Nostalgia Central

[Tailsy]

Right. So, this thread is really for any kind of entertainment media* you loved as a kid and totally gives you the rose-tinted NOSTALGIA GOGGLES because you remember them being just that damn good. So that's books, films, TV shows, plays(?), frying pieces of your brother's flesh in the back garden etc.

Fuck you I read books as a child so 95% of my list will be books. :( I blame my dad, okay.

- The Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge. Oh my god I totally cried at the end EVERY TIME which made no sense because the ending was like, totally happy and everything. I loved this book. I found out it had been made into a film, too! Which I haven't seen because I need to watch films with other people or I get bored, then everyone will see me totally cry like a bitch at a happy ending.
- The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien. Yeah. My dad read this to me when I couldn't even read yet, that's how damn hardcore I am. The riddles Gollum gives Bilbo I remember totally sitting there for ages trying to work out how the hell that answer worked because I sucked at puzzles. I still do suck at puzzles, naturally.
- Pretty much any novel by Jacqueline Wilson. She's awesome, okay? I particularly remember loving The Illustrated Mum and Double Act. Or at least those are the two that aren't completely wrecked from over-reading (although Double Act is leaning that way). Dolphin was a really interesting protagonist. ♥
- You know who else is awesome? Paula Danziger. The Cat Ate My Gymsuit is hilarious although I can't remember the title of the sequel off the top of my head. It was just as good, though.

I can't be arsed any more, I'll just leave you guys to it.

*I don't want to hear about your experience with porn as a child gtfo

 

[IcySapphire]

--Every day, my afterschool routine was to grab a snack and watch The Disney Afternoon (and hundreds of other cartoons)

--Best play I ever went to back then was a great version of "James and the Giant Peach" (which spurred me to read the book, and later watch the movie) The centipede stole the show.

--Judy Blume's Fudge trilogy ruled--I could not stop laughing at the antics Peter, Fudge, Shelia, et all would get into.

 

[foreign contaminant]

i watched television as a kid!

yay, rocko's modern life! yay, hey arnold! yay, ren and stimpy! yay, akazukin chacha (this anime the filipino cartoon network aired that was a mix of sailor moon and little red riding hood. it was massively popular in southeast asia back in the day)! yay, dexter's lab! yay, pretty much everything on nickelodeon and cartoon network between 1996-2002!

i read a little as a kid, too. i specifically remember the story of pedro, a kid airplane who had to fly mail through a blizzard because his parents were lame and couldn't. there was also this book about a mouse who was enamored with this strawberry and carved a home out of it. it was a really nifty story. i made my preschool teacher read it to me on my 4th birthday, if i remember correctly.

as for video games, there's pokemon.. but i'm sure we knew that. hats off to the various sonic games i played when i was younger, as well as mario 64, both snowboard kids, jet grind radio, star fox 64, kirby super star, the first two super smash bros., and super mario rpg.

 

[goldenquagsire]

holy shit i had video games as a kid!

Age of Empires was the first video game i ever played (possibly even before Pokemon, though i'm not sure). it was so goooood. it fuelled my love of history even when i was a little boy. i got so pissed off when my brother destroyed the disc; i still want revenge. i have equal affection for its sequel, Age of Kings, but i kinda got bored of the series after that, and of RTSs in general. i also wasted innumerable hours playing Sim City 3000. i always, without fail, got bored after half an hour and set doomsday on the poor citizenry of my domain.

as for tv... looking back, i spent far too much time watching cartoon network. jesus. but since everyone and their mum reminisces about cartoons, i'll be AWKWARD and UNUSUAL and say that one of the highlights of my childhood was BBC nature documentaries with David Attenborough. weeknights at 8pm, watching monkeys and lions do cool shit... my younger self would be so disappointed to see me now, almost failing biology. xD

before anyone accuses me of being uncultured, i'll admit that i *did* actually read books! the Artemis Fowl series was rawk, as was the Edge Chronicles. however, i also spent a hell of a lot of time reading graphic novels (and was probably exposed to some nasty shit waaay too early). i *loved* the Alien comics as a kid. also, props to Star Wars literature, either in book form or in graphic novel form.

ironically, films never played a huge part in my childhood. when i was younger, i was kinda scared of cinemas. too big and loud. D:

 

