Secret of the Star Trek V Bridge: what makes it unique?
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2023
- In 1989's 'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier', we were introduced to a new-look Enterprise bridge. It was one with a unique feature. In this video, we will look at this bridge and uncover the nature of that unique feature.
#StarTrek #StarshipEnterprise #culture - Фільми й анімація
I'd like to thank the algorithm for bringing me to this unappreciated video. It is indeed a sin that tactical was behind the captains chair.
Wasn't Tactical behind captain's chair on the Enterprise-D? Specifically, the wooden railing behind the command section?
@@blairbrown4812 You're right it was behind the captain, but it wasn't facing backwards so the enemy could read the screens.
I do like the Star Trek V bridge for how clean and simple it is with the large consoles but for me it will always be overshadowed by the Star Trek VI bridge with the stainless look and red accents. Absolutely gorgeous.
I can't get over the big 1970's-era LED clock above the viewscreen in ST6. I understand they put it there for story reasons, but I really wish they'd tried to make it somehow futuristic.
The Star Trek VI style is one of the main reasons it's my favorite of the 6 movies. My thougts back then were: They finally got it right, and now it's the last one...
@@OscarFowler it gives serious naval vibes though.
They also had more time in ST 6 to get the bridge set perfect since the one in 5 was built in a hurry and it kind of shows.
@@danielhenderson8316 my theory on Star Trek V is it's non-canonical and is a campfire story from the first bit of the film.
Considering starfleet bridges are modular, Im assuming the bridge that was installed for STV was swapped out due to the technical issues the Enterprise was having in that movie. Wonder if the ship was a test bed for the prototype LCARS and touch panel operating system that simply wasn't ready for widespread use yet, which also explains why they went back to physical buttons in STVI.
Given that those displays were used in some capacity at least as far back as 2278 (uss bozeman has them), and they appeared once in SNW, I'm inclined to believe that its rather the Enterprise 1701-Nothing that abstained from the upgrade.
Another issue I have with Tactical is that it’s a standing station. So during a battle, the poor sod working here has to try and fire the weapons and manage the shields while being thrown all over the place because they don’t have a chair!? Worf didn’t have a chair on the Enterprise-D either (until Generations anyway) but at least he had a giant railing to grab onto!
I think tactical is probably controlled from the console ahead of the command chair and that that’s just a tactical information display for quick reference for anyone on the bridge to be able to glance up and get a read on the current tactical situation of the starship.
Tactical station in Star Trek never made any sense...it should have been tied in with the pilot/nav stations.
@@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785 And it definitely shouldn’t have been joined with Security like on Voyager. So Tuvok would have to divide his time between defending the ship from the outside and coordinating the defence against boarding parties inside the ship?
@@mb2000 Tuvok was constantly overtasked...but the ship's crew had been short handed since half of them died in the first episode.
However, on Enterprise D, the tactical station with the beautiful wooden crescent with Worf or Yar behind it sort of made sense...but they still could have used a chair or a handhold...the inertial dampeners always fail in combat, yet after a century++ they never installed seatbelts (probably because the complications of them in a TV show would be an inconvenient task)
3:30 This is actually something that bothers me most about many later bridges, starting with the Excelsior in VI and the Enterprise-B in VII, but also with the Enterprise-E, Voyager, Prometheus and Equinox: They all have the Master Systems Display right behind the captain's chair, easily visible for anyone joining a zoom call with the captain.
Maybe had a privacy filter on the displays.
It's a nice bridge, albeit a little too bright, but the one thing I really love about it and that for me is a unique feature, is that the hand-rail around the bridge is red, echoes of the original bridge from the classic series!
The further separation of the turbolifts further complicates things in that the alcoves would be pushed out of the exterior bridge dome. In The Undiscovered Country, the turbolifts are separated even further to the point where they are 180 degrees from each other and that they pretty much violate the conformity of the bridge dome since the bridge dome exterior is unchanged throughout the films.
You are correct. It would only work if the Enterprise some how grew in size , but that wouldn't explain why the people coming off the lift are the same size and not shorter.
