Out-of-the-Way Nostalgia

[esper]

I love Nostalgic things... Anything that brings me back to the time before my rather troubled childhood began to actually bloom out of control... Back to the days when I was more innocent, and could actually enjoy things such as "Thundercats," "He-Man," "She-Ra," "The Real Ghostbusters," "Transformers," and "G.I. Joe."

However, what I wanted to delve into in this topic was the more "out of the way" nostalgic items. We recently had a discussion that went into the Inhumanoids, which is very cult/unknown. Here are some things that not everybody might know about...

1. Kazi no Tani no Naushika: The first anime I ever saw, before Disney got their hands on it and made it Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (I think the translated title as I saw it back in the eighties was Warriors of the Wind, which wasn't a very good title since the movie was all about pacifism). Does anyone remember having watched this back in the day? When I recently rented it from Netflix and heard Patrick Stewart say "The toxic jungle has claimed yet another victim" rather than some unknown eighties voice actor saying "Another family... lost... to the toxic jungle," I knew I was in for a good experience, but not the nostalgic one I was hoping for.

2. Grendel Grendel Grendel!!! An Australian cartoon based on Beowulf, but focusing more on Grendel, the evil ogre who turns out to be a lonely, depressed little boy. I remember feeling very sorry for him when Beowulf rips his arm off. I recently found used copies of this on Amazon.com for 120 USD.

3. The Wizard... I think it was called, about a Simon-like game that was really a test to see if kids were smart enough to be carried away by aliens.

4. Cloak and Dagger, about secret messages hidden in Atari games.

Some others that you might remember, maybe not as little known as the above but nostalgic nonetheless:
The Goonies... The Flight of the Navigator... The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon... The Snorks... FooFur... Heathcliff (which, for some reason, I heard the themesong to at my local GameStop the other day)... Mickey's Christmas Carol, which was followed immediately by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow... The Wind in the Willows... The Plague Dogs... Watership Down....

Can anybody else think of any others, or do any of these have "special meanings" for you?

[Nikolas]

Nills Holgersson!

An amazing series. The goose (I think this is where King_Nipper got the idea. He should be sued!). The child shrinking. And btw learning some geography.

Haidi (SP?)

Lovely! An endless cradle! Sheeps going baaaaaa baaaaaa (hehe)

Cady cady (again spelling please....)

Lovely.




And after all this I believe that I'm a sissy! There goes my manhood!

OUAAAAAA

[SSH]

I love Nostalgic things...

It's not what it used to be, though...

3. The Wizard... I think it was called, about a Simon-like game that was really a test to see if kids were smart enough to be carried away by aliens.

Sounds like The Last Starfighter to me

The Snorks...

I saw this the other day, too. I remember painting a ping-pong ball red and stuicking on felt eyes and 8 felt legs to make my own Occie

Heathcliff (which, for some reason, I heard the themesong to at my local GameStop the other day)...

I remember prefrring this to the Garfield animation at the time


My favourite cartoons were Henry's Cat (especially the 15 minute ones), Count Duckula and i loved thos long series they had like Ulysses, Cities of Gold, Dogtanian, etc.

[Andail]

Nills Holgersson!

An amazing series. The goose (I think this is where King_Nipper got the idea. He should be sued!). The child shrinking. And btw learning some geography.

Out of curiousity, would this be Swedish geography, or did they make a special variety for your country? The original book was, as I'm sure you know, written by the Swedish nobel prize winner Selma Lagerlöf

[Kinoko]

Henry's Cat is one of my favourite childhood memories.

Chris Rabbit: "I'm running backwards! I'm RUNNING BACKWAAAARDS!"

[Nikolas]

Out of curiousity, would this be Swedish geography, or did they make a special variety for your country? The original book was, as I'm sure you know, written by the Swedish nobel prize winner Selma Lagerlöf

No only Swedish geography, I just couldn't remember which country

[esper]

For some unknown reason, Kinoko's post kind of reminded me of another little-known childhood favorite: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.

"If you move, I strike. If you don't move, I strike."

The response I always wish Rikki gave: "Frickin' commie snake bastard. Who are you to impose your one-sided ultimatums on me!"

EDIT: I know that RTT is from a book by Rudyard Kipling, and therefore is not altogether "out of the way," but I'm sure not too many people know about the animated short film.

[Al_Ninio]

I cried on the last episode of Nils Holgersson.

[Haddas]

I laughed the whole time. Also Count Duckula rocked.

[Ashen]

In the heart of Transyvania, in the Vampire hall of Fang-yia,
There's not a vampire zanier than Duckula.

Class. As was just about everything made by Cosgrove Hall, until I was about 15. (Which I honestly believe says more about their changing standards, than mine.)

Also - Batfink, Pob, and those strange little cartoon men that used to be in the adverts for Jaffa Cakes, but no-one except me & my mum seem to remember.

[Nikolas]

another series I remember and I'd really like to see again is the Odysey in Space, or something simmilar. It was a French-Belgique-EU production and it was great. Featuring the stories and adventures of Odysseus in Space. He had long black hair and a beard and also some gismo that made him fly and some kind of shield.

Does anybody know the actuall French name of the series. Something like Illyseus, or something but I can't find it in google, and if I could I would gladly buy it...

[Ashen]

Ulysses 31 perhaps? Great theme song, if so.

I'm just a mine of useless information, aren't I?

[Nikolas]

I'm just a mine of useless information, aren't I?

υεσ υοθ αρε. Τηανκ υοθ.

Ok. Sorry that was great. The same keys if pressed give, Yes you are. Thank you!

[Ashen]

Ooh, ooh got others (mostly already been said)...

Dogtanian & the Three Muskerhounds
Around the World with Willy Fogg
Mysterious Cities of Gold
Dungeons & Dragons

Less so D&D, but the others (and Ulysses 31) seemed to keep getting shown about once a year either after school, or over the summer holidays. I must've seen each of them 4-5 times, and I don't really remeber a damn thing about them, except the theme tunes and that I thought they were ace.

And, since I've started... (I don't think these are that obscure, but you never know):
    Terrahawks,
    Roobarb & Custard,
    Knightmare,
    Fraggle Rock (Did I hear recently they were remaking this? I hope not - it won't be the same.),
    Cockleshell Bay,
    Chockablock
    ...

I could go on, but won't. I probably spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about cool TV shows from my 'youth'.

[Haddas]

Oh yeah! The Muskethounds! how could I forget? Ooh! And James Bond Jr.!

[SSH]

Dogtanian & the Three Muskerhounds
Mysterious Cities of Gold

Ahem, someone mentioned these already...

and i loved thos long series they had like Ulysses, Cities of Gold, Dogtanian, etc.

Dungeons & Dragons

Less so D&D, but the others (and Ulysses 31) seemed to keep getting shown about once a year either after school, or over the summer holidays. I must've seen each of them 4-5 times, and I don't really remeber a damn thing about them, except the theme tunes and that I thought they were ace.

Nono the robot was cool, but I don't think I ever saw the D&D kids or Ulysees get home... maybe the series were cancelled before the reached home.

    Chockablock

Chockablock was for toddlers...

Jigsaw was good: anything with Wilf Lung rocks. I remember he invented a bicycle with things that hit the ground in attempt to trick worms into thinking it was raining. The was also the incredibily sinister Noseybonk.

and Johnny Ball's programs were good, too.

[Darth Mandarb]

Fraggle Rock (Did I hear recently they were remaking this? I hope not - it won't be the same.),

The DVD's just came out in September, maybe that's what you heard about?  I hope so because I, too, hope they don't try to remake it ... it is perfect as is!

There was this show (cartoon) that I used to love!  But for the life of me I can't recall the name.  Maybe some of you can recall ...

There were this group of people (one was a wizard named, I think, Gillian) and they fought against this enemy that used vegetation as a weapon.  These growing vine type things.

Sound familiar to anybody?

Also ...

Thundercats - Hooooo!!  A few years ago I found a website that had a bunch of out-takes of the voice recording sessions and you could hear them all cussin' and laughing and joking.  It was hilarious.

Another show (toys) I loved was M.A.S.K.

Also, M.U.S.C.L.E.S. the little pink (and then other colored) wrestlers.

I, like Ashen, could just keep going.  Ahhh ... nostalgia is fun!

[Ashen]

Ahem, someone mentioned these already...

Whoops, sorry. Somehow I managed to read every post before & after yours, but skipped right over it.

Chockablock was for toddlers...

Yeah, I just loved the little quad-thing they had. And the semi-computer-ish voice that said 'Chockablock'. And, if you want to get technical, I probably was a toddler when it was on.

Johnny Ball was indeed God-like. Wilf Lunn still is. (I think the worm bike is on the Bikes page.)

Another show (toys) I loved was M.A.S.K.

Mobile Armoured Strike Kommand. And their enemies V.E.N.O.M. ([something, possibly Vicious] Evil Network Of Mayhem). 

Can't say as I've heard of it....
Actually, I got the playset of the petrol station you could drop a big rock on (Boulder Mountain? Boulder Hill?), before the parents realised the cartoon was basically an extra-long ad for the toys, and started to ween me off it. Thundercats was nifty too - but I never did get the Sword of Omens with light up Eye I asked for.

Also (last one for today, I swear), I remember really, really wanting to be one of the kids on 'Why Don't You?'.

[GarageGothic]

A couple of movies/tv series that I used to be really into as a 10-12 year old:

Big - Ok, so not exactly unknown. But this movie is one of my strongest movie memories from my childhood, along with Back to the Future.

Gotcha! - with Anthony Edwards playing paintball assassin games around the college campus and getting dragged into cold war espionage during a trip to Europe.

F/X Murder By Illusion - I think I watched this movie more that 10 times, and for years after my biggest ambition was to work with special effects.

Automan - Does anyone else remember this tv show? About some guy who was actually a computer program and looked like something out of TRON. He had a sidekick called Cursor, which was this little shimmering thing flying around drawing stuff in the air. If I remember correctly it even drew his car (Autocar) out of thin air. I don't remember it as a very good show, just weird. It was on at around the same period as Knight Rider I think.

http://www.chuckwagner.com/automan.html

[Huw Dawson]

It just goes to show how young you are when you hear 50 or so show's you've never heard of...

As I have an interest in DnD (sort of "cool!" with added geekism and lack of any books) I would *love* to see the DnD show. Anyone know if they had beholders on it? Cartoon beholders... cooooool.... *drools* Anyway, the ironic thing is that the series never finished. It got cut before the final episode. I'd pay good money to buy the entire series.