SUPERBOOK TALES

New Superbook

Hey guys, how are y'all? I can hear the crickets chirp as I walk into this anointed space😢. This break took longer than I thought it would but thank God we're back to our regular schedule. Tell a friend about this blog so the family can get bigger.

To usher in the 2nd half of the year (a late welcome), let me share something I experienced, this would be quite long but stay with me.

I grew up watching Superbook, I have vivid memories of lying on my tummy, hands to my cheek and eyes glued to the adventures of Joy, Chris and Gizmo in Bible land. My foundation of Bible knowledge was built on those 30-minute episodes. Two things interrupted this relationship;

1. GTV stopped showing it

2. I grew up.

Fast forward to many years later, I was walking across the living room and saw an advert for a new Superbook series. My initial excitement turned to disappointment when I saw that my beloved characters have had a makeover. With the exception of the names and usual Bible stories, everything was different- the animation, their faces etc.

Who dared to tamper with my beloved Gizmo?

On numerous occasions, I changed the channel whenever I saw it but this was short-lived. My younger brother about 7 years at the time loved this new Superbook, it was always a battle between us as to whether the show will be watched or not. According to him, it was an exciting show, I just couldn’t fathom this, nothing could compare to the old show-the original Superbook. He won one time and I sat watching the show unwillingly and to my surprise, it wasn’t that bad.

The songs were catchy and the characters and storylines were relatable. As time went on, I caught myself humming along to the ending track and eventually breaking out into full karaoke when the ending credits are running.

As God would have it, I had the rare opportunity to watch the old show sometime later on a channel. It was as if scales had been removed from my eyes, I was seeing differently. The sound wasn’t great, the picture quality was low and the anime-esque animation looked outdated. The flaws were so obvious. To be fair, times had changed, the old show was created in the 90s and would look outdated to new audiences who are used to 3D and 4G animations of popular cartoons. All of a sudden, I understood. It all made sense why the creators chose to remake the show. Kids of this generation would not have given it a second thought.

Old Superbook

What I learnt from the entire experience is that change is hard. My sentimental and nostalgic feelings towards the old made it hard for me to embrace the new. My old experience clouded my perspective so much that I was unwilling to see the good that the new had to offer. In my mind, the old show was perfect, irreplaceable the new show could never lol.

As humans, if there’s anything constant in our lives, it is change - physical, emotional, and psychological changes occur as one journeys through life. The best we can do is to adjust accordingly. No matter how great my childhood was, I’ll have to brace myself and prepare for adulthood. I can’t enter that season with a childish mindset, I have to change.

Change though hard is necessary.

One other thing I learnt is extending grace to people who are in a different season. My brother and I were in different seasons. My first response to his stance shouldn’t have been one of resistance, it should have been one of support and understanding. I could have offered to be enlightened more on why he thinks it’s a good show and from his reasons, I could have made an informed decision whether to hate it some more or give it a chance. Superbook is as valuable to him now as it was to me then.

So when see people enjoying things we would not enjoy or do things we would never do, our first response shouldn’t be one of judgement but trying to at least know their reasons regardless of how ridiculous it sounds. It is only then that we can help and influence them.

As we're settling into the second half of the year, we should be flexible to change. If the goals and plans we had for the first half were not achieved, we can always go back to the drawing board to change our strategies for better results.

If you read up to this point, one chilled bottle of malt for you. I pray this season of blogposts blesses us all. Don't forget to like, leave a comment, share and subscribe. See you in our next post. Byeee 😊