# What is this thing on the Enterprise D bridge?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 31, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795 "2019-03-31T01:40:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/1 "2019-03-31T01:40:20Z")
[ ](https://i.imgur.com/INPLkZu.jpg)
It’s on the walls, there’s one each side. It’s a rectangular grid of smaller rectangles. Each of the smaller rectangles has a light on it that is sometimes on, sometimes off and sometimes blinking. The bar in the middle lights up during a red alert.
Has there ever been an explanation what this is for, and what the lights (other than red alert) indicate?
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/2 "2019-03-31T01:44:06Z")
They just look like access panels to me.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/3 "2019-03-31T01:47:39Z")
That’s where they keep the batteries that power all the blinky lights.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/4 "2019-03-31T01:51:55Z")
Those are filing cabinets where they keep data. 😉
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/5 "2019-03-31T01:52:35Z")
Access panels for the light chip housings. The computers ran on light chips; watch “The Naked Now.”
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### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/6 "2019-03-31T02:06:25Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Those are filing cabinets where they keep data. 😉
No…he got his own quarters.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/7 "2019-03-31T02:34:05Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Access panels for the light chip housings. The computers ran on light chips; watch “The Naked Now.”
The official term is [isolinear chips](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Isolinear_chip)…but, yeah, those are access panels for the isolinear circuitry.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/8 "2019-03-31T03:38:55Z")
I always thought it was the liquor cabinet. 😃
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/9 "2019-03-31T03:42:19Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Those are filing cabinets where they keep data. 😉
> [@Folly](#):
>
> No…he got his own quarters.
I should hope so. It’s hard to keep a cat in a filing cabinet, after all.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/10 "2019-03-31T03:47:41Z")
They’re obviously multi-disk cd changers. You can’t go on a road trip in space without some tunes.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/11 "2019-03-31T04:13:54Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> I should hope so. It’s hard to keep a cat in a filing cabinet, after all.
Think it’s harder to keep the cat out of the filing cabinet. Anywhere they fits, they sits.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/12 "2019-03-31T04:30:50Z")
> [@Folly](#):
>
> No…he got his own quarters.
I liked Bailey Quarters a lot more than Jennifer Marlowe.
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/13 "2019-03-31T11:07:47Z")
Looks like part of a soundstage.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/14 "2019-03-31T14:05:55Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#):
>
> I liked Bailey Quarters a lot more than Jennifer Marlowe.
I’d keep that under wraps; Tasha seems the jealous type.
Am I seeing things, or does Worf’s station have wood veneer?
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/15 "2019-03-31T14:30:08Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Am I seeing things, or does Worf’s station have wood veneer?
Matt Jeffries’ comment when he saw the set: “I designed you a bridge, and you’ve turned it into the lobby of the goddamned Hilton!” :mad:
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/16 "2019-03-31T14:36:54Z")
^(Priceless!)
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/17 "2019-03-31T14:40:08Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> ^(Priceless!)
I especially like the third chair, where Troi can sit for hours looking redundant. 😛
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/18 "2019-03-31T14:41:12Z")
Stop! You’re killing me! 😃
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/19 "2019-03-31T14:48:09Z")
**TROI:** “Captain! I sense … hostility!”
\*\*PICARD: \*\*“You cow! A \*chair \*could sense hostility!”
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-the-enterprise-d-bridge/831795/20 "2019-03-31T18:11:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#):
>
> [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](https://i.imgur.com/INPLkZu.jpg)
>
> It’s on the walls, there’s one each side. It’s a rectangular grid of smaller rectangles. Each of the smaller rectangles has a light on it that is sometimes on, sometimes off and sometimes blinking. The bar in the middle lights up during a red alert.
>
> Has there ever been an explanation what this is for, and what the lights (other than red alert) indicate?
Various diagrams I’ve found list them as equipment bays. The redundant placement (on each side of the bridge) and the association with the alert indicator suggests to me that they are for emergency equipment–they’re set up to be easily accessible and to be very obvious in emergency situations. What that “emergency equipment” entails, I can only speculate, but if I were stocking them, each bay would contain gear for one person–breather mask, phaser, tricorder, first aid kit, some kind of emergency bulkhead sealant, and a basic repair kit (with some common spare parts as well as tools). There are enough bays on each side to provide kit for a full bridge crew, so no one would get left out, even if they all rushed to the same set of bays for some reason.
If that’s the case, then I would infer that the lights on the bays are status indicators. Steady light indicates the bay is fully stocked and up to date. Light off means the bay is not in ready status–it’s not fully stocked or the items in it are not confirmed ready for use. Blinking lights would mean “attention needed”; perhaps a reminder that the bay is overdue for inspection and manual verification of its contents. (Manual check and refresh of emergency equipment would logically be a routine part of bridge duties during slack times.) The blinking light status may only trigger if the number of “ready” bays is less than the number of people detected on the bridge, or if the stored equipment that can’t be verified is actually safety-specific, like breathers.
The reason some of the lights are often off is that the bridge crew is prone to raiding them for repair kits or minor medical supplies, rather than leaving the bridge to get spare parts or a headache remedy (or whatever). The redundancy of the kits means they’re pretty casual about restocking non-emergency items in them, and leave them alone until it’s time for a regular refresh or inspection.
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