Sunday, November 30, 2008
Pinky and the Brain: Volume 1
Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight? The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!Pinky and the Brain, those crazy pint sized world conquerers. Originally part of Animaniacs they branched off into their own daily afternoon cartoon show. Despite the fact that I was in high school then, I was glued to my set to see how they'd try to conquer the world next.
Honestly, Pinky and the Brain were not my favorite Animaniacs side characters. Personally that honor went to Rita and Runt (definitely Rita and Runt, definitely.) Still, the two characters can hold a show fairly well and I never found myself bored watching all four discs of it. Sure plenty of the jokes are dated (what kid today knows about Ross Perot?) but then again, like Animaniacs, this is not your average cartoon for kids and is enjoyable to all audiences with a sense of humor.
As for the presentation on the disc itself, it's about the same as Animaniacs. The extras are nice but a bit sparse. Though, at times I still wonder what else they could have added. The video quality is acceptable and never once was I distracted by any serious artifacts or glitches.
In short, I love this show!
Labels: Cartoons
Monday, April 07, 2008
strongbad_email.exe
Who would have ever thought I would have paid cash money for what is routinely given away. Granted, I do this every single time I buy a DVD of a film that will most likely come to Starz and I could just record them but when it's an internet thing you don't have that sort of option. Regardless, it's fantastic!
For those living under a rock for the last 8 years or so, Strong Bad is a some form of Lucha Libre wrestler who has boxing gloves for hands and gets in front of his outdated computers and answers emails from fans who write in, usually belittling them before it leads into a comedic skit. The first few take a while to get going but once the Brothers Chaps got the formula down around 20 or so, there's rarely one you'll feel like skipping.
The content may be free online but the DVDs have enough extras to keep you busy. There are some bonus emails as well as interviews and some weird karaoke things. My brother and I are both big fans of the website and thus had a blast with these. Now we have to watch Discs 4 and 5 (sold separately from the first 100) as well as the Everything Else discs.
If I have any complaints it's that the Easter Eggs work better on the site as opposed to on the DVD.
For those living under a rock for the last 8 years or so, Strong Bad is a some form of Lucha Libre wrestler who has boxing gloves for hands and gets in front of his outdated computers and answers emails from fans who write in, usually belittling them before it leads into a comedic skit. The first few take a while to get going but once the Brothers Chaps got the formula down around 20 or so, there's rarely one you'll feel like skipping.
The content may be free online but the DVDs have enough extras to keep you busy. There are some bonus emails as well as interviews and some weird karaoke things. My brother and I are both big fans of the website and thus had a blast with these. Now we have to watch Discs 4 and 5 (sold separately from the first 100) as well as the Everything Else discs.
If I have any complaints it's that the Easter Eggs work better on the site as opposed to on the DVD.
Labels: Cartoons, Comedy, Internet shows
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Animaniacs: Volume 2:
There are very few really great cartoon shows of the last twenty years. Growing up in the 80s and 90s most cartoons were created with the intention of selling a boatload of toys. These shows tended to treat kids like mind-numbed robots who were had to be reminded not to run with scissors. While many of these shows have quite a bit of nostalgia for many, they really weren't all that entertaining.Contrast that with Animaniacs. Animaniacs was for me, along with Tiny Toon Adventures was perhaps the most revolutionary cartoon series of my childhood. Watching it as a child I laughed at the sheer craziness of everything. The difference with watching them now however, is that there is a whole new lineup of jokes that I never understood as a child including references to the Jackie Gleason show and Gilbert & Sullivan musicals.
Animaniacs is definitely up there with my favorite cartoon shows and I have been enjoying these sets and introducing them to my brother who never watched them on their original broadcasts.
Of note, this disc also contains the rather controversial cartoon "Moon Over Minerva" which was reportedly edited for TV broadcast, although according to Wikipedia it is presented here uncut. This means no more airbrushed cleavage and no innuendos edited out.
The extras here are limited to some trailers for other dvd sets and some interviews with the writers and producers. This is quite fascinating although I definitely felt it was way too short and much more could have been said. That said, I don't know of another series in my collection, save for perhaps some of the Disney Treasures sets, that I would recommend more.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Jackie Chan Adventures Vol. 3: Shadow of Shendue: Jackie fights his way through three more episodes searching for more talismans. Adding very little to the last disc, the show is, not surprisingly, a mere kids' show and its depth is non-existent. Still, it has its moments and hopefully may inspire kids to pick up Project A or Wheels on Meals when they get older.
One other thing to note is that the practice of releasing children's cartoon series here in America is definitely not without its faults. Jackie Chan Adventures is a fun show that really deserves moderately priced season sets. Unfortunately due to the lack of reasonably priced singles and the fact that the releases aren't complete I won't be picking up the rest unless I can get them dirt cheap.
Labels: Cartoons, Jackie Chan
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Jackie Chan Adventures Vol. 2: The Dark Hand Returns: I was at Big Lots a couple months back and I was browsing their small collection of DVDs seeing what closeouts I could find when I happened across two volumes of Jackie Chan Adventures. Naturally they didn't have Volume 1 but I picked up 2 and 3 nonetheless.
I had heard of JCA ever since it was originally broadcast. While I love Jackie Chan's films, I avoided this show as I believed it would be something in the awful mold of other celebrity to cartoon series and in one sense I was right. On the other hand the show does deliver in the form of action and a story that is palatable for the average 8-12 year old.
Drunken Master fans may want to avoid this but it's not awful; it's just not that special.
Labels: Cartoons, Jackie Chan
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Vista Series: Finally off the backlog is a film I preordered a few years ago. Roger Rabbit comes in a great two disc set chocked full of extras. Strange that it takes me so long to watch certain things.Who Framed Roger Rabbit came to theaters in 1988. I was a normal five and a half year old when one day my dad decided to take my brother (then aged 9) and myself to the local movie theater to see the new cartoon / live action film all the kids were talking about, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. My dad seemed to think I could handle it and while I did do remember laughing at some parts, I was scared to death at the climax.