[foreign contaminant]

ironically, films never played a huge part in my childhood. when i was younger, i was kinda scared of cinemas. too big and loud. D:

i remember being terrified of toy story when i saw it in the theater. i wasn't screaming, but i associated bad things with that movie early on. :x

 

[goldenquagsire]

i remember being terrified of toy story when i saw it in the theater. i wasn't screaming, but i associated bad things with that movie early on. :x

lol

i loved Toy Story with a passion, but only on video.

that's the other thing about my childhood: the last days of VHS. god, i loved my videos. looking back, they were so irritating - all that hassle with rewinding, videos breaking, etc. but i still get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever i watch a video.

the awesome thing is that these days you can get videos absolute dirt cheap at charity stores; like, three for a pound and shit. you can almost throw them away after watching them (but i don't because that would be environmentally unsound D:< ).

 

[opaltiger]

but since everyone and their mum reminisces about cartoons, i'll be AWKWARD and UNUSUAL and say that one of the highlights of my childhood was BBC nature documentaries with David Attenborough.

I have most of his major works on DVD 8)

anyway I can only really think of The Animals of Farthing Wood. It was amazingly awesome and dark for a children's cartoon.

 

[Dannichu]

BBC nature documentaries with David Attenborough.

YES. I used to watch his stuff religiously and he inspired me to want to be a zoologist from the age of 5 till when I was about 17 and realised that biology A-level made me want to kill myself ):

I used to watch Cartoon Network a lot - Ed Edd and Eddy, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, Tom & Jerry, et al.

Every Sunday morning, my sister and I would watch a Disney movie from our video collection, and we'd pick the one we wanted every other week. Except, I chose Aladdin every time, so we'd watch, say, Lion King, then Aladdin, then Beauty and the Beast, then Aladdin, then the Aristocats, than Aladdin... and I don't even like Aladdin that much o.o

The Homeward Bound films <3333

I'll always remember getting up really early to watch Pokemon on SMTV Live or Live and Kicking or ther other crappy shows on at that time :D

I used to adore (well, still do) anything by Roald Dahl (I wanted to be Matilda). Or Enid Blyton (The Magical Farway Tree ftw!).
I also used to completely love anything by Colin Thompson - he did the most epic picture books, including How to Live Forever, Tower to the Sun, Finding Atlantis and The Paperbag Prince.

The Crystal Maze. God, I was unhealthily obsessed with that show. Especially with Richard O'Brian presenting it :D

I'll post more as and when I think of them.

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

Hmm...

Books:
- I read nearly anything by Beverly Cleary and Jack Gantos.
- I loved A Series of Unfortunate Events.
- I had read the first three Artemis Fowl books, they were quite good.
- Holes. Neat novel, neat movie.
- I attempted to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 5th grade, that was a blast.
- Who didn't read Harry Potter growing up? Besides the youngest amoungst us. I personally got to the 5th book, then my reading tastes shifted towards war novels.

TV shows:
- Most of the major shows on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, the staple shows that folks have already listed. I think my real heyday would've been 1996-2004.
- I also watched those educational shows on PBS (the woefully unexciting public TV here in the States), the ones aimed at elementary schoolers.
- Bill Nye the Science Guy!
- Scooby-Doo was the bomb. But only the old series.
- Anybody else watch O Canada? They show a bunch of (sometimes strange) obscure cartoon shorts from Canada. I understood next to none of them as a kid, but still enjoyed it.
- I know at least a few other people here watched Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
- I think I started watching Food Network at the age of 9 or so. Fell in love with Iron Chef. =D

Films didn't really factor heavily into my childhood, I mostly saw typical children's films. Toy Story, The Lion King, and Monsters Inc. were my faves, though Toy Story scared me at first too.

