Atari 2600 in movies or TV shows

[CommodoreDecker]

On 3/29/2020 at 9:38 PM, chuckwalla said:

Offhand I remember a Three's Company episode where Jack and Janet are playing Atari 2600.

 

A quick search and here's a link to the Atari Compendium (sorry if it was mentioned by a poster above)...

http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/atari_tube/atari_tube.html

 

Cool memories.

I remember the joysticks but the sound effects weren't quite right...

 

That site really is comprehensive - Three's Company is cited accordingly. So is "Sliders" as the 2600 Donkey Kong sounds had me rolling for a show made in 1996.

[JayAre]

An image from the Three's Company scene was previously posted.  Here's a video of that episode.

 

As previously noted, Jack and Janet are playing football, but the sounds don't match up.  There's a 2600 Vader on the table in front of them, but there's no cart in the console.  The Atari scene takes place right after the opening credits, from 1:01 - 2:05, and then again from 6:47 - 8:03.

 

The episode first aired in February of 1981.  Incredible that it's been almost 40 years.

 

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by JayAre

[high voltage]

Hey, I've never seen this series, looks good.

[JayAre]

I just realized something.  The Three's Company episode first aired in February of 1981, but the Vader wasn't released until 1982.  In the scene, the console appears to have the Vader's black front trim.  But maybe it's the lighting in the room, and it's actually the 4-switch woody's wooden trim.  We get a better look at the console the second time it appears in the scene, from 6:47 - 8:03.  It's just that the dates don't add up.  What do you guys think?

[+save2600]

^ Does look like a Vader, unless the prop department painted the trim black for whatever reason. Vader joysticks too as far as I can tell, no orange ring. Be funny to learn that someone got rid of the woodgrain to make the console seem more modern, felt that it fit the set better, needed to "genericize" or something.  

[JayAre]

I was able to contact Scott Stilphen today regarding the console in the Three's Company episode.  His site, Atari Compendium, had originally posted the pic from this episode and had mentioned that the console was a Vader.  He had a chance to take a look at the video of the episode, and he believes the console is actually a 4-switch woody.  He had originally found a low-resolution pic of the scene, and the console looked like a Vader.  While looking at the video, he thought that the front edge of the console looks slightly lighter than the rest of the case.  Now that I look at it closely, I definitely agree with him.  But the main thing is that it would still be at least another year before the Vader's release, so it definitely seems like it's a woody.

 

Scott also pointed out something interesting about the scene.  At the 1:35 mark, what appears to be a 2600 cart mysteriously appears on the table.  It wasn't there at the beginning of the scene, then it appears, and then it disappears later on.  Looks like it might be a text-label cart, but I don't think it's possible to make out what game it is.

Edited April 27, 2020 by JayAre

[+save2600]

Just remembered I actually have the Three's Company DVD box set. Next time I have the projector fired up (probably tomorrow), I'll find the scene and see if the model can be definitively made out. If so, will post a pic of it.  

[JayAre]

That would be great, Save.  Thanks.  I don't know if you have the info. already, but this scene is from Season 5, Episode 14 titled "Furley vs. Furley".  If it's not too much trouble, as far as that cart that appears on the table, please see if you can tell what game it is.  And thanks again.

[+save2600]

23 hours ago, JayAre said:

That would be great, Save.  Thanks.  I don't know if you have the info. already, but this scene is from Season 5, Episode 14 titled "Furley vs. Furley".  If it's not too much trouble, as far as that cart that appears on the table, please see if you can tell what game it is.  And thanks again.

-edit-
 

Okay... definitely a 4-switch woody and still couldn't make out the cartridge, but I'd venture to guess it might be Combat.  

 

 

 

[+save2600]

Slightly off topic, but I just spied an Atari 7800 and three boxed games on Home Improvement yesterday! The episode where Tim gets a new stereo system that breaks most of the windows in his house. lol    The 7800 wasn't being played, but was sitting atop his TV set. Boxed games sitting off to the left, near a speaker. 

[JayAre]

Save, thanks so much.  Very nice of you to take the time to do this.  Well, it's great to finally get to the bottom of this.  Boy, the resolution off your DVD really makes a difference; you can see the wooden trim much clearer.  Thanks again, my friend.

[JayAre]

From the movie Max Dugan Returns (1983).  There are several 2600 game boxes (all from Atari) in Matthew Broderick's room.

