WORKSHOP

A little gem of a cartoon featuring the antics of Santa and co getting ready for Christmas Eve.

Good old-fashioned festive fun.

WOODPECKER

Cue the annoying sped-up laugh!

Today marks the 70th birthday of that crazy anthropomorphic multicoloured menace - Woody Woodpecker!

Woody first appeared in the Andy Panda cartoon short ‘Knock, Knock’ (1940) where the craziness branched out. 70 years ago today, theatre audiences first met Woody 'bringing the house down' in this 7-minute madcap fued with a panda family. It's really as bizarre as it sounds!

Happy Birthday, Woody! The nuttiest bird of all time...

COLDHEART

After a random Youtube search this morning, I found myself watching one of the two Care Bears pilot episodes from ‘way back when’. The Land without Feelings (1983) was the debut of The Care Bears and their arch nemesis Professor Coldheart.

I first viewed this on TV AM 25 years ago (1985) after my mum videotaped it for me (on our trusty Betamax!).

The story is simple: A boy named Kevin is moving away and he’s none too happy. He’s moving away from his old neighbourhood and his best friend Donna and decides he now wants to be emo and not care about anything. On top of this, he runs away and ends up in a rundown park. This is no ordinary park for in eventually leads to The Land without Feelings – a place once pretty and full goodness before Professor Coldheart moved in.

A quarter century later, and I have picked up how actually dark this pilot episode is in places. ‘The Land without Feelings’ backdrop provides a grim image and a great insight to the depressing world Professor Coldheart. The design of the barren wasteland of swamps, Burton-esque trees, gothic roses and swamps clearly mirrors the otherwise candy coated land of Care-A-Lot where the bears reside.

Coldheart Castle is based in the centre of the Land without Feelings and The Professor soon spots Kevin feeling sorry for himself through his telescope. This implies the Prof has nothing better to do but to watch out for kids through his telescope (sounds sketchy I know). This pilot episode informs that many kids have gone missing and as a result end up being transformed into slippery green creature minions for Professor Coldheart, (and this eventually happens to Kevin after being lured in).

Kevin’s friend Donna teams up with the Care Bears after they spend the first quarter of the episode bickering amongst themselves about solo missions to go and search for the missing lad.

The bears end up tackling the many obstacles of the wasteland to get the Castle Coldheart and give the Prof a stomping. It wasn’t an easy quest as the castle was armed with all sorts of freaky gadgetry that takes out the group of bears one or two at a time. When I mean freaky gadgetry I am talking about the spotlight gun, the giant dart and a giant freeze fan. The journey portion of this episode is a good showcase of the Care Bears and how useful their powers are with a little imagination used (especially by Tenderheart Bear).



Eventually The Care Bears and Donna end up in the castle, thanks to some bailing out from Wish Bear’s wish making ability. This is where the collaborative power of the Care Bear Stare is first introduced. For those who don’t remember or have a clue, the stare involves the bears standing side by side and a tummy symbol fireworks display ensues. The Care Bear stare turns all the green things back into children as Coldheart does a runner.

How Professor Coldheart and his enslaving of emo kids and destroying a cheerful landscape are never picked up on the Care Bears radar (as well as the Land without Feelings) is baffling. Maybe all their arguing before eventually deciding to group together (for the first time) explains this.

The Land without Feelings is enough of an eyesore to be spotted from space, and Google maps yet the Care Bears never noticed it. It took one runaway boy for the ‘fuzzy wuzzies’ to stumble upon this and Professor Coldhearts operations. Yeah, it’s ‘just’ a ‘kid’s show’, but nowadays even the writers of modern toons won’t underestimate how intelligent the viewers are (whatever the age).

This re-visited Care Bears experience reminded me of how sinister and scary Professor Coldheart really is. Perhaps even unsung up to other 80’s villains like Skeletor and Mumm-Ra. The only reason the Prof isn’t as scary as he could be is because he’s in animation form. Then again, you only have to type up ‘Richard Dawkins’ in Google to gain an idea of what a live action version would be like. I mean this in jest of course.

Like in most 80’s toons; there are showcases of teamwork, reformation from evil to good, caring about everything and helping others. It’s a good intro for the Care Bears and what the creators are trying to convey with these characters beyond the American Greetings cards they originated from. Certainly worth at least a one off watch for either a trip down memory lane, an MST Mickey-take with rowdy pals, or if multi-coloured symbol themed bears who help kids take your fancy. I watched this episode for reason one and wouldn’t mind the opportunity to have a crack at reason two.

PLASTICINE

This 4-5 minute animated serial captured my attention back in 1990 on Channel 4 - a cartoon short called Mio & Mao. The show is currently on Channel 5 weekday mornings and I’ve discovered it again.

Mio and Mao is a stop motion show starring two kittens. This playful pussycat duo are always exploring their surroundings and come across something new every episode. The ‘something new’ is normally a different animal they are curious about and end up making friends with by the end of the episode.

