Sci-fi interfaces
Scifiinterfaces analyzes the speculative technology in sci-fi movies and TV shows for fun and erudition.
- Posts
- 697 from 18 Jul 2012 to 28 Oct 2026
- Posting
- weekly (24 in the last year)
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- personal blog
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2026 24
- Maintenance tweaking
- Report Card: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1976)
- Rocky Horror: The OSHA Report
- Get Away / Slaycation: A speculative challenge for service designers
- Rocky Horror Sonic Transducer, Medusa, and de-Medusa
- Rocky Horror Triple Contact Electro Magnet [sic]
- Rocky Horror Vivification Interfaces
- Rocky Horror Castle Monitors
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) — Overview
- Ratatouille (is also about AI)
- Head to the afterparties: Fritzes 2026
- Report Card: Star Trek: Section 31 (2025)
- Star Trek: Section 31 — The Godsend
- Star Trek: Section 31 – Nanokin interfaces
- Star Trek: Section 31 – Phase Pod
- Star Trek: Section 31 – Mission Briefer
- Fritzes 2026: Best Interfaces
- Fritzes 2026: Big Label Roundup
- Fritzes 2026 bonus award: Best Assistant(s)
- Fritzes 2026 bonus award: Best Robots
- Fritzes 2026 bonus award: Best Comedy-Horror Interface
- Fritzes 2026: Best Narrative
- Fritzes 2026 Best Believable
- Fritzes 2026, an intro
2025 2
2024 4
2023 10
2022 13
- Report Card: Soylent Green (1973)
- The baby in the Thanatorium bathwater
- The “spectacular” suicide experience from Soylent Green
- The Thanatorium: Attendant interface
- The Thanatorium: Usher Panel
- The Thanatorium: A beneficiary’s experience
- Thanatorium: “Beneficiaries” only
- Soylent Green (1973)
- Make It So: The Clippy Theory of Star Trek Action
- The Fritzes 2022 Winners
- 2022 Audience Choice Ballot
- Design fiction in sci-fi
- Fritzes 2022 nominees
2021 19
- Spacesuits in Sci-fi: Wrapping up
- Sci-fi Spacesuits: Identification
- Sci-fi Spacesuits: Audio Comms
- Sci-fi Spacesuits: Moving around
- Sci-fi Spacesuits: Interface Locations
- Sci-fi Spacesuits: Biological needs
- Sci-fi Spacesuits: Protecting the Wearer from the Perils of Space
- Spacesuits in Sci-fi
- The Fritzes 2021 Winners
- The Fritzes 2021: Audience Choice Voting
- Sci-fi Interfaces Q&A with Perception Studio
- Fritzes 2021 nominees
- Report Card: Black Panther (2018)
- Vibranium-based Cape Shields
- Challenge Ritual
- Panther Glove Guns
- Wakandan Med Table
- Okoye’s grip shoes
- Fritzes 2021: What else is out there?
2020 32
- Who did it better? Santa Claus edition
- Agent Ross’ remote piloting
- Shuri’s Remote driving
- Kimoyo Beads
- UX of Speculative Brain-Computer Inputs
- Vibranium sand tables
- The Royal Talon piloting interface
- Panther Suit 2.0
- Wakandan tattoo
- Introducing Afrofuturist Lonny J Avi Brooks
- Realtime story visualization
- Black Panther (2018) — Overview
- Untold AI video
- SciFi Interfaces Q&A with Territory Studio
- Report Card: Blade Runner (1982)
- Replicants and riots
- VID-PHŌN
- Deckard’s ESPER Photo Inspector
- Pathogen Movie Backgrounds
- Spreading pathogen maps
- Call for examples: Spreading Disaster Interfaces
- Deckard’s Front Door Key
- Deckard’s Elevator
- Tunnel-in-the-Sky Displays
- Spinners (flying cars)
- Fritz 2020: Best Interfaces
- Fritz 2020: Audience Choice
- Fritzes 2020: Best Narrative
- Fritzes 2020: Best Believable
- Fritzes 2020: Honorary Award
- The Fritzes 2020: Audience Choice Voting
- The Fritzes 2020: Nominees
2019 41
- About the critical stance of this blog
- 8 Reasons The Voight-Kampff Machine is shit (and a redesign to fix it)
- Blade Runner (1982) — Overview
- The Design of Evil
- Report Card: Colossus: The Forbin Project
- Colossus / Unity / World Control, the AI
- Routing Board
- Unity Vision
- Colossus Video Phones
- Colossus Computer Center
- Evaluating strong AI interfaces in sci-fi
- Overview — Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
- Gendered AI: An infographic
- A Default Gender?
