Which TV or Movie Engineer is your favourite and why?

Actually Scotty really is a fantastic example: his management consistently gave him not enough time and not enough resources to solve impossible problems, and when he did it anyway took it for granted that he'd do it again next time! Sounds familiar...


"I cannae change the laws of physics! I've got to have thirty minutes!"

"Starship captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. The secret is to give them what they need, not what they want."


And while looking for those I found this wonderful Scotty conversation (I have said something very similar myself in the past):

"The tank can't handle that much pressure."

"Where'd you get that idea?"

"It's in the impulse specifications."

"Regulation 42/15: 'Pressure Variances in IRC Tank Storage'?"

"Right."

"Oh, that. Forget it. I wrote it!"

It is interesting. When I was growing up we had the crew of Discovery One (2001: A Space Odyssey) . And in fact the book "The Lost Worlds of 2001" was pivotal reading for me as it expanded the backstories and all the fun and exciting things you might hope to do with an interest in STEM.


I still read tons of sci-fi, but I don't watch it really - too much space opera! I really enjoyed Interstellar and the Matthew McConaughey;s character - Cooper - was an excellent role model for engineering: sort of reminded me of Cyrus Smith from Jules Verne's book "The Mysterious Island".  There, that's my serious bit for this year.


Cheers


David

You are right Andy, Scotty was great. And I understand that at least DeForest Kelly, Leonard Nimoy, and James Doohan all get letters from people who'd gone into STEM thanking for them for being an inspiration.


Cheers


David

Good old Scotty! My dilithium crystals are melting in this heatwave so I need his advice. :)

Aside of the other great suggestions, how about "Back to the Future" and Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown?

Yes, I meant to add him - interesting that IIRC he was described as a "scientist", but he was clearly an engineer working on sound scientific understanding  - definitely a very strong UK Spec criteria A and B!

Samantha Carter of SG-1.  Technically a Scientist, but showed a lot of engineering flair.  And how many other people can claim to have blown up a sun?

Just to detonate a neutron bomb in respect of what an engineer may or may not be, I was reminded of this from when I was a kid. My memory tells me that this was shown on Saturday mornings along with the Banana Splits, Arabian Nights, Robinson Crusoe and White Horses. These days I tend to think my memory is a lying git.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones_(TV_series)


Cheers


David

Hmmm...yes, I had also been wondering whether to mention him, but decided against...but then although I remember watching it I can't remember what he actually did (other than drive the train).


I'm pretty sure White Horses was shown on weekdays daytime during school holidays? Alternating with (sort of back to the subject) "The Aeronauts", another* French series, about Mirage fighter pilots, that no-one else seems to remember. And, according to my wife, Robinson Crusoe was in the same slot - I didn't remember that at all until I got her a DVD of it which vaguely brought it back. (A year or two back she and I complied and arranged a suite of music from that series of Robinson Crusoe which she performed at the National Harmonica Festival - we do get involved in some very obscure things.)


I think you're right that the Banana Splits show (including Arabian Nights) was on Saturday mornings. Maybe the others were also shown then too?


I've now got the Banana Splits song going round my head - I'll try replacing it with White Horses! (Obscure pub quiz fact of the day: Jacky Lee sang the theme of both "White Horses" and "Rupert the Bear" - and also sang backing vocals on Hendrix's "Hey Joe")


Better stop or I'll add to the impression that the IET is full of UK people of a certain age who live in the past...


Cheers,


Andy


* Edit: Sorry: White Horses was of course a Yugoslavian / German (my old friends SudWestFunk) co-production. We do like information presented on the IET website to be accurate