Caddickisms » cartoon

Cartoon Caddick

Jeff — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:30:24 +0000

G-Force ROCKS!

Jeff — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:50:51 +0000

NO! I am not talking about the insipid, rodent-filled name-stealer.

Why?! Why did they do it?!

Similar to Lee’s story in the blog entry that I’m blatantly ripping off, even to the point of taking his graphics, when I heard about a live action G-Force movie I could feel the 10-year old geek in me pushing and punching the 38-year old (at the time) actual geek that is me to race to the computer sooner than humanly possible to bring up the trailer. I also remember the internal scream of agony from that 10-year old geek when the trailer appeared and I realized that I wasn’t watching some dumb ad for a kids movie preceding the awesomeness of G-Force, I was watching some dumb ad for a kids movie that will now forever soil the name G-Force.

I’m only judging that movie by the trailer and its name. I haven’t seen it. I can’t bring myself to do it. I would feel like a traitor. Watching that movie would mean I accept its claim to the title “G-Force.” I can’t do that to the real G-Force:

G-Force: Mark, Tiny, Keyop, Princess, and Jason

G-Force is the team that saved the planet on a regular basis in Battle of the Planets – a 1979 American import of a 1972 Japanese animation (heavily edited), and then reworked and released as G-Force: Guardians of Space in 1986.

Check out the opening credits:

That Fiery Phoenix is too awesome for words.

So Battle of the Planets started in 1979, when Star Wars was completely changing the game in popular culture. Everybody was trying to cash in somehow. As a result, we got those receding title screens and the obviously edited-in 7Zark7 to appeal to the newly minted droid-lovers. (The music and voice-over should also cause flashbacks to the 70s Superfriends cartoon. Both the title composer (Hoyt Curtin) and narrator (William Woodson) did very recognizable work on both shows.)

G-Force was originally, as I said, a Japanese show called Gatchaman. When it was brought in for young American audiences, it was heavily edited down to remove the graphic violence, profanity, and transgenderism of the original. Apparently, though, the American version retained much of the storyline of the original, compensating for the large cuts by exposition and the inclusion of the 7Zark7 character to smooth things over and provide some comic relief.

I didn’t know any of that until I saw Lee’s blog and learned about Gatchaman. He found this very cool trailer for a new CGI movie of Gatchaman under production:

Apparently it’s unclear whether this will make it into theaters. It’s already missed a couple of release dates, and the studio is clearly having financial trouble. The creative team appears to have gone through some changes, as well, though it’s heartening to know that Paul Dini (of Batman: The Animated Series fame) wrote the original script treatments. Still, Wikipedia (arbiter of reality that it is) claims that the studio is now shooting for 2011 (and in 3-D, too).

I hope they pull it off. This looks very cool.

I may try to get my hands on the original Gatchaman as well. I just watched most of an episode on YouTube and really liked it.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – Review

Jeff — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:54:53 +0000

I should have known. I made the mistake, and I paid for it (literally). I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in the theater. One of the biggest wastes of my time I’ve ever spent money on. It taught me a valuable lesson, though: I learned that it actually is possible to be bored stiff during long, high-technical-quality, eye-candy filled action sequences. Never before had I watched so much stuff blow up and thought “when will it end?!”

Transformers was just one of the two movies this summer that tried to bring back a cartoon from my youth in live-action form. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, was the other. From the trailers, it was clear that they were attempting a similar feat: eye-candy trumps plot. Having been burned once, I skipped seeing G.I. Joe in the theater, and only got around to watching it tonight on DVD.

I learned something from G.I. Joe tonight. I learned that it is possible to bring these cartoons back in a satisfying live-action film. Lots of people may disagree with me (and from the reviews, I’d say they do), but I had a good time watching this movie. I think they struck a great balance. They weren’t trying to go all important and get “Dark Knight” moody with the plot. I’m sure that option was open to them… after all, you’re talking about terrorism, war, and fanaticism – perfect topics for important messages. But then again, they didn’t go completely cartoony either. In contrast to the actual cartoon, for example, people did die in this film, and you saw it happen.

They also kept an important aspect of the show: teamwork. Every time the Joe team set out, they worked together. Everyone had a job, and everyone did their job. A lot of “team” movies drop that aspect, and the movies are noticeably worse for it, by focusing too intently on a single character or treating all characters as generic (Fantastic Four, Transformers, and Mission: Impossible to name three).

They realized what they were: a simple, black-and-white, good guys/bad guys, team based, super-hero movie. I don’t think I ever thought of them as super-heroes before, but that’s really what they are. The Joe team are each unbelievably skilled at some armed forces related task and have pure, unadulterated, good motives: they just want to do their part to save the world. The bad guys, on the other hand, just want to control and destroy, because that’s who they are. Their motives aren’t really that fleshed out. They don’t need to be. They were just born that way (or forced into it by nano-bots). There’s no sub-text here. There’s not meant to be. It’s just a fun thrill ride and the guys with the white hats win.

That’s really what Transformers is, too, but for some reason those movies tried to get all deep and dark, and died in the attempt.

Joe kept it light and fun. And they allowed you to actually follow what was happening in the action sequences. It really didn’t matter that what they were doing in the action sequences was completely impossible; it looked nice, and you could tell who was doing what to whom, and it worked within the context of the film. All the Joe and Cobra gear and vehicles were in pristine, just-off-the-assembly-line condition – not a speck of dust to be found. There was very little realism about this film. Just fun escapism.

Works for me. I’ll go see a sequel.

Go, Joe!

