MattBrady
07-30-2007, 12:13 PM
<i>by Steve Fritz</i>
Blame it on San Diego.
Last week the column was skipped because of all the <i>Comic Con</i>-related prep and hoopla. Now we make up for it. To make things interesting, I’ve split the column into two parts. This part is all-animation. The other part is anything but.
So here’s a baker’s dozen of animated madness. Enjoy.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1319310.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>THE ADVENTURES OF SUPER MARIO 3 </b>(Shout Factory!) (3 DVDs)
Actually the <I>second</I> Mario series to air (not counting the <I>CBS Saturday Supercade</I>), this series took its name from the NES game which was out for about a year. So, anyone ancient enough to know a game before <I>World of Warcraft</I> will get most of what I’m going to talk about.
The basic premise is King Koopa returns from banishment, somehow had seven kids while in exile and is out for revenge. From there it’s 26 episodes (adding up to 13 half-hours) of animated weirdness that has moments, but the game was way better. The series also doesn’t stand up to DIC’s best work, such as <I>Inspector Gadget</I>.
So while this series never did it for me, Shout Factory managed to give this set added value in the most surprising of ways. The third DVD comes with an interactive Writer’s Bible which allows fans to make their own series. Given the rise in Machinima, this is giving me some ideas. After all, ever wouldn’t it be fun to really do something subversive with Mario, Luigi, the Princess and all those mushrooms? All those years playing Mario the game will finally pay off.
<b>THE ARCHIES: COMPLETE SERIES</b> (Genius) (2 DVDs)
A little history.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1331119.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=left> Before co-founding Filmation with Hal Sutherland and Lou Scheimer, Norm Prescott was one of the hottest rock’n roll DJ’s in Boston…until he was shot down by the payola scandals. One of the friends who stuck with him was legendary Brill Street impresario Don Kirshner.
A few years later and Kirshner has his own issues. The band he pre-fabricated, the Monkees, fired him. So Prescott and Kirshner decided to do an animated rock group. They would use characters from the super-popular comic book <B>Archie</b>. One of the songs, “Sugar Sugar,” had Monkee Davy Jones’ vocals removed and session vocalist Ron Dante’s put in their place. It became the best-selling singles of the decade.
In-between all this hoopla, of course, was the cartoon show. This set collects the first season, which aired in 1968 a year before “Sugar Sugar.” At the time, Filmation was known for fantasy/superhero shows, so going for what Lou Scheimer would later call “soft comedy” was a big break for the studio. They would run this formula to the ground for the next decade, with shows like <I>Groovy Ghoulies</I> and many more.
The formula was pretty simple. Each half-hour had Archie and Riverdale’s finest have a mildly amusing (and I’m being nice) adventure. Then they would follow with a dance step, a song with the dance step (provided by Kirshner), and then one final misadventure. While the scripts were tame to the point of virtual lameness, the rest of the show was pretty good. Spearheaded by a superlative voice cast including Dal McKennon (Archie), Howard Morris (Jughead) and Jane Webb (Betty AND Veronica), Sutherland managed to strip Bob Montana’s seminal designs into something quite animatable, yet still felt true to the comics. The songs themselves were all vintage bubble gum pop, and there’s hardly a clinker among them.
Could Filmation’s never-to-be forgotten use of stock footage get on one’s last nerve? You bet. Were many of the jokes lamer than a guy with two broken legs? Better believe it. Still, this series went up against some really heavy competition for the day (<I>Spider-Man</I> on ABC and <I>The Banana Splits</I> on NBC) and rocked its way to the #1 spot.
Like the BCI collections, this set comes with superlative added features, including commentary from Scheimer, McKennon and Sutherland (DC/WB please take note of these with further Filmation hero collections). An especially nice feature is Jukebox where one can only play the music and skip the other stuff. Also sweet is a reproduction of the Archie comic where the characters meet the animators. In all, it’s a worthy addition to the Filmation library. I’ll be real curious to see if they keep it up with the future additions.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1326874.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>AVATAR: BOOK 2 VOLUME 4</b> (Nickelodeon)
If you want to see the episodes driving <I>Avatar</I> fandom into overdrive, look no further than this season ending collection. Creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko kept the adventure elements already so integral to the tale of the last Avatar steady, while stepping it up on the political thriller and social commentary elements. The series ends up all the better for it.
What’s important here is the rapidly growing cast of heroes maturing with each new challenge they face. Aang and company are constantly learning new things about themselves, the world they live in and the enemies they face. While the sudden change o former nemesis Zuko is a tad puzzling, everything else is incredibly logical seen in hindsight. One thing that doesn’t need improvement is the animation. Apparently Nickelodeon spends $1 million per episode, and being spent wisely. The character design, action sequences, backgrounds and every other detail in this series is superlative.
So the only question is how Konietzko and DiMartino will follow this up. We’ll know on September 21 when the third season starts. As it is, if they maintain this level, they are slated for one of the best animated series of the decade. If they raise the quality any higher, then it’s time to consider <I>Avatar: The Last Airbender</I> one of the best of all time, period.
