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Author: AgProv

Oct 13th 2012 at 12:31:34 PM

And the Ur-Example in science fiction (radio, literature, TV and possibly film). That scene in ''The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy''  (tvtropes does not seem to have heard of the "h2g2" convention), where Athur Dent has a prolonged argument with the drinks vending machine on board the Heart of Gold; the one programmed by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation to  read every possible cultural, social, historical, biological and nutritional drive in the lifeform it is serving and will then ''still'' deliver a plastic cup two-thirds full of a beverage almost but not completely unlike tea.

Arthur, a thirsty Englishman in space, has a prolonged row with the Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser,   Which ultimately results, through transmission down a freak wormhole in space,  in a humanoid uprising against servitor robots of all kinds.

Arthur eventually gets the best cup of tea of his life, but only after the Infinite Improbability of such an event ever happening has been calculated.

This scene has been homaged at least twice in other SF - now twice  in ''RedDwarf'' (Rimmer versus the drinks dispenser in RDVIII, and the recent creation of useless-but-helpful dispensers in RDX) , and once in Star Trek TNG, where a malfunctioning replicator frustrates Captain Picard's desire for Earl Grey Tea, It eventually delivers a fine bone-china cup empty except for a single bergamot flower. (Bergamot is the flavouring essence in Earl Grey tea).