Who watches "The Littles"?

So what to blog about next? Well, how about a blog about my thoughts after watching "Here Come the Littles" (as promised in this older post)? They're livin' with ya, doncha know? Also, as a friendly reminder,

So I just watched "Here Come The Littles". And this post will be chock full of tangents. For those who don't care, I'll cut right to the chase and say that although the "Littles" series may indeed not be as good as I remember, the "Littles" movie is actually pretty good. I'm not sure how someone who'd never seen it as a kid would feel, but I liked it... and also, in my strange way, I can't wait to make fun of it.

Now for a long, long post about 80's kids and their nostalgia filters.

First off, DiC. No other television animation studio is so quintessentially 80's. Sure Filmation and Hannah-Barbera and even Disney had a bunch of hits back then, but take a look at DiC's list of shows. It's my childhood. I'm actually astonished that they have current series; I thought they evaporated sometime after "Hammerman".

I'm looking over that list of shows myself and, gosh, it's weird how your memory works as a kid. I remember Kideo TV as simply an anthology series; I'll just have to take their word for it that there were hosts and skits as well. I remember some other series like "The New Archies" (a title that makes no damn sense incidentally), but only because they were introduced in one of those other great quintessentially 80's things: Saturday Morning Preview Specials.


Ah for the days when every animation studio in North America decided, for some reason, to make series about adult-oriented comedians as little kids.

Anyhow, "The New Archies" was introduced on such a special with the following can't-miss selling point: "It's 'The Archies'. But, like, now."

You don't say.

Your sense of time is also messed up as a kid. When I sat down to watch "Here Come the Littles" as an adult, I was amazed by how short it was. When I saw it as a kid I thought it was hours and hours long. This may go a long way in explaining why kid's movies tend to run just over/under an hour and no longer. And the thing is, I remembered the whole thing. It's actually a bit frightening how I can retain a memory, however vague, of something I saw nearly twenty-four years ago. (And don't even get me started on the "Heathcliff" theme song.)

One more thing about DiC before I talk more about "The Littles". I can't think of another animation studio that had to alter it's "vanity plate" to inform us how it's name is supposed to be pronounced. Also, check around the internet a bit and you'll find that an entire generation was apparently scarred for life by the "Kid in the Bed" version. To which I say, "You clearly never saw an early Disney VHS video that opened with Satanic Laser Mickey." (I could provide a link but... no. I'd like to be able to sleep tonight. It's easy enough to find online. And when you do, imagine having to sit through this as a four year old in order to watch something like "Winnie the Pooh".)

Anyway, "Here Come the Littles". The animation is actually very good for DiC. The story is pitch dark, which is actually fairly typical of the era. And best of all, it has previews of other DVDs of DiC shows from the same era. Shows I was darn certain I was the only one who remembered, like their cheap-rear-end "Care Bears" series and the surprisingly trippy "Sylvanian Families". I may need to watch the latter just to understand WTF is going on in that opening sequence.

I also just realized that I posted a rambling, barely coherent reminiscing about DiC animation when everyone in the entire illustration world is blogging about the "Watchmen" movie. <:/