What old TV show/movie you were nostalgic for disappointed when seen as an adult?

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SilentBob50023

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We're marketed collectibles all the time from shows or movies that seemed to define our childhoods at a certain point, and I'm guilty of buying my fair share of stuff like that.

But have you ever gone and rewatched the original source material and wondered "What the hell was I thinking?" And, if so, does that diminish the allure of your collectible item?

I'll give you an example: my brother is an absolutely unapologetic Airwolf fanatic. For whatever reason, this show brings back happy memories, and he collects models, patches, uniforms, and other stuff. He even placed an auction bid on an actual Airwolf replica that was supposed to go in a museum. I remember watching the show with him, and I certainly enjoyed it as a kid, but rewatching it now is painful. It doesn't affect him the same way, so I don't know if he's built such a solid illusion of magnificence with respect to this show that nothing can crack its veneer or if his adult taste is relatively unchanged.

Any of you have experiences like this? (And I don't expect your nostalgic shows to be from the 80s like his since I know many of you are much younger.)
 
The monster squad. As a kid I loved this movie. I recently showed it to my kids thinking they would love it like I did and I realized this movie does not hold up well. And to top it all off the kids are like it either
 
[quote name='pitfallharry219']Harry and the Hendersons[/QUOTE]

I don't mind this one so much; it has its charming moments. If you need to, you can always fantasize about how Harry came thisclose to the Trinity Killer and lived.
 
[quote name='razrvamp']The monster squad. As a kid I loved this movie. I recently showed it to my kids thinking they would love it like I did and I realized this movie does not hold up well. And to top it all off the kids are like it either[/QUOTE]

I was going to say the exact same thing. I remember this being so great, when the dvd came out I rewatched it and it was horrible.

For tv shows, Thundercats. It is still good but in more of a 'lets make fun of how bad this is' way. To be fair though, most older tv shows dont stand up to time.
 
OP, your brother even has an Airwolf Windbreaker?

Maybe for me... the first season of Family Matters, though you can say by making it focus more on Urkel's scifi exploits, it also went downhill. But I still love the show anyway, since it was an integral part of my chlidhood.

Actually there are tv shows that I couldn't stand when I was younger but enjoy them now, like Married with Children. I'm now interested in X-Files despite wanting to switch the channel every time it came on TV. I guess I didn't have the patience for one hour shows as a child.
 
Yea, the 90's X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons are hard to watch nowadays.

As for me, the first season of Power Rangers is very painful. It got better, but Season 1, yeesh.

Also, the original TMNT. I started collecting the series when it came out, but never made it past Volume 2. Much prefer the 2K3 series.
 
[quote name='razrvamp']The monster squad. As a kid I loved this movie. I recently showed it to my kids thinking they would love it like I did and I realized this movie does not hold up well. And to top it all off the kids are like it either[/QUOTE]

Wow, have to totally 100% disagree with you. I've watched it twice since picking it up on Blu and it holds up pretty amazingly well. The monsters are actually bad-ass scary, an angle which would never be taken today, it's pretty adult for what was essentially aimed at the Goonies crowd.


EDIT: shocked others list Monster Squad. Went back to look at the reviews and most found it just like I did, to hold up very well.



For me it's Danger Mouse, a show I absolutely loved as a young kid. I bought the DVD set when it came out and was thoroughly disappointed. It's basically a zero plot cartoon action time waster. Maybe later episodes get better? But I can't bring myself to watch further.
 
Transformers and G.I. Joe. I remember watching those almost religiously as a kid. I've tried to force myself to watch them recently (they're on HUB) and I can't make it more than about 5 minutes.
 
I'll add another in without throwing my brother under the bus this time. When Johnny Lightning came out with 1:64 die-cast of the Mach 5 from Speed Racer, I had to have it. And when ERTL did the same for their gorgeous 1:18 scale, I was in heaven.

I remember every Hot Wheels or Matchbox car I had as a kid would always become the Mach 5 during play. I'd mimic the sound it made when jumping ("kew kew kew") and pretend I was mowing down a forest (of Lincoln logs) with the imaginary saw blades up front.

...then I bought the complete series when it was finally released for Region 1 DVD and wanted to stick an ice pick in my ears to dull the pain in my brain.
 
X-Men
Ernest Goes to Camp

I was prepared for X-Men to not hold up from childhood, but it was still disappointing. I was crushed by Ernest. It was awesome as a kid. Now it's just...bad.
 
