THE NARUTO MOVIE, LIL' BUSH II, AND MORE

[MattBrady]

MARY ELIZABETH MCGLYNN ON NARUTO MOVIE
LIL’ BUSH PT II; DAYTIME EMMYS GO BROADBAND, MORE

by Steve Fritz

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn has to be one of the busiest people in anime these days.

The character she’s most associated with, Ghost In The Shell’s Major Motoko Kusanagi, earned McGlynn the first ever American Anime Award for Female Performance, Drama, earlier this year. The third GITS movie, Stand Alone Complex: Solid State System will make its debut on the Sci-Fi Network next week. (More on that next column).

Yet what’s truly keeping her running is she’s the primary ADR director for Cartoon Network’s hit series Naruto. As you read this, she has just gone to the U.S. premiere of the first spin-off movie, Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. Regular fans will have to wait until Wednesday, June 6 to get their theatrical fix.

Considering I was going to interview her about Ghost anyway, I figured it would be copacetic to shoot a few Naruto questions her way. She was more than willing, in fact she was bona fide excited, to talk it up. So here you go you swirlies, this is what McGlynn had to say:

Newsarama: Would you say this year has been busier than ever?

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn: Naruto is just going crazy. I’ve just seen the movie. It’s just beautifully, beautifully animated.

NRAMA: It must have been interesting going up against Maile Flanagan (voice of Naruto—ED) for the first Anime Awards.

MEM: Maile Flanagan had a bet for the American Anime Award. Whoever lost would give the other a bottle of wine. I can’t believe I beat her, to be honest, and that I won the award at all.

NRAMA: Got to admit, it must be tough on Maile to play Naruto. That voice is gruff so it must be hard on her throat.

MEM: But that’s Maile. She makes these adjustments to her voice, but it’s still very close to her. It’s obviously a more masculine version of her. She’s got an unbelievable voice and is also an amazing actress. She even has an Emmy for her work on Jakers, the PBS children’s show. We’re very, very lucky to have her on the show. She ups the stakes and brings a new level of professionalism that’s just fantastic.

NRAMA: This movie is a standalone right?

MEM: It’s a solid adventure. It happens kind of out of sequence from the TV series, but it’s around the time Naruto learns the Rasingan and Sasuske was traumatized by his brother. Yes, it has Naruto going on an adventure with Sasuske, Sakura and Kakashi, but it’s kind of out of sequence. Look at it this way, in the movie you will see Naruto use a technique he isn’t supposed to know until 10-15 episodes later.

It’s also good that Kari Wahlgren plays our lead. She and I worked together in the past, on Wolf’s Rain. She has been one of my favorite actresses and does a really good job as the princess.

NRAMA: How would say the quality of the animation has been upgraded?

MEM: It’s definitely better. There’s a scene where Naruto meets the Princess in a bar. It has some of the best animation I’ve seen as far as specificity, body movement, and Maile and Kari matched it perfectly. I’ll continue to gush on them if you let me.

NRAMA: You also have Steve Blum in there.

MEM: Ah! Steve Blum! He will always be known for playing Spike on Cowboy Bebop. We got the ten year anniversary of that coming up and Steve was just unbelievable. Now it seems every time we need a villain for Naruto he comes up with it. Just about every show I direct I try to get him involved. That’s getting more and more difficult because he, Kari and Dave Wittenberg’s careers are just skyrocketing for all forms of animation. There will be some unbelievable Saturday morning projects coming up this fall on American television that are just amazing. Steve, Kari and Liam (O’Brien) are all in them. In fact, Liam is becoming a second director for Naruto.

NRAMA: How does it feel to be working on a show that draws that kind of fanaticism?

MEM: It’s amazing. It’s become the Harry Potter of the anime world. What’s amazing is it’s not just the teens, but the parents. I get letters from people of every age group. They just love the show and really connect to it.

I think what it is it has so many characters, each one different and individual. The whole thing is about growing up and working together as a team, but really it’s all about enhancing your own individuality. It actually says by becoming a strong individual you can really contribute to the team.

NRAMA: It’s also the classic Horatio Algers story with a ninja setting.

