TV » Animated Things Club

—-> Episode 13: Halloween Cartoons <—-

In this Episode we talk about 7 great cartoons to watch this Halloween.

Scary Godmother’s Halloween Spooktacular (buy it here , buy the book here, and the comics here)
Courage the Cowardly Dog, “Human Habitrail” (buy it here or download it here)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, “Luna Eclipsed” (watch it here or download it here)
Halloween is Grinch Night (buy it here )
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, “Nightmare on Wilson Way” (download it here)
Home Movies, “Coffins and Cradles” (buy it here )
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (buy the remastered dvd here, the blu-ray here, the pack with You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown here, or download it here. buy the music here or download it here)

Fall is one of my favorite times of year, and here in the northeast US, it’s been the best fall I can remember – with color staying on the trees for over a month! Something about the leaves, the way the light changes, the smell of the air (even when you live in a very urban area like I do.) And, of course, there’s the pumpkin spice flavor that almost every food chain or manufacturer injects into every edible product on the market really makes this season special. As a child, I always looked forward to the beginning of a school year, and for a long time as an adult, I associated the colors and smells of fall with optimism of the fresh start that a new beginning like that offers. But the very best reason to love this time of the year is because of Halloween, the holiday that kicks off five straight months of holidays. It’s the most fun holiday that comes with the least obligations to travel or buy stuff.

Also, my office really goes out when it comes to costumes. There’s one guy in particular who really goes far, making great costumes from scratch, and I’ve seen him in complete Darth Vader, Superman, and Green Lanterns, and Iron Man costumes. But we’re not going to talk about what it looks like when Darth Vader stops by your desk to pick up the daily Fedex shipment. We’re going to talk about Halloween cartoons!

1) Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular

I really like this show! Actually, I like it for a couple of different reasons. It’s based on a 1997 childrens’ book by comic book superstar Jill Thompson, and saw multiple incarnation in both book and comic book form, and I’m always excited to see a creator-owned comic book property have the kind of legs that this project did. The original book and one of it’s four sequels were both adapted to hour-long tv specials, the first one having a US debut in 2004 on the Cartoon Network, and pretty consistently showing every year since. The script is funny, the characters are fully developed, and it has a great sense of macabre and light-heartedness at the same time. It’s great for little kids who have trouble with the scarier aspects of the holiday, but still funny and smart enough to be fun for the rest of us big kids.

2) Courage the Cowardly Dog – Human Habitrail

Courage the Cowardly Dog is spooky all year round!

Any Courage episode works for Halloween. ANY COURAGE EPISODE! Seriously, this show was so delightlyfully creepy and off-beat that it’s like having Halloween all year round, but I’m going to specifically recommend the fifth episode from the second season, “Human Habitrail.” Why? Just because it’s my favorite Courage episode! The plot details are as excellent as any other Courage episode, but this episode is specifically recommended for the scene in which Courage chases a psychotic, human-sized gerbil on jet-skis through a sewer.

3) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Luna Eclipsed

Pony’s dressed up for halloween … there could be some meta cosplay here!

Luna Eclipsed is a great show that expolores the concept of why people like to be scared at Halloween, even though the fear is of their own construction. This episode meets the ususal high sstandards of the show to be able to break down complex concepts for children age 8 and under, but it’s also incredibly fun to watch based on how much fun the team that works on the show had with Halloween costumes on the background pony characters. Fans of the show should note this episode (although I’m sure that hardcore fans of the show like myself already have) for appearances of both Luna and Zecora.

4) Halloween is Grinch Night.

Halloween is Grinch Night!

I never saw this special as a child, so it doesn’t have a nostalgia hook for me the way my final recommendation does, but friends of mine who aren’t as into animation as I am swear up and down that this 1977 Emmy-winning special is an absolute must for Halloween atmosphere. It was written and produced by Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) himself, and is truer to some of the darker aspects of his entire body of work than How the Grinch Stole Christmas (which came 10 years earlier) necessarily reflects. Chuck Jones was not involved in this one, and none of the animation staff from the two specials overlap, which really makes it special, because it provides a real insight to Dr. Seuss’s illustrative style – the animation and overall look of this special is a lot closer to the illustrative works of Seuss than it does the animation works of Chuck Jones. I am assured that it is delightfully creepy to watch when you’re a kid!

