Nights into Dreams

This is a 1996 game for the Sega Saturn game console. The premise for the game is that two kids, Clair Sinclair and Elliot Edwards, have nightmares when they go to sleep. Claire wants to sing and Elliot wants to play basketball, but their dreams turn to nightmares. Nights, a being who lives in the dream world, goes through their dreams to find these red bubbles that represent courage, and when you get through all of the levels, you eventually get to Wiseman, the ultimate bad guy, and have to try to defeat him to allow their dreams to come true.

To begin playing, you must choose either Claire or Elliot, and then using Nights, you travel through their dreams trying to get a high enough score to progress to the next level before the alarm clock wakes you up. There are seven levels in total with a mini boss after each level. As Nights you have to fly from left to right across the level, but other than that your movement is pretty much free, and you can gain points by executing several different acrobatic movements or loops while you get your points.

The game was really well received. A hand-held version came out and a sequel was made for the Wii in 2007. Also, a mini comic book series was released where Claire and Elliot meet up in the real world to save Nights. I really enjoyed playing it, and still do. It's colourful, imaginative, and creative. Even though it's a side scrolling game, so you can only move left to right, there is still a bit of freedom. There are a few secret passageways to find and a couple of shortcuts. All in all, one of my preferred games from childhood.

Word Girl

Word Girl is a children's television show about a young girl who lives a double life as a superhero, fighting crime and teaching everyone new words. When I first heard of this show, my initial judgement was that it would be another boring attempt at educational programming. While vocabulary can be fascinating, it's not what immediately comes to your mind when you think of engaging, entertaining children's programming, but after watching a few episodes, I'm happy to report that the show is quite effective for its target audience.

Word girl is from the planet of Lexicon and when she cane to earth she was adopted by human parents who gave her the name Becky, but they don't know her true identity. The only one who seems to know about her double life is her pet monkey Bob. She tries to balance living a normal life with fighting crime in the city, brought on by various cooky villains, and she usually defeats them by somehow incorporating one of the words of the day. There are usually two new words that are defined in the show and they are explained and demonstrated throughout the length of the episode.

In an age when high school kids have trouble spelling basic words and the use of 'big words' are a source of uneasiness and even scorn, shows like this are really encouraging to see. We are in the information age, and yet our society grows increasingly more stupid. We should empower future generations with knowledge, not perpetuate ignorance and fear. Vocabulary is not indicative of a person's intelligence, but it becomes how one presents them self to the world. Lets have our kids 'dress' for success.