OMG, computers and cell phones!

[RoJoHen]

Does anybody else get a kick out of the way slightly older shows depict technology? I'm watching the first couple episodes of Buffy right now because I'm bored, and I love how they handle computers. Giles thinks they're evil, and Cordelia doesn't know what the "Delete" button is.

Compared to TV shows and movies today where everybody seems to have an iPhone, it just kinda cracks me up.

 

[Lindley]

Yeah, Buffy season 1 has a very retro feel in a lot of ways.

However, that's just Giles being Giles, and Cordy being Cordy.....

 

[Hermiod]

Isn't it more a case of Giles being Joss and Cordelia being Joss ? Joss freely admits he doesn't understand computers and just used them to speed up the plot sometimes.

 

[Lindley]

Hmm.....no.

I'm sure Joss' own self spills over into his characters in some ways, but the scenes in question were very definitely setting up who those characters were.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I'm just glad computers are starting to be used somewhat realistically in movies and TV shows, now that most people have some understanding of what they can and can't do. The days of "magic computer" are over!!

 

[Hermiod]

Hmm.....no.

I'm sure Joss' own self spills over into his characters in some ways, but the scenes in question were very definitely setting up who those characters were.

It's not a criticism (this time). He did admit in an early commentary track that Willow's ability to "hack" in order to get useful information in order to move the plot along was tool he often used.

 

[Canadave]

Nothing for me will ever quite beat "This is UNIX! I know this!"

I can't help but think that the ability to play Microsoft Flight Simulator would be of about the same value in that situation.

 

[Kirkman1987]

^

I was just thinking that Jurassic Park scene before I scrolled to your post!

that line, followed by the three dimensional (?!?!) search for the file in the computer is soo ridiculous, even for the early 90's.

 

[Canadave]

^

I was just thinking that Jurassic Park scene before I scrolled to your post!

that line, followed by the three dimensional (?!?!) search for the file in the computer is soo ridiculous, even for the early 90's.

Can you imagine trying to actually use that OS?

"Hmm, I should check my emails"

*Click*

*WHIZ-BANG FLYOVER!*

*Click*

*MORE FLYING!*

*Open a message*

*SWOOSH!*

 

[Lindley]

"Hey, it's spam. Eagle 20, fox two!"

 

[Kirkman1987]

In addition to that scene, Jurassic park also contains the pure hilarity of the scene where Nedry is talking to that guy about catching the boat off the island, and his screen is showing the guy in what is suppossed to be real time, but you can see on the bottom of the frame that it is a media file being played.

They don't even make an attempt to hide it!

 

[backstept]

I remember when they were called cellular telephones or car phones

 

[Brent]

The one that really cracks me up, cause it just wasn't possible in that time, is from the movie Hackers. Their "3D" view of file systems and whatnot on that level of technology, in portable form even, was not possible. Yes, the movie is timeless in a way, but that plus how they viewed computers is just weird.

Oh, and it is also fun watching old X-Files episodes with their huge cell phones.

 

[Kestra]

Does anybody else get a kick out of the way slightly older shows depict technology?

I love watching things set in the early 90s for this reason alone. It's fun to see older technology that I actually remember. Misusing that technology as a plot device is a different thing, however.

Also, this thread reminded me of one of my favorite Trek moments:

Scotty: "Hello computer."

Other Dude: "Just use the keyboard."

 

[Kirkman1987]

Another movie that is just ridiculous in this regard is Superman III.

Like in the beginning, when gus just has the computer make a long list of print orders or something like that, and the guy says

"how the hell did you do that!?"

"I don't know....I just did it"

 

[Commander Vaughn]

I just started watching Buffy earlier this summer, and I noticed the exact same thing. The weird thing is this was just over ten years ago! Not very long...

 

[Timby]

In Scream, which came out in 1996, one of the characters becomes a murder suspect because a cell phone falls out of his pocket (and a cell phone was used to terrorize the victims).

So he's being questioned by the sheriff, and he says, "What's a kid your age doing with a cell phone, anyway?" (The characters are high school seniors.) It never fails to make me laugh.

 

[FPAlpha]

What drives me nuts is that about 95% of all hacking attempts have nothing to do with reality (yeah i know.. film vs. reality) but another thing i noticed is that rarely, if ever, people use the mouse to navigate through windows (or a similar graphical OS).

They just press a single button and a window opens.. severall more and some other windows open etc.

Now i know that some real cracks often navigate like that because it's quicker but they are a great minority.

 

[backstept]

yeah, I can do without a mouse if I really need to . . . but it's so annoying that it's not usually worth doing

speaking of the 3D file system thing, in Jurassic park the kids have to do something at Nedry's computer and it's like a VR thing

 

[Samurai8472]

Nothing for me will ever quite beat "This is UNIX! I know this!"

I can't help but think that the ability to play Microsoft Flight Simulator would be of about the same value in that situation.

If the park were run on windows they wouldn't have the problems they had


Let's not forget the infamous

MAC VS ALIEN ARMADA!!! from Independence Day.