The Lookback: The Kids of Degrassi Street: Irene Moves In

Degrassi 

         

       Previously on Joshuaonline, we've looked at The Kids of Degrassi Street  both the pilot and second special  , now we take a look at the third  special, we've not reached the when it became a series status yet.  

  

    This is from 1981, we look  at "Irene Move  In".  

         It's fall (yay) and we get two plots this time: there's talk that BigFoot as been spotted and a new family is moving on to Degrassi Street (roll those credits).   

Irene moves in on to our turf/ Copyright Degrassi 

  

   Going with the second plot and the plot the episode is named after , Ida is not happy that another person has moved into the neighborhood, her brother, Fred, is like no what are you doing? You're judging before you her. Ida's mother says the same thing later when Ida mentions that she can tell someone's personality from one glance. Her mother says that she should visit her.  Irene meets Cookie, Ida, and Noel.  Yeah the third special has the same cast as the first two. 

Reoccurring huh?

        You can feel the awkwardness between Ida and Irene mostly, especially when Irene asks her about her dad. (oops) He's away in the west and this implies the parents are divorced. Irene asks if they would like to play with her and Cookie goes with her  tomorrow.  Irene thinks that Ida is mean, and Cookie explains that sometimes she's bossy, but they are friends, and Ida can be good friend.

            Ida shows up trying to get Cookie to come to their club (see episode 2)and well everything she tires to not have Irene join backfires because yes. (she's 9)  Cookie decides to avoid the club that day and Ida joins her.  Ida tells Noel what Irene is bossy and is trying to take Cookie way from being their friend (oooh)  and something has to be done about it. (uhh murder?) 

I'm going to make Irene move out...permanently 

            It's not just fall, it's almost Halloween.  Ida keeps watching Cookie and Irene having a good time each other, well kind of, because it becomes  a mess when she hears Cookie doesn't want stars on her hat , and Irene insists.  Ida comes over it gets into a mess and Irene ends up with paint on her. The shot looks like she got shot, but with yellow paint blood.  Irene accuses her of doing it on purpose. (It's washable paint, right?) 

                                                              Ida makes a murder.. 

            Later, Ida tries to ask Cookie if she's going to the club , then Irene shows up in the same Cookie house (odd way to say that) and Irene tells her Cookie can't come because she's going to a movie.  The Big Foot plot comes back too as Noel goes to tell Irene and Cookie that he found a Big Foot foot print. (It's a big foot) Ida dressed up in a Noel's Halloween mask and a fur coat? I think. 

        Then Ida tells Irene that Big Foot wouldn't eat her anyway since she stinks. (which is a choice) Irene yells at her that she'll never like her and runs off.  Then, Cookie gets mad at Ida because of that and they she decides to stop being friends too.  Noel walks off too.   

        Ida is adamite that she doesn't want Irene to join the club. She's bored and asks her brother to hang out with him. She tells him she doesn't have friends and more and Fred says that if she wasn't so bossy she wouldn't have lost them. 

        Ida's mother says that Irene is coming over the next evening because  she and Irene's mother are working on the election.  So, it becomes an "I'm not talking to you think" which annoys Fred (same) who's watching them. (poor guy)   Fred walks away for his sanity. Cookie is staying there too because we need someone to fix this monotony. 

Fred realized he has lost control of his life 

    The Bigfoot thing really is being driven into this plot, that night they hear noise. (Oh no it's Santa! yay!)  Ida and Irene get up from the bed see a dog, but think it's Big Foot (same difference?)  They all go downstairs to take a picture of the beast, from a safe distance.  Fred wakes up when he hears the noise and wonders why the freaked out. (not a dog) 

        They have a blurry picture because that's what happens.  Anyway it seems the Irene and Ida have forgiven each other and things seem to be a thing now and Irene is allowed to join the club.  The special ends with a  Halloween party. 

