My parents got their first VCR in 1981 but for some reason we still hadn't had the forethought to record something like this. I'm glad you or one of your friends did back then!
I never would have known about this program except that I watched it while I was home sick from school. I see that several other people had the same experience.
Thanks a million for posting this. I remember watching shows like this and Inside Out when I was a kid. The 70's and 80s were such wonderful years. These are more than just clips you're posting, they're cherished bits of nostalgia. You're the best.
Its funny that when we were all sitting on our sofa eating soup home sick from school. Thinking all of our friends are in school hahahahaha we were still learning watching these on tv who knew
Now THIS is something they should bring back to Public Television
and this was when learning MEANT something
Some of today's PBS shows aren't worth watching and not to mention, Sesame Street hasn't been the same w/o Jim Henson
PBS should also bring back The Original Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One TV, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Mister Roger's Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow, Old School Sesame Street, Bill Nye The Science Guy and of course, The Original Ghostwriter
I remember this when it appeared before some of their programs and also the newer opening logo that followed. I am trying to remember all the programs they produced during the 1980s.
someone else had another version of this up, i think it was the ending credits, where the music continued into this breakdown with the arpegiated synth and drums. anyone know where to find that?
Ah the good ole days! I remember these shows on WNET Channel 13 NYC in the late 70s. Home from school during the summer watching these shows around lunchtime. Memories!
If PBS really wanted to raise some money during those pledge drives, they should have a marathon of these shows. With all us baby boomers and gen-xers who fondly remember these programs, PBS could make a fortune!!
Thank you so much for posting this!!! Public Television and TV Ontario used to have the best shows. I used to watch these shows when I was home sick from school or when there was a snow storm and the schools were closed!!! I am so glad I grew up in the 1970s!!!
I remember watching this on WDCN CH 8 out of Nashville in the late 70's and thru the 80's.Not much else on when you didn't have cable and were home sick,snow days or summer. Thought the intro sounded spacy,but really cool. I thought the show was excellent,it taught you life lessons,while not not talking down to you. A PBS classic.Thanks for posting this.
I've been looking for this for YEARS!!! Thought this song went with Nova, then happened across a forum that menchaned 'Thinkabout' WOW! Awesome memories, it's AMAZING how songs you heard as a kid stay with you the rest of your life!
I have had reoccurring dreams about this for the past 30 years. Over the years, I somehow imagined I just made it up in my mind, and then I saw it, and I can remember the whole layout of the show, like it was yesterday. WOW This is awesome.
I remember when watching this intro wondering that if a presidential candidate won all those states in red, would that be enough electoral votes to get in. (Excluding the Canadian areas, of course). Yet, it was never on long enough to jot all the states down. I'll have to hit pause sometime, and finally check it out.
I remember this show from 1st grade I didn't watch an episode I just remember hearing the ending theme. I remember it came on before Reading Rainbow thats the show we watched. Does anyone know which band plays this song. I don't think its Kraftwerk or could be.
It kinda sounds like that song "Tryouts By The Human Race" by Sparks
why was everything, literally everything so funky back then!?! anything that existed between 73 and 79 wether it be tv,radio,commercials, grocery stores, had a funky groove in the background, all synthesized with some slap bass and cow bell mixed in. what a groovy time to be alive
Wow, I remember this show from second grade. I used to hate the graphic intro, with the kid's brains getting scrambled.
Now that I listen to the theme again (particularly the end theme), it has an odd resemblance to the theme from "Escape from New York". Does anyone else notice this?
This was the best...lights off...a 15 minute break to veg out during class. The worst though were the ending credits. You'd hear, "Jason, get the lights please." And the lights would flicker back on and you'd have to go back to the real school world.
This brings back many cool memories of watching these videos at home and in school. Neat graphics and synth music...and, hey, my home province is colored in first...booyah!
PBS took down numerous videos of the entire episodes of this show, including my own, but yet they wont release them for purchase or for viewing anywhere. Why the hell does PBS care about having exclusive copyright to a 30 y/o show that no one will see again? FU*K PBS
@victimsofthefuture I am baffled by that too. Watching those old shows is a trip, and it makes me extremely nostalgic. PBS seems absolutely determined to make sure nobody ever sees them again. I can't even begin to guess about why they want to do that.
