Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple
WALL?E - Robot with the heart of a Mac
Several TUAW readers have reported after seeing midnight showings of Disney-Pixar's new and highly-rated movie WALL•E that when the robot boots up, he makes the standard Mac startup sound. That's not the only Apple connection with the movie.Of course, Steve Jobs is the largest single shareholder of Disney after Pixar was purchased by the entertainment giant for $7.4 billion in 2006. He still serves on a steering committee for Pixar that oversees the Disney-Pixar animation businesses, and he's on the Disney Board of Directors. I'm not sure, but he may be tapped to be the first CEO of BuyNLarge...
WALL•E's job is to wander around an abandoned Earth, pick up trash, and compact it into small blocks. However, when he finds something nostalgic that he likes, such as an iPod or Rubik's cube, he keeps it.
The object of WALL•E's desire, EVE, was actually designed with the assistance of Apple Senior VP of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive, who apparently spent a day with the Pixar team in 2005 consulting on the ultra-sleek floating robot.
Thanks to Matt for the heads-up and inspiration for this post!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shannin said 2:48PM on 6-27-2008
is that buy n large a serious website?
i cant figure it out.
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teh_dahl said 2:59PM on 6-27-2008
...
no it's not.
It's part of what you call "viral marketing".
Andy said 3:01PM on 6-27-2008
wow.
That website is a part of something we like to call "viral marketing".
Steven Sande said 4:28PM on 6-27-2008
BuyNLarge is the corporation in Wall-E (Fred Willard is the CEO) that owns everything in the universe. That viral site is a work of art!
TUAW Steve
Dale said 5:47PM on 6-27-2008
Steve Jobs is an example of what we call a "virile manthing".
Galley said 2:54PM on 6-27-2008
I go to one movie a year. This may be my one for 2008.
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Mikey said 7:29PM on 6-27-2008
I'm sorry.
Michael Nerad said 3:10PM on 6-27-2008
The credits for WALL•E describes the character, Auto, as being voiced by Macintalk.
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SIP said 5:42PM on 6-27-2008
The movie even has what looks suspiciously like the Leopard desktop picture...
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Michael Baran said 6:12PM on 6-27-2008
Anyone else make the reference to HAL 9000? (An easy one, but no one mentions it.) So iPod, Mac Chime and HAL, from what I noticed.
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Andrew said 12:51PM on 6-28-2008
No coincidence that the Leopard purple/blue space desktop theme, time machine background and retail box art looks a lot like space in Wall•E. The same space desktop shows up as a reflection in Wall•Es eyes.
Mb1000 said 6:11PM on 6-27-2008
And Apple is helping to promote the soundtrack and game...
See here: http://pixarblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/apple-promotes-wall-e.html
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Seijornec said 6:17PM on 6-27-2008
Just got back from Wall E and I'm happy to say it's a wonderful movie. I recognized the Mac chime right away as did my 11 and 8 year old daughters. They thought it was very cool.
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Jesse said 7:02PM on 6-27-2008
Wall•e also makes the 'ping' sound effect after he and Eve do that little spark thing (a kiss?).
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(01) said 7:44PM on 6-27-2008
I'm going to see it tomorrow; I'll keep my ears open :-)
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Kevin said 10:27PM on 6-27-2008
It's not when he boots up, it's when his Solar Cells reach a full charge.
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Ryan said 11:48PM on 6-27-2008
i'm surprised Wall E doesn't look more like the Automator
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Drew said 11:15PM on 6-27-2008
So, how do you get the dot between the L and the E?
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Cameron Talley said 9:07AM on 6-28-2008
You can get the Dot with "Option+8."
•••••
I saw the film tonight and it's great.
Spoilers: Anyone else note that WALL•E's "logic board" is blue?
Meatleg said 1:59AM on 6-28-2008
WALL•E
Push alt+8
••••••••••
but my favorite mac key command is still alt+shift+k
:)