Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
I sense a theme in these 6th grade student statements from the 1982-1983 school year, summed up nicely by Navin Joneja: “The movie Tron is a perfect example of how computers might take over the world.”
The capsule was sealed in 1983 and released in 2006. The photos are via Mike Bouchard, who was in the class that wrote the notes.
General Woundwort: “Come out!”
Bigwig: “My chief’s told me to defend this run.”
General Woundwort: “Your… chief?”
The film adaptation of Watership Down (1978) is another touchstone of my youth, and, as far as I’m concerned, the most powerful and haunting animated feature ever made. I still remember picking the Richard Adams novel (1972) out of the thrift store book bin in ’81 or ’82 and devouring it over the next several days. (It has more than a little of Tolkien’s myth-making, epic quality.) I have a more emotional connection to the movie, though, and here’s the part of the review that explains why:
Parents should be warned that, like in Disney’s Bambi, death and violence are not strangers to this animal kingdom, and the sight of bunnies in mortal conflict could disturb some of the more tender youngsters. Yet the same parents should remember that children have a keen contempt for the patronizing falseness of nicer-than-real story telling. They, too, are no strangers to raw conflict.
Italics mine. Here was a movie that, while animated, forthrightly explored death, sacrifice, violent conflict, politics, and morality as if younger viewers were bright enough to (1) grasp those concepts and (2) be entertained by the story that employed them. If you haven’t seen it, here’s a montage of the most graphic scenes of “bunnies in mortal conflict,” set to music from The Omen. (The movie pops up frequently on Kindertrauma, and rightly so.)
I know parents who pulled their kids out of Frozen because some scenes (specifically the as-non-graphic-as-possible, nicer-than-real shipwreck and the snow monster) were too disturbing. Frozen! Forget “raw conflict,” these kids aren’t even allowed to suffer a moment of emotional discomfort.
“All the world will be your enemy, prince with a thousand enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you—digger, listener, runner, prince with a swift warning. Be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.”
Chills. I get chills.
(The review, written by Dave Chenoweth, is from The Montreal Gazette, January 27, 1979.)
Don’t let those spare gold pieces get away! This attractive money purse will fit snugly under any tunic and most suits of chainmail.
Check out Larami’s other AD&D offerings at Tome of Treasures, including the Umber Hulk Bubble Blower.
(Images via royalshowing/eBay)
From The Dragon #13, April 1978.
Chew on this, Minecraft. It looks like they’ve repurposed a room in the house, possibly the basement.
The photos are from Nick DeWolf’s Flickr. DeWolf (1928 – 2006) co-founded Teradyne, an automatic test equipment manufacturer, in 1960. He was also an engineer, an inventor, and a hell of a photographer.
For those of you amused by the inaccuracy (and irrelevance) of Corgi’s Star Trek II Klingon Warship, I present these gems. The Spidercopter has an “amazing flicking spider tongue,” which Mary Jane may or may not have appreciated. A Spidervan came in the same series.
The Honda PA50 was produced in the US from 1978 through 1983, where it was marketed as the Hobbit. That’s how popular Tolkien was at the time. The official mascot you see in the ad was not Bilbo, of course, but Honda Harold. How the company managed to trademark ‘Hobbit’ is beyond me. The references in the ad are unmistakeable allusions to the Shire and its residents—“bright happy Hobbit hops,” “a love of comfort,” “a very agreeable nature,” “a mighty friendly helpful fellow to take on your travels.”
The moped was called the Camino in the UK and Europe, where it was produced first (1976) and continued to be produced until 1991.
2 Warps to Neptune 