Nostalgia

 Hey everyone, how were your weekends? Mine was pretty good for the first weekend of March. So today I'm just gonna talk about nostalgia and something I've noticed in the last couple of years where nostalgia for the 2000s has started to become a thing. So let's get into it.

Almost a year ago I did a post called "Nostalgia For the 2000s?" where I talked about my nostalgia for the 2000s. Particularly for the period from 2000 to 2005, which is when I was in middle school and high school. But, after writing that post, it really began to hit me that so many movies, TV shows, comic books, novels, and video games are hitting their 20th anniversaries this decade. For example, Avril Lavigne's debut album, Let Go, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022. Both Smallville and Star Trek: Enterprise celebrated their 20th anniversaries in 2021.

But something that really made me realize just how much 2000s nostalgia has started to happen is the fact that iCarly returned to TV screens, on Paramount+ in 2021, and last year, in 2023, the Zoey 101 reunion/sequel movie, Zoey 102, came out on Paramount+. The original iCarly ran from 2007 until 2012 on Nickelodeon, and Zoey 101 ran from 2005 until 2008. Now, I missed iCarly for the most part because I was in college when it started, but, because my sister watched it, I saw bits and pieces of episodes, though not enough to realize that Tim Russ, who played Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 to 2001, played their principal, and Mindy Sterling played their teacher. And not enough to know that Gibby was played by Noah Munck, who I know as Naked Rob on The Goldbergs from season 2 until the end of the show in season 10. 

I mean most of the 2010s was about '80s and '90s nostalgia, mostly '80s. And while we've had a real push for '90s based nostalgia thanks to Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, That '90s Show, Goosebumps (both movies and the recent Disney+ series), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, and now X-Men '97, there's also been a huge push for 2000s nostalgia too with Halo on Paramount+, Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, Zoey 102, iCarly, and Spider-Man: No Way Home with the return of Tobey Maguire as the Sam Raimi version of Spider-Man, along with Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus, Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborne/the Green Goblin, Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman (from Spider-Man 3), and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.

Like I said, songs that I listened to on the radio when I was in high school are all turning 20 at some point this decade, as are the albums they appeared on. Albums that I've had since high school, like Escape by Enrique Iglesias, either have turned 20 already or are going to turn 20 in the next year or so. And like next year, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins and Tim Burton's Charlie & the Chocolate Factory are all turning 20 next year. 

The reason there's newfound nostalgia for the 2000s is because the people who grew up in the 2000s are now adults. And those of us who were teenagers and in our early 20s in the 2000s are now in our late 30s and only a few years away from turning 40, so we remember that decade too. It's just incredible to me that it's been long enough since the 2000s that nostalgia for it has started.

Unfortunately, Hollywood has discovered it too as they've been putting out 2000s nostalgia based TV shows and movies as well, as I've mentioned earlier in this post. Some of it has worked, alot of it hasn't. How I Met Your Father is one of the things that hasn't worked. One of the reasons that How I Met Your Mother worked so well, especially in the first three seasons (2005-2008), is that we had a total of 9 seasons and 208 episodes to get to know those characters. It also wasn't entirely focused on the relationship between two characters. You watched Marshall and Lily grow as a couple, and as individuals, you watched Ted drive everyone insane with his desire to find "the One", you watched Robin grow in her career as a reporter, and you watched Barney...well you watched Barney be Barney for way too long, and it sucked, but, my point is you spent nine years watching these characters grow and change, because each season was 20 to 24 episodes.

The first season of How I Met Your Father had half that number of episodes as it only had ten episodes for the season, and most of it was focused too much on the relationships, and not enough on the characters themselves. As much as I love Hilary Duff (another 2000s icon), the writing just wasn't there to develop her character, Sophie. Same goes with the rest of the show's cast. They were great in the roles, the writing and character development just wasn't there. Even though season 2 had 20 episodes, which left the show with two and a half seasons worth of story in only two seasons, rather than actual two and a half seasons.

So one thing I wanted to talk about with this post is the fact that I will be re-dedicating this blog to nostalgia for the '80s, '90s, and 2000s. Josh's Geek Cave has always been about nostalgia, but it's also focused on the new stuff as I've had access to it. Because I no longer have access to Disney+ and Netflix, nor do I have access to newer shows on other streaming platforms, I have whatever I have on iTunes and in my vast physical media collection, and the majority of those shows and movies are ones that I grew up with or ones that came out when I was a kid that I didn't know about at that time, like Matinee and Blast From the Past. But, it goes for comics, books, music, and video games too. I have more of those that are from before 2010 than I do ones that are from after 2010. I'll still review things from the 2010s and 2020s as I do have a decently sized collection of comics, books, movies, TV shows, music, and video games from those decades too, but, Josh's Geek Cave will always primarily be about the past. Not just reviews, but other posts, like this one, where I just talk about a topic like the history of Power Rangers on DVD or the history of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD and Blu-ray or the Star Wars Legends novels overview I'm doing.

Josh's Geek Cave is here to remind you that the books, movies, TV shows, comics, music, and video games of the past can be just as entertaining as the stuff coming out today. Maybe even more so. And that, at the very least, they're worth taking a look at from a historical or cultural or societal perspective. Seeing the history of a franchise like Star Trek or Star Wars. Reading the stories that started the careers of characters such as Superman and Batman. Listening to the music that was popular back in the day. Seeing where video games started in the '80s and seeing their evolution over time. 

Alright my friends, that's it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more posts. I'm going to try and get part 2 of the Bantam era of Star Wars books up this week, where I'll be covering the books that came out in 1995, 1996, and 1997. Until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.