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krissiefox · 25 days

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Wander Over Yonder (Series Review) (Contains Spoilers!)

Yup, I'm finally reviewing another cartoon! But I just don't have the energy to undertake a project like when I reviewed every single freaking Aosth episode one at a time, so this time around I'm going to look at the series as whole.

Warning: I will discuss spoilers throughout this review, so if you are interested, please go watch the cartoon first! Thanks to disney being stupid, it's still only available on disney plus - so you'll either have to pay for that or find another means to watch it. Yo ho ho!

Wander over Yonder is a delightful, colorful and energetic Disney cartoon than originally began airing back in 2013. Its stories mainly revolve around its two main characters, Wander and Sylvia. Wander is a an altruistic space hippie who resembles a muppet-like creature, and his best friend Sylvia is a very butch-coded and punchy Zbornak, a species that is somewhere between a dragon and horse.

Wander and Sylvia's lives seem to have consisted of traveling the universe in a magic space-safe bubble, having fun and helping folks. Things get a little more dangerous though, when one day they cross paths with one of the show's main villains - Lord Hater. Hater is a hilariously pitiful caricature of toxic masculinity - constantly needing reassurance that he's "the coolest guy ever" and seeking validation by destroying and bullying everyone and everything around him. Despite his very impolite behavior, the ever-affectionate and loving Wander is determined to see the good in Hater and help him find a healthier way of managing his feelings than "punching lame nerds in the face". Lord Hater's minions, the Watch Dogs, are also frequent targets of Hater's bullying but mostly maintain loyalty nonetheless. Chief among the Watch Dogs is Commander Peppers, who is far more professional about being a villain than Hater himself could ever hope to be.

After the introductory setup, we'll see that many episodes consist of Hater trying to do something nasty, and Wander managing to mess it up just by being kind and nice. Many times, the Watchdogs will neglect their job duties and get distracted by Wander, as he treats them much better than Hater does.

This sounds like it might be a repetitive theme, but the show does a great job of always throwing out variety in its stories. You'll see the "standard" Wander vs Hater stories but you'll see stories of Wander and Sylvia doing things on their own, and Hater and the watchdogs doing things on their own, and over time a whole slew of secondary villains and friends show up in the story as well! Given the setting of the show is an entire galaxy, this also gave the creators plenty of room to constantly change up the scenery with different worlds, different creatures, and even the occasional trip into alternate realities! Most episodes are comedy based, but every now and then the show comes out swinging with a very sweet or moving story as well, and these are done just as well as all the zany comedy.

In season 2, the show introduces a new villain - Lord Dominator - bringing with her some big "shit just got real" energy. Unlike Lord Hater, she is much, MUCH more powerful and competent as a villain. She becomes such a threat that even Lord Hater is occasionally willing to work with Wander in helping fight her, as her relentless destruction of every planet around is only making him feel even more like a failure of a villain. At the end of the season, she is finally defeated in the sense that her ship is destroyed along with all of her robots, but she has no remorse for her actions and vows revenge on everyone who stood up to her. Sadly, the show only got 2 seasons, as disney never gave the creators the green-light for anymore.

So that's my brief summary of the overall story-line, but how does the show look and sound? Well, just check out these screenshots for the visuals, they're fantastic! The art team put a whole lot of love into this show and it shows. With an entire galaxy for it's characters to run around, the background artists will treat you to countless beautiful, bright colorful worlds and environments. The characters are very well animated and extremely expressive, and the voice acting is great as well. There are many visual nods to old Hanna Barbera cartoon days and also seems to be love for the funky architecture, color schemes and aesthetics from classic scifi art, as well. The team behind the show has some familiar names attached to it such as main creator Craig McCracken (Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab), season one co-producer and story editor Lauren Faust (My Little Pony FIM), and the lovable Tom Kenny providing the voice of Commander Peepers (Spongebob, Adventure Time).

In terms of themes and messages, the show gets a lot of things right which is another reason I admire it. Wander's altruistic nature lends itself to many wholesome story-line moments, and the interactions between him and Sylvia can often symbolize many people's internal struggle with "wanting to always be kind and helpful while also not being a doormat for all the bullies out there who don't appreciate kindness".

The show also has a couple episodes that touch on the importance of consent, which I like a lot. In one episode, Lord Hater ends up in the care of Wander and Sylvia after getting heavily drugged up during a painful dentist visit, and he's so blitzed out of his mind that he doesn't remember anything about Wander or being a villain and just enjoys spending time with his "new friends." At the end of the episode, Hater starts to put his mind back together, and flees in disgust at the thought of being friendly with the two. Naturally, Wander feels hurt and dissapointed, but as Sylvia tries to comfort him he also points that it wouldn't be right to have Hater's "friendship" with him not be of his own conscious choice.

Similarly, in another episode, we meet a villain (who is voiced by Weird Al!) who is like a corrupted version of Wander - instead of wanting to help people be happy, he forces them to be "happy". This infuriates and disgusts wander as he believes people must experience joy of only their own free will.

Overall I love the series, but I did some have some criticisms. One of the more minor ones is that it felt like they might have had a limited sound effects budget, as I noticed the show reused the exact same "Wham!" and "crying baby" sound effect so many times that it started to get distracting to me. I know good audio recording equipment is expensive as hell and thus can understand folks using stock sound effects, but I feel the show might have benefited from maybe some extra foley sounds to add more variety.

