Favourite flight deck/ship bridge room

[Rushy]

For me, the worst would have to be the Dave era rooms. 

In Series X, they’re in this tiny little room with gaming chairs, laptop monitors and a spiral staircase (?). 

The set in Series XI/XII/Promised Land looks a lot better, but I’ve never understood why the ship was being run from the sickbay. I guess Doug had a knee-jerk reaction to that one scene from Lemons lol, and felt it was absolutely vital for them to get a sickbay. 

The best is probably the Series III-V command room. I’m not a huge fan of the ship interiors from that era, but it’s certainly the most professional looking. I especially like Holly’s little monitor on the ceiling. 

Topic

[Rushy]

I’d do another thread for Starbug bridges, but I feel like the Series VI version would just win unanimous praise

[International Debris]

Yeah, the X drive room is crap and makes no real sense. 

The later Dave era one I’ve generally seen as an updated version of the Science Room, the same one we see in III – V basically, where they do medical stuff, piloting things, and anything else that needs computers and sciencey brainbox stuff. 

One thing the bubble era did really well was dressing, lighting and shooting sets so they often looked different. In my head, the room where Lister fucks the Polymorph, the room at the start of DNA, the ‘so what is it?’ room, and the room with the triplicator are all different places with some similar looking fittings, it’s remarkable to think they’re all the same set. It makes the ship feel much bigger, like they’re using different rooms and decks for different purposes. In comparison, the XI – TPL science room looks and feels the same every time you see it.

[International Debris]

Line them up and compare them and they’re clearly the same set with the same fixtures, but no way are these all the same room on the ship.

[Hamish]

Yeah, the X drive room is crap and makes no real sense.

It makes perfect sense if you see it as being analogous to Starbug’s cockpit.

[Rushy]

I love how they never ever look natural when they have to act “busy”. 

[Technopeasant]

It makes perfect sense if you see it as being analogous to Starbug’s cockpit.

But why they’d have a four seat piloting room for a freighter is anyone’s guess.

[International Debris]

It makes perfect sense if you see it as being analogous to Starbug’s cockpit.

From a production perspective, yes.

From a narrative perspective, a five mile long mining ship having a drive room analogous to a ship-to-surface shuttle craft is bonkers.

[Rushy]

In Stargate Universe, the characters controlled the ship’s functions from a tiny little “control interface room” for an entire season, before finding the bridge. I’m guessing it’s something similar.

It’s not designed to run the entire ship, but the crew use it in lieu of the actual main drive room because it’s more comfortable/convenient. 

But that said, the design of the room still makes no sense. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

It is only now that I’m noticing that Cat is sat on the medical bed/scanner table in White Hole 

[Dave]

It makes perfect sense if you see it as being analogous to Starbug’s cockpit.

But why they’d have a four seat piloting room for a freighter is anyone’s guess.

Was it Karnie’s Homecoming that suggested it was a small auxiliary driveroom? So much of that has entered my headcanon that I sometimes find it hard to differentiate between that and the official on-screen explanations.

[International Debris]

Yeah, that’s as good an explanation as we’ll get, and as with everything in that story it is pretty well conceived. I still think it seems daft on screen, though. 

[Ben Saunders]

The Enterprise (TOS) also has a weird auxiliary drive room that doesn’t look like a drive room. It probably doesn’t matter what shape it is, or where it is, if it works it works. You aren’t sitting at the front of Red Dwarf and looking out the window like it’s an RV.

[Technopeasant]

You aren’t sitting at the front of Red Dwarf and looking out the window like it’s an RV.

So much of that has entered my headcanon that I sometimes find it hard to differentiate between that and the official on-screen explanations.

There are any?

[Meteo]

Yeah, the X drive room is crap and makes no real sense. 
The later Dave era one I’ve generally seen as an updated version of the Science Room, the same one we see in III – V basically, where they do medical stuff, piloting things, and anything else that needs computers and sciencey brainbox stuff. 
One thing the bubble era did really well was dressing, lighting and shooting sets so they often looked different. In my head, the room where Lister fucks the Polymorph, the room at the start of DNA, the ‘so what is it?’ room, and the room with the triplicator are all different places with some similar looking fittings, it’s remarkable to think they’re all the same set. It makes the ship feel much bigger, like they’re using different rooms and decks for different purposes. In comparison, the XI – TPL science room looks and feels the same every time you see it.

