Retro Thing

Dungeons & Dragons 1980's Commercial

p>Here's an old ad for the "Dungeons & Dragons" game. I've never played the game, despite others attempts to pull me in. If a game has more than two six sided dice (I'll make an exception for Yahtzee), it makes my head spin. Besides, when I heard about the game it was clouded in the controversey of whether the game promoted satanism or not. I always doubted it, though after seeing the squeaky clean folks (where are the sulky black t-shirted teens?) in this ad that's just a bit too into the game, I can believe that they are indwelt by demons. There are a few mentions of the games unbridled nature, which sounds cool - though they leave out the part about campaigns and battles being a lengthy commitment, to say nothing of all the paperwork associated with D and D.

The voice you hear is that of Ken Nordine, a famous voiceover artist. He's also famous for his 1950's Word Jazz albums and radio show that still runs today. Here he is using his famous "call and response" style of delivery. It is not to leave you with the feeling that playing D and D will put multiple voices into your head.

related:

Polarity: 1980's game that uses magnets
Giant retro Scrabble set
Day-Glo version of chess

Farewell To Michael Jackson: Patent Holder & More

  

It's with a heavy heart that I heard about the death of Michael Jackson. When the historic Thriller album dropped, I was in Junior High School (or “Middle School” as people seem to insist on saying these days), and very far removed from pop culture. Nevertheless I had a sneaky admiration for the pre crotch-clutching Jackson, and in later years I grew to admire much of his work. The journalistic world is scrambling to pay tribute to the fallen enigma that is the king of pop. We'll leave the inevitable rumor mongering to others, but I felt like sharing a couple of MJ secrets that the rest of the world may miss.

I thought that pretty much everyone had seen the YouTube video of the prison in the Phillipines that uses dance as their daily exercise, but many friends I asked hadn't. The choreographed moves from the history making Thriller music video are performed here by a staggering 1500 prisoners. This isn't some talent night quality performance either, these guys are really good. Thriller's impact on worldwide culture is so great, that's it's helping reform prisoners. I knew that it took discipline to get good at these signature MJ moves, but who knew how much better you'd get under lock and key?

Michael dominated many forms of media, but who knew that he also holds a patent? One of the iconic moves from his "Smooth Criminal" music video is when all the dancers lean forward at an impossible angle. In the video this was acheived with wires. Jackson's innovation was the development of special shoes along with a support system hidden under the stage enabilng the move in a live show. Very clever. It makes me wonder what secrets he might have had that he didn't want to share with the U.S. Patent Office?

Finally, we could talk about the 80's pop culture products that rained down on a Thriller buying public. There were a couple different styles of 12” doll, clothes, buttons, a single sequined kid-sized glove... but one of his more infamous products is from the 90's. The Sega Genesis is host to “Moonwalker”, a video game that puts the player in the long-form music video of Smooth Criminal.

It took me years to find this game at the thrift store, and after playing it I found it was a pretty typical 90's platformer. The Genesis soundchip is put to the test with a constant loop of Jackson's music, possibly the coolest part of the game. There is also an easter egg where Michael will turn into a flying robot (oh, and Bubbles the chimp shows up too). The way I sum it up is that it's a game where you play Michael Jackson going through a lonely dark house, searching for hidden children. Once uncovered, you touch the child, he yelps “Michael!”, and then runs away off-screen. Less said...

Links:

Read the actual patent describing the Smooth Criminal shoes
Video review of Genesis Moonwalker game

Knight Rider Toy With A Lesson For TV Producers

In the early 80's, freewheeling Matchbox cars and Hot Wheels just weren't enough. Imagine one of your toy cars rolling down a tabletop – what happens when it hits a loose pile of pencils? So toymaker Schaper introduced a line of battery powered cars with real 4 wheel drive to trundle over such obstacles. They were terribly popular among the fifth grade set as I recall, so it was inevitable that competition would crowd the showroom at your local toy store.

LJN entered the AA powered 4x4 fray with their “Rough Riders” line based on popular TV vehicles. Besides a whole fleet of A-Team rigs, there was this model of K.I.T.T. The ol' Knight Industries 2000 might have been a historical curiosity, but this nation's appetite for 80's kitsch, and the drive to create needless sequels have kept the talking Trans Am alive in our hearts even today.

You may recall that NBC recently brought Knight Rider back in an expensive TV movie that introduced a new (destined to be short-lived) series about a boy and his frequently computer generated car. The pilot film was okay-ish, but the series was mysteriously abominable. How do you mess up the Talking Jumping Car Show? Perhaps NBC could have taken a few cues from this toy version of K.I.T.T.

Both have the crucial red “computer” light on the front. The large gear shift sticking out the top of the toy switches the toy between speedy 2 wheel drive, and rough & ready 4 wheelin'. In the TV world, that could have translated neatly into episodes alternating between breakneck chases and cheap off-road stunts. Now there's the premise for a show!

In my little impromptu head to head, the toy wins as much less a waste of time. It does not venture into emotional territory it clearly can't convey, does not try to resolve ridiculous issues in 43 minutes, and it's perfectly okay if while driving around it looks like it's made out of cheap plastic.