<b>BIRDMAN & THE GALAXY TRIO</b> (WB) (2 DVDs)
<b>HARVEY BIRDMAN: ATTORNEY AT LAW VOLUME THREE</b> (WB) (2 DVDs)
When the original <I>Birdman</I> made its debut in 1967, my friends and I didn’t give it much time. Across the dial was CBS with its line up of <I>Space Ghost, Shazzan, Herculoids, Superman/Aquaman Hour, Mightor</I> and <I>Jonny Quest</I>. MAYBE we’d turn the dial if <I>Mightor</I> was lame, but even that wasn’t too often. The dial was pretty permanently glued to Channel 2 (at least where I lived) on Saturday mornings, and <I>B></I> ended up a half-memory.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1318351.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=left> Looking back, one can see why. Sure, the series sported designs by the legendary Alex Toth. It also had some nice stories in its own right. But compare Birdman to Space Ghost, the former just came off as a wimp who needed his sun fix kicking tail. It looked like Hanna-Barbera treated this solar-powered meta as an also ran. The quality of the animation was frankly inferior and, with the exception of Birdman’s main enemy, the covert FEAR, the villains just didn’t hold a candle to the likes of SG’s rogue’s gallery.
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean I’m ever, ever going to trash this collection. The reason for this is it makes a great companion piece to Michael Ouleween and Erik Richter’s wonderfully insidious and subversive <I>Harvey Birdman</I>. It’s truly neat to see Steve Colbert didn’t stray far when he voiced Reducto. Compare the original X the Eliminator or Vulturo to the M/E obsessives. You’ll see what I mean. Another nice feature is the paean no less than Ouweleen pays to the original series.
As for the final collection of <I>HBAAL</I>? Well, one wishes more shows would go out like this. Containing the last two seasons of this seminal Adult Swim series, creators Ouweleen and Richter manage to have just about every character who ever had the slightest air time make one last moment in the Birdman-fueling sun. Whether it’s Harvey using the corpse of Scrappy Doo to help stuff his luggage, Apache Chief constantly flash boiling his pride or Birdgirl providing some of the best fan service ever animated, the turbo-charged gags will have you hitting the playback button multiple times just to make sure M/E did do what you thought you saw. The final half-dozen or so episodes, starting with the death of Ken Sebben and ending with the greatest battle Birdman ever fought (including the original ’67 shorts), shows one can tear the arm off an opponent (figuratively), beat it with it and still cough up more yucks than Judge Mightor. Best yet, while a little knowledge of the H-B universe doesn’t hurt, it isn’t necessary.
So while dear Harvey did start life forty years ago with his wings clipped, the important thing is while he left the stage a feathered pulpy mass of streetburger, he did so memorably. Not bad for a character that most kids of the day didn’t remember the original Birdman, they sure won’t forget him now.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1327850.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>DARKWING DUCK VOLUME TWO</b> (Disney) (3 DVDS)
This set collects the next 27 episodes (literally #28-54) of Alan Zaslove and Tad Stones’ still way-too-underappreciated satire of all things superhero. What’s truly impressive is how they managed to take what they had already established and truly do something with it.
As the show ran simultaneously on both ABC and The Disney Afternoon block at this time, the first thing one has to consider is just how consistently good the stories were. In fact, with this second collection one gets to see something that’s a very rare commodity even in animation today, character development. While Stones would later admit he was never a true continuity freak (check out the “Secret Origins” episode and then later incarnations in other episodes), events from past episodes did have an effect on Darkwing, Goslyn, Launchpad and company. It was also nice to see characters from other Disney shows, particularly <I>Duck Tales</I>, crossing over, creating a sort of <I>TDA</I> universe. There are also the one-off parodies, such as the pretty obvious “Twin Beaks” and “Incredible Bulk,” but the look like they’re moving from topical to classical.
The animation still strikes me as some of the best that has appeared on TV over the last 25 years. The voice work, led by Jim Cummings and Christine Cavanaugh, was exceptional. Many of Darkwing’s stock phrases, whether his introductory “Terror that flaps in the night…” line or simply “Let’s get Dangerous!” still hold up since they first appeared on the screen. Heck, I still like the softened hip hop theme song.
The only pity is there’s now barely three dozen episodes left (Disney only made 91). No matter what, I certainly hope the third volume does come out. This is one series that should never be forgotten.
<b>HAPPY TREE FRIENDS 3</b> (BCI)
Gee…just when you think the happy sadists at Mondo Mini Shows couldn’t possibly come up with any way of torturing, maiming, disfiguring and just plain killing all those cute and cuddly little critters they call The Happy Tree Friends, they come out with this.
This box is 13 more of the TV version of the series. As always, each episode of the HTF’s come packed with more violence that an entire year’s worth of <I>Itchy & Scratchy</I>. Further, it’s pretty obvious, especially when you listen to the commentary tracks, that key creators Kenn Navarro, Aubrey Ankrum, Rhode Montijo and Warren Graff love to stretch out the destruction and dismemberments for as much as possible. Why the trail of entrails splattered over one short could probably pack at least a case of Oscar Mayer’s.
