Alternate Routes to Nostalgia
 

I've been a G.I. Joe nerd since 1986, but my nostalgia is insufficient to get me through a given episode of the '80s Real American Hero cartoon I loved so much at age nine. Consequently, I have essentially abandoned G.I. Joe.

Sometimes, though, I'm lucky enough to find another path for my nostalgia.

One of my favorite examples concerns A Nightmare On Elm Street. Those movies ruled my childhood, but I know better than to try to sit through them today. Luckily, Netflix is streaming a documentary about the films:



I'm not sure what's more surprising: the fact that someone produced a four-hour documentary about Freddy Krueger movies, or the fact that it's so good I watched it twice within the span of a year. (I never watch films twice in such quick succession).

Never Sleep Again is the perfect outlet for my Elm Street nostalgia; rather than suffering through uneven effects and bad acting and repetitive stories, I get to hear fascinating anecdotes from the many writers and directors and actors and makeup and effects artists and musicians responsible for the movies... all supplemented with clips from the films. I can't recommend that documentary enough.

Closer to home is the '80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, which, again, I loved as a kid, but which is, let us say, uneven today.

So instead of sitting through its rough animation and eye-rolling jokes and inane plots, I've been letting others do so for me.



The Too Much Ninja Turtles podcast gives me a delightful nostalgic fix. Much like Never Sleep Again, it's a sort of filter through which I get to experience something I enjoyed as a kid.

Does anyone else seek such alternate routes to nostalgic satisfaction? (Turtles-themed or otherwise).

Does anyone else listen to Too Much Ninja Turtles?

Anyone have any other Turtles-themed podcasts to recommend?

No, I'd rather watch the original cartoon.

Nothing on the podcast tip but you should watch the documentary Turtle Power if you haven't already.

As far as being entertained by the re-visitation of others is concerned, I love Cinemassacre's TMNT videos.

I'd love to! Is it streaming anywhere?


I'll check 'em out!

Ironically, I find Real American Hero to be delightful as an adult. Seriously, just about every episode holds my attention. The over-the-top ensemble cast and rogues gallery are my kind of entertainment!

Fair enough! I get why one would find it entertaining, either on an earnest level or a so-bad-it's-good level. I just find that very little of '80s culture holds up for me these days.

Man, "The Viper" episode is just a laugh riot. I think either Roadblock or Gung Ho casually crashes through a glass window when playing ping-pong ball or something. Only in the 1980s, man.

Cocaine is a hell of a drug. :)

I really want to see Never Sleep Again, but the running time has scared me away so far – I think you may have convinced me though.

As to the broader topic, I have a few TV shows and movies on DVD that I’ve watched with the audio commentary more times than the content itself. The Simpsons for example. I have seasons 1 – 10 on DVD, and I like the show a lot, but I must have seen those episodes a billion times on TV growing up, so I tend to watch it with the commentaries on. Evil Dead is another example; I have seen it so many times that I find the stories about making the movie more entertaining than re-watching it at this point.

I can see that. I've kinda stopped listening to commentaries over the years, but I love Joss Whedon's. They're always insightful and hilarious.

And yeah, man, trust me, no one was more wary of that four-hour running time than me, but goggly moogly what a documentary. It's hilarious, surprising, fascinating. And Peter Jackson explains his rejected pitch for the sixth film, which is pretty damn amazing.

I know what you mean - I’m a lot pickier about which ones I’ll listen to these days.

For me, part of the problem is that I fear seeing the film again so soon will make me sick of it. I think I'd rather listen to a commentary on my iPod or something.

I've been meaning to watch the NIGHTMARE doc. Sounds cool! There's a similar doc for GHOSTBUSTERS coming this summer that I've been doing some archive work for. It's looking like the streaming version will be around the standard 90 min, but there will be a 4+ hour cut for fans.

I have a huge nostalgic love of my old fav toons-- TMNT, Ghostbusters, MASK, Dinoriders, that sort of thing. I've found that revisiting can often lead to the crushing realization that the toons were pretty bad. It's the memories that you enjoy. As far as enjoying that nostalgic love, watching the old intros on Youtube can be fun. If I've had enough wine, I might watch a single ep or something.

It's not exactly a documentary, but there's a great sounding book on 80s cartoons coming out by Andrew Farago, the guy behind the great TMNT Ultimate Visual History book. I submitted a few things to Andrew for the toon book from my collection. From what I've heard, it's shaping up to be really cool!

I'll check out the podcast!

Oh wow, that should be worth a look! I hope it's as thorough as the Elm Street doc, which dove into Freddy's Nightmares and merchandising and Freddy vs. Jason.


I still need to read that.

It'll be VERY in-depth. I think the director has over 70 interviews with cast and crew and a metric crap-ton of archive content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1s267t9bOA

The TMNT Visual History is an awesome read if you're a fan. Highly, highly recommended!

That Ghostbusters doc looks great!!

There's two Ghostbusters fan docs coming.

You can watch it right here

Thank you!