Touching

Ask a geek what makes him a geek, and apart from a total lack of interpersonal skills or a level of unpopularity in the social hierarchy, he'll probably cite some specific area of pop culture which he has an obsessive fascination with and excessive knowledge of. Maybe it's a video game system or a specific series of video games. Maybe it's a comic book. Perhaps it's a science fiction franchise, either in film or television of both. There is always overlap, and all geeks have some knowledge of areas outside their focus, but there's always one thing greater than the rest, the gateway through which all other geek doors were forever opened. Oh, I can recite plot points to movies, reference episodes of animated television series, and still recall artists and issue numbers from various comics. But when I was 10, like many boys my age, Transformers consumed me. Unlike most kids, I never completely outgrew it. That cartoon and toy line led me to other cartoons and toys, as well as comic books, and though I stopped short of dressing up like the characters, the temptation still lingers today.

The Transformers: The Movie was the pinnacle of that series, a high quality Japanese animated rendition released in theaters no less, with the most significant and impactful plot developments of any animated series I'd seen prior. Major characters died, while others changed drastically. It was an emotional rollercoaster imprinting such significance on my young mind that I'd see it many times in the future. I bought it on VHS, and twice on DVD thanks to a 20th anniversary special edition. I'm sure I'll be purchasing it in other formats in the future. I've watched it prior to major events in my life, from surgery to races. I can quote a lot of movies and television shows, but I probably have the bulk of the TFTM script committed to memory. I learned not to advertise this fact about a decade too late, long after the damage was done to my social standing in my local community.

The soundtrack was one of the many aspects of the show that captivated me, a collection of typical ‘80s rock and metal that complemented the scenes in the film flawlessly. The Transformers and other Sunbow cartoons shared many themes, but the music from the film, from the Vince DiCola score to the work of various bands took it all to the next level. Rocker Stan Bush contributed the most memorable songs to the soundtrack after the rock version of the theme song, namely “The Touch” and “Dare”. “The Touch” offers cheesy, simplistic lyrics and an excess of electronic sound, but appears during two key scenes in the film: the death of a major character, and the rise of his successor. Were I older than 11, I'm not sure it would have stuck with me. My mom's memory of the film is a color spiral during the opening credits, a nap, and closing credits. My dad doesn't remember going to the movies.

In 1997, while watching Boogie Nights with my girlfriend, I couldn't believe my ears when Mark Wahlberg's character sang his version of “The Touch”. After the movie, I excitedly explained why I was laughing at that part, but I'm pretty sure she lacked the same appreciation. She smiled quietly, happy because I was happy even if she didn't fully understand it, and hopefully that incident had nothing to do with her moving out of state and dumping me the following year. I'm sure it was only the first of many strikes against me.

Chuck is a show that strikes me as being unashamedly by geeks, for geeks. The song, movie and video game references that make it into each episode in the life of an ordinary tech guy with a brain full of downloaded government secrets astounds me, and I'm sure there are tons that I miss. A few weeks ago, there were enough Huey Lewis cues to make Back to the Future jealous. Last week, a high school reunion featured “classics” like ”Smack My Bitch Up” and ”Tubthumping” that simultaneously brought a smile to my face and made me feel old(10 years ago? Really?) Whether you grew up in the ‘70s, ‘80s, or ‘90s, the show will have some nostalgic pop culture element you'll appreciate.

This week's episode has some nods to The King of Kong with a plot that revolves around the hidden video game past of one of Chuck's coworkers at the electronics store. It seems before this guy was a burned out nerd, he was the high score champion at Missile Command. In true Chuck fashion, this game is more than a game, as a code is hidden in the game's final kill screen. This code is needed to stop some terrorists from using a satellite to launch real missiles and set off a world war, so of course Chuck needs to convince his coworker to come out of retirement and beat the game. This sequence of events leads to a montage of preparation, over which a very familiar tune is heard. I didn't quite place it at first, wondering which ‘80s song they were taking me down memory lane with, but a few lines in a dorky smile of recognition formed on my face, and you can bet by the next commercial break I was sending off a message to my friends that might as well have read, “I AM A HUGE TRANSFORMERS NERD.”

I can't believe that song showed up in the episode, and while most people probably thought nothing of it, a generic tune bridging the scenes leading to the key moment where the rhythm of Rush's “Tom Sawyer” is instrumental in beating Missile Command, I recognized that somebody writing for that show was a Transformers fan. It was perfectly used, and another layer that makes me appreciate that people from my generation who grew up watching the same shows are now incorporating our tastes into the shows of today. It's a touching phenomenon to those in touch with our inner ‘80s geek.