Or sink the Bridge down half a deck or so into the level below
Rear projection for the main viewscreen was also used in TOS. It was a development for season 3 and is used prominently in Spock's Brain.
To me, your render of the ST5 bridge looks very nice, and so much better than the actual set in the movie. Like most of ST5, I always felt the new ST5 bridge set looked cheap. Your render gives a great impression of what it would have looked like with better polish and precision. It looks very respectable now.
Yes, and the director has the cast parading up and down in front of it to show off, it's one of the many funny elements of that episode! Was it ever used again though? I don't think so.
Only in that ep though. Albeit the gimmick was fired up later on to prank the cast (as seen in the blooper reel).
It's unfortunate that TOS didn't keep the rear projection for the bridge. It was very convincing and freed up the camera to move around much more but the technical issues would've been too much of a hassle at that time. Anything other than the starfield would have to be created prior to shooting and they simply didn't have the time or money back then to do that every episode. And even though the technology is far better now, my guess is having to prepare all that stuff ahead of time instead of in post production is still the main reason it's seldom done
I've always had a soft spot for this bridge. The STVI bridge has better detailing, but the STV bridge just has a kind of cozy feel to it that I can't help but like. Sort of a blend of the Enterprise-D bridge's feel with a TOS-era layout and middle ground aesthetic.
As much as I love The Undiscovered Country bridge, the Final Frontier version of it, is in my top spot. I loved the way it was lit. Bright, but not harsh. The blue accents near the ceiling and above the viewscreen were inspired. Even after 34 years, it holds up extremely well, which I can’t say about the bridge sets from the first four films.
The Star Trek V bridge is my personal favourite.
Nice catch getting this "right" as a Tardis-Class! (due in no small part to the turbolift scene)
Also my favorite bridge.
🎵I got 99 decks and a bridge ain't one...🎵
Cool video. It is a MUCH better design than the bridge originally created for TMP. The stupid standing-only stations are gone, as is the trip-hazard extended science station and tactical cubby hole.
I like the brighter, less cluttered aesthetic and the flat screen displays are lot less dated.
I never noticed the centered bridge support at the back until now. Now I can't unsee it.
I loved the clean bright look on the bridge. I always accepted that the Enterprise A was a test bed ship with a lot of experimental ideas thrown in, that was re branded for Kirk and Company. Since bridge modules were swappable, I also saw this as a testbed bridge, with stations set up to monitor and gather information and results of the trial runs and new tech. That's why it wouldn't matter so much if tactical was visible from the viewscreen- it was not meant to be used in any situation requiring actual conflict.
That's why propulsion had it's own station too, the Transwarp experiment was no doubt tried on her and they wanted a dedicated station for that data (the ship positively rocketed at the end of Star Trek IV, but by V and massive repairs and glitches we were back to conventional warp- with Scotty saying that the engines were the only 'fine' thing about the ship).
I love hearing about the Star Trek V Bridge.
I love Star Trek V as a film and especially for the art design, the ship's internal sets are my favorite, a great merger of TOS with TNG.
It's the Star Trek IV bridge that doesn't have a lot of coverage. We only get a short glimpse of it in the film and there aren't a lot of publicity photos of it.
I can imagine camera for video calls having polarisation filter opposite to one used in displays (if we presume they are built on technology descending from LCD or similar that relies on rotating polarization), this way in video calls all the screens would appear black!
Really love your break down an analysis videos. They are pure flights of lore fancy. More please!!
I loved ST V set design. I am glad that I was not the only one that noticed how good Zimmerman did
The film for Star Trek V is a guilty pleasure for me. For the most part I love the movie, up until they reach the great barrier then the movie shoots itself in the foot. Overall though it was definitely nostalgic TV fun vibes for most of the film.
I definitely liked this version of the Enterprise-A bridge and wished it had been carried over for Star Trek VI. I mean most of it was yes but it still was changed for that film too.
We also get a kick ass score by Jerry Goldsmith for the movie and I love it along with the rest of the Trek film scores.
