Nickelodeon UK - Promo Compilation - 2000 Back to the Past! 2026-09-27 | Nickelodeon UK - Promo Compilation - 2000
Cartoon Network Tapes 2! | VHS Review Back to the Past! 2023-09-29 | I take a look at an old Cartoon Network tape from 2006! Including Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Camp Lazlo, Billy & Mandy, and more!
Power Rangers: The Movie | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-09-07 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of Power Rangers: The Movie, including a history of the show’s British origins, a full review of the film, and lots of ooze!Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS tapes, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#backtothepast #powerrangers #review #mightymorphinpowerranger
SpongeBob SquarePants! | VHS Review Back to the Past! 2023-08-25 | A deep-dive into a UK VHS of SpongeBob, in which I review the trailers, five classic episodes of the show, and more!Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS tapes, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-08-11 | It's terror time again! Join me for a deep-dive into the UK VHS of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island - and yes, I do talk about the song. Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS tapes, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#scoobydoo #zombieisland #vhs #review #backtothepast #cartoonnetwork #cartoons
Toy Story 2 | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-07-14 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of Toy Story 2, including a trip to Disney World, an awesome Buzz Lightyear game, and two hopping lamps!Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS tapes, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#toystory #vhs #review #disney #toystory2 #backtothepast
Beat the Crusher | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-07-07 | #lostmedia #vhs #review #nostalgia #beatthecrusher #gameshow A deep-dive into the lost UK game show Beat the Crusher, which has to be seen to be believed! Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS tapes, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.
Argos Memories! | Back to the Past Back to the Past! 2023-06-30 | I take a look through an old Argos catalogue from 2002. Childhood memories galore!#argos #nostalgia #toys #backtothepast
Remember These?! | Beyblades | Back to the Past Back to the Past! 2023-06-26 | #shorts #adverts #beyblade #beyblades #toys A look back at Beyblades! Taken from Coming Soon, the ultimate guide to UK VHS trailer reels. Subscribe for more trips to the past! Watch Coming Soon here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtP5h_9SGiVMTZk0VDB9g8zOIlvTHQ34M
Beyblade | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-06-23 | #beyblade #backtothepast #beyblades #vhs #anime #review A deep-dive into a UK VHS of Beyblade, where I look through the early history of the toys, the promotions, and even try to make it through three episodes of the anime! Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS trailer reels, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.
Weirdest Ad Ever?! | Munchsters | Back to the Past! Back to the Past! 2023-06-19 | #shorts #adverts #vhs #munchstersA look back at Munchsters! Taken from Coming Soon, the ultimate guide to UK VHS trailer reels. Subscribe for more trips to the past! Watch Coming Soon here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtP5h_9SGiVMTZk0VDB9g8zOIlvTHQ34M
Osmosis Jones | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-06-16 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of Osmosis Jones, where I take a look at the trailers, the film, and even the short-lived sequel show! Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS trailer reels, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#osmosisjones #vhs #review
Thomas and the Magic Railroad | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-05-20 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, featuring a creepy logo, a public execution, and a disturbing insight into chocolate stars!Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS trailer reels, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#thomasandfriends #thomasandthemagicrailroad #vhs #review
Cartoon Network Tapes! | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-05-12 | A deep-dive into one of my old Cartoon Network tapes, including a look at some of the most obscure cartoons, bizarre promos, and heaps of early 2000s ads!Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS trailer reels, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#cartoonnetwork #vhs #review #cartoons #vhsrecording
The Simpsons: Heaven & Hell | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-05-05 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of The Simpsons: Heaven & Hell, featuring the story of how the series first came to British TV and my outlook on some classic episodes!Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS tapes, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#simpsons #thesimpsons #vhs #review #heavenandhell
Digimon: The Movie | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-04-28 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of Digimon: The Movie, featuring a brief history of the franchise in Britain, some amusing raps, and the little animated hellspawn Angela Anaconda.Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS trailer reels, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#digimon #vhs #review #digimonthemovie
Pokémon: The First Movie | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-04-21 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of Pokémon: The First Movie, featuring Pokémon, Pokémon, and, believe it or not, Pokémon!Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS trailer reels, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#pokemon #pokemonthefirstmovie #pokémon #vhs #review
Ice Age | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-04-14 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of Ice Age, featuring laughing cows, Steve Irwin fighting the MGM logo, and the horrifying mystery of Munchsters!(With thanks to Clank Zoka for the request!)Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS tapes, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#iceage #vhs #review #munchsters
Toy Story | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-04-07 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of Toy Story, featuring piracy, lying trailers, and outdated CD-ROM technology!Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS trailer reels, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#toystory #vhs #review #disney
The Iron Giant | VHS Review! Back to the Past! 2023-03-31 | A deep-dive into the UK VHS of The Iron Giant, featuring stories about Pokémon, a defunct cinema chain, and two road safety-conscious hedgehogs trying to cross the street without getting squashed.Coming Soon is the comprehensive guide to UK VHS trailer reels, jam-packed with history, personal experiences with the past, and a lot of very bad jokes.#theirongiant #irongiant #vhs #review #animation
Making a Cartoon: From Script to Screen! | Size Matters Back to the Past! 2023-02-12 | An extensive look into the making of an animated short from start to finish, through early inspiration, voice acting, storyboarding and more! (I plan on making more documentary-style videos like this on other topics in future, so consider this a test!)See the original Size Matters shorts here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtP5h_9SGiVN0RGJCPjwPTLRtc5SpQwLJScript 1: drive.google.com/file/d/1i1aCt-vF8Npfqs3HB_neds3-IrfzcgWY/view?usp=sharingScript 2: drive.google.com/file/d/1G1I1gpqMQL-USOC2sMAY5Wmm3bOcmE3w/view?usp=sharing#cartoonnetwork #cartoons #animation #animated #animationvideo
PS2 Demo Disc! | Back to the Past Back to the Past! 2022-11-04 | A comedy of errors as I fail miserably at old PS2 demos!#ps2 #ps2games #demo #playstation
Old DVDs and More! | The Mystery Box | Back to the Past Back to the Past! 2022-10-23 | I dig through a mysterious box full of old, outdated junk from the past!#mysterybox #dvdcollector #dvd #disney #vhs #collection
Sky TV | Does It Still Work? Back to the Past! 2022-10-16 | A look back at Sky TV, as I try to get an old box to work again without electrocuting myself in the process!#sky #skytv #review #nostalgia
VHS Room Tour! | Back to the Past Back to the Past! 2022-10-14 | Join me as I mumble my way through a tour of my outdated VHS collection! Any comments, questions, or requests for future videos? Just let me know below!#vhs #collection #vhscollection #review #backtothepast #roomtour
Robot Wars: The First World Championship (UK VHS, 2000) Back to the Past! 2022-06-04 | Originally released exclusively on VHS in 2000, this was the first ever international Robot Wars competition. Obviously available elsewhere in better quality, but this was the full VHS experience back in the day, complete with that demented Ribena advert that still gives people nightmares to this day. Surely that's worth preserving, right?
