History Main / ReinventingTheTelephone

* Discussed in the 20 year re-releases of MageTheAscension and VampireTheMasquerade, and presumably to come up again as the other OldWorldOfDarkness games get their 20 year anniversary editions. The GameMaster can presumably run a 90's period piece or follow the discussion on how cell communications, camera phones, tablets, and all these other technologies make keeping up TheMasquerade that much harder, as well as how the supernatural community reacts to having this technology obviate some of their problems. Generally, a lot of the older conspiracies have a very hard time adapting.
* The Sending spell is a StoryBreakerPower example of this trope DungeonsAndDragons and ''{{TableTopGame/Pathfinder}}''. The spell allows a mid-level caster to contact anyone they know about in the world in ten minutes, deliver a brief message, and receive a brief reply. The spell is secure and only consumes the spell slot used to cast it. Anyone in a position of power and most decent-sized towns should have access to the spell, which can ruin any plot where the heroes have to race against time to deliver information to a party unless a lot of arbitrary obstacles are thrown in. There are many more spells that can serve as examples.

Basically, when somebody in a show (set in the "present day" or even TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture) uses a [[RuleOfCool pointlessly cool]] method of communication, which is frequently [[CoolButImpractical a lot less practical]] than the ordinary, everyday type. Arguably, telepathic communication ''would'' be better, depending on exactly how many [[PstandardPsychicPstance strange hand gestures]] you have to make, whether it allows for [[PokeInTheThirdEye protection from "brain tapping"]], and whether it can inflict {{Psychic Nosebleed}}s, but all the others...

Frequently {{lampshaded}} either by somebody pointing out that it would be easier to just phone 'em, or by somebody (often a GenreSavvy individual) suggesting this kind of communication, only for the person to respond "Well, yeah, I ''could'' do that, but it would be faster to just send him an e-mail..."

** Could also be justified in that Batman is generally paranoid and obsessed with keeping secrets, and even the most secure forms of communication can ultimately be traced by one hacking super genius or another. The signal on the other hand just needs Batman to see it, or use passive detection equipment to alert him that its lit.
*** In several incarnations of Batman (most famously in the Adam West TV series) Commissioner Gordon has a red phone with a direct line to Batman as well as a Bat-Signal. More recent versions have introduced an special encrypted CellPhone for thentimes when it's unwise and impractical to use the signal.

** Played straight in ''SkinHorse'' [[http://skin-horse.com/2012/said-sweetheart/ here]]. Justified, as it turns out [[spoiler: the message is being sent by a supercomupter that can only communicate by implanting messages in people's minds, which they then think they see imprinted on things.]]
* [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.597.html Preparing for battle]] in ''AGirlAndHerFed'' -- with [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] and [[JustifiedTrope justification]].

** This has been explained away nowadays as a psychological effect; bad guys, in theory, see the BatSignal and, knowing that Batman is now on the prowl, stop doing whatever bad things they're doing.

'''Chamo:''' ''(exasperated)'' What kind of mage uses a cell phone?
-->--'''''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'''''

Send a [[InstantMessengerPigeon messenger-pigeon]] to the {{McNinja}}, contact the OvertOperative with your [[CommLinks Comm-Watch]], and make telepathic contact with TheEmpath...

Basically, when somebody in a show (set in the 'present day' or even TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture) uses a [[RuleOfCool pointlessly cool]] method of communication, which is frequently [[CoolButImpractical a lot less practical]] than the ordinary, everyday type. Arguably, telepathic communication ''would'' be better, depending on exactly how many [[PstandardPsychicPstance strange hand gestures]] you have to make, whether it allows for [[PokeInTheThirdEye protection from "brain tapping"]], and whether it can inflict {{Psychic Nosebleed}}s, but all the others...

[[folder: Advertisements]]
* An 90s cell phone commercial had a manager trying to find employee A to handle a major project by sending out couriers, posting enormous advertisements in newspapers, having the message that he needs to contact the office broadcast on the local news, etc. Failing to find employee A, he settles for employee B, who he is able to get in touch with immediately because he has a cell phone.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse comic]] ''Jedi vs. Sith'', they use ''messengers''. In ''Star Wars''. Granted, this takes place 1,000 years before the films, and there's already a good deal of SchizoTech in place like wooden spacecraft and bows-and-arrows being used alongside lightsabers, but comlinks were definitely invented by then.
** The canon explanation for this need is the galaxy-spaning [[TheInternet Holonet]] had been shattered at this point by the Sith, and Star Wars ships have always travelled at around the same speed as transmitted messages, anyway.

[[folder: Film ]]

* The ESP between Kate and robot Vincent in Disney's ''TheBlackHole''. The novelization clarifies the situation: The exact mechanics of telepathic communication have been discovered in the film's Verse, and Kate has a small computerized implant in her head called an "esplink" that allows her to communicate with Vincent.

