Tablet PCs!?!?!

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that the Colonials are now using tablet PCs when they were never seen before "Razor"?

The thing that sparked this was a recent promo picture for "Guess What's Coming To Dinner":

http://www.bsg.cz/galerie/promos/407/hi_ep407_002.jpg

The reason I bring this up is because I'm rather fond of the idea of not entering "Trekkie" tech... Tablet PCs are very much the inspired form of Star Trek's pathetic PADD system. (For instance, why does DS9's Jake Sisko need 20 PADDs when one would suffice?)

The thing that kinda pisses me off is that this really sorta destroys the whole "retro-tech" feel for me. :( I like it when people have to do the foot networking thing.

[1Nivek1]

Yeah, for whatever reason, all TV shows seem to love tablet PC's. Could it be advertising in a small manner(?). Although, I think it'd be over the top if we saw an apple logo.

If I remember correctly, I think StarGates constantly had a dell insignia on the backs of their laptops (with the name "Dell") removed.

And 24 was one constant advertisement for cellphones.

I do know that there has been a major shift by advertisers to try to do this because of DVRs/TiVo.

[ShadowEnigma]

Did they ever have any in the scenese of the hanger deck or when they are examining the Eye of Jupiter? I don't know, it doesn't bother me too much that they have one, it's nothing fictional. I do understand your view on it though, and in that sense, it is slightly disappointing. I still hold the writers won't go Star Trek on us though.

[Dzonatas]

I don't see Tablet PCs as trekkie tech. I actually wondered why I didn't see more of them. They still use print outs, and that has to be recycled somehow.

How the design looks is more interesting. If they put the trekkie design on it, then it would seem out of place. Perhaps they could have choosen a more rugged tablet.

[Sparrow]

Well..they had a palm in a late season 2 ep.. when they show the munitions facility too

[CylonCarpetMuncher]

shucks they should have had digital crystal balls instead!

[Dwyn2435]

You know the radio that Kendra was listening to in Razor?

I have one... I bought it at canadian tire. And as soon as I saw it in Razor I was like "WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!?"

[IceCadavers]

oh hell no
maybe i'm just a nugget but i need to put down this shit talking
first, i'm a bit of a trekkie, and i'd just like to point out that DS9 and Enterprise never happened, and i'll acknowledge Voyager but grudgingly.
but I didn't come here to defend star trek.
i have always noticed how even the terrorists on 24 are never short of macbook pros
but i can't see any reason to complain about tablets in bsg. i mean, shit, they have FTL technology, built AI advanced enough to gain sentience. the truth is a tablet would have looked really out of place on Galactica pre-season 3, but it fits right into the networked and automated Pegasus. And any reservations I would have had about the concept vanished when I figured out what kind of tablet Gina was holding in Razor.

Asus R1 convertible notebook: http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=25&l3=372
The best tablet, slate or convertible, since its release back around when they were making Razor, still the best on the market to my knowledge. Of course I gotta rep it, I own one. But I did a lot of research and there wasn't and probably still isn't a better one out there.

Pegasus brought a lot of things over when she and Galactica first met up, it would be easy to imagine some laptops making their way onboard. Plus, if you buy a couple $1500 sleek-as-hell tablets for your movie, you'll look for any excuse to use them in the next season of your show.

But mostly I just wanted to point out how cool it was to see my laptop on BSG.

[Mayhem1703]

Maybe they didn't use the tablet PCs in early episodes since they have to network in order to pass data along to the next user?

And regarding Enterprise, they admitted in the finale that it didn't happen, that it was a holodeck simulation, which disgusted me so much that I won't even watch it in reruns and am glad I missed the show in it's original run.

[pagad]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that the Colonials are now using tablet PCs when they were never seen before "Razor"?

The thing that sparked this was a recent promo picture for "Guess What's Coming To Dinner":

http://www.bsg.cz/galerie/promos/407/hi_ep407_002.jpg

The reason I bring this up is because I'm rather fond of the idea of not entering "Trekkie" tech... Tablet PCs are very much the inspired form of Star Trek's pathetic PADD system. (For instance, why does DS9's Jake Sisko need 20 PADDs when one would suffice?)

