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List of Cultural References to Psychokinesis and Telekinesis
Last updated: November 18, 2009
Psychokinesis has a well-established existence as a psychic power in movies, television, literature, and other forms of popular culture.
This is a list of references to psychokinesis and telekinesis in popular culture works.
Movies and television
(including works derived from comic books and novels)
A
-
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
(1948) was a spoof horror comedy. In it, Bela Lugosi as Dracula could change into and back from a large flying bat at will.
-
Akira (film)
(1988) was an anime movie based on the manga of the same name. In the movie version the character Tetsuo and Akira (although he has died by the time of the events of the film) develop telekinetic powers. Tetsuo's grow out of his control and result in the destruction of Neo-Tokyo.
-
Altered States
(1980) was a movie about researching sensory deprivation with unintended physical effects, such as shape-shifting, as experienced by actor William Hurt's character and unintentionally, that of actress Blair Brown. Based on the novel by Paddy Chayefsky.
B
- On the
Babylon 5
TV series, the episode "Mind War" was about various psychic powers, including PK/TK. In it, the character Jason Ironheart develops uncontrollable "mindquakes" so powerful they shake the space station. The last scene had the psychic character Talia Winters, played by Andrea Thompson, alone in her quarters on the space station moving a U.S. penny across a tabletop using telekinesis as a test to see if she had that advanced power. Telekinetics, known as "teeks" in the series, generally played only a very small role in Babylon 5.
- In the classic TV series
Bewitched
, Samantha, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, as well as other witches, used magic to move objects on occasion. The TV series inspired a theatrical film of the same title that starred Nicole Kidman and a spinoff half-hour comedy Tabitha (1977), about Samantha's daughter, played by blonde-haired Lisa Hartman, who had the powers of a witch, which included TK.
- Movie:
Beyond Witch Mountain
was a 1982 sequel to the 1978 film Return from Witch Mountain, which itself was a sequel to the original Escape to Witch Mountain (1975). Two humanoid alien children with PK powers. Disney films.
-
Bible-based movies
such as The Ten Commandments (1956) and Jesus of Nazareth (1977) usually include a display of divinely powered psychokinesis.
- In the short-lived TV show
Birds of Prey
, Black Canary's daughter possessed the powers of telekinesis and telepathy.
- In the TV series
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
, several episodes featured telekinesis; "Twiki Is Missing" (1980) had actresses Anne-Marie Martin, Bebe Louie and Eugenia Wright as the Omniguard, a trio of women with PK powers.[1] In the two-part episode "The Plot to Kill a City", Jolen Quince (played by John Quade) was a telekinetic member of the Legion of Death, a group of super-powered criminals.[2] The second-season episodes "Journey to Oasis" had a blue-skinned, genetically engineered imp (played by Felix Silla, the body actor for Twiki) who used telekinesis for mischievous pranks[3], and "Shgoratchx!" which featured seven eccentric and amorous Zirdonians, dwarfish humanoids who could "on-think" to activate or repair devices, or "off-think" to switch off or remove things (in one memorable scene, the Zirdonians try to off-think Colonel Deering's uniform)[4]
- Many characters of the
Buffyverse
(Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Fray etc.), especially ghosts and witches, such as Willow Rosenberg and Amy Madison, display telekinetic powers as part of a greater set of supernatural abilities. In particular, the Angel episode "Untouched" shows Bethany Chaulk, a telekinetic girl whose powers were developed due the trauma of being sexually abused by her father.
C
- Movie:
Cameron's Closet
(1988). It was about a young boy with telekinetic powers that increased enough to open a gateway in which a demon entered, living in his closet.
- TV series:
Candid Camera
(1991-1992). During this first-run syndicated version of the famous TV series, one episode featured a segment involving a woman seated at a conference table in a room with a guest subject. The woman pretended to have a headache and while rubbling her fingers on the sides of her head an ash tray moved down the length of the table to the astonishment of the guest subject. Show hosts: Dom Deluise Host and Eva LaRue.
- In the 1976 film
Carrie
, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, Sissy Spacek portrays a troubled high school student with telekinetic powers.[5] Director Brian de Palma noted that the film is "basically about adolescent trauma. Her telekinesis is an extension of her anger."[6] Sissy Spacek was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal. Co-star Piper Laurie was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. There was also a TV movie remake of Carrie, 2002 that starred Angela Bettis and Emilie de Ravin, and a sequel The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), a theatrical release starring Emily Bergl as a telekinetic teen relative of the original Carrie.
- In the TV series
Charmed
, magical telekinesis was featured frequently.[7] The ability runs through several members of the Halliwell family line, including Prue Halliwell, Melinda Warren, Penny "Grams" Halliwell, Wyatt Halliwell, Chris Halliwell and Paige Matthews, whose Whitelighter genes cause the power to manifest as Telekinetic orbing. In season 8, the character Billie Jenkins was also shown to possess this skill. It was also used by several other witches, warlocks, demons and other magical beings featured throughout the run of the show.
- On the French animated television series
Code Lyoko
, Yumi Ishiyama has the power of telekinesis in the virtual world of Lyoko.
- In the
Conan the Barbarian
movie series, a wizard character has telekinetic abilities.
D
- In the Nickelodeon show
Danny Phantom
, the main character battles many ghosts with several Psychic abilities, including telekinesis.
- In the 1998 movie
Dark City
, a human with PK is being chased by mysterious aliens, who also have PK.
- Movie:
Dreamscape
(1984). It starred Dennis Quaid as one of two medical research center operatives who could enter a patient's fantasy-filled dream and affect the person physically for good or ill in the real world.
- In the
Doctor Who
episode "
The Empty Child
" a small boy who has been brought back to life by nanogenes has the power to close a door, make phone calls and set clockwork toys working with his mind.
E
- In the anime
Elfen Lied
, mutated humans known as "diclonius" manifest telekinetic powers in the form of long, transluscent 'arms'.
- Movie:
Escape to Witch Mountain
was a 1975 film based on the 1968 novel by Alexander Key that had two young humanoid alien children who levitated objects, among other mental powers. A 1995 remake with the same title was based on the novel. See also: Return from Witch Mountain (1978), Beyond Witch Mountain (1982), Race to Witch Mountain (2009).
- In
E.T. The Extraterrestrial
(1982), the title alien could make bicycles with their riders fly through the air. In an earlier scene, E.T. levitated balls and made them spin in mid-air.
- In the TV series
Eureka
, the episode "Invincible" shows a scientist who accidentally gains fantastic mental powers, including telekinesis.
F
- In the movie
Firestarter
(1984), the child character Charlie, played Drew Barrymore, had pyrokinesis with fireballs directed by TK and was able to make a pay phone eject its coins. Based on the Stephen King novel.
-
Forbidden Planet
(1956). This classic sci-fi movie featured a human scientist on an alien planet using an advanced machine to turn his subconscious thoughts into reality. The machine earlier destroyed the Krell, the alien race that constructed it.
-
4D Man
(1959). Two future Star Trek alumni, Robert Lansing and Lee Meriwether, star in this film about a serious research scientist who discovers a way to walk through walls using psychokinesis, ostensibly by speeding up the atoms in his body in space-time and slipping through. However, this caused a side effect of aging in the process. In the first minutes of the film, a pencil is successfully pushed through a block of metal. Later, accidentally, a hand is pushed through, which gets painfully stuck.
- In
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
(1988), the main character Tina Shepard accidentally resurrects Jason Voorhees with her psychokinetic ability. In the end, she also uses her ability to fight him.
-
The Fury
, a 1978 film about young people with deadly PK powers. It starred Kirk Douglas, Andrew Stevens, and Amy Irving.
- In the
Family Guy
episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1", the "SuperGriffins" segment features the Griffins gaining super-powers from toxic waste, with Stewie gaining a giant, bulbous head and telekinetic powers.
G
- In the
Ghostbusters
universe, ghosts and other supernatural creatures are composed of negatively charged psychokinetic energy. This energy, called PKE, was featured and mentioned extensively in both movies and animated series. Furthermore, the Ghostbusters developed a device called a PKE meter for the purpose of measuring the amount of psychokinetic energy in an area.
- In the universe of
Ghost Hunt
, there is an explanation to PK types, which are divided into PK-ST, the ability to influence still objects (e.g. spoon bending), PK-MT, the ability to control moving objects (e.g. make the dice roll two when you want it roll a two) and PK-LT, the ability to influence living things (e.g. numerous curses and mind control).
