If You Want To See How Far Computer Technology Has Come ...

I was watching the original Alien movie (c. 1979) on my DVR, a movie I had not watched in many years.  I was struck by how primitive the computer displays were on the spaceship.  The rest of the future tech looks ... well ... futuristic.  But the conception of what advanced computer technology looked like is amusing.  Old fashioned CRT screens and largely character-based displays.
 
The movie still rocks, however.  This was the director's cut, which I had never seen before.  Still a classic as far as I'm concerned.

I see boobs 

craigb

Zargg
I see boobs 

Four of 'em, ya? 

In my mind,  there's a whole bunch of'em 

I think the original is visually more satisfying than any of the followups. More artistic and pleasing to the eye. I watched it recently and then some of the sequels and it really struck me how good the original is despite the time period in cinematography (that actually must have been mind bending to see back then... but I was like 2 yo).
 
I'd semi counter your point about the displays/computer tech though. It seemed to me the ship's main computer "Mother" (I think that's what it was called) had a level of artificial intelligence and of course was controlling all systems on the ship AND a massive database. So when we see the crew in the "Mother" room and they are surrounded by panels with blinking lights it kind of reminds me of modern server rooms/farms... except theirs wasn't as cold and ugly. For a system such as that (which does not exist even today) I'd totally expect a full room like that bleeping, blinking and otherwise blorping away... with a secure main control interface for authorized personnel.
 
As for the displays through the ship... I can kind of forgive/resolve that as well because really the main displays on even the most high tech equipment/vessels (ISS, modern warships, planes, etc) will still be as simple as possible to get the data across to the user. Essentially you ain't there to watch cats doing funny junk or pandas sneezing so you get a simple terminal display to minimize computer resource consumption while still providing the necessary/requested info. That's not to say there aren't laptops and whatnot floating in space on the ISS or flat panels or whatever but main interface displays are likely going to be as simple as possible.
 
Also that was a "company" ship so yanno... cheap as possible to boost the bottom line.
 
The CRT thing though... that would be an anachronism (does that word apply to events that have yet to happen?). In a vessel like that you'd want as little weight as possible so based on current tech they'd of course opt for displays without big heavy tubes.
 
But I can even handwaive that away to retain my suspension of disbelief by imagining that there isn't a big ole tube displaying the green monochrome text behind the screen but instead a bunch of critical equipment. Like how when you design a plane or spacecraft you use every single bit of useable space you can to jam equipment into.
 
Anyway... great flick and a nice random topic to nerd out on. lol...
 
Oh... and I forgot to say...
 
Hi,

But no mention of boobs? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(or the lack of mentioning..)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(even worse )

bapu

Zargg
I love boobs more than someone here loves monkeys 

No wonder you like me so.
 
I'm a boob.

Not the kind I like 

Beepster

Busted!

bapu
Busted!

Lookit. If you ain't gonna tell me WTF a "comminicators" is then I don't think you are helping.
 
:-/

The situation reversed itself from I would say the late 1980's onward, when computer displays were depicted as being far fancier than they are in real life. Remember the movie Hackers? Totally ridiculous depiction of computers! A pet hate of mine is when movies depict computer interactions in which the computer's responses are printed character by character like a typewriter, along with a stupid chirping sound. 
 

I love it when someone grabs a laptop or keyboard and starts furiously typing away with both hands, while looking at the screen with furrowed brow...

sharke
The situation reversed itself from I would say the late 1980's onward, when computer displays were depicted as being far fancier than they are in real life. Remember the movie Hackers? Totally ridiculous depiction of computers! A pet hate of mine is when movies depict computer interactions in which the computer's responses are printed character by character like a typewriter, along with a stupid chirping sound. 
 

Yeah, the singing, animated computer virus was some unbelievably BS! Some of the movie was ok from a tech standpoint but, wow, when they blew it... However, I always did want to write a windows explorer type graphical interface they showed for the gibson file structure. That was pretty cool.
 
As far as the actual computer displays and types of info (even with CRT's), I would say that 2001 was the closest to hitting the mark.