Mina: We are now gonna cover the Cartoon that capitalized on Pac-Man Fever. It's Pac-Man:the Animated Series.
Pac-Man,aka Pac-Man: The Animated Series,was produced by Hanna-Barbera based on the video game,Pac-Man by Namco,which premiered on ABC and ran from 1982 to 1984. During the first airing of the show, the large number of advertisers sponsoring it caused commercial breaks to double their normal length.
Later episodes featured normal commercial break times. The arcade game Pac-Land was based entirely on the cartoon, and Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures drew significant influence from it as well.
Also, the Tengen release of the original Pac-Man arcade game for the Nintendo Entertainment System features box art based on the cartoon. This series along with The Smurfs and other Hanna-Barbera adaptations of properties were completely different from the studio's trademark signature cartoons.
The show's initial success inspired ABC's rival CBS to create Saturday Supercade, which featured other video game characters from the Golden age of video arcade games. This marked a first in H-B's twenty-five year history that the studio produced an animated series based on a video game.
The show follows the adventures of the title character, Pac-Man, his wife Pepper (who is supposed to be Ms. Pac-Man), their child Pac-Baby, their dog Chomp-Chomp and their cat Sour Puss. The family lives in Pac-Land, a place in which the geography and architecture seem to revolve around spheres and sphere-like shapes.
Most episodes of the show center around the ongoing battle between the Pac family and their only known enemies,the Ghost Monsters: Blinky,Pinky,Inky,Clyde,and Sue (a fifth, female ghost).
They work for Mezmaron,(a mysterious figure who resembles Darth Vader and acts similarly to Gargamel),whose sole mission is to locate and control the "Power Pellets", which serve as the primary food and power source for the city.It's also the deus ex machina in virtually every episode.
For whatever reason, nearly everything in Pac-Land takes the shape of a sphere (or is round, at the very least). Everything from natural backgrounds to houses to cars to animals and even the people assume the form of a ball.
Another recurring theme is the common use of "Pac-" as a prefix for verbs and famous or common existing nouns. For example: Pac-Hollywood,a town famous for its film studios.
This is reminiscent of The Smurfs,an animated show which replaced or altered several existing words with "Smurf". In fact,the series was referred to as "Pac-Smurfs" around the Hanna-Barbera studio. Pac-man himself is often referred to the nickname "Packy" by Pepper.
In a typical episode, the ghost-monsters are eaten in the beginning, and their eyes fly back to Mezmaron's lava-lair closet to get new ghost suits and plot something evil. Power Pellets seem to be the focal point of nearly every episode, as Mezmaron and the Ghost-Monsters are intent upon finding them.
In actuality Power Pellets are plentiful and easy to find around Pac-Land. Mezmaron and the Ghost-Monsters' ultimate goal is to control all the power pellets by taking over the Power Pellet Forest where power pellets are grown on trees.
Although their primary purpose appears to be enabling the Pac-people to "chomp" Ghost-Monsters,Power Pellets also seem to be part of their diet (in addition to the city's source of power). Pac-Baby is fed power pellet milk for example.
It's interesting to note that when Pac-Man eats a power pellet,instead of turning blue (like in the games),the "Ghost-Monsters" (known simply as "Monsters" in the game) turn "purple with panic" after which they make an obvious note of their situation.
Mina: My Turn. Other changes from the video games include: Super Pac-Man being a separate character who lives in a parallel dimension,Clyde being the 'head' ghost-monster,instead of Blinky,The names of the orange and red ghosts (Blinky and Clyde) are swapped,and Ms. Pac-Man being called "Pepper".
Mina: Also When the ghosts catch up to Pac-Man in the early episodes, they trap him and "chomp his bones", leaving him a disheveled version of himself. It was a very shocking visual for the predominantly young audience, and in future episodes, Pac-Man just appeared beat up or in a weakened state rather than internally gobbled.
Mina: Sue (the only female ghost-monster) is now just a separate character and the fifth ghost monster. In Ms. Pac-Man, Sue replaced Clyde in an attempt to give Ms. Pac-Man a rival of her own. When she was around, Pepper was usually the one who chomped the Sue. Even though in the cartoon Sue is purple, in the arcade game she is orange, the same color Clyde is in the Pac-Man game. However in Pac-Mania, Sue appeared in her original purple color as a fifth ghost, joining the original four, and three additional ghosts.
Mina: The ghosts all wear hats or,in Sue's case,earrings. This was done so that the animators/painters could tell the ghosts apart. Pinky and Inky had abilities the other ghost monsters did not. Pinky was able to alter his shape. For instance he changed into an inflatable rubber raft to travel on a body of water. Inky was able to produce many supplies and items from his clothing. Inky is even able to retrieve items larger than himself.
Mina: An example of this is when he took a very long ladder out of his clothing to climb a wall to escape from Pac-Man. This ability is similar to Hammerspace. Each of the ghosts have a distinct personality. Aside from Clyde and Sue's mentioned personalities, Inky is the stupid one, Blinky is the cowardly one and Pinky is the tough one.
Mina: The ghost monsters have a child cousin named "Dinky". Dinky and Pac-Baby would get along, not like the adults. Dinky appeared in two episodes.
In the second season, besides Super-Pac, Pac-Man's teenage cousin, P.J.,appears semi-regularly on the show. The two characters never appeared together in any of the episodes.
Mina: This show had both a X-Mas Special and a Halloween One.
Cartoony and Corny as this show was,It contributed to Pac-Man Fever. Anyway,our next show is Another Namco Video Game,Pole Position.
Mina: Pole Position was produced by DIC Entertainment. The show sought to capitalize on the popularity of the video game. However, there is very little in common between the game and the show. Pole Position ran for 13 episodes on CBS in 1984 as part of their Saturday morning line-up.
The show featured three young sibling crime fighters, two of whom were stunt drivers and part of a secret government operation under the guise of the "Pole Position Stunt Show" that was run by their uncle.
The youths inherited the role after their parents died in an unfortunate car accident. The team is equipped with two high-tech talking vehicles(similar to Night Rider's KIT) named "Roadie" and "Wheels."
Mina: 2 Stereotypical Car names.
The vehicles featured numerous hidden gadgets like water skis and hover jets. The vehicles' computers themselves are portable and can be removed from the dashboards and carried around using handles (thus they are often referred to as "the modules"). They have often appeared as computer-drawn faces displayed on video screens.
Mina: Y'know,in a way,This Cartoon is kind of a rip-off of both Speed Racer and Night Rider.
Dragon's Lair was a short-lived series by Ruby-Spears Productions based on the 1983 video game of the same name. Thirteen half-hour episodes were produced from 1984-1985,airing on ABC's Saturday Morning Block.
The Saturday Morning block ceased the shows run when it was cancelled in 1985. Between the late '80s and the early '90s, the show's first and only rerun was on the USA Cartoon Express.
The series chronicles the adventures of Dirk the Daring, who is best knight in King Ethelred's kingdom. Dirk performs all sorts of great deeds while protecting the kingdom and his love, Princess Daphne.
The show was great and boasted an unusual feature: to keep the show in the spirit of the game, before each commercial break the storyteller would ask what the viewer would do to solve the problem facing Dirk the Daring.
After the commercial break, the outcomes of the various choices were shown before Dirk acts on the correct idea (with the occasional exception) to save the day.
Mina: Not much info from Pole Position or Dragon's Lair,huh? Let's just hope and pray that the next batch of shows are a bit more informative.
For the most part they will be. Next up. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Cartoon Historian Lesson 21-A: From Games to Toons Pt.1
Welcome to another Cartoon Historian. I'm your instructor,Stefan and this is my assistant,Mina. Because you voted for it,This episode is gonna be all about Video Game-based Cartoons
Mina: In this special multi-part episode we're gonna be talking about the many different cartoons that were based on Video Games. It's From Games to Toons on The Cartoon Historian.
[Cartoon Historian Theme Plays]
Thanks again for joining us,everyone. Today we'll be covering the various Video Games that got their own Cartoon adaptions.
Mina: And since we're gonna be covering these in Chronological order,we're gonna start with Saturday Supercade.
Saturday Supercade was a series produced for Saturday mornings by Ruby-Spears Productions.
Mina: Yup,you read right. It seems that Mega Man wasn't the Only Game-based Cartoon that Ruby-Spears created.
Can I continue?
Mina: Hey,I was just pionting out a fact.
Anyway,The series ran for two seasons on CBS beginning in 1983. Each episode was composed of several shorter segments featuring video game characters from the Golden age of video arcade games.
Saturday Supercade is presumably under the ownership of Warner Bros. Entertainment (through Turner Entertainment Co., who acquired the Ruby-Spears library in 1991).
However, in the 1980s, MCA TV,a company owned by Universal,held the international distribution rights to the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior segments. This was part of the settlement with Nintendo over the King Kong plagiarism issue. It's unknown if those rights have reverted to WB/Turner or are now owned by MCA's successor, NBC Universal.
A Minisode version of the Q*bert episode "Thanksgiving for the Memories" has appeared on the Minisode Network, suggesting that the Q*bert segments might be owned by Sony Pictures Television.
Presumably due to this divided ownership and/or licensing issues with the various companies that licensed their games for the show, Saturday Supercade has never been officially released on VHS, DVD,or Blu-Ray.
Mina: The shows featured characters include: Frogger (from Frogger),Donkey Kong (from Donkey Kong),Donkey Kong Jr. (from Donkey Kong Jr. aka Donkey Kong 2),Q*bert(from Q*Bert),and Pitfall Harry (from Pitfall).
Mina: Each character got their own segments. While the other three segments always aired weekly,Pitfall and Q-Bert rotated.
Mina: During the second season, Q-Bert (now weekly) and Donkey Kong remained while the Frogger, Donkey Kong Jr. and Pitfall Harry segments were replaced by Space Ace and Kangaroo,a non-video game show.
On an interesting note,Pac-Man was not a part of Saturday Supercade. Hanna-Barbera already had a separate cartoon devoted to Pac-Man entitled Pac-Man: The Animated Series on CBS's rival network,ABC.
Now,lets look at the various segments that were part of this show. Let's start with Frogger.
Frogger is an ace reporter of the swamp who works at the Swamp Gazette. He and his friends Shellshock Turtle and Fanny Frog go out in search of crazy stories (sometimes about human behavior) to publish in the swamp's newspapers. Frogger also has to deal with his gruff J.Jonah Jameson-esque boss Tex Toadwalker. As in the game, he often gets flattened or has an encounter with an alligator.
Mina: Lame!
Well what do you expect,you can't make a cool Cartoon out of Frogger's Story. especially since the game Had no story to begin with.
Mina: Good point.
Moving on to Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong has escaped from the circus and is on the run. Mario and Pauline chase the ape,in hopes of bringing him back to the Circus. As with the original game,Donkey Kong will often grab Pauline and Mario has to save her.
It must be noted that Pauline's portrayal as Mario's niece is an original Ruby-Spears concept (don't ask me why they did this).In the games,however,Pauline is Mario's girlfriend.
Mina: The Story is also different from the games. In the games Donkey Kong was Mario's Pet Gorrilla that felt neglected by his owner. So DK busts out of his cage and captures Pauline. It's also worth noting that Mario was voiced my the Legendary,Peter Cullen. Yup,Optimus Prime Voiced Mario..Cool huh? Anyway,Q*Bert is next.
In a 1950s inspired world set in the town of Q*Berg,a teenage fur-covered creature named Q*Bert,his girlfriend Q*Tee,and his friends Q*Ball,Q*Val,and Q*Mongus must deal with the resident bullies Coily, Ugg, Wrong Way (all three voiced by Frank Welker,btw),and Viper.
This segment features both "block-hopping" scenes, "swearing" bubbles and occasional flying disc,all from the original game. New to the cartoon was Q*Bert's use of "slippy-doos", a black ball projectile which he loaded and fired through his nose, producing an oil slick wherever the balls splattered. Slick and Sam are also featured.
