Enough about that, though.  I am here to talk about my Top 7 Childhood movies.  These movies were NOT easy for me to pick, really.  I have so many movies that I loved as a child, and I still watch many of them today.  Hell, I’ve even probably watched some of them semi-recently.

Since I was born in 1980, I was a child of pretty much the entire decade though I can’t claim that I remember movies I might have watched as a wee one.  From about five years-old, I remember certain movies, and these were my favorites.  (Granted, this list will span from my 5th to 10th years…more or less…).  These movies aren’t really in any order.

Phone home...

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

I love E.T.!  Though many people seem to terrified of him, I always had a soft spot for the poor, stranded bugger.  I was/still am a sensitive person, so I had/still have a hard time watching him turn all grey and nearly dead.  I haven’t watched it in a while, but I have seen the newer releases.  What the hell is with the walkie-talkies, Spielberg?  How non-threatening.  I enjoy the alien species appearance in the Star Wars prequels, and E.T. reacting to the kid in the Yoda costume?  Cute!

Do not feed after midnight

Gremlins

Gizmo was the cutest thing, and an awesome pet…if you followed the rules.  Seeing the other Mogwai turn into Gremlin egg-sac things was kinda cool.  What kid, at the age you see Gremlins, doesn’t like that kind of gross out stuff.  We used to watch this every chance we got.  I haven’t seen it in some time, and I want to show my 6- and 7 year-old nephews!  I bet they’d enjoy it as much as I used to, and I think I would enjoy it all over again.

Who you gonna call?

Ghostbusters

As a kid, I had a penchant for the paranormal.  It’s with me today in my love of monsters, etc.  Ghostbusters was great.  It featured ghosts, and even some gross-out action.  I was always a little afraid of the StayPuft Marshmallow Man, though.  Though I sure everything tasted so much better after he exploded all over the city!  This is another I haven’t seen in a while.  This post is making want childhood movie night.  Anyone wanna come?

Tik-Tok is the MAN!

Return to Oz

This was an amazing sequel, but that’s speaking as the adult me, of course.  This was one of my favorite go-to movies growing up.  I loved it so much, and still love it today!  Now, I can appreciate the darkness that is inherent in this movie.  Growing up, I wigged out about the Wheelers (still creepy as all get out), the Deadly Desert and Mombi with all those damned heads!  “DOROTHY GALE!!”  Creepy!  I just recently rewatched this one (thank you, James!), and fell in love all over again.

...You're my only hope!

Star Wars

All right, all right!  I am an unabashed Star Wars fan, I admit it.  These movies basically made up my childhood.  I have seen each, and every one of these movies more times than any other on this list.  Star Wars is, and will remain, my favorite movie ever.  I bet, by the time I was 7 or 8, I could recite them for you, line-for-line.  My love of these movies (and to an extent, the prequels) cannot be tarnished.  They are the core of my geekdom!

COWABUNGA!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

When I was growing up, I had every single Turtles figure that existed.  You name it, I had.  I was sooooo stoked with this live-action version of my favorite show came out.  I saw it (and it’s mediocre–well II was OK–sequels) as soon as they came out in theaters.  And it was just so cool that Raphael got away with saying “Damn!” on screen.  I even had, and listened to, the soundtrack.  I haven’t seen it in a while, and I am not sure how it will stand the test of time.  I do own the DVD, though.  It’s going on my list of things to rewatch.

Kuato...'nuff said

Total Recall

So, this is totally not a kids movie in any way, shape or form.  For some reason, though, after it came out I always found myself watching it.  We used to go to my aunt’s house a little ways upstate, and my cousins and I watched the hell out of this movie.  I don’t know what it is, but I found it so enjoyable.  Like many of the movies on here, I haven’t seen it in a long time.  I am not sure if I want to, though.  I don’t want to negate the awesome memories I have of it.

Keeping with the theme I started with my first post and one on which I hope John, Shaka, and anyone else might join, I am listing more favorite things from my childhood. ( I swear my lists will leave nostalgia land soon.)  So here are some of the movies I watched over and over again as a child, and many of which I quote ad naseum to this day.

7. Puss N Boots

I watched a lot of the disney channel as a kid and they had this whole slew of fairy tale musical movies.  I remember most vividly the one for Sleeping Beauty and this one; Puss in Boots.  The songs still sometimes pop into my head.  And I mean, come on: Christopher Walken is the singing, dancing cat, himself!  I admit to buying this movie at Sam’s Club for 5 dollars, just to watch it again, when I got older.  Why does nostalgia have such power over us?  It definitely brought back the kid in me, anyway.

