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Weird TV Shows from your childhood... revisited!

post #1 of 63
10/9/09 at 3:04pm
Thread Starter 
I recently found a YouTube channel that had tons of episodes of old, weird, Canadian Sci-Fi on it so I took an afternoon and just browsed through some of the shows. One in particular I can remember loving as a kid was called The Star Lost. This show was conceived by Harlan Ellison and I am only now just reading about the fascinating history behind his involvement and how much of a disaster the show ended up being when compared to his original ideas (which you can read about here). The first part of the first episode is here, and the guy who put it up has the whole run of the series there.

But it got me thinking about some of the other shows I used to watch. With many of them readily available on YouTube or other forums, are there any shows you remember that you've looked up? Any favourites that you wish would come out on DVD or could be found? And I am not talking about cartoons, there's already been a thread for those :P
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post #2 of 63
10/9/09 at 3:26pm
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHQTTq0dFT4

Based on the classical Chinese story "Journey to the West". Loved this show.
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post #3 of 63
10/9/09 at 3:51pm
I just got into The Starlost, never saw it during its original run, but caught up with it on DVD recently. I really like it, as-is. It's so cheap and weird and silly and gloomy. Also, I have Ellison's original script, and it's not incredibly different from the pilot as shot. Most of the differences are in complicated camera moves and sets that Ellison wrote in which they clearly didn't have the budget for (I think Douglas Trumbull got Ellison hyped up about the special greenscreen video technology and Ellison imagined it could do more than it actually could).
Also, for all that Ellison (who I do admire as a writer) talked about this being a new kind of science fiction television, a "novel for television" a la The Prisoner, his "series bible" sure does describe storylines that could've easily been Star Trek episodes (and some that were).

(for those unfamiliar with the show, the premise is that it's a generation ship in deep space with dozens of domed societies, cut off from each other)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harlan Ellison
In another dome they might find children who had been made immortal, frozen at the age of their adolescence, the remnants of a crèche, forced by survival to build a children's fantasy world.

In another they might find a rigidly militaristic culture. Patterned after the armies of Charlemagne, or Attilla, or even Hitler.

In another they may find that the deckplates between two domes have been broken through and the societies of one have been waging a feud with the other for six hundred years, in a Hatfield-McCoy parallel.

...

In another they might be worshipped as Gods who came from the sky.

In another they might be in a society ruled by the robots who had been originally set to the menial chores of loading supplies, but who took over from their human masters.
Sorry to hijack this as a Starlost thread, but it's a subject that so rarely comes up!
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post #4 of 63
10/9/09 at 4:49pm
AUTOMAN. I had no clue what the fuck was going on during that show as a child. The Pilot episode and some scattered others are on Youtube.
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post #5 of 63
10/9/09 at 4:58pm
It's about Time, concerning two astronauts whose space capsule gets thrown back to caveman days.

"It's about time, it's about space, it's about two men in the craziest place..."
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post #6 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:12pm
Thread Starter 
AUTOMAN!! Like Tron, but lamer?? Still awesome though!

I humbly submit the original Spider-Man live-action show.
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post #7 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:14pm
The good:

Wishbone on PBS was great
Legends of the Hidden Temple on nick was great
"Hey Dude" on nick
"Salute Your Shorts"
Pete and Pete

The weird:
Gulla Gulla Island- A show about a giant orange frog who lives with a family of black people
"Cowboys of Moo-Mesa" was fucking strange (a cartoon I remember from when I was like 5 or so, about cowboys who were actual cows hahaha)
Oh, and "Swat Cats", a show about fighter pilot cats. (A really good show actually, it had a good collection of villans)
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post #8 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ludwig View Post
AUTOMAN!! Like Tron, but lamer?? Still awesome though!

I humbly submit the original Spider-Man live-action show.
Why does that guy have a helium voice?
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post #9 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:16pm
'The Phoenix'
'Wizards and Warriors'
'Jason of Star Command'
'Lucan'
'Man from Atlantis'

and yes, I remember 'Automan' as well.
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post #10 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHQTTq0dFT4

Based on the classical Chinese story "Journey to the West". Loved this show.
This. Is the best thing. I've ever seen. Monkey is an ASSHOLE, I LOVE him!
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post #11 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:22pm
Space Cases!

