Shoe Phone: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A classic element of any [[Spy Drama]] or spoof thereof. A spy's [[Plot Technology]] must inevitably be disguised as mundane objects. This can run the gamut from the practical to the ridiculous.

 

A collection of seemingly mundane items that can be [[IKEA Weaponry|assembled into a functional weapon]] is called a [[Scaramanga Special]].

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot]] / [[Giant Robo]]'' had a neat little gadget with Unicorn: a little and ''very'' powerful emergency communicator hidden in the heel of their standard uniform boot. All the agents has to do is flip open the heel, pull out the device and use it.

* ''L/R'' is notable for having just about every one of the titular spies' gadgets built into ''cigarettes''.

** Ah, the old communicator cigarette trick!

* Tatsunoko hero Gold Lightan is called such because it's a giant robot whose [[Sleep Mode Size]] is a gold cigarette lighter.

* Not a [[Spy Drama]] example, but Conan from [[Case Closed]] does a lot of this. Pretty much the only part of his uniform that ''isn't'' some kind of gadget is the suit he wears. (And even that had a tracking device disguised as a button.)

 

== Comic Books ==

* The series ''[[Mortadelo Y Filemon|Mortadelo y Filemón, agencia de información]]'' (German: Clever & Smart, French: Mortadel et Filemón or Futt et Fil, Dutch: Paling & Ko) by Spanish artist Francisco Ibáñez, which started in 1958 provides an early example, and heavily parodies the [[James Bond]] spy genre. The series is a bizarre slapstick comedy with even more bizarre gadgets in which the two titular agents are constantly surrounded by idiots, explosions and mad scientists and plagued by bad luck and their own semi-competence, not to mention their choleric superior. The series was never translated into English, though.

* The first issue of the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comic books had Cobra operatives disguise cameras as gun parts.

 

== Film ==

* Was subverted in ''[[Austin Powers]]: International Man of Mystery''. When the government supplies Austin with a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss, he figures the paste is a plastic explosive, the brush its detonator, and the floss is garrote wire. Actually, they just want him to do something about his [[British Teeth|woeful teeth]].

*** ''And'' gets his teeth cleaned and fixed by the end of the film. It's a Subversion Hat Trick!

* The second ''[[Spy Kids]]'' spoofs this with a gadget watch that does just about everything ''except'' tell time.

** And then there's the [[Super Prototype]] that does all that *and* tells time.

*** Don't tell me I got the no-time watch!

** Missed the explosion by THIS much!

** Size 22? That's the second biggest pair of shoes I've seen!

** The old 'big cellphone hidden in the size 22 shoe' trick. That's the fifth time I've fallen for it this week!

* The Bond-spoof ''[[Our Man Flint]]'' has the hero turn down a briefcase full of spy weapons in favor of his cigarette lighter - which had 57 different functions. "58, if you want to light a cigarette."

* Subverted in ''Where The Spies Are'' (1965). The film opens with a KGB briefing on various gadgets used by British agents, which moves to a scene where one such agent is kidnapped by two Russians and uses one of these devices to break free, only to be gunned down as he's running away. Lampshaded in a later scene where the amateur spy played by David Niven runs into a veteran agent and is told to "throw away that rubbish and get yourself a bloody gun."

* Parodied in ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' 2. Steve Martin's Clouseau has a pen disguised as a tape recorder, so he can write down notes without peple noticing.

* In ''[[Casino Royale 1967]]'' James Bond is an old-school gentleman spy who, meeting with the secret service heads of the superpowers, contemptuously ridicules the gadgetry concealed on their persons.

* Seen in ''[[Iron Man 2]]'' when Whiplash escapes from prison with the help of someone sending him plastic explosives that look like his normal cafeteria food.

* ''[[Undercover Brother]]''. The title character has two pairs of [[Tricked-Out Shoes]] and a [[Gadget Watch]].

* In ''[[Doctor Strangelove]]'', a general accuses the Russian ambassador of trying to take pictures of the [[War Room]] using a camera disguised as a pack of cigarettes. The ambassador claims that the spy camera was planted. It turns out that the ambassador was telling the truth - ''his'' spy camera was disguised as his pocketwatch (Unless you believe that the ambassador brought two hidden cameras with him).

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Doc Savage]]'', the pulp hero of the 1930's and 40's, was famous for his gadgets (which he usually invented himself).

* Late in the ''[[Dark Tower]]'' series by [[Stephen King]], a town full of people under watch develop plate weapons. They look like dinner plates, can be stored in the cabinet, but thrown just right they can take someone's head right off. Don't grab the wrong side.

