October 16: Swingers, Wario, Iesha, World Series quake
Plus Gilligan, the Skipper too, a millionaire and his wife
The Retro by 11 Points
Modern perspectives on ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia
October 16, 2020 • Issue 17
This week in nostalgic history
October 16th
28 years ago, on October 16th, 1992 - The never-before-aired and quite different Gilligan’s Island pilot episode aired on TBS.
Even if you’ve never watched a full episode of Gilligan’s Island, odds are you know its premise, theme song and group of castaways. There was Gilligan, the Skipper, the millionaire and his wife, a movie star, the professor and Mary Ann. Their key identifiers (name or profession) were baked right into the iconic theme song.
But those seven weren’t always the seven who were destined to be stranded. The original pilot for Gilligan’s Island, filmed in November 1963 (random fact: a flag in the background of the opening title sequence is at half-mast because it was filmed right after the JFK assassination), featured a somewhat different bunch.
It still had Gilligan, the Skipper, and the millionaire couple of the Howells (and the for respective actors playing those four roles). But it also featured two secretaries and a high school teacher. One secretary was a redhead named Ginger; in the actual series, the movie star was a redhead named Ginger and the role was recast. One secretary was a blonde stereotype named Bunny; in the actual series, the character became Mary Ann, the role was recast, and the stereotype was switched to naive farm girl. And finally, the high school teacher became a professor and was also recast.
This pilot never aired during the original run of Gilligan’s Island from 1964 through 1967 — while many series have a pilot that slightly differs from their eventual cast, the differences here were too significant. The pilot would finally air on TBS in 1992, 25 years after the series ended.
Also, in the pilot, the characters were going for a “six-hour ride” and not a “three-hour tour” according to its notably theme song.
Also on October 16th: Baby Jessica was rescued from the well (1987)… the Million Man March was held in Washington, D.C. (1995)
October 17th
31 years ago, on October 17th, 1989 - The World Series was delayed by an earthquake in California.
The 1989 World Series was an all-Bay Area affair, as it featured the Oakland A’s from the American League and San Francisco Giants from the National League. So it almost seems fitting in an all-California World Series, California itself decided to get more involved. That involvement came in the form of a massive earthquake in the Bay Area just minutes before the third game of the series.
The World Series was delayed for 10 days and by the time it came back, its momentum was all but gone. The earthquake devastated the area, causing more than 60 deaths and huge amounts of damage, and it’s possible neither teams’ heads were really in it when play resumed. While playoff baseball is traditionally marked by extremely high-level pitching, these games instead turned into slugfests. Oakland, already with a 2-0 lead in the series, won the two games after play resumed by scores of 13-7 and 9-6. The World Series ended on October 28th in an Oakland sweep, which was followed by a very subdued celebration.
Also on October 17th: Billy Joel’s album Storm Front was released (1989)… IMDb launched (1990)… I Know What You Did Last Summer hit theaters (1997)… Jump, Jive, an’ Wail by the Brian Setzer Orchestra peaked at number 23 (1998)
October 18th
24 years ago, on October 18th, 1996 - Swingers hit theaters.
Swingers was a generational movie that only existed out of Jon Favreau’s dogged determination and willingness to ask for financial favors. One of the iconic ‘90s “financed on a credit card” movies (up there with Clerks and The Blair Witch Project), Swingers gave a peek into the adult manifestation of Gen X teenage angst: twentysomethings struggling to do bigger things while navigating through life’s smaller things. The movie spoke to the reality millions were facing. By 1996, Gen X was starting to find the world they were promised wasn’t waiting to be handed to them, but unlike millennials, that reality hadn’t yet codified into a collective truth. The result was a mix of dreams and setbacks, the struggle between an exceptional life and a normal one that’s plagued the generation for good. Everything in Swingers, from the ennui to the existential frustration to the finding satisfaction in small and unexpected ways, put a comedic, sometimes surreal, but always relatable face on what a generation was growing to understand.
Also on October 18th: The Nintendo Entertainment System was released (1985)… Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! was released (1987)… Roseanne premiered (1988)… Vanilla Ice’s movie Cool As Ice hit theaters (1991)… Sleepers hit theaters (1996)… the infamous Walker Texas Ranger AIDS episode premiered (1997)
October 19th
30 years ago, on October 19th, 1990 - Another Bad Creation’s single Iesha was released.
There’s always been a spot in the market for kid musical acts. Always. They may not have much of a shelf life and they may not push artistic bounds, but when a kid musical act hits, they can see a supernova of rapid success. Such was the case with Another Bad Creation, a group of young kids brought together through audtions who then had a proverbial rocket strapped to them by Michael Bivins of Bell Biv DeVoe (right around when his amazing but fleeting Midas touch in talent discovery also surfaced Boyz II Men).
Iesha was a big hit that, perhaps, made more of a contribution to the shifting tides of the music industry than usually noted. Iesha came out in October of 1990 as another in a string of very early ‘90s inoffensive-to-pearl-clutching-sensibilities hip-hop track. Minivan-approved, as the cliche sometimes goes. The benign lyrics about a simple childhood crush emanating from the squeaky-voiced members of ABC were enough to create another mainstream hip-hop hit — Iesha peaked at number nine on the Billboard chart — and served as yet another gateway drug into hip-hop’s ascent to four-quadrant popularity.
Another Bad Creation, despite Iesha’s success, would not shake the kid group curse. They only released two albums, the second of which, in 1993, flopped. The kids all wound up going their separate ways without a Michael Jackson/Justin Timberlake-type breakout star among them.