- Gendered AI: Germane-ness Correlations
- Gendered AI: Gender of Master Correlations
- Gendered AI: Gender and Goodness
- Gendered AI: Gender and AI category
- Queer AI in Sci-fi: A parade of sorts
- Gendered AI: Gender and Subservience
- Gendered AI: Gender and Embodiment
- Gendered AI: Correlation 101 & Method
- Gendered AI: AI Picks Female
- Gendered AI: Category of Intelligence
- Gendered AI: Goodness Distributions
- Gendered AI: Germane-ness Distributions
- Gendered AI: Subservience and free will
- Gendered AI: Gender of master
- Gendered AI: Embodiment
- Gendered AI: Gender Presentation and Distributions in sci-fi AI
- Gendered AI, initial results
- Report Card: Idiocracy
- Idiocracy is secretly about super AI
- Tattoo surveillance
- Report Card: Las Luchadoras vs. El Robot Asesino
- Trivium remotes
- Trivium Bracelet
- Mission slot
- Who did it better? Victim card edition.
- Playing the Victim Card
- Overview: Las Luchadoras vs el Robot Asesino
2018 58
- Boosting underrepresented voices
- Frito’s F’n Car interface
- Fox News
- House of Representin’
- Identity Processing Program of America
- IQ Testing
- The Court of Idiots
- The Time Masheen
- Carl’s Junior
- OmniBro
- St. God’s: Unscannable Panic
- St. God’s: Healthmaster Inferno
- St. God’s: Intake
- St. God’s: Insurance Slot Machine
- The FloorMaster
- Sleeping pods
- Idiocracy: Overview
- Why is strong fascism missing in screen sci-fi?
- A surprisingly empty survey: Strong fascism in screen sci-fi
- Sci-fi interfaces and fascism
- Untold AI: Sadowski visualization
- Sci-fi interface interview with Sebastian Sadowski
- Untold AI: Poster
- Untold AI: The top 10 A.I. shows in-line with the science (RSS)
- Untold AI: The top 10 A.I. shows in-line with the science
- Untold AI: The Untold and Writing Prompts
- Untold AI: Pure Fiction
- Untold AI: The Manifestos
- Untold AI: Takeaway ratings
- Untold AI: Takeaway trends
- Untold AI: Correlations
- Untold AI: Takeaways
- Untold AI: Geo
- Untold AI: Tone
- Untold AI: The survey
- Reader wish: More interviews with authors
- Reader wish: More about the narrative side of things
- Reader wish: More diverse UI work
- Reader wish: Talk to more creators
- Reader comment: Sometimes the breakdowns are pretty abstract and pedantic or obscure
- Reader complaint: Boring
- Reader free-form comment: Would be cool to know how (and if) do you apply these reviews to your design work
- Reader wish: I’d really like a better WordPress theme. This one is tricky to navigate at times
- Reader wish: Video games, space combat simulators in particular. :-)
- Reader poll: Quick-reply one-offs
- The Content
- Using the Site
- The Readership: Who are you people?
- Readership poll results
- A shout out for sci-fi 3D file systems
- Report Card: The Star Wars Holiday Special
- Life Day Orbs
- Snitch phone
- 21 Hyperdiegetic Questions about The Faithful Wookiee
- Bitching about Transparent Screens
- Report Card: White Christmas
- Pregnancy Test
- Restraining Order
2017 62
- Mind Crimes
- The Cookie Console
- The Cookie: Matt’s controls
- The Cookie
- Zed-Eyes: Block
- Zed-Eyes
- Remote wingman via EYE-LINK
- Black Mirror: White Christmas (2012)
- RSW CalArts: Rebel bombing target computer 2
- RSW CalArts: Rebel bombing target computer
- RSW CalArts: Luke’s binoculars
- Using iMovie
- Report Card: Doctor Strange
- Dr. Strange’s augmented reality surgical assistant
- The Dark Dimension mode (5 of 5)
- The Museum of One Film
- The Hong Kong Mode (4 of 5)
- Tibet Mode Analysis: Representing the future (3 of 5)
- Tibet mode: Display for interestingness (2 of 5)
- Eye of Agamotto (1 of 5)
- Sling Ring
- The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak
- Vaulting Boots of Valtor
- The Cloak of Levitation, Part 4: Improvements
- The Cloak of Levitation, Part 3: But is it agentive?
- Sci-fi Interface Readership Poll
- The Cloak of Levitation, Part 2: Could it ever work?
