...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Making Contact
- 115 statements
- 21 feature instances
- 3 referencing feature instances
| Making Contact | type |
TVTItem | |
| Making Contact | label |
Making Contact | |
| Making Contact | page |
MakingContact | |
| Making Contact | comment |
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })A 1985 German film written and directed by Roland Emmerich prior to making his big move to Hollywood.Young Joey Collins is a regular kid whose father has recently died. He has difficulty dealing with his dad's death. After a heartfelt wish for his deceased parent to return, he begins getting phone calls from his dead dad... on a toy telephone that isn't connected to anything. In addition, Joey begins developing psychic powers and telekinesis, which he tells his concerned mother Laura and schoolteacher Martin that were taught to him by his ghostly father. The toys in his bedroom also come to life at random intervals, and one of them, a toy robot named Charlie, stays alive and befriends Joey.One day, Joey's life is turned upside-down when he decides to explore the condemned, burned-out house of a long dead magician. Here, he stumbles across an old ventriloquist dummy named Fletcher, and takes him home. But when Joey isn't around, much to Charlie the robot's dismay, Fletcher opens his eyes... and growls. The evil dummy has powers of his own and becomes hellbent on preventing Joey from making contact with his dad's ghost for some reason, and just generally causing chaos and mayhem.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })It was filmed in the US with English-speaking German actors and released there under the title Making Contact. A longer cut, dubbed into German, was released to theaters in Emmerich's native Germany under the title Joey. The German cut runs twenty minutes longer than the US one and has a more ambiguous ending than the American version. Although it contains a different story from them, it contains numerous references to the earlier films of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (in particular Star Wars and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial). | |
| Making Contact | fetched |
2021-08-02T13:42:57Z | |
| Making Contact | parsed |
2021-08-02T13:42:57Z | |
| Making Contact | processingComment |
Dropped link to ChildrenAreCruel: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
| Making Contact | processingUnknown |
ChildrenAreCruel | |
| Making Contact | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Making Contact / int_3cf44d4b | type |
High-Class Glass | |
| Making Contact / int_3cf44d4b | comment |
High-Class Glass: Fletcher wears a monocle. | |
| Making Contact / int_3cf44d4b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_3cf44d4b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_3cf44d4b | |
| Making Contact / int_58970413 | type |
Coincidental Broadcast | |
| Making Contact / int_58970413 | comment |
Coincidental Broadcast: Sort of. The radio reports about the phone blackouts affecting the entire town of course are relevant. The most obvious one is the documentary about the dead magician and his ventriloquist act, but it can be argued Fletcher made this play as a means of explaining to Joey who he was in lieu of talking to him. | |
| Making Contact / int_58970413 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_58970413 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_58970413 | |
| Making Contact / int_59907e4f | type |
Police Are Useless | |
| Making Contact / int_59907e4f | comment |
Police Are Useless: Played totally and insanely straight. They actually retreat from a gang of nine-year olds flinging paint at them. | |
| Making Contact / int_59907e4f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_59907e4f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_59907e4f | |
| Making Contact / int_5fcedca | type |
Big Eater | |
| Making Contact / int_5fcedca | comment |
Big Eater: The chubby bully. | |
| Making Contact / int_5fcedca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_5fcedca | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_5fcedca | |
| Making Contact / int_6ef6417b | type |
Disney Death | |
| Making Contact / int_6ef6417b | comment |
Disney Death: Joey. It's difficult to properly explain, but essentially he rushes through a door at the center of the magician's maze and enters the spirit realm to greet his dead father. Then it cuts to the police finding him comatose in the woods. ER doctors try and fail to revive him. All of the characters (even the bullies!) say their tearful goodbyes to him, and then randomly he just resurrects for an instant happy ending. The US cut is more overt about this, whereas the German version leaves his survival only a suggestion. | |
| Making Contact / int_6ef6417b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_6ef6417b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_6ef6417b | |
| Making Contact / int_7315fd38 | type |
Covers Always Lie | |
| Making Contact / int_7315fd38 | comment |
Covers Always Lie: The poster for the US release claims only Joey can see the magical goings on. This is untrue. Other people can and do witness both his and Fletcher's antics. The only thing Joey can see that others cannot is the magician's ghost at the end. | |
| Making Contact / int_7315fd38 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_7315fd38 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_7315fd38 | |
| Making Contact / int_7ccd3698 | type |
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever | |
| Making Contact / int_7ccd3698 | comment |
