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I've been watching some episodes of the outstanding US science-fiction TV
series "The Outer Limits", which aired from 1963-1965 (two seasons). The
settings of many episodes prominently feature electronic equipment,
typically in a scientific laboratory, military command post, space mission
control center, or a spacecraft.



Despite the fact that the show's opening title sequence begins with what is
probably best-known oscilloscope trace in history
(), I haven't seen a lot of
scopes in the episodes themselves, and the few that have appeared weren't
operating. A DuMont shows up from time to time, just sitting on a counter
or console as an afterthought. You'd think they'd at least be rigged up to
display the ever-popular Lissajous figures, but the series was pretty
low-budget.



One episode showed, in the background, a cart-mounted scope which had the
general form and panel layout of a Tek 500 series, but with a sort of white
cowling around the top and sides of the front panel. In another, there was
a rack-mounted 5-inch scope with a dark gray/green panel. I don't know what
brand either scope was.



In general, the electronics were a mix of real contemporary equipment and
stuff that was probably purpose-built as props. The real equipment
sometimes included those big multi-track analog tape recorders and vertical
pen plotters that were so popular in the early years of aerospace
development. The "prop" equipment was generally panels of meters, toggle
switches, pots/rotary switches and indicator lights; the meters and lights
were usually non-operational unless they had some significance in the plot.
A lot of them were in 19-inch racks or bench-type consoles.



A striking feature of these "prop" panels was the lack of labeling on any of
the devices unless, again, a particular device had a role in the story (e.g.
the radiation meter on an out-of-control reactor). But then, I guess a
scientist who's smart enough to invent a time machine or inter-dimensional
portal should be able to remember what switch does what.



Another electronics tidbit from the series: in one episode, a scientist had
developed a way to rapidly advance an individual primate's (including
human's) evolution, based on the premise that an organism's future form is
already encoded in its DNA and can brought out by the use of a machine built
for that task. To show a visitor how effective this technique was, the
scientist pointed to one of his successes - a chimpanzee seated at a bench
in a corner of the lab, quite convincingly using a VOM to troubleshoot some
piece of vacuum-tube electronics!



Albert

Teaching a chimpanzee to use a meter is easy, but have you ever see one than can solder worth a damn? ;-)


Michael A. Terrell

On Tue, 10 Jul 2018 19:17:46 -0400, you wrote:

I've been watching some episodes of the outstanding US science-fiction TV
series "The Outer Limits", which aired from 1963-1965 (two seasons). The
settings of many episodes prominently feature electronic equipment,
typically in a scientific laboratory, military command post, space mission
control center, or a spacecraft.

All in the technology of the times. Note that they did not imagine
any kind of technology (interface wise) that was different from what
they had, just that it did futuristic stuff.

Despite the fact that the show's opening title sequence begins with what is
probably best-known oscilloscope trace in history
(), I haven't seen a lot of
scopes in the episodes themselves, and the few that have appeared weren't
operating. A DuMont shows up from time to time, just sitting on a counter
or console as an afterthought. You'd think they'd at least be rigged up to
display the ever-popular Lissajous figures, but the series was pretty
low-budget.

In that sense, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had the standard Irwin
Allen pseudo tape decks and fake computers. Outer Limits didn't
really, as I remember it.

One episode showed, in the background, a cart-mounted scope which had the
general form and panel layout of a Tek 500 series, but with a sort of white
cowling around the top and sides of the front panel. In another, there was
a rack-mounted 5-inch scope with a dark gray/green panel. I don't know what
brand either scope was.

Episodes might be helpful. There were knockoffs of the TEK stuff at
earlier times. They might just have put a frame on it to make it look
a bit different. For a rack mounted scope, well, might have been war
surplus, maybe not.

In general, the electronics were a mix of real contemporary equipment and
stuff that was probably purpose-built as props. The real equipment
sometimes included those big multi-track analog tape recorders and vertical
pen plotters that were so popular in the early years of aerospace
development. The "prop" equipment was generally panels of meters, toggle
switches, pots/rotary switches and indicator lights; the meters and lights
were usually non-operational unless they had some significance in the plot.
A lot of them were in 19-inch racks or bench-type consoles.

And they could have been standard equipment with the labels painted
out. That would have kept people from realizing what it was, and
keeping them focused on the plot (such as it was, at times).