* Subverted in the ''Game, Set & Match'' trilogy by Len Deighton. A [[Double Agent]]'s house is searched and found to have various spy gadgets disguised as household items. The protagonist says that the KGB gives these gadgets to their agents simply to give their treachery a glamorous [[James Bond]] aura, rather than because they're useful.

 

* [[Mock the Week|Now watch carefully, 007, this may look like an ordinary suitcase, but if you push this button a handle comes out and you can wheel it...]]

** It's not just a baseball bat, Bond, It's a baseball bat with a nail through it!

** Ingenious Q, a bomb that's also a rucksack!

** The shoe phone was used to [[Lampshade Hanging|hang lampshades]] as soon as it was introduced in the series pilot: in one famous sequence, the shoe phone went off in a theatre, breaking any cover Max might have had. In the first season, Max is identified at least once by his ringing shoes.

** A [[Running Gag]] in the show was whenever Max and Siegfried met face to face, the latter would greet him by [[Worthy Opponent|clicking his heels and saluting.]] Max would then do the same, causing an unpleasant "crack" and a loud "DING!" to be heard followed by Max cringing, either from the sound or the fact that he may have broken (another) phone.

*** Similarly, "Satan Place" (episode 9 of season 1) features a scene in which Max talks on six hidden phones at once: watch, wallet, tie, garter, belt, and the obligatory shoe.

** You know what's even funnier? The Russians had experimented with a shoe recorder and the show was once investigated by the CIA for their cone of silence.

** We can't forget the ''Car'' Phone, which had Max accidentally dialing the operator every time he turned the steering wheel. <!-- Is that the exploding paint episode?%% -->

* Such tools were a major part of Joel Hodgson's prop comedy stand-up routine, and therefore made their way into many of the Invention Exchange segments on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' The most outlandish was a submachine gun hidden inside a casserole dish, complete with casserole.

* [[Stephen Colbert]] once had a shoe phone on ''[[The Colbert Report]]''. It was just a telephone receiver glued to the bottom of a shoe, complete with trailing cord. "Just looking at it, you wouldn't know it was a phone! ... And just wearing it, [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/156748/february-28-2008/cold-war-update you wouldn't know it was a shoe]."

** And in another [[The Great Politics Mess-Up|Cold War Update]], his watch [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/223483/april-02-2009/cold-war-update---russia--cuba---space is also a gun]. You can't tell!

* Subverted in the ''[[Spooks]]'' episode "Nest of Angels". The Algerian defector played by Alexander Siddig listens politely as [[MI 5]] show him a number of disguised communication/bugging devices for his mission to infiltrate a radical Islamic group. The next scene shows Siddig dumping this highly compromising equipment into a canal.

* ''[[The Equalizer]]'' always used spy gadgets that could be bought commercially in real life.

* In the original live action version of ''[[Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot]]/[[Giant Robo]]'', Johnny gave orders to the titular robot via a communicator hidden in his wristwatch.

* Darnell from ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'' has been shown to have several pieces of his hair turn out to be phones - they [[This Page Will Self-Destruct|self destruct]] after use.

* ''[[Chuck]]'' has a phone in his wristwatch. He keeps on expecting other gadgets to have hidden uses, but they never do.

 

 

* The Bond-esque ''[[No One Lives Forever]]'' gives Cate Archer a wide array of girly themed destructive items (Mascara laser, hairspray flamethrower, and the like) one could conceal in one's purse.

** The [http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day04_english.htm "Dapper Rogue" catalogue] also sells things like these. The Camera Beard is also now an unlockable item for the Spy.

** Also lampshaded during a discussion between Snake and Major Zero about James Bond, in which Snake comments that (for example) a gun-pen would make him look stupid in the jungle, at which point Zero insists they could build him a gun shaped like a snake, that "folds up into an attache case." In which Snake then replied that it was even sillier (then Zero gets upset at Snake for "Bashing" Bond).

* ''007: Agent Under Fire'' has a cell phone that also comes with a [[Frickin' Laser Beams|laser]], a password cracker, a switch activator, and a grapple hook that can somehow extend for 10 meters or more. In ''Goldeneye'', Bond's wristwatch serves as the game menu and health/armor indicator and contains a built-in magnet and laser that are used to get out of certain level-specific [[Death Trap|death traps]] in a [[Shout-Out]] to the movies.

* ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' has Sam's wristwatch. Dear God, what '''can't''' it do? It can hack computers, disarm bombs, pick locks, scan eyeballs, get fingerprints from a surface, playback voices for getting into voice-locks, show a map with the locations of bad guys, and operate as a standalone computer for storing files and the like. ''In a goddamn watch.'' Granted, you ''are'' the [[The Ace|best spy the NSA has.]]

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' has a number of recurring devices, notably her [[Grappling Hook Pistol]]/hair dryer. There are briefing scenes in many episodes, but not all. In her case, it's a stylistic thing; she isn't really trying to [[Secret Identity|hide anything]].

