#13 - Punky Brewster: Just Say No

With George Gaynes recent passing at the grand old age of 98, it reminds me of how much he was a part of my childhood, I loved (and still love) the Police Academy movies and every day when I got in my school this was in a block of shows and this was one of the ones I looked most forward to watching (Different Strokes was another one).

So I am a bit biased when it's comes to Punky Brewster, I think the theme song is awesome (it's even on my phone playlist... seriously), also I think Soleil Moon Frye as the title genuinely does give one of the best child performances in any sit-com.

It's obvious by the title of this episode that it's going to be one of them episodes with a message, which tend to get called very special episodes and 9 times out of 10 they are done badly and you really feel like you are being lectured too so in a nutshell the plot of the episode is that Punky and Cherie join a clique called the Chicklis and it turns out dun-dun-dun they do drugs and want Punky and Cherie too as well.

It's surprising how quick the girls introduce drugs into the mix after Punky and Cherie get iniatied into the clique, when Punky asks if they are drugs the man girl replies "just some grass, a few uppers and a little nose candy" which is obviously just hilarious the way she says it and keeps wanting the girls to "party" with them, thes script was clearly written by an adult who as totally forgot what it's like to be a kid.

So after this scene the girls are in a big dilemma they obviously don't want to do drugs but they'll be out the club, and Punky goes to visit cool teacher Mike (T.K. Carter) for advice which even though it's a lecture on peer pressure it is one of the episodes better handled moments which includes Mike turning into James Brown (seriously) and the scene ends up him handing Punky a Just Say No leaflet.

Back at the treehouse the girls are holding a joint as the ringleader tells them to grow up and tries bullying them, and they decide to start a group that makes you feel good about yourself called the Just Say No Club (sounds like a snore) and even gets one of the girls to join (yay)

The episode ends the girls over a Just No Music video handing out t-shirts and holding picket signs with Just Say No with the rest of the cast and even shows some real footage from the marches (which the actresses attented themself).

Obviously it's message is really in your face but I have seen more forced Very Special Episodes and it does do a better job then most of balancing the normal flow of the show and the message it want to convey

#10 - The Real Ghostbusters: Ghosts 'R Us

It's clear from early on revisting The Real Ghostbusters almost practially straight after the one show, that it's vastly superior to the Filmation Ghostbusters with a gorilla. Characters are more memorable, better animation and the stories are better... Even with this wasn't based on the classic film and was just a show in it's own right I think it still would fondly remembered.

The series was really the first thing to make Slimer the mascot (and as a funny moment in the episode when dreaming eats his own pillow that makes him sneeze) and it's really him who sets this pilot epsiodes plot in motion when he accidnetally releases three ghosts  who end up disguising themselves as rival ghost-busting company Ghosts R Us.

The episodes ghosts - Slug, Znark and Zunk - are very entertaining and this was the only episode that centered around them and the show does a g ood job of making Zurlokk a more formimable enemy for the final part of the episode.

One thing I always wondered if it was a choice not to make the characters resemble there movie characters counterparts or the actors being stubborn when it came to allowing their likeness, I think it was probably the first one to make it it's own thing.

Overall, obviously the animation is 80s (which add to it's charm) but the stories, characters etc. hold up remarkably well. I Recommend you to revisit the show if you haven't in years.

#9 - Ghostbusters: I'll Be The Son Of A Ghostbusters

Perhaps the most confusing thing as a kid when it came to the Ghostbusters cartoon for me was the fact there two of them, one called Ghostbusters (like the film) featuring a gorilla and there was also Real Ghostbusters featuring you know characters from the film, it always confused me how the cartoon got away with being able to be called Ghostbusters while the official one had to settle for the pre-fix of "real". I found out when I was older there was actually a live action show the mid-70s (something I may cover at a later date) featuring the giant gorilla and it was a rights thing and all that.

As a child I always preferred the real to this, but I did enjoy it, it was something I owned on VHS and it was played more then once but it just wasn't the same you know and re-seeing it now after probably a good 26 years I decided to go with the first episode.

I think the thing I remember most about the show is the intro and it's theme song and Tracy the gorilla "singing" parts of it and really it was the non-human characters I tended to remember most about this. I've got say it's as goofy as I remember (not a bad thing it is a kids cartoon afterall)

The plot sees the characters take on from their Fathers in a ghostbusting business, as they try to prove to a reporter ghosts are real as Primeval tries to take over the world from the future.

It was a lot of fun revisting a series I hadn't seen in so long and while it's no Real Ghostbusters it's still an enjoyable show in it's own right with some creative moments.

#8 - The Simpsons: The Girl Code

It's probably a fair statement to say Simpsons has been on way longer since people have been saying it not as good as it to be. Most people agree there was a peak to the Simpsons, with I've even heard some people say the last great seasons where 8 or 9 which put it when it was still on in the 90s!

I don't think I have truly turned against The Simpsons, sure it's nowhere near it's as great as it was in it's heyday but it's still watchable (with the odd outright duffers here and there) and reality it's nothing I will go out my way to watch now (there was a time I could rewatch and rewatch an episode again and again) but it's certainly nowhere near to hate watching for me (though there has been some episodes that are just bad).

"The Girl Code" is an episode from the 27th(!) season that premiered today here in the UK (which aired the very beginning on the year in the US) and I could say this about like many of the episodes of the past 15 or so years that it's not as good as when it was heyday, and sees Lisa get a female teacher in coding class and hey with the help of others end creating app that will question whether it's safe to post something online and what the consequences are which is spurred on when Marge posts something at the powerplant that gets Homer fired and he ends up returning to a Greek resturant he used to work at (in the episodes subplot), oh yeah the app (voiced by Stephen Merchant) starts to get a mind of it's own.

There is some funny moments here with Homer being accident prone in the background at one point which just goes to show there is still value here.

Overall, yes a show so, so far from it's prime but is still proudly going a long better then some other (not quite as) long runners.