Back in the first Danger Man 1/2 hour series from 1960-61 we saw two bonafide spy gadgets in total; a whiskey flask that contains a miniature camera (episode #4, The Blue Veil), and a cigarette lighter that doubled as a radio receiver (episode #29, The Brothers).
That earlier series also showed us various listening devices, as well as flares and smoke bombs designed to daze and confuse the enemy... but the hidden camera and the lighter were the only devices we might tend to think of as true spy gadgets; looks like one thing but in fact does something surreptitious as well.
And it is in this third installment of the 1 hour series that we see the next true spy gadget; a typewriter that takes pictures. Yes, there was a hidden camera and mic planted in a suspect's office in episode #1 of this series, Yesterday's Enemies, but the typewriter that doubles as a camera was, again, the first 'surreptitious' spy gadget used in this second run of Danger Man.
John Drake is also fitted with the veritable electric razor spyware. In this first incarnation the razor doubles as a long range transmitter. It will be some time before we see what may be remembered as the most ubiquitous of Drake's spy gadgets; the electric shaver doubling as a tape recorder. Only the cigarette lighter that takes pictures can rival its frequency of appearances.
------------- By the way, one thing that struck me in this particular episode was some dialog of actor Peter Arne's character 'John Richardson' says when he greets the trio of new arrivals early on in the show;
Janet Wells: "What is this place?"
Richardson: "(Our director) Mr. Donovan will explain everything to you "
Janet Wells: "We're not back in England, are we?
Richardson: "Geography is a matter of physical illusion. Lines on a map words on a signpost. It's this that gives a place its identity. After all, you are where you recognize yourself to be. Mr. Donovan says that 'all countries are countries of the mind'."
This is a bit of a philosophical jab amidst the canvas of global politics, is it not? The exchange rather reminded me of a kicked up version of the mind play when Neo was questioning the nature of reality in The Matrix. Morpheus responds; "What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
Yeah, it's a question of perspective. Where you are, and what you perceive, is sort of relative.
That earlier series also showed us various listening devices, as well as flares and smoke bombs designed to daze and confuse the enemy... but the hidden camera and the lighter were the only devices we might tend to think of as true spy gadgets; looks like one thing but in fact does something surreptitious as well.
And it is in this third installment of the 1 hour series that we see the next true spy gadget; a typewriter that takes pictures. Yes, there was a hidden camera and mic planted in a suspect's office in episode #1 of this series, Yesterday's Enemies, but the typewriter that doubles as a camera was, again, the first 'surreptitious' spy gadget used in this second run of Danger Man.
John Drake is also fitted with the veritable electric razor spyware. In this first incarnation the razor doubles as a long range transmitter. It will be some time before we see what may be remembered as the most ubiquitous of Drake's spy gadgets; the electric shaver doubling as a tape recorder. Only the cigarette lighter that takes pictures can rival its frequency of appearances.
------------- By the way, one thing that struck me in this particular episode was some dialog of actor Peter Arne's character 'John Richardson' says when he greets the trio of new arrivals early on in the show;
Janet Wells: "What is this place?"
Richardson: "(Our director) Mr. Donovan will explain everything to you "
Janet Wells: "We're not back in England, are we?
Richardson: "Geography is a matter of physical illusion. Lines on a map words on a signpost. It's this that gives a place its identity. After all, you are where you recognize yourself to be. Mr. Donovan says that 'all countries are countries of the mind'."
This is a bit of a philosophical jab amidst the canvas of global politics, is it not? The exchange rather reminded me of a kicked up version of the mind play when Neo was questioning the nature of reality in The Matrix. Morpheus responds; "What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
Yeah, it's a question of perspective. Where you are, and what you perceive, is sort of relative.