6.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

So as most of you know I am an incurable romantic.  And for some reason, I loved the April O’Neil and Casey Jones’ romance.  I also loved the tension between Donatello and Rapheal, that is such a typical form of sibling rivalry and disagreement.  I liked the calm ways of their mentor, and the scene with the baby turtles jumping up and down and shouting : “Radical, Radical, Radical!”  I even liked many of the very stupid jokes, often centering around pizza.  I saw this movie in the theater with my dad and my younger sisters, and I remember singing along the to rap song that plays during the credits as we left.

5. Neverending Story

This was a  movie I found deeply scary as a young child.The shutters banging as the kid reads the book in the attic of the school, Atreyu being stalked by the wolf, even the turtle.    I was thrilled despite and because of my fear.  I remember holding my breath as Atreyu passed through the sphinx like guardians. This was definitely a dark movie for a child, but I thought Atreyu was cute, and I loved the fantastical elements of the story. 

4.Labyrinth

Looking back on this movie, it is often hard to see beyond the costuming choices made for Jareth, the Goblin King (David Bowie).  But as a younger child, I never noticed what seems obvious now.  I was terrified, when the baby was kidnapped by the goblins, and fascinated as Jennifer Connoly walked through walls.  I loved seeing so many childhood images come to life, like the MC Escher maze, or the Where the Wild Things Are character.  I loved the knight and his dog and was a little creeped out by the sidekick/guide. This movie was original in plot and apperance and then, as now, I love almost anything to do with the muppets.  

3. Flight of Dragons

So I have come to learn that not nearly as many people watched this movie growing up as I thought.  Sad, as I believe it is the thing that started my dragon obsession as a young child.  Looking back on it, there are some parts of this movie that seem incredible hackneyed and corny as an adult, such as the line between science and fantasy.  Maybe it is just the way they are played out.  However, I loved the idea of dragons as a kind of housepet/roommate.  I liked the wizards and the  princess.  I liked the idea of the escape possible from this world and the way the new world was explained once Gorbash was inhabited by the main character, Peter, who then has to learn to be a dragon.  I liked the knight, Sir Orin and the female robin hood character, and who doesn’t like a fairytale ending, when they are small?  I love the animation style, done by the same people who did the Last Unicorn and who I have since learned moved on to Studio Ghibli.  Also, James Earl Jones voices the villain.  There is no topping that!

2. Last Unicorn

As any young girl, I was a sucker for a unicorn story, but this movie, based on Peter S. Beagle’s book (he also penned the screenplay), is more than just a story for kids.  There is a lot of deeper stuff going on.  It deals with the dissapoiontments of a life lived that is not what you expected, with respect for your equals, with seeing beyond the surface of things, of having to change yourself and work to achieve your dreams and your own happiness, and even that age old cliche “Having loved and lost is better than never to have loved at all.”  This movie easily has plenty to amuse a child, and it is animated, with plently of songs, but it can easily speak to an older audience and even reading the book does not diminish the movie.  True, they are slightly different, but having the author penn them both has allowed the movie to stay true to the original in atmoshphere and themes.  Me and my younger sisters literally killed this casette tape through repeated viewings.  Luckily, the dvd is much heartier.

1. Princess Bride

Ahh, classic.  I think Cary Elwes (Wesley)  may have been might first crush.  The fantastic characters (Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, Dread Pirate Roberts), the monsters (ROUS, the shrieking eels, the prince), the great one liners, the beautiful scenery and the beautiful love story all make this a movie I can watch over and over again.  I remeber my older sisters quoting  the ridiculous accent of the priest at the marriage all the time.  This movie is timeless.  I think only the part where the grandfather and the son show up in the narration, do you truly get a sense of when it was made. But it is a movie I recommend to everyone, if I am able to find anyone who hasn’t already seen it and loved it.

Honrable Mention: Fraggle Rock, Rainbow Bright, Care Bears, Muppet Babies and(even though it started in the 70s, as it was a big part of my growing up in the 80s), Scooby Doo

7. My Little Ponys

I am embarrased to admit I watched this series, but the movie where they have to use the flutter ponies to fight of the slime is still scary accurate in my mind.  Besides, what young girl doesn’t want a pony growing up?

6. Duck Tales

Maybe this show is a little obscure, but I used to watch a lot of the Disney Channel.  Scrooge McDuck, swimming through his vault of gold coins, defying all logic of mass, is one of those images that stays with me.  And then of course you have his three trouble some nephews , Huey, Dewy and Louie (the same number of a certain group of mischevious chipmunks…huh), and the crazy flying ace, and the rest of the misfit cast, including an Elvira like female villian who is always trying to steal Scrooge’s money.

5.Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers

So of course you have Chip and Dale, but the character I remember most is Gadget.  It was fun to see all the ways she found to make tiny household objects into great inventions, much like a female, rodent sized Macgyver.  And of course, there was that little bit of mystery and crime caper in this show.  The show saw often motivated by the odd couple nature of Chip being straight laced, and getting things done and Dale being the more zany, uncontrollable character.

