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-   -   Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc. (https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=96824)

McMurdo 14th Jan 2016 8:08 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Over Christmas I recorded the 1970's feature film 'Dads Army'. It starts in the early days of the war and Mr Mainwaring scurries to Elliot's Radio Store to hear Anthony Eden's call to arms speech. In the shop window are an Ekco A22 (circa 1946) and a Goblin Timespot (1947) and although the speech is heard on a pre-war Philips 930A, (circa 1932), for a radio shop it would've been a dated model by then unless we consider it to be a trade-in! Behind the lovely Philips is then revealed a Regentone A121 (circa 1950) on the same counter.

Not radio related but as the party leave the radio shop, you can see the film crew in the shop windows; they're tracking the camera in white t-shirts.

ColinTheAmpMan1 18th Jan 2016 3:07 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Possibly not an anachronism, but almost certainly inappropriate....
Did anyone watch the recent "Midsomer Murders" episode where lots of people are UFO-watching? One chap and his son have their caravan parked in a wood and have numerous bits and bobs of paraphernalia set up to detect "alien craft". Some of the items are radar-related, supposedly. The fact that the "ping" on a radar screen moves as it fades is a bit odd, but a home-made radar operating from a caravan? Is this feasible ????
When the outside of the caravan is seen, there is a "boat anchor" of some description just to the left of the door of the caravan. Anyone any ideas as to what it is?
Colin.

russell_w_b 29th Feb 2016 9:02 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
On 'Call The Midwife' last night, there was a power cut in the maternity unit. The Doctor's son was instructed to crank what looked remarkably like a medical 'shocking' coil; a wooden-cased generator, to which was connected a string of old-fashioned carbon filament lamps, which proceeded to glow to full brilliancy.

If that's the sort of energy a 'shocking coil' gave out, I think I'd've stuck with leeches!

Martin G7MRV 29th Feb 2016 10:13 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
He also stopped cranking it when they were bright and moved away - but they stayed lit! :-D

regentone001 29th Feb 2016 11:40 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
There was also a UHF aerial on the chimney stack which came crashing down during the storm

dave walsh 29th Feb 2016 11:43 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
There was a [Pye?] Radio in ITV's excellent "Churchill's Secret" last night-proper acting, unlike the East End self parody! I think the set would be in period [circa 46 maybe?] but it was looking very old already;). Hard to get a relatively new looking one though I suppose.
Dave W

turretslug 29th Feb 2016 12:20 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I saw that too, and wondered (but not for too long). Props, by definition, are far more likely to be cosmetically good than actually functional. Folk who dress sets are caught between a rock and a hard place sometimes. I think it's possible to construct an argument for a late 'thirties set to have appeared here- straitened times, "make do and mend", a wave of surplus valves and other components on the market plus demobbed servicemen who had technical training all doing their bit to keep things going. After all, radios would have been a far more significant expense then. That's the cultural context- but if a late 'thirties set had featured, there would have been people picking up on that as misplaced and inappropriate.

Peter.N. 1st Mar 2016 1:19 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I think the aerial on 'Call the midwife' was a band three which I thought was a bit late for the setting but the TV was a multi channel set and there was an A40 Somerset parked outside which came out in 1954 so could be right.

I also noticed the about 3 watt generator running several hundred watts of lights - clever that.

Peter

Phil G4SPZ 1st Mar 2016 10:12 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
An episode of 'Downton Abbey' featured a wireless set being installed in 1924 to enable the household to listen to the King's first broadcast. The anachronism I spotted when the programme was aired was that the wireless set took several seconds to warm up, and the audio was preceded by mains hum, an unlikely scenario for a battery set of that era.

My wife, a keen Downton enthusiast and owner of the official companion book entitled "Downton Abbey - A Celebration", pointed out the excellent still photo on page 20-21 taken from the scene set in 1924. The photo reveals that the wireless set is a beautifully restored 1922 Gecophone BC2580. However, it's playing through a horn loudspeaker which looks uncannily like a Sterling Model 33 (RR 3rd Ed, Fig 881, p. 211) which dates from 1927!

