Holy. Cow. My first Nintendo Gameboy looked exactly. like. that. one.

And I wore Jellies for the longest time.

Yet I was born in 1991. Go figure.

Ahhhhhhh, memories.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

INCONCEIVABLE!!!!

In terms of movies, how on earth could you forget two biggies: Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Princess Bride (1987)? Emipre Strikes Back is truly the best complete single movie in the Star Wars Saga. Best acting, best script, and the most suspenseful, soundtrack-less duel between Luke and Vader. It has perhaps the best flight (air or space) chase in the Astroid Chase. Also, the romantic approach with Han and Leia is one of the best done without being obviously blatant. Return of the Jedi comes out in 1983 (the year I was born), and is simply a movie to wrap up the story line. The acting and script were definately sub par from the efforts of Empire. It broke movie taboos with Leia dressing up as a stripper for Jabba. But it did have a great triple-battle finale with the Endor Moon, the battle against the Death Star and the showdown between Luke, Vader, and the Emperor. But even that couldn't top what A New Hope did with the first Death Star and Empire had with Luke/Vader.

The Princess Bride bombed it's theatrical performance, because it was the first movie of it's kind: a true multi-genre film. No one knew how to market it. But with VHS a regular household item, it flourished into the classic that it has become today. Comedy, romance, action/adventure, fantasy, you name it, it had it. This movie had numerous things that were most memorable. Andre the Giant as Fezzik was simply breathtaking. Many could believe that was his actual size. It has what I consider one of the best choreographed duels I have ever seen. Vizzinni is highly quotable..."inconceivable". And it has the best marriage scene in movies, also very quotable. It is a classic film with a great source of quotes, laughs, and family fun.

I recall having a then state of the art computer in the 80's. An Apple II GS. One of the first computers with color monitors. I loved my very basic computer games and one of my favorites was a 2D, bottom to top scrolling shooting game called Journey to Calibus. You played as a space ship, shooting any enemy in sight, and got power ups along the way. You journeyed through the city, volcanos, a farm, the highway, ocean, before going into space and in each stage, you built a puzzle to get access to the boss and the next stage. Any one ever play that one?

Good list SL! Though, you missed a few big moments in entertainment.....

----------------------------

!980: Empire Strikes Back is released. The best Star Wars film hands down.

Rock band Journey releases Escape which gives them two monster hits: Don't Stop Believing and Open Arms. (Every Classic Rock station stills plays these two)

1982: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is released and jump starts the career of a young film composer named James Horner.....

1986: James Cameron releases Aliens.

1987: Can't believe you missed this one SL..... Predator is released. "Run!! Go!!! Get to da chappah!!!!!!!"

------------------------------

I wasn't around in the 80's, but it gave us a lot of good movies and music. Though, we're still having to deal with the freaky fashion from that decade.......

Another loverly opening post, Shadowlander!

A few quick highlights from an old fogie who began his working career in this decade...

A mention of Michael Jackson's music begs for a side note about 'Weird' Al Yankovic's parodies, as the two had a sort of professional understanding, and Al got his start with songs like "Eat It" and "Fat" that parodied Jackson's hits.

I was at work when the Challenger announcement came over the radio. It was a stunning moment for the country; we'd never lost astronauts in space flight before (the last loss, the Apollo 1 fire, came during a launch rehearsal in 1967, and we'd begun to think we were immune to such things).

"Who Shot J.R.?" was all the rage - even though I never watched Dallas. It was one of the earliest example of the end-of-season-cliffhangers so popular on TV these days.

TNG, on the other hand, we watched religiously (so to speak), and my friends' kids grew up on it (several good friends married early in the 80s).

1988 brought one of the worst droughts since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s to much of the central US. I worked in an unconditioned warehouse, which made the outside temperatures of over 100F/38C seem cool. The Twin Cities shattered the previous record for number of days over 90F/32C at 44 (15 is average) - though I imagine our Southern NarniaWebbers may find this statistic rather amusing.

In sports, the Minnesota Twins won their first World Series in 1987 in 7 games, and the state went wild. It was a pretty exciting time - as was counting down the final seconds of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" that Shadowlander mentioned above. It is hard to convey the significance of that victory - especially in that Cold War context - nowadays; things have changed so much (for the better, I'd say) in Olympic competition.

Also in sports, one of the last US multipurpose stadiums was completed - the Metrodome. It has a big Teflon roof, rather than a solid one (like the old Kingdome had). The roof became infamous with visiting baseball teams losing the ball against its whitish color. It also collapsed several times when the stadium was new and the bugs weren't all worked out: notably after a heavy snowfall late in December 1982, when people watching a total lunar eclipse got the added bonus of seeing the roof deflate, and during a game against the Angels in April 1986, which several friends of mine happened to attend.

