I had the same thing with video games. My dad got a free promotional copy of Morrowind from Fry's. I didn't have a computer/ laptop, but every summer, my dad would let me use his on our road trips. That game made me want to learn so much about anthropology, biology, history, mythology, etc... I played for hundreds of hours and never even came close to finishing.
And I'm actively trying to go back to that. I ripped all of our old DVDs and Blurays and cancelled most of our streaming services. I told my kids that we can buy pretty much anything they want (so they don't miss out), provided it's not an exclusive.
The net result is that my kids really like Clue (1985) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008).
Surf ninjas. It was the best kind of b movie fever dream.
I had an aunt with the Disney channel and HBO that recorded almost everything. It was like a home video store at her house, probably hundreds of tapes that she let friends and family borrow. She have me a spare copy of the Disney animated Robin Hood with all the animals and I must have watched it a hundred times.
Three Ninjas. We all wanted to be Colt when we played ninjas later
I liked the VHS tape that had the naked women recorded onto it.
I really liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. My parents got it for me on VHS at some point and I watched it so much it literally wore out the tape. Then my parents got it for me on DVD.
Can't even watch it on streaming because they only ever have the subtitled version, and the dub is vastly superior for the dialogue. The subs cut so much flavor and poetry out of the dialogue that it becomes super boring and just the basic gist of what's going on.
Before that, the "obscure" VHS my parents had that I watched a lot was Monty Python's Holy Grail. We spent years trying to understand what the "witch" says when she is found guilty and only knew for certain what it was years later when they released a special edition DVD and we watched it with the subtitles on. "It's a fair cop."
For me it was Cocktail. I was a latch key kid, and sometimes you just got bored and hunted around your parents shit.
Turns out 11 year old me was REALLY interested in watching a shirtless Tom Cruise throw around bottles of alcohol in a tropical paradise.
Sharkboy and Lavagirl
Big Trouble in Little China.
We considered it to be on the same level as Ghostbusters. The ending showed a monster as a stowaway on the old Porkchop Express. We all couldn't wait for the inevitable sequel where Jack Burton got into some Big Trouble somewhere else. Only found out as an adult much later that it was a really unsuccessful movie and there was no way they'd make a sequel.
It's all in the reflexes!
I haven't watched Ice Age in twenty years but if you put it on the TV I bet I could quote every line from it. My mom loved that movie when we saw it in theater so we got it on DVD, then we must have watched it a hundred times after that. It was her favorite movie by far.
We also watched a good bit of Madagascar when that one came out but Ice Age was the enduring classic.
An American Tale. Watched it a ton in St Vincent, then I moved to America as a child so there was a close feeling to it. (Just to be clear, I was born in Brooklyn, NY, but my family moved out of the states to St Vincent within 2 years. So my earliest memories are not from the US, despite being born here).
I watched Ghost with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore so many times at a bit too young.
Also, The Jungle Book starring Sabu. A black and white live action film apparently from 1942.
For me, it was What About Bob?
Just growing up thinking everybody else has also seen The Ugly Dachshund. A movie where I'm convinced everybody who was in it is now dead.
You kids with your fancy, newfangled VHS machines. When I was a kid we had two channels of black and white TV and programming started at three in the afternoon.
Top Secret! dubbed in Galician.
Whoops Dad accidentally recorded over our bootleg copy of land before time with porn :)
For me it's lethal weapon 1, my uncle would play it at family gatherings. He has this sick sound system at the time and you can hear the brass casings hit the ground it's awesome.
I'm 19. Those movies are:
- "Konferenz der Tier" ("Conference of the animals", some kinda obscure children's movie)
- Bambi
- Lassie
- The wonderful adventures of nils
And later:
- Lucky number slevin
- Everything from Quentin Tarantino
All of those are in our possession in the form of optical media, as well as a 0% legal digital copy.
Finding out other people had the same film unlocked several friendships for me
Permanently Deleted
Now we're in the List of things we "own" on Amazon prime and watch over and over era
The Boy Who Could Fly.
We were also defined by Sunday spaghetti westerns, and Kung Fu Theater. We thought all bad guys were uglier than the good guys, and every problem could be solved by shooting or kicking someone.
I have a distinct memory of a 3rd grade project where we made posters about ourselves. My favorite TV show was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The reaction was something like “that’s not really a TV show but we’ll allow it.” I certainly watched it on our TV, probably with a VHS recording of it being on broadcast TV.
Puff the Magic Dragon
It's like a fever dream, but we definitely had it on VHS
For me it was some train movie made with model trains with a conductor that went "oh no" and a movie about talking real life construction equipment when I was young.
Then when I was a bit older, we watched Galavants and Willy the Sparrow.
I wonder if anyone else on the fediverse has even heard of these 😅
Bee Movie Ghost Dad The Wizard Secret of NIMH 2 The Ernest Series
The Swan Princess. It haunts me.
I believe it's also partially responsible for my young and lifelong rebellion against someone complimenting my appearance. Fine. You find me nice to look at. That's a hill a beans. What else.
I had many such movies. The most obscure among them probably being "The child who wanted to be a Bear", a Franco-Danish animation film which doesn't even have a Wikipedia page in English. (It was already DVD and not tape tho)
they forgot to add "..and is now embedded to your core being."
the internet makes this possible 1000x
Oh ho, and yet I, a parent, can still put my thumb on the streaming scale. My daughter right now is watching old Nick Jr. Cartoons, playing Mario 64 (as well as a 2yo anyway), and the untitled goose game.
She also watched old seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm with me since I had it running, though I probably don't want her to adopt Larry David vibes...
Was lucky enough to get a VHS copy of Lupin the Third and the Castle of Cagliostro when I was like 7 or 8. Man I must have watched that tape over 100 times easily.
Zoobilee fucking Zoo...
- I am not from anywhere near North America.
Rupert and the Frog Song. Three terrifying stories. It was a Thursday night... I was working late...
For movies, it was Condor Man for me. TV it was Silver Hawks.
I watched shrek many times
I'll join in on the obscure movies that defined my childhood and teen years...
Texas Across the River, Warriors of the Wind (horrible cut and dub of Nauiscaa of the Valley of the Wind), Sea Prince and Fire Child (we rented the tape so much that eventually they sold it to us because we were also the last ones to rent it), Anime version of The Little Mermaid, animated Hobbit and Return of the King, Fairies, Mio and the Land of Far Away
... That's all of the obscure ones I can think of at the moment.
Most of my standups are just people referencing 90s movies.
I feel bad for the other generations
A year in Provence, 4 tape box set.
My sexual awakening was "bon jour, I am Raul the Pool Boy"
Not Quite Human
The Monster Squad was the best. Found it in the $5 bin later, and its still rad!