[quote name='Cry Havoc']X-Men
Ernest Goes to Camp

I was prepared for X-Men to not hold up from childhood, but it was still disappointing. I was crushed by Ernest. It was awesome as a kid. Now it's just...bad.[/QUOTE]

I had the same problem with Ernest goes to jail. But I'm, sticking with the monster squad. "Wolfman has nards!"
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']Transformers and G.I. Joe. I remember watching those almost religiously as a kid. I've tried to force myself to watch them recently (they're on HUB) and I can't make it more than about 5 minutes.[/QUOTE]

Same here. They are terrible.
 
Yeah, those cartoons are tough. I have to add Knight Rider to that list as well. On the other hand, Street Hawk is still pretty good.
 
Howard the Duck. The one time I watched it as a kid, I thought it was incredible. I have since tried to watch it 2-3 times and can't even make it through. The Last Unicorn is also one that has been much harder to watch as an adult. I remember being spooked and confused as hell watching it as a kid.
 
Garbage Pail Kids and Howard the Duck. Terrible then, even more terrible now because the special effects are so god awful.
 
Captain N and the Game Master.

Garbage Pail Kids: The Original Topps card series was and still is fantastic, but NEVER EVER should have been made into a movie.

You ever go back and listen to the same music that dominated your young adult/high school years? (For those of us that are older) Man, downright embarassing.

Gremlins 1 & 2 still hold up for me. I'm blown away they haven't remade it or released a third. (Not saying it's a good idea)
 
For it's:
He-Man (it's not only bad, i see prince adam as a gay character now.)
X-men (The parts of the 1st, 2nd and last seasons suck hard)
spider-Man from the 90's (The 1st season is horrible)
South Park (The 1st few season i cant watch)
 
I loved Sailor Moon back when it first aired in America, but watching it now, it's pretty bad.
I kinda want to rewatch The Neverending Story, but I'm afraid I'll just taint my good memories of it.
 
All That, it used to be one of my favorite shows when I was a kid and I remember how funny I thought it was. I have watched a lot of the reruns since they started airing them again and don't understand why I liked the show so much.
 
See, I actually still like classic GI Joe. It is corny as hell, but Shipwreck, Roadblock, and Cobra Commander were awesome. They never did make another character as badass Roadblock.
 
I could never get into the "new" G.I. Joe stuff you guys are fond of. My G.I. Joes were 12" tall, had fuzzy beards, Kung Fu grip, and said a bunch of different things when you pulled his dogtags. I'm gettin' old, man.
 
I Remember loving the Double Dragon cartoon and movie as a kid. I Made my aunt rent it and watch it with me once and she said "I'm guessing I'd enjoy this more if I played the video game" and I basically said yeah as if she was the dumb one. Little did I know I was stupid as fuck at that age.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon (from the 80's on CBS) is another one that doesn't hold up well. Are you telling me goddamn Shredder and them don't know how to stop or kill the Turtles while they're in a giant slow moving blimp? That and the third Ninja Turtles movie I loved as a kid, but watching it again, Jesus.

Also as everyone else said, Spider-man and X-Men cartoon from the 90's on Fox. Same with Transformers.

Meanwhile, Batman: The Animated Series? Still as good, if not much better then what I remembered as a child. As an adult I appreciate the music in that show so much more now and the depth of writing for a "Saturday morning cartoon".
 
[quote name='Dr. Venkman']
You ever go back and listen to the same music that dominated your young adult/high school years? (For those of us that are older) Man, downright embarassing.
[/QUOTE]

Yup. Luckily, I wised up towards the end of my 8th grade year and started listening to the good music. Anything from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Disturbed to The Rippingtons. I was proud of myself in my freshman year. :applause:

Still have all that stuff and more on my iPod.

Coming back to the topic, the sure fire winner is, without a doubt, Power Rangers. I can still watch the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers just fine. Although it was pretty corny, it wasn't nearly as corny as anything after that. If I go back and watch, say, Lightspeed Rescue Power Rangers, or Power Rangers in Space, I'll just shake my head thinking "What the fuck was wrong with me?"
 
[quote name='FlyingAce39']Coming back to the topic, the sure fire winner is, without a doubt, Power Rangers. I can still watch the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers just fine. Although it was pretty corny, it wasn't nearly as corny as anything after that. If I go back and watch, say, Lightspeed Rescue Power Rangers, or Power Rangers in Space, I'll just shake my head thinking "What the fuck was wrong with me?"[/QUOTE]
Usually it is the other way around. Most fans can barely watch the original but love In Space, which is usually considered one of the best seasons, along with Time Force and RPM.
 
Yeah, I like the more mature approach they did with Time Force. If you've seen the original Timerangers, you'd shed a tear for the fate of the main badguy.
 
Thundercats, HOOO boy is it cheesy when you watch it as an adult. Everything is moving in some kind of weird slow motion. (Who ever thought slow motion could be a bad thing?)

I'm thinking of watching "The Bots Master" because it had a catchy theme song. I'm worried it'll be an unpleasant experience as well.
 
