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2022-03-06 17:11 Cruella

It's always good to see another appearance of Starring the Computer's mascot - the Acorn Electron. It's latest outing is a brief appearance in the 2021 film Cruella.

2022-02-20 15:53 Three more computers

Three more machines make their debut appearance on the site. The Toshiba Pasopia 16 appears in Sotto il vestito niente, The Steal offers a Compaq LTE Lite (along with an Amstrad PCW 9512 and an Apple Macintosh Quadra 700) and Stranger in the House gives us our first Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer 3 (along with the more mundane Apple Macintosh Classic).

2022-02-13 16:31 Magnetic Monster Computers

There are not very many movies from the 1950s that feature computers, and this is the first here with two! The Magnetic Monster has some stock footage of the GE Differential Analyzer and the first appearance of the National Bureau of Standards SWAC both playing the part of the MANIAC computer.

2022-02-05 22:00 Doctor Who

There have been rather a lot of computers in Doctor Who over the years and here is a selection of those appearances. The ICT 1301 appears time and again in stories including The Claws of Axos, The Mind of Evil, The Sea Devils, The Time Warrior, Terminus and The Twin Dilemma. Honeywell machines make appearances in Logopolis (the 6000) and Planet of Fire (the H200). Then there are a couple of debutantes: the LEO II in The Hand of Fear, and the Olivetti M24SP in Mindwarp (along with its sibling Olivetti M24). Silver Nemesis gives us an Acorn Archimedes and, bringing us right up to date, The Halloween Apocalypse has brief glimpses of a Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum+.

2022-01-23 18:14 A few Apples

Here are a few more Apple appearances to add to the many already here. Funny People has the Aluminum iMac, iMac G3, Macbook, Macbook Pro and Power Mac G5. Boyhood has the Aluminum iMac, iMac G3, Powerbook G3 and Powerbook G4. The Lizzie McGuire Movie has a couple of iBook G3s. The Last Kiss has some office-bound iMac G5s. And finally, there is a Powerbook G4 in the "Friends" episode The One in Barbados.

2022-01-16 17:15 Fast and Rhythmic

Fast & Furious 9 has roles for the Commodore 64C, Dell Latitude 7202 Rugged Extreme and IBM PS/2 Model 30/55 along with the Dell Latitude 7214 Rugged Extreme making its debut appearance. There is a Microsoft Surface Book in The Rhythm Section.

2022-01-08 15:19 1980s Australia

Here are a couple Australian films from the 1980s. The Coolangatta Gold has a small role for an Hitachi MB-6891. Dark Age also some brief glimpses of a DEC Rainbow 100 and an ICL One Per Desk.

2022-01-02 12:01 Ferranti Menace

Menace Unseen has roles for the Compaq Portable III and IBM PS/2 but also offers Starring the Computer its first sighting of a Ferranti PC31.

2021-12-23 16:27 Last update of 2021

Here's a random collection to round out the year. Can You Ever Forgive Me? features the Apple Macintosh SE and IBM PS/2 Model 50/70. The Specialist offer two Starring-the-Computer debutantes: the IBM ThinkPad 750 and the Sharp Wizard OZ-9600. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the American version) offers another debutante, the Sony Vaio P as well as the Apple Macbook Pro and the Nokia 770. And the third episode of The Unlikely Murderer has a role for an Atari ST.

2021-12-12 22:22 An A-Team Trio

Here are three episodes of "The A-Team" that feature computers. The very first episode Mexican Slayride has shots of the Tandy TRS-80 Model III. Then there are two season two episodes with The Battle of Bel Air having GE 635 panels and Harder Than It Looks having a small role for a Commodore PET 2001 keyboard.

2021-12-05 11:21 An Acorn Cornucopia

Here's another little batch of Acorn machines. There's a BBC Micro in the "Dempsey and Makepeace" episode Silver Dollar and Out of This World, Episode 5 (which also has a glimpse of the Amstrad PC 1512). There's an Acorn Archimedes in the "Minder" episode How to Succeed in Business Without Really Retiring and finally the Gameboys episode of "A Mind to Kill" sees the Acorn A5000 making its Starring-the-Computer debut.

2021-11-28 11:08 GE of Terror

Panels from the GE 635 appear in Forbidden World and Galaxy of Terror.

2021-11-21 15:46 A Pair of Pets

The Commodore PET 2001 make two TV appearances: in the "Knight Rider" episode Junk Yard Dog and "The Fast Show" episode Oh.

2021-11-14 15:41 The Billion SGI code

Maybe not a billion machines, but The Billion Dollar Code is a festival of SGI appearances including the Indigo2, Indy, O2, Onyx and Origin 2000. It also as space for a couple of Apple machines: the Macbook Pro and Powerbook G3. And finally, I missed a couple of SGI machines in Breach: the Challenge and Origin 2000.

2021-11-07 17:06 A Trio of Newcomers

All of these machines are making their first Starring-the-Computer appearance. The CTC Datapoint 2200 plays in important role in Things To Come, the Wang 600 appears in Used Cars and there is a DEC PDP-8/A in the "Elementary" episode Give Me the Finger (along with an Apple Macintosh SE and a couple of Tandy TRS-80 Model 4s).

2021-10-30 17:58 Spooky sightings

Here's a spooky collection for Halloween. Vampire's Kiss gives us our first Minolta PCW-1. I missed a IBM Displaywriter in From Beyond, and there's a Coleco Adam keyboard in Nightmare Weekend. Wes Craven's New Nightmare has a IBM PS/2 Model 30/55 and then there are a couple of Apples: the Macbook Pro in Vampire Acadamy and the Macintosh II/IIx in Grave Secrets.