Bridge clocks in TUC

[PoorSailorsAirline]

Just chilling out with TUC in the background and it struck me...what was with all those digital alarm clock looking timepieces all over the bridge set? I guess I can sort of understand the narrative value (oh look, it was 4 pm when Kronos One showed up, then it got shot at in the middle of the night) - but holy smokes, I can't begin to imagine what a nightmare that was for both the set decorators and the editors. Trying to piece the shots together, eesh! I'm not fan enough to go through frame by frame but surely there must have been some near misses when it comes to the clocks.

Does anyone out there know the story of why this is the first--and to my knowledge--only time we got chronographs splattered all over a bridge set? It was clearly someone's idea to include them on purpose, I'm just curious as to what that purpose was. Cheers

 

[NCC-73515]

There are also chimes at midnight in the transporter room

 

[drt]

Does anyone out there know the story of why this is the first--and to my knowledge--only time we got chronographs splattered all over a bridge set? It was clearly someone's idea to include them on purpose, I'm just curious as to what that purpose was. Cheers

I always assumed it was to help the audience on the timing of the whodunit aspects of the plot.

 

[Tosk]

Talk about a continuity nightmare.

 

[fireproof78]

Does anyone out there know the story of why this is the first--and to my knowledge--only time we got chronographs splattered all over a bridge set? It was clearly someone's idea to include them on purpose, I'm just curious as to what that purpose was.

My bet would be Meyer and his love of such set pieces.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Probably would've been interesting if the clock gimmick was added along with those cool looking Okudagram displays near consoles than something posted on each side of the walls ala DMV station.

 

[PoorSailorsAirline]

I always assumed it was to help the audience on the timing of the whodunit aspects of the plot.

I have to admit, I did feel badly for the whole crew when it was apparent they were either up far too late or way too early. At least the Ent-D had shifts...

something posted on each side of the walls ala DMV station.

The laugh/scream I just scrumpt...

 

[Christopher]

I figured it was just part of Nicholas Meyer's wish to include realistic everyday detail in the sets, like the No Smoking signs in TWOK. Real workplaces have clocks in them, so logically a starship bridge would too.

Really, it's often bugged me that nobody in Trek wears a watch or ever looks at a clock, but they always seem to know the time and stardate anyway. So I appreciated the verisimilitude of the bridge chronometers.

 

[mb22]

The script for WNMHGB has Kirk checking his watch in the opening scene. The Making of Star Trek even has the shooting schedule listing it as one of the props required. It's unclear if such a prop was cut from the final scene or was never created at all.

 

[Christopher]

The script for WNMHGB has Kirk checking his watch in the opening scene. The Making of Star Trek even has the shooting schedule listing it as one of the props required. It's unclear if such a prop was cut from the final scene or was never created at all.

Either they decided it was best to avoid establishing what a futuristic watch would look like, or they couldn't afford to build one. Or both.

I think I remember some sci-fi show where they established that the futuristic uniforms could display the time on the sleeve fabric, though they only showed it once.

 

[STEPhon IT]

When watching Star Trek I never cared to see my heroes staring at the time. I figured they were smart enough to think beyond humans from the 20th century. I think leaving this nonsense to the viewers imaginations is good enough for a project which depicts the future. Displaying a big clock all over the place just shows a lack of vision from the director and can't seem to grasp that this environment is in the future. Glad no one ever repeating this element in other Trek ventures, I think it is ridiculous.

 

[DonIago]

I thought it was an interesting touch to add to the set, but it must have been a continuity nightmare as others have remarked, and I'd rather expect smaller clocks at the individual consoles versus the larger ones depicted here.

 

[Unnamed Caitian]

Easy answer. Meyer is crazy. He thinks everything is either a Sherlock Holmes or a H. G. Wells novel.

Or a Scooby-Doo episode.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I'll have to look for it - but at one time I wrote down all the times shown in the movie, matched them up with the novelization, then did the same with the Voyager episode 'Flashback' (even though the episode condenses things. I chalk it up to Tuvok's faulty memory), and its accompanying novelization, put them all into an Excel spreadsheet and synced everything up. It's several entries long, but gives a good idea of the time line of events.

 

[NCC-73515]

I have to admit, I did feel badly for the whole crew when it was apparent they were either up far too late or way too early. At least the Ent-D had shifts...

Really, it's often bugged me that nobody in Trek wears a watch or ever looks at a clock, but they always seem to know the time and stardate anyway. So I appreciated the verisimilitude of the bridge chronometers.

There's also a TNG era LCARS clock display someone looks at, but I can't find it right now.

 

[Christopher]

Okay, not nobody, but I'm sure I've seen a number of scenes where characters mention the stardate or hour without any evident timepieces in their vicinity.

 

[Mudd]

Just chilling out with TUC in the background and it struck me...what was with all those digital alarm clock looking timepieces all over the bridge set?

Meyer saw them in The Hunt For Red October and thought they looked cool.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Is it possible to teach yourself how to mentally calculate how much time has passed or what time it is, absent of any perception-altering stimuli?

My thought is that characters frequently are looking from one screen to another, and therefore the current time is nearly always only a glance away.

 

[Christopher]

Is it possible to teach yourself how to mentally calculate how much time has passed or what time it is, absent of any perception-altering stimuli?

Nope. It's been proven that in the absence of external cues, humans have no ability to estimate the passage of time. You can believe hours have passed when it's only been minutes, or vice-versa.

There was this really bad TV series some years back on ABC Family (now Freeform) called Stitchers, with a protagonist who had a made-up neurological condition that made her unable to perceive the passage of time, which somehow made her incapable of forming emotional connections to others because such connections are grounded in remembered moments or some such gibberish, and it drove me crazy because nobody has an innate perception of the passage of time.

My thought is that characters frequently are looking from one screen to another, and therefore the current time is nearly always only a glance away.

In theory, I guess. Except in TOS, they were mainly looking at panels of buttons and blinky lights, and TNG-era LCARS panels didn't have clock displays in them as far as I recall.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Screen-tap, or vocal command away, then.