MEM: Yeah. It says even the lowliest can rise to the top. It also shows Naruto isn’t the only one. Each kid is finding his or her own path. For instance, look at Naruto and Gaara. They both have similar backgrounds, but they chose different paths. Naruto has chosen to use his powers for good and he’s one of the most honorable characters I’ve ever come across. In Gaara’s case, he became so beaten down he eventually took the path of isolation and evil. Naruto never let himself get beaten down. Naruto will go on forever.

Next Column: Mary Elizabeth is joined by Richard Epcar and Crispin Freeman about their work on the latest Ghost In The Shell.

LIL’ BUSH – A SECOND TERM WITH CREATOR DONICK CARY & IGGY POP

In the last column we got into a little bit about the politics, creation and hiring of Iggy Pop for Comedy Central’s new series Lil’—note the apostrophe—Bush. This time we get into a little more detail. We also get to rock out with these little rascals.

When it comes to the political humor of Lil’ Bush, creator Donick Cary did acknowledge there were some restrictions. Oddly enough the biggest ones appeared to be financial.

For instance, even though each episode will feature a song, none of them will be written by Iggy Pop, even though the Godfather of Punk is doing the voice of Lil’ Rummy.

“You know I doubt it,” said Mr. Pop, who will apparently be having Elijah Wood portraying him in a biographical film. “They probably can’t afford me but I’m cheap for voices – for voiceover.”

“I wrote about 90% of those lyrics and I found a great guy, this guy Chris Phillips, who’s actually the drummer for the Squirrel Nut Zippers,” says Cary. “we’ve gone in and now we’ve probably recorded about 20 of these silly sort of fun, crazy songs. He’s been great, amazing, and super fast, super good. it’s inspired by The Archies or, you know, the Cartoon Beatles or The Monkees or it’s all that kind of thing.
We’re doing parodies of The Sex Pistols and Guns and Roses and The Grateful Dead and anything from Kiss to Wham, you know, little music videos in each of the shows that are from all over musicdom.”

At the same time, that doesn’t mean there won’t be guest musicians. Just don’t expect them to be playing their instruments.

“I can quickly walk you through. We have, you know, a number of people are doing the show. Dave Grolflee and Anthony Keedis are all playing themselves in an episode that’s a Lil’ Live Earth concert where our little gang sort of infiltrates the Live Earth show and takes it over to convince everyone that global warming’s awesome. Frank Black from the Pixies is doing voice of Satan in an episode where Lil’ Cheney has a heart attack and goes to hell and then bugs Satan so much that Satan has to kick him out of hell. Jeff Tweedy from Wilco is doing a voice. He’s doing the voice of God or as Lil’ Bush calls him ‘Goddy’ and tries to help Lil’ Bush understand evolution. Henry Rollins did a voice for us where he’s playing an Iraq war veteran who gets stuck in Walter Reed and the kids come in and try to fix the place up and he – and annoy him. Colin Malloy from the Decemberists is doing a voice where Jeb Bush who is played fairly dumb in this, he gets hit in the head and becomes smart and his smart voice is going to be by Colin Malloy from The Decemberists. Then the weirdest one – we’re about 90% closed on--is it looks like Boy George is going to do the voice of Tony Blair. He and Lil’ George have a special friendship and not gay exactly but they do a duet about being buddies.

“Is that where they play football?,” Pop interjects.

“Yeah,” Cary admits, “they try to play football and they become cheerleaders.”

Apparently one shouldn’t be surprised about another thing, too. With all the world’s musicians apparently more than willing to do v.o. work for cheap, there will be major political characters of all stripes and nature showing up on the show.

“You know, all of them appear in the show,” says Cary. “This all takes place in Washington in the White House and the kids go to Beltway Elementary School where Lil’ Hillary, Lil’ John Kerry, Lil’ Barack, you know, Lil’ Al Gore, everybody’s there. They get in rivalries, they fight over stuff, they have school elections, and, you know, compete for tables in the lunchroom.

“It takes place in the White House but it’s George Senior and Barbara and Jeb and they’re trying to raise their family. He’s got his little gang of buddies who have a rock band and they go to school. A lot of the issues play out in that backdrop which is timeless. So, you know, they might get involved in an issue that is political or bigger that might be somewhat topical but the core of the show is about just a family trying to raise their kids. It just happens to be a crazy one, you know?”