While my dad was usually a good parent, he made a bad decision taking me to a film I wasn't ready for (one I didn't let him repeat two years later with Dick Tracy.) I was actually so scared that this film traumatized me to a point where I would not watch the VHS copy we had of this film at all and never saw the film again until I decided to give it a second chance when it was the Sunday afternoon movie in High School.
Now I love the film and it's no surprise given the lush recreation of post war Hollywood and the scores of classic cartoon characters from various studios interacting. Plus Mel Blanc, Mae Questel et all were still alive at the time to provide the voices for their respective characters. Sadly, all have passed on since 1988.
The film is great but take my advice and really know your kids before showing it to them.
Labels: Cartoons, Comedy, Disney
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Scruff: What Will We Do With This Dog? Every once in a while I find something really good in the dollar bin. Most of the time I find mediocre rubbish. When I picked up Scruff, I found something far worse, I found total suckitude.Scruff is about a dog who gets lost and is found by some new people and he learns about animals ... or something. In all honesty, I gave up after about 15 minutes.
The animation was terrible. The characters looked as if they were drawn in Paint and they lacked any fluidity to their movements. Sadly their mouths had a hard time lining up with the voices which was ok as it distracted me from the putrid voice acting.
Digiview has been releasing several titles from the BKN Kids line. Unfortunately while this one sits on shelves, Pocket Dragon Adventures is still awaiting a second volume and I, for one, can not wait for more Roswell Conspiracies.
$1 of boredom is a dollar not well spent. I am skipping this and Volume 2. Both are officially purged from the backlog. So now I am left to wonder if this is worse than Princess Gwenevere & the Jewel Riders.
Labels: Cartoons, Crap, Dollar DVD
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Danger Mouse: The Complete Seasons 1 and 2: As two feet of snow made school and work impossible, I have been hard at work on getting the backlog down.Watching Danger Mouse is for me like taking a stroll down memory lane. When I was young I would be glued to Nickelodeon to watch Danger Mouse before the channel would switch over to A&E. It brings back a lot of good memories but, as was the case with Count Duckula, a show which I had a hard time getting into. I think if the shows were regular 30 minute episodes I'd be okay but it becomes quite difficult to watch a show that plays the theme song and a recap every five minutes.
Still, this was the first British show I ever saw and as such a lot of the jokes flew over my head as a child and I now understand them. That helps keep the show fresh but apparently not enough to make me sit down and watch more than one episode at a time.
Animaniacs: Volume 1: After a week long marathon with Charley, I have finally finished the first volume of Animaniacs. This is a show which brought back a lot of memories for me and thus it's hard to give any sort of a balanced view. Therefore I will simply forgo any journalistic integrity and be a total fanboy for the rest of this post.The Warner Brothers segments are, in my opinion, the best. They certainly tie the show together and bring the folks to the TV. For the other segments my favorites would have to be Pinky and the Brain and Rita and Runt. Even the weakest of the cartoons, Buttons and Mindy, is at worst entertaining.
This was Charley's first time watching Animaniacs and I'm pleased to say that there was another Animaniacs fan created.
Labels: Cartoons
Monday, February 05, 2007
Fairy Tale Police Department: Case File #1: Going through Dollar Tree this weekend I happened across a new display. They had a few different DVDs in paper sleeves and I came across a cartoon series I had never heard of. I went ahead and picked up the two volumes they had and expected nothing. After all, I have been subjected to such mediocrities as "The Little Dinos" before and never did I really feel cheated out of my dollar.This Australian cartoon is full of thick accents and silly stories of classic fairy tales and Mother Goose rhymes. This is somewhat like Fractured Fairy Tales meets CSI. The two main characters are Christine: a by the books cop and Johnny Legend the self-absorbed clueless cop. Together they maneuver their way through cases making sure each fairy tale has a happy ending.
It's quite silly but a lot of fun along the way. The Austrailian accents were a bit annoying at first but they seemed to grow on me with each episode. The stories themselves were simple enough for children but still kept my interest, although they never did surprise me with any major plot twists or shocking endings.
All in all, this is definitely worth the dollar I paid and more. This is an easy recommendation.
Labels: Cartoons, Cheap DVDs, Dollar DVD
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Harryhausen Shorts: Volume 1: EastWest DVD is a sort of enigma in the realm of cheap dvds. They have a handful of UPCs that they share over various releases and their copyright research is apparently, if any, is certainly not thorough. Yet, somehow they manage to find some very interesting things to put on DVD. This particular bit of animation history I picked up at my local Stop and Shop a while back and just got around to finishing it.Included on this DVD are a couple of fairy tales told by one of the masters of stop motion animation, Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen is best known for his work on such films as Jason and the Argonauts, It Came from Beneath the Sea and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Here we see some of his early work which dates back to the late 40s. This is certainly an interesting peek into a few rarely seen films, their entertainment value is somewhat lacking.
Bottom line is, buy this if you love animation history or Ray Harryhausen. All others pass on it.
Labels: Cartoons, Cheap DVDs, Dollar DVD
Monday, December 25, 2006
This is America, Charlie Brown: Back when I was a kid, there would be prime time specials which my entire family would look forward to. Back in 1988 I was glued to our big RCA television in the living room when these came on and luckily Mom recorded them on our then new GE VCR that my dad paid $300 for. Since then I have dug out the old VHS tapes and have watched them since (with the original cartoons no less) so these have great nostalgic appeal to me now to see them presented so nicely on DVD.My only complaint is that as I've grown older and have studied more history I find the presentation to be a bit biased in the topics they cover and in the way in which they are covered. For example in the presidents episode they cover such lesser presidents as Teddy Roosevelt and they give near orgasmic affection to FDR, the amoral womanizing socialist who was one of our worst presidents, while skipping over such important presidents as Washington, Jefferson Coolidge, Madison and Monroe. At least they covered Lincoln somewhat fairly.
