Hello from Kleo from Dallas!

[misskleo]

Hello there everyone! I'm glad to meet you all. Let's see, I go by the name "Kleo", I'm a girl (obviously), I'm twenty years old, I live in the DFW area, and I attend university (I'm a biology major/chemistry minor.) I came here looking to meet others with whom I could share my "minor" RAE/PTT/CEC obsession. I'd love to chat with anyone who's willing; just PM me to ask for my screen name. :)

I think I may be younger than most people here; the Rock-afire Explosion and Pizza Time Theatre essencially didn't exist when I was a little girl in the early to mid 90's. In fact, it wasn't until perhaps half a year ago when I had first heard of them.

I got into the fandom when an artist I liked randomly linked to this site and commented that it was "addicting" (how right she was!) I thought it was kind of bizarre at first, but I somehow managed to really get into it. I think a lot of it had to do with the dedication and professionalism I saw in this site; it was charming, and it left me wanting more.

Unlike a lot of other people here, I don't have any particularly fond childhood memories of Chuck E. Cheese. I've only been there maybe four times in my entire life, honestly. I wasn't very into playing arcade games and interacting with other children in playplaces, so a lot of the concept simply didn't appeal to me. The animatronics were more interesting, albeit not particularly memorable for me. I think all I've ever seen is Munch's Make Believe Band, and not any of the other stages.

I remember a couple of things, like making the forbidden peeks beneath the curtain while the show wasn't running, parmesan cheese shakers (I recall very clearly looking at it while sitting at a table at Chuck E. Cheese and deciding that I was allergic to it. I'm not sure why either. I still think it looks icky, though.), the scary big plastic plaything (I got terribly lost in it one time, and by the time I finally came out, I was in tears. Never went in it again.), and the walkaround characters. I remember seeing the walkaround Helen Henny character and thinking that she was really pretty (I loved her black and white feathered "hair".)

I really wanted a hug from one of the walkaround characters each time I went, but I was one of those shy little girls, the kind that'd sort of "line up" to wait for a hug a bit of a distance away from the character while the other kids circled and interacted with the character before the character would turn away and leave for another part of the store. I sort of resented it and it kind of hurt my feelings, though in hindsight I'm sure the walkaround characters probably are instructed to politely back off from kids who were like me. I did get my hug at one point when I was a little older, but no less shy, from a hesitant Chuck E.

Nowadays, after becoming familiarized with all things Showbiz, I've become partial to the Rock-afire Explosion (although I like Pizza Time Theatre and Chuck E. Cheese as well, just to a bit of a lesser extent.) I like that it's geared a bit more towards the older crowd, and I'm fascinated with how advanced the animatronics are. Likewise, it doesn't hurt that Mr. Fechter has quite good taste in music. (Sorry, I'm a Beatles maniac, lol.)

I had no idea there was such a big fancommunity behind all of this. As far as I've seen thus far, the people in this fandom are charming and kind with the sheer amount of dedication and love with which they put into this community. Because of that, I'd love to become a part of it, and hopefully make some friends along the way. :)

Thank you for your time and all of your warm welcomes!

~ Kleo

[Harmony Howlette]

I wasn't very into playing arcade games and interacting with other children in playplaces, so a lot of the concept simply didn't appeal to me. The animatronics were more interesting, albeit not particularly memorable for me.
I was the same way, haha. As a kid, I was a lot more fascinated by the show; although of course, I did manage to squeeze in a few rounds of Skee-Ball here and there ;)
Anyways, as I said already elsewhere, welcome! You've definitely come to the right place for all of your pizza-parlor-robot needs. I'm totally looking forward to seeing more of your art!

[misskleo]

I was the same way, haha. As a kid, I was a lot more fascinated by the show; although of course, I did manage to squeeze in a few rounds of Skee-Ball here and there ;)
Anyways, as I said already elsewhere, welcome! You've definitely come to the right place for all of your pizza-parlor-robot needs. I'm totally looking forward to seeing more of your art!

