History Main / TheBridge

** Averted by the Normandy, where the "bridge" is a small compartment in the nose of the spaceship with just enough room for two pilots. All important navigational decisions seem to be made from the control deck further aft, and all important character gatherings take place in the strangely spacious communications room. This is said to be a turian design, which the Alliance used on the co-developed Normandy so they could compare its efficiency to their own (never seen) bridge layouts.
--> '''Joker:''' Y'know what pisses me off? Calling this the cockpit. Alliance ships have bridges. Asari ships have cockpits. Oh, wait. [[OneGenderRace No they don't.]]
** Technically, the pilot's compartment is the helm, not the bridge. Control deck has all the bridge facilities and is also constantly manned by officers. The game simply doesn't show how the ship is actually commanded. Normandy design also resembles that of a submarine (which makes sense, given it's a small, stealth special-purpose vessel).
** Even further averted with the addition of TheWarRoom in the third game, where most of the characters congregate to discuss any upcoming military strategy, engage in diplomacy or to update their leadership on their progress. Once a plan is finalised, any relevant information is then relayed to the officers in the CIC, before being passed to the helm so Joker can plot a course.
*** For bonus points, they are all located on the same deck, so if internal communications ever went down, critical information can still be relayed as easy as just walking from one room to another.
** The bridge of the ''Destiny Ascension'' is shown several times. It also appears to play this trope straight, although it's an asari flagship and a dreadnought to boot (since dreadnoughts are too large to land on planets, their rooms are located perpendicular to the thrust).
** Shepard can discuss the bridge layout with a senior Alliance officer, who points out the various concerns with the layout, such as the Captain being located so far from many of the other positions, particularly the pilots. Shepard points out the ubiquitous CommLinks, and states that in an emergency, they can always just bellow orders like a DrillSergeantNasty. That said, it's pretty common in the games for Shepard to just stand behind Joker's chair when the ship does anything exciting.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, it's made clear [[RealityEnsues what can happen]] due to the typical ''StarWars'' bridge design--an enemy attack breaks through the command ship's shields, ''shreds the bridge, and kills the ship's admiral''. It's then {{Lampshaded}} that the Trans-Galactic Republic is fully aware of such dangers and has a "Force Coordination Center" in the heart of the ship--but [[TemptingFate nobody ever managed to defeat the shielding]] on that class of Star Dreadnaught before, so the RuleOfCool reigned supreme.

** On modern aircraft carriers, the bridge is housed in what is termed "the island", the tall but relatively narrow superstructure mounted off to one side. The Queen Elizabeth class have two, the forward one handles ship operations, the aft one is the flight command centre, in other carriers both are housed in one island.

** On modern aircraft carriers, the bridge is housed on what is termed "the island", the tall but relatively narrow superstructure mounted off to one side. The Queen Elizabeth class have two, the forward one handles ship operations, the aft one is the flight command centre, in other carriers both are housed in one island.

* Smaller ships and aircraft will often use a different layout designed for smaller crews and tighter spaces. For aircraft, TheCaptain is typically one of the pilots, officially termed the Pilot-in-Command in US aviation practice. In any given operation, different crew members will have different roles to carry out and must effectively communicate with each other to ensure the work is evenly shared, that everyone know what's going on, and most importantly that different crewmembers aren't working at cross purposes. Given how complicated modern aircraft are, and how time-critical some operations might be, [[ObsessedAreTheListmakers expect a checklist for everything]] with crewmembers reading items out loud and verbally announcing tasks as they complete them. Effectively managing all of this is the core of a practice known as "Crew Resource Management."

* In ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, it's made clear [[RealityEnsues what can happen]] due to the typical ''StarWars'' bridge design--an enemy attack breaks through the command ship's shields, ''shreds the bridge, and [[CharacterDeath kills the ship's admiral]]''. It's then {{Lampshaded}} that the Trans-Galactic Republic is fully aware of such dangers and has a "Force Coordination Center" in the heart of the ship--but [[TemptingFate nobody ever managed to defeat the shielding]] on that class of Star Dreadnaught before, so the RuleOfCool reigned supreme.

*** On the seat belts note, it's almost as if the entire concept of seat belts is being played with. Think about it, played with in dramatic flair in TMP as described above (Literally. The wormhole scene) since the choreography on the show was comical, discarded as a stupid idea by being shown on the losing ship(s) after being sabotaged (and blown up) in 3, and never appeared again. Then came the reboot. And guess what they brought back?!

