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Dec 12

I’m loosing enthusiasm for doing this now and it’s only day three day twelve. But I’ve made a commitment to is and so i’m going to follow it through. And you will enjoy it damnit.


[Open the door / Close the door]

The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin

“Can you and I be friends?”
 
Teddy Ruxpin was, in essence, a teddy bear with a tape recorder stuffed into its innards.  As well as the bear itself there was a range of special Teddy Ruxpin story tapes to go with it.   Instead of the normal duel stereo tracks of a cassette however only one track of the tape was dedicated to audio. The other contained data that moved Teddy’s jaw and eyes so as to appear like the toy was actually speaking.  The effect was rather unsettling and would not have looked out of place on a Dr Who villain.
 
In 1987 World of Wonder, the company behind the toy, created The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin cartoon in order to boost its appeal.  I remember very little about the show other than it was utterly wet and it bored me to tears. With the assistance of wikipedia I can tell you that Teddy, and his friends Grubby and Newton Gimick spent their time exploring  the land of Grundo in a big airship, with incompetent comedy villain Tweeg trying to spoil their fun.
 
As you know, I’m the first to indulge in a little pop culture nostalgia.  But Teddy Ruxpin was a pretty crappy toy, and the cartoon a pretty crappy show and I feel no regret at its passing.

10 Comments on “Dec 12”

  1. #1 Bec
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 12:20 am

    Teddy Ruxpin was a ‘half huor’ toy - you play with it right out of the box because the tapes were cool and it was a talking bear (which was ridiculously cool at the time) and then half an hour later it was thrown away and you made spaceships out of the boxes instead.

    The show really was bobbins.

  2. #2 Whit
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 12:48 am

    I didn’t think I had seen the show (I remember the toy), but that bug thing looks familiar so maybe I did watch it. It was so long ago…

  3. #3 Avitable
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 1:09 am

    I admire your stick-to-it-ness. And I remember that cartoon as being frightening.

  4. #4 CamiKaos
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 1:18 am

    My god I hated that teddy!

  5. #5 zoe's dad
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 1:35 am

    I never saw the show. Hell, I was too afraid of the bear!

  6. #6 Phil
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 2:45 am

    It’s like you extended NaBloPoMo another month!

  7. #7 Sam
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 5:02 am

    Im with CamiKaos on this. I am only reading this in the hope that you will get to ulysses.

  8. #8 Oli
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 9:44 am

    12p says you don’t make it to the end of the month.
    (but in the unlikely event that you do (and it would be good if you did) I’d like to see Gummi Bears, Mysterious Cities of Gold and Muppet Babies featured in your highly adventurous and ambitious blog)

  9. #9 Oli
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 9:47 am

    Still can’t find the first 9 days though - is there something wrong with my computer?

  10. #10 Dan
    on Dec 12th, 2007 at 2:25 pm

    The suggestions made by both Sam and Oli are good, but unfortunately don’t meet the criteria. They have to be shows that were created with the sole purpose of selling toys. You’ll be surprised how many there are once you start thinking about it.

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