Epic Win: Orange VHS Tapes
Submitted and Written by WerewolfCyote
There once was a time when “Nick” meant something. During that time, an orange tape meant pure happiness.
WerewolfCyote gets it. The orange tapes weren’t significant for their color, but for what they stood for. The Nickelodeon glory days ended a long time ago. If you look closely at the photo, there are some pretty win choices there too: Harriet the Spy, Ren and Stimpy, and Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
Since it’s Friday, I thought we could reminisce about Nick together. More videos after the jump.
Updated: Even More Videos from Commenters
Ren and Stimpy
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Rugrats
Hey Arnold!
Other worthy Nick shows that you’d like to see included? Find me a video and post it in the comments (NO MASH-UPS).
From Anonymous: Angry Beavers (full episode)
From brandon_ha: Rocko’s Modern Life
From Samantha: The Adventures of Pete & Pete (WIN WIN WIN — this deserves a post of it’s own; somebody please submit this)
From Anonymous: AAAHH!!! Real Monsters
From 80s brat: Clarissa Explains It All and Salute Your Shorts
man do i ever miss these shows! and i miss nick being cool to watch….now its an abomination that is in no way recognizable as our beloved nickalodeon…..
iLOVE rockos modern life
I remember these very well! I still have a good collection that I will be passing on to my kids. I used to watch them all the time. Now they’re all in storage waiting for the day they are able to be put into a VCR.
After Pete & Pete this was my favorite show.
Was that the First Season Opening? Because I swear the version I remember sounded like the B-52
Correct on both counts
Oh man I used to love are you afraid of the dark! That show was awesome (as far as I remember). Ren and Stimpy is full of win, I still love that show to this day. “Its better than bad its good”!
My fave Ren and Stimpy episode was “Son of Stimpy.”
Cries of “Powdered! Toast! Ma-a-a-a-a-a-an!” can still be heard in the house.
YESSS!!! I loved Are You Afraid of the Dark & Ren and Stimpy!
POWDERED TOAST MAN!!!! And the Happy Happy Joy Joy song still lives on as a meme on YouTube. I never really liked CatDog, though.
Also, they need Slime Time Live again. Or at least You Pick Live.
I remember being terrified by one episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark. I don’t remember too much about it now, but the only scene that stands out from my nightmares were these grey shadow people (or perhaps people in grey ninja costumes) playing basketball, then turning and seeing me, stopping the game and walking menacingly towards me. I think the plot was something like this kid falls out of his proper space-time and sees the people setting things up for the future…building the houses, moving the furniture, etc. it doesn’t make much sense, but perhaps I’m forgetting what was going on.
That was a Canadian tv show.
It was still on Nick in the 80’s though.. now that’s some classic Nick
Yea it was created in Ottawa by CJOH TV. It started off as a local live show and then went national (which to me killed its charm). I watched it all the time. Oh yes Less Lye just passed away a few days ago.
Rugrats used to creep me out, but Rocko’s Modern Life was gooooood stuffs.
loved the Rugrats
what’s creepy about talking babys that are smarter than the adults?
The animation.
Yah, it creeped me out too.
“You fat, bloated, EEEEDIOT!”
I still have a stuffed Ren sitting in my room
You’ve become quite epic. (Win factor +9)
Thanks, I submitted this. (Sorry for the spelling errors)
I couldn’t find pictures via Google Images so I had to get them from my own collection. (You see the woodgrain video cabinet behind them.)
It’s Harriet The Spy, The Ren and Stimpy Christmas tape, and Are You Afraid Of The Dark? Ghostly Tales. It has two of my favorite episodes The Tale Of The Shiny Red Bicycle and the one about the cold ghost.
Oh, the cold ghost one was So Sad!!
Wow, I had one of these with Rugrats (the original, not the tweenybopper version some idiot pulled out of his buttcrack), and I loved it to death.
Remember when they had actual cartoons on Nick and Disney? Now the majority of their programming is shallow live action tween comedy/melodrama.
I so agree with you. especially for disney. nowadays, u rarely see cartoons on it unless you stay up past midnight. and the new Nick shows are so lame now.
Cartoon Network went down the plughole, too. Anyone heard about CN Real yet? I MISS DEXTER AND ROBOT JONES!!!
Actually, I preferred the live action Nick shows. My afternoons were spent with Salute Your Shorts and Hey Dude. I still would like to visit a dude ranch some day. They were far superior to the tweener crap on today. And I remember Hey Dude having it’s melodramatic moments. Like when we found out that Melody’s brother had an alcohol problem just like their dad did. Man…I haven’t even thought of that show in years and years…
I know what you mean, like the crap shows on TV like iCarly I for some reason decided to watch, it was an episode about how everyone should go green and stuff… that’s bull$%#@
I love how “Mom’s Plate” gets it’s own title.
