Childhood TV - joy, wonder and awe.

[anephric]

I've always wanted a girlfriend with legs that go allllll the way up

[Saurian]

I've always wanted a girlfriend with legs that go allllll the way up

That line was in Hot Shots aswell ennit - it's well funny

"Those are some LONG legs! 8) "
- "I just had them lengthened, now they go ALL the way up"

[Darwock]

Oh dear, someone has mentioned Toy Story. Time for me to go.

[Concept]

Come back. Akira! First anime I saw (on video) in '91.

[Duddyroar]

Childhood TV - joy, wonder and awe

Yes, this topic is inspired by the Childhood film topic. Basically whenever I think of childhood films I think of TV shows as well. Here's some of the best:

Uylsses 31 - Totally fantastic sci-fi update of the classic Greek tale, this was a co-production between the French and Japanese - and as you can imagine there are parts when it gets pretty bonkers. There's all kinds of cool mecha and ship designs (apart from Nono the robot, who is annoying as hell). For someone who looks like Jesus on a bad hair day, Uylsses can kick some serious arse, thanks to his gun/light sabre combo, wrist shield and rocket belt. The theme tune kicks ass as well. I recently got the entire series on DVD and I recommend it to anyone.


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Jayce and Wheeled Warriors - Another sci-fi classic, this is currently being repeated along with Uylsses 31 on Fox Kids, I believe. As the title suggests Jayce and his buddies speed around in these awesome battle cars and fight the nasty Saw Boss, who looks like a plant. Why don't they make stuff like this now?


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Telebugs - Quite obscure this one, but I loved it all the same. Very ahead of its time as well - it featured robots with TVs for heads who battle against the evil Bullybyte and his supercomputer Angel Brain. The bugs were called Chip, Sam and Bug, and their names all stood for something (can remember what at the moment - Sam was something like 'Smart Automatic Module' or something). The best character was the evil Telebug Zudo (see photo), who just used to scream "Evil ok! Evil ok!" all the time. Top stuff!


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Knightmare - This live action adventure show was inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons craze. I'm sure you can all remember the kids guiding their friend round the 'fake' fantasy world (the adventurer was blinded by a massive helmet they had to wear, and the team in the studo had to guide their movements and actions). Some of the CGI used is really, really crude, but this was almost 20 years ago. The adventurer would meet characters in the fantasy world as well (usually out of work actors who chew up the scenary - see photo) but overall it was excellent, and ran for quite a while. It was recently repeated on Challenge TV.


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Visionaries - I don't actually recall if this was shown on UK televison - I saw it on video. If I remember rightly the toyline, released by Hasbro, sank without a trace and as a result the TV show and comic were stopped too. However, the toys themselves were brilliant, they were fully posable 'Action Force' style figures with holograms on their chests. In the cartoon they could turn into the animals on their chests, and they also had magical poles that were triggered by uttering a magic spell. This was also released on DVD recently.


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Terrahawks - Everyone knows Thunderbirds, but how many of you can recall Gerry Anderson's 80's show Terrahawks? It's the same concept - a group of people who pilot some seriously cool hardware - but this time they're defending the Earth from the evil martian forces lead by wrinkly old Zelda. Personally I think it's a much better show. The ships were fantastic, especially the Battlehawk (see photo). The toys were produced by Bandai and as a result the series was very popular in Japan. Again, this is another series that has seen a DVD release.


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Centurions - I recently mentioned this show at work and no one could remember it, I suppose I must have been the only kid who really watched it back in the 80's, but it was brilliant. The toys were huge posable figures that came with different armour and parts so you could 'transform' them into different attack modes. The TV show was pretty poor to be honest but for the toys alone this deserves a mention.


