Southerly: They don't make 'em like they used to
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What was that balls NZ puppet show with Knights mucking about in space? I think Dave Dobbyn did the theme song. I liked it at the time, but I'm pretty sure I'd receive sharp pains in my good taste receptors if I tried to watch it now.
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What about ..The programs like "The Cherry Lewis Show" Good old "Lamb Chops"...
"HRPuffnStuff": and "Whitchy Poo", or the Magic Roundabout ???, and "Bill and Ben". Classics all.
And for the Adults "The South Tonight with Rodney Bryant".
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What was that balls NZ puppet show with Knights mucking about in space? I think Dave Dobbyn did the theme song.
That was Space Knights. All I remember about the theme song was it went "Space juuunk, space juuuuuunk". And had something about a finger on a trigger.
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NZ yoof tv in the seventies and early eighties was classic, what now was legendary with Simon Barnett et al. Nice one stu etc. Under the Mountain was a great adaptation of Gee's original Children of the Dog Star was cool too, auditioned for the role of Bevis, sadly unsucessful hehe. Another old show starred a mates wife I think it was called the smugglers or something close to that. We used to make wicked cool wildlife doco's too (NZ that is).
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Another vote for Space 1999, although I suspect that means that both Heather and I are of a certain age.
The Muppet Show anyone? I still remember the episode starring Joan Sutherland, with Kermit rushing backstage because he was short one skit, and asking her, with desperation, "Can you tap dance?". And the dame did. Superb.
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I was a babylon 5 fan - it snuck up on me in season2, I think when I realised that it was a carefully plotted mini series & any inconsequential event might come back, one or two episodes, or even seasons later & be shown to be an occurrence of monumental importance.
And Shari Lewis & Lambchop. Yeah. I thought she was hot.
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I was a sucker for American trash: Automan, BJ and the Bear, Dukes of Hazzard. Hmm, I sense a car theme which is strange given how unmechanical I've turned out.
On the Kiwi front, Ollie Ohlson from After School ... hey, can anyone YouTube Ollie uttering that famous "Keep Cool 'til After School!" line?
Of course, nothing's as good when we go back to it. Neil Gaiman blogged that watching the Muppets with his kids wasn't what he'd hoped it would be--the shows haven't aged as well as our memories of them have. I can second that. However when I bittorrented all of the Goodies, my kids went batshit over them. Everyone once in a while William will spontaneously erupt in the themesong ...
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Yeah, we tried the Muppets on our two, and they were not overly impressed. After their enjoyment of the new Doctor Who, we've started watching Blake's 7 with them (on DVD) and, after a slow start, and it being a little bit scary, they seem to be warming to it.
Sapphire and Steel was definitely one of my favourites - I'm not sure why it played it kidult time slots - it's scary, complicated, and fascinating, and challenging to try to work out what's going on, and what's going to happen next (and of course Joanna Lumley ...).
And the Tomorrow People was great as well.
I don't think you can count UFO as a kid's program - we used to stay up late to watch it (8:30 time slot I think ?).
Cushla wrote :
A second was a rather creepy series about a young girl who got sucked into some alternate reality via a picture of "The Scream" on her bedroom wall.
I wonder if this is the really scary one I remember of a girl who was hospitalised, and drew pictures of things. She got drawn into the pictures (when she slept ?) and ended up being trapped in a lighthouse with a crippled boy, surrounded by boulders, which gradually crept towards the lighthouse whenever the light wasn't on them. (Scared the willy's out of me ...). Can't remember what it was called, but the last episode that I saw she drew a bicycle in her picture and then used it to try and carry the boy to safety by cycling past the boulders, but she ended up crashing. Didn't see the show again, and never found out what happened. Anyone know what it was called ?
(Must also second the mention of Survivors - a fantastic programme ...).
Cheers,
Brent. -
I wonder if this is the really scary one I remember of a girl who was hospitalised, and drew pictures of things
It's based on a book called Marianne Dreams, but I think the series had another name... anyway, hunted this down a while back.
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Thanks Heather,
Like you said, funny about it being primarily for the hearing impaired . I can still recall the music accompanying the segments:
The worker digging with the spade
The burbs with the voice bubbles
and of course the guy in the lab coatCheers
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I'd put another vote in for Count Homogenised (anyone remember the separate but still very retro "milk bottle rap"?) and, of course, Olly Olsen.
As for It's Academic - being a nerd that I was/am, I tuned in and Lockwood Smith couldn't pronounce to save himself. He'd ask a question and you wouldn't understand what he was talking about until the answer came out "that's not how you say it!".
Didn't he become the Education Spokesman for the National Party? God help us!
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I have vague (yet entertaining) recollections of Count Homogenised, but I can't successfully reconstruct the plot, just the vague idea. And of course Russell with a milk bottle.
when I bittorrented all of the Goodies
I rented The Goodies a few weeks ago, and have to say that I was somewhat disappointed. Although I'm also wondering if it was just a less funny series of episodes.
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Didn't he become the Education Spokesman for the National Party?
Worse than that, he was Minster of Education at least once.
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There was a wonderful moment on that show, which I can't find online, but which gave me much joy later in life as a student activist.
Lockwood asked a question, along the lines of 'what is a name for any living creature beginning with O'. The poor girl replied 'orgasm' instead of 'organism'.