A striking feature of these "prop" panels was the lack of labeling on any of
the devices unless, again, a particular device had a role in the story (e.g.
the radiation meter on an out-of-control reactor). But then, I guess a
scientist who's smart enough to invent a time machine or inter-dimensional
portal should be able to remember what switch does what.

Someone actually wrote a story about that being a feature of
intelligent people. The author forgot the 2AM factor.

Another electronics tidbit from the series: in one episode, a scientist had
developed a way to rapidly advance an individual primate's (including
human's) evolution, based on the premise that an organism's future form is
already encoded in its DNA and can brought out by the use of a machine built
for that task. To show a visitor how effective this technique was, the
scientist pointed to one of his successes - a chimpanzee seated at a bench
in a corner of the lab, quite convincingly using a VOM to troubleshoot some
piece of vacuum-tube electronics!

I think I know where he used to work.....

David McCallum was in that.

Piece of additional trivia. Movie called "Reptillicus", low budget
(British, I'd guess, since it was set in London), giant reptile coming
up the Thames type of movie.

Hero was listening to the reports of the creature's progress on a
Heathkit Oscilloscope switch.

Had one in the basement, same model.

Harvey

Albert

The remake reused many of the original scripts but it had much better props. The one they really should have remade was the original, 'Galaxy Being'. That so called radio station looked like something from what 'Sanford & Son' would have tossed out.

The remake was 32 years after the first episode of the original series, so technology had changed a lot during that time.


Michael A. Terrell

The radio tower used in the original "Galaxy Being" is still standing:
<>

That's an OK tower, but it's not Blaw Knox cool like the WLW or WSM towers. :)


Michael A. Terrell

Albert,

Do you live near the tower? I live in Studio City just off Laurel Canyon.

George

Nice non-political off topic topic.

Too much Tektronix and I will start seeing them everywhere. like TVs, when I saw a TV on TV I would say "that's about a five year old Zenith", they had one on Bewitched.

I think I have watched every Outer Limits, both new and old series'. I watched a documentary on the original, they had to come up with a new episode every week. The Galaxy being's garb was a SCUBA suit with oil poured all over it.

It was a good series, but unlike most things that got resurrected, I think the 1990s series was better. I think the writing was better than any Star Trek, certain episodes anyway. They also had more of a budget, the documentary on the original said their budget was about a shoestring. Neither series wasted alot of money on special effects, which seems to be common these days. I mean they are just about to the point where they don't need actors. I shit you not, look at some of the video games these days.

In the 1950s I am pretty sure Tek was into triggered, linear sweep. Not all scopes had it. It is possible that Lissajous pattern was on a surplus defective unit that had a fault in the sawtooth generator but would take a horizontal input. I could have found much "cooler" patterns to display.

I used the Tek 545 scope at Teradyne in the mid 1970’s. The final systems test area was an open lab with overhead fluorescent lighting that made it hard to see the trace on the scope. If we did not have the standard Tek cylindrical aluminum CRT light shield, we’d fashion a substitute from a file folder or similar piece of cardboard.

I suspect the white cowling on the scope in the movie was a “homemade” attempt to shield the CRT from the room lights.


Roy Morgan
k1lky68@... <mailto:k1lky68@...>

On Wed, 11 Jul 2018 13:11:14 -0700, you wrote:

Too much Tektronix and I will start seeing them everywhere. like TVs, when I saw a TV on TV I would say "that's about a five year old Zenith", they had one on Bewitched.

The recent series Chance with Hugh Laurie had a Tektronix 465M or 465
variant in the back room of the antique furniture shop for some
reason.

It was a good series, but unlike most things that got resurrected, I think the 1990s series was better. I think the writing was better than any Star Trek, certain episodes anyway. They also had more of a budget, the documentary on the original said their budget was about a shoestring. Neither series wasted alot of money on special effects, which seems to be common these days. I mean they are just about to the point where they don't need actors. I shit you not, look at some of the video games these days.

They were using stories from actual science fiction writers. Larry
Niven wrote Inconsistent Moon which was episode 12 of season 2.

On 11 Jul 2018, at 21:11, Jeff Urban <JURB6006@...> wrote:

... Neither series wasted alot of money on special effects, which seems to be common these days. I mean they are just about to the point where they don't need actors. I shit you not, look at some of the video games these days. …

The impressive character animation in video games is done by actors, using motion capture gear to record the real human actor’s movement and voice and use it to control an animated software “puppet” in a precise, wholly-predefined, scripted, and generally non-interactive sequence.