While there’s nothing exceptionally new going on here, that doesn’t mean the entertainment level isn’t up to the usual standards. For all those who love their ultra-violence raw, perverse and incredibly funny that’s really just quite fine.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1305724.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>KARIN 1: INFUSION</b> (Geneon)
<b>SHONEN ONMYOUJI 1</b> (Geneon)
It’s always interesting to see how anime directors attempt to put fresh life into old subjects. That doesn’t mean they’re always successful. Here’s two different fantasy series that try.
<I>Karin</I> is a product of the JC Staff, a well-respected crew who since 1987 have provided some of the top TV programs of the last two decades. This isn’t one of them. While a relatively fresh take on vampirism, the title character is a young girl who can walk in daylight, something the rest of her family can’t do. She can even go to high school. Oh yeah, where most of Karin’s relations feel bloodlust, she suffers incredibly nose bleeds. It gets worse.
Quite frankly, attempts at originality here are either just plain weird or, worse, plain boring. The only thing worse than the relatively ugly animation is the storyline. In all, this is one where I never got past the entire disk. Four episodes of this was just too much.
<I>Shonen Onmyouji</I> is an entirely different kettle of fish, even if its basic premise might sound really familiar. Abe no Masahiro is the grandson of the most powerful omniyoji in feudal Japan. His father is also well respected and often serves the royal court. But for some reason Masahiro lacks the special “sight” he needs to follow his family lineage. Imagine his shock is because he was so powerful grandpops had to turn him “off,” otherwise there are some powerful demons who would kill the boy in an instant.
See a little Harry Potter/Tim Hunter going down? It’s nigh impossible not to. On the other hand, director Kunihiro Mori and Studio Deen (<I>Read or Die, Fruit Basket</I> and lots of other great shows) come up with an exceedingly fresh approach by grounding this series in solid Asian mysticism along with some solidly funny gags. To top it, Masahiro is probably the most likeable young wizard to grace the small screen in ages. He’s a touch of Naruto, a bit of Inu Yasha and some totally believable throughout. His familiar/sidekick Mokkun is also a hoot. The animation is also top notch.
So it should be pretty obvious which of these two new series I’m in favor of. At the same time, I expect to see more twists in old themes in the very near future.
<b>POPEYE THE SAILOR VOLUME ONE</b> (Warner Bros) (4 DVDs)
Now if ever there is a blueprint for doing an animation retrospective, this is it.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1320007.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=left> As probably anyone with even the slightest knowledge of cartoons know, one of the most important figures to dominate the scene was the Fleischer Brothers’ adaptation of Segar’s immortal sailor man. This wonderfully conceived box collects the first 5 years of Popeye’s filmography, from his introduction in what was ostensibly called a Betty Boop cartoon on through barely past his second all-color two-reeler, <I>Ali Baba</I>. Each print is immaculately restored, right down to the opening credits and many of the individual shorts come with commentary from the likes of heavy hitters like John K, Jorge Guitierrez and Sandra Equihua, Jerry Beck, Leonard Maltin and even original Fleischer animator David Tendlar.
As for the shorts? They truly are some of the greatest ever made. A mix of incredible imagination, immaculate timing, brilliant characterization and some truly wicked, urban physical humor, the 60 shorts compiled here include at least three or more of the top 100 cartoons ever made (including my personal favorite, “A Dream Walking?”).
But that’s just the beginning of all the incredible content provided. Each disk comes with at least two different documentaries covering the history of the spinach savorin’ seaman ranging not only from a very thorough history of Segar, but the creation of animation itself. The profiles of all the main characters are a hoot, and Popeye’s animated history in particular is one of the most well-conceived and executed docs ever.
Yet while all the previously reviewed is exceptional in its own right, the true icing on the cake is the inclusion of a number of pre-Popeye shorts from the silent era. I don’t know why Warners decided to include shorts of the likes of Bobby Bumps, Colonel Heeza Liar, the silent debut of Felix The Cat and a lot, a real lot, of Fleischer’s <I>Out of the Inkwell</I> series, but I’m glad they did. It’s a treasure trove, plain and simple.
In all, this collection is already securely making a claim for the best retrospective of the year. I also can’t wait for the second collection, when they should cover the long not-seen World War II years.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1324921.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>RENAISSANCE</b> (Miramax)
When this film came out barely a year ago, I was so impressed I made it one of my animated films of 2006. It was a tough choice, considering the main competition was Linklater’s <I>A Scanner Darkly</I>.
Then again, both films had a lot going for them. Both were powerful science fiction stories mixed with crime fiction. <I>Scanner</I> obviously, was based on a short novel by Philip K. Dick. As it turns out, <I>Renaissance</I> claims its major literary influence as Ellroy. Both films took rotoscoping into new areas that inventor Max Fleischer probably never thought of nearly a century ago. Linklater had an army of animators turn his stock film into a madly hallucinogenic kaleidoscope of colors resembling a paint box that exploded. Director Christian Volkman went the other route, polarizing his black and white film to the point where it was all extreme black and white with some minor accents of icy blue. Still he managed to maintain extreme detail to the point you could count the number of blemishes on a brick wall. Both film got powerful performances from their actors, particularly their villains. Yet, when push comes to shove, I’ll take <I>Ren</I>’s hardboiled Daniel Craig (yep, the latest Bond) over Keanu Reeves’ drug addled narc.
