Best Starship Bridge Designs in Science Fiction
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- Опубліковано 21 кві 2020
- We take a look at seven unique starship bridge designs that balance function and aesthetics.
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For those wondering about Allen's child, a beautiful infant xenomorph broke from his chest yesterday morning. 1 lb 2 oz. Named it Charlie and it was super cute. We eliminated it an hour later because... well... xeno scum.
Where is Stargate? they have tons of great ship designs...
Macross and its con towers?
And here I though British Ben was Allen's and American Ben's lovechild
British ben we all love you those other two don’t matter because there dolphin cyborgs in disguise anyways
NightRaven 1901 the Asgard as well?
The Expanse is the first sci-fi show that I've seen where they evacuate the air before battle to prevent decompression/out gassing. This was a staple of hard sci-fi rpg games like Traveller that I played for years.
I know, right? I've watched like ALL the staple sci-fi shows, but The Expanse was something different!
the only thing is, decompression isnt anywhere near as dangerous as movies make them out to be.
Marcos Danilo I was thinking the same. I like in one book series, they evacuate the air from non crew areas, and from the engineering sections adjacent the armour. Compressions suits are worn, but are not the crews sole oxygen supply. The length that you would be in that suit with helmet sealed relying on canned air makes for a logistical nightmare, and a claustrophobic one too.
@@marcosdheleno True, but in a space battle, any excess out-gassing can affect your ability to maneuver, plus there is the danger of fires and the like. No air, no fires, likely no secondary explosions from ammo cooking off and the like. Also, if your ship is bleeding atmosphere, it gives the enemy a good indication that they've damaged you.
@@MrGrumblier not really to any meaningfull degree. there are a few videos that talk about it, basically in space, the amount of energy you spend to move, will affect anything... but depending on the size, it would be miniscule at best.
as for explosion due to ammo, it would be pointless, as every ammo already has all it needs to explode. that's why guns can work in space.
"Get out of my chair!" Is still one of my favorite lines
and "get off my ship!" from the same guy.
Get away from her you BITCH!
I still prefer "Shut up Wesley!"
"Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war." Great Shakespeare Quote in Star Trek!
That guy broke 3 big rules all at once. Being in the office without permission, Being in the captains chair... and then putting his feet on the desk. Picard was being very nice.
9:31 The explanation for why the Rocinante's floors are oriented as they are is dead WRONG. Orientation absolutely does matter a great deal. In 'The Expanse' they travel from A to B with their engines thrusting the entire time. They spend half the journey accelerating, and the other half decelerating. They use this constant acceleration as artificial gravity, which is far more realistic than 'movie magic' artificial gravity used in most Science Fiction. The engines are constantly pushing the ship up, so the floors must be oriented correctly, or you would find yourself 'falling' onto the walls or ceiling when the engines fire.
I do love it, so realistic in that sense to create gravity with the only time in Zero G is when they cut engines to rotate before deceleration burn. Very well made program which i think will hold true in the future also.
In the little known game Mission Critical (Michael Dorn plays a minor role in FMV cutscenes), the floor is oriented towards the engines specifically to allow for artificial gravity. Otherwise they use magnetic boots and have to secure everything
American Ben *constantly* makes this mistake when discussing the _Roci_ or other craft in _THE EXPANSE_
I was coming into the comments to say just this.
@@teajunk1e I love the attention to detail - like James being chided for forgetting to secure his coffee mug prior to manouevres and what happens when a tool compartment isn't properly secured when a firefight starts...
Good day, I'm a serving Naval Officer and I have to say that the presented design for the Command and Control facilities of those warships is fundamentally flawed. All serious Modern warships are build with redundancies for all vital systems and I suspect spaceships would not miss on this important design feature. A vital system cannot be a single point of failure. For exemple, if a cable going through the ship is vital, there's two of that cable, one on each sides. Ships have multiple engine rooms, usually one or two forward and the same aft. Machinery and engines are spread through those so that if one engine room is lost, not all is lost and the Ship can still function.
Now my main point, the bridge. It's only for navigation. Serious warships have an operation rooms well shelter inside the ship for controlling sensors and weapons and for fighting the war. A warship can lose its bridge and still be very capable of fighting. Normally the CO is in that ops room for a fight leaving only essential personnel on the bridge. The Ship can even be manœuvrer from the engine room if the bridge is lost. I strongly suspect that a Ship of the size of those spaceship would have multiple rooms from where Command and Control can be exercised and would have a lot of redundancy in it's design. Therefore, the bridge doesn't matter all that much when assessing the capabilities of a warship when fighting a war. It's a very important area for movement but any serious warships needs to have its nervous system somewhere else.
Starfleet ships have redundant bridges. The main bridge is mostly for navigation, has a minimum 180 degree viewing bubble, and their own dedicated sensors. Even their warships engage in science missions, which means outside of combat the crew is taking time on sensors all over the ship. So the bridge has to have its own sensors that neither interfere with the other sensors, nor are interfered with by them. The battle bridge for Starfleet ships is always buried somewhere heavily protected, usually the neck at the bottom of the saucer where it connects to the stardrive hull. Both bridges are usually connected by at least 2 turbo lifts that have internal blast doors. So the command crews can quickly access both. The battle bridge usually is manned by a replacement command crew, should the main bridge get taken out. The main bridge, due to having its own sensors and a fantastic vantage point, means that it's a really hard position to blind. So it's a risky spot to command the ship from, but a worthwhile spot due to its independent advantage.