Another thing I didn't care for sometimes, is that there's handful of episodes that just feel very mean-spirited towards Sylvia, and in some of them Wander himself is the one being hurtful or even downright creepy towards her in some way or another. The moral of these stories is often Wander realizing he was being terrible, but it feels like the subject gets taken too lightly sometimes. Similarly, the show does occasionally have the mean-spirited gag of "bad things keep happening to Sylvia and we're supposed to find it funny", an old cartoon trope that's always disturbed me. Slapstick is one thing, but when it feels the writers are just bullying a character it can get uncomfortable.

There was a subplot throughout much of season 2 that rubbed me the wrong way, too. When Dominator is first introduced, everyone initially assumes her to be a guy under her suit of armor, but when Wander later realizes she's a woman, he immediately jumps to the idea of trying to hook her and Hater up as a couple. Part of his reasoning is that he feels like if Hater and Dominator are busy with making the smoochy-smoochy, they'll both lose interest in destroying planets and bullying their inhabitants. But still, the hetero-normative trope of just assuming that every woman is interested in A - relationships period, and B - a relationship with a man, is the kind of attitude I'd expect from Lord Hater, but not from sweet little Wander. He goes on about this for much of season 2, and Hater is also on board once he sees Dominator without her helmet on, but I am glad that at-least both Sylvia AND Dominator find the notion ridiculous the entire time, and at the end of season two, we don't have the additional sexist trope of her caving to a relationship she was never interested in having, thus "the bad girl getting redeemed via hooking up with a dude" trope.

On the subject of character relationships, I personally think if Dominator isn't just an asexual/aromantic killing machine she would most likely go for Sylvia if anyone, since she's the only one who actually came close to becoming friends with Dominator in one episode. Also, I got the impression that Commander Peppers really had a thing for Hater, as well. If Hater ever grows up, he and Peepers could make a cute couple, I'm sure. :)

Despite some of these things that bothered me, I still think the show is pretty great over all. While it could definitely use some more gay and less heteronormativity , it does still have a lot of wholesomeness and positive messages, lovely art, great humor, lovable characters, and even some very moving episodes. Now I just really wish the greedy putzes at disney would give this show a DVD set already! Hell, they never even made any plush toys. I want a little plushie of Sylvia, dammnit!

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franki-lew-yo · 6 months

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It says so much about Ben Shapword as a person that he was threatened enough by Bluey to greenlight Chip-Chilla.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but nothing about Bluey is striving for being ''progressive'', at least not by rightwing standards. It's no Owl House or Steven Universe. Outside of the ep where Bluey makes a French friend and the Heelers celebrating Easter I can't ever recall the concept of religion, ethnicity or heritage being important in the series. Don't think I've ever seen a gay couple or pride flag in the background, neither. Obviously I don't think the show being made for little kids and/or about anthro dogs means you can't talk about concepts like that, it's just that Bluey doesn't even attempt that. In fact because it IS made for and about small children I would argue that's the reason there's no big talk about money problems in the show and all the characters seem well-off.

My point is, unless Steiner/Waldorf schools became a tool of the left when I wasn't looking (they're not; Waldorf schools teach pseudo science and are sometimes antivax. Hopefully not in Calypso's class but yeah now you know what to look for when you google 'waldorf school controversies'), Bluey is about as 'woke' as modern day Peanuts or Illumination. It's inherently nonthreatening and non-confrontational of bigger concepts outside of what's universal to kids and the kid characters. It'd be interesting if they had a LGBTQ character or a talk about (dog?)race and culture, but overall the show seems 'safe' from that stuff that makes conservatives cringe. So at first glance you think Chip-chilla is just a "want to cash in/draw people away from sinful mass media"-thing. Still disgusting but honestly par for the course. Christian programing meant to be a 'safe' alternative to nasty secular shows isn't new.

And then, it dawns on you:

Bluey gets confused for a boy by those who don't watch the show, kind of like how people misgender Bambi, Tweety or Peppermint Patty sometimes.

Chili and Bandit both work and have equal time to be the at-home parent with their kids.

Dailywire is offput by a girl character not being definitively feminine from first glance. Dailywire can't stand the idea of a man being a home husband. They not only see these standard lifestyles as threatening, but that this alone is trying to 'push' something on them when it's just, you know, trying to depict accurate home life of most kids.

What hope do trans people have even existing in the world when a cis girl without eyelashes is a threat to you? What kind of person looks at a dad (who isn't even a fulltime homehusband) having a nurturing relationship with his kids and thinks "DEGENERATE!"

I don't have to answer. You all know the kind of person.

On a happier note: I'm very curious how Bluey would go about addressing that real world representation I was talking about. I think that could be done well but, considering how the exercising episode was received by some adults, no doubt there'd be controversy. And I mean controversy inside the communities they're talking about, not pundits like Ben who'd have a heartattack over a progress flag being in the background that's never even addressed by anyone. I can see an adult character walking off with their same-sex partner or maybe a new classmate who's muslim and wears a hijab just being there and some people being concerned they're not handling it right/well enough. Which is probably why the writers just have steer cleared of it, I think.