Nightmare on Wilson Way!

5) Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: Nightmare on Wilson Way

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends was a show legendary for it’s complex scripts that used a wide selections of characters with perfection. It was created by Craig mcCraken (also creator of the Powerpuff Girls, Wander over Yonder), and the head writer on the show was his wife, Lauren Faust, who is of course the genius who developed the new My Little Pony cartoon. This particular episode hinges on the fact that the human Mac can’t tolerate sugar, and isn’t allowed out on Halloween. To keep him safe, his imaginary friend, Bloo, ties him to his bed. Aaaaand then the zombies come. Watch it, you won’t regret it! Bonus candy corn to you if you can identify all the costumes the background characters wear!

6) Home Movies: Coffins and Cradles

Jason and Melissa from home Movies

Home Movies, which ran from 1999-2004, is one of the underappreciated greats of animation for grownups. As well as being particularly smart and funny, the show was one of the earliest animation appearances of H. Jon Benjamin, best known in modern animation circles for being the voice of Bob in Bob’s Burgers, and Archer in Archer. Home Movies is a show that was overshadowed, I think, by the Family Guy approach to animation for grownups that exploded around the same. When both shows started, animation for adults at the time was not all that common, Adult Swim was still a once a week programming block rather than a TV marketing group in it’s own right. The explosive quality of Family Guy’s popularity really overshadowed shows like Home Movies, who catered to grownups without the explicit pushing of boundaries that Family Guy is committed to.

Coffins and Cradles is one of the very best episodes of Home Movies. On the eve of Halloween, Brendan’s trick-or-treating plans are complicated by his friend’s sugar intolerance, his teacher’s stealing of his costume, Coach McGurk’s health scare, and is topped off when his step-mom goes in to labor. The episode really truly is laugh a minute, and it hits a peak with the dialogue that plays over the credits. Watch the show, you won’t regret it.

7) It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Check out the hand-painted scenery in this classic!

This one you may already have in your library, but what you REALLY need to have is the remastered video. It doesn’t have to be bluray, but that wouldn’t hurt. Why do you need this? The colors and the lines are crisper than the leaf pile that Linus jumps into while holding a wet sucker, and since it’s a property that means a lot to just about everyone, it’s an investment. Especially appropriate this year, some versions come boxed with ”You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown.”

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Episode 12: Best Cartoons for Girls 1

Archie Comics, Best Cartoons for Girls, Comic Books, Disney, Doc McStuffins, Good Cartoons for Girls, Hanna Barbara, Jane and the Dragon, Josie and the Pussycats, Nostalgia, PBS, Podcast, Rainbow Brite, TV 1 Response »

Sep 032012

—-> Episode 12: Best Cartoons for Girls 1 <—-

A recent google search lead me to believe that there is NO guide to good cartoons for girls! I did find one very short list, but it seemed to exist mostly so that the writer could bash what they thought bad cartoons for girls were. So I made one! Today we’re going to talk about four great cartoons for girls.

Doc McStuffins (buy it here or download it here)

Josie and the Pussycats (buy it here or download it here)

Jane and the Dragon (buy it here or download Season 1 here and Season 2 here, and the original book series here)

Rainbow Brite (buy the show here, the movie here or download the movie here)

I wanted to compile a list of great cartoons for girls, so I started with the shows that I love. Consuting with Jon, I drew up a list of guidelines to define what a good cartoon for a girl was. Then I opened up the question to our listening audience and friends on twitter. I asked parents of little girls what shows they thought were good for their daughters. I asked adult women what inspired them as children, and adult professionals in comics and animation what works made them want to enter the field. The response was a little overwhelming, so what I ended up with was a pretty long list of great shows, and then a short list of shows that met with all of the following criteria …

WHAT MAKES A CARTOON GOOD FOR GIRLS?

