I Remember That: My Favorite Toy

That caption killed me.

It's true some of the toys were amazing from our childhood and, without question, given their quality seemed to unwittingly double as weapons. Many toys are simply junk, but there are a few specialty places out there making the good stuff but those toys come at a significant price. If so inclined share with us your favorite toy from childhood and maybe something more recent that you love.

I would say the blue diecast Thunderbird 2, from Thunderbirds, and Getter Liger (from the Shogun Warriors collection) diecast figures were among my favorites as a kid and they could indeed hurt you. Vintage 1970s quality at its finest.

I also had that green Tonka cement mixer. It was a gem and could easily double as a large, skull-crushing boulder. Additionally I had a yellow Tonka tractor with the bucket and a steering wheel that was full metal. I found a picture of it. I also had the Tonka grader.

Today, the diecast reproductions of Brian Johnson's Eagle, from Space:1999, are likely among my very favorite new toys in the Episode Collection series by Sixteen 12 Collectibles. They are exquisite and just beautiful in their detail.

Never grow up completely folks. It's just way too much fun, expensive when can be afforded but fun.

Why Did Zan Get The Raw End Of The Stick When It Came To Activate Powers As A Wonder Twin? I Mean A Crummy Old Bucket Of Water.

It was rough being a young boy in the neighborhood of make believe with your friends if you were stuck playing Zan of The Wonder Twins (1977).



Ice, moisture, water. Okay, maybe an Ice Giant if you were lucky.

But Jayna, she had it all going on. There were no limitations to her imagination. Who handcuffed Zan with water powers while Jayna got to run around like Maya from Space:1999 (1976-1977)?

Jayna: "Wonder twins activate. Form of something completely awesome!"
Zan: "Wonder twins activate. Form of something entirely lame."

If you and your friends were pretending to be the Super Friends and you got stuck playing Zan well that just sucked.

Personally I always preferred Aquaman and his ability to summon the creatures of the sea. Yup, those were the days. I remember that.

Sixlets

Sixlets! In A box! Are you kidding me?

Some days it's the simple things that make you happy. I always enjoyed Sixlets when I was a kid. A clear wrapper tube with about 8 Sixlets was the perfect mechanism for delivery to the mouth as you ripped the end of the wrapper with your teeth. And those wrapper ones are still out there.

But, wow, I had no idea they came in a box, but by God there they were right next to the Junior Mints and Raisinets, two other favorites. All favorites were by-passed for the Sixlets for now - a candy-coated, chocolate taste treat and a whole box load of them!

I know I refuse to grow old. Always a kid at heart and stomach.

I Remember That: The Little Rascals And Embracing The Past

"After school they had nothing to do and a whole neighborhood to do it in.  They made their own fun.  They charmed the world. We see innocence, enterprise and the best of ourselves in them."

 

-Author Richard Bann-

No matter how hard I try I just can't seem to stop looking back.  No matter how much I move forward and accept gifts with the latest technological fare I still fall back on the vintage stuff. No matter how much I'm pushed kicking and screaming into the future I can't help but turn my head over my shoulder to adore all that has come before.  For me, much of what remains in the rear view mirror is irreplaceable and often represents all that was right with the world once upon a time even if all wasn't right.

I'm terribly nostalgic and I suppose to my detriment. It's a real Achilles heal of mine at times. No matter what efforts I make to join progress I can't stop returning to the past. My blog posts alone are more than evidence of that.  Everything that has come before seemed so much better. I just keep embracing it.  I'm more than happy to do so and I'll certainly look to others to handle embracing matters of the future.

Bobby Wheezer Hutchins.



Maybe it's natural to reach back and hold on to all that was good in our lives.  We know what's coming.  We know the end of the line is a cold hard fact. It's a rather uncomfortable, inevitable truth isn't it?



My latest foray into the past has taken me back to the 1920s, and the films of Hal Roach, silent and talkie, in the form of The Little Rascals (1922-1944; 220 episodes) also properly referred to as Our Gang.  These are simply remarkable short films that still mesmerize me today. They were impressive when I was a child, but perhaps I'm even more than amazed by them today.

