History Headscratchers / Recess

** One part Nostalgia Goggles, one part cultural drift; every generation grows up faster than the one before it. When Recess was on TV, it was aimed at kids around the same age as or younger than the main cast, which meant 6-10 year olds, with ParentalBonus gags. Kids that age today are exposed to much more adult media, and some of them have probably had [=MySpace=]/Facebook pages ''since they were born'', so the internet (and the...uh, shall we say [[GreaterInternetFuckwadTheory social interaction unrestricted by traditional etiquette that comes with it)]] are a very basic part of their lives. Kids today aren't any more ''mature'', but they have access to a lot more information.

* How is Mikey the only kindergartener to never finish the derby? We see in this very episode that Tubby and Gilbert are the only ones who finish. Everyone else geta held up along the way and isn't seen finishing the derby, and it's logical to assume the same happens every year.

* It's also worth noting that though Mrs. Finster and Principal Prickly are short-tempered and grouchy, they aren't cruel. In "The Biggest Trouble Ever," Mrs. Finster makes the kids do chores for breaking the new statue--understandable-- and when she hears that they'll be transferred to separate schools, both she and Prickly think it's too extreme. Similarly, if child is actually in ''danger'', they fly into action and protect them. In "The Library Kid," when the title character is stuck on a flagpole and can't get down, Mrs. Finster is genuinely concerned for her, calls the Fire Department, and even screams in fear when she sees the girl trapped. So even though they can be nasty, they do care about the kids.

* Also, keep in mind that we're primarily seeing them from the kids' perspective, and for them anyone in a position of rules enforcement is automatically "the enemy".

[[WMG: In Taking the Fifth Grade, why would the faculty wait to take all the play equipment and pave the lawn on the first day of school, much less when the kids are supposed to be out for recess? ]]

** Aliens ''do'' exist in the ''Recess'' universe; at the end of the episode where TJ and Spinelli kiss, a spaceship drops off a kid Butch claims was abducted.

** It isnt that far out, remember the movie revolves around a guy with a giant gravity gun he's using to move the friggin MOON, that sounds like a plot straight out of Kim Possible
* In Taking the Fifth Grade, why would the faculty wait to take all the play equipment and pave the lawn on the first day of school, much less when the kids are supposed to be out for recess?

* The gang seems to be a pretty tight-knit group, yet they make it sound like it's been years since they've seen Chad; in all that time, they never went to Vince's house or ran into the whole Lasalle family?

RuleOfFunny and RuleOfCool aside, why and how does a 11 year old have the deep post-puberty baritone of Robert Goulet?
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How is it that none of the other kids, including her own friends, knew that Spinelli's first name was Ashley until Randall revealed it in "First Name Ashley"? Even back when Spinelli first started kindergarten, there wouldn't have been any reason for her to be on a last name basis, at least until the Ashleys ruined it for her.

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** Alternatively, her usual "dress" might really be an oversized t-shirt. She does wear leggings under it.

** This seems to be a case of TheWorfEffect. T.J. ''does'' try to make jokes with Slicer, but the older man completely shuts him down and treats him like a lab rat, as opposed to Prickly, who will at least groan at T.J.'s jokes and quips. By showing that even T.J. is scared, it helps to emphasize just how bad this new guy is.

* Another important part is that the kids ''like'' it when Mrs. Finster and Principal Prickly are antagonists--it gives them an "enemy" to fight and lets them be rebellious and have fun. In "The Fuss over Finster," Mrs. Finster gets a hairline fracture and ends up on crutches. The Recess Gang has fun pulling off capers at first, but when they see that Muriel is genuinely struggling to keep up with even the slowest kids, they [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction realize that without Finster as their foe, it's just not enjoyable to win]]. T.J. organizes the entire playground to behave super well and nice to each other to give Muriel a break (he calls her a "wounded lion"), and both sides promise that it will be "business as usual" when she's healed up. All told, the kids and the stricter staff seem to have a [[FriendlyEnemies]] situation happening, where the antagonism and troublemaking are just part and parcel of their relationship.

* Also, in the episode with the c-note; Gretchen did not tell them that 100 divided by seven is not that much.

* Its simply because kids today, even during the 90's and early 00's when the movie was made, have a very different and difficult journey to prepare for due to how complicated the world has become. Many parents begin preparing their children in ''preschool'' because they want them to have a bigger chance at getting into prestigious colleges and careers for whcih competition has never been stiffer.

** They both mellowed out considerably by the end of the show. In the first season, they were both sadists who existed just to torment the students. Over time, they became humanized. It may also have to do with ProtagonistCenteredMorality. Since the entire show is framed from a kid's perspective, the writers may have chosen to make the stricter adults into outright jerks. Contrast that with a show like HeyArnold where every adult is given their fair day from the start.

** One part Nostalgia Goggles, one part cultural drift; every generation grows up faster than the one before it. When Recess was on TV, it was aimed at kids around the same age as or younger than the main cast, which meant 6-10 year olds, with ParentalBonus gags. Kids that age today are exposed to much more adult media, and some of them have probably had MySpace/Facebook pages ''since they were born'', so the internet (and the...uh, shall we say [[GreaterInternetFuckwadTheory social interaction unrestricted by traditional etiquette that comes with it)]] are a very basic part of their lives. Kids today aren't any more ''mature'', but they have access to a lot more information.