Eventually, you get to a point where you've forgotten more details about your childhood than you remember. Lots of things you do recall are fuzzy and/or have been modified by the passing of time. Every now and again, it's fun when one of those faint memories is crystallized once more. Thanks to the fellas over at Channel: Superhero gave me a chance to jog my own memory. They came up with the Saturday Morning Memories Blogathon. One of my blogging buddies had a huge hand in coming up with this, Bubbawheat also of Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights. I'll let him explain the premise in his own words.
Find a show that you were fond of as a child, watch a few episodes, and share your thoughts on it now. How did you remember it as a kid, how does it hold up as an adult? There are several series available on Netflix, Hulu, DVD, and you can also find some on YouTube. A show can be covered by multiple people, but I encourage you to spread the love to as many shows as possible, it doesn't even have to be a cartoon as long as you watched it as a kid. If you care to share the shows with your own child, I have a series of questions that you can ask them if you can convince them to participate:
What was your favorite part of the show?
What was your least favorite part of the show?
Who was your favorite character?
How old do you think this show is?
How does it compare to the shows you watch now?
Would you want to watch more of the show, or were you glad to be done with it?
What else would you like to say about the show?
I know, I know, this is a blog completely dedicated to movies. True, but this is such a great idea I had to give it a go. I had no idea what I wanted to watch. Still, I was able to convince my youngest daughter to watch whatever it is I dug up from my past. I put my thinking cap on and made sure it was extra tight so I could come up with something I'm sure I hadn't shown her before. The light bulb eventually came on and I remembered a show I wasn't a huge fan of, but I did watch from time to time because my bestest buddy was a nut for it. I liked it well enough. It was the one where the kid turned into a car.
I'm not kidding...
If you don't know what you're looking at, it's the oft-repeated transformation of
The quick synopsis, which plays at the beginning of every episode is blah, blah, blah, secret government experiment, blah, blah, boy-car, blah, blah, blah, works for good guys.
Anyhoo, before I get to what I thought, let's hear what the tykes had to say. Yes, plural. I forgot to mention that it just so happens that my 10 year old nephew was over the night my daughter and I decided to hop in our DeLorean, activate the flux capacitor, and gun that baby up to 88 mph. We watched two episodes I found on veoh.com. The first was called "Video Venger." We followed this with "Daredevil Run."
What was your favorite part of the show?
Nephew: That wasn't interesting, at all.
Me: Woah...I said favorite part.
Nephew: None.
Baby Girl: I don't know.
What was your least favorite part of the show?
BG: Everything.
Nephew: Every part, the whole show.
Who was your favorite character?
BG: No one.
Me: No one?
BG: Nope.
Me: How 'bout you?
Nephew: No one (said like a question). Who was the guy that turned into a car?
Me: Brett.
Nephew: Yeah, Brett. I guess.
How old do you think this show is?
Nephew: 1958.
Me: Okay.
BG: 1800s. Hahahahaha!
Me: Wow, funny.
BG: Okay, like 1990-something.
Me: Not bad. 1985.
How does it compare to the shows you watch now?
BG: Not as funny. There's no life lesson at the end.
Nephew: Back then shows were horrible, now they're good.
Would you want to watch more of the show, or were you glad to be done with it?
BG: No.
Nephew: No.
Me: Glad it's done.
Nephew: Yes, yes, yes.
What else would you like to say about the show?
BG: That was stupid.
Nephew: The worst show ever.
As you can see, the kiddies had nothing nice to say about Turbo Teen. What about me?
I don't have anything nice to say, either. From what I remember, it wasn't one of the best shows, but it was solid, good enough that I didn't mind watching it with my best friend when I stayed over at his house. When I stayed home it was a decent alternative if whatever I normally watched was showing a re-run. Watching it as an adult, I was astounded at how bad it was. The Video Venger episode was nearly incomprehensible. It started with our hero and his two buddies playing a video game at an arcade. Before you know it, some evil dude with his own army was trying to overthrow the US government and hell-bent on killing "that car," he didn't know it was actually a kid. Our hero saves the day and gets a medal from the President. Really.
