Remember that old eighties cartoon Spiral Zone?

Well, I can barely remember the series myself. All I have are memories of '87 or '88, catching it on some afternoons right after I get home from school.

I thought it was kick-ass though. It made a great alternative to other cartoons like G.I. Joe and the Transformers, and I liked the whole concept around the "let's-put-together-a-crack-team-of-commandos-from-around-the world" idea. Check out the intro from a clip we found on YouTube right here:

What's Spiral Zone All About

Supposedly a renegade military scientist who calls himself "The Overlord" managed to envelop a significant portion of future Earth in a strange dark mist using some new form of biological warfare.

Our main villain managed to put up "Zone Generators" which spewed forth clouds that covered vast population centers. End result: millions of people stuck in this spiral-shaped territory (thus, the title) become zombie-like thralls- or Zoners- from which The Overlord now builds his army.

Naturally, he's got himself some henchmen as well- The Black Widows- which act as his lieutenants and special agents, riding around Zoned areas in Sledge Hammers: one-man vehicles with tracked wheels, overhead guns and flails on the side. The Overlord has a special command ATV with a cannon for himself.

Anyway, the world finally unites against this global menace, and puts together a crack team of commandos to go in the Zones and blow up the Zone Generators to liberate the planet one city at a time. We got:

• Colonel Dirk Courage. American field commander. Rides around in this monocycle with this massive cannon mounted on top.
• Lieutenant Hiro Taka. The team's recon, infiltration and melee combat expert from Japan.
• 2nd Lieutenant Max Jones. The team's African-American special missions expert.
• Master Sergeant 'Tank' Schmidt. The team's heavy weapons specialist from Germany.
• Corporal Katerina Anastacia. The team's medic from the Soviet Union.

So these guys don a special body armor that renders them immune to the effects of the Zone. From a mountain base, they're flown to the mission-of-the-week via a jet transport, then ride into enemy territory in fast-attack monocycles.

Spiral Zone Now

It's hard to get a hold of clips or pictures of this old cartoon. Personally, I only have a VHS tape of a few shows myself, and I'd really like to get me a DVD copy (if I could find one). Found a website which supposedly distributed copies of the series, but it's all sold out for now.

Bandai actually had a toy line going on in Japan, years before the franchise (and the accompanying TV series) was developed for the American market. So if you're into collecting the action figures, it means that there should be a number of collectors out there with a few pieces you might be interested in.

Check out Spiral Zone on TV.com and on IMDb.com. You can also catch bits and pieces of Spiral Zone on RetroJunk, and its entry on Wikipedia.

"Crap From My Childhood" is a special feature on old cartoons and kiddie shows from the 1970s and 1980s. Read all about it on Renzie's personal blog on all things television: "Too Much TV!"

Cheers, everyone.

Okay fine, maybe I got a little nostalgic after that last post of mine on Iron Man. So I browsed through a few more videos on YouTube, and decided to share the opening themes of other old (circa-1967/68) Marvel cartoons here.

One of the catchier tunes that's been nailed into my brain since childhood was this one of The Incredible Hulk. Never was that huge a fan of the Green Goliath, but this campy theme just never fails to entertain. Check it out:

Not the best theme song there is, right? But incredibly sticky, you gotta give them credit for that. Okay, I'm sure you remember this one of Captain America:


Now that wasn't so bad, was it? Moving on, here are the opening themes for The Mighty Thor and the Sub-Mariner.

Lastly, while not from the same series of cartoons, here's the opening theme from the classic Spider-man cartoon:


So you have to hand it to Marvel for coming up with all these great gems from waaay back then. Sure, they're horrible now, compared to even the worst cartoons you have on Nick or Cartoon Network, but man, were they a lot of fun!

Cheers, everyone!

I found myself watching "How I Met Your Mother" from the very start- the beginning of Season One- the other day.

Star World (a cable channel that carries the show) has recently been airing those episodes everyday- which we could catch just right before American Idol or Life or whatever show they have on the primetime slot.

I gotta admit- I love watching "How I Met Your Mother". CBS was right on the money with this one. Some people compare it to "Friends"- but for me, it's like comparing apples and oranges: absolutely no comparison.

