BBS: The Documentary
"Operators and users recall life on dial-up bulletin boards."
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About this film
Jason Scott's documentary traces the rise of dial-up bulletin board systems, interviewing operators and users across the pre-web networked era.
More about this film
About the production
Themes
Themes & topics
Historical background
Made in 2005, in United States, BBS: The Documentary belongs to documentary filmmaking in a period of shifting exhibition and production models. BBS: The Documentary is a 3-disc, 8-episode documentary about the subculture born from the creation of the bulletin board system (BBS) filmed by computer historian Jason Scott of textfiles.com.
Why this film matters
Within documentary history, archival value lies in recorded reality rather than fiction; 2005 film by Jason Scott.
Making of
Open sources chiefly list credits.
What critics said
Contemporary reviews of BBS: The Documentary are sparse in open sources; later catalog entries chiefly summarize plot and credits.
Did you know?
- Cast includes: Loyd Blankenship.
- Wikidata lists runtime data (296).
- TMDB id 101999 links metadata in public databases.
- BBS: The Documentary is a 3-disc, 8-episode documentary about the subculture born from the creation of the bulletin board system (BBS) filmed by computer historian Jason Scott of textfiles.com.
What audiences thought
Audience documentation for BBS: The Documentary is limited; availability today depends on archive and streaming copies.
Film restoration
Preservation status should be confirmed against archive holdings.
Where to watch
- Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/BBS.The.Documentary
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BBS%20The%20Documentary%2C%20Episode%201.webm