As for the engine room and why there's only one? Well the warp core doesn't actually provide main power. That's left up to a network of fusion reactors allover the ship, most of which have smaller auxiliary backups. The warp core is only crucial to long term FTL travel too. The other issue is that warp cores are massive power hogs, so they need full main power to operate. They're also pretty massive, taking up a large portion of the ship. The Enterpise D's warp core for example is almost as tall as the widest section of the stardrive section, where it sits. It's also basically a giant anti-matter bomb, so anything that breaches it is almost certain to result in the destruction of the rest of the ship. As a result a redundant warp core is not only completely pointless, but also a major disadvantage. Since anything that knocks out main power and takes the warp core offline is a problem big enough to make warp speed travel either impossible, or too dangerous. While anything that causes the warp core to completely and catastrophically fail, is also almost certainly to destroy the ship anyways.
The other key part of the warp drive is redundant though. That is the array of warp coils, which actually produce the subspace bubble for the ship and move it to warp speed. Those are usually housed in nacelles that are separated from every other part of the ship by pylons. The reason for that is pretty obvious, they're full of high-energy, radioactive, and extremely hot matter and anti-matter plasma. Since that's what's needed to produce the warp field. As such the warp coils are extremely heavily armored and shielded just to contain the plasma. Ships only need one functional set of enough warp coils to achieve warp speed. Anything that either damages a warp nacelle enough to force it to vent, or destroys it isn't too much of a problem, because the other nacelle is enough for warp speed. Anything capable of taking out both nacelles is enough of a problem to make warp flight unsafe at minimum, but more likely is going to destroy the ship in question. Which is generally why ships only have 2 nacelles. The Prometheus class is an exception, because it can split int three warp capable destroyers, or act as a single heavy cruiser.
Keep in mind that on any starship space is also at a premium. Larger size comes at the cost of diminishing returns in terms of speed, maneuverability, power consumption, and target size. Which is why in Star Trek, dedicated warships tend to be really small. They only need to be big enough to support the combat power they bring to a fight. They also aren't designed for long haul missions, so they don't need a lot of space for the crew, because the crew isn't going to be onboard almost constantly while isolated far from home for years. All the big ships are multi-role vessels. They usually have lots of science equipment and stations to use them, plus they have ample cargo space for carrying freight, and often act as transports. Still all space and weight on a starship is at a premium. Which means unnecessary redundancy can't be tolerated, because it uses up too much space and weight.
Hooyah from Purdue NROTC
The Enterprise D from Star Trek: The Next Generation (built as an exploration vessel and not a warship, I must emphasise) has many redundancy features, which are often referred to.
The ship actually has a battle bridge and can divide into two sections, both controlled by their respective bridges.
The engineering set we see in the show is deliberately referred to as MAIN engineering, as there are other engineering sections.
Do we really need bridges anymore? That is so 20th century. The internet doesn't need a central hub of info (and safer that way), so why should ships? The captain and co-captains (democracy and not autocracy, especially with crazy federation captains and admirals- seriously, who vets these people?) can stay in the lounge or in pjs in their quarters playing Angry Stars on their holographic mobile. The mobile will popup anything from the sensors based on selection settings. The captains then go ahead and open the command app, wait 10 seconds for a useless ad that buffers (8G sucks when all data used up for watching 32k holodeck Netflix), and then select the appropriate response, without accidentally clicking on an ad on the side of the choices.
But can aircraft carriers eject their nuclear core? 😄
The idea of the bridge crew of the Enterprise in Star Trek watching the Star Wars movies on the bridge screen is just too hilarious 😂😂😂
These are ok designs but do they have the VHS player and ludicrous speed option? I think not
Don't forget Mr Coffee.
But can it run Doom?
We brake for nobody
Radar...about to be...JAMMED.
@@davidtuttle7556
Mmmm... Raspberry.
The original Enterprise, from Star Trek (TOS), saw the US Navy come in and take pictures because they liked the bridge design so much. As far as praise for a warship design goes, that's kind of tough to beat. Sadly, it didn't even make this list.
@John Broadwell - I thought so as well. From a story-telling perspective, the D bridge had the problem of looking *too* comfortable. It was hard to convey stress & tension when everyone's sitting in a lazyboy and there's enough room to drive a forklift between the captain's chair and the con & ops stations. From a functional perspective, there was a lot of wasted space, even if you're trying to make the point of it being a diplomatic & exploratory vessel, not a rough & tumble combat ship.
Very true. Literally the only design problem with the TOS bridge was its location directly on top of the ship, something Gene Roddenberry purposely included in order to make it feel more like a naval vessel. Otherwise, I would dare to say it will always stand out as the true king of sci-fi bridge designs.
@@reverendmorgano9659 the battle deck of the speration the ship does is where the bridge should of been. As it's the most defended position.
@@mr.voidroy6869 Only if there was no saucer separation. Otherwise, it should have been located deep in the center of the main body of the ship. It's logical to want as much armor around it as possible.
@@reverendmorgano9659 ???? That's what I said?
Not gonna lie, the Covenant's approach to bridges blows all of these out of the water.
Buried inside a heavily armed, shielded, and armored ship-of-the-line is effectively a bunker.
Not only is the bridge of a Covenant CCS-Class Battlecruiser buried in the heart of the ship, it is heavily reinforced and protected itself. To destroy a covenant bridge, you not only need to breach the already impressive ship, but destroy the bunker-like armor around the bridge. In fact, this impressive protection allows the CCS class to continue fighting despite otherwise catastrophic damage.
To negate loss in direct visibility, the bridge can effectively turn the walls of that bunker into massive screens. With sensors on every surface of the hull, even buried in the heart of the ship, command crews can operate with a unobstructed view of the battlefield.
John Gervais a few well placed MAC slugs would take care of that job
What if you destroy the engine core?
Wonderfully competent. I'd be able to appreciate the covies a lot more if they werent narrow minded religious loons.
@@3Rayfire
That's a tricky question. Given that the bridge can survive the ship being torn apart, and even keep commanding the ship, I'd guess it would be fine enough.
