Childhood Nostalgia (sigh)

[DukkhaWaynhim]

Reach back into the revered memories of your childhood and pull forth the most cherished of your happy thoughts - family, friends, firsts, food, TV, songs, movies, games, sports, recess, school, holidays, whatever - and share your most well-thought-of and beloved ones here, for us all to compare, contrast, acknowledge.... as we've already found, love of Donaldson isn't the only thing we have in common, and perhaps not even the best (just the first!).

I'll go first: For me, one of the simple pleasures I remember growing up with was the weekly joy of Saturday morning cartoons. The parents weren't up yet, so I could watch utter crap without fear of judgment. Amidst that crap, I remember fondly my faves: Thundarr the Barbarian, BlackStar, Superfriends, Spiderman and His Amazing Friends. And at the end of this chocolate-milk slurping festival of toons, I'd go out and re-enact my favorite scenes on the dirt-pile in the backyard - unabashed, full of sugared-energy, and pure in its reverie. There, I feel better just thinking about that.

So what about the rest of you? Dare to share?

dw

[Cail]

Thundarr was awesome, and so much less homoerotic than He-Man.

I miss weekend days with nothing to do but go out into the woods and get dirty.

[Ki]

i loved saturday morning cartoons. our kids just have no idea how special that was b/c they have cartoons available to them all the time.

my dad was a truck driver. he would be gone all week and come home on friday evenings. my mom, my sister, and i couldn't wait to see him. as soon as we'd see the headlights of his truck pulling into the driveway, all three of us would run out to the truck to greet him. when my sis and i were really little, he would bring us toys. i know dad had to be exhausted, but he was so patient with us, listening to us babble on and on about our week.

thank you, dukkha..that's a memory i haven't had in a long while.

[emotional leper]

Thundarr was awesome, and so much less homoerotic than He-Man.

I miss weekend days with nothing to do but go out into the woods and get dirty.

Thundarr was also a grade A moron.

"The Ancient City of Man Hat!"

Whenever I see the Venture Brothers or anything similar it reminds me of days spent watching Johnny Quest in his various incarnations.

Also, Rainbow Brite. I loved seeing girls dressed as Rainbow Brite at Halloween. Of course, it makes me feel a bit... odd.

Johnny Quest, Rainbow Brite, The Centurions, Voltron. Robotech.

[Vain]

Sitting with my older brother listening to Jet Jungle on the radio - 5 minutes of daily bliss

"The Adventures Of Jet Jungle" Theme Song Lyrics:

When your world's in trouble
And you need a fighting friend
Who will come on the double
And keep fighting to the end
Get Jet! Get Jet! Jet Jungle...is the man to get!
Jet Jungle...Jet Jungle...Jet Jungle is the man to get! Get Jet!

We used to sing that every day

[aliantha]

Reaching waaaaay back into the vault:

When I was a kid, George of the Jungle was a brand-new cartoon. "Stay tuned for scenes from next week's show, starring Tom Slick, Superchicken, and me -- George of Bungle!" The chimp: "That's *Jungle*, George." Superchicken (or maybe it was Tom Slick): "I think he was right the first time!"

Even farther back...*no*body I talk to remembers this one: There was an ad for Mr. Bubble, in which a dotty, nearsighted old grandma was babysitting for her grandson, Hubert. She put him in the tub -- with Mr. Bubble, of course -- and he used the bubbles to disguise himself in various ways. Finally he makes them into a hat and beard, and Grandma yells, "AAH! A man! (picks up the phone) Operator, there's a man in the bathtub!" And Hubert says, "Relax, Grandma, it's me!" and then Grandma mistakes the fish-shaped bathtub toy for Hubert, wraps it in a towel and takes it off to bed, nattering all the while: "Oho, the little scamp, was that him? It *was* you, Hubert, and you're so clean your mother won't know you! Come now, it's bedtime!"

Then there was the old ad for Good & Plenty candy, which included a song which I would be happy to perform upon request. (It's a duet. I do both parts. It's a gift.)

Clearly I spent way too much time, as a kid, sitting in front of the TV set....

Other than that, I remember Lake Michigan in all seasons: going to the beach in summer (and stepping over the dead alewives), climbing the dunes with friends any time of year, seeing the ice on the lake from the school bus window.

[Sunbaneglasses]

The Dukes of Hazzard, The A Team, Knight Rider, Airwolf, on Friday nights I got to stay up late so I watched Fantasy Island. As for Saturday morning cartoons I watched a ton of the Scooby Doo's with Scrappy Doo in them as well as Super Friends, Dungeons and Dragons, etc etc etc. When I got home from school I watched cartoons on the local independent station, these included: Transformers, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, Voltron, Speed Racer, Tranzor Z (anyone else remember that one?), M.A.S.K. He-Man and The Masters of The Universe, etc..... Child of the 80's, what can I say?

As for activities I walked to the neighbors pond and fished at least 3 or 4 times a week during the warmer months, thinking about walking to the pond and fishing brings back fond memories. Another fond memory is playing my Colecovision, the other two kids in the neighborhood had Atari 2600's and my Coleco was the envy of the street. I have very, very good memories of my time in the Boy Scouts, I still run into people that I was in Scouts with on occasion and we always end up reminiscing over stories from camp outs, I made at least two life long friends in the Scouts that I still hang out with.

