Does Canada have a "national epic"?

[Sampiro]

So as not to hijack the Old West thread, I've wondered this before. Is there a Canadian film that's similar to Gone With the Wind or Titanic or the like- something set specifically in Canada's past with high quality acting and production values that's akin to a national epic?


If not, what novel or historical event would you base one on?

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

And Titanic would be the national epic of which country?

[Rube E. Tewesday]

You obviously aren't very familiar with Canadian movies, to be throwing around expressions like "high quality acting" and "production values". :D

If there were such a movie, I think it would be an adapatation of a song -- Gordon Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Railroad_Trilogy)

[Captain Amazing]

Canada's national epic is actually "For Better or For Worse: The Bestest Present".

[Mindfield]

Although it has improved lately, Canada's "legacy," if you want to call it that, within the movie industry is ... well, not Hollywood. It's barely even Bollywood. Unless you consider shows like The King of Kensington or Anne of Green Gables high quality epic fare, you're probably not going to find a whole lot to inspire. The closest we come to any kind of film making legend is probably Atom Egoyan (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000382/maindetails), and he wasn't even born here (though he was raised here from a young age). Even then, it is unlikely that very many people have heard of more than a few of his films.

[IGJoe]

Canadian Bacon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109370/)? Strange Brew (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086373/)?

Sorry, nothing serious coming to mind.

[Bobotheoptimist]

Take off, eh? Strange Brew, you hoser

[John Mace]

Although it has improved lately, Canada's "legacy," if you want to call it that, within the movie industry is ... well, not Hollywood. It's barely even Bollywood. Unless you consider shows like The King of Kensington or Anne of Green Gables high quality epic fare, you're probably not going to find a whole lot to inspire. The closest we come to any kind of film making legend is probably Atom Egoyan (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000382/maindetails), and he wasn't even born here (though he was raised here from a young age). Even then, it is unlikely that very many people have heard of more than a few of his films.
So, the Canadian national epic is The Adjuster? One of my favorite movies, but a little "out there" to be a national epic. :)

[LionelHutz405]

Goin' down the road (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065788/) gets my vote.

[Sampiro]

And Titanic would be the national epic of which country?

Atlantis.

[RealityChuck]

The Log Driver's Waltz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPDi9DzihrE)

[An Gadaí]

Fubar?

[cmkeller]

Asses of Fire?

[solkoe]

Unfortunately, great Canadian movies are few and far between.
Our top grossing movie of all time is Bon Cop, Bad Cop which is only good if you speak both French and English. This movie surpassed Porky's in its climb to the top. Porky's had been number 1 for about 20 years.
Canadian movies aren't bad if you are interested in slow drama. They don't make a lot of money so they don't have a big budget. We are more likely to watch American blockbusters and unlike Australia, we don't tax theatre tickets to subsidize our movie industry.
One of my favourite Canadian movies is Who has Seen the Wind, an adaptation of a book by W.O. Mitchell but it is hardly a sweeping epic.
There are many, many great Canadian novels though, too many to list here.

[Dewey Finn]

The collected game films of the NHL. Or possibly a compilation of commercials for Tim Hortons.

[Slithy Tove]

The Black Robe, (http://imdb.com/title/tt0101465/) but that only covers the Jesuits during the 17th C. in upper Canada, leaving flying lesbians entierly out of the picture, so for that you have to have I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (http://imdb.com/title/tt0093239/).

Its a big country, so any one-movie attempt would turn into a stupid schlockfest like "How the West Was Won."

[Frank]

If there were such a movie, I think it would be an adapatation of a song -- Gordon Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Railroad_Trilogy)
Or possibly Sudbury Saturday Night, by the esteemed Dr. Tom Connors.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Or possibly Sudbury Saturday Night, by the esteemed Dr. Tom Connors.

Wow, Frank, you're already fittin' in to this country.

[Sampiro]

If no movies come to mind, please feel free to mention "Great Canadian Novel" entries (Anne of Green Gables already being counted).

