cej@ll1.UUCP (One of the Jones Boys) (06/27/85)
<<< Excuse me sir, but didn't you mean "lock transporter on landing party", and not "lock phasers"? >>> We all realize that the sets for S.T. were minimal, and done on a small budget, and unlike Star Wars, were not the star of the show, but the controls have always bothered me. Do you realize that not a single control or indicator on the entire ship was labeled? Okay, so the regular man at that post would know the controls, but how about someone filling in during an emergency? Not even the emergency type equipment was labeled! Everyone would have to know every single control on the ship!!! That, and the three slides on the transporter controls. Has anyone ever seen a show were all three were not slid together? Why not one slide control? (I know, they built the set with three.) So why not slide just one on an occasion. Actually, other than the controls, I never noticed any inconsistencies during the first runs. (That rules out the problems of not using second season technology in the first season.) In fact, the only other thing that bothered me was "Eden". I almost get embarrassed for G.R. each time I see it. I mean, just because SPOCK has ears... -- ------------------------------------------------------------ discalimer: If royalty were still in power, I'd be the King of Fools ...ihnp4!mgnetp!ll1!cej Llewellyn Jones ------------------------------------------------------------
alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (06/29/85)
The interesting thing about the ST controls was that they were actually functional. The controls really did do things (in terms of lighting, triggering other effects, etc.) This did create problems, though. For instance, legend has it that, upon rewiring the helmsman's panel for a special lighting effect, the producer instructed George Takei to press a certain button at a certain time to start the sequence. George adamantly refused, insisting that THAT button was used to fire the phasers and for nothing else. The panel had to be rewired again...
ayers@convexs.UUCP (07/04/85)
/* ---------- "the controls" ---------- */ ...Okay, so the regular man at that post would know the controls, but how about someone filling in during an emergency? Not even the emergency type equipment was labeled! Everyone would have to know every single control on the ship!!!... /* End of text ----------------------- */ You forget the many Navy influences on the show. Next time you get a chance, talk to someone who has served on "sub" duty and see what you have to know (no matter WHAT your "regular" duties)... blues, II (SNEAKIN!)
thiel@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Stephen W. Thiel) (07/04/85)
> Do you realize that > not a single control or indicator on the entire ship was labeled? > Okay, so the regular man at that post would know the controls, but > how about someone filling in during an emergency? Even worse, did you ever notice that EVERYBODY seems to be able to operate the controls? On more than one occasion, nasty villain types took over the Enterprise and were able to use the unmarked controls with NO instruction. For example, the Kelvans were able to run the Big E with just about zero training time, and in "Day of the Dove", the Klingons had little trouble running the ship from Engineering. Talk about "user-friendly"... -- Steve Thiel ...ihnp4!ut-ngp!thiel "Qui nos rodunt confudatur et cum iustis non scribantur" (:-))
barnett@ut-sally.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) (07/04/85)
> Do you realize that > not a single control or indicator on the entire ship was labeled? > Okay, so the regular man at that post would know the controls, but > how about someone filling in during an emergency? Not even the > emergency type equipment was labeled! Everyone would have to know > every single control on the ship!!! > > ...ihnp4!mgnetp!ll1!cej Llewellyn Jones > ------------------------------------------------------------ I can think of one pretty good rationale for this situation, based on some things that go on in _Downbelow Station_ by C.J. Cherryh. In that book, a civilian space station is taken over by the military because an invasion is feared. The military commander's first order is that all section identifiers and "you are here" type maps and such be removed. This makes some sense; people who have never been on the station before (invaders) will have a lot tougher time getting around without all the helpful little clues the citizens were used to. Granted, the Enterprise is not so large and complex as an orbiting station, and has seldom been boarded, but I think the same reasoning applies. Remember the trouble Sulu and Chekov had with the controls of the Klingon ship in TSFS? (I don't remember if that was because none of them could read Klingonaase or what...) Sadly, there is some evidence against this point of view from the series. Nobody ever really seemed to have that hard a time figuring out what was what in spite of no labels...e.g. the Kelvans in "By Any Other Name," Dr. Sevrin's gang in "The Way to Eden," and Khan's bunch in TWOK. In most of these cases, the "boarders" were posessed of "superior" intellect, so I suppose that would explain their quick familiarization with the workings of the Enterprise. Lewis Barnett,CS Dept, Painter Hall 3.28, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 -- barnett@ut-sally.ARPA, barnett@ut-sally.UUCP, {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!barnett
erosenth@aecom.UUCP (Elazar Rosenthal) (07/08/85)