A live action sci fi show on the nickelodian channel when I was growing up. It was sort of "Lost in Space" meets "The Magic School Bus"

Did anyone else watch that one?
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post #12 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:23pm
Pirates of Dark Water

Cartoon about fantasy Pirates whose oceans are slowly getting clogged up by evil water (not kidding). The main hero is on a quest to avenge his dad, and there is a monkey-lizard side kick thing

Anyone else see that?
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post #13 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ludwig View Post
This. Is the best thing. I've ever seen. Monkey is an ASSHOLE, I LOVE him!
Monkey travelled around on a cloud, his best friends were an androgynous Buddhist monk, a horny werepig, and Sandy the water demon. Thanks youtube, for proving I didn't dream this show!
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post #14 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:47pm
Bionic Six
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post #15 of 63
10/9/09 at 5:57pm
Judas Booth, I watched...The Phoenix (Richard Lynch was the...EEEEEEEvil Villain), Automan, Wizards and Warriors and Jason Of Star Command. The Phoenix was the better (just less successful) version of Highway To Heaven. Although, how does series lead take his name off the credits of...Star Trek II. Automan was another fun Glen A. Larson series, with a hero and a sidekick that could create anything he needed. It was the more action oriented...Harold And The Purple Crayon as, Cursor could create any vehicle needed. I do not remember much of WAW except for Julia Duffy as a princess. JOSC was a fun live action space opera.
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post #16 of 63
10/9/09 at 6:00pm
Jason of Star Command/Space Academy
Ark II
Ultraman (when I was young, I didn't realize it was an imported Japanese show. It just fascinated me)
Blackstar - Just a bizarre concept. Sort of a combo of Buck Rogers and Thundarr

And so help me, I just didn't "get" Space:1999, not that it was a Sat. Morning show.
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post #17 of 63
10/9/09 at 6:02pm
Where is My...Thundarr The Barbarian DVD set?
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post #18 of 63
10/9/09 at 6:05pm
Yeah, I watched 'Thundarr the Barbarian' as well as 'Blackstar'. None of them were even close to 'Dungeons and Dragons', though.
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post #19 of 63
10/9/09 at 6:06pm
My holy trinity growing up was Ultraman, Jonny Socko and his Flying Robot, and Godzilla movies. I'm scared to revisit any of them.
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post #20 of 63
10/9/09 at 6:12pm
Judas Booth, I never liked D&D (my sister did), But Thundarr is one of my fave cartoons. Blackstar was good, but not anywhere as great as Thundarr! Ariel Ookla...RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIde!
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post #21 of 63
10/9/09 at 6:36pm
My wife has the DVD box set of D&D, actually. But yeah, no Thundarr. Hell, I'll even still watch an episode if it comes on Boomerang.
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post #22 of 63
10/9/09 at 7:47pm
The girl demographic answer to Shazam. I had such a crush on this woman.
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post #23 of 63
10/9/09 at 7:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
'The Phoenix'
'Wizards and Warriors'
'Jason of Star Command'
'Lucan'
'Man from Atlantis'
I remember all of these. I was also into Ark 2. A post-apocalyptic kids' show; you have to admire the balls of the basic idea.

Also, I think that Jason of Star Command was a follow-up to a show called Space Academy, which starred Lost in Space's Jonathan Harris.

Wizards & Warriors was actually a pretty funny show. And I mean intentionally.

Edit
Here we go:

Space Academy
Ark II
Jason of Star Command (Holy shit, James Doohan was in this? Totally did not remember that)

Man, Lou and Norm were busy guys in the 70's.
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post #24 of 63
10/9/09 at 8:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eyeball Kid View Post
My holy trinity growing up was Ultraman, Jonny Socko and his Flying Robot, and Godzilla movies. I'm scared to revisit any of them.
Holy crap, I just remembered I used to watch a Godzilla cartoon when I was growing up. I forget what it was called, but Godzilla went around helping a group of children solve crimes and mysteries. Kind of like an ultra violent version of Scoobie Doo.

