The Computers of Star Trek

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by ZapBrannigan, Jul 27, 2013.

  1. Metryq

    Metryq Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Retired Marines have told me about "drown proofing," where the DIs push one down in a pool with long poles.
     
  2. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    Computers in TV and movies still make lots of little clicks, bleeps and bloops that real computers never make. It's as if the audience absolutely must have an aural cue to know that the computer is doing something.

    Steampunk refers to fictional technology that looks futuristic from a 19th-century viewpoint. Robby was more like "atompunk."

    That's one thing I miss -- the clatter of typewriters and electro-mechanical adding machines that you used to hear in any business office. It sounded like WORK!
     
  3. Ssosmcin

    Ssosmcin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, actually, they could have been looking at scanned copies of the relevant documents, rather than simple computer data text. The original docs, stored back on Earth, could very well have had hand annotations. Scanning buckets of papers is so much faster than transcribing and someone will always miss some scrawled notes. Actually, Kirk and Spock looking over Mitchell and Dehner's records can be seen as one sequence that isn't dated. It is at least in line with what we do nearly 50 years after the episode was shot.

    "Hey, won't we be a paperless society by Star Trek's time?" Not of attorney's have anything to do with it. :)

    I love 60's tech and how blinking lights tell them everything the plot requires.
     
  4. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    And sometimes not even blinking lights. In "Court-Martial," when Kirk's trial is convened on the bridge and every heartbeat has been eliminated but one, Kirk tells Spock to "Localize that." Spock tilts his head and squints into the middle distance as if he's finding Finney by ear. And he finds him. :)
     
  5. Metryq

    Metryq Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    KIRK: That's all of us, except for the crewman in the transporter room. Mister Spock, eliminate his heartbeat.

    Spock throws a switch and we hear the Wilhelm over the intercom as the transporter operator dies in agony.
     
  6. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Quite so. Although we should remember that TOS never showed us a text-input keyboard, neither QWERTY nor any other sort that would have had all the letters of the alphabet as separate keys. On the other hand, we do see a text-input method that relies on a stylus and a pad. Perhaps inputting text with keyboards is out of fashion, and the standard method is a pen-like device again, resulting in "handwritten" documents.

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  7. Ssosmcin

    Ssosmcin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Now that was comedy gold. :rommie:
     
  8. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    That "eliminate his heartbeat" line is a setup just begging for a punchline.
     
  9. Unicron

    Unicron Boss Monster Mod Moderator

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    You know, I'm not sure if I'd ever noticed the random (and very suspicious sounding) Wilhem in that scene before. He probably had a red shirt on, didn't he? :lol: