The Trapezoid Kids PSA-A-Thon

The Trapezoid Kids' PSA-A-Thon is a PowerPoint slideshow presentation written by the Dozerfleet founder on October 17th of 2007 for Computer Systems for Video class with Connie Morcom at Ferris State University. Since the whole class was expected to do slideshow presentations on the origins of public service announcements, the Dozerfleet founder chose to make a spoof PSA out of the assignment, while also incorporating The Trapezoid Kids as much as possible.

Intro slide
The show begins with an opening screen in which a narrator claims that Cornert and Polly are going to deliver a PSA about PSAs. Polly, having no objections to think of, stutters her way into agreeing with the announcer. Cornert comments that the intro is "really lame." Polly replies with her catchphrase: "Yeah, well so are you!"

Other slides
The actual content begins with a slide on the origins of PSAs. It is said that the first time one was delivered was in 1989, around the time that Bush (41) came on the scene. The slide after that claims that there's an undeniable correlation between what children see and what children want to try, even though no solid statistics were available. On another slide, Robin Hercher commented that the most important detail of any PSA is consistency. If the show and PSA contradict each other, or if the PSA contradicts itself, then the PSA is less likely to be taken seriously.

The slide following that illustrates an example of a show taking on subjects far more serious than the show's subject matter seems capable of handling, namely, the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog segment of "Sonic Says" that talks about child sexual harassment. On YouTube, that segment quickly gained notoriety after it was remixed and spoofed countless times. Following is a slide about Vixier18's roffdub of Sonic X, which spoofs the idea of Sonic being used for PSAs about sex by having the cast of Sonic X deliver a PSA promoting abstinence. (And doing a terrible job at it.)

One slide later talked about Captain Planet, a show that preached its liberal propaganda brazenly and shamelessly every few seconds. The rather inappropriately-titled episode "A Formula for Hate" was basically a misguided, 30-minute (mis)information campaign to counteract public HIV fears. A footnote on the slide states that it is one of the few episodes in which the Captain himself never actually appears. As interest waned on Captain Planet while the 90s progressed, Power Rangers took over in the department of bizarre and silly PSAs. One scene from a PSA from the original show dealt with a kid learning to respect differences in others, by showing him trapped in a world where everyone was as annoying as he was. The PSA contradicted itself in having no respect for the child, portraying him in the most obnoxious light possible.

However, Power Rangers and its PSAs got a lot more serious in subject matter with the original show gone. Another slide deals with "Mean Screen," an episode of Power Rangers Zeo in which cyberterrorism becomes a theme. Computer safety was the main message of that episode. For Power Rangers in Space; the messages against bullying, blackmail, and cyberterror became even more anvilicious. The episode "Carlos on Call" came up as a prime example, in which Carlos was blackmailed by a little girl who discovered he was the Black Ranger.

After finishing up its list of examples of PSAs and their contents, the slideshow ends with scrolling credits.

Reception
The slideshow and its contents were generally accepted by the class that saw them. However, Connie took issue with Polly's speaking parts, claiming they were hard to understand.

Locations
This slideshow was edited together inside of North Bond Hall, and was later presented in class at Bishop Hall, on the campus of Ferris State.