The Powerpuff Girls: Dream Scheme (UK VHS, 2001) Back to the Past! 2022-05-29 | Another one of those rare promo VHS tapes, though what the circumstances were behind this one, I can't say. (Maybe if you bought a PPG toy, they'd throw in this for free or something.) Has the usual anti-piracy and VSC routine on it, with the only oddities being a Cartoon Network logo present in the top right corner throughout the show - similar to how you would have seen it on TV - and two sets of credits played directly after each other, when you think one would be enough.
Robot Wars: American Final - 1996 (UK VHS, 1998) Back to the Past! 2022-05-28 | It's that time where I feel like digging through old material again, so here's a long-forgotten relic from the days of Robot Wars - a tape that was only available by becoming a member of the Robot Wars Club, as advertised repeatedly at the end of every episode. (I always wanted to join, but too young to stump up the membership fee.) This was actually the first thing you could get if you sent off to join during the very first series in 1998, so they had to have Phillipa Forrester explain why two lumps of metal were smashing into each other at high velocity. Then again, people still need to have this explained to them even now, so go figure. There was also a full version of this event released as part of one of those VHS double pack things, so maybe I'll post that as well at some point.
Size Matters - Episode 2 Back to the Past! 2021-12-24 | Is Santa truly real? Mara and Sara can’t seem to agree, so the world’s stupidest bet takes them all the way to the North Pole in search of the jolly red guy himself! But they might not like what they find…Did you enjoy this crazy cartoon? If so, like, share it around and leave a comment, too!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (UK Rental VHS, 2000) Back to the Past! 2021-12-16 | More Grinchy goodness. The original Chuck Jones animated short was given a big re-release on VHS in 2000, probably to coincide with the freakish Jim Carrey movie, and this is actually a rental copy as well, which normally means more ads and marketing, but that’s kind of hit-or-miss in the kids’ department, honestly. The only difference here is that the title of the movies being advertised are written at the bottom of the screen during the trailers, because apparently people who rent movies are twice as dumb as people who buy them. True story, really.Anyway, the tape itself kicks off with a trailer for Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders – not really much of a Christmas film, even though I did get this tape as an early present in December once – followed by a trailer for Thomas and the Magic Railroad, a film that definitely got a lot of hype when it came out, but failed to deliver in the eyes of fans of the really useful engine, no matter how many perky ska tunes they stuck on the end of this thing. (Plus Thomas has two different voices in this trailer. Uh… mistake?)There’s that trailer for The Miracle Maker again – I mean, it IS Jesus’ birthday, guys, so he deserves a turn here – followed by a different promo for Pokémon: The First Movie. It’s more or less the original trailer, but shortened slightly and given a different voiceover to promote the home video release, including mention of the shiny new DVD format – plus an exclusive new Mewtwo trading card! Ah, heroin to kids back then, seriously.Finally, there’s the BBFC warning, and then it’s straight into the Grinch, which is actually only 25 minutes long, so they had to tack Horton Hears a Who! on the end of the tape afterwards just to cover themselves… both of which, coincidentally, were turned into movies starring Jim Carrey as the titular characters. The man had it all planned, I tell you.
The Grinch (UK Rental VHS, 2001) Back to the Past! 2021-12-15 | A couple more tapes for Christmas, and no better way to celebrate the festive time of year than with the grumpiest of grumblers: the Grinch! So here’s a flashback to the rental VHS of the incredibly bizarre Jim Carrey movie, a film where the happy-go-lucky Whos somehow manage to look more disturbing than the Grinch himself.Anywho – no pun intended – the tape kicks off with a reminder NOT TO STEAL IT OKAY, though it helpfully contains the release date of the VHS, which makes things so much easier for historical purposes, and also highlights just how long you had to wait for a movie to come out on home video after its theatrical run, being released in December 2000 in the UK before finally arriving on VHS in November 2001, almost a full year between the two. Stealing a copy of such a big film that year probably would have been harder than stealing Christmas, let’s be honest. Trailer time now, and first up is Jurassic Park 3, the one that not too many people seem to like, but then I personally don’t know too much about the franchise myself, so maybe it’s worth leaving it for the fans to squash each other over. (I picture them as ravenous tyrannosaurs roaring at each other all day, of course.) Next, a trailer for Barbie in the Nutcracker, another one of those incessantly irritating conflict-free films that grated on boys like me at the time, and I can only say that I wish I could put Barbie in the nutcracker, believe me.More festive showings then with The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus, an obscure animated film that tells the background of Kringle himself, though I’ve never actually heard of it. Definitely the kind of thing you would have caught on something like Cartoon Theatre back in the day and been thoroughly bored because there was nothing else good on, munching from a slightly stale tin of Roses that your grandmother had left over from last year and wondering if you were going to get that PS2 game you really wanted from Santa. Not that I’m projecting or anything.To continue the “stuff I haven’t seen” marathon, next is a promo for all the Land Before Time films at the… time, and even back then they’d already made seven of them. I don’t know what it is that compelled them to make this the most prosperous of animated franchises, but those dinosaurs must have made some seriously good cash when you think about it. Or whatever constituted cash in the dino days, anyway.The last trailer is for Shrek, yet another franchise I’ve never been that into, but one that almost every other kid around me seemed to love. This trailer is definitely a product of its time, anyway, and one that leads me to wonder if there was ever an early 2000s movie that DIDN’T have a Smash Mouth song on the soundtrack back then. (Even The Grinch is guilty of it.)Then we get a PIF, oddly enough – for something called TimeBank, a volunteering charity that I can’t say I’ve heard of before, which seems to be a running theme with this tape in particular. Quite a clever ad, though, one that subverts the usual expectations, even if the font made me wonder if this was going to turn out to be an ad for Volkswagen or something, which wouldn’t have surprised me.Finally, there’s one more PIF-ish thing: a little message telling us to rent VHS tapes, because it means you get to see new movies long before they come out on satellite TV or pay-per-view… except The Grinch came out 11 months after its theatrical release, as I noted before, which is quite the long wait anyway, so that kind of defeats the point of this when you think about it. And why does the guy tell us to “rent a video now” when we presumably just DID rent a video now? Oh, I don’t know. Bah humbug, kids.
