Less Than Total Recall: What's The Name Of This Series I Vaguely Remember?

[Wax Lion]

That's it! Fisica O Quimica! Thanks!

[Actionmage]

Mine is an anime from the late 80s/early 90s. I watched it on VHS at a friends house and it must've been between '91 and '93 that I saw it, but it might've come out a few years earlier. I think it was a movie, or part of a movie series.

 

It took place on a space ship, and there were several female characters (there might've been some male ones, but I only vaguely recall girls/women). I think one or a few of them were robots or humanoids or whatever. She (or they) looked and acted like humans, the one in particular I'm thinking of was a redhead and I think she had a yellow-ish suit. And there was some sort of sinister spectre onboard, hunting them, and it was like a see-through blob thing. One of the characters was engulfed by it and electrocuted somehow? This might all be faulty memory. In the end I think only a few of the crew survived, killing the spectre blob thing. I think they eventually found a planet to settle down on.

 

Sound familiar to anyone? Did I just dream I saw this?

 

Could it be Saber Marionette J ( or any of that group of series)?  ( Link to TV Tropes' entry: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/SaberMarionetteJ)  It also has links to the other series, if you saw one further along.

 

There was mention of : "In an episode of J, the three marionettes fell "ill" (actually they bodies started to overload because they were absorbing a lot of energy from a huge underground plasma cloud, simulating a fever) and Otaru, [snip]" ( Otaru is the male lead and there seems to be other male characters too.)

 

This was the page image for the show:

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lt/smj.jpg

 

I hope that helps get you closer, if it isn't it.

[ABay]

Help, please! It was British so probably on Masterpiece Theater. I think it focused on a girl. What I remember is her developing a friendship with a soldier/officer who was very sick, probably gassed in WW1, and had holed up in a cottage to die. And the song "I've got sixpence, jolly, jolly sixpence..." 

 

I thought Frank Finlay was the dying man, but nothing in his IMDB list looks like the thing I remember.

[questionfear]

I have two:

 

One was two brothers who were aliens, and if you hit one the other felt it...and I feel like there was a running gag where one would be making out with someone and the other would start steaming or something like that. And they were on the run from the government.

 

The second is super, super vague, and I can't quite figure out if I actually am remembering a specific show or if I am conflating a whole bunch of shows. But what I remember was that it involved space, astronauts or explorers or something, and someone maybe got shot? And someone's long lost parent was there or showed up suddenly, and maybe someone was playing chess or a similar board game? These might be three different shows. Or three scenes from the same show. The closest I've found is that maybe it was Space 1999, but it would have had to be in reruns because I was born in 1981. I have a strong memory of watching it in my grandmother's kitchen.

[Moose135]

One was two brothers who were aliens, and if you hit one the other felt it...and I feel like there was a running gag where one would be making out with someone and the other would start steaming or something like that. And they were on the run from the government.

 

They Came from Outer Space

[questionfear]

 

They Came from Outer Space

YESSSSS! 

 

If only it was on Hulu. I did discover the USA TV show Weird Science is on Hulu, so I've been happily reliving at least part of my childhood. This would complete it!

[shang yiet]

I remember this sitcom about a teenage girl with alien powers. Her mother had an affair with an alien and he had to go back to his home planet, leaving the mother bringing up the girl on earth.

[shoregirl]

Was it from the late '80's/early 90's? I think Out of this World is the show you're thinking of. I loved it when I was little.

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0092423/

Edited March 12, 2016 by shoregirl

[shang yiet]

Yes, that's the one. I enjoyed the show too. 

[Rinaldo]

I remember that show! It's the one and only time I was phoned and asked to be in a focus group before the series aired! I was told a special channel to watch it on at a certain secret time, and then a number to call and give touch-tone answers to questions.

[tribeca]

Two brothers own a bookstore/coffee shop.  Pamela Anderson was in it.   One brother had a big crush on her.  The older brother was straight laced and it was obvious Pam and the older brother had the chemistry. 

[Rinaldo]

A search of her wikifilmography suggests that it was Stacked.

[auntlada]

I am just trying to see if this topic will show up in my content I follow. It is one of the only single topics I follow, as opposed to whole forums.

[Ubiquitous]

Most everyone remembers The Saint, but I remember watching a spin-off or special eps starring his nerdy nephew. I wish I could remember more details, but I was watching The Saint in the mornings and one day it switched to the new show with the same name! I think there was a scene with the nephew being self-conscious about wearing a speedo on a beach, or maybe that was an act to make his investigation less conspicuous.  I think this was in the early 1980's, but I'm sure it's not the late 1980's spinoff The Return of The Saint.

