BLANK TRICORDER SCREENS

[TOSalltheway]

Now that CG has reached its current level of sophistication I am hoping it can help me fix one of my personal TOS pet peeves.

In countless incidents a crew member (usually Spock) looks at their tricorder and announces its readings. The problem is that the viewer can clearly see that the screen is blank.

I would love to see an update placing data on that blank screen.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Now that CG has reached its current level of sophistication I am hoping it can help me fix one of my personal TOS pet peeves.

In countless incidents a crew member (usually Spock) looks at their tricorder and announces its readings. The problem is that the viewer can clearly see that the screen is blank.

I would love to see an update placing data on that blank screen.

Sulu and Chekov get a lot of readings from their sparse dashboard, too. It's a slippery slope if you want to start changing things like that. CBS made tricorder screen updates for "The City on the Edge of Forever" and "Plato's Stepchildren," and probably some others, but only where the tricorder screen is shown in close-up. That was good enough for me.

These shows were made with the idea that it's the actor's job to sell it, and the viewer's focus should be there rather than on gadgetry and staging.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I always felt that they could have fixed a few more things when they did the CGI enhancement. I mean, yes, I’m very much a purist, but as long as I have the choice to watch either the original or enhanced, I don’t care what additions they make. So, sure, I’d be fine with tricorder screens being filled in and the bridge screens being fixed. For example, in Tomorrow is Yesterday, you could see the wrinkles in the overhead screens when the lights were out. I would have fixed that. I would have put Alfa 177 in on the screen during the bridge scenes where it’s blank in The Enemy Within. I’d have cut out the second “when I came aboard” in Charlie X and added “one minute!” in The Corbomite Maneuver as Sulu was saying it, prompting “I knew he would.” I honestly think all of these are more valuable than blinking eyes on the Gorn or individual sweeping phaser beams in Wink of an Eye.

 

[XCV330]

it's a holographic display right to the retina. only the user can see it. useful in the field.

 

[NCC-73515]

He also held the front away from him most of time, IIRC

 

[Tosk]

Yeah, that was my biggest peeve. It's like they wanted Nimoy to show off the "exciting" side of the tricorder instead of using it properly.

 

[Push The Button]

I always felt that they could have fixed a few more things when they did the CGI enhancement. I mean, yes, I’m very much a purist, but as long as I have the choice to watch either the original or enhanced, I don’t care what additions they make. So, sure, I’d be fine with tricorder screens being filled in and the bridge screens being fixed. For example, in Tomorrow is Yesterday, you could see the wrinkles in the overhead screens when the lights were out. I would have fixed that. I would have put Alfa 177 in on the screen during the bridge scenes where it’s blank in The Enemy Within. I’d have cut out the second “when I came aboard” in Charlie X and added “one minute!” in The Corbomite Maneuver as Sulu was saying it, prompting “I knew he would.” I honestly think all of these are more valuable than blinking eyes on the Gorn or individual sweeping phaser beams in Wink of an Eye.

The sound of the tractor beam in The Doomsday Machine. Everyone in the scene reacts to the sound, but we never hear it.

 

[johnnybear]

The displays on the bridge used to confuse me as a youngster! I was never sure if they were meant to be pictures (which they actually were) or screens depicting the outside of the ship or just images of various space phenomena that the ship had recently encountered!
JB

 

[danellis]

I thought they were Lt. Palmer's photography collection - she was using the bridge as a makeshift gallery until she could turn pro...

dJE

 

[Ssosmcin]

The displays on the bridge used to confuse me as a youngster! I was never sure if they were meant to be pictures (which they actually were) or screens depicting the outside of the ship or just images of various space phenomena that the ship had recently encountered!
JB

Pretty much filler images until the view screens were used for conversations or readouts. Later we’d call that a “screensaver” but we didn’t know that term yet. Maybe Kirk felt the colored lights were bland and wanted the bridge to be more interesting.

 

[Commishsleer]

He also held the front away from him most of time, IIRC

Yes that what I remember as being weird. The blank images don't ring a bell but I just assume that its a trick of the light. That the crewperson or Spock can see something even if we cannot.

 

[Ronald Held]

No display burn-in in the 23d century?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

These shows were made with the idea that it's the actor's job to sell it, and the viewer's focus should be there rather than on gadgetry and staging.

...and sell it they did. TOS' actors practically invented the body language of consistent use of sci-fi props that influenced all other sci-fi productions to follow. They made it look and feel so natural--an everyday part of their world, unlike some TV shows and movies, where the actors are either being hamfisted, or carefully touching buttons as if they're afraid of damaging the props.

 

[Henoch]

...and sell it they did. TOS' actors practically invented the body language of consistent use of sci-fi props that influenced all other sci-fi productions to follow. They made it look and feel so natural--an everyday part of their world, unlike some TV shows and movies, where the actors are either being hamfisted, or carefully touching buttons as if they're afraid of damaging the props.

With a flick of the wrist, Kirk made the communicator look cool and casual.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I used to think it was just some amazing future method of data transfer we couldn't understand. Like maybe it was transmitting to a chip in Spock's brain, not unlike what Kirk has in the TMP novelization.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I used to think it was just some amazing future method of data transfer we couldn't understand. Like maybe it was transmitting to a chip in Spock's brain, not unlike what Kirk has in the TMP novelization.

Well, "The Menagerie" said we can't yet tie into the brain. And episodes like "What are Little Girls Made Of" and "The Ultimate Computer" made such a big point of protecting human dignity from the encroachment of machines, I cannot see computerized brain implants as being thematically compatible with the series.

But it's cool that you're thinking so far out of the box. I spent the '70s coming up with explanations for odd things in TOS, and that's some world-class rationalization there.

 

[BillJ]

I would love to see an update placing data on that blank screen.

The show should be left alone. Those decisions were the product of limitations of the time, mainly budget.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

With a flick of the wrist, Kirk made the communicator look cool and casual.

..and through intuitive actors never referring to any other production, a prop played as a real, commonplace device to millions.

Part of the brilliance of TOS.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

..and through intuitive actors never referring to any other production, a prop played as a real, commonplace device to millions.

Part of the brilliance of TOS.

Wah Chang deserves a lot of the credit. Without the dramatic brass-on-black styling and the lid that flips open, it would have been just another walkie talkie. But it's still true that Shatner was the coolest guy to sell it with body language.

 

[Ssosmcin]

One of my favorite aspects of The Man Trap is Shatner's use of the communicator. When Spock finds crewman Green, Kirk has to flip it twice, but it's not a blooper. Not to me anyway, because that would happen! The way he holds it, with just a few fingers, not too toghtly, just enough, like someone who has been using one for years. A quick flick of the wrist and it closes back up. Compare this to Where No Man Has Gone Before, which had the flimsier looking pilot communicators, and how carefully those are opened. I love this aspect of the series.