We’re still quite a long way from achieving realistic video game character acting (particularly interactive acting) without using motion capture, except in limited settings — e.g., action sequences in first-person shooters — where the interaction is limited and you’re unlikely to notice the flaws.

On Sun, 15 Jul 2018 20:28:02 +0100, you wrote:

On 11 Jul 2018, at 21:11, Jeff Urban <JURB6006@...> wrote:

... Neither series wasted alot of money on special effects, which seems to be common these days. I mean they are just about to the point where they don't need actors. I shit you not, look at some of the video games these days. …

The impressive character animation in video games is done by actors, using motion capture gear to record the real human actor’s movement and voice and use it to control an animated software “puppet” in a precise, wholly-predefined, scripted, and generally non-interactive sequence.

We’re still quite a long way from achieving realistic video game character acting (particularly interactive acting) without using motion capture, except in limited settings — e.g., action sequences in first-person shooters — where the interaction is limited and you’re unlikely to notice the flaws.

You *can* buy movement libraries done from mo-cap. Real problem comes
when you run out of humanoid characters and have something that needs
an integrated mo-cap of, say, wings and tail.

Harvey

Speaking of "Outer Limits" soldering, I just watched the episode "I, Robot" from 1964. There's a scene in which a scientist building a robot uses a soldering gun. And he appears to be actually soldering - you can't see the joint, but the gun's work light comes on, the transformer buzzes, and smoke rises from the tip.

I think the gun was the Wen model shown in this discussion thread:
<>

Pretty good episode, BTW - deals with some of the same issues about artificial intelligence that are being debated today.

Albert

A Wen 'Insty Iron'? If so that was a fast heating soldering iron with a pistol grip. They had a red phenolic case, and a single post for the soldering iron. I have one, somewhere in my collection of obsolete tools.


Michael A. Terrell

On 07/15/2018 05:32 PM, Albert LaFrance wrote:

Pretty good episode, BTW - deals with some of the same issues about artificial intelligence that are being debated today.

Funny to think of pairing soldering with a Wen transformer soldering gun and AI. :-)

I've got one of those Wen soldering guns -- good for soldering galvanized steel when you don't want to heat up
a big iron, and for plastic carving and shaping with a flat-iron shaped element. For plastic work I use a variac in front of it.

On 07/15/2018 06:04 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

They had a red phenolic case, and a single post for the soldering iron.

I have a couple of the ones with two screw posts for holding heater elements.

Doesn't say insty iron on metal case with 50's-60's ad art.

I saw ads for the red version in '60s electronics magazines. The original Weller design is much older, so they may have had to wait for Weller's patents to expire.


Michael A. Terrell

On Sun, 15 Jul 2018 18:32:31 -0400, you wrote:

Speaking of "Outer Limits" soldering, I just watched the episode "I, Robot" from 1964. There's a scene in which a scientist building a robot uses a soldering gun. And he appears to be actually soldering - you can't see the joint, but the gun's work light comes on, the transformer buzzes, and smoke rises from the tip.

That was not anything that Isaac Asimov did, but it was more borrowed
from a short story (and novel) called Adam Link, Robot, by Eando
Binder.

(Otto and Ernest?) Binder, hence EandO.

He was accused of killing his creator, in that story. In "the caves
of steel", by asimov, Elijah Bailey was defending RDaneel Olivaw from
the same charges, but the situation was quite different.

IIRC.

Harvey

I think the gun was the Wen model shown in this discussion thread:
<>

Pretty good episode, BTW - deals with some of the same issues about artificial intelligence that are being debated today.

Albert

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Michael A. Terrell
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2018 8:12 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TekScopes] OT: Scopes and other electronics on "The Outer Limits"

Teaching a chimpanzee to use a meter is easy, but have you ever see one than can solder worth a damn? ;-)


Michael A. Terrell


-----Original Message-----

From: Albert LaFrance <albert.lafrance@...>

I've been watching some episodes of the outstanding US science-fiction
TV series "The Outer Limits", which aired from 1963-1965 (two seasons).
The settings of many episodes prominently feature electronic equipment,
typically in a scientific laboratory, military command post, space
mission control center, or a spacecraft.

A lot of the props were from local surplus stores. Even if it had been marked, it wouldn't have made sense.

Despite the fact that the show's opening title sequence begins with
what is probably best-known oscilloscope trace in history
(), I haven't seen a lot of
scopes in the episodes themselves, and the few that have appeared
weren't operating. A DuMont shows up from time to time, just sitting
on a counter or console as an afterthought. You'd think they'd at
least be rigged up to display the ever-popular Lissajous figures, but
the series was pretty low-budget.



