Five More “WTF??” TV Shows and Movies From When I Was Young

About five years ago I did a list of offbeat stuff I watched when I was a kid that I still remembered. I think it’s about time to list a few more.

When you’re a kid, things seem odd. Not necessarily scary, but just strange. You don’t have the experience necessary to process certain things correctly. So they stay in your head until you reach the age when you can look back and say, “Oh, that’s what that was!” Now it seems very often I talk about stuff I did not actually see, so here are five things I did in fact see.


1.”Return to OZ”

I admit, I was one of those people who went to see this movie thinking we were getting a nice little follow up to the classic Wizard of OZ. That isn’t quite what we got. In the slightest. No instead we got The Wheelers. Yeah they were kinda scary. Actually the whole movie is, being very dark and menacing. I think it’s safe to say that anyone who saw this movie remembers it, somewhere in the back of the minds. Dorothy returns to OZ to find that an evil king has decimated the land. She makes new friends, like that creepy as hell skeleton guy, and to be fair it’s not a bad movie. It’s just not quite what I expected. It’s a lot closer to the original source material than the classic MGM movie.

Top 10 Favorite Scores From Alan Silvestri

So last month I talked about John Williams and his fantastic film scores. It’s only fair to point out that there are other amazing artists who have done some fantastic movie work. And Alan Silvestri is another favorite. His filmography is just amazing! He has been doing these scores since the 80’s and is still going strong! The one problem with this list is that some of the movies Silvestri has done are not quite as iconic as John Williams. So obvious choices may be missing simply because I never saw the movie. But I think I covered the big one’s.

Here are my ten favorites :




#10.Romancing the Stone
I’d been wanting to talk about this movie because it’s one of those 80’s films that has not passed the test of time. Who remembers it? I saw it and hardly remember it. This was Silvestri’s first movie score, and his first collab with Robert Zemeckis, and it kind of shows. The score is nice by doesn’t really fit the film, being more romantic than action oriented. This was a good movie and it’s long overdue for a re-watch.

Six Underrated Disney Songs I Love

I haven’t talked about Disney in awhile. And as I look through my previous stuff I realize I haven’t discussed Disney music nearly enough. Music from Disney movies is always something special. They always go that extra mile so not only is the song fitting in the movie but it so well done that it tanscens the movie and is just a massive hit. In 1995 I heard “Color of the Wind” constantly on the radio. And is there anybody who can’t sing along to “A Spoonful of Sugar”? And the villain songs are even better, but that’s another article.

However while many songs do become beloved and popular, some do not. Oh sure, people love them but they tend to gi under the radar when discussing Disney songs even though they are just as great as the big one’s. No normally when I do these kind of lists the idea is examples which most people don’t know. But let’s be honest here. If you’re even a passive Disney fan chances are you’ve come across these. So I wont act like I am the first to discover these or anything, these are just songs I love that I don’t think get the attention they deserve. They didn’t win the academy awards and they aren’t the first song people associate with the movies. But they’re awesome nonetheless.




Candle on the Water from “Pete’s Dragon”.
I don’t have much to say about this movie. It was just another feeble attempt to blend live action and animation. Why did it take so long for Disney to realize that just throwing cartoons into a live action movie isn’t going to make the movie good? That being said, this song is simply beautiful. I called it underrated but it was a maginal hit. It was nominated for best song but lost. And Helen Reddy’s recording of reach #27 on the charts. Never heard of it? Take a listen.

My Favorite Garfield Comic Strips

Just when I thought there were no anniversaries to celebrate this year, I remembered a big fast orange lazy one!

I love Garfield, but one area I haven’t really discussed is the comics. Of course that’s where he started back in June of 1978, and where I first got exposed to him. Yeah the TV specials are all fine and good but its the comics where we get the real Garfield. And yes I know not all love him. Some don’t think he’s funny, some think Garfield is way to commercialized, and we’re supposed to hate the strips now because creator Jim Davis no longer personally draws them. But, whatever. These strips have been giving me joy for as long as I can remember. Ok maybe they’re not as clever as they used to be but there’s still forty years of great material out there. And as I explained in another article, I NEVER had Peanuts in my house growing up and by the time I was finally exposed to it I just didn’t appreciate it. For me, it’s all about Garfield.