4. Inspector Gadget

I loved this show growing up.  I liked that the inspector was so completely clueless and that Penny and her dog had to solve all the crimes and catch the bad guys, and still make it look like Inspector Gadget had accomplished it.  Sort of a kids version of the Pink Panther, or Get Smart. I remember watching the live action movie with Mathew Broderick and being hugely disappointed with it. Mostly I was upset because the had ignored the maxim that you never get to see The Claw.  The best part of the Claw is that you never see more than his hand petting his cat.

3. Smurfs

I dont think any nostalgic 80s cartoon list could be complete without the Smurfs.  They are iconic and a fruedian dream.  So many thoughts on why Gargamel wanted to eat them (dark for a kids show, right?), why they are blue and live in mushrooms, Hw many times can they smurf in one sentence and how many different meanings can this one word have, and finally, what it means that they start off with no girls, till the villian introduces just one into their community (until unexplicably, without her pairing up, there are three children smurfs, one of which is the second girl)

2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Aww, reptilian ninjas taught by a rat, saving New York while scarfing pizza.  I don’t know, it was iconic.  I loved it , and the first live action movie that it spawned.  Maybe it was just that it was so random.  Of course, there was martial arts and crazy 80s slang in every episode, so I am sure that didn’t hurt.

1 He-Man / She-Ra

Is it just me, or does he get A Lot more sun than she does?

Definitely my favorite, most remembered television series from the 80s.  I had She-Ra’s castle, my sister had Castle Greyskull and we all had action figures that we used to play with.  My parents stored new action figures in the garage to hide them till they finally gave them to us.  The He-Man / She-Ra movie was the only movie my younger sisters and I could agree on at the rental store.  I’m Not sure why we never just bought the movie….

Like many of these 80s shows, it was a series based on selling action figures, and in my case it obviously worked.  However, it did have actual plotlines, past just beating up new bad guys every week, and, having just re-watched a few episodes recently, I have to say, the writing was terribly in some ways, but poignantly so.  There was this one line: “…he grew lonely and evil.”  It is almost like watching MS3TK, but not even needing the robots.  I know this is not how I felt when I originally watched it; back then I was fascinated, but I think this show still has something.   “By the Power of Greyskull!”

These are seven of my favorite Sci-Fi TV shows.  I decided to go with a more recent selection, as I could fill a list with older shows quite easily.  These are NOT in any particular order because it would be really hard for me to choose one over another!  Well, except for one, which you’ll see.

X ALWAYS stands for something mysterious!

The X-Files­

Agents Mulder and Scully were a big part of my teenaged life.  I looked forward to what crazy things they were going to investigate each week.  Though I was always a fan of science fiction, this show really cemented my love of the genre.  Even though out-of-this-world things were constantly happening, the two agents and the incredible cast of supporting characters was believable. I know a show like The X-Files­ requires a suspension of disbelief when you start watching.  I can’t help but think that there is a little paranoid person in all of us that can easily find something to latch onto.

Crown (second from left) is easily my favorite character.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

This is one of my favorite shows, hands down.  And not just in the genre of science fiction.  The premise of the show was totally science fiction:  As a means of experiment, a human worker Joel (replaced by Mike as the show went on) was shot into space on the Satellite of Love and forced to watch horrible B-movies.  While watching these movies Joel (or Mike) and his only companions, some wisecracking robots, did what everyone likes to do when they see a terrible movie: mock it mercilessly.  They not only made a terrible movie watchable, they made it enjoyable AND hilarious!

Fringe

Fringe takes a page from The X-Files. An FBI lead group, the Fringe Division, investigates a slew of strange disturbances called “The Pattern”.  The characters drive the show a bit more than the occurrences they are responsible for investigating.  Walter, a deranged scientist who just happens to be the cause of some of these occurrences, really steals the spotlight, in my opinion.  The show’s current venture into a parallel universe is great!  Especially seeing what could have been in our universe.  With the third season on the way, and one of the members of the Fringe Division from our side stuck in the other universe, things are bound to be exciting!

The Doctor and a bunch of his old friends

Doctor Who

THE epitome of time travel television!  Doctor Who is an amazing series that has been going for many (many many) seasons!  The exotic locales, and exotic beings, have nothing on the characters of the show.  The show may be called Doctor Who but it really is a show about The Doctor’s companions, and their lives.  Some of my favorite episodes are the ones dealing with historical figures, rather than those that deal with alien beings, etc.

This picture, alone, cannot show the awesomeness of the show! I tries, though.

Futurama

The only animated series on my list, though not the only animated series I enjoy, Futurama really does have it all.  Aliens?  Got them.  Robots?  Yep.  Sewer mutants?  You’re damn straight!  What other show has a man from the past that is his own grandfather?  None that I know of.  The thing is, Futurama takes all of these abnormal things, and makes them completely…well not mundane, but close.  It really is a slice of everyday life (well sometimes), just set 1,000 years in the future.  Let’s hope that its rebirth, after a seven year cancellation, lasts a bit longer than its first run!

