I suppose the problem with seatbelts is that it stops characters from moving around to different areas. Could you imagine Picard undoing his seatbelt every time he wanted to check another console, or go to his ready room etc. However, I feel that smaller vessels, eg Runabouts and Shuttles should definely have restraints, and you could probably make a case for the main consoles on the Defiant class having them too (It is a warship, and thus may occasionally take damage). B5 does have ships with restraints (mainly the earthforce vessels), but the WhiteStars don't, and the characters don't tend to move around the bridge as much as on Trek.

On the subject of consoles, can anyone think of any times when major characters have been injured by their console exploding? The only one I can think of is the war-universe Riker in 'Yesterday's Enterprise'.

Surprisingly, in B5 only ships WITHOUT artifitual Gravity seem to have seat belts :-)

In the first season of TNG, the helm and nav consoles actually had restraints of a sort. The officer got into the seat and the console slid over him as a restraint, and the seat reclined.

I guess Chris's rationale regarding seatbelts applies as to why they changed it for season 2. I personally thought they were a good idea... kept the nav/helm officers comfortable.

Also, regarding Chris's comment (about getting up without unbuckling)... During normal cruising, the ship is fairly stable (e.g. "The captain has turned off the seat belt sign"). There should be restraints for when the ship is expecting or in turbulence... (e.g. "Captain, Ion storm approaching! Bridge crew use restraints!")

I was always amused when Riker would call out "All hands, brace for impact!" Brace? Against what? You have a bridge big enough and open enough in which to play a good game of raquetball! I guess that's what inertial dampening fields are for, but even they don't seem to work. Why? BILC to see everyone doing the shake-n-bake.

Red shirts usually bite the big one with the exploding consoles, although we did see Valtaine buy it in the Voyager episode "Flashback". I think the reason they explode, besides BILC, is that the theory is that the ship does not use electricity, but plasma shunted through the EPS system. Highly dangerous when uncontained. Boom.

I think the USS Excelisior(sp?) ((The Search For Spock)) had restraints, and the crewmembers place them over there laps when the ship was about to go into transwarp. As for crewmen injured by exploding consoles, I remember a female crewperson in 'All Good Things' on Bev's ship died by an exploding console. Didn't the Captain on the Enterprize C die by components from a console impeded in her head. I think Riker also died that way in that very same episode.

The funny thing is that the consoles are connected via the ODN = Optical Data Network. Where are those 50000 Volts are coming from ?

In the alternate future of "Before and After" Janeway and B'Elanna died from a console explosion.

The USS Stargazer in "The Battle" (TNG) also had restraints that close over the legs on the captain's chair, but I see two problems with it. 1) You can stand up and the restraints give. How effective would that be in keeping you from flying across the bridge? 2) What if the captain has really fat legs?

In ST:TMP, the captains chair had leg restraints.

Dax was injured by Jem'Hadar consoles in "Rocks and Shouls".

I think that the consoles explode because in a battle scene, SOMETHING needs to be happening on the bridge to show that a battle is going on, and the only logical thing to blow up (from a special-effects POV) is the consoles.

One more thing- Wouldn't a restraint or seatbelt be counterproductive against a console blowing up in your face?

During the filming of Generations, Marina Sirtis was burned while shooting the scene where she takes the helm. She told the story at a convention I attended a few years back.

Gee Lisa, what a lovely name for this board. ;-)

The question is, from a Star Trek universe point of view, why would 50,000 volts or electroplasma or whatever be going through the consoles? They're simply input-output devices, nothing more. Some kind of surge suppressors could be involved, and they could still blow and give off sparks and smoke, but not right into the victim's face. As for seatbelts, they seem decidedly low-tech. Why not some new technobabble like variable friction fields that basically "glue" you in the seat during red alert situations or other potential jolting moments?

Seatbelts were used on Riker, Data and Troi's shuttle during "power play". They really needed them; the storm they were flying through was really shaking the camera and, judging by the short amount of time it took them to go from inside the clouds to crash landing, if they hadn't been wearing them, they (Riker and Troi at least) would have been plastered against the front window. Then again, Star Fleet designers didn't put any crumple zones in the Shuttle, so they probably should have broken ribs anyway ;-) .

The reason that the Ent in TMP, and the Stagazer in the battle both had restraints on the Cpatains chair. It was...the same set. Da da!

Chris: It's my real name. My maiden name was Ferrington, I moved to Phoenix 1995 and got married in 1996 - to a guy named Shock. I am one of the Nitpickers listed in the intro of the NG Guide volume 2, and the Classic Guide.

Lisa - do you know Bill from Detroit? My boyfriend used to work with him!

Many of my relatives live in the Detroit area, but I didn't grow up there, so there are quite a few whom I've met once or twice, but don't really remember. My dad was one of seven kids and most of his siblings had large families as well...

Two points...

You're sitting at Starfleet Series III Pentium MMXCVI 4000Thz Computer Console.... being fuled with a 50,000 Gigawatt powersupply from a cold fusion reactor. You know this is a volitile piece of equipment, porne to erupting in a power surge. Do you REALLY want to be strapped to your seat when this thing goes in your FACE?! At least when you're not strapped to your seat, and explodes, you know you have SOME chance of surviing.

And, once again, it is my opinion that when they say "brace for impact" they don't mean to grab a stable object, or soemthing of that manner, they mean to prepare for an impact... so get off that high stool, or catwalk, steady yourself, and pepare to be knocked on your feet.

Hey! That's unfair! According to some evidence we have seen on computer screens, Starfleet uses Macs! And wouldn't 4000 Thz be 4 Phz?

If I knew that the console was that dangerous, I probably would invest in a good universal remote/40 ft pole and lead shielding. All my furniture would be rubbermaid. How many glass tables have been destroyed by people?

Invest in Apple?

Andy

I just noticed that Tom Paris' chair on the bridge slides from side to side. This should add extra excitement to those turbulent moments!

Perhaps it is not the consoles that explode. Consoles are on every wall of just about every room. Several episodes show that there are power relays and pipes behind walls. During an attack, these pipes and relays might be damaged. These are what explode and since consoles are everywhere, it is likely that it will explode behind one of them.

I thought I was the only one who complained about the exploding console thing, until I stumbled across this board...
A nit about Valtaine's death (with advanced apologoies if I get my timeline wrong, since I only saw a part of the episode and had to rely on secondary sources): isn't the episode supposed to take place during the incidents of STVI: TUC? If so, how could Valtaine get killed, since he was clearly seen alive at the end of that film? Of course, that's the guy who was in two locations on the bridge at the same time during that film's opening, so maybe he's doing some sort of temporal/spatial phase-shifting (insert more techno-babble here) thing!
If the ep takes place after the events of STVI: TUC, then my nit is moot.