Waxing nostalgic

I’m kind of torn on this entire television series on DVD phenomena that has taken over Best Buy. I’ll admit I jumped on board quickly, picking up one of the first collections two years ago. (The entire series of Sports Night on DVD, which was worth it to replace the half dozen tapes I had made when they replayed it on Comedy Central). And I picked up a few others here and there, Family Guy, the Monty Python collection, a regrettable purchase of the first season of The Man Show, nothing that would be too out of the ordinary for a single guy with a lot of disposable income.

But now it’s just gotten silly. The Golden Girls on DVD? Didn’t that show have a target audience that, by definition, would probably not know how to operate a DVD player? And who precisely is clamoring for 227 episodes? Or Just Shoot Me? These are the shows that no one watches on syndication, I can’t see someone waking up one day and going, “You know what, I don’t think that I can make it through the day without having the complete series of Boy Meets World.”

I really do wonder just how many of those DVDs are ever actually watched. They are complete nostalgia purchases. You walk into Best Buy and see them and are instantly transported back into your past life. Of course I want to buy past seasons of Quantum Leap. Not because I care about the show but because I remember having huge arguments over the science behind the show in college (sorry, that’s what happens when you hang out with engineers). Or pick up My So Called Life because I remember watching it at my girlfriend’s apartment one night. It’s not the show that’s important; it’s the memories of the show.

Thanks to the wonder that is digital cable, I don’t even have to leave the couch to get nostalgic. How else would you react to flipping through the channels and running across an old G.I. Joe cartoon? It made me feel like I was ten years old again (and still complaining about never getting the aircraft carrier for Christmas). Or coming across a Thundarr the Barbarian cartoon (what a great Saturday morning idea that was. Any show that has the Earth being destroyed by a rogue comet in the opening credits is exactly what you want a nine year old to be watching). Throw in MTV2’s brilliant idea of replaying old Beavis and Butthead cartoons and you can tell that a lot of people are making money off of my past.

I just don’t know if I like it or not. I mean, I did actually sit down this morning and watch G.I. Joe (look, I’ll read Shakespeare later. I was still recovering from my loss of brain cells from Saturday night). Anyway, the one thing you notice now is how horrible the quality is. The animation is awful, you wonder why no one could ever shoot a rifle accurately, and all of the dialogue is “’Repeat characters name’, go with ‘mention other characters name’ in the ‘mention vehicle’ and check out that explosion”. Honestly, watching this I was saddened that I found this entertaining when I was ten. I expected more of myself.

I’ve decided that nostalgia, while nice, is not the best emotion to have. The past is nice and all but you can’t go back again. I’m going to try and live in the present for a while. It might be a scary place but at least the graphics are better.