We see a assault carrier's reactor go critical when Chief yeets a Covenant bomb into it, but 3 things.
1-It was a miracle shot. The ship was so heavily defended, it was able to muscle through the entire UNSC home fleet with little trouble, and was only destroyed when a precisely timed bombing run hit the hull while the shields were down to fire, and then a Spartan II threw a Covenant WMD into the hole. That's literally a one in a million thing.
2-The cost of such an action was astronomical. Both bombers were likely destroyed by point defense weapons, and the whole in the shielding was created when a UNSC advanced cruiser was absolutely gutted by a plasma projector. A few thousand people probably died for that move.
3-The carrier wreckage is actually shown if memory serves, and the ship has been effectively crippled, but the section where the command deck is is relatively untouched. Even if the crew had died from a possible loss of life support, the command center survived.
Not much beats a Covenant ship, not gonna lie.
@@TheEarlofManwhich
The Arbiter's forces and the Banished, my guy.
Especially Banished. Imagine if basically badass bikers got a hold of the best Covenant tech, and then tricked that out.
Allen you had a baby?!?!?! 😃
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!! 🎉
i heard that and immediately started scanning the comments to see if it was addressed lol. Congratulations Allen!
Our beautiful boy did the do.
Dolphins?😂 anyway yes don't trust chest busting,finger glowing,bucket sleeping aliens.
The real question, is did Allen properly brine the baby before baking? And did he season with or without cilantro? - Q
Captain Keys: "Bridge this is the captain. We have the package and coming back."
I quite like the bridge of the UNSC spirit of fire. Though it is pretty small compared to some of the others on the list. Though I do conflate the observation deck with the tac map with the bridge from time to time XD
@@hammer1349 Well, it is a refitted colony ship. It wasn't designed with combat in mind, so material and weight efficiency would've been more important than size.
Honestly the Defiant was the trek ship that should have made the list. It had that submarine quality and the aft placement of the captains chair gives him or her a clear view of the various stations. Plus you've got the 2 control consoles beside the chair. Great design.
Finally a smart person. may you have a great day, sir.
5:38 The USCMC will probably have a few things to say now that you're classifying a Connestoga-Class light assault cruiser like the USS Sulaco as a "freight hauler".
i mean it has no weapons
Then what were they going to "-nuke the site from orbit" with? Harsh language? The Conestoga class was armed for ship-to-ship combat and orbital strikes, not just transporting marines. The Nostromo was the freight hauler, not the Sulaco.
@@sike2399 you can transport nukes on a freighter.
the enterprise has more weapons and it's a science vessel.
I suggest you watch the space dock breakdown of the Conestoga class it is not a freight hauler for one thing it has two massive rail guns mounted on it.
@@jesusmora9379 , this isn't even up for discussion. The SULACO from Jim Cameron's 1986 "Aliens" is a dedicated warship.
The NOSTROMO from Ridley Scott's 1979 "Alien", however, is a towing vehicle. They simply confused the two in this video.
So, in Naval terminology the bridge is (generally speaking) the uppermost deck of a vessel that spans the full width of the ship. A bridge may include a command centre like the Enterprise - D, it does not necessarily mean the same thing like the Galactica. The Galactica being a warship and not wanting to expose the command centre to too much risk of destruction by a single hull failure, has the CIC located centrally in the forward section.
The Normandy is a perfect example. Along the bridge there is the cockpit, the CIC/Nav Galaxy Map, and in SR2 where Jacob and Mordin do their individual business.
In short 'bridge' =/= Command Deck.
I actually almost disagree with a lot on this list. For me the best bridge in Star Trek was the one for the Defiant or actually the original Enterprise. Submarine design everyone had a chair and the Captain could see everyone's station from his position. One of the most efficient Bridge designs aren't even listed here. B5 Mimbari cruisers allowed their Captains and admirals to see the entire battle field by allowing them to simply stand in the middle of a room that showed them everything the ships sensors could see. Shield's Helicarrier has a better design than the Star Destroyer's Captain could see everything everyone is doing from his little perch, and everyone else is either in front or to his immediate sides just below him and he could see their displays. Well except the one playing Galaga.
B5 has a ton of great designs. White Star bridges, Mimbari cruisers, even the older Earth vessels where they didn't have gravity tech and had to literally strap people into the chairs. Everything just... works...
Galaga is canon to the mcu.
Well, a Helicarrier isn't a starship, so even though you have a point, i wouldn't have been on the list.
@@SpaceNerd117 YET...
:D
I love the Roci bridge, just from one shot you can:
1. Get a sense of the situation/mood.
2. Character development.
3. A shot of the space cowboy doing backflips to drink coffee across the room.
Not a starship, but the SHIELD helicarrier's bridge was pretty cool, too.
The comic book version was pretty cool too !
The Normandy SR2 is my favorite spaceship. But you can see a lot of awesome cockpits and spaceships on Star Citizen.
TBH, I'd rather have the MCRN Donnager's bridge on here than the Roci's
As much as I love the Roci, I agree. The Donnager fits better with the scale of the other ships in the list. It also has extra bonus for the protective empty space around it.
Plus all of its personal space are in armored bunkers or citadels to save weight/mass (opposed to aromoring up the entire vessel) and possibly double as escape craft.
Remember the Donnager
Yeah, I'd marry her, too. She's a fine bride.
@@AdiAfendi Shit, thank you, didn't even notice that one!
The Resurgent-class isn't a Star Dreadnought; it's a battlecruiser also called Star Destroyer because of its origins.
Same with the Executor class Super Star Destroyer, Sovereign class Super Star Destroyer & Eclipse class Super Star Destroyer. None of them are referred to as "Star Dreadnaughts" in canon or EU content as there is a "Dreadnaught" class cruiser already in use.
