Because I Need to update this blog and I have nothing great to post, I'm gonna be giving you my defense of the Darkstalkers Animated Series from the 1990s.
Someone needs to stick up for this show..and I gotta do it. So anyway, We all know that the Darkstalkers Animated Series is universally hated by Almost every fan of Darkstalkers and American Animation.
But did you know there were good points to it. Points that many should enjoy. But first,like with my other defenses, I'm gonna list and talk about the Flaws of the show.
Flaw 1: While the Art isn't bad, The Animation has Errors. Each episode has at least 3-5 noticeable Animation errors. Some even have more. There are also minor Animation mistakes.
Flaw 2: The acting in some episodes was pretty weak. there were scenes where the Actors weren't even trying.
Flaw 3: While each Episode starts out good (or at least decent),they progressively get lame and/or stupid. The Final episode (Everyone's A Critic) was a see-saw. It starts out decent, then it becomes lame, then it becomes decent again , and finally it becomes stupid (though funny) at the end.
Flaw 4: The Main Heroes are Lame!!!! Felicia herself is the least lame of the heroes, but that's not saying much. Donovan and Hsien-ko ,however, are more boring then lame.
Flaw 5: Harry Grimore aka Oogtar the Cave Boy's relative. Oy. This dude was a wasted opportunity. Introducing a good wizard to the Darkstalkers to battle the Evil forces was an awesome idea....An awesome idea that was wasted on this little loser. In TV Tropes terms,Harry Grimore would be considered "A Scrappy". The Scrappy's are unneeded and,often times, unliked characters added to a series.
Flaw 6: The sloppily done fight scenes. 'Nuff Said.
Flaw 7: Some of the dialogue isn't all that great. In fact there are some instances where the dialogue is kinda lame.
I can't think of anymore. So...On With The Positives.
Good Thing 1: The Villains (at least the main 5). I swear those guys are the Only characters that make this show worth watching. They got decent chemistry and they are funny to boot. They may Suck as Super Villains, but they are the most entertaining characters on the show.
Good Thing 2: The Music. The Opening theme is epic (that's more than I can say for the show itself), the music that plays during the show is nice, and the End Credits theme is cool. Bottom line, the tunes are enjoyable.
Well that about wraps up my defense of the Darkstalker Animated Series. I hope you all enjoyed.
Stay Gold!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Disney Destiny League Character Ideas - Wall-E
Hi there. This one is going to be a short one. Trust me, I got a lot of things to do in the name of all that is animated, including fixing the Hub, which has since starting to fall apart ever since that Summer Block Party took over the Huboom block and most of our action cartoons have been pushed to the mornings. I will talk about this another time. Right now, the next character I will talk about in this Destiny League character blog is one from another universe and that universe is PIXAR. And that character is Wall-E.
Background: An little trash compactor type robot, whose acronym stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class. Wall-E was created by Buy n Large (BnL) to clear the Earth of garbage after so many years of pollution. But when BnL abandons the plan for a clear Earth, they shut down all the Wall-E, except for one who has become self-aware when he stowaway into one of the ships that was evacuating Earth. Since then, Wall-E had many adventures until he returns to Earth and restores it to its former glory, with the help of the female robot, EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator).
Appearance, Gear and Personality: Wall-E is a trash compactor type robot that was originally program to clean the Earth of its garbage. Let's just say he looks a bit like ROB the Robot from the old Nintendo Entertainment System, but a bit rusty, with its box-shaped body, little arms, tank-like treads in the body and its binoculars-shaped eyes. Wall-E has no weapons, but he is known for collecting junk, including a rubber ducky and a Rubix cube. Wall-E, despite being a robot, is self-aware and although he is kind most of the time, his curiosity often gets him into trouble.
Backstory: While combing through the ruins of the old BnL factory,Rayjin discovered a deactivated Wall-E. He took him back, fix him up and turned him back on. Curious about this new world, Wall-E became a little helper robot to both Rayjin and Tron when helping the team in their mission just like H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot did with the Fantastic Four.
That is all I could think about. Sorry, I never got a chance to watch the movie. Anyway, now if you'll excuse me. I got some Executive Meddling to fix on the Hub. Until next time.
(Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Block Clear theme plays)
*Fade out
Background: An little trash compactor type robot, whose acronym stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class. Wall-E was created by Buy n Large (BnL) to clear the Earth of garbage after so many years of pollution. But when BnL abandons the plan for a clear Earth, they shut down all the Wall-E, except for one who has become self-aware when he stowaway into one of the ships that was evacuating Earth. Since then, Wall-E had many adventures until he returns to Earth and restores it to its former glory, with the help of the female robot, EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator).
