I need a break from Open Critique Days, though they'll return next week, but in the meantime I thought it would be fun to have another Sharing Day!
Here’s the deal:
You can ask me any question you like about whatever you like, which I will answer either completely truthfully or not at all (in which case you can ask something else). I say that because, come on, there are some things no one should have to know.
But you can only do so if you answer the following question about yourself (note that you don't have to ask me anything, if you'd rather not, but I'd still be interested in your answer):
What is your favorite cartoon from your childhood?
Here's my answer for that one:
When I was a kid, not only did we have to walk to school uphill in the snow both ways (quite the feat considering I lived in Louisiana), but we also only had three channels from which to choose, and cartoons were only on Saturday mornings. It's a miracle any of us survived to adulthood. So you didn't have a lot of options, but fortunately we did have Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Loony Tunes gang.
Even as a kid, though, I could tell that there were good Bugs Bunny cartoons and lame Bugs Bunny cartoons. Only later did I realize that one guy was largely responsible for the good ones -- Chuck Jones. His timing, direction, and art were all so striking that even an ignorant eight year old could tell how superior they were to the Bugs-by-committee that took over the franchise before I was born. All the best ones were Jones joints, from "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" to "The Rabbit of Seville" and "Bully for Bugs" and so many more. It got to the point where I'd drag my Underoos-clad butt out of bed at the crack of dawn to catch Loony Tunes, and if it wasn't a Chuck Jones one, I'd just turn around and crawl back under the covers.
Don't get me wrong, I loved my "Herculoids" and "Space Ghost" and "Transformers" cartoons, but for me, Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny will always be the best cartoon of my childhood.
Now it’s your turn! What was your favorite childhood cartoon? And if you have a question for me, just know that I will most definitely not be posting pictures of myself in Underoos.
“Around the world in 80 days” (or “Around the world with Willy Fog”) that Spanish version with a lion character for Phileas Fogg. I still love it and watch it when ever possible. I even have it on dvd in English, but I prefer the Finnish song translations. But there is absolutely nothing that can beat that series, nothing.
I also used to like “Jem and the Holograms”, but only as an adult I found out actually how many episodes it had, I had hardly seen the beginning when I was little…
I have no question now, but if I come up with one I’ll post it later.
The 80’s was such a great time for cartoons. We had G.I. Joe, Thindercats, Ghostbusters, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, He-Man, but for me it was Transformers all the way. Even though it was just a half hour long toy commercial, those episodes just stick with you. And even as cheesy as they were, I’d still rather watch them than those overblown Micheal Bay disasters.
Jeff, who’s you favorite indie comic character, if you have one. If not, how about an offbeat one from the big guys.
My favorite cartoon from my childhood was definitely Ed, Edd, and Eddy. I still watch it from time to time, if only for nostalgia.
My question: Do you know of any good online sources of reference material for realistic artwork? Things such as poses, body types, facial expressions, and the like. I tried searching on several search engines for such reference material, but most of what I find are tutorials for cartoony- or manga-style drawings, where, as I said, I prefer realistic artwork references (I can add any exaggeration I want from my own imagination).
There was quite a bit. I mean, I used to watch Tom and Jerry, Loony Tunes, Scooby Doo. I do remember getting my first anime fix by watching Battle of the Planets and Robotech (completely Americanized versions of Gatchaman and Macross respectively, although the first more so than the second), which has turned into a life-long obsession.
Still, for absolute, “I don’t care how cheesy it is, I will still stop everything and watch it if it comes on TV,” I’ve got to go with the old late ’60s classic Spider-Man cartoon. And I’m certain having said that, everyone who reads this will instantly have the theme song in their respective head. We’ve all heard it.
I’d almost like to ask why I’m still awake, but I doubt you can answer that. I’m going to take another crack at sleeping, and hopefully have a better question for you when I wake up.
Only one favorite? Not fair! I am huge collector of superhero animated cartoons. I’ll pretty much buy anything from Johnny Quest (Alex Toth was a trailblazer), Thundarr The Barbarian (just added to my collection), Space Ghost, Birdman and all the more recent animated features. I love that the production of new superhero shows (Avengers, Young Justice, Brave and the Bold, etc…) has kicked into high gear and I can watch with my sons.
