...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
The Tommyknockers
- 525 statements
- 102 feature instances
- 45 referencing feature instances
| The Tommyknockers | type |
TVTItem | |
| The Tommyknockers | label |
The Tommyknockers | |
| The Tommyknockers | page |
TheTommyknockers | |
| The Tommyknockers | comment |
The Tommyknockers is a 1987 novel by Stephen King.While walking in the woods near the small town of Haven, Maine, Roberta "Bobbi" Anderson, a writer of Westerns, stumbles upon a metal object which turns out to be the slightest portion of an alien spacecraft, that crashed into Earth in prehistoric times. She begins to dig it out, and slowly becomes obsessed with it. Meanwhile, her best friend, alcoholic poet Jim "Gard" Gardener reaches the nadir of his life, and decides to kill himself, but changes his mind when he feels that she is in trouble. He travels to Haven, and finds Bobbi at the point of complete exhaustion. While the spacecraft has no effect on him because of a steel plate in his head, he still decides to help her in unearthing it, hoping to change the world for the better with the power it holds.As more and more is exposed of the ship, the inhabitants of Haven begin to change (the process is called "becoming"), and they become like the aliens who built it (dubbed the "Tommyknockers" after a nursery rhyme); they gain telepathic abilities, and build futuristic devices from simple household appliances. Gardener, seeing that their intentions are far from his idealistic goals, starts to doubt himself, and thinks he should do something against them.The story is influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's short story The Colour Out of Space and the British television serial Quatermass and the Pit. King wrote the book during a period of substance abuse, and has written that he realized later on that the novel was a metaphor for that addiction.It was adapted into a 1993 miniseries starring Jimmy Smits, Marg Helgenberger, E. G. Marshall, Joanna Cassidy, Cliff DeYoung and Traci Lords. | |
| The Tommyknockers | fetched |
2024-03-24T15:16:07Z | |
| The Tommyknockers | parsed |
2024-03-24T15:16:07Z | |
| The Tommyknockers | processingComment |
Dropped link to HoistByTheirOwnPetard: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
| The Tommyknockers | processingComment |
Dropped link to LivingBattery: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
| The Tommyknockers | processingComment |
Dropped link to ParasolOfPain: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
| The Tommyknockers | processingComment |
Dropped link to PsychoticManchild: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
| The Tommyknockers | processingComment |
Dropped link to TheTalisman: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
| The Tommyknockers | processingUnknown |
HoistByTheirOwnPetard | |
| The Tommyknockers | processingUnknown |
PsychoticManchild | |
| The Tommyknockers | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1440584e | type |
Heroic RRoD | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1440584e | comment |
Heroic RRoD: Gardener dies because he over-strained his brain by using Bobbi's computers to rescue David Brown, and launching the ship. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1440584e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1440584e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_1440584e | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_14ed6ab7 | type |
Does This Remind You of Anything? | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_14ed6ab7 | comment |
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The book is not subtle about the link between the irresponsibility of those who use nuclear power and the irresponsibility of the Tommyknockers. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_14ed6ab7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_14ed6ab7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_14ed6ab7 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1bdbbbae | type |
The Klutz | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1bdbbbae | comment |
The Klutz: Hilly is very accident-prone, mostly due to his curious nature. According to his father Bryant "Hilly without screw-ups is like McDonald's without hamburgers". | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1bdbbbae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1bdbbbae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_1bdbbbae | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1c7555f1 | type |
The Virus | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1c7555f1 | comment |
The Virus: Gardener theorizes that the dead aliens inside the ship are not the original crew. Instead, he thinks the ship is engaged in a long cycle in which it mutates the local inhabitants of whatever planet it crashes on, turns them into crew, then uses them to travel to another inhabited planet where it crashes and repeats the cycle. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1c7555f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1c7555f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_1c7555f1 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1dfd19f9 | type |
Papa Wolf | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1dfd19f9 | comment |
Ev Hillman first appears as a "garrulous-going-on-tiresome" old man. However, he proves to be very brave and heroic, when he tries to save his grandson. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1dfd19f9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_1dfd19f9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_1dfd19f9 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_21bde5e8 | type |
The Tooth Hurts | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_21bde5e8 | comment |
The Tooth Hurts: In the miniseries, Gardener pulls one of his own teeth to fool Bobbi into thinking that he's "becoming." | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_21bde5e8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_21bde5e8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_21bde5e8 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_269e82c1 | type |
Death of a Child | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_269e82c1 | comment |
Death of a Child: Almost the entire population of Haven dies at the end. Presumably, this includes the children, but the only ones we actually see - Hilly and David Brown - survive. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_269e82c1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_269e82c1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_269e82c1 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_26d18908 | type |
Puny Earthlings | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_26d18908 | comment |
Puny Earthlings: Subverted. While the Tommyknockers have innate abilities beyond those of any human, they're also psychotically unstable and completely unable to develop any worthwhile uses for the technology they create. Humans, on the other hand, are rational at least some of the time and have used their scientific advancements to improve their quality of life. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_26d18908 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_26d18908 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_26d18908 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_27ba9b64 | type |
What Did I Do Last Night? | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_27ba9b64 | comment |
What Did I Do Last Night?: Before the start of the novel, Gardener shot his wife in the face during a binge (she survived). He woke up in a prison cell, not remembering it; when he asked the deputy what he did, he answers: "Shot your wife. That's what you did. Good fucking deal, uh?" These words often come back to haunt him. After an 8-day binge, he wakes up on a breakwater on Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire, with no idea how he got there. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_27ba9b64 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_27ba9b64 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_27ba9b64 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_287694ed | type |