Appearance, Gear and Personality: Wall-E is a trash compactor type robot that was originally program to clean the Earth of its garbage. Let's just say he looks a bit like ROB the Robot from the old Nintendo Entertainment System, but a bit rusty, with its box-shaped body, little arms, tank-like treads in the body and its binoculars-shaped eyes. Wall-E has no weapons, but he is known for collecting junk, including a rubber ducky and a Rubix cube. Wall-E, despite being a robot, is self-aware and although he is kind most of the time, his curiosity often gets him into trouble.
Backstory: While combing through the ruins of the old BnL factory,Rayjin discovered a deactivated Wall-E. He took him back, fix him up and turned him back on. Curious about this new world, Wall-E became a little helper robot to both Rayjin and Tron when helping the team in their mission just like H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot did with the Fantastic Four.
That is all I could think about. Sorry, I never got a chance to watch the movie. Anyway, now if you'll excuse me. I got some Executive Meddling to fix on the Hub. Until next time.
(Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Block Clear theme plays)
*Fade out
Friday, July 12, 2013
Joe Ruby on the Mega Man Animated Series
Well,I'm back from that long Hiatus. Though to be honest,I initially planned to get back to work this past Monday. But some things came up. Anyway, I've got an Interesting Interview I found on the net.
Here is an interview done by a guy named Greg Sepelak. He asks Joe Ruby Questions on the Mega Man Cartoon.
So here we go.
*****
When did the cartoon series first begin early production?
JR: 1994
Capcom had said that the series was originally to follow the Japanese character designs from the games. But at the time, test audiences didn’t care for the look, so the character designer was tasked with coming up with several different looks for the main characters. Can you elaborate on this process, and what other styles were tested?
JR: As I recall, the only designs we saw were of the original MegaMan. We felt he was too young for our audience, so we made him a teenager and proportioned him as a well-built athlete type.
Had you started this project, say, a year later, do you think that Japanese animation’s growing stylistic acceptance would have changed the way the series was made?
JR: Not necessarily. The concept was not hard adventure, but a lighter action series with some comedy, done in a retro 1980’s style.
What reference material was used when developing the series? Were you given any of the Japanese comics to look at, or simply the US games and artwork?
JR: There were no comics, but written material about the game and its characters, both present and future. Also, we were given all the character artwork that appeared in the games, and copies of the U.S. games.
MegaMan’s trademark is his ability to use the weapons of his beaten opponents. One aspect of this ability is that he changes color when he uses one of his enemy’s weapons in the games. Was this dropped from the cartoon simply for the sake of the animators?
JR: Yes. Especially with so many characters colored red, black and yellow, it would get visually confusing in animation. What we did is have an animated effect as MM absorbed the enemy’s power into his “power arm."
What prompted the decision to make ProtoMan a villain? Even though he was painted as one in the MegaMan 5 game (which would have been the most recent game when the project was started), it was revealed to be a frame-job by Dr. Wily, the series’ perennial villain.
JR: I don’t recall exactly. But it had to come from Capcom to make him that way, either directly, or from the materials we were given.
You guys developed the most widely recognized canine cartoon star in the world, Scooby-Doo… I have to ask, how much of Scooby is in MegaMan’s robo-pooch Rush?
JR: Well, he didn’t eat Scooby Snacks. Actually, we tried to keep his character as different as possible. But a goofy dog that talks will always be likened to Scooby. Especially if we do it.
A semi-major character from the game series, Dr. Cossack, never appeared in the cartoon. Was this simply to keep the series from getting too complicated, cast-wise?
JR: That sounds right.
One of the things that really struck me about the cartoon was its portrayal of MegaMan’s sister, Roll. Her role prior had been little more than stay home, worry about MegaMan, and occasionally get kidnapped. The US Roll, however, jumps right into the action, and does her fair share of dismantling Wily’s robots armed with little more than souped-up versions of common tools. What brought on this change to a more gutsy Roll?
JR: It (excuse the non-intended pun) broadened the show, gave more interplay and gags, and hopefully would attract some girl audience. (Also, it showed were not male chauvinistic pigs as our wives think)
Scott McNeil, who voiced Wily, ProtoMan, and probably a few dozen other characters, had mentioned that originally, Wily was meant to have a British accent rather than the more stereotypical (yet far more fun) faux-German-Slavic accent. Also that ProtoMan was also to be voiced by MegaMan’s actor, Ian Corlett, to play up their “same plans" origins. Are there any other pre-production changes that you can recall in regards to the character portrayal?
