When I were a lad, oh matey, did I ever love Christmas day!
Of course, I still do. These days, it’s a shear joy to watch my kids’ delite as they open their own presents while later I revel in the tastes of Christmas food. 
But as a kid, it was all about my presents.
Here’s my five favourites, the ones I remember giving me the greatest joy and the ones that also I played with the most…
1. The Six Million Dollar Man doll action figure, complete with bionic eye (you looked through a hole in the back of his head and objects far away looked slightly closer).
2. The slide that miraculously appeared in the backyard when I was five. Wheeeeeeeeeee!
3. The Star Trek (TOS) phaser. Unfortunately in late 70s’ Australia, Klingon disrupters weren’t available, but a Federation weapon was nearly as good.
4. The spud gun - you know the pistol sized ones where you shoved one end into a potato, gouged out a bullet and fired it at your sister or the dog. The difference between winning or losing a neighbourhood battle could often come down to who’d brought the most spuds with them.
5. But the piece de resistance [French for best present ever] was the Super-8 movie camera I received in 1980. This black aparatus (with the screw-on handgrip) got one hell of a workout over the next few years. My friends and I made some of the wierdest films ever made - which were made all the better by the 1981 addition of a projector which we could use to actually dub sound onto them. Can you believe it? Home movies with sound?! The wonders of pre-video technology…
How ’bout you? What were some of yours?
12 responses so far ↓
themolk // Dec 24, 2007 at 6:25 am
Hmm… Pete loose with a Super8… the mere thought of it excites me! Do we get to see the evidence of said films (with/without soundtrack)?
Pete // Dec 24, 2007 at 9:14 am
They’re sadly lost in the archives and I don’t know that I’m willing to locate them.
On a sad note I had a great idea for a video with Slingshot MOnkey but my current camera has died. Grrrrrrrrrrrr! Maybe in the new year …
michmolk // Dec 24, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Oh, I’m looking forward to THAT!!!!
Christmas blessings to you and yours…
Roland // Dec 26, 2007 at 12:29 am
Excellent topic. The toys I most remember enjoying from my youth in the 70s:
- A pair of Space:1999 walkie-talkies. These were frickin sweet. They worked and came with little photos I could swap out of the top to use as a visual commmunicator.
Status: Lost
- A Dinky Toys Star Trek TOS die-cast metal Enterprise that shoots little orange discs from the saucer section and a tiny shuttle craft that comes out of the bottom.
Status: Still got it! A prized possession.
- Matchbox car collection. I lovingly beat the snot out of those things, indoors and out.
Status: Lost
- A green projector that let me play View Master discs (stills and audio versions). Status: Lost
My kids now have a smaller, portable, modern version but don’t enjoy it nearly as much as I did.
I didn’t have action figures or comic books when I was a kid. Not sure why. Don’t think it was intentional by my parents. Now I have a “collectable” Captain Kirk in his TOS dress uniform. (Ok, I’m a geek.)
michmolk // Dec 26, 2007 at 10:31 am
Woo hoo - I’m not the only one who remembers 1999! I haven’t found anyone else who even knows what I’m talking about…
Pete // Dec 26, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Oh man, Space 1999 merchandise! Now that is cool! There was one kid in my neighbourhood who had an Eagle (is that what they called their shuttle/fighters?). I was soooooooo jealous. Bad Dad you just revived that jealousy!
Mich, you’re obviously among friends now. Although…
I did hire out 4 episodes on DVD this year … and was very disappointed. Wasn’t the cool show I remembered. The handguns and Eagles still did it for me but the acting, storylines and sets sucked.
Pete // Dec 26, 2007 at 8:06 pm
As I write, Youngest Son is up on top of his “cubby” house with HIS new spudgun, shooting caps and spudpieces at the neighbours.
michmolk // Dec 27, 2007 at 10:58 am
Oh Pete, I’m sure the show is not as good as I remember from my youth But I have fond memories nonetheless. I recently saw an episode of “HR Puff’n'Stuff” - used to scare the pants off me but now it’s just good for a giggle!
Roland // Dec 27, 2007 at 11:18 am
Refresh your memories with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMEZuaguuCU
Sad thing is I stumbled across an episode of Space 1999 a few years back and thought it was horrible. Think it was final season with weird alien girl who shapeshifted into stupid-looking Hanna-Barbara creatures. Totally ruined the fond memories of my youth.
[For some reason, Wordpress wouldn't post all of Roland's comment, so I've had to break it up here...]
Pete // Dec 27, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Roland wrote (about Space 1999):
The pistols they used were awesome too:
http://www.thisnext.com/item/0296DC7E/Space-1999-stun-gun
I’d run around with my father’s hand exercise thingy pretending it was a stun gun.
Check this stuff out:
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/merc/vmmcomlock.html
Pete // Dec 27, 2007 at 3:23 pm
[The rest of Roland's comments...]
The “Eagles” we’re very cool ships. Even by today’s standards, to me they seem very practical:
http://www.eagletransporter.com/
I remember putting together a model kit of an “Eagle,” an attack version called a “Hawk,” and the “Moon Base Alpha” set.v
Pete // Dec 27, 2007 at 3:24 pm
That stungun-waterpistol looks sweet.
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