Speaking of crazy, it appears one of the most insane is Pop’s portrayal of Lil’ Rummy.

“He’s the kind of guy that has put a lot of thought and preparation into deciding he’s going to put over,” says Pop. “He’s a put over, sell it to you, this is the way we’re doing it guy. He’s going to get rattled really easily if anyone disagrees so there’s a certain. He can go from definite to urgent to strident to edge of hysterical. I think we’ve got a lot in common.”

“We’re also playing it he’s kind of a classic school bully with a little bit of psychopath in there,” says Cary. “He’s not afraid to take anyone on and [throw] a little napalm in there.”

Still, even if the budget isn’t as huge as say, The Simpsons, that doesn’t mean Cary is having his hands otherwise tied behind his back. From the sounds of things, he’s already figured out how to get just about any storyline he wants to do on the screen. He does it by using every show on Comedy Central as his examples.

“I mean there’s a lot more restrictions doing anything on a network,” Cary does acknowledge. “Having said that Comedy Central is known for doing stuff that’s edgy and takes those few risks. They do a lot of political stuff. So [when] it’s there’s things in this that they’ve gone like, ‘Wait a minute that seems a little too edgy,’ I can easily point out, ‘You’ve done something like that on South Park. You’ve done something like that on the Colbert Report.’ So it’s actually a pretty good home for this and the notes haven’t been bad.

“The one area we’ve been really careful about, is obviously these are political but we want them to be funny first and foremost and fun. When we get into storylines that involve Iraq or mentioning the troops or working with the troops--we’re doing one story line about Walter Reed--there’s a line when it’s not funny and when it’s funny. We’ve talked a lot about that both on our staff and with Comedy Central about where that line is. How we keep the heart in the right place on this thing as we get into real controversial things.”

Cary is also well aware that current times makes it easier to target the Bush Administration than during the days of the show That’s My Bush. Then again, he says that by being animated, he can get away with a lot more than the live action show.

“I think it’s a lot easier,” Cary said. “Cartoon characters feel a lot more harmless than live action. It's always been the things that you see on The Simpsons you could never do on Everybody Loves Raymond or whatever. So I think that’s definitely true. I also think that the tide has turned a little bit and he’s [Bush] got 32% approval ratings. A lot of people have kind of gone you know what? This guy may not be the smartest apple in the fruit basket. The nice thing is this administration keeps getting in scandals so it seems like there’s an endless source of material.”

Well, for the next two or so years anyway.

Just to repeat, the series will be making its debut on June 13 on Comedy Central at 10:30 p.m.

DAYTIME EMMYS ADD INTERNET TO ANIMATION LIST

In a sign of the times, the Emmys, which are still the TV industry’s top award, has added internet material to its list. This includes a new category for children’s programming.

The list of nominees released late last weekend include the following:

Outstanding Children's Animated Program
• Arthur (PBS)
• Curious George (PBS)
• Pee & The Big Wide World - DSC KIDS
• Time Warp Trio – NBC
• Todd World - DSC KIDS

Outstanding Special Class Animated Program
• The Batman (Kids WB!)
• Bigfoot Presents: Meteor & The Mighty Monster Trucks (DSC KIDS)
• Growing Up Creepie (DSC KIDS)
• Tutenstein (DSC KIDS)

Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program
• Eartha Kitt ; Disney’s The Emperor’s New School (DISNEY)
• Jim Conroy; FETCH! WITH RUFF RUFFMAN ( PBS)
• Maile Flanagan; Jakers! The Adventures Of Piggley Winks (PBS)
• Russi Taylor; Jakers! The Adventures Of Piggley Winks (PBS)
• Danica Lee; The Wonder Pets (Nickelodeon)

DR. STRANGE GOES ONLINE

Lions Gate and Marvel announced a trailer for the upcoming Doctor Strange direct-to-DVD animated movie has gone online. As previously reported, the movie is directed by Frank Paur, who did the previous Invincible Iron Man release earlier this year.

The URL for the Strange is: http://www.specialopsmedia.com/asset...-DR_STRANGE_w_ website_pre_sor.zip

The release date for the DVD is currently August 14.

ANIME NETWORK ADDING 009

The Anime Network announced it will be adding the hot spy-action thriller 009 starting June 14. The series is modeled after the pop art sensibilities of The Avengers or Modesty Blaise, but set in a world where the Cold War has gone on for nearly 150 years and obviously has a little fan action for the otakus.

