https://youtu.be/--w9bOGpi2s

Looks like a bunch of Mormon kids are waiting in Heaven for their parents to have them and bring their spirits down to Earth…

They are a talented bunch, I guess, but for a nevermo, I find this concept very bizarre. Looks like everyone is white so far, too….

Lots of singing and dancing, affected acting, cornball humor, and flowy clothes.

I was 17 in 1989. This makes me feel ancient.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2022 05:15AM by knotheadusc.

I can’t believe I watched the whole thing…

in b 4 ~ ziller wuz friday night warrior ~

So why don't you the missionaries tell you your role as a female in Mormonism is have as many children as possible to give alien spirit babies human bodies to live in on Earth?

What I don’t understand is why they’re all different ages in the premortal existence. Like, did they die in a previous life when they were kids and come back to the premortal existence as teens? And then, the character Pam, dies again as a teen?

And the mother angel who beams them to earth keeps disparaging other places, like Siberia and Madagascar…. Hurry up, or you’ll be living in a mud hut!

Bizarre…

Believe it or not, this was a significant influence on mormon culture and reinforced mormon beliefs. It also allowed abusive parents to absolve themselves and turn the blame back on their children because "you chose us as parents in the premortal existence, you knew what you were getting into."

As for "disparaging other places, like Siberia and Madagascar," standard official mormon doctrine. I give you the incomparable Mark E. Petersen, from "Race Problems – As They Affect the Church," 8/27/1954:

"[C]an we account in any other way for the birth of some of the children of God in darkest Africa, or in flood-ridden China or among the starving hordes of India, while some of the rest of us are born here in the United States? We cannot escape the conclusion that because of performance in our pre-existence, some of us are born as Chinese, some as Japanese, some as Indians, some as Negroes, some as Americans, some as Latter-day Saints."

https://www.exmormon.org/d6/drupal/Mark-E-Petersen-1954-Mormon_Apostle-Race-Relations

And let's not forget Alvin Dyer's "For What Purpose," delivered in 1961:

"Why is it that you are white and not colored? Have you ever asked yourselves that question? Who had anything to do with your being born into the Church and not born a Chinese or a Hindu or a Negro? Is God such an unjust person that He would make you white and free and make a Negro cursed under the cursing of Cain that he could not hold the Priesthood of God? Who do you think decided and what is the reason behind it?"

https://www.mrm.org/for-what-purpose-dyer

OMG…. That is dreadful!

I knew there was a lot of racism in the church, but I have never been LDS. That movie made the church look so groovy and feel good…

But then, I still like watching Saved By The Bell sometimes, too.

Thirteen year old white kid from small town Utah thought "This is Crap!" Stored in my memory banks and festered for years, kept popping up about every other day on my mission where we met Turks and Pakistanis who were "not worthy to be taught the Gospel" according to my Mission President.

outta the cult Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Believe it or not, this was a significant
> influence on mormon culture and reinforced mormon
> beliefs. It also allowed abusive parents to
> absolve themselves and turn the blame back on
> their children because "you chose us as parents in
> the premortal existence, you knew what you were
> getting into."
>

I'm a sexual abuse survivor and the church's doctrine about choosing my abuser makes zero sense. Also, why would anyone who is a noble, choice spirit choose anything less than ideal family? I don't believe anyone with intelligence would buy into this nonsense.

I knew peers who were the middle of the litter question why they would choose to be #5 in a family of 9. Clearly many did not believe this garbage that was being reinforced every Sunday.

I still get distracted by the "bad girls" showing off their ballet training and porn shoulders as they dance for the adversary. That Jeep is nice, too.

I saw the play live in the 70s when I was at Youth Academy at BYU. I was new to the Mormon church and didn't get emotional like the other girls who were crying in parts. I thought it was a silly play.

I had a roommate at BYU who had the Saturday's Warriors cassette tapes and would play them over and over. Drove me crazy, especially the "we all have daddy's nose" song. Gag.

Oh my God, I noticed how cheesy that song was! It was definitely a cringey part of the show. But most of it was pretty cringey.

How did I not hear of this before today? I have been hanging out on this forum for 20 years!

Was just showing part of this to my Exmo husband. He says that’s exactly why only Mormons will go to Heaven. No one else could take the boredom.

It’s very Osmond-esque. Indeed, Marie Osmond’s ex husband was one of the supervisors, and it was filmed in the former Osmond studios. And I noticed that the leads bore more than passing resemblances to Donny and Marie.

Yikes!

I saw this as the play at South High School; I invited the girl I had worshiped from seventh grade and we saw it the week before we both moved away to attend different Universities ... I can't stand the play, but Lex D's theme song still tugs at my tender mercies every time I hear it.

I don't really remember this being promoted even though it was by all accounts HUGE for the youth. And I have nodded off the last 2-3 times I attempted to watch it. I have yet to finish it so maybe that's a good thing in itself.

Even on my mission we watched a lot of church produced films and videos and this one was never requested by any elder/sister.

And yes knotheadusc, we are of similar ages as you correctly alluded to in the other thread :)

I thought so. There are certain things 70s/80s kids dealt with that are very unique. It wasn’t a bad time to be a kid. I sure wouldn’t want to be one now.

I will have to write about this today. My mind is blown by the sheer cheese and childishness of this movie.

Good lawrd. I lasted about 3 minutes and had to shut it off. Sooooo weird.

I wrote about it today. I think I will write about it tomorrow, too. Yikes.

And we thought Plan 10 From Outer Space was funny!

After reading this thread I had the theme song from Saturday's Warriors stuck in my head: "who are these children coming down, coming down..." While driving I turned on my car radio to the classical music station and was surprised that the music playing, Bizet's Intermezzo from the opera "Carmen," sounded just like the opening to the Saturday's Warrior song. The first 6 notes were identical to the part in Saturday's Warrior where the chorus sings: "who are these children coming down..." Lex Azevedo, who composed "Saturday's Warrior, stole from Bizet!

See for yourself:

Bizet: Intermezzo from "Carmen"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7zYsyPvYiY

Saturday's Warrior (skip to 0:50 "who are these children coming down...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX71P4ACdiw&list=PL74C0ADE4F6E03CB9

I read that his music is very popular on “beautiful music”/Muzak stations, and on the Sirius Escape station, they play at least one of his compositions every hour.

My dad was a Muzak fan, so I have many traumas.

Interesting!

Lex Azevedo was in my ward in So. California when this came out. He was our ward's claim to fame for writing the music.

I didn't know him personally because I wasn't really into all the ward music stuff.

I still recognized the opening song. Good grief.

I don't know when the touring company made it to the East Coast, but it had to have been late 1970s/early 1980s, because I remember seeing it when I was still quite young.

I think I need to go take a shower.

Tyson

I used to LOVE this show as a TBM. But my favorite parts were the "bad kids". I wanted to be in their group. The Zero Population song was one song that made perfect sense to me.

Ugh just bloody awful. I was a tbm teen in the 90s and still found it gross.

This movie was just part of the whole Saturdays warrior hysteria that swept through utah when I was a kid. Mckonkie gave all those adresses and wrote all those books, Mormon doctrine had a whole section describing how the end was suppose to happen before 2000 and a crazy calculation about Joseph's posterity and the holy one's from polygamy pre 2 manifesto won't all be dead before the end of the century, the stake pres was telling the girls in the ward to prepare for plural marriage etc because it's coming back soon, we had fireside every week at the bishops house explaining how wicked the world is and the various horrible wars and destruction that was coming. It was a frightening time really....