JR: Wily’s voice characterization came out of a Japanese MM educational film in which they portrayed him speaking Japanese with a German accent. We had been asked to recast and re-record the film into English and that’s how some of the voices came to be, or followed that theme.
How much say-so did Bandai have in the development of the series? The second season seemed to heavily feature the Wily Robots who had been made into action figures, as well as repeated appearances of MegaMan’s new armors and vehicles, which were slated to be produced for the toy line as well (but never released, sadly).
JR: As I recall, they had an exec that would go over the scripts to insure that the toy villains were being used. The second season, we had meetings with the execs regarding the look, selection, and use of the new toys in the scripts.
Outside of that, what say did Capcom have in which Wily Robots showed up in any given episode?
JR: I believe they went along with the toy company.
The Mega Man cartoon apparently scored big ratings in syndication. Why was the series ended after this second season? Did it have anything to do with the Bandai-made toy line being cut short (a fate it shared with other licenses like The Tick, Sailor Moon, and -for a time- Dragon Ball)? Or was it ultimately Capcom’s decision?
JR: Probably all the above and more, which we were not privy to. Obviously, we were looking forward to continuing the series, which was fun to do, and, had great ratings.
Had the series continued, would we have seen characters from more recent games, or even the Mega Man games that were exclusive to the Nintendo Game Boy?
JR: We were planning on integrating the new Mega X character and game materials into the new shows.
THE RUMOR MILL
Here, there aren’t so much questions, but nuggets of info we had picked up and have always wanted official verification/debunking of. Any of these you can comment on would be VERY appreciated.
Some of the most persistent rumors concerning the cartoon series are about the third season that never happened. According to rumor, the season was cut after only one episode was finished ("Crime of the Century", in which Wily uses remote-controlled toys to pull off heists), but was planned as a full 13-episode run.
JR: Nothing was cut short. It was decided just to make the one additional episode. And that completed the package.
Another big rumor is that this third season would have introduced Bass, MegaMan’s new rival from the game series, who would replace ProtoMan as Wily’s Number Two in order to tie into the current game setup. And following that, Proto would become more the Racer-X to Mega’s Speed Racer, as is the setup in the games.
JR: Guess it was just a rumor. That thinking never reached us if that was true.
Of course, there’s the second-season episode “Mega X", which featured the debut of Capcom’s related Mega Man X series to animation. Again, the rumor mill has it that Mega Man X was to get his own spin-off cartoon (and accompanying toy line), but that too never came to be.
JR: Yes, that was true, as far as I can recall.
Thank you for your time, and thank you for giving us the cartoon!
- Greg Sepelak
Hey! You’re very welcome.
- Joe Ruby
*****
Well that was interesting. Looks like I have some Corrections to do.
Stay Gold
Here is an interview done by a guy named Greg Sepelak. He asks Joe Ruby Questions on the Mega Man Cartoon.
So here we go.
*****
When did the cartoon series first begin early production?
JR: 1994
Capcom had said that the series was originally to follow the Japanese character designs from the games. But at the time, test audiences didn’t care for the look, so the character designer was tasked with coming up with several different looks for the main characters. Can you elaborate on this process, and what other styles were tested?
JR: As I recall, the only designs we saw were of the original MegaMan. We felt he was too young for our audience, so we made him a teenager and proportioned him as a well-built athlete type.
Had you started this project, say, a year later, do you think that Japanese animation’s growing stylistic acceptance would have changed the way the series was made?
JR: Not necessarily. The concept was not hard adventure, but a lighter action series with some comedy, done in a retro 1980’s style.
What reference material was used when developing the series? Were you given any of the Japanese comics to look at, or simply the US games and artwork?
JR: There were no comics, but written material about the game and its characters, both present and future. Also, we were given all the character artwork that appeared in the games, and copies of the U.S. games.
MegaMan’s trademark is his ability to use the weapons of his beaten opponents. One aspect of this ability is that he changes color when he uses one of his enemy’s weapons in the games. Was this dropped from the cartoon simply for the sake of the animators?
JR: Yes. Especially with so many characters colored red, black and yellow, it would get visually confusing in animation. What we did is have an animated effect as MM absorbed the enemy’s power into his “power arm."
