First Cinema Experience

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I vividly remember going to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame with my parents when I was a child, most likely at the Showcase in Barrbridge. I can't say with complete certainty that it's the first film I went to see as I have a vague memory of seeing Aladdin in the Odeon Renfield Street, but I'm not sure how reliable this is.

I would have been a little over three when Aladdin was released in November 1993, so it's certainly possible that it's one of my earliest memories if accurate. However, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the first cinema experience that I remember clearly and is what I am going to discuss today.

For anyone not familiar with the film, The Hunchbank of Notre Dame is the Disney Studios adaption of the 1831 Victor Hugo novel of the same name. The main character, bell-ringer Quasimodo, lives high above the streets of Paris in the bell towers of Notre Dame with only the stone gargoyles to keep him company. His cruel master, Judge Claude Frollo, has forbidden him from ever leaving the cathedral but Quasi watches the world below and longs for freedom. After sneaking out to attend the "Festival of Fools" an incident causes him to be humiliated in front of the townspeople, saved only by the gypsy Esmeralda. Following this, the pair strike up a friendship and he helps her escape Frollo and his soldiers, returning to the gypsy sanctuary the “Court of Miracles:" This brings Quasimodo into direct conflict with Frollo who has a deep hatred and prejudice towards all gypsies, particularly Esmeralda whom he lusts after.

I remember "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" being a big part of my young life, it's the first film where I really bought into the merchandise - l've remained a bit of a merch addict ever since. Below I've included a bunch of the toys that I remember from that period. I owned the Hunchback of Notre Dame Carry Around Bell Tower from Mattel, I don't particularly remember the figures that came with it but the Notre Dame set always stuck in my mind years later. I also remember the toys McDonalds were doing at the time and particularly remember owning the Esmeralda figurine.

  However, what sticks in my mind most vividly is the nestle chocolates -I can't remember which ones it was specifically, it may have been both pictured, but I remember the toys that came in the box with them - everything seemed to come with a toy back then.

 I also owned the CD soundtrack which I think I may have had before I even seen the film. There was also this Quasimodo doll, which I have only just remembered owning, He had a little carpenter's belt and toolbox for his tools and figurines - he also carne with the "heart of the city" which could be worn around his neck. I was impressed by this figure as a kid, most figures were fugly and didn't look anything like the character they were meant to be. Even looking at this figurine now I'm astounded by how accurate and clean it looks, it's one of the best quality kids toys I've seen from Disney.

I remember my favourite character oddly being Clopin, the Gypsy leader and jester, who is barely in the film but is very memorable - he narrates the story and plays a big part in the Festival of Fools. I feel like he may have been quite a prominent character in the marketing and that's why I've always associated the film with an image of him. I do also recall the gargoyle characters - Hugo, Victor and Laverne being a highlight of our cinema trip. The film is quite drab and dreary in places and yet my memories of it are always of the colourful segments.

I've included some photos from our visit to Paris in early 2017, a couple of years before the infamous fire that destroyed sections of the cathedral and art within. We didn't have time to explore inside the cathedral and on subsequent visits it has been closed to visitors due to the repair work. I was quite surprised at how much smaller it was than I expected - it's still pretty big but the movie made it seem huge. I was also quite surprised by how much bigger the building was beyond the more famous façade side that features prominently in the movie.

Favourite Animated TV Show as a Child

The Dreamstone (1990)

This is an obscure British TV show that I actually only watched two episodes of and yet it left a lasting impression on me. 

I could have sworn I watched lots of episodes of this show but the VHS I owned only held two episodes. The tape I had was the one pictured below & most likely came from one of the rotating video stands in Safeway, Kilsyth. This VHS was kept in my grans house so I always associate it with her house - she most likely bought me it when we were out, as she would often do. The show actually had 52 episodes too, so in British terms, it was quite a long running program.

The theme song for The Dreamstone, “Better than a Dream" is also a consideration for my favourite childhood theme song. I'll probably share a clip of it at some point - its worth taking a few minutes to watch.

The Dreamstone is set between the Land of Dreams and the Land of Nightmares, following the struggle between The Dream Maker, and Zordrak, Lord of Nightmares. The main character is a Noop called Rufus, who loves to daydream, leading him to be hired as The Dreammaker’s assistant.

This TV show may also be why I later became so interested in anime & Final Fantasy games - it is such a fantastical story, with lots of adventure and diverse character species.

Favourite Anime

Dragon Ball Z (1989 - 1996)

This will probably be a foregone conclusion to anyone that knows me - at the very least, they'll know that it comes down to one of two choices. On the one hand you have Pokémon, a franchise of which I've consumed almost every type of media, from the card game and the manga to the video games and anime.

But on the other hand, there is Dragon Ball Z, a show that I first started watching in 2000 on Cartoon Network (later CNX/Toonami) and that I could practicallv play a part in. I was first introduced to this amazing show when I was in Primary 6, at around nine years of age. At that time, numerous members of the class were already deeply invested in the show: Ross, Chris, Jamie and Peter to name a few, whereas I was a little late to the party, starting my journey during the early Androids saga.

Having other kids in the class that were interested in Dragon Ball Z, particularly as they were all older than me, heightened my interest in the show, and gave me the chance to get into discussions about the previous day's episode. We would theorise where the plot was going each day and since the internet was still in its infancy, we didn't realise the original Japanese anime had already ended four years earlier.

I rapidly became obsessed with the show, and it became clear very quickly that this was going to become one of my all-time favourites. When an episode would approach the end, I'd nervously clock-watch, not wanting it to finish, desperately hoping for more plot development. Only a few shows have elicited this sort of response in me - these were Game of Thrones, Better Call Saul and Lost.

Often, after the day's episode had come to an end, I would sit with my own action figures and I would play out the next episode as I imagined what direction the plot could take. I remember using some generic lizard toy from Spain that was filled with sand to represent Cell, fighting against a Triple H figure (not much Dragon Ball Z figures on the shelves in those days.)

I continued to follow Dragon Ball from Primary all the way through the various hiatus' and eventually the show would reach the Buu saga and its conclusion in my first year of High School. By this point, I was joined by Grieg in watching the show - Ross was still watching and discussing it too.

I tried to continue beyond the series into Dragon Ball GT but, even at my young age, I knew the show wasn't a patch on Z, and I wasn't wrong - GT was an original creation by the studio, with very little input from creator Akira Toriyama.

Following the finale I took a bit of a break from Dragon Ball in my teens, though I continued to purchase the 42 volumes of the manga and the various video games. My passion was suddenly re-ignited with the release of Dragonball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! in 2008 & Battle of Gods in 2013. I quickly became a bigger fan of the series than ever before and have never looked back.

I have since continued to watch Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Daima and read the Super manga. I also made sure to attend Super Broly and Super Hero in the cinema upon release in 2018 and 2022 respectively.

Thanks to Fortnite DLC, my twelve year old son Logan also found himself becoming a massive fan of Dragon Ball Z. He is now playing the games (currently Sparking Zero) and has watched the complete series from Dragon Ball through to the end of Super. I think he might actually have become a bigger fan than I was at his age! It fills me with pride that we had this shared interest from similar ages and that we can both now connect over the show.

For his 11th birthday my partner and I arranged a Dragon Ball themed night in our house where we both played Dragon Ball FighterZ ate snacks and watched the movies. 

I also once had a gamer room in our house that was practically dedicated to the series - numerous shelves filled with Dragon Ball figures, from Frieza and the Androids to Cell, Kid Buu and Zamasu. These have all since been packed away into storage after the arrival of our son Elias. I am patiently waiting for the day when we move to a bigger house and I can have everything on display once again haha!