I’ve always been interested in the voice actors who brought the characters to life. Searching for film clips I came across a rather good one of John Stocker, who played Gimmick in the TV series. In this clip, from another great TV show “Today’s Special” he plays the guy with the glasses who seems to be the antagnonist of the other two characters. His voice sounds very similar to Gimmick’s.
Protect Yourself
July 2, 2008 - Leave a Response
After every episode of “The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin”, Teddy would come on with a special guest… usually a teen flavor of the month celebrity… and talk about how to keep safe as a youngster. Subjects included being a latchkey kid, taking the safest way home, telling your mom if somebody behaved inappropriately towards you, and of course the old favorite “Don’t Talk To Strangers”. Looking at these as I go through my old episodes of the show, they seem out of place and a little bit over the top, maybe even silly. That is through eyes the world has made much more cynical since I was the targeted age group of these things no doubt, but they admittedly do seem a little out of place.
But they shouldn’t.
Almost everyday we turn on the TV to word of another missing child… some people say it’s always happened, it’s just the media covers it more now in the days of 24 hour news channels. Some say that our society hasn’t done enough to keep predators behind bars… some say we haven’t done enough to “rehabilitate” them. Some cite bible references saying this proves we’re nearing the end of the world. Some just switch the channel to American Idol.
Maybe we should bring back some “Protect Yourself” segments… replacing Shannen Doherty and Chad Allen with Hannah Montana and Zac Efron, of course. The teens and pre-teens that are the subject of the midday coverage on FoxNews when they go missing are the same ones who idolize these stars, perhaps more now than any other generation since Elvis Presley could only be filmed from the waist up. They buy the products they sell, they flock to the latest “High School Musical” movie release. We even had a few lately who wanted to get pregnant after Jamie Lynn Spears’ announced to the world she was expecting. Maybe if we put a few of them on TV talking about the basics of keeping safe again the kids would listen to them then too. Maybe it’s time we started talking about not talking to strangers again. Maybe it’s time we design a “High School Musical” kid-safe browsing software for the web. (Teddy Ruxpin has his own for the younger audience.. btw… at teddyruxpin.com)
Maybe it’s time that we become a little less cynical, and allow kids to hear the message, even if it seems silly to those of us who are big enough to Protect Ourselves.
Some People’s Children….
June 28, 2008 - Leave a Response
As many of you know, there is a rather venomous fan named Olga Bolshakova, (aka GoldyGry) a fan residing in the former Soviet Union, who has taken it upon herself to write some un-flattering things about Teddy and his creator, after she was apparently recently asked to stop creating pornographic fan fiction and images of these beloved children’s characters.
I won’t say a whole lot, other than I hope everyone who comes across her knows the situation well enough not to take her delusions seriously. She has crossed some real lines when it comes to good taste & copyright in the past, and now she has crossed some real lines when it comes to people’s privacy and just in general human decency. I hope you will join me in boycotting anything she posts up on the net from now on. There is simply too much quality fan generated content on the web to waste your time with anything from Olga Bolshakova, aka GoldyGry.
Can You And I Be Friends?
June 10, 2008 - Leave a Response
Welcome all to my latest project… the TR (Teddy Ruxpin) Blog…. as those of you who have followed my site over the years know, I’m a very fast procrastinator when it comes to updating the site. It’s never been a lack of motivation, I’ve got that in spades- it’s always been either a lack of resources (I went a couple years with absolutely no internet access) or a lack of time (working two jobs, for instance)
I hope this blog will help me keep in touch and update things more often than I do now. I’m still maintaining the site, located at www.teddyruxpinonline.org but this is a fast place to sign in and post about the latest news, get a quick song lyric up for somebody, or just generally check in with all of my friends in the community. I also would like to have guest posters here, so if you’ve got something to add please feel free.
Teddy Ruxpin was my favorite toy and TV show in the 1980s, but over the years has become so much more. Thanks to the outlet I’ve had online, I’ve been interviewed by a major newspaper about Teddy, worked with the company who brought him back in 2005, and have met his creator, my hero, on 3 occasions and counting. I hope this blog will be yet another resource for new fans who are just learning about Teddy and another place for Teddy’s old friends to gather and meet.
While you’re reading this, if you haven’t already, check out teddyruxpin.com and www.millcreekent.com to learn about all the new Teddy products that are out there.
Cheers~ JOSH