They absolutely are referred to as (star) dreadnoughts, completely independently of the Dreadnaught-class
@@fabianbischoff5777 So are you saying Admiral Ackbar, General Antillies, General Solo, Director Isard, Warlord Zsinj and others don't know the difference between the Executor class Super Star Destroyers Executor, Lusankya, Iron Fist and Razor's Kiss from Star Dreadnaughts?
They ... can be described with both terms? What are you arguing about? At least with The Essential Guide to Warfare every single one of these models is described as dreadnought, some earlier
The Rocinante’s decks are aligned along the ships primary axis of motion, so that when the ship is generating thrust, the G force experienced by the crew simulates a planetary, gravitational field. The one far fetched part of the expanse is that the Epstein drive is so efficient, that it is able to generate a constant 1G of thrust from the hydrogen fusion reactor for several days at a time. It is the only human tech in the books that seems to defy the laws of physics.
They only ever use it at .3g though, to accommodate belters and even martians who aren't used to 1g.
But yes, the idea of a drive constantly going for months is... Let's just say, I'd love to meet the engineer who designed an engine like that.
The external nuclear pulse propulsion of Project Orion proposed in the 50's, 60's and successfully developed till the arms treaty banned nuclear weapons in space could sustain an average of 1g acceleration for days, 30 days was the calculated duration for a flyby mission to Alpha Centauri. Of course the acceleration would ripple in 1 second pulses with occasional drops if there was a misfire.
The engine is not so far fetched if you assume we can figure out fusion in a few decades.
@@brianorca But we know the energy output of fusion so we know what's described on The Expanse is highly unlikely. It would not only take something a little more than fusion but materials capable of containing the plasma. If I had to extrapolate from what we know, I would say it would be some catalyst to produce antimatter from the fusion and hence it's really the classic antimatter water torchship, we know proton proton fusion produces a small amount of antimatter, what if the antimatter production could somehow be increased... The fusion would just be a way to avoid having to store antimatter.
A body in motion stays in motion. So in the vacum of space with no atmosphereic resistance and if you plot a course away from gravity Wells why do you need constant thrust? Just get up to speed point it in your direction and " Go on the float"
I was hoping to see the Destiny from Stargate: Universe, a retractable bridge would be the best of both worlds
I was looking for this comment. I had the exact same idea and there is none of those kind of ships on the list. Offcourse Destiny has other problem with fragile parts being on the outside, but the bridge seems great.
Plus it retracts automatically when in danger, though it also seems to lock down as well
@@antrilion9622 You say fragile but the thing's a star diver. It's also literally ancient.
I know that you couldn't get them all, but the bridges on Andromeda and the Cygnus (The Black Hole) rate an honorable mention. The bridge on the Nostromo was a cramped workplace but that's to be expected on a vessel whose crew spent most of the time in hypersleep. B5's Whitestars had a nice bridge too.
Enterprise -D always reminded me of a hotel lobby.
When talking about Space Ships, why is there always NO mention of the Excalibur from "Crusade" ???
It is extremely powerful, tough and has a fantastic design inside and out.
I would like to see short run shows presented more in videos like this in the future.
Many people seem to forget that the Enterprise D actually had 2 bridges: there was the main bridge and then the battle bridge, which was smaller.
It also had the PADD mobile bridge, in case of incapacitation, indisposition, or destruction of both bridges.
Enterprise from the Original Series also had two bridges...that's probably where they got the idea.
It's also not really mentioned, but the Holo-Deck can also be utilized as an extra bridge.
@@stevenmoore6324 Computer, activate Program Emergency Bridge Alpha, without the holographic crew.
Any idea how many times the Enterprise went into battle without separating first? Me neither, but I'm leaning toward "most." Bad writing reduced the battle bridge to a gimmick.
I'd politely suggest that you might wanna look at the bridge from the original 1978 Galactica as well, as it is a combination of visually striking, functional, and romantic. And if we're not limiting science fiction to just space, you might also wanna look at the control room of the submarine Seaview from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-1968) which is also quite functional, interesting, and visual
Even though I like the bridges with the wonderful window views, I'd prefer the Battlestar Galactica-style bridge. Something unexpected could crash through those lovely windows.
I love the Valkyrie from Titan AE. This ship has a straight up genius stirring mechanism that allows the ship to spin or pivot in any way you need it to.
Allen's beginning to look like a belter,
Oye Beltalowda
If I meet another belter named after some ship.....
Not enough tattoos
The SDF-1 Macross had a cool CIC section. It has very naval oriented style yet feels timeless even if it was made in the 80's.
And those multi-story windows gave such a commanding view. I'm sure glad they were covered by plot armor.
@@charlesesseltine7054 the windows are made of Herculite in series. Also it was originally a dual deck bridge for Zentradi sized people.
@@barrybend7189 Be that as it may, the design just screamed for a kamikaze Zentraedi to aim their scout ship, destroyer, or even a battleship (Reverse Daedalus maneuver) at a bridge made of a material the Zentraedi should be fairly familiar with. The only reason Kyron didn't send a lackey to his glorious end by ramming the bridge was the plot armor. Even Breetai would have probably judged it an acceptable risk if they managed to take out the bridge. An armored cover like the ones that covered the cockpits of the Veritechs would have worked, and they could have even made it look like a face.
@@charlesesseltine7054 they did fix it with latter models. Only small ships( 3 to 4 hundred meters) get the gallery windows. Colony ships get the exception due to being colony domes on new worlds. Also the Macross was originally a destroyer for its original inhabitants.
Ironically, for such a large ship, the SDF bridge was barely 2 meters wide and crowded with more than a half dozen people.
Congrats on your kid Alan, the light and the darkness of this quarantine, you get to spend time with your child...and you can't get away from your child.