The second episode was a lot clearer, but just as stupid. The authorities need a star witness in a case against some major bad guys transported across country. They create a cross-country race, open to media and the public, as a decoy and stick her in the Turbo Teen with his two buddies. And they're nowhere to be found even though they know the bad guys have a massive arsenal. There's another problem with this. It's something audiences would already have known back in the 80s. We knew, too, sorta. In the first episode we watched we found out that Turbo Teen changes into a car whenever he gets wet, and changes back into a teen when he gets wet again. Hmmm. That seems to be a significant issue when trying to transport a potential witness across the nation with no actual weapons, while being chased by the villain. By the way, he doesn't really have to get wet. Riding on ice will do the trick. To make this an even more problematic situation, our hero also changes whenever he gets extremely hot. By extremely, I mean like McDonald's coffee hot, not volcanic ash hot.
The best part was how cheesy the action was. Well, everything was cheesy, but the action was a bit special in that regard. I got a few unintentional laughs out of it, but the youngsters just looked at me like I was crazy. Some of this stuff was just so incredible I couldn't help myself. Most incredibly, in the middle of the biggest action sequence of the second episode an instrumental version of "I'm So Excited" by the Pointer Sisters was playing. I was truly shocked. Getting the rights to fairly current popular songs generally wasn't in the budget of most Saturday morning cartoons. Cool.
I'm glad I took this trip down memory lane because it's always fun to look back and see what our younger selves liked and didn't like. Like I said, the kid me kinda liked Turbo Teen, but didn't love it like his buddy. The adult me agrees with my daughter and nephew. This show sucks. And that's the most in-depth analysis I can offer.
lol at the kid's take on this. I can't say I've ever heard of it. It seems pretty ridiculous. Great write up!
ReplyDeleteIt is exceptionally ridiculous. The kids got it right.
DeleteWow, this sounds awful. Sorry you had to put those kids through that, but it was fun to read. Thanks for taking part! - Bubbawheat
ReplyDeleteIt was brutal. I would say I'm sorry for putting the kids through it, but we'll call it payback for some of the things they put me through, lol.
DeleteWell as much fun as this was to read the show sounds really dreadful. It was one that I'd never heard of and I think that's a good thing!
ReplyDeleteIt's hardly as comprehensive of a viewing experience as you had but just last week I happened to watch an episode of The Big Valley with my niece and nephew. If you're not familiar with it the show was one of the westerns so popular in the 60's. This one starred Barbara Stanwyck and a very young Linda Evans and Lee Majors as two of her children. Stanwyck was the matriarch of a vast ranch in Stockton, California in the mid-1860's and the series dealt with the various dramas that arose for her and her four grown children, one of them (Lee Majors) the bastard son of her late husband whom she has taken into the family. It was a huge favorite of mine, the reruns were on right after school, when I was a kid.
My niece and nephew were over for a visit and we happened upon the show and as soon as they saw horses they both said they wanted to watch. This particular episode dealt with a feud between the Barkleys (Stanwyck's family) and a neighbor who disputes a boundary leading to a possible range war. So lots of time on horseback riding...which both kids loved. I can't answer all the questions but they both liked the show and I'd say the horses and riding was the favorite of both although my niece mentioned she loved the dresses that the pretty girl (Linda Evans) wore. I'm pretty sure they would watch it again.
As for me I still really enjoyed the show. The acting was good, and even though the sets were more obviously sets to me then when I was younger it still had a high quality professional look. It also made me wonder "Where the hell did Barbara Stanwyck get a leather slack suit in 1860 Stockton,CA?!!"
I have heard of this, but I never saw it. Sounds like you had a fun time revisiting this. I might seek out an episode or two just to see a young Linda Evans and Lee Majors. And where did Stanwick get such an outfit?
DeleteIf you enjoy western series at all I think you'll like it. It was one of the better ones and because of Stanwyck's stature attracted prominent guest stars, along with the many actors who were just starting out then who became famous over time like Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Burstyn and Bruce Dern. Also Missy Stanwyck enjoyed the physicality of westerns and she often did her own stunts so she was a more active performer in the stories than just sitting regally in a high backed chair, hence the leather slack suit. Linda Evans is YOUNG in this, maybe 22 and a complete knockout.
DeleteYeah, this does sound cool. I wasn't huge on any western series, but did watch a number of them from time time. I take that back, I was very much into F-Troop and The Lone Ranger.
DeleteYour kids don't mess around haha
ReplyDeleteNo, not at all.
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