# What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311 "2021-02-06T04:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 53
**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:** [March 30, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1041 "2021-03-30T17:27:27Z")
OK, yeah, I see what you’re saying. Between randomly rotating reels, flashing lights and all manner of beeps & boops, 60s / 70s era TV computers were pretty silly. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1042 "2021-03-30T17:28:41Z")
I believe the Bat Cave (Adam West era) had a computer with a lot of flashing lights. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1043 "2021-03-30T17:37:30Z")
> [@solost](#): > > OK, yeah, I see what you’re saying. Between randomly rotating reels, flashing lights and all manner of beeps & boops, 60s / 70s era TV computers were pretty silly. I’ve always thought these should be mandatory. Makes working with computers much more interesting. Compared to the ones on TV in the '60s, today’s models are BOR-ING! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1044 "2021-03-30T18:18:54Z")
Lots of lights on this IBM 360 computer console: [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/img\_2631.jpg](http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/img_2631.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1045 "2021-03-30T18:25:05Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Yeah - movie geography in general can be pretty amazing. My all-time favorite was in the movie _Uncommon Valor_ with Gene Hackman and Patrick Swayze. At one point Hackman is training his team to go rescue the POWs in Vietnam, and the opening title at the bottom of the scene says something like “Somewhere near Galveston, Texas” or maybe “Somewhere near Houston, Texas”. Which is uproariously funny, because there are clear mountains, or large hills in the background. The Houston/Galveston area is super flat. Like no natural hills of any kind flat. Like no hills to speak of until you get to the far side of Austin (~200 miles away) flat. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1046 "2021-03-30T18:53:59Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I think this has pretty much died out now that people are more familiar with computers, but in the, I guess, 1960s through the 1990s, every shot of a computer in a movie showed multiple tape drives, with the reels of tape rotating back and forth. This was often used to indicate that the computer was “working”. I guess they were Turing machines. There’s a website that identifies which computers are in which shows > **[Starring the Computer](http://www.starringthecomputer.com/computers.html)** > > Computers in movies and television shows Some of them got re-used a LOT, like this one: > [@](#): > > [IBM AN/FSQ-7](http://www.starringthecomputer.com/computer.html?c=73) > > • 12:01 (1993) • A Wing and a Prayer (1998) • Airplane! (1980) • The Apocalypse (1997) • Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) • Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) • Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) • Battlestar Galactica - Season 1 (1979) • Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994) • The Bionic Woman - Season 2, Episode 5, “Kill Oscar” (1976) • The Bionic Woman - Season 2, Episode 9, “The Vega Influence” (1976) • Bizaardvark - Season 1 (2016) • Brave New World (1980) • Bumblebee (2018) • By Dawn’s Early Light (1990) • Cannon - Season 2, Episode 8, “The Rip Off” (1972) • Capricorn One (1977) • The Cat From Outer Space (1978) • City Beneath the Sea (1971) • Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) • Columbo - Season 4, “A Deadly State of Mind” (1975) • Computercide (1982) • Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) • Damnation Alley (1977) • Earth II (1971) • Electra Woman and Dyna Girl - Season 1 (1976) • Eve of Destruction (1991) • Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex \* But Were Afraid to Ask (1972) • Fail Safe (2000) • Fantastic Voyage (1966) • Firestarter (1984) • FlashForward - Season 1, Episode 22, “Future Shock” (2009) • Futureworld (1976) • Gemini Man (1976) • Get Smart - Season 4, Episode 19, “Absorb the Greek” (1969) • Get Smart, Again! (1989) • The Greatest American Hero - Season 2, Episode 9, “Train of Thought” (1982) • Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) • The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries - Season 2, Episode 22, “Campus Terror” (1978) • Hawaii Five-O - Season 1, Episode 19, “Once Upon a Time” (1969) • In Like Flint (1967) • The Incredible Hulk - Season 1, Episode 1 (1978) • Independence Day (1996) • The Invaders - Season 2, Episode 1, “Condition: Red” (1967) • The Invaders - Season 2, Episode 8, “Dark Outpost” (1967) • The Invaders - Season 2, Episode 14, “The Believers” (1967) • Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) • It Takes a Thief - Season 1, “Hans Across the Border” (1968) • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) • KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978) • Kolchak: The Night Stalker - Season 1, Episode 10, “The Energy Eater” (1974) • The Land of the Giants - Season 1, Episode 14, “Brainwash” (1969) • Logan’s Run - Season 1, Episode 5, “Man Out of Time” (1977) • Lost - Season 2 (2005) • Lost in Space - Season 2, Episode 27, “The Phantom Family” (1967) • Lost In Space - Season 3, Episode 1, “Condemned of Space” (1967) • Lost in Space - Season 3, Episode 3, “Kidnapped in Space” (1967) • Lost in Space - Season 3, Episode 6, “Space Destructors” (1967) • Lost in Space - Season 