Showing posts with label cartoons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cartoons. Show all posts

Thursday, February 16, 2012

No Post Friday - Pam Poovey

The past year, I have become a fan of the FX after-9:00 PM cartoon Archer.  If you haven't caught Archer, well, I pity you.

Normally when I didn't feel like posting because its a Friday and I've already said my piece for the week, I'd go dig up a picture of some lady film star of days gone by.  But I didn't find any new Marie Windsor pictures, and I don't feel like I know Audrey Totter well enough to start obsessing yet, so today we're talking Pam Poovey.



Pam is, of course, a cartoon and the HR Director at ISIS, a sort of freelance spying...  oh, forget it.  She may not be the buxom field agent of the show, nor voiced by the incredible Jessica Walters, but Pam Poovey is my kind of lady.


Also, start watching Archer.  Its really pretty funny.



Monday, December 26, 2011

Signal Watch watches: Tintin

As I understand it, Tintin is a global phenomena that somehow never exploded in the US the way the character has entertained generations across good chunks of the rest of the globe.  Its telling that the release of The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn came to the US months later than the rest of the world.  Because it is not "ours", this has meant low-flying expectations for the boy reporter here in the states and a welcome not unlike how we treat foreign exchange students when they arrive at our high schools in clothes not bought at Foley's.



We're talking about the movie here for a number of reasons.  1)  It is based upon the comics by Belgian comics-smith HergĂ©.  2)  It is a high-flying adventure movie.  3)  Its the creation of a wide-range of geek friendly folks from Steven Spielberg to Steven Moffat.

At the Alamo Drafthouse here in Austin, the pre-show rightfully showed clips of adventure serials, Indiana Jones homages, etc...  before the movie.  The comic strips in which Tintin appears actually pre-date Indiana Jones by about fifty years, so I want to make this clear to the legions of Americans who believe that action stars come in either Sylvester Stallone or Jason Statham models and find the idea of a Belgian action hero hilarious:
A)  Van Damme  B) this is the most pure adventure movie to hit the screens in the US in a decade.  And that sort of worries me about American movie-making.

Friday, December 23, 2011

SW Advent Calendar: December 23




Sometimes Christmas is all about having it out with the extended family.

I have very warm memories of watching this movie as a child. Donald's coat is still one of my favorite visuals in cartoons or live action comedy. This may inform much of what I find funny.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011

Signal Watch Watches: Green Lantern - Emerald Knights

This is not a review of the Green Lantern movie. I'm seeing that on Friday (today) at 4:15. Its supposedly horrid.

Last night I watched the straight-to-home-video Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, a feature length cartoon done at WB Animation by the core team that Bruce Timm built.

The film inherits character and set design from the feature cartoon Green Lantern: First Flight, a movie we discussed back at League of Melbotis, Volume 1.  Not all of the voice talent returns, and I have to say that I think the set design and illustrative quality is just much, much better this go-round.  And I'll get to that.

Emerald Knights follows in the tradition of the old over-sized Green Lantern Corps issues that would include short story back-ups, which used the fact that the Corps were 3600 strong, somewhat fungible and absolutely expendable to tell all kinds of stories from the tragic to the sublime.  If DC had a secret outlet for writers to try the sort of writing that happens in sci-fi anthologies or episodes of sci-fi shows like The Twilight Zone or Outer Limits that rely on a single episode to tell the story, it was in exploring different story matter than "Hal Jordan and friends save the day", and the pay off was that these back-up stories are better remembered today than what was actually happening in the main stories at the time.  And it gave a home to people like Alan Moore as he kicked around the DCU for a bit.

this is a thing which happens in the movie

Saturday, March 26, 2011

For the record: "Battle of the Superheroes" on "Batman: Brave and the Bold" was the best half hour of TV I've seen in years

That's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.

Look, I know you don't spend your spare time thinking about the statues of criminals and conquerors that Lex Luthor keeps in his secret layer, but as someone who does think about these things, the non-stop Superman fandom tribute that was this week's episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold was one of the most amazing things I've seen on TV in quite some time.

And, of course, whomever worked on the episode was apparently also a fan of the Silver-Age ancillary titles like Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, as the episode imitated classic covers and incidents from those issues.  The episode also paid tribute to the classic look of the cityscapes of the 1990's-era Superman: the Animated Series and through in the Batman armor from Dark Knight Returns for good measure.

And, the episode didn't just include Krypto, they totally got the point of DC's most underrated superhero.

