Watching through TOS again I’ve noticed that most episodes the bridge is lit, but some episodes it’s dark, even when not under alert conditions. I just realized today that whatever the technical reasons for it, in-universe it’s indicating day shift/night shift like on a seafaring ship.
They did it purposefully on TNG, and then Voyager/First Contact the lights dropped during alert conditions. Voyager also did the night shift lighting a couple of times. DS9 has such a huge room for Ops that it was always lit unless the plot called for a power outage.
Add: I just remembered, The Defiant doesn’t drop the lights during red alert, but it does when the ship is cloaked. Interesting distinction.
DS9 had a whole station to show the day/night shift. They would turn down the lights in the promenade and close Quarks after hours, but leave the light on in Ops, which really makes more sense anyway.
Watching through TOS again I’ve noticed that most episodes the bridge is lit, but some episodes it’s dark, even when not under alert conditions. I just realized today that whatever the technical reasons for it, in-universe it’s indicating day shift/night shift like on a seafaring ship.
They did it purposefully on TNG, and then Voyager/First Contact the lights dropped during alert conditions. Voyager also did the night shift lighting a couple of times. DS9 has such a huge room for Ops that it was always lit unless the plot called for a power outage.
Add: I just remembered, The Defiant doesn’t drop the lights during red alert, but it does when the ship is cloaked. Interesting distinction.
DS9 had a whole station to show the day/night shift. They would turn down the lights in the promenade and close Quarks after hours, but leave the light on in Ops, which really makes more sense anyway.