- In the
Gundam
meta-verse, there is a type of evolved human being known as a Newtype, predominantly in the Universal Century timeline. This happens when humanity begins to migrate to space, and to adapt to the new environment humanity begins to slowly evolve to adapt to space. Although Newtypes mostly exhibit enhanced senses and varying degrees of heightened mental awareness, they have sometimes performed amazing feats that are very Telekinetic. For example, the main protagonist of Zeta Gundam, Camille Vidan has his titular Mobile Suit perform far beyond its expected performance with the power of his mind during instances where he becomes deeply enraged. There are also Newtype-only weapons known as "Funnels" which are psychically controlled modules which are used to remotely attack enemies mentally.
H
- In the TV series
Heroes
, the serial killer Sylar has telekinetic abilities, as does Peter Petrelli.
- In the TV series
Hex
, main character Cassie Hughes and replacement character Ella Dee, as well as Cassie's son Malachi all possessed an inherent witch power of telekinesis.
I
- In the classic TV series
I Dream of Jeannie
, Jeannie, played by Barbara Eden, had TK abilities, among others.
- An episode of the TV series
In Search of...
, narrarated by Leonard Nimoy, titled "The Castle of Secrets" about the mystery of the Coral Castle in Florida, explored different posibilities as to how its small-statured builder, Edward Leedskalnin, could have constructed it on his own. One scene showed him using telekinesis to move a coral block from the back of a truck. The episode first aired in the United States on January 24, 1981.
J
- An episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius called Sheen's Brain has Jimmy's friend Sheen gaining vast psychokinetic abilities from an experiment gone wrong.
- In the 1960s' animated TV series
Jonny Quest
, the character Hadji was an Hindu Indian youth who could summon telekinetic powers by outstetching his arms and reciting a chant. In one episode he levitated a sleeping man off the ground.
- In the film
Jumper
, the main character played by Hayden Christensen is able to teleport instantly using mind power.
L
- In the TV series
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
, the series finale episode "The Family Hour" (1997) featured a big-headed villain named "Fat Head," played by comedian Harry Anderson, who had TK powers.
- In the film The Lawnmower Man, the title character Job eventually develops mental powers including telekinesis as a result of a scientist's (actor Pierce Brosnan's) experiment. In one scene, he mentally squeezes toothpaste out of a tube and in another levitates a chair high into the air as Brosnan's character watches in amazement. There was also a 1996 sequel with different lead actors Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace. Video title: Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War (PK / TK content?)
M
- In the Japanese manga
Akira
(and its subsequent animated film) telekinesis is a subject of secret government research, culminating in extremely powerful individuals such as the main antagonist, Tetsuo, and the title character, Akira.
-
Manimal
, 1983, was a U.S. television series than starred British actor Simon MacCorkindale as a millionaire professor who could change himself into animals and fight crime. It was canceled after two months.
- H. G. Wells' 1911 story,
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
, and the 1936 movie of the same title based on it[8], portrays a character with psychokinetic powers (although the word is not used). Arguing in a bar, the character tries to make a hypothetical point by saying "to that lamp, as I might do, collecting all my will, 'Turn upsy-down without breaking, and go on burning steady, andHullo!'" Wells writes, "The impossible, the incredible, was visible to them all. The lamp hung inverted in the air, burning quietly with its flame pointing down." The lead character goes on to make increasingly dramatic demonstrations of his power, ultimately stopping the earth's rotation.[9]
- In the film
Matilda
and the book of the same name by author Roald Dahl, the title child character has telekinesis. In the movie she was played by Mara Wilson.[10]
- When wired into
The Matrix
and to an extent outside of the Matrix the film's hero Neo can perform acts of psychokinesis.
- Richard Burton played a man with telekinetic powers in the film
The Medusa Touch
. His character, John Morlar, has the ability to cause catastrophes and induce death with his mind alone.
-
The Men Who Stare at Goats
(2009), a comedy, featured George Clooney as a U.S. soldier who had the ability to stop a goat's heart using PK.
-
Mind Killer
(1987) was a low budget movie with a PK plot. It starred Joe McDonald.