[Hypnagogic Jerk]

I submit that Canada is far too diverse culturally and in terms of its relationship with history to have a true "epic" historical film that would ring the same to many people. I mean, I've seen or heard of a few Canadian historical movies, but I'm quite sure that they wouldn't mean anything to a majority of Canadians. In contrast, while the United States is also quite diverse culturally, I think there is more of a sense of shared memory.

[Sampiro]

In contrast, while the United States is also quite diverse culturally, I think there is more of a sense of shared memory.

Albeit most of them shared "false memories". ;)

[Hypnagogic Jerk]

Maybe, but they are no less real to those who grew up with them. And stories built around these memories, true or not, will resonate with the people.

[Baffle]

It's quite clearly the 'Heritage Moments' series. "I smell burnt toast!" has been etched into every single Canadian's consciousness.

[Mindfield]

It's quite clearly the 'Heritage Moments' series. "I smell burnt toast!" has been etched into every single Canadian's consciousness.
Moreso than the haunting flute that underpins the Hinterland Who's Who shorts? I think not!

[xnylder]

I submit that Canada is far too diverse culturally and in terms of its relationship with history to have a true "epic" historical film that would ring the same to many people. I mean, I've seen or heard of a few Canadian historical movies, but I'm quite sure that they wouldn't mean anything to a majority of Canadians. In contrast, while the United States is also quite diverse culturally, I think there is more of a sense of shared memory.

I'm with Severus. I can think of several film and TV shibboleths for Quebec that would leave the rest of the country scratching their collective heads. The aforementioned "Bon Cop Bad Cop", "Les Boys", "Aurore l'enfant martyre", "Les belles histoires des pays d'en haut", and especially the children's series "Passe-Partout" all illustrate Quebecois culture (for better or for worse), but the rest of the country, not so much. (Which reminds me of "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", but I'll stop now.)

[jayjay]

Red Green...

[Hypnagogic Jerk]

Moreso than the haunting flute that underpins the Hinterland Who's Who shorts? I think not!
I want to point out that I have never heard of Hinterland Who's Who (what is it, by the way?), while I have seen some of the Heritage Moments, including the one Baffle was referring to.

I'm with Severus. I can think of several film and TV shibboleths for Quebec that would leave the rest of the country scratching their collective heads. The aforementioned "Bon Cop Bad Cop", "Les Boys", "Aurore l'enfant martyre", "Les belles histoires des pays d'en haut", and especially the children's series "Passe-Partout" all illustrate Quebecois culture (for better or for worse), but the rest of the country, not so much. (Which reminds me of "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", but I'll stop now.)
Right, although I'm not sure if any of these movies and shows are exactly to the level of what Sampiro is looking for. Passe-Partout might have had the same impact in Quebec Sesame Street had in the US, it's not a "national epic". I was trying to find an example of a Quebec film that could be the cultural equivalent of Gone with the Wind, and didn't think of anything. Maybe I just didn't think hard enough. On the other hand, I'm sure we can think of a book that reaches this level, if only in the early 20th century roman du terroir.

I find it interesting, though, that Mindfield named Atom Egoyan as a Canadian filmmaking legend, but not Denys Arcand. I think the title applies to him as well.

[Gorsnak]

I want to point out that I have never heard of Hinterland Who's Who (what is it, by the way?)
Hinterland Who's Who (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwWHk8azaAc) is/was a series of 1 minute shorts about Canadian wildlife that used to play in much the same spots as Heritage Minutes do now.

[Hypnagogic Jerk]

Hinterland Who's Who (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwWHk8azaAc) is/was a series of 1 minute shorts about Canadian wildlife that used to play in much the same spots as Heritage Minutes do now.
Oh, yeah, I've seen this before. (Mindfield will be happy to learn that the flute sound is in fact how I recognized it. ;)) I don't remember what it was called in French though.

[psychonaut]

Degrassi Junior High

[ralph124c]

Read "THE CREMATION OF SAM McGEE"-that's a real canadian epic!

[RickJay]

Although it has improved lately, Canada's "legacy," if you want to call it that, within the movie industry is ... well, not Hollywood. It's barely even Bollywood. Unless you consider shows like The King of Kensington or Anne of Green Gables
There's the answer to the question. The "Anne of Green Gables" miniseries in unquestionably, as it stands, our national epic, at least for English Canada.