I used to watch ThunderCats all the tine when it was on Toonami. As loony as it was, the fact that everything was played straight made it awesome.
 
[quote name='KHASN']
I'm thinking of watching "The Bots Master" because it had a catchy theme song. I'm worried it'll be an unpleasant experience as well.[/QUOTE]
It's laser time, boys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLKYOSiW7U4

Even now I want to say something about the theme or make fun of it or something, but I can't because it's still so fucking awesome. King Arthur and the Knights of Justice also had a ridiculously awesome theme song, although I know watching the show now I'm just going to probably to be disappointed in it (football team becomes knights? C'mon).
 
I would go with Thd Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider.

I loved The Dukes when I was 6 years old, then I saw an episode on T.V. a few years back. That's when I realized that it had probably been written by a 6 year old. I have always wanted a 1969 Charger and it pisses me off every time they destroy 10 of them making those crappy rehash movies.

I duped myself into buying the full series of Knight Rider before realizing how terrible it was. Anytime someone's extremely popular in Germany should be the tip-off that it's a bad product.
 
Alf was my favorite show for a LOOOOONG time.


They just started rerunning it on "The Hub" and i just sit there scratching my head wondering what happened?
 
[quote name='perdition(troy']Gotta stay away from childhood shows you love as they won't ever be the same, because you aren't the same. Some things should just stay in the past.[/QUOTE]

Well, there are some that have stood the test of time (Batman: TAS, Gargoyles, Animaniacs, etc.).
 
[quote name='perdition(troy']Gotta stay away from childhood shows you love as they won't ever be the same, because you aren't the same. Some things should just stay in the past.[/QUOTE]
This is kinda how I feel when people say that these reboots are like raping one's childhood. Frankly, if you grew up as a kid in the 80's and 90's, those awesome cartoons were little more than 20 minute commercials for their toys with breaks with even more commercials for toys/junk food specifically tailored to appeal to the minds of children.

I have to admit that I'm a little envious of people that can still enjoy those types of shows though. It's really harmless fun.
 
Ultraman. I used to race home to see this. No VCR's back in the day. If you missed it that was it. I have the series now and I cant believe I was actually creeped out by a couple of episodes. Also, Voltron. I somehow thought that the show became better once the blue prince became the main villain. But I got the DVD set and it just puts me to sleep in 2 seconds its so boring and bad.
 
I loved Transformers when I was a kid, but it aged really bad. The animation hurts my eyes and I just can't get into it no matter how much I try to force myself to watch it. ...I can still watch the movie though.
 
[quote name='bardockkun']Even now I want to say something about the theme or make fun of it or something, but I can't because it's still so fucking awesome. King Arthur and the Knights of Justice also had a ridiculously awesome theme song, although I know watching the show now I'm just going to probably to be disappointed in it (football team becomes knights? C'mon).[/QUOTE]

I always wondered why one guy summoned a brick wall, of all things. Arthur gets a pimp dragon, and he gets a wall of 4 bricks.

I never liked He-man or G. I. Joe (or Scooby or Silverhawks), so no comments on those.

I did used to love Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, but I was like 5 at the time. It's really bad now, after watching the first episode. The fact that the whole series was like $5 should have clued me in.

I had intended on watching X-Men/Spiderman, but with the unanimous disdain for it in this thread, maybe I shouldn't. The last season of X-Men was always horrible though.

Story-wise, Exo-Squad holds up for me, as I watched the first 15ish episodes on Hulu. The animation was never top notch, but eh.
 
I wanna throw in a cartoon that holds up amazingly well: Ducktales. Watched some of the very first episodes and the writing was stellar.
 
[quote name='dohdough']Yeah, those cartoons are tough. I have to add Knight Rider to that list as well. On the other hand, Street Hawk is still pretty good.[/QUOTE]

funny thing about knight rider there as a person here who made their car look just like KITT. (with the light going back forth on the front and it talked) . Back then everyone though he was so freaking cool... now people just stare at him when hes driving the car (sort of shocked the car is even still running)

thought thundercats was pretty neat back in the day now its like blah
 
[quote name='slidecage']funny thing about knight rider there as a person here who made their car look just like KITT. (with the light going back forth on the front and it talked) . Back then everyone though he was so freaking cool... now people just stare at him when hes driving the car (sort of shocked the car is even still running)

thought thundercats was pretty neat back in the day now its like blah[/QUOTE]

If I saw a car like KITT driving down the street, I would give them a huge thumbs up! They'd get two if it was KARR.
 
I think Mask is one that could have went on the list while it was still on the air. You go from good vs. bad in a struggle for power to good vs. bad in a struggle to win races. Gah!
 
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