“What show from your childhood would you love to bring back?”
I’m actually very lucky because one of my favorite childhood shows is actually being rebooted later this year: Sailor Moon! This show has a special place in my heart because it was the first Japanese anime that I watched, leading me to discover many other great shows, movies, and manga from Japan. It was also the first time that I saw lesbian characters portrayed positively (before Buffy the Vampire Slayer brought us Willow & Tara), so it was very important in my teen years. I’m excited to see what the newest telling of this story will be like.
But to really go back to my childhood, I would love to see Ocean Girl come back. My lifelong love of the ocean guaranteed that I would be interested in this show from the name alone, and it did not disappoint! The television series was made in Australia, but I watched it on the Disney Channel when I was younger (which sadly never showed the fourth season, so I’ve never seen the end of the show). It’s a science fiction show about two brothers who befriend a mysterious girl named Neri, who lives alone on an island.
The futuristic setting of the show started when the boys’ mom gets a new job in an underwater science laboratory, forcing all of them to move there. The boys don’t like their new home at first, partially because it’s strange compared to their old home and partially because they have a hard time fitting with the other kids, but you can bet that I was really jealous of them. Imagine looking out your window every morning to see fish swimming by. I wanted to be a marine biologist just so I could live there!
But my favorite part of the show is Neri, the girl who lives on the island. She’s like a mermaid in that she can breathe underwater, swim well, and speak to whales, but she has legs and can walk on land. The boys discover her by accident and try to keep her a secret, but that doesn’t last.
The show had lots of beautiful underwater shots of fish, whales, and coral reefs that Neri swims through (sometimes accompanied by other characters in scuba gear). In some ways the plot was a little cliche, but I loved watching every week to see the ocean wildlife.
I’d love to see this show updated and redone in high definition. (Also, less scary hairdos and fashion for the kids living in the underwater lab facility. Just because it’s future sci-fi doesn’t mean they need to wear retro 80’s styles!) Although I’ve grown out of a lot of the shows that I watched when I was younger, I would definitely watch Ocean Girl again. There are rumors that it may come back someday, but until then I will just have to keep hoping.
Do you have a favorite show from your childhood that you would like to see rebooted? Or do you not like reboots because they change the thing that you loved?
