Space Age Whiz Kids (1983)
Lyrics :: Screen captures
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"Plot" Summary: The video starts out in an old-fashioned arcade in black and white. Joe, looking retro with slicked-back hair and a wide-striped shirt, pushes his way up to a pinball machine.
Suddenly, the video turns to color - we're in the present (well, early 80s present). Now, there's a bunch of video games instead of pinball machines, including my old favorite, Pac-Man! We also are treated to shots of other popular games like Donkey Kong (Mario gets smashed by a barrel right at the gate! Looks like someone doesn't know how to play).
Joe tries to talk to the kids sitting around but they ignore him. They show the old pinball arcade and everyone is covered with cobwebs.
There are scenes of Joe and his band where Joe is dressed in a jumpsuit with sunglasses and a cheesy Indian-style headband with a feather on the side. He and his band are on white circular platforms in the middle of blackness. Perhaps this is supposed to be futuristic?
What is definitely intended to be futuristic are the shots of kids in an arcade with shiny outfits on that look like they were made out of silver trash bags. They walk around in a trance-like state. We flash back and forth from this to the old pinball arcade in black and white, intercut with shots of the band on the platform.
Towards the end, Joe walks through the futuristic arcade in a full-blown space suit. Some guy chanting "I like space age whiz kids" is on a floating video game screen that flies around the arcade. The closing shot is of a video game entitled "Whiz Kids" whose screen shows the arcade scene we just left.
(You gotta wonder what Joe thinks of the video games kids play NOW!)