> <<< Excuse me sir, but didn't you mean "lock transporter on landing > party", and not "lock phasers"? >>> > > We all realize that the sets for S.T. were minimal, and done > on a small budget, and unlike Star Wars, were not the star of the > show, but the controls have always bothered me. Do you realize that > not a single control or indicator on the entire ship was labeled? > Okay, so the regular man at that post would know the controls, but > how about someone filling in during an emergency? Not even the > emergency type equipment was labeled! Everyone would have to know > every single control on the ship!!! > > That, and the three slides on the transporter controls. Has > anyone ever seen a show were all three were not slid together? Why > not one slide control? (I know, they built the set with three.) So > why not slide just one on an occasion. > > Actually, other than the controls, I never noticed any > inconsistencies during the first runs. (That rules out the problems > of not using second season technology in the first season.) In > fact, the only other thing that bothered me was "Eden". I almost > get embarrassed for G.R. each time I see it. I mean, just because > SPOCK has ears... > -- > ------------------------------------------------------------ > discalimer: If royalty were still in power, > I'd be the King of Fools > > ...ihnp4!mgnetp!ll1!cej Llewellyn Jones > ------------------------------------------------------------ *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** I always liked the idea that the controls where not labled or "modernized" otherwize they would become dated . (rember the led watches in Battlestar)
ix925@sdcc6.UUCP (Steve Lau) (07/10/85)
Has anyone noticed the LACK of controls
on board the Enterprise? For such a complex ship, you
would think that there would be a lot more controls
then they have. My only explanation for this and for
the lack of labels is that maybe the controls had more
then one use. When in flight between planets, there
would be no need for controls to run short range
planet scanners or atmosphere readings or
"dyno-scanners." I say that instead of taking up so
much room, they would automatically switch the same
controls to stuff like monitoring navigation, warp
engines etc. If they did label them, it would be
confusing and would take up a lot of space.
This still doesn't explain how everyone could run
the ship, but remember, the people running the
Enterprise are highly intelligent. Maybe they are
forced to learn all the controls. It's a
semi-military enviorment and they could be easily trained.
Steve Lau
UCSD Academic Computing Center
"Feedom?! You speak the sacred words!!"
"You're so obesessed."
"OBSESSED?! I'm not obsessed!!"ccrdave@ucdavis.UUCP (Lord Kahless) (07/11/85)
> > We all realize that the sets for S.T. were minimal, and done > on a small budget, and unlike Star Wars, were not the star of the > show, but the controls have always bothered me. Do you realize that > not a single control or indicator on the entire ship was labeled? > Okay, so the regular man at that post would know the controls, but > how about someone filling in during an emergency? Not even the > emergency type equipment was labeled! Everyone would have to know > every single control on the ship!!! > And not one brand or manufacturer name on the whole ship! Come on, those subcomponents would have been subcontracted out. The San Francisco Navy Yards couldn't build EVERYTHING! Take a look at a twentieth century Naval ship or Army post some time. Keyboards by I.B.M. Ammo by Winchester. Microwave ovens by Litton, etc. etc. Picture how much more natural the Enterprise would have looked with some manufacturer and model names, a few even in English. If you think I've been drinking Glow Water, watch a tape of Blade Runner a few times....
john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer) (07/11/85)
]From: erosenth@aecom.UUCP (Elazar Rosenthal) ]Message-ID: <1783@aecom.UUCP> ]Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY ] ]I always liked the idea that the controls where not labled or "modernized" ]otherwize they would become dated . (rember the led watches in Battlestar) Too late, look at the ship's chronometer. It is a MECHANICAL digital clock. (There is a great shot of it in "The Naked Time".) By the way, the labelling problem seems to have been licked by the time of the second movie. Take a good close look when Kahn is searching the Reliant's controls looking for the override. -- Name: John Ruschmeyer US Mail: Monmouth College, W. Long Branch, NJ 07764 Phone: (201) 222-6600 x366 UUCP: ...!vax135!petsd!moncol!john ...!princeton!moncol!john ...!pesnta!moncol!john Ingredients: Carbonated water, sugar, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavorings, caffeine
arnold@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Ken Arnold%CGL) (07/13/85)
In article <2138@sdcc6.UUCP> ix925@sdcc6.UUCP (Steve Lau) writes: > Has anyone noticed the LACK of controls >on board the Enterprise? For such a complex ship, you >would think that there would be a lot more controls >then they have. My only explanation for this and for >the lack of labels is that maybe the controls had more >then one use. ... >I say that instead of taking up so >much room, they would automatically switch the same >controls to stuff like monitoring navigation, warp >engines etc. If they did label them, it would be >confusing and would take up a lot of space. Even is this ancient, archaic day and age we have software labelable switches, generally by putting LED or LCD arrays below a knob or switch or whatever. I think that this would not be a lost technology. I suspect that this was just simplicity for the set designers; they didn't have to invent labels for the controls, most of which are never used. Ken Arnold Ken
chrisa@azure.UUCP (Chris Andersen) (07/13/85)
In article <418@moncol.UUCP> john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer) writes: >]From: erosenth@aecom.UUCP (Elazar Rosenthal) >]Message-ID: <1783@aecom.UUCP> >]Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY >] >]I always liked the idea that the controls where not labled or "modernized" >]otherwize they would become dated . (rember the led watches in Battlestar) > >Too late, look at the ship's chronometer. It is a MECHANICAL digital clock. >(There is a great shot of it in "The Naked Time".) That's another thing, when the Enterprise travelled through time (like in 'The Naked Time'), what did the chronometer use as a reference when it started going backwards? Perhaps they've discovered absolute time by the 23rd Century. Chris Andersen -- "Roads? Where we're going we don't need any roads!"