The thing that kinda pisses me off is that this really sorta destroys the whole "retro-tech" feel for me. :( I like it when people have to do the foot networking thing.

I was pleased to see them because you can only take the retro-tech so far before it becomes a bit, well, ridiculous, which Battlestar has done occasionally. (American trucks on New Caprica? Come on, guys, a little imagination is not a bad thing...)

IceCadaver's Pegasus reasoning isn't a bad one, considering Galactica was resupplied when they first met up.

[thevarrior]

I was pleased to see them because you can only take the retro-tech so far before it becomes a bit, well, ridiculous, which Battlestar has done occasionally. (American trucks on New Caprica? Come on, guys, a little imagination is not a bad thing...)

IceCadaver's Pegasus reasoning isn't a bad one, considering Galactica was resupplied when they first met up.

I agree. It annoyed me more than a little that in the miniseries we see flying cars.... and then Starbuck is driving around in a fucking hummer/jeep. What the heck?

Also bashing on Star Trek is a bit harsh considering the show had some damn good character development as well as technobabble. I've watched The Next Generation and Voyager and enjoyed it quite a bit. Calling this "trekkie" technology is pretty much an insult to the level of technology portrayed in Star Trek, which far outstripped *anything* that BSG has to offer in terms of tech.

It's not unreasonable for the Colonies to have a slightly more advanced level of technology. In fact I would have expected nothing less.

The reason I bring this up is because I'm rather fond of the idea of not entering "Trekkie" tech... Tablet PCs are very much the inspired form of Star Trek's pathetic PADD system. (For instance, why does DS9's Jake Sisko need 20 PADDs when one would suffice?)

By that logic, cell phones are technically Trekkie tech. I would only take that kind of characterization seriously if it had been something like a holodeck.

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

By that logic, cell phones are technically Trekkie tech. I would only take that kind of characterization seriously if it had been something like a holodeck.

Nah, not really. Your cell phone can do more than Kirk and Co's communicator. Hell, with things like the Blackberry you have a PADD, communicator, mini-cam, and etc. all in one. :)

Actually, some of the best tech isn't in Trek but is in Space 1999 or even Babylon 5. The Eagle Transporter still blows away anything seen on screen, short of the Starfury from B5 or a Viper.

There's also the comm-locks, which are very cool. Communicator, access device, locator beacon, etc. Very cool stuff.

[thevarrior]

Nah, not really. Your cell phone can do more than Kirk and Co's communicator. Hell, with things like the Blackberry you have a PADD, communicator, mini-cam, and etc. all in one.

All true, but for the time it was a revolutionary concept.

Actually, some of the best tech isn't in Trek but is in Space 1999 or even Babylon 5. The Eagle Transporter still blows away anything seen on screen, short of the Starfury from B5 or a Viper.

There's also the comm-locks, which are very cool. Communicator, access device, locator beacon, etc. Very cool stuff.

Oh, no doubt. Babylon 5 has probably some of the most amazing superweapons ever invented. But on Star Trek they have machines that can make anything out of nothing. That in itself pretty much rivals.... anything.

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

I agree. It annoyed me more than a little that in the miniseries we see flying cars.... and then Starbuck is driving around in a fucking hummer/jeep. What the heck?

I don't see that being a problem. Not everyone is able to own a Jetson's flying mobile. ;-) Secondly, why would you fly around the freaking planet when you would easily be in DRADIS range (or RADAR) and be shot down by a Raider?

Also bashing on Star Trek is a bit harsh considering the show had some damn good character development as well as technobabble. I've watched The Next Generation and Voyager and enjoyed it quite a bit. Calling this "trekkie" technology is pretty much an insult to the level of technology portrayed in Star Trek, which far outstripped *anything* that BSG has to offer in terms of tech.

Ragging on Star Trek is a bit harsh, probably. However, the best show for character development is DS9, which was truly character driven, particularly in the later years. Voyager, Enterprise, and Next Generation were all very story driven with very little character development, outside of a smattering of episodes.

