What I Loved in the 80’s-Toys and Games (repost)

This article is a very special one for me. It’s the very first article I ever posted on Manic Expression. I am sure if I had not done that, and stayed on TGWTG, I would have stopped doing this a loooonnnngg time ago. Certainly when they switched web sites and all their old stuff was deleted! But instead Les worked with me on my concerns, and here I still am. 7 YEARS LATER!! So to celebrate I decided to repost this by changing a few things. Mostly, making it more of a focus on authentic 80’s toys. I mean, they still have action figures today so that isn’t really decade specific. Plus I’ve talked about the various franchises elsewhere. I fixed the pictures which are long gone, and I also took away an insult toward video games of today that I had made which was really unfair. Video games today are AMAZING and I just came off as an old person saying “In my day we didn’t have these things…” I guess wisdom does come with age.

As you know by now, I was a kid of the 80’s. I loved the toys and games we had then! Course who doesn’t fondly remember the toys of their youth. Here is a look at some of the 80’s things I had as a kid, and as usual this list is in no particular order.












Rubik’s Cube

Does anything say 80’s more? It’s such a simple idea, it’s a 3-D puzzle and all you have to do is line up the colors on each side. Easy, right? Frustrating is more like it. I spent hours playing with this thing, it was lots of fun. Everyone had their little ways of cheating, mine was to peel the stickers off and replace them. No wonder I bought them so much. If you think that’s bad, you should have seen what I did to my slinky!

Top 6 Favorite Leonard Nimoy Moments in Star Trek

Almost four years ago now Leonard Nimoy passed away. Man does tine fly. At the time I did s tribute where I discussed my favorite roles of his outside Star Trek. A year later I discussed five Spock moments in Star Trek which were…less than great. But what are the best Spock moments from Star Trek? As you know Nimoy made that character one of the best loved characters ever, and his scenes were almost always well done whether we was taking command of the Enterprise or having a casual conversation with Kirk.

 

 

 

Here are my six favorite Spock moments, from just the original series :



#6.The Naked Time
I always seem to bring this scene up but it’s one of the best acted moments in the series. We see, for the first time in the series, the real struggle between his Vulcan and human side.

A Look at Batmania-Merchandise and Memorabilia

I can hardly think of a character that has more fan love than Batman. Oh sure the Marvel movies are getting there but that’s been in the last ten years or so.  And Mickey Mouse has been around longer but I think it’s more the kids who get excited about that. Superman is more iconic but not as loved. Batman is loved by everyone, whether your a kid playing toys or an adult who just loves to cosplay. Let’s discuss:

 

I just had to cover the merchandise he has spawned, even if I have to approach this article a little differently than before. That’s because unlike Star Trek, Mickey Mouse and Garfield; Batman has changed a lot over the years. And of course every iteration has new products. In fact Batmania has been around for over fifty years. Now, why just fifty when Batman is approaching his 80th anniversary? Well…let me tell you a story about a little TV show….



















William Dozier was brought on board for a proposed Batman series and, after reading the comics at the time, decided camp and silly was the way to go. They cast Adam Ward and Bert Ward, and the rest is history. AND PEOPLE WENT NUTS. While Star Trek, which premiered at the same time, took some time to really find its audience Batman was an instant smash. It was broadcast twice a week, with a cliffhanger separating the two, and kids ate it up. This show was one of the biggest things in the 60’s and was such a hit that celebrities lined up to make appearances. Some as villains, others as “window cameos”. Adam West was the perfect straight man and as I’ve talked about before, the villains were so fantastic that they’re still remembered. I discovered this show in re-runs, obviously, and couldn’t help but love the fun of it. This show was a bonanza and saved Batman, because in the comics the character was kind of starting to fade. I also give the show credit for rejuvenating the popularity of his villains especially The Joker.

Top 10 Favorite Batman Theatrical Movies

Oh boy, talk about setting myself up for an argument! As we approach the 80th anniversary of the caped crusader I decided to have some fun and rank the theatrical movies. It’s amazing how many there have been, poor Superman was really left in the dust as far as movies are concerned. I’ve discussed most of these in detail separately but never tried to rank them.

 

Before I start it should be noted I did not watch any of these (except one we’ll get to) for this so I am going by memory mostly. This is really based on one thing-how much do I like re-watching these movies? Since I want to make it ten I am leaving off the serials, the JLA movie, and the Lego movie. I am sure that one is fine and maybe I’ll see it someday. And it goes without saying but no direct to DVD movies.  I can’t stress that this just opinion feel free to disagree. Oh and I am just giving quick thoughts on these most of these have been covered at length elsewhere.