Mina: Again,the story is lame because the Q*Bert game Had no story to begin with. Same goes for the rest of the segments. Next up,Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong Jr. (voiced by Frank Welker,another legendary VA) is sad to find that his father is running from the circus and Mario,and that he may never see him again.
Jr. befriends a greaser nicknamed "Bones" who has a motorcycle and offers to help Junior by finding his dad together. Donkey Kong Jr's usual saying is "Monkey muscle!",which he tells to himself and Bones to inspire self-confidence. Bones often serves as the voice of reason when Donkey Kong Jr. bites off more than he can chew.
Mina: In Pitfall! Pitfall Harry,his niece Rhonda,and their cowardly pet Quick Claw the Mountain Lion explore jungles for hidden treasures,having many different adventures along the way.
Mina: And Finally we have Space Ace. Space Ace/Dexter and his sister Kimberly work for Space Marshall Vaugh to keep the peace in the universe. They fight the evil alien commander Borf and keep him from invading Earth.
Mina: Again, as with Donkey Kong, Ruby Spears took artistic license with the relationship with Kimberly and Dexter. In the Don Bluth film and in the game,Kimberly is Ace's girlfriend.
Mina: Also, in the video game, Dexter had certain chances to revert to Ace, his full-grown self, whereas in the cartoon the Ace/Dexter phases seemed to happen on their own and at often inconvenient times for the hero.
Ruby-Spears planned a 3rd season for the Saturday Supercade. However,the CBS executives decided to can the series,so that they could make room for their newer Saturday Morning shows. Because of this,the 3rd season of Saturday Supercade never made it past the planning stages.
Had the Saturday Supercade continued,we would've seen 3 new cartoon segments: Space Invaders,Mario Bros.and Centipede [i think it was supposed to be centepede..it could've been Joust,though? or maybe it was adventure?].
Anyway,that's it for Saturday Supercade. Next up,the Cartoon that capitalized on Pac-Man fever. It's Pac-Man:the Animated Series.
Mina: In this special multi-part episode we're gonna be talking about the many different cartoons that were based on Video Games. It's From Games to Toons on The Cartoon Historian.
[Cartoon Historian Theme Plays]
Thanks again for joining us,everyone. Today we'll be covering the various Video Games that got their own Cartoon adaptions.
Mina: And since we're gonna be covering these in Chronological order,we're gonna start with Saturday Supercade.
Saturday Supercade was a series produced for Saturday mornings by Ruby-Spears Productions.
Mina: Yup,you read right. It seems that Mega Man wasn't the Only Game-based Cartoon that Ruby-Spears created.
Can I continue?
Mina: Hey,I was just pionting out a fact.
Anyway,The series ran for two seasons on CBS beginning in 1983. Each episode was composed of several shorter segments featuring video game characters from the Golden age of video arcade games.
Saturday Supercade is presumably under the ownership of Warner Bros. Entertainment (through Turner Entertainment Co., who acquired the Ruby-Spears library in 1991).
However, in the 1980s, MCA TV,a company owned by Universal,held the international distribution rights to the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior segments. This was part of the settlement with Nintendo over the King Kong plagiarism issue. It's unknown if those rights have reverted to WB/Turner or are now owned by MCA's successor, NBC Universal.
A Minisode version of the Q*bert episode "Thanksgiving for the Memories" has appeared on the Minisode Network, suggesting that the Q*bert segments might be owned by Sony Pictures Television.
Presumably due to this divided ownership and/or licensing issues with the various companies that licensed their games for the show, Saturday Supercade has never been officially released on VHS, DVD,or Blu-Ray.
Mina: The shows featured characters include: Frogger (from Frogger),Donkey Kong (from Donkey Kong),Donkey Kong Jr. (from Donkey Kong Jr. aka Donkey Kong 2),Q*bert(from Q*Bert),and Pitfall Harry (from Pitfall).
Mina: Each character got their own segments. While the other three segments always aired weekly,Pitfall and Q-Bert rotated.
Mina: During the second season, Q-Bert (now weekly) and Donkey Kong remained while the Frogger, Donkey Kong Jr. and Pitfall Harry segments were replaced by Space Ace and Kangaroo,a non-video game show.
On an interesting note,Pac-Man was not a part of Saturday Supercade. Hanna-Barbera already had a separate cartoon devoted to Pac-Man entitled Pac-Man: The Animated Series on CBS's rival network,ABC.
Now,lets look at the various segments that were part of this show. Let's start with Frogger.
Frogger is an ace reporter of the swamp who works at the Swamp Gazette. He and his friends Shellshock Turtle and Fanny Frog go out in search of crazy stories (sometimes about human behavior) to publish in the swamp's newspapers. Frogger also has to deal with his gruff J.Jonah Jameson-esque boss Tex Toadwalker. As in the game, he often gets flattened or has an encounter with an alligator.
Mina: Lame!
Well what do you expect,you can't make a cool Cartoon out of Frogger's Story. especially since the game Had no story to begin with.
Mina: Good point.
Moving on to Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong has escaped from the circus and is on the run. Mario and Pauline chase the ape,in hopes of bringing him back to the Circus. As with the original game,Donkey Kong will often grab Pauline and Mario has to save her.
It must be noted that Pauline's portrayal as Mario's niece is an original Ruby-Spears concept (don't ask me why they did this).In the games,however,Pauline is Mario's girlfriend.
Mina: The Story is also different from the games. In the games Donkey Kong was Mario's Pet Gorrilla that felt neglected by his owner. So DK busts out of his cage and captures Pauline. It's also worth noting that Mario was voiced my the Legendary,Peter Cullen. Yup,Optimus Prime Voiced Mario..Cool huh? Anyway,Q*Bert is next.
In a 1950s inspired world set in the town of Q*Berg,a teenage fur-covered creature named Q*Bert,his girlfriend Q*Tee,and his friends Q*Ball,Q*Val,and Q*Mongus must deal with the resident bullies Coily, Ugg, Wrong Way (all three voiced by Frank Welker,btw),and Viper.
This segment features both "block-hopping" scenes, "swearing" bubbles and occasional flying disc,all from the original game. New to the cartoon was Q*Bert's use of "slippy-doos", a black ball projectile which he loaded and fired through his nose, producing an oil slick wherever the balls splattered. Slick and Sam are also featured.
Mina: Again,the story is lame because the Q*Bert game Had no story to begin with. Same goes for the rest of the segments. Next up,Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong Jr. (voiced by Frank Welker,another legendary VA) is sad to find that his father is running from the circus and Mario,and that he may never see him again.
Jr. befriends a greaser nicknamed "Bones" who has a motorcycle and offers to help Junior by finding his dad together. Donkey Kong Jr's usual saying is "Monkey muscle!",which he tells to himself and Bones to inspire self-confidence. Bones often serves as the voice of reason when Donkey Kong Jr. bites off more than he can chew.
Mina: In Pitfall! Pitfall Harry,his niece Rhonda,and their cowardly pet Quick Claw the Mountain Lion explore jungles for hidden treasures,having many different adventures along the way.
Mina: And Finally we have Space Ace. Space Ace/Dexter and his sister Kimberly work for Space Marshall Vaugh to keep the peace in the universe. They fight the evil alien commander Borf and keep him from invading Earth.
Mina: Again, as with Donkey Kong, Ruby Spears took artistic license with the relationship with Kimberly and Dexter. In the Don Bluth film and in the game,Kimberly is Ace's girlfriend.
Mina: Also, in the video game, Dexter had certain chances to revert to Ace, his full-grown self, whereas in the cartoon the Ace/Dexter phases seemed to happen on their own and at often inconvenient times for the hero.
Ruby-Spears planned a 3rd season for the Saturday Supercade. However,the CBS executives decided to can the series,so that they could make room for their newer Saturday Morning shows. Because of this,the 3rd season of Saturday Supercade never made it past the planning stages.
Had the Saturday Supercade continued,we would've seen 3 new cartoon segments: Space Invaders,Mario Bros.and Centipede [i think it was supposed to be centepede..it could've been Joust,though? or maybe it was adventure?].
Anyway,that's it for Saturday Supercade. Next up,the Cartoon that capitalized on Pac-Man fever. It's Pac-Man:the Animated Series.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The Cartoon Historian Presents: In Defense of the Mega Man Cartoon.
This Is A Cartoon Historian Special Presentation!
Mina: Hey everyone,Mina here. To get us ready for the Big 'Games to Toons' Cartoon Historian episode,Stefan is gonna be giving his defense of the Mega Man Cartoon. In the same manner that he did with the Street Fighter Cartoon. Think of this as a Pre-Game show. Anyway,here's Stefan.
Thank you Mina. What you are about to read is a Defense of the Ruby-Spears Mega Man Cartoon.
In the 90's a Mega Man Cartoon series was created to complement the popularity of the hit Video Game series. However,a lot of fans,including Keiji Inafune himself,were disappointed about what they got.
The Show,despite what others say,isn't that bad. The Show has it's flaws yes,but what Game,Comic,or TV show doesn't?
First I'm gonna talk about the Series Flaws,just to get them out of the way. As well as the other reasons why Mega Man Fans tend to dislike this show. On with the flaws.
The first major flaw is,of course,that Mega Man and Protoman have muscles. The next major flaw is the one that annoyed Everyone,including Keiji Inafune. Protoman was a Bad Guy. I'll talk more about that later.
Another major flaw was the format of the show. Instead of being a cool action show,RS-Mega Man was a typical Saturday Morning one. Complete with corny dialogue,Stupid Animal Antics,inconsistancies,and over the top[and sometimes lame]plot devices.
The Next major flaw would be the artwork quality of Season 2. 5 of the episodes had fairly simplistic artwork. Especially the Curse of the Lionmen episode.
Anyway,the Final major flaw was the fact that Mega Man was called "Mega" all of the time. His name is Rock,not Mega. I was also annoyed by this.
Another reason why the MM fans hate this series is because when they watch it they compare it to the games. This is a problem that provents them from enjoying the series.
Now that all of the Major negatives have been covered...It's time for the Defense.
The first thing to defend is the Artwork.Season 1 had some good awrwork. I like it. However,in some episodes of Season 2,the artwork was simplistic. Plus,muscles and pretty Roll aside,all the characters looked similar to their Game Counterparts. So you can easily tell who they are,Unlike teir Captain N counterparts.
Next Up,I'm gonna defend is the Music. It's well writen and It went with the scenes well. Speaking of the Scenes,while the Storylines were medeocre at best,the Action was pretty damn good. You gotta admit,they were fun to watch.
Another thing I'm gonna defend is the Characters personalities. Considering that their Game Counterparts had little to no personalities to begin with,I'd say the personalities of the characters turned out decent. Except for Protoman's of course.
Also remember this Cartoon was being created in 1992. During this time period,The American versions of the games potrayed Mega Man and Co as Personalitiless. While,in The Japanese games the characters had very little personalities. These said personalities wouldn't begin to develop until Rockman 7.
Also Protoman,for the most part,in the NES games didn't do much. He was either Mega Man's opponent or a Rescuer,nothing else. There's also a chance that the Director and Writers never made it to the final stage of Protoman's fortress in Mega Man 5. This might also explain why RS-Darkman is designed after the 2nd Dark Sentinel and not the The 4th Dark Sentinel aka the Real Darkman.
I don't think they've played completely through Mega Man 3 or 4 either. That has to be the case,because if they Did,Protoman would be a Good Guy instead of a Bad Guy. Protoman is a villain because the writers saw him as one in the games.
They couldn't use Bass,because he wasn't created yet and during the creation of Season 2,which was in 1994,he was in the Planning stages.
The next thing I'm gonna stick up for is the Art Style. Like I stated in my 'Street Fighter Cartoon' defense,Anime wasn't that popular in the U.S. at the time. However,Anime would eventually gain a fan base in 1997,years After the series cancelation.
