Remembering 'School House Rock!'

While shelving juvenile DVDs the other day I came across School House Rock! I know I'm totally giving away my age, but I got so excited and ran right to circulation desk to check it out for myself, the whole way singing, "Conjunction Junction what's your function..." And who could can forget Inter-planet Janet...she's a galaxy girl! I couldn't wait to get home and re-live one of my favorite childhood memories! Then I started to wonder how School House Rock! would go over with the kids of today. I asked myself because I remember being really excited when a friend of mine had old episodes of Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter, but once I began watching them some of the magic seemed to have disappeared. Was it age? Was it the horrible special effects? Back then I thought it was so magical. Would I feel the same about School House Rock!? The answer is yes AND no. The concept is still great. Learning about grammar, government, math, history, and science all through animation and song is a wonderful way to help children learn. Of course I still loved almost all the videos because they bring back such good memories, but I know if I showed this to my niece or her 'tween' friends, she would roll her eyes and say, "Uncle Jayson, what is this? Those cartoons look old." She'd be right on that. I think School House Rock! AND kids could benefit from an updated version of the series. If the animation was brought up to par with what kids watch today (think Pokemon or even Spongebob) and the songs were sung by current tween sensations (think Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber) I think there'd be a lot of learning going on. Oh, and now that Pluto is no longer considered a planet, Interplanet Janet would have to re-write a few lyrics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Rock!

Here's a few memories: