Did Furbys Spy on Us? 1. Furby Phobia
Joanne McNally Investigates
BBC
4.3 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2024
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Joanne McNally is back on the investigative trail…. and with the Avril / Melissa theory no longer giving her sleepless nights, she’s keen to find a new story to get her teeth into. Helped by her loyal gaggle of fans, she draws up a list of options, and then sets down with friend and ‘original sleuth’ Joe Lycett to go through them. Top of her list, after some deliberation is a story from the late 90’s… about a soft toy, the Furby, which took over the world and became the no.1 gift for Christmas. But Joanne has found headlines that claim the toy was banned, suspected of being a spy, linked to international espionage… there couldn’t be any truth to it… could there?
As her journey begins, Joanne visits a Furby collector to try and understand their capabilities. She reaches out to the manufacturers to ask them if the claims are true. And she has an uncomfortable bonding experience with a Furby all of her own.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Just to warn you, before you start listening, |
| 0:08.2 | there will be swearing and some sexual language in this series |
| 0:11.4 | because I'm a sweary sexual kind of person. |
| 0:13.8 | I know what I am, I swear like a soldier, |
| 0:15.6 | I'll try to keep it to a minimum, |
| 0:17.1 | but just in case you've got very sensitive ears, |
| 0:19.2 | you can't say I didn't flag it. |
| 0:26.3 | The year is 1998 and a small toy is about to become the number one present on everyone's Christmas list. |
| 0:33.7 | Hey, me, Furby! |
| 0:36.1 | With big pointy ears, a kaleidoscope of cutesy, colorful tummies, |
| 0:40.5 | and some technical wizardry hidden inside. |
| 0:43.2 | The Furby was the first toy on the market to listen to your words and talk back to you. |
| 0:49.0 | And they took over the world. |
| 0:51.7 | For weeks now, Furbies, the lovable, computerized, lip-flapping furballs have |
| 0:55.8 | been sold out in stores as fast as they arrived. But what if I told you that the innocent |
| 1:01.2 | Furby toy you had on your shelf wasn't quite so innocent after all? What if those toys were |
| 1:09.1 | actually part of an unlikely conspiracy, |
| 1:11.9 | allegedly listening to our secrets and spying on our governments? |
| 1:20.7 | Ridiculous, I hear you scream. |
| 1:22.8 | Well, prepare your minds to be blown. |
| 1:25.5 | It was banned on airplanes. |
... |
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