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Mad_Trapper
Reviews
The Smokey Bear Show (1969)
Where there's smoke there's sure to be fire and our pal Smokey Bear
The Smokey Bear Show was shown by ABC in 1969 - 1970 at 8:30am EST. Casper and Smokey ran opposite of Heckle and Jeckle on CBS. TSBS is the earliest memory of a show I religiously watched next to Sesame Street, and Smokey Bear was my first childhood hero (and also the earliest source of arguments with my sister who wanted to watch H&H on the other channel. It was a 30 minute cartoon consisting of three shorts with the 2nd short being a "Smokey Bear's Album" seq. that showed the usual characters as kids that would take the style of "Our Gang Comedy" with the other two shorts involving the characters getting into some sort of trouble in which Smokey would get them out of in the end. The end would always feature Smokey in a PSA and then scenes from next weeks show. The characters of the show where Smokey Bear (wonderfully voiced by Jackson Weaver) Benny Hare, Gabby the Mountain Lion, Betsy Boar, Freddy Fume (skunk), Mayor Owl, Flloyd Fox, Hiram Snake and of course Smokey's cousin Griz. Unfortunately the copyrights for TSBS have been acquired by Classic Media who released a few episodes on VHS and recorded in EP mode (the sound and video are terrible) that were released in 1990. The show remains in their hands and has no further plans to release it again.
Global Warming: What You Need to Know (2006)
A Sobering Documentary
This show gives an excellent account and definition of Global Warming. Tom Brokaw give a very informative narrative, while traveling throughout different parts of the world to give a first hand account of just how global warming is affecting our planet and its' inhabitants. After viewing this show I started checking its' sources and doing my own research; after which I am quite convinced of the warning it gives. If the present state of things are not changed the inhabitants of this planet will be in for some drastic changes. Good news for insect populations, bad news for us mammals. I would recommend viewing this to anyone who is curious about global warming, but does not feel informed enough about it. I have also come to find surprisingly that there is zealous opposition to global warming. In my home state of Ohio especially. After viewing this program I have come to the realization that these people are nothing more than just ignorant and would be enlighten by thinking for themselves and taking the initiative to do there own research and stop relying on narrow minded associates to convince of their own unfounded ideas.
Challenge to Be Free (1975)
In that land he knew so well, he disappeared and legends tell...
This story has held a special place in my heart for the last thirty-one years. As a boy, I enjoyed stories of mountain men and the wilderness. Books like "Call of the Wild", "White Fang", "The Frontiersman" and "My Side Of the Mountain", influenced me tremendously. I wanted so much to live like a mountain man, but nothing inspired me more to do so, than when I saw this movie on television in 1975. I wanted to be just like "Trapper". However, as I got older I found I was just too domesticated to live like that. Nonetheless, I still romanticize about living that kind of life. I agree with some other reviews of this movie that the storyline has the simplicity that is quite prevalent in "Disneyisque" type movies, but if you can look past the mechanics in which it was made and see the heart of the story, the true themes, then I think you find yourself pleasantly touched. I make it a point to watch this movie once a year. After thirty-one years, I still get a chill running through me when I see torrent of snow rushing down the mountainside and hear the echoing, haunting laugh of the Trapper.
-Good luck old-timer and stay free-
PS If you want to read more about the true story, I found this link on the Mad Trapper of Rat River:
http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/NWT/madtrapper.htm