After-School Cartoons

So I just got home from school (from the teacher's side of things), and I'm doing what I always do...turning on the tv, getting something to eat...avoiding my homework (which is now lesson plans and marking papers).  Pretty much what I always did when I was on the student side.  Made me start thinking about coming home from school in elementary...

Depending on the day, we were picked up by either mom, dad, or Gram.  When Gram picked us up, we either went home, or to her house, or shopping in West Caldwell at Marshall's, with pizza at Franco's (and our waitress Lena).  With mom, we usually did errands before going home, and with dad, we usually just went home.

Either way, when we got home, there was a routine.  First was snack and cartoons.  My snack was usually cereal.  Then homework.  But it's the shows I remember...we had the best after-school cartoons in the 80s!

The one I remember the most is Duck Tales (1987-90), which was part of the Disney Afternoon shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frGLMtGsotc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_tales
I still know every word to this theme song.  Right after Duck Tales came Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers, also part of the Disney Afternoon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e5q6ubDlZE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_Rangers
I didn't watch this, but I remember my brother watching it.  We also watched TaleSpin (early 90s), another part of the Disney Afternoon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ReyS9i9BJg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talespin

One of my faves when it came out was Tiny Toons (early 90's).  I remember going to a Bat Mitzvah that had a Tiny Toons theme, and then I was hooked.  I had Babs and Buster Bunny stuffed animals on my bed.  I wanted the others, never got them.  I'd still watch this...I should YouTube episodes...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HW7YTWeg20

http://tinytoons.wikia.com/wiki/File:Classic_Nick_Commercial_Promo_(Early_90's)_-_Tiny_Toons_Plush_Toys



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Toons

I also loved Bobby's World.  Howie Mandel was at the top of his career, and I found this show very creative.  I still watch this On Demand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqQjpTbHR0A
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby%27s_World

My brother reminded me about Beetlejuice (89-92).  We were big fans of the movie, and it was one of our after-school staples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hFoR0ziYFc



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetlejuice_(TV_series)

Then there was the whole "Ghostbusters" debacle.  Apparently, once the film came out, they wanted to make a matching cartoon, but the name "Ghost Busters" was already owned by the Filmation animation co.  Filmation was already producing an unrelated cartoon.  They wouldn't give up the rights, but Columbia trumped them by retitling their cartoon "The REAL Ghostbusters", as in the ones related to the film.  Also as in, the one kids actually wanted to see, with Venkman, Stanz, etc.  I remember both, and as a kid rember mentally categorizing them as the Real Ghostbusters, and the Fake Ghostbusters.  I did, however, watch both.  I preferred the real.  You can't fool a kid.
Here's the "fake" one (what the hell was with the monkey?):

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYgO8LWKH4I
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_(1986_TV_series)

And the REAL one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7VS-ZoeMqs&feature=related
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Ghostbusters

My brother also reminded me of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show (89-91).  I didn't remember it at first but the more I read about it online, the more I remembered.  This was another of my brother's shows, but we both watched whatever was on the tv.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w2fi_f5OLY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._Super_Show

There were more, but these are the first ones that come to mind.  It was a great part of each day...until mom ruined it by telling us it was homework time, or time to unload the dishwasher (my most loathed chore)...

Tis the Season

I could do an entire blog just on childhood Christmas toys I remember.  I just saw a commercial, though, that made me reminisce.  Every year through the 80's, my dad would get my brother and I our annual Hess trucks.  We'd each get one, and he'd have to drive to Kearny to get them, which was a good 25 mins away, because that was the closest Hess station (it was also the only one we knew, having been a landmark on our way to Nana's house each time).  I think it was more for him than us.  I do think that it's kinda cool that he always got one for me, not just my brother.  That a truck wasn't just a toy for boys, or maybe that he didn't see his daughter as having to be relegated to Barbies and stuffed animals (though I loved those too).

Anyway, I do remember some of the models...I especially liked the one that was also a bank, and the one that came with a separate race car...much like the 2011 model.  Here are the ones that I remember having in our house...

1984 (this was the bank)


1985 (this one had working headlights, which I thought was so cool at 7 yrs old)


1986 (working flashing lights...ooh!)


1987 (this one was also a bank, and I believe this was the last year I got one...my brother continued to receive them for a few years after)


1988 (the first "multi-vehicle" release)


1989


1990


1991


The 1992 model doesn't look familiar to me, so I think 91 was the final year of Hess in our house.  I think dad got more of a kick out of it than we did, and my brother played with his more often than I did.  But the yearly Hess truck is definitely etched into my Christmas memories.  :-)

Do You Remember...See Wees?

 

So my twin kdg students had a birthday today, and they were all excited because they each got a Nintendo DS.  Apparently their family has the same tradition mine did, where you could open one present on the morning of your birthday, before school.  Man do I remember that!  I'd open it, get all excited, but wasn't allowed to take it out of the package yet, because I had to go to school.  EW!  Not fair!  To this day, I still strongly believe we (I) should have the day off on our (my) birthday.

Anyway, with this stupid tradition, you get to spend all day in school, not learning a damn thing because your tunnel-visioned thoughts are on that present from this morning, planning all the things you'll do when you get home.  But time is moving backwards, and at this rate you might never get home.  Ever again.

But you do.  And you play.  And you're happy.  For now, until the next thing comes along...



This is what I lost a day of learning thinking about...