Disability Immunity | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_287694ed | comment |
Disability Immunity: Gardner is immune to the effects of the spacecraft of the titular aliens, as he has a metal plate in his head due to a ski accident. Two other characters experience this to a lesser extent, Ev Hillman (smaller plates in his head from a war injury) and Anne Anderson (extremely extensive metal dental work). | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_287694ed | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_287694ed | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_287694ed | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2a8a7ea6 | type |
Bury Your Gays | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2a8a7ea6 | comment |
Bury Your Gays: Played with; pretty much every citizen of Haven dies apart from two children, but the last survivor apart from them is specifically noted to be a lesbian. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2a8a7ea6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2a8a7ea6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_2a8a7ea6 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2c3ec06e | type |
Better as Friends | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2c3ec06e | comment |
Better as Friends: Gardener and Bobbi used to be lovers, but by the time the book is set, they're just friends though they end up having sex once more. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2c3ec06e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2c3ec06e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_2c3ec06e | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2c9e262 | type |
Catapult Nightmare | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2c9e262 | comment |
Catapult Nightmare: Happens to Gardener during one of his first nights in Bobbi's house, after a nightmare about the Tommyknockers and the shed in her backyard. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2c9e262 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_2c9e262 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_2c9e262 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_339e22e7 | type |
Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_339e22e7 | comment |
Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: It is mentions several times that the Tommies have a track record of accidentally destroying whole planets with their inventions. Usually when a couple of hicks get in a fight and use what turn out to be planet busters on each other. An elderly and senile farmer uses his newfound technical know-how to build a device powerful enough to cause earthquakes that would be devastating on a continental if not global scale. The purpose of the device? To drive away groundhogs and rabbits from his crops. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_339e22e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_339e22e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_339e22e7 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_34dcfc96 | type |
Kick the Dog | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_34dcfc96 | comment |
Bobbi's sister, complete with introductory Kick the Dog moment (she reduces an airline stewardess to tears, seemingly for the hell of it). When she was younger, she bullied her own parents. (One such incident involved her habit of grinding her teeth until she had to get dental work done. She tried to force a guilt trip on them for not stopping a habit that she herself refused to give up). When she tells her mother that she called Bobbi to tell her that their father was dead, she said that Bobbi laughed (untrue). Then she goes to Haven and tries to pull this on the locals. BIG mistake. She ends up as a Brain in a Jar. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_34dcfc96 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_34dcfc96 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_34dcfc96 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_38d09db | type |
Homicide Machines | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_38d09db | comment |
Homicide Machines: The Havenites built several of these, to guard the city borders. One of them is a floating Coca-Cola vending machine which kills John Leandro. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_38d09db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_38d09db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_38d09db | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3a90dc63 | type |
Aliens Are Bastards | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3a90dc63 | comment |
Aliens Are Bastards: Tommyknockers have incredibly bad tempers and are quick to Disproportionate Retribution. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3a90dc63 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3a90dc63 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_3a90dc63 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3bf7904f | type |
Vengeful Vending Machine | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3bf7904f | comment |
Vengeful Vending Machine: In the miniseries, some guy tries to retrieve a soda can from a vending machine, which is possessed or powered by the Alien technology and have a greenish glow. His hand gets stuck in there and the whole thing blows up, killing him. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3bf7904f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3bf7904f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_3bf7904f | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3c728b77 | type |
Flare Gun | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3c728b77 | comment |
Flare Gun: Ev Hillman has one; he originally wants to use it to give an emergency signal, but he ends up killing one of the Havenites with it. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3c728b77 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_3c728b77 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_3c728b77 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_40cc0c7e | type |
Bittersweet Ending | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_40cc0c7e | comment |
Bittersweet Ending: Gardener's few allies die to get him to the ship, he himself dies after being forced to kill Bobbi, and the rest of the townspeople (who are all irreversibly transformed into Tommyknockers) all either die from withdrawal, commit suicide or are killed by the federal government, but Gardener's sacrifice manages to remove the ship as a threat to Earth and even saves David Brown. The film has a more upbeat ending with most of the town including Bobbi surviving and the ship being permanently destroyed (its destruction causes the townspeople to revert to normal), though Gardener still dies via Heroic Sacrifice. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_40cc0c7e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_40cc0c7e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_40cc0c7e | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4478c66d | type |
Flashback Nightmare | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4478c66d | comment |
Flashback Nightmare: Gardener regularly has them about his teenage skiing accident (after which he got the steel plate in his head). | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4478c66d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4478c66d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_4478c66d | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_45a177f1 | type |
Touched by Vorlons | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_45a177f1 | comment |
Touched by Vorlons: Everyone in Haven (except Gardener and Ev Hillman). | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_45a177f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_45a177f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_45a177f1 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_48cffdb7 | type |
