Pinwheel, pinwheel, spinning around. Look at my Pinwheel and see what I've found.
Pinwheel, pinwheel, where have you been? Hello, how are you, and may I come in?
Pinwheel, pinwheel, spinning around. Look at my pinwheel and see what I found.
Pinwheel, pinwheel, breezy and bright. Spin me good morning, spin me good night.

Anyone remember this gem from Nickelodeon, the channel that turned television into animated crack for all of us 30-somethings back in the day? I was feeling nostalgic the other day, so I meandered on over to the yous-tubes on the ultranet (the very same ultranet that we are on right now!) and did a little search-a-roo on  it.

For those of you (all 8 of you who are following along) who don’t remember it, the show was like a low budget Canadian (I think, it may not have been Canadian. But it FELT Canadian) knock-off of Sesame Street / variety show / cartoons from around the world / mish-mash sort of – well, looking back – FIVE HOUR (FIVE HOURS!!!) – long train wreck kinda thing.

Any who, after watching, and being thoroughly creeped out,  I’ve come to the conclusion that this show may have been the creepiest, trippiest kids show of all time and foreverness. I could write a blog on each of the main characters and just how trippy they were (and I just might!)

Aurelia - far left, plotting the demise of Smitty (flanked by Plus and Minus) and wondering what the hell that giant green thing in the corner is...It's Ebeneezer, Aurelia. Duh...

I mean COME ON! There’s the freaky, puffy-cheeked gypsy who either hangs out the window conversing with a giant talking snail, or arguing with a pair of singing bumble-bee/glow worms whatchamacallems (I think they were called Hobo bugs?) in the garden, or biding her time sitting in a creepy little nook of the house and talking to the “opposite city operator” on her Crystal ball-phone (which has no receiver, by the way…) trying to resolve whatever issues arise in a house full of oddities!

What  and where the hell is Opposite City??

Opposite City????

Who is this Operator?

Besides them, we’ve also got the two little freaky twins on the third floor, Plus and Minus, entrenched in a never-ending game of tag, the talking Mole who lives in a tree (Moles don’t live in trees. This must be Canadian), Ebeneezer Squint; who spends his entire existence trying to make the cover page of The Daily Noodle (Pinwheel-world equivalent of the City Paper), and of course the bobbling giant-faced mustachioed produce stand vendor, Luigi O’Brien.

I mean there’s a whole lot to this show on a very deep twisted psychological level. I’m more than sure now that the directors and producers, in their psilocybin-induced fog, knew full well that they were presenting to the youth of america a completely twisted world full of bizarre characters and demented little featurettes and were pretty likely laughing all the way to the Canadian bank!

Anyway, if you are interested in watching, here’s some youtube link-a-dinks!