My favorite that sticks out would have to be Spider-man and his Amazing Friends (No DVD yet for region 1!) I remember viewing that as a wee lad and always excited to see which comic character would next be adapted for the show. There was a touch of humor that always ran through the dialogue that brought Spiderman closer to his comic book counterpart.
Question: What new animated features has caught your eye and why?
Super Friends was my favorite cartoon in early childhood (5 years old). I still remember getting a Big Chief notebook half way through the kindergarten year that was supposed to be used for school. Instead I filled every page with superheroes that I made up, half of them rip offs of the Super Friends and other heroes that I had seen on TV.
What cartoon do you dislike the most and why? This can be from childhood or present. (I actually hated Scooby Doo because all the villains turned out to be “normal” people. I wanted real monsters!)
In the honour of April’s day: What is the best/funnies April fool’s joke you have been subject to?
Like you Jeff, I had peasant view as a kid and didn’t really get many cartoons. That plus I was working on the weekends by the time I was 8 so I didn’t get much opportunity to watch cartoons. I do remember though that I would always look forward to visiting my Gramnda during summer break because she had access to different and exciting channels; one of which had GI Joe on it. I also got excited when we visited my dad’s cousin because I got to see Dungeon’s and Dragon’s! I think I only saw like 2 episodes but I thought it was great.
No question yet. I’ll let you know if I come up with one.
Ooh, this is super tough. I would wake up at 5 am on Saturdays to watch cartoons but refused to get out of bed at 7:30 to go to school. There were the classic Looney Tunes. For some off-brand nostalgia, there was the Amazing Power Hour, Hero High, Galaxy High, Mighty Orbots, Dungeons & Dragonsu…
I’d have to say Danger Mouse. After all, he’s the ace. He’s amazing. He’s the strongest. He’s the quickest. He’s the best.
Question, Jeff: Any plans for “3D” HM?
My favorite show was Static Shock. Yes, I’m a young’un. It presented a likable, realistic cast of characters who were thrust into positions of power, a la Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. It was decently animated, too. I loved that show.
So anyway, Jeff, I dunno if this has been asked before, and if it has, I apologize, but are you of any relation to esteemed voice actor Kyle Hebert? You share a surname and, if I do say so myself, bear a striking resemblance to each other. Photos for reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Hebert
http://jeffness.net/
Dionne Jinn (1 & 7): Geez, I have such a bad memory. The only one I can really recall is from the local rock station in San Antonio. They announced at the crack of dawn that some huge band was landing at 9am for a surprise concert in San Antonio for some benefit, and an enormous crowd showed up at the airport with signs, banners, cheerleading stuff, etc. to welcome them. Only it was all made up — no band, no concert, no plane. People were pretty pissed but I thought it was funny.
Dan (2): You are so right, those were some great times to be a geeky little kid. I liked all the ones you mentioned, but even then I was like “Why is this animation so much crappier than the good Bugs Bunny?” I was an old man at 8, apparently.
Let’s see, as to your question, does Image count as indie any more? If so, definitely “Invincible”.
If not, then I don’t really have an answer; since I live in the middle of nowhere with no comics shop anywhere within eight hours’ drive, keeping up even with the big boys is nigh impossible. Much less finding new indie stuff.
So even though it’s a comic strip and not a comic book, far and away my favorite thing since “Calvin & Hobbes” ended is the online strip “XKCD”.
Ahhh, Calvin and Hobbes. Genius.
Jadebrain (3): Mostly I use Google Images for specific reference needs, but there are other good resources out there. I purchased a couple by Buddy Scalera that were well worth the cost. Everything’s on searchable CD so you can get what you want either on-screen or on paper.
Other good sites are:
Photo reference for comic artists: Good general full-body photos of comic-book-style poses.
Hands for Drawing: A totally cool 3D, rotating set of hands in various poses. You move it around to be in the orientation you want, then do a screen grab and paste into your drawing for reference. It’s all in Japanese but you can just click on each link till you find the hand you want.