There was also a mini Godzilla character called "Godzookie" (You thought the mini-'zillas in Emerich's film were bad!) who functioned as the more "adorable" 'Scrappy Do' character and could also talk in a sing songy voice
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post #25 of 63
10/9/09 at 8:21pm
As a lifelong Godzilla fan, that cartoon was balls. Just godawful. Not only did they have him working at the beck and call of a "hero team", but the name "Godzilla" was all they had the rights to use. It didn't particularly resemble him, they couldn't use the roar (and using a voice actor making vaguely roary noises without enhancement is not a good call), and they had none of the original monsters making appearances, leaving them to create their own incredibly lame substitutes. And don't get me started on Godzooky. Jesus fuck.

The post Emmerich Godzilla cartoon was actually better. Chew on that.
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post #26 of 63
10/9/09 at 8:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
As a lifelong Godzilla fan, that cartoon was balls. Just godawful. Not only did they have him working at the beck and call of a "hero team", but the name "Godzilla" was all they had the rights to use. It didn't particularly resemble him, they couldn't use the roar (and using a voice actor making vaguely roary noises without enhancement is not a good call), and they had none of the original monsters making appearances, leaving them to create their own incredibly lame substitutes. And don't get me started on Godzooky. Jesus fuck.

The post Emmerich Godzilla cartoon was actually better. Chew on that.
I have a wicked bad cold/cough right now, but I am totally cracking up even though it is causing me to cough more as I think back on that cartoon. How on earth did the 'Hero Team' get Godzilla to function as their personal servant? What terms and conditions were required for Godzilla to go under contract with them?

In Godizilla '98', I'd have died laughing if Godzookie's had started popping out of those eggs in Madison Square Garden
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post #27 of 63
10/9/09 at 9:31pm
Not one mention of Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp? The hell's wrong with you folks? It's actual MONKEYS WEARING HUMAN CLOTHES, KIDS!!!!

ETA:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
The girl demographic answer to Shazam. I had such a crush on this woman.


Ahhhh, that's the stuff. Good call, Greg!
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post #28 of 63
10/9/09 at 9:37pm
James Bond Jr!

According to the only part of the theme song I remember , "He got his name from his uncle James", apparently Bond had a sibling we never heard of.

And strangest of all, Bond Jr had an American Accent , as I recall (I could be wrong on that point, it was a long time ago)

EDITED TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
No one else watched "Wish Bone" on PBS? With the cute dog who had adventures that eerily mirrored events from classic literature?

PS: Unfortunately I just read some terrible news. A few years ago the Dog who played Wish Bone, Soccer, ....... "went to go live on a farm". If you catch my meaning.

A sad and sorry turn of events, indeed...
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post #29 of 63
10/9/09 at 9:38pm
I want to live in an America where "Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp" gets the big-screen treatment.
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post #30 of 63
10/9/09 at 10:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bradito View Post
I want to live in an America where "Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp" gets the big-screen treatment.
No you don't. It would be made by Dreamworks, it would be CGI, and it would be crammed with pointless references to 80's music for no good reason.
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post #31 of 63
10/9/09 at 10:15pm
Razzle Dazzle. I'm the only person I know who remembers this show, or the Hudson Brothers. Did anyone else see this thing?