I think what finally set the two films apart for me is just to what extremes Volkman went in constructing his world. He also utilized motion capture and blue screening to create this incredibly immense Paris of the future that he admits owed as much to the futuristic visions of Fritz Lang’s <I>Metropolis</I> and other masterpieces of German expressionism. Also, the implications of how a true medical breakthrough that would create immortality could have incredible moral and global implications, yet was being suppressed simply for profit reasons, just wrung true to me.
No matter what, both films are absolutely spectacular demonstrations of what one can do with a bit of imagination. They also demonstrate just how little of animation techniques and technology out there are being fully utilized. Both should be in your animation library.
<B>THE SIMPSONS SEASON 10</b> (Fox) (4 DVDs)
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1329900.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=left>It’s hard enough to have a TV show that manages to entertain for more than three years. Yes, some critics America’s #1 boob tube family had jumped the shark a few seasons back with its Skinner episode. Still, while looking over this boxed set, all I can say is hey, any series this good is entitled to one or two stinkers per year. What’s amazing is here this set is, with the continuing trials and tribs of Homer and his clan now well over the 200 mark, and the darn show still makes me laugh my head off.
This box includes such episodes as “Lard of the Dance,” where Homer gets into the grease business; “Mayored To The Mob,” where con life is properly gutted with light sabers, “Viva Ned Flanders,’ which tells us what happens when everyone’s fave neighbor goes to Sin City, and a personal top ten episode, “30 Minutes Over Tokyo,” which ends with the Simpsons being the guests/victims of a Japanese game show hosted by George Takai. Is there some turkeys? Sure, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t cotton to the performances of Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger when they are invaded by Homer in “When You Dish Upon A Star.” Lisa’s extreme honesty in “Lisa Gets an A” also gets extremely annoying. Then again, we’re talking two clinkers out of 23? That’s still pretty incredible in my book.
As always, Groening and company pack the collection with all manner of good stuff, including deleted scenes, commentaries and even a sneak appearance of the characters from <i>Life In Hell</I>. What’s also impressive is my Simpsons collection is now starting to look as fat and well-rounded as Homer’s donut loving belly. That’s a very good thing. Here’s to another ten years of these disks.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1318350.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>SPACE GHOST & DINO BOY: THE COMPLETE SERIES</b> (WB) (2 DVDs)
It was 1966 and it seemed that Hanna-Barbera could do almost no wrong. Yes, their previous year’s main offering, <I>Jonny Quest</I> was a prime time dud, but it rebounded beautifully when it moved to Saturday mornings. And while <I>Quest</I> will always be my fave H-B production ever, I have to give the introduction of the Ghost With the Most his moment in the sun.
As comic fans know, this show was based, at least in part, on the concepts and designs of the recently departed comic book genius Alex Toth. SG and his sidekicks patrolled the galaxy taking on all sorts of monstrous evil-doers including the original Moltar, Brak, Zorak and the Spider-Queen. What many don’t realize these days is just how visually groundbreaking the show was in 1966. SG’s extremely simple white spandex uniform truly stood out, as did all the incredibly streamlined sci-fi ships and other tech. While Toth’s character designs were nothing to sneeze at, a lot should also be given to the small army of background designers H-B employed for the show. Kids TV just didn’t have these kinds of settings back in the day, and we loved them all. There was also the superlative voice cast, starting with Gary Owens at the Ghost with the most, Tim Matheson as Jace, Ted Cassidy (aka Lurch) as Metallus, the legendary Keye Luke as Brak, Don Messick as a lot of things and Johnny Carson (apparently not THAT Johnny Carson) as Cyclo. Finally, legendary animation composer Hoyt Curtain was in top form for this show, coming up with a turbo charged jazzy score that is still remembered to this day.
As many know, the original series came with an interstitial bit featuring the adventures of Dino Boy and his caveman protector literally named Ugh. In looking over these old shows again, they weren’t all that bad in an E.R. Burroughs kind of way. The good news is, again, the character design was exceptional and they were also all nicely short.
If I have to include one gripe, it’s this. I love the pristinely cleaned and restored animation, and am glad they even included the second season two-parter where SG gets help from the likes of Shazzan and The Herculoids against the Council of Doom. I also thought the hour-plus documentary on the career of Toth was exceptional, but there’s the rub.
While the Toth doc is exceptional for covering the career of the man, and includes a long list of luminaries extolling on the man’s incredible career (including Bruce Timm and all of Toth’s surviving children), I’m seriously disappointed that Space Ghost the series itself gets the short shrift. Wouldn’t it have been appropriate to find also do a companion doc on this series itself? Toth put a lot of work into this show, and it would have been great to land someone like Matheson to reminisce about their experience on the series as well as how this show in turn would spawn a whole slew of similarly adventurous shows. Yes, the animation is quite up there when compared against the incredible <I>Quest</I>, but in 1966 it truly was a feast for the eyes? Also, why not give SG the same kind of personal treatment as Birdman got on his collection? Hey, the character deserved it.
In all though, this is still one highly enjoyable set to have. I’m definitely glad I have it.
