Again due to lockdown, I have had the chance to relive my youth a tad, and re-watch some of my favourite childhood TV shows, to see if they still pass mustard and to see if they still hold my interest today...
POKÉMON
I am fully aware that the Pokémon TV series is in now way ended, even today. This particular anime phenomenon is soon approaching a quarter of a century old, with countless revamps and new look series in the can ( a la Power Rangers and the like - another classic bit of kids TV). However, mine was the generation of the original episodes, and it is those that I have glanced over and watched quite a few of again recently via Pokémon TV online.
The first two seasons I have re-watched to be exact (that's the Indigo League and the Orange Island episodes for you Poké - fans). Not all of the episodes have had a second look as some I just found fluff, but the broad strokes and main episodes I have re-watched: showing the journey of Ash Ketchum and his friends on their quest to catch and see every pocket monster (get it) and to "catch 'em all". This really is as much as my childhood self could take before becoming bored of the format - though that's still hundreds of episodes!
That really is the main problem looking back, yes there was enough appealing colour, variety and adventure (and an actually quite kick ass soundtrack I newly re-discover) to keep one entertained for a while, but a lot of it seemed like filler and too geared towards the ever growing trend from the 90s onward, where children's TV was geared towards branding and merchandising rather than quality stories.
For the many still devoted fans, this original run is vital in the mythology, and for nostalgia is worth another watch, but new fans watching the 25th season may not be missing that much if they do not watch what has gone on before.
GARGOYLES
Witty, dark, gritty, powerful, well-animated with an awesome cast and genuinely clever scripts; Gargoyles really is a lost gem from a forgotten age. An age where the makers of children's TV did not patronise them, knew they could handle slightly deeper, slightly more meaningful, and perhaps even slightly scarier stories, as well as the action and the adventure.
Focusing on a group of Gargoyles from the age of the Vikings, brought into the modern (mid-90s Manhattan) world and are forced to adapt to a world where magic and myth is forgotten but where heroes are needed more than ever, this series was and actually remains a highlight for me.
OK, if I'm being picky the series went on for a tad too long and a few of the episodes suffered for it, but on the other hand I would have been happy to see it go on for a few more seasons too. It was that good - genuinely intelligent scripts for children to digest, brought to wonderful life by a cast who many a Star Trek fan would recognise, this truly was a classic.
X-MEN: EVOLUTION
Before Marvel stories and media were the stuff of multi-billion dollar industries, there were a lot of attempts to keep the characters firmly grounded in the world of kids' TV, and understandably the wonderful world of the multi-layered, multi-powered mutants that were the X-Men were especially popular. Following the now iconic 1990s technicolor series, there came X-Men: Evolution, and early noughties attempt to re-vamp and portray an edgier and slicker side to the X-Men for children.
Broadly speaking, I feel it worked. Over 4 seasons, with scripts that more or less followed the classic comic stories and gave them a new interpretation fans old and new of Marvel got to enjoy this one. Again very occasionally the episodes got slightly silly, but mostly the series was quite grown up in its approach and the results responded to that. My only other criticism is that there wasn't quite enough grit and darkness in some of the action and drama created, although that may be the result of a lot more adult and mature visions of Marvel characters we have been treated to since.
Regrettably this show was cancelled before it was ready to bow out, and I am still in retrospect rather dismayed at that.
ANIMALS OF FARTHING WOOD
Ah...now...what can I say? This is pure classic, and pure class. For me, from when I was very young indeed, probably only 4 or 5. And it is still I think, one of the best pieces of children's TV ever made.
Based on some equally classic novels by Colin Dann, a beautifully enchanting and clever concept - namely that of following a group of animals who have sworn to protect each other when they have to flee their home in search of another, and the trials they face when they get there. But again, this is by no means a series that shies away from showing children tough subjects, death in various and often grizzly forms regularly occur, as do violence, vengeance, old age, war, famine, terror and peril - all are part and parcel of each episode - rather realistically, if dramatically portraying animal's daily struggle for survival. However, in each episode there also lies truth, love, beauty, harmony, humour and uplift.
A great cast, lovely animation, and a stirring soundtrack to boot. If I were to pick a favourite from my childhood this would be it. A true classic that I don't think I will ever get tired of re-visiting again and again.
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