Labels: Cartoons
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald: Volume Two: There are very few DVD releases that I look forward to these days. There is one exception, however, and that is the line of Disney Treasures that get put out each year. While I don't collect all of them, my brother does, I have been very satisfied with the releases that have come out so far and this is no exception. In fact, I'm almost positive I watched this before but it was still listed on my backlog, so here goes.Donald Duck has always been my favorite Disney character. I think part of it has to do with how he was always the second banana to Mickey and unlike Mickey was not guaranteed to come out on top in the end. Plus watching the crazy duck lose his temper was always a highlight. This set highlights the cartoons I was most familiar with growing up and those are the World War 2 era. These cartoons were when Disney was at its peak in the shorts department and the quality shines here with an enjoyable set.
Der Fuehrer's Face is on here which is, if you haven't heard of it, a cartoon when Donald dreams that he lives in Nutzi-land and has the great Spike Jones title song. While it is wartime propoganda it stands, in my opinion, as the best Donald Duck short ever made.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Count Duckula: The Complete First Season: Ever have a show that you watched as a kid and then you went back to it years later and the magic was gone? Sadly, this is the fate of Duckula. It was one of my favorite shows growing up and while some of the humor does make me laugh, especially the jokes on the various British dialects that people have but as a whole, I guess I lost my taste for the macabre humor the show exhibited.What's interesting is that as kids my brother Charley was not into Duckula much and now he loves the show. Go figure!
Monday, December 18, 2006
Dinosaur Island / Globehunters: It came again from the Bargain Bin! More accurately the clearance bin from Wal*Mart where I picked up this double feature cartoon DVD brought to us from the folks at DIC.Dinosaur Island was the main bit of interest for me on this disc. This direct-to-DVD movie is about four teenagers who are supposed to be in a sort of Survivor television show and end up crashing on a mesa covered with dinosaurs. The Lost World angle is strong and thus in some ways its hard to separate it from the classic story. In the end, however, it falls up short on the enjoyment scale and its runtime of 80 minutes is pretty much the maximum they could've done, although the ending did seem a bit rushed.
All in all, it's mediocre but not bad.
Globehunters on the other hand was rather boring and I gave up watching after about 15 minutes.
Labels: Bad Movies, Cartoons, Cheap DVDs, Dollar DVD
Monday, November 27, 2006
Adventurers: Masters of Time: After watching the silly Altair in Starland and the mediocre but passable Shadow of the Elves, BFC delivers a cartoon series I actually want to see more of and I am disappointed that more is not available on DVD. To my knowledge the show is not on American TV but if I am wrong, I would like to know what channel and time this is on.The show is about a few multi-cultural (token) kids who chase around a mad scientist through history thanks to a super computer made by their computer science professor who has become trapped by the villain known as "Hacker." They travel to Pompeii in 79AD and then in the other episode to Boston 1775. The show gives a quick History lesson without being too boring for kids.
The plot is familiar as it has been done several times before. The time travel aspect is always fun despite the fact that the same setup was done much better in The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd.
The animation is first rate in terms of Saturday Morning cartoon fare. The music I actually found to be above average and I found myself jamming a bit to the theme song.
My only complaint was that the history wasn't thoroughly researched. For example the computer system said that John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence in Boston. He did sign it but it was in Philadelphia not Boston. Also, Sam Adams NEVER rode a horse but then, I suppose they just wanted kids to get the gist of it all.
Labels: Cartoons, Cheap DVDs, History
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Shadow of the Elves: From Germany comes this animation brought straight to DVD here in the States thanks to the folks over at Genius Entertainment. This is the first three episodes and I do not know if other volumes are planned and how many more episodes exist.The show is about a village of fairies who come under attack by the neighboring group of elves. As is the case with such things we find that the commander of the elven army, Daiman, falls for one of the fairy girls named Thalia. This plays out completely predictable and I found myself being bored with the story at times.
The animation is not bad with the character designs being above average. The elves and fairies are pretty much as you'd expect them with Thalia being scantily clad and the elves mostly in battle armor.
The show doesn't break any new ground, but it was on clearance for a dollar and it's well worth that.
Labels: Cartoons, Cheap DVDs
Classic Cartoon Collection: Cartoon Superstars: Here is another DVD from the collection I bought at Target last week.The cartoons featured here are mostly typical public domain cartoons you've seen on umpteen other collections. I did buy this one almost exclusively for the Oswald Rabbit cartoon. While this is not a Disney Oswald, he is the black rabbit version and the cartoon is quite enjoyable.
The Popeye cartoon on here, Date to Skate, is a great cartoon but the macroblocking makes this almost unwatchable. The Casper one appears to have an audio problem but rest of the cartoons are passable quality based on a quick scan of them. I say if you are an Oswald fan like myself, pick it up. Otherwise pass on it.
Labels: Cartoons, Cheap DVDs, Dollar DVD
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Pocket Dragon Adventures: In Your Dreams: Kazoodles! Here's a show which I went into with very low expectations and ended up being delightfully surprised. I've been working on this show for the last few days and just finished it tonight.The premise of the show is, as the title suggests, about a group of dragons who are "pocket sized." As is usually case with childrens' shows of this nature, each character basically has a single definite trait. For example Filbert is the leader due to being the oldest. Zoom-Zoom is obsessed with flying because he cant. Next is my favorite, Specs, who has over sized glasses and always wants to research while Scribbles wants to just go forward and create a new invention. Cuddles is, as his name implies, the one who wants to sleep all the time. Finally there is the young one of the group, Binky.
The show is episodic with 12 minute stories getting simply stories told just in time for a commercial. It all plays out like the kind of Saturday morning cartoon I would have watched were it made ten years earlier.
While the other new and more pricey Digiview release of a BKN show, Princess Starla, left me feeling as though I wasted my time and money, I really feel I got a bargain on this show. I will
be sure and get subsequent releases of this. I highly recommend it.