The concept is actually more entertaining than it sounds, for the way the model characters act and behave in both a surreal and surprisingly realistic manner (on the cats part mainly) is fun to watch. Like with Pingu, the Mio & Mao cartoons are in their own speaking making it friendly viewing for anyone whatever their language.

Of course, the theme-song of Mio and Mao sung by the duo themselves is never forgotten so easily.

So here’s a Youtube link to an episode. I hope you are won over by its colourful cuteness. They remind me somewhat of my own two cats:

CRUSADER

There’s one animated series that has impressed me a lot recently, and that is – Batman: The Brave and The Bold.

This show is based on an old DC comic book serial of the same name. The concept this serial features Batman teaming up with a guest hero to take on the guest villain of the story. The caped crusader has different chemistry with each of his temporary teammates as Batman and the guest hero will either: get along, argue, or have a competitive clash.

Batman will either join forces with the likes of The Blue Beetle, The Red Tornado, The Green Arrow and so forth. Those less Batman literate like me get to learn a little more about these characters in the DC Universe through watching the episodes. The featured villains themselves are not the regular occurrences of The Penguin, The Riddler, The Joker etc we are used to in previous televised Batman adventures. I must admit, I didn’t hear much about villains such as The Black Manta, Gentleman Ghost, and Funhouse until I started watching Brave and the Bold.


Another unique execution from The Brave and the Bold is that you never see Batman as Bruce Wayne. There is no Wayne Manor, No Batcave, No Alfred, No Aunt Agatha, or anything like that. It is just straight in the action with Batman as Batman from a perspective of how an everyday citizen would probably see him.

However, Bruce has been in the show a couple of times, but only as part of a flashback sequence or two. Yet these were compromised by one sequence depicted in black and white featuring Bruce as a boy and the other showing Bruce training at a temple with his face hidden by a mask.

The art style itself is a fusion of old school comics rounded off with modern day pointy edges. The design is solid enough to animate well and be made bright and attractive enough to younger spectators. This has probably got to be the most colourful Batman cartoon yet!
Each episode starts off with a minute and a half mini adventure before the beginning title, featuring Batman sometimes with a partner getting themselves out of a situation. The main story after the title sequence is the bulk of the show and a stand-alone episode, meaning these don’t have to be watched in order.

So what we have here is a Batman cartoon that daringly dodges a lot of clichés and is a great product as a result. This is a fresher take on the ‘dark knight’ in animated form that should be enjoyed by all if not most Batman and comics fans.

A show that is both Brave and Bold in its own right.

PACLAND

Some more Christmas Special coverage today…

This time round I will wind the clock 26 years behind to 1982. In 1982 Christmas is introduced to the chomp capital of the world known as Pacland in the Hanna Barbera TV special Christmas Comes to PacLand.

This 22 minute festive episode of the Pac-Man cartoon series sees Santa Claus and his reindeer stranded in snow covered Pacland after a fatal sleigh crash. Rudolph and co are out for the count and Santa’s sleigh looks like it could be written off. Santa himself did not fare the crash too easily and he could with some power pellet cocoa.

“We may not have any power pellets, but we got plenty of Snowballs!”

The situation is bad and Santa could miss his first Christmas and all the good children around the world could be sans-toys unless a miracle happens. Of course, the toys are missing and Pac-Man with his dog Chomp-Chomp both are on the case to find them whilst avoiding Ghost Monsters on the way.

Whilst Pac-Man is out, his family have taken Santa and the reindeer in and they all learn about Christmas. Pac-friends Officer O Pac and Lars also lend a hand and fix the sleigh.

Of course there is something obscure that can save Christmas for all the good children and that’s Reindeer on power pellets.

To cut a story short, things are happy in the end and even the Ghost Monsters get a touch of the holiday spirit and humble themselves for the time being. Everything is saved, Pacland celebrates its first Christmas and Rudolph’s nose is shining brighter than usual thanks to the chowing down of power pellets.

This is quite an amusing special. I found it funny that even though Pacland had no concept of Christmas the Ghost Monsters still sang their own rendition of Jingle Bells.

“Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.
Jingle All The Way-ay!
Oh What Fun it is to Chomp.
On Pac-Man Everday-ay!”

If you dig the goofy 80’s Hanna Barbera vibe this is well worth a viewing, and retro gamers will probably like this almost as much too. This is probably the one episode of the Pac Man cartoon that is the most watchable and the absence of antagonist Mesmiro isn’t a big loss either. What matters is that this is about as good as Pac-Man Christmas Special can probably get with a snowy backdrop, the Santa Claus guest star and the villains turning good for a while. Sit back with some power pellet and see this episode for yourself.

“Merry Christmas and to all a good Chomp!”