- A young Courteney Cox played a telekinetic teenager in the short-lived TV series,
Misfits of Science
. Other characters had different powers.
-
Modern Problems
, 1981, Chevy Chase is exposed to nuclear waste in this comedy and develops telekinesis.
- The movie
Momentum
(2003), was about TK and starred Louis Gossett Jr., Teri Hatcher, and Grayson McCouch.
-
Mutant X
, 2001-2004, was a syndicated television series created by Marvel Studios that featured characters with various genetically obtained powers, some with PK.
- In the classic TV series
My Favorite Martian
, Uncle Martin (the Martian), pointed his finger to cause objects to move.
O
- The
Outer Limits
had a number of episodes featuring PK; in the original series episode "The Sixth Finger" (1963), a scientist's experiment transforms actor David McCallum's character into a super-advanced human. One of his powers is telekinesis. In the newer series, the 1995 episode The Choice featured Thora Birch as a young girl with PK. In the fourth-season television episode "Monster" (1998), Harry Hamlin starred, and it was about a group of government psychic assassins who could kill a human target anywhere in the world by watching him on live television and activating their PK ability in a jointly concentrated effort. Also, the fourth season episode "Josh" (1998) was about a man who had miraculous paranormal powers. In the opening scene a blonde reporter and her cameraman record footage of the 30-something man miraculously healing a collapsed man in the woods with the familiar hand-to-body light-glow effect common to paranormal healers in both film and television. The footage is shown on the news, the man is captured by the government, and by episode's end, he is back in the woods rising into the sky. The narration and script overall posit the question, was this an alien god who returned to earth after 2,000 years? The character Josh was played by actor Alex McArthur.
P
- Movie:
The People
(1972) was a TV movie in the United States that starred William Shatner. It had outdoor levitation of characters tens of feet into the air. The setting was a remote rural community.
- Movie:
Patrick
(1978) a film with a PK plot that starred Robert Helpmann.
- Many
Pokémon
possess telekinetic abilities.
- In the
Phantasm
movies, the Tall Man exhibits Psychokinetic abilities, often using them to trick or kill people. In Phantasm: Oblivion, Mike gets psychokinetic abilities from the Sentinel Sphere embedded in his head. He tries to use these abilities to kill the Tall Man and fails.
- Movie:
Phenomenon
(1996), John Travolta had telekinetic powers, making a pen spin, a book cover to open, and wooden boards move. A TV movie sequel Phenomenon II (2003) starred Christopher Shyer and Jill Clayburgh.
- Movie:
Powder
(1995). Profoundly white-skinned Sean Patrick Flanery had various psychic powers, including control over electromagnetic forces.
- In the
Power Rangers
universe, inhabitants of the planet KO-35 have innate telekinetic abilities.
-
The Power
was a 1968 movie about a group of scientists with PK powers. It was based on the novel. Starred George Hamilton and Michael Rennie. (French title: The War of the Brains).
- Movie:
Project Human Weapon
(2000), was about TK and starred Judge Reinhold and William Zabka.
-
Psychic Killer
(1975), a low budget film that starred Jim Hutton (father of the actor Timothy Hutton) as a prison inmate who psychically teleports himself to the outside to seek revenge. Also starred Paul Burke, Julie Adams, and other familiar character actors.
- Movie:
Push
(2009) a film with a PK plot set in Hong Kong that starred Chris Evans as a "Mover, Dakota Fanning, and others with psychic powers on the run from a secret U.S. government agency called "The Division."
R
- Movie:
Race to Witch Mountain
was a 2009 remake of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain. In the remake, actor Dwayne Johnson assists two humanoid alien children who have PK abilities return to their spaceship. Both the original and 2009 remake are Disney films. See also: Escape to Witch Mountain (1975, 1995), Return from Witch Mountain (1978), Beyond Witch Mountain (1982).