Labels: Cartoons
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Mulan: Special Edition: 2-Disc Set: Taking a break from the normal, I decided to go ahead and watch Mulan. While Disney has not really made a great animated film since Beauty & the Beast, I will concede that this one was no as bad as their more recent films. While the art style was nice, resembling classic Chinese paintings yet still looking "Disney-ish," the story was decidedly modern and Westernized and so it felt a little awkward at times. It also follows the Disney tradition of straying entirely from the source material whenever possible. Of course, the original poem wasn't really much in the way of detail, it certainly wasn't the horrible history revision and politically correct nightmare of Pocahontas.Of course being the strange man that I am, I watched this film in the Mandarin dub only and have never seen the original English version. It's kind of cool to hear Jackie Chan and Coco Lee play the characters of the film quite well. As far as the music goes, I actually preferred the Mandarin versions of "I'll Make a Man Out of You" and "Reflection" to their English counterparts.
This leads me to the extras. One extra on the DVD is a music video with Jackie Chan doing the Mandarin version of "I'll Make a Man Out of You." To American audiences unfamiliar with his music career it must seem really odd for this stuntman to sing in a rather corny music video but Jackie can pull it off. It's too bad they didn't add anything Coco Lee's version of Reflection if anything was ever made, of course.
For the record, I will not be watching the made for DVD sequel as I find such sequels are unnecessary and most likely suck, especially when they come from Disney.
On a side note, I found the VHS tape of Under the Umbrella Tree episodes and thus I plan to watch a few of them in the coming days. This is great but I fear my backlog, which is now at 180, will stagnate for a while and barely reduce in size.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Princess Gwenevere & the Jewel Riders: Wizard's Peak: Digiview has officially moved themselves up from the one dollar line all the way up to $4 for their new, officially licensed BKN cartoons. While the last bunch, Roswell and Skysurfer, remained at $1, for some reason Digiview felt that this series was more demanding of a somewhat higher release and even put it in a full sized white case to boot! They also cut the BKN promos if they weren't cut already, yet failed to synch the cover name to the video which identifies the show as "Starla & the Jewel Riders."I really wish that they had left this release at the $1 price point as I wouldn't feel so bad about the money I wasted. That's right, the series was one of the worst pieces of garbage animation ever. First they used every cliche of what is supposed to attract young females: cute talking animals, simplistic plots about friendship and the mandatory pink and purple color palette. Of course, they even went one further and added the ultimate little girl attracting element: a pegasus unicorn!
What plot of the show there is basally is about a quest to get some sort of jewels that Merlin lost in a fight with the villain, Lady Kale. They have run ins with the bad guys and ride their unicorns, discuss outfits and basically make every male in the audience lose their lunch. I can take She-Ra, which this show does its best to imitate by the way, and yet I just can't stomach this.
Cartoon Craze Presents: Porky Pig: Porky's Prize Pony: I don't really have much to say about this release other than it was $0.75 at Wal*Mart. It had your standard stable of public domain cartoons with some non-regular ones thrown in for good measure. I will say that I don't know how well I appreciated the animal version of Noah's Ark, but it did have some funny sight gags involving getting the clouds to rain.Labels: Cartoons, Cheap DVDs
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Beauty and Warrior: Ugh! It has been a long, long time since I have seen something so crappy that I have not had the heart to review it. Honestly, Beauty and Warrior has to be the worst of all the $1 DVDs I've watched. At least the other IFD films were watchable and had their moments. Beauty and Warrior was just boring and confusing. Honestly, after watching the film and rereading the synopsis, I still have no idea what just happened.If this is normal for Indonesian animation, I humbly ask that they give up the idea because it's pretty hard to advance from this steaming pile of crap.
In good news, the backlog is finally down to 188 and I finished the first disc of Ultraman.
Labels: Cartoons
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Skysurfer Strikeforce: Time Storm: Four more episodes of the mediocre series which tries hard but doesn't deliver. A lot has to do with the idea that it tries too much. Where Skysurfer fails is in its writing. While other shows have had ridiculous premises and villains, they at least had interesting stories.I'll probably buy the rest, though. I mean, it's hard to pass up a show that will probably only cost around $6 for all the volumes. It's not really all that bad when you factor price into it.
I thought I should also mention that the backlog is now 199. Celebrate!
Labels: Cartoons
Thursday, June 29, 2006
The Best of Go Go Gophers: The Underdog show had several filler cartoons between halves of the show. Go Go Gophers was one of these shows and Classic Media saw fit to release 21 episodes of the show on DVD, much in the same format as they did with Tennessee Tuxedo.The show centers around the exploits of Colonel Kit Coyote and his attempts to use the US Cavalry to ride off two Indians off of Gopher Gulch. Of course, these aren't your average run of the mill cartoon Indians but they are Gopher Indians who have a lot more tricks up their sleeve than they let on.
The show is full of stereotypes so if this offends you, don't watch it and miss a really funny show.
And for the next DVD of the evening ...
Father Takes a Bride: From MP & GI comes a melodrama about a family without a mother.The story centers around the Wang family which consists of a father, an older daughter Jinghui ,played by the lovely Lucilla You Min, and two young boys. Jinghui plays the role of mother in the family and seems content on doing so. However two big events rock the family boat. First, their father has started to see a woman and secondly Jinghui has fallen for an old classmate of hers (played by the MP & GI regular, Kelly Lai Chen.) Of course, what the family fears is that the new step-mom will be like the step-mom who lives next door who beats her step-child daily.
The ending of course, is just what you'd expect from these types of films, so while it's not as whimsical and light hearted as others from MP & GI, it's definitely an enjoyable way to kill 96 minutes.
Labels: Cartoons
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo: Monsters on the Beach: In terms of the laws on dollar dvds, one is that they are completely unpredictable as to where they are located. Sometimes an entire company line may be carried by one store or perhaps just the newest ones or, in the case of this show, Wal*Mart decided only to stock the third and fourth volumes. I actually had to hunt down the first and second volumes for this series and I can say that I am glad that I did.Included are twelve episodes which are about 12 minutes in length each including the opening and ending credits. Each episode centers around a different bit of sea education that Mark Nemo and his two preteen sidekicks Robbie and Chris learn about. The show pretty much follows a distinct pattern and can get dull when watching the disc straight through. However, I would advise picking these up if you can; the show is really quite good!