Whoa! I remember seeing this program when I was between 3 and 6. The graphics always caught my attention, and yet the music used to frighten me. So did most synth music back then! Now, my only dislikes are newbie pop singers, hard core rockers/rappers.
love this show back in tha days. Do anybody have (self-incorporated) or (inside out) these also were some good educational shows as well? It was posted on here before now I can't find it.if anyone have it or know how to get it please send it to me or post it here
because they use moogs to make it. This is probably the single most important musical passage of my lifetime, and has stuck with me since kindergarten, and is amazing to finally find and hear again. THANK YOU.
Oh, yep, I just read below where someone already mentioned that at least part of this was made using a Scanimate. (But how does that person suppose they know that?) Yeah, it all looks like it could've been, though, based on what I've read about the Scanimate and samples I've seen.
Couldn't agree with you more!!! I used to make mixtapes on cassette for friends of mine when I was 14 or 15 and start off just with this music and wonder who did the music and how I could get my hands on it!!! Some of this is influence from the 2-XL toy robot of the 70s that I had, that played instrumental music while you completed workbook puzzles to 8-track programs that came with the toy robot.
i can't express how much i appreciate that you posted this. ive had this synth line stuck in my head my whole life. in the last 4 years i've thought about it probably three times a week and finally i find out what it was from. i don't even remember any of the visuals, which makes me think that i must have been less than 2 or so when i first saw it. either way, this is amazing. im so glad i was born in the late 70s. we were brought up on some of the best music just by watching public television.
In the early to mid 80s our school had a few vcr's and they would make us watch these on occasion and this theme has been in my head ever since. I guess they were made in the late 70s and they just re-ran them
I saw this logo only TWICE. once when I was six in kindergarden watching "Letter People". then when I was 10 watching a show I think was called "On the Record" or something. Im almost 18 now and can still remember seing this on wgbh. THNX MATE!!
Shock me! I saw this only once or twice as a child, that I can remember, on weekday mornings in summer. From those single-digit number of exposures, this intro stuck with me for OVER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.
It's the lava-lamp graphics I now know are Scanimate.
It's the wily synthesizer music.
It's the haunting voice-over speaking of wild concepts about A COOPERATIVE PROJECT FOR ACQUIRING SKILLS ESSENTIAL TO LEARNING.
beautifully put! i love how people can totally bond over this weird theme and opening from a 30 year old PBS show...they must have got something right
I'm back in 3rd Grade in Guilford, CT. THANK YOU!! I have been looking for this for years! You don't know how much this means to me. I, literally, started getting weepy watching this. THANK YOU!
Its almost there... I remember this logo very well as a kid!!!!! Have you heard of Self Inc as in Self Incorporated and also Inside, Outside with arrows in clockwise rotation? They are among those presented as part of PBS!!!
Thanks so much for posting - I felt like I was back in the 6th grade in Idaho and sitting cross legged on the floor just happy to be in the library and out of class. Trippy tune. You wouldn't have any of the movies would you?
oh no problem. After seeing a few different 70's edu shows as an adult, personally I think the impact depends mainly on the writing for particular episodes. I remember a few storylines or moments but not necessarily which show (e.g. Thinkabout, Inside Out, etc...) it came from. Of course there's always the unpredicatable "camp" factor ;-)
I remember inside/out and trade-off's from school(and on sick days from school). I have every episode of trade-off's and a few of inside/out's. thanks for posting this one, too.
Thank you very much for putting this up! Oh man, I remember this vividly from my grade school years ('83-'85 thereabouts), I also saw this while home sick from school, the statewide PBS network would air classroom programming during the late morning hours, and Thinkabout was one of them! Such an unusually awesome intro, it has the look of being possibly made on a Scanimate (an all-analog video animation system from the 70s)...