Here is the first strip ever from 1978 :

Here are my favorites that made me laugh. These aren’t starting all the way back when Garfield started because I was only three when the strip first appeared. And the first few years weren’t great, it took them awhile to get the look and personality down. I’ll discuss that more another time. And these seem small on the page but if you click on the image you can see the strip in full detail.








Let’s go all the way back to 1984 with a classic. This is a great strip because rather than just be what the strip often does, setup a joke and then punchline, there’s a little plot here. And we see Odie may not be as dumb we all thought!!

Five Beloved Cartoon Series I NEVER Watched

I talked last month about the cartoon characters which are loved by most people, and yet never really made an impact with me. I knew they existed, but never watched the shows or enjoyed any of the memorabilia surrounding them. Course cartoon series are the same, some I loved and watched every single day. Others I just kind of passed by and despite their popularity just never watched.  If somehow you remember an article I did way way back where I listed my favorite cartoons, there were some glaring omissions.

So since I have  spent so much time talking about the franchises I did watch and love like Superfriends, He-Man, and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, it seems only fair at long last to give these good shows some much deserved attention! And of course I am not bashing these shows, I respect them and their longevity. I'm aware most people love them and if you are a fan of them then fantastic. 

I remember the toys. Thanks to my brother who was a fan of this franchise. I had a Panthor and King Mumra (and his tomb) and…I think the lion guy. What was name? Just kidding it was Lion-O. But I’ll be damned if I ever saw a single second of the actual show. I guess it just didn’t grab me. The show is about a group of cat like humanoid aliens who fight evil on a planet called Third Earth. Not getting it, why are they cats? Yeah it still doesn’t really grab me, but it’s still around obviously people loved it. There are still comics, there was a second series, and a movie was briefly in the works! The show is even considered one of the best animated series of all time, so I’m clearly missing something. One thing I will say, that theme song is fantastic!!

My Top 10 Funniest Trek Moments

Well after doing my very sad blog the other day, it was only fair to do the flip-side. Because while Trek can sure have its sad moments it can also have its really light and/or funny moments. These are scenes which are usually meant to break the tension, assuming the whole episode or movie isn’t supposed to be silly. And we need silly stuff once in awhile with all the drama and sadness around us. Heck even Shakespeare got that,  and Trek always remembers that. Of course sometimes being funny can work against an episode too. For instance, Plato’s Stepchildren may make some laugh. I find it nauseating. TNG’s “The Outrageous Okona” is meant to be funny….I think? It fails hard. But when it works, it really works!

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 The only rule is that these have to be intentionally funny moments, rather than funny because the episode is just so awful that you can’t help but laugh at it. So here are ten episode and/or movie scenes that make me laugh. Course there are plenty more and this list is less official than the previous. And once again I tried to include DS9 and Voyager but it’s mostly TOS and TNG.





#10.Star Trek Generations
When Data gets his emotion chip in Generations, he’s pretty damn annoying. Here is the one gag that worked. Course a ton of Data clips could be on here but there are to many. With one exception we’ll get to.

My Top 10 Saddest Trek Moments

I’ve talked a lot about Star Trek (no, really?) but today I wanted to focus on an area I hadn’t mentioned before. Trek can be smart, dramatic, exciting, and even funny at times. But another thing it excels at is the water works. Man can this show be sad, and it’s no coincidence that the saddest moments are often the most praised episodes (or films).

 

 

At first I thought I would pass on this idea since there are plenty of other lists out there on this subject. Until I looked at them, and with a few exceptions people posted different examples. And some of them are one’s I would have never considered, while leaving off some I immediately think of! So here are the ten moments from Star Trek which have, and even still does, makes me the most teary eyed. And yes picking only ten is not easy, there are dozens of examples to pick from.

Before I begin I wanted to talk about “The Paradise Syndrome” from the classic series. This episode is about Kirk having amnesia and being lost on a primitive alien planet. The episode is…only ok, but it has the saddest ending ever! Since I can’t find any clips I decided to leave it off the official list and not spoil it. Check the episode out for yourself if you’ve never seen it.

Here are my ten saddest Trek moments :

10.This Side of Paradise
Stop making me cry Jill Ireland!! I did a whole review of this episode so I will keep it brief. This is the one where Spock is infected with spores and allowed to fall in love. In the end, when the spores are gone, with get this sweet scene between him and his girl played by Ireland. I don’t know it’s the writing, the haunting music, or the knockout performances but I always choke up here.