And so I go to these places and there is something terribly comforting and safe there. And if I'm to self-examine and be honest, personally, it is very much an escape to that place.  I'm perfectly okay with that.

Joe Cobb.



There was indeed something special about these kids, these Little Rascals - Our Gang.  It's not that each generation doesn't have its fair share of adorable children because they do exist.  I've had the pleasure to witness two of my own say the darndest things, experience them do the darndest things and surprise me with the kinds of responses that only an innocent child could deliver with such unscripted perfection you wish it was forever captured like it was for these short films.  What a treasure that is to have by the way.

Mary Ann Jackson.



But there was something special about the way Hal Roach captured the innocence of children back in an era now long gone and never to happen quite the same way ever again.  Most kids are captured on film today often exhibit a tendency to overact, flash fresh for today's idea of cute. Kids in film today are rarely presented in such impromptu fashion instead appearing overly rehearsed. On film, today's kids are either jaded, expected to act smart beyond their years or behave as if wise to the ways of the world portraying smart ass as cute.  There are certainly exceptions like The Courtship Of Eddie's Father (1969-1972), but even that was filmed decades ago. However, this may be the perception of a fellow looking through the rose-colored glass of nostalgia.  It's possible.  The Little Rascals had their moments, but they were far more precious than most and precocious with an innocence.



I suppose the irony of the evolution of children captured for television can be seen even within the evolution of Hal Roach's long-running The Little Rascals.  Change was in the air and it transitioned from silent film to the talkie. Television was becoming more advanced than ever.  With all that kids are exposed to through television today a loss of innocence it certain to naturally occur.

Joe Cobb shares a prayer.



I'm sounding like a curmudgeon here and I don't mean to.  Maybe The Little Rascals series wasn't as innocent for its time as it sure seems to be today, but looking back now these kids were hopelessly and endlessly sweet and funny and unpredictable. They were captured on film like never before or will ever be again.

Writers Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann deliver one of the best lines from their meticulously researched book, The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang (1992; revised from 1977), a dated book now but one that was a delight to read.



Maltin and Bann reflect, "It's nice to escape for a while from the uncertain future we all face, and retreat to the more leisurely joys of a certain past."  Precisely.  And precisely the case for me.

It is a book that is not only an entertaining page turner but offers a window into a period of television history one might hardly be familiar.  Through The Little Rascals the writing team offers remarkable detail regarding the transition from silent to sound.  It is books like this one that are still cherished despite the brilliance of that advancement called the Internet. The amount of information acquired in interviews and research for this book has taken decades and it is simply a wonderful document and bible to a series that should be remembered within our cultural development amidst The Great Depression (1929-1939).

Farina Hoskins.



What Hal Roach created with The Little Rascals was something of pure genius.  He wasn't looking for overacting. Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple were allegedly turned away from the series for exactly that reason.

Chubby Chaney and Joe Cobb see stars.









Roach was looking for the innocence of kids.  Roach was riveted by the simple act of kids scrubbing it out for the biggest stick in the yard. He saw the beauty in the little moments that parents have or family members have the opportunity to cherish. That simple innocence of kids is a forgotten gift and it was eloquently captured in these Hal Roach films.  These acts are a near impossible find today, which makes these not only phenomenally good fun, but a cultural and historical document archiving the way we were.



I don't know what led me back to the past this far.  I watched The Little Rascals after school when I was a young boy. I think they were broadcast out of Boston on Channel 56. They always caught my attention then, but seeing them again for the first time in decades I've hardly lost appreciation for what was achieved here.



Maybe it was listening to REO Speedwagon's classic Hi Infidelity (1980) recording for the umpteenth time.  On that effort a songs called Tough Guys opens with an audio tribute to The Little Rascals.  The clip features George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Darla Hood.  I always smiled when I would hear that opening but perhaps it registered with me and sent me off on one of my unexpectedly crazy research missions.  In the audio clip, Spanky is bent out of shape that Alfalfa would forsake the He-Man Woman Hater's Club. Alfalfa insists he has to live his own life even if that means loving Darla.