#10.Batman & Robin

During the big final battle between Batman and Freeze, we see two scientists getting stuck in the action and making silly comments as the place falls apart around them. This was the point where I realized how goofy this movie is. Nothing has any weight to it, and it’s VERY forgettable. The one thing I did like was Uma Thurman who seemed to be having a little fun. She is the only one, including the audience.

Ten Favorite Valentine’s Day Sitcom Episodes

I mentioned on New Year’s Eve that I had neglected to touch on the holiday themed TV shows that were around. An even bigger over site was Valentines Day. For whatever reason, I haven’t talked about that yet Could be because I hate the holiday. Nevertheless there are toms of these episodes out there. Usually involving a romance that goes bad. And while I have no love for that holiday, I do enjoy watching these episodes on the 14th of each February.

       



The episodes are not in any specific order. And like last time every list I see online ignored TV was a thing before 1994. So I included some 80’s examples. And I’ll tell you right from the get go I am leaving a LOT off. From Fresh Prince to Boy Meets World (which had a very serious episode).  So feel free to let me know you favorites that I missed down below.


   




Here are my ten favorite Valentine’s Day episodes.




Golden Girls, “Valentines Day”

Well of course this show would do this. They did an episode for Mother’s Day also. It’s basically just vignettes of the girls spending different Valentine’s differently. We get a predictable gay joke, the girls at a nudist colony and apparently Sophia was at the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. The final one is a forced condom gag which isn’t really funny. So yeah, a so-so episode

Top 10 Favorite Super Villain Designs (comic books)

Well after the other day it was only fair to look at villains. However, the criteria has to be a little different. As I said before, we love superheroes and their awesome costumes. Villains though aren’t known for their costumes as much. Oh sure there are exceptions, but most of the memorable villains we love to dress up as are from outside comics. Yes Darth Vader, Pennywise, and every Disney villain all make fine costumes but you don’t often see comic book villains.

So here my ten favorite villain designs, where it’s not just the costume which makes him cool but just the way the character was created. You see this person , and you know he or she is trouble! And like last time I’m  just going by the look of the character, and nothing else.




#10.Ares

If you’re going to be the god of war, you better look badass! And everything about this guy does makes you realize he is not kidding around. To bad the movie didn’t quite get that right. I almost went with arch foe The Cheetah, who looked goofy in the silver age but was made terrifying later on.

Top 10 Favorite Superhero Costumes (comic books)

I’ve talked a lot about my favorite superhero characters, but for fun what if we forget all about silly stuff like characterization and powers, and just focus on the costumes. When we’re kids first seeing comics for the first time, that’s the first thing we notice. I’m pretty sure when I wanted to dress up as Superman for Halloween at age 5 I didn’t care very much about his personal relationships with Lois or anything. So here is a quick rundown of my favorite super hero costumes, based on just the costumes and nothing else to do with the character.

#10.Black Canary

I’m going to be in a minority  here, but of all the outfits that Canary has worn I liked the jumpsuit the best. It’s not the most popular outfit she’d have, but for me that’s what she was wearing when I first encountered here and I still like that look.







#9.Firestorm

I was introduced to Firestorm on the Super Powers cartoon on Saturday mornings. And I loved his look. That flame top and cool costume..I admit, it has been improved on over the years. The classic flame top is a great look.

Ten Great Forgotten TV Show Openings

It’s funny how some TV themes/openings become so well known that they become iconic. Others, not so much. And it’s not because the show was awful or they were bad theme songs. In fact quite the contrary. It’s could be a case of  the show itself never reaching that status level where the opening was something that everyone knew. For instance, who remember this :

The theme to “It’s a Living’ is fantastic…but who remember it? Or the show for that matter? It lasted a year on network TV before finding life in syndication.




Another reason for this could be because the opening was trimmed down. For instance :

Notice how that was a little longer than you may remember it? That’s because the long version isn’t used a lot, it’s easier to trim it for ad time. I LOVED this Leon Redbone theme for this show. But even trimmed I bet most remember it. The same can be said for the trimmed version of the Friends theme, even without the opening of the song I'm sure most people still remember that one. Some shows, not quite as lucky. When the theme gets trimmed often it gets forgotten




Here are a few more great openings to good shows which aren’t as memorable as they should be.




Head of the Class
 I loved the theme to this show, and man was I amazed to find out that there is a full length one! Yeah the theme we see most common edits out the kids so we just have Charlie struggling to get to work. I love the longer opening;s music too, it's one of my favorite themes ever. That no one sees.