History Film / OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank

* ScrewYourself: As Apollonia says, when Fingal has sex with a simulated version of his Sheila (from his own head, mind), "Now he's started playing around with himself!"

* StalkerWithACrush: Felicia, a co-worker with whom Fingal is smitten, thinks of him as this. She's pretty much right about him too, especially given how he treats a VR Simulation of her later in the movie.

** Apollonia gives Fingal a verbal thrashing when she catches him using his "powers" to have virtual sex with the image of his attractive co-workers.

Unfortunately, a little hellraising kid screwed around with the label on Fingal's body, so the technicians supervising his little adventure have no idea where it is. Once this news leaks out via an industrial spy, the all-powerful Novicorp chairman orders that Fingal's mind be stored in the [[MasterComputer HX368 supercomputer]], which runs everything from finances to the [[WeatherControlMachine weather]]. Meanwhile, the technicians race to hunt down Fingal's body, since he only has a few hours [[YearInsideHourOutside real time]] before his mind starts to break down without it.

!!This short story provides examples of:

!!This film provides examples of:
* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: Due to a lot of things being changed from the original story, a lot of plot points don't make much sense. For one, why would a company punish people who slack off at work by putting their brains into animals? Well, in the book, this isn't the case. Instead, doppelling is basically like a vacation, and Fingal does so because he's gotten really bored with life. The movie also doesn't explain very well why he needs to stay in contact with Apollonia the whole time. In the story, it's because if she loses contact with him he will risk being DrivenToMadness due to being trapped in the computer, as the whole simulated world is basically being created for him by Apollonia to help him keep his sanity.

** The biggest change between the story and its adaptation is the treatment of Novicorp. In the story, Novicorp (aside from Apollonia) is barely a factor in the story, and to the extent they are they're trying to locate Fingal's body before he becomes trapped in the cyber world. In the movie version, Novicorp is a nefarious, corrupt EvilInc, whose Chairman seeks world domination and tries to kill Fingal, albeit the latter only after Fingal openly rebels against them by breaking into restricted files.
** Fingal himself counts, as in this version he keeps trying to hack into the HX-386 (basically this supercomputer that seemingly controls everything), even though Apollonia warns him multiple times that it's having a bad effect on the real world, including [[WeatherControlMachine causing weather disturbances, and thus putting innocent people in danger.]] In the story, there is no HX-386, and while Fingal does try hacking to escape, the worst he does is almost delete some finance records, and he actually stops when Apollonia tells him to.
* AndYouWereThere: Not only is Fingal trapped in a Virtual Reality, but Apollonia and the Novicorp Chairman are in there as well, fighting to save/kill him respectively.
* ApocalypticLog: Apollonia sees a report describing the danger of a [=CompuTech=] staying in contact with a decaying Identity Cube. The tech is seen staring vacantly into the camera, having had their brain fried. Or possibly just having drunk a 40-oz. of Steel Reserve.

* {{Dystopia}}: A milder example. It's implied the world is run by three {{Mega Corp}}s ([=TransCorp=], [=LexiCorp=], and [=NoviCorp=]) who control everything from the economy to the weather. However, all it takes is for one corp to leak one mistake from another for the media to near-instantly bankrupt that corporation, showing that they're not invincible institutions, and the physical/financial standard of living appears to be pretty good. The chairman gives the heroes plenty of chances before resorting to evil, and their [[spoiler:escape to open up a small bar at the end is treated like an unquestioned happy ending]], not a life as fugitives. In fact, if the kid never switched Fingal's card (a kid who's traditionally mischievous without draconian repercussions), nothing bad would have even really happened in the story. Its strongest dystopian feature is the suppression of human empathy, creativity, individualism and other social concerns, symbolized by the ban on viewing "cinemas".
%% * EightiesHair: Apollonia.

* IndecisiveParody: Accounts for most of the more bizarre moments, for example the {{Creepy Child}}ren who almost get mustard on someone's exposed brain.

