Remote Control Man story
Walter Poindexter, a henpecked, unhappy, and frustrated man dealing with his nagging wife Grendel and his incorrigible sons, uses TV to escape his miserable existence. When his wife sells his set for a new outfit, Walter buys a newer, more-unusual looking one at a peculiar electronics store. Walter finds that using the set's remote control allows him to bring any character onscreen into the real world, using it to respectively turn his abusive family into June Cleaver, Arnold Jackson, and "Face". Things soon get out of hand when Walter's new "family" earns the ire of some loan sharks. Directed by: Bob Clark. Story by: Steven Spielberg, Douglas Lloyd McIntosh.
12 total · 2 choice · 6 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| be careful what you wish for | choice | Walter used a magic TV remote control to replace his unpleasant family members with better ones from his imagination. The supposedly better characters brought with them their own problems that soon made Walter long for his old life instead. |
| escape from reality | choice | Walter was watching TV too escape from the reality of his dysfunctional family life. When TV characters started to come real he got more than he bargained for, and he learned his lesson. |
| coping with a nag | major | Walter was henpecked and manhandled by his domineering spouse Grendel. |
| dysfunctional upbringing | major | Walter was henpecked and manhandled by his domineering spouse Grendel. He was also tormented by his two no-good sons. |
| husband and wife | major | Walter was henpecked and manhandled by his domineering spouse Grendel. |
| shrew character | major | Walter was henpecked and manhandled by his domineering spouse Grendel. |
| speculative handheld device | major | Walter found himself in the possession of a remote control that could make people vanish or change into other people. It could also manifest characters on television into reality. |
| too much television is bad for society | major | Walter ultimately gave up his television because he came to understand that his couch potato ways were detrimental to having a wholesome family life. In this way, the story confronts the viewer with the notion that watching excessive amounts of television can lead to the breakdown of the family. |
| American football | minor | Walter summoned a Los Angeles Raider linebacker and got sacked. |
| facing loan sharks | minor | Walter came home to find loan sharks threatening to torch his house. |