The lady characters can’t be one-dimensional.
Main target audience cannot be adults.
The cartoon had to pass the Bechdel Test. I modified the Bechdel test to accomodade for some of non-movie formats. The conversations between female character have to occur at least twice in every season of a multi-season show, and the conversations can’t focus on ANY male character, or a ‘girl talk’ subject such as makeovers, identity crisis, or conflict resolution.
There has to be either at least two female leads, or some other indication that the female lead isn’t a token character.
The main female characters in the show can’t fall into any of the following categories: unwanted romantic pursuer, parent or guardian figure, extended family member, or foil of the male main characters.
If a female lead is smarter or more talented than the rest of the cast, it can’t be partnered with the cynicism that it won’t get her anywhere.
Sterotypical girly things such as depictions of ballet, cake-making and resolving conflict, should not take up more than half of the show.
The concept of gender has to exist in the show – no all-girl casts or gender neutrality.
The show or movie has to have quality that stand up over time.
I can’t be the only person who likes it.

When I was narrowing the final list of five best cartoons for girls, I found a lot of very good shows for girls that just didn’t pass all of the criteria. In this episode, Im going to talk about two shows that are good for the littlest of viewers, a show about an all girl band, and a colorful queen of badassery.

1) Doc McStuffins

The Doc is in!

This is a Disney Junior show that is currently on the air. In my area, it plays at least once every weekday morning, and you can also catch at least one episode on the Disney Junior website. It’s a 3D CG animated show, and while it airs on the Disney Channel and Disney Junior, it’s made by Brown Bag Films, which is based in Ireland and LA. (They also make the Olivia and Octonauts cartoons.) Season 1 of Doc McStuffins started in spring of 2012, and has been renewed at this time for a second season to come out around the same time in 2013. The lead character of the show, Dottie McStuffins, has a magic stethoscope that allows her to talk to toys (this isn’t explained in every episode I’ve seen, but it doesn’t need to be). The show is super educational, as Dottie helps the cure the toys of their illnesses – such as a hungry hungry hippos game with a stomache ache, and a stuffed cow that was left out of the rain, so tiny viewers learn a lot about good health habits and what they can expect from a trip to the doctor. She also acts as counselor, helping the hippo discover why they felt like they had to eat too much, and the stuffed animal forgive her owner for leaving her out all night. This part is perhaps the greatest strength of the show, because it’s very educational about emotions, and why certain things might make the viewer feel a certain way.

What really makes this a great show for girls?
Well, the main character is a girl, and a doctor. That’s a pretty big deal – but she’s also very confident, works hard to solve problems, and is all-around the kind of girl character that I would be very happy to have any little girl watch.

Why is this show not in the top five best cartoons for girls?
Well, apart from a snowman toy and a dragon toy, there doesn’t seem to be any male character that Dottie interacts with – no playing with other boys her age, only girls. Also, Dottie’s two number one toys, that dragon toy and a ballerina lamb seem to pretty clearly respresent the stereotypes of little boys and little girls, with little room for a middle ground representation of what it means to be a boy or be a girl.

2) Josie & The Pussycats

Josie, the Pussycats, and their entourage.

In the late 60s, Hanna-Barbera wanted in on the commercial success that Filmation was having with The Archie Show, cartoon based on the Archie Comics characters. They, like MANY other companies, tried to develope their own teen band based cartoon: Mysteries Five. Mysteries Five was a flop, and was backburnered in development until it re-aired under it’s more familiar name of Scooby Doo, Where are you? If you remember back from episode 2 and a half of our podcast, this show would eventually become Scooby Doo, and yes, Scooby Doo was directly based on the Archie Comics gang. If you don’ remember, you can catch up on that episode here! Rather than try and fail again, Hana-Barbera went directly to Archie Comics and collaborated to adapt their other band-based property into a show. If you’re familiar with the original comic book series, it was at this point in time that some characters were dropped from the book and some started to appear. Josie, the cute female lead and her ditzy blond friend found their trio rounded out not by Pepper (who looked like a modern-day hipster) but by Valerie, who would be the first african-american female main character on a Saturday morning cartoon. Together, they formed the cat-suit wearing band. Pepper’s boyfriend Sock also phased out at this time, replaced by Alan M, the band’s faithful roadie with a big crush on Josie. Alexander and Alexandra, rich, mean siblings travelled with the band. Alex was managment, but his sister was alternately trying to get into the band, trying to seduce Alan M, or simply carrying around her unusually intelligent cat Sebastian. Aside from everything else about this show being great, there’s some wonderful animation in the opening sequence of Melody drumming and Valerie playing the tambourine – of much better quality than a lot of what you’d expect to see at that time. A few years later, the show morphed into Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, where the band wandered from planet to planet after accidentally being launched up in a missile.