I Want My Mommy! | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_48cffdb7 | comment |
I Want My Mommy!: Leandro's last thought, right before he's killed is "Mama!" | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_48cffdb7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_48cffdb7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_48cffdb7 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_48d94bb8 | type |
Creator Backlash | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_48d94bb8 | comment |
The reference to The Shining is a bit of a special case, as it's specifically a reference to the movie, rather than the book. Given that King notoriously hated the movienote Which isn't entirely true; he does like the movie, just not as an adaptation of his work, this could very well have been meant to imply that the movie was "non-canon" even within his own Shared Universe. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_48d94bb8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_48d94bb8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_48d94bb8 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_49f6a9e4 | type |
Most Writers Are Writers | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_49f6a9e4 | comment |
Most Writers Are Writers: Bobbi is a Western writer, who also released one poetry book; Gardener is a poet. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_49f6a9e4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_49f6a9e4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_49f6a9e4 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4eaa9b84 | type |
Author Tract | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4eaa9b84 | comment |
Author Tract: In-story example: Gardener wrote a collection of poems under the title "The Radiation Cycle", which were basically anti-nuclear propaganda. He sent it to five different publishers, and it was rejected by all five. An editor tells him "Poetry and politics rarely mix, poetry and propaganda never." | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4eaa9b84 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4eaa9b84 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_4eaa9b84 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4f84cdef | type |
Smug Snake | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4f84cdef | comment |
Smug Snake: The Tommyknockers as a whole turn out to be this. They regard all other races with venomous contempt, and in the final stages of her assimilation, Bobbi says they're "great sky travelers" and gifted engineers who can uplift or destroy worlds on a whim. Gard retorts, with considerable evidence, that they're just brutish and emotionally unstable parasites too stupid to understand any of their own technology. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4f84cdef | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_4f84cdef | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_4f84cdef | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_504a1991 | type |
Body Horror | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_504a1991 | comment |
Body Horror: The process of "becoming". At first, it's just teeth falling out, but as it progresses your skin becomes transparent, and tentacles appear in the place of your genitals. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_504a1991 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_504a1991 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_504a1991 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_50b05d30 | type |
Disproportionate Retribution | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_50b05d30 | comment |
Disproportionate Retribution: After gaining mind-reading abilities, Hank Buck, one of the Havenites, discovers that a member of his poker circle, "Pits" Barfield regularly used to cheat. Hank teleports him to "Altair 4", a faraway, desolate planet that hardly has any air. Just how much did Barfield steal? Pennies. This story is included to show the Tommyknockers' crazy temper, as well as to show the last time they killed each other due to petty differences. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_50b05d30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_50b05d30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_50b05d30 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_522b3f47 | type |
Cranial Plate Ability | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_522b3f47 | comment |
Cranial Plate Ability: Gardener and Ev Hillman are immune to the Body Horror effects of the spaceship, because they have metal plates in their heads (Gardener because of a skiing accident, Ev because of a war wound). The plates also prevent the Tommyknockers from reading their minds. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_522b3f47 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_522b3f47 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_522b3f47 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_55940b68 | type |
Doorstopper | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_55940b68 | comment |
Doorstopper: Actually, many parts could be cut, as they don't really advance the plot. King himself has said that the book would be better if it was half as long as it is. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_55940b68 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_55940b68 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_55940b68 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_55cd4012 | type |
"Everybody Dies" Ending | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_55cd4012 | comment |
"Everybody Dies" Ending: All the important characters in the novel are dead by the end, except for Hilly and David Brown. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_55cd4012 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_55cd4012 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_55cd4012 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_562abd51 | type |
Let's Get Dangerous! | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_562abd51 | comment |
Let's Get Dangerous!: Ev Hillman first appears as a "garrulous-going-on-tiresome" old man. However, he proves to be very brave and heroic, when he tries to save his grandson. The Tommyknockers are shocked when Gardener turns against them: "this was one man, a man they had all regarded with the kind of wary contempt reserved for a stupid dog which may bite; this was one man who had spent most of his time with Bobbi in a drunken stupor, one man who had somehow tricked Bobbi and killed her and who refused to die no matter what they did." | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_562abd51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_562abd51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_562abd51 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_57cf76a1 | type |
Hate Plague | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_57cf76a1 | comment |
Hate Plague: Thanks to the bad tempers of the aliens transforming them, some of the citizens of Haven act this way and start killing anyone who has wronged them, regardless of whether that wrong was real or just perceived. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_57cf76a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_57cf76a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_57cf76a1 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_5c36a51 | type |
All Women Are Prudes | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_5c36a51 | comment |
All Women Are Prudes: Well, at least Becka Paulson is. At first, she's actually relieved when she suspects that her husband is having an affair, because this means he doesn't have sex with her anymore. To her, sex was "just as her mother had told her it would be, nasty, brutish, sometimes painful, always humiliating". | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_5c36a51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_5c36a51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_5c36a51 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_5f52cfcf | type |