Myro (4): Battle of the Planets! I was trying to remember the name of that one, thanks. That was the first Japanimation series I ever enjoyed, even though I used to get so mad at some of the art I’d throw things.
And yes, now I have that song stuck in my head. Thanks. That and “When Captain America throws his mighty shield!” are some of the most aggressive geeky ear-worms ever.
ams (5): Toth was awesome, absolutely. You know, I look at his drawings and character designs, which are so full of life and energy, and then look at the cartoons that were done based on them, and I can’t figure out where the vitality went. I guess the incredibly cheap overseas animation houses gave the studios what they paid for.
But yeah, the actual Toth designs rocked.
As for new animated features, for TV I still go for “Batman: The Brave & The Bold”. For movies, I think everything Pixar puts out is solid gold, right up there with the best stuff ever done, anywhere. The other animation houses (Disney included) just don’t have the same magic.
“We are on in our way in space, we are protecting mother earth…..” Even now my brother joins in the chorus whenever we hear the music start. For me it was “Star Blazers.” It was on weekday afternoons. My brother and I would race home from after school to watch it, so we didn’t miss a minute of it.
Although aesthetically it was cheap 70’s anime, it had everything a growing boy could want: spaceships, explosions, space battles, explosions, scantily dressed females, and did I mention explosions? Plus it had something that I had never encountered before in cartoons, never mind television: a continuous story arc. You couldn’t miss an episode! If you did you had to talk to your friends in the playground to catch up on the story.
Oops, excuse me, I hear the whine of the wave motion cannon charging up…
dblade (6): Oh yeah, “Super Friends” was an absolute staple, cheesy as it was. I liked seeing what random character I never heard of would debut next. The “Legion of Doom” swamp-Vader headquarters was awesome. Although I always wondered why they didn’t all just kick up their feet and play cards while Superman dealt with whatever problem was threatening everyone that day, since he pretty much handled it all solo anyway.
OK, random anecdote. The only cartoon segment I can honestly say taught me something I still used today (besides the fantastic “Schoolhouse Rocks” ones), is from Super Friends. They would do these brief interludes before commercials where one of the super-heroes would give you “tips you can use”. Aquaman did one where he said if you have something stuck in your eye, you can pull your top lid down over the bottom lid, which will make you tear up and flush out the obstruction. And what do you know, I still do that today!
And you say Aquaman sucks. Bah! Oh wait, that was ME who said that.
Cartoons I hate today. Hmmm. I don’t actually watch all that much any more. I’d probably have to say it’s the “bad” Bugs Bunny / Looney Tunes stuff. Because I liked Chuck Jones so much, seeing the same thing done poorly just cheeses me off totally. It’s so corporate and lifeless and lame … To me, it’s a stark contrast that shows all the worst parts of big-business animation.
Atomic Punk (9): “I would wake up at 5 am on Saturdays to watch cartoons but refused to get out of bed at 7:30 to go to school.” is a great line, thanks! That sums it all up so perfectly.
No plans for “3D” HM, although that would be awesome. The major stumbling blocks are a) I don’t know anything about 3D and b) there is no Flash equivalent for rendering 3D objects in a user-friendly way in a browser.
I grew up in the early to mid-nineties, which were the heady days of the afternoon (mornings were sooo passé) classics from Disney, like Talespin and Ducktales, and the Nicktoons (Rocko and Angry Beavers were my faves), but it was also right before Cartoon Network. This cartoon was the only thing on Sunday for a kid to watch (KaBLam! later took that spot), on TBS for some reason.
Two Stupid Dogs
It was about two dogs. Two stupid dogs. And they wandered around stumbling into random situations. It was simple and awesome, plus not as overtly nasty as Ren and Stimpy. (Which I still loved too.) And, being a kid with cable all my life and taken to awesome PG-13 movies, I *got* the jokes they tried to get by the censors. Like the episode with the stripper. Or the one where the went to the drive-in, wondered aloud why everyone went there, and then all the cars started rocking. Didn’t I feel clever!
Not that I didn’t enjoy the classic classics, of course. The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show theme starting, on Saturday morning no less, was known to send me into hysterics. Daffy has always been one of my top ten favorite cartoon characters ever. I always want him to win, to get something, but that would ruin the joke. So he HAS to suffer. For the gag! How tragic. I don’t think he was in on the joke for a very long time…
Super Friends, Batman, and Tarzan.
