# Open Channel D



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Forget that flip phone space thingy.

Solo's pen phone/radio/communicator hit the screens two years earlier. Compact, voice calling, lasted forever on a charge.

So, where's the iPen?


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

I just bought the Man From U.N.C.L.E. first year, 30 episodes on DVD for $6.95 plus shipping.


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

Amazon has it streaming (unfortunately not Prime). The first episode is free (with ads). Others are $1.99 each.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

It's running Sunday evenings on one of the Retro channels. I've been recording a few to have them if and when I decide to start watching TV again some day.

But, back to topic.

We seem to be getting closer to Derek Flint's watch that can do weird things, but not to Solo's pen. Althught I do remember a very basic LED clock/watch pen. Might still have a dead one around here somewhere. Can't remember if I tossed it or not.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

There was also a Cigarette case communicator. If memory serves me it was replaced with the pen.


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## dmspen (Dec 1, 2006)

There's a remake in the works? I think I saw a blurb somewhere. Great if it is. 
If memory serves - U.N.C.L.E. = United Network for Command and Law Enforcement?
I was quite young when watching this show. My Dad loved these kinds of shows...guess TV interests are genetic!


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## RBA (Apr 14, 2013)

Me TV is the retro network and today I look at it as a comedy show. When it was live It was an action show for children. At the death of Lenoard Nimoy they showed an episode that he and William Shatner both appeared in.

I also like the forward thinking communicators but the old prop driven airliners.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

Don't leave out Maxwell Smart and his shoe phone!


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

Speaking of Get Smart, I wonder how many young people even got the reference in this ad:
http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7_ra/bank-of-america-apple-pay-a-day-of-shopping


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

4HiMarks said:


> Don't leave out Maxwell Smart and his shoe phone!


Old school. Rotary dial, no voice calling.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

It wasn't this video but one very similar 



 in a seminar I did at our local college in the late 90s to introduce the internet, IP addressing, and DNS.

The audience was mostly engineers and many had never used a rotary phone!


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

dennisj00 said:


> The audience was mostly engineers and many had never used a rotary phone!


I wonder how many of them have ever opened a can with an old fashioned can opener.










Last week, I actually opened a can with one of these:










Doing so was surprisingly easy.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

Still carry my trusty P-38 on my key chain. Been using it since my combat tours in Nam.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

Don't know what it's called or where I got it - or where it is now, but I've used a can opener that's about a half-inch by 1 inch with a blade that folds out.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

But can you talk to someone on another continent with it?


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

SayWhat? said:


> But can you talk to someone on another continent with it?


With a germanium diode and a coil of wire . . .


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

dennisj00 said:


> Don't know what it's called or where I got it - or where it is now, but I've used a can opener that's about a half-inch by 1 inch with a blade that folds out.


That's the P-38 can opener. It was issued with C-rations.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

4HiMarks said:


> Don't leave out Maxwell Smart and his shoe phone!


Least we forget the wireless phones used in "The Prisoner" (1967-1968).


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

MysteryMan said:


> Least we forget the wireless phones used in "The Prisoner" (1967-1968).


Solo's pen predated that by at least three years.

I seem to remember a couple of instances where he pulled out some kind of wire and strung across some things. Implied use of Low Band I guess.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

While I like the idea of a iPen a lot of Star Trek's technology has become a reality. Here's some of the most notable..... Communicators: Today's cell phones......In Ear Comms: Today's Bluetooth......PADDS: Today's hand held tablets......Transparent Aluminum: Today's Aluminum oxynitride, aka ALON.


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