- The Cloak of Levitation, Part 1: An overview
- Staff of the Living Tribunal
- Named relics in Doctor Strange
- Doctor Strange: Overview
- An Interview with Mark Coleran
- Report Card: Children of Men
- Report Card: Johnny Mnemonic
- Ministry of Art detector gate
- Jasper’s Music Player
- Cyberspace Summary
- Cyberspace: Bulletin Board
- Jasper’s home alarm
- Cyberspace: Newark Copyshop
- Cyberspace: Beijing Hotel
- Report Card: Battlestar Galactica miniseries
- Alex%c2%92s game
- Cyberspace: Navigation
- Bot envoys (for extremely-high-latency communications)
- Phone System Analysis
- Cyberspace: the hardware
- Talking to a Puppet
- Quietus
- Sci-fi Interfaces and Decipher SciFi go to the movies
- Luke’s predictive HUD
- Video Phone Calls
- Syd’s dash display
- 3 of 3: Brain Hacking
- Jasper’s car dashboard
- Brain Scanning
- Green Laser Scan
- High Tech Binoculars
- Report Card: The Story of the Faithful Wookiee
- Children of Men: Overview
- Intermission
- Escape door
2016 40
- Door Bomb and Safety Catches
- Video call
- Talking Technology
- Headsets
- Ship Console
- Airport Security
- R. S. Revenge Comms
- Brain Upload
- Motion Detector
- The Memory Doubler
- The Doctor’s Office
- Galactica’s Wayfinding
- Hotel Remote
- Bulkhead Doors
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995): Overview
- Viper Launch Control
- Internet 2021
- Colonial One
- Viper Controls
- Introducing Hugh Fisher
- The Galactica Phone Network
- Dradis Console
- Damage Control
- Captain’s Board
- FTL – Engine Analysis
- FTL – Activation
- FTL – A Quick Overview
- Cic
- Battlestar Galactica Overview
- Back to the Forbidden Planet
- A Fermi strategy
- The Fermi Paradox and Sci-fi
- The Fermi Paradox
- 8 reasons you (yes, you) should study sci-fi interfaces
- Gestural Spheres
- The Faithful Wookiee
- Lumpy’s Brilliant Cartoon Player
- Jefferson Projection
- Itchy’s SFW Masturbation Chair
- Chef Gormaand
2015 111
- The Groomer
- Rebel videoscope
- Imperial-issue Media Console
- The holocircus
- The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978): Overview
- Orange/blue SHIELD Agent Interfaces
- Grabby hologram
- Avengers, assembly!
- Correcting attribution for the medpod
- Report Card: Back to the Future Part II
- Videoconferencing
- VR Goggles
- Garden Center
- Master Cook
- Black & Decker Hydrator
- Hoverstuff
- 6-Screen TV
- Scenery display
- Café 80s
- Wearable soundboard
- Holomax
- Thumbpay
- Thumbknob
- Thumbdentity
- Binoculars
- The Jacket
- Nike MAGs
- Fueling stations
- Skyways
- Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor
- Time circuits (which interface the Flux Capacitor)
- Flying cars
- Back to the Future Part II: Overview
- Coulson Calling
- Stark Tower monitoring
- The Mechanized Squire
- So…videoconferencing
- Tony Stark is being lied to (by his own creation)
- Perimeter Fences
- Glossary: Facing, Off-facing, Lengthwise, and Edgewise
- Main Power Board
- Control Room Power Board
- The Iron Man HUD is an impossible thing
- Security Alert
- Genetics Program
- Iron Man HUD: 1st person view
- Explorer Surveillance
- Iron Man HUD: Just the functions
- Night Vision Goggles
- Ford Explorer Status
- Iron Man HUD: A Breakdown
- Ford Explorers
- Paddock Design
- Abidjan Operation
- Weather Monitor
- Iron Welding
- Carrier Control
- Ground Penetrating Radar Gun
- Shadowy videoconferencing room
- Barbasol Can
- Velociraptor Lock
- Jurassic Park (1993): Overview
- Welcome…to Jurassic Park
- Portal Monitor
- Loki’s glaive: In summary
- Loki’s glaive: Mojo Radiator
- Loki’s glaive: Teleconferencing
- Loki’s glaive: Enthrallment
- Loki’s glaive: Projectile gestures
- Loki’s glaive
- J.D.E.M. LEVEL 5
- The Avengers (2013): Overview
- Sci-fi University Episode 2: Synecdoche & The Ghost in the Shell
- Watch a supercut of every user interface from The Avengers (2013)
- Report Card: Oblivion
- It’s the (drone) ethics
- A definitive list of sci-fi drones (in progress)
- Future uses of drones
- Actual drones for not-evil
- Military Drones
- Scav Reticle
- Scav dual-monoculars
- Flight Recorder
- Ghost in the Shell: Home viewing
- Odyssey Navigation
- Odyssey Controls
- Odyssey Communications
- TETVision
- Sleep Pod—Wake Up Countdown
- Homing Beacon
- Drone Programmer
- The Drone
- Scifiinterfaces.com presents the 20th anniversary of Ghost in the Shell at the New Parkway
- Contact!