Jeff: What is your favorite Disney-created animated villain…that you enjoy for their character/attitude/design/whatever rather than the scale of evil they are at?
I was lucky. I grew up in a place with seven channels instead of just three. We were very lucky since one of them played cartoons every day after school and another played old ones before and extended the hours during the summer. I was able to watch not only the great Looney Tunes (the Chuck Jones episodes were my favorite too) but also but fun live action Japanese stuff like Spectraman, Ultraman, and Johnny Soku and His Flying Robot. Great times to grow up a geek. I have a hard time picking a favorite but have to go with the Looney Tunes mostly because those were the only cartoons my dad would sit down and watch with us. I always hated most of the Hanna Barbara attempts at being funny especially Magilla Gorilla and Pete Potamus because they never measured up to the Warner standard.
Jeff, when did you figure out you could draw and what did you create when you did?
This is unrelated to your post, but the link for heromachine isn’t resolving…do you need to kick the server? I’m trying to build a friend’s alter ego “ResMan” 🙂
Violet (19 & 21): I’ll have to check that one out, it sounds fun.
I think my favorite Disney villain would have to be from arguably my favorite Disney animated movie, “The Little Mermaid”, with the undulating creepiness of Ursula. Although I really liked James Woods’ “Hades” from “Hercules” too, the voice acting on that was outstanding.
Mr. Mike K (22): You lucky bastard. Yeah, you’re right, those hanna Barbara toons were the absolute worst. Not funny, terrible animation, stupid characters. Ugh.
I’ve been drawing pretty much since I could pick up a pencil. Mostly it was super heroes from the comics I was reading — Superman, Flash, even some Tarzan and stuff. I was always, always, always drawing since I was a kid. My mom worked for Exxon and would bring home reams of used computer paper, the kind with the alternating green and white strips with dot matrix perforated edges with holes … I’d draw on the backs of those.
My brothers would draw too, and I wanted to draw like they did, which I guess was my early inspiration.
Shannon (23): Hey! I’m not sure what’s up, I can resolve both the HM3 and HM2.5 links fine …
Wait, I loved Jafar from “Aladdin”, too.
But Ursual still gets the win. She was just so tentacular and saucy and so pleased with her little evil operation. She wasn’t the most evil one ever, but she looked great, sang great, and really pulled off the whole villain schtick.
As for me, my favorite cartoons from my childhood were Woody the Woodpecker and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I liked them so much…ahh, those old times…anyway, here is my question.
Jeff, what do you think about mythic creatures appearing in comics or comic-based movies, cartoons etc? All those gods and heroes like Thor, Hercules and others?
Definitely Scooby Doo (pre-Scrappy Doo of course).
Being younger than most people here, I grew up with X Men Evolution, the Batman, and Toonami. Even still, I’ve always loved older cartoons. One of my favorites has always been Sccoby Doo, the original and What’s New were about equal in my opinion.
However, overall I agree with Jeff and I have to go with Looney Tunes. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd are all a big part of my childhood. Stories like Duck Amuck, Ali Baba Bunny and The Great Piggy Bank Robbery all still resonate in my mind. I believe I learned to laugh thanks to them.
My question to you, Jeff is What is your favorite movie, non scifi related?
Woe unto me, I’m awake again, for good this time. So Jeff, what would you say is the most personally rewarding thing about working on HeroMachine?
well, now I definitely love Family Guy and Bleach more then anything, but when I was really little, my favorite was Yugioh no question. I still love playing the game and will watch the show too. I remember one time when I almost started crying because I hadn’t taped the newest Yugioh episode and missed it.
now a question, do you consider characters like batman and robin to be superheroes. I mean comic book characters without powers. I say they can still be cool characters but I wouldn’t call them superheroes, what about you?
As an early to mid-nineties kid myself, the Bruce Timm-produced Batman animated series, X-Men animated series and the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest were the ones I always looked forward to. If anybody even remembers The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, let me know. I feel like I’m sometimes the only one who remembers any of this.