One of the PBS shows we didn't have in my classroom, but always saw it on sickdays home from school. Never expected to hear that theme song again. Thanks for the memories!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you forever whoever posted this! This tune has always been in my head(i'm 31 now), but I never new what PBS bumper it was from! It is now forever on my Myspace page, god thank you!!!!
This and Inside Out were big parts of elementary school education. Anyone remember the Geography one called "Finding our Way" or the English language one "Wordsmith" which broke the language down into its roots. The host would grab a ball like the ones you see in the lottery, explain the root of the word then drop it down an "i" shaped podium with the coolest sound effect.
I believe if you go to the agency for instructional technology (formerly television) website you can order old school episodes of thinkabout and other shows. I think would be listed in the ait classics section.
Yeah we got this on TV Ontario back in the day. It came out of Buffalo, New York and the music doesn't really sound like anything that Styx would write.
I always loved THinkAbout! I have a few epiosodes on tape, and I do have a favorite episode, which has a group of kids who plan a lunch menu. First started that 3 kids don't like meatloaf (my favorite BTW) and they had a talk from the lunchroom supervisor. I have other episodes as well.
Fabulous! I've got an audio clip of the theme but haven't seen the video clip in years. Used to get to see these occasionally in grade six on the one video cassette recorder the school owned. (This would've been 1980-81 and was a very big deal at the time).
see watch?v=QnimJukrgjs&feature=related for a Thinkabout ep...
jcfbell3001 1 week ago
My parents got their first VCR in 1981 but for some reason we still hadn't had the forethought to record something like this. I'm glad you or one of your friends did back then!
MaxxFordham 1 month ago
@MaxxFordham
Oh, and yep, '81 was just over 30 years ago! Whow!
MaxxFordham 1 month ago
Wow. I remember this show from when I was in grade school, it use to come on PBS. Hearing the music again gives me goosebumps. Thanks for posting.
vw210 2 months ago
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vw210 2 months ago
I never would have known about this program except that I watched it while I was home sick from school. I see that several other people had the same experience.
RassilonSix 2 months ago
it's been 30 years, but here it is.
ajogoz 3 months ago
It brought tears to my eyes to see this again!
Nitocris86 3 months ago
i'm pretty certain that this is the inspiration behind bibio's 'mind bokeh' release...
anewcleardawn 4 months ago
watching this now..i wanna get hi
75lexluther 5 months ago
This is my jam
madamewoselle 6 months ago
@madamewoselle You and me both. Oh, and add me to the list of folks home sick watching this.
edt558 2 months ago
Thanks a million for posting this. I remember watching shows like this and Inside Out when I was a kid. The 70's and 80s were such wonderful years. These are more than just clips you're posting, they're cherished bits of nostalgia. You're the best.
MisterFright 7 months ago 3
Its funny that when we were all sitting on our sofa eating soup home sick from school. Thinking all of our friends are in school hahahahaha we were still learning watching these on tv who knew
SPARKYJMG 8 months ago
filled with so much nostalgia.... happy, simple times.
jtboehm 10 months ago
Awesom!!! Thanks for posting :-)
Louie0046 10 months ago 2
so cool! was a little grasshopper when i heard this! gotta love PBS! there are a couple more that evoke a similar feeling, the names escape me tho..
kmaxxmusic 11 months ago
Never thought I'd see this again!
Apokalypez 11 months ago
Wow, I love hearing this music intro so much. It brings me back in time.
pianodjr 11 months ago
Now THIS is something they should bring back to Public Television
and this was when learning MEANT something
Some of today's PBS shows aren't worth watching and not to mention, Sesame Street hasn't been the same w/o Jim Henson
PBS should also bring back The Original Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One TV, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Mister Roger's Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow, Old School Sesame Street, Bill Nye The Science Guy and of course, The Original Ghostwriter
tnawcwvictoria 1 year ago
@tnawcwvictoria Add these shows to that list: Zoom (70s version) and Studio See.
Davidt33 2 days ago
Wow! I used to watch this in the early 80s on kqed 9 San Francisco instrucrional television.
