I was digging through bins at a Goodwill last weekend and found a dusty VHS tape of the show Guts from Nickelodeon. Popped it into my old player and it had the episode where they did the Aggro Crag course. It brought back so many memories of afternoons watching that and Double Dare. Anyone else find random 90s show tapes at thrift stores?
Tbh I finally watched through all of Hey Arnold again last month when I was home sick for a week. And honestly I found it kind of boring compared to what I remembered. I get that people love the jazzy soundtrack and the whole urban vibe but the episodes felt slow and half the time nothing really happened. I sat through like 20 episodes before I realized I was just waiting for something exciting that never came. Three years ago I would have argued with anyone who said this but now I think shows like Doug or even The Angry Beavers had more consistent humor and energy. Does anyone else think Hey Arnold gets a free pass just because of nostalgia?
I was talking with my sister last weekend and she mentioned how Clarissa always broke the fourth wall... I had never even noticed that. For like 25 years I thought she was just talking to herself or to the audience by accident. It clicked when she said 'she's literally talking to you, the viewer' and I felt so dumb. All those episodes I watched after school and I missed the whole point of her explaining stuff. Has anyone else had a late realization about a show they thought they knew inside and out?
Picked Rugrats because I thought Doug was too slow. Biggest mistake of 4th grade. Did anyone else make a wrong cartoon pick and regret it?
Found it on eBay for $45 and figured it was worth the nostalgia trip. Man, that show still holds up way better than I expected. The intro music alone gave me chills again. But I blew through all 5 seasons in two weeks and now I'm stuck watching the 90s commercials that came on between episodes. Anyone else rewatch an old show and realize it was actually kind of creepy for kids?
I know this is like blasphemy in the 90s kid community but I never got the hype around the original English Sailor Moon theme. My sister played it on repeat on our cassette player back in 1998 and it just grated on me. I actually discovered the original Japanese opening a few years ago on YouTube and that one has way more energy and fits the show better. Does anyone else prefer the sub version over the dubbed theme or am I just weird?
I was folding towels in the living room yesterday and my 8 year old had Recess on the tablet. I sat down for a minute and watched the episode where Spinelli gets nervous about a spelling bee. It got me thinking about how that show actually nailed playground politics better than most adult shows do office drama. Did any of you rewatch a 90s cartoon as an adult and realize it was way deeper than you remembered?
The digital world animation holds up way better than I remembered. But did the English dub cut out something important from the original Japanese version?
I was renting a VHS tape of "Gargoyles" at the Blockbuster on Miller Road and a teenage clerk said "that show's actually pretty deep for a kids cartoon." He pointed out how the storylines were like grown-up dramas, and I went back and watched all 65 episodes that summer. Anybody else have a random person at a video store steer you toward a show you'd normally skip?
So last Saturday I was at a friend's place in Portland for a 90s cartoon binge, and we had Rugrats playing on loop for like 6 hours straight. At one point Tommy Pickles said 'a baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do' and it hit me way harder than it should have. I literally rearranged my whole morning schedule the next day to stop hitting snooze three times. Has anyone else had a dumb cartoon quote randomly change how you do stuff?
A buddy told me I was just watching for the nostalgia and not the actual writing, so I rewatched the first episode and yeah, the jokes were way simpler than I remembered, anyone else feel like 90s shows moved slower than today's cartoons?
I was strictly cartoons only back in the 90s, thought live action was boring. Last month my buddy from high school invited me over for a marathon of the first 2 seasons. I rolled my eyes but went because he had pizza. By episode 4 I was actually laughing at Zack Morris's dumb schemes. We watched 8 episodes in one sitting. Now I've been binging the whole series on my own for the last 2 weeks. Did anyone else refuse to watch live action as a kid or was that just me being stubborn?
Back in 1998, my 7th grade teacher Mr. Garcia had us watch Boy Meets World and told us to pay attention to Feeny's little speeches. I rolled my eyes then. Fast forward to last month, I was stuck on a work thing and randomly remembered Feeny telling Cory 'believe in yourselves, not in the dream.' Mr. Garcia said that same line was about pushing through the boring daily grind. I messaged him on Facebook to say thanks. Anyone else have a teacher who connected classroom stuff to a specific 90s show?
I was watching the marathon last weekend and my buddy said 'listen how forced those laughs are' and now I can't unhear it. It's jarring how often they cut to that canned sound even during quiet moments. Has anyone else had a random observation ruin a 90s show for them?
I saw it at a retro toy shop last month and just couldn't resist. The whole series on DVD for $80 felt like a steal until I got home and the first disc had a scratch that skips during the whole Reptar episode. I tried cleaning it with toothpaste and everything but no luck. Has anyone else gotten burned buying old DVD sets from these shops?
I tried to sing the full Rugrats theme from memory last week and it took me a solid 10 minutes to realize there was a whole second verse I'd completely blocked out because it always got cut off in reruns, anyone else have that hit of forgotten lyrics?
I used to think Recess was just background noise for kids. Last month my nephew put it on and I caught the episode where they form a club to fight the playground rules. The writing is actually smart, the characters have real depth like Spinelli and Gretchen. I binged the whole series in two weeks. Anyone else rediscover a show they wrote off as a kid and realize it was better than you remembered?
Was humming the 90s X-Men theme at a friend's place and he put on the real intro, turns out I had the melody completely backwards. Has anyone else had a moment where you found out a childhood show's theme or plot point was totally different than you remembered?
I went to a small comic con in Portland last month and sat in on a panel about 90s action shows. Some guy who used to work on the show started talking about fight choreography and how they had to hide the zord transitions. Turns out there were all these hidden jokes and continuity errors I never noticed as a kid. Like when they morph, the camera angles actually hide the actor swaps in specific ways. He pointed out a scene in season 2 where you can see a crew member's hand adjusting a prop. I went home and rewatched a few episodes on YouTube and felt like I was seeing them for the first time. Has anyone else had an experience like that where someone pointed out something obvious about a show you loved as a kid?
I was at my buddy's apartment on the 12th floor near downtown Denver last summer... his rabbit ears kept losing signal during Power Rangers. The landlord came by to fix the sink and just wrapped some aluminum foil around the base and told me to point the loops toward the building across the street. I swear to god it worked like magic after that. Has anyone else picked up weird maintenance tricks from old building superintendents?
For years I skipped Doug cause it seemed so low key compared to stuff like Ren and Stimpy, but my younger cousin made me watch an episode with her last weekend and I actually got into the whole weird imagination thing with Porkchop. The humor is way smarter than I gave it credit for as a kid, especially Mr. Dink's dry jokes. Anyone else have a show they slept on but came around to way later?
I was hanging out with my buddy Mike last weekend and he dropped this take that's been bugging me. He said stuff like He-Man and Transformers were basically 22 minute toy commercials, while newer shows actually try to tell real stories. I mean, he's not totally wrong when you look at how many action figures came out for TMNT or Power Rangers. But then I think about shows like Batman The Animated Series or Gargoyles, which had crazy deep plots and character arcs. So which is it for you guys, do you think the 90s were more about selling merchandise or did the storytelling hold up on its own?
I was over at a buddy’s house in Denver last month and he asked why my tape looked so bad. He took one look at my VCR and said the tracking was off by a tiny bit. I had no idea you could even adjust that manually on my old Panasonic. Tweaked it with a little screwdriver and now the whole movie looks way clearer. Anybody else got a random fix like that for old tapes?
I was rewatching the old episodes on YouTube last night and noticed 'Funnie' is literally on his mail in the intro. I always just called him Doug for 30 years without thinking about it. Did anyone else miss that detail as a kid?