If there's one gift Benny boy gives us all it's making us realize that that kind of discourse is always preferable the one where garbage people have no care for others.

#chip chilla #franki's features #media criticism #cartoon review #Bluey #Bluey heeler #politics

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spacevixenmusic · 3 months

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ThunderCats 2011 shows us exactly what can be achieved within the ThunderCats '85 framework by expanding on it and retooling it without sacrificing all of the elements that made the original so inexplicably cool. At its core, this is a show about merging high fantasy and science fiction with 80s anime-inspired furries and monsters, creating a strange hybrid mish-mash of stylish alien characters and cultures. Sometimes it's swords and sorcery, sometimes it's laser guns and mech suits. Most of the time it's BOTH, at the same time. No setting or concept is ever off the table in ThunderCats, the same in 2011 as it was back in '85, and it makes for an incredibly cool sandbox of a world to build stories in.

Naturally, [the disappointment] of 2011 is that it spends so much time going from episode to episode that the bigger picture remains unresolved and leaves the show as a whole feeling very unfinished (which it is). But as a counterpoint, that same meandering episodic nature is also perhaps 2011's greatest strength. Not to sound like broken record, but what made '85 so charming for me was its ability to create memorable characters and concepts, even if they only appeared for a single episode, and that is definitely something 2011's writers understood and sought to capitalize on.

You can read the full review on my website here! (site is blatantly NSFW, 18+ only!)

*I make no money from doing these reviews and I don't bother with reading comments. My site is 100% ad-free and sponsor-free, and I post new reviews whenever I fucking feel like it (but ideally maybe like one a week, if even).

#thundercats #thundercats 2011 #cartoon review #anime review #anime recs #cartoon recs #reboots #sci fi #fantasy #furries #consider this post my penance for never actually finishing my deep dive of the show all those years ago

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flower-boi16 · 2 months

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I Watched The Hello Neighbor Cartoon (It's bad)

So just today while I was scrolling through my recommendations on youtube I saw a review of the Hello Neighbor cartoon that I never knew existed up until now. Just by looking at the show I didn't have very high expectations but I randomly decided to watch it cuz why not? I mean, it has an 8.6/10 on IMDB so surely it must be good right?....ya no. Anyways...the show sucks, here's why.

1. The Animation & Vissuals

The animation is...bad. It just looks very stiff and cheap looking, and the characters aren't that expressive either, they all look bland and soulless (which also describes their personalities incredibly well too). So much of it feels choppy as hell, like I'm watching a show made with two dollars on flash. I would say that this looks like a cheap Canadian cartoon (and I say this as somebody from Canada) but...even then there are Canadian shows that look more appealing than this.

The art style also looks bland, again, the characters barely have ANY real expression to them, and it really looks like a low-effort kids show more than anything else, which makes the show's attempts at being "scary" fall flat. Don't have much else to say here, the animation just looks that bad.

2. Comedy

There are a few times when the show tries to be funny...and it fails. None of the jokes here really made me laugh....at all. Though there were times when the show did get a laugh out of me...and they were when I wasn't supposed to laugh. Like that scene in episode 2 with where our main girl sees a bunch of neighbor heads I just couldn't help but find it VERY amusing, plus the credits which is just the neighbor goofily staring through the window where "dRaMAtiC" music plays in the background and it just looks VERY goofy. Aside from that, when the show is trying to be funny...it's not. It's just not.

3. Characters

A majority of the characters are honestly not worth talking about aside from Trinity and Nicky ig, they are all just...so boring. None of the kids' personalities are remotely endearing in the slightest and they are all just extremely one-dimensional.

Trinity is our main character and...I'm sorry but she just isn't interesting in the slightest. She has literally no personality or depth as a character and makes her a very boring protagonist for the story. She's also pretty inconsistent in episode 2 where she's all like "no we can't follow around the neighbor" when last episode she was perfectly on board with that and Nicky's plan? Then there's Nicky who also kinda sucks. Like the other characters he isn't that interesting or endearing at all, and they also don't even give a reason for why he thinks the neighbor is a murderer. Like, what made him assume the neighbor murdered his own kids??? It honestly would've been really cool if they merged aspects of Dipper from Gravity Falls and Webby from Ducktales 2017 together for his character because I could really see the potential here, but what we have now...ya.

The other kids are, again, not worth talking about because of how boring they are. They aren't funny or entertaining to watch at all, they all feel so bland and soulless. The other kids simply just exist and not much else. I really don't have that much else to say about the characters.

4. The "Horror"

So the show tries to be scary...but it isn't. Honestly, It's hard to pinpoint what parts the show wants me to be scared of because it's really hard to find a show with this art style scary in the slightest. Nothing about it is that "creepy" at all, though I don't even know this is supposed to be a horror show despite it being based on a horror game since I never felt scared watching it all.

I guess the show's overarching mystery is kinda intriguing...? But when the characters are so bland it's hard to even get invested in it. Don't have much else to say here.

5. Plot Holes

Ah yes, no bad show would be complete without plot holes, now would it? I'll just list some of the plot holes in each episode here:

Trinity SEES THE NEIGHBOR KILL SOMEONE IN THE STORE and for SOME REASON decides to run away instead of, oh I dunno...TAKING A PICTURE WITH THE EVIDENCE OR CALLING 911 IMMEDIATELY!!!!

