It's 49 years ago today...

[RandyS]

And woe unto the "channel changer" who had the knob break as they were turning it! The punishment might not have been as severe if one were dutifully following directions. But one had decided to get "cute" and "spin" the dial and it snapped... Out came "the belt"!!!

Sincerely,

Bill

I had that selfsame problem and outcome, Redfern.

JesusGod, the myriad stories and family situations surrounding that old Console.

From Beatings to Ballgames
From Laughter to Lament
From Wonder to Wacky

Think of how much TV and World History flickered past our watching and listening!...

That picture reminds me of the TV my mom had from 1985 until she died in 2003. It's not exact, but it's close.

I'm depressed now.

 

[Warped9]

For a lot of us the "tube" was television. We now have a generation that has no real grasp of what television was like prior to maybe fifteen years ago. To them a CRT set is as antediluvian as a gramophone to us of the older generations.

Odd. Because the flatcreens that are so common today are the stuff of science fiction to us when we were kids.

I'll never forget looking at one of the first big screen LCDs (and then LEDs). The thought blazed through my mind, "Holy shitI It's the Enterprise viewing screen!"

 

[Elder Knight]

One of my grandmothers got a remote-controlled TV set, a "Zenith Space-Command" in 1962 or 1963, and everybody was fascinated by it. The remote unit was rather big by today's standards, and had big, movable keys that made an audible thunk when you pushed them. You could change the channel, mute the sound or turn the set off although the set stayed warm until you truly switched if off on the main unit.

When the channel changed, the dial on the set would actually rotate! Being able to mute the sound was supposedly a big deal, because you could better ignore commercials. We rarely bothered to use it. (Commercials were rare and short in those days.)

It operated by sonic waves. I know, because once I was watching a tense moment in a ballgame and nervously shaking a big keyring, and some frequency in the jangle of keys caused the set to change channels! We experimented, and found that certain chords on a nearby piano could do the same! My spoilsport uncle told us to cut it out, lest we break grandma's set for good.

Remote controlled sets didn't become commonplace for a few years, though.

 

[HIjol]

One of my grandmothers got a remote-controlled TV set, a "Zenith Space-Command" in 1962 or 1963, and everybody was fascinated by it. The remote unit was rather big by today's standards, and had big, movable keys that made an audible thunk when you pushed them. You could change the channel, mute the sound or turn the set off although the set stayed warm until you truly switched if off on the main unit.

When the channel changed, the dial on the set would actually rotate! Being able to mute the sound was supposedly a big deal, because you could better ignore commercials. We rarely bothered to use it. (Commercials were rare and short in those days.)

It operated by sonic waves. I know, because once I was watching a tense moment in a ballgame and nervously shaking a big keyring, and some frequency in the jangle of keys caused the set to change channels! We experimented, and found that certain chords on a nearby piano could do the same! My spoilsport uncle told us to cut it out, lest we break grandma's set for good.

Remote controlled sets didn't become commonplace for a few years, though.

Coolness! Sort of like a "pre-'Clapper'" with Music Option!

 

[Greg Cox]

Of course, what was really scary was when The Outer Limits took control of your TV set.

(I'm serious! That used to freak me out.)

 

[scotpens]

When the channel changed, the dial on the set would actually rotate! Being able to mute the sound was supposedly a big deal, because you could better ignore commercials. We rarely bothered to use it. (Commercials were rare and short in those days.)

Actually, commercials were longer back in the 1950s and '60s. Most TV ads ran a full minute or 30 seconds. Today we have 15-second and even 10-second commercials -- and way more of them.

It operated by sonic waves. I know, because once I was watching a tense moment in a ballgame and nervously shaking a big keyring, and some frequency in the jangle of keys caused the set to change channels! We experimented, and found that certain chords on a nearby piano could do the same!

I once had an RCA portable black-and-white remote control TV that was purchased second-hand. The remote unit had disappeared years earlier, but I found that I could make the channels change by playing with a Slinky (the original metal kind) a few feet from the set.

 

[erastus25]

When the channel changed, the dial on the set would actually rotate! Being able to mute the sound was supposedly a big deal, because you could better ignore commercials. We rarely bothered to use it. (Commercials were rare and short in those days.)

Actually, commercials were longer back in the 1950s and '60s. Most TV ads ran a full minute or 30 seconds. Today we have 15-second and even 10-second commercials -- and way more of them.

The standard is still 30 seconds. You'll get network bumpers that are 10 or 15 seconds, but the majority of ads are longer.

 

[Maurice]

But there are more commercials now than than, especially on non-network fare and most cable channels.

 

[erastus25]

But there are more commercials now than than, especially on non-network fare and most cable channels.

Interestingly, Fox briefly tried to cut commercials down in some of their prime time shows a few years ago but producers generally didn't like it and the experiment failed.

Source: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/16/business/fi-fox16

and

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/905770/fox-abandons-experiment-air-fewer-ads

I guess writing 42-44 minute "hours" for your entire career makes it difficult to get used to a 51 minute "hour."

 

[Tim Walker]

I remember watching the "Man Trap" back in '66.

I recall reading an article about the coming series, in Popular Mechanics or Popular Science, one of those magazines. So I was already somewhat familiar with the show.

 

[MANT!]

Of course, what was really scary was when The Outer Limits took control of your TV set.

(I'm serious! That used to freak me out.)

Mom and I watched the original Outer Limits quite often..
(I was 3 back then) and the MUSIC scared the beejezus out of me..

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQfnO27_o6s[/yt]

 

[Greg Cox]

Of course, what was really scary was when The Outer Limits took control of your TV set.

(I'm serious! That used to freak me out.)

Mom and I watched the original Outer Limits quite often..
(I was 3 back then) and the MUSIC scared the beejezus out of me..

