Time Capsule - The Year 1981

by Dave (Twitter - @80sReboot)

This time we move the time capsule target year up to 1981. As I spotlighted on 1980 Time Capsule we have a few podcasts that we have devoted to this year that we would like to share with you. Below our self serving advertisements for our podcast links we have some iconic videos that will give you a small glimpse of some news headlines, TV shows, and cartoon for this specific year. As I write this time capsule blog entry I notice that we posted the Movies of 1981 show 5 months ago, it is amazing to have started the podcast and witness the evolution of topics as when we started I couldn't imagine that we would have completed a Movies of series, let alone have Oscar Movies and Hard Rock / Heavy Metal albums through the years. Our ideas keep coming as we continue to find new topics and guests to talk about the greatest decade. We appreciate you reliving the 80s with us. 

Oscar Movies of 1981 
Matt and Jesse talk about the Oscar nominated movies of 1981 and their picks on what movie should have won.

The Movies of 1981
Dave, Scott, and Jesse talk about the awesome movies of 1981.

Top 3 Hard Rock Albums of 1981
Tim, Scott and Chris discuss their 3 most notable hard rock albums of 1981.

1981 News Headlines

1981 Television Shows

1981 Cartoons

I was ten years old for most of the year and I remember that on a somewhat frequent basis the family went to the local pizza shop in town. Being the picky eater that I was at the time, my Mom would have to stop by Burger King on way to the pizza restaurant to get yours truly a plain hamburger without ketchup with fries. I had some sort of aversion to red food, I wish I remembered what the deal was because I love pizza now but that is life of being a kid, finding new ways to ensure your parental units have to be short order cooks. At the pizza restaurant we would normally occupy a booth and I would routinely beg for quarters from my parents, then having to navigate under the table because my big sister's favorite phrase was "crawl under". Freeing myself from the confines of the booth while they waited for their pizza to arrive I would make my way out to the lobby to once again attempt to beat the sole arcade game there ... Defender by Williams Electronics. Defender would always win but I was mesmerized by the look and sound of this awesome game and even after losing I would watch the demo mode as if it would provide further insight on how I could finally conquer it. Job well done Mr. Eugene Jarvis on your design of this iconic game.

This year also blew my ten year old socks off in the realm of television. To this day "Believe It or Not" by Joey Scarbury ranks number one on my list of best 80s TV songs and hearing that music would stop me in my tracks to see the further misadventures of high-school teacher Ralph Hinkley, FBI Agent Bill Maxwell, and the lovely Pam Davidson. The fine folks over at Marvel also hooked me with their new cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, as I currently watch the intro I wonder why this version of Peter Parker had such an awesome techno setup when all other versions I am used to have him barely affording to eat? However, I don't need dig deep into this one but I am curious if anyone remembers off the top of their head? Was Firestar or Iceman well off to afford such a big New York apartment that would transform into an advanced techno computer room if they moved the trophy? 

Let us know your thoughts on 1981 in the comments below.