Fortunately the series talkies have been archived beautifully on a seven volume DVD set for posterity.  Most of the silent films have been lost forever with the exception of a few.  How fitting it should mirror the lost art of capturing children on film.

Pete The Pup.



I shouldn't deny myself the beauty of technology. Once upon a time I went to great lengths with snail mail and phone calls to get the rarest of rare music and books. It would take weeks to sort these things out.  A subscription to Marvel Comics was managed through an envelope, a handwritten form and a check. When was that first comic book to have arrived?  I had no idea. I just hoped it would one day come and now bent.  Now it's all at the push of a button. Okay, I love embracing the past but I'm more than acutely aware that embracing the present and future is perhaps the best way to get there.  Yes, The Little Rascals was indeed The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) of another era, a beautiful glimpse into the world of kids being kids and discovering themselves.  Problems, solutions and their potential were all completely unencumbered by video games or technology.  Just amazing.  I remember that.  In fact, I remember all of that started changing with my generation.  Trust me, I welcomed the VCR and VHS and the proliferation of the cassette and the arrival of Atari.  I loved it all.



My first foray into The Little Rascals talkies as they are known highlight a number of the gang that maybe aren't quite as well known as Spanky, Darla, Buckwheat and Alfalfa. Perhaps one day we will give them all a look.



The first volume focused squarely on a still exceptional bunch of kids.  This group of kids was certainly no less charming.  Farina Hoskins. Joe Cobb. Mary Ann Jackson. Chubby Chaney. Jackie Cooper and Wheezer Hutchins are the true standouts from the first ten talkies.  Where are they now? Well, the book by Maltin and Bann delves deeply into their stories without the knowledge of these last many years. Sadly none survive. All have passed away.  The rotund and infinitely lovable Joe Cobb (1916-2002) is now gone. The naturally gifted funny boy Farina Hoskins (1920-1980) has since passed.  Tomboy and sweetheart Mary Ann Jackson (1923-2003) lived a good life. Cobb-replacement and darling Chubby Chaney (1914-1936) died unexpectedly at a young age from a glandular ailment and lived an unfortunately short life. The incredible delightful Jackie Cooper (1922-2011) lived the longest even appearing in our beloved Superman trilogy (1978-1983). The endlessly charming Robert Wheezer Hutchins (1925-1945) also died tragically and unexpectedly in a mid-air crash as a pilot during WWII training exercises at just twenty years of age.



Beyond some of these early favorites, other, better-remembered, aforementioned, unforgettable characters, and I do mean characters, have also left this mortal coil.  We shall one day embrace another look at those kids.  All together these Little Rascals came up with some outstanding moments.  It's nice to see there are still those of us who remember that and folks who might introduce those kids to their kids today nearing some ninety years later.

Wheezer In Action.

I Remember That: The Amazing Spider-Man Bank (And The Amazingly Lengthy Post About A Bank)

The effortlessly funny Duck Dynasty (all the fuss appears to be legitimate) sparked one from the memory banks and put The Sci-Fi Fanatic in a nostalgic mood.

 

The massive Robertson family has a comedic gift.  Just about everything they say is amusing on sheer gift of delivery and timing (or editing) alone.  The group seemingly ad libs most of its footage and I suspect the mostly unscripted dialogue within the established script is simply edited together to abundantly clever effect.  However it's achieved the family is funny and filled with some real characters.

Old Uncle Si and Willie visit a family fun park and Si insists on winning a giant, purple stuffed animal.  He won't leave without it.  To do this, and we have all had our battles with these machines, he must play games within the arcade and win and amass tickets by the bucket load.  Ultimately he delivers a bountiful windfall of tickets. Thousands of tickets are placed on the counter to win that crazy stuffed giant.  It is no doubt scripted, but it's still damn funny and in a point of true wisdom Uncle Si essentially tells Willie there's nothing you can't do if you set your mind to it.  Done!  Prize won.  It's true.

Well, when I was a youngster we frequented the now closed amusement park by the sea Rocky Point Park (1847-1995).  Like any great park they had one building filled with these video game machines and ticket pushers.



