Galaxy High, on CBS
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This Saturday morning cartoon aired in the mid-80s, when I was a kid, so it's quite nostalgic for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it back in the day, so I'm glad to finally have it on DVD. Hard to believe there were only 13 episodes. I guess my attention span was less then than it is now. Which is scary, considering how low it is now.
Anyway, there was this high school in space with students from many different planets. A couple of kids were selected from Earth to attend the school. I kind of thought the first episode actually showed them on Earth, but I guess I was wrong, since watching the DVD all these years later, we only see them on Earth in the opening theme. So, there was this sort of dumb jock named Doyle Cleverlobe, and this girl named Aimee Brightower, who was supposed to be like a nerdy, unpopular brain on Earth. (But oh, we like her; oh my yes, we had quite the crush on her back in the day, and still rather do.) Anyway, Doyle is expecting to enjoy even greater popularity at Galaxy High than he did on Earth, where he was the most popular kid in school. Turns out, no one at his new school cares much about him, since he never studied. So he has to get a job at a pizza place to pay his tuition. Meanwhile, Aimee gets a scholarship and a new space car, and quickly becomes quite popular. Plus she gets a makeover, which includes turning blue.
(I suppose I should mention that a: I like that the show depicts a smart and responsible girl as being the cool one, even if it is only in the eyes of a bunch of freaky aliens, but b: it's kind of a shame the creators felt the need to give her a makeover, presumably implying that girls should try to look hot if they want to be popular, even if they are also smart and responsible. Still, c: there's nothing wrong with being both smart and attractive, it would a disservice to suggest the two things need be mutually exclusive, although d: I thought she was perfectly pretty before the makeover. And yet, e: somehow, I just can't honestly complain about a blue girl in a skimpy outfit. Though f: Why the heck is her face sometimes blue, sometimes more a sort of lavender or something, and sometimes it reverts back to its natural coloration? Shoddy animation, that's what I think, unless the dye job doesn't last long, so she'll have to go back to the salon more often. But actually, I haven't seen her with a blue face since the first episode. Her arms and legs are usually blue, but while watching the DVDs, I've come to suspect that coloration might be from really tight leggings and sleeves, since there are times they're normal-colored. That is, intentionally; there are also sometimes continuity errors with blue legs one second and fleshtone the next. )
Um, anyway, there were a bunch of weird alien creatures at the school and um... I dunno, it was just funny, and stuff. There's a nerdy, 6-armed kid named Milo De Venus, who's friends with Doyle and Aimee (he's also the class president). And a few girls who also became Aimee's friends, including the sultry Wendy Garbo (who we like; the most human-looking alien at the school, the only apparent difference being her Vulcanlike ears), Booey Bubblehead (a pink girl with a transparent bubble for a head, who is also dimwitted), and Gilda Gossip (who has a bunch of mouths on stalks growing out of her head, all of which like to spread gossip). And there are some bullies, the Bonk Bunch, led by Beef Bonk (who looks like a mutated version of Foghorn Leghorn). Beef's friends are Rotten Roland (a sort of slimy egghead- and I don't mean that in an intellectual way) and Earl Eccchhh (who is just... slime). Aside from them, a few other alien kids we sometimes see hanging with Doyle and Aimee include Flat Freddie (who is flat), and "the Creep" (a weird, fuzzy little flying critter that's in love with Aimee, who alternates between talking in a manner that's, I dunno, nerdy or autistic almost, and crooning like Frank Sinatra). And there's a rich student named Reggie Unicyle. They're also friends with Ollie Oilslick, the cabbie who brought Doyle and Aimee to Galaxy High from Earth (his head looks like an amoeba or something). And a few other recurring characters include various teachers, most notably Professor Icenstein (who resembles Jack Frost, and speaks with a trilling Germanic accent), a science teacher the kids often go to for information; Luigi La Bounci (who actually looks fairly human, albeit very short; he has an Italian accent), the pizza maker Doyle and Milo work for; Sludge the janitor, a small dog that can grow very large and muscle-bound; and maybe a few others.
(I must say, it's kind of strange that so many aliens have names that are either Earth names or Earth words, and furthermore that their names should so pointedly fit their personalities or distinguishing physical traits. But whatever, it's a kid's show, so I'll let it slide. It's fun, anyway.)
Well... after watching the series on DVD, I can say it's often kind of silly, dumb, predictable, with tons of pop culture references and puns, very 1980s. But still, aside from my nostalgic appreciation of it, I do think it's a really fun show (as I've said). The final episode is the one I remember best from when it originally aired, and it's mostly a dream Doyle has in which he and Aimee and most of the people from Galaxy High are on Earth. And... I'm not sure what else to say.