Voyager and Enterprise are especially bad at this because they really didn't develop things all that well. (Enteprise's last season was its best, simply because Manny Coto was able to save it... But he couldn't save the finale from the hands of Berman and Braggart. ) Voyager was just a lost cause because it wasn't really a fight for survival, and every week Voyager looked brand spanking new, replenished crew, and shuttles. It didn't show them surviving at all. By the seventh season, the ship should have been an amalgam of all sorts of technologies; different hull plating for damaged sections, etc.

Also, their abrupt switch to the DS9 cobra style phasers and new style tricorders was very off putting. Where, pray tell, were they able to get that shit?

And Voyager is just pure shit. Fortunately, with Enterprise... it looks more appealing. But it's still shit, wiped from Berman's anus.

Sorry, I know this sounds like flame bait, but this isn't. I have to call a spade a spade.

Star Trek should just stay dead. It's really because of Star Trek and Star Wars that SF finds itself in a stagnant rut... And it's shows like B5, Battlestar, and even the old-school Blakes 7—and you can say The Prisoner as well—that shows people that SF can actually be intelligent and accessible, and not pander to the idiots that unfortunately represent the SF fandom.

It's not unreasonable for the Colonies to have a slightly more advanced level of technology. In fact I would have expected nothing less.

Oh, it's not unreasonable at all. But technology doesn't have be adavanced all across the board. Just because they have jump drives or artifical intelligence does not mean that they have cures for cancer. That would be saying something along the lines of "oh, they've invented the wheel, but not a combustion engine, how stupid!"

All technologies tend to happen by accident or by organic creation... There are some very interesting books on the subject. I'll be damned if I know their titles, but... I'll stop here. I have to get back to work. LOL

[pagad]

The reasons I have stated up there ^ is the main cause of my apprehension regarding Caprica. Like I said, you can only take retro-tech so far: this is still an advanced, futuristic society, and I expect it to be presented as such.

[IceCadavers]

in general response to the trek side-discussion: trek has been the prime example of science fiction inspiring technological advances - from sliding doors (the real-world versions of which still are lacking in some areas; I won't be happy till they make that nifty swishh sound) onward. at the same time, however, the trend has been leaning more and more (especially from tng on) toward unobtainium and plot devices. dilithium was fine as a fictional high-energy fuel (exactly in the way Tylium is in BSG, which is another thing about BSG that makes me really happy) until it became a plot device and they gave it fictional chemical structures and atomic number and wrote an episode around it!

I think it's that growing majority of pure unobtainium that Joe was referring to as "Trekkie tech" and on that connotation I can concur, but I must argue it is one of which tablets, for a few reasons, are not deserving

1) PADD was vaguely futuristic once, but it is weak even compared to my cell phone now. tablet pcs are more new than cell phones, but nonetheless we have them on the consumer market, and we (quite disappointingly) are not anywhere near building our first battlestar. so it would be unfair to judge tablets as too futuristic, even without context or explicit function

2) consider the function of a tablet aboard a battlestar such as pegasus. something as heavily networked as that obviously has something similar to wifi, and a tablet would be a portable, complete (as opposed to just a terminal) computer that could be used by a sysadmin to connect with any shipboard computer as well as have easy access to all necessary software tools plus the touchscreen interface - and a certain skinjob did demonstrate that role for us - but even without integrating it into any other computer systems it would still serve as a very helpful note/logbook, reference, what have you, for any mundane maintainence or clerical duties. so it should certainly be appropriate in the context, even on galactica, though they don't exactly parade them around the bucket anyway.

that's kind of my third reason, too - they don't show off tech like the tablets in any case, let alone base a script around them like the parabolic plot device dish.


I will say though, even though it worked better than flying cars ever would have in that context, Starbuck's jeep was somewhat disappointing. I would have expected some falling-apart heavy old motorcycle that looks like it's kept together and running purely on wishful thinking but somehow purrs like a tiger nonetheless. but i'm sure some of that's my own wishful thinking :P

[genji2000]

"The future. Where will the future be? Science Fiction writers, they write it down, they write it down in books. And then it becomes films, and then it all comes to pass, like those doors in Star trek: [whoosh sound] we've got them now! That's about it!"

[Stairway]

http://www.bsg.cz/galerie/promos/407/hi_ep407_002.jpg

Dude, that gallery is awesome! I haven't seen photos that HD before.