I got a laugh from this posting, not because of the ridiculous Triphibian, but because of the previous post about that idiotic "documentary"; Atomic Cafe. While I was reading the summary of that bit of celluloid pomposity, I couldn't help but think of another documentary called "Gizmo" that was made around the same time about inventors and their wacky ideas and as I remember it, it wasn't laden with leftist elitism. This clip of the T-phib was one of them and that's what got me to reminiscing and smiling, and then realizing; damn, I'm old
Gizmo was done pretty much for laughs or at least mostly tongue-in-cheek, I don't think the makers were trying to pass that scene off as something real, even though someone may have tried to do that when the original film was shot (seems like they say it takes place in Russia or some eastern country which should be a red flag all its own...no pun).
The bespectacled woman explaining how people could fly wasn't exactly to be taken seriously either, nor the people with the silly talking machine that couldn't say anything but variations on "she saw me".
If you saw all of it (I saw it in high school back in 1979) there's a bit about a Rube Goldberg invention designed to wake people up and the narration plays it straight.
I would hardly put it in the same category as serious docs like "Resolution on Saturn" or "A is for Atom", both produced for PBS when they had the ability to be objective about science.
The relation I would make here about Gizmo was that it was indeed funny without being a lefty-preachy-smug kind of "funny" like Atomic Cafe. But as a scientific treatise, it has about the same amount of credibility as Atomic Cafe.
I don't remember if it was the producer of Gizmo that narrated, but usually in a production that requires a voice over the person narrating just reads a script without seeing the actual footage, so being fooled by the subject matter isn't something within his control.
4 comments:
I got a laugh from this posting, not because of the ridiculous Triphibian, but because of the previous post about that idiotic "documentary"; Atomic Cafe.
While I was reading the summary of that bit of celluloid pomposity, I couldn't help but think of another documentary called "Gizmo" that was made around the same time about inventors and their wacky ideas and as I remember it, it wasn't laden with leftist elitism.
This clip of the T-phib was one of them and that's what got me to reminiscing and smiling, and then realizing; damn, I'm old
Neil...
I was watching GIZMO on Google Video.
Interesting but...
The Dry Cleaning Pool is a gag up there with the speggitti bush.
21:37
People in clean dry clothes were walking into the pool backwards, then the film was run backwards.
The narrator could have said so unless HE was fooled.
Gizmo was done pretty much for laughs or at least mostly tongue-in-cheek, I don't think the makers were trying to pass that scene off as something real, even though someone may have tried to do that when the original film was shot (seems like they say it takes place in Russia or some eastern country which should be a red flag all its own...no pun).
The bespectacled woman explaining how people could fly wasn't exactly to be taken seriously either, nor the people with the silly talking machine that couldn't say anything but variations on "she saw me".
If you saw all of it (I saw it in high school back in 1979) there's a bit about a Rube Goldberg invention designed to wake people up and the narration plays it straight.
I would hardly put it in the same category as serious docs like "Resolution on Saturn" or "A is for Atom", both produced for PBS when they had the ability to be objective about science.
The relation I would make here about Gizmo was that it was indeed funny without being a lefty-preachy-smug kind of "funny" like Atomic Cafe. But as a scientific treatise, it has about the same amount of credibility as Atomic Cafe.
I don't remember if it was the producer of Gizmo that narrated, but usually in a production that requires a voice over the person narrating just reads a script without seeing the actual footage, so being fooled by the subject matter isn't something within his control.
At least now I know where to see it again.
Oops! Meant to add "thanks" to that about knowing where to see it again!
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