Labels: Cartoons
Sunday, June 11, 2006
DuckTales: Volume 1: Now here is a show I've been watching on and off for a while and tonight I watched the last of Disc 3. Many episodes I remember from my childhood when I watched this show on WSBK channel 8 (or was it WXXA 23?) back when I was five years old or so. Many episodes stand out in my memory as favorites like 'Launchpad's Civil War' or the Viking one. Great entertainment which holds up just as well as it did almost twenty years ago.Now I can't wait for Volume 2!
Labels: Cartoons
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Classic Fables: Puss In Boots: Now here is a Digiview title that really knocks me for a loop. The cover shows a completely different version of the story than what is included. The disc has the 1969 version made by Toei known as Nagagutsu o haita neko or as the screen credits listed it, "The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots." Sounds like someone at Digiview made a boo boo. That said, the movie is pretty darn good and the Titra produced dub has its familiar voices and I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, I would advise picking up the Discotek disc which comes out soon. That will be bilingual and widescreen. This version was a bit faded and was only full frame.
Labels: Cartoons
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends: Bounty Wars: Five more episodes of the BKN series released by Digiview for one dollar!The Show is progressing along quite nicely with the episodes playing out quite nicely and we learn little snippets about the main characters. The best episode on the disc would have to be Fusion Breed which in some ways plays out like an old B-Movie with giant ants roaming through a small town. The worst has to be the last as it got too environmentalist-wacko preachy for my tastes.
The disc, like the first volume, suffers from source issues like the TV-Y7 branded in the corner as well as some compression problems. All in all, a decent collection for the price and here's hoping that Digiview releases the rest of the series in good time.
Labels: Cartoons
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Herman and Friends: More from the bargain bin is this collection of public domain cartoons. I have seen most of them on other discs so it was a matter of skipping over those cartoons. The real treat were the Mr Piper cartoons on there which was apparantly part of a Canadian TV show.Not much else to say about that disc. It's a dollar one and that's all it is.
As it stands now, I have a backlog tonight of 213. I guess this is what happens when you don't leave the house for a day.
Labels: Cartoons
In a trip to Wal*Mart last night, I picked up two more dollar DVDs, thus the backlog is up but I watched one today so far so its not so bad.
Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends: The Bait: From Digiview comes another of their licensed series made to the general public at a dollar a pop. The show is about this character named Nick Logan, a bounty hunter turned alien fighter for a strange group called the Alliance while he searches to find what happened to his biological father when he was three years old. It's not really explained who the Alliance are, who funds them or how one really gets a job with them. Nonetheless, they are the alien fighters and are the good guys in the show.
What's interesting is that the aliens are not the little green men aliens we've come to expect in movies, but they take the form of the myths and legends that the world has heard about for years (Banshees, Yettis, Vampires etc.) and even some join the "good" side. Logan's partner is a "young" banshee named Sh'lainn Blaze. They both work as a team with slight romantic overtones. There's also some other characters like the old man General Rinaker who runs the alliance and the comic relief known as Fitz who is on cover up duty as well as his partner who is so bland I can't even remember her name.
All in all, it's a decent show for a buck. At $1 for 5 episodes, that means if Digiview keeps this up, the entire 40 episode show could cost a grand total of $8! Not a bad deal at all, even though the cheapness of the presentation is evident with commercial bumpers left in and even the TV-Y7 rating still in the corner though I suspect these may have been part of the masters and added at the same time the titles were. One oddity is that the opening displays the [CC] logo and yet there was no closed captioning encoded on the disc.
One last note, Sh'lainn was played by Janyse Jaud who has quite a few voice acting roles under her belt including some anime. Besides that, she is one very fine looking woman! ~_^
Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends: The Bait: From Digiview comes another of their licensed series made to the general public at a dollar a pop. The show is about this character named Nick Logan, a bounty hunter turned alien fighter for a strange group called the Alliance while he searches to find what happened to his biological father when he was three years old. It's not really explained who the Alliance are, who funds them or how one really gets a job with them. Nonetheless, they are the alien fighters and are the good guys in the show.What's interesting is that the aliens are not the little green men aliens we've come to expect in movies, but they take the form of the myths and legends that the world has heard about for years (Banshees, Yettis, Vampires etc.) and even some join the "good" side. Logan's partner is a "young" banshee named Sh'lainn Blaze. They both work as a team with slight romantic overtones. There's also some other characters like the old man General Rinaker who runs the alliance and the comic relief known as Fitz who is on cover up duty as well as his partner who is so bland I can't even remember her name.
All in all, it's a decent show for a buck. At $1 for 5 episodes, that means if Digiview keeps this up, the entire 40 episode show could cost a grand total of $8! Not a bad deal at all, even though the cheapness of the presentation is evident with commercial bumpers left in and even the TV-Y7 rating still in the corner though I suspect these may have been part of the masters and added at the same time the titles were. One oddity is that the opening displays the [CC] logo and yet there was no closed captioning encoded on the disc.
One last note, Sh'lainn was played by Janyse Jaud who has quite a few voice acting roles under her belt including some anime. Besides that, she is one very fine looking woman! ~_^
Labels: Cartoons
Friday, June 02, 2006
Cartoon Craze Presents: Our Funniest Friends: A collection of public domain cartoons (all Looney Tunes) released for a buck from our friends at Digiview. The usual lot are on there and they are funny for what they are. Of note, Bugs is in blackface in one cartoons so parents might want to skip that if they find that sort of thing offensive.It isn't bad for what it is, but in a way it suffers from the fact that these cartoons are available on a hundred other collections, including other Digiview releases. The prints aren't great either which makes it hard to recommend this to anyone unless they do not have any of the cartoons on here.
Of note, 215 on the backlog sounds like an achievement but it really isn't.
Labels: Cartoons
Thursday, June 01, 2006
The World of Hans Christian Anderson: [sic] This animated feature, which was apparently made by Toei and released originally as Hansu Kurushitan Anderusan no sekai is another dollar DVD special. While I generally try and pick up classic animated features, especially Japanese ones, this one was one part weird, one part charming and one part boring. It had its moments but ultimately failed.Of note, this is another Digiview release that appears to be largely exclusive, though that may not be the case. The print was rather awful with it being washed out or faded at parts and it was a strain at times to watch.