In business news, my former employer was the target of a hostile takeover bid, and the state legislature passed special laws. The effectiveness (and constitutionality) of those laws never needed to be tested, because the attempt evaporated with the Black Monday stock market crash in October 1987, when the US stock market lost almost 25% of its value.

The revolution in the movie industry begun by films like Star Wars (1977) continued with hits like Raiders, ET, and Back to the Future....ET phone home...ET phone home...

But there were other great movies, like Wrath of Khan, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Princess Bride - all among my favorites.

I remember seeing The Princess Bride in Seattle during its theatrical release. My brother and I were rather disappointed - it was like they weren't sure who the movie should be marketed to. But it quickly grew on us with repeat viewings....and it's hard to beat for pure quotability!

In terms of movies, how on earth could you forget two biggies: Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Princess Bride (1987)?

Brother, there was a whole section I had to leave out on Saturday morning cartoons. It was the golden age of cartoons with dozens of them just wonderful creations...and then came Rugrats. Game over man! Game over!

Seriously, my wife was getting seriously aggravated with me...like I said in the post, this was a product of a lot of forethought and at least 7 hours of typing and linking and cutting and pasting, and lots of foggy memory ("did that happen in 84 or 88? Hmmm..."). In retrospect I'm curious how I missed Empire Strikes Back too...it was the best one of the original trilogy (or the prequel trilogy as well, so I guess that makes it the best Star Wars film overall, yes? ).

Rock band Journey releases Escape which gives them two monster hits: Don't Stop Believing and Open Arms. (Every Classic Rock station stills plays these two)

If you do a special on the 80's the music section could go on for miles. I didn't even really touch on the hair bands (Poison, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, etc.) or early rap (Sugar Hill Gang, Bel Biv Devoe, Public Enemy, and even some classic DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince). I was aiming to get all the different styles of music in there I could. I should have thought to put in some Journey (both the songs you listed are among their best...Steve Perry has some lungs), but I also missed out on putting in Duran Duran, Toto, The Clash, The Cure, Mister Mister, Mike + The Mechanics, Men at Work, Pat Benetar, and a host of others. Seriously, just that topic could go on for hours!

I so desperately wanted to put ST2, Aliens, and Predator in there, but they're niche films...I had to try and paint a broad spectrum there. Had I more time I would have put in some of the more serious films for the tea and crumpets crowd (Driving Miss Daisy, Out of Africa, etc.) but like I said, I just ran out of time. I should have put in Chariots of Fire and Das Boot though....

A mention of Michael Jackson's music begs for a side note about 'Weird' Al Yankovic's parodies, as the two had a sort of professional understanding, and Al got his start with songs like "Eat It" and "Fat" that parodied Jackson's hits.

Weird Al! How could I forget?! *sigh* I loved Eat It best of his 80's parodies, but it's a tossup between Headline News and Amish Paradise as my favorite overall.

The Twin Cities shattered the previous record for number of days over 90F/32C at 44 (15 is average) - though I imagine our Southern NarniaWebbers may find this statistic rather amusing.

That's a fairly typical July/August/part of September for us in North Carolina. I'm betting the mosquitoes were almost unbearable that year with that much heat and humidity!

I was at work when the Challenger announcement came over the radio. It was a stunning moment for the country; we'd never lost astronauts in space flight before (the last loss, the Apollo 1 fire, came during a launch rehearsal in 1967, and we'd begun to think we were immune to such things).

I was in 8th grade and the teacher put a halt to the class and explained to us what had happened. I seem to recall they brought in a little TV...we were all stunned. The US was in the middle of a major "space" kick at the time and then the Challenger happened...they had released or were about to release the fun little movie Space Camp and the shuttle disaster hurt the film somewhat. A teacher at a local high school in my town was 2nd in line to go on the shuttle if Christa McAuliffe had had to cancel. I'm sure she was unconsciously breathing a huge sigh of relief afterwards...

You can't be that much older than I am, man.

I still like listening to some 80s music, like Journey's "Faithfully" or "Lights" - not to mention Toto and Men at Work (I've long been fascinated by Australia, and "Land Down Under" was part of that).

That's a fairly typical July/August/part of September for us in North Carolina. I'm betting the mosquitoes were almost unbearable that year with that much heat and humidity!

Remind me to come down there only in the winter.

While the mosquitoes here are often legendary, the drought was so bad that year that they were almost unnoticeable. Similarly, our normally-significant humidity levels were greatly reduced (which in turn helped drive those temps into the record books since drier air heats up more quickly).

Speaking of winter, the first half of the decade had some snow and cold to match the heat that came later. This area set its all-time snowfall record in the winter of 1981-82 (we received some 35 inches in two storms in 3 days to add to the pile) only to beat that record in 1983-84 (a record that still stands). I made my coldest astronomical observation on record (air temperature -32F/-36C, which was tied in 1996) - but the coldest windchill record set then (-76F/-60C) will likely never fall since the adoption of the new windchill charts. [/geek]

You can't be that much older than I am, man.