Not only that,but 8-12 year-olds,the main target demographic,were used to an American look and feel to their cartoons. BTW,did you know that most of the Art and Animation were done overseas in Japan. So believe it or not,the show is part Anime.
And So what if the Cartoon's not Canon. Hell,neither are the Anime OVA or The Mangas. Now if fans would just look past the mentioned flaws,they might come to respect,perhaps even like,this Cartoon series.
You also have to remember that compared to the Cartoons of today,the Mega Man cartoon is kinda cool. And thus concludes the Defense of the Mega Man Cartoon. I hope you all enjoyed this.
Unfortunately,like the Street Fighter fans,some Mega Man fans are just a bunch of purist pricks,closed minded people who hate the show mostly because it's not Japanese and Unlike the games. It's also a shame that Keiji Inafune didn't like this show either. In fact,Keiji Inafune was mostly responsible for the shows cancelation. I'll talk more about that when I'm covering the Mega Man cartoon show.
Luckily,I'm not the Only one who sticks up for this show. Here's my friend and fellow RS-Mega Man defender,General-Radix.
*scene swiches to General-Radix*
General-Radix: Thanks,Cartoon Historian. The following only concerns those "it's not canon!" fantards. The really obvious question is, "Why can't you guys just accept that, as a third-party production, it's not going to perfectly sync up to the canon set in place by CAPCOM?"
General-Radix: The way I see it, they can't accept this because they HAVE to find a way to wedge it into canon; seeing that they can't they declare it crap and bash it relentlessly. Why does it have to fit into canon? Does the fate of Mars hang in the balance? Is this bashing borne from some pathological need to organize?
General-Radix: The most common complaint is, of course, "They changed too many things". This does hold ground--but not much. The basic premise of the Megaman series, at least up to 1994, is "A jailbait blue robot blows up eight robots built by Dr. Wily". Nothing about the general location of these battles (A forest? Hell, that could be Wisconsin). Besides, you can't blame the artists for taking liberties with the designs--you bring me a person with official Rockman (not Mega) artwork back in the early 90s, and I'll show you a perfectly honest and selfless politcian.
General-Radix: The simple fact is, the NES Megaman games prior to 5 didn't have a great deal of story. What was in the manual didn't tell you jack about what actually happens in-game (even MM4 failed to mention Cossack in its intro, if I remember correctly). Shigeto Ikehara's mangizations of the series stray from that premise simply by adding dialogue, to say nothing of Karate-003.
General-Radix: So if Ikehara's manga is generally well-liked despite deviances from the games, why all the cries of "IT AIN'T CANON" directed towards the cartoon? To be honest...I don't know. Hitoshi Ariga's Megamix series is VERY well-received by the entire community, and its stories can only barely fit into game canon. (Granted, his artwork and storytelling are both excellent) Why don't I ever see any "IT'S NOT CANON" complaints flung HIS way? Is it because RS-MM is easier to pick on?
General-Radix: It could be because the adaptation decay is SO strong in RS-MM (though when you think about it, given the US boxarts and minimal plots, there's not THAT much decay--it even addressed the issue of how Megaman could get weapons from a robot he JUST BLEW UP) that purists look at it and say, "That sucketh." But really--isn't comparing differences between products part of the fun of being a fan of something with as much "extras" as Megaman?
General-Radix: RS-MM, at least to me, has some many differences while still retaining the "feel" of Megaman, that it becomes its own canon. That, and it's a fun cartoon, MM or no. So what if Megaman has a ridiculously well-sculpted torso (or at least armour giving him that appearance), Protoman is evil, sarcastic, and vaguely flamboyant, and Roll can *gasp* FIGHT? It's enjoyable, and really shouldn't be treated as "game canon".
General-Radix: Something occurred to me last night. SegaSonic's spinoffs AoStH, SatAM, Archie, and SU all get to be their own canons. Why doesn't RS-MM get that same status, despite being different enough from the source material to be so?
General-Radix: I have found another irrefutable argument to support Ruby-Spears Megaman. It involves another series, Double Dragon. Both Megaman and Double Dragon got cartoons, both frought with adaptation decay. So far, so good.
General-Radix: Let's look at the games being made for each series when the cartoons were still up and running. Megaman saw MM5, MM6, and MMX; Double Dragon saw Battletoads and Double Dragon and Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls. Notice something funny about Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls?
General-Radix: It's based on the cartoon. It's part of the main series, and it's based on the cartoon that is far from perfectly in line with the games. How many entries in the main series did RS-MM get? ZERO.
General-Radix: Take that, haters; RS-Megaman may not have fit the game canon like a glove, but at least it didn't muck up said game canon. (That said, I'm sure the DD cartoon is still enjoyable, ironically or no, and DDV wasn't made by the original company--but it's part of the main DD series, despite clearly being in a canon of its own)
General-Radix: RS-MM also has a page on TV Tropes, which I have contributed to. They mention a ways down that RS-MM was to look like the games, and get a good laugh out of their not sticking with it because of the later anime boom. I'd just like to point something out:
General-Radix: If they ignored the test audiences and went with the game style, the show would probably have been ignored and swiftly canned. I think all the fanbrats who whine about RS-MM not being anime should take that into consideration. I get the impression that they don't realize that anime used to be a niche market in the US.
General-Radix: On another note, I have yet to see a Sue written for RS-Mega. Guess the fangirls prefer jailbait. The worst one has to be shoehorning Bass into the storyline (with optional Treble). I normally wouldn't care--after all, continuity immigrations can be fun--but every goddamned time, not only is he exactly like his game counterpart, but he's little more than a plot device used to facilitate Protoman leaving Wily.
General-Radix: This is especially sad for several reasons: rarely is anything interesting done with Mr. Not A Fish (or maybe that's just because the fics I've seen doing this didn't have any further chapters/entries); he's usually just a worse version of Protoman, meaning of "worse" varying; and it's the "fans"/authors trying to force RS-MM to be a different-looking Capcom MM. The nice thing about MM is that it doesn't suffer from what I call "DBZ Adaptation Syndrome", wherein every third-party production of a given series simply reiterates said series' story. Even I could tolerate only so many dry retellings of the various Sagas.
General-Radix: I do have an RS-Bass; however, he's a non-combatant hacker whose voice rarely rises above "monotone". And it was almost solely to combat the above cliche. Also,Protoman defecting from Wily when done in a way that just stinks of "Stupid Ruby-Spears is stupid and didn't beat MM5 even though Darkman is present and named in the show! LOL". I think the italics says it all, really. (Again, I've used this, but at least built up to it. Plus, Proto had other problems besides Wily)
General-Radix: A sub-cliche would be Wily abusing Proto--which actually makes sense, since the only other way to keep the guy in check (all I've ever seen are tasers and one electro-baton) would be to wear a Ride Armour at all times and ready the pimp arm any time Proto started to speak. Proto would tire of this and "accidentally" screw up a vital component during its maintenance. (Again, one I used--which isn't speaking well of me--but I'd like to think that's it's MASSIVELY toned down from what other authors do)
General-Radix: Protoman swooping in to save Mega's arse. Again, it's the "fans" forcing the show to be like the games. (Granted, the two fics I read that did this were able to justify it, but I'm sure there are many others that don't bother) They tend to forget that Proto would rather fight alongside his bro rather than constantly bail him out game-style. (Jumping in to even the odds, I can let slide)
General-Radix: Realistically, Proto and Roll would run Mega ragged, what with their constantly rushing into danger and all. XD Bashing Roll because of her weapons. Yeah, using kitchen and cleaning stuff is kinda "eh", but seriously--you gotta admire a person, male or female, who can run into a battle with an egg beater or vacuum and come out alive.
General-Radix: Claiming that the production team never finished MM5. (Thanks a lot, Mandi) People who claim that either go entirely off of Mandi's opinion of the series (which I can't help but see as pettily negative), or are still butthurt over Proto being a "bad guy" (wake up call! He was a bad guy until the last few minutes of MM3!) Both parties tend to conveniently forget one detail. One detail whose name we wouldn't know for a while because his name was never given in-game. You know, DARKMAN. It's the gray one, but still--if Ruby-Spears knew about Darkman, they would know that Protoman was framed in MM5. Besides, the route they took gave Proto much more screen time than he has in practically every other media.
General-Radix: Calling Mega and other characters on the show something along the lines of "mutant bodybuilders". I know that he looks a lot bigger in comparison to Capcom-Rock, but Megaman really isn't that ripped (unless you're going by the promotional art/toys). These complainers need to look at actual bodybuilders/Rob Liefeld artwork--Mega is downright soft compared to them.
General-Radix: Complaining about the tiniest little things, like one solar panel on Mega's helmet being a diamond instead of a square (I HAVE SERIOUSLY HEARD THIS ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION). We have a trope for this, and it's called "They Changed It Now It Sucks". Don't expect this vile breed of complainers to have any legitimate complaints, either--just lots of superficial whining.
General-Radix: Incidentally, there was one fellow I talked to that disliked the show for legitimate reasons (not that I agreed with him, but they were valid points nonetheless). But then, he also shifted the blame of its cancellation from Bandai and CoA to the show itself, despite its high ratings.
General-Radix: In conclusion,Bashing RS-MM with the fury of a thousand suns for "not being like the games", but giving the "Upon a Star" OVA a free pass, despite it being different. This is a big fat double standard--the OVA, along with Megamix and the other mangas, are all different from the games, but no one care because they're Japanese. (Not going into quality matters here, people. This is strictly regional) They don't even freaking NOTE the differences in those cases!
General-Radix: This,however,is a whole 'nother rant, so I'll just paraphrase another RPM forumite and myself, respectively: "Hitoshi Ariga has truly captured the spirit of Rockman." "Because Megamix is Japanese." If you know of any others, I'd like to hear of them, so we can all laugh at its potential stupidity.
General-Radix: Back to you Cartoon Historian.
*scene swiches back to Stefan and Mina*
Thank you,Genaral.
Mina: Damn that was long.
But,it was to the point. That's gonna do it for now. See ya next time on The Cartoon Historian.
Mina: Later,guys.
Mina: Hey everyone,Mina here. To get us ready for the Big 'Games to Toons' Cartoon Historian episode,Stefan is gonna be giving his defense of the Mega Man Cartoon. In the same manner that he did with the Street Fighter Cartoon. Think of this as a Pre-Game show. Anyway,here's Stefan.
Thank you Mina. What you are about to read is a Defense of the Ruby-Spears Mega Man Cartoon.
In the 90's a Mega Man Cartoon series was created to complement the popularity of the hit Video Game series. However,a lot of fans,including Keiji Inafune himself,were disappointed about what they got.
The Show,despite what others say,isn't that bad. The Show has it's flaws yes,but what Game,Comic,or TV show doesn't?
First I'm gonna talk about the Series Flaws,just to get them out of the way. As well as the other reasons why Mega Man Fans tend to dislike this show. On with the flaws.
The first major flaw is,of course,that Mega Man and Protoman have muscles. The next major flaw is the one that annoyed Everyone,including Keiji Inafune. Protoman was a Bad Guy. I'll talk more about that later.
Another major flaw was the format of the show. Instead of being a cool action show,RS-Mega Man was a typical Saturday Morning one. Complete with corny dialogue,Stupid Animal Antics,inconsistancies,and over the top[and sometimes lame]plot devices.
The Next major flaw would be the artwork quality of Season 2. 5 of the episodes had fairly simplistic artwork. Especially the Curse of the Lionmen episode.
Anyway,the Final major flaw was the fact that Mega Man was called "Mega" all of the time. His name is Rock,not Mega. I was also annoyed by this.
Another reason why the MM fans hate this series is because when they watch it they compare it to the games. This is a problem that provents them from enjoying the series.
Now that all of the Major negatives have been covered...It's time for the Defense.