Blame it on San Diego.
Last week the column was skipped because of all the <i>Comic Con</i>-related prep and hoopla. Now we make up for it. To make things interesting, I’ve split the column into two parts. This part is all-animation. The other part is anything but.
So here’s a baker’s dozen of animated madness. Enjoy.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1319310.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>THE ADVENTURES OF SUPER MARIO 3 </b>(Shout Factory!) (3 DVDs)
Actually the <I>second</I> Mario series to air (not counting the <I>CBS Saturday Supercade</I>), this series took its name from the NES game which was out for about a year. So, anyone ancient enough to know a game before <I>World of Warcraft</I> will get most of what I’m going to talk about.
The basic premise is King Koopa returns from banishment, somehow had seven kids while in exile and is out for revenge. From there it’s 26 episodes (adding up to 13 half-hours) of animated weirdness that has moments, but the game was way better. The series also doesn’t stand up to DIC’s best work, such as <I>Inspector Gadget</I>.
So while this series never did it for me, Shout Factory managed to give this set added value in the most surprising of ways. The third DVD comes with an interactive Writer’s Bible which allows fans to make their own series. Given the rise in Machinima, this is giving me some ideas. After all, ever wouldn’t it be fun to really do something subversive with Mario, Luigi, the Princess and all those mushrooms? All those years playing Mario the game will finally pay off.
<b>THE ARCHIES: COMPLETE SERIES</b> (Genius) (2 DVDs)
A little history.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1331119.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=left> Before co-founding Filmation with Hal Sutherland and Lou Scheimer, Norm Prescott was one of the hottest rock’n roll DJ’s in Boston…until he was shot down by the payola scandals. One of the friends who stuck with him was legendary Brill Street impresario Don Kirshner.
A few years later and Kirshner has his own issues. The band he pre-fabricated, the Monkees, fired him. So Prescott and Kirshner decided to do an animated rock group. They would use characters from the super-popular comic book <B>Archie</b>. One of the songs, “Sugar Sugar,” had Monkee Davy Jones’ vocals removed and session vocalist Ron Dante’s put in their place. It became the best-selling singles of the decade.
In-between all this hoopla, of course, was the cartoon show. This set collects the first season, which aired in 1968 a year before “Sugar Sugar.” At the time, Filmation was known for fantasy/superhero shows, so going for what Lou Scheimer would later call “soft comedy” was a big break for the studio. They would run this formula to the ground for the next decade, with shows like <I>Groovy Ghoulies</I> and many more.
The formula was pretty simple. Each half-hour had Archie and Riverdale’s finest have a mildly amusing (and I’m being nice) adventure. Then they would follow with a dance step, a song with the dance step (provided by Kirshner), and then one final misadventure. While the scripts were tame to the point of virtual lameness, the rest of the show was pretty good. Spearheaded by a superlative voice cast including Dal McKennon (Archie), Howard Morris (Jughead) and Jane Webb (Betty AND Veronica), Sutherland managed to strip Bob Montana’s seminal designs into something quite animatable, yet still felt true to the comics. The songs themselves were all vintage bubble gum pop, and there’s hardly a clinker among them.
Could Filmation’s never-to-be forgotten use of stock footage get on one’s last nerve? You bet. Were many of the jokes lamer than a guy with two broken legs? Better believe it. Still, this series went up against some really heavy competition for the day (<I>Spider-Man</I> on ABC and <I>The Banana Splits</I> on NBC) and rocked its way to the #1 spot.
Like the BCI collections, this set comes with superlative added features, including commentary from Scheimer, McKennon and Sutherland (DC/WB please take note of these with further Filmation hero collections). An especially nice feature is Jukebox where one can only play the music and skip the other stuff. Also sweet is a reproduction of the Archie comic where the characters meet the animators. In all, it’s a worthy addition to the Filmation library. I’ll be real curious to see if they keep it up with the future additions.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1326874.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>AVATAR: BOOK 2 VOLUME 4</b> (Nickelodeon)
If you want to see the episodes driving <I>Avatar</I> fandom into overdrive, look no further than this season ending collection. Creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko kept the adventure elements already so integral to the tale of the last Avatar steady, while stepping it up on the political thriller and social commentary elements. The series ends up all the better for it.
What’s important here is the rapidly growing cast of heroes maturing with each new challenge they face. Aang and company are constantly learning new things about themselves, the world they live in and the enemies they face. While the sudden change o former nemesis Zuko is a tad puzzling, everything else is incredibly logical seen in hindsight. One thing that doesn’t need improvement is the animation. Apparently Nickelodeon spends $1 million per episode, and being spent wisely. The character design, action sequences, backgrounds and every other detail in this series is superlative.
So the only question is how Konietzko and DiMartino will follow this up. We’ll know on September 21 when the third season starts. As it is, if they maintain this level, they are slated for one of the best animated series of the decade. If they raise the quality any higher, then it’s time to consider <I>Avatar: The Last Airbender</I> one of the best of all time, period.