** They also tend to have cutesy names like [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Stuntan Lotion]].

** Items for Male Agents seem to exist as well. Instead of a compact, Jerry (the Girls' boss) has a communicator disguised as a wallet. A humorous example was a fake beard designed to hold items, that the girls had to test once. (It didn't pass. Heavy objects made them fall over and it looked goofy on them)

* While we're on the subject of Cartoon Network spy cartoons, let's also remember Codename:[[Kids Next Door]] and its 2X4 technology. ''All'' the weapons, gadgets, and vehicles are made out of standard props and everyday items. It's amazing how they are able to do it.

* ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' was himself the hiding object for his gadgets. Penny and Brain had communicators in their watch and collar respectively, and Penny had a "computer book" in the pre-laptop era.

** The heroes however ''do'' have video phones in their watches. Dr. Venture's brother JJ does him one better by hiding a phone in the collar of his shirt, allowing him to use it even if he is captured and tied up.

'''Ed''': Oh... mum's the word. }}

* ''[[Thunderbirds]]'' does this all the time. The boys all wear communicator watches, there are the portraits that they use to speak through and even light-up drink straws when they want to subtly attract someone's attention. Lady Penelope has a teapot communicator as well as a powder compact one. And probably many more examples this editor has forgotten.

* ''[[Aeon Flux]]'' has a few. Trevor Goodchild owns a golden cigarette case that transforms into a pistol. Aeon herself has a self-destruct mechanism hidden in her backback that goes off <s> if</s> whenever she dies to prevent enemies from looting her corpse & a gimmick tooth with a small compartment in it.

** Not to mention Spongebob's 'coin operated' pants-phone.

* ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' uses these in its spy parody episode "Bravo, James Bravo". Includes a (weak) laser hidden in a mirror and a bomb-comb.

 

== Real Life ==

* [[Truth in Television]]: Several gadgets used by [[World War II]] spies. A camera hidden in a match box, playing cards that had hidden maps, an actual pen gun (good for one shot), and shoes that looked like feet (when landing on beaches, foot prints with toes were less conspicuous than combat boots, which would draw attention). When in the business of being a spy, you don't want to draw attention to yourself, and these toys did just that. All saw action with a moderate reported success rate.

** This technique was also used to smuggle supplies to POWs to aid in escapes, with things like hacksaw blades hidden in pencils, radio components in chess pieces, and [http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/m/monopoly-game.htm Monopoly sets with secret maps, compasses, files, and (real) money].

* Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed in London by a poisoned pellet hidden in an umbrella. "Bulgarian Umbrellas" are still occasionally used as a British [[Unusual Euphemism]] to describe unorthodox means of murder.

* The mobile phone zip gun is an increasing security risk.

* [http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009/05/real-life-spy-gadgets.html Everything on this page]. [http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/02/miniature-spy-guns.html This one too.]

* Back in the 60s, the KGB really did have a radio transmitter that fit in the heel of a shoe.

* Also back in the 60s, the CIA reportedly went to elaborate lengths to fit a microphone and a radio inside a... [[wikipedia:Acoustic Kitty|cat]]. A live one. It got run over by a taxi almost immediately after it was first deployed in the field. The program was scrapped shortly after that.

* While it will probably become mainstream pretty quickly, for now most people will assume you are insane when they say you talking to your watch, and will be amazed to realize [http://www.samsunghub.com/2009/07/22/samsung-unveils-worlds-thinnest-watchphone-s9110/ it's actually] [http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/16/lg-gd910-watch-phone-review/ a phone].

* Eff-in Science showed a hand-phone. Well, actually a glove phone. They disassembled a Bluetooth earpiece, attached the speaker portion to the tip of the thumb of a glove and the microphone to the tip of the pinky. The demonstrator could hold his hand up with his thumb near his ear and his pinky near his mouth and talk over the cell-phone. "Add voice dialing," they said, "and you'd have a fully functional hand phone."

** Alternatively, they could just use the pad from the watch-phone above to the same effect. A glove and a watch are very inconspicuous, while [[Incredibly Lame Pun|going hand-in-hand]] with each other.

* The International Spy Museum in Washington DC has all sorts of obsolete spy devices such as lipstick guns. Some of these devices make one wonder what modern intelligence agencies really have.

* A partial subversion is the gun knife that was used by the KGB. It looks like a combat knife and it is one, but it also able to fire the knife portion using gunpowder hidden in the base. As you can imagine, it has very limited uses unless you are not able to shoot someone who might shoot a hostile or you somehow lost all your guns. That's not saying it won't [[Crazy Prepared|save your life.]]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Espionage Tropes]]

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]

[[Category:Phone Tropes]]