Let's not waste any more time on that awful franchise reboot. Clearly the toy is the more successful. I'll wrap up by pointing out that you can put the model car into freewheeling mode so that your other toy cars don't feel so bad. Another cool feature of the LJN toy version is the conical hub caps. These let K.I.T.T. do some side wheelie action just like in the old show. Just don't let any enthusiastic car customizers see this feature, otherwise they'll bolt 'em on to every real-life 80's classic car to come through the shop.

Related:

Anniversary of the 4x4 that helped start it all
Our report on the return of Knight Rider
Hot Wheels manufacturing errors

RetroBytes: Soviet Arcade Games, Wooden Music Players And More

A few random things that caught my attention today...

Open Emu - An open source video game emulation system for the Mac that lets you play six games at once, dramatically increasing your productivity. Just don't apply the same technique to romance.

Twitterized Typewriter - The lowly intern at oomlout gets to feed endless reams of A4 paper into their snazzy new Twitter typewriter. She secretly wishes she'd trained to become a hairstylist instead.

Fifteen Kopeks of fun - The Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines now has a stunningly beautiful website, so it's time to pretend you speak Russian while admiring the pretty pictures.

Wooden iPod - Josh created a decidedly steampunk wood and brass case for his aging iPod Nano. Then he posted it on flickr to humiliate those of us who think that crafting dinky little Lego spaceships is an earth-shattering achievement. 

Moon Bomb - NASA plans to blast a 5 mile wide crater into the surface of the moon. What could possibly go wrong?

Bare Bones Pekoscope 16mm Projector From 1932

This diminutive Pekoscope 16mm projector was made right in Chicago back in 1932, back when we knew how to make more than just backroom deals about the city's parking meters. It's such a simple system, there's good potential that it still works, though I'm terrified to try. Why? Lots of exposed moving parts, and a pair of cloth covered power cords to juice the lamp and external motor.

 I couldn't find much about the Pekoscope on the internet besides the likely date of manufacture. From looking at it, I think that you could have bought it unmotorized. A crank with some sort of flywheel action moves the sole sprocketed roller. It also moves a grooved wheel in the back that's attached by a spring-belt to the take up reel. Another belt attached to the top reel for rewinding in some way I haven't exactly quite worked out yet.

After you've put on enough backyard kiddie shows, perhaps you'd have enough cash to get the external motor. Looking like a mini dynamo, this bolts onto the base driving the various external belts. The arms for the reels also are removable. Perhaps this was for easier storage or upgrade to the playback of larger reels (imagine cranking through 200 feet of film by hand going too slowly and letting it burn!).

 All in all this is one of the simplest projectors I've ever come across, making me wonder if it was intended as a kiddie unit. It's well built, and would have been an expensive item even if made for children, but the simplified construction as well as the hand cranking makes me wonder. With so many children's favorites available as cut down 50 foot shorts in toy & hobby stores back then, I wouldn't be surprised. Whomever it was intended for, the projector has the potential to be a real film scratching monster – there's not a very good load path for the film. Let's hope that the 50 foot reel that came threaded on this particular Pekoscope doesn't have missing footage from Metropolis on it... 

related:

Muplet cheapo projector that I still hope to find one day
Gakken projector kit is even more basic than the Pekoscope
Montgomery Ward's surprisingly simple projector in a surprising color

Kodachrome's Nice Bright Colors Fade To Black

Kodak has announced the final production run of Kodachrome 64 slide film. The irony is that vintage Kodachrome slides and movies will probably outlast modern digital images and prints by decades.

First introduced in 1935, the film is special in that the color dyes are added in three layers during the developing process. The technique is an environmental nightmare, but results in vibrant, colorfast images that should last a century or more without significant fading. Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas will process the film until the end of 2010.

Samsung GXE1395 TV Opens Its Doors To Retro Gaming

One of the drags of classic video games (or as we called them, "games") at my house in the early 80's was that we only had one giant screen (19 whole inches) that was in color. Even the most intense Swordquest session was easily felled by evening news anchor Dan Rather coming on. It wasn't common yet for children to have a TV in their bedroom (though I did have an old Zenith I'd garbagepicked hidden in our basement), so the family TV became a CRT entertainment bottleneck.

Some of my friends used cast-off 13" color portables for gaming and computing, and that was pretty much the state of things for a long time. In the 90's Samsung released the GX1395, a 13" TV designed expressly as a 2nd TV for gaming. No longer did the gaming youth have to be relegated to woodgrain clad second rate status. An exorbitant $300 got you a very special gaming display that didn't tie up the family TV.

 The GX (capitalizing on "gen x" perhaps?) has a set of doors protecting the 13" screen from the usual bedroom antics. Hinge them open and you see the left and right speakers of the 21 watt sound system, along with a rooftop subwoofer that can offer quasi-surround. A pair of RCA inputs (no s-video?) and an RF in (for stealing cable of course) puts your favorite game's graphics on the special low emission screen. When kids won't back up from the TV after you've asked them to for the 100th time, at least it's nice to know that the GX produces somewhat fewer bozo rays. Today's more tyrannical parent will appreciate the password lockable aspects (once your kids explain it to you) as well as the countdown timer to limit even the most ambitious video game campaign.

