Of course, Snuka is normally more genre-savvy than that, but somebody need to ask Mopey that stupid question, so the idiot ball was unceremoniously handed to him for the occasion.
And the question is kinda stupid – for of course you’d normally launch an experiment of this sort with a mouse-click, these days. Heck, you’d launch a global thermonuclear war the same way, for that matter.
Ships are still launched with a bottle of champagne and some hydraulic pistons, though.
Which is really the core of the matter – making a ritual of it to stress the importance. The very same idea is behind the rule that you need a few (or sometimes a lot) bits of business to make that sort of action stand out to a level appropriate to it’s importance in the plot, or the fictional universe the plot is set in. This is obviously a momentous experiment, so the amount of attention a simple, digital trigger would draw is just not enough – the attention of the audience needs to be attracted, and then you’ll want to create a bit of tension, too.
And, anyway, George has crates full of random switches, relays, control elements, modules and general bits and pieces he’s scavenged from…well, hopefully from places where they weren’t serving an important function. With all that stuff lying around, it would be a waste not to use it, wouldn’t it?
More on Thursday.
Like all those unnecessary countdowns, with the clock stopping at one second…
That actually works in real life, as well – seeing a clock count down makes people tense and anxious even (or especially) if they don’t know what it’s counting down on. XD