For y’all unfortunates who still can’t get Anime Network (such as myself), the first volume of the DVD will go on sale June 19.

NEXT COLUMN: We not only go back to the Ghost In The Shell, but also take a gander at a pack of surfin’ birds. Can Penguins be the new cute and cuddlies we’ll be seeing too much of on the animated screen? .

[Moored]

That Iron Man movie sucked

[vbartilucci]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Pee & The Big Wide World - DSC KIDS

Wait, there's cartoon character out there named Pee? Cool.

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program
• Eartha Kitt ; Disney’s The Emperor’s New School (DISNEY)
• Jim Conroy; FETCH! WITH RUFF RUFFMAN ( PBS)
• Maile Flanagan; Jakers! The Adventures Of Piggley Winks (PBS)
• Russi Taylor; Jakers! The Adventures Of Piggley Winks (PBS)
• Danica Lee; The Wonder Pets (Nickelodeon)

Eartha Kitt MADE The Emperor's New Groove. It's a shame New School is such formulaic crap, tho.

And for those of you who haven't seen Jakers, SHAME on you. It's a charming little show with a Irish "News from Lake Wobegon" feel, and Mel Brooks plays a ram. Go wrong.

Fetch! is just barely cute, like most kids game shows. Not as good as WitWiCarmen Sandiego (Heck, Rockapella makes everything better) but streets above, say, Nick Arcade. I think if they tried something really challenging, like The Crystal Maze, kids' heads would explode.
But when it comes to educational kids' shows with a computer(ized) co-host, they all pale before the ultimate melding of Man and Technology: Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine

I want Ming-Ming to get an Emmy. That would rock. Wonder Pets is another one of those things that you'd never expect to get over, but it has, and it's hilawious.

[Spaz_Monkey]

Originally Posted by Moored

That Iron Man movie sucked

Yeah, I was kinda under whelmed by it. He built the grey armor to keep himself alive and get out of China, but by some random coincidence had an armory FULL of Iron Man suits back home. Voice acting was fine, art was consistent with the Ultimate Avengers, but it was just a dull, uninspired story line.

[Toneloak]

Originally Posted by Steve Fritz

“I can quickly walk you through. We have, you know, a number of people are doing the show. Dave Grolflee and Anthony Keedis are all playing themselves in an episode that’s a Lil’ Live Earth concert where our little gang sort of infiltrates the Live Earth show and takes it over to convince everyone that global warming’s awesome. Frank Black from the Pixies is doing voice of Satan in an episode where Lil’ Cheney has a heart attack and goes to hell and then bugs Satan so much that Satan has to kick him out of hell. Jeff Tweedy from Wilco is doing a voice. He’s doing the voice of God or as Lil’ Bush calls him ‘Goddy’ and tries to help Lil’ Bush understand evolution. Henry Rollins did a voice for us where he’s playing an Iraq war veteran who gets stuck in Walter Reed and the kids come in and try to fix the place up and he – and annoy him. Colin Malloy from the Decemberists is doing a voice where Jeb Bush who is played fairly dumb in this, he gets hit in the head and becomes smart and his smart voice is going to be by Colin Malloy from The Decemberists. Then the weirdest one – we’re about 90% closed on--is it looks like Boy George is going to do the voice of Tony Blair. He and Lil’ George have a special friendship and not gay exactly but they do a duet about being buddies.

There was nothing I didn't truly laugh out load about. Too much....I'm amped for this show.

Two great interviews in one shot and some 009-1 news. Kick Ass!! Thanks Steve.

Edit: BTW, I have high hopes for the Dr Strange movie. Have been since UA2. UA1, 2 and IM was too kid friendly nothing for us adults (check out Mary Elizabeth McGlynn comments on that topic), but something about the Strange movie seems like it could be entertaining.

[Grendel Prime]

Naruto: It is ridiculous how much I enjoy Naruto. I really want to see this movie.

Iron Man: What really turned me off to the animated movie was the unbelievably bad premise. The debut adventure for a man of technology and you set him up against supernatural elementals? What good are bullets against an enemy made of wind? How do you punch water into submission? Ludicrously bad concept.