Speaking of that murder, wouldn't have that got onto the news or something? Like, did nobody report it??? And if we assume someone DID report it, since the neighbor was the last one there who COMMITTED THE MURDER, wouldn't the officers put two and two together and realize it was the neighbor?

Also why did the neighbor commit the murder in the first place??? What was even the point of that???? Did he not have any money to pay for it???? Why????

The fact that there is just. A tunnel under the school. For some reason, which NEVER gets explained by the way.

When Nicky gets captured by the neighbor, where tf are his parents???? Did they not recognize their child is missing??? Why didn't they file a missing child report or ANYTHING???

There are more plot holes than these but these are the most egregious ones to me. Also the ones I already mentioned in the characters section. Besides, this post is getting long enough already so I'll just end it here....

6. Conclusion

So ya, the show sucks, 3/10, see ya.

#hello neighbor #hell neighbor critical #hello neighbor welcome to raven brooks #hello neighbor welcome to raven brooks critical #cartoon review

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cameronlockhart · 5 days

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I'm halfway through Velma Season 2 and it's... an improvement. The overdone meta jokes have been dialed back quite a bit, allowing the other gags to stand out more, and the season is overall a bit funnier. The story's as intriguing as ever, so that's good too. Onward...

#velma season 2 #velma show #scooby doo #adult animation #my thoughts #cartoon review #hbo max #streaming shows

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deargodhelpmeaaa · 3 months

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Duckman review

If you are, at all, familiar with my infamous post “ranking my most prominent fictional crushes out of ten” then you will recall that among the horrible men I listed there was a stupid, bespectacled yellow duck named Eric Duckman. So what the heck even is an Eric Duckman anyway? You probably are unfamiliar with him unless you’ve seen those random clips from his show that had a brief heyday on YouTube. He’s a character from this 90’s cartoon (if the art didn’t give that away) that was actually very adult oriented. At the time, it was pretty unheard of to have an adult cartoon out that was dirtier than the simpsons.

Today, however, I’d argue that most kids shows are on par with the simpsons in terms of their maturity. The simpsons is no longer the edgy show that it used to be. It’s very tame by today’s standards, and duckman was sort of one of the first cartoon series to outdo it in terms of edge.

sooo….. was it any good?

Online, I have seen almost nothing but people singing praises for the show, a couple critics here and there and I am, as much as I love the show… one of those critics.

The show reminds me a lot of the Amazing World of Gumball. I’ve seen people compare it to Bojack Horseman and it’s… really not. The characters in Duckman are pretty static and none of them are really that complex. It just seems that way since this show has a main character who is a horrible person with some redeeming qualities and a backstory to sort of but not completely justify his behavior.

Gumball is a much better source of comparison because the shows are both very meta, at times obnoxiously and pointlessly so, but at others it is actually quite charming. The humor in both is pretty absurdist and shockingly inappropriate at times. Both are vaguely satirical at times as well, duckman a bit more overt with its satire than gumball.

I mention earlier that I like the main character quite a lot. He’s my favorite archetype: egotistical, socially incompetent, treated like utter garbage by the narrative. He’s handled okay, sometimes really poorly; it varies per episode. In some the show is like “wow this guy sucks” and nothing else; in others we see some of the depths of his character, the best of this being the episode “About Face” which is a surprisingly nuanced narrative for this show? We sometimes see his insecurities, his desire to do better for his family, his worries about seeing other women after the recent passing of his wife. Most of this is in season 1. It’s pretty good.

What I like about it is that the show never pretends like he’s this great person or anything. It knows what he is and it punishes him for his bad behavior. It does the same for the other characters who are being kind of assholes as well. The show makes an attempt to show how these other characters are right about something’s but in their behavior may be doing something wrong, like Bernice’s bullying of duckman or the teddy bears constantly preaching at him, and duckmans own behavior itself is also shown to be pretty wrong albeit humorous at times. Cornfed however is based and awesome B) I can’t remember right now what his problem was but the show made his relationship to duckman pretty interesting.

Also for some reason I think people ship duckman with him I mean Duckman did offer to have sex with him one time so I see it.

My problem with the show starts with just the characters being kind of flat. Like I said before, people were singing praises for this thing, calling it 90s Bojack Horseman. Sure, duckman has some depth, but the others…. Eh…. I was really hoping to see some depth from duckmans sister in law who he lives with, Bernice (I mean of course I fucking was look at the website I’m on) but she really never went past this bitchy stuck up feminist stereotype who wanted to find herself a husband (the writers probably made her like men to avoid making her an offensively stereotypical lesbian, though it seems she might be bisexual anyway lol) and seems to maybe kind of care about Duckman deep down.

Duckman himself as I’ve said before is a pretty good character especially by the shows standards, but in some episodes he is just annoying and nothing else. And I mean really annoying.

Duckmans kids are just eh to be honest. Like they do their job and his relationship to Ajax is kind of interesting, but none of these characters are especially funny or interesting nor do they go that far beyond their initial premises, giving the show pretty little to do with them in the long run. Ok I lied Ajax is kind of funny sometimes.

