Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine (1977)
- Genre
- children's television series
- Country
- United States
- Rating
- 8.0 of 10 from 1 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A computer programmer named Marlo Higgins secretly builds a talking movie machine in his basement. The machine shows short film clips while they exchange jokes and tips. The show mixes live action with these clips for a young audience.
quirkywhimsicalnostalgiclightheartedplayfuleducationalcharmingdated
What happens
Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine is a 1977-1980 children's television show originating from WFSB-TV in Hartford. The storyline involved Marlo Higgins (Laurie Faso) who is a mustachioed and frizzy-haired computer programming genius working for the L. Dullo computer company. He was banished to the "sub-sub-basement" by his boss, Leo Dullo. By day Marlo works for L. Dullo. At night he builds, programs, and interacts with his Magic Movie Machine (Mert Koplin, voice) built using L. Dullo hardware. The waveform from a real-time audio oscilloscope was displayed on the Magic Movie Machine's screen whenever it talked and it played short clips. The two (man and computer) traded tips and quips. Marlo sat at a console with a slight resemblance to master control consoles of the time. He would call up the various film clips featured on the show by entering codes using a numeric keypad with round, yellow number buttons and pressing an orange rectangular Start button to start the selected film. In earlier episodes, a split-flap display mounted on the console showed the code entered on the keypad. In later episodes, this was changed to an LED display, and the buttons were made to sound like the DTMF tones made by a touch-tone telephone as Marlo pressed them. Most of the time, Marlo used a small keypad consisting of two columns of buttons flanking a CRT, located in front of him when he was sitting at the console of the Magic Movie Machine. However, a similar but larger keypad located on the wall was sometimes used (see below). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977)
Whiz Kids (1983)
Automan (1983)
Mystery Island (1977)
The New Archie and Sabrina Hour (1977)
Pinky and the Brain (1995)
The Bots Master (1993)
Le Traboulidon (1983)- More like this series, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.