* ScrewYourself: As Apollonia says when Fingal has sex with a simulated version of a coworker (from his own head, mind), "Now he's started playing around with himself!"
%% * SesquipedalianSmith: Apollonia James.

* StockFootage: The part of Daisy the Baboon will be played by the James Uys nature documentary ''Animals Are Beautiful People''. The first twenty seconds or so of the opening credits to ''Casablanca'' appear frequently in the film.

** All it takes is one BrattyHalfPint switching some patients' tags around to nearly cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
** Fingal's saying, "Here's looking at you, kid," to Apollonia somehow screws up some of the programs in the [=HX368=]. The first time he accesses it on purpose he inadvertently (and unknowingly) causes a series of severe weather events around the world.
* VideoInsideFilmOutside: Thanks to the Daisy footage coming from an old documentary.

** Apollonia gives Fingal a verbal thrashing when she catches him using his "powers" to have virtual sex with the image of a co-worker.

* YearInsideHourOutside: Although several days (maybe even months, according to onscreen graphics) seem to pass within Fingal's simulation, only a few hours pass in the real world. This is, in fact, a plot point: they have only eight hours to find Fingal's body before the computer will no longer maintain his personality.

At first Fingal creates a simulation of a typical work day, but he quickly grows bored and starts boinking a simulacrum of a hot co-worker. Once cybersex loses its charm (and greatly annoys Apollonia, who finds herself falling in love with him), Fingal builds his own version of Casablanca, complete with a Rick character that is his own digital double. Apollonia warns him not to cause too much trouble, but our Fingal is a little rebel, and starts messing around with Novicorp finances while inside the [=HX368=], also causing catastrophic weather disasters around the globe in a fit of whimsy. Soon the Chairman is dispatching his own electronic agents to kill Fingal, while Apollonia sides with the renegade programmer as she tracks down his body.

* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: Due to a lot of things being changed from the original story, a lot of plot points don't make much sense. For one, why would a company punish people who slack off at work by putting their brain's into animals? Well, in the book, this isn't the case. Instead, doppelling is basically like a vacation, and Fingal does so because he's gotten really bored with life. The movie also doesn't explain very well why he needs to stay in contact with Apollonia the whole time. In the story, it's because if she loses contact with him he will risk being DrivenToMadness due to being trapped in the computer, as the whole simulated world is basically being created for him by Apollonia to help him keep his sanity.

** Fingal himself counts, as in this version he keeps trying to hack into the HX-386 (basically this supercomputer that seemingly controls everything), even though Apollonia warns him multiple times that it's having a bad effect on the real world, including [[WeatherControlMachine causing weather disturbances, and thus putting innocent people in danger.]] In the story, there is no HX-386, and while Fingal does try hacking to escape, the worst he does is almost delete some finance records, and he acutally stops when Apollonia tells him to.

Finding financing from New York Creator/{{PBS}} station WNET and [[WTHCastingAgency somehow acquiring]] Creator/RaulJulia as the lead along with Linda Griffiths, one of Canada's top stage actresses, they unleashed a production called ''[[PunBasedTitle Overdrawn at the Memory Bank]]'' in 1983. A low-budgeted affair, shot on video and making heavy use of {{chromakey}} effects, it was the third (and last, due to not being able to get funding for any more) in a series of films by PBS that were adapted from literary works of science fiction. The first two were 1972's ''[[https://vimeo.com/336308131 Between Time and Timbuktu]]'', an adaptation of several Creator/KurtVonnegut stories, and 1980's ''Literature/TheLatheOfHeaven'', based on the Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin novel of the same title.[[note]]The running theme between all three productions was an ordinary man put in extraordinary circumstances.[[/note]]

Finding financing from New York Creator/{{PBS}} station WNET and [[WTHCastingAgency somehow acquiring]] Creator/RaulJulia as the lead along with Linda Griffiths, one of Canada's top stage actresses, they unleashed a production called ''[[PunBasedTitle Overdrawn at the Memory Bank]]''. A low-budgeted affair, shot on video and making heavy use of chromakey (early green screen) special effects, it was the third (and last, due to not being able to get funding for any more) in a series of films by PBS that were adapted from literary works of science fiction. The first two were 1972's ''[[https://vimeo.com/336308131 Between Time and Timbuktu]]'', an adaptation of several Creator/KurtVonnegut stories, and 1980's ''Literature/TheLatheOfHeaven'', based on the Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin novel of the same title.[[note]]The running theme between all three productions was an ordinary man put in extraordinary circumstances.[[/note]]