- Entrevista Maximiliano Pena
- 5 Sci-fi U.S. Presidents not using interfaces (and 1 that is)
- Bike interfaces
- Jack’s Bike
- A Deadly Pattern
- Introducing Heath Rezabek
- Communications with Sally
- Hydro-rig Monitoring
- Drone Status Feed
- Vika’s Desktop
- Bubbleship Comms
- The Bubbleship Cockpit
- Breakfast Sand Table
- Introducing Aleatha Singleton
- Home 49
- The Oblivion will be nerdsourced
- Oblivion (2013): Overview
2014 79
- Announcing the Fritzes
- Report Card: Starship Troopers
- Escape pod weapons cache
- COURSE OPTION ANALYSIS
- Escape pod and insertion windows
- Planet P Uplink
- Tanker bug (missed opportunity)
- Galaxy, Quested
- Scifiinterfaces and Netflix present: Galaxy Quest
- P.K.E. Meter
- Containment unit
- Ghost trap
- Proton Pack
- Ectogoggles
- Darth Gozer
- Ghostbusters (1984): Overview
- Rescue Shuttle
- Federation Binoculars
- Healing chamber
- KLENDATHU CASUALTIES: 308,563
- Rodger Young combat interfaces
- Pillory
- Live fire exercise
- War game equipment
- Federal Services Communiqué
- Fed Communication Service
- Tattoo-o-matic
- Jump Ball scoreboard
- News and Information
- Compartment 21
- In case of evasion, BREAK GLASS
- Collision Alarm
- Red Phone
- Gravitic distortion
- Course Optimal (for IXD)
- Course optimal, the Stoic Guru, and the Active Academy
- Did The Lawnmower Man Ruin Everything?
- Plotting Course
- Stardrive on Groundhog Day
- Stardrive
- Glossary: Dunsels, Nurnies, Greebles, Gundans, and Fuidgets
- Starnav
- Spinning Pizza Interface
- Little boxes on the interface
- Reckless undocking
- Welcome aboard, ensign
- Rodger Young Bridge Doors
- Shuttle Yoke
- Nerdsourcing
- Piloting Controls
- DuoMento, improved
- DuoMento
- The bug VP
- Grade Board
- Make It Sew
- FedPaint
- Very slightly interactive news
- Starship Troopers (1997): Overview
- Fifth Element tees
- Brain interfaces as wearables
- Wearable Control Panels
- What is the role of interaction design in the world of AI? (8/8)
- Lessons about Her (7/8)
- Her: Is it going to happen like this? (6/8)
- OS1 as a product (5/8)
- OS1 as a wearable computer (4/8)
- Her: interactions (3/8)
- Her: interface components (2/8)
- A review of OS1 in Spike Jonze’s Her (1/8)
- (Other) wearable communications
- 2nd Edition
- Precrime forearm-comm
- Ideal wearables
- Wearable technologies in sci-fi
- Report Card: Wall•E
- The HoverChair Social Network
- The Hover Chair
- Otto’s Manual Control
- The Lifeboat Controls
2013 149
- The Gatekeeper
- Wall-E’s Audio Recorder
- Dust Storm Alert
- Eve’s Gun
- The Dropship
- WALL·E (2008): Overview
- Introducing Clayton Beese
- Report Card: Logan’s Run
- Scripts!
- The answer does not program
- Make It So on 99% Invisible podcast
- A call out for call outs
- The Evidence Tray (ordinary use)
- Dispatch
- Cleanup
- The SandPhone
- Boycott Ender’s Game
- Carrousel [sic]
- Happy Halloween from Chris Noessel at scifiinterfaces.com
- Dome City Rail
- The Aesculaptor Mark III
- New You Selector
- Let’s fade out
- A better Circuit
- Matchmaking in Dome City
- Can The Circuit be tweaked into shape?
- Is serial presentation a problem in The Circuit?
