{"id":34311,"date":"2023-08-31T10:48:45","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T14:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=34311"},"modified":"2023-08-31T10:50:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T14:50:25","slug":"syfy-dials-me-back-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2023\/08\/31\/syfy-dials-me-back-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Syfy dials me back in"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was watching the horror movie <em>The Black Phone<\/em> a few days ago when a scene set in a small-town convenience store had me hitting pause, because a comics rack was clearly visible. And whenever I spot one of those, I always ask &#8230; do the comics match the time period?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneComics.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneComics-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-34312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneComics-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneComics-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneComics-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneComics.jpg 944w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some movies and TV shows dress the set with comics  from years past which would have long before been pulled by the distributor, others have comics which wouldn&#8217;t be published for several years. <em>The Black Phone<\/em>, set in 1978, presented me with multiple puzzles.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Why does the comics rack display the June, October, and December 1976 issues of <em>The Six Million Dollar Man<\/em>? That is &#8212; two years out of date, and more issues than a store would normally have, since when a new issue arrives, the old one is generally taken away.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SixMillionDollarMan.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SixMillionDollarMan-300x149.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"149\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-34313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SixMillionDollarMan-300x149.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SixMillionDollarMan-1024x509.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SixMillionDollarMan-768x382.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SixMillionDollarMan.jpeg 1193w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And why couldn&#8217;t I identify the other comics by their covers? I could find no mention of  <em>The Defecator<\/em>, <em>Adventures of R.O.B.O.T.I.C.O.<\/em>, <em>Flesh Sandwich<\/em>, <em>Lord Riley<\/em>, or any of the other non-<em>Six Million Dollar Man<\/em> titles at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.comics.org\">Grand Comics Database<\/a> or anywhere else online. So I asked the world for an answer &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/MyBlackPhoneQuestion.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/MyBlackPhoneQuestion-300x296.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"296\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-34317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/MyBlackPhoneQuestion-300x296.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/MyBlackPhoneQuestion-1024x1012.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/MyBlackPhoneQuestion-768x759.png 768w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/MyBlackPhoneQuestion.png 1322w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; and over on <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/scottedelman.bsky.social\">BlueSky<\/a>, where I&#8217;ve been spending more of my social media time now that the policies of the erratic egomaniac owner of Twitter has been making the place less welcoming, I received my answer from C. Robert Cargill, screenwriter of <em>The Black Phone<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/CRobertCargill.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/CRobertCargill-300x148.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"148\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-34314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/CRobertCargill-300x148.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/CRobertCargill-1024x506.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/CRobertCargill-768x380.png 768w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/CRobertCargill-1536x759.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/CRobertCargill-2048x1012.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But this saga doesn&#8217;t end there, because though I haven&#8217;t worked at Syfy for a decade after having been on staff there for 13+ years, I seem to still be creating stories for them. Here <a href=\"https:\/\/www.syfy.com\/syfy-wire\/the-black-phone-co-writer-explains-hidden-comic-book-easter-eggs\">what they did over there<\/a> with the exchange &#8212;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneSyfy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneSyfy-300x155.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"155\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-34315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneSyfy-300x155.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneSyfy-1024x529.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneSyfy-768x397.png 768w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneSyfy-1536x794.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TheBlackPhoneSyfy-2048x1059.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you read the piece, you&#8217;ll see I&#8217;m identified as a  &#8220;writer, podcaster, and former SYFY WIRE editor.&#8221;  Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was watching the horror movie The Black Phone a few days ago when a scene set in a small-town convenience store had me hitting pause, because a comics rack was clearly visible. And whenever I spot one of those, I always ask &#8230; do the comics match the time period? Some movies and TV [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[267,984],"class_list":["post-34311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-syfy","tag-the-black-phone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34311"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34321,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34311\/revisions\/34321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}