Also, does anyone remember a show that was like American Gladiators but was D&D themed?

[SVNBob]

On 6/17/2016 at 2:07 PM, Ubiquitous said:

Also, does anyone remember a show that was like American Gladiators but was D&D themed?

Possibly Knights and Warriors.  Does this look familiar?

[Ubiquitous]

Yes, I think that's it!

[fishcakes]

This was a BBC drama from the early or mid 1980s that was shown on Masterpiece Theater in the U.S. It was about two KGB agents who were masquerading as, I think, a Yorkshire farmer and a London businessman. Both had been in the U.K. for so long that they wanted to remain there, living their cover lives, but were called back or activated or something by their superiors. I thought it was called "Spies" but Googling turns up nothing.

[editorgrrl]

36 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

This was a BBC drama from the early or mid 1980s that was shown on Masterpiece Theater in the U.S. It was about two KGB agents who were masquerading as, I think, a Yorkshire farmer and a London businessman. Both had been in the U.K. for so long that they wanted to remain there, living their cover lives, but were called back or activated or something by their superiors. I thought it was called "Spies" but Googling turns up nothing.

Sleepers? http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0101200/

http://www.ew.com/article/1991/10/25/masterpiece-theatre-sleepers

(I Googled tv kgb undercover england.)

[fishcakes]

That's it! Thank you! And it's ... not available except on used DVD for $80 to $250. Oh well.

No wonder I couldn't find it; I was off on the year by about ten. When I Google, "bbc drama russian spies," without adding "1980s" it's the third result. I will never learn that less is more.

[ABay]

I loved Sleepers when it first aired in the US but I rewatched it a few years ago and it really hadn't aged well.

Edited July 9, 2016 by ABay
Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

[kiddo82]

So I've been on a TCM kick lately and I was watching What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (I had never seen it before) and I'm sitting on my couch thinking "This is eerily similar to some TV movie I vaguely remember from when I was a child that apparently scarred me because I can still remember it.  Crazy sister?  Check.  Sister named Blanche in a wheelchair?  Check.  Crazy sister ties Blanche to a bed?  Check."  A quick Google search came up with a made for TV updated version of the film from 1991 starring the Redgrave sisters.  I was like "Yes!  That has to be it!"  Anyone else remember that?  

[Bastet]

Yeah, I remember it.  I wasn't going to watch it - a TV movie version of a Joan Crawford/Bette Davis film? - but the Redgrave sisters (and my interest in seeing Amy Steel in something other than a horror film) convinced me. 

In some ways, the sisters' relationship is more like the book, but it's jarring to watch TV movie Jane when you're used to movie Jane. 

As a remake, it's bland (and bland camp is never good).  I'd have to watch it again to figure out what I'd think of it if it existed in a vacuum. 

Edited July 10, 2016 by Bastet

[SmithW6079]

This was shown on Logo, back when Logo showed gay-themed programs other than drag shows. It was British and about a young gay boy and his family. He had a black friend who was also gay. The main character was a window dresser, I believe,  and was recounting his life history to the audience.

[Luckylyn]

1 minute ago, SmithW6079 said:

This was shown on Logo, back when Logo showed gay-themed programs other than drag shows. It was British and about a young gay boy and his family. He had a black friend who was also gay. The main character was a window dresser, I believe,  and was recounting his life history to the audience.

Beautiful People based on Simon Doonan's memoir.  I loved that show.

[SmithW6079]

2 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

Beautiful People based on Simon Doonan's memoir.  I loved that show.

Thank you! 

[Living Dead]

So I saw this episode on a show one time and I don't remember where it's from. So I'm going to give you a brief summary based on what I remember. I remember there was a young brunette with long hair. Probably around 20 or so. I don't know who she was but she looked a little bit like Ren Stevens from Even Stevens. And she was at dinner with an attractive dirty blonde lady who was probably about 35 to 40 years old. And they kissed. I believe that the young brunnete woke up from a dream. Or maybe it was a day dream. 

I wish I remembered more details. But I always remember this episode and don't remember what show this was from.

[TaraS1]

Anyone else remember the sitcoms that were on TBS back in the 80's?  There was one called Down to Earth, where a flapper from the 20's gets hit by a trolley (according to the theme song) and somehow comes back to earth as a housekeeper for an 80's family.  I'm 99% sure the father was played by one of the Darrins from Bewitched.

The second one was called Rocky Road, and it was about siblings running an ice cream shop on a boardwalk.  The parents had died, I think, so the older sister took care of the younger sister and brother and they all worked at the shop together.  There might have even been an elderly black man in it.

