First of all, LOVE THE SITE. I stumbled on it, really, by accident (revisiting my THE WIZ trauma) and it's fascinating, entertaining, and creepy. Maybe I can say that it's therapeutic, too. Being born in 1974, it's nice to know that the Sleestaks didn't just give ME nightmares!
I was reading over the site, and I was shocked to see that some early traumas from my childhood were missing. Namely, THE ELECTRIC COMPANY. Yeah, I loved that show. It seemed to plug right into the 7-or-8-year-old just coming off of SESAME STREET psyche. I was privy to the reruns that seemed to be on TV everyday from about '77-'83. Always great stuff. Entertaining, informative, funny as hell, and then there's DRACULA.
Yeah–a young Morgan Freeman dressed as the Prince of Darkness did a number on me. It was tough to watch–and you never knew WHEN he was gonna pop up and freak you out. I mean, how could they NOT totally be freaking us out with something like this:
I am 37 years old, and this STILL gives me the willies. I'm cool with Dark Knight and March Of the Penguins, but somewhere in the back of my head, I'm waiting to start running from this guy!
ALSO, maybe it was a vampire thing, but I sincerely believe I was damaged by some of the 'scary' Tom Lerher songs on THE ELECTRIC COMPANY, notably THIS ONE:
Is it the "Time For Timer"-like character singing lead or maybe the standup piano? No, I think it's DRACULA appearing at the end in a dark room, ready to pounce on me. Yeah. That was creepy.
First of many…thanks for the site. It's awesome!
I wouldn't say this is entirely missing. I've posted a few links to TEC Morgan Freeman as Dracula sketches in comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slYqxfnNKOw
Of course this one is still my favorite –
I always found that LY song creepy too. For me I think it's partly because of the sort of minor klezmer-style music and the fact that the dude is almost constantly in some sort of perilous or uncomfortable situation. Plus the vampire at the end.
And that is totally creepy when Morgan Freeman is skulking back and forth at the beginning of that first clip.
Great traumafession. I know I've seen other Electric Co and Sesame Street ones on here before though – I totally remember commenting on a Spider Man one. The Hat! Aaaah!
God, I loved this show so much. The Sea Serpent episode really freaked me out. Why can't we have have cool, spooky stuff on children's shows today. By Golly, this lollipop is following me!
Because, David, today's parents freak out if you show someone sneezing. Nevermind they grew up on this stuff and were fine. God, years ago some guy who was talking about the Popeye smoking thing said to an interviewer something along the lines of "Bugs Bunny dressed as a woman all the time. I don't."
And yet these are the same parents who dress their 5 year olds up like 40 year old hookers and shake their non-existent boobs in beauty pageants. Now there's a Traumafession for you! Toddlers In Tiaras!
Bit of thread-jack here: The worst movie you should definitely see is "Take Shelter". I just watched it and the end is the biggest, most pathetic cop-out and let-down for me but the movie itself is the stuff of nightmares. I highly, highly encourage my fellow KinderTraumatics to rent it. Just don't blame me for the lame-ass ending. But enjoy the ride even if the destination sucks.
Jami is so right. I grew up with cartoon characters who smoked, drank, committed suicide, carried guns, played with dynamite, and were generally anti-social. That was my steady diet as a child. Yet I did not grow up to be an anti social person. And yes, all this child exploitation is sickening.
First: I may be the only one who got the 'Time for Timer' reference.
Second: You gotta love Tom Lehrer. In high school, I wrote him a fan letter and requested the sheet music to one of his songs. I ended with 'you probably won't respond, since you're a hot shot college professor who won't care what I think.'
He wrote back that he was unable to send the music, but 'I'm a hot shot college professor and don't care what you think.'
I got it, BJ. In fact, just a few months ago I was searching for things like Hankering For A Hunk Of Cheese to share with others.
I don't see a "contact" button but here's your chance to hear Daniel Radcliff do a cover a Lehrer song – http://www.tomlehrer.org/
BJ: that's classic!
Jami: sorry I missed your earlier post on Count Morgan Freeman. I was doing some digging around and found this gem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPwuC8Rrc1E
Early EC, groovy beat, out-of-sight dancing, and then I crapped my pants when the giant Prince of Darkness appeared to show me his teeth. Yikes.
Also, speaking of Tom Lehrer, my favorite song is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVC9TayQIh8
…now it's time for a wagon wheel…