Top 10 Christmas Special 2021! Back to the Past! 2021-12-10 | Ten Christmas crackers from the world of ads and PIFs!
ITV 1 - Continuity and Adverts - November 7th, 2001 (6) Back to the Past! 2021-12-07 | Our final clip, then, which starts off with a weather update – involving nothing but rain, of course – followed by a promo for a show called The Farmer Wants a Wife, something that I’ve never heard of before, and hopefully will never have to hear of again. Anyway, next up is the HTV News – the Welsh version of the ITV News – but first, more and more ads. BT Business crops up again, this time with a flashy American motivational speaker who fails to have much effect on the average Brit, followed by an ad for an indigestion tablet called PepsidTwo, which I actually misheard as “Pepsi 2”, almost as if they decided to make a sequel to the popular soft drink and become the New Coke of the early 2000s. Sadly not the case, though.A late-night drive next in a moody ad for booze – don’t ask me to explain this one – plus a wake-up call from Debenhams again. More repeats ensue for Baxters and Asda, then a technological ad for a De’Longhi chip fryer. I feel like these guys used to release a lot of these gadgets around this time, but then kind of faded away from the advertising scene not too long after, probably because these items were kind of mundane, when if they’d made a De’Longhi jetpack or a De’Longhi hoverboard instead, it might have been more exciting. Even more repeats, then a brief promo for The World Is Not Enough, where Bond movies are always a staple of any ITV schedule. Time for even more wet weather updates then, plus another Peak Practice promo. The Color of Money is up next after more ads, the first of which is for Peugeot, in one of those artsy efforts that compares the great qualities of man to buying a dinky metal box on wheels. Same old, same old.There’s another Morrisons ad, followed by an unusually adult-aimed ad for Frosties to promote their “Growl for a Grand” competition. Kind of strange to see Tony Tiger asking you to phone in for a chance to win some cash when he should teaching a kid how to surf or something, isn’t it? But after that, an ad for Capital Gold Legends II, an album full of the usual tunes you’d come to expect from a basic compilation CD. ITV takes us into The Color of Money, then, but we’ll carry on to the final ad break, where the famous “Surfer” ad for Guinness makes an appearance, complete with that pumping beat that probably made people either want to learn how to surf or pick up a beer. (Probably the latter, actually.) Next, an ad for Argos starring a CGI Santa and a stack of hot Christmas treats from around the time, ranging from Action Man to radio-controlled Robot Wars toys, both of which I would have been hungry for back then.Blockbuster returns again, followed by a not-so-Christmassy ad for Woolworths, offering you the choice of buying Hannibal on VHS, plus Silence of the Lambs for an extra £2.99. They’d always get ya with deals like that, wouldn’t they? Then there’s a an ad for Pump Up the Volume, an album full of club tracks that I’m sure would have been all the rave in Ibiza around this time, and finally an ad for the Citroen C5, with the intriguing new feature of being able to drive over incredibly tough terrain like grass, ice, and even binary code. Wow!To finish off, there’s one more promo for the adult edition of Night and Day, and then the tape ends itself. I guess it didn’t like soap operas.
ITV 1 - Continuity and Adverts - November 7th, 2001 (5) Back to the Past! 2021-12-06 | Another day, another break, and after a very brief promo for Heartbeat, the first ad is for Windows XP, promoting it as the ultimate operating system, which I guess it was at the time, given it was present on just about every early 2000s computer I laid eyes on as a child. (And is it just me, or did no one ever seem to change that default desktop background?) Santa then goes Christmas shopping at Asda – maybe he owns the company – where you can buy big bags of crisps, big bags of Christmas cards, and even a big pogo stick! Alright, so maybe the pogo stick wouldn’t be of much use to me, but I’d still buy it at those crazy prices, just so long as I don’t have to watch Santa slapping his buttocks at the end again. Anyway, next comes a promo for the ITV News, featuring something or other about George W. Bush – you can tell this is 2001 – and then we’re back into the final part of that ITV drama.After the drama’s over, I guess it’s time for real-life drama with the news, but first a little plug for the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust in one of those “contact this number if you’ve been affected by this show” things. Then there’s a promo for Des O’Connor on Des O’Connor, which sounds like a very, um, meta thing to do, I guess. Either that or some kind of insidious cloning drama involving old ITV hosts.If you’re suffering from trapped wind – I haven’t heard anyone say that in years, you know – maybe consider picking up some meds from Rennie. Or maybe go shopping at Boots instead, where you can buy make-up, cosmetics, and a frog… thing for just a third of the price. Then we take a trip to a small little village that’s just about to set up its very own cheese website, only for it to be suddenly hacked by a group of people who clearly have nothing better to do. Or maybe back then that was one of only five sites on the internet that you could actually hack. Whatever the case, get in touch with IBM’s online security division – they’ll only cheat you, not hack you.Next, a story about pure heart from Bitesize Shredded Wheat, then an ad for Disneyland, in which the creepy mascot characters roam the theme park at night putting up explosive-filled Christmas decorations. Or at least that’s how it looks to me. (I think it’s the fact the eyes don’t blink – it just seems sinister, somehow.) After a speedy little ad for Fairy, time for some cheese and crackers with Jacob’s. (Who is Jacob? No idea.) Finally, more cosmetics in the form of Dove cleansing wipes, followed by a free repeat for Freeserve, and then a promo for a showing of the movie Twister, which I always felt was a very poor adaptation of the board game, honestly. And then the ITV News is on.