Games:
- The first game I played was Super Mario Bros. I hadn't a clue what I was doing, really.
- On PC, I first played educational games. =D Humongous Entertainment was the company of choice, but the Jump Start series was cool too.
- I had a friend who had Warcraft II, StarCraft, Myst, DOOM, Duke Nukem 3D and some racing game, probably one of the NASCARs. Myst blew my mind with it's graphics, but I totally did not understand what was going on in WC2 and SC. Still begged my mom for SC, it would take me forever to get it. I was enamored with Doom and Duke Nukem. And thus, I became a PC gamer, and racing, RTS and FPS were established as some of my favorite genres.
- My first not educational PC game was RollerCoaster Tycoon, which I loved to bits and still do. Other PC games of my childhood were Test Drive 4 (disc was scratched at some point, though.), and Need for Speed II SE. (turned me into a little gearhead.)
- Well, my first console was a Sega Saturn, no clue what happened to it, unfortunately. I don't remember a whole lot about it, though Sonic had to figure into the equation somewhere.
- What got me into the N64 was playing one at my uncle's place. I played Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye. Those two games, the pinnacle to N64 multiplayer fun, had me sold.
- I never got my own copy of Goldeneye, but I did get Mario Kart 64. Later I'd get 1080, Paperboy, Banjo Kazooie, and Pokemon Stadium, among other titles. (which aren't as notable. =P) I never owned them, but I also enjoyed Starfox 64 (I have a copy now), Hydro Thunder, Pokemon Stadium 2, Super Smash Bros., and Kirby 64.
- When I got my GBC, I got Gex: Enter the Gecko, because the Toys R Us lacked Pokemon. I failed at that game.
- When I did get Pokemon, I had no clue which one to get. I picked Blue for no particular reason, and since then I've made it a habit to pick the 'second' version (when only two are out), i.e. Blue out of RBY, Silver out of GSC, and so on and so forth.
- I love my Dreamcast. Power Stone and Power Stone 2 are the greatest. Sonic Adventure was also cool, the second one, not so much.
- One of the only multiplatform games I have ever played on every platform (in this case, DC, PS1, and N64) was Vigilante 8: Second Offence. I absolutely love that game. Dreamcast version is the best.

Anime:
- Amongst others, I watched Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Speed Racer, Cardcaptors, and Hamtaro.
- My absolute favorite as a child was Outlaw Star, I remember before they had Adult Swim, this came on right after Dragonball Z and it was the highlight of my Saturday night.
-I loved both Pokemon and Digimon as a kid.

And surely I am not the only one here who danced the Macarena?

And does anybody else also feel that life was very simple and pleasant before one learned words like 'fuck' and the new meaning of 'gay'? Sometimes, I miss such days.

 

[Peegeray]

tv: pokemon (in year 3, i watched it on sky one everyday), cartoon network, cbbc (before it was it's own channel)... also stuff like stars in their eyes, shooting stars, who wants to be a millionaire (when it first started), catchphrase (when it wasn't on challenge). anyone remeber when the simpsons was on bbc2?
movies: disney, pixar... yep. i still love a bugs life. i watched mary poppins a lot even though i didn't know what was going on lmao.
games: pokemon (red, yellow, gold, crystal), super mario land 1 and 2. i loved my n64, and i still do. pokemon stadium 2 ftw.
books: roald dahl, jacqueline wilson, and the harry potter series is what i read mostly.

 

[Rai-CH]

TV: Pokemon, Digimon, Monster Rancher, some other show featuring demons that turned good (I can't remember the name but I used to draw pictures of the good monsters, who I name Terry and Get-a-long. wtf), Cardcaptors, Sailor Moon, Hamtaro, every cartoon that existed from around 1998-2003, Simpsons (too young to understand most of the jokes XD), all the kids shows of the ABC & Saturday Disney. I remember being scared of Dragonball Z

Video Games: Sonic the Hedgehog (SEGA master system!), Spyro the Dragon 1,2 & 3, Gex: Deep Cover Gecko, Rugrats, Pokemon (I had practically every Pokemon game except TGC, Red & Blue!), Digimon World & Rumble Arena, Donald Duck, and N64 game I could get my hands on at my cousins place (usualy Pokemon Stadium, Super Smash Bros. and Mario 64) & some other PlayStation games that I would rent from the Video Store. I also used to play my dad's racing games, I think they were Grand Tourismo 2 and something in space (Galaga or something)

Movies: anything Disney or Pixar. Most Disney movies scared me, so the only ones I would watch were Toy Story 2, Lilo and Stitch & Lion King 2. I also loved Shrek and some other Dreamworks movies that I can't remember right now. I loved all the Winne the Pooh movies, especially the Grand Adventure one where they searched of Christopher Robin. Oh yes, I loved the Pokemon movies the most. I was so obsessed with Pokemon back then.

