Maine or bust!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

TV Nostalgia...

Tonight, I've been googling old TV shows I used to love as a kid. There's one that had been bothering me for MONTHS. I couldn't remember what it was called, and I could only remember vague details about it. I knew Dracula and the Wolfman featured heavily... I remembered a hotel-like mansion... I decided to exercise my google-fu. The first hit I came up with was Monster Squad. I watched a few seconds and realized that really wasn't right. Then I found it. I had TOTALLY forgotten that Vincent Price also featured heavily (at least during the opening credits). I used to recite that whole thing along with him!


The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, filmed entirely in 1971 (the whole 130 episodes of it), was a Saturday morning staple at my house. I doubt my younger brother would remember it, since I remember watching this from ages 3-7 (which would have made him 2 when we moved on to American cartoons). Now, nobody who grew up outside of Ontario will have ever heard of this, and that's tragic. It was an awesome show :)

From there, I was reminded of Ed the Sock. Ed's still on the air today. I remember Ed from when MuchMusic first hit the airwaves :) He used to interview celebrities, and eventually got to the point of nearly imitating the American Mystery Science Theater 3000. But I'll always have a soft spot for Ed :) (I'm not going to link a video, you can still watch him!)

Then there was my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE cartoon when I was little. My dad and I used to watch this together. I have never seen anything to rival it, I still vividly remember complete episodes, and I still love all the characters...Mark, Jason, Princess, Tiny and Keyop... Much of my fantasy life as a 3-5 year old centered around them :)


Battle of the Planets (circa 1978), also known as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (or G-Force, which was what I thought the show was called when I was little). One of these days, I have GOT to get this series on DVD.

One I've been trying to get Rob interested in that he's just not buying was Rocket Robin Hood. I used to watch this after school every day at the babysitter's and it was pretty ahead of its time :)


This one ran originally from 1966 to 1969, but was syndicated forever (it still runs on Teletoon Retro, I think). I always loved it :) Rob isn't impressed. (Granted, his favorite tv show is Speed Racer, so there's no accounting for taste.)

One of the cartoons I could actually get my dad to watch when I was a kid was the version of The Lone Ranger that aired in 1981. Lorne Greene did the intro :D


Call me crazy, but I had a huge crush on Lorne Greene when I was a kid :) Between Bonanza, Lorne Greene's New Wilderness (and the intro to Lone Ranger), I LOVED Lorne Greene. I mean, it didn't hurt that he's from Ottawa either...

And to mollify Rob, since I mocked him for liking Speed Racer (I'm sorry, it was really bad... almost as bad as Astro Boy), here you go:


I haven't yet seen the live-action movie, but I think I'm going to have to sit through the entire series with Rob at some point, and THEN watch the movie. Because as I'm looking back over my own childhood favourites, it appears that I like some pretty bad TV too ;)

1 comment:

  1. I remember Rocket Robing Hood! I loved that as a kid. And the Lone Ranger. Hehe.

    I had a thing for Speed Racer too :P. But for the movie: Think of an acid trip, done in eye searing colour, with a plot (kinda).

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