Which 80s Boston TV Commercial Inspires the Most Nostalgia?

For any kid growing up in the late 1970s or early 1980s in New England, two television commercials will always be forever burned into their memories.

The first is for the New England Aquarium, in which a dad surprises his family with a trip to the Aquarium. It’s probably best remembered for two lines: “I can walk like a penguin,” and “Hey Mom, the dolphin show!”

The other is for the Boston Museum of Science, dubbed “It’s Fun to Find Out,” has lines such as “It’s fun to find out what makes an ocean wave wave” and “This is the captain speaking, come in Earth!”

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These commercials ran frequently during children’s programming on WLVI-TV 56 in Boston throughout the 1980s, even though they looked and felt like they had been produced a decade earlier.

They likely aired during commercial blocks that also featured “Time for Timer” telling us how he “hankers for a hunk o’ cheese,” or Woodsy the Owl and friends telling us to give a hoot and not pollute.

Ironically, each of the commercials for the Boston-based attractions featured a young lady named Karen.

In the Aquarium spot, she tells her family about how she can walk like a penguin, and her mother asks her how it feels to hold a starfish.

In the Museum of Science spot, a different Karen tells us that “it’s fun to find out what your voice really sounds like,” after saying “My name is Karen” into the microphone and then hearing it back.

Certainly, many trips to the Aquarium and the Museum of Science were planned after the airing of one of these commercials. Which one, though, inspires the most nostalgia?