Pee-wee on VHS

In a Pre-streaming World, We Bought Media

As a kid I might have seen Pee-wee Herman’s HBO special and definitely saw one of his many appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, but it was 1985’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure that made him a household name. I was in seventh grade when Pee-wee went on his big screen adventure and overnight, everyone I went to school with began saying things like “I know you are, but what am I?” and “I’m a loner, Dottie… a rebel” to one another. You were either in on the Pee-wee wave or you weren’t, and I definitely was. My friends and I could recite entire scenes from the film, word for word. Many of us still can.

It’s hard to say if I was the right age for Pee-wee’s next adventure, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1986-1991. Part of me felt a little too old for a show full of puppets and cartoons and visiting kids. Then again, there were the jokes — the secret word, the innuendos, the layers of humor that made me come back every single week, age be damned.

Today you can buy the complete series on DVD for less than $50, but there was a time when you could not. For years all I owned were episodes of the show I had recorded myself with my VCR. By the time the fourth and fifth season were airing I was in high school and frequently working the morning shift on Saturdays at fast food restaurants, forcing me to miss the show live.

Between those two bookends were the official VHS releases of the episodes, which were released in the late 80s. I believe this particular tape I found came as part of a larger set. The back of the box says it has a running time of 22 minutes which means it only contains one single episode, and it’s a landmark one. “Ice Cream Soup” is the very first episode from the very first season.

My kids have no nostalgic connection with physical media. They never owned any CDs or DVDs, nor do they want to. They see physical media as a ball and chain. When I show them things like this VHS tape and try to explain to them that as a teen, unless it was airing live on television or Blockbuster (or one of your friends) had it on tape, you weren’t watching it. They give me the same blank stare I once gave a teacher when she told me her sister had nearly died from a toaster accident.

Perhaps to prove their point, a few moments later I was being shown “Ice Cream Soup” on YouTube. Kids these days.