MEN OF T.V. AND FILM pt. 1

My wife says that I have focussed on women too much in my previous entries. So to be as fair as possible, here I go...

(the following may seem a bit familiar, heh)

I was a latchkey kid. I pretty much took care of myself, and the few times I did have babysitters, they were usually the upstairs neighbors, and they just looked in on me every once in a while.

Now with that said, (it takes me a while to get to my original thought, it's like taking the scenic route on a trip...or getting lost, umm...heheh uh you get my point) I was raised by T.V..

With an ounce of pride and a pound of shame I can say that I probably logged more T.V. time then "Lois and Clark" fans. You should be able to get this reference. Sheesh.

So let's do the math here.

Lots of T.V. time
+
action, action, action
+
impressionable young mind
=
the most memorable men of my formative years from television and film.

In no particular order the original top 10

1. Captain America




This was one of the very first comic books I ever owned.








Although Captain America was very cool it took this to make him "stellar"

all be it, I never did understand how a flimsy shield could stop bullets.


2. Superman

Superman takes up a few slots for different reasons. The Super Friends was one of my raison d'etre on Saturday mornings. And come on ...he can FLY!!!




3. Superman played by George Reeves



Yeah I know. I never understood why he could be shot at but would always duck when they threw the gun at him, but on Sunday morning when my mom was cleaning the bar this helped pass the time. With a bar hamburger and a Coke to drink, this was Sunday for me. This paragraph will be repeated in a little bit, just so you're warned.




I still know this word for word, which kind of freaked out my wife. I was channel flipping and now we get this "retro" T.V. station and they were playing an episode of The Adventures of Superman, and I regurgitated the entire intro along with some of the catch phrases. She looked at me, mouth agape and asked "Did you just watch this or something?" I said "Nope, I just remember it all, and before you ask, it's been at least 15 maybe closer to 20 years since I saw an episode."

"You can remember all that but you can't remember to defrost something for dinner. That brain is wasted in you, you know that." - real quote

4. Superman played by Christopher Reeve
This iconic figure will forever be etched into the brain of a five year old boy. This character was everything I wanted to be.

It seems so sad that in todays world, there really is no room for the clear cut "good guy." That all of todays "heroes" need some dark side to them or they're the reluctant hero.

The idea of a good guy being the good guy seems so antiquated todays. What a shame

This made a boy look up to the sky

and dream a little bigger

5. The Six Million Dollar Man "Steve Austin" played by Lee Majors
To be honest I was about to add the image I found, but then I figured some of you might skip the video...and you really need to hear and see this video. It's scary funny.

OK who didn't want to be bionic? C'mon you even get the "Na na nananana" sound effects.

6. Shazam

I just wanted to be Captain Marvel because he was tall strong and could fly.

Yeah I know...it's kind of a theme for me isn't it?

7. The Lone Ranger - ONLY Clayton Moore.

His replacement sucked and the "Legend of the Lone Ranger" movie sucked so much ass it's almost qualifies for gay porn.

But anyway, on Sunday morning when my mom was cleaning the bar this helped pass the time. With a bar hamburger and a Coke to drink, this was Sunday for me. This paragraph has been repeated.

They were on in this four T.V. show block.


To this day the William Tell Overture is synonymous with The Lone Ranger. Well to me at least. This still gets me all riled up. Heh.

It took me a long tine to NOT call this the Lone Ranger Theme song.

8. Han Solo played by Harrison Ford

He flew the Millennium Falcon.

His best friend was Chewbacca the Wookie.

He has the coolest blaster in the movie.

AND he wore a vest.


Add it up any way you want to boys and girls, no matter what the answer will always be "COOL."


This is hands down my favorite scene from Star Wars.

This used to be my "error stop" sound but I had to change it because it lasts forever

9. Tarzan played by Ron Ely
He had a monkey, and we all know that monkeys are funny.

He swung on a vine.

He wrestled with animals.

He understood what they could say.

He was barefoot and he never stubbed his toes.

Most importantly...THE TARZAN YELL





THE MIGHTY TARZAN YELL..was also a sound for the mighty pornado control box.

However it was not a good idea to be the sound every time I got a new message for AIM. That got annoying really really quick.

10. Doctor Who (fourth) played by Tom Baker


This show was absolutely brilliant. A tour de force for this young man.

Add a Kooky main star - The Doctor
a time machine/spaceship - The TARDIS
a hot wild chick - Leela
and a robotic dog - K-9

you get hours upon hours of enjoyment.



I wanted a K-9 so badly, that when my cousins and I played "make believe I chose to be the Doctor, so I could have a K-9

Unlike the women, there were really no honorable mentions. These were the guys that I wanted to be and emulate. When were kids we were them, so only the best made it into "play." Again things change after I turned 13 though.