Did bridge consoles explode in TOS?

Question

I haven't seen much Star Trek TOS in quite a long time, but I am pretty sure I remember consoles on the bridge exploding - or at least throwing sparks, making noise and injuring crew. See this question and answer for reference.

For this question let's limit to consoles on the Enterprise's or other Starfleet vessels' bridge, and maybe at the navigation station of a shuttlecraft. It seems I'm assuming here that on the bridge at least those were controls the actual power being activated, shunted, etc was elsewhere.

Are there any episodes of TOS where a bridge console explodes? Bonus points if it injured someone.

Oh, I see. You're asking "in which episode/s of TOS did a bridge console explode? ". Right. Gotcha. — Valorum, Apr 25 '16 at 08:38
@Richard that would be a bonus for sure - if it happened, which I don't know yet. An answer in the positive would probably bring at least one example, but if I ask "which episodes" I'm scared that it will be considered asking for a list and I got called on that once already :) so I'm trying to be really careful by simply asking for a boolean. — uhoh, Apr 25 '16 at 08:39
Nah, if it's a question of something being *notably rare*, asking in which episodes it happened is perfectly acceptable. — Valorum, Apr 25 '16 at 08:45

Valorum · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-24T08:02:55.660

14

As you can see, the consoles did indeed explode in TOS

_{^{TOS: Where No Man Has Gone Before}}

And for the bonus point (which I'll have to share with Hypnosifl) we have someone getting injured by an exploding console...

_{^{TOS: City on the Edge of Forever}}

edited Oct 24 '22 at 08:02

answered Apr 25 '16 at 09:14

Valorum

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Aha, the pilot! (I mean pilot episode, not the person). Wow, I want that GIF as my desktop! – uhoh Apr 25 '16 at 09:20
Technically Charlie gets zapped a few seconds afterwards, but that's not really a console effect. – Valorum Apr 25 '16 at 09:23
Oh - Charlie! It's not the pilot-pilot, got it. It's the "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" episode. – uhoh Apr 25 '16 at 09:31
Oh, the very pilot. I've never seen the first half for whatever reason :P These do look like the kinds of explosions you get from real computers, though, rather than the TNG-style "plasma bursts" :D – Luaan Apr 25 '16 at 09:32
@Luaan ya, that appears to be actual fire - real flames at one point. Doesn't happen in studios very often these days. – uhoh Apr 25 '16 at 09:37
4

I guess the technology to make optical isolators was lost during WWIII. – Joe L. Apr 25 '16 at 11:57
The clip is from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" - the second pilot, (third episode to air).
Charlie is not in this episode. He is in (air order), Episode 2 "Charlie X" The first pilot was called "The Cage" and was not aired in original form, but was re-edited into the two-part episode "The Menagerie"
– NKCampbell Apr 25 '16 at 14:50
1

Just to show this wasn't the sole example in TOS, here's a shot from City on the Edge of Forever. – Hypnosifl Apr 25 '16 at 15:20
@Hypnosifl excellent! TOS bridge consoles explode and can also cause injury. I thought so, thanks! – uhoh Apr 26 '16 at 23:50

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 30 '21 at 00:46

They caught fire as well:

@blobbymcblobby's comment links to the YouTube video clip Star Trek III The Search For Spock - The Enterprise's Encounter With The Klingon Bird Of Prey and after the Enterprise is hit by a Kingon Bird of Prey we can see smoke between Scotty and Sulu followed by Bunsen burner-like flames between them.

Did bridge consoles explode in TOS?

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