One episode showed, in the background, a cart-mounted scope which had
the general form and panel layout of a Tek 500 series, but with a sort
of white cowling around the top and sides of the front panel. In
another, there was a rack-mounted 5-inch scope with a dark gray/green
panel. I don't know what brand either scope was.



In general, the electronics were a mix of real contemporary equipment
and stuff that was probably purpose-built as props. The real equipment
sometimes included those big multi-track analog tape recorders and
vertical pen plotters that were so popular in the early years of
aerospace development. The "prop" equipment was generally panels of
meters, toggle switches, pots/rotary switches and indicator lights; the
meters and lights were usually non-operational unless they had some significance in the plot.
A lot of them were in 19-inch racks or bench-type consoles.



A striking feature of these "prop" panels was the lack of labeling on
any of the devices unless, again, a particular device had a role in the story (e.g.
the radiation meter on an out-of-control reactor). But then, I guess a
scientist who's smart enough to invent a time machine or
inter-dimensional portal should be able to remember what switch does what.



Another electronics tidbit from the series: in one episode, a scientist
had developed a way to rapidly advance an individual primate's
(including
human's) evolution, based on the premise that an organism's future form
is already encoded in its DNA and can brought out by the use of a
machine built for that task. To show a visitor how effective this
technique was, the scientist pointed to one of his successes - a
chimpanzee seated at a bench in a corner of the lab, quite convincingly
using a VOM to troubleshoot some piece of vacuum-tube electronics!

On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 08:45 AM, David Hess wrote:

They were using stories from actual science fiction writers. Larry
Niven wrote Inconsistent Moon which was episode 12 of season 2.

AAAAHHHH, I think I remember that one. the guy from Family Ties was on it and he was a scientist who figured the sun had gone nova, but it turned out to be a solar flare. He had the hots for this Woman and was a bit shy to approach her but when he thought the world was gong to end he went for her. She got a little bit miffed over that but got over it. the shockwave at the speed of sound hit them and the flare did kinda FUBAR the Earth but it did not kill everyone. he was kinda thinking when he wanted to cook all the food they had because the utilities were bound to go off.

It had a bit more of a human touch than I prefer in scifi but not too bad. Even with Star Trek, which I cut my teeth on, the ones that are like a soap opera are not my favorite to say the least. I don't really even watch DS9 because of that. not that it is bad, it is just not my taste.

When I was a kid, 7 when it came out nobody was allowed to talk when it was on. We had the choice, shut up, outside or hell broke loose, maybe locked in a closet or something. My Parents were not really abusive at all. Tough, but then so was I. But the olman was allowed to talk and he made some jokes about it that literally had me on the floor rolling in laughter. I mean to the point where I missed part of the show. But they did reruns so all was not lost.

That series was great, as well as some that followed, but I have to say, the new Outer Limits actually beat them.

On Tue, Jul 10, 2018 at 07:22 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

That so called radio station looked like something from what 'Sanford & Son'
would have tossed out.

Yeah. It was a small town AM radio station with maybe 10,000 watts. What gets me is how he pushed microwaves through that tower that was clearly not built for it, and at a strength to reach pretty far into outer space. Oh, and no propagation delay either.

I like picking scifi apart like that. Some say I overanalyse but I say they underanalyse.

I've actually written a bit of scifi and it is not easy to create new futuristic science. I can't reveal it because of reasons, but I got good reviews on it. And then the timeline. I ran out of timeline. I had to go back and change things, pain in the (_|_).

I had a half decent science background, but many authors don't. The depend on research and whatever, themselves or assistants.

But all in all I think scifi is a good thing. I mean real scifi, not this magic bullshit like Harry Potter. I consider the pollution. But if kids watch real scifi it can stimulate their interest in real science. I can't say for sure if that happened to me but I think it likely.

My story ? A guy wakes up 396 years on the future. He is a kinky person and an engineer. After more contemporary education he is again and engineer and does well financially. He takes 2 Wives, and each give him 2 kids. And what brought him to the future had nothing to do with time travel, it was suspended animation. After 396 years they did figure out time travel.

i was like in another world when I was writing it. And I had to read what I wrote the day before to keep continuity. I know how difficult it can be to write really good scifi, and I don't consider what I wrote all that good. OK but not great.

If I bored you with this, sorry, but this is an off topic non political thread so I figure I have some license here.