People my age (cough, 29), spend a lot of time talking about the good old days of kids TV.
The 80s and 90s were where it was at for TV, where it seemed good music was just as important as a good show.
Here’s the Top Ten Kids TV Themes.
There are two things to point out here.
One, this is the best music, not the best show, there may well be some stinkers below.
Two, I am a man, therefore as a child I didn’t watch girl’s programmes, therefore, the music I have selcted is distinctly boy-ee.
If any ladies out there want to do a more girly top ten, or make some suggestions, I’ll happily put it up.
10.
Chipmunks Go to the Movies
This was a little-remembered spin-off from Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon.
In it, Alvin and his chums re-create scenes from famous films.
It wasn’t classic but the music is ace.
9. Dogtanian and the Three Muskerhounds
A take on the clasic story of the Three Musketeers, but with dogs.
I like the bit in the intro where Dogtanian defies the laws of physics to cut up a floating apple.
8.
Darkwing Duck
This is a bit more modern, mid 90s I reckon.
Can’t remember much about the show to be honest, apart from that it was about a mysterious crime-fighting duck.
Great music though, including the genius “whenever you’re in trouble you call DW” line.
Lets Get Dangerous.
7. Danger Mouse
A very funny cartoon starring the vocal talents of David Jason, who was also Count Duckula in a later show.
Danger Mouse and his timid sidekick Penfold were secret agents battling the evil Baron Greenback and his weird furry mate called Stiletto.
6.
Bucky O’Hare
I remember getting very excited as a nine-year-old when this came on.
It’s about a speccy kid who somehow finds himself embroiled in a space war between mammals and toads.
The mammals were led by the brilliantly named Bucky O’Hare, who flew around in the even more brilliantly named ship “The Righteous Indignation”.
5.
Thundercats
We all remember this one, alien planet of cat-people battling scary baddie Mumm-ra.
Check out Liono’s bouff, and Panthro had the best voice ever.
Snarf was a right dork though.
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This caused a stir back in 1989, where every boy in the country got very excited and started playing ninja in the playground.
Happily, this was before the days of health and safety so we were able to kick and punch each other (for a bit anyway).
Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo spent their time living in the sewer eating pizza and beating up The Shredder and his foot soldiers.
3. Defenders of the Earth
Flash Gordon was the leader of defenders of the earth (which sounds rather like an environment group), who fought endlessly against the Ming the Merciless.
Lothar was an absolute badass.
2.
The A-Team
Interestingly, back in 1972 a crack commando unit was wrongly imprisoned for a crime they claimed they did not commit, however, these men escaped, promptly, in to the Los Angeles underground where they continued to survive, but as soldiers of fortune.
They are a little tricky to track down, but if you are in trouble, and if you can find them, maybe you could hire, for a reasonable price and a guaranteed no win, no fee…..The A-Team.
In the show, Hannibal Smith, BA Baracus, Howlin’ mad Murdoch and Faceman Templeton Peck (played by the equally stupid named Dirk Benedict), were hunted by useless bad guy Colonel Decker.
It was famous for the same thing happening in every episode, they’d find themselves locked in a barn with a lot of welding equipment and an old tractor, which they’d then turn into a home-made tank.
Then they’d have a huge gun fight where no-one got shot and a car would go flying through the air before landing on its open top roof with all the occupants then crawling out unhurt.
Good choon though.
To number one and some excellent music to a show everyone remembers but no-one can remember much about.
In the Mysterious Cities of Gold, a group of children flew about in a giant golden condor trying to find El Dorado, the lost city of gold.
I can’t remember anything about it, did they find it or were they all killed in a tragic condor crash?
Also, how did someone manage to build a flying metal bird in the 16th century?
I’ve just watched the intro to classic (and slightly homo-erotic) cartoon He-Man.
I’ve noticed the difference between Adam Prince of Eternia and his alter-ego He-Manis a minimal one.
Skeletor and his cronies must have been pretty thick not to notice that Adam Prince of Eternia and He-Man are identical apart from a dose of spray tan.
Was He-Man the world’s first Metrosexual? Fake tan, kept himself in shape, no body hair, I think the answer must be yes.
Also, he says “fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said ‘by the power of Grayskull”
Why was he doing that in the first place? Bit of a weird thing to do if you ask me.
You’ve probably noticed the latest commercial offering from purveyor of frozen ‘delicacies’, Iceland; an advert that has all the festive spirit of a 7 hour speech by Josef Stalin. If you’ve seen this particular abortion of an ad, you’ll have noticed a spectacularly uncomfortable-looking Jason Donovan grimace and gurn through a musical number so forced in its jollity, most of of the cast and crew members are probably featuring in this at gun point. But my attention turned to Jas’s co-’star’, and the other reason why he might look so uncomfortable: one Coleen Nolan and her uncanny resemblance to child star, Linda Blair’s possessed character Regan in the cult horror film, The Exorcist. Don’t believe me? Have a look for yourselves:
And now a new area on The Multifarious, I’ll be giving my top telly tips for your viewing pleasure.
I’ll be sticking mainly to terrestrial channels but if I see anything worth watching on Sky (unlikely, 200+ channels of bilge) I’ll be pointing you in the direction of that.
Tomorrow night has something for everyone with a multitude of dramas, documentaries and the hunt for one of the most useless animals around.
First up is Criminal Justice (BBC1, 9pm) a week long crime tale.
The powerful drama is a horrible tale gathering speed throughout the week before an epic climax.