Intrepid Reporter | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_5f52cfcf | comment |
Intrepid Reporter: A young reporter, John Leandro starts to suspect that something is wrong with Haven, so he goes there to find out what it is. His colleague, David Bright, ridicules him for it: "And - TA-DA! No One Will Believe This Heroic Young News-Hawk! Robert Redford Stars as John Leandro in This Nail-Biting Saga of..." | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_5f52cfcf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_5f52cfcf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_5f52cfcf | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6159beb1 | type |
It Tastes Like Feet | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6159beb1 | comment |
It Tastes Like Feet: After the owner dies, the food at the Haven Lunch gets crappy: a character thinks the fried eggs look like "broiled assholes" and taste that way too "although he'd never actually eaten an asshole, broiled or any other way." | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6159beb1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6159beb1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_6159beb1 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6328e274 | type |
Random Transportation | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6328e274 | comment |
Random Transportation: The Tommyknockers are able to teleport things, but only to specific spots they've never been able to find in their spacefaring, so for traveling, they use spaceships. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6328e274 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6328e274 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_6328e274 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_63b02752 | type |
Hair-Trigger Temper | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_63b02752 | comment |
Hair-Trigger Temper: The entire race of the Tommyknockers have it. The reason why the original Tommyknockers are all dead and their spaceship is crashed is because they kept visiting Disproportionate Retribution on each other for petty slights. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_63b02752 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_63b02752 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_63b02752 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_663b22d9 | type |
Dying as Yourself | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_663b22d9 | comment |
Dying as Yourself: Ruth Mccausland's death manages to alert Gardener that there's something sinister going on in the town, but the narrative flat out states she'd be happier with her other accomplishment: "Voices or no voices, the lady died sane." | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_663b22d9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_663b22d9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_663b22d9 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_66755d29 | type |
Author Avatar | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_66755d29 | comment |
Author Avatar: See The Alcoholic. Stephen King had substance abuse problems for years, and it sneaked into his writing a lot (much to his own surprise, after he sobered up enough to notice). | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_66755d29 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_66755d29 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_66755d29 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6682d6e4 | type |
Dying Moment of Awesome | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6682d6e4 | comment |
Dying Moment of Awesome: Several. Ruth McCausland dies blowing up the town church, with the purpose of directing the attention of the outside world on Haven. Anne Anderson, of all people, uses all the rest of her life force to power a weapon which incinerates Freeman Moss, thus saving Gardener's life. Ev Hillman and Peter the dog do likewise, using their energy to power the machine that saves David Brown and then attacking the townspeople once more. Gardener himself dies having expended absolutely of all his brainpower and dying from multiple wounds, but he manages to remove the Tommyknockers' ship from Earth in the process. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6682d6e4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6682d6e4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_6682d6e4 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_680bb6b1 | type |
Hot-Blooded | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_680bb6b1 | comment |
Hot-Blooded: Gardener becomes very irritable and violent when he's drunk. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_680bb6b1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_680bb6b1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_680bb6b1 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_68da6712 | type |
Canon Welding | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_68da6712 | comment |
Canon Welding: Several. Johnny Smith of The Dead Zone is referenced a few times, as is the Shop from Firestarter. It appears twice in the novel, first to Everett Hillman as a chuckling noise in the Derry hospital's plumbing, and later to Tommy as the familiar clown with silver eyes and balloons in a sewer. Both characters dismiss it as a hallucination and the two events are never referred to again. Gardner wakes up after a bender early in the novel on Arcadia Beach near the Alhambra Hotel from The Talisman. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_68da6712 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_68da6712 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_68da6712 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6b2b3b59 | type |
The Reveal | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6b2b3b59 | comment |
The Reveal: When Gardener goes into Bobbi's shed, and finds out what's in there. There's people (and a dog) she turned into living batteries. Although Bobbi in the book figures out that she's digging up a flying saucer pretty early, in the miniseries that fact is held until the end and treated as a revelation when Gard enters the spaceship to destroy it. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6b2b3b59 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6b2b3b59 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_6b2b3b59 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6bda9a30 | type |
Meaningful Name | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6bda9a30 | comment |
Meaningful Name: Haven. Eventually the Tommyknockers become so dependent on the radiation from the ship they can't even leave Haven without becoming mortally ill. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6bda9a30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6bda9a30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_6bda9a30 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6cbd71d7 | type |
Dangerous Key Fumble | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6cbd71d7 | comment |
Dangerous Key Fumble: After Gardener visits the shed, he realizes, just as the "Shed People" are returning, that he forget to put the padlock back on the door. As he runs out to put it back, he drops it and the key falls out. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6cbd71d7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6cbd71d7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_6cbd71d7 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6d332aea | type |
Driven to Suicide | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6d332aea | comment |
Driven to Suicide: After being caught in the woods at the site of the ship, Anthony Dugan is taken to Bobbi's shed and brainwashed into going back to Derry, writing a farewell note saying how he can't live without Ruth, and shooting himself. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6d332aea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6d332aea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_6d332aea | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6e37c196 | type |
