30 Days of Telly Meme - Days 12 & 13
And I'm still catching up.
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times:
Well, if I like things, I do tend to rewatch them a scary amount. However, if I think about one episode of something in proportion to how much I've watched the rest of the series, then Buffy's musical episode 'Once More With Feeling' probably wins. I don't think that needs any explaining, does it?
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show:
Oh, my, this is going to be a long post. Both for honorable mentions and for the extent of the love I still have for the show in question and the rambling reminiscences it brings in its wake. (No, it’s not Doctor Who. When I was small I was too busy sticking my head under a cushion and begging my parents to turn it off because of the scary music, so I missed that.) I have pics and vids, though.
Firstly, pre-school shows. It’s a bit hard to be clear, but I remember hating Rainbow, but loving Mr Ben. (So my favourite pre-school show was about an ordinary man who walks into a small changing room and steps out into new worlds, and adventures in space and time. Not that I’m at all consistent, or anything…) I also liked Bric-a-Brac (this had Clive Dunn, and was about a scatty old inventor type who owned a bric-a-brac shop. Hmm. Again…) and Let’s Pretend (although it could be dull) where they started with an object and built a story around it. (I’m a bit unclear on that one, but I think that was how it went.) I did like Camberwick Green but I can’t count that due to my childhood trauma at the suspense of fearing that Windy Miller would get his head chopped off every time he went in the door. It never did happen, but I was sure it would one day. This clip is from an advert, but you see what I mean. It’s an accident waiting to happen.)
And then there are lots of other things. Press Gang came too late - it was very definitely a teen show, and I came late to the party. I watched a scary, scary amount of cartoons. I think it was the decade for it or something. The Mysterious Cities of Gold was almost my life for a year, and I was very upset at missing the last Ulysses31 not once but twice. I also liked daft stuff like Rentaghost and Galloping Galaxies, some creepy show called The Gemini Factor on ITV and lots I’ve probably forgotten, but one show was definitely my childhood love, and also a teenage obsession when they repeated it: the cartoon Dungeons & Dragons. (It was about six (mostly) teenagers who went on a D&D ride at a fair and wound up in the Realm, trying to get home, being helped (probably) by Dungeon Master and hindered by Venger, who was after the magical weapons that DM had given them. The Intro pretty much sums things up.)
Edit: Look! Philip Schofields sings along to Cities of Gold theme This actually is my childhood, right here. The broom cupboard and Cities of Gold... :lol:
It seemed to collect a group of writers who were fed up with writing The Get-Along-Gang and used this to do something interesting, especially character-wise. Almost ever since what I look for in books and TV is something like I got in this - that mix of proper characterisation, with humour, action and danger, and I adored the fantasy element. I only watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer initially because it reminded me of this. (Yes, I’m strange). Obviously, that show is a lot more sophisticated, but it’s that same sort of mix. It’s quite scary, either how much it chimed with me, or how much it’s influenced me ever since.
Plus, between the two occasions BBC ran this show, I watched He-Man, Thundercats, She-Ra, and many, many others, and got annoyed by a) one boring hero doing everything (while his/her friends were so useless they couldn’t even spot the not so secret identity. I like to think He-Man’s friends were humouring him, because, really…) b) the moralising. It was obvious in some, and He-Man and She-Ra even used to pop up at the end and explain the moral. *bangs head* (Sorry, more childhood trauma). I’d even given up on Thundercatsbecause Liono had come of age and now no one else could do anything… yawn yawn yawn. (It had the best solution to the cartoon bad guy problem, tho’, in that Mumm-Ra did nothing most weeks, so when he got up… Eek. Good thinking. Nice backstory stuffs, too.)
And then they repeated Dungeons & Dragons when my little sister was the right age to love it, and I rewatched it, and was obsessed by the hints they dropped about what might really be going on. (It was one of those shows that never finished, and there were theories that the kids were actually dead and in hell or something…) Besides, you’ve got to admire a cartoon that tackles the issue of the heroes beating the bad guy and then letting him get away with an episode in which they decide to kill the villain. (”We ought to get rid of Venger!” Clip in which Hank takes up Eric’s suggestion in a way that Eric really didn’t mean… (It comes to the same conclusion, but it’s done properly, not shoved in as a throwaway excuse for having another fight next week.)
So, when it came out on DVD, I bought it, and watched it anxiously, and while the inital run is fun, but cartoon-y, pretty much all the later eps really were as I remembered. And finally watching it in order was interesting - it was impressive how consistent the character development was - there were even quiet story arcs.
