Nickelodeon Buried the 90s in a Time Capsule

[Marshall Honorof]

Nickelodeon Buried the 90s in a Time Capsule

Kids in 1992 wanted to preserve Game Boys, rollerblades, and MC Hammer.

The 90s were a strange decade, no matter which part of pop culture you want to examine. The same decade that gave us the <a href=http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/hopr>Power Rangers also gave us Bubsy [http://www.progressiveboink.com/2012/4/21/2960508/worst-rob-liefeld-drawings]? While the charming cat platformer (catformer, perhaps?) seems lost to the ravages of time, Nickelodeon and a contingent of its loyal viewers wanted to make sure the same fate didn't befall the beloved pop culture icons of 1992. The network and a team of kids put together a time capsule containing 21 items that the denizens of the far-off future year 2042 could use to better understand the (admittedly very weird) habits, preferences, and worldview of children in the early 90s. From VHS tapes to Burt Reynolds (in a magazine) to photos of Soviet Russia, it would seem that they succeeded.

The items represent a wide swath of material from 20 years ago. There's some stuff that still holds up today, including a VHS of Back to the Future, a box of Twinkies, a Barbie doll, and a baseball. Other items, such as a Game Boy, a pair of rollerblades, a jar of Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelodeon_Toys#Gak] on CD are a little more dated. Those who open the capsule in 2042 might find that the most salient items, however, are photographs of celebrities, vehicles, and world events of the time, as well as an actual piece of the Berlin Wall, which had just fallen two years prior.

Since the burial of the time capsule happened 20 years ago and its unearthing is still 30 years away, this may not be the most urgent news you read today. Even so, it serves to reinforce the fact that even though it may not seem like it, the 90s were a long time ago, and a whole generation of kids has grown up under a whole new pop culture paradigm. If this list makes you nostalgic now, just imagine how you'll feel in 2042.

Source: mental_floss [http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/131296]

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[Orange Lazarus]

I gotta ask then. What was the point of this article?

 

[Furioso]

"Charming cat platformer" have you played Bubsy? Wasn't very charming. Don't even have to play it to see it, here's all of Bubsy for you

There, now let us never mention Bubsy again.

Also, who threw in the baseball? They didn't think we would have baseball in 10 years?

 

[EHKOS]

"Charming cat platformer" have you played Bubsy? Wasn't very charming. Don't even have to play it to see it, here's all of Bubsy for you

There, now let us never mention Bubsy again.

Also, who threw in the baseball? They didn't think we would have baseball in 10 years?

Dammit ninja'd.

OT: Gosh I feel old. And I was born a year later. Hard to imagine I'm almost twenty.

 

[DustyDrB]

Do not speak ill of Gak!
Though that stuff smelled like a fart. And it sounded like one too, sometimes.

 

[The Pinray]

Um... Okay?

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I hope some of the VHS tapes they put in there were of some Disney movies and maybe the Ninja Turtles before they become aliens.

 

[scorptatious]

Assuming the Escapist is still around by then, someone post in this thread in 2042. I would love to see the future generation of Escapists look at this and go, what the fuck?

"Charming cat platformer" have you played Bubsy? Wasn't very charming. Don't even have to play it to see it, here's all of Bubsy for you

There, now let us never mention Bubsy again.

Also, who threw in the baseball? They didn't think we would have baseball in 10 years?

Dammit ninja'd.

OT: Gosh I feel old. And I was born a year later. Hard to imagine I'm almost twenty.

I was born a year earlier. How do you think I feel? XD

 

[Rad Party God]

As a kid that was grown entirely in the 90's that always feel massively nostalgic every time I see or hear the Power Rangers theme, this is the most useless piece of news I've seen the entire day. If I buried that "time capsule" though, I'd definitely filled it with better stuff.

 

[xrogaan]

Now, I feel old.

I hate you.

