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Thomas Edison has appeared in popular culture as a character in novels, films,
comics and video games. His prolific inventing helped make him an icon and he
has made appearances in popular culture during his lifetime down to the present
day. His is also portrayed in popular culture as an adversary of Nikola Tesla
numerous times.
Biographical works
Young Tom Edison was a 1940 biographical film starring Mickey Rooney as Edison.
Edison, the Man was a 1940 biographical film starring Spencer Tracy as Edison.
"The Electric Sunshine Man" is a musical for young voices about the life, times,
and inventions of Thomas Edison; generally performed by youth choral groups in
schools.
The Schoolhouse Rock song "Mother Necessity" featured Thomas Edison first as a
child intending to be an inventor when he grows up "to make a lamp to help my
mommy see..Wowee!/What an excellent application of electricity!" and then as a
smart, rich man.
Edison occasionally appeared in caricature form on Histeria! His first major
appearance was in a sketch in which he comes up with the light bulb while his
nephew (played by Loud Kiddington) and his friends fool around in his office.
The show also featured a song about Edison's partnership with Henry Ford.
"Edison's Medicine" was a song by the band Tesla from the album Psychotic Supper
Tesla which features the War of Currents between Edison's DC and Tesla's AC.
"The Wizard of Menlo Park" is a song by Chumbawamba on their album Un.
The song "Edison" by the Bee Gees from their 1969 album Odessa is a reference
about Thomas Edison.
Czech poet Vítězslav Nezval wrote a lengthy epic poem titled Edison (1930), in
which Edison is celebrated and apostrophed there as symbol of courage in search
of meaning of life in modern civilisation. This work is considered[by whom?] to
be one of the best poems of modern Czech literature.
Alternate histories
Edisonade is a category of fantastic fiction with young inventors travelling to
distant parts and having adventures. Not only did the genre use his name, but a
number of Thomas/Tom Edisons appeared in the early adventures.
In the Assassin's Creed series, Edison is portrayed as a member of The Knights
Templar and one the founders of the Abstergo Industries, attempting to discredit
Nikola Tesla, an ally of the Assassins Order.
Edison's Conquest of Mars by Garrett P. Serviss (1898) is an unofficial sequel
to The War of the Worlds in which Edison finds and reverse engineers Martian
technology.
And Having Writ..., a 1978 alternate universe novel by Donald R. Bensen,
features three aliens stranded on Earth whose comic misadventures lead to Edison
serving one term as President of the United States following and also preceding
two terms for Theodore Roosevelt.
Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog by Kurt Vonnegut (1953). A short story about Edison's
accidental discovery that dogs have superhuman intelligence (and can talk) while
working on an intelligence analyzer invention. Edison's dog Sparky reveals that
dogs keep their intelligence a closely guarded secret, as they live a life of
luxury while their humans "owners" do all the work & have all the worries.
Edison and his young neighbor are featured in the story (told as a flashback
from the now elderly neighbor's point of view), which goes on to divulge that it
was Sparky who suggested to Edison the crucial component of the first
incandescent light bulb.
Time-travel scenarios
a Voyagers! episode involving Edison shows, in an instance of history "going
wrong", Edison and his team are trying to make a light bulb filament by rolling
lamp black; they all fail, and when Jeffrey tears his shirt, Edison offers to
repair it, then studies the thread as a potential filament
The Edison Mystery: Qwerty Stevens, Back in Time (2001) by Dan Gutman
"JLA: Age of Wonder" (2003) was a two-issue mini-series from DC's Elseworlds
line, in which Superman landed in Kansas in the 1850s and emerged on the world
stage at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. He teams up with Edison but ends up
working with Tesla.
Tales From the Bully Pulpit (2004) by Benito Cereno is a graphic novel
containing the time travel adventures of Thomas Edison and Theodore Roosevelt
The Five Fists of Science, a 2006 graphic novel in which Edison is the villain,
whose evil plans are thwarted by Nikola Tesla and Mark Twain
Characters based on Edison
"Tom Edison Jr." was the star of eleven adventure books written by Philip Reade.
The first book was Tom Edison Jr.'s Sky Scraping Trip; Or Over the Wild West
Like a Flying Squirrel (1891). Tom Edison Jr. is the son of Tom Edison Sr. a
famous inventor who, they are at pains to emphasise, is not supposed to be
famous inventor Thomas Edison.
To Mars With Tesla; or, the Mystery of the Hidden World by J. Weldon Cobb (1901)
featured "Young Edison", a fictional nephew of Thomas Edison, helping Nikola
Tesla in his adventures with Martians.
In the cartoon series Clone High, Thomas Edison's clone is shown as a short,
sniveling nerd who seems to spend most of his time working with A.V equipment (a
reference to
the fact that Edison invented the projector).
Expiration Date by Tim Powers in which a boy possessed by the spirit of Thomas
Edison is hunted through Los Angeles by people wanting to consume the ghost he
carries.
Other references to Edison
Edison Hate Future is a series
of
one panel cartoons by Warren Ellis using the same picture of Thomas Edison.
Edison was approached by human allies of the Autobots about generating
electricity to revive Optimus Prime in the in
the IDW Publishing Infestation 2: Transformers comic. He found their demands
for power generation impossible and
refused to help.