I can remember throwing the football around on lots of cool, crisp fall days. I also have fond memories of listening to Auburn and Alabama football games on the radio with my dad back before there were 500 channels showing football on Saturday, those were the days.

[Loredoctor]

Getting home and watching Doctor Who. I also have fond memories of watching Robotech in the morning, reading and writing, building cardboard spaceships, drawing, basically inventing things.

[thefirst]

I miss the Smurfs

[balon!]

Ahh... nostalgia.

My favorite is going out in the backyard, and getting "lost in the jungle". The little half acre of woods seemed like an entire world at that time. I could spend only a few hours in there, and would have already found a lost city, conquered the savages there and begun collecting treasure. Not to mention the aliens that landed. ALWAYS aliens.

It was a very majestic time. I try to keep it in my thoughts as much as possible.\

:EDIT: just to keep going in TV, I miss David the Gnome and the Fred Penner show. Thank the Gods for PBS.

[Cameraman Jenn]

Schoolhouse Rock! and Time for Timer.

Mr Morton was lonely, Mr MOrton was, Mr Morton was the subject of our sentence and what the predicate says he does.

I'm hanking for a hunk a... a piece....a slice... a chunka...I'm hankering for a hunka cheese

Planet Janet was a galexy girl
I'm just a bill yes I'm only a bill and I'm sitting here on capitol hill OH its a long long journey from the bill into commitee but until I a still just a bill

Lolly Lolly Lolly get your adverbs here
He was a scary bear
He was a hairy bear


need I go on
Oh wait, I do
Conjunction Junction whats your function
Hooking up words and phrases and clauses
Conjunction junction hows that function
I got three special words that get all of my job done
I got and but and or and they will get you pretty far

[sgt.null]

tv. my dad (not much of a sci-fi fan) watching the Tom Baker Dr. Who with me. in fact he got me into the show. he really liked K-9 and Leela.

[Loredoctor]

tv. my dad (not much of a sci-fi fan) watching the Tom Baker Dr. Who with me. in fact he got me into the show. he really liked K-9 and Leela.

What dad wouldn't like Leela?

[Damelon]

Waking up on Saturday morning to my dad playing cassette tapes in the living room. Jim Croce sticks in my memory as a favorite of mine.

I remember part of the Good & Plenty song, Alantha. Choo choo Charlie was an engineer.... You'd probably remember watching Ray Rayner on WGN TV. There's nothing quite like what he did on today. It was mainly a kids show playing cartoons. He had a segment he did where he'd have some project he'd put together; the example looking perfect, his all fubar. But he would also give traffic reports and write up the scores of the sports teams on a blackboard for the parents.

[DukkhaWaynhim]

Thanks for the memories, peeps! I remember watching the Bozo show from time to time, once we moved into town and got cable.
I miss riding all over the county on my Schwinn - taking all day to out to Grandma's to hear some stories and eat a snack pack of canned pudding (watch the lid or it'd cut your tongue!). Playing Centipede or Mario Brothers at the arcade... gimme a few quarters and an hour, and I was set!

And hey, check out my spiffy new Thundarr! Vain rocks!

[Cail]

I miss my dad's Sunday morning ritual.

We'd get up, shower & shave, eat a breakfast of OJ and burnt toast, then leave the house before my mother & brother woke up. We'd slip over to the liquor store, my dad would buy a carton of Kools and a quart of whiskey, and stand around smoking and BS-ing with the owner of the store. My job was important. I stood on a rickety old barstool in front of the massive tube testing machine that looked like a console from the Enterprise, and systematically pulled vacuum tubes out of a bag, searched for the right spot on the machine, and tested them so we could watch TV that week. When we were done, we'd drive back home.

To this day, I have no idea whether or not the tubes I was testing were actually for our TV, or just spare tubes my dad had me test so he could hang out at the liquor store.

But it really doesn't matter.

[sgt.null]

my dad was a dumptruck driver. in the summer he would bring home his gallon of ice water. (what was left from the day.) we kids would line up to drink the ice cold water from that.

[Usivius]

Trips with my dad through Edward's Gardens (park) and building overly elaborate Haunted Houses with my best friend in our basements. Kids from everywhere would come and see them.

[Ur Dead]

Sundays, my pop would always and I mean always get into a suit and tie. He would wear that thing all day until bedtime. Then it was back into his regular cloths for work during the week.

Seems every adult male back then would be in a suit and tie all day on Sundays.

[Worm of Despite]

My earliest memory is watching Eureka's Castle. I went through a lot of cartoons, most of it a blur of G.I. Joe and Duck Tales, but I followed three shows in particular: Ninja Turtles, David the Gnome, and The Real Ghostbusters. I remember dancing to the Ghostbusters theme song, even when I had pneumonia.

As far as outside stuff: there was a lot of trees behind my grandparents' backyard, which I called "The Hideout." A couple other kids in the neighborhood would go back there with me. We had a pretty nice setup: a clearing at the top, and as the woods sloped down there were dirt paths snaking around.