Also on October 19th: Clerks hit theaters (1994)… Dinosaurs premiered during TGIF (1994)… Cher’s single Believe was released (1998)… Being John Malkovich hit theaters (1999)
October 20th
25 years ago, on October 20th, 1995 - Mallrats hit theaters.
Mallrats was Kevin Smith’s follow-up to Clerks — this time, though, made for a studio and with a budget. Opinions on Mallrats were split back then and remain split now. From one perspective, it was as if Kevin Smith didn’t quite know what to do with all the money he had to make the movie, and found himself irreconcilably torn between his bootstrapping instincts and his instincts to play the game the right way to please his corporate overlords, thus creating a film without the point-of-view that launched him to the dance. From another perspective, Mallrats showed a director with a grand vision starting to create his own universe — the Kevin Smith Cinematic Universe existed before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that’s for sure — and making the sometimes awkward but always entertaining transition from small budget to large budget.
I’m not a die-hard Kevin Smith fan (although I do think Clerks II was shockingly good, against all, all, all odds), but I do like Mallrats. It’s not a movie that’s going to change how you see the world by any means, and it’s not the generational movie it perhaps sought to be (unlike Swingers earlier in this email, which may not have intended to be the generational movie it became). But it’s a movie that’s wholly entertaining and, importantly considering the circumstances surrounding Smith’s leap to big time director, doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Also on October 20th: The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series (1988)… the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series (1990)… Ace of Base’s single Beautiful Life was released (1995)… Get Shorty hit theaters (1995)… 98 Degrees’ album 98 Degrees and Rising was released (1998)
October 21st
28 years ago, on October 21st, 1992 - Wario made his first appearance, as part of Super Mario Land 2.
Super Mario Land 2, a platform adventure for Game Boy, is one of the less prominent Mario platform games but one that did change the direction of the franchise. Because this is the game that introduced the bizarro world evil version of Mario in the form of Wario.
The Mario games for Game Boy sometimes seemed to exist in a separate universe from the Mario games on the Nintendo and Super Nintendo mainland. Super Mario Land, the first platform Mario game for Game Boy, was set in a strange land, featured a different princess, and even featured different mechanics with bouncing “superballs” rather than fireballs. Super Mario Land 2 was a direct sequel to that game; the plot focused on Mario returning to his home of “Mario Land” from that odd adventure to find his lifelong rival Wario had taken over the place.
From this point on, Wario really took over as the main focus of Nintendo’s mobile games. 1994’s Super Mario Land 3 was called Wario Land and 1995’s Virtual Boy saw a Wario game, not a Mario game, in what would turn out to be its only platform adventure title.
After that, the worlds fully mixed and Wario made his way into the extended Mario universe, debuting as a playable character in Mario Kart 64 and then all of your various Mario sports games, party games, and Smash Bros. games.
Also on October 21st: Apple introduced the PowerBook (1991)… Madonna’s book Sex went on sale (1993)… Shannon Hood, lead singer of Blind Melon, died (1995)… the Backstreet Boys’ single As Long As You Love Me was released (1997)… the New York Yankees won the World Series (1998)
October 22nd
38 years ago, on October 22nd, 1982 - First Blood hit theaters.
The first Rambo movie was not called Rambo, but rather First Blood, the same title as the novel on which it was based. (Yes, this movie is a literary adaptation.) Apparently after it was filmed, Sylvester Stallone hated it so much it was completely re-edited and lots of it was re-shot.
One underrated part of the legacy of this Rambo movie may be its success in China. It was the first major Hollywood movie released in China and was a huge hit there, the very first push on the “if you load up crazy action and have as little dialogue as possible, this movie can make lots of money in China” snowball.
Also on October 22nd: Pearl Jam debuted at a cafe in Seattle (1990)… Shanice’s single I Love Your Smile was released (1991)… En Vogue’s single Don’t Let Go was released (1996)
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news.
Adam Sandler at least entertained the idea of bringing back together a bunch of his old characters for some kind of Sandler Cinematic Universe Avengers situation.
Sandler also revealed Bob Barker wasn’t the first choice for the now-classic Happy Gilmore scene. It was initially written for Ed McMahon.
Oasis’s single Wonderwall has, dare I say randomly, become the first ‘90s song to hit one billion streams on Spotify.
An I Know What You Did Last Summer TV series is happening at Amazon.
Two Family Matters sibilings (Darius McCrary and Kellie Shanygne Williams a.k.a. Eddie and Laura) are reuniting for a new romantic comedy. They are (fittingly) playing siblings but are not the ones getting the romance, they play the perfunctory old people in the movie. Sad trombone.
Amazon has bought the rights to the sequel to Coming to America, called Coming 2 America. It’s set to premiere in December.
Wayne Knight revived his Newman character to encourage people to vote and call out the president for trying to cripple the U.S. Postal Service.
The home from Fast Times at Ridgemont High is now on the market. It’s in West Hills, California and does have that famous pool.
Puma is releasing a limited edition line of Super Mario Bros. sneakers next month, making them roughly the 15th sneaker brand to release a Mario line.
Throwbacks and recommendations
Hulu has released the first clip of the new Animaniacs. It’s a Jurassic Park parody and, frankly, very promising.
I never knew this: The first 25,000 copies of Tetris for Game Boy used a different song than the now iconic Korobeiniki. This video has that music.
A ranking of the 10 “most brutal disses” on And1 t-shirts from the ‘90s. I regret how many of these I remember, although I’m proud I never owned one.
A short video on how one terrible commercial killed the fast food chain Rax. It’s almost impossible to believe it’s real.
Thanks for reading!
-Sam