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Rewind to 1983

The Cold War was ending and us mere civilians were finally allowed to play with GPS. And this lot

Gadget – Sony Betamovie BMC-100

The word ‘camcorder’ didn’t exist in ’83 but the first combined video recorder and camera – Sony’s Betamax BMC-100 – was shooting footage straight to the ill-fated cassette. No digital viewfinder or video playback here – you had to dash home to your Betamax player to see your handiwork.

 

Film – Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The final instalment of George Lucas’ original trilogy finally explained who was related to who in the massively successful sci-fi franchise. There was also Jedi training with Yoda and the introduction of Ewoks. No wonder Return of the Jedi paid off its astronomical production budget in the first weekend.

Game – Manic Miner

Miner Willy battled Poisonous Pansies, Spiders, Slime, and Manic Mining Robots in this twenty level platform classic. The ZX Spectrum’s paltry graphics allowance was just about able to keep up.

Album – Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits

Playing pool with midgets and burning down your wife’s chihuahua – just a couple of the themes floating around in the brilliant chaos of Tom Waits’ 1983 opus. His gravelly voice bears all the hallmarks of drinking whisky on the way to the studio which – since he’d just ditched his record company – he probably did.

Comic – V for Vendetta

You may know it from the 2006 Warner Bros film adaptation, or from protestors jumping on the ‘V’ bandwagon. But It all started with Alan Moore’s 10-issue comic book series, V for Vendetta. It’s big on drama and politics, as you might expect from the author of another light-hearted caped caper – Watchmen. 

Also

More gadget rewinds

25 best platform games ever

Stuff countdown of top 100 games

Profile image of Dan Grabham Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home