--> '''Tony Stark''': No, no! I'm just driving with the top down!
** The aversion goes back farther than that: early Iron Man comics showed Stark using a ''rotary phone'' built into the suit.
*** Which is actually an [[AluminumChristmasTrees Aluminum Christmas Tree]] - shortwave-based portable rotary phones such as the Carterphone did exist at the time, and were quite popular in industries where laying out phone lines to remote sites was prohibitively expensive, such as the Texas oil fields.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Inverted in ''FateZero''. Mages tend to scorn and ignore technology because they already have all this stuff using magic. Taken advantage of by CombatPragmatist Kiritsugu, who realizes that cameras are immune to mind-affecting illusion spells and guns don't emit {{Mana}}, among other things.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* [[Series/HomeImprovement Tim Taylor]] once got to try out spy listening equipment with Wilson, and commented that someone should've come up with this conversation-at-a-distance stuff years ago. Wilson pointed out that they ''did'' - it's called the telephone.

* ''PowerRangers'' surprisingly justifies the fact that morphers have communication equipment as often as it plays the trope straight. The early seasons were in the 90's, when not everybody had cell phones yet. Later seasons often have morphers with built-in cell phones.
* Mocked in a sketch from ''{{That Mitchell and Webb Look}}''. Ray wanted Colin to tell him some girl's phone number, but Colin insisted on Bluetooth-ing it from one phone to another even though it took way longer and was a massive hassle to get working.
* In the first episode of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', [[spoiler:Mycroft Holmes]] contacts Watson by watching him on London's ubiquitous [=CCTVs=] and calling every public phone he walks by until he picks one of them up.
-->'''Watson''': You know, I've got a phone. Very clever, and all that, but, uh, you could just... phone me. On my phone.

* In an episode of ''Series/WhiteCollar'' Neal contacts Mozzie using a carrier pigeon. Justified by the fact that the FBI is onto Mozzie so he has destroyed every cell phone he owned and abandoned all his safe houses. The carrier pigeon is the only way he can be contacted by Neal.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Also used in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', with Nanase's '[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-05-02 Fairy Form]]': It got lampshaded when it was first used, complete with a "You ''have'' heard of this wonderful invention they call the "Telephone", right?" line, but she's still using it every time she wants to get in touch with someone, and they've pretty much stopped commenting on it. It also pops up in the form of Comm-Watches, courtesy of sterotypical German scientist Dr. Germahn, which are also pointed out to be obsolete by his assistant. He, of course, [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-12-31 replies]], "It's not about money -- it's about having cool stuff to play with!"
** Justified for Nanase. The more she uses her powers, the faster she levels up, and learns new powers that might be more useful. Also, the spell provides [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-01-20 more]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-03-31 functionality]].
** Also, cell phones have an annoying tendency to [[CellPhonesAreUseless lose signal]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=467 whenever]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=992 something]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1652 happens]].

* In the ''BatmanBeyond'' episode "Ascension", Paxton Powers re-creates the old BatSignal to get Batman's attention. He smashes it with a Batarang and tells him "Next time, use email."

* The wizards of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' when they really need to contact each other, take an extremely difficult spell most wizards can't cast, and then complicate it by making it talk. Also mail taken by owl, which as such moves at a bird's flying speed. Oh, and their "stick your head in the fireplace and hope someone is within earshot" method. Yes, they claim that magic interferes with electronics, but these are still terrible methods for people who can do things by magic.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the backwardness of wizard society, a rather large portion of which doesn't seem ''aware'' of the technological advances the {{Muggles}} have made over the past few centuries. They have adapted some Muggle technology, but only after putting their own twists on it. The general Wizarding population is apparently so unaware of Muggle technology that their premier newspaper, the Daily Prophet, feels obliged to explain to its readers what ''firearms'' are, in the expectation that a significant number of wizards have never even ''heard'' of them! In general, wizards actually kind of suck at anything that can't be achieved solely by magic, when compared to muggles.
** Also, the use of said extremely difficult spell is justified because it is the only method that can't be intercepted and has only been taught in its speaking form to members of the Order of the Phoenix.
*** Not to mention the fact that the spell's difficulty is something of an InformedAttribute, given that one half-trained schoolchild was able to teach it to a bunch of others in a matter of weeks or months with a near-universal success rate. (It is hinted, however, that the most difficult part isn't so much casting the spell itself, but casting it ''under stress''--and casting in the presence of dementors is particularly difficult.)

See also SupernaturalPhone.

* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' is made of this trope, but more specifically does this with some steampunk-ish video phones, invented by Philo Farnsworth. There's a limited number of them, but they're unhackable and can only lose signal due to massive electrical interference. It's also shown that Pete and Myka have regular cell phones for communicating with each-other in the field. There's also a pneumatic-tube system that sends a brass voice recorder between different sections of the Warehouse.