ITV 1 - Continuity and Adverts - November 7th, 2001 (4) Back to the Past! 2021-12-05 | Audi get first dibs on the next ad break, claiming that their latest car has been designed by a group of extreme sports athletes – somehow, I doubt it – followed by a cockerel crowing in an ad for the Debenhams Christmas sale, though without any sight of the shop itself or any of the products they’re selling. What do they think this is, a modern Christmas advert? Maybe it’s just me, but whenever I caught a glimpse of anything related to video games in an ad, I became ten times more interested. A bunch of friends are playing the PS1, but really the ad is just for McCain Micro Chips, a staple of childhood snacks for me. Back then, they had hundreds of these products – Micro Pizzas, Micro Toasties, Micro Baguette, Micro Machines – though only the chips remain these days. Maybe one day the others got so microscopic, they all just disappeared.Voicemail mishaps galore in an ad for Vodafone next, then an ad for the chewy variety of Werther’s Originals, which sounds quite tasty, honestly. Next up is a relentlessly American ad for St. Ives body scrub, one of those very gritty products that feels like you’re rubbing shards of thick granite into your skin with the amount of debris that squirts out from them. Blockbuster is here! But turns out the featured movies are The Mexican, Pearl Harbor and Bridget Jones’ Diary, all of which have no interest to me whatsoever. (Around this time, I was probably renting Rugrats in Paris or something.) Oddly, we then get an advert for a TV channel, UK Gold, which would always seem kind of strange to me as a kid, for some reason, like the channels were invading their rivals’ turf or something. Anyway, there’s a promo for Wales This Week to close off the ad break, in which they have a bone to pick with the Scouts, and then we return to even more dramatics from ITV.But we shall continue on for one more round of ads, the first of which is for Dolmio, complete with that usual Italian feel and shots of warm tomato sauce drizzling over spaghetti. Makes me hungry for some pasta, to be honest. A woman then squeals like a banshee in what must be the first ever “screamer” ad for BT Business – take that, K-Fee – followed by a relentlessly French ad for L’Oréal, boasting “great hair” and “strength” and yeah, whatever.There’s another Roses ad, followed by an ad for Baxters – it’s soup, can’t say much else – and then one more BT Business ad for the road, only instead of screaming, this time everyone is sitting on big red bean bags. I had a bean bag once. (It burst.) But after that, it’s straight back to the ITV Drama of the Day.
ITV 1 - Continuity and Adverts - November 7th, 2001 (3) Back to the Past! 2021-12-04 | The next ad break kicks off with a plug for Olay’s latest skin cream, and like car ads, it’s getting quite difficult to talk about these cosmetic products, because they’re all just the same thing. Attractive female model rubs cream in, strokes herself, looks pretty – the end. Next up is a slightly more interesting ad for Herbal Essences shampoo, which I actually know pretty well from its appearances on many rental VHS tapes of the era, and if the courtroom setting is somewhat unrealistic, at least the song is a little catchy. I actually think all court sessions should be musicals like this – it would make second-degree manslaughter charges a lot more interesting. Anyway, next is an ad for Lea & Perrins Table Sauce, oozing all over a delicious meal, followed by Morrisons boasting about all the fresh stuff they make, yet whenever you order a good tiger loaf from them, there’s never one to be found. Then an ad for the Ford Fiesta Flight, which, despite the very alliterative name, probably doesn’t actually fly. I wish it did, though.While they still exist, building societies really don’t get mentioned too much anymore, but The Principality was a pretty big one in Wales back then, even if they couldn’t afford to film their ad in colour. BT Cellnet is another service that no longer exists, being transferred to the O2 name in 2002, though looking at the vaguely creepy CGI on the girl at the start, maybe that’s for the best.Repeat time for that kids’ album then – probably foreshadowing how much I would repeat this CD at the time – followed by an ad for a Christmas sale going on down at Boots. In fact, I think the only thing they don’t sell is actual boots. The ad break then closes off with a promo for the, ahem, “sexy” edition of Night and Day, a short-lived soap opera that originally aired in the day, but then got shafted late into the night, so yeah, I guess it did live up to its title.We’ll soldier on to the next ad break, where a bunch of kids eagerly pour out of school to admire their dad’s new Vauxhall, followed by an ad for Littlewoods, where Graham Norton laments the fact that he can’t buy a pair of Harry Potter pyjamas. Of course, Littlewoods still exists now, but back then it was more of a shop and catalogue service, before they later sold all the stores to become an online retailer only. I doubt they still sell the Potter pyjamas, though.Halifax then jump in with one of their usual song-and-dance numbers of the time, looking, as always, to give you “extra”, though no Harold Brown, unfortunately, so I don’t rate this one nearly as highly. A dad makes a poor joke in an ad for Persil, only for his wife to exact her revenge, and then two nosey neighbours fume over their nemesis and his ability to get a cheap car by “asking Jeeves”. You know, I actually thought Ask Jeeves still existed until a few years ago, but then I read that Jeeves got fired in 2006 and I just felt old again. (I looked this all up on Google, of course.)An unorthodox ad for McDonald’s Happy Meals comes next, not promoting the monthly toys like they usually would, but instead telling a story all about how a brother comforts his depressed sister by giving her some cheap Chicken McNuggets to soothe her woes. I’m sure we can always count on Ronald to cure any mental illness, can’t we? Anyway, to finish off there’s a clever little ad for McCain potato wedges – somehow, the short, sweet ones are always best – followed by an ad for Faith Hill’s latest album, another Vauxhall ad, and then it’s back to more ITV drama.