What really makes this a great show for girls?
This wasn’t a show that I watched as a child, and I never really thought of it as being pro-girl, until I was buried with emails and tweets from women who cited it as being inspiring. The forerunner to Jem and the Holograms, Josie and the Pussycats were strong ladies who cared more about making music and getting to a gig on time than they did about finding the right man. In fact, the only man-chaser among them was Alexandra, and her prioritizing of romance over the good of the band (which was, after all, the income of all six characters) always leads to no good.
Why is this show not in the top five best cartoons for girls?
Because it’s just not that deep, Melody is a bimbo (albeit a very funny one) and Valerie is shown playing the tambourine instead of the guitar. It doesn’t always pass the Bechdel test, and Alexandra does fall into the category of unwanted romantic pursuer.

3) Jane and the Dragon

If only this picture could really show exactly how much butt Jane can kick ...

Based on a book series that began in the late 80′s, Jane and the Dragon is a CG, 3D animated show that ran for 26 episodes. It was made by New Zealand’s Weta Workshop and Canada’s Nelvana, and was broadcast by PBS here in the United States. The first book in the trilogy is summarized in the show’s theme song – Jane was unhappily training to be a lady-in-waiting when the Prince was kidnapped by a dragon. She saved the prince and won the right to train to be a knight instead, with the ultimately friendly dragon as a sidekick. It had a well-deserved Annie Award nomination in 2008 (Best Animated Television Production) proably at least in part because the scripts are excellent explorations of the role of the girl as adventurer, encompassing all the challanges involved in questioning the status quo without any cynicism about her ultimate potential – a problem that haunts a lot smart and capable girl characters. The animation is pretty good on this show, even if the models, now seven years old, seem a bit uncanny valley. If you have a little girl who loved Brave, this is a great series to carry on the tradition with.

What really makes this a great show for girls?
Jane questions everything around her, and stand up for everyone who needs championing, from the kitchen-maid who is bullied by the spoiled prince to the orphaned dragon himself as he searches for his origins.

Why is this show not in the top five best cartoons for girls?
That’s a really good question. Frankly, it belongs there, but unfortunately the Uncanny Valley aspect of the CG animation makes it hard to call it timeless.

4) Rainbow Brite

o Rainbow, y u so colors?

Rainbow Brite was a cartoon made by Hallmark to support their Rainbow Brite doll line. DiC Enterprises was behind the animation. There were thirteen episodes and a fulll-length movie, and the show started airing in 1984. While merchandise line was was rebooted by differnt liscensees in in the past decade, none were massively successfull and the show itself was never relaunched. There are fresh animation bumps of the Hallmark website, (the one called “return to Rainbow Land” looks suspiciously like it could be the beginnings of a pilot) so maybe it’s something they’re working towards. In the decade of reboots, it’s something that would be cool – if it was done well.

Do we like the new Rainbow Brite, or do we want to kill it with fire? Decide for yourself after watching the previews on the Hallmark website.