What "How I Met Your Mother" Is About

Based from the title, it's really rather straightforward: Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) has his son and daughter sitting on a couch (in the year 2030) listening to his stories leading to- eventually- how he met their mom.

Which brings us to the current year, where Ted (Josh Radnor) is hanging out with friends from college Marshall Eriksen (played by Jason Segel) and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan of Buffy and the American Pie series). They are also joined by the modern-day Fonzie, Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Howser, MD) and Robin Scherbatsky (played by the oh-so-hot Cobie Smulders).

So you have the events leading to how Ted eventually hooks up with his future wife as the main story arc, with smaller story arcs within a season. An episode then has the "things-we-did-in-New-York-in-2008" which is all very funny, once you let the dynamics work out among the characters.

Currently, we're on Season Three. Right after the Writers' Strike, a few more episodes would be airing before this current season wraps up. Still, it would be great to get a copy of the DVD to check out the earlier seasons, or you could catch it on your local cable channel (like on Star World, in Asia).

What I Like About The Show

It's fun, it's witty, it's so cleverly written. I care about the characters: what kind of misadventure Barney is getting himself into this time, or how cute Lily and Marshall are together as a couple, or what role Robin would be playing in Ted's future.

Even the recurring characters are a hoot, or the occasional surprise cameo appearance. The show's got a good hold on pop culture, and it's great that they work it so well into the script. Basically you have a lot of catch-phrases in just about any episode.

The theme song? A 15-second edit of "Hey Beautiful" by The Solids. Never fails to cheer me up, no matter how stressed out or crappy I feel. Check it out here on my channel on YouTube.

Great comedy sitcoms don't come your way very often. "How I Met Your Mother" is up there in that tier of great TV comedies, and is definitely one of the reasons we check out CBS every Monday night.

Cheers, everyone.

Another day at the office, another day of sifting through music. It's alright really, but I'm the kind of guy who wants variety in listening fare, you know?

Fortunately for me, I got my Creative with me and my big-ass headphones. I felt like TV themes today, so I cranked up the volume and tripped out while doing my scripts and notes and this blog entry here.

Sucking up sounds from...

• America's Top Model - "Wanna Be On Top?" Darkchild featuring Tyra on vocals.
  
• Alias - J.J. Abrams does theme songs too! Got the short mix and a longer 2-minute mix.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force - from Schooly D! Make the homies say 'Ho!' and the girlies wanna scream! Also got MC PeePants "I Want Candy" and other Aqua Teen gems.
  
• Bubblegrum Crisis - "Waiting For You" has got to be one of the best end themes in anime ever.
  
• Battlestar Galactica - both Bear McCreary albums, but my favorite is the "Colonial Anthem" which is an updated yet still majestic-sounding version of the classic theme. Also have the Richard Gibbs "Main Title Theme"- awesome, totally awesome.
• Chobits - "Let Me Be With You" (I have 2 mixes- the original and a cool little remix version), and pretty much the rest of the album, including "Raison d'Etre".
• Chuck - still updating my Chuck Soundtrack listings, but we do have Cake's "Short Skirt, Long Jacket"- original cut and TV opening edit.
• CSI - Essential listening from The Who! "Who Are You?" (from Las Vegas), "Won't Get Fooled Again" (from Miami), and my absolute personal favorite "Baba O'Riley" (from New York)
  
• Densha Otoko - the Japanese hit sitcom/romance comedy- great stuff they put together, but it made me appreciate "Twilight" by the Electric Light Orchestra so much more!
• Enterprise - Ah. "Faith of the Heart" by Diane Warren f Russell Watson. Subpar Star Trek series, but awesome theme song.
  
• Grey's Anatomy - got the Psapp song "Cosy In The Rocket", and at least 3 seasons worth of Grey's OST goodness!
• Heroes - we have the opening 15-sec theme and that song I loved from season 1 episode 1: Rogue Wave's "Your Eyes"
• Harvey Birdman - the voice talent who does Johnny Bravo? Yeah, he sings this one.
• House - the opening theme is an edit of Massive Attack's "Teardrop".
  
• How I Met Your Mother - "Hey Beautiful" from The Solids- both original cut and TV opening edit. Also, got Robin Sparkles' "Let's Go To The Mall!"
• Malcolm In The Middle - Geek rock from They Might Be Giants- "Boss of Me". Plus a killer 70's selection- gotta compile those as a side project.
• Metalocalypse - there's only one way I'm listening to Metal- and that's through Dethklok! I love the Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle!
  