      This one is straight forward in what story it's telling. Someone new moves in and Ida is worried that things might not go well and ends up causing the problem she thought would happen by nature.  Showing the nature of what Degrassi would be trying to go for through it's entirety - simple realistic issues being brought to a forefront. It's simply explained, why does Ida not like Irene, she just doesn't it's not grand it's not a long story it's trying to figure out why, it's just is, and sometimes that happens. Also, it's cool to see how the opening minute sets up everything, even the dog. 

    You can see that Irene figured it out early that Ida doesn't like her and tries to channel it her own way.  I like how this one and the last one both involve the club in someway where last time Cookie wanted to join and this time Irene wanted to join. 

    

    The episode also shows that Irene is new and wanted to be fitting in with the neighborhood any you understand her motivations as well. That's what drives the tension. The Big Foot story also blends in well, it fits with childhood stories and it works to drive the plot and give a good resolution.   It takes a good use of a simple stories and does it well to make investment in watching it worth it.  It plays it realistically but not boring. 

    That's it for now, tune in next time, when Ida judges you. 

         

The Lookback: Kids of Degrassi Street: Cookie Goes to the Hosptial

The Flashback Degrassi 

 

            Previously, I looked  at the short film that started the entire Degrassi world,  "Ida Makes a Movie"  That premiered on September 12, 1979, the 2nd episode of "Kids of Degrassi Street" premiered on September 1, 1980 with "Cookie Goes to the Hospital" This the second of the original 4 films before it got to be its own series.  

        The  basic idea of  this series was really to present a realism in storytelling for kids watching. This one is about Ida's friend, Cookie. Ida and her friend, Noel, don't want to let Cookie's doll join their secret club, but that's only establish how important the doll is to her, as later on, Ida goes home and finds out  Cookie is in the hospital with appendicitis and really wants her doll.

  

       Ida and Noel find out that kids under the age of 12 are not allowed in the Children's ward (ironic) and the nurse at the front follows that rule to a strict tee.  Most of their plot is both of trying to find different ways to get in the ward to get to Cookie to give her the doll and failing.  

  Meanwhile, Cookie is in her hospital room, where the moments with her are used to give to show how the hospital experience. While Cookie is told by her nurse how the operation will be going and what to expect, she worries about her doll and hopes that it will show up. During her segments they do feel natural with it's explanations  as a way to show it's audience how this works to kind of reduce fear. 

    

      It seems that Ida and Noel  unwillingness to give up works, as just before Cookie was about to into surgery, her nurse ends up finding Ida and they rush to get the doll to Cookie. The end they meet with Cookie and her Doll and play.

       

     A  very charming installment, basic story, but does a great purpose. I also see that the start with Ida and Noel having a strict rule for the club ties in with the hospital's rule on Children and sometimes letting a rule bend is a beneficial. At least that's what  I got from it.  It's presents what it's going for well  with an entertaining story.

      I couldn't really do this with a beat by beat look, just because that would be me just explaining every detail, and that wouldn't be too much of a fun read.  That's our stop, at Degrassi street for now, we make a turn here until later.   

The Lookback: Degrassi Jr. High

The Lookback Joshuaonline Canada 

        Previously on Joshuaonline, we looked at Degrassi's very first piece of media called "Ida Makes a Movie" which was part of  the first Degrassi series called "Kids of Degrassi Street" which I would love to do more of, I hopefully one day will.  This time, we are skipping ahead to what became a follow up series called "Degrasi Jr. High". 

       

        Degrassi Jr. High followed up "Kids of Degrassi Street" meaning it premiered and a year after the other series. Following along with the concpept of what "Degrassi" was about, it was a series that really depict childhood in a close to accurate way or at least, be accurate to relate to a child. In this series' case was to relate to middle schoolers.   