<b>BIRDMAN & THE GALAXY TRIO</b> (WB) (2 DVDs)
<b>HARVEY BIRDMAN: ATTORNEY AT LAW VOLUME THREE</b> (WB) (2 DVDs)
When the original <I>Birdman</I> made its debut in 1967, my friends and I didn’t give it much time. Across the dial was CBS with its line up of <I>Space Ghost, Shazzan, Herculoids, Superman/Aquaman Hour, Mightor</I> and <I>Jonny Quest</I>. MAYBE we’d turn the dial if <I>Mightor</I> was lame, but even that wasn’t too often. The dial was pretty permanently glued to Channel 2 (at least where I lived) on Saturday mornings, and <I>B></I> ended up a half-memory.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1318351.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=left> Looking back, one can see why. Sure, the series sported designs by the legendary Alex Toth. It also had some nice stories in its own right. But compare Birdman to Space Ghost, the former just came off as a wimp who needed his sun fix kicking tail. It looked like Hanna-Barbera treated this solar-powered meta as an also ran. The quality of the animation was frankly inferior and, with the exception of Birdman’s main enemy, the covert FEAR, the villains just didn’t hold a candle to the likes of SG’s rogue’s gallery.
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean I’m ever, ever going to trash this collection. The reason for this is it makes a great companion piece to Michael Ouleween and Erik Richter’s wonderfully insidious and subversive <I>Harvey Birdman</I>. It’s truly neat to see Steve Colbert didn’t stray far when he voiced Reducto. Compare the original X the Eliminator or Vulturo to the M/E obsessives. You’ll see what I mean. Another nice feature is the paean no less than Ouweleen pays to the original series.
As for the final collection of <I>HBAAL</I>? Well, one wishes more shows would go out like this. Containing the last two seasons of this seminal Adult Swim series, creators Ouweleen and Richter manage to have just about every character who ever had the slightest air time make one last moment in the Birdman-fueling sun. Whether it’s Harvey using the corpse of Scrappy Doo to help stuff his luggage, Apache Chief constantly flash boiling his pride or Birdgirl providing some of the best fan service ever animated, the turbo-charged gags will have you hitting the playback button multiple times just to make sure M/E did do what you thought you saw. The final half-dozen or so episodes, starting with the death of Ken Sebben and ending with the greatest battle Birdman ever fought (including the original ’67 shorts), shows one can tear the arm off an opponent (figuratively), beat it with it and still cough up more yucks than Judge Mightor. Best yet, while a little knowledge of the H-B universe doesn’t hurt, it isn’t necessary.
So while dear Harvey did start life forty years ago with his wings clipped, the important thing is while he left the stage a feathered pulpy mass of streetburger, he did so memorably. Not bad for a character that most kids of the day didn’t remember the original Birdman, they sure won’t forget him now.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1327850.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>DARKWING DUCK VOLUME TWO</b> (Disney) (3 DVDS)
This set collects the next 27 episodes (literally #28-54) of Alan Zaslove and Tad Stones’ still way-too-underappreciated satire of all things superhero. What’s truly impressive is how they managed to take what they had already established and truly do something with it.
As the show ran simultaneously on both ABC and The Disney Afternoon block at this time, the first thing one has to consider is just how consistently good the stories were. In fact, with this second collection one gets to see something that’s a very rare commodity even in animation today, character development. While Stones would later admit he was never a true continuity freak (check out the “Secret Origins” episode and then later incarnations in other episodes), events from past episodes did have an effect on Darkwing, Goslyn, Launchpad and company. It was also nice to see characters from other Disney shows, particularly <I>Duck Tales</I>, crossing over, creating a sort of <I>TDA</I> universe. There are also the one-off parodies, such as the pretty obvious “Twin Beaks” and “Incredible Bulk,” but the look like they’re moving from topical to classical.
The animation still strikes me as some of the best that has appeared on TV over the last 25 years. The voice work, led by Jim Cummings and Christine Cavanaugh, was exceptional. Many of Darkwing’s stock phrases, whether his introductory “Terror that flaps in the night…” line or simply “Let’s get Dangerous!” still hold up since they first appeared on the screen. Heck, I still like the softened hip hop theme song.
The only pity is there’s now barely three dozen episodes left (Disney only made 91). No matter what, I certainly hope the third volume does come out. This is one series that should never be forgotten.
<b>HAPPY TREE FRIENDS 3</b> (BCI)
Gee…just when you think the happy sadists at Mondo Mini Shows couldn’t possibly come up with any way of torturing, maiming, disfiguring and just plain killing all those cute and cuddly little critters they call The Happy Tree Friends, they come out with this.
This box is 13 more of the TV version of the series. As always, each episode of the HTF’s come packed with more violence that an entire year’s worth of <I>Itchy & Scratchy</I>. Further, it’s pretty obvious, especially when you listen to the commentary tracks, that key creators Kenn Navarro, Aubrey Ankrum, Rhode Montijo and Warren Graff love to stretch out the destruction and dismemberments for as much as possible. Why the trail of entrails splattered over one short could probably pack at least a case of Oscar Mayer’s.
