Badmovies.org Forum

Being as I have a 15 month old daughter, I am constantly subjected to two channels: Noggin (an offshoot of NickJr) and PBSKids.  It never fails to amaze me just how some of the kids shows that they air could be quite frightening.

The main show that I find strange is a kids show called "Boobah".  It is about some weird alien looking creatures that are fat and fuzzy with small heads with lights in them.  They constantly move their eyes back in forth as if waiting for an assasin to take them out.  Their eyes make an extremely creepy noise as they move.

Not only are the creatures weird as hell, so is the entire show.  It's a huge acid trip.  Rainbows, swirling colors, kids dancing in the giant puddles of color, etc.  

And then there are the stories.  They are strange stories with different family members (grandpa, grandmother, etc).  The episode this evening had a pink hat on the beach.  Time freezes and a disembodied voice says in a menacing tone:

"It is a pink hat"

Then "Grandpa" comes in and tries to wear the hat.  You have no idea just how weird all of this is until you see the show.  Hell, for all I know, it's sending subliminal messages to my daughter to try LSD.

Anyway, it got me thinking:

What are some of the shows/movies made for children that are actually fairly frightening?

BTW,

For anyone curious

This is a picture from Boohbah.  Scary.


(http://www.pbs.org/parents/boohbahinfo/images/boohbahs.jpg)

That might be more frightning than Teletubbies (spelling ? )

From the Seventies there was H.R. Puffenstuff.  I enjoyed it, but there was an element of fear with WitchiePoo.

There was an element of fear with just about everybody on that show.

You haven't seen The Fimbles... although I think that Tweenies (with their ugly heads and obnoxious personalities) and Hoobs (with their communist messages) are the most scarring.

Scott, (IMHO) nothing is more frightening then Teletubbies. Like "Boobah," another import from the U.K.

As for "H. R. Puffenstuf," that program looks normal compared to "Lidsville," where all you have is giant hats running around. Sid and Marty Krofft have alot to answer for.

Prophet,

Argh!  The Tweenies is extremely creepy!

BoyScoutKevin wrote:

> Scott, (IMHO) nothing is more frightening then Teletubbies.
> Like "Boobah," another import from the U.K.

What about Barney?  Teletubbies, from what I understand, can be fun if you're stoned, but I don't see how that's possible with an annoying purple singing dinosaur.

"The main show that I find strange is a kids show called "Boobah". It is about some weird alien looking creatures that are fat and fuzzy with small heads with lights in them. They constantly move their eyes back in forth as if waiting for an assasin to take them out. Their eyes make an extremely creepy noise as they move."

This explains a lot about this site:
http://www.boohbah.com/zone.html

My gosh, this terrifies me as an adult!
-Ed

Ugh, I have Krofft nightmares.  
-Ed

Loved most of those shows H.R. PUFFINSTUFF with the talking trees, the flute, etc. Also THE BUGALOOS and SIGMAN AND THE SEAMONSTERS.

The ones I didn't like were SHAZAM and ISIS.

ED,

Holy crap.  That's pretty much a virtual version of the show.  See what I mean?  I can't believe my daughter loves this show.

My wife and I just caught a bit of the show today. Wow. It's frustratingly slow and repetitive (I know toddlers are supposed to like that), yet bombarded us with a psychedelic acid nightmare that never stopped. We were mesmerized for a good ten minutes. We laughed out loud a few times, but mostly just stared in disbelief.

The theme song is really something too.

And what's the deal with giving the characters names that are almost unpronouncable?

And speaking of the characters, do they remind anybody else of The Green Slime?

Nooo! The Onion isn't letting me search their archives for free anymore for the article on Lidsville nightmares!

http://www.tvacres.com/clothing_hats_lidsville.htm I've been misusing the gift of Ulthar lately, had to google that post to refresh myself on how to link.

The girl bugaloo was my first love. I can barely remember one clever part from Isis. This guy was getting tied up by robbers, and he saw Isis's myna bird on the window sill, so he keeps saying "robbers" over and over. "Why you're just a bunch of ROBBERS! That's what you are, isn't it, ROBBERS?" So the bird goes back to Isis saying "robbers, robbers". Sigmund and the Sea Monsters creeped me out.

Has anyone seen "Brum", another UK import that airs on TLC early in the morning. The adventures of a living miniature Tin Lizzy that sneaks out of a garage and rescues stolen items and captures various overacting crooks to help out lots of overacting nice people.

Very much like a live action cartoon as far as story and action goes, but with no dialogue, I guess there are lots of actors with pantomine training looking for work in the UK. The only voice you hear is a childlike narrator who says things like "They're bad people, Brum." and "Way to go Brum! You're the greatest!" The car's "personality" mostly consists of rocking back and forth (like a kiddie low rider), honking its horn, flapping its doors, and accelerating with the sounds of a rev of the motor and squealing tires.

The whole thing should come across as innocent and fun, but it doesn't. Maybe four year olds like it, but I can see some of them being frightened by the car. Also the show has one of the most annoying kiddie show theme songs I think I've ever heard.

