What Vinnie Thinks

 Yes, I know. This was way before my time. But believe it or not, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In (1968-1973) was actually the inspiration for some of the variety/sketch comedy series’, such as Saturday Night Live, Hee Haw, The Muppet Show, and possibly Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

The comedy team of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin was a Las Vegas act before hosting this classic series of sketch comedy and one-liners known as The Best of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and The Best of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Vol. 2. One of my favorite segments is the cocktail party. It’s a great way to use a whole bunch of different one-liners in the same scene together. Sometimes they’re all based on a similar topic, but not very often. Either way, I think it’s terrific.

I admit that the political humor featured is a bit outdated. Then again, I was never into that kind of material. I prefer simpler gags. And believe me, this show has a lot of them.

I’ve read in the booklets that come with the DVD box sets, that Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of Saturday Night Live, was one of the writers for Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. Two years after it ended, he continued the legacy with Saturday Night Live, which still continues successfully even today.

As old as the series is, I find it very enjoyable. I admit that Saturday Night Live did have plenty of classic characters and helped the careers of many comedians. What I don’t understand is why Saturday Night Live doesn’t use one-liners, cocktail party segments, or the joke wall. Those were some of the best parts.

Sesame Street has been a top PBS show for preschoolers since 1969 and is still going strong. However, the series has changed a lot since I was a kid. When Sesame Street – Old School, Vol. 1 (1969-1974) and Sesame Street: Vol. 2 – Old School (1974-1979) were released, it totally brought me back. Even if these particular seasons were from before I was born.

It’s mentioned in these box sets that these episodes are for grown-ups and may not suit the needs of today’s preschoolers. I don’t see why they wouldn’t. The entire series is based on the same level of educational purpose. Learning about things like letters, numbers, and Spanish isn’t exactly out of date.

Some of the classic Muppet characters looked so much different back in the day. For example, Big Bird has very short feathers at the top of his head. It’s like his face is bigger than his head. And believe it or not, Oscar used to have orange fur. Now that’s amazing.

Grover was one of my most favorite characters. He goes to great lengths to teach things to his younger viewers. Things like near & far, as well as over, under, & through. Grover tires out after awhile, but he keeps going. You’ve got to admire this little furry monster. Especially since he’s one of few monsters that doesn’t have a huge appetite like some monsters we know. That especially includes the ones who eat other Muppets.

What really brings me back about this show is some of the old Muppet characters that are no longer on the series. Like Don Music the songwriter, for example. Whenever he gets stumped on a lyric, he goes crazy and slams his head on the keyboard of his piano. Even after all these years, I still think it’s funny. There’s also Little Jerry and the Monotones. Sometimes their music is pretty catchy. And let’s not forget Biff and Sully the construction workers. Sully never speaks because Biff does a lot of the speaking for him. Not by Sully’s choice though.

The segments are very well setup with random skits, songs, and presentations by all sorts of characters that are human, Muppet, and animated, during the main story. It’s not exactly The Muppet Show, but works just as good.

Speaking of The Muppet Show, Kermit used to be a regular cast member on Sesame Street before leading his own Muppet troupe. However, Kermit never completely left the show. He still made many appearances over the years, mostly as a news reporter and in skits with Grover the door to door salesman, who sells earmuffs and nose warmers. In a way, it’s like remembering a character before having his or her own spin-off.

Here’s an interesting item. Sesame Street cast member Bob McGrath recorded an album of children’s songs back in the 80s called Sing-Along Favorites, which came with its own book to follow along. I used to listen to this all the time when I was a kid. The book was very helpful because I used to have trouble understanding these songs when I first learned them in music class. The pictures inside with the easy to follow lyrics made much more sense to me.

These are excellent compilations of Sesame Street nostalgia. It brings back a lot of memories. Now if only I can figure out when Snuffleupagus first became more than just Big Bird’s imaginary friend.

Another classic 80s cartoon! As much as I enjoyed He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987) made an excellent continuation series, which featured new revelations. For instance, He-Man was one of twins, Adam and Adora, and that Skeletor used to be part of the Horde as Hordak’s best pupil. Years ago, Hordak kidnapped Adora when she was a baby, took her to the land of Etheria, and raised her to be evil. Once He-Man finds out about Adora, he sets out to help her turn to good. Like He-Man, this show also has a colorful mixture of fantasy and technology as well as a colorful assortment of heroes and villains.

In this show, I find the villains more memorable. There are Hordak’s shape shifting, Leech’s suction cup hands, and Mantanna’s eyes that pop out and shoot laser beams. I also have to admit that Hordak’s robot troops are definitely tougher opponents than Skeletor’s wimpy robot knights are. I’ll tell ya. If there had been a video game based on this franchise, which group of enemies would you prefer to fight? On the other hand, the bosses would be more interesting anyway.