 

[Endocrom]

Prediction: Moisture from the Gak leaked out, fed bacteria in the baseball and now it's a giant petri dish. (watch out for the 'Curse of the Pharohs [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_pharaohs#Possible_causes]")

I think the "time capsule" idea, for the most part, is obsolete. The 90's may have sucked, but the way we've kept our nostalgia going, you might think it was some kind of golden age or something (thanks internet). I doubt anyone reading this today has trouble identifying the items listed. (maybe the Hammer CD)
[hr]Oh yeah, I just remembered an article about 5 years ago talking about how the old Nick Studios were long abandoned. The person writing it talked about wandering from the Universal Studio tour and finding an eerily quiet and disheveled "Double Dare" set or something. Then a follow-up on how the place was demolished some time later. Not sure what it said about the capsule though.

Kind of interesting that out of all the stuff Nick did in those days, the time capsule comes up so often.

 

[Saulkar]

Getting a very negative vibe from this thread here, mmm-hmm. Gotta say I sure as hell do not feel 20 years old nor do I feel that interested in getting much older. Regardless I actually wish I was born a little earlier as to of experienced the 90s first hand at an age that could appreciate it.

 

[FalloutJack]

Don't come out yet! The world isn't ripe enough! Go back! Go baaack!

*Seals himself inside of a Vault*

 

[Therumancer]

Hmmm, well the 90s was the time of "Generation X" which along with "Generation Y" were the generations skipped over by the Baby Boomers, with only the current generation really having a chance of stepping up into their place. As a result it's not surprising that to many people it seems like a big gap in history. Indeed during the 1990s the lack of meaning was kind of the point, and that's what inspired a lot of the "emo" stuff and the whole "slacker" mentality. Today a lot of people who mock those points of view (and there is a lot to mock) kind of miss the point that they have more to look forward to than Generation X did, as the oppertunities they are going to have don't exist, though truthfully with increasing lifespans the next few generations after the current one are going to find themselves in a similar position as they wait for the current upcoming generation that finally replaces the last of the boomers to themselves kick off.

One thing people today don't seem to get when they mock bands like Linkin Park (which is easy to do) is that they started in like 1996. Their (arguably) biggest song for the whole "Emo" thing "In The End" was from 2002. They kind of became famous for being one of the bands that represented a forgotten generation, to an extent "In The End" kind of worked for a lot of people like me. I was 15 in 1990, and a young adult when they started, in 2002 I was 27 working a go nowhere job as Casino Security dealing with other people's problems and stress for little or no thanks or pay, and little in the way of advancement. Hitting your late 20s or early 30s and realizing nothing you did mattered or was going to matter, as the same people who are in charge were in charge before and will continue to be so is kind of painful.

I'm not a Linkin Park fan (before anyone jumps on me) it's just that having sort of been there in the backround, I'd have to say they are one of the groups that sort of defines that entire point of view, along with say early Kevin Smith movies and what it did for Slackers. Guys who don't even try, because they know they aren't going anywhere, so they figure there is no point in putting in the effort. Positive thinking only works when there is someplace to go, in the end those good jobs are typically going to be held by Baby Boomers who were doing them since before you were an adult, and will continue to do them in your borderline middle age, when younger people from the next generations will be coming up to take those jobs while your generally stuck in mediocrity.

 

[Beautiful End]

Although salvaging information and stuff from certain eras is no longer a challenge as it was generations before us, I still find time capsules to be quite amusing. The only thing that bothers me is that someone might find it before its time to open it, like some random hobo, and dispose of it. Or is someone gonna remember where the capsule is at by then? Is it going to be on the news?

Also...

Spoiler: The way this article made me feel...

 

[Cid Silverwing]

The 90's sucked ass in pretty much every way a decade could suck. A decade without an identity, and without anything outstanding to identify it. I really can't see why you'd need a time capsule to remember it, as there really wasn'y anything worth remembering.

Coming from someone swwho grew up in the 90's, they sucked ass.

You need a dose of the Care Bears. Stat.

I find it to be harsher in hindsight when you realize Nickelodeon made this time capsule before they turned into the rancid shitfest they are today. I swear, if you wanna relive your childhood memories, you better hope someone is out there circulating the tapes.