I realise that this is nit-picking in the extreme, and I doubt that any viewer noticed. I assume that the radio and speaker were loaned by the BVWTVM. All involved are to be congratulated on the extent to which period accuracy was achieved.

Peter.N. 2nd Mar 2016 1:24 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
At least the 'warm up' was fairly authentic, most valve radios in films seem to come on immediately when they switch it on backwards with the tuning knob.

Peter

TonyDuell 2nd Mar 2016 5:28 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
But wouldn't a battery set use directly heated valves and warm up very quickly?

Phil G4SPZ 2nd Mar 2016 6:51 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Well yes, indeed they would, that's why I mentioned it! I've restored several pre- and post-war battery sets and they usually come on within half a second. However the true performance would be nowhere so dramatic as a slow warm-up with some hum... is this contraption really going to work...? Ah yes, the sense of relief as the voice starts quietly and builds to full volume.

short wave 17th Mar 2016 5:20 pm

Out of place
 
I don’t know if a similar thread has been started (mods please move this if it has) but has anyone noticed in films , TV, Adverts etc things “Out of place”

BBC Arts have released an interesting take on New Order`s “Blue Monday” while watching it I spotted what looks like an Advance signal generator (audio? /RF? ) at the end of the piano (at 0-46 and 1-12) hardly 1930s! It was later confirmed as “Advance E2” (1-34) 100Kc/s – 100Mc/s so
hardly audioable! ( I used c/s to keep the period date – non of this “ modern” Hertz stuff )

Hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.
S-W

Link to video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHLbaOLWjpc

ms660 17th Mar 2016 5:34 pm

Re: Out of place
 
Maybe the E2 was being used for heterodyning, did the E2 have a straight audio output (modulation) Can't quite remember?

Lawrence.

short wave 19th Mar 2016 1:43 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Hi Pwdrive. Yes it did have an A.F. output, I forgot about that (dont use it on mine) On the video it appears unconnected.

ColinTheAmpMan1 12th Apr 2016 6:53 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
I was watching a recording of the latest episode of "Indian Summers" the other day. For those of you who aren't aware, this series is set in Shimla, which was the Indian summer capital during the British Raj. The chap who is hoping to take over as the next Viceroy, a fellow called Whelan (so not Louis Mountbatten, who was the last Viceroy) was making a 'phone call. The odd thing to me was that the cord to the receiver was curly! I would have thought that it should have been plaited, or were the Indians a few decades ahead of Blighty?
Colin.

G3VKM_Roger 12th Apr 2016 11:05 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
1 Attachment(s)
In a scene from the series "Fireball XL5" there are several shots of a set of American WW2 transmitter tuning units mounted on the space station wall, presumably to represent some 22nd Century high-tech gizmo!

Roger

Phil G4SPZ 12th Apr 2016 11:41 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Gosh, that takes me back! I'm old enough to have watched that series when it was first broadcast.

The Andersons used all sorts of tech junk in their sets, but to very good effect. In the later Thunderbirds series, for example, it's possible to spot DIN plugs used as desk microphones, multimeters posing as monitor screens, and even a Taylor valve tester. Clearly these bits of classic test gear were considered suitably cheap and plentiful to be butchered and given a new role. I wonder how many items came from the ITV studio engineering workshops?

Nicklyons2 13th Apr 2016 10:26 am

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by G3VKM_Roger (Post 838876)
In a scene from the series "Fireball XL5" there are several shots of a set of American WW2 transmitter tuning units mounted on the space station wall, presumably to represent some 22nd Century high-tech gizmo!

It works for me!

Also wasn't Prof Matthew Matic's 'space scope' a 35mm slide viewer?

G3VKM_Roger 13th Apr 2016 2:17 pm

Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil G4SPZ (Post 838886)
Gosh, that takes me back! I'm old enough to have watched that series when it was first broadcast.

Most of the episodes are on YouTube, Phil!

73,

Roger


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