ALL SCI-FI

[Krel]

I think about this periodically. Have you ever noticed that explores in SF movies and TV shows are under equipped? They go exploring from their ships, in ship uniforms with no special boots, or clothing. Spaceships are climate controlled, you would wear lighter clothing and footwear, than in a wilderness.

They never wear wilderness clothing, gear belts, have backpacks, canteens, binoculars, knives or machetes. Nothing an exploration party would have.

The only TV show i can think of that was equipped realistically was the first Stargate series.

"Forbidden Planet" showed other devices on their gear belts, and were reasonably equipped for the situation. In one "Star Trek" episode, where they got stranded, they mentioned having emergency rations. Although I have no idea where they kept them. In some cheap of the 50's SF movies, the explores were equipped. But modern movies and TV shows seem to ignore it, probably for budget reasons. But it does tend to take me out of the situation.

And don't get me started on wandering off from your shuttle and leaving the hatch opened, where anything could wander in and setup house.

Can anyone think of a movie or TV show that I might have missed?

David.

[Pow]

Good observation, David.

Gene Roddenberry addressed this somewhat in his very first pilot for Star Trek. "The Cage" had the Enterprise crew beam down to a planet dressed in a gray field jacket over their uniforms.

At least one member was carrying a large container with shoulder straps.

No Tricorders as they had not been created yet. Early versions of a Communicator and Laser(later Phaser) pistol.

Once the weekly series was underway we never saw either the gray jackets or container ever again supporting your observation.

Do TV shows fall into this lack of equipment due to the expense of creating it all since it would have to appear futuristic? Could it be a case of not weighing the leads down with lots of props?

However,your original point is correct in that such explorations with only a minimum of gear is unrealistic.

I would also add that in a number of sci~fi films & TV shows the fact that their devices would have one or few capabilities.

On Star Trek:TOS their Communicators could contact the ship,and one another.It could also act as a beacon for the individual carrying the Communicator. And that was pretty much it.

When you consider the many multiple operations our cell phones today can perform it makes the Communicator look very limited by comparison.
At least their Tricorders were clever and could do much more than one thing.

The Commlock on Space:1999 also performed a number of limited functions.

Given what our tech today in the 21st century is capable of it seems funny to watch those futuristic based TV shows where we'd see one tool perform only one or two functions.

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

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The uniforms in The Cage are not very impressive. They were improved significantly when the show "rebooted" after the pilot.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)