I was all about Casper the Friendly Ghost.
How are the horses?
@McKnight: I loved that show! I remember little to nothing about it now, but I watched it at any opportunity when I was younger. It has (had?) a surprisingly large online fandom, iirc.
I’m going to have to go with Batman Animated Series. I’ve never really been into cartoons, but that one definitely had its moments.
I was a miniature nerd with barely any cable. I watched Magic School Bus on PBS and pretty much nothing else.
The earliest cartoon that I can remember being my favorite at the time would have to be G-Force ( AKA; Battle Of The Planets, AKA; Gatchaman )
Out of all the cartoons I watched, and still do there are a few that shaped me. First was Danger Mouse, a spy mouse in a flying car fighting an evil frog, it was awesome. Then came Count Duckula and M.A.S.K.
But the best o the bunch has to be Batman the animated series. It really was art to me. It ha some of the best writing on tv and never pulled punches.
Doomed Pixel (10): We might be related somewhere down the Hebert family tree, but not as far as I know — Hebert is a SUPER common name down Louisiana way. All us Cajuns do kinda look alike, though 🙂
Malfar (29): I’m not quite sure I understand the thrust of your question. I love mythic creatures, particularly anything from the Greeks. I think those stories are the archetypes for modern super-hero stuff and are tremendous fun in their own right, so anything that gets modern audiences into them is great in my book.
If that’s not what you meant, let me know.
Dr. Shrinker (30): Modern research has revealed that Scrappy Doo is, in fact, the spawn of Satan.
@Kaldath: I was hooked on G-Force especially the original English dubbing. Something about the character of Key-Op and his weird speech patterns made the show. I was disappointed when they dropped it from the redubb. I am amazed that no one has mentioned Speed Racer as their first anime. It was for me.
Vampyrist (31): My favorite all-time non-geeky movie is tough. In comedy it’s probably “Airplane”. For drama, probably “Amadeus”. For romantic comedy, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”.
Myro (32): The most personally satisfying thing about working on HeroMachine is the periodic realization that I am getting paid to do my two favorite things — write and draw — about one of my favorite subjects — super-heroes. It honestly boggles my mind sometimes and I feel both humbled and honored.
Here’s my questions Jeff. What is the most annoying part of working on Heromachine?
joel (33): I wasn’t ever much of a Family Guy fan, though I think other prime-time stuff like The Simpsons and South Park are pure genius. It’s an interesting change from the Saturday morning cartoon fare, isn’t it?!
I would definitely call characters like Batman and Robin super-heroes. They do heroic things well beyond the ability of even the best normal human. I don’t think you have to have meta-human powers per se to qualify as “super”, particularly considering how many of the very early characters we think of as super-heroes were just regular guys.
To me, the term means a hero who does things at a level beyond even most fictional adventurers. Like, the original Doc Savage and James Bond characters were adventurers, but not super. Batman, while also not having powers, operates at a level those guys can only dream of. Can you imagine James Bond kicking Superman’s ass? I think not. It’s like, all the elements are the same, but the level is just a lot higher.
Hope that makes sense. Just my perspective, of course.
McKnight57 (34): I don’t remember the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, honestly. Though I do credit the original “Batman: The Animated Series” with helping to get me interested in comics again. Damn, that was a great show.
Whit (35): They made a cartoon out of Casper? When my dad would bring home a big stack of comics, half would be super-hero stuff for us and the other half would be Casper, Wendy the Witch, Richie Rich, and Archie for the girls. Good times.
The horses are good, thanks! We just added a fourth member to the herd, a Tennessee Walker named Blaze who likes to lick things. Steering wheels, hands, hats, fences, buckets, it’s all lick-worthy for Blaze.
Kaldath (39): That’s part of what aggravated me about that show — it was on two different channels with two different titles, and while the characters looked the same the stories seemed totally different. It was a hot confusing mess!
Does anyone remember the sci-fi adventure story that featured puppets?
MMI (47): Definitely the worst part is redrawing items. I hate hate hate it. Even just converting an item from male to female kills me. It’s not as bad as it was in version 2, when I had to draw every single item literally six times over, which almost drove me insane. I actually hired people to do conversions for me, that’s how much I hate it.
