The Turbolift Turn Handle

[nonbelligerency]

I've seen a few TOS episodes where someone in a turbolift has to turn the handle--- to maybe start the movement, and stop it? And then in some episodes they just kinda put their hand there. Others it may not have been touched.

Was the original intent for the turbolift to be a manually controlled thing?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The handles appear to be an alternate control, for when you don't feel like giving voice commands.

There's a scene in "By Any Other Name" in which Spock, Kirk, and Scotty are each holding a handle, if I recall. So the handles may have served a second purporse, as something to hold onto for personal stability when the turbocar is changing directions. And a third thing is, they looked cool.

 

[InklingStar]

There is an amusing scene in DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations" where O'Brien and Bashir cannot figure out how to make the turbolift work until another crewman comes in and twists the handle. That does not speak to the original intent of Roddenberry and the others in 1966, of course.

 

[FormerLurker]

Voice command probably wouldn't work for them as their voiceprints weren't on file. For another hundred years.

 

[Ssosmcin]

When Redjac makes the turbolift go into freefall, Kirk and Spock use "manual controls" and grip the handles tightly. So it seems to be some sort of manual or additional control.