CCTV in Boots

[erdnase]

No, I'm not looking to fit CCTV equipment into my shoes...

I'm talking about those very memorable cctv cameras that Boots the Chemist used to have years ago. As a kid, they really spooked me! They looked like Daleks and had an ominous mechanical appearance - shiny, black and with a cool red light on them.

I can't find any pictures of them in Google images, but I was just thinking of how iconic they are. Anyone remember them and have the same feelings of amazement and awe at these futuristic mysterious things? I bet they never even done anything and were just psychological decoys!

[mybrainhurts]

They were anti tramp death rays...

I saw one get toasted...

[erdnase]

They looked like death rays! Why can't I find a picture of one online?

[Acehood]

You mean like this?

[erdnase]

Almost, Acehood.. a little more Daleky and DeathStar-ish though.

[M5jimmy]

I remember the ones, quite large, used to spend quite a bit of time staring at them

[Acehood]

It's a hard thing to search for when I don't even remember them!! I tried my best though

[erdnase]

Oh, they would turn 45 degrees every few seconds too!

[sherman]

They had at least 6 lenses poking out of them all evenly spaced round the white half sphere and there was a white pole that connected them to the roof. there was a black band sort of round the top of the sphere and the sphere pointed downwards.

[_Dan_]

They always reminded me of the robot thing that floats in to the containment cell that Princess Leia is being held in on the deathstar in StarWars IV!

[NDA]

I remember those things too - can't find any pics either!

[Los Palmas 7]

I remember them and I too thought they were Daleks stuck through the ceiling.

Put the willies up me, I can tell you.

[Carl_Spackler]

_Dan_ said:

They always reminded me of the robot thing that floats in to the containment cell that Princess Leia is being held in on the deathstar in StarWars IV!

Me too, I used to have nightmares about them.

[davido140]

Carl_Spackler said:

_Dan_ said:

They always reminded me of the robot thing that floats in to the containment cell that Princess Leia is being held in on the deathstar in StarWars IV!

Me too, I used to have nightmares about them.

Exactly what they reminded me of too!

[Dr G]

Did anyone else's local Boots have a giant vial of some strange red liquid in the front window?

[bob1179]

Dr G said:

Did anyone else's local Boots have a giant vial of some strange red liquid in the front window?

I remember these (and also the spooky Death Star/Dalek cameras).

Somebody on PH must be able to find a pic of these, takes me back to being a yoof.

[Sixpackpert]

I remember these too!

I've had a quick search but can't find anything. I can find a lot of boot fetish porn and 'people getting caught on cctv wearing boots having sex' sites however.

[louiebaby]

Dr G said:

Did anyone else's local Boots have a giant vial of some strange red liquid in the front window?

Part of the corporate image thing for a while. Coloured water my friend, although as a Pharmacist I used to tell children it was distilled shop lifters...

Maybe combined with the space alien type camera things, I've deterred a few potential shoplifters...

:-)

[J.P]

Wasn't it the big mis-conception that actually it was the mirrored strips on these domes that the camera sat behind and not the obvious lenses that stuck out - thus fooling the oppotunistic shop lifter.
Boot's may not have these scary dome camera's now, but have you seen the smoak-cloak devices they have by the doors - puts Top of the Pop's tops to shame

James...

[erdnase]

I've never shoplifted in my life, but as a kid in Boots, these cameras creeped me out. I half expected them to shoot death rays at some point.

It's amazing there's no pictures online of them. The DeathStar picture a few posts up is definitely the closest!

I bet they weren't even real - or perhaps just had one camera in them, and the other lenses were just some optical/mirror arrangement. CCTV cameras have come a long way!