The first thing to defend is the Artwork.Season 1 had some good awrwork. I like it. However,in some episodes of Season 2,the artwork was simplistic. Plus,muscles and pretty Roll aside,all the characters looked similar to their Game Counterparts. So you can easily tell who they are,Unlike teir Captain N counterparts.
Next Up,I'm gonna defend is the Music. It's well writen and It went with the scenes well. Speaking of the Scenes,while the Storylines were medeocre at best,the Action was pretty damn good. You gotta admit,they were fun to watch.
Another thing I'm gonna defend is the Characters personalities. Considering that their Game Counterparts had little to no personalities to begin with,I'd say the personalities of the characters turned out decent. Except for Protoman's of course.
Also remember this Cartoon was being created in 1992. During this time period,The American versions of the games potrayed Mega Man and Co as Personalitiless. While,in The Japanese games the characters had very little personalities. These said personalities wouldn't begin to develop until Rockman 7.
Also Protoman,for the most part,in the NES games didn't do much. He was either Mega Man's opponent or a Rescuer,nothing else. There's also a chance that the Director and Writers never made it to the final stage of Protoman's fortress in Mega Man 5. This might also explain why RS-Darkman is designed after the 2nd Dark Sentinel and not the The 4th Dark Sentinel aka the Real Darkman.
I don't think they've played completely through Mega Man 3 or 4 either. That has to be the case,because if they Did,Protoman would be a Good Guy instead of a Bad Guy. Protoman is a villain because the writers saw him as one in the games.
They couldn't use Bass,because he wasn't created yet and during the creation of Season 2,which was in 1994,he was in the Planning stages.
The next thing I'm gonna stick up for is the Art Style. Like I stated in my 'Street Fighter Cartoon' defense,Anime wasn't that popular in the U.S. at the time. However,Anime would eventually gain a fan base in 1997,years After the series cancelation.
Not only that,but 8-12 year-olds,the main target demographic,were used to an American look and feel to their cartoons. BTW,did you know that most of the Art and Animation were done overseas in Japan. So believe it or not,the show is part Anime.
And So what if the Cartoon's not Canon. Hell,neither are the Anime OVA or The Mangas. Now if fans would just look past the mentioned flaws,they might come to respect,perhaps even like,this Cartoon series.
You also have to remember that compared to the Cartoons of today,the Mega Man cartoon is kinda cool. And thus concludes the Defense of the Mega Man Cartoon. I hope you all enjoyed this.
Unfortunately,like the Street Fighter fans,some Mega Man fans are just a bunch of purist pricks,closed minded people who hate the show mostly because it's not Japanese and Unlike the games. It's also a shame that Keiji Inafune didn't like this show either. In fact,Keiji Inafune was mostly responsible for the shows cancelation. I'll talk more about that when I'm covering the Mega Man cartoon show.
Luckily,I'm not the Only one who sticks up for this show. Here's my friend and fellow RS-Mega Man defender,General-Radix.
*scene swiches to General-Radix*
General-Radix: Thanks,Cartoon Historian. The following only concerns those "it's not canon!" fantards. The really obvious question is, "Why can't you guys just accept that, as a third-party production, it's not going to perfectly sync up to the canon set in place by CAPCOM?"
General-Radix: The way I see it, they can't accept this because they HAVE to find a way to wedge it into canon; seeing that they can't they declare it crap and bash it relentlessly. Why does it have to fit into canon? Does the fate of Mars hang in the balance? Is this bashing borne from some pathological need to organize?
General-Radix: The most common complaint is, of course, "They changed too many things". This does hold ground--but not much. The basic premise of the Megaman series, at least up to 1994, is "A jailbait blue robot blows up eight robots built by Dr. Wily". Nothing about the general location of these battles (A forest? Hell, that could be Wisconsin). Besides, you can't blame the artists for taking liberties with the designs--you bring me a person with official Rockman (not Mega) artwork back in the early 90s, and I'll show you a perfectly honest and selfless politcian.
General-Radix: The simple fact is, the NES Megaman games prior to 5 didn't have a great deal of story. What was in the manual didn't tell you jack about what actually happens in-game (even MM4 failed to mention Cossack in its intro, if I remember correctly). Shigeto Ikehara's mangizations of the series stray from that premise simply by adding dialogue, to say nothing of Karate-003.
General-Radix: So if Ikehara's manga is generally well-liked despite deviances from the games, why all the cries of "IT AIN'T CANON" directed towards the cartoon? To be honest...I don't know. Hitoshi Ariga's Megamix series is VERY well-received by the entire community, and its stories can only barely fit into game canon. (Granted, his artwork and storytelling are both excellent) Why don't I ever see any "IT'S NOT CANON" complaints flung HIS way? Is it because RS-MM is easier to pick on?
General-Radix: It could be because the adaptation decay is SO strong in RS-MM (though when you think about it, given the US boxarts and minimal plots, there's not THAT much decay--it even addressed the issue of how Megaman could get weapons from a robot he JUST BLEW UP) that purists look at it and say, "That sucketh." But really--isn't comparing differences between products part of the fun of being a fan of something with as much "extras" as Megaman?
General-Radix: RS-MM, at least to me, has some many differences while still retaining the "feel" of Megaman, that it becomes its own canon. That, and it's a fun cartoon, MM or no. So what if Megaman has a ridiculously well-sculpted torso (or at least armour giving him that appearance), Protoman is evil, sarcastic, and vaguely flamboyant, and Roll can *gasp* FIGHT? It's enjoyable, and really shouldn't be treated as "game canon".
General-Radix: Something occurred to me last night. SegaSonic's spinoffs AoStH, SatAM, Archie, and SU all get to be their own canons. Why doesn't RS-MM get that same status, despite being different enough from the source material to be so?
General-Radix: I have found another irrefutable argument to support Ruby-Spears Megaman. It involves another series, Double Dragon. Both Megaman and Double Dragon got cartoons, both frought with adaptation decay. So far, so good.
General-Radix: Let's look at the games being made for each series when the cartoons were still up and running. Megaman saw MM5, MM6, and MMX; Double Dragon saw Battletoads and Double Dragon and Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls. Notice something funny about Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls?
General-Radix: It's based on the cartoon. It's part of the main series, and it's based on the cartoon that is far from perfectly in line with the games. How many entries in the main series did RS-MM get? ZERO.
General-Radix: Take that, haters; RS-Megaman may not have fit the game canon like a glove, but at least it didn't muck up said game canon. (That said, I'm sure the DD cartoon is still enjoyable, ironically or no, and DDV wasn't made by the original company--but it's part of the main DD series, despite clearly being in a canon of its own)
General-Radix: RS-MM also has a page on TV Tropes, which I have contributed to. They mention a ways down that RS-MM was to look like the games, and get a good laugh out of their not sticking with it because of the later anime boom. I'd just like to point something out:
General-Radix: If they ignored the test audiences and went with the game style, the show would probably have been ignored and swiftly canned. I think all the fanbrats who whine about RS-MM not being anime should take that into consideration. I get the impression that they don't realize that anime used to be a niche market in the US.
General-Radix: On another note, I have yet to see a Sue written for RS-Mega. Guess the fangirls prefer jailbait. The worst one has to be shoehorning Bass into the storyline (with optional Treble). I normally wouldn't care--after all, continuity immigrations can be fun--but every goddamned time, not only is he exactly like his game counterpart, but he's little more than a plot device used to facilitate Protoman leaving Wily.
General-Radix: This is especially sad for several reasons: rarely is anything interesting done with Mr. Not A Fish (or maybe that's just because the fics I've seen doing this didn't have any further chapters/entries); he's usually just a worse version of Protoman, meaning of "worse" varying; and it's the "fans"/authors trying to force RS-MM to be a different-looking Capcom MM. The nice thing about MM is that it doesn't suffer from what I call "DBZ Adaptation Syndrome", wherein every third-party production of a given series simply reiterates said series' story. Even I could tolerate only so many dry retellings of the various Sagas.
General-Radix: I do have an RS-Bass; however, he's a non-combatant hacker whose voice rarely rises above "monotone". And it was almost solely to combat the above cliche. Also,Protoman defecting from Wily when done in a way that just stinks of "Stupid Ruby-Spears is stupid and didn't beat MM5 even though Darkman is present and named in the show! LOL". I think the italics says it all, really. (Again, I've used this, but at least built up to it. Plus, Proto had other problems besides Wily)
General-Radix: A sub-cliche would be Wily abusing Proto--which actually makes sense, since the only other way to keep the guy in check (all I've ever seen are tasers and one electro-baton) would be to wear a Ride Armour at all times and ready the pimp arm any time Proto started to speak. Proto would tire of this and "accidentally" screw up a vital component during its maintenance. (Again, one I used--which isn't speaking well of me--but I'd like to think that's it's MASSIVELY toned down from what other authors do)
General-Radix: Protoman swooping in to save Mega's arse. Again, it's the "fans" forcing the show to be like the games. (Granted, the two fics I read that did this were able to justify it, but I'm sure there are many others that don't bother) They tend to forget that Proto would rather fight alongside his bro rather than constantly bail him out game-style. (Jumping in to even the odds, I can let slide)
General-Radix: Realistically, Proto and Roll would run Mega ragged, what with their constantly rushing into danger and all. XD Bashing Roll because of her weapons. Yeah, using kitchen and cleaning stuff is kinda "eh", but seriously--you gotta admire a person, male or female, who can run into a battle with an egg beater or vacuum and come out alive.
General-Radix: Claiming that the production team never finished MM5. (Thanks a lot, Mandi) People who claim that either go entirely off of Mandi's opinion of the series (which I can't help but see as pettily negative), or are still butthurt over Proto being a "bad guy" (wake up call! He was a bad guy until the last few minutes of MM3!) Both parties tend to conveniently forget one detail. One detail whose name we wouldn't know for a while because his name was never given in-game. You know, DARKMAN. It's the gray one, but still--if Ruby-Spears knew about Darkman, they would know that Protoman was framed in MM5. Besides, the route they took gave Proto much more screen time than he has in practically every other media.
General-Radix: Calling Mega and other characters on the show something along the lines of "mutant bodybuilders". I know that he looks a lot bigger in comparison to Capcom-Rock, but Megaman really isn't that ripped (unless you're going by the promotional art/toys). These complainers need to look at actual bodybuilders/Rob Liefeld artwork--Mega is downright soft compared to them.
General-Radix: Complaining about the tiniest little things, like one solar panel on Mega's helmet being a diamond instead of a square (I HAVE SERIOUSLY HEARD THIS ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION). We have a trope for this, and it's called "They Changed It Now It Sucks". Don't expect this vile breed of complainers to have any legitimate complaints, either--just lots of superficial whining.
General-Radix: Incidentally, there was one fellow I talked to that disliked the show for legitimate reasons (not that I agreed with him, but they were valid points nonetheless). But then, he also shifted the blame of its cancellation from Bandai and CoA to the show itself, despite its high ratings.
General-Radix: In conclusion,Bashing RS-MM with the fury of a thousand suns for "not being like the games", but giving the "Upon a Star" OVA a free pass, despite it being different. This is a big fat double standard--the OVA, along with Megamix and the other mangas, are all different from the games, but no one care because they're Japanese. (Not going into quality matters here, people. This is strictly regional) They don't even freaking NOTE the differences in those cases!
General-Radix: This,however,is a whole 'nother rant, so I'll just paraphrase another RPM forumite and myself, respectively: "Hitoshi Ariga has truly captured the spirit of Rockman." "Because Megamix is Japanese." If you know of any others, I'd like to hear of them, so we can all laugh at its potential stupidity.
General-Radix: Back to you Cartoon Historian.
*scene swiches back to Stefan and Mina*
Thank you,Genaral.
Mina: Damn that was long.
But,it was to the point. That's gonna do it for now. See ya next time on The Cartoon Historian.
