Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The Next Generation Main Bridge

Star Trek: The Next Generation was filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California with Stage 9 housing the interconnected corridor network that included the Enterprise-D transporter room, sickbay, engineering, cargo bay, and junior officers' quarters sets. While Stage 8 was where the main bridge, captain's ready room, senior officers' quarters, Ten Forward, and the observation lounge were located.

Despite the fact that, in-universe the observation lounge was directly attached to the rear of the main bridge, the set for the conference room was actually not located where it should be.

Unlike Captain Picard's ready room, which was built directly attached the main bridge set, there simply wasn't enough space on Stage 8 for a continuous bridge-to-observation lounge set, so the observation lounge was built separately – just past Picard's ready room window.

Luckily, following its use in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the set was saved from demolition after Star Trek Generations and reused in Star Trek: First Contact, finally built directly into the Enterprise-E's bridge and allowing the camera to shoot from the bridge into the observation lounge and out of those distinctive windows.