The standard bridge cliché involves TheCaptain sitting in the very center on a [[CoolChair Command Chair]], with two crewmembers (sometimes Bridgebunnies) in front of him steering the ship, looking at an AppliedPhlebotinum viewscreen showing a whizzing star field or a map of nearby space. Other characters sit at workstations arranged in a circle around the perimeter. There's an elevator or other extremely convenient access, and any character who wants to come to The Bridge [[SwissCheeseSecurity can do so easily]]. The Bridge will be spacious and have a large ''stage'', usually in front of TheCaptain's chair, so the officers, their invited guests, and the random uninvited enemy of the week can walk around and meaningfully emote.

* In ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, it's made clear [[RealityEnsues what can happen]] due to the typical ''StarWars'' bridge design--an enemy attack breaks through the command ship's shields, ''shreds the bridge, and [[CharacterDeath kills the ship's admiral]]''. It's then {{Lampshaded}} that the Trans-Galactic Republic is fully aware of such dangers and has a "Force Coordination Center" in the heart of the ship--but [[TemptingFate nobody ever managed to defeat the shielding]] on that class of Star Dreadnaught before, so the RuleOfCool reigned supreme.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enterprise_bridge.jpg]]]]

* Most vehicles in ''Franchise/StarWars'' that are large enough to have one (smaller ships just have airplane-style cockpits usually). [[TheEmpire Imperial]] ships don't follow the usual layout, though -- BridgeBunnies are confined to two sunken pits full of consoles, bisected by a long walkway for Darth Vader to pace up and down menacingly. It's basically galley slaves InSPACE! The Walkway serves the same purpose as the raised command chair in TOS that allows kirk to turn around and see what everyone else is doing, only instead of requiring a full rotation, you just turn your head from side to side. It also has room in the back for a Holographic 3D display, rather than a 2D viewscreen at the front, instead it has a window for similar reasons as the ''Star Trek ''(2009) Bridge does.

* Humorously referred to in the anime series ''Anime/DennouCoil'': in episode four, the kids of the Daikoku City Hackers Club engage in a cyber-battle while seated on a bunch of overturned desks that recall the classical Bridge disposition (with the club president at the center and elevated above the others, of course) and surround themselves with virtual-reality screens and terminals on which they bash with RapidFireTyping: but hey, they '''are''' kids playing after all....

* ''Anime/StarshipOperators'' has 3 bridges for Amaterasu, one for command, one for fire control, and one for conning. All the bridges are quite cramped, though, and there are seat belts.

* The bridge of ''Nadesico'' in ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' is quite spacious and populated by very od people.

Essentially The Bridge is part of the SpaceIsAnOcean model of space flight, in which the traditions of naval architecture are RecycledINSPACE by lazy writers. It will typically either be perched on [[TwoDSpace the obvious "top"]] of the ship, often in some sort of conning-tower, or in the nose like the flight deck of an aircraft.

-->'''[[Creator/WilliamShatner Cmdr. Buck Murdock:''' We'd better get to the tower, Lieutenant.
-->'''Lt. Pervis:''' We have no tower, sir.
-->'''Cmdr. Buck Murdock:''' No tower?
-->'''Lt. Pervis:''' Just a bridge, sir.
-->'''Cmdr. Buck Murdock:''' Why the ''hell'' aren't I notified about these things?

* The endgame of ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'' involves getting to the bridges of the [[StarshipLuxurious science ship ''Von Braun'' ]], and the military warship ''Rickenbacker'' docked on top of it. The ''Von Braun's'' bridge makes up two whole floors, with various stations around the room, complete with a small briefing room and an office for captain [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Anatoly Korenchkin]] on the second floor. The ''Rickenbacker'' takes a more ''Star-Trek''-like style, with the main command station at the back, with four stations toward the windows.

** The [[AirborneAircraftCarrier aircrafts]] and [[StarShip spaceships]] of [[BeneathTheEarth the Mykene Empire]] -- from ''Anime/GreatMazinger''- and [[AlienInvasion the Vegan Empire]] -from ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'' -- also had bridges fitted with those elements.

* The Helicarrier in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' has a particularly large one. It's got a gigantic window at the front, and the ship's briefing room is basically part of it as well. Bonus points because the space has room for ''tons'' of BridgeBunnies (and more points because they come in all genders!)