Mina: Later,guys.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Cartoon Historian Lesson 20-B: The Rise and Fall of Cartoon Network Pt. 2
Mina: Welcome to part 2 of The Rise and Fall of Cartoon Network. In this 2nd and Final part of this episode,we will be talking about the Fall of Cartoon Network. Well,here we go!
On April 10, 2006,Cartoon Network changed it's slogan once again,this time it was the simplistic “Cartoon Network — Yes!,” and was spoken by Fred Fredburger, a character on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.
The network also used bumpers featuring the cast of Camp Lazlo (2005) as stick puppets and characters in front of a red background. How Stupid!
The 2006-2007 campaign featured three different styles of bumpers. The first style is "Lunchbox of Doom", featuring an assortment of show clips inside a CGI Gothic lunchbox,witch was a reference to an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
The second is "VS.", comparing two cartoon characters. Their final style was a remake of the 2004 CGI City look.
Jim Samples,2nd president of the Cartoon Network,resigned on February 9, 2007 due to the Boston Mooninite Scare. Samples had been network president for three years after Shawn Grove.
Stuart Snyder,aka The Man Who Made Everything Worse,was named as Samples' successor and he took control on May of 2007.
Mina: Under Snyder's control, Cartoon Network underwent a number of terrible changes. Through 2007,Cartoon Network retained the image campaign that began in 2006.
Mina: On September 1, 2007, the networks look was revamped. Bumpers and Station Identification were themed to The Hives song "Fall is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented". These aired for several months. It was a disaster to say the least.
Mina: A month later, on October 15, the channel began broadcasting in high definition. It was Suckage in HD.
True That! Anyway,every October since 2007, Cartoon Network airs Goosebumps,a show that once aired on Fox Kids program. In April 2008, Cartoon Network began airing a one minute sign-off bumper, depicting a child's daily activities from sunrise to nighttime. In the end, it reads "Good Night. See you tomorrow!" before the Adult Swim program block began.
It was their first sign-off bumper after 7 years of showing such a nightly block. This sign-off was later revised to match the network's new look. It now simply shows a square saying "10:00", followed by "Check Ya Later" and the new CN logo.
In 2008,Cartoon Network announced that it was working on a new project called "Cartoonstitute", which was headed by animators Craig McCracken (as executive producer) and Rob Renzetti (as supervising producer). Both report to Rob Scorcher, who created the idea.
Mina: The program would've worked in a way similar to What A Cartoon! However,Cartoonstitute was eventually cancelled, and only one of the shorts,Regular Show,was selected.
Cartoon Network had also begun to air some imported Canadian programs from Teletoon such as George of the Jungle, 6teen,The Total Drama Series,and Chaotic. This was one of the Stupidest errors that Cartoon Network has ever made. Snyder,you Suck!
Mina: Amen!Stefan Amen! On May of 2008, Cartoon Network began airing animated shorts, called Wedgies. These shorts were used to fill in spots between shows.
On July of 2008, the network changed looks yet again. This new look was created by Tristan Eaton and Kidrobot. The bumpers of that era had white, faceless characters called Noods. The Noods look similar to the do-it-yourself toy known as Munny, also created by Kidrobot. This look was retarded.
A Nood would often come in contact with a color blob or a color bar and absorb the color to become either a Cartoon Network character or change into another color. Other bumpers featured characters interacting with one another. Various commercial parodies starring the characters of Carton Network also aired.
Mina: From July 2008 to October 2008, Greg Cipes, Kevin's voice actor in Ben 10: Alien Force,became the network's announcer.
He has since been replaced with Will Arnett. The programming blocks were also changed to fit in with this look, with different Noods being used.
In June 2009, a block of live-action reality shows began airing in a programming block promoted as CN Real.[which has now ended]
Mina: The network has also aired some limited sports programming, including Slamball,during the commercial breaks. On February of this year, Cartoon Network started using bumpers that feature Noods being formed by real-life objects such as paint, grass, and confetti. Sometime later,the Noods were replaced.
Earlier this year,Cartoon Network debuted a third logo. This logo was featured on the network's "Move It Movement" tour. It made its television debut in May along with a new theme and new bumpers. Also,the Noods were phased out.
Also Earlier this year,The CN Real block ended. Thank God! And Stuart Snyder was replaced as Cartoon Network President. I forgot the new presidents name,but I doubt he'll be able to fix CN. The damage is already done.
Mina: I have to admit that this part of the lesson was very painful to talk about. Thank God this is over.
Tell me about it. Cartoon Network is dead now. But we'll never ever forget the many cool things it gave us.
Mina: Amen to that! Retro CN Rules!
It most certainly does. Thats gonna do it for this lesson. See ya next time on The Cartoon Historian.
Mina: See Ya!
[fade to black. credits roll as the cartoon historian closing theme plays]
On April 10, 2006,Cartoon Network changed it's slogan once again,this time it was the simplistic “Cartoon Network — Yes!,” and was spoken by Fred Fredburger, a character on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.
The network also used bumpers featuring the cast of Camp Lazlo (2005) as stick puppets and characters in front of a red background. How Stupid!
The 2006-2007 campaign featured three different styles of bumpers. The first style is "Lunchbox of Doom", featuring an assortment of show clips inside a CGI Gothic lunchbox,witch was a reference to an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
The second is "VS.", comparing two cartoon characters. Their final style was a remake of the 2004 CGI City look.
Jim Samples,2nd president of the Cartoon Network,resigned on February 9, 2007 due to the Boston Mooninite Scare. Samples had been network president for three years after Shawn Grove.
Stuart Snyder,aka The Man Who Made Everything Worse,was named as Samples' successor and he took control on May of 2007.
Mina: Under Snyder's control, Cartoon Network underwent a number of terrible changes. Through 2007,Cartoon Network retained the image campaign that began in 2006.
Mina: On September 1, 2007, the networks look was revamped. Bumpers and Station Identification were themed to The Hives song "Fall is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented". These aired for several months. It was a disaster to say the least.
Mina: A month later, on October 15, the channel began broadcasting in high definition. It was Suckage in HD.
True That! Anyway,every October since 2007, Cartoon Network airs Goosebumps,a show that once aired on Fox Kids program. In April 2008, Cartoon Network began airing a one minute sign-off bumper, depicting a child's daily activities from sunrise to nighttime. In the end, it reads "Good Night. See you tomorrow!" before the Adult Swim program block began.
It was their first sign-off bumper after 7 years of showing such a nightly block. This sign-off was later revised to match the network's new look. It now simply shows a square saying "10:00", followed by "Check Ya Later" and the new CN logo.
In 2008,Cartoon Network announced that it was working on a new project called "Cartoonstitute", which was headed by animators Craig McCracken (as executive producer) and Rob Renzetti (as supervising producer). Both report to Rob Scorcher, who created the idea.
Mina: The program would've worked in a way similar to What A Cartoon! However,Cartoonstitute was eventually cancelled, and only one of the shorts,Regular Show,was selected.
Cartoon Network had also begun to air some imported Canadian programs from Teletoon such as George of the Jungle, 6teen,The Total Drama Series,and Chaotic. This was one of the Stupidest errors that Cartoon Network has ever made. Snyder,you Suck!
Mina: Amen!Stefan Amen! On May of 2008, Cartoon Network began airing animated shorts, called Wedgies. These shorts were used to fill in spots between shows.
On July of 2008, the network changed looks yet again. This new look was created by Tristan Eaton and Kidrobot. The bumpers of that era had white, faceless characters called Noods. The Noods look similar to the do-it-yourself toy known as Munny, also created by Kidrobot. This look was retarded.
A Nood would often come in contact with a color blob or a color bar and absorb the color to become either a Cartoon Network character or change into another color. Other bumpers featured characters interacting with one another. Various commercial parodies starring the characters of Carton Network also aired.
Mina: From July 2008 to October 2008, Greg Cipes, Kevin's voice actor in Ben 10: Alien Force,became the network's announcer.
He has since been replaced with Will Arnett. The programming blocks were also changed to fit in with this look, with different Noods being used.
In June 2009, a block of live-action reality shows began airing in a programming block promoted as CN Real.[which has now ended]
Mina: The network has also aired some limited sports programming, including Slamball,during the commercial breaks. On February of this year, Cartoon Network started using bumpers that feature Noods being formed by real-life objects such as paint, grass, and confetti. Sometime later,the Noods were replaced.
Earlier this year,Cartoon Network debuted a third logo. This logo was featured on the network's "Move It Movement" tour. It made its television debut in May along with a new theme and new bumpers. Also,the Noods were phased out.
Also Earlier this year,The CN Real block ended. Thank God! And Stuart Snyder was replaced as Cartoon Network President. I forgot the new presidents name,but I doubt he'll be able to fix CN. The damage is already done.
Mina: I have to admit that this part of the lesson was very painful to talk about. Thank God this is over.
Tell me about it. Cartoon Network is dead now. But we'll never ever forget the many cool things it gave us.
Mina: Amen to that! Retro CN Rules!
It most certainly does. Thats gonna do it for this lesson. See ya next time on The Cartoon Historian.
Mina: See Ya!
[fade to black. credits roll as the cartoon historian closing theme plays]
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Cartoon Historian Lesson 20-A: The Rise and Fall of Cartoon Network Pt. 1
Welcome to another Cartoon Historian. I'm your instructor,Stefan and this is my assistant,Mina. Because you voted for it,This episode is gonna be all about Cartoon Network.
Mina: In this special 2-part episode we 're gonna be talking about the Networks roots and how it became damaged beyoned repair. It's the Rise and Fall of Cartoon Network on The Cartoon Historian.
[Cartoon Historian Theme Plays]
As you are well aware,Cartoon Network was once the Best place for Cartoons. Unfortunatly,today,it's just a pathetic shell of it's former self.
Cartoon Network aka CN was created by Turner Broadcasting in October of 1992. It's goal was to air 24-hours of Animated shows with the Bugs Bunny short Rhapsody Rabbit being its first-ever aired program.
Mina: Since 2003, Cartoon Network began airing a small amount of live-action programming, mostly movies from Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, both of which are also owned by Time Warner.
Over the succeeding years, Cartoon Network has become more aggressive in its live-action development resulting in a lot of harsh criticism from fans as well as its downfall.
Word! However we'll talk about that later. Anyway,although Cartoon Network began in 1992,it's origins date back all the way to the 80's.
In 1986,Ted Turner's cable-TV conglomerate acquired most of the MGM film library (which included Gilligan's Island),The a.a.p. catalog(which includes the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film library),Merrie Melodies,and the Popeye cartoons.
In 1988,Turner Network Television,aka TNT,launched and had gained an audience with its film library. In 1990, it purchased animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library as well as most of the Ruby-Spears library. leter that year these cartoons were given their own special program block that aired daily.
Mina: So,Cartoon Network was originaly part of TNT before it became its own seperate Network? Interesting.
By October 1, 1992, Cartoon Network was created as an outlet for Turner's library of animation. The Launch programs for the network were reruns of classic Warner Bros. cartoons,Popeye cartoons, MGM cartoons,and Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Many Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons like Magilla Gorilla were often used as time fillers.
Mina: Most of the short cartoons aired in half-hour or hour-long packages, usually separated by character or studio. For example,Down Wit' Droopy D aired old Droopy Dog shorts, The Tom and Jerry Show presented the classic cat-and-mouse team, and Bugs and Daffy Tonight provided classic Looney Tunes shorts.
Mina: Late Night Black and White showed early black and white cartoons (mostly from the Fleischer Studios), and ToonHeads aired themed cartoon shorts with original, unique bumpers and trivia about the cartoons they were showing.
Mina: Another early show was High Noon Toons, which was a programming block hosted by cowboy hand puppets Haas and Lil' Jo. I never heard of that block before,but from the sound of it,I bet it was Lame with a Capital L.
