When you watched things on television as a child, did you care much about the plot?

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I wonder if it was just me but up until the age of about maybe 8 or 9 I would watch television in a completely passive way and even at the age of 15 I was completely blind to what was actually going on in even the most simple films. Even today I tend to lose track of plotlines in programmes and movies, preferring to watch for the cinematography etc.
But yeh, I dunno if it was because I grew up speaking French as a young child and so found it hard to understand what was actually going on in TV shows or if this is perfectly normal. I do remember being enchanted by cartoons (particularly cartoons - I didn't watch any live-action programmes until I discovered the Cosby Show at the age of eight), but I think I'd be more interested in the colours and the action etc. Who cares why Bugs Bunny is running round the screen - he just is. Know what I mean?
Is this just me? When did you start becoming aware of the WHY in films and shows?

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Not so much films/shows, but songs were completely allowed to be gibberish in places.

eg, "Virginia Plain" Roxy Music

"Make me a deal, and make it straight,
Offside with Zeal, I'll take it!
ooooh wanna err zeeeeee ah surrrwit,
I hope that we don't blow it no"

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 20 January 2005 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

DOG LATIN DOES UR SISTER SPEAK FRENCH?!!!

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 January 2005 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Like, FUCKING HELL if she does.

Also, um, I don't notice plots NOW, never mind as a kid.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 January 2005 11:56 (twenty-one years ago)

difficult to say. if i think about how gripped i was by shows like Grange Hill, Neighbours, even Eastenders at that age i remember the storylines well and i was engaged by what was happening whether. a little younger and less so. but most people my age remember Cities Of Gold, Ulysses 31 and Dogtanian i.e. these well crafted imaginative EPIC plot-heavy anime-based series with many different characters and situations - i'd watch them and find the characters often annoying but the situations and stories very interesting and exciting, so i'll say yes i think i did care to a reasonable extent.

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 11:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(and i think part of that came down to also reading things like Tintin and Asterix avidly around the same time)

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 11:57 (twenty-one years ago)

The only 2 things I can actually remember having a plot from when I was a kid was this thing called "Man Dog" which as about this man who got his conciousness swapped with that of a dog, and the dog ran away? Something like that. There was a bunch of street kids living in a wooden shanty town as well. I used to watch it, and followed the plot a bit, but I missed the last episode. The other thing was "Children of the Stones" which was about, well, actually I've no fucking idea what it was about. A stone circle's power being harnessed for - what? something bad. I missed the last episode of that as well. Other than that it was all about the slapstick & action, I think. I used to follow plots in books really well - Wind in the Willows, Famous Five etc, but I don't recall being very into plot on TV. I suspect my ideal TV program as a kid would have just been loads of things getting bloiwn up by dynamite.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

stuff i remember not caring much about plot-wise just enjoying the show: Catweasel, Dr Who, The Tripods, very early Eastenders, possibly Poldark (but only because it reminded me of Blackadder perhaps?)

so it must've been that only from the age of 7 or 8 that i started paying attention and appreciating plot

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh I remember "Man Dog". They swapped back in the end.

A more kiddy version was "Follow that dog" which had the cheapest theme song ever. Man and a school piano "Follow follow follow follow woof woof WOOF! Follow that dog woof woof Fining clues is an asset, which aint too bad for a long eared bassett" and so on.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

All I remember about catweazel, EVEN WHEN I WATCHED IT & IT WAS MY FAVOURITE PROGRAMME:

1/he lived in a water tower

2/he could vanish merely by clapping his hands together (a feat I never managed to achieve, fucker)

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:23 (twenty-one years ago)

that's a damn sight more than i can ever remember

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i can't handle plots even now, really. they're a bit insane if you think about it -- most novels would only take a page or two if plot was all. there wouldn't be any point in making films. but that said i like plots and don't like plotless films. hmmm.

― Miles Finch, Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:27 (twenty-one years ago)

See, I never saw the appeal of things like Grange Hill or soap operas because they weren't cartoons... I liked watching Ulysses and Dogtanian but definitely didn't know what the heck was a gwaan in them - I just watched them for the doggys and for the crazy robots. Then again I was only about 6 or 7 at the time... I did follow Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and He-Man though, being into He-Man even before I got to school but it scared me a lot when I was about 4 because I thought Prince Adam had set himself on fire when he turned into He Man.

It just makes me think. It seems that shows for younger kids (Fimbles, Tellytubbies) don't really concentrate on plot AT ALL, it's just shapes and colours and things bouncing around and repeating over again.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:28 (twenty-one years ago)

i can't remember why i started watching Grange Hill but it was around the time Zammo started doing teh horse - perhaps my brother being one year older shaped my viewing habits there. it wasn't until the Birtles/Ziggy/Gonch/Imelda generation that i was able to really know what was going on tho, and by then i was 7 or 8.

