saturday morning flashback

Set the wayback machine for the early 80s, Sherman. Any Saturday morning will do . . .

I was such a nerd, I thought Timer was actually kind of cool. He taught us how to be healthy through song!

I was such a nerd, I thought the Dungeons  & Dragons cartoon was really cool.

Except for Uni. I hated that stupid little Scrappy Doo idiot.

Remember how excited you were to see your favorite video games become cartoons? The only thing that could have been better for a kid in 1983 would have been turning your favorite video games into a cereal!

Hmm . . . on second thought, maybe not.

Happy Saturday, everyone.

60 thoughts on “saturday morning flashback”

  1. Oh wow! You really brought me back 25 year just then. Especially the “hanker for a hunk of cheese!” PSA. Wow.
    Saturday mornings used to be the best, didn’t they? I mean, they’re still pretty great, but Saturday morning cartoons were the best.
    Now I need to dig up Voltron clips (with the lions, not the lame cars, of course). Yes, I too was a total nerd.

  2. Holy crap, I’m not sure what’s more disturbing – that you found that, that I remember the words, or that my 11 month old started dancing to it!

  3. Thanks Wil..now “you can’t do it, you can do the Pac Man” will be in my head ALL day. 😉
    Thanks for the flashback! The 80s were hilarious.

  4. Okay, that was way too easy. If anyone wants to watch a really bad mini-episode (5 minutes) of Voltron, it’s here:

    I’m going to be humming that theme song all day now.

  5. Wil, you are a stirrer of great 80s memories!
    I believe Supercade was on CBS. I can’t recall if this included the Space Ace/Dragon’s Lair pairing. I don’t think it did.
    I’m amused by how strange Supercade’s Mario looks. He looks like some guy in a ridiculous outfit.
    I seem to be the only person I know who remembers the Mighty Orbots. If you’re not sure what they are, here is a clip to jog your memory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLcJXR7twoQ

  6. Holy crap. Guilty on all counts. 🙂 I’d completely forgotten/blocked out the Saturday Supercade!!!
    Thanks for the refresher on my misbegotten childhood. 🙂

  11. I always remember the Timer cartoon with the ice-cube-tray Popsicles: “fill the tray with orange juice, or lemonade, or pomegranate juice, or whatever turns you on…”
    Always hated Louis the Lifeguard, though.

  13. I loved the D&D cartoon. I own the DVD set, which is stylized like the original D&D basic set (the red box). It’s pretty cool, and the commentaries are awesome.
    I also have fond memories of the cartoons and PSAs that everyone’s talking about. When I’m not at work, I’ll look through these.
    Happy Saturday!

  14. You know, I think Timer was actually a character in his own movie. I remember seeing it when I was kid, sometime in the late 70’s or early 80’s.
    Something about two kids having an adventure inside… the body of their dad or something, and like he was a smoker or something. Or maybe not. That’s all I remember. But anyways, that’s where Timer got his debut if I remember that part right!

  17. The cartoons I would like to see again were called “Could Be You” which were late 60’s/early 70’s educational shorts, mostly geared toward self-esteem building, but taught other stuff, too. I can’t seem to find them, though.

  19. Curiously, I do, in fact, hanker for a hunka cheese.
    Or 6 bowls of Honeycomb while sitting in front of the Shazam/Isis hour of power.
    Either or.

  20. I’ve been watching Saturday morning cartoons thanks to Ectoplasmosis.
    Eekpocalypse Now wasn’t nearly so bizarre the first time I saw it years before I saw the Coppola film.
    Oh man.

  21. I’ve been watching Saturday morning cartoons thanks to Ectoplasmosis.
    Eekpocalypse Now wasn’t nearly so bizarre the first time I saw it years before I saw the Coppola film.
    Oh man.

  22. Any fans of Battle of the Planets around? I spent my childhood trying to figure out if Zoltar was a man or a woman. I still don’t know! 🙂

  24. Ah yes, the memories. I remember some afternoon kids show with a phone-in video game where the caller would say “POW” and the gun would shoot on the TV.
    I liked the D&D cartoon fairly well. It seemed like EVERY cartoon had some kind of “cute” animal so I had no pro or anti Uni feelings.
    I remember living in England in the mid 80’s and hearing complaints from parents that the D&D cartoon was too violent.
    Thanks for the flashback!

  26. Timer!! I remember that spot SOOO well (and that song was a long running joke in one of my first jobs). And I had forgotten about the Saturday Starcade – though I remembered watching Q-bert after seeing that opening.
    @Coyote Seven – It was a ABC After School Special. (why do I remember that?) Your desciption is right; however, I can’t remember the title.

  28. Just caught a Bionic Six clip on YouTube. No wonder they didn’t make too many of those; the animation was too good for the time.