For Quebec, it's probably "Les Boys."

I'm not sure which side is unlucky.

[solkoe]

I'll start with the novels.
Two of the best that I have ever read include the already mentioned The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordechai Richler and Fifth Business by Robertson Davies.

[kunilou]

Having seen a number of productions by the esteemed National Film Board of Canada in various high school classes, I vote for Phoebe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0223924/) .

[xnylder]

There's the answer to the question. The "Anne of Green Gables" miniseries in unquestionably, as it stands, our national epic, at least for English Canada.

For Quebec, it's probably "Les Boys."

I'm not sure which side is unlucky.

Perhaps the ultimate Canadian epic would combine these two...

ANNE (in earnest voice): "You see, Marilla, all it takes to win at hockey is mental toughness - la dureté mentale!"

[Strinka]

I think the real question here is which city gets the +100% Great People birth rate?

[Colibri]

This thread is about to take an epic trek over to Cafe Society.

Colibri
General Questions

[Sal Ammoniac]

How about Maria Chapdelaine? Written by a Frenchman, naturally.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

For books, "The Stone Angel (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/The-Stone-Angel-Margaret-Laurence/9780771047077-item.html?ref=Books%3a+Search+Top+Sellers)" or "The Stone Diaries (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/The-Stone-Diaries-Carol-Shields/9780143036395-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+'the+stone+diaries')" or perhaps "We Were The Mulvaneys (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/We-Were-The-Mulvaneys-Joyce-Oates/9780452282827-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+'We+were+the+mulvaneys')".

Damn, I miss my CanLit. I can't even buy a danged Max Haines book down here.

I have to add, the CBC each year does "Canada Reads" to vet out the best in new fiction in Canada, and declares a winner. This year it was "Lullabies for Little Criminals (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Lullabies-for-Little-Criminals-Novel-Heather-Oneill/9780060875077-item.html?ref=Books%3a+Search+Top+Sellers)"

[RickJay]

or perhaps "We Were The Mulvaneys (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/We-Were-The-Mulvaneys-Joyce-Oates/9780452282827-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+'We+were+the+mulvaneys')".
Unless Canada recently annexed the State of New York, how is this Canadian?

[Cat Whisperer]

Hinterland Who's Who (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwWHk8azaAc) is/was a series of 1 minute shorts about Canadian wildlife that used to play in much the same spots as Heritage Minutes do now.
Darn you to heck - I was going to post this to explain about Hinterland's Who's Who - Spiders on Drugs (http://208.100.26.199/sdmb/showthread.php?t=436282). :D

I'd have to go with The Summit Series as Canada's Epic.

[Omniscient]

Does a country's "national epic" have to be made within that country? Of course, that seems like the most natural progression and the most authentic scenario, but who's to say that Hollywood couldn't create a film based on a popular Canadian legend or historical event that resonated with Canadians.

I'm struggling to come up with any examples, but I have to think something like this has already happened before for some country. Hollywood has a history of mining foreign culture for new ideas. Maybe something like Letters From Iwo Jima?

[Beware of Doug]

Seems like the railroad would be a good subject for said epic.

[Cat Whisperer]

<snip>who's to say that Hollywood couldn't create a film based on a popular Canadian legend or historical event that resonated with Canadians. <snip>
Like burning down the White House in 1812? :D

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

I vote for 2112.

[Beware of Doug]

Make it 2012. A United States of Canada can't possibly be more f'd up than what we've got now.

[Bryan Ekers]

Does The Hockey Sweater count as an epic-ette?

[mnemosyne]

I have to add, the CBC each year does "Canada Reads" to vet out the best in new fiction in Canada, and declares a winner. This year it was "Lullabies for Little Criminals (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Lullabies-for-Little-Criminals-Novel-Heather-Oneill/9780060875077-item.html?ref=Books%3a+Search+Top+Sellers)"


My step-cousin wrote this book :D

I read it not too long ago and I loved it. I doubt most Canadians can relate, though, so perhaps not "epic" in the sense we are looking for!