Eureka

Eureka it touted as America’s smartest little town, and it very well is.  Eureka is basically a town where all the smartest people in the world live and work.  However, what I love about this show featuring incredibly brilliant scientists is that the man that winds up saving the day is an everyman.  Sheriff Jack Carter may not be the smartest person in the town, but he certainly has pulled the town out of the “fire” on many occasions.  Jack manages to do so with a sense of humor, even when things look their worse.

This is what sexy supernatural beings do in their time off.

True Blood

This show, drawn from the series of books (Southern Vampire Mysteries) by Charlaine Harris has a bit of everything.  Vampires, werewolves and other werebeings, witches and faeries…you name it!  Even with this eclectic mix of fantastical beings, True Blood is intense, sometimes campy, and always incredibly sexy.  Though the second season was crazy, and really all over the place (even for True Blood), the third season is brilliant.  Sure, it’s just as crazy as last season, but it’s a much more focused kind of crazy.

A few honorable mentions, because I had a hard time keeping my list at seven: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (both the micro-series, and the current series—I am an unabashed Star Wars fan!), Dead Like Me, and Pushing Daisies.

Cheesy, but for some reason it I loved it.

I decided on something easy to get me started, but feel free to email any of us with any ideas you would like to see us cover.

SciFi television is something I have always loved, even when sometimes it is not up to par.  I have mentioned before that I used to watch SciFi with my family, but most especially with my dad.  It is one of the ways we bonded.  Maybe that is why I still have such a deep love of it today.  While compiling this list, I realized that it is really hard to rank your favorite shows, and in someways, those that I had seen more recently kept creeping up the list.  Mostly this convinced me that I need to rewatch all my old favorites to do this right.  However, as I still have to work and re-watching all that  tv is unpaid, I am going to do the best I can on my recollections alone.

Honorable mentions: Dead Like Me, Witchblade (TNT Series), Pushing Daisies, Firefly, Dollhouse, Quantum Leap, The Guild

7.  3rd Rock from the Sun

Seventh place was somehow the hardest to pick.  I ended up going with 3rd Rock, mostly, because it was a sitcom, while all the rest were hour long dramas (more or less).  3rd Rock had that little bit of SciFi, but was still on network television, attracted a large audience, and was truly funny.  Maybe it didn’t have quite the mystery, costuming and otherness of most of my  other choices, but it worked and had a scifi background.

6. Dr Who (new version)

David Tennant is so expressive! My favorite Dr.

 To be fair, I have never watched the original Dr Who, which i hear is great and has the same quality as Bond, where you get to replace the Dr. and his companion regularly within the framework of the show and without upsetting the fan base.  I admit that many of the monsters/aliens / special effects are a little cheesy in this series at times, but I think the acting is part of what really makes me love this series.  David Tennant is just so expressive.  His Dr is like a little kid in his enthusiasm for life, and yet he can still be serious when that gift is threatened.  Great chemistry and often great writing (Turn Left, and the angel episode) make this series worth watching.

5. Star Trek: The Next Generation

My first introduction to SciFi

This was my first foray into Scifi, and I watched it with my dad.  My best friend at the time also watched it.  Together we would buy the action figures and read the spin-off books (I mostly remember Imzadi)  In high school, we went to see the first Next Generation movie together in the theatres. I even came to my love of tea through watching Jean-Luc Piccard constantly ordering Earl Grey. I don’t know if it is all nostalgia, but I love this show.

4. Babylon 5

I remember when they tried to cancel this show before its 5 seasons were finished.  I was so upset, and then they had to rewrite season 5 because the actress for Ivonova walked off in contract negotiations.  This show first introduced me to the annoyances that come with loving scifi, or really any television programming.  It can be canceled at the whim of the network, consigning so many unanswered questions, realtionships and mysteries to the trash heap.  Fortunately it did make it to season 5, and there were really so many long storylines that they got a chance to play out, which I loved;  The reltionships between G’kar and Lando, even Lando and Vir, the growth many characters had to go through.  There was a lot of Star Trek plotlines in this series (individual questions of clashing cultures and morality) but the overreaching plotline made it stand out to me, and because it was plotted from the beginning, it didn’t dissolve into complete soap opera, which I always appreciate.

3. Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Oh and right after my soap opera comment, I dive into the drama that is a high school vampire slayer.  This was my first official introduction to Joss Whedon.   My sisters got me into it in high school, and I have to say I was not impressed with the plotline of the first episode I watched.  It seemed a little corny and a little forced, but the dialogue was awesome.  So I tuned in for more dialogue and got addicted to the character insight and sheer plot genius that is Joss Whedon.  I now watch pretty much anything with his name on it, and I know I am not alone.  I was a little disappointed when it went to the UPN network, and Joss was no longer with it full time, as he was also juggling Angel at that time, but I felt the season 4 closer would have been a perfect end to the series.  Of course, then I would never have gotten to experience Buffy: the Musical, and that would have been a real shame.