It has lots of the usual cartoon limitations (and some blatant Star Wars *cough* homages in places) - but compared to the other shows, many of which were great in their different ways, this was the one that caught my imagination, and I can’t think of any other cartoon that pulled off this mix so well. I can think of others which had ‘emotional’ aspects, but not combined with the fun and action, and episodes like The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow, The Dragon’s Graveyard, Citadel of Shadow, The Last Illusion and Child of the Stargazer remain examples of how good a children’s cartoon can be when thinks around the restrictions of its format. And Eric is probably one of the best cartoon characters there’s ever been, and, what’s more, there was a five-headed dragon called Tiamat, and Presto finally getting the girl must be one of the cutest things ever seen in the genre. (I’m completely biased, but that’s how it is with childhood things.)
YouTube vids:
Hearts & Flowers
My New Drug
Trailer for The Dragon’s Graveyard Teaser
Oh, and YouTube also has the 'lost' second intro. (It's not only 60s Who TV companies can't keep track of - apparently this version of the opening no onger exists on any mastercopy anywhere!)
Oh, yes, pics:
Everybody, minus Eric. (I took these screen shots for something else, and I don’t have everyone all together, or, sadly, Venger.)
Also, gotta love Diana for exchanges like this:
Eric: “We’re outnumbered twenty to one!”
Diana: “Okay - you take two, I’ll take eighteen!” (and best of all, her sly girl’s jibe at Eric - “Ignore him, Sheila - he’s just having one of his days.”)
And Hank/Sheila is completely canon. Honestly… (My DVDs came with the show’s ‘bible’ and it states that their friendship is very close but just platonic, except that Hank was about to ask her out before they wound up trapped in the Realm… so… um… actually not platonic at all, then? :lol:)
“But, Dungeon Master, it was another riddle. How were we supposed to know that was what you meant?”
“Do you think anyone saw us?”
Obviously, animation is luck of the draw, but there were some nice bits quite frequently - I like the full screen on Sheila waking up here, for instance.
Days of Telly Meme:
Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled: Blake's 7
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching: Spooks
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season): The West Wing
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever: Doctor Who
Day 05 - A show you hate: Big Brother/ Who Wants to be a millionaire?
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show: Robots of Death / Ghostlight
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show: 42.
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch: Life on Mars
Day 09 - Best scene ever: DW - Ghostlight "I can't stand burnt toast."
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving: Star Trek Voyager
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you: Heroes
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times: BtVS 'Once More With Feeling'
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show: Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series: BBC North & South
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times:
Well, if I like things, I do tend to rewatch them a scary amount. However, if I think about one episode of something in proportion to how much I've watched the rest of the series, then Buffy's musical episode 'Once More With Feeling' probably wins. I don't think that needs any explaining, does it?
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show:
Oh, my, this is going to be a long post. Both for honorable mentions and for the extent of the love I still have for the show in question and the rambling reminiscences it brings in its wake. (No, it’s not Doctor Who. When I was small I was too busy sticking my head under a cushion and begging my parents to turn it off because of the scary music, so I missed that.) I have pics and vids, though.
Firstly, pre-school shows. It’s a bit hard to be clear, but I remember hating Rainbow, but loving Mr Ben. (So my favourite pre-school show was about an ordinary man who walks into a small changing room and steps out into new worlds, and adventures in space and time. Not that I’m at all consistent, or anything…) I also liked Bric-a-Brac (this had Clive Dunn, and was about a scatty old inventor type who owned a bric-a-brac shop. Hmm. Again…) and Let’s Pretend (although it could be dull) where they started with an object and built a story around it. (I’m a bit unclear on that one, but I think that was how it went.) I did like Camberwick Green but I can’t count that due to my childhood trauma at the suspense of fearing that Windy Miller would get his head chopped off every time he went in the door. It never did happen, but I was sure it would one day. This clip is from an advert, but you see what I mean. It’s an accident waiting to happen.)
And then there are lots of other things. Press Gang came too late - it was very definitely a teen show, and I came late to the party. I watched a scary, scary amount of cartoons. I think it was the decade for it or something. The Mysterious Cities of Gold was almost my life for a year, and I was very upset at missing the last Ulysses31 not once but twice. I also liked daft stuff like Rentaghost and Galloping Galaxies, some creepy show called The Gemini Factor on ITV and lots I’ve probably forgotten, but one show was definitely my childhood love, and also a teenage obsession when they repeated it: the cartoon Dungeons & Dragons. (It was about six (mostly) teenagers who went on a D&D ride at a fair and wound up in the Realm, trying to get home, being helped (probably) by Dungeon Master and hindered by Venger, who was after the magical weapons that DM had given them. The Intro pretty much sums things up.)