What prompted the decision to make ProtoMan a villain? Even though he was painted as one in the MegaMan 5 game (which would have been the most recent game when the project was started), it was revealed to be a frame-job by Dr. Wily, the series’ perennial villain.
JR: I don’t recall exactly. But it had to come from Capcom to make him that way, either directly, or from the materials we were given.
You guys developed the most widely recognized canine cartoon star in the world, Scooby-Doo… I have to ask, how much of Scooby is in MegaMan’s robo-pooch Rush?
JR: Well, he didn’t eat Scooby Snacks. Actually, we tried to keep his character as different as possible. But a goofy dog that talks will always be likened to Scooby. Especially if we do it.
A semi-major character from the game series, Dr. Cossack, never appeared in the cartoon. Was this simply to keep the series from getting too complicated, cast-wise?
JR: That sounds right.
One of the things that really struck me about the cartoon was its portrayal of MegaMan’s sister, Roll. Her role prior had been little more than stay home, worry about MegaMan, and occasionally get kidnapped. The US Roll, however, jumps right into the action, and does her fair share of dismantling Wily’s robots armed with little more than souped-up versions of common tools. What brought on this change to a more gutsy Roll?
JR: It (excuse the non-intended pun) broadened the show, gave more interplay and gags, and hopefully would attract some girl audience. (Also, it showed were not male chauvinistic pigs as our wives think)
Scott McNeil, who voiced Wily, ProtoMan, and probably a few dozen other characters, had mentioned that originally, Wily was meant to have a British accent rather than the more stereotypical (yet far more fun) faux-German-Slavic accent. Also that ProtoMan was also to be voiced by MegaMan’s actor, Ian Corlett, to play up their “same plans" origins. Are there any other pre-production changes that you can recall in regards to the character portrayal?
JR: Wily’s voice characterization came out of a Japanese MM educational film in which they portrayed him speaking Japanese with a German accent. We had been asked to recast and re-record the film into English and that’s how some of the voices came to be, or followed that theme.
How much say-so did Bandai have in the development of the series? The second season seemed to heavily feature the Wily Robots who had been made into action figures, as well as repeated appearances of MegaMan’s new armors and vehicles, which were slated to be produced for the toy line as well (but never released, sadly).
JR: As I recall, they had an exec that would go over the scripts to insure that the toy villains were being used. The second season, we had meetings with the execs regarding the look, selection, and use of the new toys in the scripts.
Outside of that, what say did Capcom have in which Wily Robots showed up in any given episode?
JR: I believe they went along with the toy company.
The Mega Man cartoon apparently scored big ratings in syndication. Why was the series ended after this second season? Did it have anything to do with the Bandai-made toy line being cut short (a fate it shared with other licenses like The Tick, Sailor Moon, and -for a time- Dragon Ball)? Or was it ultimately Capcom’s decision?
JR: Probably all the above and more, which we were not privy to. Obviously, we were looking forward to continuing the series, which was fun to do, and, had great ratings.
Had the series continued, would we have seen characters from more recent games, or even the Mega Man games that were exclusive to the Nintendo Game Boy?
JR: We were planning on integrating the new Mega X character and game materials into the new shows.
THE RUMOR MILL
Here, there aren’t so much questions, but nuggets of info we had picked up and have always wanted official verification/debunking of. Any of these you can comment on would be VERY appreciated.
Some of the most persistent rumors concerning the cartoon series are about the third season that never happened. According to rumor, the season was cut after only one episode was finished ("Crime of the Century", in which Wily uses remote-controlled toys to pull off heists), but was planned as a full 13-episode run.
JR: Nothing was cut short. It was decided just to make the one additional episode. And that completed the package.
Another big rumor is that this third season would have introduced Bass, MegaMan’s new rival from the game series, who would replace ProtoMan as Wily’s Number Two in order to tie into the current game setup. And following that, Proto would become more the Racer-X to Mega’s Speed Racer, as is the setup in the games.
JR: Guess it was just a rumor. That thinking never reached us if that was true.
Of course, there’s the second-season episode “Mega X", which featured the debut of Capcom’s related Mega Man X series to animation. Again, the rumor mill has it that Mega Man X was to get his own spin-off cartoon (and accompanying toy line), but that too never came to be.
JR: Yes, that was true, as far as I can recall.
Thank you for your time, and thank you for giving us the cartoon!
- Greg Sepelak
Hey! You’re very welcome.
- Joe Ruby
*****
Well that was interesting. Looks like I have some Corrections to do.
Stay Gold
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