News

2019-01-20 16:55 Green Figures on a Shoestring

The Green Hornet episode The Ray Is for Killing has a Burroughs B205, the Shoestring episode Utmost Good Faith has a ICL 2900 and the IBM 7090 plays a crucial role in Hidden Figures.

2019-01-12 00:01 A Medley of Microcomputers

The third episode of Dark has a Commodore 64C, the pilot of Moonlighting has Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer and there is a Tandy TRS-80 Model 100 in the V episode War of Illusions. There are Apple IIs in The Dead Zone and the Magnum P.I. episode Summer School. And finally a couple of Amstrad CPC appearances: a 464 in the famous Christmas 1986 episode of Eastenders and a 6128 in the Red Dwarf episode Stasis Leak.

2019-01-05 23:08 Three times GE 635

The GE 635 makes its Starring-the-Computer debut with three appearances. There is the most fleeting of shots in Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan and then a considerably better view in Serenity and an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

2019-01-01 18:48 New Year Maniac

I spent New Year's Eve binge watching Maniac and it's a pretty rich Starring-the-Computer seam. There is a DEC PDP-11/35 and a PDP-11/05, an Osborne 1, an IBM System/360 and a Compaq Deskpro model 1. There are also three debutantes making their first Starring-the-Computer appearance: the Data General Eclipse S/130, the Northstar Advantage and the DEC PDP-8/L.

2018-12-28 15:04 Some Seinfeld

The Bookstore is among a number of episodes that shows a Apple Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh in Jerry's apartment, and The Wizard gives Starring the Computer its first Sharp Wizard OZ-5500.

2018-11-18 22:57 STs and Things

All of the following feature Atari STs: Steel and Lace, Glitter, the T and T episode Sophie a La Modem (which also has a Mega ST), Jason Bourne (which also as Starring the Computer's first Dell Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme) and Atomic Blonde (which also has a collection of other machines - an Apple Macintosh, a Commodore 64C, an Amstrad PPC and a Toshiba T3100).

2018-11-10 18:12 A Pack of PCs, and a Sun.

The Librarians episode And the Rise of Chaos has a Toshiba T1000, the Alice episode Sweet Erasable Mel has two Epson machines: the QX-10 and HX-20, the Fame episode The Lounge Singer Who Knew Too Much has a Tandy 1000 and Trois couleurs: Bleu has a IBM PS/2. Also added are a number of new computers. Edge of the Axe has two Starring-the-Computer debutantes from Sperry: the PC and PC/microIT, the eighth episode of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan has a GPD Win. Contact has a couple of machines we've seen before (the IBM ThinkPad 300 and PS/2) but also has two newcomers: the Compaq Presario 1000 and a rare appearance of a Sun Microsystems computer, the SPARCstation 5.

2018-10-27 00:33 Jackrabbit

There's a sizeable collection of computers in Jackrabbit including a pile of Macintosh SEs, an IBM 5140, a Macintosh XL, a Texas Instruments DS990/1, and a very brief Starring-the-Computer debut of a Tandy 1000.

2018-10-14 23:30 Big Old Bunch of Big Iron

A number of old mainframes make their Starring-the-Computer debut in this update: the Sperry UNIVAC 1108 appears in Rollerball, the Hitachi HIPAC 101 appears briefly in Battle in Outer Space, the Remington Rand 409 plays a crucial role in the first episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, the Digital Scientific META-4 is seen briefly in Death Wish, and along with a DEC Rainbow 100, there is a Burroughs B3900 in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. Also, there is a IBM 705 in the 22nd episode of Men Into Space, and the 4th episode of The Green Hornet has Burroughs B205 tape drives.

2018-10-04 15:47 Undercover Arduino

Undercover Grandpa sees the first Starring-the-Computer appearance for an Arduino Duemilanove and an Alienware 15 as well as a fleeting appearance from a Commodore PET.

2018-09-16 15:13 Some more SAGE

A few more appearances of possibly the most frequent visitor to the small and silver screens, the IBM AN/FSQ-7. It appears in Kolchak: The Night Stalker "The Energy Eater", The Greatest American Hero "Train of Thought" and the pilot of Gemini Man.

2018-09-01 13:08 Films in other languages

The German film Go Trabi Go and the Norwegian film Døden på Oslo S both have small roles for a Commodore Amiga 2000. The Polish film Ucieczka z kina "Wolnosc" gives Starring the Computer its first Atari 65/130 XE, and another Polish film Pan Kleks w kosmosie also has that Atari plus an ST and another debutante, the Mazovia 1016.

2018-08-25 20:56 Three different PCs

Three 1980s PC compatibles: Prime Evil has the IBM PC AT, Perfect Profile has a Compaq Portable and, a computer I missed from the There for the Picking episode of Bergerac, the Commodore PC 10-III makes its Starring the Computer debut.

2018-07-26 21:02 Friends' Computers

Here's a collection of computers from episodes of Friends. The One with the Stoned Guy has a IBM PS/2 Model 50/70, The One with the List has a Compaq Contura 4/25cx, The One with All the Jealousy has a Sun Javastation-NC and a Compaq LTE 5000 (both of which are making their Starring-the-Computer debuts), The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding: Part 2 has a Apple Powerbook G3, and The One Where Emma Cries has a Clamshell iBook G3 and a iMac G4.

2018-07-07 13:06 Fathers, Daughters and Trouble with Penguins

Another collection of Apple laptop appearances: The New Daughter has a Powerbook G3 and Trouble with the Curve, Mr Popper's Penguins and Father of Invention all feature Macbook Pros.

2018-06-02 22:05 Lone Wolf McQuade, Texas Instruments Ranger

Lone Wolf McQuade gives Starring the Computer its first Texas Instruments DS990/1.