ITV 1 - Continuity and Adverts - November 7th, 2001 (2) Back to the Past! 2021-12-03 | Another ad break, and first up is none other than Woolworths, the point of call for all sorts of treasures during the Christmas period. Around this time, their campaign involved TV stars of the time like Ant & Dec running around looking for stuff, though personally, I’m more interested in the stuff they had for sale than the gags. (I swear I had one of those rocket lava lamps as a kid.)Next, a poor man’s version of Chicken Run, in which some guy goes rummaging around a chicken coop looking for a good egg to dunk his soldiers in… which then turns out to be an ad not for eggs, but Warburtons bread. Not the best case of misdirection, honestly. Then there’s an ad for Somerfield, the supermarket once known as Gateway, then now known as the Co-Op – at least after they swallowed the brand whole in 2011 and spat it back out under their own name, anyway. Oddly enough, the Ant & Dec ad for Woolies is next, offering up a brand-new cellular telephone for just £99.99. You might laugh now, but hey – that thing came with Snake back in the day. An ad for the classic Christmas chocolate Ferrero Rocher follows, where a clearly mentally unstable woman grapples with herself over whether to share the stuff or not. I remember me and my friends used to try to break the world record for seeing how many of these things we could eat in under a minute. It kind of drove us crazy as well.After that is an ad for the Greatest Hits of the Backstreet Boys – kind of says something that even they were getting on a bit by 2001 – followed by yet another Woolies ad, this time with even more stuff and even more TV star cameos. After that, a promo for approximately the six millionth ITV drama, My Beautiful Son, and then it’s back to Coronation Street…… but since it’s Christmas, we’ll carry on for more. After Corrie, the tape cuts to a little later, where we’re right in the middle of an ad for Rotozip, where a man says the word “Rotozip” so many times that it’ll probably be stuck in my head forever. Next up on the sweet tin list is Quality Street – the one you always raided for the toffees – boasting an even bigger purple sweet for you to munch on this Christmas. Nowadays, they’d probably boast about it having less sugar or something. Spoilsports!Then an ad for the latest VHS release by Cornish comedian Jethro – likely baffling the three or so American people who watch my uploads – followed by an ad for All Together Now, an album that consisted of pretty much every kids’ TV theme from around that time, and I know this, because we actually owned this CD, playing it in the car on very long journeys and likely driving both my parents insane. I mean, there’s probably only so much “Can We Fix It?” an adult can take, let’s be honest.A naturist then wanders around in an ad for Freeserve, the long-defunct internet provider, followed by an ad for another album called Female, which throbs with the sound of the early 2000s. We get another ad for the big purple Quality Street sweets, followed by a flickering promo for Peak Practice, where all sorts of dramatic goings-on are… going on. The old Hearts ident then leads us into that ITV drama, which, of course, is sponsored by HSBC, complete with their fancy cinematic ident of the time. I suppose they could always “bank” on advertising during these constant drama slots, eh? (Yeah, I’ll see myself out.)
ITV 1 - Continuity and Adverts - November 7th, 2001 (1) Back to the Past! 2021-12-02 | Time for a batch of ITV 1 clips – under the guise of HTV – to celebrate the festive season! This was recorded in early November, but these breaks are filled with Christmas ads, since in the corporate world, Santa likes to get to work as early as possible. I swear, he’d start advertising Christmas on December 26th if he could.We start off with a promo for Shafted, the infamous game show hosted by Robert Kilroy-Silk – infamous, that is, because it only lasted for four episodes, debuting in early November and then getting the chop before the month had even ended. It’s now fondly remembered as one of the worst game shows in history, and watching Kilroy doing that “shaft” thing with his hand, I can’t say I’m surprised.Coronation Street is coming up next, so we’re told, but first an ad for Poundstretcher, back when a mid-grade shop like this could be bothered to advertise its goodies on TV. Pretty good place for buying Simpsons VHS tapes, as I said before, but probably not the place to do your Christmas shopping. Next, a brief ad for Richley’s Christmas crackers – probably the poshest crackers you could buy – followed by an ad for the Co-Op, starring some CGI bee mascots that somehow manage to “bee” even more nightmarish than Bee Movie.Get 50% off then at DFS, where the people who buy their sofas do just about anything but sit on them. One girl stands on the armrest dressed like an angel and fires an arrow into space, another woman just walks right past one, and the only creature to actually make good use of these things is a dog. I guess they really are the most intelligent beings. Next, a local ad for shopping at Festival Park, and like most of these local ads, I seriously doubt this shop exists anymore.It wouldn’t be Christmas without a big tin of Roses, but I think I could do without the incessant singing of the child in this advert. Roses aren’t what they used to be, anyway, since you can never seem to find those massive tins anywhere these days. (Though at least it’s better than opening one that only has a sewing kit inside. Hated that.) Then crack up in stitches by attending Creative Stitches & Crafts Alive, an event guaranteed to provide hours of boredom for all the family.Promos now, and first up is the latest episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, back when this show was on three times a week and you didn’t have to wait seven days just to find out if someone might win £4,000. It’s the same with any game show, really, where you need the pacing of it being shown every other day, otherwise the momentum just gets killed flat. Next is a promo for Cold Feet, quite a popular show on ITV back in the day, but being only five at the time, I can’t say I had too much interest in it. To me, it just sounded like a symptom of walking on ice without shoes on.Anyway, Coronation Street is on now, sponsored by chocolate figurines courtesy of Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut. I would have preferred the Caramel variety, but I guess soaps are just too upmarket or something.
