History Main / UnusualUserInterface

--->''The Doctor goes to examine the Moment only to yanks his hands away)''\\

** In the episode "The Day of the Doctor", a sentient weapon called The Moment has an interface that manifests as someone from the user's life. But due to this being Time Lord technology, the person can be from the user's past, present or future. In the case of the War Doctor, it chooses to look like Rose Tyler.

WARRIOR: How, how do you work? Why is there never a big red button?
...

...
WARRIOR: Who are you?
(The clockwork in the box makes a noise.)

WARRIOR: It's activating. Get out of here.
(He tries to take hold of the box.)

WARRIOR: Ow!

MOMENT: What's wrong?

WARRIOR: The interface is hot.

MOMENT: Well, I do my best.

WARRIOR: There's a power source inside. (penny drops) You're the interface?

MOMENT: They must have told you the Moment had a conscience. Hello! Oh, look at you. Stuck between a girl and a box. Story of your life, eh, Doctor?

WARRIOR: You know me?

MOMENT: I hear you. All of you, jangling around in that dusty old head of yours. I chose this face and form especially for you. It's from your past. Or possibly your future. I always get those two mixed up.

WARRIOR: I don't have a future.

MOMENT: I think I'm called Rose Tyler. No. Yes. No, sorry, no, no, in this form, I'm called Bad Wolf.

* Before the debut of the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, there were jokes being passed around that the controller was in fact a glob of jelly that could read the electrical impulses from your brain through your fingertips.

* {{Pinball}} tables can have you [[Pinball/BlackKnight battle evil knights,]] [[Pinball/MedievalMadness siege castles,]] [[Pinball/F14Tomcat dogfight the Soviet air force,]] [[Pinball/ElviraAndThePartyMonsters produce an]] [[Pinball/ScaredStiff episode of]] ''Creator/ElviraMistressOfTheDark,'' play ''Pinball/{{Defender}},'' [[Pinball/AttackFromMars fight off an]] AlienInvasion, [[Pinball/BoneBusters fight off a skeleton army,]] [[Pinball/TruckStop drive a semi truck,]] [[Pinball/{{Whodunnit}} solve a murder mystery,]] [[Pinball/WoahNellieBigJuicyMelons deliver melons to the farmer's market,]] etc. by flipping a metal ball around a table instead of rolling dice and moving figurines, [[{{LARP}} or actually pretending to be on a heroic quest]] (or in the case of videogame tie-in tables, without using the joystick and buttons).

** In the episode "The Day of the Doctor, a weapon called The Moment has an interface that manifests as someone from the user's life. But due to this being Time Lord technology, the person can be from the user's past, present or future. In the case of the Doctor, it chooses to look like Rose Tyler.

** The reason (some) cyborgs used keyboards rather than direct interfacing was to avoid them catching a virus or getting hacked. The mechanically-enhanced fingers were just to enable cyborgs to type faster than humans.

** The interface used in ''Minority Report'' is actually becoming a kind of TruthInTelevision, as several technologies have developed ([[LifeImitatesArt some inspired by the movie]]) that work on similar principles. One is the multitouch interface, such as [[http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ Jeff Han's research]] and (what was originally called) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PixelSense Microsoft Surface.]] Even closer to the movie is the work being done by [[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/ Johnny Chung Lee]], where he emulates the interface in the movie using a Wii remote. However, the interface will never come to pass in the exact form depicted, because it breaks some obvious and crucial principles of ergonomics.

* {{Pinball}} tables can have you [[Pinball/BlackKnight battle evil knights,]] [[Pinball/MedievalMadness siege castles,]] [[Pinball/F14Tomcat dogfight the Soviet air force,]] [[Pinball/ElviraAndThePartyMonsters produce an]] [[Pinball/ScaredStiff episode of]] ''Creator/ElviraMistressOfTheDark,'' play ''Pinball/{{Defender}},'' [[Pinball/AttackFromMars fight off an]] AlienInvasion, [[Pinball/TruckStop drive a semi truck,]] [[Pinball/{{Whodunnit}} solve a murder mystery,]] etc. by flipping a metal ball around a table instead of rolling dice and moving figurines, [[{{LARP}} or actually pretending to be on a heroic quest]] (or in the case of ''Defender,'' without using the joystick and buttons).

