Captain Planet, Heartbreak High and Other Reasons My Generation is Better Than Yours.
September 26th 2006 00:01
Damn right, it's better than yours.
Those of us born between about 1984-1989 are a holy bunch. We're in an awesome demograpic that dodged the effects of the goth fad but we were born late enough to be tall enough to spit on emos.
We were raised on the absurdity and brilliance of early Nickelodeon cartoons like Rocko's Modern Life, Ren Stimpy and Ahh Real Monsters. So we escaped the time before children had to relate to everything like when the Rugrats stopped having post-modern subversive adventures and had to worry about their periods and fringe symmetry in Rugrats All Grown Up. Experiencing the metaphors and deliberate insanity of early Nickelodeon let us enhance our creativity and our acceptance for the bizarre.
However, we still have appreciation for retro as we know all the words to the Captain Planet theme song and we know the feeling of actually anticipating new Simpsons episodes. The 3D episode? Who Shot Mr Burns? Now the children are supposed to feel excited about JD's penis pump story arc on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Somehow we turned out ok even though we didn't need to watch "real" cartoon characters "dealing with issues" so literally. At least Captain Planet had a fantasy element hiding its blatant message, they don't even give the younguns of today enough credit to interpret. Not to mention The ABC used to have Daria and Heartbreak High, voices for a generation. Drazic and Anita... so EMBARRASSING.
The Macarena was better than the The Crazy Frog Song, at least the former enhanced our knowledge of Mediterranean cultures and improved out coordination. We at least knew non-electronic fads like Glow Caps and Yoyos and even though it's electronic, Tamagotchis taught us valuable parenting abilities. Now ALL CHILDREN have iPods, mobile phones and Crystal Meth addictions.
Sure some of us we were a bit late to fully appreciate cassettes but at least we remember when BUYING cds was popular. We're completely at ease to going online however I'm sure we can still remember when it was actually a viable question in primary school to ask "Do you have the internet?" - back when online animated greeting cards were AMAZING.
Obviously every generation says things like this, I'm sure the current rising generation will be a bunch of wilting irises who'll reminisce about myspace, chunky non-plasma tvs and... muslims. Although emo is even a joke now; we can be thrilled that we'll be able to look back at old photos without cringing.
So we get the best of both worlds. We're completely familiar and can relate to the modern age of slavery to machines but at least have the memory of when mail could be posted. We escaped being raised purely on righteous tv which made us suitably irreverent and cyncial to take on the universe. However, it's not to an extent that we're desensitised to everything.
Yeah, we're an awesome demographic. Add a comment...
Those of us born between about 1984-1989 are a holy bunch. We're in an awesome demograpic that dodged the effects of the goth fad but we were born late enough to be tall enough to spit on emos.
Earth! Fire! VIND! Water! Heart!
However, we still have appreciation for retro as we know all the words to the Captain Planet theme song and we know the feeling of actually anticipating new Simpsons episodes. The 3D episode? Who Shot Mr Burns? Now the children are supposed to feel excited about JD's penis pump story arc on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Somehow we turned out ok even though we didn't need to watch "real" cartoon characters "dealing with issues" so literally. At least Captain Planet had a fantasy element hiding its blatant message, they don't even give the younguns of today enough credit to interpret. Not to mention The ABC used to have Daria and Heartbreak High, voices for a generation. Drazic and Anita... so EMBARRASSING.
Modern Emo "Boiz"
Sure some of us we were a bit late to fully appreciate cassettes but at least we remember when BUYING cds was popular. We're completely at ease to going online however I'm sure we can still remember when it was actually a viable question in primary school to ask "Do you have the internet?" - back when online animated greeting cards were AMAZING.
Obviously every generation says things like this, I'm sure the current rising generation will be a bunch of wilting irises who'll reminisce about myspace, chunky non-plasma tvs and... muslims. Although emo is even a joke now; we can be thrilled that we'll be able to look back at old photos without cringing.
So we get the best of both worlds. We're completely familiar and can relate to the modern age of slavery to machines but at least have the memory of when mail could be posted. We escaped being raised purely on righteous tv which made us suitably irreverent and cyncial to take on the universe. However, it's not to an extent that we're desensitised to everything.
