Shrinking Machine - The children's series DR. SHRINKER/ABC/1977 (a segment of the KROFFT SUPERSHOW/ABC/1976-77) resurrected the idea of a shrinking machine from the 1940 sci-fi film Dr. Cyclops starring Albert Dekker as a crazed scientist who shrunk humans via radiation. The evil Dr. Shrinker (Jay Robinson) and his  little assistant (Billy Barty) used a large four-foot, multicolor barrel device stored in his laboratory to shrink his victims. The same machine would reverse the process. An earlier sci-fi series THE WORLD OF GIANTS/SYN/1959 told the story of undercover agent Mel Hunter (Marshall Thompson) who had been scientifically reduced to the height of six-inches. With the aid of his full-size partner, Bill Winters (Arthur Franz) they infiltrated and busted crime organizations. Mel usually traveled in Bill Winters briefcase. The animated cartoon series TOM OF T.H.U.M.B./ABC/1966-69 featured a janitor who was shrunk by a shrinking laser radar beam. He fought crime working for T.H.U.M.B. (Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau).  

TRIVIA NOTE:  - On the sci-fi series DR. WHO/BBC/1963-8 the evil Timelord known as The Master (Anthony Ainley) used a deadly device called a "Tissue Compression Eliminator" to subdue his victims. The TCE is a short black rod capable of crushing a living human body into a twisted corpse the size of a doll.

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