Welllll, around 15 years, if I read the chronicles aright. (Now I really feel ancient )

I had an Atari- got it sometime during the 3rd grade.

I got a NES in the 6th grade. My favorite game for it was Zelda II- The Adventure of Link. Which is still my favorite Zelda game.

The 80s were fun. The USA had a movie star at the helm.

This was way before my time. But yeah they have that new pacman game called paxon. The pacman ghosts are cute. I have pacman earings, braclet and necklace.

Of course i like zelda. The NES zelda games were like i said before, before my time. I didn't start playing until the nintendo 64 ones.

I remember Space Camp. Watched that in the 6th grade (maybe earlier). I also watched Flight of the Navigator (I think that was late 80's). Also in the 80's two huge actions flicks hits the screens: Highlander and Leathal Weapon. Highlander had an excellent concept of the immortal that couldn't die save for beheading and brought the classic sword duel to the modern age. Could have been a better film overall, but for that day, it was a well done film (for an R).

Leathal Weapon along with Mad Max brought Mel Gibson into the spotlight. The first one is definately the best in the series (in part due to the controlled amount of language as oppossed to the other three in which 3/4 of the dialogue can be bleeped out). Mel Gibson does an excellent job at portraying a Vietnam War vet on the verge of insanisty and mental breakdown and has a well done final showdown with Gary Busey.

Released in 1989, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids featured Rick Morranis as an absent-minded inventor that shrinks his kids to the size of a grain of rice. For 80's technology, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids did a good job at putting objects in its appropriate perspective.

Also, spoofs still ran strong in the 80's, with Space Balls absolutely bashing everything from Star Wars to Star Trek, Aliens, and even Planet of the Apes.

Shadowlander mentioned cartoons. I don't remember too many of them, but I do remember watching early weekday morning cartoons of Super Mario Bros and the dreaded Legend of Zelda Cartoon. This extended into the early 90's but either didn't last long or I quit watching. (I think Zelda was only one season that showed on Friday's during the Mario Cartoon.) I don't recall any other cartoons off the top of my head.

In terms of music, the 80's launched the Christian artist careers of Michael W. Smith and Carman, two of my favorites growing up. I also listened to a lot of David Meece who was popular in the 80's. Michael W. Smith is the only one still going, having begun his career the same year I was born.

Two books were released in the 80's that are still high on the list for Christian Fiction: Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. While not entirely Biblically cannocal (it is fiction), both these novels do an excellent job at portraying spiritual warfare and revealing how deep the enemy can get into society's roles to do thier deeds. I hold these two novels as the standards of Christian fiction (like LOTR is the standard to the medieval/fantasy film genre).

I think of more stuff later.

Spaceballs, Lethal Weapon, Highlander....classic stuff!

Shadowlander mentioned cartoons. I don't remember too many of them, but I do remember watching early weekday morning cartoons of Super Mario Bros and the dreaded Legend of Zelda Cartoon.

Whether they were weekday afternoon/morning or Saturday morning cartoons the cartoons of the 80's were the pinnacle of em'. I'm not even sure they still have them anymore, save on Nick...I've flipped around on a Saturday morning before and found nothing. But back in the day all your major channels had a block of cartoons running from roughly 7am until just shy of noon. The appearance of American Bandstand officially brought an end to the festivities, at which point it was time to go outside for most of the rest of the day although sometimes we'd watch old 70's kung-fu flicks or Godzilla vs. X (X being whatever monster Godzilla was fighting that week) movies in the afternoon. The cartoons are not what you see today...in fact I'm not sure they could still make them like this anymore, but they were filled with good animation, great plots, and inventive storytelling. Some of the notable ones....

Thundarr the Barbarian - one of my absolute favorites
Superfriends (DC comics heroes)
Captain N: The Game Master (you'd have liked this one FFJ)
The Legend of Zelda - actually this one was pretty good. Link was funny.
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show - Everyone loved this show. Captain Lou Albano for the win!
The Real Ghostbusters- not the fake one with the gorilla
Visionaries - a sci-fi take on the Aurthurian legend. Sorta. Still awesome.
MASK - very cool toys. We still have Thunderhawk somewhere.
Silverhawks - Oxygenated outer space.
The Mysterious Cities of Gold - Epic. Just Epic. The intro really nails the show.
He-Man - On behalf of the 80's I apologize for this one.
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors - The plot sounds hackneyed but the hook of Jayce always being just one step behind his father kept kids glued. Great show.
Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future - Came on Sunday mornings before church. This show was years ahead of its time. Great premise, great show. "Tank" Ellis was the man.
Robotech - weekday show. Cartoon heroin. Would somebody please kill Minmay already?
The Smurfs - I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't mention this show.
The Snorks - made as a companion piece to the Smurfs. Would that the show were as good as its intro.
Jem - A girl show that every boy secretly watched from time to time. Great animation.
Rainbow Brite - A color-saturated young girl's show that has me convinced that LSD was alive and well in the 80's.
GI Joe - The undisputed classic. Weekday show.
Transformers - Weekday show. Optimus was my favorite but Soundwave had the coolest voice. Poor, long-suffering Starscream.
Dungeons and Dragons - A surprisingly fun little show.
Muppet Babies - Don't let the name throw you off, this was a very original and very funny show that I'd still watch if they had it on.
The Littles - this was the last cartoon on TV before the scourge of American Bandstand and Soul Train. When the credits rolled it was time to go play outside.

