Distant memoirs of television…
Posted by Prashanth | Filed under General
I actually got the idea of writing about this from another blog I read called Moonstruck.
A very long time ago, I was a television addict. Not just because it had many, very interesting shows, but also because I had nothing else to entertain myself. Now, Television shows for me are just restricted to very selective NatGeo stuff, a few on StarOne, Cricket and a few football matches, and music channels just in case my internet connection fails! (I am on MTNL, hence that is very rare!)
Here are a few notable television picks from my walnut worth of memory. I guess it would be better if you keep some control on your sense of ratiocination here…
X-Men Evolution
If you think young Prashanth, think sci-fi. I used to love any superhero stuff that had some good scientific reasoning behind it. Cartoons like Superman (or any from DC comics) were simply to unreal to be watched. Words like neogenics, mutation, genes, evolution and many other terminologies ripped off from Darwin appeared fascinating to me. Now, couple believable amount of science (for a guy in class V) with a super solid storyline (and deadly looking girls in anime and guys with adamantium claws). I was simply hooked to the storyline which spanned several series of nearly 42+10 episodes. Actually, those many episodes were telecasted on Cartoon Network (CN). I was really disappointed when the story was snapped in the middle and the production halted without any conclusion leaving memories and questions that haunt me till this date… “WTF happened to Apocalypse? What happened to the sewer dwelling Morlocks?…”
Jonny Quest
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest to be precise, this was one cartoon which took me a few episodes to actually start understanding what the whole series was about… (Fact: I was 8 when I started watching this!)
I first got attracted to this show because of the breath-taking adrenaline-rushing soundtrack that this had. Secondly, the gorgeous looking 3-d visuals of the quest world. Thirdly, a stunning female anime star named Jessie. (I have something with red-headed femme animes… Jean Grey, Jessie, Mary Jane…)
But what hooked me to this series after I started to comprehend it was its episodic relavence to real-life paranormal and scientific mysteries. Controversial events such as the Cover-up at Roswell, Easter Island Statues, etc were highlighted and a fictional conclusion of questions were given giving me loads of food for thought. I appreciate the amount of realism in this anime till date! Some animated series don’t deserved to be called cartoons!
Popeye the Sailorman
Hëll, it is so badly embarrassing to say but, till the age of 7-8, I was in love with this dumb cartoon called Popeye. It consisted of a series of small-length cartoons which are as predictable as Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM) is…
A big fat idiot, a tall, skinny girl and this bloke in the middle whose adrenal glands respond to the stimuli of small doses of Spinach which seems highly rediculous now, but this used to make me eat Palak at home when I was young…
The Little Lulu Show
Simply brilliant. “Witty, cool, smart, decent, creative” would be my words to describe this series. Its about a group of six elementary school kids and their life, family, and everything else. It wouldn’t just be a 30 minute long show with 3 small quickies, but would also have decent punches of humour with some stand up comedy. I would laugh at Lulu’s jokes even at this age!
A very high credit to the development of my English vocabulary and language style goes to this very show. I initially started watching this only because it was the only cartoon in which we could have fun by only understanding the language. In other words, this is was very different from the slapstick stereotypes that used to come then…
Dexter’s Laboratory
It was my childhood ambition to become the world’s biggest geek. At the age of 6-8, this was my source of scientific jargon. I used to get hold of those words, keep it in my head, refer to the dictionary/encyclopedia/book or ask some elder more about this and ultimately show off my newly found knowledge at school and even have fun in the whole process.
I was attracted to this cartoon because the very thought of a secret laboratory in the bedroom, a “super-conducting” Christmas Tree, a “dispersing” steel plate, etc were music to my ears. Only months later did I realize the joke behind such inventions. Nevertheless, this cartoon had a hand in developing my geeky inclination…
Looney Tunes
“Eyeehhh, tch-tch, What’s up Doc?“, This is one line that has been making me laugh ever since I started understanding English. It wasn’t just Bugs Bunny, but also the entire Looney Toons parade consisting of Daffy, Porky, Tasmanian Devil, Marvin the Martian, Roadrunner, Wile-E-Coyote, Sylvester and a few more which I have forgotten.