All in all, the only disappointing part of the episode was that it was only half and hour and a single episode.  If DC Entertainment is looking to expand its offerings, I'd love to see the Brave and the Bold team come back with a solid hour Batman/ Superman.

Friday, March 25, 2011

The many references in a single clip from "Batman: Brave and the Bold"



00:05 - Armor from Dark Knight Returns
00:05 - I have to assume Krypto's presence is a reference, but I'm not sure to what. Hondo?
00:12 - King Superman from Action Comics 311 - that's the throne and Superman flag from the issue
00:17 - Metropolis inspired by the designs used in the Bruce Timm-era Superman: The Animated Series
00:24 - Lois and Jimmy's look is pure 1960's Weisinger dictated. Kurt Schaffenberger and Curt Swan style!
00:37 - This is the exact same move from JLU's final episode when Superman took on Darkseid (jump to 1:13 in the clip)

And I'm likely missing something here.

Superman and Batman go Classic on "Brave and the Bold"

found by @deantrippe



I can't tell you how giddy this made me. Right down to Lex piloting a Lex-version of the Supermobile.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Green Lantern Animated Film Coming in June

WB Animation previously released a Green Lantern movie (Green Lantern: First Flight) which I'd give a solid "B" (they forgot to ever show the actual lanterns at any point in the movie, etc...). With the coming of the live-action, Ryan Reynolds-centric Green Lantern big 'ol Hollywood wanna-be blockbuster en route, WB and DCE are finding all kinds of ways to exploit a supposed GL mania.

One of many outlets will be the upcoming feature-length video coming from the Bruce Timm wings of WB Animation, and it appears to be a sequel of sorts to that GL movie mentioned above. It looks like they are much closer to understanding the GLs on this go-round.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Animated Superman Fan Film is Huge Retro Fun

You'll note I broke the borders of the blog to show this video.  I thought it was totally worth it.

CanadianSimon sent along the link to this video, and I highly recommend you give it a whirl.  It includes the cartoon, plus a quick behind the scenes. 

I don't know director Robb Pratt from the online Superman world, but it seems that he completely "gets" the Golden Age of Superman and what made the character fun, and he's obviously a fan.  If you have a couple of minutes, give the video a whirl (and then hope WB notices the cartoon, because it would be great to see WB consider this style for a show).



Also, bonus points to Pratt for landing John Newton from the Superboy TV show. His voice totally works (which shouldn't be a surprise)b.

If you've never seen "The Mechanical Monsters", the inspiration for this cartoon, I recommend you check it out.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Review you don't need: Young Justice premiere on Cartoon Network

Last night Cartoon Network debuted their newest show for what's becoming a sort of all-ages action block (other shows include Star Wars Clone Wars, Generator Rex, Sym-Bionic Titan, and Ben 10).  Based very loosely upon DC's long-defunct Young Justice title (written entirely by Peter David, if memory serves), this cartoon pulls together some of the teen-aged side-kicks of the DCU into a team, but unlike its predecessor, Teen Titans, this series clearly takes place within the larger, more expansive DCU and acknowledges the legacy aspect of the DCU as the major plotpoint. 

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how, online, some comic reviewers give Smallville critcism for playing to the DC Comics fanbase with familiar names, etc... from DC Comics.  Frankly, I'm not sure I really understand the snark anymore.  Once you move the character of Superman into the DCU proper, it kind of only makes sense that you DO show those characters and/ or use them when appropriate.  "Fanwank" or not, the DCU has been around for 75 years across just thousands of titles.  Why not use those things?

One thing that has never made sense to me (except from a logistical standpoint in the editorial offices at DC) is why DC hasn't treated Teen Titans as an academy for the Justice League (just as New Mutants was for X-Men).  I understand that there was a certain "rebellion" factor in Teen Titans, but after Wolfman's run on the book, it often wound up feeling a bit like the adult figures shuttling the kids off for the weekend.  David's Young Justice somewhat addressed this issue, and in addition to some branding issues, I can understand why the developers of this cartoon picked up

This show was very, very heavily into DCU continuity without making it a blocker for understanding or accessing the show.  The story begins with several "sidekicks" given their first access to the Justice League's HQ (The HALL OF JUSTICE), only to learn that the Justice League is giving their sidekicks use of the coffeebar and library (seriously) but not including them on the actual team, Green Arrow's sidekick, Speedy, walks out on the the JLA.  Soon, the remaining sidekicks (Robin, Aqualad and Fid Flash) decide to pick up a small emergency the JLA dropped in order to deal with a planetary threat.

