Whee, nostalgia.
Mar. 17th, 2008 03:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purple_bugOkay, so being born in the late 80s and having my childhood be the 90s would not be what I'd choose for myself, given the option. For one, the music sucked. Well, the pop was okay at the time, but embarrassing now (which doesn't mean I don't still dance around to it *grins*). But I would ideally have been born thirty years earlier, in the late 50s - I would have been a child for the Beatles and the beginning of Doctor Who, a pre-teen/teenager for Star Trek, The Tomorrow People (and more Who), not to mention David Bowie and the rest of the awesome music, and I'd be about the age I am now for Sapphire and Steel (and obviously still more Who *grins*). As it stands, I get to catch up with these shows and the music after the fact, but I'm still missing out on things like the burninated episodes of Doctor Who that no-one will ever see again :o(
But that wasn't my point. I'm stuck with a 90s childhood - however, while I caught quite a few repeats of awesome kids telly from the 60s and 70s (Camberwick Green, Mr Benn, etc), the kids telly of the time was actually pretty great. Good enough that the sound of the theme tunes makes me grin like mad and want to hug things. I've been following links on Youtube and have found several shows, mostly for younger children but a couple for slightly older kids. I will now share these so you guys can reminisce - or glare at me for being young, whichever you prefer :oP (And the non Brits can just boggle at the cracked-out telly that influenced my generation.)
First, Super Ted. As a small child, I dressed up as Super Ted for a fancy dress party. Cape, red leotard, and a pair of bear ears on a headband. I love the intro to this - every word and every detail of it is so familiar to me. Spotty! Cosmic dust! :oD
Then we have Charlie Chalk, which has an awesome rock & roll tune. I've been trying to remember how it goes for ages. And the only thing I really remember of the show with any clarity is a bit where someone gets a)b)c)1,2,3-type lists muddled up - and the memory of this was of course sparked at Christmas, thanks to the Doctor :oD
The Family Ness, anyone? :o) Just the Scots, maybe, or did it make its way south of the border? My chest feels tight at the sound of this tune, in that amazing nostalgic way that almost makes you want to cry. And I completely forgot there was a different song at the end :oD
More of a little kids' one, this one: Bump the Elephant. The song is so familiar to me that I was able to sing along the first time I heard it today. It's rare today you get a theme to a kids' show that includes the word "eloquent".
Another kiddies one, Philbert the Frog. I remember the tune better than the programme (as is true for most of these), but it makes me giggle like I'm six again.
The Shoe People - one of those very simple ideas for kids, a town of anthropomorphised objects, but one that stuck with me - the drawing style especially.
Another anthropomorphised object-filled place - The Poddington Peas. All I could find was the end credits, although there's not really much to see in the show itself except peas with faces and limbs :o)
Banana Man! Who doesn't know Banana Man? Who would always go and eat bananas after watching this? :oD I love the theme as well.
Now, Penny Crayon. I spent a while thinking that 'Penny Lane' was used as a theme tune to this, but I must have come across the song in my childhood and just linked the two together for some reason. At the beginning, they're superficially alike, I suppose. To a patchy memory, maybe :o)
Hee, I just found this one, too. Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers! This was Saturday morning stuff, when Saturday mornings were still good.
I never watched Bucky O'Hare or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I vaguely remember the former after rewatching the intro, and can still sing along to the latter, probably because my brothers watched it :o)
And finally, this one never fails to evoke a surprised and delighted reaction when you bring it up. I have tested this. Let's try it now... Sharky... and George! :oD
So that's my childhood. Now you see why I turned to 70s sci-fi :o)
Oh, and Susan! I found your Samurai Pizza Cats thing! :oD
But that wasn't my point. I'm stuck with a 90s childhood - however, while I caught quite a few repeats of awesome kids telly from the 60s and 70s (Camberwick Green, Mr Benn, etc), the kids telly of the time was actually pretty great. Good enough that the sound of the theme tunes makes me grin like mad and want to hug things. I've been following links on Youtube and have found several shows, mostly for younger children but a couple for slightly older kids. I will now share these so you guys can reminisce - or glare at me for being young, whichever you prefer :oP (And the non Brits can just boggle at the cracked-out telly that influenced my generation.)
First, Super Ted. As a small child, I dressed up as Super Ted for a fancy dress party. Cape, red leotard, and a pair of bear ears on a headband. I love the intro to this - every word and every detail of it is so familiar to me. Spotty! Cosmic dust! :oD
Then we have Charlie Chalk, which has an awesome rock & roll tune. I've been trying to remember how it goes for ages. And the only thing I really remember of the show with any clarity is a bit where someone gets a)b)c)1,2,3-type lists muddled up - and the memory of this was of course sparked at Christmas, thanks to the Doctor :oD
The Family Ness, anyone? :o) Just the Scots, maybe, or did it make its way south of the border? My chest feels tight at the sound of this tune, in that amazing nostalgic way that almost makes you want to cry. And I completely forgot there was a different song at the end :oD
More of a little kids' one, this one: Bump the Elephant. The song is so familiar to me that I was able to sing along the first time I heard it today. It's rare today you get a theme to a kids' show that includes the word "eloquent".
Another kiddies one, Philbert the Frog. I remember the tune better than the programme (as is true for most of these), but it makes me giggle like I'm six again.
The Shoe People - one of those very simple ideas for kids, a town of anthropomorphised objects, but one that stuck with me - the drawing style especially.
Another anthropomorphised object-filled place - The Poddington Peas. All I could find was the end credits, although there's not really much to see in the show itself except peas with faces and limbs :o)
Banana Man! Who doesn't know Banana Man? Who would always go and eat bananas after watching this? :oD I love the theme as well.
Now, Penny Crayon. I spent a while thinking that 'Penny Lane' was used as a theme tune to this, but I must have come across the song in my childhood and just linked the two together for some reason. At the beginning, they're superficially alike, I suppose. To a patchy memory, maybe :o)
Hee, I just found this one, too. Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers! This was Saturday morning stuff, when Saturday mornings were still good.
I never watched Bucky O'Hare or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I vaguely remember the former after rewatching the intro, and can still sing along to the latter, probably because my brothers watched it :o)
And finally, this one never fails to evoke a surprised and delighted reaction when you bring it up. I have tested this. Let's try it now... Sharky... and George! :oD
So that's my childhood. Now you see why I turned to 70s sci-fi :o)
Oh, and Susan! I found your Samurai Pizza Cats thing! :oD
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-03-18 06:56 am (UTC)I don't know when I'm going to get to your fic, it may be the weekend before I do. I was going to do it on Sunday (I had all of beautiful Sunday to do purely fannish things) but once I heard about the fire my brain took a little holiday and I didn't get anything done. And everything at work is just a little displaced so I'm having to focus on that this week. Sorry :(
no subject
Date: 2008-03-18 12:23 pm (UTC)That's absolutely fine, don't worry. I don't need it back for a while yet, and I figured you'd have enough to worry about after the fire.