It’s the grim tale of a succesful,yet bad-tempered barrister and his frustated wife, who is stuck at home all day.
His controlling of her is obsessive and leads to the disintegration of the marriage in a spectacular way.
This could be the BBC hitting top form with proper programmes.
Tuesday is the second part of the week-long series so turn on tonight for part one.
Next, The Bombing of Coventry (BBC 2, 9pm).
Hitler clearly wasn’t a fan of Midlands accents, as this shocking documentary reveals.
It goes back to November 14 1940, where the large areas of the city of Coventry were destroyed in an astonishingly devastating air raid.
The Moonlight Sonata, as the raid was named, counteracted blackout tactics by using the light of the fullest of full moons to drop a staggering 30,000 bombs and 500 tons of explosives on the city.
Survivors of the night recount their memories of the horror of the night, with one poor woman freezing in genuine terror as she tries to recall the events.
It’s unbelievable this happened, and it isn’t clear to me why the Nazis chose to destroy Coventry,rather than anywhere else.
The city is now rebuilt, and as their football fans will tell you at great length, they even won the FA cup in 1987.
Finally, your last chance to see Last Chance to See, a repeat of a programme last week.
Steven Fry and zoologist (this word should have three Os) Mark Carwardine head to New Zealand to look for the Kakapo, a fat, flightless parrot that stands still when threatened.
Unsurprisingly, it’s nearly extinct, proving Darwin’s theory is survival of the fittest, not the fattest.
The Multifarious. Something about everything. The Multifarious is two people: cousins Hugh and Richard Fort; a journalist and marketer respectively. We like sport, news, music, film and correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. We don’t like boredom, rubbish TV, ‘sleb cultcha and poor spelling, grammar and punctuation. We thought that since ... Continue reading »
Top Ten Kids TV Themes
In Comment, Television, Top Tens on December 5, 2010 at 3:37 pmPeople my age (cough, 29), spend a lot of time talking about the good old days of kids TV.
The 80s and 90s were where it was at for TV, where it seemed good music was just as important as a good show.
Here’s the Top Ten Kids TV Themes.
There are two things to point out here.
One, this is the best music, not the best show, there may well be some stinkers below.
Two, I am a man, therefore as a child I didn’t watch girl’s programmes, therefore, the music I have selcted is distinctly boy-ee.
If any ladies out there want to do a more girly top ten, or make some suggestions, I’ll happily put it up.
10.
Chipmunks Go to the Movies
This was a little-remembered spin-off from Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon.
In it, Alvin and his chums re-create scenes from famous films.
It wasn’t classic but the music is ace.
9. Dogtanian and the Three Muskerhounds
A take on the clasic story of the Three Musketeers, but with dogs.
I like the bit in the intro where Dogtanian defies the laws of physics to cut up a floating apple.
8.
Darkwing Duck
This is a bit more modern, mid 90s I reckon.
Can’t remember much about the show to be honest, apart from that it was about a mysterious crime-fighting duck.
Great music though, including the genius “whenever you’re in trouble you call DW” line.
Lets Get Dangerous.
7. Danger Mouse
A very funny cartoon starring the vocal talents of David Jason, who was also Count Duckula in a later show.
Danger Mouse and his timid sidekick Penfold were secret agents battling the evil Baron Greenback and his weird furry mate called Stiletto.
6.
Bucky O’Hare
I remember getting very excited as a nine-year-old when this came on.
It’s about a speccy kid who somehow finds himself embroiled in a space war between mammals and toads.
The mammals were led by the brilliantly named Bucky O’Hare, who flew around in the even more brilliantly named ship “The Righteous Indignation”.
5.
Thundercats
We all remember this one, alien planet of cat-people battling scary baddie Mumm-ra.
Check out Liono’s bouff, and Panthro had the best voice ever.
Snarf was a right dork though.
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This caused a stir back in 1989, where every boy in the country got very excited and started playing ninja in the playground.
Happily, this was before the days of health and safety so we were able to kick and punch each other (for a bit anyway).
Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo spent their time living in the sewer eating pizza and beating up The Shredder and his foot soldiers.
3. Defenders of the Earth
Flash Gordon was the leader of defenders of the earth (which sounds rather like an environment group), who fought endlessly against the Ming the Merciless.
Lothar was an absolute badass.
2.
The A-Team
Interestingly, back in 1972 a crack commando unit was wrongly imprisoned for a crime they claimed they did not commit, however, these men escaped, promptly, in to the Los Angeles underground where they continued to survive, but as soldiers of fortune.
They are a little tricky to track down, but if you are in trouble, and if you can find them, maybe you could hire, for a reasonable price and a guaranteed no win, no fee…..The A-Team.
In the show, Hannibal Smith, BA Baracus, Howlin’ mad Murdoch and Faceman Templeton Peck (played by the equally stupid named Dirk Benedict), were hunted by useless bad guy Colonel Decker.
It was famous for the same thing happening in every episode, they’d find themselves locked in a barn with a lot of welding equipment and an old tractor, which they’d then turn into a home-made tank.
Then they’d have a huge gun fight where no-one got shot and a car would go flying through the air before landing on its open top roof with all the occupants then crawling out unhurt.
Good choon though.
To number one and some excellent music to a show everyone remembers but no-one can remember much about.
In the Mysterious Cities of Gold, a group of children flew about in a giant golden condor trying to find El Dorado, the lost city of gold.
I can’t remember anything about it, did they find it or were they all killed in a tragic condor crash?
Also, how did someone manage to build a flying metal bird in the 16th century?
Answers below…..