SDSKLDFCNDCFMKEF DAMN IT. I said I was going to have another post up before midnight and I didn’t because life always gets in the fucking way lately ARGHHHHHH. It figures that things to do would actually keep popping up at a time when I promised to write every day. That’s it; no more promises. If I get seven posts up by the end of this thing, I do. If I don’t, I don’t. And that’ll be that. Honestly, this has been a real learning experience so far.
So here, have a post that I didn’t really plan out in advance and am kind of just making up as I go along. We’ll see how this turns out. The title is exactly what you’re gonna get. My friend ArgentShade made a few suggestions to me, and they were all TV shows, so I figured I’d just write a little post about them.
First on his list was He-Man/She-Ra. Um…I can’t really talk about this because I’ve actually never seen either show! Yeah, I’m a failure. Alls I know is that Prince Adam looks like he belongs in a ballet troupe and that She-Ra looks slightly more masculine than he does. (Also, oh my God my tooth hurts really bad right now.)
I remember watching that Masters of the Universe movie ages ago, but I don’t remember it very well, and from what I hear, it’s probably better that I don’t. I wonder if it was as bad as the Super Mario Bros. movie or the Street Fighter movie? Or that damned Garbage Pail Kids movie?
Anyway, since He-Man was so big in the 80s, I’m going to have to watch it eventually. I just hope it’s at least halfway enjoyable. Contrary to what you might think, I am actually NOT a big fan of 80s cartoon shows. A few of them are good fun. Some of them are just okay. But the majority of them are pieces of shit. And that’s what we’ll call them from now on: shitpieces. Just ’cause it was made in the 80s doesn’t mean it’s any good. For example, leg warmers came from the 80s and they’re one of the most pointless, ugly things ever. The same descriptors can be applied to many 80s cartoons. I might talk more on this topic in the not-so-distant future.
The next thing ArgentShade mentioned was DiC. Now, they’re pretty prolific, so I can find at least one or two shows to blather on about for a minute.
Let’s see. Ah yes, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin! There’s a show I have something to say about.
It started in 1986, and ended in 1988 with a whopping 65 episodes. However…I’ve only seen about 15 of them, and ten of them I just watched this year. I bought the DVD set that contains the first 20 episodes but, unfortunately, haven’t been able to make myself finish watching it.
See, the first five episodes showed some real promise. They have a contiguous plot, for one– very rare for an 80s show! I had these five episodes on tape because my dad recorded them for me, and I watched them over and over (my dad and I even have a few inside jokes from that show). I still have a good time watching those episodes, but after that…things turn episodic and inane in true 80s cartoon fashion. I tried to slog through the whole DVD set to no avail. It’s a shame, really. Hopefully it picks the story back up later on. Not sure how long it’ll be before I find out, or if I’ll even bother at all. Honestly, I think I’d rather just stick with my good memories of the first five episodes.
Here’s another one I can give a brief blurb about: Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theatre.
I don’t remember the actual content of the show, because I never really got to see it. The local CBS affiliate aired it at like 6 in the morning on Saturday when I was about four years old. Of course, I loved Hello Kitty and had a few of the toys, so I wanted badly to see this show. But I could never get up early enough to catch it! I have a clear memory of struggling to wake up only to catch the end credits. Made me so sad. Oh well…it probably wasn’t that great anyway.
Also, we can’t be talking about DiC and neglect to mention Rainbow Brite! I didn’t get to see all the episodes of this show either…it was almost before my time, as it started in 1984 and ended in 1985. I had a couple of episodes on CED, and let me tell you, I watched the hell out of that thing. One of these days I’m going to have to find the rest of the episodes and watch them. There’s been no DVD release, which is actually very surprising to me. If all 65 episodes of Teddy Ruxpin can get a DVD release, there’s still hope for Rainbow Brite.
Last one by DiC that I’ll mention is The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. I loved Nintendo when I was little (like every other kid back then) and so I watched this show religiously when I was in kindergarten. It taught me how to tell when it was 3:30, because that’s when it came on. However, for some reason, I HATED the Zelda cartoon and, on Fridays, would always change the channel in disgust. I haven’t seen either show in ages, but ArgentShade’s got one of the DVD sets. I need to borrow it from him sometime.
Another one he suggested was Nickelodeon game shows, but I don’t really have time to talk about those right now. There are only 500 different ones. But I’m gonna keep it in mind.