[MattBrady]

Originally Posted by Grendel Prime

How do you punch water into submission?

I've punched water until it cried. It was hard to tell, but still.

MattB

[lanzajr26]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

I've punched water until it cried. It was hard to tell, but still.

MattB

Brilliant. Just brilliant!

[sfritz]

Originally Posted by Grendel Prime

Naruto: It is ridiculous how much I enjoy Naruto. I really want to see this movie.

Iron Man: What really turned me off to the animated movie was the unbelievably bad premise. The debut adventure for a man of technology and you set him up against supernatural elementals? What good are bullets against an enemy made of wind? How do you punch water into submission? Ludicrously bad concept.

Personally, I now want to be just like Jiraiya when I grow up.

I mean I can kick butt, turn invisible and be rich through writing porn. In fact, I understand there is a future episode where one of the Big J's books is being turned into a movie and Naruto has to take care of business on set (I'd love to see CN air THIS one).

Yeah, the career of a pervy sage is just too good...

-s

[SeamusMcClernan]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Boy George is going to do the voice of Tony Blair. He and Lil’ George have a special friendship and not gay exactly but they do a duet about being buddies.

...and this?

Genius.

[SeamusMcClernan]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Boy George is going to do the voice of Tony Blair. He and Lil’ George have a special friendship and not gay exactly but they do a duet about being buddies.

...and this?

Genius.

[fireboy]

Do they keep giving these Marvel Animated Features to the same crappy writers? The stuff looks awful, too. Iron Man was a waste and now Dr. Strange gets the same treatment. Ugh.

[NightRiver]

Im not going to be able to see the Naruto movie in theaters, they better release it on dvd! Ive seen the trailers and the animation is superb!

[neko85]

I'd go see the movie if I could stand the dub. Besides I already saw it when the sub came out a few years ago. :-p

[Livewire2nd]

The Naruro Movies look great but but the Best one is the Second movie. And the third movie was just plain dumb.

[LunarDaydreamer]

Steve, have you seen the Naruto movie yet?

[Xero]

The third Naruto movie is the best of the three, it takes place pretty close to the Naruto Shippuuden timeline.

[gl712]

• Pee & The Big Wide World - DSC KIDS

It's a typo, it's actually Peep & The Big Wide World.

[venus_redsca]

What will bad comedians do when Bush leaves office? Comedy might actually have to grow for the first time in nearly a decade. Exciting stuff.

[Reliant]

I admit to be a totally shameless fanboy when it comes to Naruto (yes, I have a Leaf Village headband hanging off my dresser--proud of it), and I think Maile Flanagan is awesome both on that show and on Jakers!. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn totally rocks on Ghost In The Shell and I've noticed her name as a voice director in the credits of a couple of other shows, I think.

In regards to the Marvel animated DVD movies, I liked Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2 well enough to buy them for my collection, but I passed on Iron Man. I thought the animation and voice acting was fine, but the story, characters, and overall setting really didn't grab me...

[Scavenger]

Originally Posted by sfritz

I mean I can kick butt, turn invisible and be rich through writing porn. In fact, I understand there is a future episode where one of the Big J's books is being turned into a movie and Naruto has to take care of business on set (I'd love to see CN air THIS one).

...I think that's a background bit in the 1st movie, no?

[sfritz]

Originally Posted by Scavenger

...I think that's a background bit in the 1st movie, no?

Don't think so. Squad 7 is sent to the movies in order to protect the Princess, I don't think it has anything to do with one of Jiraiya's books. -s

[Blaaat]

The first Naruto movie is only the only Naruto movie I enjoyed. No matter how much I tried I couldn't get into movie 2 and 3. Besides movie 1 had both Tsutomu Isobe and Hirotaka Suzuoki which is just win.

Originally Posted by sfritz

Don't think so. Squad 7 is sent to the movies in order to protect the Princess, I don't think it has anything to do with one of Jiraiya's books. -s

Perhaps he was talking about the final scene in the movie. The one that appears after the credits.

[alextastic]

I wanna see the Naruto movie, but none of my friends are into Naruto at all, so...yeah, I don't know who I'd go with.

[Scavenger]

Originally Posted by Blaaat

Perhaps he was talking about the final scene in the movie. The one that appears after the credits.

That could well be it...