Report Card: Prometheus

Prometheus had an unreasonably high bar to vault. It had to work as a prequel to one of the most successful and revered sci-fi movies ever. It was directed by Ridley Scott, who produced Alien and another of the most successful and revered sci-fi movies ever. And in the 33 years since Alien premiered, Hollywood’s special effects capabilities have evolved beyond all ken, along with audience’s expectations of what makes for an exciting and engaging interface.

Even cutting it a bit of slack for these massive challenges, it was quite a letdown for its ofttimes inexplicable plot, wan characters, science-iness, and getting so caught up in its own grandoise themes it forgot about being a movie. But here at scifiinterfaces.com, reviews must be of interfaces, and to that end I’ll bypass much of these script objections, to focus in on the tech.

Sci: D+ (1 of 4)
How believable are the interfaces given the science of the day?

I’ll go out on a prediction limb and say that 50 years in the future is, given Moore’s Law, enough time to account for much of the human technology we see in the film. Artificial intelligence and genetics are hot areas of research and might even get to David levels of cyborg in five decades.There are some physics questions around free-floating volumetric projections, but that’s enough of a sci-fi trope to get grandfathered along.

The alien interfaces are of course meant to be vastly superior to our own, and so get a special pass. But even still, the glowing pollen displays are conceivable and are used consistently. You can imagine the touch walls and energy-arc interfaces. The in-your-face alien flight controls have some ergonomic sense to them.

But these are interrupted by frequent speed bumps of design. Access panels across Prometheus shift position, layout, and security requirements at almost every door. 3D maps can be transmitted through a mountain to the ship but not to the nearby people who can use it most. A science ship has a single button that throws it into ramming mode, replete with an audio countdown. These dissolve credulity.

Fi: B (3 of 4)
How well do the interfaces inform the narrative of the story?

Of our categories, this is where Prometheus’ interfaces shine the most. For example, the choice of materials for the alien interfaces are not only beautiful, but offer a great deal of affordance for users and audiences alike. And of course the visual designs of the interfaces is luscious. As a whole they are unique, engaging, and at times a spectacular pageant for the eyes.

The interaction design functions admirably for the narrative as well. The ship keeps its steward uninformed in order to tell the audience what’s happening dramatically. The audio syringe reinforces the body horror of assaultive medicine. The escape pod’s crimes against usability make sense to build tension around Vicker’s escape. The stupid, stupid MedPod fulfills its role of building Snakes on a Plane claustrophobia. (Perhaps this is a clue to the reason the film fails in terms of our other categories: It treats its technology solely as narrative tools.)

If they didn’t shirk believability so badly, the interfaces would get full marks for narrative.

Interfaces: D- (1 of 4)

How well do the interfaces equip the characters to achieve their goals?

I want to call attention to the film’s brilliant interfaces first. The alien astrometrics sit perfectly between passive and active sensemaking modes. The decontamination gesture is simple and memorable. The visual design of the on-ship interfaces is exquisite in its look and feel. The language learning interface combines the best of human- and computer-based teaching techniques. Each of these embodies some forward-looking technological ideas with solid interaction design.

But…

These occur in a movie with a ship that pointlessly withholds crucial mission information until the last possible minute. Environmental suits that blind its wearers. A decontamination system in the middle of the sterile zone. A 3D display style that confounds our mind’s ability to understand shape. A mysogynist MedPod designed by Marquis de Sade Industries. Door panels whose only function is to torture the crew with pointless tedium. Mapping tech that does not display the map to its users. Escape pods that hinder escape.

The movie’s transgressions against basic interaction design principles drag its brilliant moments way, way down. Take great care when looking at the film’s interfaces for lessons for your own real world design.

Final Grade C- (5 of 12), MATINEE

Related lessons from the book

• The HYPSP>S020 interface might have instead augmented the periphery of vision, as described in Chapter 8, Augmented Reality.
• The volumteric maps conform to the wireframe Pepper’s Ghost style, as described in Chapter 4.
• The Flight Controls remind us of the importance of grouping controls, as described in Chapter 2.
• The MedPod forgets a number of the lessons (show waveforms, be useful) in Chapter 12, which is all about medical technology.
• David reminds us why Anthropomorphism (Chapter 9) is comfortable. When asked why he needs to wear a helmet, he replies, “I was designed like this because you people are more comfortable interacting with your own kind. If I didn’t wear the suit, it would defeat the purpose.”