One of the green ships in “Legend of the Galactic Heroes” got pretty good designs aswell. The alliance bridge can be retracted inside the armor to block any damage to the bridge. Relying on external cameras and sensors to display outside world visuals and information into the bridge.
When I look at a spaceship’s bridge I look for the following:
Everyone on duty has a place to sit in bolted down seats. Bonus points for restraints
The bridge has more than one access point. One other than the turbolift.
Access control. A vestibule at the main access so people can not just wander on. Not including emergency exits that are alarmed.
A bathroom, coffee mess/break area
A place for the venerated captain to sit
Ship control/navigation/tactical
Navigation or mission ops
Communications or mission ops
Science officer
Engineering officer
Tactical
First officer
Kibitzer, visitor, councilor, etc.
Plus Auxiliary systems, damage control, engineering sub systems
So... Spaceball 1? They even had escape pods accessible from the bridge. They even had seat-belts. Dark Helmet just didn't use his.
I feel that you are describing TNG Star Trek
@@charlesesseltine7054 But unfortunately you're surrounded by Assholes.
@@charlesesseltine7054 Yea (never thought about that) But still used Lost in Space Tech.
forgot to mention Stargate Universe Destiney's ship bridge (since that lowers itself to protect)
came here to mention this one too, destiny's bridge was pretty efficient on space usage, got some comfy chairs, and the fact that it retracts down in combat situations is pretty handy. its also relatively small and offset so very difficult to target
Good list for sci-fi bridges.
But if we tilt towards the science rather than the fiction, the expanse bridges are the only ones that make sense.
Babylon 5 has some good ones, especially among the Human ships before they get gravity tech. They either spin big bits of the ship to make artificial gravity or just strap people into their chairs to work in 0G without floating all over the bridge.
@@VallornDeathblade One example of what you say is the omega class destroyer which has a rotating section to create artificial gravity. There are multiple problems with how they did it though; according to the show, this rotating section is spinning at 15 radians/s on a 1 mile long spaceship. Which by scale would create aprox a 20m/s "gravity" in the outer sections of this rotating bit (twice earth's gravity) Wouldn't be very confortable.
Also, if we look at the layout of the insides of this ship, the living quarters and engineering decks are on this rotating section, not the bridges (main and secondary bridges are on the hull) yet we see them walking around on the show when they should be floating instead.
And of course, the rotating section should not be rotating when the ship is accelerating unless you want a pile of bodies smearing the walls of the crew quarters. And I don't recall ever seeing it stop, even in combat it was still spinning.
That's why I mentioned The Expanse. Because not only it delivers good sci-fi eye candy, but it backs it up with actual science.
Is Halo SLIGHTLY realistic?
I gotta give it up to the bridge of the U.S.S. Discovery. Some people hate the show, but the production designs are amazing.
I really liked the "Jupiter" Spaceship from "Lost in Space" and the John. A Warden from "Starship troopers : Invasion" they also had cool exo suits tbh!
come on Bab 5 some of the most amasing ships and bridges ever
I was wondering where any of those were. Babylon 5 bridge had features that resembled Star Wars Destroyers. The White Star may have been interesting. Basic design, but quite functional.
B5's bridge had a feature many of these bridges lack. A blast shield to cover the only window during combat.
This is a comment from before watching this video: If Galacticas CIC isn't on this list, I'll be disapointed
It is.
it is and it is one of the most realistic bridges to.
just orient it like the expanse ships and add some chairs and you have a really realistic CIC design
Ok, that´s a valid point, but the absence of the Planet Express ship is still unexcusable
Macross and its Navel inspired CIC was not.
@@barrybend7189 For a Naval inspired bridge how about the Yamato?
You forgot one safety measure on the bridge of the Enterprise D. If the computer sensed a hull breech, it automatically closed emergency bulkheads to isolate the breech; this was called Confinement Mode/Isolation Protocol. This happened in the episode “Disaster” (season 5, episode 5).
Picard: Having a Blast
Geordi: Dodging explosions
How about Atlantis from Stargate Atlantis. I always liked that City ship's design
I knew the Resurgence-Class would make it on here! To be honest if the Resurgence and the Venator had a baby I’d think it would be pretty dope
I'm glad the Roci made it to this list!
An observation I've made, in Isolation Allen seems to becoming more and more well put together, and American Ben is falling apart, and British Ben has all but disappears... Therefore, Allen must be a vitality Vampire and he's using quarentine as a cover to drain both Ben's of their life force.
(Edit) I wrote this before British Ben appeared in the video... But seriously, he's also looking good.... Now my theory is he and Allen are both vitality Vampires and they're draining American Ben.
(Edit edit) again wrote this before American Ben appeared... But yeah, my theory still stands.
I'm bored in isolation so creating a Generation Films/Tech conspiracy is almost literally all I have right now to keep me "sane"
Allen also has access to a secret hairdressing cabal, that is still operating despite the quarantine restrictions.…
You could always go troll the creepy pasta comments section
@@casbot71 yes
@@bigredwolf6 why would I troll them? I don't like creepypasta, I like Generation Films/tech. The theory is a labor of love.
The Grey Turtle Entertainment because it’s easy to connect creepy pastas together in one big goofy conspiracy theory
Glad to see that you are make a video all together again hope we all can see more videos like this.
I was just wondering if you guys can do a video of the top human leaders in science fiction.
Bridge design is also a matter of function and appearance and the overall role of the ship. You'll note most of the 'warships' or ships intended as combat ships have very buried and fortified bridges, or as fortified as the size of the ship will allow. The Rossi and the Enterprise D have 1 thing in common (besides lack of windows on the bridge itself), both can be fully commanded and controlled from anywhere onboard using just about any control interface on the ship. Though the dedicated interfaces are the preferred option for efficiency. I agree the Rossi's bridge is awesome, though I am a fan of the Enterprise-D's bridge, though both have very different design goals. The Rossi was a military assault frigate and the Enterprise-D was a diplomatic exploration ship. Its bridge had to look impressive for any diplomats or planetary govener's the captain might be communicating with visually.