Yep! I stunk pretty bad at skee-ball, though, so I couldn't get very much redemption prize-wise. :tongue:

Actually, your username reminded me that I've got a couple of Harmony Howlette doodles around somewhere; she's one of my favorite Pizza Time Theatre characters, aside from Dolli Dimples. It's really too bad she had such a short run... I think she would have made a better permanent character than Helen Henny, honestly. If they wanted a character that could be a good role model for young girls, I think Harmony would have been their best bet (I think they could manage to pull her a bit away from her country niche so that she could gain a more well-rounded repertoire without completely sacrificing her character.) She's a strong character, and defintely unique amongst the Pizza Time Players. Maybe it's just me, but the whole cheerleader persona Mitzi and the current Helen have seems to conform moreso with female stereotypes than anything else.

*ahem* ANYway, I'll be sure to dig out some more fanart pictures I drew soon. :)

[Harmony Howlette]

Yep! I stunk pretty bad at skee-ball, though, so I couldn't get very much redemption prize-wise. :tongue:

Actually, your username reminded me that I've got a couple of Harmony Howlette doodles around somewhere; she's one of my favorite Pizza Time Theatre characters, aside from Dolli Dimples. It's really too bad she had such a short run... I think she would have made a better permanent character than Helen Henny, honestly. If they wanted a character that could be a good role model for young girls, I think Harmony would have been their best bet (I think they could manage to pull her a bit away from her country niche so that she could gain a more well-rounded repertoire without completely sacrificing her character.) She's a strong character, and defintely unique amongst the Pizza Time Players. Maybe it's just me, but the whole cheerleader persona Mitzi and the current Helen have seems to conform moreso with female stereotypes than anything else.

*ahem* ANYway, I'll be sure to dig out some more fanart pictures I drew soon. :)
Excellent! Can't wait to see!
I totally agree about Harmony, she was my favorite. It'd be interesting to see how she would 'translate' so to speak, to the modern era...I'm not entirely sure it would work...I mean, look at how much Chuck has changed!
I'm with you though...I've always been kind of 'eh' on the whole cheerleader thing. The current Helen seems to be somewhat moving away from that...but sliding into that whole 'Princess' thing that's so hot nowadays...sigh. Trends.

[MechaCory]

Aww! Welcome! Im kind of newish here too. And I swear we aren't all old! Uh...we just have good memories:)

You know, I was thinking about what is it that is so spiffy and magical about CEC/PTT/Showbiz...I think first and foremost, it's the aroma. From a psychological standpoint, to this day when I pop into a CEC it *still* smells the same as I remember it as a little kid. Which rocks.

I also think it's cool people can discover all this without necessarily having experienced the actual stores. A kind of second generation resurgence.

Have you seen the Rockafire Explosion/Showbiz documentary film trailer?
Thats kind of what brought me back here.
And that so rocks an artist you dig got you into all this. Hey I too am surprised there's a neat little fan community around all of this

[misskleo]

Excellent! Can't wait to see!
I totally agree about Harmony, she was my favorite. It'd be interesting to see how she would 'translate' so to speak, to the modern era...I'm not entirely sure it would work...I mean, look at how much Chuck has changed!
I'm with you though...I've always been kind of 'eh' on the whole cheerleader thing. The current Helen seems to be somewhat moving away from that...but sliding into that whole 'Princess' thing that's so hot nowadays...sigh. Trends.

Holy poo, is this SoundHound? I've been following your artwork for a couple of years now. I love it to death, and Penny is absolutely adorable (I've wanted to do fanart of her for a while now.) Pardon me as I continue to squee and go off fangirling.

*AHEM* Anywho, I see what you mean... Chuck was quite the sardonic jerk back in the day. I can understand why they'd mellow him out and make him more kid friendly, though... As it was, I'm sure he'd REPEL children more than anything else, and that's no good for Showbiz's profits, you know. Likewise, the whole thing about eating at a place with a rat as a mascot probably didn't bode well for potential customers. I personally prefer the old Chuck, though; it's pretty unusual to have a mascot meant for children who isn't completely squeaky clean, and that made him unique.

I'm glad to hear that Helen's growing out of that whole cheerleading thing. The princess part ain't so great, but, I mean, at least they didn't/haven't picked up on the Bratz or High School Musical or whatever fads (yet.) I can somehow picture that in my mind, believe it or not. It is hideous.

[misskleo]

Aww! Welcome! Im kind of newish here too. And I swear we aren't all old! Uh...we just have good memories:)

You know, I was thinking about what is it that is so spiffy and magical about CEC/PTT/Showbiz...I think first and foremost, it's the aroma. From a psychological standpoint, to this day when I pop into a CEC it *still* smells the same as I remember it as a little kid. Which rocks.

