical. But I recall some rare incidents when he turned the entire chair, though that may only have been once or twice and I cannot recall the episodes name. Though then again, there were also incidents he made an effort to not to turn the hair but turn sideways sitting, emphasising his (dis)position in the overall situation. And then there are numerous times when Picard or Riker already stood, either directly before their chairs or closer to the viewscreen, when addressing Worf or anyone on the upper aft area, so "looking up" was already fairly minimal.

A very interesting study. Thank you.

Oh, the proscenium arch observation is interesting. In some concept art for the bridge I remember the viewscreen was in fact arch-shaped.

Your most high concept video yet, nicely done!!

I recall that the "centre stage" was raised up with a couple of steps for Star Trek: Generations, specifically in order to bring Picard and Worf's faces closer together on screen. That way they could have closer shots that still captured both actors. (But then, it was reverted to its previous appearance for Picard...aaaargh!)

I love the design of the Enterprise-D bridge including some of the variants that were shown (fake futures, alternate timelines, and what if realities) throughout the seven-year run of TNG. That said, I actually do prefer the updated version seen in "Generations" the port & starboard stations give the bridge a busy atmosphere despite somewhat taking away from the Living Room feel of the set; Worf finally getting a chair was a nice touch that was long overdue. LOL! My only complaint about that redesign was the elevated command center, I understood why it was raised for cinematic purposes, but it did take away from the Living Room aspect. As for her Viewscreen, I still think it's the right size of big for any Starfleet ship to have. I'm not a fan of the oversized viewscreens (or bridges for that matter) seen on Nu-Trek, more so of the Window/Viewscreens of the CRAP JJ Abrams films. A complaint I've often heard is the placement of the bridges being an easy target in Star Trek, yet NOW you have windows that practically scream BULLSEYE for potential enemies to target.

I think the captain could easily see the tactical officer's face by leaning back, turning the head upwards. But that would look awkward.

I can see a Liberator analysis coming up

I'm sure that active noise (and odor) reduction techniques will be very sophisticated in the future... At least, I hope so... It also makes me think of Japanese bathroom customs, with their music to drown out the noise and their mini incense sticks and/or perfume sprays, to cover up the smells...

Please do explore the development of the Enterprise-D's bridge in a later video!

Great analysis of the design. As for the captain's chair it can definitely rotate left and right (not sure if all the way around) so that would make speaking to the tactical officer easier. Giving Worf a chair though starts you off on a slippery slope... What's next, seatbelts??? 😁

6:53 this was conscious decision having tactical officer standing. By standing they would have to be more alert then sitting. Second is more nautical reason that someone on their feet while ship is rolling beneath them has a better spatial orientation then someone sitting and would still be able react then someone that was thrown out of a chair because of ship interial dampers could not keep up.

The tactical station is situated where the officer has the captain's left ear, while the executive offer has his right. The captain need not turn his head towards tactical while seated. Priority for the captain's eyes were given to the exec and the counselor, instead. In a tactical situation, the captain's eyes are needed for the viewscreen and his own armrest controls. Eyes toward tactical are thus given to the exec, sitting far from tactical and with a better vantage point to see the officer behind the arch.

I always thought of the Galaxy-class less as a plush hotel, and more as one of those plush yet sterile office spaces. With the couches and blinds everywhere, attempting to feel like a home, but nevertheless clearly still a huge expanse of Work. In this regard the Ready Room is equivalent to the CEO's private office, at the top of the building.

Interesting essay. Ok, you opened the door. Face to face, who would win? Enterprise or Liberator?

Sebeok, great Vulcan name

When I first saw the D bridge, I thought it looked exactly like the interior of an 80s Ford Taurus.

Just imagining a constipated Captain Picard in the bridge's bathroom trying to make a "Captain's Log." "Captain's Log supplemental! I am unable to take a shit!"

I think that you are way way too optimistic thinking that there would a copy of "The Winds of Winter" on the Enterprise-D. George R.R. Martin is *still* going to be "working on it" even in the late 24th century. There *might* be a copy of it at Starfleet H.Q. in the 32nd century.

Digestive difficulty would have been resolved in Roddenberry's vision of the future. No one got the "runs" on the Enterprise D.

My favourite is the 2nd Doctor played by Charles Hawtrey :)

Trying to contact " We Travel by Night" Have a question that seems to be your expertize, What was the actual size of the Spindrift ship on Land of the Giants. They had trouble sticking to a single size scale on the show. If you can answer if would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I feel like the audio was a bit muffled in this one. Great analysis of a great bridge, but it was a bit hard to understand you sometimes.

Do toilets even exist in Star Trek???

I hated this bridge (and the D) from the first time I saw it in 87. Leaving the design of the ship aside... the bridge, to me, looked like the lobby of some cheesy hotel, like a cookie-cutter Best Western. The ugly overall beige tones, the way it was overlit... it just looked false, chintzy, and cheap. The design made no sense either, with so few stations actively manned or even clearly delineated, and then with the useless chairs alongside the captain, as though admitting that they didn't know what to do with other officers on the bridge. Riker's job is to just sit there, waiting for something to do. It added to the sense of it being more of an ugly, soulless hotel lounge or lobby where people sit around waiting for something to happen. It's telling that other Star Trek series (and eventually the TNG movies) corrected these awful design mistakes by returning to bridges that actually looked seriously functional.

Why is the enterprise facing off with the liberator