What I like about the family aspect of the show is that it isn’t a completely abusive family, with humor being derived from the characters treating eachother like shit all the time. Duckman is an asshole, Bernice is an asshole, the twins are kind of jerks, Ajax is literally just Chris griffin. It’d be easy to just make them abusive and nothing else but the show actually tries to make them sort of love eachother at the end of the day. Duckman still cares about his kids, of course he does. Bernice does too and she wants her nephews to have a better influence than their dad, who sucks. The twins don’t respect him but resemble him in some ways they don’t want to admit. It’s too bad they don’t explore this more!!!

I’m just skipping past the dog that does nothing and the grandma who is in a coma like state and umm communicates exclusively through farts look guys it’s a fucking 90s cartoon I told you it’s more like gumball than it is like bojack horseman and I’m not your mom im not as sophisticated as I look!!!!!

The female love interests for duckman vary in quality. Some of them are kind of interesting even if we only see them through the lens of their relationship to duckman, sometimes their existences are pretty funny, but especially in the later seasons they’re just kind of stupid.

The stuff with Duckman and his dead wife is kind of interesting, especially since if I remember correctly, it was her idea that if she died, duckman would instead live with her sister Bernice since she knew he wouldn’t be able to raise their kids on his own. I wish the show explored his dependency on her more, and really just… her in general. I think it’s sort of implied that his dependency on her was in some ways a kind of bad thing since like after her death, he becomes a wreck, but he still always loves her. I really appreciate Everett peck (god rest his soul) for making the executive decision to kill her off as she was still alive in the pilot which made duckman look like more of an asshole for wanting to see other women, and the concept of her being too focused on other things rather than him also wasn’t very compelling and kind of makes him look worse if that’s what we’re supposed to sympathize with. Changing it absolutely was the way to go.

we see some glimpses of duckmans parents. Again he has a pretty interesting relationship to them. He accidentally killed his own father, who was very hard on him, and his mother, much like him, was a hedonist, especially after the death of his father. She was neglectful much like his father was.

I’m not dissing my boy cornfed, who is duckmans detective partner (not in a gay way but in a detective way. Probably in a gay way too tho idk) He’s cool. I do wish they did more with him though, since it’d be interesting to explore his own flaws despite him foiling the most flawed man on the planet. Literally my only complaint.

The last character to talk about is king chicken. He’s voiced by Tim curry, and is hyped up to be sort of this major villain for the show. The premise behind his relationship is simple: duckman bullied him back in high school, and it’s revealed in the only good king chicken episode (the dinner party one. Forget the title) that duckman only did that because when king chicken there wasn’t around to bully, everyone would turn around and pick on him. Now after all these years, king chicken wants to get his revenge on duckman, as he now seems to be much more successful than he is. Theres also, for some reason, at least on duckmans end, some sexual tension between the two of them?it’s a great premise honestly, and us tumblr bitches love ourselves some good old enemies to lovers, rivalries with weird tension kissimessmitude type stuff.

But I did say there was only one good episode about this guy. Yeah…. It’s the last episode of season 3 and one of I think 2 truly good episodes in there (season 3 kind of sucks lol) which is a dialogue driven experimental episode based on who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf where we get some interesting insight on the relationship between duckman and king chicken, and sort of king chicken and Bernice (who King Chicken also has romantic tension with).

Ok so you probably noticed how I was complaining about how the characters aren’t that complex, about needing to explore depth. You may ask me: “wait isn’t this thing a comedy? It’s like gumball, you said! It doesn’t need that much depth, idiot!!!!” Errmmm yes it does actually. This isn’t because it’s a comedy but because of the type of comedy it sets out to be. Season 1 in particular wants to show us new sides of these characters (mostly duckman) in each episode. It sets the show up to be something that might deconstruct or arc him, and a good chunk of the episodes are trying to do this.

For instance season 4 has one where he meets a girl he knew back in detective school, we get one in season 3 even trying to flesh out Bernice who wants to be a mother but can’t find the right man for her.

We get one I think in season 3 where he has to hold back his veneral desires when they hire a tutor for the kids (I think?) who happens to be a woman he finds really hot.

We get one in season 4 where a sycophantic intern tries to exploit his vices and ruin his life, and he’s too gullible and desperate to notice.

These all sound like good premises but the execution is often quite janky. It doesn’t tend to go far beyond the premise and the writers often find themselves not knowing what to do, so they end up getting lazy and give up on the story.

I think the show could have been fine staying static like that, though I think after a while they would end up needing to write long term character arcs. I saw they planned to potentially write a romance between duckman and Bernice which is a strong indicator that this was what they wanted to do. That doesn’t mean that the episodes would still be good though because it would also need to be funny and entertaining on top of doing things with the characters, and the writers shouldn’t want to just give up on it like they do with so many episodes.

I honestly did enjoy some episodes that don’t try to be deep and just are stupid fun. I’ve indicated here that the show isn’t great at being deep. Season 1, some of season 2 and the Virginia Woolf episode are really the only times this show does it gracefully that I can think of off the top of my head and otherwise, the execution is rather clunky, as the show often does a poor job balancing humor with heart, with serious moments feeling quite forced and often sappy. It reminds me a lot of my earlier personal comics (and weaker current ones) in how it will switch from funny to serious, in a feeble attempt to be bojack horseman, but credit where credit is due for it coming out prior to the show I just now accused it of copying!