And Petunia!
Hey if anyone was wondering the bands name is “Polaris” playing the Pete and Pete intro.
They have only one album and it is amazing. Everyone should check it out.
I was seriously just talking about this Two days ago! My boyfriend and I carried some heavy boxes and I started thinking about Artie, The strongest Man…IN THE WORLD. His favorite smell was tire air, remember? Anyway I really do miss good old tv for kids
AAAHH!!! Real Monsters was another awesome Nicktoon.
I remember! I think I have some rugrats tapes still, or I could have given them away, still, that orange color, it totally stood out from my pile of other tapes….
The only one I got was the thanksgiving episode. I’m beginning to think Reptar was cooler than Godzilla.
I still have an orange copy of Doug somewhere in storage. It, too, miss the glory days of Nick. The glory days of Nick at Nite, too, for that matter…
I still have a “Harriet the Spy” original Orange VHS tape in my basement. The only reason I have it is because we kept it too long when we rented it from Hollywood Video (another blast from the past! They closed the last on in my area two years ago :[ ). They gave it to us because they had already bought another. I don’t even think we had to pay!
I remember sitting up really late one Halloween night to watch an Are You Afraid of the Dark marathon!! I even did the Call-In Contest and won a prize pack-the VHS tape is sitting in amongst my DVD’s still!!
My favorite Nick shows were the AYAOTD and Roundhouse.. still have copies that I taped off of reruns.. good grief that was 17 years ago!! (geeze I feel old now)
*SPOILER*
There was an episode of AYAOTD featuring a couple of siblings, one of whom didn’t know he was dead. When the Sixth Sense came out, as much as I had promised my brother, he didn’t believe that I had heard of a story line with a ghost not knowing he was dead. oh well.
holy crap i loved these shows!! and all the other ones that were on after ‘92 (i was born then, so yeah, im 17, what of it? i still know WIN when i see it) im am APPALLED by the crap-fest that Nick has become. Cartoon Network too, for that matter. i sincerely hope with all my heart that they are making all this crap on purpose, hopefully to force kids to choose reading or playing outside as opposed to that crud.
Thank you. Teens get it too! Even Spongebob has gotten old.
But if you think that was bad, you should see the new Pokèmon cartoons…
Every motion causes a swooshing noise, and Ash is stupider than Naruto.
I used to love spongebob ( ‘94 btw) then they got new writer or something and it’s all crap. I did (and do) like some old live actions though like “malcom in the middle” or even better “kenan and kel”
“Who loves orange soda?”
For me Nick died at the year 2000. That’s when they changed formats, and became the abomination it is today.
lets not forget “Nick at Nite” when they ran the old classic comedies, Get Smart, the Dick van Dyke Show, the Muppet Show, Bewitched, and so forth. Classic TV–they don’t write ‘em like that any more. On the more modern side, I liked Clarissa Explains it All.
And Mr. Ed. I was crazy about Mr. Ed, as I was big on horses as a kid. An intelligent wiseguy like Ed was sheer gold for me.
I loved staying up to watch Giligan’s Island, Get Smart, and the Partrage Family… Rocky and Bulwinkle.
Honestly, I consider myself lucky that when I was a kid that was my tv. It’s helped me understand a little bit more about the generations that came before mine, and helped me appricate the technology we have today.
Still think the professor could have made an ipod that ran on coconuts…
Don’t you think it’s sad that we’re the last generation to have access to all the cartoons?
It breaks my heart that kids grow up these days without every seeing a Looney Toon let a lone the awesomeness known as golden age Nick.
I wish Nick would listen to their audience and make a Retro Nick channel but no, they’re making a complete Teen Nick station. Whoo-pee!
I remember when Nick at Nite first started and my whole family would watch Dobie Gillis, the Patty Duke Show, and Mr. Ed together. That was awesome. I wish someone would still show those old black and white sitcoms.
And now isn’t it sad to turn Nick on and see crap like iCarly playing? What the hell is wrong with the world. Put the good stuff back on tv for the kids!
Nick wasn’t the only company to use orange tapes. Porn did too
If you are lucky, you can still watch these today, except for AAH! Real Monsters.
i think they remade angry beavers into *shudder* catscratch
i remember this one angry beavers episode that always scared me, the episode about something like Tv Ghosts.