Just a couple of bridges that have been overlooked,
1963 Doctor Who: The Tardis. It can adapt, and regenerate.
2010 Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Classic battleship influence, with a wave motion gun.
As for Star Trek and the Federation, there was a better bridge than the Enterprise-D (including the Enterprise-E), the *_Defiant._*
It was mounted internally and was therefore impossible to target without going through the entire ship first, at which point…what's the point?. The only issue is it still used consoles without circuit breakers and with rock insulation.
Due to the use of view screens it was just as effective as the traditional bridge module in the saucer equipped ships, but it had the added bonus that helmsmen didn't occasionally get sucked out into vacuum.
[There was talk post _Nemesis_ of going to a new paradigm for Starfleet with internal bridges as standard, along with nacelles blended into the primary hull or main body - but Nemesis flopped so they were shelved - pity, it was to show the militarism of Starfleet post Dominion.
Hopefully in further Picard series if they focus on Starfleet ships?]
My Star Trek favorite Fed bridges.
10. Enterprise NCC-1701D - (Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), 1987) the lounge
9. Enterprise NCC-1701C (Star Trek: The Next Generation, 1990)
8. Enterprise NCC-1701 (refit) - (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1979)
7. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Star Trek -J.J. version, 2009)
6. Enterprise NCC-1701E - (Star Trek: Insurrection, 1998)
5. Enterprise NCC-1701 - (Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS), 1966)
4. Defiant NX-74205 - (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 1993)
3. Voyager NCC-74656 (Star Trek: Voyager, 1995)
2. Enterprise NX-01 - (Star Trek: Enterprise, 2001)
1. Excelsior - (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, 1991)
@@charlespfaff6585 For the record, this windows on the Bridge madness started with JJ Trek. Prior to that all viewscreens were holographic projections. I blame Kurtzman for bringing it to TV Trek. And the Defiant's bridge is still on top, of the ship, it's just flush instead of projected.
Though considering the firepower Star Trek puts out when it gets going, firing clean through the hull of a ship isn't that uncommon. Chang did it, the Borg did it, the Dominion did it. You wanna survive, keep your shields up.
Yes the defiant bridge is better. I'm surprised it wasn't on here.
DS9 IS NOT STAR TREK
@@charlespfaff6585 ive been meaning to ask someone who likes star trek why are the ships so weird looking
0:05 I remember that one from a lot of Issac Arthur's videos
so, I'm not the only one noticing. :)
Now this was a power episode. All three. Loved it.
Galactica had chairs in its CIC for most of the personnel. The ones who were standing were often the OICs that would frequently move from station to station.
Whoa, British Ben hath returned!
Marco Lu Sorry, but I’m going to have to throw you in the dungeon for that profile pic.
@@bigredwolf6 I'll get the chains
No, anything but yon dungeon!
You must include the Space Battleship Yamato as an iconic bridge design. Also enterprise from TOS, good enough for the navy to study, good enough for any list
But, seriously, YAMATO, original series, live action movie, or 2199.
ABSOLUTELY!! They always leave out the Space Battleship Yamato!!! They need to watch 2199 and 2202!!! 2202 has the BIGGEST space battle in history of sci-fi space battles!!!!
Agreed and I'd like to add the bridge of the Macross Quarter from Frontier to that list. I have noticed though that this channel only covers western sci-fi. Yournot going to find anime examples here.
Fun fact: The Galactica also did have a traditional bridge though an almost vestal one that was only generally used for ceremony and when docking with space ports or other ships or any other time needing a clear view of the outside was needed which was not often. The bridge set however was never built do to budget reasons since it didn't make a lot of sense to build a full set for something that was only going to be used in one scene in the mini-series (when they docked with Ragnar station) and instead the ship was just stared from the CIC instead.
I always think of my living room with the LCD TV and sofa, or my computer desk as my ''bridge''. A spaceship bridge should reflect the comfort and personality of a home, or a room of its own.
The Normandy SR-2 is still my fav ship in terms of the right kind of size ship I'd want. Assuming of course I can have the same crew from ME. Or at least Legion.
I'd mention the bridge and the control interface room of the Destiny from Stargate Universe.
The Bridge's layout and design is not particularly special - one rotating captain's chair in the middle, three consoles in the front - but it can be recessed into the ship when in battle for extra protection. The control interface room is more like the Galactica's CIC - it's deep within the ship without windows of any kind and it's the most protected area of the entire ship. Both can be used to pilot and operate the entire ship. The Ancients knew a thing or two about redundancy back then.
"The Ancients knew a thing or two about redundancy back then." And hell! _Destiny_ was flying for 50 million years. Multiple engine failure. _Still going!_
Most of the ships on Stargate had great bridge designs, my personal favorite being the pel'tak of a Ha'tak vessel (Goa'uld mother ship).
YES! Thank you :)
The Nostromo bridge, loved that one...
And later...the Prometheus.
Congratulations Allen on the birth of your child! 👏
Nice to see the three of you guys doing a collab. 👍
Allen will teach the child on the Xenos. He must teach the child about the Aliens and Dolphins.
Andromeda? The bridge was also deep in the ship for protection.
@@NightRaven-lh1bf I don't think Gene Roddenberry had much to do with the show "Andromeda". It was an adaptation of his 1973 TV pilot "Genesis II" about a post apocalyptic Earth. Dylan Hunt was cryogenically frozen right before the nuclear war and was revived some time much later by a group calling itself "Pax". It's a great pilot but the show was never picked up. It had a sequel or two made for TV movies though.
