Latest NEWS on NETFLIX New Show!
THE TOYS THAT MADE US
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If you love toys, and are a fan of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, your going to love today's topic. We are going to give you all the newest info on NETFLIX new show THE TOYS THAT MADE US that’s coming out December 22nd.
I had a 1 on 1 interview this week with the creator of the show, Mr. Brian Volk-Weiss himself. And he was very candid with us at RETRO CRUNCH about a lot of new information regarding the show, and you're hearing it here first!
So, first off. If you're not familiar with Brian. He is the President of Comedy Dynamics, which is currently the largest producer and distributor of one-hour comedy specials in the United States, with specials like: Kevin Hart, Jim Gaffigan, Bill Burr, and tons others.
Well, one of Brian's true loves is Toys and collectibles, and THE TOYS THAT MADE US is a passion project that he has been developing for more than 5 years. This was his chance to not only relive some of his childhood memories, but a chance to give back to the Toy loving community as well.
THE TOYS THAT MADE US is a NETFLIX documentary series that tells the stories of 8 iconic and popular toys. It dives into each toys creation, fan base, creative teams, and tv stars to give the viewer a glimpse into what made these toys THE TOYS THAT MADE US.
And at the start of the interview, I first asked Brian where he got the idea for the documentary series titled THE TOYS THAT MADE US, and he had this to say:
"I'm a huge collector, and before I was a collector, I played with the toys. And, I always say I would have been a dentist or lawyer if it wasn't for Star Wars. The only reason I am in LA is because of Star Wars. Star Wars made me, I would be a different person without Star Wars. You ask kids, like some without grandparents, or parents, they might say something like “Optimus Prime was like a father figure to me”, so we got to thinking and thinking about it and it just made sense that the toys we grew up with made us who we are today. We just thought it fit."
I did confirm with Brian what the episodes are and the order they will appear. And On December 22nd, NETFLIX will be dropping the first 4 episodes in this order: STAR WARS, G.I. Joe, BARBIE, and HE-MAN.
And sometime in 2018, the next 4 episodes of the first season will be released, which are TRANSFORMERS, Star Trek, Hello Kitty, and LEGO.
Then we started talking about the series as a whole, and he let me know that each episode is going to be less than an hour long, but the shortest will be about 42 minutes in length, and the longest episode will come it at about 55 minutes.
Brian also gave me some insight to why the 8 Toy Lines were picked out of all the toys that were popular in the 80s. And he explained that there was 3 criteria they looked for when they decided on the 8 that the show would cover.
" #1 was that the toy had to essentially be in production nonstop. So every toy that we've done has never stopped being in production. From the toys beginning all the way up to when we finished production on the show. #2. The Toys had to have a huge rabid fan base, with lots of passion and excitement for them. And #3. We had to have access to the creators."
When asked why he chose to go with Star Wars for the first episode, Brian told me:
"Of all the toys I covered, the one toy that I would say I could have a PHD in was star wars. And the one thing about star wars, is it was the most successful toy line of all time, so we tackled that first. Once we had star wars figured out and locked down, we applied that outline to the other 7. "
I asked him if they have plans for a season 2 and he told me:
"I have plans in my head for season 2. NETFLIX wants to see how season 1 does before doing a season 2. But we do know what we want to do for the second season if we get the green light."
You had mentioned in our emails, that you did interviews with Peter Cullen and Dolph Lundgren, is there any other actors or specific people interviewed, that you'd be ok with telling us about?
"We interviewed Michael Bay and that was awesome. But the show is not really about the movies or the tv shows, but the heman movie is such an important part of the HEMAN story and Peter Cullen is obviously a huge part of transformers, and its arguable that without that voice, Transformers might have been beaten by Go-Bots."
When I asked Brian more pointed questions about the series outline, he let me know that
"… … the show is not focused on collecting or collectors. It focuses on the history of the toy lines. And even though the show concentrates on the popularity of the toy lines from the 80s, he had to go over the back story of each toy lines creation from the beginning, all the way up to current day."
Brian told me that they've even added noteworthy information to his series that happened as late as last week. So, even though the show is finished, it looks like they are trying to stay as thorough as possible.
And from what Brian's told me, it looks like the series will be a great history lesson on each of these toy lines as well as giving the 80s fans a huge nostalgia rush at the same time.
But to recap all the new things that we learned about the show:
- Brian explained where he got the idea for the title THE TOYS THAT MADE US
- The Show IS going to be 8 episodes, with the first 4 dropping on December 22nd.
- STAR WARS will be episode 1, with G.I. Joe, BARBIE, and HE-MAN to follow.
- In 2018, we will see TRANSFORMERS, Star Trek, Hello Kitty, and LEGO.
- Brian explained why he chose STAR WARS as the first episode.
- The episodes will be between 42 and 55 minutes in length.
- The series is about the entire history of the 8 toy lines, but will concentrate on the 1980s and 90s.
- Brian explained the 3 criteria his team used to determine what toy lines would be featured.
- huge fan base
- been in production continuously since inception
- creators had to be available.
- We learned that season 2 has not been greenlit yet.
- And finally.. I learned that Brian Volk-Weiss is a pretty fun guy.
So, there you have it retro-heads. THE TOYS THAT MADE US will be available on NETFLIX stating December 22nd, and I hope that my interview with Brian, the Creator of the show, gave you a little more concrete insight on what to expect!
Happy Collecting!
Writer: Scott Hurst
RETRO CRUNCH