  29. Any fans of Battle of the Planets around? I spent my childhood trying to figure out if Zoltar was a man or a woman.
    Both huh, how not surprising… *glares at Japan*
    And now I want a piece of cheese…

  30. Oh my god, I love when you go down memory lane because we are close to the same age.
    I remembered more words than I care to admit to the Timer ad, I *loved* Dungeons and Dragons, I didn’t really watch Supercade and wow oh wow… that Pacman commercial brought back a flood of memories. It was like it dug in and pulled itself out of a long forgotten vault.
    See … here I am! You haven’t forgotten me!
    Wow what a trip.

  31. While you’re plugging fun finds on YouTube … I’d be interested to know your opinion of yesterday’s debut of the long-awaited third episode of “Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.”
    Incidentally, they’re hinting at a well-known person in the next installment, and an article I ran across online calls the show “a fave of guest stars such as Michael O’Keefe and Wil Wheaton” — hmm?
    To get back on topic: I like the “hunka cheese” video, but my favorite is the one where Timer makes homemade fruit-juice pops. I still do that! (And may I just say that cranberry juice makes a fantastic frozen treat.)

  32. Thanks for the BotP info! Of all my memories of that show, and I don’t think it I’ve seen it since 1983, it was Zoltar taking of the mask and a silhouette was laughing with a man’s voice and had long flowing hair. My friends and I were watching it one rainy afternoon at camp and we all said “Zoltar is a girl????” I loved that show because Princess was a brunette like me. My guy friends and I used to play G-Force in Kindergarten. Memories!!

  35. “When your got up and go has gone up and went…”
    My god, I LOVED those Timer commercials. I remember one where he taught us how to pour fruit juice into ice cube trays, cover it with saran wrap, and stick toothpicks through the wrap to make fruit popsicles. The cheese one was also very popular with me.
    Although it’s Sunday morning now that totally just brought me back to Saturdays as a kid. I need some Boo Berry cereal now. 🙂

  39. As annoying as Uni was, I remember being more annoyed at the Dungeon Master who always seemed to bugger off whenever one of the kids (usually Eric) would ask about sending them home.

  40. Oh. My. GOD! Wow, that brings back memories. So THAT’S where I get it. Every time I cut off a hunk of cheese to eat, I always say that I”m “hankerin’ for a hunk of cheese.” They’ve brainwashed me! And even though you couldn’t get me to sing any of those theme songs just by asking me, I knew every single one as they were playing.
    But I can’t believe you dissed Uni. I LOVED Uni! I wanted a pet unicorn. I did a dead-on impression of Uni when I was a little girl. Oh man, them’s fightin’ words.

  41. Proving that I’m a complete nerd who will never grow up, I still have the VHS boxed set of D&D sitting on my bookshelf right now.
    It’s rather amusing how cyclical these things are though – I passed HMV today to see scores of shiny new copies of the Mysterious Cities of Gold cartoon, finally restored to their original quality and released on DVD this week, next to a poster indicating they’re re-making it as a movie. Needless to say I bought a copy on the spot.

  42. I am definitely WAY too young to remember any of that stuff. I didn’t even know there was a Q-Bert cartoon. I remember avidly playing that game though. Addictive little thang.
    Also, that Pac-Man cereal was actually kinda cool… The 80’s flashback from that came zooming back though.

  43. I watched the 90’s one, too, and it reminded me The Legend of Prince Valiant, which I LOVED! It’s finally on DVD now. So I was reading wiki about it and it said Michael of Northumberland was voiced by none other than Wil Wheaton. Is this wishful thinking, Wil, or was it really you? I need to buy that DVD set.

  44. Dangit, Wil, I’m trying to write. Quit posting all these things that keep me from doing it. 🙂 (“The Kindgom of …. Could Be Yoo-ooo-ooouuu!”)

  47. I don’t remember if it was Timer or not, but there was another “healthy” bit about “Don’t drown your food.” I always felt that was justification for my refusal to put any type of sauce on any of my foods. 🙂 Thanks for the memory!

  48. I remember liking the D&D cartoon, but thinking it was just a little too cutesy. I also remember one about a barbarian with magic golden sword that materialized from the hilt – can’t remember the name. I liked that one even more, but used to get ticked that he ever did was cut the bad guys weapons in two. I guess those hit when I was starting to appreciate some gritty realism in my fantasy.
    A bit off topic here, but I didn’t see this posted anywhere else. Will got a mention in the latest Dork Tower – http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/archive.asp?nextform=viewcomic&id=1357
    Very Choice!
    SB

  49. Pac-Man cereal tasted like garbage. Much like the C3PO’s.
    But, Nerds cereal, based on the ever popular candy, was great!!
    80’s cartoons and variety shows were strange. But, who knew better? I thought the Great Space Coaster was fantastic…now I know I was young and ignorant. 🙂

  50. I turned on the first youtube and my children flocked to my lap in droves. They enjoyed these clips more than I ever did.
    My husband and I watched “Mazes and Monsters” starring Tom Hanks yesterday. It was so awesome I almost forgot it was a movie!

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