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by JayAre

[Mark loves Stella]

On 5/12/2020 at 2:33 PM, JayAre said:

From the movie Max Dugan Returns (1983).  There are several 2600 game boxes (all from Atari) in Matthew Broderick's room.

 

 

 

In frame #1 I see what looks like an Atari 810 disk drive on the top shelf. 

[CreeB]

If there is a character playing a video game in a TV show, chances are you'll hear the 2600 Pac-Man sounds.

[+davidcalgary29]

Well, I always knew that the 2600 would survive the apocalypse: in Season 4, episode 7 of 3% ("Sun"), you can see one, and possibly a stack, of Darth Vaders, as Rafael, Elisa, and Joana flee a group of homicidal Inlanders at about ten minutes in. And this, of course, after all possible power sources in the series have been blown up.

[insertclevernamehere]

Atari is mentioned in Stranger Things and a VCS is clearly seen in at least one episode.  Not being played though.

[Atarian7]

Freaks and Geeks

 

[WolfAmongWolves]

On 3/16/2020 at 11:56 PM, Philflound said:

Also, we should add those movies and shows which don't necessarily show Atari on the tv or cartridges, but show kids playing video games and you HEAR the music/sound effects of Atari games. I believe I remember Donkey Kong and Pac-Man Atari 2600 sound effects, but for the life of me will never remember what show or movie.

I think I found one of the examples you are referring to. In Season 1, episode 25 of Shaun the Sheep "Shaun the Farmer" there is a very short scene of the farm dog playing video games. You can't see the screen, but the sound effects are clearly 2600 Donkey Kong. It's at the 5:53 mark.

 

 

[Deteacher]

Just saw an Atari in an episode of Modern Family.  Mitchell and Claire were in their dad's garage when Mitchell pulls an Atari out of an old box.

[Lord Innit]

There's a scene in the Tom Cruise film American Made in which Snoopy and the Red Baron is being played. 

[Deteacher]

On 6/16/2020 at 11:59 AM, CreeB said:

If there is a character playing a video game in a TV show, chances are you'll hear the 2600 Pac-Man sounds.

Or Donkey Kong.  I think they still use those stock sounds today.  LOL!

[roadrunner]

On 4/27/2020 at 5:56 PM, save2600 said:

-edit-
 

Okay... definitely a 4-switch woody and still couldn't make out the cartridge, but I'd venture to guess it might be Combat.  

 

 

 

I'm glad you posted the pics because the video was removed from youtube
Wasn't their a Three's Company episode that Jack and Janet played Atari 2600 Football? 

And wasn't their a episode of Big Bang Theory that they played Cookie Monster Munch or Big Bird's Egg Catch?
 

[Cynicaster]

There's a scene in the Cobra Kai series where Johnny is at a pawnshop trying to hawk a bunch of old stuff for cash, including an Atari 2600.  It's kind of funny because the pawnshop clerk says something to the effect of the Atari being useless to him, aside from the possibility that some "hipster asshole" comes in and wants it. 

 

 

 

 

[CreeB]

On 9/3/2020 at 9:15 AM, roadrunner said:

And wasn't their a episode of Big Bang Theory that they played Cookie Monster Munch or Big Bird's Egg Catch?

I remember that episode... I thought it was so funny they played a children's game. I remember those games from when I was 12, but it was at a friend's house and it was their little sister playing it.

[+batari]

In an obscure B-movie named Blind Date (1984), not the 1987 Bruce Willis Comedy by the same name, the protagonist somehow goes blind, but his vision is restored by some sort of sonar device that renders the world with a crude monochromatic representation, and the signal gets sent to his brain through electrodes on his head. OK, so the device looks more like a Walkman and the electrodes look like headphones, so some suspension of disbelief is needed.

 

At some point he apparently wants to play his Atari, so he reasons that he can plug the Atari into his head. Apparently it only sort of works, with him seeing a distorted breakout screen with some Atari-like sounds before he falls unconscious from the experience. I actually found the movie online here in four parts. Go to around 3:15 of the second part for the scene. The movie is also a mirror image which is kind of distracting.

 

 

I never watched the entire movie (the movie wasn't great) but I recall when seeing this in the 80s that there was a later scene when he talked of his experience plugging the Atari into his brain and what it did to him.