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What do Smashing Pumpkins, Jurassic Park, Secret of Mana & Pizza Huts’s Bigfoot Pizza have in common?

DT Carel, host of the YouTube series Dopamine Sunrise and the person responsible for the fantastic The Room We Wanted logo, takes us back to 1993, the year he considers his favorite year of being a kid.

Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream opened the door to alternative music. Jurassic Park sparked a fascination with filmmaking. Secret of Mana introduced him to a whole new kind of storytelling in video games. And Pizza Hut’s Bigfoot Pizza? That one brings back memories of Friday nights, family, friends, Super Nintendo and a pizza that was apparently large enough to require its own transportation system.

Along the way, we talk 90s fashion, movie magic, the alternative rock Mount Rushmore, the games that shaped his creative interests, the McDonalds’ menu song, and the strange way a pizza can become a memory of the people you shared it with.

More than anything, these four choices tell the story of a nine-year-old discovering the things that would eventually become a part of who he is as an adult.

Four choices. Four pieces of childhood. One room that tells DT’s story.

Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Coming Out Of Our Shells (Pizza Hut Cassette)

The McDonalds Menu Song (1989)

Dopamine Sunrise – Friday Night Rentals: The Wizard

Dopamine Sunrise – What It’s LIke to be An Elder Millennial

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DT Carel Takes Us Back to 1993: Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaurs, Video Games and the Pizza That Got Away

Some years stick with you long after the calendar moves on. For DT Carel, host of the YouTube show Dopamine Sunrise, that year is 1993.

At just nine years old, Carel was discovering music that would shape his taste for decades, witnessing movie magic that helped inspire his interest in filmmaking, and spending time with the video games and food that made childhood feel like an endless adventure. More than three decades later, those memories still mean something. And in this episode of The Room We Wanted, he brings them all back.

Joining Brian Colburn and Jay Sweet, Carel builds a room around four defining pieces of his childhood: Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins, Jurassic Park, the Super Nintendo classic Secret of Mana, and Pizza Hut’s dearly missed Bigfoot pizza.

It’s a room full of nostalgia, but there’s a bigger story behind every choice.

The Sound: Smashing Pumpkins and the Discovery of Alternative Rock

Carel’s musical life began with the records his parents played, including AC/DC and Jimi Hendrix. But by 1993, older friends were opening the door to something new.

At nine, Carel was hanging around kids in junior high and high school, getting exposed to music and movies well ahead of many of his classmates. One of those discoveries was the Smashing Pumpkins’ second album, Siamese Dream.

Borrowing cassettes rather than owning his own copies, Carel remembers hearing the album and being immediately hooked. The slow drum roll that opens “Cherub Rock” gives way to a wall of guitars, with Billy Corgan, James Iha, D’arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin creating a sound that felt unlike anything he’d experienced before.

“Rocket” remains one of his favorite songs of all time, and Siamese Dream is still among his favorite albums.

For Carel, the record represents more than a collection of great songs. It was an early introduction to emotional, melodic music that wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable. The tension and turmoil surrounding the band during the album’s creation added another layer to its appeal, even as he was still figuring himself out.

He also has a strong opinion about the band’s next move. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness wasn’t a disappointment; it was an opportunity to hear a band he loved explore new territory. Carel welcomed the expanded sound, even if the band’s later, more electronic direction didn’t connect with him in quite the same way.

And because no music conversation is complete without a few controversial opinions, the discussion eventually turns to alternative rock’s Mount Rushmore. Carel makes his case for the Smashing Pumpkins as a top-five or top-six band of the era, while reluctantly suggesting Pearl Jam might be the group he’d remove from the traditional big four.

It’s a take that might not win him many friends among Pearl Jam devotees, but it makes for exactly the kind of music conversation that keeps the episode lively.

The Screen: Why Jurassic Park Was More Than a Movie

If Siamese Dream opened a new musical world for Carel, Jurassic Park helped him imagine an entirely different future.

He saw the film on opening weekend in 1993, already a dinosaur enthusiast and a young movie fan who loved Star Wars, superhero films and Terminator 2. What he experienced in the theater went far beyond another big-screen adventure.

The realism of the dinosaurs, the sound design and the sheer scale of the production left him stunned. He remembers the theater seats shaking and wanting to watch the movie again before he’d even made it back to the car.

The wait for its VHS release only added to the anticipation.