New lessons

• The language instructor implies that Metadata Should be Placed on a Perpendicular Plane.
• The mission briefing reminds us to Prioritize Transition Layers by Importance, and even suggests a gesture to let the computer know when it is no longer being addressed.

Report Card: The Cabin in the Woods

From the sudden and hilarious appearance of the title on screen, I knew that The Cabin in the Woods was going to be a special film. And in fact, it is one of my favorite movies of the past year, and dare I say one of the best sci-fi/horror hybrid movies of all time. (Admittedly it’s not a giant subgenre.) When we focus in on the interfaces, they ultimately help tell this dark story of epic come-uppance, even if they stumble a bit on the details.

Sci: B+ (3 of 4)
How believable are the interfaces given the science of the day?

The surveillance and control interfaces are all perfectly believable, even as they span different technological paradigms. There are some aspects of the interface that must be excused as “mystical,” and some toying with chemical science, i.e. human sex pheromones and the “let’s split up” chemical, that prevent us from awarding it full marks.

Fi: A (4 of 4)
How well do the interfaces inform the narrative of the story?

In addition to helping set the stage of a service that spans technological eras, nearly all of the problems help tell the story of a controlling organization that is only barely in control. It’s dysfunctional and jaded enough in the execution of its dark duty that we’re kind of OK with their failure and ultimate destruction. And much of the rest of the problems can be swept under the narrative rug of “it’s mystical,” again, in a very smart way. The only thing that takes us out of the narrative to ask “why” and “how” is the inexplicable cause-failure SYSTEM PURGE switch, but it ultimately just sped up a part of the film that could have been too slow in the wrong part.

Interfaces: C (2 of 4)

How well do the interfaces equip the characters to achieve their goals?

There’s lots of goodness in the interfaces to learn from: Solid clustering of monitoring signals, strong physical differentiation in the control dashboard, and even well-protected and well-labeled kill switches. But there are equally large problems as well: There are several blind controls that only permit expert use. There’s an escape hatch security system that only increases the panicked user’s panic. The communication system between the humans and Old Ones is ambiguous enough to cause world-class failures to communicate. For these reasons, you should be careful when pulling lessons for the real world from the interfaces found here.

Final Grade B+ (9 of 12), MUST-SEE

Related lessons from the book

• The delightful mechanical controls in the film already embody the lesson Mix Mechanical and Other Controls Where Appropriate. (page 26)
• Those same controls might have used some smarter grouping as seen in Chapter 3, Visual Interfaces. (page 55)
• The control room interfaces should have remembered the lesson from the Communication Chapter, that Signaling Change of State isn’t Enough. (page 202)
• The course-correction interfaces that nudged Jules and Curt into sex started to fulfill the Sex chapter’s Augment Everything opportunity. (page 301)

Suggested new lessons

• The excellent differentiation seen in the control panel suggests a new lesson to Differentiate Physical Controls, such that they are easy to find by touch, and tell apart immediately.

Report Card: Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet is an influential film not just because of its positive audience reaction and later cult success, but also because Gene Roddenberry has stated that it deeply influenced his massive science fiction property Star Trek, in look, general plot structure, and even some of the same effects.

The film is also notable for the introduction of Robbie the Robot, an anthropomorphic robot who was such a hit (and so expensive for MGM to create) that he warranted a follow-up movie all to himself, and inspired the creator Robert Kinoshita to make a similar robot for the long-running family-friendly serial Lost in Space.

But as much as we adore the nostalgic themes and effects, and as much as we recognize the influence of the film, our review must be of its interfaces, and for that it does not ultimately fare well.

Sci: B+ (3 of 4)
How believable are the interfaces given the science of the day?

The Krell technology is meant to be advanced beyond our understanding of physics and technology, so the film shouldn’t be dinged for that. Robbie is somewhat problematic (how, again, does he hold and fire the gun?) but as a result of Krell enhancements, we can forgive a bit of that, too. The Terran technology in contrast scores higher, even with the invisible “force field” version of an electric fence.

Fi: B (3 of 4)
How well do the interfaces inform the narrative of the story?

