Neuralyzer

A Neuralyzer, sometimes spelled as Neuralizer, is a device seen in the Men In Black franchise. It is one of the signature tool and considered standard issue employed by the Men In Black. It is a pen-size device that gives a flash erasing the certain memories of the witnesses, like seeing aliens and other top secret things. It first appeared in the first film Men in Black and has appeared much in the film series.

Depiction

A neuralyzer is a device varying in size, that wipes the memory of a target. The set length of memory erased can be changed using buttons and dials behind it that has three settings which is hours, days, and years. These can be set accordingly to the amount of time needed to be forgotten. It is seen much in the film as small, compact, device that produces a noisy, camera-like flash used by the MiBs to erase the memory of witnesses.

In order for the agents to not be harmed by the effects, they wear Predator 2 Ray-Ban sunglasses, that reflects the rays. After being neuralyzed, the agents have 30 seconds to supply new memories to replace the ones they've just erased. If there were more witnesses to neuralyze, a special team is sent in to give memories, and change the enviornment to reflect those memories.

After being neuralyzed, the witnesses forgets these memories. But these memories can still be familiar to them, and sometimes gets déjà vu about it. A De-Neuralyzer is a special device that reverses the effects of a Neuralyzer. Although a neuralyzer is operated by a small flash of light, a de-neuralyzer is bigger and much more complicated.

In the films

The neuralyzer only appeared in the films and television series. In Lowell Cunningham original comic series, the only way in dealing with witnesses was to eliminate or silence them. These were later changed in the films.

Changes have been featured in the films. In the first movie, the color of the eye was red. This was later changed and made blue in the second film. In the entire first movie, the protagonist, Jay, calls the neuralyzer the "flashy thing," and only uses once at the film's end. Ironically, in the second movie, he used it more and has gotten close to it. The agents also installed the neuralyzer in many places, like in Jay's car and The Statue of Liberty has a neuralyzer inside the torch to wipe the memory of the entire New York City. It will again appear in the third movie.

Reception

The neuralyzer has gained popularity outside the franchise. Sundance Channel ranked it #4 on its list of "Top 10 Film Inventions We Wish Were Real", saying that the silver pen-looking thing with the red light - needs to exist in real life. Top10Kid.com ranked it at top #7, giving the reason that "The uses of eliminating someone’s memories are endless, especially is you are prone to screwing up a lot". MSN puts it "The greatest fictional inventions of all time".

The neuralyzer also appeared in a special segment of How Stuff Works: Sci-Fi Saved My Life dedicated to the MiB franchise. A remake of it is available in the Android Market complete with sounds and a flash.

It has also been parodied in pop culture. In The Simpsons episode "The Fool Monty". When Smithers leaves Vice President Dick Cheney's employ to return to working for Mr. Burns, Cheney zaps him with a neuralyzer. It appeared again in another episode entitled "The Thingama-Bob from Outer Space" where in the end, Sideshow Bob is taken away by a man wearing a black suit and sunglasses, who promises him that he won't remember anything of what has just happened. Apparently, the man who takes Sideshow Bob with him, is about to use a Neuralyzer on him. It also appeared in Family Guy episode entitled "From Method to Madness", where Lois Griffin used it on Chris when he can't stop saying "boobies" after meeting a family of nudists.

External links

• "Men in Black wiki"