Is there any reason the levels were not only sealed level-by-level but sector-by-sector (breaking down the levels) as well? That way, you could be trapped (as it happened) to a sector with no panel for the self-destruct. I found it stupid while the film seems to be a very sophisticated work. It surely was the most scientifically accurate and realistic sci-fi movie I've ever seen...
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Just happy I wasn't the only one, thanks. :)
shareMost likely it was designer error, brought on by the bureaucratic design-by-committee process. This complex probably wasn't designed in a day by just one person, but rather over a prolonged period of time by several different people. And whenever multiple people get involved, there's a lot of opportunity for the left hand to not know what the right hand is doing. My guess is that somebody on the committee added in a requirement for (more) sector doors to be added in, without simultaneously adding in a requirement for an equivalent increase in the number of control panels.
The lead scientist does remark at one point that during simulations, they realized that there was a need for more control panels, but installation of the extra panels had never been finished. I'm guessing that one such simulation probably revealed the flaw, and there just had not been sufficient time to fix it before this incident occurred.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I said in a thread titled 'Self Destruct Mechanisms' about half a dozen threads down. Honestly, rather than taking away from the movie, it adds a bit of realism as anyone who has ever had to work in a federally-funded institution can attest.
Simply put, it was a problem with changing design specifications after the original facility had been built and no one had thought about the need to coordinate the installation of the new sealing doors with the installation of the emergency override panels (two different groups of contractors performing the work on two completely different systems).