Once Done, Never Forgotten | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6e37c196 | comment |
Once Done, Never Forgotten: The only thing that anyone can ever remember about Gardener is that he shot his wife. Never mind that it was non-fatal, she didn't press charges, or any other thing he's ever done, all that important is that he shot his wife. However, this does establish Gard's position as a Classical Anti-Hero and show just how dangerous he can be when his drinking lowers his inhibitions. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6e37c196 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_6e37c196 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_6e37c196 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7040b6bc | type |
Understatement | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7040b6bc | comment |
Understatement: When Gardener gives a rant against nuclear power at a party, he mentions that before the opening of the power plant at Three Mile Island, it was discovered that the plumbers accidentally hooked a tank for liquid radioactive waste to the drinking fountains instead of the scuts. The people investigating wrote in their report that hooking up radioactive waste-coolant pipes to the ones feeding water to the drinking fountains was a "generally inadvisable practice". | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7040b6bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7040b6bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_7040b6bc | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_72757e0d | type |
"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_72757e0d | comment |
"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_72757e0d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_72757e0d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_72757e0d | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7453bc5b | type |
Spared by the Adaptation | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7453bc5b | comment |
Spared by the Adaptation: In the film, pretty much everyone survives, including Bobbi and most of the townsfolk (Gardener still dies, though). Even poor Peter the dog makes it. The novel has the exact opposite outcome, with pretty much the entire town being wiped out and both main characters dead by Mercy Kill and Heroic Sacrifice respectively. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7453bc5b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7453bc5b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_7453bc5b | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_798a9e41 | type |
Auto Erotica | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_798a9e41 | comment |
Auto Erotica: Gardener remembers that he and Bobbi once had sex in her truck "during some stupid Ryan O'Neal picture". | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_798a9e41 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_798a9e41 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_798a9e41 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7b8b3def | type |
Celebrity Paradox | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7b8b3def | comment |
Celebrity Paradox: Stephen King himself is referenced in the book; the townspeople think that Bobbi writes good stories, "not all full of make-believe monsters and a bunch of dirty words, like the books that fellow who lived up Bangor way wrote". Also, when Gardener wants to get into the shed, he considers grabbing an ax "and make like Jack Nicholson in The Shining". However, events in The Dead Zone, It and Firestarter are mentioned as fact or at least hearsay, not as fiction. The reference to The Shining is a bit of a special case, as it's specifically a reference to the movie, rather than the book. Given that King notoriously hated the movienote Which isn't entirely true; he does like the movie, just not as an adaptation of his work, this could very well have been meant to imply that the movie was "non-canon" even within his own Shared Universe. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7b8b3def | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7b8b3def | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_7b8b3def | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7eebe99c | type |
The Alcoholic | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7eebe99c | comment |
The Alcoholic: Jim Gardener. And in this case, a pretty accurate, if somewhat shocking, portrayal of what it's like in the mind of a drunk in the midst of an unmanageable bender. Unfortunately, he's a mean drunk. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7eebe99c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_7eebe99c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_7eebe99c | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_830b0ac9 | type |
Final Battle | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_830b0ac9 | comment |
Final Battle: The climax of the story is Gardener's struggle to survive as the entire Haven township sets out to kill him. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_830b0ac9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_830b0ac9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_830b0ac9 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_858e593f | type |
Atmosphere Abuse | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_858e593f | comment |
Atmosphere Abuse: A non-planetwide example: the transformed residents of Haven manipulate the air in and to a certain elevation above their town into something that is both more breathable for them and toxic enough to any entering humans to make them turn back, sick, shortly after crossing the town line. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_858e593f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_858e593f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_858e593f | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_88f16cee | type |
Go Out with a Smile | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_88f16cee | comment |
Go Out with a Smile: Gardener dies smiling, because, as he lies dying, he has a happy dream. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_88f16cee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_88f16cee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_88f16cee | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8b221a63 | type |
Reed Richards Is Useless | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8b221a63 | comment |
Reed Richards Is Useless: The Tommyknockers can create amazing technology, but their lack of common sense prevents them from using their inventions for anything but their immediate personal desires. They can create antigravity, but they can't think to patent it and revolutionize space travel (or even use AC/DC converters to prevent it from being so Awesome, but Impractical). | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8b221a63 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8b221a63 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_8b221a63 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8c87607b | type |
Immunity Attrition | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8c87607b | comment |
Immunity Attrition: Gardener is initially not affected by the ship because the steel plate in his head protects him. However, several weeks of working day in, day out to dig up the ship eventually results in so much exposure to the ship that despite the plate, he too slowly starts to "become", making it harder for him to keep his mind from getting read. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8c87607b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8c87607b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_8c87607b | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8c9cad1e | type |
Psychic Static | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8c9cad1e | comment |