Edit:
And in looking around, I find that Bill Hudson was married to Goldie Hawn, thus resulting in the creation of Kate Hudson. I had no idea.
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post #32 of 63
10/9/09 at 10:17pm
Princess Kate, The crew of...The Calico, had a transmitter to which Godzilla would respond, or...Godzuki would simply call him. Godzilla fighting monsters in...The Godzilla Power Hour. There was also...Jana of the Jungle. However, there was a difference in the GPH, is that the crew only included one teen, the others were obviously older adult scientists. I would guess most of the crew were in their 30's, while the captain could easily have been 40. While the cartoon did not live up to the greatness of the Godzilla films, in no way was that horrible cartoon spinoff of the Roland Emmerech Godzilla better than Hanna Barbara's. I thought...Isis was ok, for gal heroes, I was much more interested in the...Wonderous...New Adventures of WONDER WOMAN! ARK II was like the younger audience version of...Damnation Alley!
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post #33 of 63
10/9/09 at 10:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
'Lucan'
God, I thought I was the only kid out there who watched "Lucan". I never missed an episode, short lived as it was.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
Razzle Dazzle. I'm the only person I know who remembers this show, or the Hudson Brothers. Did anyone else see this thing?
Me - always, every week. The Hudson Brothers were my pre-Bay City Roller crushes. Chucky Margolis was good stuff.
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post #34 of 63
10/9/09 at 10:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
No you don't. It would be made by Dreamworks, it would be CGI, and it would be crammed with pointless references to 80's music for no good reason.
Damn, you're probably right.

I want to live in an America where the original episodes of "Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp" are available on DVD.
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post #35 of 63
10/9/09 at 11:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bradito View Post
I want to live in an America where the original episodes of "Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp" are available on DVD.
My country tis of thee...

Lucan? I remember it, as well as Manimal, Gemini Man (Ben fuckin' Murphy, bitches!), Man From Atlantis, Street Hawk, and so on.

ETA: Y'know, and it might just be me, but I'm sensing that based on these TV shows, there might've been a LOT of doobage smoked back in the '70s and early '80s. Goes along way to explaining Sid & Marty Kroftt's output, yay? "How's that for a topper?" Indeed.
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post #36 of 63
10/10/09 at 3:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LisaNY View Post
Me - always, every week. The Hudson Brothers were my pre-Bay City Roller crushes. Chucky Margolis was good stuff.
I'd forgotten that specific bit until you posted it. That has to be from their prime time show. There's no way they ran a skit about a couple of kids drinking bong water on Saturday morning.

I found out that there's a Razzle Dazzle DVD set. I threw it on my Netflix queue. No sign of their previous show, however.
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post #37 of 63
10/10/09 at 4:16am
I seem to remember a Rambo cartoon show. That always seemed inappropriate and weird but hey it was the 80's.
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post #38 of 63
10/10/09 at 7:57am
A friend of mine remembers a specific episode of Rambo in which he reprimanded one of his teammates, and explained that "Team Rambo doesn't kill people".

Nobody pointed out all those cops in the forest, I guess.
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post #39 of 63
10/10/09 at 9:27am
Ring Raiders and Tigersharks, 2 cartoons I remember, one had a shark submarine, the other was all eras of aircraft and time travel and Peter Chung of Aeon FLux fame did the character designs.

Probably not an obscure show in the States or Canada, but Captain Power was shown here once in the form of a 11am Saturday or Sunday morning show, hidden away on the schedule in the early 90s. And then years later they show in the movie length format (which I still should have somewhere on a crappy old vhs)

poor Pilot
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post #40 of 63
10/10/09 at 9:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
I'd forgotten that specific bit until you posted it. That has to be from their prime time show. There's no way they ran a skit about a couple of kids drinking bong water on Saturday morning.

I found out that there's a Razzle Dazzle DVD set. I threw it on my Netflix queue. No sign of their previous show, however.
I don't know about that specific Chucky skit with the reference to the bong water, but I remember Chucky skits on both prime time and Saturday mornings. The Saturday skits may have been a little more toned down.
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post #41 of 63
10/10/09 at 9:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy225 View Post
Not one mention of Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp? The hell's wrong with you folks? It's actual MONKEYS WEARING HUMAN CLOTHES, KIDS!!!!

ETA:


Ahhhh, that's the stuff. Good call, Greg!
Er...

http://www.silent-porn-star.com/uplo...n-2-754475.jpg

Anyone remember Run Joe Run? A Fugitive/Kung Fu/Incredible Hulk-type wandering hero show, except the hero was a German Shepherd being hunted for attacking his trainer ("a crime he did not commit"), and he'd get weird 'Nam flashbacks.
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post #42 of 63
10/10/09 at 12:16pm
Yes! I remember "Run Joe Run"! As soon as you said it, before I even read the rest of your description, I thought, "Wait, wasn't that about a dog?"
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post #43 of 63
10/10/09 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Strange View Post
AUTOMAN. I had no clue what the fuck was going on during that show as a child. The Pilot episode and some scattered others are on Youtube.
As a kid I can remember an episode where the guy had to go undercover at some sort of convention, and chose the pseudonym "Otto Mann" for his name tag. Even as a kid I thought that was stupid.

