Threads - Handheld Game \ VOGONS

Threads - Handheld Game

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First post, by KT7AGuy

Posted on 2019-05-02, 06:19

KT7AGuy Offline

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Location: Chicago

OK, so if you were born in the late 60s or early 70s like me, you had the dubious privilege of growing up during the cold war and all of its associated nuclear war hysteria. In the USA where I'm from, we had The Day After to scare the crap out of us and remind us that we could all die in a hellfire of nuclear armageddon AT ANY MOMENT.

Over in the UK, they were gifted with a lovely little family film called Threads. It took a long time, but my local library finally found an uncensored copy of it on DVD for me. It was OK. I thought it was just as good as The Day After. I think if I had seen it in 1984/1985 as originally intended, it would have had a bigger impact on me. But really, I'm not here to discuss the pros or cons of a BBC special effects budget. Rather, I'm curious about the handheld game that Jimmy's little brother, Michael, was playing before the fireworks started. The game is also shown again later in the film; Michael's father plays the game while remembering his dead son before barfing up whiskey and blood and dying unceremoniously.

i remember handheld games like those from the late 70s and early 80s. Generally speaking, they were awful. It would be at least another five years before Nintendo would save us all with the invention of the Game Boy. Despite the fact that an EMP should have fried it, I'm curious what game was being played in that movie. The gameplay screen is shown several times, so I wonder if it was supposed to be some sort of foreshadowing or symbolism. However, it doesn't look like any sort of nuclear war game. Do we have any handheld game collectors/experts here who can shed some light on it?

Thanks

Reply 1 of 4, by KT7AGuy

Posted on 2019-05-03, 10:13

KT7AGuy Offline

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Here are a couple screenshots from the movie where we see the game being played by Michael early in the film:

Here is a later screenshot from when Michael's dad, Mr. Kemp, is mourning his death and dying from radiation poisoning:

Reply 2 of 4, by 386SX

Posted on 2019-05-04, 11:25

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Found this:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/jan/ … we-made-threads
from the producer/director:

"The props department had shown me various options for the handheld LCD game featured in the film. I picked the Epoch Game Box Penta for Michael to be playing with in the early scenes as it seemed to show people being pursued by ghosts"

Reply 3 of 4, by KT7AGuy

Posted on 2019-05-05, 05:02

KT7AGuy Offline

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Joined: 2012-11-30, 19:21
Location: Chicago

Thanks for that! The collective knowledge of VOGONS comes through once again.

I figured that the game had some sort of significance to the story since they made a point of showing it several times. However, I never would have guessed that those things in the game were ghosts and were what was supposed to be significant. I thought they looked more like recognizers from TRON.

The article also includes this YouTube link to a video of the game being played:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQqP34vYqeM

It looks just as awful as it did in the movie. Thank goodness for Nintendo.

Reply 4 of 4, by 386SX

Posted on 2019-05-05, 09:08

386SX Offline

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KT7AGuy wrote:
Thanks for that! The collective knowledge of VOGONS comes through once again. […]
Show full quote
Thanks for that! The collective knowledge of VOGONS comes through once again.

I figured that the game had some sort of significance to the story since they made a point of showing it several times. However, I never would have guessed that those things in the game were ghosts and were what was supposed to be significant. I thought they looked more like recognizers from TRON.

The article also includes this YouTube link to a video of the game being played:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQqP34vYqeM

It looks just as awful as it did in the movie. Thank goodness for Nintendo.

Never seen that movie but similar old handheld monochrome lcd games were my first game "console" back in the late 80's. I remember having similar chinese cheap single games in the time when Tiger Eletronics handheld were the "high end game" compared to them and they had indeed some great titles.
But when I had the Game Gear everything changed, it was like another world of technology and it was indeed a Master System portable like nowdays having a PS4 portable.

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