Psychic Static: Ruth McCausland thinks of tongue-twisters to hide her thoughts, playing them constantly in the back of her mind. Gardener (who has it much easier because of the steel plate in his head) uses "old addresses, bits of poems, snatches of songs", or just repeats the word "shield". | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8c9cad1e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8c9cad1e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_8c9cad1e | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8ed5c6e4 | type |
Asshole Victim | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8ed5c6e4 | comment |
Asshole Victim: Beach, Anne Anderson as well (see Jerkass). She's such a horrible person that Gardener doesn't particularly mind when he finds out that Bobbi turned her into a Living Battery; he's far more disturbed by Bobbi doing the same to her dog. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8ed5c6e4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8ed5c6e4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_8ed5c6e4 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8f612013 | type |
Token Good Teammate | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8f612013 | comment |
Token Good Teammate: For a given value of "good," Hazel McCready serves as this for the council of "Shed People." She's always the one to advocate for more benevolent uses of their powers (like retrieving David Brown), and is the peacemaker amongst the group. Notably, once she dies, the remaining Shed People immediately murder each other. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8f612013 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_8f612013 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_8f612013 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_90d44f44 | type |
Karmic Death | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_90d44f44 | comment |
Karmic Death: Beach creates a bazooka that shoots green light and giddily uses it to immolate two policemen investigating the area, and is quite eager to use it again on other non-Havenites. When cornered by them, Ev Hillman fires off his flare gun and hits Beach, causing him to burn painfully to death. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_90d44f44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_90d44f44 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_90d44f44 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_970c790a | type |
Big Bad | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_970c790a | comment |
Big Bad: The titular Tommyknockers themselves serve as this collectively in the novel however they are led by a few people in the town who transform into a group of Tommyknockers called The Shed People. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_970c790a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_970c790a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_970c790a | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_97914ed | type |
Idiot Savant | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_97914ed | comment |
Idiot Savant: The townsfolk can invent antigravity, but go through batteries at a terrific rate, because they need direct current and wall current is alternating. When Gardner hears this, he rages at Bobbi in utter disbelief; you can buy an AC/DC converter at any electronics store and nobody just picked one up on a shopping run, or built a few? Bobbi responds that it just never occurred to any of them. Bobbi actually calls herself an idiot savant early on. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_97914ed | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_97914ed | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_97914ed | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_97a252a6 | type |
PragmaticVillain | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_97a252a6 | comment |
Pragmatic Villain: When they set out to stop Ev Hillman and police officer Anthony Dugan from discovering the ship, Bobbi orders the Havenites not to kill Dugan, no matter what, since two cops already went missing near Haven and town constable Ruth has died recently, so she fears that another police officer dying or going missing will attract too much unwanted attention. Instead she opts to make him commit suicide in his hometown, Derry. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_97a252a6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_97a252a6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_97a252a6 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_a44cd048 | type |
Meet the New Boss | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_a44cd048 | comment |
Meet the New Boss: Gardener realizes the Havenites are becoming just like the governmental authority figures he didn't want to show the ship to. He even references "Won't Get Fooled Again" several times. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_a44cd048 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_a44cd048 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_a44cd048 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_a7055a94 | type |
Classical Anti-Hero | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_a7055a94 | comment |
Classical Anti-Hero: Jim Gardener. While not unintelligent, he is an alcoholic and often ends up doing stupid or even violent things when drunk. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_a7055a94 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_a7055a94 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_a7055a94 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_adbbb5c5 | type |
Writers Suck | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_adbbb5c5 | comment |
Writers Suck: Gardener is a violent alcoholic, his poetry is largely unsuccessful, and he gradually ruined his own life. Averted with Bobbi, though. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_adbbb5c5 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_adbbb5c5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_adbbb5c5 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b02f996a | type |
Town with a Dark Secret | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b02f996a | comment |
Town with a Dark Secret: Haven becomes this (and technically already was, once its history is revealed). | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b02f996a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b02f996a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_b02f996a | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b33d17a0 | type |
Sickly Green Glow | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b33d17a0 | comment |
Sickly Green Glow: The alien power has it. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b33d17a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b33d17a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_b33d17a0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b39d5719 | type |
Sadist | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b39d5719 | comment |
Sadist: Anne "Sissy" Anderson is an emotionally abusive variety. She takes a perverse joy in traumatizing random clerks and service workers with her vicious, haranguing personality, and her own family gets it even worse, to the point where Gard speculates she considers it her mission in life to drive them all insane with her abuse. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b39d5719 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b39d5719 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_b39d5719 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b58c51d8 | type |
My Beloved Smother | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b58c51d8 | comment |
My Beloved Smother: John Leandro's mother. He's 24, but still lives with her, and she's always able to guilt-trip him into doing what she wants. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b58c51d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b58c51d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_b58c51d8 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b905e88c | type |