I’m so glad I’ve stumbled upon these videos, they are most enjoyable! Thanks for making them!!
Wow, I never realized the science station was originally directly behind the captain in TMP! I always assumed it was the same as Wrath of Khan.
I freekin love your videos. Thank you so much!
One of my favorite bridges! Thank you for covering it!
Fantastic! I love your analysis and your rendering!
Tardis-class?!
Oh I love that.
Totally- how many decks or levels? 79 in that turbo shaft?
(To be re-edited in a future special edition)
@@PHDiaz-vv7yoAnd don't forget a turbo lift that ends at the FRONT of the ship and not at the top :D
Fascinating.
Took me a moment to realize why the ship is labeled Tardis class...
They moved the Spock's station in STMP so he and Kirk would be in the same shot more often.
But in Shatner’s ST V, the shot must always be about him!!!
(Seriously, I love the Shat)
Small correction: the third season of TOS occasionally used rear projection for the screen. “Spock’s Brain” was the first use of it.
Cameras for ship-to-ship communications should include some kind of hardware filter or lens defect which prevents them from getting clear images of background consoles and displays.
Especially since "forced spectrum communication" is possible; the thing Kirk used on Romulans and Picard used on Pakleds.
It always felt like they were starting to get a more 'modern' looking ship going, but still working things out.
I always felt like them putting tactical where it was at in this move, was a precursor to putting the whole tactical station behind the captain.
Something I've never understood though, they starfleet ships and their chairs weren't set up to deal with low/no gravity; inertial dampers not working. I mean...a seat lock down with seat belts might be a good thing, ya think?
It's always fun to talk trek, I think the best head cannon for this situation is something like: Deck plating is either powered by independent power sources or can maintain a 'gravity charge' without power. So when AG is lost, it's either something happened specific to it or near it. 🖖
The first few movies had armrests that clamped down over your lap like a seat belt when necessary.
I like the Star Trek VI bridge the best.
Same! My favourite of the franchise. My second favourite would be the Prometheus. Both are well lit, functional in design.
This was one of my complaints about TNG being in the future - it constrained all future designs of the Star Trek movies to exist along a continuum that ended with the TNG set designs (which I felt to be too "law-office-like"). They couldn't exist on their own. One note: I thought it was documented somewhere that beginning with ST4, the stations around the bridge could be interchanged, if needed, as they were no longer "built in" with hard controls.
I always got the impression that the Enterprise D was built by Mercedes Benz. Everything about it except the black acrylic computer screens everywhere feels like a mass market luxury sedan.
I liked the Wrath of Khan/The Search For Spock Bridge for the Enterprise,that Bridge looks so much professional for a Theatrical Movie.
There’s an easy fix for obscuring the Tactical readouts if an enemy is on the view screen. Have communications blur the background, just like on Microsoft Teams! If we can do it now, it can be done in the 23rd Century. I remember the first time I saw a picture of this new bridge. It was in Starlog magazine prior to the film’s release. I turned the page and my jaw dropped. I thought it was gorgeous.
STV bridge also removed all the buttons and switches and replaced them with touch panels like TNG only to be brought back in the next film. IMO some of the Enterprise designs in V were really futurestic and good mainly because they used TNG designs as blueprint.
I like the bridge set where they used an Oberheim DMX Drum machine for part of the helm controls ;)
I love the Star Trek V Bridge.
I remember how much I anticipated STV, only to be confused when watching. Very confused. With every rewatch, I like this movie more. It still has flaws, like subpar special effect which towards the end somehow even got worse. The story is convoluted and in parts, feels contrived. But it has charismatic actors, depicts the comradery of the classic crew, and brings up good points. Also it has hilarious scenes like Sulu landing the shuttle.
I would love a director's cut with re-done special effects.
i like the movie. people hung up on special effects which can be easily redone by anyone with a quad core pc.
There are many youtube videos out there with the FX shots redone with CGI and they look magnificent
Hike Animation has done really great replacement effects for Star Trek V. Check them out and lots of other interesting Trek animation he's done on his channel.