QueenNostalgia 1 year ago
I remember this when it appeared before some of their programs and also the newer opening logo that followed. I am trying to remember all the programs they produced during the 1980s.
benschlechter 1 year ago
late 70s, early 80s
NikitaFilatovFan3040 1 year ago 2
someone else had another version of this up, i think it was the ending credits, where the music continued into this breakdown with the arpegiated synth and drums. anyone know where to find that?
jamctelex 1 year ago
Ah the good ole days! I remember these shows on WNET Channel 13 NYC in the late 70s. Home from school during the summer watching these shows around lunchtime. Memories!
If PBS really wanted to raise some money during those pledge drives, they should have a marathon of these shows. With all us baby boomers and gen-xers who fondly remember these programs, PBS could make a fortune!!
jerseyoldschool 1 year ago 9
I loved this show so much! My family had a black & white TV back then, so this is the first time I've ever seen this in color! I am freaking out! :)
Dulcimerist 1 year ago
I was only a year old in 1979, but I remember some episodes later in my childhood. Great to see this again!
DJCandyManMike 1 year ago
ALLRIGHT!!! ...funny how we get so much out of these little things.
....G'yah these things were trippy! Even back then.
Anyone remember the metric system song? ... and the bloodhound gang?
The magic place?
sydonabike 1 year ago
This is great!
jenzeppelin 1 year ago
that is some funky funky funky synth i love it!
eexot 1 year ago
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jcfbell3001 1 year ago
Thank you so much for posting this!!! Public Television and TV Ontario used to have the best shows. I used to watch these shows when I was home sick from school or when there was a snow storm and the schools were closed!!! I am so glad I grew up in the 1970s!!!
Delisle4 1 year ago 7
I remember watching this on WDCN CH 8 out of Nashville in the late 70's and thru the 80's.Not much else on when you didn't have cable and were home sick,snow days or summer. Thought the intro sounded spacy,but really cool. I thought the show was excellent,it taught you life lessons,while not not talking down to you. A PBS classic.Thanks for posting this.
bustyrandit 1 year ago 2
I remember watching this in 3rd & 4th grade! Oh, to be young again!!!
incatribe2006 1 year ago
Ahhhhh........ Mississippi ETV in the '80s.......... Takes me back. Great memories!!!!
OohMitch 1 year ago
OohMitch I'm so fond of these shows. What a shame Mississippi ETV never shows those shows anymore.
MAinsworth0375 1 year ago 2
I love the theme music! Takes me back to sick days home from school.
Greenville1980 1 year ago 3
@love2register2, if you ever dig up that creepy lonesome-sounding synthesizer theme song from "Self: Incorporated", please post it too!
wheeljak 1 year ago
I've been looking for this for YEARS!!! Thought this song went with Nova, then happened across a forum that menchaned 'Thinkabout' WOW! Awesome memories, it's AMAZING how songs you heard as a kid stay with you the rest of your life!
Starbuckin 1 year ago
I WATCHED THIS SHOW WHEN I WAS LITTLE
americanidol434 1 year ago
Wonder flash back ~
ParrisVstefanow 2 years ago
There needs to be a "PBS Classic" network, I swear i would leave playing all day and night.
eexot 2 years ago 6
RIGHT!!!
MsTexas73 2 years ago
ICAM...I know I'd be taping it continuously. My students would LURVE these shows.
MsTexas73 1 year ago
I'm all for that.
MsTexas73 1 year ago
Hum the first 3 notes from this to anyone who went to my junior high, and they'll know immediately what it is.
spiegalr 2 years ago
man i loved pbs in the late 70s early 80s it was just awesome wish i could get all these shows on dvd
mtganimemiikefan 2 years ago 2
me too...
jcfbell3001 2 years ago
You and me both!
DJCandyManMike 2 years ago
@mtganimemiikefan
I think you can get the DVDs through the AIT website, but they cost an arm and a leg for it.
anokigryphon 2 years ago
I CRIED.