People Jars | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b905e88c | comment |
People Jars: The people in Bobbi's shed, who have been turned into living batteries for some of the Tommyknockers' devices. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b905e88c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_b905e88c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_b905e88c | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_bc74ef27 | type |
Berserk Button | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_bc74ef27 | comment |
Berserk Button: Don't praise nuclear power in front of Gardener. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_bc74ef27 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_bc74ef27 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_bc74ef27 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_c0961831 | type |
Interrupted Suicide | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_c0961831 | comment |
Interrupted Suicide: Gardener is about to jump into the sea when he has an intuition that Bobbi is in trouble; that's why he doesn't do it, not because he wants to live (though later, he's grateful that he didn't do it). | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_c0961831 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_c0961831 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_c0961831 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_cb70651c | type |
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_cb70651c | comment |
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In the book's final big sequence, Bobbi's ghost seems to appear to Gardener, and guides his hand to shoot a deadly smoke detector. Gardener isn't sure afterwards if it really happened, but doesn't think he could have shot the thing without help. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_cb70651c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_cb70651c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_cb70651c | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ce68d46b | type |
Next Sunday A.D. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ce68d46b | comment |
Next Sunday A.D.: The book is set in 1988. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ce68d46b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ce68d46b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_ce68d46b | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d0bf8a6d | type |
No Periods, Period | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d0bf8a6d | comment |
No Periods, Period: Averted. Practically all the women in town wind up with theirs at the same time when the Tommyknockers show up, to the point that the stores run out of tampons. Even Ruth winds up with one, despite the fact that she'd hit menopause years ago. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d0bf8a6d | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d0bf8a6d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_d0bf8a6d | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d2502c9b | type |
Smoldering Shoes | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d2502c9b | comment |
Smoldering Shoes: Two cops are almost completely disintegrated with a Tommyknocker weapon. All that remains is a single smoking shoe with a foot still in it. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d2502c9b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d2502c9b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_d2502c9b | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d75a1703 | type |
Year Outside, Hour Inside | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d75a1703 | comment |
Year Outside, Hour Inside: Time is a lot slower on Altair 4; it is said that on that planet, only a year has passed since the Earth was formed. That's why David Brown can be brought back alive about a month after he was sent there, despite the fact that the planet hardly has any air. As far as he knows, he was only there for a few minutes or so. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d75a1703 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d75a1703 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_d75a1703 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d9d864e2 | type |
Stage Magician | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d9d864e2 | comment |
Stage Magician: Hilly Brown, a Child Prodigy, wants to be one; when he gains technical abilities, he builds a machine that sends things to a faraway planet (referred to as Altair IV), then brings them back, and uses it for magic tricks. However, when he sends away his little brother, David, he can't bring him back; rescuing him later becomes a major plot thread. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d9d864e2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_d9d864e2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_d9d864e2 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_dda99fa8 | type |
Despair Event Horizon | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_dda99fa8 | comment |
Despair Event Horizon: After Gardener launches the ship and leaves Earth's orbit, the remaining Tommyknockers all experience this. With the ship gone, they lose all purpose and direction in life. Many of them subsequently kill themselves, succumb to the now normalizing air around Haven or try to futilely hold out against the National Guard. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_dda99fa8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_dda99fa8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_dda99fa8 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_df410b77 | type |
Decoy Protagonist | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_df410b77 | comment |
Decoy Protagonist: The book starts out with Bobbi as the main viewpoint character only to switch to the real main character Gardener after Bobbi dug up the spaceship. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_df410b77 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_df410b77 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_df410b77 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e0d133d0 | type |
Insufficiently Advanced Alien | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e0d133d0 | comment |
It is mentions several times that the Tommies have a track record of accidentally destroying whole planets with their inventions. Usually when a couple of hicks get in a fight and use what turn out to be planet busters on each other. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e0d133d0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e0d133d0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_e0d133d0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e28f88b8 | type |
Last-Name Basis | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e28f88b8 | comment |
Last-Name Basis: Jim Gardener is called "Gard" by Bobbi, his best friend. In fact, this is the name with which he thinks of himself, although only he and Bobbi use it. The narration also refers to him as "Gardener" or "Gard". | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e28f88b8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e28f88b8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_e28f88b8 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e567510d | type |
Determinator | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e567510d | comment |
Determinator: Gardener in the final act (though it's implied that some kind of supernatural force is helping him). | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e567510d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e567510d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_e567510d | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e5fd8bc2 | type |
Hate Sink | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e5fd8bc2 | comment |