I'm certain it was. Anyway,the classic toons that was shown on Cartoon Network no longer airs on a regular basis, with the exception of Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo.
The network's first original show was The Moxy Show and was created in 1993. In 1994,Hanna-Barbera's new subsidiary,Cartoon Network Studios was founded and started production on The What-A-Cartoon! Show (also known as World-Premiere Toons).
The show premiered in 1995 and was made up of a series of independent short cartoons. It was also the network's third original series,with the second being Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
Mina: The main purpose of The 'What A Cartoon Show' was to help Cartoon Network expand its library of exclusive programming. It introduced a number of new cartoon ideas. Six of them were spun off into their own series runs.
Mina: These six series were: Dexter's Laboratory (1996), Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken (1997), The Powerpuff Girls (1998), Mike, Lu and Og, and Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999).
Mina: These shows were the first batch of Cartoons known as Cartoon Cartoons. I Am Weasel (1997) and Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999) were the first two Cartoon Cartoons not to be introduced in a What A Cartoon short.
In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner. This consolidated ownership of all the WB cartoons, so now post-July 1948 cartoons (which Warner Brothers had reacquired in the 1960s)were being shown on the network. This lead up to a 2000 announcement that Cartoon Network would be the exclusive TV home of the classic Warner Bros. animated library.
Mina: Sadly this isn't the case anymore.
Newer WB animated productions also started appearing on the network as old Kids WB reruns. Though some modern WB cartoons,such as Teen Titans and Justice League,were Cartoon Network exclusives.
Mina: In 1997,2 popular program blocks made their debut,Toonami and Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. Toonami was a weekday afternoon block that aired Action Cartoons and Anime. The block was first hosted by Moltar of Space Ghost Coast to Coast and then by the Tom androids.
Mina: Toonami was,without question,Cartoon Networks most popular program block...well,until 2006 that is,where the block itself was decimated. The block ended in 2008.
Mina: Anyway,Cartoon Cartoon Fridays otherwise known as CCF was a Friday Night Block that was hosted by the Cartoon Cartoons themselves and later by 2 human hosts. This block ended in late 2006 and was replaced with the crappy Fried Dynamite.
Cartoon Network underwent its 2nd makeover (the first being in 1996)on June 12, 1998,launching the Powerhouse theme that was used until June of 2004.
The Powerhouse theme had bumpers involving characters from most of the cartoons it aired or objects and places with the Cartoon Network's Checkerboard logo. The word NEXT was used in several "Coming up Next" bumpers.
There were multiple color variations for the bumpers backgrounds: Yellow for morning timeslot, Green for afternoon timeslot, Blue for evening timeslot, Purple for action cartoons (used in all timeslots),Black for overnight timeslot (starting at midnight),Red for specials and Thanksgiving,Black with Orange outlines for Halloween,and White and Light Blue for Christmas.
Often, an announcer would say something witty over these bumpers...up until 2003 that is. Other times they had a music cue that was a cross between the show's theme and Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse".
There were also animated bit segments,with several variations for each one. In 2003,the "Powerhouse" theme music was replaced with the show's own theme song.
Mina: Don't you wish Cartoon Network still did this? Anyway,In 2004,Miguzi made it's debut and replaced Toonami on the weekdays. Toonami was moved to Saturdays and Adult Swim was introduced.
On June 14, 2004, Cartoon Network updated its logo, and its slogan: “This is Cartoon Network!” This is also the first CN era with a female voice announcer. Although she was eventually replaced with no such voices announcing for the network since.
Cartoon Network's 1st president,Shawn Grove,left Cartoon Network due to a major heart attack.Jim Samples took his place. The first program ever aired on the relaunched Cartoon Network was Rescue Heroes,a shitty Canadian show that used to air on the,now extinct,CBS Saturday Morning Block.
Mina: And thus the Canadian Invasion begins. An invasion that should've been prevented.
I hear ya,Mina. In fact,Canadian Cartoons are one of the many reasons why Cartoon Network is damaged beyond repair.
Anyway,The new bumpers featured 2D cartoon characters from their shows interacting in a CGI city made up of sets from their own shows.
By now, nearly all of Cartoon Network's classic cartoon programming had been relocated to its sister network Boomerang,which was created in 2003,to make way for new programming. However,they did manage to keep Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo. 2 shows that are currently being milked to death by those lowlife CN executives.
Mina: On April 10, 2006, the network removed more shows from the 1990s and scrapped the CGI City look. Later that year,shows like Time Squad (2001), Mike, Lu & Og (1999), I Am Weasel (1997), Looney Tunes,and Sheep in the Big City (2000) were also taken off the network. What Jerks!
Agreed. Well that's all she wrote for the Rise of Cartoon Network.
Mina: Next up,the Fall of Cartoon Network.
Mina: In this special 2-part episode we 're gonna be talking about the Networks roots and how it became damaged beyoned repair. It's the Rise and Fall of Cartoon Network on The Cartoon Historian.
[Cartoon Historian Theme Plays]
As you are well aware,Cartoon Network was once the Best place for Cartoons. Unfortunatly,today,it's just a pathetic shell of it's former self.
Cartoon Network aka CN was created by Turner Broadcasting in October of 1992. It's goal was to air 24-hours of Animated shows with the Bugs Bunny short Rhapsody Rabbit being its first-ever aired program.
Mina: Since 2003, Cartoon Network began airing a small amount of live-action programming, mostly movies from Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, both of which are also owned by Time Warner.
Over the succeeding years, Cartoon Network has become more aggressive in its live-action development resulting in a lot of harsh criticism from fans as well as its downfall.
Word! However we'll talk about that later. Anyway,although Cartoon Network began in 1992,it's origins date back all the way to the 80's.
In 1986,Ted Turner's cable-TV conglomerate acquired most of the MGM film library (which included Gilligan's Island),The a.a.p. catalog(which includes the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film library),Merrie Melodies,and the Popeye cartoons.
In 1988,Turner Network Television,aka TNT,launched and had gained an audience with its film library. In 1990, it purchased animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library as well as most of the Ruby-Spears library. leter that year these cartoons were given their own special program block that aired daily.
Mina: So,Cartoon Network was originaly part of TNT before it became its own seperate Network? Interesting.
By October 1, 1992, Cartoon Network was created as an outlet for Turner's library of animation. The Launch programs for the network were reruns of classic Warner Bros. cartoons,Popeye cartoons, MGM cartoons,and Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Many Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons like Magilla Gorilla were often used as time fillers.
Mina: Most of the short cartoons aired in half-hour or hour-long packages, usually separated by character or studio. For example,Down Wit' Droopy D aired old Droopy Dog shorts, The Tom and Jerry Show presented the classic cat-and-mouse team, and Bugs and Daffy Tonight provided classic Looney Tunes shorts.
Mina: Late Night Black and White showed early black and white cartoons (mostly from the Fleischer Studios), and ToonHeads aired themed cartoon shorts with original, unique bumpers and trivia about the cartoons they were showing.
Mina: Another early show was High Noon Toons, which was a programming block hosted by cowboy hand puppets Haas and Lil' Jo. I never heard of that block before,but from the sound of it,I bet it was Lame with a Capital L.
I'm certain it was. Anyway,the classic toons that was shown on Cartoon Network no longer airs on a regular basis, with the exception of Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo.
The network's first original show was The Moxy Show and was created in 1993. In 1994,Hanna-Barbera's new subsidiary,Cartoon Network Studios was founded and started production on The What-A-Cartoon! Show (also known as World-Premiere Toons).
The show premiered in 1995 and was made up of a series of independent short cartoons. It was also the network's third original series,with the second being Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
Mina: The main purpose of The 'What A Cartoon Show' was to help Cartoon Network expand its library of exclusive programming. It introduced a number of new cartoon ideas. Six of them were spun off into their own series runs.
Mina: These six series were: Dexter's Laboratory (1996), Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken (1997), The Powerpuff Girls (1998), Mike, Lu and Og, and Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999).
Mina: These shows were the first batch of Cartoons known as Cartoon Cartoons. I Am Weasel (1997) and Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999) were the first two Cartoon Cartoons not to be introduced in a What A Cartoon short.
In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner. This consolidated ownership of all the WB cartoons, so now post-July 1948 cartoons (which Warner Brothers had reacquired in the 1960s)were being shown on the network. This lead up to a 2000 announcement that Cartoon Network would be the exclusive TV home of the classic Warner Bros. animated library.
Mina: Sadly this isn't the case anymore.
Newer WB animated productions also started appearing on the network as old Kids WB reruns. Though some modern WB cartoons,such as Teen Titans and Justice League,were Cartoon Network exclusives.
Mina: In 1997,2 popular program blocks made their debut,Toonami and Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. Toonami was a weekday afternoon block that aired Action Cartoons and Anime. The block was first hosted by Moltar of Space Ghost Coast to Coast and then by the Tom androids.
Mina: Toonami was,without question,Cartoon Networks most popular program block...well,until 2006 that is,where the block itself was decimated. The block ended in 2008.
Mina: Anyway,Cartoon Cartoon Fridays otherwise known as CCF was a Friday Night Block that was hosted by the Cartoon Cartoons themselves and later by 2 human hosts. This block ended in late 2006 and was replaced with the crappy Fried Dynamite.
Cartoon Network underwent its 2nd makeover (the first being in 1996)on June 12, 1998,launching the Powerhouse theme that was used until June of 2004.
The Powerhouse theme had bumpers involving characters from most of the cartoons it aired or objects and places with the Cartoon Network's Checkerboard logo. The word NEXT was used in several "Coming up Next" bumpers.
There were multiple color variations for the bumpers backgrounds: Yellow for morning timeslot, Green for afternoon timeslot, Blue for evening timeslot, Purple for action cartoons (used in all timeslots),Black for overnight timeslot (starting at midnight),Red for specials and Thanksgiving,Black with Orange outlines for Halloween,and White and Light Blue for Christmas.
Often, an announcer would say something witty over these bumpers...up until 2003 that is. Other times they had a music cue that was a cross between the show's theme and Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse".
There were also animated bit segments,with several variations for each one. In 2003,the "Powerhouse" theme music was replaced with the show's own theme song.
Mina: Don't you wish Cartoon Network still did this? Anyway,In 2004,Miguzi made it's debut and replaced Toonami on the weekdays. Toonami was moved to Saturdays and Adult Swim was introduced.
On June 14, 2004, Cartoon Network updated its logo, and its slogan: “This is Cartoon Network!” This is also the first CN era with a female voice announcer. Although she was eventually replaced with no such voices announcing for the network since.
Cartoon Network's 1st president,Shawn Grove,left Cartoon Network due to a major heart attack.Jim Samples took his place. The first program ever aired on the relaunched Cartoon Network was Rescue Heroes,a shitty Canadian show that used to air on the,now extinct,CBS Saturday Morning Block.
Mina: And thus the Canadian Invasion begins. An invasion that should've been prevented.
I hear ya,Mina. In fact,Canadian Cartoons are one of the many reasons why Cartoon Network is damaged beyond repair.
Anyway,The new bumpers featured 2D cartoon characters from their shows interacting in a CGI city made up of sets from their own shows.
By now, nearly all of Cartoon Network's classic cartoon programming had been relocated to its sister network Boomerang,which was created in 2003,to make way for new programming. However,they did manage to keep Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo. 2 shows that are currently being milked to death by those lowlife CN executives.
Mina: On April 10, 2006, the network removed more shows from the 1990s and scrapped the CGI City look. Later that year,shows like Time Squad (2001), Mike, Lu & Og (1999), I Am Weasel (1997), Looney Tunes,and Sheep in the Big City (2000) were also taken off the network. What Jerks!
Agreed. Well that's all she wrote for the Rise of Cartoon Network.
Mina: Next up,the Fall of Cartoon Network.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Cartoon Historian Lesson 19: Thundercats
Well,It's safe to say that I've covered every Iconic Cartoon of the 80's....except for one. And that's the one I'm gonna cover Today. It's Thundercats on the Cartoon Historian.
