General
One question, why is the invention of cable TV used as the cutoff point for this list? I mean, the definition of the list is "tropes invented before cable TV", why?
I think there should also be "Older Than PC" or "Older Than The Internet".
Edited by 108.17.123.40 Hide / Show Replies
As far as I know, Older Than the NES would cover much of that, since The Internet started taking off as a public venue during the middle 1980s. The tropes here cover large groups, splitting such a poorly distinguished subgroup off isn't very effective.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Maybe cellphones? We can finally address the insidious cost of ringtone piracy!
There's are lists of media technology adoption rates, like this graph
◊ that would probably be a good staring point.
Could also be Older Than MySpace since that was the one of the first popular social networks.
Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.
I was thinking Older Than Facebook, since Facebook pretty much exemplifies the social networking era - as well as kick-starting the merge of internet and real life. Case in point... TV and radio advertisements will often mention sites like Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and Instagram.
Blue Whale King
Quick question, who made the metal book in the page image and when? I'd like to learn more about it.
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Look on the ImageSource.Photography page
Working on cleaning up List of Shows That Need Summary
To save time if others are interested:
70 metal books found in Jordan cave could change our view of Biblical history
What about 'Older Than PC Games' and 'Older Than World Wide Web'? (Not to forget about 'Older Than iPhones', or maybe the time being only 'Older Than Mobile Phones In General With Their SMS Language' - for some future editions of this wiki).
I removed these three from Older Than Television because they are beyond its cutoff date and do not originate in TV.
- A Fête Worse than Death: The Lottery, published June 28, 1948
- Gorgeous George: 1940s professional wrestler Gorgeous George
- Henshin Hero: The first Captain Marvel, 1940s.
- Human-to-Werewolf Footprints: 1941's The Wolf Man
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Citizen Kane, 1941
- Just Between You and Me: 1940s movie serials, and possibly earlier.
- Private Eye Monologue: Innumerable films noir, 1940s.
- Real After All: Miracle on 34th Street, 1947
- Recycled IN SPACE!: Forbidden Planet, 1956
- Ret-Canon: Batman from its radio serials in 1944.
- Seashell Bra: Disney's Peter Pan, 1953
- Escalator to Heaven: 1941 film Here Comes Mister Jordan, but the parent trope is much older.
- Super Multi-Purpose Room: It's A Wonderful Life, 1946
- Theme Initials: Superman, starting from the 1940 introduction of Lex Luthor.
- Weird Trade Union: Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar stories contain an Assassins' Guild and Thieves' Guild, and so on. The Lankhmar Thieves' Guild was introduced in the second story, "Thieves' House," published in 1943.
Older Than Radio and Older Than Television would benefit from specific cutoff years, because people did not stop inventing tropes during the vaguely-identified "1890s" and "1940s." I suggest changing the television cutoff to 1939 or 1945. The radio cutoff could be 1900 or 1914 or 1918.
Edited by ArcadesSabboth Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
Suggestion: Older Than America, for tropes first seen before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Object show fan since 2017.