A scifi take on storage

The past month I’ve spent time organizing my garage with Rubbermaid Roughneck Totes and peg board. It’s looking pretty spiffy…for me.

Roughneck Totes are pricey at about $7 a pop, but well worth keeping those action figures and comic books safe from moisture. They can easily be stacked to save space.

Long before the Roughneck Tote, science fiction media predicted modular storage containers. The depictions have evolved over time.

Supply container from Star Trek episode Dagger of the Mind.

The original Star Trek series used simple boxes with prismatic wrapping paper to depict 23rd century totes. The series was also fond of cylinders. The photo at left shows a supply container bound for Tantalus colony. Eventually, storage and cargo containers got more sophisticated in the Next Generation and later series.

Container from Space: 1999.

Space: 1999 used octagonal totes (aka moonbase containers) which seemed to be made out of wood, had colorful markings, and built-in handles. Characters were always falling into them during fights and crashes. At left is a representation of the containers. It’s a icon from Dave Brasgalla’s wonderful collection at The Icon Factory. Kind of clunky and not very efficient when stacked.

Other odd shape containers have appeared in science fiction. The bigger cousins of the moonbase containers appeared in the dystopia film Silent Running. I remember Bruce Dern wrecking into them in one scene:

Cargo pods in Silent Running

My containers are smaller and against the garage wall. I hope not to wreck into them.