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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

723.0. "THE TWONKIE" by FSTVAX::FANCY () Fri Dec 09 1988 18:14

    
    
    	In the early 50's there was a very bad (stupid) SF movie called
    
    THE TWONKIE (spelling?).  It was about an alien intelligence that
    
    came to Earth and inhabited a console television (or maybe all TVs
    
    on Earth, I can't remember).  This movie was so dumb it was good.
    
    I've never heard of it since that time and I'd like to know if anyone
    
    else ever heard of it.
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723.1ISWSW::VILAINMIThe Cooking Lady is Back!Fri Dec 09 1988 18:2819
    Yes, it was shown some years ago at a revival house in LA with Hans
    Conried (of Fractured Flickers and The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T fame) and
    the director discussing the film afterward.  
    
    It was based on on a Louie Plaggett (sp) short story that originally
    had the Twonky as a record player.  The director had other ideas about
    using this new-fangled thing called a TV and making it into an allegory
    about this "box" taking over our lives, which was what the twonky
    did in the story.  Strange how its almost coming true these days.
    
    Sadly, Conried died a few months later, but I still remember that
    film.  True, it was so bad in places it was good.  But what it said
    about the potential of TV to affect our lives still holds true.
    
    I think it was Harlan Ellison that said that television had the
    greatest ability to educate and they hand it to the purveyors of
    hemiroid ointments.
    
    /MeV/
723.2FACVAX::BOYAJIANMillrat in trainingFri Dec 09 1988 21:335
    re:.1
    
    The author was "Lewis Padgett", who was in reality Henry Kuttner.
    
    --- jerry
723.3LEZAH::BOBBITTrecursive finger-pointing ensuedMon Dec 12 1988 14:006
    I loved the short story - I got it in a collection of early SF.
     I thought it was incredibly clever, but I didn't see the movie
    (guess I'm glad, at that...)
    
    -Jody
    
723.4Of Time and TwonkiesBOMBE::BORSOMMon Dec 12 1988 15:587
    I never saw (nor heard of) the movie, though I would like to.  It
    was based on a short story by (I believe) Henry Kuttner.  I think
    it was a radio that was inhabited in the original story.  If the
    story were written today, I suppose a PC would be inhabited.
    
    I have a copy of the story.  Drop me a line if you're interested.
    
723.5EST::EDECKNever Moon A Werewolf!Mon Dec 12 1988 17:128
    
    Ayup, remember it well, especially the TV perambulating unsteadily
    on a pair of rubbery legs...and the beam that came out of the screen...
    Got a copy of the original story kicking around somewhere.
    
    Ed E.    
    
    
723.6I miss Hans ConreidFLASH1::KALLISAnger's no replacement for reason.Mon Dec 12 1988 19:5023
    Re .above:
    
    <Sigh> The Twonky (note spelling) was disguised as a console radio
    set.  For the newcomers, in the olden days before television, some
    radio sets were virtual works of art, looking vaguely like bureaus,
    sometimes (as in this case) equipped with phonograph players.
    
    The Twonky came into being because a worker in a factory from the
    future came back in time with an impaired memory; he landed in a
    radio manufacturing plant.  As he completed his Twonky, his memory
    returned.  He said, "Great Snell!  I ran into a temporal snag!"
    Then he felt around, pulled himself up so he was sitting in midair,
    and vanished.
    
    Hand Conried was a guest on the David Brudnoy talk show some years
    ago, and I called in and told him I enjoyed him in several pictures.
     When I included _The Twonky_, he said, "Oh.  I get it.  This is
    a put-on, right?"  When I explained that I was serious, and where
    the story for the film came from, he said, "Well, you'd know more
    about that than I," and changed the subject.  Evidently, he didn't
    care to be associated with it.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
723.7not surprisingEAGLE1::BESTR D Best, sys arch, I/OTue Dec 20 1988 02:5811
>    Hand Conried was a guest on the David Brudnoy talk show some years
>    ago, and I called in and told him I enjoyed him in several pictures.
>     When I included _The Twonky_, he said, "Oh.  I get it.  This is
>    a put-on, right?"  When I explained that I was serious, and where
>    the story for the film came from, he said, "Well, you'd know more
>    about that than I," and changed the subject.  Evidently, he didn't
>    care to be associated with it.

Hollywood has rarely seemed interested in science fiction for it's thought
provoking aspects.  Also, science fiction (frequently emphasising idea over
personality) is probably not an attractive medium for most actors.