Though Shatner probably wasn't thinking about this, AI could blur/obscure any tactical display from transmission when interacting with another ship. More problematic is the tactical officer being behind the captain with his back to him during battle. The refit design made more sense. I'm not overly concerned, as 1) visual display for the benefit of an audience probably has precedence in film, 2) bridge stations may have been conceived as completely reconfigurable in this version, and 3) the tendency of the Helmsman to actually be the primary deployer of weapons in TOS, and even WOK. ("Sulu, lock phasers..." "Best guess Mr. Sulu...") the tactical console wasn't used as much in TOS films as it was in TNG.
Wow, that is a LARGE open staircase at the front of the Bridge! Good job no-one using them will ever need any sort of hand rail for support, right? 😁😉
Tl:dr version....there's a divider behind the Captains chair.
Next week we will discuss the number of wheels on Sulus chair.
Ironically you bring up a point that I don't think any of us ever gave a thought to: information to be gleaned by the 'enemy' from the visuals of the bridge. That being said, while tactical/weapons is a high concern, I can't imagine that any console should be visible. Engineering could reveal sensitive information, I.e. Shield harmonics. Environmental could be misused by an eneny. Communications. Science. Anything. Information is power. Therefore it seems to me that StarFleet designers would have to be aware of this and would have to address that weakness. For instance I would suggest an algorithm in the view screen's software that would eliminate that information before sending the image of the Captain onward.
I don't believe Tactical doesn't really mean weapon's control. Let's remember; Sulu who fired the torpedo in V and Chekov in VI. We see the button press from someone seated. Not a wall button... it does make me wonder if the weapon control moved back to their respective TOS stations instead of being a stand alone station... but, why?
Nice graphics bro, very nice
I would think that Starfleet view screens would be advanced enough to filter out any critical data to whomever was receiving a transmission. It's not like another ship had a camera looking into the Enterprise bridge. The Enterprise was controlling the transmission, so I could see the ship's computer modifying the sensor pickup data to give false information to a potential aggressor. In fact, in that sense it could be genius to put the tactical station there. Any aggressor that was relying on data from the view screen would be using disinformation.
It looks to me that, setting aside the two lifts instead of one, giving each station on the bridge its own seat restored the operational arrangement of the original Enterprise.
Separating the propulsion systems from the rest of the engineering subsystems but keeping them adjacent is probably a good idea.
I like TOS bridge...I wonder what it would look like if just the electronics ("keyboard" and monitors) were upgraded to the ST5 versions?
I had read that it was the STV bridge itself that got rained on, and not the TMP bridge. If it was the other way around, that would explain why the TNG battle bridge changed so much between encounter at farpoint and BOBW. All you need to do is look at the two and you'll see they're very clearly different sets.
Early on in TNG, the TMP bridge set got reused as various things a few times, notably the battle bridge. But after a certain point, it switches to the half-octagon set. Presumably because they couldn't use it anymore.
The TMP bridge set, the STV bridge set, and the half-octagon set (three segments of an octagon in the back, with large trapezoidal displays), sound to me like three completely different sets, that Memory Alpha and others all have game-of-telephoned into the same set.
If I remember events, they did all their location shoots first then came to the studio to find the TMP bridge fit back together, so they had to build the TFF bridge in a hurry while they shot on all the other sets.
4:32 - But in the original series wasn't the aft bulkhead behind the turbolift shaft, or do you not believe that the bridge was off-center? 🤔
I've always thought it weird that any ship data at all would be on display behind the command area. Unless it were fake data, meant to confuse, distract, or deceive. Then again, I've always thought that Star Trek starship bridges in general were safety hazards, even without exploding consoles. Sure, advanced medicine may help almost everyone walk, but try telling that to poor Admiral Pike, stuck in his life support chair. Beep, beep, baby.
Clearly the issue of a bridge support looking like it was coming out of the head of whoever was in the command seat wasn't a problem with this film because, by this point in time, William Shatner's head had grown so large it would have hidden that support beam anyway.