Hate Sink: Becka's husband in the miniseries, who is a completely unlikable asshole who cheats on his wife, calls her stupid, and passes on helping to look for a missing child. There isn't a single redeeming quality to him. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e5fd8bc2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e5fd8bc2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_e5fd8bc2 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e6c88e42 | type |
Old Shame | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e6c88e42 | comment |
Old Shame: Bobbi started out as a poet, publishing a volume of poems titled Boxing the Compass before turning to Westerns. She now believes that the volume has one good poem in it, and the rest are crap. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e6c88e42 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e6c88e42 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_e6c88e42 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e794cb54 | type |
Powered by a Forsaken Child | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e794cb54 | comment |
When Gardener goes into Bobbi's shed, and finds out what's in there. There's people (and a dog) she turned into living batteries. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e794cb54 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_e794cb54 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_e794cb54 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_eb8e4fa8 | type |
Jerkass | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_eb8e4fa8 | comment |
Jerkass: Bobbi's sister, complete with introductory Kick the Dog moment (she reduces an airline stewardess to tears, seemingly for the hell of it). When she was younger, she bullied her own parents. (One such incident involved her habit of grinding her teeth until she had to get dental work done. She tried to force a guilt trip on them for not stopping a habit that she herself refused to give up). When she tells her mother that she called Bobbi to tell her that their father was dead, she said that Bobbi laughed (untrue). Then she goes to Haven and tries to pull this on the locals. BIG mistake. She ends up as a Brain in a Jar. Joe from the TV miniseries, who not only cheats on his wife, but he throws her lunch for him and his sons, laughs evilly after making his wife feel bad for herself and abandons a search for a lost kid to have an affair again, knowing that his wife would be more concerned about the search than him. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_eb8e4fa8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_eb8e4fa8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_eb8e4fa8 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ecf22444 | type |
ShurFineGuns | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ecf22444 | comment |
Shur Fine Guns: When Gardener drops a gun, it goes off, and the bullet breaks his ankle. It might be justified, since it's an old .45 from World War II. It's especially ironic, because earlier, when he tried to shoot Bobbi with it, it misfired. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ecf22444 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ecf22444 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_ecf22444 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_eff83d77 | type |
Mundane Utility | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_eff83d77 | comment |
Mundane Utility: Bobbi uses her technical abilities to power up her water heater by creating a small sun in it, making a tractor that can fly, and a typewriter that can read thoughts. Other Havenites create similar things, like Hilly Brown's teleporter, which he uses for magic tricks. In fact, this is pretty much all they do before they start making weapons and deadly robots to protect Haven, because it never occurs to them what other uses their inventions have. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_eff83d77 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_eff83d77 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_eff83d77 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f3626b09 | type |
Mercy Kill | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f3626b09 | comment |
Mercy Kill: Gardener does it to Bobbi, and later to the people (and the dog) in Bobbi's shed. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f3626b09 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f3626b09 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_f3626b09 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f510b929 | type |
TagLine | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f510b929 | comment |
Tag Line: You can't run. You can't hide. You can only become... one of them. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f510b929 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f510b929 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_f510b929 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f842fb67 | type |
Disappearing Box | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f842fb67 | comment |
Disappearing Box: Played with. Hilly Brown made a machine that didn't make things disappear, but sent them to Altair IV. However, he uses it with the intent of making things vanish under an ordinary cloth as a magic trick. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f842fb67 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f842fb67 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_f842fb67 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f8b3d078 | type |
True Art Is Angsty | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f8b3d078 | comment |
True Art Is Angsty: Invoked in Bobbi's backstory; all her snobby, pretentious writer friends instantly abandon her when she starts writing Westerns. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f8b3d078 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_f8b3d078 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_f8b3d078 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_fbba5e98 | type |
Gadgeteer Genius | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_fbba5e98 | comment |
Gadgeteer Genius: What everyone in town becomes as a result of the changes to their brains caused by the alien ship. Bobbi, for instance, figures out how to power her water heater with something akin to a small nuclear reactor, and someone else turns a tube of lipstick into a laser gun. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_fbba5e98 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_fbba5e98 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_fbba5e98 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ff04e190 | type |
Inciting Incident | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ff04e190 | comment |
Inciting Incident: All the events are triggered by Bobbie stumbling on a piece of metal, which is lampshaded by the book's opening line. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ff04e190 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ff04e190 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_ff04e190 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ff6ae1f6 | type |
Evil-Detecting Dog | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ff6ae1f6 | comment |
Evil-Detecting Dog: Bobbi's dog, Peter, is afraid of the spaceship from the very beginning. As more and more of the ship is unearthed, all animals disappear from the forest, even insects. Bobbi finds some animals killed by the ship's effect; it's unclear if they all died, or many of them just escaped. | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ff6ae1f6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_ff6ae1f6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_ff6ae1f6 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_name | type |
ItemName | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_name | comment |
||
| The Tommyknockers / int_name | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_name | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Tommyknockers | hasFeature |
The Tommyknockers / int_name | |
| The Tommyknockers / int_name | itemName |
The Tommyknockers |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
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.