2. Farscape

Farscape…what can I say?  Muppets, and new “f” swear word (frell), fantastic creatures, great plotlines, great villians, a cast that changes to keep the show feeling new, episodes done as roadrunner cartoons?  I guess it is in part this show’s willingness to takes risks that makes me love it.  I love the cast of characters and the vibrancy that comes from painting half of your aliens different colors.  I know I sound glib, but I do own this entire series on dvd.

1. Battlestar Galactica (new version)

Best show…I introduced non-scifi fans to it, and after their intial uneasiness at watching scifi, they too became addicts.  It is so much more about people and politics, then it is about scifi and it reflects so poignantly on our real world and all the crisis we face in it.  I was devastated to hear it was canceled, and yet, it that way it could never just die out, as so many other shows do in long runs.  I loved Starbuck, for I felt I could never quite peg her down, though I also felt I knew her so well.  I liked the Dr for the sheer fact that he was a coward and a narcisst and yet sometimes was still plagued with conscience.  I loved seeing how positions of power or lack there of changed these people and the questions posed when the final 5 were revealed.  There is so much to catch in subsequent viewings and so much to think about even the first time through.  I just can’t express how much I love this show.

Crivens!

Hello Everybody! So I know it is not Tuesday, but it has been a crazy week. I really liked this topic and so (a little late) and by way of introduction, I am about to reveal a slice of my past to you all. Here is my first post: 7 books I loved when I was younger, and which, (to be perfectly honest) retain a space of honor on my bookshelf to this day.

When I tried to think of my favorite 7 seven books, my first impulse was to return to my bookshelf, see what I had kept and make the list.  Since that bookcase is stored in Phoenix right now, all I could think of was the great children’s books I have read more recently. So, like getting a bad tune out of my head, here is a quick shout out before I start my list for real.   Harry Potter goes without saying, at least for me. Then there is Garth Nix’s Abhorsen books, Niel Gaiman’s Graveyard Book and Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching books (I dare you not to say “Crivens” after reading these books). These are just a few, but I couldn’t resist throwing them out there. Now to begin in earnest…

7: Grimm’s Fairy Tales 

Dark and twisted in all their original glory

My mom read these to my younger sisters and me when we were little.  I am not talking the censored version for children either.  In the version I was read Cinderella’s step-sisters hack off parts of their feet to get them in the slipper, and the fairy godmother is really a tree possessed with the spirit of Cinderella’s dead mother.  This is the dark kind of fairy tale, where the people are desperate or stupid and the consequences are often dire.  I loved the collection, and how there was always another new story to discover.  I think this collection of stories laid the foundation for my sci-fi/fantasy mania.

6: Remember Me

One of these things is not like the others...

 This book was a little out of character for me, I’ll admit.  I was never much into the thriller/horror genre of books.  However, my best friend had read it and she recommended it to me.  This was a very good book.  It is the story of Shari Ann Cooper.  She is murdered early on in the book, and spends the rest of the book trying to figure out which of her friends did her in. In many ways it is a typical story in which the fantasy of seeing your own funeral and finding out what people really thought about you is not the ego boost you thought it might be.  But the story capitavates and keeps your interest.  I didn’t know who the culprit was till the very end, and the end was my favorite part.  I really loved the book for its closing paragraph alone.  No, I haven’t  read the sequels.  I loved this book as a stand alone, and continuing to read seemed to destroy the ending I loved so much.

5: Good Night Mr. Tom

School reading list pays off

This was required reading at some point in my elementary school career.  I read it because I had to, and loved it because I wanted to.  How many books forced on you by school stick with you?  Often, even if it is a book I can grudgingly accept as good, I still resent it for being forced on me by others.  It is so much more fun to make the discovery on your own.  This book, set in England during  World War II, focuses on a young boy and the second chance he gets in the country with an old man named Tom.  In return, the little boy re-awakens Tom to life. I cried.  I admit it.  WhenI read it again, I cry again.  Still touching after all these years.
 

4: Mara: Daughter of the Nile

Intrigue...danger...love?

This was a book that I randomly got in one of those scholastic book sales they used to have at my elementary school. I would read a catalog and then order books for my mom to pay for and which were delivered to me in 2-4 weeks in class. It turned into much more than a passing read to be donated as I aged.  It is about a slave girl in ancient Egypt who becomes torn between trying to earn her freedom and being true to herself.  A tense thriller full of political intrigue, love affairs and the danger of deceit. Poignant, escapist thrilling; all the things a good novel should be for the young and the young at heart.