• Midori Days - what really moves me is the "Mou Soukoshi" song played at the end of every episode. Lovely. Lovely song.
• My Name Is Earl - what I really dig was DJ EZ Rock and Rob Bass' "It Takes Two"!
  
• One Tree Hill - Sure it's got Gavin deGraw and Bethany Joy Lenz/Galeotti, but earlier on I was digging on Tyler Hilton's "Missing You".
  
• Project Runway - Harold "Barefoot" Sanders came up with such a kickass theme.
  
• Scrubs - got Lazlo Bane's "Superman", Jan Stevens' End Theme, music from Ted's band and so much more!
• Supernatural - the show that got me back into classic rock. Got two seasons worth of OST music- gotta love it!
  
• That 70's Show - Cheap Trick, baby, yeah! Also got both albums, so that's a whole lot of 70's trippin'.
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast - play me to the desk, Zorak!
• The Apprentice - some good ol' Philly funk from The O'Jays' "For the Love of Money". Munny, munny munny munny- Munny!
  
• The Brak Show - straight out of Adult Swim! Also have the classic "Kick Your Ass" and "I Hate You Jerks" by Zorak.
• The O.C. - got maybe 5 albums worth of soundtrack. Personal favorite though is "Dice" by Finley Quaye f Beth Orton.
  
• Sealab 2021 Theme- by Calamine!
• Smallville - Yes we have Remy Zero's "Save Me", but more importantly we have that lovely end theme from Mark Snow.
  
• The Drew Carey Show - Cheap Trick's "Cleveland Rocks"!
• The Sopranos - A1's "Woke Up This Morning" really gets me in that mindset to do some business, you know? Also got some great stuff from Madreblu and memorable lines from the series
• Tru Calling - got "Somebody Help Me" by Full Blown Rose. Can almost see Elisha Dushku running around with those ripped abs of hers.
• Veronica Mars - Ah. The Dandy Warhols' "We Used To Be Friends". It's actually the song I have set as my morning wake-up alarm. Gotta get me a copy of the Season 3 mix though- that version was cool too.

Wow, I wonder what other stuff I have at home... gotta check the PC later on. Such a frackin' fan-boy, huh?

Cheers everyone!

Look, I'm a huge fan of TV themes. I've been collecting the themes to my favorite shows as soon as I found out they could be collected.

With the internet, Wikipedia, YouTube and other great sites out there, you can easily build up your collection of TV tunes, plug in, and bombard your eardrums with the opening themes of your favorite programs.

Most are pretty easy enough to find- say, all of the CSI shows make use of songs from The Who. Or shows like Scrubs, Smallville and Battlestar Galactica have been gracious enough to put together OST albums for schmucks like myself.

Lately, my girlfriend and I have finished Season 2 of CBS' How I Met Your Mother (great stuff, btw, if you haven't seen it yet!). Yes, we've been huge fans since the first few episodes of the previous season. It's an awesome show. Not just awesome- it's legendary! Anyway, we decided to find a copy of the theme and maybe load it on our mobile phones as a ringtone or something- coz that would just be incredibly cool. Running a search on the usual sites: TV.com, Wikipedia, Imdb.com all point to the theme song being done by The Solids (half of which turns out to be the creators of the show: Carter Bays and Craig Thomas!). It's a song called "Hey Beautiful", which you can listen to in its entirety on The Solids' page on MySpace (which you could check out here).

While the song in itself is an incredible piece of work, those of us looking for that recognizable little hook from the opening theme of the show won't be treated to the happy "puh-pa-pa-pah, puh-pa-pa-pah puh-pa-ra-ruh ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ruh" hook we've all grown to love. Hey, while on their MySpace page, do check out their other songs- great stuff right there too.

Anyway, I've noticed a whole bunch of fans looking for the short version of the song. Couldn't find a copy of it a month ago- so I decided to get my own using Moviemaker. Right now, I've loaded it onto my phone and my girlfriend's. So when we get a text message, we get treated to a 12-second slice of ear-candy: never fails to brighten up an otherwise crappy day.

Oh, you can get a copy of the theme song right here: Enjoy!