Remembering Kiddie Show Friday, Kiddie Show Saturday And Kiddie Show Sunday During The 90s


With the plan to move Super Hero Time to a  9:00 to 10:00 A.M. timeslot in Japan I just want to recall the 90s. Yup, the bittersweet 90s which I thought about Kiddie Show Friday, Kiddie Show Saturday and Kiddie Show Sunday but not every "kiddie show" was much of a kiddie show. Some of them can be very horrible memories (ex. IBC-13's repeated airing of several shows without offering variety) or I felt like my childhood was ruined.

Kiddie Show Fridays during the 90s

Fridays was always an exciting part of me as a child though there were times I got mad whenever we had the Friday TV ban if I didn't do my homework. I thought about how many of my favorites were once shown on Friday evenings on ABiaS-CBN. Some of my favorites would range with Batman: The Animated Series, Saban's Marvel-based cartoons (X-Men Animated Series, the 90s Spiderman cartoon) and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (though I was also watching Baywatch since I had a crush on both Kimberly and Cassie Jean). As I said, I just watched those shows because I was a child. I didn't care too much about content. What's even funnier was that I watched those shows while bitching and whining about how much I hated Murica... funny isn't it? Then there was the late 90s where GMA-7 re-aired the Telesuccess dubs of Voltes V and Daimos. I had exposure to what my parents watched. I also remembered Combattler V's Tagalog dub.

Though years later I would develop a somewhat unstable mind when I discovered Mighty Morphin' was based on Zyuranger. Until now, I still wonder if I'm glad or mad that ABiaS-CBN didn't air Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. Half of me is glad considering Zyuranger will just get a massacre dub and half of me is mad because of the station's tendency to favor American shows over everything else. Although I acknowledge Power Rangers as a necessary existence for Toei to make money in the United States but I don't deny I usually skip anything related to it unless I have a dumb reason not to. Then again, I always feel I'm better off skipping Americanized versions of Japanese shows for personal reasons.

Kiddie show Saturdays

Saturday mornings were another era and right now the trend is a dying one thanks to the digital age and the rise of Cable TV. Back then I remembered Saturday morning cartoons with GMA-7 and ABiaS-CBN as well as Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening cartoons. Boy, I can't forget how much I quarreled with my elders because I wanted to enjoy my childhood. I really thought about how I can't even balance everything. Then came the inevitable time that my elders would make me choose one to two shows and only that and no more.

What I can't forget was my obsession with the cartoon Conan. I never thought the Conan franchise was not for children. I can't forget watching the Conan show, I remembered its catchy theme song, I had a Conan the Adventurer toy without dreaming that the Conan the Barbarian movie wasn't for children. The show featured Conan's quest to free his parents from the spell of living stone. I didn't mind too much how the Serpent Men are awfully useless in the show when you've got Star Metal weapons. Yet I enjoyed that show but after seeing the Conan the Barbarian movie all over again I think I don't want to rewatch the series. Wrath-Amon was just another version of Serpentor from G.I.Joe while the movie version of Thulsa Doom (who was more of a Thoth-Amon while Thulsa Doom was an undead skull-headed wizard) is the kind of servant the serpent god Set should get. Then again what do you expect it's a child's cartoon?!

Others I could remember are The Super Mario Bros. Super Show which was part of my childhood. After all, we had a Family Computer and the Super Mario game though years later, I ended up having the first Playstation. But there's still the fond memories of the Super Mario games even if I don't own any Nintendo system right now nor do I intend to save my earnings to get a Wii U either. There was also the Yaiba Anime which sadly only covered up to the Kaguya arc in the Anime. I wish the Anime series featured everything the Yaiba Manga had to offer. Oh I couldn't forget watching VR Trippers and Saban's Mashed Rider and I personally don't want to rewatch them. Those shows would never match up to the quality offered by Metalder, Spielban, Shaider and Kamen Rider Black RX.

Kiddie show Sundays

This was probably where my memory is at the blur right now or not? When I hear the "Super Hero Time" catchphrase whenever I watch Super Sentai, I remembered the time I used to shout "Kiddie Show Sunday" though most of the cartoons I watched were pretty nonsensical. I could remember some 90s cartoons that had very few episodes yet ABC-5 kept reairing them without looking for other shows. Some of these shows are like the short-lived like the Wizard of Oz cartoon series by DIC, Mighty Orbots, Looney Tunes, Tazmania and then I could think about how most of the Toku shows aired on SUNDAY.

Yes, Sunday. I remembered how the early 90s had IBC-13 airing some Toku shows on the evening. They were Masked Rider Black and well Machine Man. I could remember ABC-5 airing Fiveman and Gavan (dubbed as Sky Ranger Gavan) when IBC-13 was momentarily out of the air when the correct translation should be Space Sheriff Gavan. Fiveman may have nearly ended Super Sentai but for some reason it actually gave me inspiration to do better. One of these such episodes was when my favorite character Ken Hoshikawa defeated a monster out of suit. On the other hand, the living TV set episode didn't scare me at all considering I was already a few years into becoming a teenager.

Later on, I just had a hard time accepting I was a teenager. ABC-5 would later air Janperson which I didn't expect to be part of Toei's list of properties. I found it to be way better than the American-made Robocop TV series (and the character is obviously based on Robocop which came first). I just didn't think it was part of Toei until I found out everything about Super Sentai, Metal Hero and Kamen Rider. I thought about how maybe, must maybe I don't cherish my childhood in totality yet part of it could still be cherished. 

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