Books: Dr. Seuss, Roald Darl (I loved James' Marvellous Medicine the most, I wanted to make the medicine myself!), the Pokemon Books (especially the handbooks that showed all the Pokemon), the two Digimon books I had (one had all the Digimon cards, the other had profile on all the characters and their Digimon) & I tried reading Harry Potter, but i didn't like it. I was a huge bookworm, but I can't remember half the books I read.

EDIT: I remember that I used to read The Quest for the Legends when I was 8 or 9! I also loved Dannichu's stories and i used to make my own versions of them XD

 

[Blaziking the God General]

For books? The Boxcar Children. Gosh, I read that constantly for years. I'd literally spend a whole day reading a few books in the series. I stopped reading them when I was about 8 or 9, but so many memories.

Video Games? Final Fantasy VII. I never played it, but I remember one summer when our kitchen was being renovated, my brother borrowed it from a friend. Any time he played it, I would watch. For some reason, watching moments I recognize from it brings back waves of nostalgia. Especially when you meet Vincent and the boss battle music.

Movies? There was this one series of videos that were a bunch of religious videos, but they were so damn funny! I think it was Veggietales, but I used to always watch them. The religious nature of them is annoying now, but whenever someone plays one, I watch because, aside from the religious stuff, it's can be so funny.
Feature film wise, Bug's Life is definitely up there. I remember when I saw it in theaters when I was about 4.

TV Shows? Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon when they were good. I would obsessively watch Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy, the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Dexter's Laboratory, Looney Tunes reruns, etc.

EDIT: Also for TV Shows, I used to obsessively watch Teen Titans whenever I could. Whenever I watch an episode now, there's a massive wave of nostalgia.

 

[Minish]

For books... the Harry Potter books, probably. I dinstinctly remember me at around six or something, picking up the first at the library where I used to live, and then solemnly putting it back and telling my mum I'd read them when I was older because they were too complicated for me to understand. And then I remember in year four being sent the third by my granny and reading it. x3 Yeah, I read the third first. I don't think I understood the concept of series... every year at primary school after that I remember reading a Harry Potter book, and I wrote my name and address in the front of each and updated it whenever I went up a year for absolutely no known reason. Quite funny when I consider that my little sister finds the first book too hard to get through and she's twelve. I got into geekery so early on... XD

Video games - obviously, the Pokemon games. Though I never had a Gameboy until I was in year six, because consoles were too expensive for us to buy. Amusingly, I only got one in the end because my dad's an engineer for aeroplanes and found one in a plane. XDD Playing Sapphire in the 2003 Pokemon Tour (I remember the exact date because I have a Gameboy case with the logo on 8D) before I got a Gameboy, just playing the Sapphire versions they had in demo Gameboys. Like you pick it up and have a go. And I was there for hours while my dad went and did some shopping. XDDD The guy was like "Um... are you okay there?" and I just nodded without looking. So obsessed... and in year seven, I played Final Fantasy VII, so that's another nostalgia trip every time I play it. I might be biased towards the game because I have such fond, nostalgic feelings for it. Weird since I still replay it at least twice a year. XD

Oh... I also remember playing Rayman games a lot. The game Rayman 2 has sooo much nostalgia for me. I really want to play it again just to see what it's like. Though I never got very far because our copy was really weird. ;_; Rayman 3, too, and... Infestation! This awesome PC game I loved far too much. XDD God it is awesome. Has anyone else ever played it? I don't think it even has a Wikipedia article. And Petz 3 and later 5 for the PC! *reinstalled it yesterday to have a shot* XD

I can't remember anything else... I read a lot of Jacqueline Wilson, watched a bit of Pokemon (the films are hugely nostalgic for me, as are the Harry Potter films), and watched a LOT of Disney. Even when I was about four I'd sit on my dad's lap and watch Snow White and Cinderella five times a day. In a row. And I'd just be like "LET'S WATCH IT AGAIN! :D" after each time until I fell asleep.

The Lion King and 101 Dalmations are reeeally nostalgic for me. I've lived in a lot of houses, and it's quite cool to completely remember me drawing pictures from 101 Dalmations like three houses ago in Wales or Scotland - must have been around five or six then.