- Actress Ellen Burstyn played a woman with miraculous paranormal healing powers named Edna Mae McCauley in the 1980 film
Resurrection
[11] set in rural America. She was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal. Co-star Eva Le Gallienne was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. In her 2006 autobiography, Burstein writes at length about the making of the movie and reaction to it, "I still have people approach me on the street and tell me how important the film was in their lives... Some people have told me that they stopped denying their psychic abilities after seeing the film and actually developed them instead of hiding them for fear they'd be thought weird. Some people, many in fact, told me they went into the healing profession because of the film. And others told me about feeling healed by the film."[12]
- Movie:
Return from Witch Mountain
was a 1978 sequel to the 1975 original film Escape to Witch Mountain (1975).
- In the TV series
Roswell
(1999) and the book series on which it was based, all three young adult human-looking aliens had various types of psychokinetic powers.
- In the sci-fi sitcom
Red Dwarf
episode Quarantine, both Rimmer and Doctor Langstrom contract a 'holovirus' which gives them telekinetic powers.
- In the 2002 television miniseries
Rose Red
, also known as Stephen King's Rose Red, an autistic teenage girl has telekinetic powers.
S
- In tv show
Sabrina The Teenage Witch
, Sabrina and her aunts often used their powers in the form of telekinesis.
-
Scanners
was a 1981 film about people with deadly telepathic and PK abilities. It starred Michael Ironside. A remake is planned. There were numerous sequels: Scanners II: The New Order (1991), Scanners III: The Takeover (1992), Scanner Cop (1994), and Scanners: The Showdown/aka Scanner Cop II.
- In the TV show
The Secret World of Alex Mack
, Alexandra "Alex" Mack gains telekinesis after being drenched in the chemical GC-161.
- In the Philippine TV show
SPIRITS
, a boy named Red develops psychokinesis and levitation when exposed to a mysterious light from an alien source.
- At the end of Andrei Tarkovsky's film
Stalker
(1979), the Stalker's young daughter is shown apparently moving objects across a table by telekinesis.
- Various uses in the TV show
Stargate SG-1
:
- The Ori Priors in the TV show Stargate SG-1 have psychokinetic abilities that are strong enough to lift a man, or to hurl him several kilometers. Their abilities can be neutralized by specific sound frequencies which interrupt the function of highly evolved sections of their brain.
- The DNA resequencer can give any human or Ancient telekinesis in addition to other powers. Several characters in the show obtained telekinesis this way, including Khalek (who was given his abilities by Anubis), and several unnamed villagers (who were given their abilities by Nirrti).
- Ascended beings can influence the physical world.
- In the movie
Starman
(1984) and the Starman (TV series) (1986) the alien visitor in the body of a human had the PK ability to heal and move objects, using small handheld special spheres.
-
Star Trek
TV series episodes which featured TK/PK: from the Original series;
- "The Cage (unaired pilot)" (1966),
- "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966, second pilot),
- "Charlie X" (1966),
- "The Menagerie" (1966, Parts 1 and 2, using footage from "The Cage"),
- "The Gamesters of Triskelion" (1968, collar activation by alien Galt), and
- "Plato's Stepchildren" (1968).
- The 1969 episode "Whom Gods Destroy" starred actor Garth of Izar, who can re-arrange his molecules at will.
- Also in 1969 the episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" featured actor Frank Gorshin as an alien who used mind power to take control of the Enterprise's command computer.
- In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the episode "Unnatural Selection" has the genetically engineered children of Darwin Station, who possess telekinesis;
- in "True Q", the word "telekinesis" is also specifically used by Q in the episode;
- "The Survivors" (1989), which starred John Anderson as an alien who recreated his wife and home on a destroyed planet and who made an entire species of aggressive aliens, the Husnock, disappear;
- and the episode "Transfigurations" shows an alien on the verge of an evolutionary leap who can heal others with his mind and resist physical attacks.
- In the
Star Wars
movie and book series, numerous characters, such as the Jedi, have the ability to control the movement of objects using the Force. In the book Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide[13] it is described this way: "Although such ability is commonly known as a Jedi's 'object movement' power, it is more accurately described as a manipulation of the Forcethe energy field that surrounds and binds everythingto control the direction of objects through space. Jedi utilize this talent not only to push, pull, and lift objects, but also to redirect projectiles and guide their starships through combat."
- In the TV show
Static Shock
, Madelyn Spaulding (originally a Bang Baby with hypnotic powers) develops telekinesis after Static sends a surge of electricity through her brain.