What really makes this a great show for girls?
Rainbow Brite is the ruler of her world – and not just because she’s the girl with the magic belt, the snobby horse, a council of advisors, and an army of fluffy peasants – although all of those things are true. She’s braver than everyone else, she’s stronger, and she fights to protect not just all of her friends, but also the worlds that she’s responsible fore – including earth! Nothing ever comes before her job, and I never saw an episode where she cared about shopping, makeup, boys, or anything other than doing what was right and saving the world.
Why is this show not in the top five best cartoons for girls?
The color coding of gender is something that has been discussed by a lot of people who are a lot more intellectual than I am, and this show does it quite a bit. The only boy characters are red and blue, and that’s one thing, but when you add the Tickled Pick character into the mix, things fall under fire a little bit. There’s also the problem of Shy Violet, the stereotypically smart character who has no social skills and the plainest of all the outfits. This stuff is nitpicky. It’s details that aren’t really what the show is about, which is why the show is on this list, but it’s enough to keep it out of the top five.

Did you agree with these choices? Disagree? Have suggestions for other shows that are great for girls? Email feedback@animatedthingsclub.com and let us know!

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—-> Episode 09: Season 2 Intro <—-

Jon doesn’t have a computer yet, but he has two tin cans and a string, so we are back to recording – YAY!

Our themes for this season are going to include women in animation (professional women in animation, lady characters in cartoons, and what cartoons are the best for girls. We’re inspired by Brave & Brenda Chapman) and the relationship between animation and music!

What are we watching/looking forward to/ have been doing since we last podcasted?

It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown!

LEGEND OF KORRA!
Suzannah is cancelling cable and switching to Hulu and Netflix through her Wii. Saving $15 a WEEK!
Check out Winters in Lavelle - by Jon’s friend from college!
Jon is looking forward to Gravity Falls!
Suzannah’s watched the Flashbeagle DVD and She’s a Good Skate, Charlie Brown. Surprisingly anatomically accurate animation!
Jon loves Bon Voyage and Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown.
Happiness is a Warm Blanket is AMAZEBALLS!
Jon wants more Thundercats, but we may not get another season! And they did such a cool shoutout to Rankin Bass!
We’re looking forward to the new TMNT, and you can’t tell us not to!
Jon’s been rewatching Woody Woodpecker.
Not animation related, but Grace Jones (who once gave birth to a perfume bottle on camera) hula-hooped and sang at the queen’s diamond jubilee. This chick is awesome.
Suzannah’s watching Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.
We both LOVE Adventure Time! Goliad is a particulalry great episode. Suzannah started on Dungeon way back, and it’s still one of her favorite Adventure Time Episodes ever!
Jon likes Regular Show. Suzannah loves the episode where Benson has a supernova meltdown.
We LOVE Bob’s Burgers! The proofreader in our office dressed as Tina for Halloween last year! Maybe we’ll have some pics to show!
Tron is great, and so is Phineas & Ferb. Disney’s really be doing great things recently! Here’s the link to the song from ‘Meapless in Seattle’ that we were talking about. You can buy the whole episode here.
Hotel Transylvania is coming from Sony - the first new project from Genndy Tartkovsky (creator of Dexter’s Lab, Sym-bionic Titan, Samurai Jack, and Star Wars Clone Wars.) We’re always stoked to see what he’s working on.
ParaNormal looks exciting!
Suzannah bought Coraline.
Jon has never seen Finding Nemo! We’ll be going to see it when it gets the 3D release this fall!
Jon’s looking forward to Monsters University.

Dope Sheet 02/21/12

Cartoon Network, Comic Books, DC, Dope Sheet, Lauren Faust, stop mo, stop motion, Thundercats, Tim Burton, TV No Responses »

Feb 212012

Winter cartoon seasons are wrapping up, especially over at the Cartoon Network.

We had the season 3 finale of Adventure Time right before Valentine’s Day – with the introduction of a very new character. Can’t wait to see season 4!
Starting in March, we’ll have the DC Nation block of shorts on the Cartoon Network. This one-hour time slot will include new half-hour shows Young Justice and Green Latern: The Animated Series, and the shorts that we talked about here from Aardman, and shorts from Lauren Faust (who we talked about here).
Next season of Thundercats is coming too! Whoo hoo!
Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie short is going to be a movie! This short was one of his earliest works – I wonder if this is going to be a prelude to retirement for him, or just the closing of a circle? Either way – can’t wait!