Yeah, we're an awesome demographic. Add a comment...
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Comment by Justin
We were consciously aware for the start of the nineties and sported Hypercolour t-shirts, those flexible wrist straps in all different colours, thought C and C Music Factory were the coolest along with KLF and the Utah Saints song, T2 was the best film ever (close second being TMNT with the cameo of Vanilla Ice) and Arnie was our hero. You were either a populist nintendo or fringe-dwelling sega kid and wished for Nike Air Jordans though your mum would buy you the now-fashionable Dunlops. And the only time when incest was cool was involving He-Man and sister She-Ra.
Though there's some overlap, let's combine our forces Voltron style into the eighties as a whole decade being the best time to be born! Thunder.. thunder... Thunder cats! Rowwwwrrrrrrr!
P.S. Have to drink less coke in the morning. =/
Comment by Joy
But Captain Planet? Now there's the cartoon everyone loved. Along with the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lovely post.
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Captain Planet = what was with the lame kid with 'Heart' as his power? He got ripped off, man.
Do you remember the Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light?
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Jimbo
Nickelodeon totally lost it when they started up Rugrats All Grown Up. In fact, after the first movie I reckon, it just lost all creativity. All those twisted cartoons like Angry Beavers and whatnot. And Cheez TV! Remember CheezTV! Waking up at 7am just so you could watch Sailor Moon! Then of course came Pokemon and Magic, and anime invaded TV. Innocence disappeared.
Comment by woweez
Comment by Grant
I've got a theory about the demise of quality tv as well- anyone notice that the quality all went downhill after the Power Rangers? It was as if the overacted live action and phenomenally successful merchandising infected the rest of afternoon tv as tv executives realised that tv didn't have to be good to be profitable. From that point on they played out the good shows then rolled out dud after dud...
<Sigh>
Remember when anyone at school with a mobile phone was a try-hard yuppie?
Comment by Ailene
xoxo
Ailene from www.melodicyouth.com
Comment by Anonymous
& the days where you'd sit by the radio just waiting for that song to come on and praying that the whole version would be played without any voiceovers. We had to work for our stolen music!
It makes me sick seeing 5y.o's with mobiles now
&& rollerblading! Was that just us? I never see people doing it anymore.
Our generation ftw!
Comment by Chantal
Great post!
Chantal www.dropofpop.com
Comment by Anonymous
Our gen is so awesome I want to cry....not in the emo way.
Comment by Anonymous
Our gen is so awesome I want to cry....not in the emo way.
Comment by Anonymous
Best tv shows EVER!
Kids these days are getting ripped off with their shitty shows. Like, what the hell is 'Toasted Tv'?!
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
I hated Captain Planet and Widget... so lame and PC.
Comment by Jasey Donovan
God I love reminiscing!
Had my Press Gang marathon last weekend, and I never get tired of singing the theme songs to Captain Planet, the Raggydolls, and Degrassi Jr Hiiiiigh...
And I always thought Stassy on Heartbreak High was a hot lesbian...even though the ABC ruined it after buying it from Network 10. Sunday nights used to rock on 10: Heartbreak High and a new show called Party of Five...
Those were the days my friend...
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
I take what I like from every generation and disregard what I don't. I like 'captain planet', I dislike 'myspace' (god I HATE IT ACTUALLY!), I uh... well you get the idea.
Why keep to your own 'generation' when you miss out on cool 'last generation' cartoon shows like 'Grendizer'
In terms of computer games though, always will love every generation. My fave is super mario bros vintage ninteen nintey something
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
I take what I like from every generation and disregard what I don't. I like 'captain planet', I dislike 'myspace' (god I HATE IT ACTUALLY!), I uh... well you get the idea.
Why keep to your own 'generation' when you miss out on cool 'last generation' cartoon shows like 'Grendizer'
In terms of computer games though, always will love every generation. My fave is super mario bros vintage ninteen nintey something
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
While I never dug Captain Planet, I have serious withdrawal issues from not being able to watch the Mysterious Cities of Gold becuase it was on at the same time as the news and we only had one TV. How cool was their ship? And the golden condor?