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQfnO27_o6s[/yt]

I confess: I used to run out of the room when that credits sequence came on.

 

[fireproof78]

Of course, what was really scary was when The Outer Limits took control of your TV set.

(I'm serious! That used to freak me out.)

Mom and I watched the original Outer Limits quite often..
(I was 3 back then) and the MUSIC scared the beejezus out of me..

I confess: I used to run out of the room when that credits sequence came on.

Took me forever to actually sit through an episode because the intro freaked me out so badly. Same thing with the Twilight Zone. Thanks a lot for the nightmares!

Man Trap was probably one of 8 episodes my dad had recorded on to VHS (that thing before DVDs-Doc Brown explained it once). I liked it well enough, but the monster was kind of weird looking. Still not sure what to make of it, but it was an effective design to be sure.

Also, a bit of trivia, the hand medical scanner that came about were actually meant to be futuristic salt shakers for this episode.

 

[Maurice]

The conical "scalpels" were some futuristic looking salt shakers procured for "The Man Trap". They then machined some aluminum into similar shapes to accompany those. I've never heard that claim about the scanner before. Where did you read that?

 

[Harvey]

The conical "scalpels" were some futuristic looking salt shakers procured for "The Man Trap". They then machined some aluminum into similar shapes to accompany those. I've never heard that claim about the scanner before. Where did you read that?

Cash Markman?

It was Star Trek’s prop man Irving Feinberg’s job to conjure up the salt shaker of the future. He scoured Los Angeles shops looking for the perfect salt-and-pepper set before finding a pair of oddly shaped Swedish chrome-plated shakers.

Roddenberry, however, rejected them because, as Justman had worried, they looked too unusual to be recognized for what they were. Some sources say that, with the addition of a small rotating light in the top, Feinberg turned the shakers into McCoy’s pocket scanners. If right, the doctor uses one in this episode while examining Crater. Others say that these salt shakers were converted into McCoy’s laser scalpels, and that his medical scanner was fabricated out of aluminum with the grip coming from a Sears’ Craftsman screwdriver handle.

So what did get used as the futuristic salt shakers? Word has it Feinberg found a set of cheap but stylized plastic ones at J.C. Penney that fit the bill fine.

Word has it that citation free anecdotes like this in These Are The Voyages can be traced back to Mr. Cushman's favorite source - he pulled it out of his ass!

 

[J.T.B.]

It operated by sonic waves. I know, because once I was watching a tense moment in a ballgame and nervously shaking a big keyring, and some frequency in the jangle of keys caused the set to change channels!

The first TV remote I ever saw was like that, in the early '70s. The buttons hit little tuned metal bars inside, like in a music box.

Audio pickup controls were kind of a thing for a while, I guess. On the TV show Emergency!, when dispatch called out a firehouse it played a combination of tones over the loudspeaker, different for each station. Pickups in the fire station would hear the tones and automatically turn on the lights and roll up the doors. When there was a big fire, there would be a long string of "bip, bap, boop, bop..." tones as more stations were called.

 

[Redfern]

In the mid 60s we had 2 TV sets, one in the living room and a second in the basement/den, both "black 'n' white". The one located in the basement came with a remote that was, for all practical purposes, a rubber squeaky toy. the front edge was rigid plastic which held the acoustic element. the remaining three quarters was a semi firm poly vinyl plastic. In theory, one squeezed the pliable section and the TV would either change channel one "click" at a time or switch one and off. I say "in theory" because I don't recall it ever working. Being a toddler, I had "appropriated" the the remote as a "teething ring" and chewed the crap out of the trailing, tapered end of the device! I think I may have chewed right through the "balloon" so that it would no longer "whistle", "squeak" or whatever to trigger the set.

Now I feel compelled to "Google" for the remote and see if any images exist of the object I "picture" in my mind.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[fireproof78]

The conical "scalpels" were some futuristic looking salt shakers procured for "The Man Trap". They then machined some aluminum into similar shapes to accompany those. I've never heard that claim about the scanner before. Where did you read that?

I think I read it on one of the little "fact file" sheets that I got one time. Either that, or the Star Trek Encyclopedia. I can't recall, and I'll freely admit (as Harvey pointed out) the source may be inaccurate.

 

[TRON JA307020]

In the mid 60s we had 2 TV sets, one in the living room and a second in the basement/den, both "black 'n' white". The one located in the basement came with a remote that was, for all practical purposes, a rubber squeaky toy. the front edge was rigid plastic which held the acoustic element. the remaining three quarters was a semi firm poly vinyl plastic. In theory, one squeezed the pliable section and the TV would either change channel one "click" at a time or switch one and off. I say "in theory" because I don't recall it ever working. Being a toddler, I had "appropriated" the the remote as a "teething ring" and chewed the crap out of the trailing, tapered end of the device! I think I may have chewed right through the "balloon" so that it would no longer "whistle", "squeak" or whatever to trigger the set.

Now I feel compelled to "Google" for the remote and see if any images exist of the object I "picture" in my mind.

Sincerely,

Bill

Two TVs? Wow your family must have been well off. I wasn't around in the 60s but most family still had one set at the time. My family didn't even have 2 sets until the late 90s.

 

[Green Shirt]

Of course, what was really scary was when The Outer Limits took control of your TV set.

(I'm serious! That used to freak me out.)

I don't recall being freaked out by The Outer Limits theme as a kid. As a matter of fact, by parents bought me the finger toy from "The Sixth Finger" episode.

What DID freak me out as a kid was the 60s theme from The Edge of Night, and the Mask of Vulcan character from The Mighty Hercules cartoon. I felt silly when I showed it to my son when he was about the same age. He asked me how I could be scared by a guy with a bucket on his head.