[Cartoon Historian Theme]
Welcome to the Cartoon Historian,now before I go on to talk about the Thundercats,I'm gonna wait for my assistant Mina,who's 5 minutes late. For those who seen The Spider-Man Cartoon Trilogy episodes,you'll know who I'm talkling about.
[enter mina]
Mina: Sorry I'm late,Stefan. I had a crapload of things to do.
Don't do this to me again,Mina.
Mina: Or What?
Or I'll tickle torture you.
Mina: Oooh Kinky.
*sigh* Anyway,The ThunderCats were produced by Rankin/Bass Productions in 1985. They were based on characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf.
The animation was provided by Pacific Animation Corporation, the working name for a group of Japanese studios including Topcraft,the group who would later go on to form Studio Ghibli.
Season 1 of the show aired in 1985. In 1986 a Thundercat TV movie was made,ThunderCats - HO!
Seasons 2-4 followed a new format of twenty episodes each, starting with a five-part story; these aired from 1987 to 1988, 1988 to 1989, and 1989 to 1990, respectively.
The series was originally distributed by Telepictures Corporation (which would later merge with Lorimar Productions).
Near the end of 1988, Lorimar-Telepictures was purchased by Warner Bros., whose TV syndication arm would assume distribution of the show.
Mina: In other words,Warner Bros. owns Thundercats.
Mina: On March 17, 1997, ThunderCats was seen on Cartoon Network's Toonami. The series would depart and return in various timeslots including Saturday mornings and late night marathons until 2002.
It was announced on June 5, 2007, that Aurelio Jaro was making a CGI-animated feature film of ThunderCats, based on a script written by Paul Sopocy. In October 2007, Variety magazine revealed that Jerry O'Flaherty, veteran video game art director, had signed on to direct.
The film is being produced by Spring Creek Productions. It was originally set for a summer 2010 release, but it has since been reported that the movie is on hold. Concept art for the film has also been leaked online.
Mina: Interesting. I wonder how this movie's gonna turn out?
Probably a big pile of crap. Y'know how Hollywood is.
Mina: Really? Ya think? Anyway,ThunderCats follows the adventures of a Cat-Humanoid alien heroes from the planet of Thundera. The series pilot begins with the dying Thundera meeting its end, forcing the ThunderCats to flee their homeworld.
Mina: The fleet is attacked by the Thundereans's enemies, the Mutants of Plun-Darr, who destroy all the starships in the "ThunderFleet," but spare the flagship hoping to capture the legendary mystic Sword of Omens they believe is on board.
Mina: The sword holds the Eye of Thundera, the source of the ThunderCats' power, which is embedded in the hilt.
Mina: Though the Mutants damage the flagship, the power of the Eye drives them back. The damage to the ship means the journey to their destination of "Third Earth" will take decades longer than planned.
Mina: Lion-O's elderly guardian, Jaga, volunteers to pilot the ship while the others sleep in capsules; however, he dies of old age in the process, but not before ensuring they will reach their destination safely.
Mina: The flagship contains the young Lord of the ThunderCats, Lion-O, as well as ThunderCats Cheetara, Panthro, Tygra, WilyKit and WilyKat, and Snarf.
Mina: When the ThunderCats awake from their suspended animation on Third Earth, Lion-O discovers that his suspension capsule has only slowed his aging, and he is now a child in the body of an adult. Wicked!
Mina: Together, the ThunderCats and the friendly natives of Third Earth construct the "Cat's Lair," their new home and headquarters.Soon however,the Mutants have followed our heroes to Third Earth.
Mina: The intrusion of these two alien races upon the world does not go unnoticed,The demonic, mummified sorcerer, Mumm-Ra, recruits the Mutants to aid him in his campaign to acquire the Eye of Thundera and destroy the ThunderCats so that his evil might continue to hold sway over Third Earth. So that was Mumm-Ra's goal,huh?
Anyway,According to the first chapter of the Comic,Thundercats Origins: Heroes and Villains;Third Earth is actually Our Earth in the future. Mumm-Ra comes from ancient Egypt, where he first met the Ancient Spirits of Evil and acquired his tremendous powers.
He's the one responsible for destroying the human race, after he broke free from the onyx pyramid’s burial chamber where a Pharaoh imprisoned him.
Mina: Whoa,who thought Mumm-Ra could be such a Hard-Core Villain? Sweetness!
Anyway,Mumm-Ra's the main Bad-Guy for most of Season 1 and served as the basis for a vast array of stories that freely mixed elements of science fiction and fantasy into a traditional good-versus-evil tale that steadily introduced more and more recurring allies and villains into the world of the ThunderCats.
Futuristic technology is just as central to the series as magic and myth, but even with all this all this action, the series never under-emphasizes the importance of moral values in solving problems.
Each episode would normally include a short moral lesson. The characters,after the events of the story,would take the time to single out a personal value or wholesome approach that helped save the day, or could have done so if they had not overlooked it.
Mina: A PSA within the show,folks. And this was Before the FCC 'Educational Value in Action Cartoon' ruling. But we'll get into that another time.
The first half of Season 1 featured a gentle continuity, with early episodes following on from one another and establishing recurring concepts, although this became less common as the season transitioned into its second half, which were mostly one-shot adventures.
Mina: Tying the second season together was the five-part adventure "Lion-O's Anointment,". In these episodes,an unarmed Lion-O faced off against the other ThunderCats to truly earn his title as Lord of the ThunderCats.
The 1986 TV movie "ThunderCats - Ho!" featured the first major shake-up to the status quo of the series, introducing three new ThunderCats who had also survived the destruction of Thundera.
A massive cast of returning heroes and villains were incorporated into the story to make it the most epic ThunderCats adventure yet,and it concluded with the apparent destruction of Mumm-Ra.
Mina: When the series returned in 1987, however, this was quickly proven not to be the case in the opening mini-series, "Mumm-Ra Lives!", as the evil wizard survived his fate.
Mina: "Mumm-Ra Lives!" set the pattern for the show's final three seasons, which each began with a five-part mini-series that established the new characters and concepts that would go on to influence the rest of the series.
In the case of "Mumm-Ra Lives!", these concepts included the debut of the Lunataks, who became the 3nd set of BadGuys and the new team of ThunderCats from The Movie being given their own headquarters, vehicles and so forth.
Mina: The 1988 season began with "ThunderCubs," a miniseries named for its plot about the ThunderCats being transformed into children, but which was principally about Mumm-Ra reconstructing Thundera in order to retrieve both the weapon that had originally destroyed it (the Sword of Plun-Darr) and the legendary Treasure of Thundera.
Mina: In the course of the adventure, the treasure - containing the Book of Omens, a tome holding all the secrets of the ThunderCats, and many other mystical items - was scattered across the New Thundera, ushering in a new concept for the series: a season with an actual story arc.
Continuity between episodes became tighter as the ThunderCats, Mutants, Lunataks and Mumm-Ra alternated their adventures between Third Earth and New Thundera, searching for the treasure and exploiting its powers.
Mina: The season also featured the running theme of the Ancient Spirits of Evil having to take a more active hand in pushing Mumm-Ra into action. Ultimately, the villain failed, and was banished to the farthest corner of the universe by the spirits.
However, Mumm-Ra returned for the 1989 season. In the opening miniseries, "Return to Thundera!", the ThunderCats returned to New Thundera to rebuild their society, but before departing, they destroy Mumm-Ra's pyramid, enraging the Ancient Spirits of Evil to the point that they bring Mumm-Ra back, and install him within a new pyramid on New Thundera.
Mina: The season proved to be quite divorced from what had gone on before, with adventures consigned almost entirely to New Thundera, and most villainous opposition coming from either Mumm-Ra or assorted new villains.
Mina: The Mutants and Lunataks returned for one episode each, however. In the series finale, several conclusions are reached. Such as:Mumm-Ra standing up to and asserting himself over the Ancient Spirits of Evil, the mystery of the Book of Omens was at last solved, and the terrifying environment of Thundera was at last rendered peaceful and pristine.
Mina: Now,here's some interesting info about the Voices.
Despite its large cast of characters, ThunderCats featured a rather small circle of voice actors, with only six actors providing voices for the entire first season.
Every actor provided multiple voices, although the distinctive baritone of Earle Hyman (Panthro) left the actor providing only very occasional guest voices in comparison with his fellow performers.
Mina: For those who are unaware,Earl Hyman was the Old dude who played Russel Huxtable,Cliff's Father on The Cosby Show.
Very Good,Mina! Lynne Lipton (Cheetara and WilyKit) was the seasons Only female actor and provided voices for every single female character that appeared in the season.
Above all others, however, actor Bob McFadden would most regularly provide the voices of the male guest characters as well as Thundercat Companion Snarf and Mutant Leader Slithe.
Mina: Despite introducing a large number of new regular characters, the show's second season brought in only two new actors: Gerrianne Raphael and Doug Preis. Gerrianne Raphael was brought in to voice Pumyra. This provided Lynne Lipton with some relief by adding a new actress.
Mina: I'm surprised they didn't take a page out of Voltron's book and had the Male Actors play Female Characters. I can't believe the people behind Voltron actually did that.
Anyway,While actor Doug Preis is regularly credited on the Internet as the voice of Lynx-O,though in reality,it was Bob McFadden who provided that voice. Preis played Lunatak Alluro.
Mina: That info was likely taken from IMDb,a fountain of missinformation. Just goes to show you,you can't trust everything youn read.
Yup. Anyway,In January 2009, IGN named ThunderCats as the 49th-best show in their Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.
Mina: Next Year,A new Thundercats series will debut on Cartoon Network [wasted potential?] and will be produced by Warner Bros. and animated by Japan's Studio 4C.
I Hate Cartoon Network. I swear to God I do.
Mina: You and the majority of Americans.
Well that about wraps it up for the Cartoon Historian,See...
Mina: *cuts me off* Wait What!? That's It? I thought there'd be more inside info on the series?
Unfortunatly this is all the data that I could aquire. As I was saying,See ya next time on The Cartoon Historian.
Mina: See Ya!
[fade to black. credits roll as the thundercat closing theme plays]
[Cartoon Historian Theme]
Welcome to the Cartoon Historian,now before I go on to talk about the Thundercats,I'm gonna wait for my assistant Mina,who's 5 minutes late. For those who seen The Spider-Man Cartoon Trilogy episodes,you'll know who I'm talkling about.
[enter mina]
Mina: Sorry I'm late,Stefan. I had a crapload of things to do.
Don't do this to me again,Mina.
Mina: Or What?
Or I'll tickle torture you.
Mina: Oooh Kinky.
*sigh* Anyway,The ThunderCats were produced by Rankin/Bass Productions in 1985. They were based on characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf.
The animation was provided by Pacific Animation Corporation, the working name for a group of Japanese studios including Topcraft,the group who would later go on to form Studio Ghibli.
Season 1 of the show aired in 1985. In 1986 a Thundercat TV movie was made,ThunderCats - HO!
Seasons 2-4 followed a new format of twenty episodes each, starting with a five-part story; these aired from 1987 to 1988, 1988 to 1989, and 1989 to 1990, respectively.
The series was originally distributed by Telepictures Corporation (which would later merge with Lorimar Productions).
Near the end of 1988, Lorimar-Telepictures was purchased by Warner Bros., whose TV syndication arm would assume distribution of the show.
Mina: In other words,Warner Bros. owns Thundercats.
Mina: On March 17, 1997, ThunderCats was seen on Cartoon Network's Toonami. The series would depart and return in various timeslots including Saturday mornings and late night marathons until 2002.
It was announced on June 5, 2007, that Aurelio Jaro was making a CGI-animated feature film of ThunderCats, based on a script written by Paul Sopocy. In October 2007, Variety magazine revealed that Jerry O'Flaherty, veteran video game art director, had signed on to direct.
