Equestria Radio 80's! 98.8 WPNY! All 80's all the time!

[brianblackberry]

Back in the not too distant past, MTV was actually relevant to us foals instead of being only relevant to reality show junkies, back when what they said held weight instead of hosting an award show no one cares about, back when they played videos.

How it all began, the first hour of MTV's life, as played right after midnight on August 1, 1981. Enjoy the corny nostalgia folks (for anyone who remembers), and the weirdness before you were born (for everyone else):

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw6xesXLIAA

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trQebBym-eI

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM2Omcr4UuQ

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZAbtqZvcUo

Part 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dimsyla5htQ

Part 6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7x6pY34TwY

[flutterscotch]

My Least favorite saturday morning cartoons.

AKA the ones who would make me vomit my honeycombs, with links to intros when possible.

I'm going primarily with 1982-1986 here, as the core group. And I am sticking with shows that were on the established cartoon lineups. I could just go on and on about the late 80's since I hated 90% of it, and this list would be far longer than this. This is good, though. It puts me ages 4ish-8ish, before bitter disillusionment (and frequent groundings) set in.

10: Flinstones Kids:

Basically, this goes for any 80's cartoon where they took Hanna-Barbera Characters and made them children, and tried to make them hip.

I always liked the clean lines and detailed backgrounds of the old 60's cartoons, even at that age, so these just seemed weird and cheaply made to me (not to say that the originals weren't)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sivKUzpPpjo

9: Kissyfur

I am not quite sure what turned my heart against this one. Perhaps not 80's enough for me. perhaps the annoying Banjo music. Perhaps the sickly sweetness of it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPSra3AccE0

8: Rock N Wrestling:

Now granted, this was a show that my brother watched.

And I disliked it, not because it was a cartoon about wrestling (because I was all about Captain Lou Albano, because he played Cyndi Lauper's dad in the Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun video, and anyone OK with Cyndi was OK with me)) but because all they did was drive around in weird-ass cars and spout lame taglines. They weren't even badasses. There was an entire episode where all they did was go to a bakery!

In retrospect, though, they may have been the prototype for Metalocalypse's Nathan Explosion.

7: Superfriends:

This was another I had to watch on account of Ian. I hated pretty much everything about this show, especially Aqua Man, Wonder Woman (I grew up on reruns of Wonder Woman, and this animated twit was not her) and those kids with the dog. but I think what I hated the most was the sound effect that segued you into another scene.

I am convinced this show, and the maybe 2 years it was on TV, is the basis for my unyeilding bias against DC comics and their characters.

6: The Ghostbusters.

I'm not talking about our pals Egon, Ray, Peter, Winston and slimer. I am talking about that bull**** with the talking car, Tracy the gorilla and the dude that almost looked enough like the animated version of Dan Aykroyd to confuse me. I don't care if filmation owned the rights to the name or not. Their cartoon was lame.

5: Punky Brewster:

I loved the live-action TV show when I was little, but the addition of the Glomer (Glowmer?) character was absurd. No two bit leprechaun woodchuck is gonna upstage my pal Punky, because the show was ALL ABOUT GLOMER. Who was not even well designed or a bright color. He was all drab brown like a rat! Oddly enough, I would usually watch the into, which was the only vaguely interesting thing about the show. I was convinced it was Cyndi Lauper.

it's not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjfvZOAKo00

4: The Monchichis/The Littles.

Grouping these two together, because they were loathed for the same reasons.

a) Too chirpy, saccharine and annoying (what, and the smurfs weren't?)

at the time my brother and I were extremely anti-monkey. Monkeys were the lamest. If we had a stuffed monkey (and this was true of our stuffed curious george) they were automatically the bad guy.

c) unless you were a cartoon cat, you had no business having a long, flowing tail, in my book. Oh the prejudices of a 7 year old.

3: Scooby and Scrappy doo show. (and we're gonna lump the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo in there as well, they're the same same show.)

P-p-p-p-puppy power. I think that's all I need to say. I can't think of a single person who liked scrappy. I can't even properly make fun of scrappy.

Oh and Daphne, lose the army vest with your mod getup.

Eff you scrappy.

2: Pac Man:

now, don't get me wrong, I loved the game to a degree that might be criminal. But even as a 6 year old I saw through this thin premise and boring beyond boring plot. Luckily it was on during the Smurfs, so I rarely had to watch it. But when I did....

1: Rubik, the amazing cube.

a) how does this premise make ANY SENSE. At least the rest of our cartoons were honest in the fact that they were just commercials for a line of toys. Articulated toys. With pre-designed functions that they would work into the plot, no matter how ridiculously.

how creepily like a baby Dan Lauria (the dad from the wonder years) does this cube look? Of, course, it didn't look like him to me when Iw as a kid, but he looks like a creep old man-baby trapped in a plastic block. WITH NO ARMS. for the love of god WHERE ARE HIS ARMS?

c) menudo. I hated menudo as a child...although I really can't recall why.

