We still have our old Betamax-recorder, which was hooked up to our second television set back in the late 80's
to early 90's. My dad had taped several movies, none of which seemed particularly interesting to me. One sacred
day in 1990, he was flicking through the Beta collection and found a dusty tape, labelled The Goonies.

My dad gave me a quick introduction, which consisted mostly of words like Spielberg, pirates and treasure.
He then decided we should watch the movie together. I could read (being 6 years old), but subtitles back then
weren't exactly my cup of tea. Most films I had seen up to that point were dubbed Disney movies. By the time
I had read a subtitle, the next scene had already passed. Luckily my dad helped me through this first viewing,
translating the difficult parts and telling the story in simplistic sentences.

I sure liked the film a lot and as the years went on, I saw it again, and again, and again. That is, until our Betamax
broke down. We still search for working units on flea markets and we have already found four recorders, but they all
gave up the ghost after a while. Our last player, found in 2004, sadly died in 2008. The last six years have been Betaless.

Belgian TV channel Ka 2 (which later changed its name to Kanaal 2, Kanaaltwee, II, 2BE and finally Q2) aired The Goonies
in 1995, so naturally I taped it on VHS. But after that date, and a few more screenings, a period of silence entered.
The classic "You're growing up" explanation isn't really applicable. For one reason or the other, the movie was left to
wither in the far reaches of yours truly's film memory.

Fast forward to a quiet little Sunday in April 2001. It's still early in the morning, and I'm wondering what to do.
I see my tapes, standing there, gathering dust since the advent of DVD. One title immediately grabs my attention.
"It sure has been a while since I saw this movie, eh?", I mumble to myself. I turn on the TV, pop the tape into the
VCR and watch the Columbus/Donner/Spielberg effort once more, now through the eyes of a 16 year old.

Still appreciating the film 11 years after the first viewing, I log on to the web and enter "www.thegoonies.com" out of
the blue. Not aware of the actual existence of said site, I am thrilled and amazed about the current info, the upcoming
DVD, deleted scenes I never knew existed, sequel rumours etcetera. It all starts here, again.

I can definitely say The Goonies is a modern classic, one that's far more enjoyable than most movies nowadays.
Yes, I was just 1 when the movie came out, but I sure am a part of that special group: The The Goonies fans.



Julian, April 2002
[major bad grammar and typo corrections in 2014]
[additional information in 2019]