Share your memories of GAh in 1981-83.

[enovak]

My computer I had was an Atari 800. I remember that the starfield in the game Star Raiders would make a great 'special effect' for a GAH film my firends and I were thinking of doing.

I also did programming and remember designing (on paper) a GAH computer game where Ralph had powers and sometimes they would go on and off at random like in the show.

I did not have a VCR till right before sesaon 3 so season one and 2 are on audio tape. (poor man's VCR back then).

I recall going to the record stoer to buy singles of songs like Rocket Man and Eve of Destruction.

The biggest thing was I refused to watch GAH when it first started! I remember all the adverts and TV commercials for the pilot and thought how stupid it looked. My mom was watching it and kept telling me I should look at this, I might like it and I said I don't want to waste my time. But then when the series came on I watched it and was hooked. I was glad they re-ran the pilot and a friend of mine, whose Dad worked for CBS had a commercial VCR and was able to make a copy of the pilot for me on VHS so I could have a copy back in '83. I think thats my oldest tape i still have that works.
And I STILL need to keep it. (Thanks Anchor Bay!)

[scenario]

GAH was the first current show in my life that I remember falling in love with. I was hooked instantly, it was such magic. My family did not have a VCR either until about 1983, so I missed taping the episodes, and back then I was so young I'm not sure if I would have known how to tape an episode. I remember being able to stick tapes into the VCRs and watch stuff in '83, but in '81 and '82 I would have been too young.

What I always remember is that during the summer of 1982 my family made a big move and I changed schools and left all my friends. I went to a new school and became that typical "new kid" that so many of us have to go through. I remember hating things and somehow I "sensed" that GAH was in trouble for it's 3rd season. I was blown away by the new flying effects, but you just knew the show was a goner. GAH was my comfort as the only familiar thing I had in my life besides my family, because my surroundings were so different. I remember bonding with the series even more because it was so recognizable to me. I hated having to leave all my friends, and no one in the world likes walking around being the lonely new kid. But GAH was there with Ralph, Bill and Pam, so it cheered me up. During all my misery of having to leave my friends and becoming the lonely new kid in a different city and state, I just knew that GAH was doomed too. It just felt that way, a combination of my picking up that the episodes weren't that good, it becoming harder to find the show on it's regular Wednesday slot since it shifted to Thursday and Friday, and my own woes...I just knew. I remember that very clearly.

It seemed like a lot of the shows I just adored in the 80s would never stay on the air for more then 2 years or so. I guess because the shows I loved tended to think outside the box and be too different for the networks. GAH was gone after only 2 years. Voyagers! was another one I loved, but it was axed after 1 year. The lone exception was towards the late 80s with Quantum Leap, I kept expecting it to be cancelled, but it surprised me by lasting for 4 years and 5 seasons.



-scenario

[mom2jared]

OMG! Scenario! Your memories sound just like mine. I moved from New York to Florida in January of 1982 when I was 11 and remember playing with my smurfs in the car. I had a cape on brainy smurf and used papa smurf and smurfette as Bill and Pam. I know, sounds corny but I was only 11. I tried to make new friends but it was a tough adjustment. I remember that I was the only one who liked GAH and anytime I told someone that I liked the show, they thought I was crazy.

[JediKnightRockstar]

I was 7 in 1981, and it was just perfect timing. Within the years leading to that point, children were being spoiled rotten w/great programming: Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Captain America(w/Connie Selleca and the Cap's love interest), The Hulk, SpiderMan(yes, good old Nicholas Hammond), Wonder Woman(Lynda Carter, my first exposure to a black-haired, blue-eyed angel)Superman, Empire Strikes Back, the cheesy but fun Sid and Marty Krofft shows, Superman 2, and then, The Greatest American Hero.
I was never the jock back then, but remember all the commericals the that played while my dad and uncles were watching the superbowl.
Had no memory of the skinhead militia at all, just the point where Ralph and Bill meet at the desert, the cool radio effect for the aliens to communicate, being locked in Bill car, and Ralph getting the suit. The part where Ralph does the 3 running steps with kid's help was always shown on the commercials.
So I was hooked, watched religiously, drew self portraits (in crayon) of myself wearing the suit and holding a blue lightsaber. I always wished they would make underoos of Ralph's suit, but it never happened.
What really sucked was when Hero was moved to Friday night, and I had to channel surf between Hero and the then-debuting Knight Rider. Next thing you know, poof! The show was gone, no send-out no anything.

