Anyone who lived through the 80s will remember the A-Team‘s orchestral instrumental theme song. Think about that, you can probably sing the instrumental melody as well as Star Wars or Superman or Indiana Jones. It had that level of pop culture impact but from the comfort of your living room couch.

It was composed by Pete Carpenter and Mike Post, two names which should be as well known as John Williams for their contribution to society as between them they’ve created the theme songs to Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Rockford Files, Bewitched, CHiPs, Quantum Leap, Magnum, P.I., and Hill Street Blues.

But lets not forget the video accompaniment. It starts with a 20 second voice over that manages to introduce the whole premise and backstory of the show in that tiny amount of time. Then proceeds to give you a good idea of each character’s personality and ends with an army jeep flying through the air and landing upside down! Pretty sweet for 6 year old Aaron’s eyes.

The show unfortunately doesn’t hold up very well. It’s still fun to watch but more in a “oh look how bad the stunt double is for George Peppard” or “whoa, that was pretty sexist/racist/homophobic” sort of fascination. This short clip of a bar fight will give you an idea of what I mean. It’s definitely one of those shows that was of it’s time.

The show was narrated by legendary English comedy actor David Jason and he also voiced the eponymous hero. Danger Mouse was a super spy, moulded much in the same vein as James Bond and Sherlock Holmes. He was closely followed everywhere by his assistant Penfold, whose blundering often both caused and cured many of DM’s problems.

The fun in the show was very British with lots of puns and wordplay long with endless breaking of the 4th wall. This sort of anarchic comedy was always my favourite. It makes proceedings both incredibly clever and dumb simultaneously. Something we pride ourselves on here at DOOM Towers. Wink.

The show mirrored and enhanced this aesthetic with its fast and frantic theme song. As a parody of spy adventures, it manages to capture the pulp feel of those tales along with the ridiculous over-hyping of the main character at the same time. To conclude by blowing up the title? C’mon, you might as well be recruiting me.

Here is a full episode. It’s ten minutes long so how could you say no?

Word-up, this is very much a show of it’s time and is possibly not considered 100% PC in places now.

Jem’s real name is Jerrica Benton (nope, that’s not a typo, it’s Jerrica) and she’s the owner of her own record label but when she’s not being a pretty boss role model she’s also wearing a pink wig and some crazy glam make-up as the lead-singer of her chart-topping band.

It’s not all good times though, close on her heels is the kinda-punk-looking-but-mostly-pop rivals The Misfits (no relation) who try to upstage Jem and her Holograms but also kinda kill them(?). It’s weird but the line is slightly blurred concerning what their end-game is. They don’t like each other, that’s for sure.

As a side note: I think they missed a trick by not spelling it The Missfits. I’m a sucker for puns.

Of course things are a lot more complicated than my description of the show. It was a cartoon from the late 80s, they’re all mad as hell. It ran for 3 seasons which is better than some of the other cartoons we’ve covered here so it had plenty of time to really get weird in those 65 episodes. There was orphans and futuristic technology and kidnappings… Katy Perry doesn’t have to deal with that!

To be honest the premise of Jem is rife for use again today so I’m kinda shocked it has taken Hollywood this long to reboot it. I just hope they somehow keep this cracker of a tune…

Every month, I’m going to survey you, our gorgeous and treasured readers, on subjects as wide ranging as geeky-silly things to silly-silly things. Yes, we take our questions very seriously.

But by doing so I hope that we can not only create a gauge on the finger on the pulse on the arm of the world but also create needless competition between folks.

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Our sexy winner of last month’s poll (by a landslide) was Tom Selleck!

That means that Tom is officially DOOM’s favourite man with a moustache. Congratulations to you, sir.

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This month I’ve decided to focus on a minority group in this world. The biggest minority of them all and the one who has hard the hardest time in their life. That’s right folks, I’m talking about gingers.

I’ve painstakenly put together what I think is the elite in their red feld. The carrot-top of the heap, if you will. All you have to do is choose between them and let us know who you think is the best!

Christina Hendricks

My first pick may be a controversial one. Despite the fact that the Mad Men star is both bodacious and ubiquitous at the moment she unfortunately is also NOT A NATURAL RED-HEAD. Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuun! Yes, apparently she has been colouring it since she was 10. But for sheer dedication to gingerdom alone I figure her inclusion is acceptable.

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Molly Ringwald

I first set my eyes on dear Molly Mallone Ringwald in The Breakfast Club and her cuteness was infectious. Sure, Ally Sheedy had the moody sex appeal but Molly wouldn’t steal your wallet. She stared in many an 80s teenagers favourite films but has all but dissappeared since. Is nostalgia alone worth a vote? Will winning DOOM’s poll bring her out of retirement?

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Mary-Jane Watson

The tiger-loving flame haired vixen has been Spider-man’s main squeeze for over 40 years (and still is, Quesada, fuck you!). She’s a foxy model, loyal girlfriend and all round positive woman. She also has a penchant for nerdy guys who like to wear costumes. She’s pretty much the dream woman for every man who visits this website.

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Ron Weasley

Now, I must make this very clear. I am nominating the character from the Harry Potter books, loveable loser Ron Weasley NOT the actor who plays him. Rupert Grint could be a loser in his own right too, I wouldn’t know if he managed to get with Hermione in real life but for the purpose of this poll I won’t judge. It’s Ronny who I’m interested in. And by interested, I don’t mean that I want to see his wand…

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Chuck Norris

I’m not much of a Chuch Norris fan, apart from that scene when Bruce Lee rips out some of his chest hair, but I would never dare tell him that. He’s a scary man and the toughest ginger I could think of. Dare you vote against him? Or will this be just another one of those Chuck Norris jokes that will be sent to you in an email and you’ll detail without reading until the end (is that just me?)

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Garfield

Forget the bad films that Bill Murray mistakenly did. Forget the hit-and-miss comic strips that you’ll read in the newspaper. The only real Garfield in my eyes is the stoner-sounding cartoon devil who appeared in Garfield & Friends with a top hat and cane at the start of every week. But does this cat make you lol and can he has your vote in our poll?

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So there you have it, this month’s argument of choice. Let us know who your favourite ginger is by voting below and remember that we care. Not much, but we do.

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