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Episode 04.5: Valentine Viewing

Cartoon Network, Charlie Brown, Chowder, Flapjack, Looney Tunes, Podcast, Tiny Toons, TV, Uncategorized 1 Response »

Feb 112012

Suzannah discusses what to watch, whether you want romance or realism on this hallmark holiday!

Here is the podcast —-> Animated Things Club Episode 04.5: Valentine’s Viewing <—

Love stinks, Linus style.

I don’t know anyone who looks forward to Valentine’s day. Even when you’re content in a relationship, it tends to be a “holiday” that causes an awful lot of stress. One of the best antidotes I can think of for this is to sit down with a copy of the cartoon classic Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.

Charlie Brown animated specials have been giving people a sense that all will be well with the world since 1965. This particular special both celebrates the cuteness of telling someone you love them, and strips away the idealism of the holiday, as almost no character has the Valentine experience they had planned on.

Flapjack gets lovesick!

As long as we’re talking turning Valentine’s Day on it’s EAR, check out the gruesome Flapjack Valentine’s episode (Love Bugs) that aired a few years ago.

And finally, “Love Among The Toons” is a Tiny Toons short in the “Spring in Acme Acres” short from 1990 is a upbeat romp about Cupid getting fed up with all the smoochy hooey that he has to be around all the time. It’s on the Season 1, Vol. 1 DVD set, or downloadable here. Entirely worth it for the stop-motions style cut scenes and the the slow motion kissing session between Babs and Max.

And of course there’s always the classic Pepe Le Pew Looney Tunes episodes, a good old Disney movie, the “I’m not your boyfriend” episode of Chowder, and the “Frankie My Dear…” episode of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends!

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Episode 02.5: Scooby Doo Broadcast History

Big Screen, Cartoon Network, Comic Books, Hanna Barbara, Kids WB, Nostalgia, Podcast, TV, Warner Brother No Responses »

Jan 152012

Animated Things Club Episode 02.5: Scooby Doo Broadcast History

Here are the show notes for the podcast.

Suzannah and Jon discuss the broadcast history of Scooby Doo. Did you know that Shaggy once had a robot butler? Or a girlfriend?

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Episode 02: Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc

Cartoon Network, Podcast, TV 2 Responses »

Jan 112012

Suzannah and Jon discuss the newest incarnation of the Scooby Doo franchise. We’ll cover a few of the key players in the creative process, some of our favorite voice actors, and what makes this show so unexpectedly successful. Not unexpected in that it would be unexpected for this show to be good, but unexpected in the way that Battlestar Galactica occasionally had an unexpected plot twist.

—> Animated Things Club Episode 02: Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc. <—

Wait, stop! We know you want to learn all Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc, but in this case, a little bit of knowledge about the Scooby Doo franchise would help you! Please head over to howstuffworks.com and listen to Josh & Chuck tell you where Scooby Doo Came from. You should also subscribe to them on iTunes – they’re great!

We’ll also be putting out a minicast shortly, overviewing the previous incarnations of the Scoob.

We’ll be here when you get back!

All caught up with Scooby Study? Let’s get it going.

We LOVE this new incarnation of Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc first aired on the Cartoon Network in April of 2010, part of an effort to revive classic library properties under the guidance of Sam Register, who is Executive Producer on this property. His resume includes Hi-Hi Puffy Amiyumi, Teen Titans, and Ben 10, all incredibly successful properties. Ben 10 in particular was a great success in the fact that it’s very premise involves very clever merchandising! It’s also pretty entertaining.

Here’s the video of Sam Register that we discussed in the podcast. It’s his keynote speech from MipJr 2011. He talks about Looney Tunes, Thundercats, and Super BFF as well as Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc.

Victor Cook is our director. Victor Cook worked on Gargoyles - which we have plans to cover. Do you hear me, Kevin? He’s worked with Greg Wiseman on comic book properties such as The Spectacular Spider-Man, which seems to be regarded as the best recent animated incarnation of your friendly neighborhood webslinger. Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone are looking like our first animation theme in the podcast – they are supervising producers here as they are for the Looney Tunes Show, our Episode 01 podcast subject.

