Eighties Galaxy

Ah, the good old days. The days when you could build an entire network show around a vehicle. Airwolf... Knight Rider... even the Dukes of Hazzard. If a writer came into a network office today pitching a show like that, he'd get laughed out of the room faster than you could say "General Lee." Let's face it: Networks today need to concentrate on important stuff like vampire love stories and shows about storage units. In the 1980s, vehicle-based shows were all the rage. No "you've been voted off the island" here; Instead, it was all about horsepower, lasers and talking cars. And amidst all of the big movers and shakers of the genre, there existed a short-lived thunderball of fresh, pungent cheese called "The Highwayman." OK, so get this: Fast forward to post-apocalyptic America. Society is in a shambles, and trying desperately to get back on its feet. Oh, and apparently, everyone seems to live in the midwest near Phoenix. Anyway, the governme...

If you've ever been in a dentist office waiting room, you've undoubtedly heard the soft-rock strains of the infectious hit "Key Largo." You know the one: "We had it all/Just Like Bogie and Bacall." As you sit there reading this, you KNOW you're humming it. It's OK... we won't tell. What you may not know is that the crooner responsible for this great slice of 80s pop is not who you might expect. Most people assume it's the sultry voice of Kenny Rogers, Kris Kristofferson or some other wily, bearded singer. Not a chance. Mr. Rogers would never lower himself to writing a sappy, melodramatic ball of cheese later heard in elevators! OK, maybe he would, but that's not the point. The point is, that "Key Largo" is the work of none other than one Bertie Higgins. Bertie who? To this day, the singer himself might actually ask that same question about himself. Mr. Higgins had a fairly forgettable career in the 70's as a member ...

Anyone who wasn't living under a rock in the 80's knows about the Transformers. In fact, by 1986, they transcended cartoons, comics and toys to become a worldwide phenomenon. Exaggeration? Consider this: Of all the toy-based cartoons from the 80s, how many not only survived for 20 years, but thrived--spawning at least 3 new series and an upcoming feature film? Not too many (That means YOU, Smurfs). We'll leave the main discussion/breakdown of the beloved Transformers series for a later date. For now, let's meet one of the more obscure members: PERCEPTOR. For those of you who need a refresher course, the Transformers were a race of robots living on the rather bleak planet Cybertron. The race was made up of two opposing forces: The Autobots (read: good guys) and the Decepticons (bad guys). Long story short, the two groups were running low on the resource that keeps them alive: Energon. Luckily for them, another source was found--on Earth. So, the Autobots and Decepticon...

So--you must be asking yourself, "what the heck is this all about?" Well, it's simple. I'm a huge fan of the 80's. It was the central decade of my youth (along with the early 90s)... The decade which contained many of my formative years: those years when most of us choose our favorite friends, favorite bands, favorite movies and various regrettable clothing selections. But the 80s were great for other, more "intangible" reasons... It was a time of relative informational innocence: No internet, no websites, no 'everyone-knows-everything-about you,' no reality TV, no DNA technology, no (usable) cell phones, no PDAs, no satellite TV, and only ONE all-news network. It was the decade that psychologically bridged the gap between the laid-back, free-love 70's to the information-overload/angst-ridden 90's. Post disco and pre-grunge, if you will. Yes, the 80s were rife with negative monikers: the decade of overspending and excess, the 80s sa...