10 Childhood Movie Gadgets You Wish Were Real
The films of the 1970s, '80s and '90s gave us implausible plots, larger-than-life heroes and, best of all, gadgets. We watched them on worn-out VHS tapes and spent our childhoods wishing they were real. Here are ten we still want, and what we would use them for as grown-ups.
1The shrink ray
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989). A hapless inventor's machine accidentally reduces his children to the size of ants, and the back garden becomes a jungle. Adult use: fitting a week's luggage into hand baggage.
2Zoltar
Big (1988). A boy makes a wish at a fortune-teller machine at a carnival and wakes up as a grown man. Adult use: wishing for more wishes, obviously.
3The lightsaber
Star Wars (1977). The elegant weapon for a more civilised age. Adult use: hardball negotiations at the car dealership, and very fast toast.
4The time-travelling phone booth
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). Two slackers collect historical figures for a school report. Adult use: going back to tell your younger self which shares to buy.
5The neuralyzer
Men in Black (1997). One flash and the witness forgets everything. Adult use: erasing the memory of your speech at the office party.
6The hoverboard
Back to the Future Part II (1989). Marty McFly's pink board in the "future" of 2015. Companies built real magnetic-levitation boards around that very year, but they only work over special metal surfaces. Adult use: the commute.
7The mini rebreather
Thunderball (1965). James Bond's tiny breathing device lets him stay underwater as long as the plot requires. Adult use: surviving the hotel swimming pool during school holidays.
8The proton pack
Ghostbusters (1984). An unlicensed nuclear accelerator on your back. Just do not cross the streams. Adult use: that haunted doll your aunt bought on eBay.
9Wonkavision
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). A television that sends real chocolate bars through the screen. Adult use: snack delivery without leaving the sofa.
10The Smellmaster 9000
Richie Rich (1994). A machine that can recreate any smell. Adult use: making the flat smell of fresh bread before guests arrive.
The gadget we are glad does not exist: Grays Sports Almanac
The real villain of Back to the Future Part II is not a weapon but a paperback. In 2015, old Biff Tannen steals the time machine and hands his younger self a sports almanac listing every result from 1950 to 2000. Young Biff bets on games he already knows the outcome of, becomes a millionaire and turns Hill Valley into a nightmare dominated by Biff's Pleasure Paradise, a towering casino-hotel. It is the perfect illustration of why bookmakers and casinos guard so jealously against anyone who knows the result in advance.
The film even made a sporting prediction of its own: a Chicago Cubs World Series win in 2015. Real Cubs fans placed hopeful bets that year, and the team fell short, before winning the title for real in 2016, a year late but still a stunning end to a 108-year wait. Real wagers that came off against the odds are collected in 9 Bizarre Bets That Actually Paid Off.
Zoltar has a real-life connection too. Coin-operated fortune tellers, strength testers and card machines filled the penny arcades of the early 20th century, and the same coin-op industry gave birth to the first slot machines. Bond, meanwhile, sits down to a high-stakes game of baccarat against the villain in Thunderball, a scene that made casinos the most glamorous rooms in cinema. Follow that line from arcade machines to today's online games in the technology behind modern slots and online casinos.