ETA: Watching that link led me the link for Street Hawk. I remember watching that too, even though the pitch meeting for that literally could not have been more than "It's like Airwolf. With a motorcycle." In the first episode the techie guy at the base told the main guy that the backflip he was planning was physically impossible, only to have the guy promptly do it to save the day. I'm almost positive Airwolf had the same exact thing happen even.
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post #44 of 63
10/10/09 at 2:40pm
"Toxic Crusaders." The environmentally-friendly children's cartoon show was based on the ultra-violent "Toxic Avenger" films put out by Troma. It was about a "hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength" who defended Tromaville from the smog-breathing alien, Dr. Killemoff. At the time, it seemed like one of a bazillion TMNT knockoffs. Of course, that being said, TMNT was a pretty fucking weird show for kids, too, given the blood-soaked source material.

I still would like to see the Toxic Crusaders team up with Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
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post #45 of 63
10/10/09 at 3:01pm
It doesn't get stranger than The Hiliarious House of Frightenstein. You Can't Do That On Television comes in a close second because it comes from a more plastic era, and it shows. Still, it had poisonings, executions, torture, corporal punishment, the works. Great stuff.
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post #46 of 63
10/10/09 at 3:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seabass Inna Bun View Post
It doesn't get stranger than The Hiliarious House of Frightenstein. You Can't Do That On Television comes in a close second because it comes from a more plastic era, and it shows. Still, it had poisonings, executions, torture, corporal punishment, the works. Great stuff.
We were in Ottawa visiting friends when they had one of their phone-in questions on You Can't Do That On Television about whether it was legal or not in Quebec to make a right turn on a red light. Later on in the navy, I actually worked with one of the people who got to be on that show (Tanya King). It was pretty great, actually!

It dissappoints me that they could never make a show like that one today for kids. Parents would flip out over the constant puking and firing squad gags. I found a great site about the show, and while there discovered that Alanis Morrissette made in on the cast too!

They still show Frightenstein on TV here in Winnipeg (early mornings on City and YTV), so my daughters were able to see that show as younger kids.
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post #47 of 63
10/10/09 at 7:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seabass Inna Bun View Post
It doesn't get stranger than The Hiliarious House of Frightenstein.
I was about to say that I couldn't believe anyone else saw that show, but then I noticed/remembered that you're in Calgary.

I was absolutely in love with that show, little horror geek that I was. My sister and I watched it religiously. Even my dad loved it. Billy Van's multiple characters were gold, and it had Vincent goddamn Price.

Sadly, the only presence it has on DVD is a sort of (appropriate, I suppose) Frankenstein monster pastiche clip show thing. I want full episodes.
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post #48 of 63
10/10/09 at 8:12pm
Too many to mention in one post, so I'll focus on the Gerry Anderson puppet series, which I saw as re=packaged "movies" on Showtime:

Captain Scarlett

Thunderbirds

Stingray

And their one non-puppet based show (although they made up all the humans to look like puppets) UFO
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post #49 of 63
10/11/09 at 1:24am
Anderson was also behind Space: 1999. Even as a kid, though, I couldn't quite get into that one.
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post #50 of 63
10/11/09 at 2:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
A friend of mine remembers a specific episode of Rambo in which he reprimanded one of his teammates, and explained that "Team Rambo doesn't kill people".

Nobody pointed out all those cops in the forest, I guess.
Reminds me of that awful Crow TV series with Mark Dascasos where Sarah tells Eric that killing the thugs who raped and murdered his girlfriend "isn't what Shelly would want". So the Crow has brought him back, why? To scold them?

In regards to Rambo, wasn't there a Robocop cartoon as well? I know there were action figures.
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