As a fan of Battlezone, when you were a kid did you...

[Avatar]

I know, I know, I'm old.  Many of you are young enough that this won't apply...

As a fan of Battlezone did you/have you ever:

Have one of those huge Solar System posters with painted planets long before we even had decent pictures of the real things?  (can't find one on the net but I've got one on a shelf here, and here's the modern equivalent:)



Have the little green "army guys"?



Think "Major Matt Mason" was just about the coolest thing ever?  (remember, this is BEFORE video games of ANY kind, even pre-pong)





Suffer through early UHF reception just to watch "Space:1999" and see REAL looking space craft?  (no dig against Star Trek, which I ate/slept/breathed, but it was very futuristic while Space looked like NOW...)



Read everything Heinlein, Norton, or Asimov wrote?  The "Terra Calling" chapter of Norton's "Star Rangers" still gives me chills...



And people wonder why a game like "Battlezone" still holds onto me after a decade of playing... 

-Av-

[Red Devil]

Boy, we've sure learned a lot about the solar system since your day; just look at how close they had all the planets back then.

What's UHF?

[mrtwosheds]

No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes

Old scifi kids will probably enjoy these books
http://www.iain-banks.net/science-fiction/

[Nielk1]

Heh... UHF... For a bit there I had a TV that still had a knob for that, and up to an amazing 10 pre-programmable digits that the remote could access. (Remote had a MASSIVE red ball light looking thing on the end.)

[Avatar]

Boy, we've sure learned a lot about the solar system since your day; just look at how close they had all the planets back then.

Well, they WERE that close back then...  that's why all the fuss about being invaded by Martians and such... they didn't have far to come if they were going to attack.  Could've tossed rocks and sticks and spit on each other back then.

Now that my generation's got all the planets further apart we can rest a little easier... 

What's UHF?

Besides a really bad movie it's what they're calling "HD" now... each HD broadcast is actually using a few UHF frequencies to make one channel.

-Av-

[Nielk1]

Didn't some song have in it: "ON UHF!"

[Grendel]

Little green army men - sure!
Planetary posters (ahm... star wars themed)- sure!
Various Sci-Fi books - sure!

Battlezone will always have a special place in my heart...

[Avatar]

A word on "Major Matt Mason"...

This was Mattel merchandising  brilliance at it's finest.  Foam-rubber covered wire armatures that were guaranteed to break within the year, these things all self-destructed within a year of purchase.  Check them out on Ebay for a look at what that scarcity did to their resale value...

The 'jetpack' was another stroke of genius...  it had a pulley system and long strings.  You hooked a front string on a door or window and pull the rear one and the thing would ZIP down the string as if flying.  Lasted a week or so before the strings became a hopelessly snagged mess.

The Crawler was cool, also... and it took months for one of the little legs to break off. 

***

I forgot about this:

[Axeminister]

I had Doc Savage: The man of Bronze, Tom Swift and Isaac Asimov books but admit that the Isaac Asimov books were a bit over my head. The Isaac Asimov books did instill a longing to understand a broader vocabulary and so I had a number of dictionaries at age 11. Had a Star Trek: Enterprise hanging model. No posters.

[Avatar]

I didn't get into Burroughs until High School, but read a ton of Doc Savage, Pellucidar, Barsoom and Tarzan books once I did.   I think it's interesting that they're almost ready to do a movie of John Carter's exploits, although the Pellucidar stuff has sortof been done with rubber dinosaurs in very bad 70's movies.

Asimov has done such a wide range of books, and I didn't think the Robot or Foundation books were that out of reach...  Sure, once he gets going he can put a physicist to sleep, but when he keeps it simpler they're darn good stuff...

Kids nowadays don't realize how amazing things like cable/satellite TV, on demand movies, DVD's, the Internet, Console games, etc. are.  We had none of that, and arcades were places you had to sneak off to as most parents didn't want their kids hanging out there (not to mention money was something you raked leaves, shoveled driveways, and took out trash for).

In short, the past was SO BORING compared with now.    Things like those shown above were that much more special for their scarcity.

-Av-

[AHadley]

Yes to the first two, no to all the rest... mind you, the juys of being born in the early nineties are enjoyable.

That posted reminded me of the days when pluto was still a planet

[bigbadbogie]

Now its just a planetoid. 

[Nielk1]

I still count it, and Ceres too...

[squirrelof09]

That posted reminded me of the days when pluto was still a planet

That's about all I can say about the post too. Born in 91. I didn't really pay attention to all the changed until probably 11-13 I guess.. The only change I saw was win 98 to xp.. never played on the 2000's until probably 16. I'm 17 now and I was diagnosed with a major case of add and adhd back then (for all of you who have known me since I joined this board - you have probably seen changes in me ). I've gotten control of I guess most of my ADD. I never took medicine in my entire life for anything except the occasional allergy pills once a month during warmer seasons, and I have allergies reallllllllly bad... I hate medicine. I flat out refuse to take it when my mom offers it to me.. I only take it when I want a break from all my allergies..

I guess one change I have noticed during my attentive years is how more and more parents think their newborns have ADD, ADHD, and all the other disorders... yeah.. it's annoying

[Nielk1]

Every kid has ADD according to them.