It was a perfect combo of witty, slapstick, cat-mice-chase, witty dialogues to give a healthy amount of entertainment. Even Baby Looney Tunes and Tiny Toon Adventures were very very amusing.
Sheep in the Big City
Not many people know about this show but it was my very first exposure to the satire/sarcastic/parody/pun sort of humour. It was about a sheep named Sheep which was mysteriously stranded in the big city. General Specific, who wants to use the sheep-powered ray gun needs a sheep. So now we have Sheep on the lam(b) from the military as well an angry scientist named Angry Scientist! LMAO..!!
Complete with Oxymoronic Commercial shows in the middle, this was a cleverly made entertainer.
Spiderman
Now, this ain’t animated. He is a real life guy who is among the top 50 most important people on earth today. Conservationist, television host, naturalist, researcher, a very cool narrator and my idol for many many years. Kudos to this guy and Steve Irvin, for it was due to the efforts of them that my area of interest was tilted to the nature/wildlife side.
Many of my friends and avid readers of my blog have felt this…
The Crocodile Hunter
Just like Jeff Corwin, the late Steve Irwin was also a conservationist and the owner of the Australian zoo. He too used to go into the wild and handle those creatures or really get a close look at them. I only used to dream of going to such places as a kid. And guess what, all this watching did pay off! I did go to such trips and I did get to perform all those antics!
Steve’s style of going wild was wilder that Jeff’s. To increase viewership ratings, Steve used to put his life on the edge with the most deadly creatures with the least amount of safety equipment. Sadly, one such shoot ended the show, ended his life but surely didn’t end my interest towards naturalism. Steve would be in my heart forever!
Popular Mechanics for Kids
Till the age of 10, this was a cool technology show that I used to watch on discovery kid. For one primary reason, Elisha Cuthbert! Yes, I have been admiring Elisha ever since she was 12 years old and I was about 6.
Other than that, I used to marvel at the 3d animations of cross-sections of machines that they used to show to explain the workings. The narration was very clever and sharp. This show too had a good hand in developing my language as well as Geek Quotient.
Garfield
Last, and certainly not the least, Garfield. Don’t start yawning yet as there is heavy entertainment hidden in boredom. Garfield clearly illustrated this. I remember some of Garfield’s one-liners even till this date. I never imagined someone to be lazier than I was… and funny at the same time.
I used to laugh out loud for days on seeing the plight of Jonathan Arbuckle, the guy who owned both a lazy cat and a stupid dog.
Seriously, my memory isn’t that bad either. Stay tuned for more from my long gone past. Am I not sounding a lot like Logan? 
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6 Responses to “Distant memoirs of television…”
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Says:
July 5th, 2007 at 9:36 amwaise bhai jaan…i edited ubuntu boot loader..It’s dámn easy..
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Says:
July 5th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I can’t believe I forgot Johny Quest. I loved it. It was one of the smart cartoons… -
Says:
July 5th, 2007 at 10:08 amOH, and spiderman still airs. The old and the new version.
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Says:
July 5th, 2007 at 10:19 am@Sanchit: Good that you did. It was just as easy as re-ordering the stuff inside the /etc/grub.conf file.
@Suvina: Really, tell me the timings, I might catch a glimpse of it. Ah, forget it, EPG rules! And don’t you have a Gmail ID? -
Says:
July 6th, 2007 at 4:37 pmI have DO have a Gmail ID.
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Says:
July 12th, 2007 at 6:56 amHi Prashanth, Im writing from Miditech Pvt. Ltd, we’re a production house based in Delhi. We are making a documentary on Delhi where we will be covering something about its ecology. We were wondering if you would like to be part of the documentary. If you are please mail me at anant.raina@gmail.com
Thanks
Anant