Review: Green Lantern: First Flight

Jeff — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:54:12 +0000

Green Lantern - First Flight

With characters that have as huge of an existing storyline as Green Lantern, it’d be easy for a movie like Green Lantern: First Flight to get lost in trying to add in all the cool stuff and cameos that could be covered. That isn’t the case here. This is a lean movie. At 70 minutes, you could actually argue that it’s too lean. But I still liked it.

Everything I know about Green Lantern and Hal Jordan in particular could fit on a half-sheet of paper. I’m no expert. I know the broad strokes. I’ve always loved the character and concept of Green Lantern, though. Intergalactic cops with the ability to temporarily create tangible objects by sheer will (thanks to their rings). Pretty cool stuff. Most of what I know I’ve gleaned from Justice League cartoons and comics, and a few crossover events.

Not being an expert, I have no ideas what true Lantern fans will think of this movie, but I loved it. Was it perfect? No. But I had a good time watching it and it was true enough to the backstory I knew to satisfy me.

The things I didn’t like were mostly just a lack of character definition. I don’t think enough time was spent defining Hal before he got the ring (which he does before the opening credits, as we’ve seen). It would have been nice to see him exhibiting some ingenuity and willingness to accept new ideas before throwing him into a situation filled with aliens and conspiracies. That was probably the biggest flaw with this movie, as far as I was concerned. They just jumped in a little too quick, and had him completely comfortable almost immediately. Five or ten more minutes at the beginning setting him up (in a way that played in to the story later, preferably) would have been well spent.

Aside from that, though, it was a fun ride. There wasn’t a whole lot of subtlety on display here. It’s pretty much a straight line plot, and you gotta roll with it. The final battle is really great. I especially liked the simple shots where the Guardians and other Lanterns are watching the mano-a-mano battle unfold in the sky. That gave the battle a bigger perspective, to me.

It should be said that I wasn’t expecting much from this movie aside from a fun ride. And that’s what I got. My expectations for the live action film will be much higher. It will need that character development and tighter writing to be successful. Compared to the other DC Comics animated movies I’ve seen, though, this is on par with most. Well worth a rental and an hour or so of your time. I’d even be interested in a sequel.

As for the DVD Extras… there was absolutely nothing about behind the scenes on this movie. There weren’t even Scene Selections available, which was pretty annoying. There were some behind the scenes featurettes on other DC movies/events, though. The Wonder Woman movie was plugged, and looks pretty good. But the one I’m really interested to see is Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. That one just looks like a good picture – plus they got the original actors back from the animated series (Tim Daly as Superman, Kevin Conroy as Batman, and Clancy Brown as Luthor). It really looks good. Looking forward to that one in a few months.

Aquaman: Lover, Fighter, or just all wet?

Jeff — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:55:10 +0000

It's funnier when you hear the song.

Aquaman.

Of all the Justice League characters, he is perhaps the most ignored. The most ridiculed.

To be fair, he talks to fish. Some ridicule is to be expected. And really, put him up against Batman and Superman and something seems to be … lacking.

This is my new favorite superhero-related song (or see the YouTube version):

Aquamans Lament – Mark Aaron James

I never really read any Aquaman comics. All I know of him is from TV, and a smattering of guest appearances in other comics.

My first exposure to him was in the ’70s in the Superfriends cartoon. It was hard to take him seriously… but then that could be said of most characters as portrayed in that cartoon. (I only need one word to demonstrate that: Gleek. If you’ve seen the show and that doesn’t conjure up images of cheesiness in your mind, there’s something wrong with your cheese-detector.)

The most recent TV appearances have been on Smallville, and then in the aborted Aquaman TV show, Mercy Reef [my review]. They started to build a decent character there. I’m actually a little disappointed Mercy Reef didn’t get aired. It coulda been good.

But in between Superfriends and Smallville, there was Justice League (and JL Unlimited [my review]). This is from his first appearance on the show. It shows where he’ll go.

That scene gave me a new respect for Aquaman. The Aquaman in that show was hard-core. He was in a perpetual state of “keep out of my business or I’ll gut you.” But in a nice way… sort of.

Aquaman (Alex Ross version)

Still… there’s something a little fishy about him. (sorry)

Show some love for Aquaman in the comments!

Tuesday TubeWatch Two-fer! Doctor Who meets Bugs Bunny!

Jeff — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:00:54 +0000

Okay, look, here’s the thing: Doctor Who travelling to some alternate reality where he meets Bugs Bunny would be incredibly cool in a very strange, and possibly acid-induced way. It’s not happening here. But they do show up in the same post here, so … just deal with it.

First up, Doctor Who’s second special of 2009 aired on Easter:

Honestly, it looks boring. I hate to say that, but it does. I hope it turns out better than the preview. It would be a real shame if David Tennant’s tenure as the Doctor ends on a set of lackluster specials after such a great run of episodes. Time will tell, I suppose.

On to the rest of the post… thanks to a friend pointing me to the clip from Saturday’s Easter Bunny post, I have rediscovered a treasure trove of classic animation on YouTube. I had to include one of my favorite cartoons, and the best game of baseball ever played…

For an amazing analysis of this game, check out this amazing post.

Happy Easter Rabbit, Hooray…

Jeff — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:15:51 +0000

Best Easter Bunny cartoon ever. Bar none. Bring on all contenders.

Hope you have a happy Easter.

TubeWatch extra: Watchmen cartoon

Jeff — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:15:32 +0000

I can’t wait until next Tuesday to share this one.

Does anyone else remember this Saturday morning cartoon from the late ’80s?

The best episode was the cross-over with “Josie and the Pussycats,” where Rorshach made Alexandra cry. That was classic. Sebastian totally pwnd Bubastias, though – stretched believability for me. When the two bands got together at the end, and Josie offered to let Silk Spectre join them, though, you knew everyone was gonna be okay.

It’s a shame it didn’t last more than a season.