The 1980s – Cars as Superheroes

I know that I watched entirely too many “genre” shows growing up during the 1980s. This is clear from a work conversation about Knight Rider, which reminded me about how many “vehicle as superhero” series existed during the early part of the decade:

Less remembered are the shows that appeared mostly in syndication a few years later:

And of course, the return of Knight Rider in 2008.

Unfortunately, I think the overuse of cheap computer effects really hurt the genre with Viper and the 2008 KITT having ridiculously impossible transformations and silly “powers” that appeared out of nowhere and were sometimes never used again. But superhero cars will likely always be with us in some form, like Coulson’s Lola from Agents of SHIELD.

Animalympics (and Other Oddball 80s Animated Movies)

The return of the Olympic games reminded me that I hadn’t seen Animalympics in a few decades. If you had HBO in the early 1980s, you probably saw this 78 minute animated gem about anthropomorphic animals competing in their own Olympic games several times a week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48AihwuY2OI

That of course reminded me of the other “classic” animated films seen on early cable movie channels that all but disappeared when the 80s ended… Continue reading “Animalympics (and Other Oddball 80s Animated Movies)”