The high points of why we love this show: Scooby Doo doesn’t take itself too seriously – it embraces it’s own campy style. At the same time, it throws out a lot of references to Scooby Doo history, not just in the voice casting, but also in the plots, the history and there’s one episode that is clearly a tribute to the history of the Scoob! The original Scoobey Doo, Where Are You was pretty groundbreaking, and dark in a way that lots of other cartoons weren’t, and this incarnation definitely follows in it’s footstep there.

Also, it’s FUNNY.

Here’s the Eddie Izzard quote on how Scooby Doo can lead to international peace. Try not to get too distracted with how awesome he is, and finish the podcast!

Voice Acting! The voice cast is wonderful. Here’s an abbreviated list of them, with a short list of what you might know them for.

Grey DeLisle as Daphne: Mandy from Billy and Mandy, Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender
Patrick Warburton as Sheriff Stone: Joe from Family Guy, Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove
Lewis Black as Mr. E: A comedian best known for his work on The Colbert Report
Vivica A. Fox as Angel Dynamite.
Casey Kasum as Shaggy’s Dad: The original voice of Shaggy, Robin from the original Batman cartoon, and Alexander Cabot III in Josie and the Pussycats
Matthew Lillard as Shaggy: Lillard played Shaggy in the live action Scooby Doo movies: Scooby Doo, and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
Maurice LaMarche as Vincent Van Ghoul. Just look at his IMDB page – he’s done it all! But I love him as the Brain half of Pinky and the Brain.
Cree Summer – we’ll get to her later!
Frank Welker as Fred: He’s the original voice of Fred and Scooby Doo! He was also in Star Trek III - which is awesome if you’re a cross-genre nerd!
Harlan Ellison plays himself! If you don’t know who he is, just google him.
Linda Cardellini as Hot Dog Water: She played Velma in the live action Scooby Doo movies: Scooby Doo, and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and Lindsay in Freaks and Geeks.

Storyboarding!

Episode 2 is set up like a horror movie rather than a cartoon. Suzannah loves it when animation is given the same treatment as any other film-making would get. As an aspect of the overall storytelling, the storyboarding reflects the high-level of achievement in every aspect of production – writing, animation, and the building of a grand plot.

Character Development!

Velma: What this show does with Velma is a great example of how they’re exploring these characters. She is very naturally adapted from her original self – with a lot of great depth. Jon thinks her dating relationship with Shaggy came out of left field, but Suzannah thinks it makes sense.
Professor Pericles: A totally new character, he’s just fantastic, but we can’t talk about it without spoiling anythng. Sorry!

Fave Episodes!

Jon says Episode 6: The Legend of Alice May. Jon loves the callbacks to the original series, adn the ground getting laid for the Creeper. There’s a Vincent Van Ghoul cameo.
Jon says Episode 26: All Fear the Freak. Jon didn’t think Scooby Doo was capable of something like this. His jaw was on the floor.
Suzannah says Episode 2: Creeping Creatures. Suzannah loves this because it’s the episode that converted her to the series, and because of how INCREDIBLY funny it is. It’s also beautiful – all neon colors and beautiful storyboarding.
Suzannah says Episode 16: Where Walks Aphrodite. This super-creepy episode really gives us an introduction to Professor Pericles (although it’s not his first appearance.) He’s such a great character – so complex and sinister!

If you’re going to start watching the show, start on Episode 1 or 2. You really can’t start later than that if you want to get the benefit of the series storyline. Jon says start at 1 if you’re an old school Scooby fan and want the full homage, Suzannah says start at 2 if you want to be an instant convert.

So, buy the DVD set. You’ll watch the whole season once, and then watch the whole thing again to catch everything you missed! You can buy it, and sorts of other Scoob DVDs, here.

In closing: Cree Summer guests in one episode as a barista/ fortune teller called Lady Marmelade. She works in Velma’s mom’s cafe, where she makes mocha chocka lattes. I was hoping to find a video clip, but no luck! You CAN watch some video clips here. Just be careful not to watch “Who is Angel Dynamite” so you aren’t spoiled!