And shenanigans ensue.

A secret lab is dicovered, a Superboy liberated, badguys thwarted, alliances forged, property damaged, threats suggested and authority figures challenged.

Its an interesting take.  These sidekicks are in their late teens, and they make a compelling case with "why train us up if you don't intend for us to play ball?".  After all, none of these superheroes are parents to their sidekicks, and expectation of a full partnership isn't completely unreasonable, and appeals both to kids watching the show and to, frankly, all of us who were left wondering why we were sitting at the kids' table when we felt we'd moved beyond that point (ie:  all of us).

In some ways its stunning how much of an effect Kirby had on DC despite his relatively small output at the company in comparison to tons of other creators.  Kirby developed Project Cadmus during his run on Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen (seriously), as well as reviving/ revising his own creation, the Golden Age character The Guardian, who had been a part of the 1940's-ish Newsboys series, and, of course, Dubbilex, all of whom appear in the episode.  "Blockbuster" was a Bronze Age Batman villain on, I think, Earth-2, but who pops up from time to time. 

I'll be honest, when DC introduced Superboy during the Reign of the Supermen storyline, I wasn't a fan (he was supposed to be a clone grown at Cadmus to replace Superman should he die.  Which, of course, he just had).  Kon-El was depicted in a way that I always found off-putting and, frankly, kind of dim and demonstrative of the limitations of DC's stable of writers. Geoff Johns' reimagining of Kon-El in the rebooted Teen Titans went terrifically far to rehabilitate a broken character, giving him something resembling self-awareness and concern about his relationship to the "S", and its that version that seems to have popped out of the cloning tube in this show.

The show also saw the introduction of Miss Martian to animation and helped usher in the new Aqualad, as seen in the pages of Brightest Day (a comic I haven't actually read yet, but DC and the animatiuon department decided to work together to develop the character).  And, as I understand it, we'll also see a different take on Artemis, who is Wonder Woman's sort of frenemy in the comics, but here will be portrayed as a sidekick. 

The story is kind of nuts and bolts basics, but its a very, very good start.  I think they picked an appropriate scale for a threat, demonstrating both the strengths and weaknesses of the concept of the junior team, and they aren't screwing around with "is this the DCU or isn't it?" that became a meta-issue with the last Teen Titans series.  We've not only seen Superman and the entirety of the Justice League, but seen Superman kind of flip out realizing he's been cloned.  Batman making a difficult but reasonable decision.  And we've now got a very interesting way to give kids and adults new to the DCU a way to look at the DCU that won't make them feel like they're reading "dad comics". 

I was never a fan of the original Aqualad, but I am curious about the new one (this isn't Garth, who was like a weaker, dumber Aquaman).  Haven't quite figured out exactly what his powers are, and I really don't know anything about his history, but he seems to have Aquaman levels of strength, which is cool, plus some sort of "water power game grips". 

With the wide cast of the JLA shown (including Zatara, which seems random at first blush), I expect that we'll see more and more of the younger cast rolled out.  Surely Speedy isn't gone forever.  And where walks Zatara, won't we seen Zatanna? 

Anyhow, very promising start.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

DCU Animated Series "Young Justice" coming Nov. 26th

Late Edit 11/30/2010 - I keep getting hits to this post, which I wrote before the show aired. I actually reviewed the show shortly after broadcast.

There hasn't honestly been much in the way of press release stuff to the usual comic outlets about this new show, but that's okay. I get the basic gist of what they're doing, and I like the design. A sort of post "The Batman", post "Bruce Timm-style JLU" look, but building on the sort of classic DCU that the cartoons have been doing better than the comics for all but a year or two in there since Waid left JLA.

While there was value to the recent animated adaptation of Teen Titans to cartoons, I think its smart of DC to tie this new show and the Young Justice team back to the Justice League. Its something adults will appreciate as a teacher/ learner experience, and it gives the younger audience an intro to the DCU with a team of kids on the learning curve (who will, undoubtedly, push back against the adult authority figures and do stuff their own way).

Robin, Aqualad and Superboy

Kid Flash

Miss Martian
Expect the first few episodes to be a bit shaky as the show finds its grounding and its voice.  As much as I love Timm's Batman series, and Justice League series, both of those shows grew in quality each season in animation and storytelling (that said, I think Superman: The Animated Series had a surprisingly good first season, and Batman Beyond, but you could argue BB rode the coattails of the success of other Timm series).