Voltron has been rereleased on DVD. I don't want to get it though because I've heard it's not as great as I remember it and I don't want my warm fuzzy memories ruined.
Hey, does anyone remember that there were two Voltron cartoons? One was the one everyone remembers: where Voltron was made out of 5 lion robots. But does anyone remember the Voltron who was made out of a whole heap of different vehicles? And no, I'm not getting it confused with Transformers.
Comment by The Daily Sonnet
The Daily Sonnet
Lots of Sonnets
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Comment by The Daily Sonnet
The Daily Sonnet
Lots of Sonnets
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
The grey screen you were getting is probably because of the power adapter I think. I remember when mine fried all I could see was a grey screen.
*sigh* cheers tot he older generation.
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
And yeah I remember both Voltrons.
As for Mario Bros - Nintendo sucks, Sega Master System II for life!
Comment by Trina
Hiphop
Confessions of a Serial Dancer
Competitions
Clubbing
Awesome AWESOME post, best I've read in a while. Can't stand some of these young'ns.
Props TomCat.
Comment by Legally Brunette
My Wedding
and can I just add "Saved by the Bell" the original, "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Baywatch" in there. Best Tv ever...
and while I'm at it, I think the newer generation of girls are all skanks. There I said it.
Comment by Jay
Did you get the Thunder Cats in Oz? That rocked too - Cheetarah was a hottie! So now you think I'm a sicko? Well, I've got a mate who fancied the girl dog from Lady and the Tramp. Now that's sick...
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Oh I remember them... oh how long ago it was... I was what? 8/9 years old I think
Comment by John Surname
Comment by Justin
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by *Grumble*Whinge*
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
NO MODE 7 MAN! (yeah, geek thing, deal with it
Comment by discoliv
I do love myspace though...and I am thankful I'm young enough to know the answer to "what's a 'mypsace''?
liv.
Comment by Adrienne
Comment by Addiction
Comment by c8to
Comment by spicegal
love this post...!!!
Comment by Vixter
People
Diet Food Lifestyle
CHEATERS
1 For The Road
Captain planet, he's our hero taking pollution down to zero!
Whatever happened to Jem "truly outrageous"
Uh Oh, I hope that wasn't some insane confession that I just made.
But seriously I could go on for ages about the beloved pop culture of my youth. Thanks for taking me back there.
Comment by NerdBlog
NerdBlog
The Comic Nerd
Captain Planet? Heartbreak HIGH? Piffle. Feast your eyes on these.
Transformers.
G.I. Joe
Voltron
He-Man and motherfuggin' Masters of the Universe
Comic books before Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld ruined everything.
We had the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Indiana Jones. The Terminator. The Muppets. Sesame Street before Elmo, when Mr. Hooper friggin' DIED!. Knight Rider. I could go on, and to cap it off we were still young enough to appreciate the best stuff from your era and old enough to ignore the crap.
You missed all that, you young punks. Fie upon your generation I say, and verily double fie!
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
But as annoying as Elmo is, at least he's not Zoe, his sister, or cousin, or whatever that fucking orange thing is. Ugh!
Comment by Dan
Oh and when I talk about Transformers, I don't mean that 3d anime Beast Wars crap. I'm talking about good ol' Autobot vs Deceptikon battles. The big red mach truck vs.. *ahem* a gun.
It's good to see hollywood go back to these times. Next year, the new TMNT and Transformers movies will be released. I can't wait for both. Youtube the trailers.
HAHA, youtube.. Another thing that kid's these days take for granted lol.
What about Anita from Heartbreak High? I had the biggest crush on that babe!!!
Comment by Dan
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Comment by Dan
Comment by Anonymous
I also really liked "Regulate" by Warren G and Nate Dogg. The censored vesion made me smile: when they'd take out the nasty talk and any reference to smoking weed, at a time when I was only just starting to understand what weed was.
This is also getting me nostalgic for the early '80s rap stuff my friends were playing back then. Embarrassingly it started for me with Hammer and Vanilla Ice, but I still spin my Run DMC, Public Enemey, NWA, and LL Cool J once in a while.
