Pyrotechnic childhood dreams

Rating: Null/10 (24 February 2012)

Well, watching this back in the day was a hoot. It was kid's life blown up into a big exciting adventure: the laser gadgetry, being chased around by ghosts that only slimed you, cozy life in the old abandoned fire station that felt like a big sleepover in someone's attic, the sense of camaraderie between science geeks that looked like they could be your classmates after 10 years time. The shucks demeanor towards danger. The sloppiness that made it seem like everything was being made up on the way. There was no plan, no program. Responsibility was fun.
It stroke a wonderful balance between playing around and wanting to grow up. It made adult life seem positively exhilarating, like it was Monday and you had to wait all week for that Sunday visit at the funpark.
Watching it again, I'm surprised it holds up so well and as more than a misty-eyed memory. The recipe is simple: all those things referencing experience everyone knows and associates with fun from childhood, plus a huge electric light show about the same.
The showdown happens way up in the air beneath swirling clouds, a showdown with mythological evil. The audience watches transfixed from down below, up at cinematic fireworks. They cheer our geeks on like they were movie stars. And when evil finally manifests, it is straight from the imaginative mind - on reflection, a mind bombarded by TV ads.
It might not seem like much today but it was a show alright and about the pleasure of watching movies.
And lastly the puffy giant monster, a Godzilla for the consumerist 80's. Kids would recognize it as Bertie Bassett, the mascot of a liquorice candy brand, dads as the Michelin Man, moms as Pillsbury's Doughboy. Now Gozer was originally conceived as as a plain guy in a business suit, corporate evil. Instead they took it up a notch: evil that you also know and consume. Clever.