I've barely scratched the surface here...there were tons more of these types of cartoons and they covered the gamut from appealing to young kids, older kids, and sometimes even adults (Robotech fan...guilty as charged). As you can see it's a far cry from the lame-o stuff they have on nowadays. *sigh*

It's nearly impossible to list ALL of the stuff that happened during a decade, so I just thought I'd mention a couple things here that were huge that I don't think have been mentioned yet.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (and their love of pizza)

My neighbors and I would stage huge battles across three or four backyards with GI Joes and TMNT action figures.
Cowabunga Dude!!!

And on a religious note, in 1988 Rich Mullins released the song "Awesome God" which was huuuuuge and quite frankly, still is.

Oh, and I was born in 1982 so....

Wow! I always enjoy reading posts like the opening one you have here and the one from the "90's" thread. Very cool and interesting to read!

I wasn't alive in the 80's, but I have always detested Jellies shoes.

And I wanted to be Rainbow Brite. We had a coloring book full of Rainbow Brite things.

I looked up the show on Youtube last year and I just about died laughing. Then I was weirded out. The songs were so 80's and hilarious. Plus it was about a little girl who ruled a kingdom of bugs. I wondered if her parents died and she became the strange-little-bug queen.

That reminds me of Light Brites. They were an early electronic form of art. Like coloring books, Light Brites had pictures in which you placed light bulbs (just like many Christmas Tree Lights) of a certain color in the given 'pixel' and when you plugged in the device, it would light up and you could see the image. I remember doing all sorts of things with that.

I've been rather excited about posting this thread and there has been so much I didn't get a chance to put in there. I want to touch briefly on a few of the toys of the 1980's. In summary...they were awesome and in some cases way ahead of their time.

The venerable Speak and Spell by Texas Instruments. It was popularized by the movie E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. If you were kid under 10 years of age (or knew one) there were pretty good odds of them having this in their bedroom on a shelf somewhere.

The ultimate GI Joe toy, the USS Flagg aircraft carrier. Retail price in the mid-80's was $110. You don't want to know what it is now!

The XH-1 Dragonfly attack helicopter, which came with Wild Bill action figure.

The GI Joe toyline was rather extensive and everyone was on a quest to get as many as they could. I had about 25 action figures and perhaps about 8 vehicles, as well as the GI Joe Battle Platform, although they're all in pretty wretched shape now. Hasbro really got out of hand with this.

The mother of all toy fads in the 1980's belonged to the Cabbage Patch Kid doll. Stores nationwide only had a set amount and parents would squabble in large groups over who should get the last one on the shelf. Not even limited quantity Transformers like Megatron or Optimus Prime commanded such attention. I wish I could tell you that I was joking!

Lazer Tag, by Worlds of Wonder, was a little self-contained suit and laser emitting pistol. They were pricey but if you got enough people together it was a lot of fun. When you were hit by an opponent the big electronic thingie on your chest would light up and you'd have to sit the rest of the match out. The commercials for this thing were of course way over the top.

The (very creepy, in my humble opinion) My Buddy doll, a doll aimed at young boys. Everytime I see one I think of Chucky, the homicidal serial killer stuck in the body of a My Buddy doll (or something very close to it). Creepy commercials too...seriously kid, go grab some GI Joes already!

Ahh, Micro Machines! These were like little Hot Wheels cars, except on a much smaller scale. The photo above displays two next to a standard sized pencil sharpener for scale. They had a Micro Machine for every conceivable vehicle and they were really kind of cool. Eventually there were little mini-sets, like a drive through fast food restaurant, or a car wash set, and you could link them together to make a Micro Machine sized town of sorts.

If you have any other toys of the 1980's to submit (or anything else for that matter!) feel free to submit away!

FFJ, I remember Lite Brites very well. One of my friends had one but I wasn't allowed to have one because my Mom was afraid I'd leave it out and she'd end up vacuuming all the little colored pegs up.