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Various giant monsters, including a monster-sized version of Fletcher, but the most noteworthy is a giant killer hamburger. | |
| Making Contact / int_7ccd3698 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_7ccd3698 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_7ccd3698 | |
| Making Contact / int_826ffcc8 | type |
Demonic Dummy | |
| Making Contact / int_826ffcc8 | comment |
Demonic Dummy: Who else but Fletcher? | |
| Making Contact / int_826ffcc8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_826ffcc8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_826ffcc8 | |
| Making Contact / int_9c1f758a | type |
Kill It with Fire | |
| Making Contact / int_9c1f758a | comment |
Kill It with Fire: Fletcher, ultimately. | |
| Making Contact / int_9c1f758a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_9c1f758a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_9c1f758a | |
| Making Contact / int_a939d96a | type |
Adults Are Useless | |
| Making Contact / int_a939d96a | comment |
Adults Are Useless: Bizarrely, averted early on, then subverted and finally ultimately played depressingly straight as the film progresses and focuses more and more on the children. | |
| Making Contact / int_a939d96a | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Making Contact / int_a939d96a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_a939d96a | |
| Making Contact / int_abdf7d09 | type |
Weirdness Censor | |
| Making Contact / int_abdf7d09 | comment |
Weirdness Censor: Utterly averted. Despite their effectiveness being questionable, the grown-ups do notice and react to all of the supernatural stuff going on. | |
| Making Contact / int_abdf7d09 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_abdf7d09 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_abdf7d09 | |
| Making Contact / int_ac560dc4 | type |
Save the Villain | |
| Making Contact / int_ac560dc4 | comment |
Save the Villain: Well, more like save the annoying Jerkass schoolkids. When Fletcher endangers the bullies and traps them in the old house, Joey sucks it up and actually rescues their sorry behinds. | |
| Making Contact / int_ac560dc4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_ac560dc4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_ac560dc4 | |
| Making Contact / int_c06ec675 | type |
Gang of Bullies | |
| Making Contact / int_c06ec675 | comment |
Gang of Bullies: Initially there's only two or three but the group soon swells to roughly six, including a little girl. | |
| Making Contact / int_c06ec675 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_c06ec675 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_c06ec675 | |
| Making Contact / int_c23525d4 | type |
Character Title | |
| Making Contact / int_c23525d4 | comment |
Character Title: The German version only. | |
| Making Contact / int_c23525d4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_c23525d4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_c23525d4 | |
| Making Contact / int_c26e2b1 | type |
New Powers as the Plot Demands | |
| Making Contact / int_c26e2b1 | comment |
New Powers as the Plot Demands: Applies to both Joey and Fletcher. | |
| Making Contact / int_c26e2b1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_c26e2b1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_c26e2b1 | |
| Making Contact / int_d1fd14db | type |
SilentBob | |
| Making Contact / int_d1fd14db | comment |
Silent Bob: Fletcher mostly just growls and snarls, but when he does talk, what he has to say is usually pretty disturbing: | |
| Making Contact / int_d1fd14db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_d1fd14db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_d1fd14db | |
| Making Contact / int_dca70c44 | type |
Reasonable Authority Figure | |
| Making Contact / int_dca70c44 | comment |
Reasonable Authority Figure: Martin, Joey's teacher. | |
| Making Contact / int_dca70c44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_dca70c44 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_dca70c44 | |
| Making Contact / int_e6ce4b | type |
The Maze | |
| Making Contact / int_e6ce4b | comment |
The Maze: There's one underneath the old house, where Fletcher traps the kids. It may or may not have just been imaginary though. | |
| Making Contact / int_e6ce4b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_e6ce4b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_e6ce4b | |
| Making Contact / int_ee9877ea | type |
Too Good for This Sinful Earth | |
| Making Contact / int_ee9877ea | comment |
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Joey's death is treated as this. Subverted in that he gets better. | |
| Making Contact / int_ee9877ea | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Making Contact / int_ee9877ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_ee9877ea | |
| Making Contact / int_fcbcc221 | type |
Robot Buddy | |
| Making Contact / int_fcbcc221 | comment |
Robot Buddy: Charlie. | |
| Making Contact / int_fcbcc221 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_fcbcc221 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_fcbcc221 | |
| Making Contact / int_name | type |
ItemName | |
| Making Contact / int_name | comment |
||
| Making Contact / int_name | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact / int_name | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Making Contact / int_name | |
| Making Contact / int_name | itemName |
Making Contact |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Demonic Dummy / int_7885213b | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Foreign Re-Score / int_7885213b | |
| Making Contact | hasFeature |
Robot Buddy / int_7885213b |
Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.