Next on his list was Full House. Oh God.
I am ashamed to admit this, but…I used to love Full House. Keep in mind that I was about 7 years old at the time. I would watch this every fucking week at Grandmama’s house, and I loved every minute of it. The sad part is that I kept watching it until I was old enough to know better. Nowadays, I can’t sit through an episode. It’s just…too much for me.
The concept of the show was good. It could have been good if it hadn’t been so…well, you’ve seen it, I’m sure, so you know how it is. Plus Bob Saget’s presence on any show is an automatic minus five. (Yes, even America’s Funniest Home Videos.) At least John Stamos was hot.
Finally, he mentioned Small Wonder. This is a show that I only saw one time when I was very young, didn’t remember the name of, and wracked my brain for years trying to think of it. The only thing about it that I could remember was the little android girl, Vicki, and her red-and-white dress. And I remember being creeped out by her.
I saw an episode on Youtube several months ago and…it’s a “wonder” that this show lasted four seasons. Here, just watch the intro. The first time I saw it, my eyebrow was stuck in a raised position for like twenty minutes.
I guess I can see why five-year-olds might have liked it, but this is one of those shows that proves– to me, anyway –that the 80s weren’t necessarily the golden age of television that a lot of people make it out to be.
And now, I am extremely fucking tired so I’m going to bed.
July 16, 2008
Annette
Nostalgia Junkie 
9 responses to “Nostalgiathon #3: Random Thoughts on a Few 80s Shows”
DC
July 16th, 2008 at 06:35
Small Wonder is so damn terrible that it’s like a bad car accident that I can’t help but look at. I used to watch He-Man and She-Ra, but vaguely remember too much of it.
The funny thing about Full House now is knowing what a foul mouthed comedian Bob Saget really is and seeing him be all cheesy on that show.
JoshC
July 16th, 2008 at 08:00
I don’t think a show like Small Wonder could work these days, but then again I never thought there would be a reality show centered around lie detectors either.
Very sorry to hear about your tooth hurting, I just hope you’re not one of the people getting to my blog by searching “home-made dentist”.
Dan
July 16th, 2008 at 13:00
I gotta admit there were some really bad show back in the ’80’s and fortunately for us the majority of them have slipped off into oblivion only to be remembered vaguely. Case in point I didn’t remember Teddy Ruxpin having a cartoon show, much less Hello Kitty having one. He-Man on the other hand..what can I say I was a boy in the ’80’s and He-Man was cool.
I hope your tooth feels better and don’t feel pressured to meet any expectations, one thing you should know by now is “if you write it, we will read”. Ok that was a lame Field of Dreams joke, but hopefully you get the idea.
DC
July 16th, 2008 at 19:16
I like the new blog look. Nifty!
BTW, I switched my blog to wordpress so you can update my link on blogroll. 🙂
starwenn
July 17th, 2008 at 22:50
I can totally relate about the sore tooth. I had to have at least five trips to the dentist over a three-month period to fix my sore tooth and a chipped tooth I’d had for a while. The bad tooth is still a tad sore. I (literally) feel your pain.
I watched He-Man and She-Ra as a kid. Loved both, had tons of toys for both. I haven’t seen “She-Ra” since then, but I have seen “He-Man” and I don’t think it really holds up that well. The action’s still fun, but the animation is bad and the dialogue is so cheesy, it should be poured onto nachos. And don’t get me started on the “He-Man” movie. My brother actually LIKED that around the time he got into the brief “He-Man” revival.
While no actual “Rainbow Brite” episodes are on DVD as far as I know, the movie “Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer” is, and it’s generally better than the show anyway. Lots of action, not bad animation, and fairly well-written. “Rainbow”‘s biggest problem today is a lack of interesting villains. Murky and Lurky are ineffectual boobs with no menacing factors whatsoever. In fact, the Rainbow Brite episodes I remember best (the origins special, the movie) had them as subordinate lackeys to a much scarier bad person.
“Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater” is on DVD. If you find them, grab them. They’re both hilarious and chock full of 80s goodness. In fact, they’re so 80s, if you don’t know the decade well, you might not catch all the jokes. (A “Sleeping Beauty” spoof refers to Pee Wee Herman, and there’s parodies of “Star Wars,” “Jaws,” and “Crocodile Dundee.”)