JoeVertigo 2 years ago 2
I have had reoccurring dreams about this for the past 30 years. Over the years, I somehow imagined I just made it up in my mind, and then I saw it, and I can remember the whole layout of the show, like it was yesterday. WOW This is awesome.
dmbfan1912 2 years ago
all of a sudden I'm 5 sitting on a brown couch and eating Campbell's chicken noodle soup on a tv tray in our old living room...great memories!!!
treadley 2 years ago 4
This has been flagged as spam show
Friggin' love this song, blows my mind.
synthastia 2 years ago
groovy
Jeet27 2 years ago
I'd like to see one of these episodes sometime.
fondue72 2 years ago
whoever put this on youtube, I love you. I mean, I actually love you.
ryoaska1 2 years ago 22
@ryoaska1 , thank you - could I bother you to bear my child posthaste? It's ok if you'd rather not.
love2register2 2 years ago 5
Yeah dude, seriously. That has to be the most beautiful theme music I ever heard. Things were so different back then.
Aestros909 2 years ago
@ryoaska1 me too it's awesome!
I loved it so much and still love that music
thanks love2register2
doctalee 1 year ago
Reminds me of days I stayed home sick from school. PBS for kids ruled back then...
danawadd 2 years ago 25
Where did you find this? This brings back some vivid memories of sitting in a darkened 5th grade classroom.
wheeljak 2 years ago
Who did this music?
Does anyone out there know?
gotta get it!
doctalee 2 years ago
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doctalee 2 years ago
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doctalee 2 years ago
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doctalee 2 years ago
1979 wow 5 th grade
gshow1970 2 years ago
sooooooooooooo awesome, i'm tripping just hearing it
jcfbell3001 2 years ago
I remember when watching this intro wondering that if a presidential candidate won all those states in red, would that be enough electoral votes to get in. (Excluding the Canadian areas, of course). Yet, it was never on long enough to jot all the states down. I'll have to hit pause sometime, and finally check it out.
mikecleona 2 years ago
I used to see that flag fill in with red and thought that's how the nukes will hit the US and Canada after all it was the cold war back then.
Diabolik771 2 years ago
I forgot about this. This was a trippy intro.
Etherialshroud 2 years ago
I remember this show from 1st grade I didn't watch an episode I just remember hearing the ending theme. I remember it came on before Reading Rainbow thats the show we watched. Does anyone know which band plays this song. I don't think its Kraftwerk or could be.
It kinda sounds like that song "Tryouts By The Human Race" by Sparks
fehler65 2 years ago
why was everything, literally everything so funky back then!?! anything that existed between 73 and 79 wether it be tv,radio,commercials, grocery stores, had a funky groove in the background, all synthesized with some slap bass and cow bell mixed in. what a groovy time to be alive
dimviesel 2 years ago 6
I'm with ya, 100%, Jack!
kingalow1 2 years ago
Wow, I remember this show from second grade. I used to hate the graphic intro, with the kid's brains getting scrambled.
Now that I listen to the theme again (particularly the end theme), it has an odd resemblance to the theme from "Escape from New York". Does anyone else notice this?
wheeljak 2 years ago
i remember this
americanidol434 2 years ago
This was the best...lights off...a 15 minute break to veg out during class. The worst though were the ending credits. You'd hear, "Jason, get the lights please." And the lights would flicker back on and you'd have to go back to the real school world.
deyoungparker 3 years ago 7
exactly, well put
jcfbell3001 2 years ago
OMFG
I haven't seen/heard this in 25 years. What a trip.
deyoungparker 3 years ago 2
Man that was cool i remember that!
I think that intro song helped get me into music
sounds like Boards of Canada
doctalee 3 years ago
Does ANYONE here know the name of the show that has a funky synth musical intro and shows kids in a garden maze??
discospacesounds 3 years ago
This brings back many cool memories of watching these videos at home and in school. Neat graphics and synth music...and, hey, my home province is colored in first...booyah!
landraiderares 3 years ago
PBS took down numerous videos of the entire episodes of this show, including my own, but yet they wont release them for purchase or for viewing anywhere. Why the hell does PBS care about having exclusive copyright to a 30 y/o show that no one will see again? FU*K PBS
victimsofthefuture 3 years ago
@victimsofthefuture I am baffled by that too. Watching those old shows is a trip, and it makes me extremely nostalgic. PBS seems absolutely determined to make sure nobody ever sees them again. I can't even begin to guess about why they want to do that.
