Looking at TrekMovie.com's walk through Star Trek The Tour reawakened one of my very, very minor pet peeves about this kind of Trek live-action roleplaying. Whenever an Enterprise bridge is recreated, it's always one of the TV versions -- either the Original Series, or TNG's.
(A couple of things about each of those. First, I would not be a bit surprised to learn that the TOS Bridge contained at least one fan-constructed piece "on loan" to the tour. I bet there are more people with a Bridge in their basements than even we hardcore fans think. Second, while the infamous takedown of the TNG Bridge as "the lobby of a Hyatt Regency" is still scarily accurate, I also like Patrick Stewart's observation from one of the DVD sets. He said, basically, the Bridge is like a stage, with Picard et al playing to an "audience" on the main viewscreen. For some reason that makes the TNG re-watching experience more intimate to me, like these people are just putting on shows in their basement. But I digress.)
While I understand that these are the most familiar bridge sets, to me they're not really the coolest. (Ex Astris Scientia has an overview, if your memory needs refreshing.) I like the warm beige-and-black look of Star Trek V's Bridge and the very functional Bridges of NX-01 and NCC-1701-E. I also liked the makeover the TMP Bridge got for Star Trek II. You never see those recreated, though, and it's a little disappointing.
By the way, although I am complaining, I want to emphasize how miniscule that complaint is. I would totally geek out over either the TOS or TNG Bridge. In fact, if I had to choose only one for a photo-op which would totally embarrass the Best Wife Ever, it might well be the TNG TV Bridge. I am a huge TOS fan, but only on the TNG Bridge would I feel right doing Picard's little two-finger "Engage" sign....
(A couple of things about each of those. First, I would not be a bit surprised to learn that the TOS Bridge contained at least one fan-constructed piece "on loan" to the tour. I bet there are more people with a Bridge in their basements than even we hardcore fans think. Second, while the infamous takedown of the TNG Bridge as "the lobby of a Hyatt Regency" is still scarily accurate, I also like Patrick Stewart's observation from one of the DVD sets. He said, basically, the Bridge is like a stage, with Picard et al playing to an "audience" on the main viewscreen. For some reason that makes the TNG re-watching experience more intimate to me, like these people are just putting on shows in their basement. But I digress.)
While I understand that these are the most familiar bridge sets, to me they're not really the coolest. (Ex Astris Scientia has an overview, if your memory needs refreshing.) I like the warm beige-and-black look of Star Trek V's Bridge and the very functional Bridges of NX-01 and NCC-1701-E. I also liked the makeover the TMP Bridge got for Star Trek II. You never see those recreated, though, and it's a little disappointing.
By the way, although I am complaining, I want to emphasize how miniscule that complaint is. I would totally geek out over either the TOS or TNG Bridge. In fact, if I had to choose only one for a photo-op which would totally embarrass the Best Wife Ever, it might well be the TNG TV Bridge. I am a huge TOS fan, but only on the TNG Bridge would I feel right doing Picard's little two-finger "Engage" sign....
2 comments:
That link to Ex Astris Scientia just gave me a geekgasm. If you had told me at age twelve (the era of the first set of Star Trek Blueprints) that I would one day be able to look at diagrams like these, my head would have exploded.
(Actually, if you'd told me at the same age I'd have a device in my home that was connected to a worldwide computer network, my response would have been much the same...)
Oh yeah. I always wanted to build a communicator or tricorder, or at least sew up a uniform, based on the diagrams from the Franz Joseph Star Fleet Technical Manual. Somehow I missed the TNG blueprints when they came out, but I guess that's why we have eBay.
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