# The Wonder Years

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 17, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101 "2019-05-17T06:29:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/21 "2019-05-22T16:10:13Z")

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The explanation is that the creator’s memory is fuzzy as to when certain things happened, or which year a particular movie came out. That may just be an excuse, but I’m willing to go with it.

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**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/22 "2019-05-22T17:40:04Z")

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I watched every episode as it was broadcast. Several ended with tears & tissues. I’m slightly younger than the kids depicted in the show (born in 1963) but the emotions & music hit me HARD. Love the show.

Somehow I missed “Freaks and Geeks” the first time around, but I caught it all on Netflix. It’s a bit too close to home for me. I was the geek who never quite made it into the “in” crowd.

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/23 "2019-05-22T17:53:03Z")

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One of the neat things about Freaks & Geeks as well as Undeclared (both by Judd Apatow) is how good the casting was. Many of the young actors in both shows have gone on to have successful careers.

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**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/24 "2019-05-22T20:30:57Z")

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> [@TRC4941](#):
>
> I like The Goldbergs, but I can see why someone would dislike it. Everyone is over the top. My favorite part of every show is at the end when they show the actual Adam Goldberg family video that the episode was based on.

I actually caught some evidence in one of those that proved that at least that one wasn’t really from his old movies, as it contained a reissued version of Optimus Prime rather than the one that would have actually been available when he was really making childhood home movies in the 80’s.

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/25 "2019-05-22T20:33:12Z")

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That’s disappointing if it’s true. Because one of the things that makes the show funny is how closely some of the scenes match something in his library of home videos.

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**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/26 "2019-05-27T05:10:06Z")

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> [@TBG](#):
>
> I actually caught some evidence in one of those that proved that at least that one wasn’t really from his old movies, as it contained a reissued version of Optimus Prime rather than the one that would have actually been available when he was really making childhood home movies in the 80’s.

Can you elaborate on that?

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**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/27 "2019-05-27T19:59:37Z")

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> [@sps49sd](#):
>
> Can you elaborate on that?

The toy in the “footage” had short smokestacks, which were not on the original toy from 1984 to 86 or so, just on rereleases of the toy first available well past the 1980-something era of the show (some nonsense child safety law wouldn’t allow the original long stacks - only in the US, though, in japan they’re still okay). I think the first short stack version was in the early 2000’s. As I’ve actually had the real deal since Christmas of 1984, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/28 "2019-05-27T21:15:25Z")

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[The video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86AL2LVikrE).

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**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/29 "2019-05-27T21:28:55Z")

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The uploader has not made this video available in your country.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/30 "2019-05-27T21:38:36Z")

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[A relevant frame](https://imgur.com/a/C231eFE) (plus a photo of Adam with Voltron and I think mostly Gobots.)

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wonder-years/834101/32 "2019-11-01T03:25:59Z")

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reported

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