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)

i remember claiming at the time (to an unimpressed/sci-fi detached brother) that the reason i watched Ulysses, Dungeons & Dragons, Thundercats and Knightmare was for THE IDEAS in them.

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Ulysses and Cities Of Gold I have very odd memories of, none of them concerning plot - it's all images and a sense of intangible, epic mystery, like they would never end but just keep unfurling forever, which I found awesome in a very scary way, and liked very much. I got the same sense with His Dark Materials.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:39 (twenty-one years ago)

the two series worked on two levels and in truth it was probably more level 1 ("wow he's flying a giant metal bird") that grabbed me more than 2 ("wow imagine if the Olmecs really did have the technology to predict their own doom by measuring sunspot activity")

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I watched Kickstart and The Adventure Game purely for the plot.

― David Merryweather (DavidM), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, Dungeons and Dragons too - there was this sense of eternal doom, like the characters would never ever get to the end of their quest.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

surely the appeal of that is plot-related then?

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Possibly, but I was never aware of what the plot was, where they were going next or where they had been - like their quest had no purpose, like they didn't really know what they were doing.

How do these epic, plotted kids tv things compare against the unique-episodic approach of, say Tom & Jerry, where it's just simple repetition and you don't need to watch them in order?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:58 (twenty-one years ago)

surely the appeal of that is plot-related then?

Hmm... Of course I was aware (especially by that age) that a plot was involved but I wouldn't be following the storyline intently. I didn't know WHY they were walking through a village or being attacked by Venger and the orcs - they just were. Plus the show expalined from the start of every episode why the kids were lost but I wouldn't know the story behind each episode.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 12:59 (twenty-one years ago)

How do these epic, plotted kids tv things compare against the unique-episodic approach of, say Tom & Jerry, where it's just simple repetition and you don't need to watch them in order?

interesting comparison. you might argue that the former is cerebrally more advanced and intricate, but that's not necessarily more entertaining to a seven year old. i was never that big a fan of T&J tho, nowhere near as much as the WB massive.

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

When boys played at Thundercats or girls played with My Little Poney, they didn't come up with elaborate plots - it would just be "I'm Roboto, you're Webstor now let's have a fight". The girls too wouldn't come up with a storyline when playing with their toys, they'd just comb their hair and stuff.

My sister speaks very good French Sicko, but maybe I shouldn't've told you that.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I prefer T&J and Bugs Bunny better now that I "get" the jokes and the humour.
When I was eight I read the entire Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy series but didn't realise it was supposed to be funny.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

hmmm, so do you think the producers realised this in the end hence stuff like Beyblade?

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm reluctant to do the 'oh they don't make kids shows like they used to' thing (no really!) esp. as i don't watch kids fictional/animated TV these days...

but otoh there are many animated shows that now appeal to both children and adults alike, as in much of the humour would fly well over a child's head - the Powerpuff Girls is one example, Spongebob Squarepants perhaps another.

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

also those shows are incredibly meta/post-post modern and i don't recall any equivalent when i was growing up - The Simpsons and Ren & Stimpy are 'to blame'

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

judging by how annoyed i was by missing last episodes, i'd say i cared about the age of 8 or 9 (ha ha i now know what happened in the last Sapphire & Steel/Children o the Stones cos of the videos innit, eat that 9 yr old me). earlier less so - never cared how Robinson Crusoe ended.

I never saw the last ep of Mysterious Cities of Gold tho :-(

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't seen Beyblade but if it's anything like Pokemon then maybe. Japanese cartoons are very long and epic - there's a lot of hanging around and then spurts of action. Maybe a bit like playing with a new toy - you get a new Transformer and you woosh it around in front of your eyes and make "NYEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR!" noises and then you say "Okay, TRANSFORM!" or whatever and then you transform it and go "Okay you guys get ready to DIE!!!!!!!!" and you make "BEEOW BEEOW" noises and... and that's about as plotworthy as it gets for a seven year old.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

but what about kids dramas like The Box Of Delights? The Tudor Rose? Moondial? Tom's Midnight Garden? how do they fit in? i watched them when i was 7 and enjoyed them in a casual way - casual is the key word here. there was little about them stimulating visually and they were encouraging the story aspect. i guess i didn't care too much about them but i still felt compelled to watch (just because it was after-school telly?).

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I do remember being interested in the stories, perhaps more in the characters and relationships and the way those developed than the plot per se though. It was very important that the plots weren't finite though, I remember that. Hence loving things like yes Cities of Gold and Dungeons and Dragons but also Poldark (ok it was finite but when you're 8 that shit seems to go on FOREVER), Coronation Street and Dynasty.

