Race: a "Twonky" (a slang term meaning "gadget"), a tool or toy built by an authoritarian society in another dimension.Notes Comments, Trivia, Dedication Associated Mythos Elements Despite efforts from the police and the football team, the twonky begins to take over.
The television, nicknamed a "twonky" (or "gadget") is capable of performing an array of tasks - from vacuuming to producing money - but is equally adept at mind control and physical violence.
THE TWONKY 1953 FREE
Not just for the way it foretells of our dependence on household technologies but also for the wider debate it raises: free will versus the imposition of rules and restraints ‘for our own good’."Ī philosophy teacher at a university is given a new television by his wife, who goes on a trip, leaving him to set it up and test it out alone, only to discover that it has unexpected powers.
Mark David Welsh ( link) - "At the time, the film must have seemed pure paranoid fantasy but looked at now, it appears weirdly prescient. Richard Scheib at The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review ( link) (2.5/5 Stars) - "The film gets good mileage out of simply winding this milquetoast individual up and turning every aspect of his existence against him. Oboler's little movie, however, is exceedingly strange and contains several images and incidents that are not easily forgotten." Miller at Turner Classic Movies, ( link) - ".Overall The Twonky is unsuccessful as a comedy and heavy-handed and clunky as satire. Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is. The vaguely malevolent animated walking television can be fairly unsettling. It's a strange curiosity of a film, a paranoid horror played up for dark laughs. The original story was written by one of Lovecraft's friends and "mythos" contributor Henry Kuttner, and revolves around an animated tool or toy accidentally delivered to 20th Century Earth by an authoritarian civilization from another time or alternate dimension, leaving the device to wreak havoc on the life of an unimaginative and independent college professor. s_ (One-Half Tentacle: Not very Lovecraftian, and has no direct connection to Lovecraft's work, more of a curiosity). Rated: PG (for mild Violence and 1950s Adult Content)Ī rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:. Producer/Production Co: Arch Oboler Productions. Moore (original story), Arch Oboler (screenplay) Setting: 1950s (would have probably been considered "near future" at the time). Genres/Technical: Science Fiction, Horror, Comedy (dark comedy). A philosophy teacher at a university is given a new television by his wife, who goes on a trip, leaving him to set it up and test it out alone, only to discover that it has unexpected powers. Still from The Twonky (1953 film), depicting the unsettlingly animated device walking up a staircase.īased on a short story by Henry Kuttner.
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