Growing up in the ’90s without cable meant that I didn’t get to watch a lot of the shows that my friends watched. Furthermore, my parents were pretty restrictive about our T.V. use: we weren’t allowed to watch anything other than PBS during the day on weekdays, and we weren’t supposed to watch anything violent, which ruled out most of the super-hero shows. (Though I’m sure I, like most little girls, went through a phase when I wouldn’t have admitted to wanting to watch those “boy shows” anyway.)
So that left us with Arthur and Magic School Bus during the week, and The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, Schoolhouse Rock, and Science Court (does anyone else remember Science Court? It seems like whenever I mention it nobody knows what it is) on Saturday mornings.
Of those I’d say Magic School Bus and Schoolhouse Rock stuck with me the most.
I had a question, but I don’t remember it, so I’ll post one later.
Aa, Jeff (52) that explains why there is still no shirt tied under bust -female version.
But my goodness, people! I haven’t even heard about half of the stuff mentioned in this conversation. But that maybe just that I’m silly 80s girl from Finland where most of the cartoons came from Sweden with horrifying Finnish voice overlay…
Mr.MikeK (44): If i understand it correctly, the reason why.Key-Op was given the weird semi-robotic speech pattern in the English dub was because the original Japanese character, well, had “potty-mouth.” They inserted the clicks and whistles to cover his random outbursts of profanity, as by talking normally, there wouldn’t be enough to say before his lips stopped moving.
Jeff (51): Are you thinking “Thunderbirds?” I’ve watched a couple episodes, but the cheesy marionette action kinda threw me off too much to get into it.
Strangely, when Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame made Team America: World Police with marrionettes, that same crazy puppet action was a source of humor for me.
Yeah, that’s it Myro! It definitely is a quirky, odd little show, but I recall I kind of liked it. “Team America” definitely brought back fond memories of it.
@logosgal: Hell yeah, Science Court! It started airing when I was just entering the sixth grade, so I couldn’t really admit to watching it religiously…Like I totally did. It was by (and mostly starring) the same people who later made Home Movies, so it was hilarious and had all of the funny background/visual gags one would expect.
I caught a few episode the other day on youtube and it was still as good. Which made me happy, ’cause not a lot of childhood shows do. Anyone thirsty for more Home Movies should at least check the series out for an episode or two.
My favorite was definitely BBC’s “The Animals of Farthing Wood”. I think the deaths of some of the characters in that cartoon series may have traumatized me for life. @_@
And this was a children’s series.
Jeff, how far do you think Heromachine will go? Will we ever see HM 4 for instance?
Solander (59): I don’t know, honestly. I’ll just be happy to see HM3 go live, and then whatever happens, happens. I think unless some sort of web-enabled 3D utility were to go live and we could do an HM3D version, though, that this one is pretty much the pinnacle of what’s possible. With the ability to essentially make your own items, there’s not a lot more to do, you know?
I am really glad people mentioned magic school bus! I haven’t thought about that show in years!
I would also have to agree with Jeff’s assessment that southpark is genius (it totally is)
Alot of great cartoons have been mentioned. I’d like to give props to the Filmation Flash Gordon cartoon (supposedly) funded by Dino Del Laurintis to help promote interest in his Sam Jones-starring fiasco. The cartoon was actually quite good.
@Jeff: The first Japanimation I remember watching (and I’m REALLY showing my age) is “Kimba The White Lion”.
Question: What is the purpose of the box in the upper right hand corner of HM3? Just feels to be a lot of space with not purpose.
Thunder Cats, and yes I had a total fan-girl moment when I saw the preview for the new show.
unknownblackpaper (63): That’s where the UGO ad will go once this moves to beta status and hits their servers. That’s what keeps the whole thing free, so definitely not wasted space 😉
Just one? You’re killing me Jeff! Being part of the last generation to have Saturday cartoons worth watching instead of the BS Disney and Cartoon Network run now, I have a long list of favorites.
Being female, and therefore, indecisive – My Top
FiveSix(To hell with it) Ten:1. Tom and Jerry – Best. Cartoon. Ever.