The backlog is at 216. Go me!
Labels: Cartoons
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
King Kong The Animated Series Volume 2: This volume contains the next four episodes of the Rankin Bass King Kong show from the 60s. It's a decent show though the insert show, Tom of T.H.U.M.B. is the real highlight of the disc. The extended pilot is also there with Kong making a return visit to NYC.Now the question is, where is volume 3?
Labels: Cartoons
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Animal Farm: This is the British animated feature of George Orwell's classic fable about government and society as told through farm animals. The movie keeps pretty well to the story and does a good job portraying the various social classes through the different types of animals and is nothing short of genius.The DVD is not bad, for a dollar DVD. The print was faded at times and sometimes scratched or murky. That said, for a dollar DVD it was pretty much what I had expected.
Wow, two off the backlog tonight! That brings the final count to ... 222!
Labels: Cartoons
Monday, May 15, 2006
The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird: The folks at Digiview give us a dollar dvd presentation of this wonderful, surreal and downright bizarre bit of French animation from 1952.The story is very loosely based on a short story by Hans Christian Andersen, The Shepherdess and the Sweep, except in this story they are paintings and not china figurines. There is also a king who lives in an extremely tall castle tower and his only goals seem to be to make more pictures of himself and to shoot small birds. When he tries to shoot a bird at the beginning of the story, we meet the hero and title character, Mr. Wonderbird.
After Mr. Wonderbird taunts the king for a while he returns to his chambers and examines his paintings again. When he sleeps his painting of himself comes to life, disposes of the real king and goes on a hunt for the shepherdess and the chimney sweep.
The plot is merely secondary in this film as the true delight comes in the visuals. The animation is much different from most of the animation being made at the time. In some ways it felt like watching an experimental film with all the expressionistic visuals such as the amazingly drawn scenery, flying policemen whose coats look like bat wings etc. This is the kind of film which makes me wish I had studied art a bit more. Of course, some elements are hard to miss with the king being up higher than everyone with the lowest classes being kept underground.
All in all, it's an interesting film and props to Digiview for putting it on DVD for a buck.
Labels: Cartoons
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Skysurfer Strikeforce: Alien Attack: These are four episodes from a cartoon series made back in 1995. It was writen and produced by Americans but the animation appears to have been done in Japan, according to the credits. Skysurfer is a show that I could very easily label as crap, but I feel a better description is that it tries too hard.
Skysurfer Strikeforce is essentially a show about this team of people who become "skysurfers" by riding these flying car things. It's a cross between 80s "made for toys" sshows like MASK, He-Man etc. and some action anime. All the men are pumped and the girls have great breasts. There are also some fairly rediculous villains, lots of stuff getting blown up and convenient plot devices which allow our heroes to win.
Just as a side note, I know the show came from 1995 but it is never okay for a character to yell "No way, girlfriend!" during a battle.
Also, I am going to try adding small cover images to each post of the discs I watch. If I like this, it will continue but if it becomes too much of a pain, I'll quit.
Labels: Cartoons
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Puff the Magic Dragon: This 30 minute special also comes via dollar DVD from EastWest DVD. This delightful, but short, cartoon is something that I do distinctly remember from my childhood. It was as good as I remember it and the song is there as the background of the fairly thin plot. Still besides that, I liked it and it was worth a buck and a half hour of my life.
By the way, Puff was played by Burgess Meredith. He did, among a million other things, the documentary film at Saratoga National Historic Park which is now no longer in use. Sadly, I fear I will never be able to see that particular film again.
By the way, I raided the cheap DVDs at Wal*Mart and purchased three of them. In watching two DVDs I ended up only being up one with a backlog of 229. Oh well. When I get a free day, I'll need to pull out all my DBDs and get them organized again. Maybe it's time to buy another rack to keep them on.
By the way, Puff was played by Burgess Meredith. He did, among a million other things, the documentary film at Saratoga National Historic Park which is now no longer in use. Sadly, I fear I will never be able to see that particular film again.
By the way, I raided the cheap DVDs at Wal*Mart and purchased three of them. In watching two DVDs I ended up only being up one with a backlog of 229. Oh well. When I get a free day, I'll need to pull out all my DBDs and get them organized again. Maybe it's time to buy another rack to keep them on.
Labels: Cartoons
Asterix and Cleopatra: A cheap $1 DVD that I picked up at the dollar store because it looked interesting. I had no idea what to expect, not being familiar with the famous French cartoon character. It was a fairly decent movie and worth the dollar, but not much more. The print was rather faded but definately watchable.
Labels: Cartoons
Thursday, April 20, 2006
I've got the backlog down by two and have effectively kept it below 230 despite picking up a couple new titles (mostly dollar ones) and then skimming through my backlog. While I've watched some Maison Ikkoku episodes (finishing the second disc of box 2) I am not really tackling any big sets.
Snoopy Come Home: I watched this on Wednesday night for the first time in perhaps half a decade and yet I was amazed not only at how much I remembered but how much I forgot. Thurl Ravenscroft singing "No Dogs Allowed" brought back memories like nothing else.
While the Bill Melendez animation is certainly no where near as technologically sophisticated as today's cartoons and frankly is on par with the specials, nothing more and nothing less. What I did find interesting was the amount of "cartoon acting" on the part of the characters that I missed as a kid. Snoopy constantly rolling his eyes and having looks of disgrace as he was tied up by the girl who found him made me crack up like nothing else.
One other note, Snoopy Come Home was the first animated Peanuts to feature Woodstock. In many ways, Woodstock is perhaps an almost "jump the shark" moment for Peanuts. Most of the really deep stuff would be gone and Snoopy and Woodstock became sort of what made Peanuts the "cute funnies" at the end of the strip's life. Of course, that's just my take.
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!: I picked this up in the $5:50 bin down to Wal*Mart. The movie is funny as ever and looks as good as it should. There are some bits of dust on the film due to the quick transfer but it's certainly passable.
