I’ve talked about how much I loved the original Star Trek, and a lot of
that stuff really holds up. The transporter is still damn cool, the bio
beds are neat (if simplistic), tricorders are awesome (though they never
looked they really did what the characters said they did) and the
phasers and communicators still kick ass. Other things have been fixed
like the lame chronometer Sulu would look at is much better in the
enhanced version of the episodes. But other things are..not as cool. It
only makes sense that a show created fifty years ago would like kind of
dated in certain areas. Thank goodness the stories and characters are
timeless.
Of course this is just for fun, heck even early TNG is starting to look dated so it only makes sense some things in TOS just seem silly. Here are five examples :
Spock’s Scanner and Bridge Buttons
It’s a question which has baffled me for ages. What the hell is Spock looking at through that scanner? When I was a kid I didn’t get it at all, and as an adult I kind of do. I wonder if Leonard Nimoy enjoyed that blue light flashing in his eyes? Scotty has his own and Sulu also had a version, but it still doesn’t answer the question. What the heck were they seeing in that thing??? Speaking of what the heck was up with jelly filled buttons and flashing lights which had no apparent meaning? Though the crew understood what the flashing meant. At least the ear piece made sense, even if it was silly that they had to use them.
McCoy’s Instruments
Some of McCoy’s equipment still holds up, other not so much. For instance the diagnostic panel over the bio beds look pretty antiquated. In the episode “Deadly Years” we see a phallic shaped object wrapped in tin foil. What is it? Hell if Know. Then we have props which aren’t even trying! In “Court Martial” Kirk is trying to track down Ben Finney. He wants to isolate all the heart beats from the ship, and uses a special instrument to do that. What is the instrument? It’s a “white sound device’ which is is clearly a 20thc century microphone.
Food Processors/Weird ass food
How do the food processors work on the ship? We’re given the idea that the food is stashed away somewhere, so how does the computer manage ti grab the item and deliver it so easily? Thank god for replicators in TNG. Even worst was the food the crew would eat. Ok once in awhile you;d get ice cream or chicken noodle soup, but other times it was weird colored objects that barely resembled food. Just because it’s the future doesn’t mean the crew can’t eat real food! The episode “Conscience of the King” features a scene where a crewman is poisoned. The crewman is eating the weirdo food, and has a glass of milk that look like glasses my mother had in her kitchen. While he’s not looking another boring spray bottle sprays poison into the milk. This bottle of Windex is so boring, and I swear McCoy uses one in another scene.
Diskettes
Amazing how out od date this has become! I guess it seemed futuristic 50 years ago. The crew always use little disketts that look the old small floppies that we old used for about five minutes before they perfected the internal hard dive. I could go on and on about what a pin these were having to put them in and out (man kids today really have no idea). But it’s fun to see versions of these on the old show. It seemed like the always had to insert these diskettes into the computer to get some kind of information.
Those Stupid Chairs
Ok this could be just me, but have you ever noticed how lame those chairs were that everyone sat in? Not the Captain’s chair, that was awesome and still is. No I mean the stupid chairs everyone else used. They looked like kitchen chairs you’d find on The Brady Bunch. They were about as futuristic as the chair I’m currently sitting in. Is that why Spock hardly ever used his? And it’s no wonder the crew fell whenever the ship was rocked, there was no restraints whatsoever! Thankfully they were much cooler on TNG (though not perfect at first, what was up with those reclining chairs that tortured the back?).
It’s always fun to see shows try to predict the future. And don’t the later versions are off the hook. TNG especially, which gave us this lovely prop:
Actually I’m amazed at how much tech from TNG we have today, from laptops to gadgets that talk back to you like the computers did. But that’s another list.
Of course this is just for fun, heck even early TNG is starting to look dated so it only makes sense some things in TOS just seem silly. Here are five examples :
Spock’s Scanner and Bridge Buttons
It’s a question which has baffled me for ages. What the hell is Spock looking at through that scanner? When I was a kid I didn’t get it at all, and as an adult I kind of do. I wonder if Leonard Nimoy enjoyed that blue light flashing in his eyes? Scotty has his own and Sulu also had a version, but it still doesn’t answer the question. What the heck were they seeing in that thing??? Speaking of what the heck was up with jelly filled buttons and flashing lights which had no apparent meaning? Though the crew understood what the flashing meant. At least the ear piece made sense, even if it was silly that they had to use them.
McCoy’s Instruments
Some of McCoy’s equipment still holds up, other not so much. For instance the diagnostic panel over the bio beds look pretty antiquated. In the episode “Deadly Years” we see a phallic shaped object wrapped in tin foil. What is it? Hell if Know. Then we have props which aren’t even trying! In “Court Martial” Kirk is trying to track down Ben Finney. He wants to isolate all the heart beats from the ship, and uses a special instrument to do that. What is the instrument? It’s a “white sound device’ which is is clearly a 20thc century microphone.
Food Processors/Weird ass food
How do the food processors work on the ship? We’re given the idea that the food is stashed away somewhere, so how does the computer manage ti grab the item and deliver it so easily? Thank god for replicators in TNG. Even worst was the food the crew would eat. Ok once in awhile you;d get ice cream or chicken noodle soup, but other times it was weird colored objects that barely resembled food. Just because it’s the future doesn’t mean the crew can’t eat real food! The episode “Conscience of the King” features a scene where a crewman is poisoned. The crewman is eating the weirdo food, and has a glass of milk that look like glasses my mother had in her kitchen. While he’s not looking another boring spray bottle sprays poison into the milk. This bottle of Windex is so boring, and I swear McCoy uses one in another scene.
Diskettes
Amazing how out od date this has become! I guess it seemed futuristic 50 years ago. The crew always use little disketts that look the old small floppies that we old used for about five minutes before they perfected the internal hard dive. I could go on and on about what a pin these were having to put them in and out (man kids today really have no idea). But it’s fun to see versions of these on the old show. It seemed like the always had to insert these diskettes into the computer to get some kind of information.
Those Stupid Chairs
Ok this could be just me, but have you ever noticed how lame those chairs were that everyone sat in? Not the Captain’s chair, that was awesome and still is. No I mean the stupid chairs everyone else used. They looked like kitchen chairs you’d find on The Brady Bunch. They were about as futuristic as the chair I’m currently sitting in. Is that why Spock hardly ever used his? And it’s no wonder the crew fell whenever the ship was rocked, there was no restraints whatsoever! Thankfully they were much cooler on TNG (though not perfect at first, what was up with those reclining chairs that tortured the back?).
It’s always fun to see shows try to predict the future. And don’t the later versions are off the hook. TNG especially, which gave us this lovely prop:
Actually I’m amazed at how much tech from TNG we have today, from laptops to gadgets that talk back to you like the computers did. But that’s another list.
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