Watching old TV programs, I noticed that these three things have terrible equipment failures with alarming regularity.
Are these case of ACME construction saving money by using duct tape instead of nuts and bolts?
They all have the ACME plot sensor installed. When the plot gets boring, the sensor detects the lull and randomly destroys a piece of equipment. But only when there is a hero standing by who needs plot development.
… And they were all built by the lowest bidder.
How does that work if The Federation doesn’t have money?
:flees warps away:
Socialist factories rushing to meet their quotas?
Admiral Nelson and General Kirk may have been pocketing money, but as pointed out, Kirk and Spock had no money to steal.
Just credits.
Any cutting-edge machines are going to have issues when anvils are always falling on them.
I’ve always thought the Seaview was built by the same people who produced the TARDIS, since the interior and exterior dimensions never matched.
Matt Jeffries was set designer for Star Trek. He also worked on some of the props.
Star Trek had noticeably better sets than other sci-fi. Trek sets were still built on a tight budget.
I can’t recall much about Time Tunnel except for the famous opening shot. The two actors tumbling through time.
Wasn’t Whit Bissell in command at the Time Tunnel? Whit Bissell was not one to overlook the regulations. He shot all of Melvyn Douglass’ cattle, personal sympathies aside, and he’d shoot sloppy wiring contractors too.
Along with the reactors on board the Enterprise, the Time Tunnel was a prime example of forced perspective. Even at the age of 11, I was struck by how much the actors grew as they went farther into the Tunnel. It took me a while to realize the rings of the Tunnel were getting smaller.
Well, Acme has a bad name anyway and has been sued at least once before.
The Time Tunnel and the Trouble with Tribbles. Now, that is suspecious.
Components of the USAF model AN/FSQ-7 or SAGE computer were often trotted out and used in movies and TV shows. They were especially compelling because they had banks of flashing lights, which was better than big boxes that just sat there, or whirled rolls of magnetic tape. Not surprisingly, SAGE components were used in both Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and in The Time Tunnel:. Also not surprisingly, both series were produced by Irwin Allen
http://q7.neurotica.com/Q7/scifi/1960s/
http://q7.neurotica.com/Q7/scifi/VTTBOTS/
http://q7.neurotica.com/Q7/scifi/Tunnel/
Star Trek wasn’t created by Allen, and was shooting for a different image of computers – no banks of blinking lights, just a female voice and a display monitor.
The other site for computers in TV shows and movies doesn’t list any other systems in common – http://www.starringthecomputer.com/
When you use Melodrama to power your vehicle, these things are bound to happen.
I took a script writing class taught by the writer of dozens of 1960s TV shows. His formula:
- Create a problem
- Solve the problem
He said his real life problems back then were money and car breakdowns, so most of his scripts were variations of those themes.
They all have those specially designed Acme circuits that produce massive pyrotechnics and throw the operator across the room when anything goes wrong.
And the people that made those cut-away model kits of submarines. Neither had inner and outer hulls with ballast tanks between.
Those are the infamous ACME circuit breakers. They are apparently very inexpensive, as they are used to cut costs on various high tech equipment.