     

        This series is not a direct sequel to "Kids" even though some of the actors did move on to this series in different roles. This series was a sequel in the sense that they took place at a Degrassi school on Degrassi street.  This series premiered on CBC on January 18, 1987 and ran 3 seasons until 1989. The series made it to United States where it ran on PBS (yes, PBS)  which was a bump from being on  premium cable the predecessor series was placed.   It also ran on other channels in other countries. 

      

     The first season was 13 episodes, this series amassed a total of 43 episodes.  I'm going to talk about the very first episode, in this post, and maybe come back to this series in more depth even more in the future.  This is really to give a feel for what the series was, (and coming back means I can  talk about a very specific episode important in Degrassi history) 

      The first episode is called "Kiss me, Steph".

            The episode starts with a boy named Arthur trying to get the attention of a girl named Stephanie, who pretends she doesn't know him because they are brother and sister because reasons. They also don't live together because their parents are divorced.  (very expositional intro)  She's a grade 8 and he's a grade 7 student.  The theme song is very 80's  like too 80's for the 80's. (I'm scared) 

Hey wait! / Copyright Wild Brain 

          It's a brand new school year (wonderful!) The show's atmosphere fits more like camera is just following kids around kind of like how "Kids of Degrassi Street" felt.    While Steph goes in all confident and exuding her know how of how things are done, her brother is new at the school is going through it like a lost puppy in a mall. (what?)   Steph hears the school is doing a school election, because we are getting that plot on the very episode, and decides she should run for president. 

Markers are most used during elections than any other thing / Copyright Wild Brain

        There's a boy named Joey who fake helps Arthur find his class, instead directing him to a janitor's closet. (Arthur was naive enough to let this  happen and Joey is dumb enough to let this work) A boy finds Arthur locked in the closet and they are both trying to find the right class room.  They find her. (That was easy)  

Yes, you are here/ Copyright Wild Brain 

            The episode flies by in time apparently, because Steph has already started campaigning and making posters and other election-y election stuff.  The background music during this show is interesting, not bad, maybe that depends on taste, just slightly interesting.  There's another person running, his name is Snake. (Oooh, those who know will know, I'll say nothing otherwise)  

Rock n' Roll President / Copyright Wild Brain 

      Joey is back he's weird and maybe creepy.  So then a dumb campaign offer comes up, read the title of the episode. Steph offers free kisses for votes. (what the heck? )   Voula, her best friend, doesn't like this plan at all, because it's dumb plan. She kind of just goes along with after being convinced slightly.  She's also losing the girl vote and gathering the horny boy vote. (There's no other way to put that)  Steph thanks Joey, forgetting her own friend. (I hope Voula does something to screw this election up for Steph. ) 

I will not forget this/ Copyright Wild Brain

       Now it's election results time. (Shorter than our election)  Steph wins the election ( I thought this was going go some other direction, oh well)  Before the strange kissing stuff, Steph was really being helped by Voula in her speech making for example, and guess who's mad at her?  (George?)  She does help her brother not get stuffed in a locker by Joey.  Voula tells Steph off for how she treated her, throws the friendship bracelet back at her. 

       After school, Arthur thanks her for helping earlier and offers to help her with her speech to the PTA since Voula won't.  So, she takes the offer.  The episode just kind of ends there.. like just stops and ends there.  The show has continuity , so the next episode, Voula is still mad at her in the next episode and it seems if they are going to make up, it's going to take some time. 

        

         The idea of the show is to have some contained plots but also continuity meaning, nothing goes straight back to normal/ status quo in the next episode. This is the start of what Degrassi did as a series.  The plot of this first episode is relatable to viewers in many ways and the idea of doing anything for popularity is shown well here. I think showing the arc with Steph and her  brother, showing that she does care about him and maybe at least patched something with him, was a nice touch to show she isn't too far gone.   One day, we'll return to Degrassi and even more return turn to Degrassi Jr. High. 

