Things you got "wrong"

[scotpens]

When I first heard the word "phaser," I thought it was spelled "fazer" because the weapon had a stun setting -- it could be set to just "faze" a person rather than kill them. That was in spite of the fact that "faze" is always used negatively (as in "it didn't even faze him").

I always thought that the phasers fired out of the big glowy dome on the bottom of the primary hull.

So did I. It seemed a logical place to put them.

When I was very, very little I thought the bridge took up the entire saucer.

That would have made the Enterprise a really tiny ship!

You ask any average person (not us hardcore Trekkies) which way the bridge faces, and they'll likely wonder why that's even a question.

That's because they're not hardcore Trekkies!

 

[J.T.B.]

My first big error was the name of the show in the TAS era, which, before I could read, I thought was "Star Track." So did everybody my age, though.

Later, I thought photon torpedoes were some kind of projected blobs of exploding energy with no material "body." When I saw TWOK I didn't realize the things they were loading onto that track were supposed to be the photon torpedoes.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It isn't.

It sure appears that it is.
http://www.utopiaplanitia.info/ships/1701/1701bridge.gif

You can't use that pic as evidence, they drew ALL the bridges in a skewed orientation.

This doesn't appear so. The turbolift was always to the left side of the captain's chair. It's the same here.

Personally, I believe that the bridge faces forward, and the model has a detail error.

It's the other way around. The turbolift shaft cap has always been a cylindrical structure directly behind the bridge module, not to the side of it (it's actually like that for NX-01 Enterprise).

You ask any average person (not us hardcore Trekkies) which way the bridge faces, and they'll likely wonder why that's even a question.

Then you have to educate them that what they've believed was wrong.

 

[Forbin]

For me, it was the idea that the main viewscreen of the original Enterprise bridge was aligned with the forward axis of the ship,

It is.

Not.

when it really was 30-degrees or so offside (the turbolift is aligned with the forward axis instead).

It isn't.

It sure appears that it is.
http://www.utopiaplanitia.info/ships/1701/1701bridge.gif

That the production crew decided the elevator doors looked better one wedge segment to port, and rearranged the set to accommodate better camera angles, has no bearing on the original intent of the design, and basic human design logic.

It's easy enough to imagine the external cylinder as the vertical shaft, but that the car jogs forward and to port to meet the doors, while an auxiliary car is stationed to starboard for those "no waiting for the elevator" moments.

the 36° offset is a figment of Franz Joseph's rationalizations for the 1975 technical manual, not evidenced anywhere in the actual show.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It is.

Not.

It isn't.

It sure appears that it is.
http://www.utopiaplanitia.info/ships/1701/1701bridge.gif

That the production crew decided the elevator doors looked better one wedge segment to port, and rearranged the set to accommodate better camera angles, has no bearing on the original intent of the design, and basic human design logic.

Not being an actual window like those aboard oceangoing vessels, the main viewscreen can be placed anywhere on the bridge like any monitor. In the end, the viewscreen is really just a big monitor and will show images from various angles around the ship.

It's easy enough to imagine the external cylinder as the vertical shaft, but that the car jogs forward and to port to meet the doors, while an auxiliary car is stationed to starboard for those "no waiting for the elevator" moments.

Not sure what you mean by this.

the 36° offset is a figment of Franz Joseph's rationalizations for the 1975 technical manual, not evidenced anywhere in the actual show.

But it does fit the actual show and the only reason to assume otherwise is to fit a notion that the viewscreen is like a glass window and absolutely has to be aligned along the ship's centerline.

 

[Shawnster]

On screen (canon) evidence would support the idea that the cylinder behind the bridge dome is NOT the tubolift.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/0x00/thecage011.jpg

 

[Forbin]

Not sure what you mean by this.

Turbolift car comes up thru the shaft, shifts forward and to port to the doors. When a person uses it, the car shifts back to the vertical shaft and drops, and the standby car immediately over to take its place at the bridge doors.
This is Ziz's concept from many years ago, which made a light bulb go off over my head. It makes a ton more sense than the bridge being the only control center on any vehicle in history that doesn't face front.

 

[Forbin]

And we probably shouldn't let this thread devolve into yet another bridge angle fight.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Not sure what you mean by this.

Turbolift car comes up thru the shaft, shifts forward and to port to the doors. When a person uses it, the car shifts back to the vertical shaft and drops, and the standby car immediately over to take its place at the bridge doors.
This is Ziz's concept from many years ago, which made a light bulb go off over my head. It makes a ton more sense than the bridge being the only control center on any vehicle in history that doesn't face front.

The problem with that is that it doesn't fit into a 947-foot USS Enterprise. And of course, with the viewscreen not being a window (in the prime reality, at least), there's no need for it to face forward. Click!