The Expanse seems one of the most accurate, but there's just some major issues, like: touch interface screens. Yes they would be good to use; however given a situation where the ship has technical problems from cracked screens, delayed respawns to touch interface, swetty hands, or even having to operate the systems while wearing a suit in some cases. If anything the ship should have keyboards, that should only be used for backup just in case any of these situations happen.
Also isn't 3d or halographic images bad for the naked eye, shouldn't they be using VR like headsets or glasses, that are both wireless and wired.
Yay! All three together!!!!
The expanse went from something that I was yelling about without anyone knowing about to a show this channel worships
What about the Borg vessel? Even though technically it doesn't have one specific place as far as a bridge it does have what appears to be a central location in the middle of a giant Cube like vessel and it's capable of traveling at transwarp speeds. It's also very difficult to get to the very heart of that particular ship in order to destroy the command section. Also whenever they do need to see what's outside of the vessel they're able to use what appears to be advanced holographic like screens. I think the best example of that is in the show Picard where 7 of 9 actually goes to a very well protected and very secure area deep inside the Borg Cube where the Borg Queen actually resided in and 7 of 9 was able to take command of the entire Borg vessel and even survived when the Borg vessel crashed on a planet and the hull was compromised.
The TOS bridge was revolutionary, and set the standard for many of the programs that followed.
I think it took insperation or was insperation for CICs of US Navy carriers as well
Roddenberry served on an aircraft carrier (the Enterprise, I believe), which is where he got the idea for the color-coded shirts (blue for science/med, yellow for officers, red for security/soon-to-be-dead people). So it would make sense he would pattern the Starship Enterprise's bridge after the USN Enterprise's bridge.
@@jasonmohorcic7096 The CIC concept used by modern navies was inspired by Science Fiction, it wasn't ST, it was much, much earlier. Specifically E.E.'Doc' Smiths Lensmen series. Smith was told that his concepts of efficient CIC centers on the lensmen StarCraft were highly responsible for the US Navies implementation of the concept prior to WW2.
@@Mythilt The CIC concept was due to the use of radar and sonar. It originally was simply a room added behind the bridge so the captain could talk directly to the radar and sonar operators (and see the radar screen himself).
I cannot believe that the Enterprise D bridge took precedence over the original Constitution Class bridge (pre or post refit). The design of the bridge of the original Enterprise influenced the design of the U.S. Navy master communications centre at the Navel Base San Diego. The Enterprise D bridge was kind of ridiculous and didn't make practical sense in that the captain did not have direct sight of all areas of the bridge. I get it: nostalgia goes a long way. lol. Anyway, awesome video! :)
Not a starship, but the bridge of the "Valley Forge" from Silent Running has always been a favorite.
when was the Sulaco ever a fright haler, she was a light assault carrier?
true. allan is confused...all those aliens, you know?
Nostromo was a freighter,
the Sulaco was a warship for Space Marines
The Sulaco did haul freight. A company of ass-kickery!
7:38 - Yes that "CerEbrus" upgraded Sr-2. I wonder if the "Rapers" had a bridge as well?
Ah yes, Rapers.
He also said that the Normandy was a testament to Human ingenuity when in actual fact the Normandy was a collaboration between Humans and Turians.
I actually hated the Bridge/helm/CIC of the Normandy ships. The long passage that separated the helm from the CIC i found to be very disruptive. I way preferred the circular bridge found on board the various Enterprise ships in Star Trek.
I prefer top bridges over front bridges, but the best bridge for me is the FPA ships bridges in Legend of Galactic heroes, it's a combination of the typical ship bridge (top of the ship) and Battlestar Galactica/submarine central bridge. In cruise or command mode the bridge is outside, giving the commander a full view of the fleet or the area they are flying into. But in combat mode (when things are about to get really spicy) the Bridge retracts inside the armored hull. And holographic projectors replace the usual open visual you get from windows.
2nd place goes to Infinite Space. All of them, you can freely change your ship bridges. But my favorite is the internal bridge that looks like a theater. The entire crew looks at one giant screen like a movie projector, the commander is at the back in an elevated position. It even has terraces that separates each crew based on their role and has smaller screens of their own.
I am super happy that Normandy was on this video
7:46 the sr1 was partly designed by turians its cic is even described by shepard as modified turian style
No Spirit of Fire from Halo Wars? Pretty observable deck and took the heat of a Star point blank
Most of the ships in the Halo universe have some of the best bridges I have ever seen since they prefer simplicity and functionality. The UNSC have bridges well suited for engagement with other human vessels, however I can see why they aren't listed here since they were constantly getting gutted by the Covenant with their high tech lasers and shielding during the war. The UNSC Infinity has a better protected bridge and shielding with an amazing view of just about everything and I'm surprised that not even that made it onto the list.
Fred Saberhagen's berserker series had some of the best bridges. Each member was in their own armored sphere sealed off from everyone else. They sat on an acceleration couch, connected by neural links to the ship. Each pod had its own life support and waste management. In combat the rest of the negative space was filled with acceleration foam. The whole cluster of command spheres were buried deep at the center of the ship. If one was destroyed it wouldn't necessarily put the rest of the crew in danger. If the entire ship was destroyed, these pods became escape pods, without the crew even having to move. Best reading is "The Berserker wars" or "Berserker Blue Death".
Dammd I'd all but forgotten that gem thanks for the memories 😊
I'm a bit surprised that the Tempest didn't manage to be in this list. The ship's bridge is so badass and aestethic
The Tempest from ME Andromeda?
Considering the rest of the ship was so awkward, it's easy to overlook the somewhat tacked-on bridge.
You guys completely forgot the bridge on the Borg ships...... oh, wait......🤪😂
You guys missed all the cool and functional bridge designs in anime, such the bridge of the SDF-1 from Macross, or any of the ships in Gundam.