I also think it's cool people can discover all this without necessarily having experienced the actual stores. A kind of second generation resurgence.

Have you seen the Rockafire Explosion/Showbiz documentary film trailer?
Thats kind of what brought me back here.
And that so rocks an artist you dig got you into all this. Hey I too am surprised there's a neat little fan community around all of this

Honestly, one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of CEC is Serratia rubidaea. XD I know, I know, that's terrible, but I can't help it, I'm a bio major! :) Also, I'm a hypochondriac. ;p

On a more serious note, olfaction stimulates memories for me, too! I haven't met anyone else who was like that before. It's really nice to almost be able to transport back through time that way.

And yes I have seen the trailer. I was extremely excited to see it, but then immediately disappointed that I had no way to see the film. :( I think I saw somewhere that the guy(s) who made it are from Texas, but I definitely haven't seen it around any of the arthouse theaters here in DFW. I have seen, though, that it's playing quite a bit in Austin, so I'm guessing the filmmaker(s) might be from there. Too bad that's way far away from where I live. XD; So I guess I'll just have to wait for the DVD release.

It's strange, for a band I like so much, I've never once seen the Rock-afire Explosion live. It's really nice that the trailer helped to bring back memories for you. In hindsight, I realize that when I actually do see the film, it's going to be a lot different for someone like me than it would be for someone like you, who had the Rock-afire as a part of your childhood. And yet, for both types of people, I think it'll help to bring back a slice of the past in order to create new fond memories.

Although I'm questioning my memory at this point about where I got the link for this site from, I'd say that it was ultimately Harmony of this forum that led me into this fandom. Her art got me interested in something I'd never been interested in before, simply because of how well she executed her artwork. :)

[MechaCory]

Honestly, one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of CEC is Serratia rubidaea. XD I know, I know, that's terrible, but I can't help it, I'm a bio major! :) Also, I'm a hypochondriac. ;p

On a more serious note, olfaction stimulates memories for me, too! I haven't met anyone else who was like that before. It's really nice to almost be able to transport back through time that way.

And yes I have seen the trailer. I was extremely excited to see it, but then immediately disappointed that I had no way to see the film. :( I think I saw somewhere that the guy(s) who made it are from Texas, but I definitely haven't seen it around any of the arthouse theaters here in DFW. I have seen, though, that it's playing quite a bit in Austin, so I'm guessing the filmmaker(s) might be from there. Too bad that's way far away from where I live. XD; So I guess I'll just have to wait for the DVD release.

It's strange, for a band I like so much, I've never once seen the Rock-afire Explosion live. It's really nice that the trailer helped to bring back memories for you. In hindsight, I realize that when I actually do see the film, it's going to be a lot different for someone like me than it would be for someone like you, who had the Rock-afire as a part of your childhood. And yet, for both types of people, I think it'll help to bring back a slice of the past in order to create new fond memories.

Although I'm questioning my memory at this point about where I got the link for this site from, I'd say that it was ultimately Harmony of this forum that led me into this fandom. Her art got me interested in something I'd never been interested in before, simply because of how well she executed her artwork. :)

Oh I've always had this thing, where a smell can almost seemingly transport me back to a happy memory. I call it smell memory, though I see there's some a name for itB-) You haven't met anyone else who does that? I also sneeze when I look toward the sun sometimes(Im weird!)

I actually went all the way down to Los Angeles to see it(met some nifty people from here too!) though didnt realize it ended up playing San Francisco(way closer to me) the month later. Its a truly touching, almost hypnotic documentary film. I definitely was taken aback by it. It looks like its played/playing several times in Austin, I just hope it is able to be picked up for dvd distribution.

Actually, to be honest...I think seeing the Rockafire documentary for me will be a similar experience to you. Its been sooo long since I last saw the Rockafire that(as much as I usually have a crazy good memory) I mostly now only know them from youtube clips. But it is super nifty how such things can bring back, or heck create new memories. I just was so impressed at all the creative ingenuity and passion they had back when they were making the shows. Very inspiring for an artist like me, or a dreamer like many of us.

