Monday, June 9, 2008

Stand in Awe

As inspired by taking part in some really fantastic comment discussions recently on subjects ranging from pastry to politics, how these things relate to superheroes and the fact that everything old is new again.

When I was a very young girl I lived in a tiny town called Humarock. If you read me over the fall and winter last year no doubt you heard all about it. The beach and that town in particular, have been the inspiration for many of my endeavors. My business name, Chucka Stone Designs, is a direct derivative (Hum-a-Rock, Chuck-a-Stone). Since a couple family members owned houses there I spent nearly every waking moment on the beach as a kid and as many as I could spend each year after. See my profile picture of me at age three. I still like to be barefoot as much as possible. For a short time when we were kids we lived in my grandparent’s house and my favorite thing about it was the fireplace on cold nights. My sister and I would take our night time shower, wash the dishes from dinner and then toast marshmallows while our hair dried and we watched Wonder Woman. We would go to bed smelling like a campfire, without all the pesky bug bites, knowing that girls who owned invisible jets and deflector cuffs ruled.


As I moved into grammar school, the Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake and My Pretty Pony reminded me why I was much more partial to trucks and climbing trees so it was no surprise I was drawn to cartoons like Inspector Gadget instead of Muppet Babies. With so many movies being made from old television shows these days it is only a matter of time before someone turns that one into a blockbuster hit. Oh wait, I almost forgot, David Kellogg tried using Matthew Broderick as Gadget back in 1999. It is really hard to keep up.



The current new millennium blockbuster based on a truly one of a kind old time show starred the guy who actually voiced the character of Gadget. How sad that even in 80’s animation Don Adams was pigeon holed into the role of a bumbling idiot spy just like his character Max in Get Smart from twenty years prior.

Now Maxwell Smart was the coolest dork I had ever seen on late night syndication. I mean, seriously, he had a shoe phone for crêpe sake, how could he have not been superfly?


The real secret to both Gadget and Max of course is that they never really did anything right and the women in their lives, Penny and 99 respectively, were the real crime solvers and spy thwarters just like Diana Prince as Wonder Woman. These ladies were the quiet force to be reckoned with even though they were likely dubbed as total geeks; Diana could bench press a football team, Penny’s only friend was a dog and 99 was a multi-lingual violin player.

The moral lesson: Never underestimate the power of a woman. Even if she is a geek, one day she just might save your life or set you free with her lasso of truth.

15 comments:

Bridgete said...

I loved Inspector Gadget.

I watched a lot of the old Batman series. I seem to remember my favorite episodes featured Batgirl. I remember getting very excited whenever she was on.

Chris Stone said...

cute post!

"knowing that girls who owned invisible jets and deflector cuffs ruled"... *I knew I'd forgotten something...*

Matt S said...

Inspector Gadget was a great show...watched it for years in syndication. But Punky Brewster will always be my fave for gal superheros....Punky Power!

High Desert Diva said...

You really can't beat invisible jets.

Oddly, I just read a news article re: Linda Carter and have been thinking about WW all day.

pastrywitch said...

I've only seen Inspector Gadget as the totally lame Matthew Broderick vehicle. I'll have to check out the cartoon.
I prefer Xena to Wonder Woman; her dark side just makes her more interesting to watch. Buffy was also more fun, except for that irritating little sister of hers.
And what about Inara on Firefly? Sensual, graceful, and able to kick the ass of evil doers while wearing the most gorgeous outfits. Sigh. Why aren't I like that?

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Hey, no matter what show it is girl power is the key to all things kick butt! woo hoo!

Can't say I've ever heard of Inara though Vesta, will have to see if she is on wiki & do some research...

::Shameless self promotion time::
New artist feature is up on The Organic mechanic, check out Gary Lord Leave some comments too :)

Plus one of the other contributors just posted a way cool wind turbine design from a student, also well worth checking out!

Suldog said...

I wonder - in the new "Get Smart" movie, will it be set in the 60's? If not, a shoe phone doesn't make much sense.

ThisJane said...

I was all about She-Ra..and Rainbow bright...don't know why..they're awfully different aren't they? :)

Judi FitzPatrick said...

Guess I shouldn't mention the photo of you and your sister in your WW underwear, should I? She was your favorite for quite a while.
Girl power is what it's about - Della Street to Perry Mason, Princess Grace to Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window (remember, she went across to the other apartment?) - these are the "real" super heroes of film. Peace, Judi (aka Mum)

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Oh I hope it is based in the 60's otherwise why bother right?

She-ra now she was a kick ass kind of gal!

Those were Underoos thank you very much and mine were Supergirl, not Wonder Woman ;~D

ginger said...

hey vesta ~ i never saw inara kick anyone's butt....are you maybe thinking of summer(the psychic, trained warrior girl)?....jenn, check out the show, firefly or the movie, serenity. it's a movie to provide closure to a great show that was only on for a season. they also show repeats on the scifi network sometimes.

wonder woman rules!!

Rosebud Collection said...

Great blog and a fun one..I always liked Max Smart..Wonder Woman is really a wonder, she still looks beautiful..

K.C. said...

Popping over. Glad that I did. Great memories in this post. Loved all these characters. Loved remembering the camp fires and the bug bites as well. KC

Andrea said...

I LOVED Wonder Woman! And I totally forgot about Inspector Gadget and his niece Penny. Too funny! Always a joy to read your posts. :)

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Both are now in the queue...will let you know what I think!

yeah Linda Carter, like she never aged!

Nice to meet you k.c. more fun reading to do now yea!

Thanks Andrea :) Was it just me or was Penny very broad shouldered?