I think there is a very high probability the director of Trek V felt the center line of the bulkhead directly behind the Captain's chair visually pointed to the star of the show, the guy in the chair. It is equally probably others told the director this is a false assumption from an artistic visual perspective and the director went ahead with his plans while feeling he had one-upped these career craftsmen in their chosen fields even though he had never directed a feature film before. Kirk Forever!!!
I bow before your knowledge about how you can go so deep bridges and other things
tactile surface controls, early Lcars? liked the sounds they made.
I'll give ya another thing that makes it unique. It's 100% Symmetrical. At least in Enterprise bridges that I know of, possibly with the exception of ST6 1701-A bridge.
The Enterprise is in a tense standoff with a Klingon vessel. Hailing frequencies are open, the viewscreen filled with the face of their enemy.
Capt. Kirk: "Hey, hey, hey...HEY! Are you looking at me...or at the tactical station over my shoulder?"
Klingon commander sheepishly replies: "Yeaaaah, ya caught me...I was looking at the tactical station over your shoulder. You guys really should do something about that."
The Stations directly behind the captains chair wouldn't be a Problem for Mainscreen conversation, there would probably an artifical Background filter about to mask it.
Best looking TOS/TMP Enterprise bridge.
I agree having Master Situation and Tactical on the aft bulkhead facing the view screen is a bad idea. Personally, I think I would have left the aft bulkhead behind the captain, empty of any stations.
Im a carpenter, i have remolded many houses.
When you mentioned the carpet and said that it was an element of comfort. I thought about how nasty and dirty carpets really are.
So what i heard was that they added a eliminate of dirt!
If you only knew how much dirt and nastyness carpets hold you would never want one ever in your house! They are truly disgusting! Not joking.
The original series season three premiere Spock's Brain used rear projection on the view screen. Look carefully to see the segments of the bridge set aligned differently. Evidently this was a big pain or an unwanted expense because they went back to mattes and stock view screen footage for the remainder of the last season.
Never noticed that before
I totally missed that.
The computer displays as seen here, as well as STIV (at the very end), STVI, Generations, and pretty much every episode that shows a TOS-movie-era-to-pre-TNG-era vessel (relics, cause and effect, caretaker, etc etc), I'm pretty sure was never named on-screen. But every time I've ever seen them get mentioned, they get called LCARS. They're standardized and all-encompassing like LCARS is, but they look absolutely nothing like the LCARS on TNG, so I don't know exactly why people say that.
I wish they would address this.
All LCARS stands for is Library Computer Access and Retrieval System. It would also make sense that in 100 years the system would see upgrades.
There's one line in Strange New Worlds which says it's the S/COMS system, same as on the Enterprise NX-01 (just with a century of UI changes). SNW also has an episode with a 2250s ship using the same "theme" as the Enterprise does in V and VI.
So while this look never had a name before, recent stuff has retconned it to be essentially the final version of a century-old control scheme before being replaced by LCARS proper.
It's honestly probably one of my favourite design schemes.
As much as I like the look of the LCARS ribbon controllers, and the way they make common or important functions like emergency stop into bigger buttons... this one just looks clean and sensible. I especially like the wide font (which I believe is Eurostile/Microgramma) as it's more readable than the skinny one LCARS uses (though the skinny font does look good on camera).
Great animated model.. What did you use? Rear projection used twice for main viewer in the original series. Didn't much care for the carpet in ST V. Best modern bridge of the classic era was the Voyager bridge, in my opinion.
I bet the screens are polarized somehow that keeps the opposing commanders from seeing exactly what is going on.
Also the turbolift door section is the only part of the TMP bridge to make it threw all 6 movie's. It is also in the season one battle bridge and Stargaz
Great video, again, thank you! Perhaps I'm wrong... but I wonder if this is the only bridge in the classic movies to feature 100% touch-controls? No physical buttons or switches anywhere, unlike the other five movies which feature plenty...?