What was always amazing to me is that you could virtually play for an hour, acquire a seemingly unruly mass of tickets, bring them to the front desk to claim a gift prize and essentially be told that your options were wither a plastic whistle, a toy watch or a rubber ball.  I mean what the heck?!  The sheer disappointment for all of the effort was massive.

Now mind you, today, I'm not really much of a Spider-Man fan.  I still haven't seen the last rebooted, Tobey Maguire-less film and have virtually no interest (I really should have stuck to my gut on The Avengers, but I would have missed Pacific Rim had I done that).  But, as a kid, visiting the amusement park, they had a wall of sparkling, seemingly unattainable prizes.  Those prizes seemed to smile down upon you and whisper to us, You got no chance kid. They were like the evasive brass ring on the carousel.  It seemed they were merely there to taunt our poor, fragile heads full of dreams and wish fulfillment. It was like the lights of heaven were shining down upon the one item you desired.  Even the glass cases were filled with shining gems.  Of course, it was always that damn bottom row of plastic baskets and bins filled with baubles and junk trinkets like whistles and silly toys that we were always pointed to and forced to draw from.  It was like the teenage attendant was an outtake from A Christmas Story speaking in slow motion to you.  You get to pick one item from the green baskets kid.  Ugh! Oh no. Not again.  Rarely, did it seem we had the opportunity to pull or pick from the cream of the crop toy prizes.  In fact, it seemed like an exercise in futility.  More often than not we were generally sent packing home with the lesson you can't always get what you want in life.  It was disheartening.  I remember piling into our blue recreation bus and sort of gazing out at the window with a sense of loss while kids jumped around from seat to seat, yelling, screaming, singing, throwing paper airplanes.  It was all going on and yet my world seemed in slow motion (sometimes).



Well, every summer we used to pay that local Little Red School House for a series of field trips.  Their blue rec bus would take all the kids to a given place of fun.  It was a ticket to freedom for some. It was also a great baby-sitting service for others.  Every year we were carted off to Rocky Point Park by the sea.

The journey down this long steep hill in through the arched entrance way was like entering heaven as a kid.  The firs thing you saw was kids on floating logs on their Flume ride. The park always tantalized the young easily persuadable mind with The Flume.  That ride screamed to us to get off the bus and get there.  For awhile, of course, one had to contend with that little wooden figure at the entrance of each ride that determined whether you were tall enough.  When it was close the fate of your happiness rested in the hands of a teenage attendant.  When they made the determination on whether you passed or not it sometimes seemed like an eternity.  The clock ticked.  Your lips smacked. Your mouth grimaced.  When the okay came it was pure, unbridled relief. They also had a giant salt water community pool. That always looked like a dodgy proposition.

Back to the point of this story. One day the lure of the haunted house (my favorite ride) and other madness like the dreadful Sky Diver (money always fell out of my pockets when we got to the top and they stopped it while you were upside down) simply could not sway me from my intended mission.

Note the wee little penny slot.



While all of my friends hit the rides I remained committed in the game house to win the plum prize of the summer - a certified mold of gold in the form of a plastic green The Amazing Spider-Man bank.  For whatever reason the bank was like the coolest thing I had ever seen and I simply had to have that bank to dump my spare change into at the end of a school day.  It was imperative that the green Spider-Man bank adorn my childhood bedroom.  Folks I spent almost all of my day in that arcade room.  But by God, as Uncle Si noted in Duck Dynasty, I achieved greatness that very day.  I had won (but did I really win?) the Spider-Man bank dumping everything I had into that arcade to win the tickets necessary to take that sparkling green gem of a bank home. What probably cost about two dollars to make went for a whole lot more that day.

Spider-Man himself was already painted but the webbing he sat against was not and I had big plans to paint the words The Amazing Spider-Man and the web he was set against.  With paintbrush and paint in hand - oh what a joyful day.



