Poll: Run for your lives... the 90's are coming back!

[Spencer Petersen]

And videogames can go back to the decade that gave us Shaq Fu, which as we all know, is the most EXCELLENT videogame EVER!

Are we really in a position to comment as the generation that released Big Rigs?

Big Rigs was 2003. It was last generation, and last decade (remeber we're in 2011).

Also, Big Rigs was awful, but it wasn't a sign of how low a trend had sunk. Shaq Fu was a sign that the obession with fighters had become so completely awful, it could produce that. There's no modern day shooter equivilant of that, an FPS that truly horrible. We get stuff like Homefront, but thats mid 70's in scores. No-one in their right mind would give Shaq Fu a score in the 70's.

Its probably because the modern scale of games rating is subconsciously based on grades in schools where <60% is never used. In terms of an adjusted scale Homefront to me would be a 2/10. Poor pacing, terrible characters, laughable drama, short length, copy-pasted multiplayer, online restrictions, unimaginative weaponry and head aching graphics leave much to be desired. Shaq Fu was terrible, I agree. But it was at least funny in its sheer absurdity and stupidity. Homefront gleefully marching straight into mediocrity, without a single worthwhile moment or trait beyond the gimmicky setup. It might as well have not existed, at least Shaq Fu made people realize that making crap sometimes had a consequence.

 

[MadCapMunchkin]

The 90s spawned this...

And thus, the decade is beyond criticism...

Also, y'know. MTV actually playing music, Pokemon before it totally when peanut butter and banana sandwich crazy with the numbers, Animaniacs was still on the air and y'know...jeans that were torn rather than worn around the knees.

Sounds friggin' perfect to me.

 

[Jaxtor]

I'll suffer through anything for more episodes of Darkwing Duck, so bring it on!

 

[Atmos Duality]

Here's a thought, and stay with me on this one because it gets a tad complicated...

Spoiler: Prepare yourself...

Don't watch the movies.

You would be shocked at how futile that is today, unless you lock yourself into total isolation from the TV, the Internet, and your friends.
I heard about how terrible Revenge of the Fallen was for months after its release from every conceivable angle. I mean, shit. It's been years now and it's still the pariah for everything terrible that comes out of Hollywood.

Also, I blame America, which will continue to cash in on something, regardless of quality, if there is a minute chance that a profit can be turned.

Yup. I recall hearing that something like over 90% of all titles last year were remakes/reboots or sequels. Well, at least this proves that America had culture once upon a time; even if it's all gone now.

 

[funguy2121]

I hated the 90's. Though I was only six when they ended. Looking back as a teenager I see the 90's as horrible mistake, a painful transition we had to suffer in order to get where we are today. For a few reasons. The movies (most of them, there were some really good ones), the music, the television (apart from cartoons, 90's cartoons were definitely the best) and the clunky, grey computers with dial-up internet.

Also this:

Really, this was considered fashion?

Also remember this?
I loved it at the time, but I was five...

Also OP, the GI Joe movie sucked balls.

So...you hated the 90's, even though you wouldn't have the cognitive skills to process them until about 6 years after they ended? Since you were fortunate enough to miss the 80's entirely, I'll shed a little light for you.

Excepting Spielberg, Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick, there was virtually no cinematography, no acting, no directing in the 80's. It's as if the directors, producers, writers, extras and editors were all sniffing coke off a titless hookers thighs. This changed with the 90's.

Oh, I almost forgot. There weren't any tits either, even though the MPAA was far more lax back then. In the 80's, women were judged by the size of their hair and curvy girls weren't exactly celebrated the way they were in the 90's, when there were supermodels innumerable and virtually all of them had real curves.

Music. Mainstream music has never been as weird, as experimental, as genuine as it was in the 90's. There was an excess of teen angst and bitching, and some of the better artists lampooned this in their works. But there was none of the insipidity and materialism that permeates most popular music today-until the Spice Girls and Aqua came along.

TV definitely wasn't what it was today, but that can be said of any era. If I had to go back in time, based on available TV, I absolutely would not pick any decade other than the 90's. I'll take Seinfeld and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, thank you very much. You can keep your Miami Vice and your Cop Rock and your LA Law.

Also, the pic you posted - those are 80's clothes. They may have lingered in countries outside the U.S. after '92, but those are definitely not 90's clothes. You'd be better off posting parachute pants as an example.

