Archive Page 123

Atari Christmas Commercial (1983): Santa in Space!

Published December 12, 2012 Atari , Commercials , Home Consoles , Video Games Leave a Comment

The combination of space, “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” and video games is genius, and it must have cost a pretty penny to make back in the day. The spaceship looks great, and I love how everything is cold (how about those miserable but sleek-looking sleeping quarters?) and drab until Santa shows up and starts playing all those beautiful games.

This is the first and longest version of the spot. The second version is here, and the third version is here. All of them are from ’83.

(All videos via MYSATURDAYMORNINGS/YouTube)

Christmas Morning, Circa 1982: Stompers and Masters of the Universe

Published December 12, 2012 Christmas , Christmas Morning , Masters of the Universe 1 Comment

Christmas Morning 4

I can’t identify the Masters of the Universe figure, but I think that’s the Stomper Badlands Trail Set. What is the mom holding?

Stomper Badlands Trail

Yuletide Cabin, Denied

Published December 11, 2012 Suburban Living Leave a Comment

I asked my wife if we could get a log cabin for Christmas. She said no.

I said, “But wouldn’t it be awesome to drive up to the mountains and roast chestnuts on an open fire?”

She said, “You can’t find the grocery store without directions, and smoke gives you asthma attacks.”

I said, “We could bring the cat.”

She said, “He hates nature, like me.”

I said, “I can chop wood for the fireplace.”

She said, “You can’t even cut lemon wedges.”

I said, “What about a log chalet?”

She said, “It’s pronounced shall-ay, not shall-it.”

I said, “So we can get one?”

She said, “Hon, take out the trash.”

Creepy Animatronic Christmas Dolls (1964)

Published December 11, 2012 Evil Toys , Shopping Malls 2 Comments

Creepy Dolls Randhurst Ad

Creepy Dolls Randhurst

Oh, they’re unique alright. The second shot shows the dolls on display at Randhurst Mall.

Sometimes the horror movie writes itself.

(Images via Pleasant Family Shopping)

Christmas Morning, Circa 1962: Marx Operation Moon Base Play Set

Published December 10, 2012 Christmas , Christmas Morning , Marx Toys/Playsets , Space Race , Space Toys/Playsets 5 Comments

I think he’s holding a coonskin hat! And you know he’s just dying to get the pictures over with so he can try out that sweet sled.

Marx Toys’ Operation Moon Base was released in 1962, the year John F. Kennedy gave his now legendary moon speech:

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? […]

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency […]

Marx Operation Moon Base

Marx Operation Moon Base-2

(Image sources: Darrin’s Photoclique and Time Warp Toys)

Christmas Toy Aisle Zen: Mickey Mouse

Published December 7, 2012 Disney , Disney Toys , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments Leave a Comment
Toy Aisle 80 Denver Post

December 19, 1980. (John J. Sunderland/Denver Post)

She’s checking out the Mickey Mouse Loop the Loop and Fun Castle Roller Coaster. The video below shows the Loop the Loop in action, and you can check out the Roller Coaster at The Retroist. Do toy companies even make stuff like this anymore?

(Image via Big Ole Photos/eBay)

(Video via phoenexus777/YouTube)

Commodore 64 Christmas Commercials (1986)

Published December 7, 2012 Commercials , Commodore Computers , Personal Computers 2 Comments

Wow, the robot in the first commercial is super annoying. I would like to smash it into little pieces.

On the other hand, the kitten in the second spot is super cute. Having the cat play with the computer mouse was actually pretty clever. Incidentally, when’s the last time you saw a cat in a commercial that wasn’t for cat food?

My elementary/junior high school built its first computer lab when I was in 7th grade and stocked it with Commodore 64s. For the life of me, I can’t remember what we did with them.

Christmas Morning, 1982: D&D and Lego Space

Published December 6, 2012 Atari , Christmas , Christmas Morning , D&D , Lego , Lego Space 4 Comments

Christmas Morning D&D 1982

Via thinking.blissful/Flickr.

Okay, first off, he’s holding the Tomb of Horrors module, written by the great Gary Gygax. (I’ll post it in my module series next year.)

Next, we’ve got two Lego Space sets: the Mobile Rocket Transport (6950) and the Surface Explorer (6880). (Images are via Brickipedia.)

https://i0.wp.com/images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100509190339/lego/images/5/5c/6950_Box.jpg

https://i0.wp.com/images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100509184015/lego/images/5/5f/6880_Box.jpg

Top Secret was a spy vs. spy RPG released by TSR in 1980. Rubik’s Revenge was a more difficult version of the Rubik’s Cube (I so hated those cubes). And of course that Pitfall is the original Atari 2600 version, released in 1982.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas TV Guide Ad (1966)

Published December 5, 2012 Ads , TV Guide Leave a Comment

The Grinch premiered on Sunday, December 18, 1966.

I’d completely forgotten about the TV Guide layout itself, and check out the shows listed on just these pages—Mission: Impossible, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Walt Disney’s World (full title: Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color), Wild Kingdom, and the always invaluable Your Astrology Guide. You will never see a description like the following for any TV show ever again:

The Seaview becomes a den of terror when a virus again transforms Admiral Nelson into a werewolf.

Instead we get shit like this:

The murder of a local military academy’s first female cadet is investigated after her body is discovered in a buried foot locker.

Kiss my ass, 21st century television programming.

(Image via Randy Rodman. Click to enlarge)

Christmas Toy Aisle Zen: Fisher-Price Gas & Go Service Center

Published December 4, 2012 Fisher-Price , Toy Stores/Toy Aisles/Toy Departments Leave a Comment
Toy Aisle 1983

Target, December 20, 1983. (Lyn Alweis/Denver Post)

Fisher Price Gas & Go Ad

(Image sources: Big Ole Photos and Frankensmith’s Castle)

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