[gOOber]

 

[number3fac]

A couple of years ago a friend of mine inherited a bunch of VHS tapes of the entire Babylon 5 series, recorded back in the mid-90's when TNT aired them all (as they'd decided to pay for the last season and the Crusade spinoff).  It's neat to see the old network promos (no "We Know Drama" in sight), plus the old commercials...most are still dumb, but several are almost endearingly fun.  Now that I've had some time to comb through my own VHS collection (mainly from the late 90s through the last decade), I've found similar stuff, including SciFi promos for their original programming, like Farscape and even the boobtacular Black Scorpion.  As I've said elsewhere, it's not even so much that the "old days" were better, but that a lot of what's around these days is just disappointing given all the potential in the world and that it seems largely wasted.

[WadeWilsonEsquire]

A couple of years ago a friend of mine inherited a bunch of VHS tapes of the entire Babylon 5 series, recorded back in the mid-90's when TNT aired them all (as they'd decided to pay for the last season and the Crusade spinoff).  It's neat to see the old network promos (no "We Know Drama" in sight), plus the old commercials...most are still dumb, but several are almost endearingly fun.  Now that I've had some time to comb through my own VHS collection (mainly from the late 90s through the last decade), I've found similar stuff, including SciFi promos for their original programming, like Farscape and even the boobtacular Black Scorpion.  As I've said elsewhere, it's not even so much that the "old days" were better, but that a lot of what's around these days is just disappointing given all the potential in the world and that it seems largely wasted.

I have had a hunger for old promos and commercials. They are surprisingly difficult to find though. I'll admit that I once setup a playlist of some 90s television and even threw in commercial blocks to get that true nostalgic feeling.

[gOOber]

Used to listen to one of these big pieces of furniture.

[solvegas]

Used to listen to one of these big pieces of furniture.

Back in 1966 my dad bought a 21"  color admiral TV with a turntable and a AM - FM radio. It was the cat's meow and it set him back $600. My mom was furious because he did not consult with her on something so expensive and since there was nothing really wrong with the old black and white Zenith. In those days they used real wood since there was no particle board furniture yet. I just remember how huge and fancy it seemed to me when I was 9 years old.

[dbmneto]

Competition and egocentrism, the new age mark.

[gOOber]

 

[Bad Kitty]

I once took a garden hose to the sandbox and recreated the grand canyon.

And I remember that one of life's big challenges was how to keep a cocker spaniel inside a big tin washtub in the back yard, until we were done washing her.

i remember watching almost every summer sunset with said cocker spaneil, at the end of the street, where there were some open fields facing west.

oh, and slinkies... too cool.



FYI, kids still run around screaming outside and throw rocks etc. the boyfriend's apartment recently lost a window to prove it. I gave them all a big handful of rocks from the drive, and told them to take them to the park to throw rocks at each other properly, you know, away from cars & windows. the bf called the cops about the window, only because he didn't want the landlord to charge 'him' for it. what amazes me is that a cop came out, wanted descriptions, and was super-anxious to find the kids and prosecute. the cop's uptight demeanor was the only thing ruining the nostalgic moment for me.

[Cris_H]

Back in 1966 my dad bought a 21"  color admiral TV with a turntable and a AM - FM radio. It was the cat's meow and it set him back $600. My mom was furious because he did not consult with her on something so expensive and since there was nothing really wrong with the old black and white Zenith. In those days they used real wood since there was no particle board furniture yet. I just remember how huge and fancy it seemed to me when I was 9 years old.

I remember being so happy when my mom finally could purchase a color TV in 1972 (a 25" picture tube in a wooden cabinet).  I told practically everyone at school that we got a color TV, I was so proud.

Nearly everyone said: "We've already got one."

[solvegas]

I remember being so happy when my mom finally could purchase a color TV in 1972 (a 25" picture tube in a wooden cabinet).  I told practically everyone at school that we got a color TV, I was so proud.

Nearly everyone said: "We've already got one."

In 1973, about a year after my parents divorce, my father had kept that Admiral and we were stuck with a General Electric black and white until one day my mom surprised us with a 25" Sony TV with NO KNOBS but buttons to switch channels which she had bought in Sears. She wasn't comfortable buying a " jap TV " since, after all, they were the enemy during the war, but the prize and quality of picture was too great to pass up. Yup, we could see all five channels in VHF and two in UHF there was at the time in living color again  .

[pedonbio]

I have mentioned growing up on the "other" side of Beacon Hill in South Seattle from the King County Airport, commonly called Boeing Field. Some of my earliest coherent memories come from riding my bike over the hill to observe something on or near Boeing Field. In the years after World War Two virtually every wartime pilot thought he knew how to fly a plane, and the Air Force was doing a lot of experimental flying around there, so a lot of the events I went to see were crashes.

In August, 1951, I was five when an experimental B-50 crashed into the Lester Apartments at the north end of Boeing Field, near the Sicks Brewery. For anyone driving I-5 northbound now, the building on the right-hand side of this picture used to have a large red neon "R" (for Rainier Beer) on top of it. The building now has a large green "T" (for Tully's, a bankrupt coffee company) on top.

The Lester Apartments had once been described as "the largest brothel in the world" by Harper's Magazine in 1914, but was merely an apartment house by 1951. It was not rebuilt. 11 people were killed in the crash; the crew of five, and six people in the apartments. The smell of burnt flesh was heavy for several days.

[gOOber]

What were these called?  clickit

[DruulEmpire]

VIEWMASTER!   Thank you.  Yeah, the little cardboard wheels of pairs of little photographs, and you would click it and the wheel would shift from one view to the next -- sort of a slide projector carousel for kids but with natural lighting.  I remember once collecting some from the Apollo missions ...

[pedonbio]

VIEWMASTER!  Thank you.  Yeah, the little cardboard wheels of pairs of little photographs, and you would click it and the wheel would shift from one view to the next -- sort of a slide projector carousel for kids but with natural lighting.  I remember once collecting some from the Apollo missions ...

Yes, with the advantage of 3-dimensional views. And prior to these there was a viewer called a Stereopticon (c) introduced in the 1840s that produced the same effect:

[solvegas]

I remember getting a Viewmaster back in the stone age, AKA the 1960's, and now wishing I still had one. History channel Pawn Stars are only 15 miles from where I live. I wonder how much it would be worth now ....