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Anyway, I love this strand of blog ramblings. Nostalgia is big business in this amorphous, postmodern, and (not so) new millenium of ours. But it's kinda scary that Bravestar and the Thundercats are something that sticks out from my childhood, while my parents had Elvis and the 1st Moon Landing.
Comment by Dan
While the technology of music production evolvedi n the late 70's it was only till the mid 90's that these new techniques became popular.
So in a way it was a fad where everyone began making all the dancy techno stuff a la The Real Mcoy. And the rich distorted sounds of guitar dropped abit.
BTW: Who's the artist who did Mr. Vain? I don't remember. That was another nostalgic song of the era.
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Yeah, I guess the whole "alternative" rock thing had petered out in terms of quality by the mid-'90s, but that's when it seemed to get more popular. I remember the highshool division between kids who liked rock (also known as bevans or bogans) and the kids who liked hip hop, r&b, and techno (also known as homies). What a strange time.
Comment by Vixter
People
Diet Food Lifestyle
CHEATERS
1 For The Road
Masters of the universe RULE
and P to the S
I hear they are making the movie!!!
wonder what the purist has to say about that?
The transformer movie will will be hitting cinemas may next year! the trailer is looking pretty cool
BUT
Masters of the universe!!!!!
I hear that The Rock is going to play he man.
WEll anything he does is ok by me (yes even scorpion king - i love a good tacky film)
Comment by Anonymous
Those were the days. I really liked Degrassi High but Heartbreak high was pretty crap..
Comment by gobsmacked
lol..thanks for taking me back. suddenly I feel all old.
Comment by Bumbliibee
FilmTastic
Random Top 20
and yes, i wasted all my allowances on BUYING cd's back then, i remember kids thought i was "rich" wen i took a chunky cd player to school, accompanied by my case of cds...=/
and "tamagotchi"...they were AMAZING *eyes open with amazement*...lol
Comment by Tori Amos' Repackaged Breasts
And you are spot on about "VIND" haha. Stupid foreigners!
Comment by jpen
Comment by jpen
and we were one of the last to do so too...
Comment by Anonymous
Our generation had the best TV by far. And Captain Planet was the best of the best.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
for example: i grew up with all the things you did and i was born in 1990 (yes, i'm a 16yr old school girl).
most would argue that i was too young to appreciate these things but i believe that i got the better end of the deal. because of my parents and older brother (who was 12 when i was born) i literally began my life listening to nirvana, green day, the chilli peppers, smashing pumpkins etc. i also spent my younger years watching whatever my brother did- play NES and watch ren n stimpy, transformers, rocko's modern life, teenage mutant ninja turtles and who could forget? captain planet! i also never missed out on the comic book phase because my bro got me into them, so i've always been a big fan of spidey.
i feel very privileged to have been able to grow up the way i have and known these things, plus be able to understand the internet, see the rising of emo and cringe.
you all say that your "generation", which i feel very much a part of, ends at 1989 but i believe it extends to those who feel welcomed by the theme song of captain planet, those who still remember laughing at the "hurdy gurdy" cook on the muppets, those who tried so hard to "walk-the-dog" on their yoyo, those who wish that the act of children playing still occurred between tv programs and playstation and never did die out with "our" generation.
Comment by www.fotolog.com/deaddance
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Hilda
I've watched the original Star Wars and haven't even seen a full episode of Rugrats All Grown Up (if it even is a series). In year 2 i used to collect those amazing pokemon cards but i don't think they make them anymore.
And by the way, I am Muslim so the part about reminiscing Muslims is never gonna happen. I plan on breeding and having grandchildren before i die so too bad.
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Heatbreak high broke my heart
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
I love our generation, we got the fun of all worlds. computers, tv shows and awesome toys. we didn't miss out, in fact i think todays kids are the ones missing out...
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by littlejess
This world has become so politically correct that even the good playgrounds around Victoria are getting demolished.
Born in '88 weren't we a lucky bunch to have missed the days where the cookie monster was questioned? And we were allowed to refer to the colour black without being called a racist?
GO 80's KIDS