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Episode 01.5: Cosgrove Hall

English Animation, Nostalgia, Podcast, TV No Responses »

Dec 212011

—>Animated Things Club Episode 01.5: Cosgrove Hall<—

Suzannah discusses the legacy of Cosgrove Hall (source of Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, Bananaman, and adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books) in our first minicast.

We mentioned at the end of our Looney Toons Show podcast that the creator of Danger Mouse passed away. We were talking about Mark Hall, who died on November 11, 2011, presumably of complications relating to the cancer he was living with. Here’s a link to Mr. Hall’s NY Time obit. His lifelong partner in crime is Brian Cosgrove, who is still with us, and together they not only created Danger Mouse, but established two animation houses. One of these studios, Cosgrove Hall, would go on under their leadership to create internationally known cartoons, win an international Emmy, and develop a reputation for being a premier animation house in Europe.

Cosgrove Hall may have been best known for their 2D children’s entertainment, but they also worked with stop motion an CG. Their most famous stop motion, which has to be seen to be believed, is their adaptations of The Wind in the Willows which started with a 75 minute movie and then ran for four seasons in the early/mid eighties. They continued to work in stop motion right up until their closure in 2009, but perhaps their most notable other work in this category is The Fool of the World and The Flying Ship, which won an International Emmy in 1991 in the Children and Young People category after airing on Christmas Day in 1990. It’s mesmerizing. It is available on DVD, but was only released in the UK. It won an international Emmy in 1991. I STRONGLY recommend you buy it, but in the meantime, here’s a taste via youtube.

In addition to these achievements, Cosgrove Hall worked on properties such Andy Pandy, Postman Pat, and the animated adaptations of Roald Dahl’s The BFG and Terry Pratchett’s Truckers, Wyrd Sisters, and Soul Music. Not only did they dominate the animation market in the UK, but they also worked in a cross-genre setting, using traditional 2D, stop-motion, and CG techniques, in both 2 and 3D arena. This is particularly impressive to me, especially when you compare it to todays industry where you can specialize in such minute areas of animation. It’s also notable that while they adapted from fairy tales and animated liscenced properties, Cosgrove Hall also created – and arguably had their best commercial successes – with their original properties. Not too shabby!

Here’s a full list of Cosgrove Hall’s impressive production resume.

: Mark Hall & Brian Cosgrove with a Wind in the Willows set.

Cosgrove Hall came to a sad end. Both of the founders retired in 2000, and the company spent a few years working on revamps of classic properties. The implications that I saw in the articles I read on it were that creative control was taken away from the studio at this point. In 2009 it was more or less liquidated into ITV, its parent company. It was a little unclear to me how long ITV was the majority shareholder of the company, but I think that it had been for a long time, and that the decision was based on the studio’s consistant inability to turn a profit following the co-founders retirement. It’s a valid business decision – but a loss in more ways than one.

One of the last original shows to come out of Cosgrove Hall was the Carrotty Kid. (It rhymes with ‘karate’ if you have an English accent.) According to the property’s creator, the reason that it never made it past the pilot stage, despite positive reception, was a decision on the part of the network to end their children’s afternoon programming block. Some groups are trying to fight that decision. Here is a link to group that is trying to ensure that high-quality children’s entertainment remain a priority in the UK.

If you want to learn a little more about the great of Cosgrove Hall, this seems to be the premier fansite. Those of us who grew up with Cosgrove Hall’s works tend to think of ourselves as pretty lucky, so here’s hoping that new talents will rise to take the place of the greats that came before them.

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Episode 01: The Looney Tunes Show

Cartoon Network, Podcast, TV 2 Responses »

Dec 142011

Animated Things Club Episode 01: Looney Tunes Show

Suzannah and Jonathan discuss the new incarnation of Bugs Bunny the rest of the Looney Tunes in our first real episode! We talk about the legendary June Foray, and what makes a good reboot of a cartoon concept.

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