- The Circuit
- Retrogram
- Lifeclock: The central conceit
- Logan’s Run (1976): Overview
- Report Card: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
- The Pointlessly Menacing Learnerator
- The Revival Chamber
- Klaatunian interior
- My eye on you
- Gort
- The ship’s ramp and doors
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951): Overview
- Report Card: Ghost in the Shell
- Siege Support
- Section No6’s crappy sniper tech
- Brains
- Brain VP
- Most polite getaway car ever
- R-3000 “Spider tank” vision
- The secret of the tera-keyboard
- Section No9’s crappy security
- Name That Intro Planetscape Challenge
- Ghost-hacking by public terminal
- REAL TIME FULL SCAN HACKING
- Perpvision
- Thermoptic camouflage
- Headrest jack
- Happy Independence Day (USA)
- Virtual 3D Scanner
- Ghost in the Shell: Overview
- Report Card: The Fifth Element
- The Ultimate Weapon
- Sci-fi University Pilot
- Mangalore Bomb
- Fhloston evacuation
- Zorg bomb
- Helmsman’s HUD
- Sleep regulator
- Red mics
- Parasites in landing gear
- Rhod’s rod
- Fuel cell
- Multipass
- Slow Police
- Yellow circles everywhere
- Eepholes
- Apartment Lockdown
- Police light
- 5E-opedia: Search
- 5E-opedia: In-depth topic
- 5E-opedia: Watch and learn
- Zf 1
- Gestural disguise
- Roach Cam
- Zorg’s desk
- Other floor cleaning robots
- Floor sweeping robots
- The Chanel eye-makeup-erator
- Who did it better? Fingernail-o-matic edition
- Profiling “CAT” scan
- Nucleolab Progress Indicator
- An Interview with Christopher Kieffer and Coplin Le Bleu
- Nucleolab Kill Switch
- Mondoshawan Thrusters
- NucleoLab Display
- Mondoshawan piloting
- Taxi navigation
- Dammit, Vito
- Infomercial cop
- Taxi shield
- The daffy bastard
- Pneumatic Mail
- The Door
- Slideaway bed
- Followup: Video games? Anime?
- Four a day
- Followup: Is voice the future?
- Good morning, Korben
- Headsets
- Missile Scan
- Surface Scan
- Gravity (?) Scan
- Name That Intro Planetscape
- The Fifth Element: Overview
- Chat follow-up: SFX glitz
- Happy Fifth Element Day!
- Chat follow-up: Ultimate Weapon Against Evil & Constraints
- Chat follow-up: Humanoid robots
- Report Card: Barbarella
- The Positronic Ray
- Self-Destruct
- The Queen’s TV
- The Door to the Chamber of Dreams
- The Excessive Machine
- Resistance Chutes
- Piranha dolls
- Barbarella’s energy box
- Portable brainwave detector
- Atom transmitter
- Dianthus calling
- Aperture Door
- Alphy
- Sci-Fi Purple Drank
- The Shagpile Cockpit
- Gravity controls
- Helmet transition
- Barbarella: Overview
- An interview with Shaun Yue
- Report Card: Prometheus
- Escape Pod
- Mr. Yuk
- Pilot seat
- Alien Stasis Chambers
- Alien Astrometrics
- Touch Walls
- Audio Syringe
- Gene Sequence Comparison
- Alien head stem line
- Table Scanner
- Alien head sterilizer
- Injection radiocarbon dater
- Topography “Pups”
2012 53
- Medpod
- Remote Monitoring
- Spacesuits
- Janek wishes a Merry Christmas
- Prometheus’ Flight instrument panels
- Mission Briefing
- Floating-pixel displays
- Alien VPs
- Human VPs
- Interior Doors
- Destination threshold
- Alien / Blade Runner crossover
- VP language instructor
- Bridge VP: Mapping
- Bridge VP: Hello
- HYPSP>S020
- Neuro-Visor
- Hyp sl
- Prometheus: Overview
- Report Card: The Cabin in the Woods
- The Other Users
- The breach
- Course-correction
- The ritual interfaces
- Let’s get this party started
- Security and Control’s control
- A disaster-avoidance service
- The Cabin in the Woods: Overview
- Report Card: Forbidden Planet
- Krell Warning System
- Worst. Self-destruction mechanism. Ever.
- The Monster from the Id
- The plastic educator
- Krell technology
- (Other) Morbius technology
- Handwave switches
- Robbie the Robot
- Microfiche reader
- Military communication
- Military navigation
- Military defense
- Forbidden Planet: Overview
- Sci-fi animated gif: Speaking Permitted
- Sci-fi animated gif: Metamorphosis
- Report Card: Metropolis
- “Safety” “engineering” in the land of Metropolis
- Tool of liberation
- Rotwang’s Maschinenmensch (Machine-Man)
- Tools of the aristocracy
- Joh’s Videophone
- Middle class oppression
- Lower City oppression
- Metropolis: Overview