Hi my name is sexy

Apparently I missed something.

Sid and Marty Kroft were on some serious drugs when they came up with H.R. Puffnstruff.

kind of off topic but Clive Barker wrote a book that's sort of an all ages dark fairy tale: the Thief of Always.  i heard they were making it into a film but i don't know if it was ever finished.

I was in love with ISIS she was hot back then and still is hot.Did anybody see her on Vh1's Were Are They Now Superheroes? I had a real Krofft nightmare myself when I was 2 to 5 about Land Of The Lost with those Sleestaks chasing me with that creepy music they play on all the shows. Also had a  Dr. Shrinker nightmare.

Skaboi´s picture of "Boobah" is cool, I find these "Aliens" interesting.

Someone mentioned that they are more frightening than the scum-tubbies, man, that´s scarcely possible - teletubbies are not just bad, they are a curse!

Well, I can imagine that in the fifties or sixties these Boobah-Aliens would have made up a good marsian invasion force or venusian colonists or whatever ...
Ed Wood would have been proud of such "convincing" aliens!

hola and salutations,
i love when this topic comes up. i often bring it up. i am on the road right now and using limited time on the computer.

i must read all of this thread fully, but i'd like to throw my usual 50 cents in the mix.

1. i was scared by the brady bunch episode where the boys try to scare the girls and the other way around.

2. a show produced locally i think in south dakota (where i am now). basically a female mister rogers (?).  she would leave her house and a giant pink bunny would rummage around her pad and then silently motion for us kids to "keep the secret." the woman would suspect and ask us children if we had seen anyone. the understanding was that she was not told by us. so, i guess we learned to allow large bunnies to break-and-enter-and-leave unchecked.

over and out,
"the future freaks me out," m.c.s.,
down and out,
mr. henry
www.310am.com
the future will be digitized, filtered, broadcast, and then erased.

I was flipping through the channels a few years ago and I happened across the local Spanish channel. There was some weird girl in clown makup dancing around with this gigantic freak in a black executioners outfit and baby clothes. I wish I had a pick or something. It was just weird as hell.

Many, many years ago, when we only had an antenna, I was exploring the weird, unknown region of the dial known as UHF. I came across a sketch on some kids' show that had a girl sitting in an Egyptian style tomb mixing (or pretending to mix) something in a bowl, while a couple of mummies or statues stood behind her. They'd move toward her and she'd look up and scold them with something like "No! This cake isn't for statues!". I have no idea what it was, but the whole idea of living statues (or maybe mummies) gave me the creeps.

I'd have to agree that these television stations should be a little more careful as to what type of content is used on their shows. However, I'm sure their argument would probably go something like this : "Hey, get with the times.." "It's a whole new world out there."

I shudder every time I think of all of the scum of the Earth that will try to influence my children as they grow older.

My Dad's from South Dakota, I think that show's called "Don't Nark On The Bunny".

I have heard pretty close to that remark from the host of 'Fear Factor' on a talk show. I do not like that show but people I never would have guessed strangely enough love that show. These CSI series are fankly on too early for the content. There used to be a standard, so it seemed, that shows with more violent or adult themes would not air before 10PM. You heard all of the hooplah about the split-second Janet Jackson wardrobe incident, and that's nothing compared to what they are showing on CSI and Fear Factor. Even the show that I like, Navy NCIS, is on too soon for its content, 8 E.S.T./7 C.S.T. And you know what is even scarier Sugar_Nads? That makes twice that we have agreed on something within the same day ( :

Darkwolf, don't feel alone my friend. I had Land of the Lost nightmares as well. That show also ruined my life, since it got me interested in stop motion, special effects and led to a life in theatre....

The shows that really freaked me out as a little kid were all the "monster of the weeks" that they had on "Space Ghost" and "Jonny Quest". Some of those creations from Hanna Barberra just had me in a cold sweat. I especially remember the weird, one-eyed energy monster from one episode of JQ. I was absolutely terrified of that thing, and the sound it made.

The other kids show that "got to me" was, believe it or not, Disney's version of "Babes in Toyland". I remember one scene in particular, where the villian gets ahold of some sort of shrinking gun, and reduces the hero to ken doll size. Then he threatens the heroine that he'll zap him again, down to nothing, if she doesn't play along. It had everything: loss of power, bondage, weird props, the fear of guns my dad instilled in me at an early age, and Annette Funichello (sp?). No wonder I ended up rather kinky as an adult! ;)

>I especially remember the weird, one-eyed energy monster from one episode of
>JQ. I was absolutely terrified of that thing, and the sound it made.

I thought I was the only one! I can remember lying in bed at night, sure that the energy monster was lurking right outside the window.

Also, not specifically a kids' show, although it was treated that way a lot of the time; Lost in Space. The episode with the invisible swamp monster leaving footprints as it walked and later appearing as a shaggy bigfoot type creature, gave me nightmares.