News

2020-11-29 18:11 The Art of Winbook

The Art of War features a couple of Starring-the-Computer debutantes: the Winbook XL and the NEC Versa LX, along with the more familiar Casio Cassiopeia E-100.

2020-11-22 10:48 SE and SE

There are two appearances of the Apple Macintosh SE in 'Til There Was You and Election (which also features the Power Macintosh 5000).

2020-11-08 15:01 A Flotilla of Commodores

There are Commodore PET 2001s and later PETs in episodes of Devs and Supertrain as well as the movies Trudeau and Eliminate: Archie Cookson (which also features an IBM PS/2 Model 30/55). Müllers Büro as a role for a Commodore 64. "My Secret Identity" has a Commodore Amiga 500 in its first episode and an Amiga 2000 in its second. Finally, The Real McCoy has an Commodore Amiga 1000, along with an IBM PS/2 Model 50/70 and, making its Starring-the-Computer debut, an NEC Ultralite 286F.

2020-11-01 11:37 Many mainframes and a smattering of supercomputers

Let's start with the debutantes. A Thinking Machines CM-1 makes an appearance in The Fly II (along with an IBM System/370), Hangar 18 has a first appearance for the GE 210 (along with the GE 635), and the IBM 1130 make its first appearance in The Naked Bunyip (along with the System/360). The IBM System/360 also appears in the "Mad Men" episode The Monolith and the German film Die Ente klingelt um halb acht. All the Troubles of the World has the Honeywell 6000 and The Billion Dollar Bubble has the Sperry UNIVAC 1110. Then there is the usual assortment of Burroughs B205 and IBM AN/FSQ-7 appearances in The Man With My Face, Fail Safe, Time Travelers, the "Cannon" episode The Rip Off and "The Land of the Giants" episode Brainwash (which also has shots of the Burroughs B220 and IBM 1620).

2020-10-26 14:26 An eMaculate Collection

The Apple eMac makes its Starring-the-Computer debut in Mean Girls, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits and Freaky Friday. The latter also feature the Apple iMac G3, iMac G4 and Powerbook G4 along with another debutante - the Compaq iPAQ 3850.

2020-10-21 15:13 Mostly PCs

The "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show" episode Honey, You've Got Nine Lives has a number of IBM Aptiva Ss. Dreams of a Life has a IBM PC XT and IBM PS/2 Model 30/55. There are more PS/2s in the "Murphy Brown" episode The Memo That Got Away and the "Tales from the Crypt" episode None But the Lonely Heart. Death Spa has a few shots of the AT&T PC 6300, and panels from the Honeywell 6000. And then a series of machines make their Starring-the-Computer debut: there is the Tandy 1000 EX in Def by Temptation and the Lenovo IdeaCentre A310 and ThinkPad X201t in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, along with the shots of the ubiquitous Burroughs B205 tape drive.

2020-10-11 18:02 Mostly laptops

Little Love has an Apple Powerbook G4, Home Alone 3 has a Toshiba T4600C and the second episode of Devs has an Alienware R5. Gleaming the Cube has a IBM 5140 and the only non-portable machine in this update, the Epson Equity making its debut appearance. Then there are three more laptops making their debut appearance: the Samsung VM8000 in the very first episode of Rosemary & Thyme, the Sony Vaio E in Cyberbully, and the Data General WALKABOUT/SX in The Beverly Hillbillies.

2020-10-04 00:18 G3 or not G3?

In this case, very much G3! All of the follow include the Apple iMac G3: The "Rosemary & Thyme" episode The Memory of Water, Fast Food Nation, the "Friends" episode The One Where Rosita Dies, Between Two Ferns: The Movie, Derailed, It Runs in the Family, Scream 3, The Big Short and Mean Girls (which also has a debut appearance for the NEC Z1).

2020-09-20 17:41 Godzilla 2000

Godzilla 2000 has quite a collection of appearances including Apple iMac G3s, a Apple Power Macintosh G3, a Sony Vaio C1, SGI Indys and, making its Starring-the-Computer debut, the Compaq Presario 5100.

2020-09-13 20:07 Some Commodores, some Apples an IMSAI and a Tandy

Tumbledown has a Commodore 64, a season 5 episode of Grange Hill has a Commodore PET and Black Fire has an Apple IIe. Next are two episodes of "The Greatest American Hero" - Operation Spoilsport has an Apple III and Classical Gas has a Tandy TRS-80 Model III. And finally, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead has an IMSAI 8080.

2020-09-06 14:05 Missing Bits

All of the following are computers I missed on the first viewing. The Hunt for Red October as a Zenith Supersport right at the beginning. Airplane II: The Sequel has a number of Tandy TRS-80 Model IIIs. Revenge of the Nerds has a poster of a Franklin Ace 1000. I missed a number of Apple computers in Independence Day: the Macintosh II/IIx, the Macintosh IIvi/IIvx and the Macintosh LC. And finally Terminator Genisys has a Starring-the-Computer debutante - the Miltope RLC-3G.

2020-08-23 16:33 Laptops and Portables, Old and New

Swordfish has three debutantes, the Dell Inspiron 4000, Dell Latitude LS and Dell PowerEdge 2550, and also a Panasonic Toughbook. Knives Out has two machines new to the database, the Acer Chromebook 11 and Lenovo ThinkPad T61, and also has roles for a Apple iMac G5 and the Tandy TRS-80 Model I. Straight Outta Compton has a small role for a Compaq LTE 5000, and Speed 2: Cruise Control has shots of the NEC VERSA 6000. More of a luggable than a laptop, there is a Compaq Portable in Price of Vengeance, and there is the equally lap-crushing Kaypro II in Field of Dreams, along with a NEC PowerMate 1. No More Dirty Deals has the Outbound Notebook (and the Apple Macintosh SE), and finally City of Industry offers two Apple Powerbooks, the 180 and the 5300.

2020-08-09 16:58 Hanna Season 2

Several machines appear in the second season of Hanna. There's a Apple Macbook Air in Safe, and a Microsoft Surface in The List. The Alienware 17 R5 makes its debut in The Trial and the Dell OptiPlex 790 SFF also debuts in Tacitus.

2020-07-30 15:51 A European Quartet.

From France, L'ordinateur des pompes funèbres has a HP 9830. From Greece, Mania has a Sanyo BMC-555. From Poland, Krótki film o milosci has brief shot of the Amstrad CPC 6128. And finally, from the Netherlands, the "Flodder" episode Computerkoorts has a pair of Apple Macintosh LCs.

2020-07-19 20:50 Halt and Catch Fire, Season 1

As you might expect, Season 1 of "Halt and Catch Fire" has plenty of interest. Episode 1: IBM PC XT, Tandy TRS-80 Model III, Zenith Z-120. Episode 3: Compaq Portable, Osborne Executive, Tandy TRS-80 Model 100. Episode 4: IBM 5110 (making its debut appearance), IBM PC XT, Zenith Z-120. Episode 6: Atari 600/800 XL. Episode 9: Apple Macintosh.

2020-07-12 16:33 360 + 370

Two films with IBM mainframe computers: The Treasure of Jamaica Reef with the System/360 and Embryo with the System/370.