Tom Swift: Difference between revisions

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1910's to 30's [[Stratemeyer Syndicate]] kids' series following the adventures of boy inventor Tom Swift. Each book began with Tom inventing some new gadget that conveniently proved essential to resolving the plot. Invented or popularized many [[Gadgeteer Genius]] tropes.
1910-1941 [[Stratemeyer Syndicate]] kids' series following the adventures of boy inventor Tom Swift. Each book began with Tom inventing some new gadget that conveniently proved essential to resolving the plot. Invented or popularized many [[Gadgeteer Genius]] tropes.


While popular in his time, Tom proved to have less staying power than his Stratemeyer stablemates [[Hardy Boys|Frank and Joe Hardy]] and [[Nancy Drew]], perhaps because of how quickly his "cool technology" was superseded in the real world. An Atomic-age attempt to revive the franchise with a new series starring his son failed when people started questioning the wisdom of atomic-powered airplanes and automobiles. If anything Tom Swift Jr.'s Gee-whiz tech went obsolete even faster than his father's did.
While popular in his time, Tom proved to have less staying power than his Stratemeyer stablemates [[Hardy Boys|Frank and Joe Hardy]] and [[Nancy Drew]], perhaps because of how quickly his "cool technology" was superseded in the real world.


An Atomic-age revival of the franchise starring his son reached 30 or so volumes between 1954 and 1971, and expanded out of what was basically the [[Diesel Punk]] setting of the original series into more distinctly "Golden Age of SF" devices and stories, starting with a giant atomic-powered airplane and eventually going into space with antigravity. An intriguing thread running through the books was the continuing effort of the Swifts to establish meaningful communication with a distant race of [[Starfish Aliens]] who had contacted them.
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Revived IN SPACE! in the early 1980s, in [[Hollywood California|Southern California]] in the 1990s and [http://tomswift.bobfinnan.com/ts5.htm in the first person] in the 2000s.

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Revived IN SPACE! in the early 1980s, in [[Hollywood California|Southern California]] in the 1990s and [http://tomswift.bobfinnan.com/ts5.htm in the first person] in the 2000s. However, none of these series showed nearly as much staying power as the first two


Origin of the "[[Tom Swifty]]", such as ''"Pass me the shellfish," said Tom crabbily'' or ''"How was your colonoscopy?" asked Tom probingly.'' This is something of a [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]] (or "Play it again, Sam") situation, as while Stratemeyer was [http://www.fun-with-words.com/tom_swifties_history.html eager to employ adverbs] and [[wikipedia:Tom Swifty|reluctant to use]] [[Said Bookism|the plain verb "said"]], actual "Tom Swifty" puns were rare.
Origin of the "[[Tom Swifty]]", such as ''"Pass me the shellfish," said Tom crabbily'' or ''"How was your colonoscopy?" asked Tom probingly.'' This is something of a [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]] (or "Play it again, Sam") situation, as while Stratemeyer was [http://www.fun-with-words.com/tom_swifties_history.html eager to employ adverbs] and [[wikipedia:Tom Swifty|reluctant to use]] [[Said Bookism|the plain verb "said"]], actual "Tom Swifty" puns were rare.

The first 25 as well as the 39th Tom Swift Sr. books are in the public domain and available as [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/267 downloadable texts] from [[Project Gutenberg]]. [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/42251 Two of the "Tom Swift, Jr." books] are also available there, as well.

Home pages exist on tomswift.info for both the [http://www.tomswift.info/homepage/oldindex.html "Tom Swift, Sr."] and [http://www.tomswift.info/homepage/index.html "Tom Swift, Jr."] series.

In 1983, an abortive attempt at a television adaptation was made. ''[[The Tom Swift/Linda Craig Mystery Hour]]'' starred [[Willie Aames]] and [[Lori Loughlin]] as the title characters. It only got as far as a [[Pilot Episode]] which was broadcast as a [[TV Movie]] to disappointing ratings.

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{{franchisetropes}}
=== Tropes: ===
* [[Antiquated Linguistics]]: Inevitable, due to the time they were written.
* [[Antiquated Linguistics]]: Inevitable, due to the time they were written.
* [[Character Name and the Noun Phrase]]: Probably the [[Ur Example]].
* [[Character Name and the Noun Phrase]]: Probably the [[Ur Example]].
* [[Defictionalization]]: [[Shock and Awe|Thomas A Swift's Electric Rifle]].
* [[Cold War]]: The backdrop for much of the "Tom Swift, Jr." series.
* [[Defictionalization]]: [[Shock and Awe|Thomas Swift's Electric Rifle]] is the source of the term "TaSER".
** "Don't tase me, bro!"
* [[Dirty Communists]]: A frequent antagonist in the "Tom Swift, Jr." books.
* [[Either or Title]]: All of the books in the original series, such as ''Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle; or, Fun and Adventure on the Road''
* [[Either or Title]]: All of the books in the original series, such as ''Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle; or, Fun and Adventure on the Road''
* [[First Contact Math]]: Tom Swift Jr. and his father communicate with aliens this way.
* [[First Contact Math]]: Tom Swift Jr. and his father communicate with aliens this way.
* [[Gadgeteer Genius]]: Possibly the [[Ur Example]] of this trope too.
* [[Gadgeteer Genius]]: Possibly the [[Ur Example]] of this trope, too.
* [[Kid Detective]]
* [[Kid Detective]]
* [[MST]]: ''[http://keithpalmer.ca/mst3k/favourites/tom-swifts-war-tank.txt Tom Swift's War Tank]'' is one of the more extensive [[MS Ting|MSTings]] available.
* [[MST]]: ''[http://keithpalmer.ca/mst3k/favourites/tom-swifts-war-tank.txt Tom Swift's War Tank]'' is one of the more extensive [[MS Ting]]s available.
* [[Parrot Exposition]]: Notoriously overused in the earlier novels and the source for much of the humor in the aforementioned [[MS Ting]].
* [[Parrot Exposition]]: Notoriously overused in the earlier novels and the source for much of the humor in the aforementioned [[MS Ting]].
* [[Raygun Gothic]]
* [[Raygun Gothic]]
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* [[Teen Genius]]: Tom, of course.
* [[Teen Genius]]: Tom, of course.
* [[Tom Swifty]]: [[Trope Namer]], though as mentioned actual examples are rare.
* [[Tom Swifty]]: [[Trope Namer]], though as mentioned actual examples are rare.

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=== The ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' presentation of ''[http://keithpalmer.ca/mst3k/favourites/tom-swifts-war-tank.txt Tom Swift's War Tank]'' has examples of: ===
=== The ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' presentation of ''[http://keithpalmer.ca/mst3k/favourites/tom-swifts-war-tank.txt Tom Swift's War Tank]'' has examples of: ===
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Tom_Swift"