The Most Important Device In The Universe
You’ve seen it in Star Trek II. You’ve seen it in Airplane 2 and The Last Starfighter. You’ve seen it in countless Star Trek TV episodes from The Next Generation’s first season onward, V, the early ’90s iteration of The Flash, Alien Nation, Buck Rogers, Babylon 5, Knight Rider, The X-Files, MacGyver, and dozens of others. Since it’s a rented prop piece, it’s never foregrounded in the story (except in Airplane 2, in which William Shatner’s character has an entire scene in which he wonders what the hell the thing does), but frequently makes a great thing for the camera to pan past whenever it shows up. It had two transparent tubes full of red neon lights, turning on and off in sequence, powered by a lowly 555 timer. It’s the Most Important Device In The Universe. And now it sits on my desk, something which almost certainly requires some explanation. … Read more