thimoneus 1 year ago
VERY DHARMA
frenkmelk 3 years ago
Comment removed
doctalee 2 years ago
Whoa! I remember seeing this program when I was between 3 and 6. The graphics always caught my attention, and yet the music used to frighten me. So did most synth music back then! Now, my only dislikes are newbie pop singers, hard core rockers/rappers.
judacia 3 years ago
same here- we're probably about the same age. I remember the graphics so vividly but the music would make me cry.
dhumaigobae 3 years ago 2
it's sound like music on a cheep made porno
clinch44 3 years ago
@clinch44
I have to agree with you on that one.
MatchGame73 2 years ago
I meant add that the voiceover also creeped me out when I was younger.
judacia 3 years ago
love this show back in tha days. Do anybody have (self-incorporated) or (inside out) these also were some good educational shows as well? It was posted on here before now I can't find it.if anyone have it or know how to get it please send it to me or post it here
horne24 3 years ago
inside out..wow that is a show i have not seen in so many years.i would love to see some of those again.oh the memories :-D
panamacityeddie 3 years ago
This is so Boards Of Canada-ish.
pungbasie 3 years ago
I was hoping someone would say that.
DMSonmi 3 years ago
because they use moogs to make it. This is probably the single most important musical passage of my lifetime, and has stuck with me since kindergarten, and is amazing to finally find and hear again. THANK YOU.
jyamma76 3 years ago 2
Though, I never watched this series in school, I used to watch this on TV 20 years ago when it was on at 5AM. Wow.. such memories.
pressmin 3 years ago
IT says "video no longer available" too bad, this was a favorite of mine.
mistertentpole 3 years ago
THANK YOU! This show was great for children... I remember it.
Thanks for posting!
AndreSm95 3 years ago 2
The last time i saw these episodes was in 1993.
beanut520 3 years ago
I liked this so much I made a ringtone out of it
robbie4242 3 years ago
Does the 1971 PBS logo appear at the end of each episode of Thinkabout?
carlitosbug 3 years ago
nope
love2register2 3 years ago
Wow I SOOO remember this show...wasn't it only 15 minutes?
PBS had the BEST shows back in the 70s and VERy early 80s.
I wish they'd replay these shows now.
MsTexas73 3 years ago
I recall "The Write Channel" in the late 70s... probably ignited the writing bug in me. "Palabra jot, Palabra jot!"
StukInBuf 3 years ago 2
where's the trade offs theme?
moxie96 3 years ago
or for that matter, where's the inside/out theme? it used to be on youtube, but can't find it anymore.
ra70s 3 years ago
Hey, please "think about" posting the entire episode instead of just the intro to tease us.
ra70s 3 years ago
You want an episode, well, it is now posted. See if you like this one.
harold3w 3 years ago
I've always loved the color combination in that head outline there. Very pretty!
MaxxFordham 3 years ago
Oh, yep, I just read below where someone already mentioned that at least part of this was made using a Scanimate. (But how does that person suppose they know that?) Yeah, it all looks like it could've been, though, based on what I've read about the Scanimate and samples I've seen.
MaxxFordham 3 years ago
This opener has always reminded me of the Pittsburgh Steelers' main logo.
MaxxFordham 3 years ago
When I was in elementary school I sometimes saw AIT's Inside/Out at home on TV, but they played it at school right from the FILM reels!
MaxxFordham 3 years ago
does anyone know who did this music? incredible!
jamctelex 3 years ago 2
Couldn't agree with you more!!! I used to make mixtapes on cassette for friends of mine when I was 14 or 15 and start off just with this music and wonder who did the music and how I could get my hands on it!!! Some of this is influence from the 2-XL toy robot of the 70s that I had, that played instrumental music while you completed workbook puzzles to 8-track programs that came with the toy robot.