As for She-Ra, she surprisingly has other powers that He-Man doesn’t have. Like how she can turn her sword into anything from a shield to a helmet. Makes you wonder what else she can turn it into. On occasion, He-Man characters make guest appearances in this series. For me that helped make the big change less drastic.

Back when He-Man and She-Ra had their own magazine, one issue included a game board that features characters from both shows and indicates how close Eternia and Etheria are, in a way. This sure brings me back.

I think She-Ra is a good show, but it’s little too feminine for my taste.

Mortal Kombat is a martial arts tournement of mystical adventure. I can remember when the first video game version came out. Mortal Kombat was constantly competing with Street Fighter 2. I’ve seen it in “Gamepro” magazine all the time. Almost to the annoying point, like seeing Hannah Montana ads everywhere you go… almost. The main difference was that the gore level on Mortal Kombat was higher. And for that, I much preferred Street Fighter 2.

After seeing Mortal Kombat, I’ve grown to like the franchise more. All of the characters from the original video game are in it, including Liu Kang (Robin Shou), Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby), Kano (Trevor Goddard), Sonja Blade (Bridgette Wilson), and Princess Kitana (Talisa Soto). She’s 10,000 years old? Kitana must know Joan Rivers’s secret. Heck, Goro is only 2000 years old and he doesn’t look a day over 500.

Bridgette Wilson plays Sonja Blade. I mostly remember her as Miss Vaughn, the third grade teacher from Billy Madison. As tough as Sonja is, I’m a little surprised that she didn’t attack anyone’s ears, like Miss Vaughn would. Then again, that move was not in the video game. But can you image if it was?

The tournament has a great setup. The challenges can happen anywhere on the island. The only downside is that each match is a fight to the death, courtesy of Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). “Fatality.” This film is as humorous as it is action packed. Although Liu Kang participates in most of the match ups, Shang Tsung enjoyed watching Sonja kick Kano’s butt. And of course, there’s Johnny Cage. He is hilarious. Who’d have thought that Scorpion (Chris Casamassa) was his greatest fan.

Goro is a tough advisory. He easily defeats a whole bunch of great fighters like, “Next. Next. Next…” I think I counted 20 before seeing a real match up. It isn’t fair that Goro has four arms with ninja turtle hands and feet. That’s probably why he wins all the time. The tournament becomes more intense after that. New surprises await the heroes. Including a nice dress.

The musical score that plays during the matches makes them more enjoyable. Although the soundtrack isn’t accurate, it’s still good. Come to think of it. There were several Mortal Kombat soundtracks, which doesn’t include the one for the sequel. I’ll tell ya. They’re all good.

I can also remember that back when I was in high school, my best friend and I used to watch this movie all the time. I still find Mortal Kombat a definate classic. I think fighting games with colorful characters make good films. Kind of makes you wonder what Killer Instinct would’ve been like as a movie.

There was also a Mortal Kombat animated feature that went straight to video called Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins that helped explain the story line more. Not to mention, one on one battles with computer animation. I enjoyed that also.

It wasn’t until a few years ago when I found out about this animated version of Batman. Adam West and Burt Ward reprise their roles as the voices of the dynamic duo in The New Adventures of Batman – (DC Comics Classic Collection) (1977-1978), who do what they do best. Fight crime in the city of Gotham.

The crime fighting action is very minimal around to the level of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but the story lines and capers are creative and adventurous.

Bat Girl even helps out on occasion, but what really makes this show different is the little magical hero Bat-Mite. He’s always so eager to help the team fight crime, but only ends up getting in the way. I guess you could say that Bat-Mite is like the Orko of the group. He’s magical, but his powers are limited. “Oh, bat baloney.”

Quite a few of the same colorful villains are on this series. Ones like the Joker, the Penguin, Cat Woman, Mr. Freeze, and Clay Face. Along with some other different villains. It’s strange that even though the Riddler is also featured among the villains in the theme, he hasn’t made any appearances on this show. Not one. A little disappointing, don’t you think? In a way, the Joker makes up for it by using jokes in the form of riddles. He also does very good impressions, but Batman knows better.

And let’s not forget Zarbor, the biggest villain from Bat-Mite’s home world Ergo. He’s more powerful than the other villains combined, even on Earth. Zarbor can shrink buildings with only one finger. That’s amazing.

I really enjoyed this series. Despite how many times Bat-Mite has messed up, he’s still a devoted ally. Just like Orko.