One of the first children’s videos my family ever bought was a tape of five “Teddy Ruxpin” episodes. Even though they were from the middle of the show’s run and we didn’t catch all the continuity, we watched the hell out of that tape anyway. I’ve been debating picking up the DVDs – they’re cheap, and I still have some fond memories there.
Didn’t catch enough “Super Mario Super Show” to really comment, but I do remember “Full House” and “Small Wonder.” I haven’t seen “Small Wonder” in years, but I remember thinking it was weird as hell even when I was seven years old. I LOVED “Full House” as a kid. I grew up in a family with three girls and could relate to the Tanner sisters, especially after Rebecca came in. (And yes, I thought John Stamos was hot, too.) Nowadays, it gives me sugar shock.
Annette
July 18th, 2008 at 01:00
Ah yes, I’m pretty familiar with Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. I wrote a review of it a year ago; it’s on here if you go back in the archives.
Murky and Lurky are kind of a joke; if they were to revive the franchise, they should come up with some new villains.
The episodes I had on CED were the two Monstromurk ones, in which Murky and Lurky played second fiddle to him. Man, I haven’t seen that in such a long time– I should see if it’s on Youtube or something!
Last time I checked, you can get the first Teddy Ruxpin DVD set in the bargain bin at Walmart. Kinda pissed me off because I paid 15 dollars for it when it first came out. Oh well.
I’ll have to look for the Hello Kitty cartoon!
argentshade
July 18th, 2008 at 17:13
Ahh the nostalgia coming back to me. Thanks for taking many of my ideas with you, I knew you would handle them well. The world of 80’s TV was very fun for me.
For the shows, I will clearly comment on them since they are suggestions from me! I remember how awesome He-Man was when I was a kid, I remember Ortha and Castle Grayskull and Mumra…I had the action figures for most of them and I would have them fight and stuff around this old castle my mom bought me many years ago, it wasn’t part of the He-Man franchise but it was a cool castlly rock like thing…I would love to remember what the name of the series it came from was. She-Ra was great because my sister could play with her and did so quite often. I know they have it on DVD.
I never watched the Teddy Ruxpin nor the Hello Kitty stuff sadly. In fact, I thought Hello Kitty was only a big deal during recent years due to the resurgance of older anime.
I have seasons 1 and 2 of the Super Mario Bros. Super show which is actually a 90’s cartoon. It is horribly cheesy and campy but I love it and it takes me back to the days when it was okay to laugh at cheesy. My children will certainly watch it. I never really like the Zelda show either but probably because Link was an ahole and Zelda was a frosty bitch but then again…that’s my thoughts. I also got Captain N which I am not sure of its cheeziness…I am sure I will watch it soon and know for sure.
I think it is safe to say that almost everybody watched Full House at one time or another. Honestly, I still watch it when nothing else of interest is on. The show presents many good moral and ethical challenges but the execution is just…eh. They are full of sacchrine-y goodness but we can’t fault them for that, that’s part of why the show was so popular…parents didn’t MIND if their kids watched it.
Ahh… why the hatred for Small Wonder? The show was a pretty cool concept at the time and I think that Tiffany Brisette acted her part TOO well. I did watch the first half of the final episode recently and I saw that it had a good promise…I just don’t know how it ended. Either way, I actually was rather fond of the show and often would pick up random metal parts found at this old firing range dad used to take me to and take them home to put in to my personal android that was actually embedded in a tall old snoopy plastic christmas figurine (about 3 feet tall with santa hat and bells 🙂 ) to try and bring me to life. Of course, it never came to life but that was besides the point.
starwenn
July 18th, 2008 at 22:59
Annette, I just bought “Hello Kitty Goes to the Movies” and “Hello Kitty Tells Fairy Tales” from the 2 for 9.98 bin at KC Toys today. “Goes To the Movies” should be your starting point – really cute spoofs of “Star Wars,” “Jaws,” and especially “ET” there. (The covers are red and say “for ages 2-5” on the upper right hand corner, but I really don’t know how many kids that age have any idea who Jaws, Crocodile Dundee, and Pee Wee Herman ARE.)
Cat the Vampire Slayer
March 5th, 2009 at 13:31
If I’m not mistaken, the first few episodes of the teddy ruxspin cartoon show were basically word for word of the live action straight to video movie thing they did a few years back (yes, live action). I vaguely remember watching the cartoon and going “hey.. this is familiar”
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