Goin Down to South Park (UK VHS, 1999) Back to the Past! 2021-11-27 | A documentary about South Park first shown on Channel 4 in 1999, before later being released on VHS as a giveaway with the boxsets you could buy at the time. Quite an insightful look into the making of the show, from its early inception to the hectic production of animating it. Well worth a watch for any fan!
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut - Special Edition (UK VHS, 2000) Back to the Past! 2021-11-25 | The movie that warped so many fragile little minds was released in just about every way imaginable on VHS in the UK. There was the normal version of the movie, widescreen versions, versions with individual characters on the cover, a version that came with a set of squeezy stress toys, a version that included a three-piece furniture suite, and also this “Special Edition”, which adds karaoke editions of three songs from the film. Is that big, long and uncut enough for you?The tape kicks off with the Warner Bros. logo – they owned the international rights to this movie – followed by a promo for DVD, which was definitely still in its infancy by this point, but you can tell they were desperately trying to get us ready for the future of what home video would become. “Look at the features! Look at the picture quality! Look at the sound!” (Even though you’re still hearing and seeing this on a VHS tape, so it’s a little moot.) Seeing this now just kind of makes me laugh with how overblown it is, but hey, DVD became the standard just a few years later, so I can’t exactly say it didn’t work.Next up, a trailer for Wild Wild West, which is ironic, considering that this film actually came out in the cinema around the same time as the South Park movie, and kids would buy tickets to Wild Wild West, but then sneak into another screen to watch South Park. (Weird foreshadowing of what happens in the actual film.) There’s probably not too much I can say about Wild Wild West that hasn’t been said already, with the only really memorable thing being that incredibly strange Will Smith song. “Wicky-wicky-wild wild west…”Then comes a trailer for Deep Blue Sea, the wonderfully cheesy shark movie that will delight audiences of all ages who might enjoy Samuel L. Jackson getting devoured and LL Cool J blowing up a shark over a dead parrot. A summer hit of the time, anyway, and another one that features a bizarre song at the end, where LL raps about how his “hat is like a shark’s fin”. Makes Wild Wild West look sane by comparison.Onto the movie, then, but afterwards, there’s that trio of karaoke songs that I talked about earlier. I probably wouldn’t have dared to sing this filth in front of my parents back then, but hey, now that we’re older, it’s all okay, so just sing along with the words! It’s just like those old Disney sing-a-long tapes, only ten times more offensive.
South Park: Series 2 - Volume 5 (UK VHS, 1999) Back to the Past! 2021-11-24 | Volume 5 of Season 2 now, where there’s a lot more interesting content. After Warner Vision blasts into cosmic bits again, we get… creepy PlayStation girl? Yes, it’s none other than the dreaded “Mental Wealth” ad, where most people can barely understand what this girl is saying, let alone what on earth it has to do with PlayStation or even just games in general. This probably would have freaked me right out if I had this tape as a child, as seeing ads on a tape is pretty rare for a more obscure brand like Warner Vision. After a promo repeat for South Park tapes, there’s another ad, this one for Virgin Cola, featuring Tank Girl-esque animation provided by Jamie Hewlett in an attempt to make the drink look oddly sexual, presenting it as being produced in some kind of love/pleasure factory where good times are had 24/7. This approach didn’t seem to do the brand much good, anyway, as despite being released with great fanfare in the mid-90s, it died off completely by 2009, and I only really remember the stuff for tasting like the plastic bottle it came in. Not a memory I “love”, that’s for sure.I guess it makes you wonder why ads for such big brands at the time are suddenly appearing on a little South Park tape, but when you realize that after the episodes there’s a music video for “Chocolate Salty Balls”, it all starts to make sense. Bizarrely, this was a mega-hit in the UK in December 1998, earning a ton of radio airtime despite the innuendo-laden lyrics, and eventually reaching #1 in the charts, giving Isaac Hayes his one and only time at the top spot. Perhaps you could call it the “Do the Bartman” of its era, and now it’s no wonder that when this tape was advertised as having the music video on it, brands like Sony and Virgin said, “We’ll have some of that!” Advertisers will just do anything to succeed, won’t they? Even if it means sucking on a few chocolate salty balls.
South Park: Series 2 - Volume 4 (UK VHS, 1999) Back to the Past! 2021-11-23 | Time for some Season 2 action from South Park now, which comprised a mighty nine volumes on VHS in the UK, though with the “fireside chat” stuff dropped from the tapes, much of the content is the same, so I’ve picked the two tapes that have the most stuff on them, because I’m generous that way. First up is Volume 4.It starts off with the customary Warner Vision explosion in space, followed by a promo for the Season 1 tapes of South Park, as advertised by a very soft-spoken narrator who almost sounds like he’s talking about this as if it were a kids’ show. The imagery says otherwise, of course, but for some reason, I just never took it in properly as a four-year-old, enjoying the crass content on these tapes as if it were any other animated show on TV, when in reality it probably warped my fragile little mind. Ah, childhood. Next up, a trailer for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the feature-length movie, and a film that still holds up even now with its witty parody of Disney Renaissance movies, sharp censorship satire, and of course some very catchy tunes. Even the trailer is pretty funny with how serious it makes the movie look, complete with orchestral screeching and a stern narrator for added effect. Quite different from trailers of today, where it’s just the same old thing over and over again. A solid movie, anyway, and well worth a watch for those who can stomach South Park.The South Park trend continues with an ad for the Nintendo 64 video game next, which definitely used to make me jealous back then, as I didn’t own an N64, but in hindsight, that’s probably a good thing, as this game isn’t very good at all. Also released on PC and PlayStation, it’s a first-person shooter, for whatever reason, and despite running on the Turok engine, it’s about as much fun as being pecked to death by a horde of clucking turkeys… which is exactly what the game is, oddly enough. I’ve played through it once on the PC, and trust me, once is enough for anybody. (Also, there was supposed to be a Game Boy version, but it got canned, with the assets later being reused for a Mary-Kate and Ashley game, of all things. The more ya know, eh?)Then comes an ad for Chef Aid, the South Park album – I’m starting to notice a pattern here – once again advertised in a very innocent style, as if this is some kind of nice, friendly novelty album the whole family can enjoy in the car together. Far from it, of course, though it’s actually quite a packed album, with a slew of famous musical faces plus the usual South Park tunes fans would have known well at the time. And I guess to promote the album further, after the main feature there’s a music video for “Simultaneous”, one of Chef’s many love serenades the late, great Isaac Hayes used to sing so commonly in the early episodes of the show. Not too shabby content-wise for a tape that only has two episodes on it.
