In Retrospect: A New Series

Welcome to "In Retrospect", a new blog series written by me.  As you can probably tell by the title, this series will delve into my childhood, as I look back at some of the things I either liked or loved when I was a child.  I just came up with this idea the other day when I was back home for Easter.  So, I'm taking a stroll down memory road and reminiscing about my childhood.  Do I like how it is now? Was it better now or when I was a kid? Is the subject even around today? Now that I'm 21, it seemed like a great time to look back on my childhood and basically talk to young me again.

For my first post, I decided to go to probably my favorite childhood TV show: Thomas the Tank Engine.  I loved, loved, LOVED Thomas back in the day.  And I'm happy to say that my youngest cousin, Devin, is too a Thomas fan.  I don't know why I was so drawn to it, maybe it was my parents doing.  But, man, did I love me that Tank Engine.  Without a doubt, Thomas was my favorite engine, though I loved a lot of the engines.  Percy, Toby, Mavis, Edward, Rusty; just to name a few.  I had a couple of the toys and I played with them on the shelves that ran around our living room.

If I had to choose my favorite episode, I'd tell you that it would be nearly impossible.  I particularly liked the episode where Toby had to cross the dam when it was falling apart.  There was also the episode where Percy scared Thomas by making him think he was a ghost.  And then, in retaliation, there was an episode where Thomas scared Percy with a Chinese dragon.  Gah, so many good episodes!! I seriously cannot decide which one is my favorite.  The voice acting on the show was top notch as well, with Ringo Starr doing his best work ever (not a huge Beatles fan over here, sorry).

So that was back then. Now, Thomas is still around, but he's gone through some changes.  Not only did they get rid of the epic intro theme (which is in my top 5 favorite TV theme songs), but they changed the whole look of the show.  Now, it is an animated show, whereas in the past it was a model and RC shot show.  That was what was so great about the old show; the trains sort of looked real and they faces.  Some of the best and funniest faces I remember came from that show.  Now, with the show being animated, they don't have that same appeal, at least to me.  However, though I might have my qualms about the new show, I absolutely love that my cousin is into Thomas as well.  During Easter, my aunt and I put together a Thomas puzzle for him, only to have it destroyed moments later.  Still, it's the fact that he acknowledges Thomas that makes me so happy.  That was kind of the final sign I needed to start this series with Thomas.  Seeing my cousin taking interest in something I used to love (and might possibly still love) just made me smile.  I can only hope that if and when I have kids someday, they take an interest in some of the things I loved as a kid, a good number of things you'll see here in the future.

Well, I think that might be it for my first "In Retrospect" post.  Seeing that this is the first one, it's going to be a little rougher than my fifth or sixth one.  I just thought that this would be an interesting little series, something to keep me busy for some time.  I already have about three fourths of a Word document page filled with ideas and I could easily have more if I really sat down and thought about it.  So, needless to say, I'll have a good amount of material to write about in the future.  Keep it locked on here for more reminiscing about the past.

And, come on! Who doesn't love this theme song?

Thanks for reading!