Comic Genesis Forums

Does anyone remember a film from the 80s about a robot kid?
He may have been called D.A.R.Y.L or something. I know he nearly 'dies' in a lake, and theres a scene wheres playing a racing game at high speeds.

Holy coincidence!
That film is indeed called D.A.R.Y.L., and, having not thought about it for YEARS, I saw it on the shelf at the video store yesterday and pointed it out to Matthew because I vividly remembered watching it in school in about the seventh grade.
I remember that scene too...he's playing some vintage 80s' racing game, maybe Rad Racer or something, and because he's a robot he has some kind of connection with the nintendo and plays it inhumanly well and the other kids are duly impressed.

I remember DARYL!

Yeah, he did do that game thing, but I think the most egregious use of his robot abilities was when he stole that SR-71 or whatever and took it for a joyride across a state.

Of course, compared to AI, the only other film I can think of about a robot son surrogate, DARYL isn't so bad.

- Akhmed

Ooh, another DARYL memory.
I liked the part where he drowned, and everyone was sad, and then one of the kids had a revelation along the lines of "Wait! Death only means brain death, and since his brain is robotic he can't die!" and then Daryl suddenly revived.
Despite the fact that it'd be possible, and even likely, for his robo-brain to malfunction and die drowning, like throwing a toaster in the bathtub.
And I never did see AI, but from what I've heard I guess I didn't miss much.

Yeah, you gotta wonder -- couldn't DARYL's memory short-circuit? Probably not if he used magnetic tape, like they had back in the early 80's, but if that was the case, he'd be pretty dang slow.

Now that I think of it, my hardcore chiphead friends say that solid-state electronics should be okay if you just let them completely dry out before starting them up again. Maybe DARYL just turned himself off as he hit the water, allowing himself to be restarted after sufficient drying time.

- Akhmed

I remember this movie! I always liked the cheesy "Not Quite Human" films on the Disney Channel to this, probably because as a little kid I had this "friend" named Daryl whose sole purpose was to flaunt his various He-Man figures in my face that his parents bought for him to compensate for their lack of love.
Then when I was six I got the Evil Horde's Lair because I saved up $19.99 dollars in rolls of pennies, and his mom called my mom and chewed her out because now she had to buy Daryl the same thing. I bet Daryl's now like, the leader of some freaky underground molemen who eat leftover coffeegrounds and dream of seeing the sun one more time before their melatonin-deficient skin is seared like some fetal pig left in the window too long.

SUCKER.

Actually, I thought kids like that were the ones who turned into people like Auric Goldfinger or something, where they gild living people and buy ludicrously expensive lasers to leave around the house. Then James Bond gets them sucked out of a plane.

How much fun was the Lair, anyway? I never really had playsets when I was young; just a red vinyl mat for a martian surface for my space Legos. Actually, it was to keep Legos out of the carpet, so my other Lego people lived on Mars, too, like a Ray Bradbury story. So the fun value of the lair is something I wish to know.

- Akhmed

My brother and I had the elaborate Ninja Turtles Sewer Playset, which I think was a Christmas present from generous relatives. It was really hard to put together, and in no time it disintegrated into a random pile of grey plastic walls and green plastic sewer pipes. Also, we only had about four actual Turtles figures, and not the main ones. They included some orange dinosaur, and a Raphael who was permanently wearing an astronaut suit.
Fun times ensued.

We had a Rapheal who shot water, too. We actually had several Rapheals, a single Donatello who was coloured wrong, and a stunning absence of the leader and self-proclaimed party dude. However, none of the turtle figures would actually fit in the damn playset, so it really didn't matter. We did have a Rocksteady, though. He had an absolutely bitching blue gun.

Also- Unidentifiable chicken man. Ah, Ninja Turtles. Where have ye gone?

I can tell you where Donatello, Leonardo, and Rocksteady have gone: to the back of my closet. I think they're having a party in there with Battle-Cat (He-Man) and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek). They're probably using my eight zillion-year-old walkman, too. You know, from when they first started making them?

Yup. Retroville, thou art mine closet.

The Horde Lair was more fun than most of the other MotU bases (which were more like backdrops than anything), though like most playsets it was designed with a "play" side (as shown on the box) and a "knobs & levers" side in back. Here's a pic:
http://www.he-manandshe-ra.org/pics/katie20.jpg

The cage automatically snapped closed, the tree ensnared victims in its branches, and the rubber "monster" hand puppet ate people like only a rubber monster hand puppet could. On the floor in front of the cage is a piece of flooring that used to "bite down" on a figure's foot, making it easy prey for the cage door.

But then the Horde was demoted to mere She-Ra villains, so the cartoon could keep the sexual tension between He-man and Skeletor intact.

As for the Ninja Turtles, I actually vaccumed an office building by then, so I could afford the Turtle Van. The thing I remember most about the Turtle Van is that you could fit all the Turtles, Splinter and April O'Neil in it by snapping off their arms and dislocating their legs.

I think it's some sort of unspoken toymakers' law that no action figure should ever be allowed to sit comfortably in the vehicle that was designed for it.

Speaking of She-Ra...

Why didn't Hordak ever change his body into something actually capable of beating She-Ra, like a flamethrower or one of those rotating-barrel machineguns that spew thousands of bullets a minute? The best he ever did was a lame cannon.

- Akhmed

justinpie wrote:I think it's some sort of unspoken toymakers' law that no action figure should ever be allowed to sit comfortably in the vehicle that was designed for it.

If I may be girly for a moment...my Barbies fit excellently in their pink convertible, but DAMN, try to get them to sit on the plastic horse! This stupid animal was like ten times wider than their skinny little non flexible legs.
I like the Lego horses, that had the big square dent in them to fit a person.
And speaking of She-ra, as a kid I tried to wash my She-ra doll's face with toothpaste, and it DRIED, and it's still there on her in my basement. ew.

kathleenJ wrote: If I may be girly for a moment...my Barbies fit excellently in their pink convertible, but DAMN, try to get them to sit on the plastic horse! This stupid animal was like ten times wider than their skinny little non flexible legs.
I like the Lego horses, that had the big square dent in them to fit a person.
And speaking of She-ra, as a kid I tried to wash my She-ra doll's face with toothpaste, and it DRIED, and it's still there on her in my basement. ew.

1: Barbies are unanatomical.
2: Toothpaste is soap too!

To me, it was lego all over. Plus, after some while, all the things I tried to fit in with it as the legos proved insufficient. Automated coin counters needs a slightly-thinner-than-a-coin metal splint and a stronger motor, among others..

Then came the computers.

kathleenJ wrote: If I may be girly for a moment...my Barbies fit excellently in their pink convertible, but DAMN, try to get them to sit on the plastic horse! This stupid animal was like ten times wider than their skinny little non flexible legs.

Ironically, the bowleggedy He-man figures fit perfectly on animals like Battle Cat.

And speaking of She-ra, as a kid I tried to wash my She-ra doll's face with toothpaste, and it DRIED, and it's still there on her in my basement. ew.

in Barbie voice - "You'll like Kat - she's an artist!"

Hee!
^_^
aw, that movie rocks.