I wish that the last Starship Troopers interface wasn’t this one, but so it goes.
After piloting the escape pod through the atmosphere using the meager interfaces she has to work with, it careens off of a hill to pierce the thin wall of a mountainside and landing Ibanez and Barcalow squarely in the dangerous depths of bug burrows.
After checking on Ibanez, Barcalow exits the pod and struts around to the back of it, where he pulls open a panel to access the weapons within.
So equipped, the pair are able to defend themselves at least a few moments before being overwhelmed by superior bug numbers.
So. OK. This.
I want to ask why, in the first place, they would get out of a vehicle that can survive space, re-entry, breaking through a frakking mountainside, and crash landing without so much as a scratch. If they’d stayed there, would the bugs have been able to get at them? Couldn’t staying inside of it given them at least a fighting chance until Rico got there? The glass didn’t break when slammed at terminal velocity into stone. I think it can handle bug pincers. But I digress. that’s a question of character logic, not interfaces, so let me put that aside.
Instead, let me ask about the design rationale of putting the weapons in an exterior compartment. Wouldn’t it make more sense to put them inside the pod? If they’d landed with hostiles present outside the vehicle, what was the plan, ask them to hold on while you grabbed something from the trunk?
Additionally, it appears that there are no security features. Barcalow just opens it. Silly seeming, of course, but that’s how it should work, i.e., for the right person it just opens up. So in the spirit of apologetics—and giving it way more credit than it’s earned across this film—let’s presume that the pod has some passive authentication mechanism that biometrically checks him at a distance and unlocks the panel so that he doesn’t even have to think about it, especially in this crisis scenario.
That’s an apologetics gift from me to you, Starship Troopers, since I still have a soft spot in my heart for you.
Perhaps, like a modern car trunk, the weapons locker can be opened from either the outside or within the escape pod? That would give them maximum flexibility, in case circumstances required that they exit the pod quickly, such as if it were filling with smoke, or flooding.
Great thought, and a good design tactic. Though if that were the case here, you would have expected them to get the guns from within the pod, knowing as they do where they are.
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Have you thought about reviewing Stargate (SG-1/Atlantis/Universe) computer interfaces? Or you don’t rate series?
Series take a lot longer but they will be reviewed in time. I Want to get some of the most popular or influential movies done first. I certainly have Firefly already done. I’m itching to do Black Mirror. Clayton Beese is working on the Battlestar Galacatica reboot. Star Trek (season by season) will be important to do. Stargate would be a good one. I’m also always looking for quality contributions. 🙂
Idea on why the weapons are on the outside and unlocked:
You can’t count on biomarkers, as you might have someone, say a visiting admiral or intelligence agent who you don’t have the biometrics on file for that needs the weapons. However, you don’t want troops having free access to weapons while in transit.
So you put the weapons locker on the outside, in hard vacumn and leave the door unlocked. Sure, there is a chance you are immediately under attack, but also a good chance you can pilot the pod away from the enemy, so they aren’t on you RIGHT away.
Also, didn’t you say earlier the bugs spit acid? There are plenty of materials that can survive heat and impact that acid will eat through with ease. I could see a ‘lets get this over with and take some down with us’ mentality if you know they’ll just melt through the pod.