Friday, May 25, 2007

The Forgotten Shows

A great article on Cracked.com about 15 Unforgettable Cartoon Theme Songs, which included some great ones like the Transformers, GI Joe, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Talespin, Thundercats and Duck Tales.

But, there are some serious omissions from the list and much more deserving of inclusion than Mighty Max, Gummy Bears, Pro-Stars, Power Rangers & Sonic the Hedgehog. Here's my revised list:

Jem, Truly Outrageous

So, there I was one afternoon at the Milwaukee VA, trying to get a patient ready for transfer to the GEM unit, which is sort of like a temporary nursing home. Anyway, while doing the paperwork, I was singing, "Jem, truly outrageous, Jem!" After a few minutes, I came to a few realizations: (a) I was singing out loud (b) the entire room was silent. Two female medical students looked at me, jaws open, and asked, "How do you know that song?" at, which point, I had to make my confession - my brothers used to watch Jem all the time.

Well, actually, I think I'm the one that got us watching. In retrospect, I think we started watching as a sort of sociological experiment, to see how such shows affected the acculturation of chicks. At least, that's what we tell ourselves. But, we started watching it more often than could be accounted for by simple "experimentation." I think Jem is a character from Marvel, or was at least part of the Marvel Super Sunday. No matter what you think of us now, you can't deny the theme song is way better than Mighty Max, it's pure 80s synthesizer.

Smurfs

How could any list not include the Smurfs? I mean, that theme song is so classic I don't even need to comment on it any more, la la la la laaaaa!

Robotech

I didn't always understand the show, but I could tell it was cool. It was like the first soap opera I ever watched and remains one of the best...plus it had an executive producer whose name was Ahmed Agrama, a cool sounding name...

Voltron

I'll admit it isn't much of a theme song, but any theme that has the voice of Optimus Prime in it is automatically cool and worthy of inclusion. Plus, I remember as a kid walking around and making the little computer voice at the end, "Voltron, Defenders of the Universe."


M.A.S.K.

Another confection of 80s-style pop, how can you not jam along to the M.A.S.K. intro? I mean they were fighting crime, over time, all the time? Rock on! I think some people knocked the show a bit, because it does seem to be a cross between GI Joe and Transformers, but hey, give the people what they want, right?

Silverhawks

How come no one ever talks about the Silverhawks anymore? I mean, any starship that has a rainbow as its emissions has got to be cool...any theme song that has an eagle screeching in its theme song is not only cool, it's pretty darn patriotic too.

There's so much more, but this'll have to do it for now...

4 comments:

iPhoneShakur said...

Only you would sing the Jem song out loud!!! I don't remember them until I read this blog. I can just picture it, the two female medical students telling all their classmates about the resident who sings the Jem song. And you wonder why you are still single,despite being a doctor?

M. Imran Abd Ash-Shakur Rana said...

Wow, Umar. Some thoughts and analysis:

1) Props on the blog entry, man. I had to fight back the tears as I was taken down memory lane. The 80s had the best cartoons of all time and this hands down proves it!

2) Jem: Don't take your fantasies of wanting to be a part of Jem out on me and Ali! Just like Ali, I honestly forgot about them until you put it up here. I'm ashamed that as your brother, growing up and loving the same shows, that you didn't list something like Voltron first on your list. Blasphemous, indeed; but I guess you're trying to tell us something here...?

3) Dude, was Robotech the one with all that drama between those guys and chicks? That was great!

4) Voltron. MASK. Silverhawks. What more can you possibly say!!

5) Dude, how can you forget Bravestar!! We had the toys!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBkWd_WHYs

Sigh. Those were the days...

M. Imran Abd Ash-Shakur Rana said...

I don't get why no one is trying to get these shows back on the air in terms of creating new ones. But, it can't be stupid. I know with some shows (Transformers, Voltron) they've tried doing that, but someone needs to do it right!

Let's go to Hollywood!

Oh, and let's not forget The Transformers rip off: Go Bots!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ChjDZWjOeQ

I CAN DO THIS ALL NIGHT!!!

(no, seriously, I can)

T-Rex said...

rumour has it sox might trade buehrle and dye for lastings milledge...what sayest thou? maybe you can write about this on your next post (5 and a half years from now)