A Bridge to Oblivion

Have you ever noticed how vulnerable the bridges are on Hollywood's sci-fi starships? Right out on top, easy to blow up, thus killing the command crew, as well as the movie's main characters. Perhaps you would think that the ships are so high-tech that the bridge is safe in spite of the fact that it's out in the open. But the movies themselves prove this wrong:

In "The Empire Strikes Back" the commander of a star destroyer vanishes from his holo-phone conversation with Darth Vader as the bridge of his ship is struck by an asteroid.

Countless episodes of 'Star Trek' have scenes where the bridge is fired upon, causing smoke and fire, though not usually vacuum. In Star Trek: Nemisis, a hole is actually blown in the side of the bridge, causing some crew members (but not the captain, of course) to be sucked out into space.

In "Return of the Jedi", a crippled A-wing fighter smashes right into the bridge of a star destroyer, sending it reeling out of control. Maybe they forgot to turn on the deflector shields.

In "Revenge of the Sith", General grievous breaks the window of his ship's bridge by hitting it with some sort of electro-staff, escaping into space (He's a cyborg, no need to breathe!); The broken glass is later replaced by a metal shield. In spite of this flimsy bridge design, Aniken and crew control the ship through a re-entry that removes half of the ship later in the movie.

Of course real battleships have the bridge on top too, so the crew can see out. But in Star Trek, the bridge doesn't seem to have windows; just a gonzo-huge monitor that the crew uses for navigation. A real battleship, the USS Missouri, has 2 bridges; one regular bridge, and one below it made of ultra-thick steel with only small ports to look out. Books with floorplans of the Enterprise usually show that it has a 'Battle Bridge' deep within its hull. The heroes usually don't go there during a battle. What do you expect from a navy that uses their command crew as their SEAL team?

So why is the bridge always in harm's way? Maybe because starships are too heavily influenced by terrestrial ships. But I think it's for the sake of drama; The heroes can be brave in the face of danger, even if they could have hidden somewhere safe in the core of the ship.