2. Scooby Doo
3. Recess.
4. Pokemon – The original series and Orange Leagues, once they passed the 150-ish mark it became ridiculous.
5. Codename: Kids Next Door – It finally explored theories for the things adult did that we all thought of as kids.
6. Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner
7. Bugs Bunny
8. Tiny Toons
9. Animaniacs – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv6IWX1_XHQ
“Wheel of Morality turn, turn, turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn.”
10. Kim Possible – Yes, I know. But Shego was bad-ass and there was subtext damn it! Subtext!
My question: Am I the only one who felt the Road Runner was sadistic and wished Wile would get his dinner?
Something always bugged me about Wile E. and the Road Runner (although this joke’s been done before). Wile E. Coyote can order dynamite, rockets, and catapults, but doesn’t have the money to go buy groceries. Acme must have had one hell of a credit plan.
Danny (62): I vaguely recall Kimba the White Lion, but Sundays where I lived as a kid had some wild old crap at times. I can also remember, despite the fact that it was one of the first successful anime series to be imported to North America, I had never seen Astro Boy until I was 12, which again, would randomly show up on Sundays.
GI Joe is the only cartoon I ever faked being sick to stay home and watch. I tried this twice, and it didn’t work either time. The first time, my parents sent me to my grandmother’s house because neither of them could stay home with me, and therefore, no cartoons; the other time, the reception was particularly awful and the channel GI Joe was on simply wasn’t coming in. So I guess that was probably my favorite, although Loony Tunes or Merry Melodies (especially Coyote and Road Runner) were a very close second. My non-childhood favorites would be Batman, Animaniacs, and the Tick. I may have to grow old, but nobody can make me grow up.
Do you think UGO would consider letting you sell downloads of HM3, like you used to do with HM2?
And who did the best “Tom and Jerry” episodes? None other than Mr. Chuck Jones. The man was a BEAST!
X-stacy (68): I’ve given up trying to guess what UGO will and won’t do, honestly. They’re not really set up to do monetary transactions, but it’s certainly possible they’d be willing to try.
@MetallicaFan: I watched Kim Possible when it ran on Sunday nights. It would be just me and the bartender. One night, she was behind the bar singing “Call Me, Beep Me.” The other bartenders gave her a wierd look. She was so mad at me.
I grew up with a wonderfully broad spectrum of cartoons, I always loved Chuck’s Wily Coyote and Road Runner alongside his looney tunes work. My other favorite works were those of Tex Avery, Bob Clampett (specifically “Russian Rhapsody”). I also grew up with Disney’s now somewhat obscure “Marsupalami” series. (Apparently it is still popular back in france and belgium where it originated but I haven’t seen any of it here in America for a while.)
@ Violet (58): Woo! Glad I’m not the only one! I looked it up on Wikipedia and apparently they only ran it for like two years with the second year being reruns. And I would have been in lower elementary at the time. Which might be why most people I talk to don’t remember it.
@MetallicaFan & The Atomic Punk (65 & 71): Kim Possible was one of several cartoons that I liked but was just old enough when they came out that I would have never admitted to watching it unless excused by the fact that my little sister was watching it.
Question: (Sorry if this has been asked before; it probably has) What is your favorite novel (that was not derived from any movie, tv show, or other form of media)?
I’d have to go with Dino-Riders. Afterall, I had most of the action figures…and still do. Though I don’t pull them out and play with them as often as I once did.
Let’s see, favorite novel not derived from an existing property is as hard a question as favorite movie, as there are so many different genres. As an English major, I feel like I ought to pick something classic by Austen or James or something, but my geekery is too powerful.
So for sci-fi I’d definitely say “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card.
For epic fantasy, I’d go with the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy by Tolkien.
Jeff (50): They were made in the 1940s and 1950s. Our local independent TV station used to show it at 2:30pm on weekdays. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casper_the_friendly_ghost
Also, as far as Saturday morning cartoons go, someone reminded me here of this fantastic block of cartoons they used to show on CBS around 1980: animated versions of Tarzan, the Lone Ranger, and Zorro. That was the best Saturday animation block ever, I think.