** Now, the fourth revolution is in making: small touch screens have become more widespread, although they do not replace the mouse-and-keyboard pair due to cost and efficiency.

* In ''Film/{{Zoom}}'', the spaceship at Area 51 is controlled via placing one's hand in a sphere of gooey stuff.

* The Laser Harp. Basically a kind of big upright "master keyboard" that consists of FrickinLaserBeams. Notes are played by (depending on the kind of harp) interrupting or reflecting the beams with your hands. The use of fireproof gloves is at least recommended.

** Gallifreyan technology in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime "The Invasion of Time"]] and (to an extent) [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E1ArcOfInfinity "Arc of Infinity"]] seems to involve picking up undersized billiard balls of various colors and then putting them back down. The TARDIS itself seems to have sometimes had a version of this type of interface, particularly in the interior used between 2005 and 2010, consisting of multiple glass and metal spheres on the console. These even appeared in [[https://imgur.com/rn0U3 some of the 9th Doctor's publicity photos]].

** Gallifreyan technology in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime "The Invasion of Time"]] and (to an extent) [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E1ArcOfInfinity "Arc of Infinity"]] seems to involve picking up undersized billiard balls of various colors and then putting them back down. The TARDIS itself seems to have a version of this type of interface, particularly in the console room design used between 2005 and 2010, using larger glass and metal spheres.

** Gallifreyan technology in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime "The Invasion of Time"]] and (to an extent) [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E1ArcOfInfinity "Arc of Infinity"]] seems to involve picking up undersized billiard balls of various colors and then putting them back down.

* In often-overlooked 90s sci-fi show ''Series/CrimeTraveller'', the hero time machine looks like a mass of mismatched electronic junk and is controlled through typical buttons, switches, and levers; but in the last episode the villain-of-the-week turns out to have their own much more advanced time machine, with a very minimalist design and [[https://youtu.be/YdMa4sXMmBY?t=4875 large rubber breast implants]] for controls.

* In often-overlooked 90s sci-fi show ''Series/CrimeTraveller'', the hero time machine looks like a mass of mismatched electronic junk and is controlled through typical buttons, switches, and levers; but in the last episode the villain-of-the-week turns out to have their own much more advanced time machine, with a very minimalist design and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aio0d7P0Ias&feature=youtu.be&t=1935 large rubber breast implants]] for controls.

** ''[=DS9=]'' also explores how a Jem'Hadar starship is piloted. Notably, they do not feature main viewscreens. The officers need to wear a complicated shoulder-mounted visor that's hooked directly into the ship's sensors. Humans seem to develop headaches after using them for longer than a couple minutes, but Cardassians don't have these kinds of problems.

** Moya's controls are... empty grating. Seriously, look at the control panels, they're just empty spaces in metal frames with lights underneath. Pilot controlled all of Moya herself with a just a dozen huge buttons, but presumably his biological link to Moya helped a good deal. Of course, since Moya is [[SapientShip alive]], one wonders whether Pilot controls the ship, so much as negotiates with her. Frequently Pilot's role is to talk Moya ''out'' of something she wants to do. Averted with the manual controls on the command deck, which feature a conventional joystick and displays for use by humanoid crew.

* In ''WebVideo/Nebula77'', a Couple of thieves have a Space Ship, whose navigation control is literally the handle bars of a Motorcycle, as well as using a normal looking ignition key!

* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' is a HumongousMecha piloted from a 1970s [[CoolCar Plymouth Barracuda]] with a heavily modified dashboard. What do you do if you want to go faster? You step on the gas. Need to know how much energy is still available? Check the fuel gauge. Want to fire a more powerful laser? Turn on the high beams. Diving in molten magma? Turn on the A/C.

* In often-overlooked 90s sci-fi show ''Series/CrimeTraveller'', the hero time machine looks like a mass of mismatched electronic junk and is controlled through typical buttons, switches and levers, but in the last episode the villain-of-the-week turns out to have their own much more advanced time machine, with a very minimalist design and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aio0d7P0Ias&feature=youtu.be&t=1935 large rubber breast implants]] for controls.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons ''Terror of the Zygons'']] the organic Zygon technology is controlled by... [[Main/NotWhatItLooksLike fondling fleshy mushroom-shaped ''growths'']] that make up their control panels.