the ceiling of Kirk`s Bridge - transparent?

[xvicente]

Inspired by some incredibly neat pieces of computer art in this forum (you know what I'm talking about), I am starting to build a model of the Enterprise.

It will not be accurate as I don't have nearly a bit of the skill necessary but why not? (I'll be using Pov-Ray)

So. Is the top of the bridge (deck 0?) supposed to be transparent? All these years I saw it emitting light as is(are) the filming model(s), but now I wonder, the opening scene in The Menagerie/The Cage shows a camera zoom from space into the bridge, that I always thought was a visual language not to be taken literally, and the "real" exterior would be some kind of device that emmits light, like an active sensor antenna or other technobabble. But all windows in the model shine the same white light too, maybe it is supposed to be a big round skylight?

 

[Nightowl1701]

The bridge dome is too tempting a target for enemy ships as it is - no need to advertise for their sensors exactly where the ship's command staff is inside it. Shields or not, two or three well-aimed torpedoes right on top of a transparent dome and that crew's breathing vacuum.

 

[xvicente]

The bridge dome is too tempting a target for enemy ships as it is - no need to advertise for their sensors exactly where the ship's command staff is inside it. Shields or not, two or three well-aimed torpedoes right on top of a transparent dome and that crew's breathing vacuum.

you mean, like Picard's Enterprise?

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

In TAS the intruder control sphere is there. In TMP, there's a green dome hanging downward.

 

[Albertese]

We actually see the bridge's ceiling in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Not transparent. I assume the glowy dome is a structure above the ceiling.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x03/wherenomanhasgone035.jpg

--Alex

 

[Venardhi]

make it one of those materials that can change its transparency based on running an electrical charge through it. Even the densest and strongest materials are still mostly nothing after all. I see no reason for them not to be able to hit a button and turn the whole ship transparent.

 

[xvicente]

We actually see the bridge's ceiling in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Not transparent. I assume the glowy dome is a structure above the ceiling.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x03/wherenomanhasgone035.jpg

--Alex

Good catch. Really. I supposed the real set didn't have a ceiling because of lightning equipment and such.

 

[Robert Comsol]

The opening scene in The Menagerie/The Cage shows a camera zoom from space into the bridge, that I always thought was a visual language not to be taken literally.

I believe your assumption to be correct (and Albertese has provided evidence).

This is a good occasion to mention another, similar "offender", i.e. the original TOS footage of the shuttlebay.

If you were to take the angle and position of the miniature filming camera literally, you'd have a rather hollow engineering hull. On the other hand, had the shot been taken from the observation corridor facing the stern, we would not have been able to see the shuttlebay in all its glory.

Just like the shot in "The Cage" established the position of the bridge for (yet unfamiliar) audiences, I believe the same applied for the shuttlebay and shouldn't be taken too literally (add to this that Matt Jefferies' sketch would support such an assumption).

Bob

 

[blssdwlf]

We actually see the bridge's ceiling in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Not transparent. I assume the glowy dome is a structure above the ceiling.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x03/wherenomanhasgone035.jpg

--Alex

This

I'd say like the TMP Enterprise, there was something above the bridge like a sensor or some other opaque structure. From the outside, the glowy dome is just that, a glowy translucent dome.

 

[Donny]

This isn't canon, but this is how I've always imagined it. All that light on the bridge has to come from somewhere.

 

[Bernard Guignard]

I like that idea great work by the way

 

[Robert Comsol]

This isn't canon, but this is how I've always imagined it. All that light on the bridge has to come from somewhere.

Hmm...it may not be canon in the sense that we did see it, but also it's not necessarily a contradiction, because the shot with the noticable ceiling is from the second pilot film and therefore before the Bridge underwent several upgrades and changes.

Thus, for the regular series, the inner Bridge dome may have looked like what you designed, we just never got to see it.

Bob

 

[blssdwlf]

@Donny - it looks great but I think it is missing the forward "notch" on the ceiling to complete it

 

[xvicente]

This isn't canon, but this is how I've always imagined it. All that light on the bridge has to come from somewhere.

That your work? sweet.

My version is simpler:


bridge por vicentox1999, no Flickr


p.s. can someone point me a picture/screenshot of the bridge from above? I think it was in the beginning of an episode but I cant remember which one.

 

[Donny]

@Donny - it looks great but I think it is missing the forward "notch" on the ceiling to complete it

Bah! I keep forgetting to add that piece! You're the second person to point that out.

That your work? sweet.

Thank you, and yes, you can check out my thread by clicking here.

p.s. can someone point me a picture/screenshot of the bridge from above? I think it was in the beginning of an episode but I cant remember which one.

That would be from The Galileo Seven.

 

[Donny]

This isn't canon, but this is how I've always imagined it. All that light on the bridge has to come from somewhere.

Hmm...it may not be canon in the sense that we did see it, but also it's not necessarily a contradiction, because the shot with the noticable ceiling is from the second pilot film and therefore before the Bridge underwent several upgrades and changes.

Thus, for the regular series, the inner Bridge dome may have looked like what you designed, we just never got to see it.

Bob

But then again, there is this shot from Is There In Truth No Beauty?. Obviously, where the bridge segment tops meet to form the "half-dome", the ceiling then shoots 90 degrees upward in a cylindrical fashion. This makes my version non-canon.

 

[scotpens]

. . . So. Is the top of the bridge (deck 0?) supposed to be transparent? All these years I saw it emitting light as is(are) the filming model(s), but now I wonder, the opening scene in The Menagerie/The Cage shows a camera zoom from space into the bridge, that I always thought was a visual language not to be taken literally, and the "real" exterior would be some kind of device that emits light, like an active sensor antenna or other technobabble.

That was always my take on the "through-the-dome" shot at the beginning of "The Cage." It was meant to give viewers an idea of the size of the ship and the location of the bridge -- not to be taken as a literal transparent ceiling, but more like Superman's X-ray vision.

FJ's blueprints have a sensor platform under the bridge dome and another sensor platform above the saucer's bottom dome.

. . .I supposed the real set didn't have a ceiling because of lightning equipment and such.

At the time TOS was produced, most movie and TV filming sets didn't have ceilings. With today's smaller and more maneuverable cameras, lower light requirements, and a trend toward greater realism, some sets are built with ceilings, though AFAIK many sets are still completely open at the top for lighting.

Does anyone with experience in the industry have more detailed knowledge of this subject?

make it one of those materials that can change its transparency based on running an electrical charge through it. Even the densest and strongest materials are still mostly nothing after all. I see no reason for them not to be able to hit a button and turn the whole ship transparent.

That's assuming they would want to.

 

[Robert Comsol]

But then again, there is this shot from Is There In Truth No Beauty?. Obviously, where the bridge segment tops meet to form the "half-dome", the ceiling then shoots 90 degrees upward in a cylindrical fashion. This makes my version non-canon.

Oops...I overlooked this one. However, in contrast to the one from the pilot it rather looks like an added (unfolded "Forbidden Planet" style?) structure than permanently attached, but that's probably owed to the hectic of production, so we might not need to take it literally, necessarily.

Bob

 

[xvicente]

one more render for today


inside030 por vicentox1999, no Flickr

 

[GSchnitzer]

@Donny - it looks great but I think it is missing the forward "notch" on the ceiling to complete it

Bah! I keep forgetting to add that piece! You're the second person to point that out.

That your work? sweet.

Thank you, and yes, you can check out my thread by clicking here.

p.s. can someone point me a picture/screenshot of the bridge from above? I think it was in the beginning of an episode but I cant remember which one.

That would be from The Galileo Seven.

They also reuse the shot in "The Lights of Zetar."