That all said, the umpire scene is always my favorite.
Magical Meow Meow Taruto: Magic Journeys - Volume 3: This is one that I had in the backlog way too long. The show is too cute and fun to leave there and it's now starting to have a plot. Now I just have to buy that last volume.
Snoopy Come Home: I watched this on Wednesday night for the first time in perhaps half a decade and yet I was amazed not only at how much I remembered but how much I forgot. Thurl Ravenscroft singing "No Dogs Allowed" brought back memories like nothing else.
While the Bill Melendez animation is certainly no where near as technologically sophisticated as today's cartoons and frankly is on par with the specials, nothing more and nothing less. What I did find interesting was the amount of "cartoon acting" on the part of the characters that I missed as a kid. Snoopy constantly rolling his eyes and having looks of disgrace as he was tied up by the girl who found him made me crack up like nothing else.
One other note, Snoopy Come Home was the first animated Peanuts to feature Woodstock. In many ways, Woodstock is perhaps an almost "jump the shark" moment for Peanuts. Most of the really deep stuff would be gone and Snoopy and Woodstock became sort of what made Peanuts the "cute funnies" at the end of the strip's life. Of course, that's just my take.
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!: I picked this up in the $5:50 bin down to Wal*Mart. The movie is funny as ever and looks as good as it should. There are some bits of dust on the film due to the quick transfer but it's certainly passable.
That all said, the umpire scene is always my favorite.
Magical Meow Meow Taruto: Magic Journeys - Volume 3: This is one that I had in the backlog way too long. The show is too cute and fun to leave there and it's now starting to have a plot. Now I just have to buy that last volume.
Labels: Cartoons
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Several DVDs to report on here so I will jump right in.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown: My favorite Charlie Brown movie is on DVD at last and in widescreen. Of course the film itself was filmed open matte and then animated all weird so the aspect ratio isn't 100% perfect, but I think Paramount did a good job with its release using the ratio used in theaters and with a completely uncut print.
I also like how honest the movie is. Charlie Brown isn't the super hero kid who always wins in the end. Maybe we can realize from Charlie Brown that there are other things in life.
The Civil War: Blood and Honor 1861 - 1865: A cheap documentary put together by Madacy Entertainment. While not as bland and boring as the train wreck of the $1 Thomas Jefferson DVD, but it does feature way too many reenactment scenes, amateurish reading and the narration was written in an uninteresting fashion so that I couldn't watch the whole thing straight. Still, not bad for $11, I suppose. The tin is pretty nice.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown: My favorite Charlie Brown movie is on DVD at last and in widescreen. Of course the film itself was filmed open matte and then animated all weird so the aspect ratio isn't 100% perfect, but I think Paramount did a good job with its release using the ratio used in theaters and with a completely uncut print.
I also like how honest the movie is. Charlie Brown isn't the super hero kid who always wins in the end. Maybe we can realize from Charlie Brown that there are other things in life.
The Civil War: Blood and Honor 1861 - 1865: A cheap documentary put together by Madacy Entertainment. While not as bland and boring as the train wreck of the $1 Thomas Jefferson DVD, but it does feature way too many reenactment scenes, amateurish reading and the narration was written in an uninteresting fashion so that I couldn't watch the whole thing straight. Still, not bad for $11, I suppose. The tin is pretty nice.
Labels: Cartoons
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
The month of March ended up relatively quiet to start with and it looks like April will be the same way. On the one hand, I am not watching any backlogged DVDs and thus my backlog does not go down, but it has been over a month since I got a new DVD in. While that will change when my two Charlie Brown DVDs come in, it does show something signifigant about how my tastes can change relatively quickly and I can just become fed up with the usual and just decide to quit.
Secondly, my blog is still acting funny with Firefox. removing the www seems to fit it but I still have no idea what the problem is.
As far as DVDs watched, I did finish one up the other night and that is The Best of Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales. Included were 15 short cartoons with one opening and one ending. Despite the cuts and no in-between cartoon bumpers, which I remember from the Underdog show, these are some cartoons I've been waiting quite a few years for and I can only hope that a second volume comes out soon.
Secondly, my blog is still acting funny with Firefox. removing the www seems to fit it but I still have no idea what the problem is.
As far as DVDs watched, I did finish one up the other night and that is The Best of Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales. Included were 15 short cartoons with one opening and one ending. Despite the cuts and no in-between cartoon bumpers, which I remember from the Underdog show, these are some cartoons I've been waiting quite a few years for and I can only hope that a second volume comes out soon.
Labels: Cartoons
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Jack Frost: This is the Rankin Bass special which somehow disappeared from television. It's really quite silly and it is pretty silly. Of course, I despise snow so Jack Frost is my enemy. ~_^
I don't know why I decided to watch this until two months after Christmas but I did. Oh well.
I don't know why I decided to watch this until two months after Christmas but I did. Oh well.
Labels: Cartoons
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Burn Up! The original anime from 1991 was released on DVD by ADV films and I picked it up at a slasher sale last year.
It's a fairly solid release overall. While it lacks the rampant fanservice and comedy of later Burn Up's, it does have elements of what was to come. It does not feature the cast of the later shows (Rion, etc.) but it's clear as to who originated from whom. This one is mostly action with lots of guns, crime, chases, blood etc. The content is fairly good, but I still prefer the later renditions.
It's a fairly solid release overall. While it lacks the rampant fanservice and comedy of later Burn Up's, it does have elements of what was to come. It does not feature the cast of the later shows (Rion, etc.) but it's clear as to who originated from whom. This one is mostly action with lots of guns, crime, chases, blood etc. The content is fairly good, but I still prefer the later renditions.
Labels: Cartoons
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Okay, in recent days I have received five dvds that I ordered and watched that many and thus the backlog barely has blipped. Of course this means that I have a nice collection to talk about.