My mum totally indulged my early love of soap opera because she thought it showed a healthy interest in people - similarly she gave me completely inappropriate books like Jilly Cooper because I was interested in human relations and motivation and stuff. Maybe she thought I would become a psychologist. Or a nymphomaniac showjumper.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i was also a huge Dynasty fan tho i could never get into Dallas for some reason. i can't say i cared or was able to follow the plot too much tho, i'm not sure even the cast could.

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Can you remember the 1st episode of Dungeons and Dragons or Cities of Gold or Pirates of Dark Water or the last? I can't, did they ever show these shows to fruition, or did they just decide that the kids wouldnt even notice if we stop showing it before the end? maybe thats part of why we remember them with a sense of doom.

I remember from Dungeons and Dragons that most episodes ended with them sacrificing the chance to go home to help someone else in the Dungeons and Dragons world.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Watching Box of Delights on DVD over Xmas was very strange - I watched it with Emma, who'd never heard of it being 3 years younger, and I kept expecting it to... I dunno. Inspire the same sense of awe and wonder as it had when I was 5 or 6? A pretty futile hope, I guess. I was struck by how little sense the plot made, and by how little I cared about the plot and remebered it - I knew it was good vs evil, but the whole thing about the kidnapped priests and stuff had been forgotten. My memories of it were much more sensual / spiritual / emotional, I think, like recalling the idea of the snow and the wolves and rat thing.

4x xpost!

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

yes Nick if i was to watch TBOD now i wouldn't recall half of it. i think this is all proving doglatin's point right to be honest - i have failed!

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Despite the soap thing I was fairly restricted in how much TV I could watch, so maybe that's why ongoing programmes that you could just pick up whenever were more appealing. Drama serials like the Box of Delights etc were just too frustrating if you missed an episode.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Archers Goon rocked... iirc.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Dog, if I give you my phone number will you get ur sister to call me and swear at me in French while I smear Dijon mustard over my balls?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Fuckin' hotTT man!

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I may need to stop talking to you now Southall.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:39 (twenty-one years ago)

jks, obv.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I was obsessed with Cities Of Gold when I was little, and definitely saw it as a single continuous story - unlike, say, Ulysses 31 or Dungeons And Dragons, which did indeed have the feeling of eternal doom mentioned above.

I can clearly remember both the opening and final episodes of Cities Of Gold - the opening shot is of Esteban running through the rain.

(SPOILERS: it ends with them realising what the keys to get into the City Of Gold are, the Spaniards looting it, the Olmecs nearly destroying the planet and one of the characters saving the world by inserting the missing part into the Olmecs' accidental-planet-destroying machine, and (of course) dying in the process)

― caitlin (caitlin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

(in the closing scene the children decide to go on to find the other Cities of Gold, and the closing shot is of them flying off into the sunset)

― caitlin (caitlin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

The plot of Fletch was lost on me the first few times.
Still don't really understand the climax of Trading Places yet.

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Still don't really understand the climax of Trading Places yet.

do you think that guy in the gorilla suit really gets sodomised by the actual real gorilla? this thought ruined for me what was otherwise a very entertaining movie.

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it was just hugging

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I've lost the plot of the whole day.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 20 January 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

sproing

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

When I was a kid, I loved loved loved F-Troop. I wanted to be Wrangler Jane. I wanted to live in a fort. I admitted all this to my husband (along with my Bobby Sherman obsession, which came a few years later), and he got me an F-Troop dvd last year, which was utterly demoralizing and humiliating to actually watch. He keeps waving the new "Here Come the Brides" boxed set at me, every chance he gets. Which, after the F-Troop experience, I do not want to revisit, even if he did have a thing for the actress who played Candy.

I don't think I actually paid attention to plots until I was in jr. high, when I was fascinated with Marcus Welby, MD. So, around age 10 or 11.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

I was very much so into to the plotlines. The trouble was, I couldn't differentiate between Television and Reality, and as such I'd get really emotional/scared/hysterical when something terrible looked like it was going to happen (although, surprise, it was always wrapped up in the end).

I didn't really watch cartoons and stuff, or any of those "kid shows," it was more sitcoms and prime-time dramas. But I didn't watch TV that much.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

not only did i not care about the plot, i don't think i even NOTICED it in most cases

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

Duh, I was a huge fan of the G.I. Joe cartoon, which I'm pretty sure never made any sense, so OBV I was happy to suspend disbelief where plot was concerned. Was much more interested in being Lady J and wrenching on things in the hangar.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know why, but with every show I kept expecting the characters to get married. I was always disappointed with a tv show if no wedding happened. The Love Boat was good because you would occasionally get a wedding, but everything else on tv was disappointing.

― GILLY'S BAGG'EAR VANCE OF COUPARI (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

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