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In the Enterprise-D simulation Stage Nine, the corridor from the Enterprise's bridge to its observation room (the one oft used as a situation room or briefing room) loops around, with the door to the observation room in the middle, and has stairs down to the observation room and another exit afterward. My mother, watching, protested, saying there are no stairs on the Enterprise.

That's another question entirely, but it did pique my interest, so I did more research. The Whitefire blueprints indicate a hall without stairs, with the entry to the observation room at the end of the hall. Memory Alpha also states that the observation room was connected through a "short, ramped corridor."

So, was this corridor ever depicted in official or even mildly canon sources, outside of the blueprints? And are there stairs there, anyway?

stage nine

Whitefire blueprint

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  • As far as I'm aware this is a fan-only creation. We certainly never see any stairs in the show
    – Valorum
    Aug 31, 2018 at 22:54
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    Note the lack of stair rails.
    – user22484
    Sep 1, 2018 at 0:52
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    Yep, it'd also be very inconvenient for members of the bridge crew that happen to be physically disabled.
    – Exal
    Sep 1, 2018 at 1:03
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    I doubt it was ever shown in TNG. I always assumed the rooms were directly connected. It would make sense though, since the lounge is right in the middle behind the bridge.
    – Z. Cochrane
    Sep 1, 2018 at 12:19
  • The problem with the plan of deck 1 is that it shows the Ready Room as being internal, yet many scenes show an external window.
    – NickJ
    Sep 6, 2018 at 9:14

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In real life, the corridor was never seen. A back wall appears behind the door when it's open seen from the bridge, but it didn't go anywhere. The obs lounge set was actually on a different part of the studio stage to the bridge. It was impossible to go directly from the bridge to the obs lounge in real life.

In season one of TNG, the observation lounge was a redress of a corner of sickbay. Whenever they had a scene in the lounge, they'd just pull out the beds, unlatch the sections of wall containing the windows, and pull in some tables and chairs. In season two they built a dedicated set, but they built it separately to the bridge. Any time you see the actors leave the bridge and arrive in the lounge, they've actually travelled from one stage to a completely different one.

It wasn't until the movie "First Contact" (1996) that they finally built an integrated all-in-one set, with the obs lounge connected to the bridge directly. In theory, you could have the back doors of the Enterprise-E bridge set open, and you'd be able to see right through the obs lounge at the back and out the windows. This set was redressed to be the hall where the visiting alien delegation has their function in "Insurrection" (1999), a movie where the lounge doesn't appear, but was reinstated as the obs lounge for "Nemesis" (2002).

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    Where does this information come from?
    – Jontia
    Dec 12, 2019 at 14:12
  • I recollect it was an interview with the director of Star Trek: First Contact, Jonathan Frakes, published contemporaneously in a 1996 issue of the official Star Trek magazine.
    – Lance
    Dec 20, 2019 at 5:01

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