Toy Show evokes memories of many a Christmas past

They are a very unusual ‘match’, but the technologies of the war in Afghanistan and children’s toys came together at the weekend on the Late Late Toy Show . . . and not a comment was passed.

One of the least sophisticated toys on the show was Thomas the Tank Engine – where you shine a light and the engine follows the light.

Only a few weeks ago in Afghanistan, we were being shown the same technology in action except that this time it was aboard a drone 5,000 feet away from its target, but using laser light to ensure that it would not miss its target and would slavishly follow to where it was being sent.

For the rest, a lot of the technology was of a kind that children from 40 years ago would not even have dreamt – my first Late Late Toy Show was in the early 1970s when the emphasis was on dolls and dolls houses. Now the kids can get right in on the action.

Only seconds before the show began, there was an advert for Xbox 360 Kinect, which meant the kids can get right in on the action from Walt Disney in a way that my generation could only do with wooden swords and pirate eye patches bought in the local toy shop.

Ryan Tubridy certainly has the agility and the build to present the show – looking like a gangly 15 year old – and he certainly joined in the fun with the kids. He is better than Pat Kenny, but still does not quite fit the bill . . . but what we are looking for here is possibly a magician who can transfer himself/herself into the world of children. Now there’s a thought, does it always have to be a man?The dilemma that has always faced this programme has be

en trying to get the balance right between the number of toys shown and the number of kids who show they can sing and dance. They call it the ‘Toy Show’ but there have been years when it was a ceaseless parade of, admittedly, talented young kids, and we just did not see enough of the toys.

Certainly, Tubridy loaded the beginning of the show with the toys to give us some idea, but only some, of the extraordinary range of stuff that will be played with for five minutes on Christmas morning and then kicked around the place.

This year, there seems to be an even greater crossover between toys and products and young stars – for instance there is the usual Barbie but then there is One Direction, Justin Bieber . . . many of the long-suffering fathers who were watching the show will be familiar with young master Bieber from the constant entreaties from the back of the car to put on the CD of Justin Bieber’s Baby.

The extraordinary quality of the animation and response in offerings like Xbox 360, the Nintendo 3DS series, the Wii and Playstation 3 show what a change has occurred in recent years in the whole animation area which has come from artists in Walt Disney Studios drawing each individual frame to the point where computer generated figures have made this a whole new world for kids – and the not so young.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.