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The Eighties: Difference between revisions
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Computing technology first became a true cultural force in this decade, starting a trend that would keep on snowballing to this very day. The Eighties was the decade of [[Cell Phone|cell phones]] literally sized and shaped like bricks, jokes about being unable to program VCRs, the death of Betamax, and the beginnings of personal computers and gaming consoles beginning to proliferate inside homes, perhaps one of the trends from this decade with the largest of cultural implications. Cable television also took off big time, with [[MTV]], [[TBS]], [[HBO]], and [[Cable News Network|CNN]] becoming household acronyms.
In the US, it was also the first wave of the [[Japanese Invasion]], the inklings of which started in '78 with the dub of ''[[Battle of the Planets]]'', continuing on with ''[[Star Blazers]]'' ('79),'' [[Voltron]]'' ('84), [[Took a Level
On the homefront, the 1980s produced a rash of pop-cultural icons that today are looked upon, at worst, with [[Affectionate Parody]], and at best, as the national ideal. The conservative political culture of the era meant two rather contradictory things for the production of pop-culture; on the one hand, the surge of private enterprise together with new media technologies allowed corporations such as Hasbro an unprecedented ability to build [[Merchandise-Driven|massive franchises]] around their products, typically with a TV show and accompanying toys, but on the other [[Moral Guardian]] complaints would challenge the ethics of making a show that was "essentially one large commercial." The result was the rather spoof-worthy [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]] segment common to many mass franchise shows, shoving an [[Anvilicious]] moral into the action. Fortunately, these were conveniently located after the actual plot, so kids could just turn it off at that point and run down to buy the toys. Besides, the segments [[So Bad It's Good|make]] [[Memetic Mutation|great]] [[
Politically, the first part of the decade, [[Cold War]] tensions continued to escalate. Some accuse this of being an [[Batman Gambit|intentional move]] by the West to render the economically inept Soviet Union infeasible by drawing its resources away from things like infrastructure and feeding its people, which market economies could accomplish easily. While this is, essentially, what ended up happening (though more complicated than that in real life; in Eastern Europe the decade's real deathblow to communism was considered to have been all the new media technology), the fact that the other possible outcome of such a strategy was global thermonuclear annihilation had a profound impact on Western media tropes. Most obviously, dystopian [[Speculative Fiction]], particularly set [[After the End]] [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]], enjoyed a surge.
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* [[I Was Quite a Fashion Victim]] (applying to works looking at this decade in hindsight), a survivor of the so-called "decade fashion disaster" might confess to this.
* [[Japan Takes Over the World]] (A staple of the decade, particularly in [[Cyberpunk]] works. Often seems a little silly now.)
* [[Merchandise-Driven]] (Virtually [[Thundercats|every]] [[
* [[Montage Ends the VHS]]: It's when a commercial VHS tape has trailers, intros or just a compilation montage promoting a line of VHS's come up at the end after a movie or episode it contains is over.
* [[Mini-Dress of Power]]: and by power, they mean "powerdressing"
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* [[Nightwing]], a new persona for Robin/Richard Grayson. First appeared in July, 1984.
* ''[[Power Pack]]''. First appeared in August, 1984.
* ''[[The Transformers (
* [[XIII]]. Series started in September, 1984.
* [[Steel]]/Henry "Hank" Heywood III. First appeared in October, 1984.
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* ''[[Booster Gold]]''. First appeared in February, 1986.
* ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''. First appeared in February, 1986.
* ''[[X-Factor (comics)|X-Factor]]''. First version. Debuted in February, 1986.
* Kid Flash/Wallace "Wally" West assumed the mantle of [[The Flash]] in March, 1986.
* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'': First appeared in September, 1986. Remember that it's an alternate form of the world we know. Fashions, technology, drugs, and politics are different. Except in [[Watchmen (film)|the movie]].
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* ''[[Dragon's Egg|Dragons Egg]]''
* ''[[Earth's Children|Earths Children]]''
* ''[[Empire of the Sun (novel)|Empire of the Sun]]''
* ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]''
* ''[[Garrett P.I.]]''. The series started in 1987.
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* ''[[Out of This World]]''*
* ''[[Pee-wee's Playhouse|Pee Wees Playhouse]]''
* ''[[Pink Lady
* ''[[Poirot]]''*
* ''[[Police Squad!]]''
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* ''[[Small Wonder]]''
* ''[[Star Trek]]''
** ''[[Star Trek: The
* ''[[Super Sentai]]''*
** ''[[Battle Fever J]]''
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* ''[[This Morning]]''
* ''[[Too Close for Comfort]]''*
* ''[[
* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?|Whose Line Is It Anyway]]''* - The radio show and the British version started in the late Eighties.
* [[Wipeout 1988]]
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* [[TNT]]
* Tommy Tutone (867-5309)
* [[
* Tracy Allman
* [[Twisted Sister]]
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* [[Talisman]]
* [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]
* [[Warhammer
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** ''MechWarrior'' (1989)
* ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' (the original NES game was released in 1987)
* ''[[Metal Gear
* ''[[Metroid]]'' (The very first Metroid game was released on the NES in 1986)
* ''[[Millipede (video game)|Millipede]]''
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** ''Shadow Dancer'' (1989)
** ''The Revenge of Shinobi'' (1989)
* ''[[
* ''[[Street Fighter]]''
** ''[[Street Fighter (video game)|Street Fighter]]'' (1987)
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* [[Taipan]]
* ''[[Taiyou no Shinden Asteka II]]''
* ''[[
* ''[[Tapper]]''
* ''[[Tecmo Bowl]]''
* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (video game)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]''
* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Arcade Game]]''
* ''[[Tempest (video game)|Tempest]]''
* ''[[Terra Cresta]]''
* ''[[Tetris]]'' (the [[Elektronika-60]] original, as well as a variety of classic iterations)
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* ''[[Code Monkeys]]''. Set in this decade.
* ''[[The Comic Strip]]'' (particularly its ''Tiger Sharks'' segment)
* ''[[COPS (animation)|COPS]]''
* ''[[Danger Mouse]]''
* ''[[Defenders of the Earth]]''
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* ''[[The Little Rascals]]''. Based on the film series.
* ''[[The Littles]]''
* ''[[
* ''[[Mighty Orbots]]''
* ''[[Mister T (animation)|Mister T]]''
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* ''[[Saturday Supercade]]''
* ''[[Scooby-Doo (animation)|Scooby Doo]]''
** ''[[The 13 Ghosts of Scooby
** ''[[A Pup Named Scooby
* ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]''
* ''[[She-Ra: Princess of Power|She Ra Princess of Power]]''
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** ''[[The Transformers (animation)|The Transformers]]''
* ''[[Turbo Teen]]''
* ''[[Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light]]: Knights of the Magical Light''
* ''[[Voltron]]''
* ''[[The World of David the Gnome]]''
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