In the beginning, there was Sealab. 2021.

I've been think about the evolution in animation at Cartoon Network that led to the creation of The Venture Brothers, one of my favorite series. At times it seems like it's particularly aimed at a fan-collector-geek of my generation. 

So, Cartoon Network announced way back in the 90s they were going to start creating "Adult oriented" animation for their late night block. I was skeptical at the time, but quickly came to love it.

Sealab 2021 begat Harvey Birdman Attorney at law, both of which were important steps in the de-sanctification of the networks animated archive, but also the rebirth of it as an age-appropriate appreciation of baby boomer and GenX Saturday Morning Nostalgia.

One small but crucial element was "The Night of the Living Doo," this spin on the classic Scooby Doo Movies, with celebrities David Cross, Gary Coleman, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. How 90's!

I originally caught this only by literally changing the channel to Adult Swim just as it was starting to air, and franticly hitting my Tivo record button. I have a homemade DVD of this somewhere that's quite clear, but for online, this fuzzy Youtube video will have to suffice for the moment. Enjoy!

Everything you Know is Wrong

As everyone who writes a blog knows, there's only one sure way to build your readership: stop writing for approximately five months.  With each day passes without an update, regular readers become frantic for more, and new readers are constantly hearing about your site and getting hooked in, waiting desperately for a new post.  That's why I haven't posted in so long.

This is, of course, ridiculous.  The actual reason I haven't posted in so long is in fact because I moved.  Back in December I had the opportunity to buy a condo much closer to my office.  This made the holidays a bit unusual this year - essentially happening while I was packing - and this year, I've spent most of my spare time working on fixing the place up.

Another interesting thing about this; I bought and moved into the condo that had belonged to my good friend, Bruce, who passed away as I wrote about here.  It is a little odd moving into his place, but it's also kind of nice to keep a little bit of his memory alive here.  In part, it's great to keep his pride and joy, the home theater he built himself, active and "in the family" as it were:

(It's very difficult to photograph, but you see here the "upholstery" he put on the walls; that's a menu from a Frasier DVD up on the screen).  I made the place my own a bit by adding the bookshelves along the sides to turn it into more of a theater/library, and also house and display some of my larger collectibles.

This move also means that everything I've said in the past about where collectibles are kept and displayed, or packed away, is totally invalid.  I have tons more room to display things now.  For example, the bar in the living room has become the main display area for Restaurant Row memorabilia - as well as the fictional beverages collection, and some other odds and ends:

The Scooby Doo van - previously reported as being on top of the bookcase in my bedroom is now sitting on the window sill of the landing up to the third floor - right above a shelf full of Scooby Doo toys previously packed away in storage:

I don't know if it's going to stay there, but for now, it seems like as good a place as any.  If anything, moving made me consider almost everything I have, as a collector; where it is and where I want it.  I rediscovered things I forgot I had (like those Scooby toys) and in some cases, started collecting something that I hadn't actively collected in years when I rediscovered it.

I'll be writing about all of this soon.  And more.  Just one thing you won't see anymore: Tales from Storage.  It'll have to be replaced with "It Came From the Garage" because that's where it has all moved to now.

I'm glad to be back to writing here.  As always, my mission will be two-fold: to examine the nature of fan-collector-geekdom, and also, to bring up those interesting little things from my collecting, fandom, and childhood that don't seem to have made much of an impression on the internet yet.

Also, coming soon - very soon: free stuff!

Scooby Doo: An American Classic

Just a short entry tonight.  Our collectible of the day is this die cast metal Mystery Machine, which lives on top of a bookcase in my bedroom.  (That's the same bookcase the Dungeons & Dragons books are kept in, if you're keeping score).  

I watched Scooby Doo since I was a little kid, which would have been first run of the first series.  I don't know what it is about that set of characters that's so appealing, but they stand out head and shoulders above all the imitators who followed.  (I'm looking at YOU, Goober and the Ghost Chasers!).  Over the years I've followed the many different incarnations of the show, including the celebrity guest years, the very odd 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo (real ghosts, Vincent Price, and no Fred or Velma), the surprisingly amusing A Pup Named Scooby Doo (Fred always thinks it was done by Red Herring),  and the more recent direct to video films that led to What's New, Scooby Doo? which was personally very satisfying to this long-term, old school fan.

I got the Mystery Machine, I think when a model shop was having a fifty percent off sale.  It came with a little Shaggy and Scooby that are supposed to be posed as if washing the van, but I

 leave them jammed inside.  It looks better on its own.  

I'd say Scooby isn't one of my major interests, my bigger collections, but I have a fair number of action figures packed away in storage.  In the 90s when the Warner Brother Stores were in full swing, a lot of well done Scooby stuff started to come out.  Something about seeing the characters done so well made them impossible to resist buying, but the van is probably the only item I have out on display.  I'll keep an eye out around here and let you know if I'm wrong about that.