The film is being produced by Spring Creek Productions. It was originally set for a summer 2010 release, but it has since been reported that the movie is on hold. Concept art for the film has also been leaked online.
Mina: Interesting. I wonder how this movie's gonna turn out?
Probably a big pile of crap. Y'know how Hollywood is.
Mina: Really? Ya think? Anyway,ThunderCats follows the adventures of a Cat-Humanoid alien heroes from the planet of Thundera. The series pilot begins with the dying Thundera meeting its end, forcing the ThunderCats to flee their homeworld.
Mina: The fleet is attacked by the Thundereans's enemies, the Mutants of Plun-Darr, who destroy all the starships in the "ThunderFleet," but spare the flagship hoping to capture the legendary mystic Sword of Omens they believe is on board.
Mina: The sword holds the Eye of Thundera, the source of the ThunderCats' power, which is embedded in the hilt.
Mina: Though the Mutants damage the flagship, the power of the Eye drives them back. The damage to the ship means the journey to their destination of "Third Earth" will take decades longer than planned.
Mina: Lion-O's elderly guardian, Jaga, volunteers to pilot the ship while the others sleep in capsules; however, he dies of old age in the process, but not before ensuring they will reach their destination safely.
Mina: The flagship contains the young Lord of the ThunderCats, Lion-O, as well as ThunderCats Cheetara, Panthro, Tygra, WilyKit and WilyKat, and Snarf.
Mina: When the ThunderCats awake from their suspended animation on Third Earth, Lion-O discovers that his suspension capsule has only slowed his aging, and he is now a child in the body of an adult. Wicked!
Mina: Together, the ThunderCats and the friendly natives of Third Earth construct the "Cat's Lair," their new home and headquarters.Soon however,the Mutants have followed our heroes to Third Earth.
Mina: The intrusion of these two alien races upon the world does not go unnoticed,The demonic, mummified sorcerer, Mumm-Ra, recruits the Mutants to aid him in his campaign to acquire the Eye of Thundera and destroy the ThunderCats so that his evil might continue to hold sway over Third Earth. So that was Mumm-Ra's goal,huh?
Anyway,According to the first chapter of the Comic,Thundercats Origins: Heroes and Villains;Third Earth is actually Our Earth in the future. Mumm-Ra comes from ancient Egypt, where he first met the Ancient Spirits of Evil and acquired his tremendous powers.
He's the one responsible for destroying the human race, after he broke free from the onyx pyramid’s burial chamber where a Pharaoh imprisoned him.
Mina: Whoa,who thought Mumm-Ra could be such a Hard-Core Villain? Sweetness!
Anyway,Mumm-Ra's the main Bad-Guy for most of Season 1 and served as the basis for a vast array of stories that freely mixed elements of science fiction and fantasy into a traditional good-versus-evil tale that steadily introduced more and more recurring allies and villains into the world of the ThunderCats.
Futuristic technology is just as central to the series as magic and myth, but even with all this all this action, the series never under-emphasizes the importance of moral values in solving problems.
Each episode would normally include a short moral lesson. The characters,after the events of the story,would take the time to single out a personal value or wholesome approach that helped save the day, or could have done so if they had not overlooked it.
Mina: A PSA within the show,folks. And this was Before the FCC 'Educational Value in Action Cartoon' ruling. But we'll get into that another time.
The first half of Season 1 featured a gentle continuity, with early episodes following on from one another and establishing recurring concepts, although this became less common as the season transitioned into its second half, which were mostly one-shot adventures.
Mina: Tying the second season together was the five-part adventure "Lion-O's Anointment,". In these episodes,an unarmed Lion-O faced off against the other ThunderCats to truly earn his title as Lord of the ThunderCats.
The 1986 TV movie "ThunderCats - Ho!" featured the first major shake-up to the status quo of the series, introducing three new ThunderCats who had also survived the destruction of Thundera.
A massive cast of returning heroes and villains were incorporated into the story to make it the most epic ThunderCats adventure yet,and it concluded with the apparent destruction of Mumm-Ra.
Mina: When the series returned in 1987, however, this was quickly proven not to be the case in the opening mini-series, "Mumm-Ra Lives!", as the evil wizard survived his fate.
Mina: "Mumm-Ra Lives!" set the pattern for the show's final three seasons, which each began with a five-part mini-series that established the new characters and concepts that would go on to influence the rest of the series.
In the case of "Mumm-Ra Lives!", these concepts included the debut of the Lunataks, who became the 3nd set of BadGuys and the new team of ThunderCats from The Movie being given their own headquarters, vehicles and so forth.
Mina: The 1988 season began with "ThunderCubs," a miniseries named for its plot about the ThunderCats being transformed into children, but which was principally about Mumm-Ra reconstructing Thundera in order to retrieve both the weapon that had originally destroyed it (the Sword of Plun-Darr) and the legendary Treasure of Thundera.
Mina: In the course of the adventure, the treasure - containing the Book of Omens, a tome holding all the secrets of the ThunderCats, and many other mystical items - was scattered across the New Thundera, ushering in a new concept for the series: a season with an actual story arc.
Continuity between episodes became tighter as the ThunderCats, Mutants, Lunataks and Mumm-Ra alternated their adventures between Third Earth and New Thundera, searching for the treasure and exploiting its powers.
Mina: The season also featured the running theme of the Ancient Spirits of Evil having to take a more active hand in pushing Mumm-Ra into action. Ultimately, the villain failed, and was banished to the farthest corner of the universe by the spirits.
However, Mumm-Ra returned for the 1989 season. In the opening miniseries, "Return to Thundera!", the ThunderCats returned to New Thundera to rebuild their society, but before departing, they destroy Mumm-Ra's pyramid, enraging the Ancient Spirits of Evil to the point that they bring Mumm-Ra back, and install him within a new pyramid on New Thundera.
Mina: The season proved to be quite divorced from what had gone on before, with adventures consigned almost entirely to New Thundera, and most villainous opposition coming from either Mumm-Ra or assorted new villains.
Mina: The Mutants and Lunataks returned for one episode each, however. In the series finale, several conclusions are reached. Such as:Mumm-Ra standing up to and asserting himself over the Ancient Spirits of Evil, the mystery of the Book of Omens was at last solved, and the terrifying environment of Thundera was at last rendered peaceful and pristine.
Mina: Now,here's some interesting info about the Voices.
Despite its large cast of characters, ThunderCats featured a rather small circle of voice actors, with only six actors providing voices for the entire first season.
Every actor provided multiple voices, although the distinctive baritone of Earle Hyman (Panthro) left the actor providing only very occasional guest voices in comparison with his fellow performers.
Mina: For those who are unaware,Earl Hyman was the Old dude who played Russel Huxtable,Cliff's Father on The Cosby Show.
Very Good,Mina! Lynne Lipton (Cheetara and WilyKit) was the seasons Only female actor and provided voices for every single female character that appeared in the season.
Above all others, however, actor Bob McFadden would most regularly provide the voices of the male guest characters as well as Thundercat Companion Snarf and Mutant Leader Slithe.
Mina: Despite introducing a large number of new regular characters, the show's second season brought in only two new actors: Gerrianne Raphael and Doug Preis. Gerrianne Raphael was brought in to voice Pumyra. This provided Lynne Lipton with some relief by adding a new actress.
Mina: I'm surprised they didn't take a page out of Voltron's book and had the Male Actors play Female Characters. I can't believe the people behind Voltron actually did that.
Anyway,While actor Doug Preis is regularly credited on the Internet as the voice of Lynx-O,though in reality,it was Bob McFadden who provided that voice. Preis played Lunatak Alluro.
Mina: That info was likely taken from IMDb,a fountain of missinformation. Just goes to show you,you can't trust everything youn read.
Yup. Anyway,In January 2009, IGN named ThunderCats as the 49th-best show in their Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.
Mina: Next Year,A new Thundercats series will debut on Cartoon Network [wasted potential?] and will be produced by Warner Bros. and animated by Japan's Studio 4C.
I Hate Cartoon Network. I swear to God I do.
Mina: You and the majority of Americans.
Well that about wraps it up for the Cartoon Historian,See...
Mina: *cuts me off* Wait What!? That's It? I thought there'd be more inside info on the series?
Unfortunatly this is all the data that I could aquire. As I was saying,See ya next time on The Cartoon Historian.
Mina: See Ya!
[fade to black. credits roll as the thundercat closing theme plays]
Friday, July 2, 2010
Cartoon Quickie: Captain Planet
The Planet is in danger! Gaia,the spirit of Earth,can no longer withstand the devastation plaguing the planet. So to counter the pollutants,she sends 5 special Rings to 5 special teens from around the globe.
Kwame,from Kenya,has the Power of Earth. Wheeler,,from the U.S.,has the Power of Fire. Linka,from Russia,has the Power of Wind. Gi,from South Korea,has the Power of Water. And Ma-ti,from a South American Nation[i forgot which],has the Power of Heart.
When these 5 powers combine they summon Earth's Greatest Hero,Captain Planet. The Power Is Yours!
Captain Planet and the Planeteers is basically a group of 5 teens,called planeteers,who go around the world battling super polluters,with the most famous one being Hoggish Greedly.
Other Super Polluters include: Duke Nukem[no not that one],an Atomic Monster Man; Dr. Blight,a Mad Scientist who has a skin problem on the right side of her face[its covered by her hair];Verminous Skumm,a Mutant Rat Man;Sly Sludge,a waste dumper; Looten Plunder,a Rich Man who funds criminal projects and sometimes organizations; And Finally Zarm,an evil interdimentional Warlord who was once the Guardian of Earth.
Each Planeteer has an elemental power that comes from their rings. When the Teens combine their powers,they form Captain Planet.
Captain Planet is a master of elements,sort of like Avatar Anng..only with a head of hair and a corny sence of humor. His strengths,of course,are the elements. While his weakness is pollution.
The artwork is good and the Animation suffers little to no errors. The music and sound are of good quality. The ending theme itself is kinda catchy.
There's really nothing more to say about this series except,It's a decent show and worth watching atleast twice. Oh,before I forget,here's a small factoid about the show itself: The first season was done by DiC,while the other 2 were done by Hanna-Barbara.
Well that's gonna do it. See Ya Next Time on Cartoon Quickie.
Kwame,from Kenya,has the Power of Earth. Wheeler,,from the U.S.,has the Power of Fire. Linka,from Russia,has the Power of Wind. Gi,from South Korea,has the Power of Water. And Ma-ti,from a South American Nation[i forgot which],has the Power of Heart.
When these 5 powers combine they summon Earth's Greatest Hero,Captain Planet. The Power Is Yours!
Captain Planet and the Planeteers is basically a group of 5 teens,called planeteers,who go around the world battling super polluters,with the most famous one being Hoggish Greedly.
Other Super Polluters include: Duke Nukem[no not that one],an Atomic Monster Man; Dr. Blight,a Mad Scientist who has a skin problem on the right side of her face[its covered by her hair];Verminous Skumm,a Mutant Rat Man;Sly Sludge,a waste dumper; Looten Plunder,a Rich Man who funds criminal projects and sometimes organizations; And Finally Zarm,an evil interdimentional Warlord who was once the Guardian of Earth.
Each Planeteer has an elemental power that comes from their rings. When the Teens combine their powers,they form Captain Planet.
Captain Planet is a master of elements,sort of like Avatar Anng..only with a head of hair and a corny sence of humor. His strengths,of course,are the elements. While his weakness is pollution.
The artwork is good and the Animation suffers little to no errors. The music and sound are of good quality. The ending theme itself is kinda catchy.
There's really nothing more to say about this series except,It's a decent show and worth watching atleast twice. Oh,before I forget,here's a small factoid about the show itself: The first season was done by DiC,while the other 2 were done by Hanna-Barbara.
Well that's gonna do it. See Ya Next Time on Cartoon Quickie.
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