MovieChat Forums > Alice (1976) Discussion > Vera'a ex boyfriend, Steve Marsh and the...

Vera'a ex boyfriend, Steve Marsh and the future of the internet?

posted 7 years ago by nmrj
4 replies | jump to latest

Do you think that the writers predicted the future in the creation of the character of Steve Marsh? Steve Marsh was a tech and computer expert and in the episode "Sweet Erasable Mel" season 7 1983, he helped Mel with paying his bills, checking racing results and movie time schedule online, an early version of the internet. Watch that episode on Youtube below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB1_auRkIVI

Don't get me wrong, I love the Flo years the most, but I also enjoy watching the later seasons with Jolene and I think that the writers of this show really did predict the future in this storyline. Also, in another episode, Henry told Alice that he believes that one day people not only talk on the phone, but they can also see each other face to face while doing it and we have that right now with facetime.

[–] tinkerbell_jonna 7 years ago

I don't think the Internet was THAT hard to foreshadow. I think the Whoopi Goldberg movie Jumpin' Jack Flash was FULL of internet foreshadowing.

[–] nmrj 7 years ago

Alice (Sweet Erasable Mel" was 1983.

Jumpin' Jack Flash was 1986.

[–] tinkerbell_jonna 7 years ago

That is just 3 years though, not THAT big of time stretch. What I'm saying it, probably most ppl suspected that it was eventually GOING there someday. It's like I remember a couple of old black and white movies that were supposed to be about the future where ppl would be chatting on the phone while seeing each other's face on a screen ~like facetime, Skype, etc...~ But in the movies I remember, even though they could see each other on a screen, they were STILL using a ROTARY dial lol

[–] nmrj 7 years ago

You're right, the internet would eventually come into fruition, mostly because of the writers, of their imaginations, creativity and always dreaming. I think that Hollywood and the entertainment industry played a very big part in it, because kids who watches science fiction movies and tv shows were inspired by them and grew up and become engineers, scientists,and systems analysts, they brought it to life as we see the internet today.

My question is though, on this particular episode of "Alice", Mel was paying bills through a computer service, did this process already happened in real life or was this the writer's imagination? Computers were very expensive back in the 80's, so there is no way regular people like our parents could afford it, and did the banks even uses payment through an online service? In this episode, Mel had to use the phone to call into the bank and from his computer he would be able to pay his bills. This was pretty new, unless this computer service was only available to the rich and business owners, and we don't know anything about it.