This all adds up to an unwatchable pile that gave me nightmares.

Honorable Mention: The Biskitts.

honestly, if it had been about Cats, I probably would have loved it.

Shirt tails with all dogs.

[Hippo]

I actually like the 80's. :grin:

You gotta love the imaginary door knock move.

[flutterscotch]

In the spirit of the the giant hellish princess Celestia toy, here are some 80's commercials for things that also were made more hellish with light or sound.

PJ Sparkles

Chubbles. These faux Jawas always horrified me.

AG Bear. I actually got this evil thing for Christmas in '85. It's 1000X more evil once the batteries start to die.

[flutterscotch]

My Little Pony early playsets!

These things were a lot more fun than the cardboard castle we get now!

The waterfall, which would be a really cool playset if they modified it for cloudsdale!

Dream Castle, Obviously!

Show Stable!

The Paradise Estate one is particularly hellish.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

That AG Bear commercial makes them seem like they might creepier than Furbys.... and THAT is saying something.

Also, that Paradise Estate is HUGE. O_O

[flutterscotch]

That AG Bear commercial makes them seem like they might creepier than Furbys.... and THAT is saying something.

Also, that Paradise Estate is HUGE. O_O

AG bears are highly scary...I have no idea what my parents were thinking, and we had TWO of them!

They're like evil droids that NEVER SHUT UP.:

and HOLY CRAP is Paradise Estate huge. I found one on the side of the road once (someone had just ended their yard sale and took it to the trash) It was in pieces in a box and I could barely carry it. And I was in my 20s! It's truly a product of the 80's. They just don't make playsets for girls that big anymore.

[flutterscotch]

Ghostbusters merchandise!

WHO YA GONNA CALL!

ECTO Cooler (which was delicious!)

WAIT! HOW DID THIS FILMATION COMMERCIAL GET IN MY POST!!!!!

Also, funny because it's true. If you watched the old cartoon, if you were surprised about how much Peter Venkman (Bill Murray's character) sounded like the same voice as Garfield from the 80's cartoon (Or Tummi Gummi from Gummi bears), that is because they were all voiced by Lorenzo Music.

The punchline is that Bill Murray voiced Garfield in the recent-ish movies.

[brianblackberry]

WAIT! HOW DID THIS FILMATION COMMERCIAL GET IN MY POST!!!!!

Also, funny because it's true. If you watched the old cartoon, if you were surprised about how much Peter Venkman (Bill Murray's character) sounded like the same voice as Garfield from the 80's cartoon (Or Tummi Gummi from Gummi bears), that is because they were all voiced by Lorenzo Music.

The punchline is that Bill Murray voiced Garfield in the recent-ish movies.

What is interesting is the Filmnation version on the left there is directly based on an older mid-Seventies live action show (also by Filmnation):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr0k-V1kAZI

The show was a flop and only 15 episodes were made, but because of the Ghostbusters movie (which Columbia Pictures did pay Filmnation for a license to use the name for), Filmnation decided to just off the old idea and repackage it as a cartoon with the sons of the original detective pair inheriting the business, in order to capitalize on the movie's success (with the cartoon actually being significantly more successful than the original show).

[flutterscotch]

What is interesting is the Filmnation version on the left there is directly based on an older mid-Seventies live action show (also by Filmnation):

Yep

And it was ALSO brutally horrible.

[flutterscotch]

Now we all know that our favorite ponies had their genesis in the 80's, so that for us, Generation One in its entirety seems representative of that decade (not to say that there weren't G1s released elsewhere until 1992). But did you know there were some ESPECIALLY 80's ponies?

Here are the Rockin' beat ponies:

My Little Pony Wear Neon Lights

MLP Wear City Kids:

And my PERSONAL favorite: Flashprance

LIKE TOTALLY! FUR SHURE!!!

I also can't help but point out how much Snuzzle has always reminded me of the Brook Shields Doll:

While most people immediately think of the 80's in terms of neon colors, the quintessential early 80's look was all about the pink and grey. (They even made a pink and grey Polaroid Cool Cam. Can you get more 80s? No you can not)

I directly blame the time between Fame and Flashdance (look at what characters in both movies wear in dance scenes. if it's not pink and grey, it's pastels and black.)

[flutterscotch]

Inspired by the previous post, here is an evolution of (non-breakdancing, they'll come later) dance movies!

The movie that closed the door Saturday Night Fever Style fashion.

Then we got a little more scandalous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqgqicHaD-w

Then we got into a series of "Strict daddy or the townspeople don't want me to dance"

With Kevin Bacon Pout Dancing

Sarah Jessica Parker being way too perky for my liking

And finally, the movie that NOBODY would shut up about in 1987 (whether they were a fan or not):

[flutterscotch]

New Wave, because why not???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inrEPapTtMM