Thomas & Friends: New Friends for Thomas & Other Adventures: This was my first experience to the mad world of the post Carlin episodes of Thomas and so I watched it first. Michael Angelis of Coronation Street narrated this American release like he has narrated all the British ones since Ringo left the show in 1991. The narration wasn't bad but I found that the moving away from the main engines and making stories about all these new engines gives HIT a chance to sell toys, but removes itself from the Rev. Awdry's stories too much.
Thomas & Friends: James & The Red Balloon: More Thomas, this time with Alec Baldwin as the narrator. He's alright, but certainly not as good as Ringo was. I did like how Edward got a story based around him. He was always a favorite of mine and I felt that the first engine was always neglected. New stories from the Skarloey Railway is also welcome as well, even if Rusty does look a little fat.
Thomas & Friends: Cranky Bugs & Other Thomas Stories: While the title character of Cranky from this disc is a rather boring and unexciting edition to Sodor, the disc really shines with Lady Hatt's Birthday Party. Seeing the Fat Controller working as a fireman and falling into a mud puddle made it worth the price of the disc alone.
Thomas & Friends: Best of Gordon: A decent collection with George Carlin and Alec Baldwin episodes. While I prefer the Ringo Star dubs, it was nice to get some of the older stories on DVD, although with Thomas, I end up double and sometimes triple dipping.
King Kong The Animated Series Volume 1: The old Rankin Bass show is finally on DVD. While the animation wasn't really much better than other Japanese made shows of the time like Speed Racer, it was a lot of fun to watch. When King Kong originally aired, there was another cartoon that ran with it called Tom of T.H.U.M.B. about a secret agent janitor who was shrunk, along with his Asian comrade, by some top secret ray the government was making for some unknown purpose. Anyway, the two fight against the group M.A.D (Maladjusted, Antisocial and just Darn Mean) All fun stuff and for under $10 I recommend any animation fan pick these releases up.
Thomas & Friends: New Friends for Thomas & Other Adventures: This was my first experience to the mad world of the post Carlin episodes of Thomas and so I watched it first. Michael Angelis of Coronation Street narrated this American release like he has narrated all the British ones since Ringo left the show in 1991. The narration wasn't bad but I found that the moving away from the main engines and making stories about all these new engines gives HIT a chance to sell toys, but removes itself from the Rev. Awdry's stories too much.
Thomas & Friends: James & The Red Balloon: More Thomas, this time with Alec Baldwin as the narrator. He's alright, but certainly not as good as Ringo was. I did like how Edward got a story based around him. He was always a favorite of mine and I felt that the first engine was always neglected. New stories from the Skarloey Railway is also welcome as well, even if Rusty does look a little fat.
Thomas & Friends: Cranky Bugs & Other Thomas Stories: While the title character of Cranky from this disc is a rather boring and unexciting edition to Sodor, the disc really shines with Lady Hatt's Birthday Party. Seeing the Fat Controller working as a fireman and falling into a mud puddle made it worth the price of the disc alone.
Thomas & Friends: Best of Gordon: A decent collection with George Carlin and Alec Baldwin episodes. While I prefer the Ringo Star dubs, it was nice to get some of the older stories on DVD, although with Thomas, I end up double and sometimes triple dipping.
King Kong The Animated Series Volume 1: The old Rankin Bass show is finally on DVD. While the animation wasn't really much better than other Japanese made shows of the time like Speed Racer, it was a lot of fun to watch. When King Kong originally aired, there was another cartoon that ran with it called Tom of T.H.U.M.B. about a secret agent janitor who was shrunk, along with his Asian comrade, by some top secret ray the government was making for some unknown purpose. Anyway, the two fight against the group M.A.D (Maladjusted, Antisocial and just Darn Mean) All fun stuff and for under $10 I recommend any animation fan pick these releases up.
Labels: Cartoons, Thomas, TV Shows
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Cartoon Craze: Bugs Bunny & Friends: Wackiki Wabbit: Standard public domain $1 DVD. Notable for the first cartoon in which Bugs gets his butt kicked by a gremlin. As a Daffy fan, it's something I loved watching.
Nice stuff.
Nice stuff.
Labels: Cartoons
Monday, December 26, 2005
Disney Rarities
Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: The newest wave of Disney Treasures were out this year and despite some disappointment with the content, I was quite satisfied with this volume. The Alice shorts were too few in number but are most welcome. What I did enjoy immensely were the volume of shorts I had not seen since I was a little kid watching the Disney Channel before they decided to look only at the 8-14 year old girl market.
Labels: Cartoons
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
One more watched tonight:
I finished up Captain Nemo volume 1. Now I just need to find the one last volume.
I finished up Captain Nemo volume 1. Now I just need to find the one last volume.
Labels: Cartoons
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Tubby the Tuba: No not the old classic Puppetoon cartoon we all know and love, this is a star studded and long forgotten feature film version.
The animation is about standard for a mid-seventies cartoon. The story, on the other hand, is completely lacking and is all and all quite boring. While I was at first excited to find this long lost cartoon which starred one of my favorite comedians, Dick Van Dyke, after watching it I am thoroughly disappointed.
Oh well, at least it was only a buck.
The animation is about standard for a mid-seventies cartoon. The story, on the other hand, is completely lacking and is all and all quite boring. While I was at first excited to find this long lost cartoon which starred one of my favorite comedians, Dick Van Dyke, after watching it I am thoroughly disappointed.
Oh well, at least it was only a buck.
Labels: Cartoons
Monday, October 24, 2005
The Little Dinos: Vol. 4: More of the same and good stuff. Despite all the bad dubbing and silly plots and crappy character animation, the show is pretty good.
I need to make a good marathon day on DVDs as I'm up to 224 dvds on my backlog.
I need to make a good marathon day on DVDs as I'm up to 224 dvds on my backlog.
Monday, September 29, 2003
Not much to report on the DVD front. I have been watching the Gumby DVD set and its taking me a while to get through all the discs. Art Clokey's art films are really weird btw.
Last night I hooked up some little 40Watt Speakers which will be my rear speakers. Now all I need is a center, a sub and a larger room.
Last night I hooked up some little 40Watt Speakers which will be my rear speakers. Now all I need is a center, a sub and a larger room.
Labels: Cartoons