*** In several incarnations of Batman (most famously in the Adam West TV series) Commissioner Gordon has a red phone with a direct line to Batman as well as a Bat-Signal.

* In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', the highly-traditional Tohsaka Tokiumi makes use of an old-fashioned magical device that transmits writing from page to page across vast distances in order to send and receive reports. It clearly would have been a fantastic device at one point, but the series is set in the 1980's; even his student thinks a fax machine would be more practical.

--> ''Tony Stark'': No, no! I'm just driving with the top down!

* Inverted in FateZero. Mages tend to scorn and ignore technology because they already have all this stuff using magic. Taken advantage of by CombatPragmatist Kiritsugu, who realizes that cameras are immune to mind-affecting illusion spells and guns don't emit {{Mana}}, among other things.

* Mocked in a sketch from ''That Mitchell and Webb Look''. Ray wanted Colin to tell him some girl's phone number, but Colin insisted on Bluetooth-ing it from one phone to another even though it took way longer and was a massive hassle to get working.

* In VideoGame/AnotherCode R, Ashley's father sends her an improved DAS to keep in touch with her. Due to being away from civilization for eleven years, he's completely surprised that, in 2006, it's commonplace for teenagers to have cell phones.

* In ''Shades'', the superheroes used to have a fancy communications network, since dismantled. Fortunately by the time they need it again, cell phones are around.

*** Not to mention the fact that the spell's difficulty is something of an InformedAttribute, given that one half-trained schoolchild was able to teach it to a bunch of others in a matter of weeks or months with a near-universal success rate.

* This was [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v04/c031/8.html said]] of the Pactio cards in ''MahouSenseiNegima''. The card can only send, and only to specific people (the Magister who made the Pactio, or anyone else who has a Pactio with the same Magister). In addition, you have to hold it to your forehead, and the telepathy is easily blocked.

* Justified in ''GhostInTheShell'': inter-cyberbrain communication (effectively telepathy) is employed even within speaking distances for security reasons.

* ''{{Naruto}}'' is ostensibly set in a pseudo-present day world, just with ninjas. And magic/jutsu. Really, they just use modern technology whenever it would get in the way for them not to. The five village Kages meet in person even though there is a tendency for Kages to be assassinated. When their Feudal Lords have to ratify the formation of the Shinobi Alliance, however, they have a quick video conference.

* In the ''StarWars'' [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse comic]] ''Jedi vs. Sith'', they use ''messengers''. In ''Star Wars''. Granted, this takes place 1,000 years before the films, and there's already a good deal of SchizoTech in place like wooden spacecraft and bows-and-arrows being used alongside lightsabers, but comlinks were definitely invented by then.

* [[HomeImprovement Tim Taylor]] once got to try out spy listening equipment with Wilson, and commented that someone should've come up with this conversation-at-a-distance stuff years ago. Wilson pointed out that they ''did'' - it's called the telephone.
* ''{{Warehouse 13}}'' is made of this trope, but more specifically does this with some steampunk-ish video phones, invented by Philo Farnsworth. There's a limited number of them, but they're unhackable and can only lose signal due to massive electrical interference. It's also shown that Pete and Myka have regular cell phones for communicating with each-other in the field. There's also a pneumatic-tube system that sends a brass voice recorder between different sections of the Warehouse.

* In ''{{Shades}}'', the superheroes used to have a fancy communications network, since dismantled. Fortunately by the time they need it again cell phones are around.
* Defied in ''{{Narbonic}}'' [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic_plus/series.php?view=archive&chapter=39373&name=narbonic_plus#strip3 here]].

* In ''TheTick'' episode "The Tick vs. Arthur's Bank Account," the Tick presents the mayor a Tick signal to flash onto a conveniently passing cloudbank when he is needed. The mayor promptly points out, "We have your phone number." The Tick's reply: "Also useful."

* In one episode of ''{{Duckman}}'', a smoke signal comes in for Cornfed, who has just been fired. When Duckman screams out the window that Cornfed no longer works there, the Indian who sent the signal decides to call him at home... with his cell phone.

** Also, inter-cyberbrain communication is such a common, everyday activity (for the characters the story focus on, anyway) that, when security isn't an issue, the choice of cyberbrain versus speaking could be as arbitrary as the choice of making a phone call via cellphone or landline when both of them are within arm's reach.

Send a [[InstantMessengerPigeon messenger-pigeon]] to the {{McNinja}}, contact the OvertOperative with your Comm-Watch, and make telepathic contact with TheEmpath...

* The [[{{Batman}} Bat-Signal]]. Of course, Gordon has easier ways of getting in touch with Batman too.

** Of course, the Tick parodied Comicbook/{{Batman}}'s BatSignal, which is one of the earlier versions of the trope. At least back then there weren't any cell phones, but regular phones -- as well as the ''Bat-Phone'' -- did exist.