Heather also has a book of poetry, "Two eyes are you sleeping", which is also very good.

Another Québecois one, along the lines of Gone with the Wind might be "Les filles de Caleb, by Arlette Cousture. Many people will have read it or seen the mini-series at some point in their lives, in this province.

We keep coming up with Québec works... if we are talking about something "historical" like GWTW, then pretty much we are going to be restricted to what was once Upper and Lower Canada, and the language differences make up a really large part about who we are and where we come from as a nation.

Dewey Finn - The Tim Horton's commercials.... really, who hasn't felt connected to one of those?!?

[capybara]

The American Astronaut or Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter. My favorite Canadian movies.

[Cat Whisperer]

<snip>Dewey Finn - The Tim Horton's commercials.... really, who hasn't felt connected to one of those?!?
Ooh, ooh, that makes me think of a good one - the "I Am Canadian" commercial story. We laughed, we cried, we said, "Yeah, that's just what it's like here..."

[Bryan Ekers]

I'm waiting to see how The Owl and the Man will play out.

[Beware of Doug]

Unfortunately, great Canadian movies are few and far between.
Our top grossing movie of all time is Bon Cop, Bad Cop which is only good if you speak both French and English. This movie surpassed Porky's in its climb to the top. Porky's had been number 1 for about 20 years.My favorite story about a Canadian movie concerns The Crimson Paradise, Canada's first all-talking picture. Made entirely on location in British Columbia, it opened in Vancouver in 1933 to sellout business.

All traces of it have long since disappeared.

That's right, a smash hit movie that could have been the pride of a nation was just tossed aside and lost.

You folks are self-effacing to a fault sometimes.

[KGS]

I vote for 2112. Amen to that.

Or Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater, who are 1/5 Canadian.

[Cat Whisperer]

<snip>That's right, a smash hit movie that could have been the pride of a nation was just tossed aside and lost.
<snip>
Have you ever heard the Avro Arrow story?

[amarinth]

Men with Brooms (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/dvd/Men-With-Brooms-Gross-Parker-Nielsen/065935143802-item.html?ref=Search+DVD%3a+'Men+with+Brooms'&sterm=Men+with+Brooms+-+DVD)?

[Meurglys]

How about William Vollman's books?

Fathers and Crows (http://www.amazon.com/Fathers-Crows-Dreams-William-Vollmann/dp/014016717X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/104-0342284-5471928?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189682184&sr=8-3) or The Rifles (http://www.amazon.com/Rifles-Seven-Dreams-William-Vollmann/dp/0140176233/ref=pd_sim_b_1/104-0342284-5471928?ie=UTF8&qid=1189682184&sr=8-7) for instance... He's not Canadian, and the series will eventually cover all of North America but these two are all set in Canada, iirc.
And The Ice-Shirt covers earlier Greenland/Eastern Canadian history.

[Lunar Saltlick]

As far as novels go, Mordecai Richler's Solomon Gursky Was Here is possibly the most epic, sweeping as it does back and forth across the country over the course of a couple centuries. It has everything you want in an epic -- deep historical background, failed romance, extreme wealth, crushing poverty, blinding ambition, tragic figures, criminal undertakings, and every other typical epic requirement. As usual with Richler's books, it was a great read as well, through it clearly wasn't to everybody's taste. All of Richler's work is about the exalted and the flawed and the failed. His iconic heroes and anti-heroes are all over the place: the Star Maker, the Boy Wonder, Duddy himself, Atuk, the Horseman, Dr. Dr. Mueller, Solomon Gursky and Boogie for starters. It's rare to have a Richler novel where there isn't some impossibly larger-than-life but very flawed figure. It was Richler's reaction to Canada's whiny, smaller-than-life, apologetic, snivelling character.

Why Canadians can't manage a decent film based on his works is beyond me. Duddy was OK, but Joshua Then and Now was awful.

On the French side, I'd personally go with Bonheur d'Occasion, by Gabrielle Roy. Good book and a pretty good movie. Or maybe Anne Hébert's Kamouraska. But French Canadians excel in celebrating their culture in epic form. There have been a number of epic series in print by Chrystine Brouillet and Micheline Lachance. And films such as Jesus de Montréal and La face cachée de la lune have an epic feel to them.

