The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story

Director(s) - Scott Barber (This is GWAR, American Clown) and Adam Sweeney 

Starring - Jason Alisharan (Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Halfback of Notre Dame), Drake Bell (Superhero Movie, Drake and Josh), and Michael Bower (Salute Your Shorts, Dude!, Where's Your Car?)

Release Date - 2018

Genre - Documentary

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     I'm a product of my childhood like many people my age.  I was born in the mid-80s but grew up in the 90s.  While most of the people my age were fans of Disney I found myself spending most of my time watching tapes or anything on Nickelodeon.  I was a bit of an outcast among my friends because I wasn't excited for movies like Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Lion King, and so on.  I was more focused on Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Ren and Stimpy, CatDog, and so on.  This was my favorite channel by far and when I reached adulthood I discovered I was not the only one.  While most of my childhood friends were Disney fans I've met several in the horror community that were fans of this golden age of television.  A few months ago I was digging around Amazon when I came across The Orange Years.  This looked like a documentary made specifically for me so I quickly snagged the blu.  When I found an opening in my schedule I decided I would finally dig into it.

     The documentary takes the viewers from before Nickelodeon where we learn that it was a result of a cable experiment in Ohio before it became a children's television program.  From there they grew into cutting edge children's programing that sometimes pushed the envelope of what was acceptable on television to creating their own brand of television aimed to children.  Their growth eventually became their downfall as they no longer had goals to strive for.

     I started collecting movies, or tapes as they were at that time, when I was in elementary school.  I started with Goosebumps releases and soon moved on to everything that caught my eye.  This would include as many Nickelodeon tapes as I could find.  Orange was a big part of my childhood and at one point I had so many orange tapes in my collection.  Most were like a greatest hits compilations of different shows.  Some were Rugrats, Doug, Aaahh Real Monsters, and so on.  I loved this time of my life and Nickelodeon was such a huge part of it.  This documentary was really a walk down memory lane and one I thoroughly enjoyed.  The interviews in this one is extremely diverse ranging from fans, to company executives and creators, to child stars and other cast members.  A lot of thought and research went into who would be interviewed and it was nice to see how some of the faces I grew up with has aged over the last 20 some odd years.  I've noticed that a lot of the indie documentaries that I review usually have people on one side or the other of a topic.  However, it's nice to see people from different aspects of the company, along with fans, as they talk about the rise or the orange years.  The topics discussed go in chronological order from before Nickelodeon, what a nickelodeon is, and how the channel became the giant that it was in the 90s.  A lot of behind the scenes and personal stories were shared which adds a whole new level of depth to my childhood.  Finally, the editing and flow of this documentary is extremely smooth.  This is a top notch production.  The transitions, editing, and interviews are all shot perfectly.  This is one of the best looking docs I've seen in awhile and I absolutely loved it.  Overall, The Orange Years may not be for everyone but for this millenial it's a fantastic film.  I loved the history and a reminder of all the great shows that I've forgot about over the years.  I highly recommend this one.  It was a lot of fun.