- In the TV show, "
Supernatural
", Sam Winchester has been shown to have the ability to move objects through telekinesis. In addition, several other characters, all "psychic children" being manipulated by a mysterious yellow-eyed demon, have displayed such abilities.
T
- In
Teen Titans
, both Raven of the Titan team and Jinx of H.I.V.E. Academy wield telekinetic powers.
- Movie:
The Tempest
(1982). Included scenes of psychic weather control. It starred John Cassavetes, Gina Rowlands, and Susan Sarandon. Based loosely on Shakespeare's play.
-
The Tomorrow People
TV series features characters possessing psychokinetic abilities.
- In the classic
The Twilight Zone
episode "It's a Good Life" (1961), the child character played by Billy Mumy had incredible psychokinetic powers. Mumy revived the character, along with his real-life daughter, in a sequel episode of the new Twilight Zone titled "It's Still a Good Life" (2003). The story was also remade with different actors in the 1983 theatrical film Twilight Zone: The Movie. Another episode of the original series, "The Prime Mover" (1961), starred Buddy Ebsen as a worker in a roadside diner who had very strong telekinetic power, enough to flip over a car that had been overturned in a nighttime accident. The original series episode "The Mind and the Matter" (1961) was about an office worker who developed strong PK.
- The Disney movie
Twitches
has twin teen witches who have the power to move objects and other magical abilities. Based on the best selling series of children's books.
W
- In the TV series
Walker, Texas Ranger
, an usual episode for this otherwise straight crime drama series titled "Brainchild" (1997) was about Walker, played by Chuck Norris, rescuing a child who had TK powers from a research center.
- In the 2009 movie:
Watchmen
, based on the 1986-1987 DC comic book series, the character Doctor Manhattan has god-level PK powers.
- In the anime
Weiß Kreuz (Weiss Kreuz)
, Naoe Nagi of the assassin team Schwarz displays psychokinetic abilities many times throughout the series.
- Witch Mountain. See: Escape to Witch Mountain (1975, 1995), Return from Witch Mountain (1978), Beyond Witch Mountain (1982), Race to Witch Mountain (2009).
- Movie:
The Witches of Eastwick
. Jack Nicolson's devilish character had telekinesis. The movie was based on the novel by John Updike. There has also been various TV series pilot versions.
- In
Witch Hunter Robin
, certain witches have the power to control the movement of objects such as trash cans at will.
X
- In the TV series
Xena: Warrior Princess
, Xena developed psychokinetic ability during a story arc set in the Far East.
- In the TV series
The X-Files
, Scully's baby, William, is shown in the two-part episode "Nothing Important Happening Today" to have telekinetic powers as he makes a mobile move that is hanging over his crib. Other PK/TK-related episodes (there may be more): "Shadows," "Fire," "Miracle Man," "Born Again," 'Excelsis Dei," "D.P.O.," "Syzygy," and "Sunshine Days."
- In the
X-Men
movie series, the female character Jean Grey, also known as Phoenix, based on the Marvel Comics character, has very strong telekinetic powers.[14] In the movies she was played by actress Famke Janssen. Other X-Men comic book characters, such as Magneto and Kitty Pryde, have other specialized telekinetic or psychokinetic abilities.
Z
- In the film
Zapped!
a teenage high school whiz kid discovers a formula which bestows telekinetic powers and uses it for various mischief, including undressing girls, and in the sequel Zapped Again! a new generation of high school kids find the old potion and perform similar pranks.
- In the 2006 movie
Zoom
a girl named Summer has telekinetic and empathic powers and joins Jack Shepard's team to combat Concussion.
Computer and Video Games
D
- In the
Darkstalkers
video game series, the vampire hunter Donovan Baine, and a young girl Anita who accompanies him, use telekinesis to a large extent. Donovan's main weapon is a giant spirit sword known as Dhylec, which he mostly wields with just the power of his mind.
- In
Destroy All Humans!
, the Furons have the psychokinesis ability. This ability gives them an advantage in winning a war against a homeworld enemy.
E
- In
EarthBound
, PK or PSI is the primary form of psychokinesis in the game, however this variation also includes manipulation of full energy with the mind. EarthBound's PSI was popularized by the appearance of Ness in Nintendo's Super Smash Brothers series, whose special moves included PK Fire, PK Thunder, and later PK Flash.
