Computers in Hollywood, 70's edition

[glaurung]

Suppose it's 1977. You're writing for a TV show and you want to show how technologically up to date your villain of the week is, so you decide that in an opening scene he's reading a book on his computer.

Do you arrange for a TRS-80 to be placed on the set, have it load up some Lorem Ipsum on its copy of Wordstar, and show him reading that? Of course not. Don't be silly. Instead, you make arrangements with the opticals department, and have them do this:

The pages on the screen get turned by an invisible hand. And then, after some chit-chat establishing that the villain, who is a page at a glance reader, only has a few more pages to go, you show this:

And now, the villain, who is telekinetic as well, picks up the remote control to turn off his computer:

(Screen captures from Wonder Woman season 3, episode 12, "Gault's Brain.")

Pretty snazzy for the era of CP/M, Wordstar, and monochrome CRT's in your choice of green or amber, don't you think?

Comments

I like the telekinetic using the remote control.

[plaidder.livejournal.com]

It's easier for him to lift that whole bulky remote with his mind than to use his mind to turn the 'off' button?

Yeesh,

The Plaid Adder

Re: I like the telekinetic using the remote control.

[glaurung-quena.livejournal.com]

The point of the remote was to establish the existence of his telekinetic powers. Showing the remote hovering in midair was a reasonably effective way to do this, but that does not answer the question of why a TV remote was being used to turn off a computer terminal, or why the computer terminal had a remote control at all.