3: The Perilous Guard by Elizabeth Marie Pope

This book is better than its cover

This book appeals to the romantic in myself that I cannot deny. It also gave me one of my first glimpses into a dirty, dangerous, more earthy version of fairies that fascinates me to this day. Tam Lin sanitized for younger readers, perhaps, but enthralling just the same, for its themes of love lost … and won.

2: Beauty by Robin McKinley

Not the cover I have at home, but you get the idea

I have always loved the tale of Beauty and the Beast. It has long been my favorite fairy tale.  This is one of the best renditions I have ever read. McKinley doees a great job developing the relationship between Beauty and the Beast and creating a family that is not intrinsically evil, but sympathetic. In this version, the real world merges with the fairy, in a less fantastic and more down to earth, old world kind of way. Beauty is not beautiful, nor immune to the intial desperation of captivity. A great book that definitely inspired me to try and write my own variations on fairy tales
 

1: The Seventh Princess by Nick Sullivan

Cheesy cover, good book

This is Absolutely my favorite book from when I was younger. I loved it so much, I decided to read a chapter of it every night to my younger sisters, so I could share it with them.  It is about a girl who, riding the bus to school one day, finds herself transported to another world, where all is not as it seems.  She is declared the next priness in a line of imported royalty that keeps disappearing (like a cannibal island king).   She suspects the dubious Duke Rinaldo, and intrigue and danger follow her quest to discover the missing princesses and save herself from their same fate.  Perhaps it is the typical girl’s fantasy to escape this world and become a princess, but it doesn’t end there.  This princess needs cunning and bravery to save the day.  The ending is great and not as expected as you might suspect from the story outline.   Even rereading it now, I enjoy it. Maybe it is all nostalgia, but this book will always have a place in my library.

No my room does not look like this...

Here we are with another Top 7 Tuesday for you, our loyal papernauts. This Tuesday we will be covering manga. I am by no means an Otaku (in fact I shudder at that word and it makes me think of crazy fanboys/girls who put a lot of people off of it in the first place) but I do enjoy storytelling by many means. One of which is in comic form. Once upon a time (back in college while helping to run Otakuden a now defunct anime/kungfu store in Manhattan) I would try pretty much anything a customer told me to try. I ended up reading a lot of crap, but every once in a while something would shine through. I soon started to stay away from the long running series (with one exception that is on my list) and gave up on the perennial fan favorites Naruto and Bleach because I got bored. Not to say I hate them, in fact I really enjoyed them, its just that well time is short and I can’t play catch up when there are better things to read. So without further ado THE LIST!

7. Flame of Recca, Nobuyuki Anzai. 1995-2002. 33 Volumes.

A really good tournament manga.

A lot of the favorite mangas I hear about are tournament manga. Where one person leads a team against other teams and their powers slowly unfold. Naruto, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, and Yakitate Japan share this basic structure and are all series that I enjoyed at one point or another but the difference is that Flame of Recca was the first that I got into. I enjoyed this series for the powers and while the story telling isn’t all that surprising or new the art is interesting and it does get pretty damn dark at some points.

6. Solanin, Inio Asano. 2005-2006. 2 Volumes.

What can I say. I like things about bands.

A manga about your first years as an adult, the pain of not doing what you dreamed, and the pain of loss and love. While not the greatest story on the subject the dialogue is what keeps this manga flowing and I’ll admit if you give me anything that involves some kids trying to start a band to do what they love doing chances are I will like what you give me. I’m easy. Throw in enough angst and humor and you’ve got me hooked. Which is exactly what Solanin did.

5. Beck, Harold Sakuishi. 2000-2008. 34 Volumes

Like I said. Bands. Plus the anime OST is good.

The best band comic of all time. There I said it. I loved everything about this comic and anime. The characters are memorable, the personalities really show through, and you see the struggle it takes to make it as a band. Add in awesome pop culture references and you have an instant win in my book. Plus Mongolian Chop Squad (the name they use when they tour in the US because Beck has already taken Beck) is the coolest band name ever.

4. One Piece, Eiichiro Oda. 1997-ONGOING. So far: 58 Volumes.

You don't like One Piece? Zorro is mad.

This is the one exception to the long running manga on this list. One Piece is an epic tale of pirates, food and friendship. It’s funny and bad ass all at the same time. It may never end but no matter what I can pick up a volume and be cheered up. So yeah it gets the 4 spot.

3. Monster, Naoki Urasawa. 1994-2001. 18 Volumes.

Urasawa is a straight up genius.

A psychological thriller told maturely. It is also quite chilling. We follow Dr. Tenma as he searches for a young sociopath named Johan whose life he had saved. Urasawa is responsible for some of my favorite manga and is a master at the art form. Monster is my favorite of his works.

2. Eden: It’s an Endless World, Hiroki Endo. 1998-2008. 18 Volumes.

Yeah. This comic is not very happy.