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MASK - I'm sure everyone can remember the toys to this series - outside of the Transformers they were the coolest toys around. They had normal cars, trucks and planes that all turned into badass killing machines (I remember a truck that turned into a Metal Gear-style mobile nuclear warhead launcher). The only trouble was the toys were pretty delicate so most got broken with a few months of play. In the TV series, MASK (The Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) fought a secret war against the evil forces of VENOM (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem). I remember the cartoon being really, really cool. I think this is out on DVD too, and pretty cheap as well.

And last but not least...

Star Fleet - This show was MASSIVE in the 80's - so big that Brian May of Queen released a cover version of the main theme (because his son was a fan) - but it's hardly spoken about today, except by the diehard fans. Honestly, this was possibly the BEST childrens show ever created (Uylsses 31 is a close second, however). The plot was totally fantastic and very complex for a children's show, and the character designs and ships were so cool (thanks to the fact that it was originally a Japanese show called X-Bomber that was released in the late 70's and re-dubbed for the West in the 80's). Even today, seeing the Dai-X transform still sends shivers down my spine. The best thing was that the series had a natural progression - in the 24th (and final) episode the good guys won and the story 'ended'. Each episode carried the story on, characters died and even changed sides. Awesome.



I've not mentioned Transformers, He-Man or Thundercats...I like all of them but I think most people are aware of these shows...however post memories about them by all means!

[Darwock]

I was looking through my old school books quite recently and I found pages dedicated to Max Ray, Ace McCloud and Jake Rockwell. I'd made little paper figures of them with suit parts you could stick on top, heheh... I never got my own Centurion toy you see :-(

P.S. i don't remember Barbara Windsor being in Terrahawks!?

[Saurian]

Wicked man! I cant find the screenshots I'm after but here's a few I loved!

Ox Tails - it was a totally mad comedy series that came on during the summer holiday about Ollie the Ox and Jack Turtle, I cant remember exactly what went on but it was a series of really funny monents intermixed with Eyecatch style cutscenes of various characters rolling about laughing etc and I loved it!

Samurai Pizza Cats - Totally crazy anime series, it was damn funny and the character designs were superb! There was one little girl in it who always ended up crying but whenever she cried missiles flew out of her head and pwn3d everyone!


T-Rex - cant find screenshots but it was kind of like TMNT except the crew were T-Rexes with mecha suits who worked as entertainers in a night club - some of the characters were proper pimpin!

[Duddyroar]

I remember Samurai Pizza Cats, I think I was in my teenage years by that point though.

[Ravon]

Sports billy : little kid walked around witha bag .. and could get massive items out of it like the tardis?!?!?!

[Darwock]

There was one little girl in it who always ended up crying but whenever she cried missiles flew out of her head and pwn3d everyone!

Sounds quality... y'kno what it puts me in mind of - it's not from my childhood but I have a feeling I'll be waxing all nostalgic about Pokemon at some point in the future.

Jigglypuff, a pink blob that puts everyone to sleep by singing at them and then scribbles on everyones face with a marker pen. You just can't beat it.

[Duddyroar]

Sports Billy was AWESOME I always wished I had one of those magic holdalls!!!

Someone find some images, quick!!!

[Darwock]

It doesn't sound awesome, it sounds like that cartoon 'Penny Crayon' with Sue Pollard ><

[Baseley09]

Not neglecting the "cool" stuff, I enjoyed the likes of Pob, could do a mean impression back in tha day.

I was fascinated with choc a block, i think it was the yellow car thing that amazed me if i remember right.

[Owain]

I loved Brum when I was a kid.
But then I saw Power Rangers, nothing else could really compare to the greatness of that show.

[DjSatansfury]

Ulysses 31 - Check
Jayce and Wheeled Warriors - Check (Btw is there yet to be a English dvd of this released? I know the French have the boxsets of them)
Telebugs - Check (used to have a bubblebath with them on actually)
Knightmare - Check
Visionaries - Check
Centurions - Check (although i recently rewatched it, and it was a bit pap )
Mask - Check (see above)
Samurai Pizza Cats - Check