lwall@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Larry Wall) (07/16/85)
You guys are missing the obvious explanation. Any self-respectingly flexible
system will have dynamically labeled buttons. Probably some sort of
holographic projector built into each button--a set of phased array lasers
might do rather nicely. Since the labels have to continue to work on
emergency power, they should consume minimal energy. Therefore they only
broadcast light in the direction of someone's head. The movie camera
doesn't look like someone's head to the buttons, so we don't see the
inscriptions on film.
In fact, with that much control of directionality it'd be a cinch to put
3-dimensional icons onto the buttons. That'd make it even easier for
Klingons to take over the ship. =-O
Larry Wall
{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,sdcsvax}!sdcrdcf!lwallmarkb@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Mark Biggar) (07/16/85)
Why should there even be buttons. You would think that by that time direct
brain-implanted radio-linked computer taps would be very common. The
authentication problem, how to determine if someone is off duty and
commands made while dreaming are all interesting problems.
Mark Biggar
{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,akgua,sdcsvax}!sdcrdcf!markbslerner@sesame.UUCP (Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner) (07/18/85)
> In article <2138@sdcc6.UUCP> ix925@sdcc6.UUCP (Steve Lau) writes: > > Has anyone noticed the LACK of controls > >on board the Enterprise? For such a complex ship, you > >would think that there would be a lot more controls > >then they have. My only explanation for this and for > >the lack of labels is that maybe the controls had more > >then one use. ... In case you don't follow modern avionic engineering, the latest designs have just a few touch sensitive CRTs that do everything. There is even a GM prototype that has one touch sensitive CRT replace every control in the car (from radio to climate control). Why shouldn't the Enterprise have as good if not better? -- Simcha-Yitzchak Lerner {genrad|ihnp4|ima}!wjh12!talcott!sesame!slerner {cbosgd|harvard}!talcott!sesame!slerner slerner%sesame@harvard.ARPA
ugzannin@sunybcs.UUCP (Adrian Zannin) (07/25/85)
> You guys are missing the obvious explanation. Any self-respectingly flexible > system will have dynamically labeled buttons. Probably some sort of > holographic projector built into each button--a set of phased array lasers > might do rather nicely. Since the labels have to continue to work on > emergency power, they should consume minimal energy. Therefore they only ...etc Consume minimal power? Well, that rules out lasers! For their size, lasers use an enormous amount of energy. I don't remember the exact figures though... -- Adrian Zannin ..{burdvax,rocksvax,bbncca,decvax,dual,rocksanne,watmath}!sunybcs!ugzannin
uhclem@trsvax (07/26/85)
<Why won't anyone call Orkin?> >Do you realize that not a single control or indicator on the >entire ship was labeled? At first I agreed with this statement. I had never seen anything written down. Then I watched closely the shows that the local station ran the last couple of nights and what do you know, there were legends on lamps and switches. Those of you who disbelieve should review your tapes of "G7". That's the show where the shuttlecraft gets pulled down onto the planet that is inhabited by 12ft mechanical care-bears. There are two shots near the end where Spocko dumps the shuttlecraft fuel. One or both of them show most of the control panel and every switch or light has some legend above them. Most don't make any sense except for one clearly marked "JETTISON FUEL". It's just a toggle switch, apparently with no safety or anything. Nice thing to put on the front console. Anyway, I realize that this was not on the Enterprise. However, I also saw a shot of a console on the big E in some episode that also had some descriptions. I have forgotten which show now. I think it was either "Court Martial" or "Miri". "Why did they shoot the movies with a white sock over the lens?" "Thank you, Uh Clem." Frank Durda IV @ <trsvax!uhclem>