Eden is a brilliant sci-fi story that takes place in a world devastated by a pandemic that crystallizes people. It is essentially a coming of age story in a dystopian world and is filled with characters who are all varying shades of good and evil. There are no easy answers in this book and the story telling is as dense and detailed as the artwork.

1. Yotsuba&!, Kiyohiko Azuma. 2003-ONGOING. So far: 9 Volumes.

If you're not smiling right now you have no heart.

I love this manga. There. I said the l-word. I dare you to read this and not laugh or be cheered up by Yotsuba’s adventures. It’s full of cute and win. The motto of the manga is “Today is always the most enjoyable day!” and the tone fits it to a T. Plus it has Cardbo! (Or Danbo if you’re going by the direct/new translations).

It's hard not to get excited about everyday things when reading this.

I was always a Sega Genesis kid. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my Super Nintendo as well. But I actually bought my very own Genesis with money I had from Communion and various birthdays that I knew I was going to use for something big. And it didn’t get any bigger in my eyes than the Sega Genesis. And when I bought the system, not only did I get Altered Beast, but also got DJ Boy. Do you remember that piece of shit?

And remember those Genesis commercials? Genesis does what Nintendon’t. Ahh, I miss the days of commercials that ripped the other company’s product apart.

Still waiting for the new game...

7. Splatterhouse 3 – Ahh, the good old days of 16 bit gore. The Terror  Mask is back and being an exclusive to the Sega Genesis, made this horror fan a happy camper.

Any game with 'wack' in it is awesome.

6. Comix Zone – What a concept for a game. You’re a comic artist… who gets trapped in his own comic book. The villain, a mutant named Mortus, throws you into the comic so he can take over the world. One of the finest games in the Genesis library.

That damn baby always gave me the heebie jeebies

5. Zombies Ate My Neighbors – A LucasArts game, and one of their best for a home console. You play as either Zeke or Julie, fighting zombies (of course) and other various monsters in a great little nod to an earlier time in cinema history. I still can pick this game up any time and play the hell out of it.

Centaurs rule!

4. Shining Force – My actual first foray into enjoyable role playing games. Most people say Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, but it was all about Shining Force with me. I loved the epic storyline, the diverse characters, the strategy of which characters to have in your party to better defeat the enemies. This games made leviling up so cool. And when you’d find  a secret character or mission, you felt like you were on top of the world.

Hmm, a tongue twister...

3. Aladdin – Yes, a Disney game makes the list. Just like in my top 7 Nintendo games will always have Ducktales, Aladdin will always be in my top 7 Genesis games. Why? Because it is simply one of the finest side scrollers to ever grace a cartridge. Plus it looked  absolutely gorgeous to boot.

Our collective nerd brains exploded when this popped up on screen

2. Sonic 3/ Sonic & Knuckles – Shaka also put it on his list, and I’m sorry but this is classic gameplay if I do say so myself. And the fact that they made a game that you could connect another game to, and therefore take the character of Knuckles and implant him in the previous game, in which he didn’t exist yet, is insane. That it worked perfectly well is still unbelievable. I can always smile and be in a good mood when playing any of these initial Sonic games, but these two games are the pinnacle of 2D gameplay.

One of the only calm moments in the game

1. Shining Force 2 – This game deserves a top on my list, mainly because where the first one showed me the way into rpgs, this showed me that I in fact loved them, as long as they weren’t rehashings that tended to be the norm.  It’s a game that I curse FuncoLand for convincing me, like many other impressionable youth out there, to trade it and many other classic games in order… then I could get one brand new game for the price of 8 games. What was I thinking? But Shining Force 2 took everything I loved about the first one and multiplied it 20 fold. An amazing rpg… wait, an amazing game overall and is definitely the Genesis game I look back at most fondly for.

Barely playable now, but back then the loop de loop was rad.

As promised last week this week’s Top 7 Tuesdays is for the Top 7 Genesis games. I owned a Genesis and it was awesome and I fell squarely into the “Sega does what Nintendon’t” camp. Looking back with my current distaste of fanboyism I shake my head. But hey I was just a wee one back then and Sega had Sonic as well as bad ass games like Streets of Rage. Also Hard Drivin’ had a stunt track. In First Person. In 3D. Yeah. Anyway lets get on with the show.

7. Robocop Vs Terminator, Interplay. 1993.

Okay. Click play. This is why I thought SNES was for punks back in the day. Their version had no blood and you were stuck with the wussy pistol and one other gun. Genesis you could ditch the lame starting gun, grab the freakin ED-209′s gun and recreate the boardroom scene in Robocop WITH EVERY ENEMY IN THE GAME! Yeah. In fact I could just stop with this game and be done with it. But it is a Top 7 list.

6. Gunstar Heroes, Treasure. 1993.

One of the best shooters ever made.

