So while I'm trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I thought I'd share a lighter topic. A few months back, I stumbled on to a blog entry called "Deconstructing Jonny Quest". It was about the funniest thing I've read in a long time -- I remember LOVING that show as a child. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Jonny Quest was a Saturday morning cartoon about Jonny, his scientist/adventurer dad, their bodyguard (???) Race Bannon, an Indian kid named Hadji that they presumably adopted and a pug named Bandit. Each week, they would fly around the world fighting evil, in the form of mummies, aliens, mechanical spiders, ghost pirates, etc. If this sounds even remotely like a normal cartoon, do a search on YouTube for the credits.

But that got me to thinking about the other bizarre show concepts that I watched as a child. I realize I was born in the 60s, but there must have been a lot of drugs circulating around the television studios during those days! Here's some of the ones I remember:

The Banana Splits: This was sort of a live-action variety show for kids, I guess. The Banana Splits were a band that hosted the show, made up of (and I'm not kidding!) a gorilla, an elephant, a dog and a lion. They played rock music, told bad jokes and introduced a series of cartoons and live action shows, such as Danger Island (with cannibals), the Three Musketeers, Arabian Nights and Gulliver's Travels. The opening credits alone could make you think you were hallucinating.

HR Puf'n'Stuf: There's a reason this show got a head shop named after it -- this is easily the most bizarre one of the bunch. The premise is that a British kid has a magic flute that can talk and is being pursued by a witch (aptly named WitchyPoo) who desperately wants the flute for something diabolical. The only safety he can find is under the protection of a dragon/sheriff named HR Puf'n'stuf who lives on an island with furniture and other usually inaminate objects that have come to life. Would you believe this came from the same people who brought you the Banana Splits? And yes, it's live action, too.

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop: This is the stereotypical damsel-in-distress show. Penelope is a race car driver who can outdrive anyone in the Fast & the Furious franchise, but apparently is too oblivious to notice death traps set by her uncle. You see, Penelope is an heiress and the next in line for her fortune is her uncle, so naturally, he tries to kill her every episode. And despite the fact that she can operate very sophisticated vehicles at high speeds, she always ends up in some time-delayed execution. So tied to the train tracks, suspended from a cliff with a candle under the rope, that type of thing. Fortunately, she has a posse of golden-hearted mobsters who always seem to know when she's in trouble and pile into their PT Cruiser to come rescue her.

I haven't tried re-watching any of these after a horrible experience watching the old Speed Racer cartoon. (I guess as a child, I didn't notice that the characters don't move at all naturally and that the audio doesn't sync up to their mouths, but as an adult, it was pretty annoying.) I want to remember them as insanely goofy magical experiences that shaped me today. Or account for what's wrong with me. ;)