As far as English-language film goes, it's tough, because the national market isn't huge, the international market has no interest in Canadian epics, and the English-language competition is absolutely ferocious. There have been a few films mentioned above that are worthy, but mostly unseen. I have a fond spot for Goin' Down the Road, laughable as the film now seems.

The film Last Night, in its own way, is almost a joke about the impossibility of a Canadian epic. The world is about to end, and Canadians, for the most part, dutifully go about their business.

[Malthus]

Read "THE CREMATION OF SAM McGEE"-that's a real canadian epic!

Yup. :D

[meek]

1. The Sweet Hereafter
Sarah Polley plays the lone survivor of a school bus tragedy that takes the children of a town. Based on the book by Russell Banks, Atom Egoyan made a heart-wrenching film.
Other films by Egoyan you shouldn't miss include "Exotica" and "The Adjuster."

2. Videodrome
David Cronenberg is a close second, and no movie before or since epitomizes his surreal, subversive work as the twisted horror of "Videodrome," starring James Woods and Deborah Harry.
All of his other films are worth checking out, however, especially "Crash," "Dead Ringers," and "Naked Lunch."

3. Roadkill
Bruce McDonald's low-budget rock'n roll road movie, co-written by Don McKellar, has become a cult classic.

4. Last Night
Don McKellar's surprisingly touching End-of-the-World drama "Last Night," which successfully combines millennial hysteria and intimate portraits of people who know the end is coming.

5. Trailer Park Boys - The Movie
Mike Clattenburg’s adaptation of his cult hit TV show is simultaneously hilarious, caustic, raucous, and touching.

C C
.

[Grey]

No love for Men with Brooms? I'm shocked! :D

[Lunar Saltlick]

Just to add, more recently, Michael Crummey's novel River Thieves documents meetings between European settlers and the Beothuk in Newfoundland. There's definitely a feel that something much larger than the described action is really taking place. There's a great film hiding in there. And Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road follows two First Nations snipers into the First World War. It's an ambitious novel, dealing, as is often the case in Canada, with culture clash on several levels and on more than one continent. It's not always successful, in my opinion, but it has that epic feel and would make a great film.

There are dozens of other novels I could point out. English Canada has far more luck with novels than film. I think it just comes down to money. Film is expensive; novels, by comparison, are not. If an English-language novel flops, nobody loses their shirt. If a ten-million dollar film flops, on the other hand, it's somewhat more disastrous, even though the sum is laughable by Hollywood standards. The question is, How does Quebec manage it? Why does the province have so many financially (and often critically) successful films? To which I can only answer that Quebeckers love to read about themselves, and they love even more seeing themselves up on screen. A Quebec-made film with a certain amount of hype is almost guaranteed to break even, just in Quebec alone. Anything else is gravy. Sadly, such is not the case in English Canada (which isn't really even "English" to any great extent).

It's actually a lot more complicated than that, but I'm boring myself.

[Waenara]

Does The Hockey Sweater count as an epic-ette?It should!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqU4fFujCqk

[dropzone]

Have you ever heard the Avro Arrow story? With Dan Aykroyd! (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118641/)

[Onan the Barbarian]

Danger Bay was pretty epic.

[Loach]

Slap Shot?

[matt_mcl]

films such as Jesus de Montréal

Dammit, you got there before I did.

[An Gadaí]

Seems like the railroad would be a good subject for said epic.

How about The Railrodder (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059631/) ?

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Unless Canada recently annexed the State of New York, how is this Canadian?
Clearly, I'm thinking of another book which I read around the same time... took place in BC. Sorry 'bout that.

My step-cousin wrote this book :D
Tell her, based on Canada Reads, that I really want to read it. Haven't found it down here, though.

[Sage Rat]

Titanic or the like
James Cameron, if I recall correctly, is Canadian.

Point in fact, lots of Hollywood types are Canadian. Hence the reason there's no great Canadian films--all the good people go to Hollywood.

[jayjay]

Hence the reason there's no great Canadian films--all the good people go to Hollywood.