I played this game constantly. At first it kicked my ass. Then gradually I caught on using the different weapon powerups and combos. Then I discovered the joys (and sometimes frustrations) of playing multiplayer. I bought this day one when it came out on the Wii for download. Treasure constantly makes great games and made some of the best on Genesis.

5. Vectorman, BlueSky Software. 1995.

One of the best looking games on Genesis.

One of the greatest games for Genesis came during the last years of its lifecycle. I remember being excited for this when reading Game Players (remember them?) and then when I got it I wasn’t disappointed. You had different transformation powers (including a train) and had some of the sweetest graphics for the 16-bit era.

4. Streets of Rage 2, Sega. 1992.

Something so satisfying...

I played this game every weekend during my formative years. My friend and I rented it so many times from the video store we probably should have just pooled our money and bought it. Shaka and I still play this. Its that awesome.

3. X-Men 2: Clone Wars, Headgames. 1995.

I wonder who is going to win...

I used to reset this game until I started with Nightcrawler. I was so happy that this game was good. The first game was hard and almost all around terrible. This one allowed me to crawl around on walls and generally be awesome. I actually felt like an X-Man. Plus this was back when I read X-Men comics religiously and was psyched to see it tie into the Phalanx storyline. This is probably my second favorite X-Men game (next to Konami’s epic beat-em-up of course).

2. Earthworm Jim, Shiny Entertainment. 1994.

This game is twisted in so many good ways.

Easily one of the best games for Genesis and of the entire 16-bit era. Full of humor great gameplay mechanics it became one of my go to games. It is also full of style and great art.

1. Sonic Series. Sega. Entire Genesis run.

The hedgehog in its habitat. Eating its natural food. The Ring. His enemy? The Damn Monkeys.

I cheated and put the whole series up here. Why? Otherwise it would just become the Top 7 Sonic games. Mario is a great platformer sure, but he is slow and fat. Sonic is powered by blast processing! As I’m typing this the music is in my head and I still remember my way around all the levels. I’m even including Sonic Spinball here because it was just fun. Sonic & Knuckles? Come on! That was the best idea ever extending the games and even letting you play the older games differently! I loved this series until they killed it by moving to 3D. I can’t wait for the new 2D release. Give me back some old school blue streak please.

7. Road Rash 2

Ok, so while it IS true that graphically this game would not win any awards, it is also true that I played the hell out of this game. While violent, it was unbelievably silly and still fun. Yes, fighting each other while driving at over 100mph made no sense, but taking some guy’s chain and clobbering him with it is still one of the most satisfying moments I can remember.

6. Ranger X

Don't laugh, that unicycle was badass.

Some of you are going to look at this and say, “hold on, what the fuck?”, but trust me, Ranger X falls into that category of the best game you never even heard of, and was hands down one of my favorites. You’re basically a one man army in a battlesuit trying to save your world, your only help being… a sentient motorcycle. Ranger X could fly on his own, or merge with the motorcycle at anytime, which was creative and really changed the battle strategy throughout the game. This game single-handedly fulfilled my need for cool robots.

5. Shinobi 3

It is only natural that ninjas are awesome at surfing.

I didn’t really understand just how awesome ninjas were until Shinobi 3… seriously. I stuck out playing (but never beating) this Shinobi because I didn’t feel so defeated after I got my ass kicked – sometimes I actually felt like I had a chance. I played the PS2 version, which is way different, so I still say this is the best in the series, period.

4. X – Men 2: The Clone Wars

They let you play as Magneto, and he didn't totally suck.

X-Men 2 was such a huge improvement over its predecessor that it’s ridiculous. The graphics alone make you want to put the first group of developers in front of a firing squad. Factor in some great and fairly challenging gameplay along with a respectable (i.e. they could never give us enough, we wanted more) cast of characters and this was easily one of the best side-scrollers to hit the Genesis.

3. Shining Force II

I have an indiscriminate and utterly biased love for the Shining Force saga – I can definitely attribute some of my imagination as a kid to different iterations in the series. Still the second one for Genesis is the one I hold dearest, especially when you combine the improved graphics and the huge cast of the characters you got, ranging from a wolfman, a cyborg, and a cowardly phoenix who gets more badass as the game goes along.

2. Streets of Rage 2

I still play this game today.

How do I summarize my love for this game? Simple – I can’t. Streets of Rage 2 created friendships with kids from school, as you two burned away entire Saturdays playing it over and over and over again. It was just challenging enough that you could play it all the way to the end and feel satisfied, but no easy as to make you drop it after a few play-throughs.

1. Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles

I bet Tails wished Sonic looked at him with the same kind of longing.

First off, I am not cheating by having both at the top of my list here. Why? Sonic & Knuckles was the first (and I think only) game cartridge that was build with an attachment slot on top of it to accommodate another game. It was a cool enough concept at first that once you get past the shininess, turned out to be an incredibly deep and fun game. I think I maybe beat the entire thing once with Knuckles, and even then there was still another half to play.