- The
Elder Scrolls
series of role-playing games contains a spell called telekinesis, which allows the player to interact with distant objects.
F
- In
F.E.A.R.
, the silhouette known as Alma was genetically engineered by the government to have vast, uncalculated amounts of psychic power. Among them are telekinesis and pyrokinesis.
G
- In the game series
Golden Sun
, the ability to use powers granted to the mind, ingame called "Psynergy", does exist. Adepts are naturally born knowing they have these powers, though, anyone can use them if they put their mind to it. Four kinds of psynergy exist, Venus (Earth), Mars (Fire), Jupiter (Wind), and Mercury (Water). Amongst these, the most notable is Jupiter and Mercury; Jupiter adepts are naturals at reading minds and being able to pick up on future events, and Mercury can heal through prayer and concentration. Venus have the ability to manipulate objects with their mind, giving them such powers as "Move" and teleporting "Retreat", while Mars can gain abilities that are a mixture of three, knowing "Move" and healing moves are natural to them.
M
P
- In the
Pokémon
game/show, many of the Pokémon wield telekinesis and many other psychic gifts.
- In the video game
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
by Midway, Nick Scryer uses many different abilities to defeat enemies (pyrokinesis, telekinesis, etc.).
- In the video game
Psychonauts
, the plot revolves around a boy named Razputin with psychic abilities being trained at a psychic summer camp, along with other psychics. He uses his powers to defeat enemies and solve puzzles throughout the game.
S
Books
C
D
E
- In the manga
Elfen Lied
, the diclonius species display telekinetic-like powers in the form of long, translucent arms called vectors.
L
- In the Dan Brown best-selling novel
The Lost Symbol
, the female lead character in the story is a micro-PK researcher at the Smithsonian Institution.
M
- In the
Mary Poppins
book series and Disney movie, the title character has PK talents.
P
- The
Psi-Man
series by Peter David centers on a telepathic/telekinetic character.
- In "The Public Hating," a 1955 story by Steve Allen, a political prisoner is executed by inciting a stadium crowd to focus their hatred on him. The word "psychokinesis" is not used, but a character explains that "it was that guy at Duke University first came up with the idea. ...he was the first one to prove scientifically that mind can control matter." (A reference to J.B. Rhine.)
R
T
- The
Talent
series by Anne McCaffrey, which includes the Pegasus Trilogy and the Rowan Series, tell of the Talents, people with various psychic powers including telekinesis.
V
-
Vampires
in popular fiction often have a form of telekinesis. Usually it is the older, more powerful vampires who exhibit this. Vampires usually acquire power the longer they stay alive. In Vampire: The Masquerade the Tremere Clan possesses the Rego Motus, a derivative of the Thaumaturgy discipline which lets them move objects in a psychokinetic fashion.
W
- The
Wild Cards
book series is about people given unusual abilities by an alien genetic virus; Telekinesis is both the most common Wild Card power, and the explanation for the various forms taken by Jokers (which are often based on subconscious fears or fantasies).
Music
- In the song "The
Wonderboy
" by Tenacious D, the lyric "That's telekinesis, Kyle" is used.[15]
- On the soundtrack CD for the telekinesis-themed movie
The Medusa Touch
, there is an instrumental piece titled "Telekinesis."
Toys
- In the
Bionicle
storyline, a Kanohi mask called Matatu allows the user the power to move objects and beings with mind power.
Quotations about psychokinesis
Origin: 1863 in The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man.[16] Fuller quote: "It may be said that, so far from having a materialistic tendency, the supposed introduction into the earth at successive geological periods of lifesensation, instinct, the intelligence of the higher mammalia bordering on reason, and lastly, the improvable reason of Man himselfpresents us with a picture of the ever-increasing dominion of mind over matter." There is also a similar saying coined centuries earlier (19 BCE) "the mind moves matter" by the poet Virgil in his work "Aeneid," book 6, line 727.[17] The latter saying in Latin, "mens agitat molem," is the official motto of the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands.
-
"How many people here have telekinetic powers? Raise my hand."
Origin: attributed to American stand-up comedian Emo Philips as a one-liner used in his stage act. It can be found on his CD album "E=MO2" first released in 1990.