There were several when I was growing up. Hong Kong Phooey, Top Cat, Secret Squirrel, Atom Ant, Mighty Mouse, Scooby Doo, Hillbilly Bears, Danger Mouse and Looney Tunes. Later on, I watched Centurions and Thundercats, which was eventually banned in NZ for being “too violent.” Mind you, this was when Dad was a TV producer and we had a TV in just about every room in the house.
Then, when TV3 began broadcasting (which I think was the ’90s,) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now, it would be The Simpsons, but that’s only when I remember to watch.
Do you think that there are too many comic book movies?
As I am also much younger than most on this blog, I watched the typical things like Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Odd Parents (when it first came out in the late nineties), Jimmy Neutron, and Pokemon(which I still watch to this very day). However, when I was in between eight and ten years old, I fell in love with Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was the first series that I never missed a single episode of, and I watched it every friday night at eight o’ clock (this was before DVR). I absolutely love that show and still watch episodes on netflix when I get bored. 🙂
So, Jeff, I know I asked you a Star Wars question last time, but I can’t resist. Who is/was your favorite Star Wars character? Mine is Obi-Wan Kenobi 🙂
@Jeff(69): True. Chuck Jones = God.
@logosgal(73): Same, being a teenager and watching anything on the Disney channel was uncool. Watching a show about a teen superhero that was filled with femslash subtext? The High School Gossip Machine would have had a field day. Didn’t help I watch 90’s tv shows (X-Files,Buffy,charmed) instead of current prime time and didn’t have a younger sibling to blame.
@zaheelee(78): Damn, forgot about jimmy neutron and fairly odd parents. Never liked spongebob much. Had I thought of it, I would’ve checked myself into a psych ward.
Well, before the internet beat my childhood to death with retarded parodys, creepy fans, and disturbing goolge image hentai…..Hmm….I’d say..Either, Daffy Duck, Felix the cat, Spiderman, SpongeBob,Stimpy J. Cat, Brock [from Pokemon] or Tai [from digimon].
So Jeff, what do you think of modern day cartoons/comics?
Like say, do you think they suck? Are better then the old ones?
What?
😀
Oh, nerd fact: I watched every episode of the first 3 Pokemon seasons, watched every Ren & Stimpy and Digimon season and episode, and I sadly watched every episode of the Loony Toons, SpongeBob and Avatar.
Now excuse me while I go do an activity that envolves the “outdoors”
D (77): Do I think there are too many comic book movies? If you mean this year, no. If you mean ever in all of history, again no. Like any other genre (rom-coms, drama, what have you), some of the films are really good and some should never have been made. But that’s a different thing than saying there are too many. If there are a hundred and they’re all awesome, great!
Now, I will say there are too many Hulk movies released too soon after each other. That much I can agree with.
Zaheelee (78): Definitely Jar Jar Binks. Wait, it’s not April 1 any more? Shoot.
No question in my mind, Han Solo is hands-down my favorite Star Wars character.
Nick (81): I think comics and cartoons are about like anything — some are great, but most suck. Some are as good or better than what went before. I think it’s awfully hard to make any kind of huge, sweeping claim like “comics and cartoons today are better than they used to be”, that’s just too big.
I will say that as a whole, the percentage of good comics is at least as high as it has been ever before. Good, thoughtful, interesting, well-produced comics are pretty darn common nowadays, which is great.
I also think cartoons are at a very high point in their history. We went through sort of a dreadful few decades where production values were crap (thank you, Hanna-Barbera) and the scripts were complete crap. But now there’s more volume at a higher level than I think we’ve ever had before, and much of it is really good, ground-breaking stuff.
So to sum up, I think we’re at a nice, high level of both quantity and quality in comics and animation both. As good as it’s ever been, at least in my opinion.
wierd al thinks the roadrunner was sadistic, UHF, and I think pokemon(example of my youth), batman beyond(he looked cool), and scooby doo were my all time favorite saturday morning cartoons.
thats easy GI Joe. looking back now the cartoon was very silly and kinda dumb. but still GI Joe was my favorite and though i am not much for the cartoon these days GI Joe is still at teh core of my nerdom.