The holiday is fast approaching, too fast approaching, and we haven't even begun to celebrate here at the 'ole Trash Pile. The tree is still packed away in the basement and I've barely started checking things off on friends' and loved ones' Christmas wishlists. No eggnog or Lego advent calender and certainly no visions of sugar-plums dancing in my head. The days are running out, passing by while all my favorite traditions fall by the wayside.
At some point over the last few years, one of the things I've adopted into my holiday season is watching a cherished Christmas special from my youth and documenting it by taking pictures with my cellphone. Nothing screams "Happy Holidays!" like low-res photos of two decades old animated features, right?
Well, you lucky ducklings, I've decided to share my inaugural attempt [from the 2011..!] with you.
No, your eyes do not deceive you. That really is a VHS-copy of He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special (1985). More specifically, it's a bootleg and it's one of my absolute favorite videos in my collection. It was originally acquired by a friend of mine at a collectors' show circa 1998, but with a little persuasion, it ended up in my possession a few years back. The fact that I owned a functioning VCR and he didn't probably worked in my favor. I may also have begged a little, drooling like one of Pavlov's puppies, at the sight of that gorgeous, yellow plastic-shell.
I have no shame.
Now, before we get to the main event, just a friendly reminder that these pics were taken with a cellphone camera from a bootleg VHS that's well over a decade old. You just sit back, relax and embrace the low-fi wonders you're about to see.
Yeah, no shame.
Smiling Skeletor. Oh boy.
ReplyDeleteHolding an alien puppy?
DeleteI don't know how he could resist.
Old Skeley is smiling too funny.
ReplyDeleteMagical. Don't think I've EVER seen this all the way through though. I, like you, fell in love with that yellow shell. It had me at hello.
ReplyDeleteNever seen it either. I was pretty much just a season one fan.
ReplyDeleteYou are missing out, man.
DeleteIn honor of the Geek's Goodwill miracle the other day I rewatched the She-Ra movie with my son who had never seen it. I felt like maybe the scene where Bow takes Adam to their secret camp on the same horse was a little too "mature" for my 3 year old ;) It's hard to believe that there wasn't some kind of behind the scenes innuendo goin on in their animation department. I love your posts about VHS, Trash Man.
ReplyDeleteI feel like there's been a lot of scenes of He-Man and She-Ra both riding Swift-Wind, too, where they're sitting maybe a little too close for brother and sister. It's gotta be all the metal brassieres and fur bikinis.
DeleteThings in Eternia and Etheria can get pretty kinky.
[And then there's the live-action Masters of the Universe movie. I mean, c'mon, Skeletor's obsession with getting He-Man on his knees so they can whip him? It's too much!]
I remember seeing the He-Man movie at the drive-in movies :)
DeleteI was however distracted by A Nightmare on Elm Street goin on down the field.... didn't need the dialogue to scare the crap out of me! I was 5 years old then. You make me want to watch it again with my boy. Thanks, Trash Man.
I always loved that Skeletor sounded exactly like Ming The Mercilessness from Flash Gordon.
ReplyDeleteAh, old dear low-fi. So opposite to the hi-res extra hi-fi movies today. Kids nowadays won't appreciate what they have :(
ReplyDelete