Comments on: Haunted Potato

By: Ariel Dovas

Ariel Dovas — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:57:18 +0000

The dial is turned 90º.

By: Willie D

Willie D — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:37:53 +0000

The oven isnt even on…

By: Ariel Dovas

Ariel Dovas — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:59:37 +0000

Yeah, they would dance like a little Busby Berkeley thing in the oven.

By: noearch

noearch — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:31:02 +0000

so if they were french fries would they all hop around?

By: Ariel Dovas

Ariel Dovas — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:06:19 +0000

I’m still thinking ghost caterpillars.

By: james

james — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:16:02 +0000

That is one powerful potato. A king among tubers. A potentater.

By: vatagenic

vatagenic — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:34:09 +0000

My first guess – like Lyc – would have been steam within the potato slowly escaping through the skin. Taters, being roundish but irregularly shaped, generally come to rest on the side that is closest to the center of gravity, like a weeble-wobble or those joke inflatable punching dummies. If that is the same side that was poked with the fork, maybe the small jet of steam pushes it off its center, and then it rolls back, and so on and so forth, setting into a rocking rhythm.
Another possibility is something I used to observe as a kid in the kitchen. When a pot was put on the electric stove on high heat with very little in it, occasionally it would begin to rhythmically wobble in place. It was explained to me that if the bottom of the pot is heated unevenly, part of it will begin to expand and move away from the burner, which makes it then cool and contract back into place, only to expand again, and so on. Maybe the baking sheet is doing the same thing here. As the stove begins to heat it, a spot on the sheet expands and bows out slightly, which makes the potato touch the spot, cooling it enough to make it contract again. Hmmm…

By: lead belly

lead belly — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:03:08 +0000

I’m diggin’ your potatoes.

By: Ariel Dovas

Ariel Dovas — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:55:47 +0000

I did poke it with a fork on one side . . . but I was thinking something else . . .

By: Lyc

Lyc — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:14:43 +0000

Here’s a hint… ever cut open a hot potato and steam came out?

By: Stephan Zielinski

Stephan Zielinski — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:49:28 +0000

Trick potato. One of many possibilities: potato has a cow magnet (or something similar) inside, inserted through end of potato not visible to camera. “Oven” has hole in back, with someone reaching in and moving another magnet back and forth underneath the baking sheet.

Movie people call such things “practical special effect”s, and a movie or theatre person would probably know a far less elaborate and better way to produce the effect than what I came up with.