** Fingal himself counts, as in this version he keeps trying to hack into the HX-386 (basically this supercomputer that seemingly controls everything), even though Apollonia warns him multiple times that it's having a bad effect on the real world, including [[WeatherControl causing weather disturbances, and thus putting innocent people in danger.]] In the story, there is no HX-386, and while Fingal does try hacking to escape, the worst he does is almost delete some finance records, and he acutally stops when Apollonia tells him to.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The biggest change between the story and its adaptation is the treatment of Novicorp. In the story, Novicorp (aside from Apollonia) is barely a factor in the story, and to the extent they are they're trying to locate Fingal's body before he becomes trapped in the cyber world. In the movie version, Novicorp is a nefarious, corrupt EvilInc, whose Chairman seeks world domination and tries to kill Fingal, albeit the latter only after Fingal openly rebels against them by breaking into restricted files.

** Remember kids! You can't have ''Casablanca'' references without a Creator/PeterLorre impersonator!

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Apollonia chews Fingal out for wasting his imagination on a "one-handed exercise" after he spends quite a while messing around with a simulation of his hot co-worker Felicia.

* FutureFoodIsArtificial: With a name like Flavo-Fibes, you just ''know'' they taste like plastic.[[note]]"Fibes" seems to indicate a fibrous snack, so maybe something akin to Frosted Mini-Wheats[[/note]] Not to mention Reconst, a drink whose name just screams "[[{{Squick}} I'm made of faecal matter!]]" [[note]]It's likely just pseudo-futuristic jargon for reconstituted milk, aka powdered milk.[[/note]]

In a future that is only marginally more dystopian than the present, [[AwesomeMcCoolname Aram Fingal]] is a bored programmer working for [[MegaCorp Novicorp]], and earns his superiors' ire by "scrolling up cinemas" at work, particularly ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''. The solution, of course, is "prophylactic rehab," a two-week (or two days, depending on the scene) vacation in which his consciousness is "doppelled" into a wild animal at a nature preserve. Under the supervision of Computech Apollonia James, Fingal experiences life as a decrepit old baboon until the animals on the preserve get trashed on ripe fruit and [[HolodeckMalfunction place his temporary body in danger]], prompting him to activate an escape clause.

** Though as there is also a Shout Out to ''The Blue Angel'' in the bar, it's possible Fingal just likes old movies in general and is blending several together, with Casablanca just the most prominent.

%% * TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
* UnbuiltTrope: The film is not very well made, but it's way ahead of its time regarding virtual reality stories. What appears cliche to anyone who's seen ''The Matrix'' was much fresher in 1984, cheesiness aside. Likewise, with its themes of basing a virtual reality environment on someone's favorite pop culture, and going "inside" a movie, it is effectively the precursor of ''Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018''. May also constitute EarlyInstallmentWeirdness for its entire ''genre.''

* TheArtifact: Some of the things that make no sense in the movie are leftovers from the short story that aren't as well explained or just dropped in. For example, Appolonia appearing as Venus is basically because in the simulation, she was only able to really appear to Fingal through bizarre phenomena, and after he accidentally reroutes a bunch of finances by screwing with things she gets through to him in the most direct way possible: divine intervention. With this aspect removed, her appearance as Venus comes off as her making a joke.
* TheBurlesqueOfVenus: Appolonia randomly appears to Fingal in the simulation by descending from heaven dressed as Aphrodite (complete with giant seashell). She intones the advice, "Thou shalt not screw around with things thou dost not understand."

