10 Dumbest Things In Star Trek: The Animated Series

10. Exit, screen right

Fans rightly complained about the nonsensical design of the TOS Enterprise bridge having only a single turbolift for access: one which could be and was cut off when by both Khan and Kang. So, when addressing this flaw for the animated show, what was the solution? Add a second turbolift!

Facepalm.

This second lift was added near the front of the bridge because most of the character animation of the show depicted them moving towards screen right. "That way you would not have to turn them around," Filmation veteran Robert Kline explained in the book Star Trek: The Official Guide to the Animated Series. "The trouble with flipping Star Trek characters is the badge, so they tried to avoid that when they could."

But this redundancy didn’t fix the fundamental problem that losing power or sabotage of the lift system still left the bridge cut off. What should have been behind that second door? How about a gangway or even a ladder?

This two-turbo twaddle carried forward into the refit Enterprise bridge, first built for the scrapped Star Trek II series and reworked for Star Trek feature films. A non-lift bridge exit wouldn’t appear until the 1701-D of The Next Generation (via the door leading to and through the observation lounge). A little late, guys.