Does anybody else feel old?

[Mego MkIV]

I'm only 41 I don't feel old but people can make you feel old some times. Try telling someone you remember seeing Star Wars in the theaters.(The Original not the altered 1990s ones.)

[DaBillmann]

Does anyone remember books called "Fotonovels" or "Photonovels?". These were basically stills from a movie or tv episode put in sequential order and layed out like a comic book complete with the speaking balloons. It was the only way to "watch" a show on demand as there was no VHS yet. And the I did the cassette tape thing, too. You combined that with the Fotonovel and you were in geek heaven.

Lord, I had several Star trek ones, the Battlestar Galactica movie, Rocky and Rocky two, and believe it or not, the pilot episode of Mork and Mindy. and I never thought to tape record an episode and lsiten while reading. LOL

[DaBillmann]

I'm only 41 I don't feel old but people can make you feel old some times. Try telling someone you remember seeing Star Wars in the theaters.(The Original not the altered 1990s ones.)

And telling them "i saw it BEFORE they added "Episode Four: A New Hope" to the credits!"

Which I BELIEVE was done sometiem before Empire Strikes Back came out

[JediJaida]

I remember when I was around nine years old, there was a HUGE Disney film festival here in NY, somewhere on the West Side. The lines stretched around the block, there were so many people that wanted to see them. This was in 1974, waaaaaay before the VCR became available for home use. They showed just about everything that had been made, and put away in the vault for DECADES!!!

There were so many people on the line, that you couldn't always get to see the movie you wanted, and the weekends were worst! They were sold out within minutes.

Nowadays, you don't have that. With all of the multiplexes in cities now, that problem is avoided.

I tell this to some of my younger relatives, and while it's amusing to see their eyes pop out of their heads, I want to do a facepalm when they ask: Why didn't you just get it on video? And I had just finished telling them that there WEREN'T any to be had in the first place.

Not only do I feel old, I also feel that these kids are pretty spoiled and not altogether too bright.

[powersthatbe]

i did the tape thing too,for the monkees mainly.i would've loved as a kid to be able to watch cartoons after dinner in the evening.sad today everything is instant gratification,i'm not a parent,but i can't imagine kids today ever saying "we're bored!"I remember the first video arcade game "pong".movies staying in theaters for well over a year.a good thing these days like with cell phones you can always get in quick contact with your kids,in our day we just gave our word we would be back at whatever time or such if we went out.

[DaBillmann]

i did the tape thing too,for the monkees mainly.i would've loved as a kid to be able to watch cartoons after dinner in the evening.sad today everything is instant gratification,i'm not a parent,but i can't imagine kids today ever saying "we're bored!"I remember the first video arcade game "pong".movies staying in theaters for well over a year.a good thing these days like with cell phones you can always get in quick contact with your kids,in our day we just gave our word we would be back at whatever time or such if we went out.

Yes, and we were actually PUNISHED if we stayed out too late. I work at a middle school and it really seems there is no discipline these days.

[Mego MkIV]

And telling them "i saw it BEFORE they added "Episode Four: A New Hope" to the credits!"

Which I BELIEVE was done sometiem before Empire Strikes Back came out

I always wondered when they started calling Star Wars Episode Four A New Hope because I certainly don't remember that from the 4 times I saw it in the 1970s.

[Captain Awesome]

I saw Star Wars 10 times at the theatre on its original run. The first time I saw it was for my birthday in July of 1977. I was 10 years old and had a choice to either see Star Wars or The Shootist (John Wayne's last film). Wound up seeing all 3 of the Star Wars films at the movie theatres on their original runs. Plus seeing them again year's later with my 2 boys when they did the special editions at the theatres.
The first time I remember going to a movie theatre was about '71 or '72. I was 4 or 5 yrs old and saw a Disney movie if I'm not mistaken. Don't remember which one it was. Just remember it was animated. Speaking of Disney, who remembers Song of the South? Loved that movie as a kid and my grandmother used to read me the picture books and do the accents as well.

[DaBillmann]

I always wondered when they started calling Star Wars Episode Four A New Hope because I certainly don't remember that from the 4 times I saw it in the 1970s.

It was definately before Empire came out. I believe, that while Lucas always HAD the prequals in mind, he waited for the movie to be a success before announvcing "This is chapter four, BTW".

[pmjlghrs]

Go back an pull out the Time magazine article (I'll see if I can find it) that was about Empire just before it came out in 1980. There was a little insert article in the main article that talked about the number of "surprises" in Empire. They had a picture of the opening title with Episode V in it. They said that was the first surprise and then went on to talk about Lucas's plan to go through VI and then go back and do I-III, and then do VII-IX. The only characters running through all nine films would be C-3PO and R2-D2.

[galaxyexplorer42]

I was born in 1967. So I'm....like.... 13 or 14 now... I don't know what the hell you old guys are talking about... I'm gonna go play with Megos right now....

[JediJaida]

Okay, I'm two years older than you, so that makes me 16. Wanna come to my house and mix Megos and Legos?

[DaBillmann]

Okay, I'm two years older than you, so that makes me 16. Wanna come to my house and mix Megos and Legos?

I am very confused. I was born in 1966 and I am 25, so how am I older than someone born a year before I was?

[Mego Magyar]

When I was a kid (before VHS tapes!), I used to audio tape movies from the TV (with just a microphone next to it), and then listen to the tape as a kind of radio audio play, recalling the images that went with the sound.
I still have a tape of Pal's War of the Worlds.

I remember doing that too. I used a small tv that had an earphone jack so I could wire into that and then I didn't have to be quiet in the room. I still have a few of those recordings including the original ABC broadcast airing of Superman The Movie & Superman 2 - both with ALL the extra footage.

Does anyone remember books called "Fotonovels" or "Photonovels?". These were basically stills from a movie or tv episode put in sequential order and layed out like a comic book complete with the speaking balloons. It was the only way to "watch" a show on demand as there was no VHS yet. And the I did the cassette tape thing, too. You combined that with the Fotonovel and you were in geek heaven.

I loved those and still have all the tv Trek ones plus Battlestar Galactica, Incerdible Hulk & Buck Rogers.

[HardyGirl]

I remember those Jaida. It was the "Disney Summer Hit Parade". I remember the promos on TV for that:

"Summer time is Disney, summer time is fun! Here's the Summer Hit Parade!" (I keep trying to find that on YouTube).

My mom and I went darn near every weekend. And she didn't wanna pay for movie theatre food, so we always used to sneak in stuff we bought ahead of time. Screaming Yellow Zonkers and Adams Sour gum.

*sniff* Those were the days.

I remember when I was around nine years old, there was a HUGE Disney film festival here in NY, somewhere on the West Side. The lines stretched around the block, there were so many people that wanted to see them. This was in 1974, waaaaaay before the VCR became available for home use. They showed just about everything that had been made, and put away in the vault for DECADES!!!

There were so many people on the line, that you couldn't always get to see the movie you wanted, and the weekends were worst! They were sold out within minutes.

Nowadays, you don't have that. With all of the multiplexes in cities now, that problem is avoided.

I tell this to some of my younger relatives, and while it's amusing to see their eyes pop out of their heads, I want to do a facepalm when they ask: Why didn't you just get it on video? And I had just finished telling them that there WEREN'T any to be had in the first place.

Not only do I feel old, I also feel that these kids are pretty spoiled and not altogether too bright.