ARInternetTelevision 3 years ago
i can't express how much i appreciate that you posted this. ive had this synth line stuck in my head my whole life. in the last 4 years i've thought about it probably three times a week and finally i find out what it was from. i don't even remember any of the visuals, which makes me think that i must have been less than 2 or so when i first saw it. either way, this is amazing. im so glad i was born in the late 70s. we were brought up on some of the best music just by watching public television.
jamctelex 3 years ago 3
late 70's me too, that beautiful synthesiser music we were surrounded by was rampantly remarkable
moxie96 3 years ago
Awesome! This brings back memories of me in elementary school.
talk2mj 3 years ago
In the early to mid 80s our school had a few vcr's and they would make us watch these on occasion and this theme has been in my head ever since. I guess they were made in the late 70s and they just re-ran them
mark40511 3 years ago
I love this theme so much I don't know what to do with myself. Great...now it's on my Ipod.
gibranw 3 years ago
I saw this logo only TWICE. once when I was six in kindergarden watching "Letter People". then when I was 10 watching a show I think was called "On the Record" or something. Im almost 18 now and can still remember seing this on wgbh. THNX MATE!!
FIXTREME 3 years ago 2
I remember this being on during the day on PBS. I also watched every episode of The Letter People..this brings me back to when I was little.
mooky9669 3 years ago
Shock me! I saw this only once or twice as a child, that I can remember, on weekday mornings in summer. From those single-digit number of exposures, this intro stuck with me for OVER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.
It's the lava-lamp graphics I now know are Scanimate.
It's the wily synthesizer music.
It's the haunting voice-over speaking of wild concepts about A COOPERATIVE PROJECT FOR ACQUIRING SKILLS ESSENTIAL TO LEARNING.
Awesome.
Chasmodon 3 years ago 4
beautifully put! i love how people can totally bond over this weird theme and opening from a 30 year old PBS show...they must have got something right
jcfbell3001 3 years ago
Too bad there hasn't been an actual episode of Thinkabout posted yet. ;(
phrydoom 3 years ago
Posted.
harold3w 3 years ago
I'm back in 3rd Grade in Guilford, CT. THANK YOU!! I have been looking for this for years! You don't know how much this means to me. I, literally, started getting weepy watching this. THANK YOU!
schwanny 3 years ago 4
my pleasure :-)
love2register2 3 years ago
@schwanny
My sentiments exactly...
Delisle4 1 year ago
Wow, flashback to staying home sick when I was a kid! LOVE IT!!!
NellsStuff 3 years ago 4
Its almost there... I remember this logo very well as a kid!!!!! Have you heard of Self Inc as in Self Incorporated and also Inside, Outside with arrows in clockwise rotation? They are among those presented as part of PBS!!!
waddleduckie1 3 years ago
trippy much?
guyvf 3 years ago
Of all the educational programming shows i watched on PBS while staying home from school because I was sick,Thinkabout was my favorite.
What is the music that is playing here?
woodykinskileone 4 years ago
Has anyone ever heard "White Shadow" by Peter Gabriel? This theme music sounds a bit like the intro to that song.
jhillst 4 years ago
Thanks so much for posting - I felt like I was back in the 6th grade in Idaho and sitting cross legged on the floor just happy to be in the library and out of class. Trippy tune. You wouldn't have any of the movies would you?
kscarpetta 4 years ago
This tune is bad ass - you can see where Boards Of Canada are coming from on this one.
vhs90 4 years ago 4
Ta very much for posting this..! I've been on a mar search for these old AIT/TVOntario shows I watched profusely as a kid on PBS..
PortPowerKS 4 years ago
OMG!! I remember this show!! I knew that title sounded familiar!! I used to watch this when I was a kid, on PBS. It came on at like 6 am. WOW!!
