Movies, including Home Alone and Back to the Future on VHS
CDs, including Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ’Em by MC Hammer and Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album
A Nintendo Game Boy
Rollerblades
Reebok Pump sneakers
A jar of Gak, at the request of a Dr. Emmett Brown impersonator, who showed up in a real DeLorean and fake hair
One of Joey Lawrence’s “Whoa! ’92” hats, which he stopped by to present
News reports, including coverage of the AIDS crisis, Desert Storm, and the end of the Soviet Union
Books, including a world atlas, history book, comic book, phone book, the Orlando TV Guide for the week of April 30, 1992, and a copy of the Book of - Endangered Species
An issue of Nickelodeon magazine
A Nicktoons t-shirt featuring Ren & Stimpy
A piece of the Berlin Wall
A Barbie doll
Pencils
A skateboard
A baseball
Twinkies
A stick of bubble gum (though no one seems to know which kind)
Photos of things too big (or alive) to fit inside, including bicycles, planes, trains, cars, politicians and celebrities
A videotape, which was a recording of the live ceremony, shot by a girl named Vicky who stood onstage to operate the Kid Cam
The camera recording the tape, which appears to have been unplanned—Mike O’Malley and Joey Lawrence both looked baffled about how to remove the tape from the camera, so the whole setup was tossed in at the last minute
I think 2042 might still be too early to open it, but it will be nice for anyone there to watch it be opened, if they care!
I would hope there’s still a VCR in operation somewhere in 2042. I would assume so if I go by the 50-60 year old turntables I see at goodwill. And a display that can use analog video.
But if we want to go further in time, I’d include a VCR head drum or a whole VCR with the belts taken out and replacements described perfectly for someone to reproduce.
Is this a real list?
Obviously in 1992 they didn’t know that the Internet would preserve the memory of a lot of this stuff so yeah, feels too early. But imagine the world with no Internet that had moved on and forgotten about Joey’s “whoa!”
Which has essentially the list from both above and the wiki. So if we wanted to confirm we’d probably have to go to the video which can be found here: https://youtu.be/W1hxmfi_4J8
Which from my casual viewing seems be approximately the list above with the exception of perhaps a newspaper from the day they loaded the capsule (approximately one minute in), but that is probably accounted for with the news reports.
What are twinkies? I see them referenced a lot in popular media and then depiction appears to be of a glazed eclair, so the worst possible version of an eclair, baked goods like wrap tend to go stale after about 10 minutes I’m not sure why they’re supposed to last for so long.
Twinkies are cream-filled sponge cake fingers. They aren’t glazed or iced. First introduced by the Hostess company in 1930, the cream filling was originally banana flavored but it was switched to vanilla during WWII rationing.
Twinkies, among many other similar cake-based snacks are made with emulsified shortening rather than butter or vegetable oil as you might bake a cake at home, which keeps them from going stale when stored at room temperature. This has led to an urban legend that they have an infinite shelf life, that they might even survive a nuclear war. 20th century Twinkies had a stated shelf life of 7 to 10 days; in 2012 a preservative was added which upped it to 45, but they do indeed spoil.
The internet wasnt as ubiquitious then as it is now. I do agree, that time capsules need to wait a bit longer these days given how digital records keep about as long if you try.
I think 2042 might still be too early to open it, but it will be nice for anyone there to watch it be opened, if they care!
So the battery in the camera will ooze over everything.
You forgot they filled it with slime to preserve it all.
“Mike O’Malley? Mike… O’Malley… Now, that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time."
I would hope there’s still a VCR in operation somewhere in 2042. I would assume so if I go by the 50-60 year old turntables I see at goodwill. And a display that can use analog video.
But if we want to go further in time, I’d include a VCR head drum or a whole VCR with the belts taken out and replacements described perfectly for someone to reproduce.
Is this a real list? Obviously in 1992 they didn’t know that the Internet would preserve the memory of a lot of this stuff so yeah, feels too early. But imagine the world with no Internet that had moved on and forgotten about Joey’s “whoa!”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelodeon_Studios
There’s a section for the Time Capsule under Opening and Reception. It has the list above in the article more or less and cites this source: https://cdm21072.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p21072coll2/id/784
Which has essentially the list from both above and the wiki. So if we wanted to confirm we’d probably have to go to the video which can be found here: https://youtu.be/W1hxmfi_4J8
Which from my casual viewing seems be approximately the list above with the exception of perhaps a newspaper from the day they loaded the capsule (approximately one minute in), but that is probably accounted for with the news reports.
The loading of the time capsule was broadcast on cable. People taped it. At least some of which is uploaded to Youtube.
It sure feels real. I have a very vague memory of all of that happening. Or maybe I watched a YouTube video about it years ago? It’s hard to say.
I do remember they had pictures of the lid during commercial breaks for a while leading up to it, to build hype.
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Unfortunately, by 2042, the technology to read books will be gone.
I’m imagining Wall-E humans
Don’t worry, we’ll invent Book Reading as a Service by then. It runs on rust and kubernates.
Plot twist: the Gak became sentient and consumed the rest of the time capsule’s contents. In 2042 we shall all become Gak.
Surely the water and salt in the Gak is enough to do some damage, if not for its sentience.
The twinkies should still be edible
Tell him about the Twinkie
What are twinkies? I see them referenced a lot in popular media and then depiction appears to be of a glazed eclair, so the worst possible version of an eclair, baked goods like wrap tend to go stale after about 10 minutes I’m not sure why they’re supposed to last for so long.
Your description, “the worst possible version of an eclair”, is essentially correct.
In terms of how long they actually last, I don’t really know. But it has been a recurring joke for many years that they are basically indestructible.
I’m sure they are pumped full of artificial preservatives though…
Twinkies are cream-filled sponge cake fingers. They aren’t glazed or iced. First introduced by the Hostess company in 1930, the cream filling was originally banana flavored but it was switched to vanilla during WWII rationing.
Twinkies, among many other similar cake-based snacks are made with emulsified shortening rather than butter or vegetable oil as you might bake a cake at home, which keeps them from going stale when stored at room temperature. This has led to an urban legend that they have an infinite shelf life, that they might even survive a nuclear war. 20th century Twinkies had a stated shelf life of 7 to 10 days; in 2012 a preservative was added which upped it to 45, but they do indeed spoil.
Definitely zebra gum
Hate to be a downer here, but this is all shit we can see on the Internet now.
Maybe it’s because I was alive at that time, it’s not as interesting to me. Maybe I’m just a grumpy old man.
The internet wasnt as ubiquitious then as it is now. I do agree, that time capsules need to wait a bit longer these days given how digital records keep about as long if you try.
Spoilers!!!