When school resumed that fall, Jurassic Park seemed to be everywhere. Kids wore the T-shirts, carried the Trapper Keepers and pencils, and tried to imitate the Tyrannosaurus rex on the playground. It wasn’t simply a hit movie. It had become a shared cultural experience.

But for Carel, the film’s significance went deeper. Its combination of artistry, spectacle and wonder helped plant the idea that making movies could be a career.

Today, with experience in video production, he can appreciate the technical achievement in a different way. He still marvels at how effectively the film combines computer-generated dinosaurs with full-scale animatronics, often making the transition between the two almost impossible to detect.

And then there’s John Williams’ score, which remains an essential part of the experience. The film’s music, imagery and emotional impact are inseparable in Carel’s memory.

It’s a reminder that sometimes the entertainment we discover as children does more than entertain us. It shows us what we might want to spend our lives creating.

The Stuff: Secret of Mana and the Magic of Super Nintendo

Carel’s choice for the Stuff shelf is Secret of Mana, the beloved Super Nintendo role-playing game that remains one of his favorite video games ever.

In 1993, video games were a major part of the excitement surrounding childhood. Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were competing for attention, and games offered entire worlds to explore from the comfort of home.

For Carel, Secret of Mana represents that sense of discovery. The game was a favorite at a time when he was absorbing everything around him, from music and movies to the emerging possibilities of interactive entertainment.

Its inclusion also makes sense alongside Jurassic Park. Carel wasn’t simply consuming whatever happened to be popular. He was drawn to experiences that made their worlds feel immersive, imaginative and worth revisiting.

That fascination with entertainment and its possibilities would continue into adulthood, alongside his enduring interests in alternative rock, dinosaurs and filmmaking.

The four items in his room may seem like separate memories, but they share a common thread: each offered a world that a nine-year-old could get lost in.

The Taste: Pizza Hut’s Bigfoot Pizza and a Childhood Tradition

Every great childhood memory needs a snack, and Carel’s choice is one that deserves its own reunion tour.

Pizza Hut’s Bigfoot pizza wasn’t just another dinner. It was a special-occasion meal, often reserved for birthday parties or nights when friends came over. Carel remembers it as an enormous pizza, roughly three square feet, packaged in a way that accommodated its unusual size.

More importantly, he remembers the taste.

The Bigfoot had a light sourdough crust that distinguished it from Pizza Hut’s other offerings. It wasn’t quite the same as the familiar pan pizza or thin crust. For Carel, it was something unique, and nothing that came before or after quite replaced it.

He recalls the disappointment of discovering that the Bigfoot was no longer available when his family tried to order one. The loss may not have been quite as devastating as Optimus Prime’s death in The Transformers: The Movie, but it clearly made an impression.

The conversation brings up other classic Pizza Hut memories, too: breadsticks, Mountain Dew and the arcade games that kept kids occupied while they waited for their food. Street Fighter II gets a particularly enthusiastic mention, along with the familiar temptation to feed a machine quarters until the pizza finally arrived.

It’s funny, specific and instantly recognizable to anyone who remembers when going out for pizza could be an event in itself.

And if Pizza Hut ever decides to bring the Bigfoot back, Carel is ready.

Why 1993 Still Matters

As the conversation winds down, the four pieces of Carel’s room come together into something larger than a collection of favorite things.

He describes 1993 as perhaps his favorite year of childhood, a time when so many of the interests that would follow him into adulthood first took hold. Music, movies, video games and the simple pleasures of spending time with friends all contributed to the person he would become.

At nine, he was on the cusp of double-digit ages, approaching the transition toward adolescence and a more complicated understanding of the world. Looking back, he sees 1993 as the last truly magical childhood year before that next stage began.

That’s what makes his choices so revealing. Siamese Dream wasn’t just an album he liked. It introduced him to a sound and an emotional openness that stayed with him. Jurassic Park wasn’t just a blockbuster. It helped him imagine a future in filmmaking. Secret of Mana captured the joy of disappearing into another world. And the Bigfoot pizza brings back the feeling of a special night with friends.

Together, they tell the story of a kid discovering what he loved, one experience at a time.

Now, as the host of Dopamine Sunrise and the designer behind The Room We Wanted‘s logo, Carel continues to channel that appreciation for pop culture and the memories attached to it.

The room he wanted in 1993 may be long gone, but the things that made it special are still there.

And that’s the point.