Are there any Atari centred documentaries to watch?

[macgoo]

Anything about Atari will do, doesn't have to be specifically about the 8bit computer line, VCS/5200 stuff or even ST stuff too would be nice as well.

[+Stephen]

My favourite has to be Howard Scott Warshaw's Once Upon Atari DVD.

[jaybird3rd]

You may already know of it, but Howard Scott Warshaw's "Once Upon Atari" is the first Atari documentary that comes to mind. Another excellent one (if you can find a copy) is "Stella at 20". Both focus on the VCS/2600, the latter from a much more technical perspective.

[+Gemintronic]

I suggest the classics:

 

Duck and Frogger

RealSports Madness

Grundle Man

Bowling for Kaplan

Matthew Smith: The Secret Life of a Maniac Miner

[kenjennings]

Technical stuff...? There's the 3-part ACE Video Visit with Chris Crawford discussing the Atari 8-bit graphics and sound.

 

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Chris+Crawford+Atari%2C+playlist

[macgoo]

Thanks for the replies everyone, although these are proving hard to find I will keep searching. Just seen the 3 teaser videos from IGN on Youtube for Once Upon Atari and whatever consumers thought about Atari it was definitely THE place to work. Can't see Warner executives or Jack Tramiel tolerating the smell of marijuana walking into the offices in the morning though

 

The Mathew Smith one mentioned, is that the interview with Iain Lee as part of another TV show (BITS/Thumb Candy/Thumb Bandits?) on channel 4 or was it a documentary in its own right? How many minutes long is it roughly?

[macgoo]

Technical stuff...? There's the 3-part ACE Video Visit with Chris Crawford discussing the Atari 8-bit graphics and sound.

 

http://www.youtube.c...Atari, playlist

 

I'm looking for something more akin to "Commercial Breaks" documentary made in the UK (obviously focussing on Atari) rather than technical stuff as such.

[sup8pdct]

I do remember a program from early eighties that showed an 800 playing space invaders. One of the first shots was a cassette being loaded into a 410 (space invaders?) Thought program was done in england Tho could be wrong. It was more about computers and chips but did show atari.

 

James

[macgoo]

For those who are not in the UK, or even then don't even know, there was a program called Micro Live which generally fapped off to the Acorn BBC Micro A LOT but they did do a two part report on the world famous athlete Brian Jacks and his bid to settle on a specific home computer circa 1983/84. In these two 5-10 minute spots he is seen choosing a machine with his family and then his experiences unboxing and setting up an 800XL (600XL?) with his family and using it.

 

There was also another one involving the British magician Paul Daniels which I have never found archived but this episode of Micro Live but he was talking about how he chose an Atari 800 and was saying he was tinkering with programming by typing in games listings from magazines and then editing bits here and there to see what happened in order to try and learn BASIC programming.

[Mclaneinc]

Paul Daniels actually did finish his 'Magic Adventure', him and his son (Martin) brought it into Maplin for us to see as we were an Atari centre.

 

It was no Scott Adams but good for a novice.

 

If anyone bumps in to him ask him for it

 

EDIT: Just went on Atarimania to see if it was around and saw it wasn't him who wrote it, the lying little scrote, he went on about it like it was his program that he had written.

Edited July 8, 2012 by Mclaneinc

[ratwell]

On 7/6/2012 at 5:12 PM, kenjennings said:

Technical stuff...? There's the 3-part ACE Video Visit with Chris Crawford discussing the Atari 8-bit graphics and sound.

 

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Chris+Crawford+Atari%2C+playlist

Here’s another one just for the 3 part ACE series:

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by ratwell

[atarialoha]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari:_Game_Over

[stirrell]

It isn’t about Atari but if you’re interested in the Tramiels and the 6502, I would recommend 8bit Generation - The Commodore Wars.