South Park: Volume 1 (UK VHS, 1998) Back to the Past! 2021-11-21 | We’re goin’ down to South Park with the first ever UK VHS release of the world’s crudest cartoon, from way back in 1998, when the show was only available on the likes of Sky One back in the day. This particular tape contains only the first two episodes, with the distributors being crafty enough to only put just a couple episodes on each tape, meaning you had to spend probably £10 or more for 44 minutes of content, with there being seven volumes in total for the first season. (And the last volume only had ONE episode. Rip-off artists, I tell you.)Anyway, this tape was put out by Warner Vision International, a spin-off of Warner Bros., though I have no idea under what circumstances this brand was used for. Just… stuff, it would seem. Why they didn’t just use the usual Warner Home Video imprint, I couldn’t say. A very distinct logo sequence, though, with rocks in space clashing together to form a giant spinning logo that comes racing towards the screen. Definitely one of those things that caught your attention as a kid. (Oddly, I had South Park tapes as a toddler, thanks to my parents thinking “cartoon = kids’ show”, which probably says a lot about my mental development.)The first promo is for Gogs, a little-known Claymation show produced in Wales for S4C, before getting trotted out on the BBC a few years later, plus a couple obscure VHS releases like this. This promo is all I’ve ever seen of this show, so I couldn’t speak to its quality, though it seems of the usual “rude and crude” variety that they figured fans of South Park would likely enjoy. Probably a step above Captain Caveman, anyway.Speaking of South Park, next up is a promo for Comedy Central, which… didn’t exist in the UK at the time. Over here, it was known as the Paramount Comedy Channel, later transitioning to Comedy Central in early 2009, which makes this quite a baffling inclusion – but then I realized that the master for this tape is taken directly from a US copy, and they just forgot to edit the promo out. So if you were scratching your head at the time wondering why you were watching a plug for a channel you couldn’t get, well, now you know why.Onto the show itself, then, though not before the very insightful “fireside chats” with the creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, where they talk a little about each episode and answer some fascinating questions, like, “Should babies be kicked?” I can’t even tell you how much I’ve learned from watching these two great geniuses at work. They should be professors, really.
Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (UK VHS, 2004) Back to the Past! 2021-11-20 | Another scooby-dooby-movie from 2004, when the VHS format had just about started to fall into its death spiral, though you could still easily walk into Tesco and find plenty of tapes like this to buy for the next couple years, even if DVD had taken prominence by this point.It begins in the usual annoying manner you might have come to expect by now, with a trailer for The Little Polar Bear for the five zillionth time. They really must have been pushing this flick, given that trailers for it were still appearing well into 2004. It’s a blight on my brain, I swear, but Christmas is coming up, you know, so you might see this furry brat again soon. I’m sure you can “bearly” wait.After that, though, there’s fortunately a promo for something much more interesting: Boomerang! Yes, a peppy little promo for Scooby-Doo on the channel, with the meddlesome kids and their dumb dog running away from various monsters while an upbeat ska tune plays in the background. (A heavily copyrighted ska tune, according to YouTube, apparently.) Fun stuff, though also a sign of the times, as even Boomerang had changed its old look by 2004, moving on to the swirly writing ident phase. The BBFC, as always, have their say, and then it’s time for the movie, which I was never really all that fond of even as a child, to be honest. It just felt kind of… watered-down compared to the likes of Zombie Island and whatnot, with bad guys in masks again and Bigfoot being about as threatening as a cuddly teddy bear. Nice music, though. “Viva Mexico – hey, hey, hey…”
Justice League (UK VHS, 2002) Back to the Past! 2021-11-19 | Another rare tape from the DC Animated Universe, this one containing the first three episodes of the Justice League show, only slammed together into a “feature-length adventure”. This was a trick they loved to pull on us back then, and you’ll be pleased to hear that we were smart enough to fall for it every time.It starts off with the usual threats from Mr. Burny Video, followed by a launch promo for the Justice League show, back when it was just starting out on Cartoon Network, with swishing colors and talks of “heroism” and all that superhero stuff. Personally, I was never that into this show growing up – I preferred Batman striking it out on his own – though I do remember getting pretty hyped for it initially, given that it was all over cereal boxes and everything. (Stick anything on a box of Coco Shreddies back then and it had the attention of most kids.) Didn’t last, though, sadly.Then there’s the Scooby-Doo teaser once again, plus the BBFC PG warning, followed by the main feature – but I guess since three episodes packaged together was so short, they had to add some extra material, so after that, there’s a Powerpuff Girls episode, of all things. I guess it might seem strange, but I was a boy who liked the show back then, so I probably would’ve been pleasantly surprised to see this pop up, to be honest. Plus I guess they’re superheroes as well, so the theme does actually fit.