While there’s nothing exceptionally new going on here, that doesn’t mean the entertainment level isn’t up to the usual standards. For all those who love their ultra-violence raw, perverse and incredibly funny that’s really just quite fine.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1305724.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>KARIN 1: INFUSION</b> (Geneon)
<b>SHONEN ONMYOUJI 1</b> (Geneon)
It’s always interesting to see how anime directors attempt to put fresh life into old subjects. That doesn’t mean they’re always successful. Here’s two different fantasy series that try.
<I>Karin</I> is a product of the JC Staff, a well-respected crew who since 1987 have provided some of the top TV programs of the last two decades. This isn’t one of them. While a relatively fresh take on vampirism, the title character is a young girl who can walk in daylight, something the rest of her family can’t do. She can even go to high school. Oh yeah, where most of Karin’s relations feel bloodlust, she suffers incredibly nose bleeds. It gets worse.
Quite frankly, attempts at originality here are either just plain weird or, worse, plain boring. The only thing worse than the relatively ugly animation is the storyline. In all, this is one where I never got past the entire disk. Four episodes of this was just too much.
<I>Shonen Onmyouji</I> is an entirely different kettle of fish, even if its basic premise might sound really familiar. Abe no Masahiro is the grandson of the most powerful omniyoji in feudal Japan. His father is also well respected and often serves the royal court. But for some reason Masahiro lacks the special “sight” he needs to follow his family lineage. Imagine his shock is because he was so powerful grandpops had to turn him “off,” otherwise there are some powerful demons who would kill the boy in an instant.
See a little Harry Potter/Tim Hunter going down? It’s nigh impossible not to. On the other hand, director Kunihiro Mori and Studio Deen (<I>Read or Die, Fruit Basket</I> and lots of other great shows) come up with an exceedingly fresh approach by grounding this series in solid Asian mysticism along with some solidly funny gags. To top it, Masahiro is probably the most likeable young wizard to grace the small screen in ages. He’s a touch of Naruto, a bit of Inu Yasha and some totally believable throughout. His familiar/sidekick Mokkun is also a hoot. The animation is also top notch.
So it should be pretty obvious which of these two new series I’m in favor of. At the same time, I expect to see more twists in old themes in the very near future.
<b>POPEYE THE SAILOR VOLUME ONE</b> (Warner Bros) (4 DVDs)
Now if ever there is a blueprint for doing an animation retrospective, this is it.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1320007.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=left> As probably anyone with even the slightest knowledge of cartoons know, one of the most important figures to dominate the scene was the Fleischer Brothers’ adaptation of Segar’s immortal sailor man. This wonderfully conceived box collects the first 5 years of Popeye’s filmography, from his introduction in what was ostensibly called a Betty Boop cartoon on through barely past his second all-color two-reeler, <I>Ali Baba</I>. Each print is immaculately restored, right down to the opening credits and many of the individual shorts come with commentary from the likes of heavy hitters like John K, Jorge Guitierrez and Sandra Equihua, Jerry Beck, Leonard Maltin and even original Fleischer animator David Tendlar.
As for the shorts? They truly are some of the greatest ever made. A mix of incredible imagination, immaculate timing, brilliant characterization and some truly wicked, urban physical humor, the 60 shorts compiled here include at least three or more of the top 100 cartoons ever made (including my personal favorite, “A Dream Walking?”).
But that’s just the beginning of all the incredible content provided. Each disk comes with at least two different documentaries covering the history of the spinach savorin’ seaman ranging not only from a very thorough history of Segar, but the creation of animation itself. The profiles of all the main characters are a hoot, and Popeye’s animated history in particular is one of the most well-conceived and executed docs ever.
Yet while all the previously reviewed is exceptional in its own right, the true icing on the cake is the inclusion of a number of pre-Popeye shorts from the silent era. I don’t know why Warners decided to include shorts of the likes of Bobby Bumps, Colonel Heeza Liar, the silent debut of Felix The Cat and a lot, a real lot, of Fleischer’s <I>Out of the Inkwell</I> series, but I’m glad they did. It’s a treasure trove, plain and simple.
In all, this collection is already securely making a claim for the best retrospective of the year. I also can’t wait for the second collection, when they should cover the long not-seen World War II years.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1324921.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>RENAISSANCE</b> (Miramax)
When this film came out barely a year ago, I was so impressed I made it one of my animated films of 2006. It was a tough choice, considering the main competition was Linklater’s <I>A Scanner Darkly</I>.
Then again, both films had a lot going for them. Both were powerful science fiction stories mixed with crime fiction. <I>Scanner</I> obviously, was based on a short novel by Philip K. Dick. As it turns out, <I>Renaissance</I> claims its major literary influence as Ellroy. Both films took rotoscoping into new areas that inventor Max Fleischer probably never thought of nearly a century ago. Linklater had an army of animators turn his stock film into a madly hallucinogenic kaleidoscope of colors resembling a paint box that exploded. Director Christian Volkman went the other route, polarizing his black and white film to the point where it was all extreme black and white with some minor accents of icy blue. Still he managed to maintain extreme detail to the point you could count the number of blemishes on a brick wall. Both film got powerful performances from their actors, particularly their villains. Yet, when push comes to shove, I’ll take <I>Ren</I>’s hardboiled Daniel Craig (yep, the latest Bond) over Keanu Reeves’ drug addled narc.
