Children's programmes you watched as a child that still hold up

[beanheadmcginty]

I'm sure everyone has had a similar experience to me - there's loads of kids programmes you remember fondly because you loved them when you were a nipper, but as an adult you've revisited them on YouTube or whatever and discovered they were actually shite. My question is: which ones still hold up as decent when viewed with your adult eyes? I reckon any of the Cosgrove Hall animations are still great. Round the Bend is essentially Viz for kids so gets my vote. Huge swathes of the rest of it are completely unwatchable shit though. Suggestions?

[Ambient Sheep]

Timeslip and The Changes are the first two that come to mind, there may well be others.

Some Thunderbirds episodes are still absolute crackers.

Also some classic Doctor Who, but not all of it.

Saw Children of the Stones for the first time ever a few weeks ago and was enthralled.  I missed it on first broadcast as I was in big school by then and didn't get home in time.

[chveik]

I don't know if they showed Les Shadoks in the UK, it's still ace

[Sin Agog]

I still really like this thing called Earthfasts starring the pretty lad with the curtains haircut off of Eastenders, Paul Nicchols.  It's another Kids TV program with a Children of the Stones vibe.  Never hear oot said about it.  The atmosphere still gets to me.  I love how much dark, pagany kids TV there's been over the decades, but I guess this was more of my era than The Changes (with its lovely friendly Sikh characters) and whatnot.  There were a few other good, relatively dark kids series around this time.  I think The Demon Headmaster and Elidor also aired within a year or two of that.  Earthfasts is on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnoBa71tGPY

[Mister Six]

I didn't watch it as a child, as I was in my twenties at the time. And I didn't watch it then either. But Mrs Six and I blazed through Avatar: The Last Airbender over the past couple of weeks and it is storming. Fantastic characters, genuinely funny, brilliant character arcs and a properly epic scale. And the action scenes get more elaborate and thrilling as it goes on. I just don't know why the season 1 transfer on Netflix was apparently taken from a knacked-in DVD when the other two are in much better condition.

[samadriel]

Monkey is still fucking sweet from the eps I've seen recently. Can't wait to give my box set a thorough rewatch.

[Kelvin]

Of the 80's Saturday morning cartoons I used to watch as a kid, I think Dungeons and Dragons is probably the one that holds up the best. Better writing, a darker tone, less heavy handed morals and themes. I can't really sit through whole episodes of it now, as it's still too childish, and it's not laugh out loud crap like He-Man. But as adventure stories aimed at kids, I think it's probably the best of the bunch from that era.

[notjosh]

I still really like this thing called Earthfasts starring the pretty lad with the curtains haircut off of Eastenders, Paul Nicchols.  It's another Kids TV program with a Children of the Stones vibe.  Never hear oot said about it.  The atmosphere still gets to me.  I love how much dark, pagany kids TV there's been over the decades, but I guess this was more of my era than The Changes (with its lovely friendly Sikh characters) and whatnot.  There were a few other good, relatively dark kids series around this time.  I think The Demon Headmaster and Elidor also aired within a year or two of that.  Earthfasts is on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnoBa71tGPY

This made a big impresion on me, especially as I grew up near Richmond so already knew the drummer boy story. The author of the book used to drop in often at local schools, and apparently used to invite kids back to his house. You can probably guess the rest, unfortunately.

The Demon Headmaster is stil a brilliant parable for the education system and left a lasting impact on how I see the world.

[Replies From View]

This made a big impresion on me, especially as I grew up near Richmond so already knew the drummer boy story. The author of the book used to drop in often at local schools, and apparently used to invite kids back to his house. You can probably guess the rest, unfortunately.

Bloody hell.  Was he officially found out and arrested etc?

[Phil_A]

Bloody hell.  Was he officially found out and arrested etc?

Yes it was a huge scandal, he was taken to court and got two years in prison. 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/may/27/childprotection.uk

[Shaky]

Been watching the first two seasons of The Real Ghostbusters with my kids and it's even better than I remembered. Top scripts, an excellent voice cast, wonderful music and some really lovely animation. Despite the obvious cartoonish tweaks (coloured jumpsuits, Egon's hair etc), it doesn't skimp on the scares and impressively manages to evoke the atmosphere of the first film.

[FredNurke]

I didn't watch it as a child, as I was in my twenties at the time. And I didn't watch it then either. But Mrs Six and I blazed through Avatar: The Last Airbender over the past couple of weeks and it is storming. Fantastic characters, genuinely funny, brilliant character arcs and a properly epic scale. And the action scenes get more elaborate and thrilling as it goes on. I just don't know why the season 1 transfer on Netflix was apparently taken from a knacked-in DVD when the other two are in much better condition.

Yep, Last Airbender (and the sequel series, Legend of Korra) are both amazing.

Mysterious Cities of Gold is still wonderful today, and the first sequel series (from 2012, and by the same creative team) holds up as well. There's a third series, but I still haven't seen it.

Ulysses 31 is great, and some of the music is awe-inspiring.

Thundercats, which I watched back in the 80s but wasn't a huge fan of, turned out to be a lot better than I'd appreciated when I watched it again. The remake was very good too, but they never finished it.