Cartoon Network UK Comic Issues (Links in Description!) Back to the Past! 2021-11-12 | A handy hub for those interested in full issues of the UK Cartoon Network Comic, painstakingly scanned for the sake of history. A new issue will be posted every Friday, so keep checking back here for more links. (And if anyone has old issues of their own they’d like to scan and donate, feel free to get in touch.) Happy reading!Issue 1: drive.google.com/file/d/1wWqFzmYsZluA6x_7U8GvGQa_eDtZfEBT/view?usp=sharingIssue 2: drive.google.com/file/d/1FzNTh9s1vEv29M8bCcL8Tk0V6DI-3G--/view?usp=sharingIssue 4: drive.google.com/file/d/1qEvcbNVl9Z9-uScAieYFCmQW8-QE8GfZ/view?usp=sharingIssue 5: drive.google.com/file/d/1WHy-8_WdFpSnpElx0KhrPjOcCX5Fdwwx/view?usp=sharingIssue 6: drive.google.com/file/d/1lRgDQVK_xaMt5gUcbsr8TQqJATOl83Rw/view?usp=sharingIssue 7: drive.google.com/file/d/17E1z2a4g1eDQLIqMgCdO4NEzDxToRSmn/view?usp=sharing
Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns (UK VHS, 2002) Back to the Past! 2021-11-05 | Gotta catch – or at least watch – ‘em all! Surprisingly, there aren’t thousands of Pokémon VHS tapes that were released back in the day, despite the sheer size of the franchise, with only a handful of the movies and 11 volumes of the show put out on tape in the UK. Despite the craze at the time, I wasn’t the biggest fan personally back then, though I did take an interest in the movies and would rent them from time to time – like Mewtwo Returns, for instance, a quasi-sequel to the first movie that brought everyone’s favorite psychic psychopathic Pokémon back for more mayhem.The tape starts off innocently enough, anyway, with yet another trailer for Harry Potter, which, oddly enough, I remember renting at the same time as this tape way back when. But after that, there’s a promo for some Mary-Kate & Ashley movies on VHS, a fad for girls that’s probably largely been forgotten about these days, and one that would only mystify us boys. (When I was six, for instance, I used to think there were three girls – Mary, Kate and Ashley. Shows what I know.) Maybe if these movies had more interesting plots – Mary-Kate & Ashley Storm No Man’s Land, for instance – I might have been more interested. Sorry, girls.Next up, a trailer for Osmosis Jones, which I don’t recall seeing on any other VHS tapes from this time, but I could be wrong, of course. I remember watching this a lot on the old DVD of the film, purely for that catchy little techno track at the end, which doesn’t appear to have been released anywhere in the known universe. (Lost Media Wiki, where are you?)Finally, there’s the teaser for the live action Scooby-Doo movie, and after the BBFC U warning, it’s straight into the return of Mewtwo. How we managed to get through this tape without an ad for trading cards or video games, I have no idea.
Batman of the Future: Disappearing Inque (UK VHS, 2000) Back to the Past! 2021-11-03 | Well, here’s the last Batman of the Future VHS, an extremely rare promotional tape that came free when you bought the “School Dayz” or “Spellbound” tapes in the shops. There’s only one episode, of course, and nothing else on it apart from the usual BBFC guff, but ya know, posterity and all that.
Cinema PIFs and Ads 4! Back to the Past! 2021-10-31 | A retro cinema reel full of depraved PIFs, perverse ads and spooky trailers!
Batman of the Future: Return of the Joker (UK VHS, 2001) Back to the Past! 2021-10-29 | Time for another bat-tastic VHS tape, and this one is no laughing matter – it’s Batman of the Future: Return of the Joker! (These European titles really are a joke.) Gags aside, this is a classic movie for me, and I think it was the first 12-rated tape I ever rented from the video shop, back when I was four or something. Maybe that explains why my sanity is scarred beyond comprehension.The tape kicks off with that promo for Pokémon VHS tapes, anyway, which is at least a step up from Thomas the Tank Engine being advertised on the other tapes for this show, only for them to suddenly squander it when the next trailer is for The Little Vampire, another one of those films that I saw not even that long ago and can remember very “little” about. Sounds like just the type of kid-friendly comedy the average bat-fan would like, right?Anyway, they finally strike exactly the right tone with a very extended promo for the UK version of Toonami, which pretty much blew my mind as a kid with its pounding soundtrack and flashes of relentless animated action. I think it’s this promo that endeared me to the great presentation of the block back then. Even if I didn’t get drawn into the anime stuff like Dragonball Z and such, it was fun on its own just to watch old TOM messing around with the controls on his ship, and you’d still get a couple of Batman Beyond episodes for good measure as well. (Though I guess these days, people would throw a fit if they saw a non-anime work on the block. Different times, I suppose, eh?)Finally, there’s the BBFC 12 warning – the first time I ever heard a man speaking these things, which made the movie seem more serious, somehow – and then it’s straight into the film. Nothing afterwards, of course, but a three-minute promo is pretty good going for a relatively short trailer reel.
Scooby-Doo and the Witchs Ghost (UK VHS, 2000) Back to the Past! 2021-10-28 | Looks like things are getting a little spooky around here, eh? Well, Scooby-Doo might not scare you senseless on Halloween, but it’s still a staple of the season for me, as Cartoon Network would always throw these movies on just to get you in the mood. Today’s tape is Witch’s Ghost, anyway, otherwise known as the one with the gothic Hex Girls and Tim Curry going nuts over a book. It starts off in the usual way, though, with Shiloh 2 and The Iron Giant and “this film is a totally harmless U” and blah-blah-blah…But hey, then there’s an ad for the Cartoon Network Comic, which I definitely bought a lot growing up, and I would constantly send in my crude drawings to them, hoping they’d pick mine to appear in the magazine, but as soon as I bought the next issue, of course Jamie (age 7, Scotland) would always beat me to it. I swear, I could send in my whole cartoon now and they still wouldn’t feature it in the magazine. (Then again, maybe that’s no surprise.)Interestingly, after the movie, though, we get a couple of episodes from the very first incarnation of Scooby-Doo. This was actually quite a common thing for them to do on these Scooby-dooby-movie tapes, and it was always a nice little bonus for me. Or at least it meant I didn’t have to get up for another half-hour and rewind the tape, anyway.