And I think the third one might have been called Safe at Home.  All I remember is that the main character used to play for the Chicago Bears.  There were younger kids in this one too, but I can't remember if they were his siblings, kids he adopted, kids he didn't know he had before, etc.

[editorgrrl]

11 minutes ago, TaraS1 said:

Anyone else remember the sitcoms that were on TBS back in the 80's?  There was one called Down to Earth, where a flapper from the 20's gets hit by a trolley (according to the theme song) and somehow comes back to earth as a housekeeper for an 80's family.  I'm 99% sure the father was played by one of the Darrins from Bewitched.

Dick Sargent (aka the second Darrin) was the second Mr. Preston. And Kyle Richards from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (and The New Celebrity Apprentice) played daughter Lissy.

Edited February 2, 2017 by editorgrrl
Added opening credits. There are entire episodes on YouTube.

[TaraS1]

I can picture the actor who played the son, but OMG @editorgrrl, I most definitely didn't remember it was Kyle playing the daughter!  My mind is blown lol.

[proserpina65]

On ‎07‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 11:36 AM, ABay said:

I loved Sleepers when it first aired in the US but I rewatched it a few years ago and it really hadn't aged well.

I haven't seen it since it first aired on PBS, but I remember loving how excited the one KGB agent got when, after examining the picture of the 1966 World Cup Final which included the two sleepers, he could tell whether or not Geoff Hurst's disputed second goal was really a goal.  He was much more thrilled about that than he was finding the sleeper agents in the photo.  It was details like that made Sleepers seem special at the time.

[fourPLUSseven]

Searching for a Food Network series from about 10 yeats back. Female host traveled the US finding specialty food makers of kimchi, cured meats, chocolate etc. Ring any bells? Thx

[NutMeg]

On 7/11/2016 at 3:58 AM, Bastet said:

Yeah, I remember it.  I wasn't going to watch it - a TV movie version of a Joan Crawford/Bette Davis film? - but the Redgrave sisters (and my interest in seeing Amy Steel in something other than a horror film) convinced me. 

In some ways, the sisters' relationship is more like the book, but it's jarring to watch TV movie Jane when you're used to movie Jane. 

As a remake, it's bland (and bland camp is never good).  I'd have to watch it again to figure out what I'd think of it if it existed in a vacuum. 

I've watched both the original movie and the TV movie. Bette Davis as Jane was so exceptional that Lynn Redgrave in the role looked caricatural in comparison. However, I thought Vanessa Redgrave as Blanche more than held her own and was more sympathetic than the Joan Crawford version. All in all, I found the TV version more traumatising, but that could be because I saw it before the movie version. 

[mishy]

17 hours ago, fourPLUSseven said:

 

Searching for a Food Network series from about 10 yeats back. Female host traveled the US finding specialty food makers of kimchi, cured meats, chocolate etc. Ring any bells? Thx

 

There was a show on The Cooking Channel called Eden Eats with Eden Grinshpan?

[fourPLUSseven]

That is not it but thank you for the reply.

Found it - FOOD CRAFTERS with Aida Mollenkamp.

Edited February 6, 2017 by fourPLUSseven
found it

[mishy]

Oh! I remember that show too. I mean not enough to help you but now that you mentioned her name I do recall watching that.

[PrincessEnnui]

Does anyone remember an animated cartoon that aired circa 1996 or 1997 about aliens suddenly making their presence known? It aired Saturday mornings on the WB/WGN and followed a mother and son. It was revealed the son was half alien and supposed to be something of an ambassador. It was dramatic a la Batman:  The Animated Series season 1 and 2.

[Trini]

On 2/18/2017 at 4:35 PM, PrincessEnnui said:

Does anyone remember an animated cartoon that aired circa 1996 or 1997 about aliens suddenly making their presence known? It aired Saturday mornings on the WB/WGN and followed a mother and son. It was revealed the son was half alien and supposed to be something of an ambassador. It was dramatic a la Batman:  The Animated Series season 1 and 2.

Oh yay! Someone else actually watched that! The title was "Invasion America". It was a mini-series. I remember it because in every episode somebody died, and I missed the concluding episodes.  :(

[The Crazed Spruce]

5 hours ago, Trini said:

Oh yay! Someone else actually watched that! The title was "Invasion America". It was a mini-series. I remember it because in every episode somebody died, and I missed the concluding episodes.  :(

I remember that one. As I recall, it aired in prime time and starred Leonard Nimoy as the bad guy.

[PrincessEnnui]

On 2/20/2017 at 3:42 AM, The Crazed Spruce said:

I remember that one. As I recall, it aired in prime time and starred Leonard Nimoy as the bad guy.

