symondrake.com » Retro TV

Treat your mother right… fool!

Symon — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:21:00 +0000

Anyone growing up in the 80′s loved Mr. T. He was an icon of a bygone and fondly reminisced era. My wife even had a crush on him back in the day (married me because we look so similar;-) But I digress.

What I bet most of us Gen X’s don’t know (or anyone else for that matter) is that Mr. T had a brief stint as a singer/songwriter. I kid you not… and video proof follows.

Kinda catchy if you ask me…

Fred and Barney’s Nicotine addiction

Symon — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:55:00 +0000

Anyone in their 30′s and older will remember well the Flintstones. The cartoon was one of my all-time favourites and I reminisce (with nostalgic happiness) the 80′s when the show screened every school day around 4pm. Any cultured kidult will know that the Flintstones equal retro cartoonsville at its very best. I even named my cat ‘Barney’ in honour of the show.

What I bet you didn’t know is that good old Fred and Barney were also heavy cigarette smokers, frequently lighting up and at the same time encouraging their impressionable viewers to do the same.

Shame on them. Actually, same on the shows producers. Let me explain…

The Flintstones series was initially aimed at adult audiences, and the first series was sponsored by Winstone Cigarettes. Hanna Barbara allowed Fred and Barney to appear in several black and white television commercials for the cigarette company.

And we think that today’s cartoons are a bad influence!?

The ‘Star Wars Musical’ mystery

Symon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:36:00 +0000

Last night I solved a 30-year-old mystery that had haunted me all my life… subjected me to humiliation, and caused me to think I was either crazy, or that the whole world had been deceived.

I was an absolute Star Wars fanatic from the summer of 77 (when I saw ‘A New Hope’ at 3 years of age) until my teen years.

I always had this bizarre memory that I saw a Star Wars sequel of sorts on TV when I was 4 years old. All my life, I could recall surreal images of Chewbacca’s family being attacked by Stormtroopers, Princess Leah singing the Star Wars theme and a guy pouring milk into a hole in his head… none of which ever happened in any of the Star Wars movies.

Did anyone believe me? No, Did people think I was making it all up? Yes. Did I think I was crazy? Well…

Not anymore! Last night, thanks to the marvel of cyberspace, I solved the mystery. Take a deep breath and read on. (From wikipedia…)

The Star Wars Holiday Special was a two-hour television special set in the Star Wars galaxy. It was the first official Star Wars spinoff produced. It was broadcasted in its entirety in the United States only once on Friday, November 17, 1978.

The film is notorious for its negative reception. At a fan convention, George lucas said, “If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it.”
David Hofstede, author of ‘What Were They Thinking?: The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History’, ranked the holiday special at number one, calling it “the worst two hours of television ever.”

Shower power

Symon — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:22:00 +0000

We have low shower pressure. It’s very annoying, but at least it saves us on power.

The in-laws have high shower pressure. I had a shower at their house tonight, and was blown away by the strength of the water (almost literally).

It reminded me of an Seinfield episode I once saw, where Kramer desperately wanted more water pressure, and would do almost anything to get it. To this day, I think it is the funniest part of the whole Seinfield era.

View the clip below.

1978 Galactica in 2008

Symon — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:37:00 +0000

Paisley Jade left for the Sistas conference yesterday, so I’ve become ‘Mr. Mum‘ again for a few days.

Last night I put the girls to bed early and us guys (my two sons and I) transformed the lounge into a home theatre by placing the sofa right up close to the TV (to make the 21 inches of screen look bigger) and turning out the light. I then introduced my boys to three episodes of the classic 1978-1980 Battlestar Galactica TV series… Retro TV at its best.

Talk about taking me back! I grew up on a healthy (or unhealthy) diet of Star Wars, Buck Rogers and Galactica and spent many hours as a lad pretending to be Starbuck and Apollo, and being terrified of the Cylons (I hid behind the couch on more than one occasion during the series).

