Lift Off is the greatest kids' show ever. I say that with the authority of a) having been a kid, b) now being a cinema/television studies major at Uni, and c) having watched Lift Off while it was from the age of five until seven. No television show could possibly equal the levels of creativity, joyfulness, randomness, education and love reached by Lift Off every single episode. It's just incomparable, and I'm not exaggerating (much)! It is centered around a group of children and their families living in or around a block of flats in Melbourne. There's Poss and her younger brother Nipper, Poss' best friend Kim (who is a Vietnamese girl adopted by infertile Australian parents), Paul and his little sister Aku (who are presumably of African extraction, and live with their single mother), and Max (who is deaf, but uses hearing aids and can speak well enough to be understood). See? What an example of diversity! You already know it's going to be teaching you lessons, and even though yes, they might be cheesy at times, they are NEVER condescending, which is what really sets it apart from most other children's shows.
Each episode also features random interludes from the kids' talking back-packs (whose grammar is similar to Yoda's), footage of the documentary being made about the kids by a frill-necked lizard, strange conversations with the talking lift, Lotus, who takes everything literally, trips inside the mind of the plant, Beverly, in the lobby, rantings and warnings from the comically mean Mr. Fish, the doorman of their building, amusing songs from the alternate universe, a café called Wakadoo that's run by puppets, and of course, the omniscient, ubiquitous EC, the faceless, androgynous doll that belongs to all the children. And that's not all! Every so often it will peel off into a seemingly bizarre and unconnected story or animation that is completely unique and always entertaining.
I don't know how to praise this show enough. I thought maybe I had built it up in my mind as a mythic paragon of children's TV for too long - about twelve years - and that it could never live up to the snippets of remembered story lines, but I managed to get the DVDs from the library I work at the other day and it is above and beyond what I remembered and loved. Tonight I showed it to some friends of my age (20) and we sat around the TV transfixed. It taught us about electricity and circuits! And fulcrums, levers and effort! And above all, the importance of family and community and diversity and LOVE! But all in a thoroughly sincere yet endlessly hilarious and endearing manner.
I watch kids' shows nowadays and wonder how I could ever stand them. Not Lift Off. It's easy to understand why it was so popular - it doesn't talk down to kids in the least. Obviously, its creators were on some sort of drugs most of the time, and I'm quite sure it's where I got my taste for the absurd, but it is without a doubt, the best example of children's TV ever. I strongly recommend it to anyone, but especially for parents with young kids whom they wish to educate and entertain at the same time. I cannot say enough about this show.
Ha, of course, the best part is the theme song: Come on and LIFT OFF! With Lotus and EC, Beverly, Rocky and us... They've opened our eyes and we're flying up high! And we're wanting, we're really wanting you to LIFT OFF! etc. etc.
Best. Show. Ever.