I do vaguely recall watching the premiere at night. I could just be remembering the Batman Beyond premiere though. Man Lenard Nimoy has lots of cool VA credits. Anyhoo, thank you.

[kiddo82]

We were talking about the Power Rangers at work today and I brought up this doozey.  Anyone else remember Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills?  It was a terrible, terrible Power Rangers knock off.  It's like, a bunch of young kids got together with a camcorder, decided to make their own ninja, superhero show,  and it somehow got picked up by a network.  You know a show is bad when even your eleven year old self thought so.

Edited March 28, 2017 by kiddo82

[Dee]

Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills rivals Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad and The Mystic Knights Of Tir Na Nog for best terrible Power Rangers knock off. 

[SVNBob]

3 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

 and it somehow got picked up by a network.

Well, USA.  So not a network network, but a low-tier cable network.  And it was in their early days when they were desperate for original programming, instead of the umpteenth rerun of NCIS.

[DisneyBoy]

I'm so glad this thread exists - there was some show that I think was Canadian that played in either the late eighties or the early nineties where this girl emerged from this white plexiglass octagonal sphere thing that I think transported her through time maybe and I have no idea what the premise of the show was. Or what it was called. Or who starred in it. I just remember that it was kind of a fantasy show with this sphere business going on...

... but I also wonder if I'm not conflating it with another show that I think was called The Odyssey that aired in the late eighties/early nineties that was about a boy who fell into a coma and the coma transported him into this fantasy world where all the people in his life were playing kind of Lost Boy-style characters in the woods and they were in the middle of this conflict between all the kids.

I think those were two different shows. It's just this visual of some kind of octagonal spherical ship made of white plexiglass or gray plexiglass or something like that and a girl walking out of it that has stayed with me for a long time. I hope someone else knows what on Earth I'm talking about because I have absolutely no leads on this one.

Edited April 7, 2017 by DisneyBoy

[SVNBob]

40 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

there was some show that I think was Canadian that played in either the late eighties or the early nineties where this girl emerged from this white plexiglass octagonal sphere thing

For some reason, that makes me think of The Tomorrow People, but that may not be right.

[DisneyBoy]

Thanks for the reply. TTP is waaay too recent. This was some 1990 TV series thing. Man I wish I could remember more about it...but the lead character was this girl who traveled in the sphere thing. The SFX weren't much but it was played rather seriously if I recall...

Maybe it was a British import?

Edited April 7, 2017 by DisneyBoy

[festivus]

I have no idea about your show but TTP was originally a British TV show from the 70's. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tomorrow_People it had a remake in 1992 besides the recent one on the CW. I've never seen either one of the old ones but it may be the show you're thinking of. 

[paulvdb]

On 7-4-2017 at 4:14 PM, DisneyBoy said:

I'm so glad this thread exists - there was some show that I think was Canadian that played in either the late eighties or the early nineties where this girl emerged from this white plexiglass octagonal sphere thing that I think transported her through time maybe and I have no idea what the premise of the show was. Or what it was called. Or who starred in it. I just remember that it was kind of a fantasy show with this sphere business going on...

... but I also wonder if I'm not conflating it with another show that I think was called The Odyssey that aired in the late eighties/early nineties that was about a boy who fell into a coma and the coma transported him into this fantasy world where all the people in his life were playing kind of Lost Boy-style characters in the woods and they were in the middle of this conflict between all the kids.

I think those were two different shows. It's just this visual of some kind of octagonal spherical ship made of white plexiglass or gray plexiglass or something like that and a girl walking out of it that has stayed with me for a long time. I hope someone else knows what on Earth I'm talking about because I have absolutely no leads on this one.

I think you might be talking about the Australian series Girl from Tomorrow. If I remember correctly that had a time capsule that looks like your description.

[DisneyBoy]

Wow - that's exactly it!!!

*applauds*

I am amazed anybody had any clue what the hell I was talking about. Thank you so much for clearing that up. I had long ago given up on ever figuring it out. You are awesome!

[barrysergin]

i remember watching this def comedy jam type tv show in the 90's, don't know if it was actually def comedy jam. it was stand up comedy. one of the comics, a black man, was talking about washington d.c. and in the voice that black comics use to imitate white people, he says something like, "white people when they visit washington d.c., they go there and say 'look at all the ****ing buildings!'" anybody know what this is from? thanks.

[barrysergin]

this was a tv movie or movie or tv show that i saw in the 80's, the kid and his father are sitting on a boat, the kid sees numbers on his father's arm, asks "i thought you said we're not supposed to get tattoos." the father replies that he got it in auschwitz. anybody know the name of this tv movie/show? Thanks.