COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN THE MOVIES
*Word processors never display a cursor
*You never use the space bar when typing long sentences
*Movie characters never make typing mistakes
*All monitors display inch-high letters
*High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA, or some such
governmental organisation will have easy to understand graphical
interfaces
*Those that don't have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that
can understand and execute commands typed in plain English
*You can gain access to any information you want simply by typing "ACCESS
ALL OF THE SECRET FILES" on any keyboard
*Likewise, you can infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply
typing "UPLOAD VIRUS"
*All computers are connected. You can access the information on the
villain's desktop computer, even when it's turned off
*Powerful computers beep whenever you press a key or whenever the screen
changes. Some computers also slow down the output on the screen so that
it doesn't go faster than you can read. The really advanced ones also
emulate the sound of a dot-matrix printer (in joke - like all the ones in
B043)
*All computer panels have thousands of volts and flash pots just
underneath the surface. Malfunctions are indicated by a bright flash, a
puff of smoke, a shower of sparks, and an explosion which forces you
backwards
*People typing away on a computer will turn it off without saving the
data
*A hacker can get into the most sensitive computer in the world before
intermission and guess the password in two tries
*Any PERMISSION DENIED has an OVERRIDE function (see e.g. Demolition Man)
*Complex calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will be
accomplished in under three seconds. Movie modems usually appear to
transmit data at the sped of two gigabytes per second
*When the power plant/missile site/whatever overheats, all the control
panels will explode, as will the entire building
*If you display a file on the screen and someone deletes the file, it
also disappears from the screen (see e.g. Clear and Present Danger N.B.
My advice is DON'T)
*If a disk has got encrypted files, you are automatically asked for a
password when you try to access it
*No matter what kind of computer disc it is, it will be readable by any
system you put it into. All application software is usable by all
computer platforms
*The more high-tech the equipment is, the more buttons it has (Aliens).
However, everyone is always highly trained because the buttons have no
labels
*Most computers, no matter how small, have reality-defying,
three-dimensional, active animation, photo-realistic graphics capability
*Laptops, for some strange reason, always seem to have amazing real-time
video phone capabilities and the performance of a CRAY supercomputer
*Whenever a character looks at a VDU, the image is so bright that it
projects itself onto his/her face (see Alien, 2001)
* |