AAAAAH! Real Monsters was an awesome show. Some of the new “cartoons” are just so god awful, I always loved at the end of some cartoons when the weird voice said “Clasky Ksupo!!!” or something like that.
i remember rock’s modern life. It was on when I was living in south africa so i ended up waking up a 2 AM on satudays and sundays to watch the show. Then I remember moving to the us and seeing that show on nick at a normal time. by then though, nick had already died. RIP 90’s cartoons i will never forget u
wow! when I was really little, even if we only got like…3 channels, I would love to watch Blue’s Clues with the orange tapes! And to think, I am only 13 and I remember alot of these things…
i remember watching those too, and those were the good episodes before steve “went to college”
Man, I loved that show! I even remember the promos that aired before the show ever came on. My sister was super excited for the show (she’s a couple years older than me) and neither of us ever missed an episode.
I heart Sam…
Aww… I used to have the biggest crush on Sponge…
Lol, and my friend looked at me like I was insane when I freaked out because the guy who plays Donkey Lips was in an episode of Dark Angel titled ‘Braniac’.
i remember the good old days.When if you wanted a cartoon full of awesome you didn’t have to go get your tapes from 20 years ago.I love doug and rugrats rin and stimpy was awesome too.I have to know what was the guy who made rugrats teens high on.It really did go downhill when they added in kimmy.
I thought it was slipping when they added Dill but, you’re right, Kimmy killed it.
It died when Dill was added.
But it seems like the whole show was going affirmative action when Suzie showed up. Even the creators seemed to acknowledge it by making her family the best thing ever.
Ahh! This is the epic win of all epic wins! I was so excited when I found Clarissa Explains It All & Pete and Pete on DVD a few years back, but it was so disappointing that they only made 1 or 2 seasons of each.
Anyone else remember Legends of The Hidden Temple, The Secret World Of Alex Mac, Mystery Files of Shelby Wu, Hey Dude, Land of the Lost, My Brother & Me, and Space Cases? *sigh* Those were the days!
Legends of the Hidden Temple was one of my favorites! It’s really unfortunate, what Nick has become now.
I even had the Legends of the Hidden Temple board game growing up. Even now when trying to quote Olmec, my brain is stuck on saying “You could start in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey,” but I know that’s not right, it’s just the room that sticks out the most to me
i remember good burger in a green colored tape. i loved that movie so much along with All That, Kablam, Rocko’s modern life, Doug, and rugrats, one show alot of people dont remember was a western show called Hey Dude! so classic. i switched to cartoon network around the time angry beavers came out. i will always remember are you afraid of the dark because it scared the crap outta me every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DIQKUZIqHo
This sparked my obsession with wanting to see the Rugrats again when it as uploaded last year.
I think The Brentwoods put it quite well
Kablam – specifically, Action League Now!
http://www.nicksvideo.com/aln/Beast.html
Fantastic parody. One of Nick’s greatest triumphs!
Nickelodeon+Early to Mid 1990’s=Good Times
For nostalgic wins, 90’s Nickelodeon was one of my tops, I still always watched Nick Gas, Angry Beavers, Hey Arnold, Rugrats, Doug, Ren and Stimpy, all those great shows. I feel akward watching them now than watching them in the year 1993 or something, when everyone my age still thought it was cool.
Dude, early-mid 90’s nick will ALWAYS be cool!
I used to have those!
Oh man, I especially miss Ren & Stimpy. Nick used to be so cool, but then they got rid of R&S and made the Rugrats grow up.
Now the only good thing on it is Spongebob.
No Danger Mouse? Out of Control? You Can’t Do That On Television?
FAIL.
Alex Mack. I remember thinking her leavitating stuff in her sleep was so cool. Staying up to watch SNICK. And they always played hey dude, secrets of the hidden temple and salute your shorts together. it was awesome. Mind you all the kids networks are putting live action crap just crap on I saw the other day that cartoon network was doing it too. there is something so wrong with that.
The Nick imports were the best. Noozles and David the Gnome, among others. Those actually taught life lessons that still stick around.
I didn’t actually have cable as a kid, which really sucked, but I did watch nick all the time, by pretty much living at my friends’ houses. And my house is STILL full of orange VHS tapes.
way late to the party here, but anyone remember this?
YES I remember that show! I couldn’t remember the title until now though. Also The Secret World of Alex Mack…
The only saving grace on Nickelodeon these days is Drake and Josh and iCarly because they evoke the classic silliness of the mid-late 90s Nick preteen shows, maybe because it was created by Dan Schneider who also created All That and Keenan and Kel.
The goodburger anyone?
Welcome to the goodburger home of the goodburger can I take your order?
dear lord we still have an orange copy of the rugrats movie buried somewhere around here, same with the N64 game