Yeah, I’m going with Bubble Era. Series VII Starbug was nice, big, dark and cinematic.

[Flap Jack]

Series VII wasn’t the bubble era though. Unless you’re saying that the bubble era sets were better because they specifically weren’t nice, big, dark and cinematic?

[Rushy]

I feel like the VII Starbug cockpit would be wonderful if the rest of the ship matched VI. 

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

I wondered if maybe the Drive Room from X was one the crew made nearer their new quarters because they couldn’t be arsed to travel to and from the real thing. It would explain the small size and cheap set-up. 

The first Drive Room was ok but I’m not keen on the season 2 Drive Room, it looks way too busy, like an arcade.

I always picture the Drive Room looking more like the bridge on the OG Battlestar Galactica. In terms of size and personnel numbers it would make way more sense.

[clem]

The first Drive Room was ok but I’m not keen on the season 2 Drive Room, it looks way too busy, like an arcade.

I always picture the Drive Room looking more like the bridge on the OG Battlestar Galactica. In terms of size and personnel numbers it would make way more sense.

On the lockdown commentaries Ed Bye said he never liked the original Drive Room much, and preferred the “more grungy” one in Series 2. I’m with you though. The Series 2 one always looks too much like a set to me somehow. 

There’s a Smegazine strip where the original Drive Room (or at least that’s the one it looks most like) is revealed to adjoin a much bigger area with people working at long banks of consoles.

[Warbodog]

I’ve never not seen this as an angry shark.

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

The first Drive Room was ok but I’m not keen on the season 2 Drive Room, it looks way too busy, like an arcade.
I always picture the Drive Room looking more like the bridge on the OG Battlestar Galactica. In terms of size and personnel numbers it would make way more sense.

On the lockdown commentaries Ed Bye said he never liked the original Drive Room much, and preferred the “more grungy” one in Series 2. I’m with you though. The Series 2 one always looks too much like a set to me somehow. 
There’s a Smegazine strip where the original Drive Room (or at least that’s the one it looks most like) is revealed to adjoin a much bigger area with people working at long banks of consoles.

Yeah, I’ve seen that. The concept art for the movie went in a similar direction. It reminds me of the Ishimura in Dead Space.

[Ben Saunders]

Is this a drive room? It just feels like a room they get the mail in. The JMC Post Office. I guess they do use the Holly Hop drive there too, and that explosion happens in there. But I never thought of this as a drive room.

[Meteo]

It does look somewhat like a science lab to me as well as a room for various documents and sensor data is processed.

[Nick R]

Yeah, I’ve seen that. The concept art for the movie went in a similar direction. It reminds me of the Ishimura in Dead Space.

Those designs, with the corridor-length rows of consoles and the angled overhead screens, remind me of Blofeld’s base in SPECTRE:

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

The explosion was a different room but this one does appear in Kryten, Better Than Life, Queeg and Parallel Universe and is used in the same way as a bridge/command centre so my guess is it’s an attempt at a more colourful Drive Room in the same way they added splashes of colour all over. 

[Rushy]

they added splashes of colour all over. 

[RunawayTrain]

I’ve never not seen this as an angry shark.

Angry shark do do dodo dodoo … (I’m so sorry)

[sleepey]

The big screen in the middle kind of looks like a face as well!

[International Debris]

In my head it’s just the other side of the S1 drive room, the fourth wall. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

In my head it’s just the other side of the S1 drive room, the fourth wall. 

I’ve kinda always thought this too

you have to sort of ignore the fact that the control panels closest to the camera are never seen, but you can just about get away with it 

[Unrumble]

 splashes of colour all over. 

[Technopeasant]

The big screen in the middle kind of looks like a face as well!

That’s just your eyes playing tricks.

[Author]

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