As our blog is wrapping up, our son waves goodbye to all you readers who’ve been following along. I actually took this photo in June 2016, when we were watching Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, Land of the Lost, and Shazam!, for him to wave goodbye to my former employer, but I’ve always liked it and thought you might like to wave back.
Our kid is not really a very nostalgic type, as the occasional strangeness of his memory suggests, but I asked him to sit down with me for a moment and reflect on some things that he enjoyed, didn’t enjoy, and might surprise us a bit.
On movies, I asked whether he stands by his statement that Ghostbusters is one of his three favorite films, and whether he’d like to share what the other two are yet: “Yes, Ghostbusters is amazing. My other two favorite movies are It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
But wait a minute, you hadn’t seen Mad World yet when you told me that. What movie did it knock out of the top three? “The Doctor Who movie.”
Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD? You walked out on that! “No, I mean the other one, the one with the Eighth Doctor.”
On which Doctor might be his favorite: “Uhhhh, I’d have to break my brain to tell you that.”
On his favorite companion: “Probably Sarah Jane Smith, and Rose.”
On whether he prefers recurring villains or new ones: “I like it when older monsters come back!”
On whether he has a favorite or a least favorite ITC series: “I don’t know which one I liked best, but the one that I didn’t like was Danger Man.”
On what we’re going to rewatch in evening rotation over the next couple of months: “MacGyver and The Ghosts of Motley Hall. I was so upset when that one ended, because I loved that one.”
On which scarecrow is the best: “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh is not as good as Worzel Gummidge.”
On other TV series that he particularly enjoyed: “I loved The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man. I really didn’t like The Feathered Serpent. I don’t remember Into the Labyrinth. I liked about 64% of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Thunderbirds and Thunderbirds are Go, yes, yes, a million times yes. I know that we watched Pippi Longstocking but I don’t remember much about it.”
I was telling him that if he’d like to see Pippi again, we’d have to track it down, because those came from the library when he interrup–: “SILVER SCREAM SPOOK SHOW! YES!!! I LOVE THE SILVER SCREAM SPOOK SHOW!”
We’re certainly hoping that they’ll announce another one soon. Any of these Disney films ring a bell for you? “I liked Tron and Mary Poppins Returns. I don’t really remember the original. I like Star Wars but not the Star Wars cash-ins.
What about The Black Hole? That was Disney’s Star Wars cash-in. “Oh yeah, that one I did like.”
Other things I showed him pictures of that he did not remember: Dr. Shrinker and Napoleon and Samantha
On Hayao Miyazaki: “I liked Spirited Away best, and I really like all the food. Also Howl’s Moving Castle and Nausicaa.”
I’m glad you like Miyazaki, because we’re going to start watching Future Boy Conan Sunday night. “Coooool.”
We’ll be continuing to watch TV for many, many months to come. Tomorrow, I’ll have a few closing thoughts of my own.
Fire Breathing Dimetrodon Time 