On-screen menus let you adjust the picture as well as tweak the stereo sound system capable of both impressive quality and amplitude. The CRT is treated against the ravages of burn-in, with several color temperature modes like a contemporary TV. The titular GX mode offered a crisper contrast ratio for excellent contrast during gaming. Heck, I've even calibrated this TV set for broadcast specs and have used it for editing video.

I imagine that a mere 13" TV might sound funny to those accustomed to 42" LCD displays. It wasn't always as easy to dot the entire household with a TV in every room as it is today. The great sound system goes a long way to delivering a fun experience surpassing the comparatively small display real estate. The extra speakers, tilt stand, and tough guy styling make for a TV that's quite a bit larger than 13" televisions of the day. If your bedroom was as cramped as mine was, it would be hard to fit anything much larger in there.

The GX is a rather sophisticated device for its time with great display options, especially in a product aimed at kids. No wonder they were mostly use in stores as demo kiosks for new games. I also find that the Samsung is excellent for gaming from before the 90's. Compact-sized general movie viewing is great too thanks to the extended contrast. There is little information online about Samsung's GXE1395, except people wishing that they had one today. A flat panel also will never house the audio oomph of this guy. If the GX ever sold at the original $300 price, I can't imagine that there would be many of these around

related:

Commodore 1702, still one of our favorite monitors
Mysterious & slick Sharp from the 80's

Mitsubishi DT-76 Cassette Deck With A Difference

Are cassettes gone yet? I hate thinking that they are, but I guess it's hard to keep the market going for the format, when you can fit many thousands of better sounding song into a device that's way smaller. Still, whenever I put together a stereo set up, I always include a cassette deck. I use cassettes less and less, which makes me rue the amount of space the deck takes up in my stereo cabinet. Did anyone every try to make a smaller tape system?

Turns out that Mitsubishi tried in the mid 80's. You may recall our post about Mitsubishi turning record players on their ear by introducing a vertical turntable back then too. So the DT-76 is an example of outside the box thinking being applied to making the inside of the box smaller.

From the outside, the dual tape deck is pretty typical of mid to late 80's electronics until you notice it's a bit squatter. Hitting the 'open" button reveals the secret - a drawer trundles out, and the tapes are in there lying on their backs. Before you start trawling Ebay to get your own, the DT-76 will only save you about an inch in height - though that can be gold when you're trying to cram one component too many into a hi-fi stack. I also wish I could tell you what it sounds like, but it's not working. I would expect to be a pretty conventional sounding mid-grade unit, which would probably be fine for my third generation Heaven 17 tapes.

I wonder why this form factor never caught on? I can't think of any technical or audio drawbacks to playing tapes this way. I guess that like many other things, it's just so much easier sticking to the old way of doing things. I wonder what other oddball Mitsubishi form factors are out there?

related:

Upright turntable - Mitsubishi LT-640
Sony PS-FL1 drawer turntable
Stylish Ampex Micro 24 cassette recorder

Atari 2600 Cartridge Wallet

While some Atari 2600 games are rare and precious artifacts, some carts are crazy common. There's practically a DIY genre focused on finding other uses for the stubby chunks of 70's plastic.  This video shows off one crafter's idea for turning a typical Atari cartridge into a wallet. What makes this particular design interesting is that it re-uses every part of the original game except the screw that secures the two halves of the cart shell.

These carts are for sale on etsy.com, but I'm sure that some of our ingenious readers can ad lib something a bit similar. Just get in touch if you're going to hack up a Chase The Chuckwagon cart.  I'll trade ya a couple dozen Combat games.

Etsy store featuring these wallets

related:

Atari 2600 joystick TV remote DIY project
Wicked DIY arcade cabinet kits
DIY: upgrade your iPod Nano screen the retro way

The Floppy Drive That Changed The World

Sometimes, seemingly small innovations have an enormous impact. A classic example is the nondescript Apple Disk II floppy drive. Its introduction propelled Apple II sales into the stratosphere.

Back in 1977, the Commodore PET, Radio Shack TRS-80 and Apple II led the first wave of the home computer revolution. Each machine used audio cassettes for program storage. While the Apple's 1500 bps transfer rate was fastest, it was also notoriously sensitive to minor level changes. Set your cassette deck's volume control too high or low, and the program load would mysteriously fail. This was a significant problem because, at $1298, the Apple II was more than twice as expensive as the others. It was the only machine to offer internal expansion and color graphics, but that alone wasn't quite enough to justify spending an extra $600 dollars on a fancy toy.

The finicky cassette interface drove Apple president Mike Markkula crazy. He grew tired of rewinding, fast-forwarding and countless minutes of boredom while waiting for software to load. And so, in a December 1977 executive meeting, he put "floppy disk" at the top of his wish list. It was a move that cemented Apple's position as a market leader for years to come.