And William Shatner, too...

[Sampiro]

And William Shatner, too...

In an odd reverse of extradition, Canada has refused to take him back in spite of numerous requests and our brief annexation of Nova Scotia.



I meant to mention JESUS OF MONTREAL earlier, incidentally, as by far my favorite of the Canadian films I've seen. (Lothaire Bluteau seems to be one good and working actor with no desire to leave Canada.)

[Bryan Ekers]

Danger Bay was pretty epic.

Pffft, that was just Beachcombers lite.

For epic, in the sense of a grand adventure taking place across the entire country, I nominate The Littlest Hobo.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Oh good god. Bryan Ekers, I am glaring at you while I rip out my ears.

[mnemosyne]

For epic, in the sense of a grand adventure taking place across the entire country, I nominate The Littlest Hobo.


Maybe tomorrow, I'll wanna settle down
Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on

Of course, if The Littlest Hobo is epic, then I also nominate Mr Dressup!

[detop]

I'll see your Mr Dressup and I'll raise you one Bobino :D

[Spoons]

I'll see your Mr Dressup and I'll raise you one Bobino :DHey, as long as we're talking kids' shows as being "national epics," * here's one sure way to tell if someone over a certain age (30? 35?) is Canadian:

"Look up. Wayyyy up."

If they can supply the next phrase, they're definitely Canadian. And, how long will it take for someone to identify this one?

* Though shared experiences they may be, I don't think they're "national epics," but let's have a little fun.

[LionelHutz405]

"Look up. Wayyyy up."
... and I'll call Rusty.

[Ike Witt]

"Look up. Wayyyy up."
If I remember it correctly the next line is:

"And we're on our way to the castle"

I thought that it was what LionelHutz405 had said, but then I found this vidoe clip (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7723331295790120043&q=The+Friendly+Giant+opening&total=29&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0) of the opening. Granted it is from very late in the shows run.

[LionelHutz405]

Actually, in that clip he says 'look way up' twice.
Right at the end of the clip he says it and then says' 'I'll call Rusty'.

We may have to call for a ruling from the judges on this important debate.

[Spoons]

... and I'll call Rusty.Wow! One post, 13 minutes. Well done, you Canadian you! ;)

[capybara]

No love for "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter"?

[Bryan Ekers]

No love for "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter"?

He got taken out by Forever Knight.






I feel the Kniiiiiight Heat, I feel your heart beat... something ain't right....

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Hey, what about the Friday the Thirteenth series? I loved that cheesy-ass series.

[mnemosyne]

Hey, what about the Friday the Thirteenth series? I loved that cheesy-ass series.

Well, this is getting weird.

My second cousin had a recurring role in that TV show.

If someone mentions the videotron commercials, I have a cousin in one of those, too (though I have never seen it, oddly enough). And I know the cute red-headed kid from the francophone McDonald's commercials from about 8 years back. And my mom works with Tom Cavanagh's mom... well, for the same school board.

I think that's everything. No epics there, but still, I'm suddenly impressed at how distantly related to "canadian fame" I am :D

[Beware of Doug]

Have you ever heard the Avro Arrow story?My point exactly.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

As far as novels go, Mordecai Richler's Solomon Gursky Was Here is possibly the most epic, sweeping as it does back and forth across the country over the course of a couple centuries.
Of course, how could I have missed this?

"Keep your fork, Duke, there's pie a-comin'."

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Asses of Fire?
"Blame Canada"?

[Nutty Bunny]

Hey, as long as we're talking kids' shows as being "national epics," * here's one sure way to tell if someone over a certain age (30? 35?) is Canadian:

"Look up. Wayyyy up."

If they can supply the next phrase, they're definitely Canadian. And, how long will it take for someone to identify this one?

* Though shared experiences they may be, I don't think they're "national epics," but let's have a little fun.

Some of us Northern NYers dont's have to be Canadian to know "The Friendly Giant".

I still think it's total crap that "The Doodlebops" took "Mr. Dressup's" timeslot. My brother even had a petition, fighting that programming change. Long live Casey and Finnegan!