TRACKBALLS IN FILM AND TV – 29 April, 2016
Kensington Trackball in Mission: Impossible
A Kensington Trackball can be spotted in the first Mission: Impossible film.
The white Kensington Trackball with two buttons can be spotted in the scene where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) breaks into the vault while hanging on ropes held by Franz Krieger (Jean Reno). Ethan Hunt doesn’t use the trackball, but he puts a disk in the floppy drive of the computer, just above the trackball.
Later in the scene, when Ethan Hunt is back up on the roof but when the knife falls onto the desk, the Kensington Trackball can once again be seen quite clearly.
Mission: Impossible was sponsored by Apple computers, and the Kensington trackballs were mostly made for Apple at the time. Other Apple items in the vault scene include a SuperMac PressView 21-T monitor and Apple Design Keyboard.
It is not clear which exact Kensington model this trackball is. The logo of the trackball has been taped off in the film, making it more difficult to identify the exact model.
At the time when the film was made, mid-nineties, Kensington produced the Kensington Turbo Mouse, but several versions were made with the same design, some of which are even called Expert Mouse (the first version of the now famous and popular Expert trackball).
These are the possible models (there might be more):
- Kensington Turbo Mouse ADB Version 3.0 Model# 62360
- Kensington Turbo Mouse ADB Version 4.0 Model# 61400
- Kensington Expert Mouse Version 4.0
All of these look similar from the top, but have different cable connections. The Turbo Mouse models were made exclusively for Apple Mac computers, but the Expert Mouse Version 4.0 was also available for IBM PCs.
Unfortunately a timeline of these Kensington models is not available, otherwise based on the production years, the exact model used in the film could be determined.
If you have more information about the Kensington trackball models in 1995, please contact me here.
Read more about Trackballs
The advantages of a trackball mouse are plentiful: it takes much less effort to use compared to a regular mouse, it takes up less space as it doesn’t have to move, and it gives you more control and accuracy.
On Trackballmouse.org you can find extensive reviews of all popular trackballs. Read the reviews here, or if you just want to know which trackballs are the best, see the Top 10 Trackballs, or Editor’s Choice winners.
