Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
Jun. 19th, 2012 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxinthestarsLately I found that someone had posted most of The Jim Henson Hour on Youtube. I remembered its oh-so-brief run as a magical moment from my youth, so I've been watching them --- the Muppet TV parts, putting off The Storyteller until later. The uploader even included the vintage commercials in some of them; those were a trip. ("I remember that one! OMG, I had those McDonald's toys!")
The show itself, though, while it still makes me sad that Henson passed away so soon (at least he never had to see his stuff sold to Disney), is notably less magical than I remembered. I guess at the time I was too young to realize quite how lame a lot of the jokes were (or how woodenly-acted the "Lighthouse Island" mini-feature was), and young enough that puppets could save an uninteresting musical number.
But there's also the malleability of memory; there are things I specifically remembered from the show --- and remembered wrong. There was one particular bit I was scouring to find, when Bootsy and Brad (a now-oddly-disturbing pastiche of Barbie and Ken) had a tea party with Talking Teddy and not-GI Joe (this video, about 9:30). The comic possibilities are obvious, and not only did I remember the skit, but my sister and I recalled and laughed over it together many times we were young, and now I find that the real thing was actually fairly cursory, and that we had glossed over some of the more iffy aspects and punched up the dialogue; Talking Teddy's "Would you like to give me a kiss?" became a hug, and not-GI Joe's response was transmuted from "Would you like to live to see tomorrow?" in a quirky wannabe-Schwarzenegger accent into a wonderfully punchy "Would you like to lose your life!?"
It's odd how that works sometimes... I'm still glad I saw it again. (And still need to watch those Storyteller bits.)
PS (and out from behind friendslock): I still have one (sadly just one) Ao3 invite code if anyone wants it; I understand the queue is ridiculous at this point...
The show itself, though, while it still makes me sad that Henson passed away so soon (at least he never had to see his stuff sold to Disney), is notably less magical than I remembered. I guess at the time I was too young to realize quite how lame a lot of the jokes were (or how woodenly-acted the "Lighthouse Island" mini-feature was), and young enough that puppets could save an uninteresting musical number.
But there's also the malleability of memory; there are things I specifically remembered from the show --- and remembered wrong. There was one particular bit I was scouring to find, when Bootsy and Brad (a now-oddly-disturbing pastiche of Barbie and Ken) had a tea party with Talking Teddy and not-GI Joe (this video, about 9:30). The comic possibilities are obvious, and not only did I remember the skit, but my sister and I recalled and laughed over it together many times we were young, and now I find that the real thing was actually fairly cursory, and that we had glossed over some of the more iffy aspects and punched up the dialogue; Talking Teddy's "Would you like to give me a kiss?" became a hug, and not-GI Joe's response was transmuted from "Would you like to live to see tomorrow?" in a quirky wannabe-Schwarzenegger accent into a wonderfully punchy "Would you like to lose your life!?"
It's odd how that works sometimes... I'm still glad I saw it again. (And still need to watch those Storyteller bits.)
PS (and out from behind friendslock): I still have one (sadly just one) Ao3 invite code if anyone wants it; I understand the queue is ridiculous at this point...
