# Stupid Computer tricks in Television and Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359 "2025-07-26T15:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/61 "2025-07-26T22:21:12Z")
It’s been a long time since I saw the original Jurassic Park movie but I believe the girl and her brother were the grandchildren of the billionaire who built the park, so it’s _possible_ that they had access to more advanced computers than the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/62 "2025-07-26T22:25:11Z")
And (having looked it up) the girl was about 13 or 14, which makes it a bit more believable ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/63 "2025-07-26T22:27:29Z")
From the book, they were there because their parents were in the middle of divorce proceedings and they hadn’t actually spent much time with Hammond. That she’s able to manipulate the security system because she recognizes IRIX is a conceit of the writers bit I’ll give it a pass in a film where Hammond’s scientists have been able to resurrect complete dinosaurs from genetic fragments drawn from blood in mesquitos trapped in amber combined with frog chromosomes. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/64 "2025-07-26T23:17:31Z")
Going further, _perhaps_ one parent worked for Silicon Graphics in Mountain View. So they have spent time ob the computers. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/65 "2025-07-26T23:31:21Z")
I think there is an entire splinter franchise that could be developed from this based around a massive NSA/FSF/NAMAE conspiracy. Unfortunately, SGI is no longer around to pay for product placement. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/66 "2025-07-27T01:56:09Z")
Another thing in “Bones” that bothers me is the facial reconstruction specialists, who can do her thing in 5 minutes using what looks like an iPad—all the while calling everybody sweetie. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/67 "2025-07-27T02:53:58Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > From the book, they were there because their parents were in the middle of divorce proceedings and they hadn’t actually spent much time with Hammond. That she’s able to manipulate the security system because she recognizes IRIX is a conceit of the writers In the book the boy was older than the girl and he was the computer user. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/68 "2025-07-27T04:17:42Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > all the while calling everybody sweetie. But she’s hot and her Dad is Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/69 "2025-07-27T07:03:05Z")
It has been so long since I have seen that movie— did they ever say anything about the kid’s parents? If one of them was an engineer then she might have encountered an SGI workstation if he brought one home or took her to work. [We had some at the university research computer lab at the time; couldn’t have been _that_ rare, even though they were not cheap.] Also, if they arranged Internet access for her that would have opened up a whole world (possibly including a shell account on some UNIX system, definitely including USENET, access to technical documentation, and the possibility of downloading the latest and greatest Linux distro should she want to). None of that detail is going to, or should, make it into a screenplay, but a bright kid (and, let’s not forget, coming from an rich family) knowing something about IRIX in 1993 is at least conceivable. I would expect an elite hacker to be at least a couple of years older, though (not that exploiting bugs to get root access on various workstations was even remotely difficult). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/70 "2025-07-27T07:05:08Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In the book the boy was older than the girl and he was the computer user. And the computer had a command-line interface. (IIRC, Crichton has the boy remark to himself that he’s not used to operating a computer using only typed text.) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/71 "2025-07-27T07:05:36Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > But why didn’t this advanced civilization have any kind of authentication scheme, or recognize that the scout ship that just docked had been lost forty years prior? They _are_ telepaths; their security systems and procedures may well be basically nonexistent because among themselves such things would be pointless. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/72 "2025-07-27T07:08:35Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > And the computer had a command-line interface. (IIRC, Crichton has the boy remark to himself that he’s not used to operating a computer using only typed text.) Meaning… at home they had a Mac? By the way, has anyone mentioned the cinematic Stupid Computer Trick of hacking by _typing really fast?_ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/73 "2025-07-27T07:11:02Z")
Another one that always bugs me in _War Games_ – telling the computer to play itself by entering ‘number of players’\* zero. And then he enters this as a 4-character text “ZERO”, rather than a numeric digit “0”. But previous entries have been numeric digits. And given the primitive nature of that interface, why would Falken have included logic to accept both numeric and text responses? Not likely! \*Plus Tic-Tac-Toe is a 2-person game. So the idea of asking ‘number of players’ is silly. How should WOPR respond if the answer is 3? How do 3 players work? Two get Xs and Os, and the 3rd gets some other symbol? Never heard of such a Tic-Tac-Toe! Also, the previous times he played the game, it never asked ‘number of players’ – just started the normal 2-plyer version. But when the plot needs them to enter that info, suddenly the system asks for it. Still, a really good film. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/74 "2025-07-27T07:13:07Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > And given the primitive nature of that interface, why would Falken have included logic to accept both numeric and text responses? He was clearly ahead of his time to be able to code up that nice natural-language interface for Joshua in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/75 "2025-07-27T07:13:12Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > > And the computer had a command-line interface. (IIRC, Crichton has the boy remark to himself that he’s not used to operating a computer using only typed text.) > > Meaning… at home they had a Mac? Looks like my memory was slightly off - he just finds the interface less user-friendly than the ones he’s used to. > Tim suddenly found himself lost in a tangled series of monitor control screens, as he tried to get back to the main screen. Most systems had a single button or a single command to return to the previous screen, or to the main menu. But this system did not—or at least he didn’t know it. Also, he was certain that help commands had been built into the system, but he couldn’t find them either, and Lex was jumping up and down and shouting in his ear, making him nervous. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/76 "2025-07-27T08:06:40Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > \*Plus Tic-Tac-Toe is a 2-person game. So the idea of asking ‘number of players’ is silly. I’m guessing 1 player is you against the computer/Joshua, 2 players is you against a friend. edit to add > [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Also, the previous times he played the game, it never asked ‘number of players’ – just started the normal 2-plyer version. I think the only time he ever plays tic tac toe is once at the end and it asks how many players. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/77 "2025-07-27T10:27:42Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Tim suddenly found himself lost in a tangled series of monitor control screens, as he tried to get back to the main screen. Most systems had a single button or a single command to return to the previous screen, or to the main menu. But this system did not—or at least he didn’t know it. Also, he was certain that help commands had been built into the system, but he couldn’t find them either, and Lex was jumping up and down and shouting in his ear, making him nervous. Wow. Thanks for reminding me why I thought Crichton was such a bad writer. (I asked ChatGPT to rewrite that in the style of Douglas Adams) > **Summary** > > Tim, quite against his will, had embarked on an accidental expedition through the Byzantine underbelly of a user interface seemingly designed by a sadistic philosopher with a grudge against logic. What began as an innocent attempt to return to the main screen had swiftly degenerated into a Kafkaesque labyrinth of blinking monitor control panels, obscure acronyms, and suspiciously unhelpful icons that looked more like modernist interpretations of toast than anything remotely navigational. > > Most systems, he reasoned, offered the basic courtesy of a “Back” button or, at the very least, a smug little “Home” symbol—usually a small house, occasionally a pyramid, and once memorably a badger. This system, however, offered no such luxuries. Or if it did, it was hiding them with the cunning of a panicked chameleon on a paisley sofa. > > He was also vaguely certain—though not in any verifiable way—that help commands existed. Somewhere. Probably. Maybe buried beneath four menus and an ironic security warning. But each attempt to locate them only seemed to summon more layers of screen, like peeling an onion made entirely of error messages. > > Meanwhile, Lex was hopping up and down like an angry kettle with legs, bellowing technical advice directly into Tim’s ear canal at frequencies known to disorient pigeons. This did not help. What it did do was replace Tim’s mild confusion with a rich, full-bodied panic, complete with overtones of existential dread and a lingering aftertaste of impending doom. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/78 "2025-07-27T10:44:20Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Thanks for reminding me why I thought Crichton was such a bad writer. He’s known for his plots, not his prose. The Adams version had me on he floor. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/79 "2025-07-27T10:58:01Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Tim suddenly found himself lost … Here it is as Dorothy Parker: Tim floundered through a labyrinth of monitor screens, each more inscrutable than the last, all conspiring to keep him from the elusive main menu. The system, in its infinite wisdom, had neglected such plebeian conveniences as a return button or help tab—no doubt the designer’s idea of a practical joke—or perhaps he suffered an attack of the rams; one could have three hats and forget four in such a state. To complete this little comedy, Lex’s shrill commentary pierced the air, leaving Tim’s quondam concentration forlorn and distant. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359/80 "2025-07-27T14:33:51Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > Another thing in “Bones” that bothers me is the facial reconstruction specialists, who can do her thing in 5 minutes using what looks like an iPad—all the while calling everybody sweetie. Once on ‘Bones’ they took pics of a crime scene and uploaded them to the main computer. An evil genius had included something in the crime scene that introduced a computer virus… from the crime scene photos. That struck me as pretty ridiculous. I know there are things like QR codes, but they don’t convey very much information, and the device that reads something like a QR code would have to be programmed to recognize and read the info conveyed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-computer-tricks-in-television-and-movies/1021359.md?page=5)