[SavageHedgehog]

Been watching the first two seasons of The Real Ghostbusters with my kids and it's even better than I remembered. Top scripts, an excellent voice cast, wonderful music and some really lovely animation. Despite the obvious cartoonish tweaks (coloured jumpsuits, Egon's hair etc), it doesn't skimp on the scares and impressively manages to evoke the atmosphere of the first film.

By all accounts the other seasons (which aired on Saturday morning rather than Syndication, and were subject to much stricter restrictions) are nowhere near as good, so you may want to quit while you're ahead, although I'm sure there are some good episodes. I do think the cartoon is a big and often overlooked reason Ghostbusters looms so much larger in our cultural consciousness than, say, Beverly Hills Cop.

[Gulftastic]

I watched The Water Margins when it first aired in the UK during the 70s, and I was pleased how well it held up when Granada + aired it again in the mid 90s.

[Replies From View]

By all accounts the other seasons (which aired on Saturday morning rather than Syndication, and were subject to much stricter restrictions) are nowhere near as good, so you may want to quit while you're ahead, although I'm sure there are some good episodes. I do think the cartoon is a big and often overlooked reason Ghostbusters looms so much larger in our cultural consciousness than, say, Beverly Hills Cop.

The cartoon series along with its toy range, if the latter should be distinguished from the former.

[SavageHedgehog]

An interesting book on the " glorified toy commercial" era of American animation is Rise and Fall of the 80s Toon Empire by Jason Waguespack, usually the era is glossed over as a "dark age" between the golden age of the 30s-60s and the renaissance in 88-91, the book makes a case for it being a unique era, if nothing else.

[Absorb the anus burn]

[peanutbutter]

The Adventures of Pete and Pete probably holds up decently even with kids now let alone adults who watched it as kids. It's enough of an outlier from its own time to feel more like an oddity than something that's just old, I imagine.

Disney's Recess surely must hold up okay too?

[Spode]

Round the twist was fantastic.  One of the all time great theme tunes and brilliant stories. On revisiting it though, I had managed to somehow mix up all the actors from the first two series into different combinations. Not helped by the fact that the two actors who play Linda look identical.

Red-haired Bronson, original Gribble/Tiger, original Pete, either Linda being the best lineup, obviously.

[SavageHedgehog]

I always thought Recess was a bit of a "how do you do fellow kids?" move from Disney with its backwards baseball-cap "underachiever and proud of it" protagonist. Was probably better than Quack Pack mind you, and I had no problem watching that.

[evilcommiedictator]

Surely we need to get these kids watching Daria, surely that's aged well?

[bgmnts]

X Men,
The Magic Roundabout,
Captain Scarlet,
Dexter's Lab.

[Icehaven]

Round the twist was fantastic.  One of the all time great theme tunes and brilliant stories. On revisiting it though, I had managed to somehow mix up all the actors from the first two series into different combinations. Not helped by the fact that the two actors who play Linda look identical.

Red-haired Bronson, original Gribble/Tiger, original Pete, either Linda being the best lineup, obviously.

Yep I only realised it was on Netflix or Prime (can't remember which) a few weeks ago so we watched the Without My Pants episode and it was brilliant. I also didn't know there were more series made years after the original two, I was too old for kid's TV by then so they passed me by.

[samadriel]

Surely we need to get these kids watching Daria, surely that's aged well?

It has, and stop calling me Shirley.

[Sin Agog]

Have you ever, ever felt like this?  Strange things happen that drive you round the ai ai ai aiii, it's in me.  The stars shi-i-i-ine, it's the funkiest monkey who ever popped.  Born from an egg, you're standing on my neck.  With all your friends in tow, we're searching for the cities of gold.

(Just did this rather than edit out the flaky comment I made and leave a dot. I apologise).

[buttgammon]

I always thought Recess was a bit of a "how do you do fellow kids?" move from Disney with its backwards baseball-cap "underachiever and proud of it" protagonist. Was probably better than Quack Pack mind you, and I had no problem watching that.

Even at the time, I was a bit embarrassed about liking Recess.

One thing that has stood the test of time is Arthur, perhaps because it always had enough things that were pitched just above the heads of its target audience.

[Brundle-Fly]

I watched The Water Margins when it first aired in the UK during the 70s, and I was pleased how well it held up when Granada + aired it again in the mid 90s.

Was that a kid's show though? It was a family show, no?

Any Smallfilms output is still quite sturdy.

[Sin Agog]

I like that both Monkey and the Water Margin are based on INSANELY long Chinese epics.  I mean like almost 3000 pages a piece long.  I've read a few volumes each of Journey to the West and Outlaws of the Marshes, and they are wonderful things, even if I didn't finish either of them.  The Water Margin's source material, though, is almost like classical torture porn.  The series is practically a Disney product by comparison.

[Gulftastic]

Was that a kid's show though? It was a family show, no?

Any Smallfilms output is still quite sturdy.

I don't know. I just know we used to play 'The Water Margins' when we play fought in the playground at my primary school. I never got be Lin Chong.

[Shit Good Nose]

There are VERY few that I've revisited since being an adult so I can't really comment, but one I've always gone back to, even now thanks to some guy called Laim Roche on YouTube, is Round the Bend (not to be confused with the aforementioned Round the Twist).  But then that was blatantly made for the adults, wasn't it.