      

                 

The Lookback : Kids of Degrassi Street: Ida Makes a Movie

The Flashback  Joshuaonline Canada 

     "Degrassi" is an interesting show, depending on who you are, invoking this name might mean different things.  Degrassi is a franchise from Canada that being 1979 with a four short films akin to the after school special.  These films became part of the series   "Kids of Degrassi Street". The basic premise of is really just kids being kids and it focuses on kids who live on Degrassi Street. The show was mostly realistic and dealt things like honesty, death, divorce, and other issues kids could face in their lives.  It got popular and spawned a spin off series "Degrassi Junior High" and later "Degrassi High"   All these series ran in Canada on the CBC and PBS had in a America.

     It came back in a new form with "Degrassi:The Next Generation" which ran on CTV in Canada and The N in the US. It began in 2001 and ran long enough that the next generation were gone and they dropped that name and called it just Degrassi. Then as of this writing, there was Degrassi: The Next Class, which is apparently the shortest lived Degrassi series. 

    It was created by Linda Schuyler, who was school teacher and worked on short films that insipired the idea of Degrassi.

    Anyway, this blog post is going to be talking about the very very very first piece of Degrassi media that ever existed, this is "Ida Makes a Movie" that first aired September 12th 1979.


            The movie starts with Ida and her friend Cookie at the park and there's a sign for a movie competition. Ida decides she wants to make a film but finds that the camera needs a little work, but her mother encourages her to at least check to see how much it would cost to fix and to get some film for it. 

   
         The quality of the short does have this style of someone making like a low cost movie, it kind of just feels like we're watching a film of Ida trying to make a film, it's kind of a nice presentation really.  Ida doesn't have enough money to fix her camera. She tries asking her brother,Fred, for the money ,but he is of no help.  So, Ida decides to sell some of her old junk.

this must have been a good garage sale, they sold the garage! 

          This works and she figures out how to make record things.  She wants to make a movie about garbage and Fred helps her and Cookie.  I will point out that Fred is wearing a helmet that he purchased from Ida and uh this will play into this film soon.  Poor Cookie's doll got lost up in the action into a garbage truck.

       Two weeks later, Ida found out her film has selected as a finalist in the film festival. Oh, the film people think that the movie is about war and its effect on children. ( Yep, that's what I got from the movie too) Cookie says they might get made when they find out the movie is about garbage and not war.  Ida's not going to let this get out. (scandal)

           Finally, it's the awards night and she did let the guilt eat at her.  After a roundabout way of asking her mother, she decides to go to the awards show.  Ida wins the thing and they show the film, first before anything else. Yep, and I can see how the movie can be seen as like war.   Ida Lucas gets called up to the stage.  Ida explains that the movie wasn't about war, it was about garbage and she hands back the award.   The man explains that there was more to the movie than just the idea of it being about war and still felt it had merit so, Ida gets the award anyway.

   

Better than the Oscars

          You can the tell the moral is about honesty. It does have that feel like they would play this in a class then ask the students questions. (who would do that?) I do like depicts a childhood situation naturally, even the lines feel natural, and the film style does feel like someone was recording Ida's moments and just following her, that's kind of great style.  Maybe it's because were so used to polished stuff it feels like this might been an intended style and it might have been but, I'm not going to let that stop my sentence.

       It is based off a book of the same name.  But from the cover, Ida wasn't a cat in this film. (Hollywood, uhhh Toronto always trying to make things more flash)

     It's kind of an interesting way to see how Degrassi got its start with focus on normal kids doing normal things and presenting  a moral for it's audience to think about without forcing it.   It was a nice bit of slice of life. 

    That's our lookback, and we've now go to tell someone that this blog isn't about the dowers of war, I'm still confused on how they got that confused. 

    If you are interested in this series and are in the United States, PBS has it for sale on their site. https://shop.pbs.org/the-kids-of-degrassi-street-complete-collection-dvd-3pk/product/WG31169  They didn't pay us to say that, we just wanted to pass it along.  I've also seen it on Amazon in the US and Canada, I wish I could say where else in Canada it's sold.