I think what finally set the two films apart for me is just to what extremes Volkman went in constructing his world. He also utilized motion capture and blue screening to create this incredibly immense Paris of the future that he admits owed as much to the futuristic visions of Fritz Lang’s <I>Metropolis</I> and other masterpieces of German expressionism. Also, the implications of how a true medical breakthrough that would create immortality could have incredible moral and global implications, yet was being suppressed simply for profit reasons, just wrung true to me.
No matter what, both films are absolutely spectacular demonstrations of what one can do with a bit of imagination. They also demonstrate just how little of animation techniques and technology out there are being fully utilized. Both should be in your animation library.
<B>THE SIMPSONS SEASON 10</b> (Fox) (4 DVDs)
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1329900.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=left>It’s hard enough to have a TV show that manages to entertain for more than three years. Yes, some critics America’s #1 boob tube family had jumped the shark a few seasons back with its Skinner episode. Still, while looking over this boxed set, all I can say is hey, any series this good is entitled to one or two stinkers per year. What’s amazing is here this set is, with the continuing trials and tribs of Homer and his clan now well over the 200 mark, and the darn show still makes me laugh my head off.
This box includes such episodes as “Lard of the Dance,” where Homer gets into the grease business; “Mayored To The Mob,” where con life is properly gutted with light sabers, “Viva Ned Flanders,’ which tells us what happens when everyone’s fave neighbor goes to Sin City, and a personal top ten episode, “30 Minutes Over Tokyo,” which ends with the Simpsons being the guests/victims of a Japanese game show hosted by George Takai. Is there some turkeys? Sure, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t cotton to the performances of Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger when they are invaded by Homer in “When You Dish Upon A Star.” Lisa’s extreme honesty in “Lisa Gets an A” also gets extremely annoying. Then again, we’re talking two clinkers out of 23? That’s still pretty incredible in my book.
As always, Groening and company pack the collection with all manner of good stuff, including deleted scenes, commentaries and even a sneak appearance of the characters from <i>Life In Hell</I>. What’s also impressive is my Simpsons collection is now starting to look as fat and well-rounded as Homer’s donut loving belly. That’s a very good thing. Here’s to another ten years of these disks.
<img src=http://images2.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/1318350.jpg border=0 hspace=4 align=right><b>SPACE GHOST & DINO BOY: THE COMPLETE SERIES</b> (WB) (2 DVDs)
It was 1966 and it seemed that Hanna-Barbera could do almost no wrong. Yes, their previous year’s main offering, <I>Jonny Quest</I> was a prime time dud, but it rebounded beautifully when it moved to Saturday mornings. And while <I>Quest</I> will always be my fave H-B production ever, I have to give the introduction of the Ghost With the Most his moment in the sun.
As comic fans know, this show was based, at least in part, on the concepts and designs of the recently departed comic book genius Alex Toth. SG and his sidekicks patrolled the galaxy taking on all sorts of monstrous evil-doers including the original Moltar, Brak, Zorak and the Spider-Queen. What many don’t realize these days is just how visually groundbreaking the show was in 1966. SG’s extremely simple white spandex uniform truly stood out, as did all the incredibly streamlined sci-fi ships and other tech. While Toth’s character designs were nothing to sneeze at, a lot should also be given to the small army of background designers H-B employed for the show. Kids TV just didn’t have these kinds of settings back in the day, and we loved them all. There was also the superlative voice cast, starting with Gary Owens at the Ghost with the most, Tim Matheson as Jace, Ted Cassidy (aka Lurch) as Metallus, the legendary Keye Luke as Brak, Don Messick as a lot of things and Johnny Carson (apparently not THAT Johnny Carson) as Cyclo. Finally, legendary animation composer Hoyt Curtain was in top form for this show, coming up with a turbo charged jazzy score that is still remembered to this day.
As many know, the original series came with an interstitial bit featuring the adventures of Dino Boy and his caveman protector literally named Ugh. In looking over these old shows again, they weren’t all that bad in an E.R. Burroughs kind of way. The good news is, again, the character design was exceptional and they were also all nicely short.
If I have to include one gripe, it’s this. I love the pristinely cleaned and restored animation, and am glad they even included the second season two-parter where SG gets help from the likes of Shazzan and The Herculoids against the Council of Doom. I also thought the hour-plus documentary on the career of Toth was exceptional, but there’s the rub.
While the Toth doc is exceptional for covering the career of the man, and includes a long list of luminaries extolling on the man’s incredible career (including Bruce Timm and all of Toth’s surviving children), I’m seriously disappointed that Space Ghost the series itself gets the short shrift. Wouldn’t it have been appropriate to find also do a companion doc on this series itself? Toth put a lot of work into this show, and it would have been great to land someone like Matheson to reminisce about their experience on the series as well as how this show in turn would spawn a whole slew of similarly adventurous shows. Yes, the animation is quite up there when compared against the incredible <I>Quest</I>, but in 1966 it truly was a feast for the eyes? Also, why not give SG the same kind of personal treatment as Birdman got on his collection? Hey, the character deserved it.
In all though, this is still one highly enjoyable set to have. I’m definitely glad I have it.