 

[GreigKM]

Contrary to popular belief, the 90s where a great decade, economic prosperity, peace, Seinfeld. I WISH they'd come back.

 

[ZtH]

I remember the 90's as a haze of bong smoke, booze, flannel shirts, stoner/grunge rock and an intense dislike for indie brit-pop kids that didn't stop me becoming lifelong friends with some. Actually I don't remember the 90's that well. So I expect a reboot of The X-files is coming?

Oh sweet Jesus, NO MORE "X-FILES"! That series is DEAD and not even all the Yggdrasil leaves in the World will be able to resurrect it!
(That's a "Dragon Quest" reference, btw )

Just checking, but you do know that Yggdrasil comes from Norse mythology right?

OT: I would love to see some of those cartoons aired again, not remade just aired again. I'm currently rewatching Samurai Jack and loving it.

 

[funguy2121]

And videogames can go back to the decade that gave us Shaq Fu, which as we all know, is the most EXCELLENT videogame EVER!

Are we really in a position to comment as the generation that released Big Rigs?

Big Rigs was 2003. It was last generation, and last decade (remeber we're in 2011).

Also, Big Rigs was awful, but it wasn't a sign of how low a trend had sunk. Shaq Fu was a sign that the obession with fighters had become so completely awful, it could produce that. There's no modern day shooter equivilant of that, an FPS that truly horrible. We get stuff like Homefront, but thats mid 70's in scores. No-one in their right mind would give Shaq Fu a score in the 70's.

Its probably because the modern scale of games rating is subconsciously based on grades in schools where <60% is never used. In terms of an adjusted scale Homefront to me would be a 2/10. Poor pacing, terrible characters, laughable drama, short length, copy-pasted multiplayer, online restrictions, unimaginative weaponry and head aching graphics leave much to be desired. Shaq Fu was terrible, I agree. But it was at least funny in its sheer absurdity and stupidity. Homefront gleefully marching straight into mediocrity, without a single worthwhile moment or trait beyond the gimmicky setup. It might as well have not existed, at least Shaq Fu made people realize that making crap sometimes had a consequence.

That's GameInformer's influence. GameInformer, the one owned by GameStop. 7 = mediocre in their book, so they can sell you mediocre shit.

 

[beema]

the recycled trends cycle is getting shorter and shorter, just like the attention span of humans.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Fuck the nineties... mostly.

Some of the nineties was good, as with any decade. Batman: TAS was one of the greatest things ever, the last of the good Final Fantasies (I like VIII and IX dammit!) MGS was still cool, Tomb Raider got started.

But then again, nineties pop, the real explosion of rap, grunge, garage, britpop.

But then again, Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, Ultima.

And of course, on the other hand, FUCKING NINETIES COMICS! Or as most would call it 'the dork age' of comics.

Sure, these things ranged from alright to good for their time, but that's just the point, for their time, and they should stay in that time. The zeitgeist nowadays is different, so the culture should change to reflect it, not become a nostalgia driven bucket of puke.

But who am I kidding, the 80s looked back to the 50s, the 90s looked back to the 60s, the 00s looked back to the 80s, so the only decade long enough back is the 90s, which is what most cultural dead lowest common denominator money spenders will be looking towards.

 

[funguy2121]

And one more thing...what was so great about the ot's? Was the last decade, characterized by hatred, fear and American Idol, really so much better than the era of The Fugees, of Pulp Fiction and Heat and Braveheart, of ACTUALLY GOOD First Person Shooters? No.

Wow, thats certainly not a dumb comparrison. Lemme try.

Was that sarcasm regarding the comparrison, Mr. Garrison? You didn't really do much trying, Mr. Snarkymouth.

If this means a world without Justin bieber and all that POP crap. Definitely a yes.

Are we noticing a pattern that all pop groups except Micheal Jackson sound just as completely fucking terrible?

Hey, at least it can compensate for great bands like Greenday, Nirvana, Blink 182 and the rest.

.....

Okay, first of all I just had a brain annyerism because someone called Blink 182 great.

Second, and what does that make Disturbed, Airbourne, Kanye West and the rest?

Unless "Airbourne" is short for Airborne Toxic Event, it makes all of them tired and sub-par and, in the case of Kanye West, it makes him batshit. Agreed on Blink though. I think they did one song that I enjoyed. Shame, really. Travis Barker really can groove.