You see that is why they call it a "Bulkhead"
I absolutely love your content and I think your videos are unique amongst the Star Trek UA-cam community, but for the love of God needing a starship can we please get videos in HD? It's 2023.
they tried but never topped the original 60s enterprise bridge , good ole matt jefferies was a genius
Perhaps, the tactical station's monitors are polarized so they cannot be picked up by the camera transmitting to the other ship. OR, perhaps, the camera's processor can scramble the background image and/or manipulate the background with deceiving imagery.
Why is the turbo lift off centered on the original ENTERPRISE from TOS?
The bridge modules can be moved around that's how you get science behind the chair in st I and it to the right in st ii even though it's almost the same console.
It did not feature LCARS. Just because Okuda designed it, doesn't make it LCARS.
I thought I'd read that Shatner said the old set had been destroyed to save on storage costs. Hence the rebuild.
As to Tactical showing on viewscreen comms.. My current PC is perfectly capable of putting any background up behind me for Comms.
I'd be very surprised if they don't have that tech in the 23rd Century. In fact they'd be able to put up a fake tactical display during viewscreen comms.
What is more worrying is that the tactical station doesn't have a chair.
Also kind of an oddity with the Enterprise-E bridge too. Always seemed odd you'd want your tactical officer being bounced around in the middle of a fight.
I think you should've mentioned these The Cygnus from the blackhole the Drakonian battle cruiser from Buch Roger's and the ships of Star blazers
Anyone on another ship looking into the Enterprise bridge via their viewer is not able to see the consoles behind the captain as it is scrambled or hidden
Visually, I liked it mostly because the rectangular screens seemed to be a callback to what TOS was supposed to be. But ST VI was even better, because it returned the "touchable" buttons and got rid of the carpet. STV was TOO MUCH like TNG in places. STVI tried to get back to the "workplace" quality of the bridge (as opposed to a living room).
it was caught on fire
The size presented is deceptive. The lighting affects how large the bridge is perceived to be. Light colors suggest more space. Dark colors suggest less space.
Star Trek 6 also almost exclusively used rear projection for the viewscreen.
I really liked the trek 5 bridge over the one in trek 6
I don't understand ST5 hate. I liked it. Only the Uhura fan dance seems really dumb. Are the fans Starfleet standard issue? Do they come in handy regularly?
In communications which show the Captain and the bridge, per Star Fleet regulation, is blurred and is unreadable to the end of the communication. Problem solved. (But I would move it to front right, opposite of Engineering, so the Captain could see it if needed)
Wait your big news flash was a centre mounted bridge support?!!…. How do I get those minutes back?!🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
Bring this Bridge to Star Trek Online please!!!
Propulsion should be part of engineering. That was obviously not well thought out. How about damage control? How about computer/ Utilities? Turbolift management? Backup artificial gravity generator power?
That is a bad spot for tactical. Although, in the 23rd century they can probably scramble anything important automatically. (But moving it is the best protection.)
And having no chair for the tactical officer is a bad thing. Granted Enterprise D and E don't have chairs either for their tactical stations and Voyager has very minimal seating facility with a small stool on wheels but still. Tactical should be the most comfortable to whisthand ship to ship combat situations.
Why put tactical and master situation behind the command chair ?. If the screen is on the enemy can look past the captain and read their tactical /situation display in real time
Cuz Shatner's Smokin' Hawt Daughter was on board...
Giggity-Giggity-Goo, alright!
Maybe they have a zoom filter to blur out tactical 😂
I like this but 6 the gleaming metal red doors the black display l cars realy nice. Torpedo was fired by helm in 6
Nice reference to Doctor Who but is that actually the class of the enterprise A
No, the Enterprise A is a Constitution class starship.
I just realised they ripped off the vertical lighting panels from the Jupiter 2...!
Well it's the 23 rd century perhaps the viewer will obscure tactical readouts automatically (blur/pixelation) .
My first reaction to this bridge was disappointment when the film came out. I was looking forward to the Star Trek IV bridge. The StV bridge resembles the Enterprise D bridge a bit too much to be decades apart. The STVI bridge was more believable.