It took a lazy Saturday morning, and a 2 hour block of Mr. Wizard's World to realize that I forgot to R.I.P. Don Herbert when 2008 gave him the short end, I also realized I had never researched the genius of the MWW theme song. Well, Herbert never really gained the respect here that he did in his native Canada. At age 8 I never did comprehend that the entire Nickelodeon operation was a covert way to educate America's Youth, expose it to that kooky Canuck comedy (Dave Coullier, Alastair) and the first glimpse at Britain's unexplainable (for an 8 year old) Bananaman. If someone can tell me the name of the Pinwheel cartoon with the old gnome in the hot air balloon -- WOW prize. Looking back at MWW, it was fairly "off-sides" itself. Always intrigued by the intricacies that separates Canada from us -- Mr. Wizard's students were likely clad in bulky sweaters, no ethnicity was underrepresented, and each had their own distinct (northern) dialect on the Queen's English ("wouter" = "water" -- the top word twisted here). The analog of the cinematography, the wood-paneled lab, and that theme song???Finally decided to check the credits -- Paul Zaza. Could never find an MP3 of this, contacted Mr. Zaza for one, but no response yet. I'm curious if Zaza treats his work with Herbert as minor compared to his work for A Christmas Story, the entire Prom Night series, and Baby Geniuses? This theme song, and all of the various cuts between segments, is the essence of early '80s geek-out proggish synth-pop. The square root of what Rush, Triumph, and Saga, wanted to be, only built on Jolt cola and a children's science program. I bet Zombi loves this shit.
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