Garm Bel Iblis
Commodore
So the hardcore nerds hate Insurrection because of the Joystick,but they love Wrath of Khan? but it has an evul joystick!!!
Joystick and the nerd haters
- Thread starter Garm Bel Iblis
- Start date
A joystick-type controller at a sitdown console being used to target a weapons system makes a lot more functional sense than a joystick rising out of the middle of the floor on a pillar and being used while standing up to control a whole starship. I don't think it's the use of a joystick per se that people object to in Insurrection -- after all, the joystick was originally an aircraft control mechanism long before video games even existed. Rather, it's the sheer awkwardness and incongruity of its insertion into the Enterprise bridge. The execution there felt like a gimmick, a bit of needless flash. The joystick fire controller in TWOK was much less intrusive and more logical.
^ Agree.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
I never loved the TWOK pull-out, but to me the contemporary hinges are at least as offensive as the button itself.
The INS thing is in a class by itself; if they were serious about it, why not have a big rig come out of the ceilng and fit around Riker's torso, so he could twist his body to make the ship turn? That wouldn't have gotten the same size flinch/laugh.
The INS thing is in a class by itself; if they were serious about it, why not have a big rig come out of the ceilng and fit around Riker's torso, so he could twist his body to make the ship turn? That wouldn't have gotten the same size flinch/laugh.
Much as I tend to go in the TNG films' favor in these situations, I absolutely must side with TWOK on this one. Honestly, I'd forgotten about the joystick in TWOK. Though that means it wasn't so intrusive that it felt stupid, like the one in Insurrection. It was a pointless gimmick that made no sense because...what was wrong with controlling the ship normally? Why exactly did we need a completely different method of controlling the ship in this situation? Especially when we go right back to the normal method for driving the thing after this crisis is over.
I think part of the problem was that it looked worse than what most guys have on their home systems.
I think I've seen ones like the one in Insurrection on sale for five bucks.
I think I've seen ones like the one in Insurrection on sale for five bucks.
I commented about this on my site. It kind of ruined the battle scene for me. If they had made the joystick look remarkably different than what I could get at the local video game shop, I'd be a little more lenient. That said, the one from TWOK was a little oddball for me as well, although it's a lot more subtle. In Insurrection though, it just seemed like a visual gimmick, although the movie had other gimmicks as well in my opinion.
That was my main problem with it...I could recognize he make and model of the joystick. My employer at the time sold the same one for about 30 bucks.
Well this isn't the first time something like that happens:
http://blockheadpictures.com/images/misc/trek001.jpg
Insurrection has plenty wrong with it. Joystick is just one of many things!
trevanian
Rear Admiral
Well this isn't the first time something like that happens:
http://blockheadpictures.com/images/misc/trek001.jpg
And of course the duct tape in between the barcode scanners (presumably there to hold what passes for a plot together.)
The joystick is kind of symptomatic of INS's problems. It was trying to be a quiet, thoughtful, contemplative drama, the kind of idea-based story that was often done in the show. But Hollywood doesn't allow big-budget SF films to be small, contemplative dramas; they're pressured to be big action blockbusters. So INS had a lot of action and spectacle and gimmickry and lowbrow humor tacked onto it that just felt awkward and intrusive. And that's just what the joystick column in the center of the bridge was -- a lowbrow action-movie sight gag intrusively and illogically imposed upon a more thoughtfully designed context.
Is that because "Hollywood dictates" this, or because simply the individual producers, writers and directors think "it's what the audience wants" all by themselves? Okay, you could argue that producers share a common mindset, because on their way to producing large movies they undergo a virtually incestuous learning process.
I suspect the TWOK stick might be a re-use of one the handles from the spacesuits from the scrapped TMP spacewalk.
That said, I never took it as a joystick as in for steering, but rather as a sort of safety, i.e. you can only fire the torpedoes with the stick held back. Inconsistent with TMP, but what about TWOK isn't?
That said, I never took it as a joystick as in for steering, but rather as a sort of safety, i.e. you can only fire the torpedoes with the stick held back. Inconsistent with TMP, but what about TWOK isn't?
I think somewhere in the INS bonus material they say as much, thinking it was in the clever tradition of Trek, like the salt-shakers in TOS. Not so much.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
I suspect the TWOK stick might be a re-use of one the handles from the spacesuits from the scrapped TMP spacewalk.
That said, I never took it as a joystick as in for steering, but rather as a sort of safety, i.e. you can only fire the torpedoes with the stick held back. Inconsistent with TMP, but what about TWOK isn't?
Good observation, I think you're right about the reuse from tmp's discarded suits.
I've had lots and lots of problems with INS, but the joystick isn't one of them. I mean, clearly it's only for emergency purposes, so perhaps it's just not as feasible in normal situations, when you'd need more nuance and control and balance and other details to monitor.
Besides, I would think that flying a ship the size of the Enterprise like a fighter jet constantly would be disastrous for its structure.
Besides, I would think that flying a ship the size of the Enterprise like a fighter jet constantly would be disastrous for its structure.
But why design an emergency device in such a complicated way, a thing that has to rise out of the floor? What if the emergency damages the deployment system? An emergency control device should be as foolproof in design as possible, not reliant on special motors to move it into usable position. If you want to design an emergency joystick for the captain's use, you'd put it in the arm of the command chair. And given the tendency of Trek ships to shake around in combat and send people flying, what could possibly be more illogical than a stand-up control station for emergency use only?
As much as I loved INS, the joystick was glaringly ridiculous... I remember when my friend and I saw the film, and the joystick came up from the floor... my friend instantly began vocalizing the music to the Super Mario Brothers NES game. That's just how silly it was.
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