* Most vehicles in ''Franchise/StarWars'' that are large enough to have one. [[TheEmpire Imperial]] ships don't follow the usual layout, though -- BridgeBunnies are confined to two sunken pits full of consoles, bisected by a long walkway for Darth Vader to pace up and down menacingly. It's basically galley slaves InSPACE! The Walkway serves the same purpose as the raised command chair in TOS that allows kirk to turn around and see what everyone else is doing, only instead of requiring a full rotation, you just turn your head from side to side. It also has room in the back for a Holographic 3D display, rather than a 2D viewscreen at the front, instead it has a window for similar reasons as the ''Star Trek ''(2009) Bridge does.

* The ''Excalibur'' on ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' intentionally departed from this pattern, with a long rectangular bridge more akin to the control rooms on modern-day attack submarines.

** One variation used on older warships was for The Captain and his staff to command the ship from an elevated position with the best visibility of the ship and the battlefield, while the helmsman sat in an armored enclosure at deck-level with a handful of other junior officers. They had far less visibility to command and control the ship from, but were also far more likely to survive a shell striking the ship's superstructure, ensuring that ''someone'' would probably be in control of the ship despite the bridge crew suffering a TotalPartyKill.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' - while NPC ships are presumed to have bridges, one of the advantages of player-controlled ships is that they don't ''have'' bridges - instead, the ship's command functions are wired directly into the pilot's nervous system. This allows the ship to react quicker, and cuts down on the need for life support.
** Nevertheless, some ship models ([[http://www.eveonlineships.com/eve-online-ship.php?navicrip=bWlubWF0YXItdGVtcGVzdC0zLmpwZw== especially Minmatar designs]]) have elongated or raised parts that look like bridges. The fan vid [[http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=783871 Clear Skies]] shows [[spoiler: how dangerous that can be.]]
** Fluff-wise, the capsuleer ships are simply retrofitted conventional vessels.

* In both ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' video games this trope is also averted -- the [[CoolShip Ebon Hawk]] has a small cockpit and some sort of a briefing room for important discussions. It is played straight with the Sith warships and their massive rooms with sunken areas for control operators and a long walkway for Malak to pace up and down menacingly, and the Republic ''Hammerhead''-class vessels and their console-lined rooms at the prow with big windows.
** Well, the Ebon Hawk wasn't exactly a warship, now was it?
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' gives the player access to the bridges of several ships.

* In the "Mothership Zeta" {{DLC}} for ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', the titular [[TheGreys alien]] mothership has a large bridge with the captain's chair in the front and various consoles to the sides.

* Equipping different bridge modules in ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'' can improve your ship's performance, as well as the background for traveling or fighting. Many cutscenes are set on the bridge of some ship or other.
* The ''Lexington'''s [[http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/images/galleries/335/335_3.jpg bridge]] in ''VideoGame/MissionCritical'' is reminiscent of ''Franchise/StarTrek'', which is fitting, given that the captain is played by [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Michael Dorn]]. The captain's chair is in the middle. The officer stations are along the sides of the large circular room. No front-facing consoles, though. There is also a large viewscreen at the front. However, unlike Trek ships, the bridge and every other deck on the ''Lexington'' is facing perpendicular to the acceleration in order to provide artificial gravity.
* The player's party in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games is often based on a battleship of some kind and cutscenes sometimes take place on the bridge.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' has a couple of ships with this style. When Roger Wilco becomes a Star Confedration captain in Space Quest V, he is assigned to the SCS ''Eureka'' which plays the trope straight on a small scale, since the ''Eureka'' is, literally, a garbage scow. Roger's chair is in the center, as usual, with Officer Flo and Subcorporal Droole towards the front. Captain Quirk's ship, the SCS ''Goliath'', plays it straighter, in addition to the SCS ''[=DeepShip=] 86'' in the next game which is based on ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]''. However, since the ''[=DS86=]'''s captain is a member of a CatFolk species, his chair is a large, plush couch with scratched-up sides.

* As expected based on the name, ''VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander'' takes place exclusively on the bridge of your ship. The only time you're shown ''not'' on the bridge is at the very beginning, when your HeroicMime PlayerCharacter is walking there. While the game does have an "outside" view, which even allows you to take direct control of your ship in battle, it's generally best to limit yourself to giving orders to your tactical officer and have him do all the fighting and maneuvering. In fact, for a game that asks you to sit back and let your subordinates do their jobs, the game is surprisingly engaging. Bonus points for switching bridge designs on you partway through, after you're transferred from USS ''Dauntless'' (''Galaxy''-class) to USS ''Sovereign'' (''Sovereign''-class).
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' lets you choose from dozens of bridge designs, some varying on the standard Trek theme and some completely different. The bridges are also ''huge'' compared to their versions on TV.