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Part 13 - While recently playing 1985 Atari arcade game Paperboy I thought I spotted more than a few past / future references to movies associated with actor Tom Hanks.
- In 1987 Hanks & Dan Aykroyd formed a cop comedy duo in Dragnet.
- Aykroyd was later in 2015 sci-fi comedy Pixels about alien invaders who take on the form of video game characters. Paperboy has a cameo in this.
- Clues To Dan Aykroyd's roles may appear in the game. A sign similar to the Ghostbusters logo (encircled in red with a diagonal slash) featuring Namco's Pac-Man, also shown in Pixels, appears throughout the game.
- A future nod to American Fast Food restaurant Arbys may appear in sequel Paperboy 2 ('91). After riding past the first group of houses a truck dragging linked sausages passes by on a wider stretch of roadway with the word "MEATS" emblazoned on the side.
- Arbys adopted the slogan "We Have The Meats" from 2014.
- Actor Ving Rhames did the voiceovers for the ad spots.
- He & Dan Aykroyd appeared together in 2007 comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. They play firefighters in New York City.
- A white dog with black spots follows the truck in Paperboy, possibly a Dalmatian, famous for being used to help firemen.
Transcript
00:00While recently playing 1985 Atari arcade video game Paperboy,
00:06I thought I spotted a couple references for movies starring actor Tom Hanks,
00:13both past and future.
00:14I looked into this, and I must say, pretty impressive connections between Hanks and the actual game.
00:21In 1987, Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks appeared in Buddy Cop, a slapstick comedy film, Dragnet.
00:30Dan Aykroyd, known for Ghostbusters, was later in 2015 sci-fi comedy Pixels, directed by Chris Columbus.
00:41This cast featured Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Peter Dinklage, Sean Bean, and Max Frewer cameos as Max Hedrum.
00:50So the story of Pixels is like an alien invasion scenario.
00:56The aliens have modeled themselves, own popular video game characters, stretching back to the 1980s.
01:03They're cameos by many popular game characters.
01:08Paperboy was among these.
01:09Sequel Paperboy 2 was released for several systems between 1991 and 1992.
01:16I think the MS-DOS version may look the best.
01:20After riding through the first set of houses, you come up to a highway area,
01:27and a truck passes by with the word written on the side, MEATS.
01:32M-E-A-T-S.
01:34It looks like it's dragging some linked sausages behind it.
01:38I thought this may be a future predictive Easter egg to American fast food chain Orbeez.
01:46From 2014, they adopted the slogan,
01:50We Have the Meats.
01:51Interestingly, actor Vin Rames did the voiceover for the TV spots for Orbeez.
01:59There's a great connection here.
02:00Actor Dan Aykroyd in Rames appeared in the 2007 comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
02:09The starred Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, and Steve Buscemi.
02:14Dan Aykroyd plays Phineas J. Tucker, captain of the New York City Fire Department.
02:19And yeah, back to Paperboy 2.
02:21Behind the truck that reads MEATS,
02:24You'll find it's being chased by a white dog with black spots, maybe a Dalmatian.
02:31This breed of animal is often known for working with firefighters.

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