And yeshh...its a trip how well Harmony and others(CatSlappy, not to be confused with Capt Slappy, also does insanely amazing illustrations of the CEC and RAE characters) Being able to take a very rarely seen half bot animatronic from relative early 80's obscurity to having lots of personality is nice.

Here's a piece in rough sketch form I still need to finish:
http://www.neoramen.com/gallery/cecpinuptest.jpg

[misskleo]

I actually went all the way down to Los Angeles to see it(met some nifty people from here too!) though didnt realize it ended up playing San Francisco(way closer to me) the month later. Its a truly touching, almost hypnotic documentary film. I definitely was taken aback by it. It looks like its played/playing several times in Austin, I just hope it is able to be picked up for dvd distribution.

Actually, to be honest...I think seeing the Rockafire documentary for me will be a similar experience to you. Its been sooo long since I last saw the Rockafire that(as much as I usually have a crazy good memory) I mostly now only know them from youtube clips. But it is super nifty how such things can bring back, or heck create new memories. I just was so impressed at all the creative ingenuity and passion they had back when they were making the shows. Very inspiring for an artist like me, or a dreamer like many of us.

And yeshh...its a trip how well Harmony and others(CatSlappy, not to be confused with Capt Slappy, also does insanely amazing illustrations of the CEC and RAE characters) Being able to take a very rarely seen half bot animatronic from relative early 80's obscurity to having lots of personality is nice.


Ha ha, I've said it before, and I'll say it again; you guys over in California have no idea just how good you've got it. :-P

According to the mailing list from the documentry website, they're working on the DVD release. No clue how long that'll take, but I guess I'll just have to be patient (which is a bit tough, given that your glowing review is getting me more excited about seeing it.)

And you're right, the artists I've seen around here are really amazing. Likewise, I was in awe when I saw your sketch; that's going to be EPIC when you finish it. :D (Also, the Dolli Dimples = love.)

[MechaCory]

Ha ha, I've said it before, and I'll say it again; you guys over in California have no idea just how good you've got it. :-P

According to the mailing list from the documentry website, they're working on the DVD release. No clue how long that'll take, but I guess I'll just have to be patient (which is a bit tough, given that your glowing review is getting me more excited about seeing it.)

And you're right, the artists I've seen around here are really amazing. Likewise, I was in awe when I saw your sketch; that's going to be EPIC when you finish it. :D (Also, the Dolli Dimples = love.)

Well I am glad to have been born and raised in California. My history with CEC is kind of funny. I was raised til I was 3 in Southern California, so I remember going to these really early Pizza Time Theaters down there. (I wish I had some of the merchandise from back then) We moved to the Sacramento area and I remember several PTT's back then. One was a smaller one in a strip mall. It was super dark, and had Dolli in the side room. What a trip that was!(A much older friend of mine recently out of the blue brought up Dolli Dimples from when she grew up in Utah, heh) Then the Balcony and of course the big tunnel crawls.
There was also a not very PTT styled CEC, almost similar to the 90's ones. That got turned into a Showbiz Pizza Place in 1984-1988, so I mostly went there as it was closer. I had nooo idea the two companies were seperate at one time. I just assumed it was a different brand of the same company(err, I guess by then they were part of the same company)

Truth be told, Showbiz was not near as magical as PTT styled CEC. While the show room with the Rockafire WAS amazing, the rest of Showbiz from what I remember was just out in the open, kind of bright. Again, looked like modern CEC's(or least 90's era CEC) But then, there was the Sacramento
one a little further down, and that one was amayyyzing. Sadly by 1993 they phased out the PTT look and remodeled it to what it is today. I always held out hope there was an 80's styled franchise CEC tucked away somewhere, but alas the last one was torn down recently.

Anyways, it seems *some* sort of company with pick up distro rights for the dvd, even if it skips a limited indie run and goes right for dvd and netflix. The extras I imagine will be super fab.
And oh gosh, I need to do a proper review of the movie. I love documentaries, but this has to be one of my new favorites. Its just so personable, inspiring, quirky, yet at times seriously depressing. Its definitely
a "warts and all" movie. And I have to say, our own Chris Thrash(the co star of the film) says some of the MOST inspirational things I have ever heard on here(about following ones dreams)

And aww, thankies. I think I'll get to finishing the poster soon. Just been distracted with an ocean of other stuff. *is inspired with all the passion and positivity here*

[pasqually333]

welcome to the forum