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{{trope}}
[[File:Micros.jpg|link=Star Wars|
{{quote|''We've got screens figured out '''now'''. What happens in the future that makes them worse?''
|'''Graham Stark''', ''[[Unskippable]]''}}
{{quote|''Ugh, you'd think in the future they'd have better graphics than ''[[Pong]]''.''
|'''Joel Robinson''', ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]: [[Warrior of the Lost World]]''}}
To the right is what a computer display in ''[[Star Wars]]'' looks like. Now look anywhere at your screen, and compare to what your computer can do.
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See also [[Extreme Graphical Representation]], [[Holographic Terminal]], [[Magic Floppy Disk]]. Related to [[Science Marches On]] and [[Tech Marches On]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' was made in the late 80s and mostly used command line terminals.
* ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]'', apparently set in the late 3590s, also has bulky computers showing simplistic vector graphics.
* ''[[
** Not just any Unix installation,
* At least they did better than ''[[Gundam Wing]]'', which doesn't even have GUIs who knows how many centuries in the future.
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* ''[[Star Wars]]'': In Episode IV, the fighters' targeting computers had very plain graphics, as did the Rebels' displays at the Yavin base. In later (and [[Prequel|"earlier"]]) installations, Lucas and company apparently understood how computers were changing. For ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi'', they didn't put any graphics that would actually appear on a computer screen onscreen (though they continued to show holograms). Even for the prequels, they kept such visuals to a minimum, though they likely could have created any interface they liked with effects.
** Even so, the holograms are black and white and flickery, not half as good an image as any video technology that would've existed when the first [[Star Wars]] movie was ''filmed.'' However, it does add [[Used Future]] appeal.
** The ''[[
* Compare the drab all-text computer graphics from ''[[Alien (
** Also, check out the digital photo that briefly appears in the director's cut of ''Aliens''. It looks to be about .001 megapixel resolution.
** In fact, ''Alien'' did have wireframe 3D animation on some of the CRT monitors in the shuttle craft's bridge (see [http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects9.html here]). The code for these was written in FORTRAN by British programmers on a Prime 400 microcomputer with 192 kB RAM
* Averted (a bit) in ''[[
* In ''[[Star Trek: The
** Some of the displays in ''[[Star Trek II:
* The text we see when [[
** Likewise, the [[Terminator]]'s POV shots have 6502 assembly language code in the first two movies, and Macintosh ones (including "QuickTime Player"!) in the third.
* In ''[[Gattaca]]'', they can make DNA tests in seconds, but they have neither touchscreens, or high resolution.
* ''[[Escape
** The glider computer's green wireframe graphic was too expensive to do back then so the model of Manhattan made for different scenes in the movie was painted black, outlined with green reflective tape and filmed. Truly, the past is another country.
* Inexplicably done in ''[[Real Steel]]'', with a Generation 2 controller that Bailey dug up for Max to use with Atom. Seeing that 2007 was a date mentioned where Charlie was still boxing, the monochrome low-res screen on the G2 controller should be more advanced than that.
== Live Action TV ==
* Many a Trekkie has suffered brain damage trying to explain the dichotomy between the [[Viewer
** ''[[Star Trek:
** While DS9 has considerably more animated displays than TNG, it makes it look like the Cardassians [[Salt the Earth|trashing the station on their way out]] replaced [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Bajoran_Intelligence_net.jpg certain displays] with (377-odd year old) Macintoshes, if the Chicago font is any indication. At least some of us wouldn't put it past those [[Affably Evil]] Cardassians....
** Voyager retconned this by stating a time traveler introduced computer displays to the 20th century. The result was an alternate timeline similar to our own.
* In ''[[Knight Rider]]'', all of KITT's "complex" displays are source listings of BASIC programs.
* Even worse, in ''[[Timeslip]]'', a futuristic (evil) computer can output ''directly as brainwaves'' or on a video screen. The video screen ''shows the image of a teletype printing out the computer's output.''
* The makers of the original ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** Oddly enough, the [[Battlestar Galactica
*** It is presumably due to trying to avoid this trope that you don't really see the computer displays on the ''Pegasus'' (which is a more up to date battlestar) or any of the civilian ships, all of which would be running the "current day" (or at least more modern) colonial computers as opposed to the obsolete systems on the ''Galactica''.
*** The spin-off ''[[Caprica]]'' used much more flashy looking displays and technology in general - for instance, the tablet device Zoe uses and then rolls up to put back in her pocket.
** When the film ''[[Space Mutiny]]'' (which used classic ''Galactica'' scenes) was featured on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', Mike and the 'bots took notice of this easily.
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' we learn that at least part of SkyNet is written in Visual Basic and that Terminator CPUs plug into small subsection of PCI bus. No wonder they want to kill humanity.
* ''[[Look Around You]]'', keeping with its [[Retraux]] theme, makes use of BBC Micros, using one in the first series opening titles to run a laughably simple BASIC program. The second series features a BBC Micro with glitchy voice software welcoming viewers to the future of "Look Around Yog", while a toaster with a BBC Micro attached is a "futuristic toasting system".
* ''[[The
* Played with in ''[[Bones]]'' where Angela has a holographic display, with amber graphics resembling some types of 80s crt monitors. The resolution was way better, though.
* ''[[Max Headroom]]''. Everything is in wire frames. Then again, it ''was'' the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]....
* In the classic ''[[
== Tabletop Games ==
* Monitors of any sort are rarely seen in ''[[Warhammer 40
== Video Games ==
* The famous song from ''[[Portal (
** As is the interface on its [[Viral Marketing|companion website]], [http://www.aperturescience.com/ aperturescience.com]. Justified by the text of the secret employee entry: "And while we're all working on twenty year old equipment, somehow they can afford to build an 'Enrichment Center'." Suggesting that all funds were being diverted into developing GLaDOS and/or Portal technology while keeping everything else on a one-thread-of-a-shoestring budget.
** Not to mention that the monitors "don't need to print text one character at a time", so either [[
* Ansem's Computer in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]] 2'' is supposed to be highly advanced and storing all of his and his students research data. Yet, it uses 8-bit graphics and a user-interface which looks like the most primitive form of Windows the world has ever seen. Not even a mouse is used. It's somehow justified by the fact that this computer is the gate to "Space Paranoids", a world based on the '80s science-fiction movie ''[[Tron]]'', and the fact that it ''is'' at least ten years old already by the time ''KH2'' takes place, and there hasn't exactly been anyone around to upgrade the software.
* The computers in ''[[Grim Fandango]]'' appear to be teletypes hooked up to enormous amber-monochrome screens. It fits with the Art Deco theming everywhere.
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[[Category:We Will Not Use an Index In The Future]]
[[Category:Magical Computer]]
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