TOS Turbolift

[tharpdevenport]

Kirk had to ask the ships computer to recognize him, and it said it did.

 

[Henoch]

From Wolf In The Fold:

KIRK: Spock!
(The door nearly closes before he is inside.)
SPOCK: Apparently our friends learned very quickly.
KIRK: Too quickly. Bridge. (Kirk twists handle and handle light illuminates.)
(But the lights indicate they are going down quickly, not up.)
SPOCK: Freefall!
KIRK: Out of control. Put it on manual. (Kirk presses bottom black button on the wall.) Bridge.(Kirk twists handle and handle light illuminates.)

Apparently, the turbolift is usually in "automatic" or computer controlled mode where you speak the deck number and twist the handle. It can be put in manual mode which I assume isolates that turbolift from the central computer system, but you still speak the deck number and twist the handle to make it go same as in automatic mode.

 

[Just a Bill]

That whole freefall scene is a mess; it's goofy and poorly executed. Something weird and unclear happens with the doors as they walk through them, getting the captain's attention. The cab then goes into freefall and Kirk orders Spock to switch to manual, yet seems to do the switching to manual himself using buttons that Spock doesn't have access to. (All Spock does is barely rotate his control handle, which wasn't even activated because he didn't turn it on when he entered; he only held it.) Then Kirk apparently stops half a ton of plummeting mass with his sheer strength by overdramatically torquing on the control handle like it's a handbrake, treating it as a mechanical rather than an electrical control. Spock does nothing else with his handle, and it eventually lights up its own light, after the cab has started ascending normally. Then they proceed ahead as if the cab can be completely trusted now.

It's one of the worst uses of the turbolift in the series, in my book. I've wondered if this is one of those cases where Shatner exerted some influence on the direction of the scene in order to make Kirk seem more heroic. Or maybe it was just poor writing and/or directing. Either way it's a weak, cringy scene that feels out of character in more ways than one. Even Nimoy seems like he's not sure why Shatner is hamming it so much.

 

[tharpdevenport]

See, the technology was so confusing and new that not even Gene could get it straight,

 

[Christopher]

Then Kirk apparently stops half a ton of plummeting mass with his sheer strength by overdramatically torquing on the control handle like it's a handbrake, treating it as a mechanical rather than an electrical control.

How is that implausible? The driver of a car whose brakes are out can slow it manually by pulling up on the parking brake, which is why it's also called an emergency brake. (My father sometimes told a story of how his brakes went out on a road trip and he relied solely on the emergency brake for miles, including on curvy downhill roads.) If it can work with an automobile, it should be able to work with an elevator car. After all, if it worked anything like a modern-day elevator, it wouldn't require much force to move the brake lever against the rail, and friction would do the rest.