In the end, I still have that bank. To this very day it sits on my dresser.  The One To Be Pitied never makes mention of it or pays it any mind despite the obvious fact it is a hideous eyesore.  It is really kind of odd sitting in the room - a strange oddity - but a beautiful one.  I just can't throw it out.  It is connected and tied to one of the great days of my youth.  Winning that thing was no easy task and in the grand land of kiddom something of a minor miracle, a true achievement, was yielded that day.  That Spider-Man bank represents perseverance and persistence and a belief that you can have anything you want if you just set your mind to it.  I believe that and that Spider-Man bank is a reminder of that philosophy along with some great memories of simpler days gone by.

To think that bank was held in my hands as a much younger dreamer, and the lives and loves that have come and gone since and yet my plastic Spidey bank remains. I know. It's a geek moment, but gosh, I remember that like it was yesterday.

Well, gotta run, my spider-sense is tingling.

I Remember That: Kaiju Dreams

This was a brief I wrote for the I Remember That thread quite some time ago - long before Pacific Rim arrived - now updated.  But, how fitting to post it now.  The film really spoke to me and my own childhood kaiju (strange creature/ monster/ giant monster) dreams. Japanese monster movies had a significant impact to be sure.

When I consider my dreams today, they seem to be fewer and farther between. I just don't dream like I used to. This is clearly a sad fact of physiology. It's also kind of a sad reflection on one aspect of the aging process.  Who wants to stop dreaming?



Obviously when we are young we dream like crazy. When we grow older we shouldn't lose our desire to dream. Of course, in this case, I speak of dreaming involuntarily while sleeping.



Again, when I was young did I ever dream.  I was overflowing with dreams.  There were so many dreams I wished we could bottle them all.  Remembering them was always the tough part. It seemed like there wasn't a night that went by that I didn't dream. Apart from dreams of falling and waking my dreams were replete with monsters of the kaiju variety. A few afternoons spent watching Creature Double Feature and I was doomed - ruined for a night or two anyway worried Monster Zero might trounce my street at any moment.



I was often running down streets and ducking around corners amidst the debris-riddled roads and devastation. These dreams were terrific and vivid and I was literally injecting myself into the world of Toho monster movies.  I was often alone simply trying to survive.





I was always a big fan of the giant monster films. For some reason I loved running from these creatures in my dreams and evading certain death by ducking around the concrete corners and taking refuge against the side of a tall granite building hoping to evade detection. It was escape after escape. Perhaps that's why I enjoyed these types of films so much.  I felt as though I controlled the outcome.



I was less thrilled about watching films like Matango or Attack Of The Mushroom People because those monsters were more intimately connected to your space.  They were small, looked you in the eyes and genuinely had the potential to catch you.  The intimacy of face to face contact and encounters with monsters of this nature were truly horrifying and thus Mushroom People and Fly-sized humanoids were often forgotten upon waking.





But Godzilla and friends were frequent flyers. The kaiju were in my dreams often and I remember the simplicity of those dreams well. Pacific Rim has an entire sequence that effectively spoke to me as if director Guillermo del Toro had been in those dreams too.  It was as if he had ripped them straight from my sleep.  It's a powerful moment brought to life in cinema in his thrilling Pacific Rim (see little Japanese girl running above).



I suppose it all seems awfully silly now, but these dreams were the product of a childhood filled with film wonders particularly from the fantasy worlds created in Japan. I'm sure you had them too. Silly or not, those dreams seemed real as a kid and I definitely remember that.

 

 

I Remember That: The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams

"We're two living things that feel as one.  We aren't actually brothers of the flesh, but brothers in spirit."

-Grizzly Adams speaking of native American Nakoma, but in many respects laying the foundation for the theme of the series and his relationship with all of the wilds' creatures great and small in The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams-

I picked up The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams [1977-1978] Season One recently to share with my daughter, The Girl Wonder.  I have such fond memories of that show.  Season One has just twelve episodes.  Season Two is a complete season. The series features 38 episodes in all.

