Does anyone else countdown?

[Willieck]

Very frequently in ST someone will say, we have some many seconds left to do this that and the other. I ALWAYS count down those seconds. Sometimes the timing is spot on and other times they are not counting down in real time.

Am I the only crackpot who does this?

 

[Shatnertage]

This crackpot doesn't do it.

 

[RandyS]

Neither does this one.

 

[Sector 7]

I guess that means you are the only one.

 

[scotpens]

Countdowns, like warp drive and turbolifts, move at the speed of plot.

 

[Arpy]

I don't literally count down, but I will notice (and feel disappointment) if the time is too stretched or short. This is as it should be.

 

[Willieck]

I guess I should call the yellow van now then.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I never countdown. Mostly because I'm just not into that kind of detail, and because time can be subjective in dramatic storytelling anyway. You can have the computer say 30 seconds to detonation (or whatever), but if the dramatic flow of the story requires more or less time, so be it...

 

[Alienesse]

I was thinking about doing a countdown for next year's Fedcon since I can't wait to go, but I abandoned the idea very quickly. I'm rather sure that I'll start counting the days closer to the event.

 

[JarodRussell]

Countdowns, like warp drive and turbolifts, move at the speed of plot.

Which is the peak of stupid, because it really isn't hard to name the exact number of seconds during the shoot and post production.

 

[RyuRoots]

Countdowns, like warp drive and turbolifts, move at the speed of plot.

Which is the peak of stupid, because it really isn't hard to name the exact number of seconds during the shoot and post production.

It's still a true statement, though, and it's why I don't do it; I realized quickly I'd go insane from all the times where they obviously just don't care.

 

[scotpens]

Countdowns, like warp drive and turbolifts, move at the speed of plot.

Which is the peak of stupid, because it really isn't hard to name the exact number of seconds during the shoot and post production.

From The Producers (original 1966 film):

BLOOM:

May I speak to you for a minute?

BIALYSTOCK (looking at his watch):
Go! You have fifty-eight seconds.

BLOOM:
Well, in glancing at your books, I noticed that in the columns marked . . .

BIALYSTOCK (interrupting):
You have forty-eight seconds left. Hurry. Hurry.

BLOOM (speedily):
Oh. Uh, I glanced at your books, I noticed in . . .

BIALYSTOCK (interrupting):
Twenty-eight seconds, hurry, hurry, you're running out of time.

BLOOM (growing increasingly agitated):
Mr. Bialystock, I cannot function under these conditions! You're making me extremely nervous!

(Bloom unconsciously reaches into his pocket, takes out a blue piece of cloth and nervously strokes his cheek with it.)​

There are only 10 seconds of screen time between Bialystock's “58 seconds left” and “28 seconds left.” If it were actually 30 seconds, it wouldn't be funny.​

 

[Willieck]

I never countdown. Mostly because I'm just not into that kind of detail, and because time can be subjective in dramatic storytelling anyway. You can have the computer say 30 seconds to detonation (or whatever), but if the dramatic flow of the story requires more or less time, so be it...

Yes that precisely why I do it. Sometimes it it is in real time and sometimes it isn't. Help, the men in the white coats are at the door.

 

[JarodRussell]

Countdowns, like warp drive and turbolifts, move at the speed of plot.

Which is the peak of stupid, because it really isn't hard to name the exact number of seconds during the shoot and post production.

From The Producers (original 1966 film):

BLOOM:

May I speak to you for a minute?​

BIALYSTOCK (looking at his watch):
Go! You have fifty-eight seconds.​

BLOOM:
Well, in glancing at your books, I noticed that in the columns marked . . .​

BIALYSTOCK (interrupting):
You have forty-eight seconds left. Hurry. Hurry.​

BLOOM (speedily):
Oh. Uh, I glanced at your books, I noticed in . . .​

BIALYSTOCK (interrupting):
Twenty-eight seconds, hurry, hurry, you're running out of time.​

BLOOM (growing increasingly agitated):
Mr. Bialystock, I cannot function under these conditions! You're making me extremely nervous!​

(Bloom unconsciously reaches into his pocket, takes out a blue piece of cloth and nervously strokes his cheek with it.)​

There are only 10 seconds of screen time between Bialystock's “58 seconds left” and “28 seconds left.” If it were actually 30 seconds, it wouldn't be funny.​

And just because it was funny in The Producers, every movie has to do that.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I never countdown. Mostly because I'm just not into that kind of detail, and because time can be subjective in dramatic storytelling anyway. You can have the computer say 30 seconds to detonation (or whatever), but if the dramatic flow of the story requires more or less time, so be it...

Yes that precisely why I do it. Sometimes it it is in real time and sometimes it isn't. Help, the men in the white coats are at the door.

Don't fret...in subjective time, things will always happen either too late or just in the nick of time for somebody...

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

I do it sometimes...bothers me when the discrepancy is huge but other than that I tend to ignore it.

I would like to see a scene where something explodes a good four or five seconds before it should, however.

"Self destruct in...*BANG!*
"...nevermind."