Schoolhouse Rock

[Eirik]

I picked up a video of all those old Schoolhouse Rock animated music video History and Civics lessons they used to run during Saturday morning cartoons back in the 1970s.  Pretty hilarious stuff and a cool way to teach kids a lot of the basics.  I just previewed it and it brought back some memories.  One thing did raise the old eyebrows:

In "Elbow Room," a song about America's westward expansion, they have a group of settlers dancing across a map of the US.  Somewhere out west, they bump into an indian and proceed to nudge him off into the Pacific Ocean and he comes up dripping wet while the settlers celebrate and the song trumpets merrily along that it was "Manifest Destiny."  May need to engage the kids in a discussion about that part.

Anyone else remember these?  They have separate tapes for the math/science and English videos.

[Brother Ragnarok]

I remember them, and I never liked the bloody things.  Mostly because several people I know refuse to stop singing the stupid Conjunction Junction (which, on a side note, spawned a great website for the criminally vulgar, Consumption Junction) song.  Of course, this is the same nostalgia movement that brought back the popularity of the Transformers, so I'm kind of a hypocrite.

Brother R

[jmc]

I have them on DVD....I'll have to check out that Elbow Room one again.

They have some newer ones about economics that I guess came out in the Nineties.  They did a new one for the DVD about the Electoral College that was pretty good too.

[ulthar]

We got the whole set on DVD.  Fun stuff, and yeah, it brought back memories for me, too.

From the extras on the DVD, they go into how it all came to be, and it is a really neat story.  They were advertisers, not writers of educational cartoons.  Being in the advertising field, they were used to saying stuff in a short period of time.  Pretty cool bunch of people; came across as very down to earth.

[Scott]

Learned alot from those Saturday Schoolhouse Rock in the 70's.  

Anyone remember ZOOM on PBS? I think there is a newer version also.

[JohnL]

I only recall ever seeing two; Conjunction Junction and Interplanet Janet.

[AndyC]

A few years ago, I reviewed a performance of Schoolhouse Rock Live at the local centre for the arts. This was really cool. A singing, dancing cast, using fairly simple props, performed all of the classic Schoolhouse Rock numbers. One of the more memorable shows to come to town in a while. Fun for the parents and the kids.

[raj]

Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up words phrases and clauses. . .

Sorry Brother R., that just popped into my head.

I loved them as a kid.

A couple of years ago one of my colleagues where I used to work showed the "I'm just a bill" one to her first year law students, to introduce them to the legislative process.  It was a big hit.

[The Burgomaster]

These are cool . . . and SOOOOO 70s!

"Verb . . . that's what's happening!"

[odinn7]

My wife got the box set last year and I have to admit...I was kind of upset at her for doing so; until I watched them. The good old days and my childhood, when things were simpiler and more confused, all of it came back to me for awhile. I hated them when I was a kid and I was always annoyed by the fact that they were trying to trick me into learning something on a Saturday (the nerve!) but guess what? They really did manage to make me learn after all.

[Vermin Boy]

I usually muted those when I was a kid-- It always annoyed me that they delayed the start of Bugs Bunny. I do remember seeing the Elbow Room one in seventh grade, though-- I found it kinda shocking, even then.

[Deej]

Don't think this was technically School House Rock, but, do you remember the Cheese guy? He wasn't strictly a cheese pusher, he was into all things health-food related, but I remember him mainly for the Cheese Song. Namely....I hanker for a hunk of...a slab..a slice..a chunk of...I hanker for a hunk of cheese. Creepy...I remember this well into my late 20's. Also Chopper...the celery eating Fonzie clone.

[ulthar]

IIRC, his name was "Timer" and he also did 'shows' on biology/anatomy.

[BoyScoutKevin]

"Conjunction Junction"

[AndyC]

Man, the memories are just flooding back now. How to make a wagon wheel out of cheese and crackers, pouring juice in an ice cube tray ("caaaarefully poke the toothpicks through the plastic"), the Chopper guy, the Body Machine song, the Kingdom of Could Be You, and even the Future Blob (a name used by somebody on this board for a while). I miss the old Saturday morning television.