 

[Kroxile]

Awesome, hopefully this means we will elect another progressive president like we had in the first 90's so we can get the ball rolling on our economy AND save money just like we did with the first

 

[ChupathingyX]

But I grew up in the 90's.

Crash Bandicoot?
Spyro?
Kenan and Kel?
Dragon Ball Z?
Jurassic Park?
Toy Story?
The Mummy?
The Mask of Zorro?

My life in the Nineties was dominated by these things and the rest of the world was unknown to me.

 

[funguy2121]

And one more thing...what was so great about the ot's? Was the last decade, characterized by hatred, fear and American Idol, really so much better than the era of The Fugees, of Pulp Fiction and Heat and Braveheart, of ACTUALLY GOOD First Person Shooters? No.

Wow, thats certainly not a dumb comparrison. Lemme try.

Was the last decade, characterised by (1)videogames maturing into an artform, (2)technological evolution on an unprecedented scale, the rise of true internet communication and (3)the end of traditional medias chokehold on what was considered the news, of (4)The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Dark Knight and District 9 better than an era characterised by (5)endless fucking fighters, (6)animal platformers and the worst FPS's anyone has ever (7)seen, by (8)excruciatingly bad comedies like everybody loves Raymond and The Nanny, and some of (9)the worst fashion and hair ever witnessed by man? Yes.

And hey genius, what era in (10)human history WASN'T characterised by hatred and fear?

Ah, there you go. You remembered and so you went back and changed your post without admitting it. Naughty, naughty. Before I proceed, let me just make it clear to the entire forum that I am not and will not ever engage in "My decade can beat up your decade/My God can beat up your god" - type bickering. The 90's had its problems and I'd rather not go back to dialup. And many good things happened since then - I'm grateful for a smartphone, for instance. Anywho, by the numbers as I answer this condescending attempt at excoriation...

(1) Prove it. Video games haven't gotten there yet. Based on the movies you gave as examples, I'd say you would probably argue that Heavy Rain or Crysis have better stories than Stanley Kubrick ever gave us. And you'd be wrong (great games though). We're getting there, but you may have noticed it's 2011. The decade we were debating is over, and we're still not there.

(2) Still no flying cars though. And we still use gasoline. And put water in toxic bottles and buy it even though half the time it's from a public water supply.

(3) I'd love to hear what you mean by "traditional media" and "chokehold." How did CNN.com and MSNBC.com free us of the chokehold of CNN and MSNBC? Are you talking about bloggers?

(4) Lord of The Rings: Best fantasy movies ever. However - and I just re-watched Fellowship for the dozenth time last night - they certainly aren't without their flaws. They are the best fantasy movies in large part to the fact that almost all other fantasy movies suck. The Dark Knight: fav Batman movie. Not my favorite movie, fanboy. I'm guessing you hated the 1989 movie, huh? District 9 was also great. Got any more examples? How about Terminator: Rise of the Machines to the 90's Terminator 2? How about the Aliens Vs. Predator movies? Shia LeBouf's entire career? See, we can go back and forth on this. The truth is, it's been a fantastic decade for movies overall. The cinema typically sees bad years and good years, not bad and good decades.

(5) ...as opposed to endless fucking FPS's?
(6) Are you referring to the bandicoot? 'Cos I didn't play crappy PSOne games. Or perhaps you're dissing the old 2D Sonic games? Or just babbling? Why are you so above animal platformers but totally in love with animal kiddie 'toons?

(7) I smell a graphics whore. Update the framerate and I'd play an otherwise untouched Goldeneye or Perfect Dark over any Halo game, any time. But then again, I have taste and don't like FPS guns that look like Fischer Price toys.

(8) Jersey Shore, Survivor, Two and a Half Men, The George Lopez Show, Mind of Mencia, American Idol, The Apprentice, X Factor, absolutely all of the "reality" content of VH1, MTV, Animal Planet and every other formerly legitimate cable network, American Chopper, Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch. Today we have both a Helluvah lot more good shows, and an exponentially higher number of shit shows.

(9) Somebody isn't old enough to have been around for the 80's. Or seen pictures of the 70's or 60's.

(10) The 90's, that's what era. Hatred and fear have been elements, for they are always present, but hate and fear didn't define us in the 90's the way it did after 9-11. But that's for an entirely different thread. Invite me and I'll join in on the discussion.

Can I go play now, Dad?