Here’s the full episode in three parts.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ikLi1r68RXQ

TRIPLE

- THUNDERA
- SITUATION
- ASLAN


THUNDERA

Yesterday I went out with my associate in his new car (a car which looks like Chase of the Throttlebots/G1 Transformers) to Bristol city centre (or Broadmead as us true Bristolians call it) on a mission to acquire the Second Season of Thundercats on DVD.

The HMV staff were a little crafty as they had a copy of the S2 pt 1 disc set on display for £22.99 and cunningly hid the reduced £15 copies on a lower shelf section. We got the £15 copy in the end.

Thundercats season 2 is a big deal here in the UK. For season 2 was never aired over here, or more accurately the BBC could not be arsed to air it. You could say that Season 2 is like a gap in the childhood of anyone who grew up in 80’s Britain. The nearest Blighty ever got to seeing Season 2 was the release of the Thundercats Ho Movie on VHS.

So Season 2 will mark new Thundercats, Ma-Mutt, new Thundera (Third Earth was cool though!!) and a new villain faction called the Lunatacs (Who I hear are nastier than the Berserkers ever were). I’m going to need some time to sit aside and be immersed in it all. 65 unseen episodes of Thundercat goodness can’t go wrong well 30-something to start with until the acquisition of part 2 is made.

I need not go on about how great Thundercats is, an 80’s cartoon that hasn’t aged very badly, a toon that was a milestone for toons today and a toon that practically started Toonami.

So yeah Season 2 goodness. Going to love every minute of it I hope.

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SITUATION

I am in talks with Celtic Wrestling management over my quitting the promotion last Friday. Things could be resolved…

I may have acted rash, but with good reason.

I cannot go into details yet, but I am still on very good terms with the guys and gals at C/W and there is still a good relationship going.

I will keep you guys updated on this one.

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ASLAN

I went to see Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian today: A great film with a load of sword swing, claw slashing action. Very good sequel. I can’t wait for Voyage of the Dawn Treader with the return of Reapacheap and the introduction of Eustace! :D. The character who I felt sorry for the most in Caspian was the poor Minotaur that held up the gate as it looked like he was hit in a certain place with an arrow . I’d love to say more but I know people from church will be reading this and are making a trip to see this tomorrow, so sorry kids, no spoilers from me  And NO THROWING POPCORN (when the ushers are looking).

Zip and Star’s Birthday tomorrow with mine the day after.

Check you all later

===HERO/KEN.

REGENERATED

I just seen Part 1 of the Transformers Animated saga Megatron Rising and so far it looks like the most hard hitting storyline yet for the non serious looking TF toon.

So far the Autobots have had it easy over the last 14 episodes with one scattered Decepticon and the occasional human supervillain at a time to deal with. But now all this will change, as Megatron is back in full swing.

Things could really get ugly for planet Earth. :)

I think Transformers: Animated is due to get so much better with more potential Autobot VS Decepticon scrappage inevitably on the horizon since the cons have thier leader back (much to Starscream's dismay).

SPECTACULAR

Another TV show that has grasped my taste buds firmly as of late is the new Spectacular Spiderman animated series. This will be to me a 3rd generation of Spiderman cartoon I will have followed (Spiderman and Friends during the 80’s and Spiderman during the 90’s both aired on BBC1).

Presenting a new animation style and re-imagined perspectives on the characters in Peter Parker’s life, this is a fresh new interpretation of the webbed wonders adventures.

The style itself does not take itself too seriously with a more ‘chibi’ look the characters and setting. This newer approach to a Marvel toon may not appeal to all tastes but it actually generates the image of Peter Parker rather well where he actually appears to be more like the teenager he is supposed to be rather than a stocky 30 something (see the 90’s toon). Aunt May has had some of her years given back and is presented more like a middle aged woman who looks more like Peter’s aunt rather than his grandmother, although some people do actually have ‘older’ aunts and uncles.

Each episode of the series has so far introduced a key villain for Spiderman to battle against and so far as I write this The Lizard, Electro, and The Vulture have all been introduced and introduced well. I predict by the end of the first season there will be a formation of the Sinister Six, if not the introduction of Venom for which Eddie Brock is already in the show as one of Peter’s friends working for Doctor Connors.

As if Peter didn’t have school bullies, an internship, raising money to pay bills, and keeping a secret identity to contend with he has a strict curfew from Aunt May. The curfew itself provides an amusing cliché to the show in that Peter’s mobile will surprisingly sound off in the middle of Spiderman battling against the villaian of the episode. This mobile call is always Aunt May checking up or giving a reminder and adds a comic effect to the crime-fighting. There just isn’t enough time in the day!

I have no idea when this series will eventually air in the UK, but is certainly one of the best things to torrent off the web right now. I’ll sum it up again that this is a really pleasant and colourful approach to the Spiderman mythos and should be enjoyed by many, especially those who didn’t really enjoy the recent movie trilogy. Past Spiderman cartoons have been good in their own unique way and Spectacular Spiderman is no exception.