The Future Is Noir: Difference between revisions

** TNG had actually ''started'' with noir lighting. The production staff apparently hated this look, but for some strange reason waited until the third season before firing the initial lighting cameraman and bringing in someone who brightened things up.

** "Yesterday's Enterprise" featured an alternate timeline where the Federation was at war with the Klingons, [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Enterprise-d_bridge_alternate.jpg the bridge] was very dimly lit, and [[Take That|there was a plausible reason to have]] [[Improbable Age|Wesley as a full ensign]]. Interestingly, the [[Darker and Edgier]] alternate timeline had an opposite effect on [[Good Guy Bar|Ten Forward]]: instead of being the usual mood-lit recreational area, it's a banal mess hall with white fluorescent lighting (now, in the normal timeline, the lights ''do'' go up in there as needed, but you'd probably only notice if you're paying much attention to it).

*** Whoever designed Voyager had a flair for the dramatic, as the lights on the Bridge would dim whenever the ship went on [[Red Alert]].

** Klingon and Romulan ships in [[Star Trek: The Original Series|TOS]] were just as brightly colored inside as their Federation counterparts (the show had a lot of bright colors so as to be a good demonstration of color TV). Ever since the films, though, they seem to prefer seeing crewmates as dim, sinister-looking silhouettes (along with the [[Rubber Forehead Alien|forehead ridges]] picked up at the same time, it is unclear whether this is supposed to be an actual change or whether it is simply [[Art Evolution]]).

* An episode of ''[[Farscape]]'' answered the question of "why is Moya so damn dark?": aliens have FAR better vision than us little (but still "''superior!''") humans. Also, Moya is a living ship. It makes some sense that she'd want to conserve energy for other, more critical things, despite anything Pilot might tell her to do.

** Justified in-universe because Destiny is always running on the stray edge of being out of power, is falling apart at the joints and hasn't had living-people maintenance of any kind in a million years. The fact that it has working lights at all is a minor miracle and considering that in many cases they were lacking power and parts for life support and basic functions, it's easy to justify leaving the lights down low and not repairing them all.

* In ''[[Firefly]]'', the interior of ''Serenity'' is always depicted as fairly dark to contrast with the bright florescent lighting and [[Creepy Cleanliness]] of Alliance ships (see ''[[Star Wars]]'').

== [[Video Games]] ==

* A lot of the environments in the ''[[Riddick]]'' games (and Dark Fury) have very high-contrast lighting, with lots of shadows. The lead character can see in the dark. The first game (Butcher Bay) takes place in the universe's toughest prison, and Dark Fury and Dark Athena on spaceships run by bounty-hunting mercenaries. You'd think it'd be in their best interest to keep the lights on.

** According to ''[[Tiberium Wars]]'', {{spoiler|Kane does this because he loves hearing people whack their shins on tables.}}

** The GDI global stratospheric transports in ''Tiberium Twilight'', while not as dark as Nod's facilities earlier, are still not well lit.

** On a battleship this is potentially justified in that it makes instruments easier to see. The living sections of the ship do seem to be a lot brighter than the deck level...

** It also explains why Cerberus is so much more advanced than the Alliance: their stations and vessels actually have adequate lighting!

* ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'' uses this during cutscenes but looks normal during gameplay, making the swap between the two rather disconcerting.

* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' (fittingly, considering the title) has several dimly lit levels, including the Skedar attack ship.