It is in a way quite ahead of its time. I won’t deny it. The simpsons obviously did much of what this show tried to do but better, but I will never not love the vulgar, hideous but honest, underground cartoon like feel of duckman. It over simplified things, gets a lot of things wrong and is often quite outdated (I have issues with the one flew over the cuckoos nest episode, as asylums did not look like that in the 90s) it’s a good time capsule from the 90s honestly as it is easily the most 90s thing I have ever seen.

is the show funny? I mention comedy a lot here. Uh. Kind of. It’s hit or miss. It’s either like they asked a horny version of Berdly from deltarune to write for them or it’s genuinely funny with some very interesting in between.

now the art. Yes! I love the art!!! It’s good but some of the character designs are kind of concerning to me. I think some of the really ugly and mannish women they draw are supposed to be trans and it’s not good. I get it the 90s are like that and I’m not saying ugh trans rep and whatever I just think the trans women should look as hot as duckman does when he’s wearing womens clothing. Jk but fr they don’t need to be that mannish it’s kind of dehumanizing and gross and adds nothing to the show and didn’t age well is all.

And before anyone thinks I’m doing the tumblr bit where I get mad at a lack of body diversity: no I don’t care and I think the over sexualized but kind of disgusting designs are hilarious and make a good commentary on duckmans own views towards women as well, and add greatly to the absurdist humor of the show.

All in all it looks great to me. Really ugly but that’s why it works imo and the colors are really nice. The studio behind this series is klasky csupo by the way. They made stuff like rugrats, wild thorn berries, aaaaa real monsters… I love their style and while it doesn’t show that much in my posts on here more of my personal art kind of copies it a bit.

last thing is voice acting. This show has a star studded cast. Jason Alexander, famously known as the guy who played the short balding guy from Seinfeld, actually voices the main character! And he’s great! He was definitely type casted tho lol. Tim curry I think I mentioned earlier was the voice of king chicken. We also have Gilbert gottfried, who surprisingly enough does not voice a talking bird in this show! I want to say there’s some other big names here too, like I think the guy who voiced cornfed or something. Zappa, yeah that Zappa, did the intro theme and some of the music for the show and his son voices Ajax and he’s great. I think everyone did pretty good with this show in terms of acting, it’s really just the writing that is super hit or miss here.

quick talk about the finale. I hate it lol. It’s obvious they were gonna reveal something like it’s all a dream or oh no that’s not his wife it’s an alien shapeshifter pretending to be her. They were told to do a cliff hanger ending to increase ratings. Seeing as how there have been no new episodes in like over 30 years I think it’s safe to say that it didn’t work.

long story short. The shows super hit or miss, not great at balancing humor and serious moments, with a cast of characters that never properly gets fleshed out enough besides the main character, who though rightfully treated as what he is: kind of a jackass who it seems will never amount to anything, the show still does revolve around him so many of the characters are made interesting through their relationships to him and not to each other and they themselves often aren’t interesting on their own either- which is a problem I have too in my own writing, and weirdly enough I also tend to write characters who are duckman like as well…. so it’s okay.

what stands out to me about this show is just how much it appeals to my interests. I mentioned time and again how the main character is literally my favorite type of character ever down to his appearance: which is that he’s a skinny little bastard wearing glasses. He also could be in a way described as a cross between the two characters this blog, thus far, has seemed to be dedicated to (Berdly and filthy frank, as he is basically just a pretentious gross bird guy) not to mention that i initially made this blog to post Seinfeld memes which is…. Crazy. It really just feels like something I would make and that makes sense because I can often be found kind of copying it-

I also just love 90s stuff, and I like stuff that’s super edgy, inappropriate and satirical in nature, and this show does that pretty right. It’s dynamic between a screwball duck and a straight laced pig is an obvious callback do Daffy Duck and porky pig and duckmans womanizing and status as a detective is a likely reference to Howard the duck (which I still need to read). He sort of looks like a simpsons character and much of the show pays homage to the simpsons, homer cameos in it and it references it a ton. I love the simpsons, it’s a massive influence on me as well. I see hints of underground comics influencing it but that might be just the cartoon characters being vulgar thing here.

today honestly…. I won’t lie this show is much better than 99% of adult cartoons being made today, but in a way this show is sort of the norm. I think it is kind of ahead of it’s time, I think in other ways it’s exactly of it’s time. It’s a very interesting show to me and even though I have many qualms with it and the poor writing I do really love it over all.

#Duckman #klasky csupo #90s cartoons #analysis #media analysis #character analysis #review #Cartoon #cartoon review #The simpsons #the amazing world of gumball #deargodhelpmerant #Essay #long post

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episodicnostalgia · 5 months

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Spider-man: The Animated Series, 107 (Apr. 1, 1995) - “Kraven the Hunter”

The Breakdown

Peter Parker is up for an interview as a research assistant to one Mariah Crawford. Of course, as per his typical Parker luck, Pete arrives to find her under attack by a guy wearing a slutty little lion-themed outfit (which means the interview is understandably cancelled). So what’s the deal with this fur-clad-alpha anyway?

