How Modern Things Were Always A Gateway Back

How Old Does Not Always Mean Obsolete

I’ve been putting a lot of very heavy stuff on you lately. Believe me, no one is more sorry than me because, even though most of them were well-recieved, I don’t like writing doom and gloom and the most reasonable of takes tends to be dismissed out of hand.

That’s why I’m not going to do it with this one.

Instead, I want you to imagine, if you’re old enough to remember this, it’s 1985. You’re about seven, maybe eight years old. It’s Friday and you’re anxious to get out of school. You and your friends have been talking and boy what a night it’s gonna be.

Me, I was a pretty simple kid, Friday Nights on TV back then had a lot going on but one thing it had, and I’ll never forget this. We’d just moved into the house in which I’d grow up the year before and now we were going to order pizza from a place literally called Strictly Pizza (Strictly’s for short) and we were gonna sit down, have pizza and watch some TV when night fell and it was the official kickoff to the weekend. Unless there was a birthday party, this is what you had to look forward to. Flying through the neighborhood on bikes, playing in the dirt and talking about whether He-Man could take Lion-O in a protracted battle. That’s what we did back then. It was a lotta fun in those days.

One of my favorite shows on at the time was The Twilight Zone. It ran from 1985 to 1989. I loved watching that series. Have a look at that intro and tell me it wasn’t evocative…

My dad would interject occasionally to tell us he’d seen this episode or that one before. We had no idea what a “remake” was but Dad would tell us all that there were black & white episodes and they were great. He’d regale us with tales of Rod Serling and when he’d find an episode or two on in syndication, he’d call us in to watch but I was the only one that was interested. Eventually, I would find and purchase, the complete series. Not the 1985 - 1989 series, but the older series. The Black & White masterpiece. I’m such a fan that I bought a couple of the CDs of the Radio Dramas with Stacy Keach narrating them.

Watching through the series was amazing. There was just some quality about it I couldn’t put my finger on. I’ve never watched the movie. I’ve never watched the new remakes. I won’t. I just have no interest. There’s just something about seeing William Shatner in not one but two episodes of the series. Nightmare At 20,000 Feet was the most popular but did you know he was in an episode before that? The episode was called Nick of Time and he was one half of a newlywed couple. If you’re not familiar with the series that got it’s start in 1959 and lasted until 1964, do yourself a solid and get it on DVD if you can. You’ll thank me later.

For me, the modern thing, whatever it is, always makes me want to look back to know it’s history. I did with AD&D Second Edition. I wondered what First Edition was like for years only to find there were far more than just one edition before that. When I look at Wretched Bastards most current edition, I remember what that very first book looked like and, I know Miguel hates that cover and the newer one is great but you can see the history in it for yourself by simply visiting the site.

Sometimes, old ways are just better. I used to shave with one of those cartridge type razors. Now, it’s a safety razor with double-edged razorblades. The problem with checking out older editions of something like Dungeons & Dragons these days is it comes with something like this when you buy it from Drive-Thru RPG…

You’ll be lectured, condescended to, even apologized to by the company. They put themselves into this full self-flagellation display while you look at them and just say “ohhhhkaaaay…weirdos” and go about your day.

The new Jenna Ortega-led series Wednesday is a new take on the Addams Family and today, I found the entire classic series for under $20 at Walmart. No apologies, no self-flagellation, no worries.

The point is that old and even ways considered “traditional” do not mean that they’re always obsolete. They may even cost you less in both the short and long-term.

What makes history and tradition so important is not because Older Is Always Better. Remember, a lot of this came out before my time. I was maybe four when D&D celebrated it’s tenth anniversary as an RPG but I caught the cartoon series that ran from ‘83-’85. What makes it important is that we know where something comes from. We know that maybe it wasn’t always getting it right, whether it was from just campy writing and presentation or whether it was just ahead of it’s time. Sometimes, checking up on the sources will open up worlds that you didn’t know existed. Sometimes you take those worlds with wild-eyed wonder and you just enjoy them. Sometimes, not so much and to that, I say, To Each Their Own.

But still, the exploration of something modern that interests you and it’s history could prove interesting. If you’ve never been curious about something modern, maybe take a look, you never know where you’ll end up.