For a reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the interfaces could have easily been tacked on, unrelated to the central plot. But for the most part the interfaces are deeply integrated in the story, telling a tale of a man’s toying with technology that is terrifyingly advanced and ultimately uncontrollable. The film’s indulgence in some extraneous (and ultimately poorly thought out) “gee-whiz, what’ll they think of next?” moments are the main reason it does not warrant full marks.

Interfaces: F (0 of 4)

How well do the interfaces equip the characters to achieve their goals?

Between demure self-destruct mechanisms, death-prone trash bins, and critically unhelpful astrogator tools, the interfaces in Forbidden Planet are gory distaster scenes waiting to happen. There’s little that a designer would want to pull from these for their own work in the real world. Unless, perhaps, you’re Krell.

Final Grade C (6 of 12), MATINEE

Related lessons from the book

• The astrogrator’s armillary would have worked in more circumstances with a dynamic, volumetric display (and some attention to visual hierarchy.) (Page 75)
• Commander Adam’s Public Address system balances ease and control in activation (page 202) while also signaling state (page 202.) It also is an example of a Fixed Connection system (page 203).
• With his language use (page 187), mobility, and ability to manipulate human objects, Robbie the Robot might have fallen into the Uncanny Valley (page 184). Fortunately his strange manner of speech and inhuman appearance clearly signals his inhuman-ness, as recommended on p185.
• The handwave switches in Morbius house illustrate the first of Hollywood’s Gestural Pidgin (page 98): Wave to Activate.
• Though the Krell technology has many usability problems, the Plastic Educator shaped the look of Volumetric Projections from this point to the present day in sci-fi (page 78), and will likely shape it for decades to come.

Suggested new lessons

• The defense perimeter wall, Morbius’ disposal system, and the Krell warning system could have used some kind of safety or deterrence system. Each seems dangerously disaster-prone. This reminds us that we should always include Deterrence Before Annihilation in our designs.
• Commander Adams has the controls for the viewplate out of sight of the viewplate itself. This reminds us to Close Feedback Loops.

Report Card: Metropolis

Sci: C+ (2 of 4)
How believable are the interfaces given the science of the day?

Metropolis scores high on its mundane interfaces. The video phone, though a patchwork of paradigms, was quite prescient for its day. But with the goofiness of the steam piping, flood switch, and the magical thinking required for the Machine Man, we have to ding the movie interfaces pretty hard for science and engineering.

Fi: A (4 of 4)
How well do the interfaces inform the narrative of the story?

The interfaces help paint a picture of a society deeply oppressed through machines. Given that Metropolis was the first “serious” sci-fi movie and used interfaces to such great storytelling effect, it scores our highest mark.

Interfaces: B (3 of 4)
How well do the interfaces equip the characters to achieve their goals?

Josephat and poor worker #11811 have a very hard time accomplishing their goals: Their machines provide information and controls but do very little to make it easy. If these were the only two users, Metropolis would score quite low.

But from Joh’s perspective, if you believe that he’s the “real” user of these systems, it’s all working quite well. Work is getting done, oppression is getting done, and if you believe the fan theory of the last post, they catalyze the collapse of the Metropolis as desired. Even when Joh meets Rotwang’s Machine Man and realizes it is the key to realizing his plan, the interfaces couldn’t be better.

Final Grade B+ (9 of 12), MUST-SEE

Metropolis’ paradigms and mundane interfaces are of their time, and while a beautiful example of dystopian Art Deco imagination, may not be applicable to modern interface design. But they are fantastic examples of how forward-looking sci-fi can be in its interfaces, while still using them to help tell epic tales. The notions that inform the Machine-Man still qualify as “sufficiently advanced” to appear magic, and set an anthropomorphic example that the real world has yet to match.

Related lessons from the book:

• Joh’s desk interface would have benefited from Grouped Controls (page 55)
• The video phone is discussed at length in the Communication chapter (page 198)
• Machine Maria is a robot, the nature of which is discussed in Anthropomorphism (page 177)
• She is also used for seduction purposes, as discussed in the Sex chapter (page 291)
  Her fully conversational control interface is considered in the Sonic Interfaces chapter (page 109)
• Joh’s call might have been quicker if he’d been able express a desire to speak to Grot (See The goal is to contact a person, not use an interface, page 207)
• Grot might have answered more quickly with a visual signal in the user’s path (page 210)