Ah, nostalgia! Be it that old cartoon, a favorite toy or a comic book from days gone by, isn’t it great, when out of the blue, the memories come flooding back, and you’ve no choice but to exclaim “Holy Crap! Remember…?”

I never read the comic strip Dilbert by Scott Adams nor was I an actual part of the working class when the animated show based on the strip aired in 1999, yet I was a big fan of it. The cynicism and portrayal of a whacky workplace, with its ridiculous group of employees caught me for some reason. The animation was nice and with voice cast like Daniel Stern as Dilbert, Chris Elliot as Dogbert and Jason Alexander as Catbert (the vicious human resources director), this show was incredible.

If you never heard about Dilbert, it tells the story of a smart and geeky engineer in a loony work environment. His co-worker and “best friend” is Wally, an incompetent idiot who’s always in the quest for the ultimate way to get paid without doing anything. Dilbert’s unnamed boss is even worse than Wally, and acts as that puppet manager we all must’ve known at some point. Alice is a frustrated gal who gets through mental breakdown 4 times before lunch and 5 times after it. The absurdity of the cartoon/show allowed Adams use talking animals as leading characters: The opportunist genius Dogbert, Dilbert’s idiot roommate Ratbert and the aforementioned Catbert.

One of my favorite aspects of the show was Elbonia, a made-up fourth world country. The manufacture work of Dilbert’s company resides in that country and its citizens were a big part of many episodes, mostly when Dilbert and co. went for business trips or vacations. Each Elbonian has a beard (even females and newborns) and a big hat, they speak in an East European accent and their country’s terrain consists of mud.

Over the last decade I had a chance to read Dilbert comic strips, but eventually I quit. My love for the show didn’t translate well to print/web (I read the strips over the web). It’s funny, because since the show I’ve worked in several places and already knew the corporation antics enough to joke about them. I don’t know if the cartoon just got tired after two decades, but it’s just wasn’t that.

Also, now that there’s a show like The Office on TV that made any other workplace comedies pale in comparison, the Dilbert show looks kinda weak. I still like it and have fond memories, but Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute own Pointy-Haired Boss and Dogbert.

Now, here’s part one of ‘Elbonian Trip’ (Season 1, Episode 6):

To contact Tomer Soiker: tsoiker@panelsonpages.com