Enough reminiscing already… back to last night. Even though I was frequently interupted by comments like “That looks fake dad” and “I can see the strings”, the boys loved the episodes and a great night was had by all. There’s nothing like a cheesy thirty year old Sci-fi TV series to bring a family together!

I don’t recommend the ‘re-imagined’ Galactica series of recent years. I’ve never watched an episode but Wikipedia tells me it’s full of violence and heavily suggested sexual content. TV ain’t what it used to be.

For those of you who completetly missed the original (everyone 30 and under), below is the opening theme.

Retro TV: Jamie & the Magic Torch

Symon — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:31:00 +0000

It’s about time I wrote another retro TV post. Tonight you get to hear about the first cartoon show I ever remember watching… Jamie and the Magic Torch.

‘Magic Torch’ screened from 1977 to 1979 (I don’t remember any re-runs). The show was based around a young boy and his torch (funny that). When shone on the floor, the torch opened up a hole into a fun dimension called Cuckoo Land.

The makers of the cartoon must have been doing some serious psychedelic drugs at the time. As Youtube reveals, it was very bizarre (perhaps the influence it had on my impressionable 3 year old mind explains my slightly random personality today).

If you are bored silly, and have nothing better to do for ten minutes, you can watch a full episode below. Ahhh the happy memories. Youtube is a nostalgic’s best friend!

My top 5 childhood crushes

Symon — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:56:00 +0000

In May I reminisced about my childhood heroes… today you get to read about my top five childhood crushes (lucky you).

5. The Abba girls

I confess my very first childhood crush was on Agnetha and Anni-frid. My siblings were all teenagers when Abba-mania came to the Drake household (late 70s). I was four years old. Ahhhh young love.

4. Daisy Duke

I’m sure EVERY boy alive during the Dukes of Hazzard television series (1979-1985), had a crush on Daisy.

3. Wonder Woman

Who can forget the lasso throwing, bad-guy thumping Wonder Woman (1976-1979)? I guess she was everything a five-year old wanted in a lady.

2. Princess Leia

Princess Leia Organa made it to number two. She was definately a woman who could take care of herself. I bet Han Solo camped in the lounge a lot.

1. Wilma Deering

Coming in at number one (none of the others come close) is definately the lovely Wilma Deering from ‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century’ (1979-1981). I know I’m not the only guy who had a crush on Wilma growing up (right Lesmond J?).

It’s amazing how the seductiveness and the tight body suits of the 70′s didn’t even register in my young mind. The age of innocence was great. Looking back, I think the most attractive aspect about them was that most of them were in cool TV programmes/movies with lots of action and explosions and guns.

Well, almost 3 decades later, I am a very happily married man, and have an incredible wife! How does DW compare to my childhood crushes? DW blows them all away. She’s real too… not a creation of TV land!

Retro TV: The Lost Islands

Symon — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:46:00 +0000

Back in the days when I actually went fishing, my buddy Lesmond J. and I would spend hours reminiscing about the TV shows we used to watch as kids growing up in the late 70′s and 80′s. Ahh, the good old days… fishing, while talking about the good older days [cue to wipe tear from eye now].

During one of those fish mishes we would have spent a good half-hour talking, laughing, reminiscing, quizzing each other with useless trivia about, and singing the theme song (well, trying to sing the parts we remembered anyway) to the classic kid’s after-school show ‘The Lost Islands’. Now anyone under 34 won’t have a clue what I’m talking about. Those in their mid-late 30′s will probably have a small smile on their face right about now as the song comes back to them. I loved the theme tune… it told a whole story, a haunting story. What a classic series! I hid behind the sofa on more than one occasion as I watched the show. It was riveting back in the day, when kids television shows taught morals, respect, and self-sacrifice.

Now, thanks to Youtube, for your reminiscing pleasure, in its original magicalness, is the opening credits to ‘The Lost Islands’… The first of many retro TV posts.