A show like The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams always offers the promise of that nostalgic wave, which is probably why I embrace these less substantive releases when they arrive.  That flush of pure child-like spirit rushes over you and transports you back in front of your television sitting Indian-style and wearing feet pajamas (sometimes with little holes from running and sliding).  I was literally whisked back in time to the series particularly with its opening theme song, Maybe.  I remember that song like it was yesterday. I loved it as a kid and it just transports you back in time.  The song was written and sung by Thom Pace and it reached number one on the singles chart in Europe believe it or not. It even won awards.



Now, today, the pacing for The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams is fairly laborious, even painstaking, particularly for the often impatient youth of today.  There is a gentle, beautiful and almost breezy approach as if peering into the simple life of this mountain man and his wild neighbors whom he considers friends.  But as it turns out the series is more the product of its time and place in television history, because my family certainly didn't appreciate it as I once did as we watched.  Perhaps the charms of this program would be better suited for the very young today.

The One To Be Pitied definitely appreciated the full-on 1970s wilderness cheese.  My kids, not so much.  As much as I tried to cheer lead the show from my comfortable couch location I was often met with a muted response.

The series was led by the naturally gifted actor Dan Haggerty who seemed to exude an inherent likability, warmth and charm almost from the word go.  Without question Grizzly Adams was the role of a lifetime and the one Haggerty seemed born to play.  Haggerty, with his full beard, seemed to embody the mountain legend and the character and the actor seemed one and the same throughout history.



Despite my childlike affection and joy for the show, my kids were there to poke it with holes like a dam made precariously of sticks by a native beaver.  I can only liken The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams to the equally wonderful The Little House On The Prairie (1974-1983), but slower and absent the compelling family drama.  They both seemed to capture the frontier vibe of the day effectively through their respective series.  The Little House On The Prairie may have had a much larger budget along with a much larger fan base.  The simple little show with an epic, spacious feel that was The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams has a very sweet message - appreciate and connect with mother nature.  Timeless Media Group (licensed by CBS Home Entertainment) made no effort to clean up the show for DVD release. A disclaimer to viewers before reaching the menu indicates that the producers of the DVD did apparently make efforts to implement the best available archival sources.  Sadly, the video quality is just fair. In fact, it may have been transferred from VHS.  Still, it's unlikely this show will ever see life beyond DVD and it is quite simply a lovely outdoor driven TV series for young children who can still appreciate a show centered on bears, raccoons, deer, hawks, foxes and other square ideas.



Of course, I had to suffer the indignity of shots from my son who didn't see the show quite as lovingly as myself.  "Man, I don't think I can take much more of this."  "I think I would rather be watching Little House On The Prairie" [mind you that wasn't a compliment to The Little House On The Prairie, because he didn't care for that one either]. Here's a favorite observation on The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams wildlife approach: "Oh, throw in a deer and make it look cool. That's classic." He had us howling on that one.  But the various critters that populate the show and, of course, big Ben the bear, make it a wonderful stroll down memory lane loaded with delightful likability and beautiful scenery.  It's like a sweet, dramatic way of presenting Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (1963-1971; syndicated 1971-1988) narrated by Marlin Perkins, except narration here comes by way of Denver Pyle as Mad Jack.

Unfortunately, despite the arrival of MTV, quick edits, plotless action films and the bombardment of relentless television and television channels, there is a part of me that can still appreciate this kind of magic.  It didn't help my cause that we actually pulled out The Lfe And Times Of Grizzly Adams following a viewing of the exceptional Joe Carnahan-directed wilderness adventure overtones The Grey. That exhilarating, incredible film is not only exciting but infused with existential complexity.  It's a work of true poetry regarding survival, questions of life and death and surviving the wilds of nature. The Boy Wonder and I loved that film.  So a show like The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams didn't have a prayer.  Kids today are exposed to the likes of The Grey or the documentary Grizzly Man, both of which my family loved, and then to have to slow things down for something far less demanding, far less emotionally complex, well, The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams doesn't have a chance.  Of course, there's no historical context or nostalgic perspective for the kids either and I can appreciate that too.



For those interested in the science fiction connections Lawrence Dobkin wrote the film The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams and penned episodes Unwelcome Neighbor and The Rivals.  He was the director on Charlie X for Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969).