PinkStupidity 4 years ago
Love2Register, you'll get more hits to this video if you add "Scanimate" to your list of tags ;)
raposofan 4 years ago
thanks raposofan :-) someone looking for scanimate stuff would probably find it eventually just because you mentioned it in your comments.
love2register2 4 years ago
Thank you for posting this. Man I miss this show.
raposofan 4 years ago
oh no problem. After seeing a few different 70's edu shows as an adult, personally I think the impact depends mainly on the writing for particular episodes. I remember a few storylines or moments but not necessarily which show (e.g. Thinkabout, Inside Out, etc...) it came from. Of course there's always the unpredicatable "camp" factor ;-)
love2register2 4 years ago
I miss this show too
MaxNhowl 4 years ago
Wow...Brings back so many memories dude please post the whole episode if you can!!
jamarr24 4 years ago
I remember this music it's freaking me out- flashbacks!
shortyblackwell 4 years ago
oh man, I wish you posted the entire episode!
ra70s 4 years ago
I remember inside/out and trade-off's from school(and on sick days from school). I have every episode of trade-off's and a few of inside/out's. thanks for posting this one, too.
ra70s 4 years ago
What an awesome piece of 1970's analogue electronic music that's stayed with me from the first time I heard it 28 years ago.
stevel738 4 years ago 2
Thank you very much for putting this up! Oh man, I remember this vividly from my grade school years ('83-'85 thereabouts), I also saw this while home sick from school, the statewide PBS network would air classroom programming during the late morning hours, and Thinkabout was one of them! Such an unusually awesome intro, it has the look of being possibly made on a Scanimate (an all-analog video animation system from the 70s)...
pvx 4 years ago
Scanimate? I'm positively sure it was made by none other than Dolphin Productions (or maybe Image West)!
johnnyaalaska 4 years ago
THANK YOU for posting this.. You can't imagine all the memories it brings back for me. :)
JFStan 4 years ago
I went to El Toyon Elementary School in san diego California and we used to watch this show in my science class, (1980)
STAYNPOCKET69 4 years ago
One of the PBS shows we didn't have in my classroom, but always saw it on sickdays home from school. Never expected to hear that theme song again. Thanks for the memories!
mikecleona 4 years ago
Awesome! I remember this!
fizzmaster 4 years ago
fucking awesome.
worstamericanhero 4 years ago
This is so great. I could watch this kind of thing all day.
flotationcarlos 4 years ago
Awesome!
MoriaOrc 4 years ago
I used to watch this when I was home sick from school.
smoothvirus 4 years ago
haha I didn't realize I'd already commented this video! Oh well, I'd kill to find some episodes of this online. IIRC some of them were really good.
smoothvirus 4 years ago
Same here :)
MaxNhowl 4 years ago
..so I wasn't the only one who did this...nice to know
sardavie 4 years ago
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you forever whoever posted this! This tune has always been in my head(i'm 31 now), but I never new what PBS bumper it was from! It is now forever on my Myspace page, god thank you!!!!
gibranw 4 years ago 2
This and Inside Out were big parts of elementary school education. Anyone remember the Geography one called "Finding our Way" or the English language one "Wordsmith" which broke the language down into its roots. The host would grab a ball like the ones you see in the lottery, explain the root of the word then drop it down an "i" shaped podium with the coolest sound effect.
werewolfantipaladin 4 years ago
It's like the best bad acid trip.
Augiestyle 4 years ago
Unfucking real
Augiestyle 4 years ago
I love that opening music...so Seventies in its feel.
KenoshiAkai 4 years ago
i loved this show!!!
diesel929 4 years ago
I believe if you go to the agency for instructional technology (formerly television) website you can order old school episodes of thinkabout and other shows. I think would be listed in the ait classics section.
cocobliss30 4 years ago
Yeah we got this on TV Ontario back in the day. It came out of Buffalo, New York and the music doesn't really sound like anything that Styx would write.
CelesteK 4 years ago
I always loved THinkAbout! I have a few epiosodes on tape, and I do have a favorite episode, which has a group of kids who plan a lunch menu. First started that 3 kids don't like meatloaf (my favorite BTW) and they had a talk from the lunchroom supervisor. I have other episodes as well.
Paulywint 4 years ago
Fabulous! I've got an audio clip of the theme but haven't seen the video clip in years. Used to get to see these occasionally in grade six on the one video cassette recorder the school owned. (This would've been 1980-81 and was a very big deal at the time).
TVThemeGuyVids 4 years ago
When this came on I knew Mr. Rodgers was over.
MiddleClassified 5 years ago