The Inner Boohbah
“I can feel for her because, although I have never been an Alaskan prostitute dancing on the bar in a spangled dress, I still got very bored with washing and ironing and dishwashing and cooking day after relentless day.”
— Betty MacDonald, 1945
Never buy a dancing Boohbah, even if you know a kid who really really really wants it. Even if it’s his third birthday. Even if it’s on sale for only $7.99. They are freaking loud and a little scary. (To you, not the kid.)
You know the Boohbahs? “Boombahs,” my kids call them. Blue, orange, yellow, purple and pink alien-like gelatinous creatures, covered with a kind of sparkly fringe-like fur. They have round, pimply-plastic heads. Wacky Boy adores them. Wacky Girl tolerates them. (Thank you, PBS Kids.) They have a little “ah, ah, ah!” song they sing, after they hear the echoey siren call of “…Booh…Bahs…” They float around in a womb-like spaceship. (On the show, not in my dining room, where the blue one we purchased is parked.)
Yet when I couldn’t get to sleep last night, there the Boohbah was, round sentinel, glowing in a shimmery, blue fringey, “it’s 1 a.m. and why the hell can’t I sleep???” kind of way. It was oddly comforting.
Unfortunately his alien spaceship never showed, and 7:30 a.m. today, there he still was.
, 
.
That thing freaks me out.
What the hell are they teaching our kids? Every things okay, ‘cuz rainbow aliens are coming? Damn, it’s like Teletubbies meet X files or something.
April 5th, 2005 | #
They are bizarre, i must concur. On the show they do this spin around thing til they look ready to pass out, then they climb back into their “wombs” and go off in the mother ship, trailing a rainbow behind them.
April 5th, 2005 | #
Ok, maybe its just me, but those Boobahs are nothing but huge, dancing breasts! The tops of their heads are the nipple, and then they have the whole areola and their big ol’ breast bodies. They are even called “BOOB-ah”, for crying out loud. Is this an attempt to make the wee ones bask in the bliss of milky, maternal goodness???
I’m not knocking the um, knockers, if that’s what makes the ankle biters happy. I just think its a wee bit warped, and kind of leaves me oogied out. The BBC needs to stop inundating our preschoolers with their bizarre alien characters–first the Teletubbies, (complete with a purple character named Tinkie Winkie who likes to wear Lala’s skirt and carry a purse. O-k…) now Boobah. Can alien dancing penises be far behind??? lol
April 5th, 2005 | #
heh heh just as i was reading this comment i heard “…boob-ah!” from the other room. Let the dancing and breast worshipping begin.
April 5th, 2005 | #