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I'm curious how they did the wearable lighting on that Buck Rogers roller disco. That would have been around 1978 or so. Only red LEDs existed then, and the lig

I'm curious how they did the wearable lighting on that Buck Rogers roller disco. That would have been around 1978 or so. Only red LEDs existed then, and the lights they're wearing are green. How would they have been powered? Batteries don't seem like they'd power so many incandescents for very long.

eesmith 4y ago
It would have been between September 1979 and April 1981 says Wikipedia. We had red, yellow, and green LEDs by then. While I don't know the history, I stuck "green led" into archive.org and found things like "At one-fifth the current, these red, yellow and green LED seven-segment numeric displays are equal in brightness to the previous displays." in a 1975 advertisement at https://archive.org/details/sim_i-d_july-august-1975_22_4/page/n71/mode/2up?q=%22green+led%22 https://archive.org/details/sim_i-d_july-august-1975_22_4/pa... . Though I think you mean high-intensity green? That said, what green lights do you mean? The closest I could spot was in the skates, and they didn't look all that green. Can you give a time code? The shots are only a few seconds long. There's plenty of time to replace batteries as needed. Or perhaps it's more that they reflect green well, rather than emit green?
toast0 4y ago
The lights are just on the skates right? The necklaces seem like just very reflective of other lighting, but I looked on a phone, and the image quality isn't great. I suspect those would be incandescent in a greenish tube, though. I've got a replica glowing lifeclock from Logan's Run (supposedly molded from production molds), and it's a little mini incadescent. Stuff some batteries in the skates, change them between takes if you need to.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  > replica glowing lifeclock from Logan's Run Oh my god! Are they still available?
  - toast0 4y ago
    Not that I can see. A couple of unglowing ones on ebay though. Had a Logan's Run themed birthday party for my wife's 30th. Party favors included ankh necklaces (ankhs from some party supply for $1/each or something). I'm a year younger, so I wore a red life clock, and made her a flashing one... But I'm no movie magician, the timer kit and battery and wires to go with it were waaaaaay too cumbersome. If only she had rollerskates on her hand, we could make it work ;) Also, I was powering with a 9V battery... It was important to keep some with varying states or charge, because with a fresh battery, the light was too red. If you email me to remind me (in profile), I can try to find the ebay receipts from several years ago and see if there's anyway to contact the seller. I may also be willing to part with mine. Gotta find it first, but I'm past renewal age now, gotta move on to reciting cat poems.

eesmith 4y ago

It would have been between September 1979 and April 1981 says Wikipedia. We had red, yellow, and green LEDs by then. While I don't know the history, I stuck "green led" into archive.org and found things like "At one-fifth the current, these red, yellow and green LED seven-segment numeric displays are equal in brightness to the previous displays." in a 1975 advertisement at https://archive.org/details/sim_i-d_july-august-1975_22_4/page/n71/mode/2up?q=%22green+led%22 https://archive.org/details/sim_i-d_july-august-1975_22_4/pa... . Though I think you mean high-intensity green? That said, what green lights do you mean? The closest I could spot was in the skates, and they didn't look all that green. Can you give a time code? The shots are only a few seconds long. There's plenty of time to replace batteries as needed. Or perhaps it's more that they reflect green well, rather than emit green?

toast0 4y ago

The lights are just on the skates right? The necklaces seem like just very reflective of other lighting, but I looked on a phone, and the image quality isn't great. I suspect those would be incandescent in a greenish tube, though. I've got a replica glowing lifeclock from Logan's Run (supposedly molded from production molds), and it's a little mini incadescent. Stuff some batteries in the skates, change them between takes if you need to.

TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
> replica glowing lifeclock from Logan's Run Oh my god! Are they still available?
- toast0 4y ago
  Not that I can see. A couple of unglowing ones on ebay though. Had a Logan's Run themed birthday party for my wife's 30th. Party favors included ankh necklaces (ankhs from some party supply for $1/each or something). I'm a year younger, so I wore a red life clock, and made her a flashing one... But I'm no movie magician, the timer kit and battery and wires to go with it were waaaaaay too cumbersome. If only she had rollerskates on her hand, we could make it work ;) Also, I was powering with a 9V battery... It was important to keep some with varying states or charge, because with a fresh battery, the light was too red. If you email me to remind me (in profile), I can try to find the ebay receipts from several years ago and see if there's anyway to contact the seller. I may also be willing to part with mine. Gotta find it first, but I'm past renewal age now, gotta move on to reciting cat poems.