The Lion-dude goes by the name “Kraven the Hunter” (aka Sergei Kravinoff) and he’s an ex-big game hunter, who met Mariah when she hired him to track down an old colleague that gave himself super-feral powers with a wonder drug he discovered (So just a normal meet-cute). During their months-long journey, the two hit it off and got horny for each other, but this is a kid’s show so we’ll call it “falling in love”. Eventually Mariah and Sergei were successful in finding the good doctor, who entrusted her with the last vial of his drug in the hope that she’d develop a cure, along with a warning never to use the drug on anyone else (because living as the adonis king of a mixed species-predator-pack is too awesome for any one man to bear). Shortly thereafter Mariah is attacked by Hyenas, and barely rescued by Sergei who sustains critical injuries, leaving her with no choice but to use the super-drug to save his life. Of course it works, but eventually his new powers to turn him into a control freak with an obsession for hunting, along with a new macho nick-name (coincidentally, listening to Joe Rogan has a similar effect). Newly incentivised, Mariah to flees to New York in search of a cure.

So anyways, now Kraven is trying to romantically kidnap Mariah so that they can be together again, instead of wasting her time on a cure he doesn’t really want. Naturally, Peter intervenes as Spider-man, and takes Mariah to hide at Robbie Robertson’s apartment since he’s out of town. Predictably, Robbie arrives home earlier than expected, and Kraven kidnaps him after tracking his girlfriend’s scent there (she’d already run off, believing Robbie to Kraven). In hopes of expediting his end goal, Kraven issues a simple ultimatum to Spider-man; bring Mariah to his secret hide-out in exchange for Robbie’s life. Spider-man quickly figures out Kraven is hiding at the zoo, since it’s the only place he’d fit in (and evidently has zero night time security, or maintenance staff), and zips off to save his friend.

Meanwhile, Mariah has been making good use of her time, and manages to finalize Kraven’s antidote. Conveniently, she arrives at the zoo midway through Kraven’s battle with Spider-man, accidentally shifting the fight in our hero’s favour, although not without incident. Once again Kraven is left with critical injuries after saving her life (this time from lions, but she really needs to watch where she’s going). Apparently Mariah had the foresight to make the antidote capable of curing Kraven’s mutation AND injuries, so it all works out and the two love birds can go back to “being in love”. *wink*

The Verdict

I’ve never been a huge Kraven stan, but the character has decidedly earned his place in Spidey’s rogue gallery. The real problem for this show is that his comic book counterpart is tied to some of Spider-man’s darker stories; even his original concept is that he just wants to hunt and kill Spider-man because no other animal offers enough of a challenge. Given the show’s harsh censorship restrictions (the writers weren’t allowed to have the characters say the words “kill” or “murder”), Kraven was inevitably up for an overhaul.

The end result is a Kraven who’s… a bit watered down compare to the original, but it works for this show, leaving him less the villain, and more a dangerous victim of circumstance. Tying his origin to a love story with Mariah at least incorporates her into his backstory from the get-go (in the comics she was introduced as Kraven’s voodoo-priestess-ally know as ‘Calypso’), even if it does completely change his motivations. The biggest aspect to this shift would come about in future episodes (which I’ll discuss more if/when I get there), suffice to say that his return would result in becoming more of an uneasy ally of Spidey’s as opposed to an adversary.

So how does the Episode stack up overall? Well, it’s about as ridiculous as the rest of this series, but I’ll be damned if it’s not a lot of fun. Why was Mariah holding interviews for an assistant position if the only reason she was in New York was to find Kraven’s cure? Considering how quickly she whipped it up at the last second, she couldn’t have been THAT far off from finding it on her own. Maybe she just works well under pressure. Also, if Kraven could track Mariah’s scent across an entire city to Robbie’s apartment (and later Peter’s to a fashion show), why not just keep following her to wherever she ended up? Oh, and what about Mariah’s colleague who invented the ‘wonder drug’ that mutated Kraven to the begin with? You know, the one who GAVE her the serum in hopes of finding a cure? Remember him? Because the writers sure didn’t seem to. Honestly though, having a friend bail on you because of their hot new boyfriend/girlfriend is probably the most realistic thing about this episode. At the end of the day these questions aren’t really of consequence, because this isn’t that kind of show. I know I sure didn’t give these matters any consideration when I was a kid (well, maybe the scent-tracking thing).

Obviously if this were intended for an older audience I’d be a lot more critical, but I genuinely enjoyed this more than the last couple episodes. ‘Kraven the Hunter’ at least succeeds at being fun, and that’s enough.

3 stars (out of 5)

Additional Observations

This is the second research job Peter has applied for, that subsequently ended up being directly tied to a villain-of the-week (first time was the Lizard). The poor guy is bound to get a complex. Although I gotta say I’m feeling a little short changed. My Dad has been a scientist for as long as I’ve been alive, and not a single member of my family has ever come close to gaining super powers. Then again, he also refuses to experiment on any of us (don’t even get me started).

Peter attends a fashion show where MJ is performing as a runway model. She’s so excited to see him that she asks him out for dinner after the show. Unfortunately, Felicia Hardy is also present (her mom is the host), and she TOO wants to hang out with Peter afterwards. Luckily Kraven shows up looking for Spider-man so Pete has to abandon ship to go fight him, pissing off both women in the process. He really dodged a bullet there! Although, this just goes to show that Polyamory isn’t for everyone.

