Spock's science station is always interesting, but that Moire Pattern display always catches my eye. Does anyone know if there is a TOS technical explanation of what function that display has?
Spock's Moire Pattern Display
- Thread starter Spock's Barber
- Start date
Looking cool and futuristic.
Captain Murdock needs a Moire Pattern generator on Lunar Base Alpha Beta
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One of the communicator props had the same moire pattern. It's known today as Alpha, or the Spock Hero:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x11hd/fridayschildhd0793.jpg
The spinning effect was achieved with a stopwatch inside the prop:
http://www.herocomm.com/SurvivingProps/Communicators.htm
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x11hd/fridayschildhd0793.jpg
The spinning effect was achieved with a stopwatch inside the prop:
http://www.herocomm.com/SurvivingProps/Communicators.htm
There's a set of blueprints that states the function of every bridge button and display, right? I can't find it right now but maybe that would assist.
My guess is it's sensor waves.
My guess is it's sensor waves.
Works for me. Maybe it's like the flight engineer's oscilloscope on an old multi-engine piston-prop airplane: With experience you can tell at a glance if the pattern looks right, and if it's "off" where you need to check further.
Maybe radio lobe interference?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe.../Sidelobes_en.svg/1200px-Sidelobes_en.svg.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe.../Sidelobes_en.svg/1200px-Sidelobes_en.svg.png
McMaster's blueprints (these were fan-produced, but very detailed and apparently well researched) label it "Sensor Sweep". I think that syncs with what you said: a representation of the general sensor "waves" around the ship.
It's an important-looking screensaver.
I think the moire thing looks silly. The way they did it on Lost In Space's Jupiter 2 center flight console was much better, because it looks like it's some kind of radar or something. (link to image depicting)
I always connect it to the Green Hornet, so I guess it's the time and space transcendent hotline to the Green Hornet. Sometimes you just need a rich guy in a mask in a limo to sort things out.
You may be onto something. The Green Hornet was intended to be an updated Lone Ranger: wears a mask that makes some think he's the bad guy, has a minority sidekick who's arguably more resourceful than he is, rides on a horse or in a vehicle named for a horse, etc. He was even supposed to be an indirect descendant of the Ranger.
So what if Amanda Grayson was also related, and Spock is the new Ranger/Hornet? He wears a figurative mask to hide his emotions, is sometimes assumed to be evil because of his devilish look, has an alien half that's more resourceful than a human. (Does anyone know of a horse named Enterprise?)
Come to think of it. Amanda looks an awful lot like Margaret Anderson of Father Knows Best, who wears the mask of 1950s housewife, and is thought to be inferior and subservient because of it, but often proves to be the one who really knows best and....
Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night.
According to this list, there was a racehorse named Enterprise Fighter. Is that close enough?
I have read fan works and fan theories at times, that have posited Amanda Grayson as a descendant of one Bat-related Richard Grayson, drawing a line backwards from Spock, to Batman/Nightwing, all the way back to Sherlock Holmes being in our favorite Vulcan's lineage....
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I absolutely loved the various moires used on the props, panels and sets. From the communicator and tricorder to Spock's station to the panels above the corridors, it gave the impression of interacting with (perhaps subspace or negative) energy for transmission and reception (communicator, tricorder, and Spock's station) and even power absorption and transmission (the corridor panels). I would like to have seen them on the inboard of the nacelles as well. Very cool, en vogue and yet functional-looking.
Great call! Me too. I didn't even have a clue what moire was as a little kid and knew I thought it was really cool in all of its uses on board the Enterprise. Spock's moire indicator is my favorite bridge display and even made it into the script as a plot point in "Balance of Terror."
Unfortunately, IIRC it burned out or got too noisy after S1 and was rarely turned on.
Unfortunately, IIRC it burned out or got too noisy after S1 and was rarely turned on.
Yes, Jim Rugg visited the bridge set one day and noticed it wasn't activated. The episode director told him it was too noisy so he had it disconnected.
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