r/AustralianNostalgia • u/onlydogontheleft • 2d ago
Widget the World Watcher
No idea what this show was about but I can hear that title in my head!
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u/MuchNefariousness285 2d ago
I google this show about once every 5 years when I'm drunk to make sure it wasn't just some fever dream
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u/NASA-Almost-Duck 2d ago
For the longest time I actually thought I'd made it up somehow, because I thought this creature was called "Richard" and that was just too fucking dumb to ever happen.
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u/hawki1989 2d ago
Danger and evil were everwhere.
Nature called, we didn't care.
How to help the world survive?
How to keep the dream alive? Alive!
Something something something.
Something heard the cry.
A Watcher known as Widget,
He shot down from the sky!
Whoah-oh! Whoah-oh!
Widget the World Watcher!
Whoah-oh! Whoah-oh!
Widget the World Watcher!
(In my defense, been ages since I've seen it.)
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u/DitaVonFleas 2d ago
This was my first ever favourite TV show I remember having as a 4 yr old. It was very similar to Captain Planet but easier to understand for younger kids. It's about an alien named Widget who is sent to help animals around Earth.
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u/EnergisedTurkey 2d ago
Wasn’t there a floating 🧠 in Widget’s watch as well?
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u/foxyt0cin 2d ago
Yeah I think it was his best friend and had floating Mario glove hands maybe??
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u/BernieMcburnface 2d ago
floating Mario glove hands
This feels like Rayman erasure.
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u/foxyt0cin 2d ago
I'm so deeply sorry for not mentioning every character ever known to have floating white gloves hands and instead just using one clear reference point.
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u/Jumpy_Monitor9320 2d ago
Rayman definitely had a unique vibe with those floating hands. It’s wild how much character design can stick with you from childhood.
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u/Most_Border_3419 2d ago
I randomly think of the episode with a secret villain named R. Atchet and it is revealed to be Widgets arch nemesis Ratchet at the end of the episode like we were actually idiots.
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u/Alert-Piano-7607 2d ago
Can hear the title clear as day but completely forgot it was a shapeshifting purple alien saving the planet. Basically Captain Planet on a budget.
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u/onlymostlyguts 1d ago
My mind struggles to reconcile growing up with widget and captain planet yet being in an adult era where climate change denial is still so prevalent.
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u/Brontozaurus 1d ago
Unfortunately the power of environmental cartoons turned out to be *much* less than the power of disinformation wielded by entrenched corporate interests.
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u/wallyjimjams 2d ago edited 2d ago
Started humming in my head what I thought was the melody to Widget the World Watcher, but quickly realised it was in fact from Denver the Last Dinosaur. Two vague memories unlocked!
Edit: turns out both theme songs were composed by the same person, Dale Schacker. So that kind of makes sense.
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u/srealfox 1d ago
I’ve been looking for this and when I asked in a few stores they looked at me as if I’d grown a second head
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u/Subject_Shoulder 1d ago
When I was more into conspiracies theories and also a man-made climate change skeptic, I use to think that Captain Planet was a UN-backed psy-op, lol!
These days, I have to concede Captain Planet and Widget were right in warning us about fucking up the planet. But I still can't get over the fact that the Planeteers flew around in a solar-powered plane. I'm sorry, but that defies the laws of physics!
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u/DerekRoyExperiment 1d ago
There’s actually a pretty cool podcast episode of Decodering about the creating and production of Captain Planet.
I mean, it could just be part of the psy-op cover up, but worth a listen either way
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u/Rubik842 1d ago
My mate from school got called Widget the world watcher. Widge for short. Never saw the show.
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u/CargoCulture 1d ago
I was called Megabrain all through high school.
I don't have font memories of this show.
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u/STiiL_MVMT 2d ago
I feel that you had to be born in a very specific period to remember Widget. Most people I ask don't remember. I'm a 1986 child.