Fast Forward to 1994, when the FX Channel debuted, and finally, I got to relive a lot of my childhood memories and recorded all the episodes.

Fast Foward again to 2005, DVD's finally arrive-Yay!! Cut Cover Songs-boo! I want Joey Scarbury's version of RocketMan and Eve Of Destruction, and LA Freeways' Can't Get Enough Of Your Love and So Special on my iPod, which of course, would be hooked up in my car--the NEW Villacana Pirahna!!!!

[Carlini]

Let's see... GAH memories. I remember discussing the "Hinckley/Hanley" issue at the bus stop with an older kid who had some elaborate conspiracy theory about George Bush (the elder) being friends with John Hinckley. I remember using my sister's tape recorder to record the audio of the show (for some reason I really liked the end theme song, but it was always ruined by some announcer talking about the weather and then saying "Up next, on The Fall Guy...")

Another memory... when the fourth episode aired, on April 8, 1981, my cat Nicky died of a urinary blockage/infection thing about ten minutes into the show. Being distraught, I never finished watching the ep. I never actually got to see the entire episode until the DVD release this year.

[ThatGirl]

Memories of GAH 1981- Young married couple, with a tiny baby, (our first of four). Baby sleeping in my arms, the three of us cuddled up on the couch watching GAH. Heaven on earth.

[bat65]

hmmmm... I was 15.. and remembered thinkin.. KEWL! This looks like an awesome show! I watched the pilot in my parents bedroom.. because my dad was watching something else on the "Big" tv.
I remember buying the theme on a 45.. (still have it.. somewhere.. ) Walking around with it playing in my head..
I remember painting my own copy of the chest insignia.. (think I still have it.. somewhere)
That was the year I turned 16... between season 1 and 2. Also met my now wife that fall..

found it on FX.. that was awesome.. and I was a BIG FX fan! Loved that channel.

[MrsMaxwell]

I was 13 in '81. I remember falling in love with the show when it premiered. There was nothing else on at the time. (Who wanted to watch "Real People" or "WKRP"?). I was sure this show would be on the air a long time...like my previous favorites, "The Six Million Dollar Man" & "The Bionic Woman"....2 great shows that kids could enjoy AND had plots parents could follow. I took a lot of crap from the kids on the bus, because They thought it wasn't cool to watch GAH. The next year, I got in to arguments like "GAH is better than Knight Rider, so shut up!". Finally, it was the last year, then cancellation. I was TOTALLY bummed out until "Hardcastle & McCormick" premiered, and helped fill the void. They were the last 2 shows I watched religiously, (Until ST:TNG). I never saw the FX re-runs, but I'm happy to have the DVDs. I know a lot has been edited, but we didn't get cable until '85 because the NY & Philly channels came in clear enough without it. However, it is so nice to see GAH in clear DVD quality...

[billswoman]

I guess I'm an old coot compared to many of you; I turned 20 in 1981. I watched GAH from Day One, being a science fiction geek, and loved it. Like many others, I thought Bill was an utter jerk (to quote Ralph when Bill leaves him in the desert, after getting The Suit.) The first few eps with Ralph bumbling around, trying to fly, were humorous, but the bumbling and awkwardness got tiresome after a while. I got sick of the theme song too and all the damned singing (sorry Joey fans, but I did... even though I admit, he IS a good singer.)

Only song I really loved was "Eve of Destruction" in O:SS. THAT was the ep that made me realize Bill Maxwell was aces. Season Two, like I read one comment elsewhere, was really character-driven and I could see that when I watched a lot of it on my friend's DVDs a few days back.

From watching the pilot (part one at least, still trying to get part two), I've noticed they kind of -- what's the term -- made Ralph more of a weinie, not less, as the series went on. He actually came off seeming pretty tough (for Ralph) in the pilot. Altho that one in Jamaica (can't recall the ep title offhand) when they're about to slice off Pam's head, and of course they're stopped, Ralph is genuinely ANGRY and begins to kick the crap out of one of the baddies and Bill has to stop him.

Any way, I love the show, can't WAIT to get the DVDs myself. I'm stealing some eps via peer to peer right now, just so I can watch them, but I have every intention of buying the DVDs once I'm among the ranks of the employed again. One of many TV series I need to get, it's first up on my list, even over Star Trek (which, if you knew me, would be a tremendous shock).

Bill rules.