Advertising / Computer Critters

From bottom left counter-clockwise: Tabby, Hacker, Stanley, Harold, Harriet, Foxworthy, and Della.

Della: Computers are coming your way.
Everyone else: Computers?
Harold: For paying bills?
Harriet: Mothers, too?
Foxworthy: Bah humbug!
Tabby: Wow...
Hacker: Let me try it!

Computer Critters is a Public Service Announcement series produced by Buzzco Productions and shown by ABC that shows how children can use computers and things related to them. As there were only four episodes and they all aired in 1984, they don't cover the most things in the world, but still manage to show them in a way that's ahead of its time.

The episodes:

1. Usage of computers in our everyday lives
2. Input devices, like the joystick, the mouse, the touch screen, and the light pen
3. Databases
4. Word processors

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These adverts provide the following tropes:

• Ambiguously Related: Harriet and Harold are the parents, Tabby and Hacker are the (adopted?) kids. So how do Foxworthy, Della and Stanley fit in?
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Della and Foxworthy disappeared after the first commercial.
• Interspecies Romance: Harold's a rabbit, Harriet's a squirrel.
• Meaningful Name:
  • It's pretty lucky for Hacker that he likes computers.
  • Tabby realises the term "menu" is used because they give the user what they ordered (in that case, by tapping the touch-screen monitor) and Hacker agrees.
• Not So Above It All: Foxworthy states "Bah humbug!" when he hears about a computer, but he still comes around Hacker when he starts using it.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Hacker explains what word processor can do by rhyming.
• Signing-Off Catchphrase: Each commercial ends with the characters waving and shouting "see you soon!"
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The female characters have eyelashes while males don't.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: For a kid growing up in the eighties, Hacker is well-versed in computers, managing to use less-commonly known input devices and databases with no problem.

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