Educational Media Reviews Online

Spectres of the Spectrum begins in 2007 after an apocalyptic event has reduced most of the world to an environmental wasteland. A man named Yogi and his telepathic daughter BooBoo are part of the League of the Just, an underground group battling NEO, the New Electromagnetic Order. From a pirate radio station in the desert, Yogi tells the story of how NEO came to be. He and several other members of the League narrate the history of electricity, telephones, radio, radar, television, and computers, discussing the inventors as well as the corporations that formed and merged as the industries grew and evolved. Some of the inventors in the film include Benjamin Franklin, Nikola Tesla, Wilhelm Reichs, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, David Sarnoff, Philo Farnsworth, and Bill Gates. By 2007, the multinational corporations have converged to the point where just one transnational corporation remains, controlling all forms of media - NEO. With most people already turned into zombies, NEO’s next venture is to conquer the human imagination. To stop NEO, BooBoo (whose every word sounds like poetry) travels through space and time to 1957 in order to find a message left in the airwaves by her grandmother, who was once on the television program Science in Action. This message proves to be the key to the destruction of NEO.

Now, on to what makes this film so unique. In addition to the bits of live action (with very low-budget special effects) filmed specifically for this movie, Spectres of the Spectrum is a montage of found film clips from old television shows and movies, edited together to tell the history of communications and further the story. The editing is spectacular, with images and narration coming with mind-boggling speed, making repeated viewings a sure bet. What is Spectres of the Spectrum? Science fiction? A study in paranoia? A fascinating tour of the history of our electronic and computerized age? It is all of these, and more. Where else can you find a discussion of the following in a single film: the magnetosphere, electricity, time travel, cosmography, atomic bombs and submarines, spiritualism, media archaeology, nuclear bombs, ionospheric radiators, space flight, satellites, and the privatization of media?

This film is appropriate for public or academic libraries, and is certain to stir the imaginations of students in a variety of subjects, such as physics, engineering, sociology, and computer science. Film students will also benefit by studying the editing of the movie, as it is truly unique.

The technical quality of the DVD is very good. DVD features include the director’s commentary, cast & crew bios, a short film Behind the Spectrum, a clip from Science in Action, and upcoming releases from Other Cinema DVD. Although the film doesn’t offer subtitles, most of the terms and names are flashed on the screen as they are discussed.