- Variations:
- 1992: A similar phrase made the Usenet "rec.humor.funny" FAQ as early as 1992.[18] "All of you out there who believe in telepathy, raise your hand. All right. Now, everyone who believes in telekinesis... raise MY hand." Said on-air by Dennis Owens, the morning drive-time host of WGMS radio in Washington, DC. The saying "Everyone who believes in telekinesis, raise my hand." is often incorrectly attributed to James Randi, but he has stated that he did not originate it. However, he did use it in the closing line of his weekly commentary Swift, 15 March 2002.[19]
- 1994. A similar saying, "How many of you believe in telekinesis, raise MY hands" was used by Rob Fargher as a signature line on one of his 1994 skeptics newsgroup postings.[20]
- 1995/1997. Yet another version, this time involving PK, "All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand" is attributed to stand-up comedian Steven Wright,[21] which he used in either of the 1995 or 1997 episodes he guest starred in (as a voice actor) on the animated series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist;[22] however, he was not the writer of either episode and it is unknown if he contributed the line from one of his earlier stand-up routines.
-
"a talent which has to be seen to be believed"
Rod Serling (1924-1975), though the phrase itself referring to other performing abilities was allegedly in use long before this.
Origin: March 24, 1961 in the introduction written by Serling to the Twilight Zone episode "The Prime Mover" about a telekinetic character played by actor Buddy Ebsen. The episode itself was written by Charles Beaumont. Fuller quote by Serling, after stepping out of a woodland scene and standing in front of the camera: "Portrait of a man who thinks and thereby gets things done. Mr. Jimbo Cobb might be called a 'Prime Mover,' a talent which has to be seen to be believed. In just a moment, he'll show his friends, and you, how he keeps both feet on the ground and his head . . . in the Twilight Zone."
Trivia
- .PK is the Internet domain name extension for the country of Pakistan.
- .TK is the Internet domain extension for the territorial islands of Tokelau.
- In the U.S. military, PK is an abbreviation for "peacekeeping" or "probability of kill."[23], while Tk stands for "tank."[24]
References
- ^ Episode 18 summary for "Twiki is Missing". Retrieved on January 31, 2007.
- ^ Episode 6 "The Plot to Kill a City (parts one and two). Retrieved on January 31, 2007. See also IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533119.
- ^ Episode 27 "Journey to Oasis (parts one and two). Retrieved on January 31, 2007.
- ^ Episode 34 "Shgoratchx!. Retrieved on January 31, 2007.
- ^ Official website of author Stephen King.. Retrieved on July 15, 2006.
- ^ Jones, Stephen (2002). Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide. Watson-Guptill. ISBN 978-0-8230-7884-4. , p. 1957
- ^ Gallagher, Diana G.; Ruditid, Paul (2004). Charmed: The Book of Three. The Official Companion to the Hit Show.. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-689-86709-5.
- ^ The Man Who Could Work Miracles at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Country of the Blind, And Other Stories, by H. G. Wells, available at Project Gutenberg.
- ^ Martin, Mick; Porter, Marsha (2006). DVD & VIDEO GUIDE 2007. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-49332-3.
- ^ Resurrection at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Burstein, Ellen (2006). Lessons in Becoming Myself. New York: Riverhead Books/Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1-59448-929-7.
- ^ Windham, Ryder (2005). Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide. DK Publishing, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-7566-1420-1.
- ^ Sanderson, Peter (2006). X-Men: The Ultimate Guide. DK Publishing, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-7566-2005-9.
- ^ http://tenaciousd.lyrics.info/wonderboy.html
- ^ Bartlett, John; Kaplan, Justin, Editor (2002). Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, Seventeenth Edition. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-08460-4.
- ^ Stevenson, Burton (Editor) (1948, seventh printing 1968). The Macmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases. New York: The Macmillan Company.
- ^ Google archive of the rec.humor.funny newsgroup: rec.humor.funny
- ^ http://www.randi.org/jr/031502.html
- ^ http://www.skepticfiles.org/evolut/theoryon.htm
- ^ http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Wright
- ^ http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Wright
- ^ http://www.militaryterms.info/acronyms/p.shtml
- ^ http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/korea/20-2-1/glossary.htm
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