3, Episode 10, “The Space Creature” (1967) • The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - Season 4 (1967) • The Manitou (1978) • Open Fire (1994) • Paper Man (1971) • Planet Earth (1974) • Planet of the Apes - Season 1, Episode 5, “The Legacy” (1974) • The Power (1968) • The President’s Analyst (1967) • Project X (1968) • Return to the Batcave (2003) • Rock Jocks (2012) • Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) • Scarecrow and Mrs King - Season 1, Episode 4, “Magic Bus” (1983) • Silver Streak (1976) • The Six Million Dollar Man - Season 1, Episode 4, “Day of the Robot” (1974) • Sleeper (1973) • Sliders - Season 3, Episode 3, “Electric Twister Acid Test” (1996) • Snowball Express (1972) • Soap - Season 3, Episode 3 (1979) • Spaceballs (1987) • Stowaway to the Moon (1975) • Supergirl - Season 1, Episode 15, “Solitude” (2016) • The Swarm (1978) • That’s So Raven - Season 1, “Saving Psychic Raven” (2003) • The Time Machine (1978) • Time Travelers (1976) • The Time Tunnel - Season 1 (1967) • The Towering Inferno (1974) • U.S. Marshals (1998) • Virus (1999) • War Games (1983) • Way… Way Out (1966) • Westworld (1973) • Winter Kills (1979) • Wonderwoman - Season 2, Episode 17, “IRAC Is Missing” (1979) • Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1966) or > [@](#): > > - [Burroughs B205](http://www.starringthecomputer.com/computer.html?c=45) > > • The Angry Red Planet (1959) • Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) • Batman - The Movie (1966) • Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) • Cannon - Season 2, Episode 8, “The Rip Off” (1972) • Caprice (1967) • City Beneath the Sea (1971) • The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) • Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) • Fail Safe (2000) • Fantastic Voyage (1966) • Get Smart - Season 4, Episode 19, “Absorb the Greek” (1969) • The Green Hornet - Season 1, Episode 4, “Crime Wave” (1966) • The Green Hornet - Season 1, Episode 9, “The Ray Is for Killing” (1966) • Hogan’s Heroes - Season 4, “The Witness” (1969) • In Like Flint (1967) • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) • Land of the Giants - Season 2, Episode 4, “Deadly Pawn” (1969) • The Land of the Giants - Season 1, Episode 14, “Brainwash” (1969) • Lost in Space (1965) • Lost In Space - Season 3, Episode 1, “Condemned of Space” (1967) • Lost in Space - Season 3, Episode 6, “Space Destructors” (1967) • Lost in Space - Season 3, Episode 10, “The Space Creature” (1967) • The Man With My Face (1965) • The Night the World Exploded (1957) • Our Man Flint (1966) • Paper Man (1971) • Planet of the Apes - Season 1, Episode 5, “The Legacy” (1974) • The Right Stuff (1983) • Search - Season 1 (1972) • Sex Kittens Go To College (1960) • The Swarm (1978) • Teen Wolf - Season 4, Episode 10, “Monstrous” (2014) • Time Travelers (1976) • The Time Travelers (1964) • The Time Tunnel - Season 1 (1967) • The Towering Inferno (1974) • Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) • Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - Season 1, Episode 23, “The Human Computer” (1965) ---
**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:** [March 30, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1047 "2021-03-30T19:08:12Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Lots of lights on this IBM 360 computer console: No kidding! (the image link looked broken within the thread, but clicking on it took me to the image). So, rows of dozens, if not hundreds, of lights was actually a thing, eh? I see from zooming on the image that each of those many lights had a label, but I can’t read any labels. What info is all those lights conveying? ---
**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:** [March 30, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1048 "2021-03-30T19:29:13Z")
I thought the tape might hold the program itself if it was too big for working storage, so the running back and forth might be: load program, load data, process, store, load new program, process, store, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1049 "2021-03-30T19:46:51Z")
Maybe the tapes aren’t moving back and forth. It’s a common illusion in movies and TV shows where a turning wheel _appears_ to reverse direction, but really keeps turning the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1050 "2021-03-30T19:55:32Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > Keeping the same furniture in the same spot for years. Why would you purposefully move furniture unless you were replacing it or renovating? ---
**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:** [March 30, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1051 "2021-03-30T20:04:01Z")
There’s also that puzzling scene in _Ordinary People_ where Calvin and Beth visit Houston, and Calvin remarks on how he’ll never get over how flat it is. Not only is this an odd thing for him to say (he lives in the suburbs of Chicago, which aren’t exactly known for their mountains), but there are prominent hills clearly visible in the background while he says it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1052 "2021-03-30T23:37:58Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > . And they normally rotate in one direction; if they’re moving back and forth, someone laid out the data on the tape very poorly. I worked with a guy who had made all his money in London in the ?? 