I remember one birthday...my kindergarten year birthday (like my kids today).  I remember it well, probably because we have pics of it in the family album.  Anyway, I got 2 Sea Wees...little pastel colored mermaids.  They had solid formed bodies except for a twisting head, and matching pastel hair, which was the coolest part.  So basically all these dolls did was get their hair brushed.  But they came in colors like pink, lavender, aqua...so for a 5 yr old girl, that makes them automatically awesome.  Some Sea Wees ("Icy Gals", I think) came with baby Sea Wees.  ...these were even more inanimate than the bigger ones, as they had a totally solid body, and no hair...so again, not sure what the attraction was, but I reiterate: pink, blue, lavender... Icy Gals were no different than regular Sea Wees, save for "fur" jacket collar molded into their plastic bodies.  And they came packaged with a foam sponge "iceburg"...  Anyway, Sea Wees were awesome.  Don't know why, but they were.  And I remember them fondly.

Do you remember... Fisher Price?

http://www.retroist.com/2011/04/02/toddler-toys/   <----------- Ok, I literally had EVERY one of these toys as a toddler, and remember them very clearly.  I can still hear the sounds the Chatter Phone and the corn popper made when you moved them.  The only difference is my cobbler's bench was a little more primitive than the one pictured here.  Mine looked more like this:

And I also had all three toys pictured below, but I think my phone was a different color, maybe?

And while we're at it, here are some more I had.  A lot of them lived at my grandma's house...

Man I remember this thing...had it forever!

What the hell was the point of this?

Ok, so the Tuff Stuff shopping cart was made by Mattel, but whatever.
I don't remember any of that plastic food though.  I used the food from my
kitchen set to cart around.

Ok, my brother had this, but I played with it a lot.

I have to find and post the pic of me at 2 sitting in the sun

from the kitchen window playing with this!!

Another fun retro site

Here's another retro site with pics and vids...all of breakfast cereals.  Ice Cream Cones ceral!  Loved it, tho I expected little balls of ice cream floating in my bowl...oh well.

Mr. Breakfast

Great 80s website

Here's another fabulous website for reminiscing about the 70s, 80s, and 90s...vintage commercials, tv shows, movies... Click here.

Do you remember...Care Bears?

I was just watching a 1986 episode of The Care Bears (What? Is that weird at almost 33 years old?).  Man, I remember how popular they were back in 2nd-3rd grade.  I remember going to the Care Bears Movie with my mom, my cousin Laura and her mom.  As a little girl, I was so drawn to them because of the rainbow colors, hearts, rainbows, clouds...all the stuff a little girl loves.  I got a Care Bear for my birthday.  I had wanted Cheer Bear or Bedtime Bear...one of the pretty pastel colored ones with either rainbows, or hearts, or moons and stars on their belly.  Pink, lavender, turquoise...so pretty!  I was so excited to open mine on my birthday...I already knew what it was from the shape of the box.  But alas, I was so disappointed to find that I got Friend Bear...the peachy-gold colored bear with the gold and orange marigolds on his belly.  Um, I got the ugliest one.  For a little girl, when all her friends have the pink one with the rainbow on its belly, or the blue one with the moon on its belly, or the mint green one with the stars on its belly...an orangey peach bear may as well have been sh*t brown.  Technically Friend Bear is supposed to be "orange" according to Wikipedia (Care Bears character list), but the stuffed animal was definitely not.  I would've even preferred Funshine Bear...at least he was bright yellow with a sun on his belly.  And Tenderheart...he was brown like a teddy, but at least he had a heart on him.  Marigolds with dark green stems are yucky in the pinky purpley world of a little girl.

But even as a kid, I had empathy.  I saw that my parents were excited to watch me open it.  I thought about my mom picking it out at the store.  Why she chose that one, I don't know, but she picked it out and gave it to me, and I didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her she picked the ugly one.  Actually, I just told her about all this recently...25 years later.  LOL! 



There's Friend Bear, top center. Actually,
he doesn't look that bad now.

I never got another Care Bear, even though it was "customary" in my school to have more than one.  So about 5 years ago, when Care Bears started make a comeback, they were all over Seaside Boardwalk.  I was so excited when my brother (or was it my bf at the time?) won me Cheer Bear, which was THE one I wanted most of all as a kid...pink with a rainbow.  Seriously, I slept with the thing on my bed that night...I was about 27 yrs old.  After a few years, the novelty wore off and Cheer was sold at a garage sale, probably for a dollar.  But I had had him, finally.  As for Friend Bear, I don't know what ever became of him...possibly another garage sale or donation.  Or he could've been one of the victims of the "toilet training phase", during which time my little brother was toilet training, and thought it would be fun to train my stuffed animals too.  One of my Cabbage Patch Kids, Hollis Jenean, to this day has a water ring around her waist, thanks to my brother.  But CPKs are a whole other post...





Puppy Bowl!

Februrary 6, 2011... Super Bowl?  Well, my G-Men aren't in it this year, so I couldn't really care less.  But, when the Giants don't make it, there's still a reason to break out the chips and beer... PUPPY BOWL VII!!  Has anyone seen this mass of cuteness??  I actually own the DVD of PB V.  If you're ever having a bad day, youtube yourself some Puppy Bowl.  How can anyone NOT love a dozen fuzzball puppies rolling over themselves and tugging on rubber toys?  My fave is the water bowl cam, shot from under the bowl.  Licka-licka-licka!

The Making of Puppy Bowl!