You could have added the bridge of the Yamato and the bridge of the Macross SDF-1 (movie version). Both were well designed, functional, yet aesthetically great bridges.
The lack of chairs in EnterpriseD should bump it off off of this list!
This list should've just been expanse ships, especially the MCRN Donnager. Taving a traditional exposed bridge is a ridiculous weakness. I'm all for the aesthetic of traditional windowed bridges but they really don't offer any tactical advantage that a nested bridge can't give with a robust camera system
In reality I suspect if we ever build ships like these they'll have nested bridges with most crew operating the ship in a VR enviroment.
K1LLSW1TCH4 that’s why you have a traditional bridge and a cic in the heart like a modern warship
Actually the design of the Enterprise D's bridge doesn't make a whole lot of sense as it is put in a very exposed position - thus making it vulnerable to enemy fire - but still doesn't feature windows - thus making it utterly dependent on screens. So it's somehow - wait for it! - The Worst Of Both Worlds. Please don't hate me, I love TNG
It supposedly has a window, but it's a skylight, not a view int he direction of flight. So again, you have the fragility of a transparent window, (whether it's glass or transparent aluminum, it's still not armor.) without a useful function.
The Enterprise D is a science ship designed for long haul missions, not a dedicated warship. It has its own dedicated deflectors, shields, and armor. It also has its own dedicated sensors, which is why its in the position that it is in. Its sensor arrays are used for navigation, which is why it needs a good vantage point. So that it can get a good view of space around it without interference from and to the sensors on the rest of the ship, which are used by science teams working around the clock. It's a space that's designed to offer as much comfort as possible to a crew that has to more or less work in it 8 hours a day nearly every day.. The battle bridge conversely is mounted at the top of the neck on the stardrive section, directly under the saucer section. Making it the most protected section of the entire ship when the saucer and stardrive are connected. So both bridges actually make sense. The main bridge needs to be able to operate unimpeded by the rest of the ship, while commanding it, while also not interfering with the work being done by the science stations that need to access the ship's vast arrays of sensors. The battle bridge has full direct access to all of the ships sensors, weapons, and other systems, plus it has priority over every other section. Since during battle the non-essential crew should be hunkered down in escape pods, not at their various stations in the rest of the ship. Meaning that science teams won't be using sensors during battle. The main bridge is only used during battle because it has the advantage of having a really good vantage point for its own sensors, on top of(pun) access to the rest of the ship's sensors. Meaning that it can see everything at the same time with the most ease. It's a risky trade off, but command crews are redundant on Starfleet's ships anyways. So having the best physical view counts for a lot, even during combat. Mostly due to the fact that redundant sensors in the bridge it self, makes it far harder to blind the command crew. Since windows aren't needed, but sensor lines of sight are. Starfleet bridges always have a 180+ degree bubble that has unimpeded lines of sight for the bridge's own independent sensors. That's the trade off.
Just came from Generation Tech. Hey Alan! Love Your guy's videos1st Holy how have I made it here
Great vid and just want to say thank you all that bring us these 👍
How can you not include the 'Lois and Clark' from Event Horizon?
Wait, British Ben is still alive?
There were some concepts for the Ent-D where the main viewer was literally the entire wall and the bridge itself was two levels. It was much more of a luxury craft feel, but the idea is not lost for a ship capable of functioning as an FOB-type vessel.
The Normandy's bridge design is not strictly human in aesthetic. In the game's lore, the project was a joint effort between Humans and Turians, and the bridge design adheres to a more Turian model with the commanding officer's navigation terminal at an elevated position.
Hold up 7:40 dude literally said Cerebus, when he should well know it’s Cerberus, smh.
Glad I'm not the only one who caught that lol I was confused on that
Allen is out of the bathrobe I think it might be a AI replacement!
*ewok skin cloak
The Enterprise-D is pretty much my favorite starship design (inside and out) of all time!
Though I'm STILL waiting for a starship bridge to have proper (and safe) chairs, seatbelts, and railing/handles so the crew won't get tossed from one end to the other during battles. I mean come one!
One of the most visually attractive bridges I've seen, was the Cygnus from the "Black Hole".
I was really hoping for a bridge from Warhammer 40K. Nothing says command like bolting the entire space cathedral on top of your ship to bark orders out of.
I've always felt that the Galaxy class was overated
My favorite Star Trek bridge was always the Excelsior - (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, 1991)
I think the Sovereign bridge is perfect.
Star Trek has a few major issues with its bridge designs that only a few ever got right. Some of them are very pretty, but suffer badly because of it.
A good bridge needs to be relatively compact, you don't want to be having to yell to speak to other people in the room, it needs to have enough displays but not too many, clutter is distracting. You ideally want chairs/seating ideally with restraints for all the crew incase they are needed. You want the captain to be able to see everyone, without excess movement (ideally not leaving their central location). Finally your bridge, should never be exposed on the outside of your ship unless your ship is entirely unarmed, so basically no Starfleet ship.
By this logic, only the Definant has a good bridge. Klingons come a close second beating basically all Starfleet designs.
That said the borg win this hands down, at the tech level most species are at, you really don't need a bridge, you can fly/fight the ship from any screen aboard ship. So pick some place deep inside the ship that's heavily defended and work out of there.
Ooooooooooooo films! Im excited. Moving up!
Trade federation concept is actually VERY GOOD .
An honorable mention should go to the Original Series Battlestar Galactica bridge. Wide and spacious, it had an armored viewport, giving it the best of both worlds.
Favourite design was the star destroyer bridges loved the trench and pit style designs. Also loved the bridge on dead space.
Am I the only one that loved the Lucrehulk design? I just think it is one of the best ships in Star Wars.
The bridge of the Covenant Super Carier in Halo Reach was amazing ... tops this list easily
That's the carrack from SC on the thumbnail