And that's all I can think of right now... o.o

 

[Worst Username Ever]

Books: I remember reading a lot of Roald Dahl books. Oh, and Harry Potter-though I didn't really get it at first.

TV: I just watched the "early morning" cartoons, and liked almost everything, especially Pokémon. I didn't have Cartoon Network or any "kids" channels so I couldn't see that awesome stuff ._.

Games: CRYSTALCRYSTALCRYSTAL. It was my first video game ever, I got it for my ninth birthday. I remember when I played it with my friends and tried to fill up the Dex. Aah, good times. Also, I borrowed some Mario games from friends and loved them. I think one of them was an "upgraded" Super Mario Bros. where you could go to any level you had been to and I think you only shrunk "one size" at a time(if you had a Fire Flower, you would only become Big Mario instead of small if hit), and there was also this "mini-game" where you were running away from Boo(the ghost) or something. I also remember a 2-pack game of Super Mario Bros. 3 and some other game which I think was just "Mario Bros." Basically, I got into two series I still love today. ^^

 

[Doctor Jimmy]

This was the shit back in my day. I played through this game too many times to count. Even thinking about this game makes me piss myself with joy.

 

[Abwayax]

Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

you win 1.5 internets good sir.

I was enamored with Doom and Duke Nukem.

make that 9000 internets.

anyway um

Books: A Series of Unfortunate Events (the movie sucked ass, though, because it pretty much ruined Olaf's character), Harry Potter (being an ignorant American idiot I was unfamiliar with the setting for a while. It didn't help that relatives in Canada sent us the UK editions of the book, so I was wondering why the hell it was called "Philosopher's Stone" and why "defense" was spelled weirdly and why all the quote marks were out of place. I was a moron back then), and Artemis Fowl (I challenge anyone to come up with something more awesome than a fairy with a laser gun) were pretty good. I also read and liked the first ~7 books of the Pendragon Adventures series. I was big on the Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate and am starting to get back into it. I liked Roald Dahl's books too: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was good, although the sequel (Charlie and the Glass Elevator, I think?) was just bizarre.

Side note: "Are You My Mother" was the first book I ever read. I read it when I was 3 (according to my dad, who has that very copy with him somewhere).

TV: Cartoon Network. My favorite was either Cow and Chicken, Sheep in the Big City, or Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I loved Cartoon Network so much I literally cried when they changed it in 2004. The only non-Cartoon Network stuff I really watched on TV were some random episodes on Nickelodeon and Toon Disney every now and then. Also, my family decided to buy the entire Stargate SG-1 series on DVD so I watched the first few seasons of those way back when. Also, Dragonball Z was probably one of other favorite cartoons. I still like it to this day. I watched the Pokemon cartoon till about Johto then became disinterested. It's funny that many of us are able to take the same thing over and over in the games but don't like the fact that the cartoon is just as repetitive. Some other Japanese cartoons I used to watch were Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo, and Gundam Wing. Oh, and Hamtaro.

Movies: Pokemon first, second, and third movies. The Lion King (Scar is pretty damn badass for a kid's movie villain). Terminator. The Matrix. Dragonball Z movie three was pretty kickass. Star Wars, too, but I'm not a big 'wars fan nowadays.

Games: Not much a console gamer, never was, and probably never will be. My first game was probably Doom. My father used to play Doom all the time and I'd watch him when I was little, so I guess it just grew on me. Duke Nukem 3D was badass and so was Shadow Warrior (another 3D Realms game based on the same engine. I think it got bad rap for being a "Duke clone" but that was essentially what it was, really). I used to use the Build engine level editor to make custom levels for Duke all the damn time. The Quake series was pretty good too. I'd have to say the first console game I played was probably... Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Genesis Mega Drive. I also used to be the proud owner of a Nintendo 64 back in the day, I used to play GoldenEye 007 and Super Smash Bros all the time. Pokemon-wise, my first game was Red in '98 or '99 as a Christmas present. I got Gold in 2000/2001 and Crystal a bit later. I rented out Stadium once but never actually bought it.

Music: Yes, Pink Floyd, and the Doors. Nothing's really changed here.

Hobbies: Computer programming, although back then I was just toying around with QBasic and Visual Basic 5.0. Nothing special, but I have a binary I built in 2003-ish. My other hobby was probably reading.

 

[nastypass]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iF96BunNIw