60’s ~ 70’s ?? rewriting data processing routines so that the tape went – one way – to the end of data, then – reverse – through the data doing the second pass in reverse order. People laid out the data on the tape very poorly … His secret super-power skill was that, being Australian, he wasn’t obsequious and subservient to the senior staff who had done it wrong in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1053 "2021-03-30T23:53:27Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@beowulff](#): > > > > Lots of lights on this IBM 360 computer console: > > No kidding! (the image link looked broken within the thread, but clicking on it took me to the image). So, rows of dozens, if not hundreds, of lights was actually a thing, eh? I see from zooming on the image that each of those many lights had a label, but I can’t read any labels. What info is all those lights conveying? Sometimes (very, very rarely) the camera got close enough to the lit buttons on the bridge of the _ **TOS** _ _Enterprise_ that you could see they had alphanumeric codes stenciled on them. I believe the only time this was referenced was in “The Ultimate Computer,” when Chekov checked the Engineering panel and reported the G-26 system (I think) was dead. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1054 "2021-03-30T23:58:51Z")
Because you want to change how the room looks a little bit even though you don’t want to buy all new furniture? I won’t say I do it all the time, but I’ve switched my couch and my tv, or changed which wall the bed is against. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1055 "2021-03-31T00:20:37Z")
The lights are used for debugging and troubleshooting, mostly. My dad used to say that he could tell if a program was stuck in an infinite loop by watching the lights, although I would guess you would have to watch them forever to be sure it wasn’t just a very, very long loop. Some info here: > **[Iconic consoles of the IBM System/360 mainframes, 55 years old](http://www.righto.com/2019/04/iconic-consoles-of-ibm-system360.html)** > > The IBM System/360 was a groundbreaking family of mainframe computers announced on April 7, 1964. Designing the System/360 was an extremely... ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1056 "2021-03-31T00:32:15Z")
Another death one from me: People dying due to some kind of accident/injury will a) authoritatively tell another character “No- I’m dying” if they try to administer first aid or call for help. I mean… lots of people think they’re going to die after they get hurt and they very often don’t. I can’t say it’s happened to me enough to know how they usually behave in terms of calmness and lucidity, but I would think it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s usually more “holy shit, I’m gonna die! Things hurt a lot! What is happening to me?” and less, “No child, I’m dying, come here and let me eloquently, if tearfully and haltingly, give you a poignant speech.” b) … give that speech. And they’ll last just long enough for it and be lucid and conscious and able to put their thoughts together well enough to produce a beautiful, touching, heartfelt goodbye. Or they’ll get through ALMOST all of it and die just before the important part- “Oh Francesca, my opposite-sex best friend with whom I share a ton of chemistry and subtext! Don’t call an ambulance. I’m dying. Please don’t be sad without me. We had so many adventures together. Always be kind and healthy and rich. And I guess I should tell you… just before I go… Francesca O’Moony… lady of the mountains… keeper of the secrets… countess of the clink… the incredible hulk… the girl who sang the stars down from the skies… I always meant to tell you… Why didn’t I tell you earlier? …just remember that I… I… 😵 💀” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1057 "2021-03-31T00:41:14Z")
Cops or GIs in helicopters talking on the radio with handheld microphones and no headsets on. (McGarrett and Danno do this all the time on the old _ **Hawaii Five-O** _.) The noise in those things is so bad, they could never hear anything (or be heard intelligibly on the other end). I have a hard time listening to the radio in a car with the windows open unless I crank the volume up really high. In an open helicopter, I wouldn’t even try. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1058 "2021-03-31T02:16:05Z")
I remember the “open space” concept of the early 1970s, and when a neighborhood near the one I grew up in expanded and needed an elementary school, that’s how it was constructed. That concept didn’t last very long, and permanent walls were put in within a few years. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1059 "2021-03-31T02:21:21Z")
Oh, man, when I was a kid, my mother was constantly rearranging the living room furniture, and especially made a big production out of doing it when she was sick. One day, I came home from school, saw that the furniture had been rearranged, and asked if she was sick. That nonsense stopped immediately. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1060 "2021-03-31T02:53:26Z")
My high school in Minneapolis was the same. My class was the first to go all three years (1970–73) in the new building. We also had “modular scheduling” to allow more options and flexibility. Of course, both concepts were abused horribly, and the walls went up the year after I graduated. The last time I visited (in the mid-90s), it was still that way. I, however, have the most credits of anyone who ever graduated from South High, since I took advantage of the modular scheduling to enroll in as many courses as I could. My record still stands, since modular scheduling was also cancelled in '74. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=52) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=54)