Blog: The Rubber-Keyed Wonder
The other night I was gently scrolling through Amazon Prime on the telly, as one is wont to do, and was delighted to see that The Rubber-Keyed Wonder was available to view.
I had vaguely heard of this film being out, but even if I hadn't the fact that it clearly showed a ZX SPECTRUM in amongst all of the other tiles showing gruff looking people looking Serious because they were solving CRIME meant that I was bound to watch it, and I am glad I did because it was GRATE. It was packed with familiar places, games and people - they seemed to have interviewed pretty much EVERYBODY who is still alive and had done a thoroughly excellent job of telling the full story of how this mighty machine came along and not only changed a the lives or people who had them and laid the groundwork for the massive British computing industry what we know and love today.
It's wonderful to see this story breaking out into the mainstream and becoming an accepted part of our national history. The whole reason I wrote the song Hey Hey 16K - over TWENTY FIVE years ago! - was that this seemed to be being forgotten - I make no claims that the song, and especially Rob Manuel's video was any part of this change in perception, but I would certainly like it if OTHER people said so!
With that in mind, it did feel a bit of a shame that they didn't use the song in the film. There were LOADS of sections where people said things like "Yes, we made it look educational so people would buy it TO HELP WITH YOUR HOMEWORK" or "It did in fact build A GENERATION WHO CAN CODE" and so on when it would have surely been IDEAL to lob in a bit of the song? I mean, I am highly aware that I do not own the rights on Remembering ZX Spectrums, but I would have totally been up for it if they'd asked!
Apart from that it was FAB and I'd highly recommend a watch to anyone of a similar disposition. But if anyone wants to make a film about e.g. realising you liked The Smiths a bit too late, or having a romance with someone who helps fix your computer, do get in touch!
posted 2/10/2025 by MJ Hibbett