Looking like a pair of futuristic binoculars, the Tomytronic 3D range of electronic games were much sought after when they were released in the early eighties. The bold claim that these games had was that the action was depicted in three dimensions, making all those other resolutely two dimensional games seem old fashioned and dull.
This claim was probably a little over the top. Yes, the games did appear to be more three dimensional, but only because they worked in a similar way to one of those Viewmaster toys. You looked down two eyepieces so each eye saw a slightly different view of the same image. This made your brain see the image pop into three dimensions.
Sounds good, but given that these games were still limited to only being able to display the graphical images in fixed positions you weren’t going to get smooth movement or animation, and the games were limited to the standard fodder of space invader clones and driving games where you could be in one of three different lanes and all you had to do was switch lanes to dodge oncoming cars.
The games were also not all that good for your eyes or your posture! The game screen was only visible if you had a fairly strong light source coming in through the frosted plastic on the top of the unit, and of course you had to hold the thing up to your eyes constantly in order to play it, so aching arms quickly ensued.
That said, at the time none of that mattered to me and I was deeply envious of anybody who had one of these games, as it made my Grandstand Munchman look dull and boring…
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve got another great competition for you to enter, the prize being a great selection of classic kids TV shows on DVD. The winner will receive the following slabs of televisual entertainment:-
A bumper haul and no mistake! Click here to enter the competition, and I’d like to thank VoucherCodes.co.uk for kindly supplying the prizes. Check them out for a great range of special offers, such as HMV Promotional Codes, which are a perfect way to buy a few Christmas presents and save a bit of money in the process.
Another simple survey for you this week, and you don’t have to just be a Child of the 1980’s to answer this one. In fact you could be as far back as a Child of the 1950’s! I wrote about yellow teddy bear Sooty this week, and as I’m sure you’ll know he has had two main companions for many, many years in the form of Sweep the dog and Soo the panda.
These days there’s also Scampi, another little bear who I think is Sooty’s cousin, but I don’t remember him from my childhood, so sorry Scampi fans, you can’t choose him on this survey. Quite why he’s named after seafood I don’t know…
Kick Start is another great example of the sort of TV programme that just doesn’t get made any more, and really should as it was great family viewing, whether you were into motorcycles or not.
The show was based in the world of motorcycle trials, which is where riders take their bikes over an assortment of obstacles, trying to do so as fast as possible and without incurring penalties by knocking over items or putting their foot on the floor. It was quite amazing what these guys could do on their bikes, including driving over the tops of cars, the infamous bunny hop over a plank of wood or negotiating a tight circle of logs without knocking any of them down.
Of course while we all marvelled when someone got around the entire course without a single fault, secretly we all wanted the blokes to fall off their bikes in painful looking ways, and we usually got what we were after. There must have be quite a few bruised egos as well as bruised nether regions, as the comedy gold of a man falling onto a log with a leg either side was common place.
Kick Start was presented by Peter Purves who was a Blue Peter presenter in the days of Valerie Singleton and John Noakes, and he commentated over the proceedings with a calm yet genuinely interested manner. Of course, he too joined in with the giggles during the slips, with one memorable occasion being when a young lad fell into a lake, and the St. John’s ambulance men who came to help him ended up falling in too!
If you haven’t already heard, the great British actor Edward Woodward passed away on the 16th November, aged 79.
Edward started acting in the 1950s, but it was in the late 1960s that he became a household name in the spy series Callan. This fame brought him a movie role in the 1973 film The Wicker Man, a truly chilling horror film about a police officer investigating strange cult like behaviour in a sleepy little backwater village.
For me personally though, Edward Woodward will always be Robert McCall from The Equalizer, which ran for four seasons from 1985 to 1989. This is one of those series that has stuck in my mind for the amazingly scary title sequence and theme tune, with the shot of Robert McCall stood in a dark alley in a pair of car headlights being an image that will be burnt in my mind forever more.
The Equalizer has been a show that I have wanted to write about on this site for some time, but I never have simply because apart from the title sequence I don’t remember much about the actual storylines. I know that Robert McCall was once an agent in some kind of intelligence agency, but that when he retired he went into “business”, if you can call it that, as a righter of wrongs. He worked for free, and basically was like a one man A Team, helping those who were powerless to help themselves.
Doesn’t look too bad for a sixty year old, does he? The little yellow bear with black ears that we all know as Sooty has been around since the 1950’s, meaning he’s entertained at least three generations of kids. This has put him in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running children’s TV show, although the format and name of his TV programmes has changed a fair bit over the years.
Sooty was first “discovered” by Harry Corbett whilst on holiday in Blackpool in 1948. He saw the little yellow bear puppet and bought it for his son Matthew, but it wasn’t long before Harry was using the bear as an assistant in his amateur magic act, naming him Teddy. The duo were spotted and in 1952 they went onto the nations airwaves thanks to a BBC talent show.
Since television was still only black and white a last minute decision was made to alter Teddy’s appearance to make him stand out better on screen. A black nose and mouth were added by Harry’s wife Marjorie and his ears were blackened with soot, which led to us new stage name, Sooty! He also got his trademark catchphrase, the magical phrase Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Busy, although of course given that Sooty never actually spoke out loud, this was said by Harry.
I wrote this week about my memories of enjoying good old Slush Puppie, so what better survey this week than to find out what flavour of the slurpy ice drink is everyone’s favourite. Choose from the six flavours available in the UK below, and I’d love to know if anyone still has a shop near them that sells all six flavours still. If you have, please leave a comment on this post so we all know where to go the next time you really, really want a cola flavoured Slush Puppie…
One thing that may surprise you is that I was a bit of a breakdancer in my youth. Yeah, I could really bust some moves! That snake move where you lie on the ground in a press-up position and flick yourself backwards was one of my specialities, and my body had more pop than Tescos. Don’t believe me? OK, here’s the evidence…
OK, I had a bigger afro then and my skin tone was decidedly darker on the rest of my body than it was on my face, but I was quite the mover, yeah?
Well, no, of course not. If I had attempted breakdancing it would certainly have been more break than dance. Vases, TV sets, legs, arms, the works. The above is of course a work of Internet trickery, courtesy of clothing brand Russell Athletic, who are reintroducing their range of sports wear into UK stores. The range includes T-Shirts, Hoodies, Shorts and more, so why not pop over to the Russell Athletic site to take a look, and make your own 80’s-ized movie featuring yourself or friends at the same time.
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Looking like a pair of futuristic binoculars, the Tomytronic 3D range of electronic games were much sought after when they were released in the early eighties. The bold claim that these games had was that the action was depicted in three dimensions, making all those other resolutely two dimensional games seem old fashioned and dull.![[del.icio.us]](http://www.childofthe1980s.com/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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Kick Start is another great example of the sort of TV programme that just doesn’t get made any more, and really should as it was great family viewing, whether you were into motorcycles or not.
If you haven’t already heard, the great British actor Edward Woodward passed away on the 16th November, aged 79.
Doesn’t look too bad for a sixty year old, does he? The little yellow bear with black ears that we all know as Sooty has been around since the 1950’s, meaning he’s entertained at least three generations of kids. This has put him in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running children’s TV show, although the format and name of his TV programmes has changed a fair bit over the years.