I'm not clear on which version of which characters are in the series.  Superboy is clearly Kon-El (Conner Kent), and Speedy is Roy Harper, but is Robin Tim or Dick Grayson?  Is that Wally or Bart as Kid Flash?  As I am trade waiting on Brightest Day, I don't know the new Aqualad at all, but I'm glad he and Miss Martian (Manhunter's recent new pal) are in the line up.  I'm not sure if we're getting a Wonder Girl, but it seems like I heard we were getting Arrowette, which seems odd.

Given that I haven't been able to stomach Teen Titans since Johns left the title, I'm glad to see someone affiliated with DC is doing something to support the next generation DC characters.  DC Comics certainly has been doing a terrible job of it.

So set your DVR now, people.  7:00 on Nov. 26th, a full hour of DCU.

Our heroes

Friday, October 8, 2010

Pepe Le Pew Movie? The Bad Reviews Just Write Themselves

Corpsman RHPT sent me a link that WB is attempting to reinvigorate their cast of cartoon characters with a slate of new projects including a possible live action/ CGI movie featuring Pepe Le Pew. 

Here.

The article states that comedian Mike "The Love Guru" Myers is associated with the project and will, one way or another, play the WB's amorous french skunk  (despite his turn as another black and white furry scamp in The Cat in the Hat, the movie that terrified kids and turned a generation off of Dr. Seuss.).

If I may:  why on Earth, given the track record of live action movies featuring formerly popular franchises, would you pick the one character that will give every film critic on a global scale the opportunity to use the word "stink" in their review?

And the movie will stink.  As will box office. 

I foresee weeks upon weeks of entertainment headlines pounding and pounding away on the idea that this movie stinks, and just by virtue of going to my iGoogle or Yahoo! account, my eyes will be bombarded by this clever play on words from a million different sources, over and over. 

Also, Mssr. Le Pew's romantic tactics would get the rape whistle blown at him in this day and age.  I'm not sure who in a modern audience is going to find it hilarious that this stalker of a skunk manhandles a helpless cat against her will for the duration of the film, even if in the third reel he learns a little lesson from WB's HR about appropriate workplace behavior and not being "handsy".  And, of course, the kitty decides she misses the attention (got that, girls...?  you're gonna miss Mr. Handsy Stalker when he's gone!).

In this modern age, I am not sure Mr. Le Pew will work quite as well as he once did, in days gone by when interspecies sexual assault was good for a laugh. 

Yeah, I think I've even creeped myself out at this point
I don't have any advice for the WB. How about trying to be actually funny?  You know, the way Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and others were able to do without resorting to ridiculous CGI for the sake of CGI nonsense?

Also, the appropriate amount of time from when an anvil enters the image to when it makes contact?  13 frames.  13 frames is funniest.  Everybody knows that.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

What's Opera, Doc? - Live Action?

I consider it a great tragedy that Bugs Bunny is no longer part of the television landscape. Bugs represented the great tradition of the wiseacre, keenly aware of the absurdity of his own situation and the people/ water fowl who had created that situation, and who responded with intentional absurdity.



These kids today with their Pokemons and their Hannah Montanas... No love of mayhem in their funny business, and the subversion is mostly sly nods to the adults who might be watching. No appreciation for the well crafted gag, these kids.

Like everyone else born between, oh.... 1950 and 1985, my first exposure to opera came from Bugs Bunny. Primarily "What's Opera, Doc?" (the "I Killed the Wabbit" one), and the always classic "Rabbit of Seville".



Anyhow, I stumbled upon this live action take on "What's Opera, Doc?". It made me laugh.




The original, for comparison:



Dang, man. That's a heck of a great cartoon.

Signal Watch Watching: Adventure Time

I am beginning to notice a curious thread when I discuss shows that I like, and that's "to describe the show would not do it justice, nor would it explain the appeal".

I've caught a few episodes of Cartoon Network's new show, Adventure Time, and it's a new favorite.



No, I do not know why Finn wears the hat with ears.

I'm going to do this, anyway...

The show is about a kid named Finn who lives in a sort of all-purpose fantasy land with fairies, dragons, robots, talking mountains, burly men, penguins, etc... He's partnered with a talking dog named Jake who seems to be able to change shape and stretch. The pair often have to deal with an Ice King who really, really likes kidnapping princesses.

But, none of that is what makes the show entertaining. It's sort of the utter disregard for a straight narrative in each 10 minute chunk, or even a straight line of thought.

Anyhow, recommended.