Samuel A. Peeples wrote and directed Adam's Ark. He penned Redemption Of Ben and The Tenderfoot.  He famously penned Where No Man Has Gone Before and the first entry for Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974), Beyond The Farthest Star.

James L. Conway directed Adam's Cub, Unwelcome Neighbor, Redemption Of Ben and The Tenderfoot.  He would move on to direct for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) (Season One's Justice and The Neutral Zone and Frame Of Mind from Season Six), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) (Season One's Duet, Season Two's Necessary Evil, Season Four's The Way Of The Warrior, Little Green Men, Shattered Mirror and For The Cause, Season Five's Apocalypse Rising), Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) (Season Two's The 37's, Persistence Of Vision, Death Wish and Innocence) and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005).

Terrence McDonnell scripted Howdy Do, I'm Mad Jack.  McDonnell was also a writer for The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978) (Season Three's Divided Loyalty, Season Four's Nightmare In The Sky and The Thunderbird Connection, Season Five's Walk A Deadly Wing), The Bionic Woman (1976-1978) (Season Three's Which One Is Jaime) and Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979).  Writer Jim Carlson who collaborated with McDonnell on Grizzly Adams also collaborated with him on Battlestar Galactica.

Actor Ronny Cox (Stargate SG-1, Deliverance) appeared on Unwelcome Neighbor.  Famous actor Charles Martin Smith guested on The Tenderfoot.  Smith would one day direct Space: Above And Beyond (The Dark Side Of The Sun, Ray Butts, Pearly) for Millennium's Glen Morgan and James Wong. He even directed and launched the opener to the now legendary Joss Whedon's Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  He has appeared on Fringe and in Brian DePalma's The Untouchables.  Yeah, it's a crazy, crazy, small world.  And that's Season One.

Season Two spotlighted Worley Thorne scripting Track Of The Cougar and The Seekers.  Thorne penned Justice for Star Trek: The Next Generation.  He penned for Star Trek: Phase II (Are Unheard Melodies Sweet?).  He wrote a handful for Fantasy Island and one for The Bionic Woman (Jamie's Mother).

Sharron Miller would direct in both seasons and was once linked to direction on In Search Of... (1976-1982) presented and narrated by Leonard Nimoy.

Haldon Darryl Allan Eastman rounded out Season Two with The Skyrider.  Eastman was also executive producer on Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (2000-2005), but directed episodes for that series plus Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict (1997-2002) (Season One's Decision and Truth), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season Six's Honor Among Thieves), Star Trek: Voyager (Season Four's Prey, Season Five's Relativity) and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Actor Russ Tamblyn appeared in the aforementioned episode.  Tamblyn appeared in one of the very best from Toho, War Of The Gargantuas (1966). He also appeared in David Lynch's Twin Peaks as well as Babylon 5 (A Distant Star).  June Lockhart (Lost In Space) guested along with Kim Darby (ST:TOS' Miri) in The Capture Of Grizzly Adams. Whew! Like I said, it's an absolutely insane world.



Today, I still see The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams' appeal, though I'm not sure it could possibly satiate today's children outside of the very young I Dig Dirt crowd.  The pace is lethargic by today's standards, which is too bad. But I'll tell you, I'm still watching it.  Okay, I'm watching the series alone now mind you (my kids peek in and generally run the other way now), but I still think it has a special charm about it.  Granted I'm not convinced I'll be investing in the Season Two set just yet.  We'll see how I feel at the end of the first season, poor video quality and all.  Nostalgia can only take you so far and I'm not entirely assured there is enough to stimulate and enthrall the much older big kid in me.  But yes, watching it will sincerely transport some back in time.



My God, once upon a time I loved The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams and adored Dan Haggerty, big Ben and Mad Jack's mule, Number 7.  There was real kindness and respect in that series.  Can you imagine today in a television world where sarcasm and chippy, cheeky humor by children rule the day for children?  There just isn't a show like this today and that's unfortunate.  But I definitely remember loving that show. Of course, I don't recall all of the credit-related information provided here.  I appreciate it now, but back then I was just a wee bear cub myself with a simple appreciation for mother nature.