A humorous look at some of my favourite kids tv shows from the 80s.

Well hello there and welcome to another instalment of "Mark's Nostalgia Trip". Well actually it's the first time that I've called it this, but not the first time that I've written something like this, so let's call it another instalment.

Today I'm going to tickle your funny bones with a trip back to the 80's to look at the TV that I watched as a kid. Some you may know, some you may not, especially if you aren't in the UK. They are all frikkin awesome though so if you havent seen them, check them out, show them to your kids and watch them look you in the eyes and say, "what is this rubbish dad". That's what happens to me. I'm going to kick off with the most obscure of my childhood cartoon favourites.

Jayce and the wheeled warrriors.

To be honest, not even my mates watched this, and no-one I speak to has even heard of it but I loved it. And what is not to love. The good guys drive around in cool cars; the bad guys are weird triffid plant like things that turn into vehicles with weapons on them. You are thinking that this sounds amazing right? It is amazing and definitely worth a watch. Here is episode one, but prepare yourself for the sort of TV watching marathon that you last embarked on when you realised that had 5 series of Breaking Bad to watch .

Thundercats

Snarf!!! Thundercats was a staple of every kid's viewing routine. I'm going to reveal something here. I had a boyhood crush on Cheetara. Bizarre I know. Anyway.... Wasn't that Sword of Omens really cool? Turns out there's a load of lore behind Thundercats that I wasn't aware of (and probably didn't care about as a kid). The wiki page on Thundercats characters goes into soooo much detail. And i thought Lion-o was just a cat-man dressed in Lycra who like to try to kill Mumm-Ra. Thundercats... HO!!

Knightmare

Possibly only a UK thing. No doubt the most technically advanced kids show of the 80s. 4 Kids, one wearing a massive helmet which made it impossible for him to see what was going on have to make their way through a computer generated dungeon. It's all on green screen so all that the poor cretin in the mask will see for the next few hours of his life is darkness and the occasional bit of green wall while his mates get to see the whole generated landscape and live the story. Couple that with the fact that he gets ordered around; "two steps left, one step forward" and i fear that what appeared to be the leading role in the show - wearing the cool helmet, in fact turns into a dull 3 hour walk in the dark. Me and my mates sent off application forms to try to get on. No reply

Gamesmaster

I met Dominic Diamond at Gamesmaster Live once. Nice fella. This show was a must for any young boy who was into computer games. I could watch people play Sonic the Hedgehog on expensive games consoles that my dad wouldn't buy for me. The show was full of game reviews for games that you couldn't get on my Amiga and Patrick Moore (God rest his soul) was the "Gamesmaster" who gave out hints and tips on how to play games. All in all, everything that a young gamer could wish for in a TV show.

He-Man

BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL. I had all of the plastic toys and me and my mate filled them with ketchup and shot them with his dad's air rifle. I regret that move, I bet they would be worth a bit now. I have to say that I think Skeletor was, and still is, one of the best childrens villains of all time. If you watch it back now, that old skeleton is as camp as a row of tents. There was also some woman with a dead eagle on her head. PETA would be up in arms.

Dungeons and Dragons

This show was enough to put you off rollercoasters for life. A group of kids that go on a ride and end up in the arse end of nowhere fighting dragons and some weird horse riding demon thing. How they didn't all get killed is beyond me. The barbarian was about 8 years old, the magician useless and the cavalier was an irritating sod. I ended up spending my later teenage years playing D+D and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay where I was probably a useless magician or irritating cavalier. Pass the 2D10 please....

Tripods

This has to be a UK only thing - made by the BBC and all I remember is being scared to death of it. It was creepy as hell. A load of metallic tripods wandering around the English countryside. I don't really remember what the premise of the show was - probably because I was scared half to death by it.

These are probably my top shows, but honourable mentions go to Inspector Gadget, Trap Door and Danger Mouse.

Hope you have enjoyed this trip down memory lane. I hope to do more of these in the near future.

Mark