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Friday, June 1, 2012

Your shows sucked.

I feel sad that some of my American friends didn't get to watch the same shows I did as a child.

We got all the American shows, but we, in Canada, had some you didn't get. Some charming shows that I love to this day. Some were easier to find than others.

Check these out. They were great. :)

Random order.

1. Blizzard Island.

Tracey Allen, a 10 year-old Nova Scotia girl, and her nine year-old brother Wayne find intrigue while rummaging through an old chest. Their father, a sea captain, keeps many strange things — but none stranger than a mysterious necklace. This "special" necklace transports them to the magical world of Blizzard Island. As the children quickly find out, the island is a strange and magical land — filled with strange and magical creatures. This show, I only caught part of a couple episodes of, and never got the name of it. I'd asked a lot of people if they remembered this show. No one did. I'd begun to think I imagined it - and then my husband found it on youtube! Yay!

Part one of episode one



2. Under the umbrella tree.

The series centers around a diverse set of main characters who share a house on Spring Street in a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario. The characters include Holly (a human), Iggy (an iguana), Jacob (a Blue Jay), and Gloria (a gopher). The show's title is derived from the fact that the characters live together in a home featuring a prominent indoor umbrella tree. While not my favourite show, this one was pretty charming.

Opening theme




3. Fraggle Rock.

Fraggles are humanoid creatures, about 18 inches tall,[4] with fur in a wide variety of colors and a tail like a lion’s, with a tuft of fur on the end. They live in a network of caves called Fraggle Rock, populated by a variety of creatures, and seeming to connect to at least two different worlds in separate dimensions of time and space. Fraggles spend much of their carefree lives in play, exploring their worlds, and generally enjoying themselves. However, at the same time they maintain a complex culture and society, with each individual having rights and responsibilities. They have basic skill with tools and with crude machinery, and the concept of war is known to them (although wars between Fraggles are very rare). Fraggles live on a diet of vegetables, especially radishes. If individuals touch their heads together before falling asleep they can “share dreams.” OMGOMGOMGOMG I can't express how much I loved this show! I even recently bought season one on DVD.

It's one kids show that stands up to your memories of it. :D There was a version of this show that featured the Doozers. Not my fave.

YAAAAAAAAAAAY




4. Moondreamers

Now, this one is funny if you follow my blog or writing, and know that the title of my MS is Moondreamer: The Sowing. I honestly didn't remember this show until I googled the title of my MS, and saw that it was a thing! And that thing, was a kids cartoon I vaguely remember. The MoonDreamers are a group of celestial people who create and deliver pleasant dreams to Earth children. Their main enemy is the evil Queen Scowlene, who attempts to keep everyone awake at night with her nightmare crystals.

You're not dreaming, it's the Moondreamers




5. Fred Penner's Place.

The young audience joins Fred in his own private place in a forest glade which he reaches through a hollow log. There they are entertained by Fred and his special guests in this very musical series designed to educate and entertain young viewers. Children learn, for example, how plants grow, or how instruments work. Some of Canada's best animation helps them learn French, the alphabet, and how to count. A special feature is the Word Bird, a magic talking bird who gives daily messages to the audience in a kind of "pre-school thought for the day."

Through the hollow log




6. Mr. Dressup.

This was not a cartoon, despite the opening. But It was great. Check out his drawing segments. Of course, I didn't like this show as it progressed, but the first years were great. The series starred Ernie Coombs as Mr. Dressup. The show aired every weekday morning, and each day Mr. Dressup would lead children through a series of songs, stories, arts, crafts, and imagination games, with the help of his friends Casey and Finnegan, a child and a dog who lived in a treehouse in the back yard. The series was seen as almost a Canadian version of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Opening



7. Harriet's Magic Hats.

The premise of the show was that an aunt named Harriet has a trunk full of magic hats in her attic. When her young niece wears a hat from the trunk she is transported to a place related to the hat. For example, if she wore a chef's hat from the trunk, the girl was transported to a kitchen with professional chefs, where she would learn about the profession. The show was 15 minutes long, and gave children a diverse view of the working world.

Intro



8. Today's Special.
In the children's department of a major department store, each night when Jodie arrives for work, she carries a mannequin (Jeff) upstairs, where Muffy says the magic words "hocus pocus alimagocus!" This brings him to life.


Today's Special



9. The Raccoons.

Quite possibly one of my favourite cartoons of all time, for two reasons. 1. The show was just, utterly kick ass. And 2. THE AMAZING THEME SONG! Seriously - go listen to it. I'll wait. Theme song

Isn't that the best theme song for a cartoon you've ever heard?! I have it on my ipod now. I used to sing it on the school bus as a kid. Back to the show itself. The series revolves around a trio of raccoons called the Evergreen Raccoons - Bert and Melissa, and their friend Ralph. The series mostly involved the three fighting against the industrialist forces of greedy aardvark millionaire Cyril Sneer, who usually tries to destroy the forest for a quick buck. However, the Raccoons would always save their forest from Cyril's schemes, with help from their forest friends including Schaeffer, a gentle sheepdog, Cedric, Cyril's college graduate son, and Sophia Tutu, Cedric's girlfriend. But, as the show progressed, Cyril became more of a sympathetic character, eventually becoming an anti-hero.

Show's Intro




Now, don't get all "up in my grill" for leaving out the more mainstream awesome cartoons/ kid's shows. Like I said, this post is just trying to highlight a few you may have missed. :)






8 comments:

  1. We had Fraggle Rock! Or at least those of us with cable did. Loved it!

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  2. Its Brett

    Just want to say about the raccoons. You should have linked the song to the actual opening credits. But seeing that actual music video was funny.

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  3. PSSSSH! We had Fraggle Rock! I'm taking that one back!

    Faith has it on DVD too, SO THERE.

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  4. I remember Fraggle Rock and Today's Special, it wasn't until I was an adult that I found Today's special again though, those were good times. :)

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  5. We had Under The Umbrella Tree, too! It was on Disney - I LOVED that show! And it's weird because I was just thinking of it this morning when I surfed through Disney on my way to the news.

    Long live Iggie!

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    Replies
    1. Haha I recently find myself strolling along singing the theme song:D

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  6. I loved Fraggle Rock; traveling Matt and his adventures with the silly creatures of outer space ... er .. us. ;) The Doozers would build structures and the Fraggles were addicted to them and would eat them. Ha! That's epic.

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