I know kids aren't supposed to sass teachers, but did anybody else find it odd in that episode all of Punky's friends turn around and say she's crazy for still wanting to be an astronaut, but they say nothing about Mike wanting to be the next teacher on the space shuttle?
shareI started to think about this episode when I cam to realization that today is the 31st anniversary of the Challenger tragedy:
https://www.facebook.com/topic/Space-Shuttle-Challenger/115671881781291?source=wtfrt&position=5&trqid=6380975270172072141
I hope that I don't come across as sounding too insensitive, but I'm I the only one who feels that this type of episode doesn't exactly resonant anymore. Granted, I was only three years old going on four when the Challenger exploded (I suppose that the Challenger explosion was in a way, the closest '80s equivalent to something like 9/11) so I don't really have much recollection of the initial news of its happening. So naturally, my perspective is going to be different than say, real life kids who were around Punky's age at the time.
Maybe my main point is that while I do believe that the intentions of the producers were noble, it's hard not to also feel that writing an episode around a real world tragedy like this kind of feels opportunistic and a tad bit exploitative. Also, going back to my first point, doing an episode about the Challenger is inevitably going to feel dated. In a modern context, it feels like a history lesson or the entering of a time portal (outside of the fashion of course).