And Lockwood Smith simply said: 'Correct'.
A truly great moment in NZ TV.
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Lots of great memories here.
I'd like to vote for Dr Who (esp the John Pertwee incarnation), UFO and Space 1999 were great and Blakes 7 was better - all in that British ... "we can't afford the special effects, so we'll fake it and the audiance will go along with us" ... style.And while I really do think those were great shows I also remember watching with great enjoyment complete crap like Buck Rogers and The 6 million Dollar Man. Were they great? er no but they did entertain me as a kid.
On a slightly higher level for American shows was Star Trek the original series. Yes in hindsight it was formulaic and sexist but sometimes they actually looked at real issues in an entertaining story.
But to be truely honest as a child I had a huge amount of fun watching Wild Kingdom and Flipper and Gilligans Island too.
Like Brent I was scared shitless by that lighthouse and the boulders that moved - thanks so much for the name of that - now I can see if we can get a copy.
So I don't know what is the greatest of all time, it depends on what the criteria is. As a child I enjoyed Flipper as much as Dr Who so which is the better childrens program?
cheers
Bart -
Ooooh, the Lost Islands.
Best theme tune ever.
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The Marriane Dreams book about the girl who draws pictures that become real was made into "Escape into Night" adapted for TV by Ruth Boswell who was also involved in another favourite of folks here .. The Tomorrow People!
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As for It's Academic - being a nerd that I was/am, I tuned in and Lockwood Smith couldn't pronounce to save himself. He'd ask a question and you wouldn't understand what he was talking about until the answer came out "that's not how you say it!".
I can attest to this being absolutely true, the man had a penchant for the mongoloid mouth mumbles. I was on the Waitakere college team and we lost our regional final due to a lockwoodism pronouncing krait [krahyt] as crite this led to us giving an incorrect answer and losing the game by half the penalty points he took away. A krait is a venomous snake found in asia btw.
Strange, the things we remember.
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As a grownup, most of the Goodies is disappointing. I'll probably be forced to turn in my 1992-era Monty Python Appreciation Society t-shirt for saying so, but even most of Python now fails to work for me. But when the Goodies fire, as when Python fires, it's hot and good.
What I've been enjoying lately are the "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again" episodes. There are some real gems from the Goodies/Python crowd in there. Of course, that's radio shows and not TV.
And then there was Blackadder. I blame Blackadder for the fact that I don't speak like a Kiwi. I watched them all on first broadcast (the TV equivalent of owning a first edition), from teenager through to the final episode of the fourth series in the university hall of residence. We all just shuffled out in shocked silence ... so powerful.
I recently rediscovered a documentary that really influenced me. James Burke's "Day the Universe Changed" was mind-blowing at the time, and remains so. I bittorrented the series and it stands up to repeated viewing. I also bought the book and it is even better than the series. Strongly recommended.
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Ooooh, the Lost Islands.
Best theme tune ever.The interweb hath provided. I managed to find a .wav of the opening theme and closing theme of the Lost Islands on this website.
It's a really hearty sea shanty if ever there was one, complete with dramatic flute trills to underscore the perilous parts. I'd say more happened in that opening song than would happen in the rest of the episode.
Also this website has the lyrics to the theme song as well as awesome photos of Tony, Mark and David, Anna and Su Ying.
I was surprised to see that only 26 episodes of The Lost Islands were ever made, because it seriously felt like TVNZ played at least 500 episodes of it in the '80s.
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No one even seems to remember my favourite...
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Say... anyone remember Captain Pugwash? Noggin the Nog?
I don't think it ever screened here, but it occured ot me last night, that the very best kids show in the UK, was possibly the simplest.
Might have to look on youtube for the theme tune...
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I always thought of The Lost Islands when all that stuff about Pitcairn Island came up last year. I suspect both Survivor and season 3 of Lost have poached a concept or two from the older show.
Secret Valley was another Aussie staple. I know the words to the themesong better than Waltzing Matilda, which it's based on.
On the American front, Terrahawks, Stingray, and a remake of a Japanese puppet thing Starfleet were fun. I loved the science shows too - 3,2,1 Contact and The Edison Twins.
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Dr Who must be one of those shows that everyone knows in some form or another, wasn't there a 24hour Marathon on at some point? Some of those US shows stick out because they seemed to be on all the time. Greatest American heroes was one of those, and the Hulk.
Fraggle Rock
Terry Teo
Under the Mountain
One more for the Muppets...Telethon was awesome in my memory but it was in reality just an excuse to stay up all night!
And aparently I used to LOVE Count Homogenised, but I can't remember it now, does anyone know of any images/clips online that I can reminisce to?
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Sometimes I wonder if Jim Henson was a formative influence on my personality. The sheer all-being-idiots-together warmth of the muppets... Or maybe it was reading Winnie the Pooh.
I must have watched Sesame Street before and after the time when they started making the language-learning slots in Maori. So when I spent a year of primary school in the US someone else in the class - from Chile - was deeply impressed to find I knew the Spanish for 'water'.
I also remember another class at primary singing the Dukes of Hazzard theme song as a choir thing.
It's good to have people remember the same shows I do. I feel not-too-old
If we're trying trump each other's obscurities, what about 'The Kids From OWL'?
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