February 1987
Reviewed by VegaNova
Segment 1
"Westerns Intro Announcement"
"F-Troop Theme"
"Ballad of Paladin"
"Bat Masterson Theme"
"Maverick Theme"
"Rin Tin Tin Theme"
"Zorro Theme"
"Rawhide Theme"
"Happy Trails"
Segment 2
"Rock Around The Clock"
"Little Darlin'"
"Rock & Roll Music"
"Chantilly Lace"
"Yakety Yak"
"Rockin' Robin"
"That's What I Say"
"The Twist"
"Blue Moon"
"My Boyfriend's Back"
"I Wanna Hold Your Hand"
"I Get Around / Fun, Fun, Fun"
Segment 3
"Movie Magic Intro Skit"
"Ghostbusters Theme"
"Back in Time"
"Maniac"
"Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong"
"The Whiz Medley" (Ease on Down the Road, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, I'm a Mean Ole Lion, Don't You Bring Me No Bad News)
This showtape was produced by corporate ShowBiz using voice actors to replace the traditional (Creative Engineering) cast. The theme of this showtape was media related - the first segment being all about "Westerns", the second segment was titled "History of Rock and Roll Pt.1" and covered Rock & Roll's first 10 years of music, and the third segment was titled "Movie Magic" which covered many of the blockbuster movies of the 1980s and the songs that helped to make them famous.
History of Rock and Roll Pt.1 - Many of the songs in this show were performed in other showtapes. "Little Darlin'" and "Yakety Yak" were done in 1983 for Crazy Colander Head Night as part of the medley "A Little 50's Rock And Roll". "Chantilly Lace" was performed in the Uncle Klunk - Jeff Howell tape. "My Boyfriend's Back" was done very early by the Rock-afire, and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was recorded again in the "Beatles Medley" (Stars on 45).
Educational Shows - There's many references to Artists, Television Shows, Actors, and Movies made throughout this tape. ShowBiz seems to have put a major focus on educating the audience about the history of the songs performed here and also making sure they were put in the proper context of the particular show.
Movie Magic - Fatz's keyboard the Magical Tune Machine (known as the Time Machine by ShowBiz) makes an appearance in this show, transporting everyone to the set of "The Whiz", which is the final medley of the show.
-2 out of 5 Tokens-
This tape is very reminiscent of the crappy Chuck E. Cheese tapes that came out around this time. All 3 skits are compilations where bits and pieces of songs are sandwiched between lots of dialogue. The little bits of history about artists, songs, and shows are a nice element but they're not very entertaining. The song snippets are very, very short. Something in the back of my head tells me that ShowBiz was desperate to make sure all songs were kept below the 30 second mark in order to skirt copyright laws (and fall into the "fair use" clauses). Whatever the reason, this tape is particularly bad. Heck even some of the notes performed in the second segment "History of Rock and Roll Pt.1" sound like they were intentionally changed (again, copyrights?).
To make matters worse, there's a weird promotional advertisement at the end of "History of Rock and Roll Pt. 1" where the characters tell everyone to remember this show by the Rock-afire Explosion and to tell their friends about it. Bring them back to see the show! Apparently ShowBiz was proud enough of this particular show to think it was a good draw for people to come and see. Pfft!
As much I'm down on the corporate ShowBiz tapes, I have to say that the final segment on this particular showtape had it's moments. There's some odd bits of humor sprinkled into it (mostly with the interpretations of Dook's character) that force a few laughs. I can honestly make the argument that with this show ShowBiz was trying its damndest to copy the personalities laid out by Creative Engineering, particularly during the exchange between Dook and Fatz about "Flashdance". The song choices here are excellent too - the Rock-afire Explosion performs a bunch of campy 1980s hits that were never even attempted by Creative. Something about these '80s songs makes perfect sense when performed by the Rock-afire and brings a positive note to an otherwise poor showtape.
"Westerns Intro Announcement"
"F-Troop Theme"
"Ballad of Paladin"
"Bat Masterson Theme"
"Maverick Theme"
"Rin Tin Tin Theme"
"Zorro Theme"
"Rawhide Theme"
"Happy Trails"
Segment 2
"Rock Around The Clock"
"Little Darlin'"
"Rock & Roll Music"
"Chantilly Lace"
"Yakety Yak"
"Rockin' Robin"
"That's What I Say"
"The Twist"
"Blue Moon"
"My Boyfriend's Back"
"I Wanna Hold Your Hand"
"I Get Around / Fun, Fun, Fun"
Segment 3
"Movie Magic Intro Skit"
"Ghostbusters Theme"
"Back in Time"
"Maniac"
"Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong"
"The Whiz Medley" (Ease on Down the Road, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, I'm a Mean Ole Lion, Don't You Bring Me No Bad News)
This showtape was produced by corporate ShowBiz using voice actors to replace the traditional (Creative Engineering) cast. The theme of this showtape was media related - the first segment being all about "Westerns", the second segment was titled "History of Rock and Roll Pt.1" and covered Rock & Roll's first 10 years of music, and the third segment was titled "Movie Magic" which covered many of the blockbuster movies of the 1980s and the songs that helped to make them famous.
History of Rock and Roll Pt.1 - Many of the songs in this show were performed in other showtapes. "Little Darlin'" and "Yakety Yak" were done in 1983 for Crazy Colander Head Night as part of the medley "A Little 50's Rock And Roll". "Chantilly Lace" was performed in the Uncle Klunk - Jeff Howell tape. "My Boyfriend's Back" was done very early by the Rock-afire, and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was recorded again in the "Beatles Medley" (Stars on 45).
Educational Shows - There's many references to Artists, Television Shows, Actors, and Movies made throughout this tape. ShowBiz seems to have put a major focus on educating the audience about the history of the songs performed here and also making sure they were put in the proper context of the particular show.
Movie Magic - Fatz's keyboard the Magical Tune Machine (known as the Time Machine by ShowBiz) makes an appearance in this show, transporting everyone to the set of "The Whiz", which is the final medley of the show.
-2 out of 5 Tokens-
This tape is very reminiscent of the crappy Chuck E. Cheese tapes that came out around this time. All 3 skits are compilations where bits and pieces of songs are sandwiched between lots of dialogue. The little bits of history about artists, songs, and shows are a nice element but they're not very entertaining. The song snippets are very, very short. Something in the back of my head tells me that ShowBiz was desperate to make sure all songs were kept below the 30 second mark in order to skirt copyright laws (and fall into the "fair use" clauses). Whatever the reason, this tape is particularly bad. Heck even some of the notes performed in the second segment "History of Rock and Roll Pt.1" sound like they were intentionally changed (again, copyrights?).
To make matters worse, there's a weird promotional advertisement at the end of "History of Rock and Roll Pt. 1" where the characters tell everyone to remember this show by the Rock-afire Explosion and to tell their friends about it. Bring them back to see the show! Apparently ShowBiz was proud enough of this particular show to think it was a good draw for people to come and see. Pfft!
As much I'm down on the corporate ShowBiz tapes, I have to say that the final segment on this particular showtape had it's moments. There's some odd bits of humor sprinkled into it (mostly with the interpretations of Dook's character) that force a few laughs. I can honestly make the argument that with this show ShowBiz was trying its damndest to copy the personalities laid out by Creative Engineering, particularly during the exchange between Dook and Fatz about "Flashdance". The song choices here are excellent too - the Rock-afire Explosion performs a bunch of campy 1980s hits that were never even attempted by Creative. Something about these '80s songs makes perfect sense when performed by the Rock-afire and brings a positive note to an otherwise poor showtape.