My Reason

My Reason

I grew up on a steady diet of every color of 80's cartoon in the rainbow (from 'TMNT' & 'Transformers' to 'Care Bears' & 'Rainbow Brite'), TV shows with good values ('MacGyver', 'ST:TNG', 'The Monkees'), fun movies ('Help', 'Star Trek IV', 'Princess Bride'), plus endless Beatles music, rock 'n' roll, and 80's music. My tastes were perfectly set up to like 'Misfits of Science', and boy did I. When I saw the series in 1992 (somehow I'd missed it during its original run), I thought it was the coolest show around. Any flaws to its quality were invisible to my 11-year-old self (though I do remember thinking that Billy got a disproportionate amount of the screen time and that the later episodes without Jane seemed to be not as chock-full of Misfit-ness). However, what stood out for me the most was Johnny B and his electrical superpowers. I thought he was the absolute coolest thing ever. Not only was he awesome in his superpowers, but he was awesome as a person too. Cool, calm, and collected. (And it didn't hurt that he was a left-handed musician just like my first idol, Paul McCartney.) He became my favorite superhero, and I wanted so badly to be like him. I tried all I could to emulate his style, his slang, his confidence, his awesomeness... But then there were no more new episodes (and for some reason I hadn't put them on VHS so rewatching them wasn't an option). The only way to get any further adventures of the Misfits was to make them up myself – which I did, though I can barely remember them now. But to soak up any more about the show itself, I'd have to turn to behind-the-scenes stuff. The only problem was, by this time MoS was one of the forgotten TV shows and there was nothing about it available to me. Time passed (16 years!), and with the internet, I happily googled MoS and poured over everything I could find. But it wasn't enough. What I really wanted was to re-experience the Misfits – the colors, the music, the fun of a great team fighting for what's right... Only now I'd come across so many people online talking about how they'd rewatch their favorite 80's shows after two decades and be so disappointed at how cheesy and outdated and horrible they were to them, now that they were older and more sophisticated. What if I rewatched MoS and hated it?! A little while later, my sister got me digital copies for my birthday (thank you Koch Media for releasing a DVD with the English!). So after we listened to some music from 'Give My Regards To Broadstreet' and lots of 80's new wave, we put on MoS and watched it over for the first time in so long. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I felt just like I had as a kid. Of course, there were some flaws and out-datedness and cheesy stuff, but everything about the show that had thrilled me in the past was still there. The brilliant blue of Johnny B's bolts was just as brilliantly blue. The tumbling, chaotic way the Misfits saved the day was just as tumbling and chaotic. The offbeat humor was just as funny as it had been before. And there were even some wonderful elements that had gone over my head before, like the superb performances of the cast (both dramatic and comedic). I re-experienced 'Misfits of Science' and was contented. It was odd to see it after so long though because it was like looking into some sort of meme mirror. I could see all the bits of cultural DNA I'd unknowingly taken from the show and carried around as part of my own. The type of humor, the attitude of excitement the Misfits did everything with, and yes, vestiges of the style and slang and confidence of Johnny B (I'm still working on the awesomeness). It was all so natural a part of me by now that I'd forgotten this show was one of my main influences. So my reason for making this site is because I liked 'Misfits of Science' growing up, I still like it now, I missed it for so long, I want to share it with others, and I want to give it a place of honor. And even though one TV show is such a tiny part of the world, it can bring such joy to someone who likes it. -- Joanna Magnolia/Janis Kunz

Site Contributors

Thank you to everyone who contributed!

Teresa

Chuck!

Twonkbot

aTomiK

Tobias

Courteney Online

PenangGirl - if you've met KPH, PenangGirl would love to hear from you about what he was like in person, thanks! :D

Triv

BMan8

Cory Calhoun

Karin A.

Michael Scarola