Edit: Look! Philip Schofields sings along to Cities of Gold theme This actually is my childhood, right here. The broom cupboard and Cities of Gold... :lol:
It seemed to collect a group of writers who were fed up with writing The Get-Along-Gang and used this to do something interesting, especially character-wise. Almost ever since what I look for in books and TV is something like I got in this - that mix of proper characterisation, with humour, action and danger, and I adored the fantasy element. I only watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer initially because it reminded me of this. (Yes, I’m strange). Obviously, that show is a lot more sophisticated, but it’s that same sort of mix. It’s quite scary, either how much it chimed with me, or how much it’s influenced me ever since.
Plus, between the two occasions BBC ran this show, I watched He-Man, Thundercats, She-Ra, and many, many others, and got annoyed by a) one boring hero doing everything (while his/her friends were so useless they couldn’t even spot the not so secret identity. I like to think He-Man’s friends were humouring him, because, really…) b) the moralising. It was obvious in some, and He-Man and She-Ra even used to pop up at the end and explain the moral. *bangs head* (Sorry, more childhood trauma). I’d even given up on Thundercatsbecause Liono had come of age and now no one else could do anything… yawn yawn yawn. (It had the best solution to the cartoon bad guy problem, tho’, in that Mumm-Ra did nothing most weeks, so when he got up… Eek. Good thinking. Nice backstory stuffs, too.)
And then they repeated Dungeons & Dragons when my little sister was the right age to love it, and I rewatched it, and was obsessed by the hints they dropped about what might really be going on. (It was one of those shows that never finished, and there were theories that the kids were actually dead and in hell or something…) Besides, you’ve got to admire a cartoon that tackles the issue of the heroes beating the bad guy and then letting him get away with an episode in which they decide to kill the villain. (”We ought to get rid of Venger!” Clip in which Hank takes up Eric’s suggestion in a way that Eric really didn’t mean… (It comes to the same conclusion, but it’s done properly, not shoved in as a throwaway excuse for having another fight next week.)
So, when it came out on DVD, I bought it, and watched it anxiously, and while the inital run is fun, but cartoon-y, pretty much all the later eps really were as I remembered. And finally watching it in order was interesting - it was impressive how consistent the character development was - there were even quiet story arcs.
It has lots of the usual cartoon limitations (and some blatant Star Wars *cough* homages in places) - but compared to the other shows, many of which were great in their different ways, this was the one that caught my imagination, and I can’t think of any other cartoon that pulled off this mix so well. I can think of others which had ‘emotional’ aspects, but not combined with the fun and action, and episodes like The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow, The Dragon’s Graveyard, Citadel of Shadow, The Last Illusion and Child of the Stargazer remain examples of how good a children’s cartoon can be when thinks around the restrictions of its format. And Eric is probably one of the best cartoon characters there’s ever been, and, what’s more, there was a five-headed dragon called Tiamat, and Presto finally getting the girl must be one of the cutest things ever seen in the genre. (I’m completely biased, but that’s how it is with childhood things.)
YouTube vids:
Hearts & Flowers
My New Drug
Trailer for The Dragon’s Graveyard Teaser
Oh, and YouTube also has the 'lost' second intro. (It's not only 60s Who TV companies can't keep track of - apparently this version of the opening no onger exists on any mastercopy anywhere!)
Oh, yes, pics:
Everybody, minus Eric. (I took these screen shots for something else, and I don’t have everyone all together, or, sadly, Venger.)
Also, gotta love Diana for exchanges like this:
Eric: “We’re outnumbered twenty to one!”
Diana: “Okay - you take two, I’ll take eighteen!” (and best of all, her sly girl’s jibe at Eric - “Ignore him, Sheila - he’s just having one of his days.”)
And Hank/Sheila is completely canon. Honestly… (My DVDs came with the show’s ‘bible’ and it states that their friendship is very close but just platonic, except that Hank was about to ask her out before they wound up trapped in the Realm… so… um… actually not platonic at all, then? :lol:)
“But, Dungeon Master, it was another riddle. How were we supposed to know that was what you meant?”
“Do you think anyone saw us?”
Obviously, animation is luck of the draw, but there were some nice bits quite frequently - I like the full screen on Sheila waking up here, for instance.
Days of Telly Meme:
Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled: Blake's 7
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching: Spooks
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season): The West Wing
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever: Doctor Who
Day 05 - A show you hate: Big Brother/ Who Wants to be a millionaire?
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show: Robots of Death / Ghostlight
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show: 42.
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch: Life on Mars
Day 09 - Best scene ever: DW - Ghostlight "I can't stand burnt toast."
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving: Star Trek Voyager
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you: Heroes
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times: BtVS 'Once More With Feeling'
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show: Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series: BBC North & South
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death