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Appolonia mentions that Fingle has an amazing talent with computers. Indeed, considering he managed to do all this with minimal training, one wonders what Fingle would have been able to do if The Chairman decided instead to hire Fingle as a programmer or a security expert (or other more nefarious Novicorp-sponsored positions that are surely there) and then trained him to do things properly. Heck, if he'd simply give Fingle the OK to watch movies at home in his off-hours, a lot of grief might have been avoided.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Apollonia chews Fingal out for wasting his imagination on a "one-handed exercise."
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Computer/Identicube Interface becomes this once Appolonia watches a video on it and learns that it is highly possible for the person inside the Identicube and the person manning the computer to lose their minds, rendering them vegetables.

** The Medico who talks with Appolonia in a few scenes also comes across as rather ditzy.
* {{Dystopia}}: A milder example. It's implied the world is run by three {{Mega Corp}}s ([=TransCorp=], [=LexiCorp=], and [=NoviCorp=]) who control everything from the economy to the weather. However, all it takes is for one corp to leak one mistake from another for the media to near-instantly bankrupt that corporation, showing that they're not invincible institutions, and the physical/financial standard of living appears to be pretty good. The chairman gives the heroes plenty of chances before resorting to evil, and their [[spoiler:escape to open up a small bar at the end is treated like an unquestioned happy ending]], not a life as fugitives. In fact, if the kid never switched Fingal's card (a kid who's traditionally mischievous without draconian repercussion), nothing bad would have even really happened in the story. Its strongest dystopian feature is the suppression of human empathy, creativity, individualism and other social concerns, symbolized by the ban on viewing "cinemas".

* FutureFoodIsArtificial: With a name like Flavo-Fibes, you just ''know'' they taste like plastic.[[note]]"Fibes" seems to indicate a fibrous snack, so maybe something akin to Frosted Mini-Wheats[[/note]] Not to mention Reconst, a drink whose name just screams "[[{{Squick}} I'm made of faecal matter!]]" [[note]]It's likely just pseudo-futuristic jargon for reconstituted milk, aka powdered milk[[/note]]
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: After what from his perspective are weeks or months stuck with only projections of his own mind for company (and after he gets bored living out his sex fantasies, obviously) Fingle hacks the computer his personality is stored in and starts screwing with the company and entire planet just for something to do.

** Slavin, who is more concerned the Fingal incident might cost his promotion than a routine doppel possibly costing a man his life.

* PragmaticVillainy: In a scene deleted from the ''MST'' version, The Chairman decides to immediately terminate Fingal and send his family a telegram and a bouquet, but he's talked into retrieving Fingal instead when Appolonia points out that letting someone die as a result of doppelling would shake consumer confidence in [=NoviCorp=]'s products so severely that it could bankrupt the company.

* UnbuiltTrope: The film is not very well made but it's way ahead of its time regarding virtual reality stories. What appears cliche to anyone who's seen ''The Matrix'' was much fresher in 1984, cheesiness aside. Likewise, with its themes of basing a virtual reality environment on someone's favorite pop culture, and going "inside" a movie, it is effectively the precursor of ''Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018''. May also constitute EarlyInstallmentWeirdness for its entire ''genre.''

** Fingal's saying, "Here's looking at you, kid," to Appolonia somehow screws up some of the programs in the [=HX368=]. The first time he accesses it on purpose he inadvertently (and unknowingly) causes a series of severe weather events around the world.

** Appolonia gives Fingal a thrashing when she catches him using his "powers" to have virtual sex with the image of a co-worker.
-->'''Appolonia:''' If this one-handed exercise is all you can think of to do with your life, you're a very little man, and I'm very disappointed in you!
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: When Apollonia appears as a Messenger from God, she speaks in a hybrid of anachronistic English and modern slang.

* YearInsideHourOutside: Although several days (maybe even months, according to onscreen graphics) seem to pass within Fingal's simulation, only a few hours pass in the real world. This is, in fact, a plot point: they have only eight hours to find Final's body before the computer will no longer maintain his personality.

** A Marlene Dietrich {{expy}} sings "Falling In Love Again" from ''The Blue Angel'' - in Rick's bar.