I don’t get why the bringe of (at least Picard’s) Enterprise is located at the top of the ship.
We often see ships suffering hull-damage, sometimes scraping each other and getting into all kinds of perilous situations.
So why put the room with the most important people in such a vulnerable position when you could put it at the heart of the ship? Bridge would be less likely to suffer from hull damage and decompression.
Also, why don’t enemy factions just go: Oh that’s the bridge. Jolly good. Aim torpedoes at it, watch their morale crumble to dust alongside the bridge crew and call it a day.
This may be apocryphal, but gene had originally planned for the bridge and subsequent space battles to reflect those of submarines - playing out entirely within closed rooms and getting feedback from sensors. This didn’t sit well with producers, who wanted windows and for kirk to look out directly at an enemy, hence the viewscreen and placement on top of the saucer section.
I don’t get why the bringe of (at least Picard’s) Enterprise is located at the top of the ship. We often see ships suffering hull-damage, sometimes scraping each other and getting into all kinds of perilous situations. So why put the room with the most important people in such a vulnerable position when you could put it at the heart of the ship? Bridge would be less likely to suffer from hull damage and decompression. Also, why don’t enemy factions just go: Oh that’s the bridge. Jolly good. Aim torpedoes at it, watch their morale crumble to dust alongside the bridge crew and call it a day.
This may be apocryphal, but gene had originally planned for the bridge and subsequent space battles to reflect those of submarines - playing out entirely within closed rooms and getting feedback from sensors. This didn’t sit well with producers, who wanted windows and for kirk to look out directly at an enemy, hence the viewscreen and placement on top of the saucer section.
Not just the Enterprise-D. In fact, The Cage starts with a zoom from the outside of the ship into the bridge of the original 1701 at the top.