 

[C.E. Evans]

On screen (canon) evidence would support the idea that the cylinder behind the bridge dome is NOT the tubolift.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/0x00/thecage011.jpg

Actually, if you look closely at that image you'll see the viewscreen isn't facing the ship's centerline there either.

Not sure what you mean by this.

Turbolift car comes up thru the shaft, shifts forward and to port to the doors. When a person uses it, the car shifts back to the vertical shaft and drops, and the standby car immediately over to take its place at the bridge doors.
This is Ziz's concept from many years ago, which made a light bulb go off over my head. It makes a ton more sense than the bridge being the only control center on any vehicle in history that doesn't face front.

That's an interesting idea. But as far as it making "more sense" for the control center to face front, that only really applies to a vehicle that needs an actual front-facing window for manual flight. The main viewscreen truthfully eliminates this need and thus can be placed anywhere on a bridge.

And we probably shouldn't let this thread devolve into yet another bridge angle fight.

Agreed.

Turbolift car comes up thru the shaft, shifts forward and to port to the doors. When a person uses it, the car shifts back to the vertical shaft and drops, and the standby car immediately over to take its place at the bridge doors.
This is Ziz's concept from many years ago, which made a light bulb go off over my head. It makes a ton more sense than the bridge being the only control center on any vehicle in history that doesn't face front.

The problem with that is that it doesn't fit into a 947-foot USS Enterprise. And of course, with the viewscreen not being a window (in the prime reality, at least), there's no need for it to face forward. Click!

There is that to consider...

 

[scotpens]

On screen (canon) evidence would support the idea that the cylinder behind the bridge dome is NOT the tubolift.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/0x00/thecage011.jpg

Actually, if you look closely at that image you'll see the viewscreen isn't facing the ship's centerline there either.

Which is, of course, because the roto-matte composite shot from "The Cage" couldn't be precisely aligned due to the technical limitations of optical FX at the time.

And we probably shouldn't let this thread devolve into yet another bridge angle fight.

Agreed.

 

[C.E. Evans]

On screen (canon) evidence would support the idea that the cylinder behind the bridge dome is NOT the tubolift.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/0x00/thecage011.jpg

Actually, if you look closely at that image you'll see the viewscreen isn't facing the ship's centerline there either.

Which is, of course, because the roto-matte composite shot from "The Cage" couldn't be precisely aligned due to the technical limitations of optical FX at the time.

The point is that it's never been shown to be precisely aligned with the ship's centerline, so it's not a canon issue.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

For years, I thought "The Galileo Seven" referred to the shuttle, not the number of passengers aboard.

Me, too. When my friends and I "played Star Trek," we always called the shuttle the Galileo VII. We hadn't quite digested that Galileo II was the name of the shuttle in The Way to Eden.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Actually, if you look closely at that image you'll see the viewscreen isn't facing the ship's centerline there either.

Which is, of course, because the roto-matte composite shot from "The Cage" couldn't be precisely aligned due to the technical limitations of optical FX at the time.

The point is that it's never been shown to be precisely aligned with the ship's centerline, so it's not a canon issue.

The FJ picture I posted was used as a screengraphic in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, making it kinda maybe sorta canon and giving me the last word!

 

[F. King Daniel]

Back on topic, as a very young kid I thought the blue deflector on the classic movie Enterprise was the "window" at the front of the bridge, and they were just too damn lazy to make it the same shape on the set as it was on the model.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I was watching on a old Black & White set when the show was first broadcast and had no idea what color things were for years.
I expected Spock to be a light pale green instead of regular human skin tone. They always talked about his green blood so I just sorta assumed....
I did not expect so much bright red in the sets either.

They did use a yellow-green make up for Spock and other Vulcans created by make up man Fred Phillips call LN-1

 

[sbk1234]

I used to think that fire would come out of the nacelles.

I was very, very young back then.

 

[Sketcher]

When I was a little kid, I used to think the TNG crew used to travel in two ships. A big Enterprise (the actual D) and a littler Enterprise. I don't know if I was getting the Enterprise(s) confused with a saucer separation episode or one where the ship was next to an Oberth or Miranda. But yup. Yay, childhood imagination.

 

[scotpens]

I used to think that fire would come out of the nacelles.

I can't imagine where you could possibly have gotten that impression.

 

[The Lensman]

I was a 70's kid who watched Trek on UHF channels, and since I lived on the edge of the country, there was usually t.v. snow when watching so it was hard to make out anything in great detail. Sometimes the show would fade in and out...due to that, when I was really young (3-5) I thought the main sensor dish was a propeller.

I also thought the Romulan Commander was Spock's father when I was that age, I don't even think I had seen "Journey To Babel" either. I think it really had more to do with the fact that he seemed older and he had pointed ears. Although at that age, it's possible I had seen it and just didn't consciously recall it.

I didn't think the whole saucer was the bridge, I think I thought the dome under the bridge was the saucer tho.