Cartoons / TV

Transformers

...more than meets the eyes! So maybe the cartoon wasn't the greatest, but the toys were. I've still got my Decepticon Soundwave in excellent condition. Hasbro even made a full length feature movie based on the tv series. I think I was the oldest person to go see the movie when it was released. I liked it so much, I even bought the video.

Thundercats

... with actual PLOTS and neat bad guys. Liono, Tigra, Cheetara, Panthro, Wiley Kit and Wiley Kat...(oops! just about forgot Snarf!) fighting evil with just the right mix of technology, super abilities, mystic powers, and medieval fighting to keep the whole thing interesting.

Captain Power

Okay, so it wasn't a cartoon... but it was on Saturday mornings. I used to wake up early just to watch this show. It had computer generated bad guys and fairly good stories. The whole thing was based around selling guns to kids so that they could interactively shoot the flashing chests of the bad guys on tv. It didn't last long, and in the last episode we saw the powers of good actually LOSING to the bad guys. The Pilot, a most attractive gal, saved the day when she sacrificed herself to save the rest of the team and self-destruct the base before the bad guys took it over. I was severly bummed. I mean, never before had I seen a main character get KILLED in a saturday morning kids show. Definite shocker. It wasn't until late 1994 when I found out who was responsible for writing the series. Who? Joe Michael Straczynski... writer, creator and exec. producer of what I believe to be the absolute best sci-fi tv show since the original Star Trek in 1967... Babylon 5. Um, Joe, you killed the babe! THE BABE!!!! As an interesting side-note, Pilot was played by Jessica Steen, who also played the deceptive doctor in the sci-fi series Earth 2.

The Tomorrow People

One cool science-fantasy show. A bunch of "kids" with a secret hideout, psi and tk powers we wish we all had, and their own biotronic computer. While I don't really remember plots and characters from the show, what has stuck with me is the vision of what we could become.

Toys

Micronauts

I wish I still had some of these. I had TONS of the little guys and, one Christmas, my parents got me the Battle Cruiser. I was in seventh heaven. Every once in a while I'll run into the broken body of a time traveller or the sarcophagus of Pharoid.

Tente building blocks

I got a nice size set of these the same Christmas I got the above mentioned Micronaut Battle Cruiser. While the Micronauts took precedence then, I still have the Tente bricks. It's too bad I can't find any net.resources for them... they were neat.

Atari 2600 VCS

I can remember the days leading up to my birthday when I got my own Atari 2600 vividly. I actually bought the Missile Command cartridge before I knew I was getting the Atari for sure. I don't remember if this was a plan to force my parents into buying the Atari or not, but when I went over to Payless to get the cartridge, mom came along. She didn't stop me from buying it so I guess it was a kind of silent affirmation that the Atari would soon be mine. They did pull a fast one on me, though. I opened all my presents on my birthday and, lo and behold, no Atari. After a few anxious moments they clued me in: "Maybe you should check under your bed." I still wonder to this day if I had slept over it the previous night.