Kraven reveals to Robbie that as someone who was born to Russian nobility, he’s observed that the laws of the Jungle (like high society, apparently) DEMAND retribution when something of yours has been taken. Shaky logic aside, this questionable code of conduct does leave me wondering if Sergei was really that great of a guy, even before he became Kraven. Bear in mind that he only stopped big game hunting because it was outlawed, and not because of any moral convictions. I’m just saying…

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ghoulliojr · 1 year

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yeah im watching the fancy new Puss In The Boot movie and here's a hot take for ya: its real good

dreamworks saw sony try one thing when they added 2d textures and immediately learned how to do it better, bad guys had a really cool style even if it was a little bit inconsistent with its blatant sexy furry design but in comparison to mitchells vs the machines it's clear they understand HOW to use it effectively when it's not as obvious of a change to make as adding comic book style to spider-man (NOT to imply that spider-man is not a masterpiece, because it is, but the way the 2d-3d hybrid animation is used in MvtM has me convinced sony thinks it can be used as an oscar delivery service rather than an artistic or even like, thematically consistent design choice)

ALL THAT TO SAY the last wish is easily the best non-spider-man application of this technology, or design choice, or whatever you wanna call it, hands down. it's transformative in that it's not ABOUT the 2d texturing, and it shouldn't be in this context. it uses it to add style and distinction to an already incredibly boarded and directed movie. it doesn't draw attention to itself in any way other than obviously looking way way the fuck better than anything disney studios has even gotten close to since the transition to 3d.

i really can't overstate how fun and dynamic and perfect the boarding is, and how incredible the visuals are in general, but on top of everything it's such a sweet and wonderful movie. it has a really touching, relatable and super candid message about anxiety, it's funny as fuck like for real (i can appreciate jokes in most kids media but they dont make me laugh, this movie made me lol) and it's also like a really fun and riveting fantasy adventure about cute kitty cats.

fully recommend the puss movie, probably like a 9/10 or something, maybe higher i have no notes

#puss in boots #the last wish #puss in boots the last wish #movie review #animation review #cartoon review #no spoilers

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thefloatingstone · 1 year

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youtube

After many months, the super-cut of all my videos on High Guardian Spice! Now in one convenient video! This bad-boy ended up being 5 and a half hours long.

To whoever the random tumblr user was who asked me "would you make a video about HGS" you inadvertently caused my channel to start getting good views, so thank you for that.

I watched ALL of High Guardian Spice and I'm here to cut through the internet drama, the harassment, the backlash and the absolute state of Crunchyroll Originals to answer the REAL question;

But is the show actually GOOD tho?

#High Guardian Spice #video #youtube #My videos #cartoon review #video essay #long video #Youtube

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sammiethelattie · 4 months

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Tom and Jerry (Singapore) Series Review

So a few hours back, I watched all seven episodes (pilot included) of the Singapore-based Tom and Jerry cartoon released so far. I won't go into details for each episode, but I will voice out my general thoughts on the series overall.

STORY AND SETTING

As the title suggests, this take on the titular team of troublemakers is set in the state of Singapore. As a result, various references to Singapore's history, culture and national landmarks and locations are sprinkled throughout this mini-series. These settings serve as set pieces for with the cat and mouse carnage is carried out. While I am not Singaporean myself (far from it), I do know for sure that Singapore is represented quite well. However, while prevalent, the references are not overbearing and share centre stage with the stars of the show quite effectively, giving Tom and Jerry both fresh and familiar settings, situations and props to play with.

As for the stories, while not exactly far removed from the Tom and Jerry formula (some episodes even bringing to mind scenarios from the classic era), there's enough of a fresh spin on it to keep it from just being a retread of said classic scenarios. And while the 3 minute of runtime does mean that the pacing is a bit more frantic than in most other versions of the series, this also means that the episodes don't outstay their welcome. Think the earlier episodes of Paul Rudish's Mickey Mouse shorts.

ART AND ANIMATION

Okay, now for the aspect that will most likely draw the most ire of the fanbase, as well as perhaps slight confusion from the average casual viewer. Let's start with the Elephant in the Room: The character designs. They're fine. Sure, they are markedly different from what one normally associates with the franchise, but it's far from bad. The titular characters, as well as Spike who appears in about two episodes in minor roles, are rounder and cuter looking, but also highly expressive and with enough of a wacky edge that can play into the comedy aspect of the show; AND they're still recognizable as who they are supposed to be. As silhouettes together, you can tell the art-style is different, but it's still Tom and Jerry (less so with Spike, who is proportioned a bit more like an actual bulldog). Their colors are also brighter and more saturated; Tom has never looked bluer (and Jerry has never looked more orange. Spike is still gray though.) The characters are also (almost) consistently shaded, unless the situation or setting permits otherwise, which isn't often.

The backgrounds in this series are rich and vibrant, much like everything else in this series, but they somehow find a way not to overpower or compete with the characters that inhabit them. And now the animation: which is most likely the best thing about the show from a visual standpoint. It is definitely not cheap looking at all, and is consistently fluid and snappy when it needs to be. Clearly, a lot of love was poured into this aspect of the show. As for the actual slapstick being animated, it's serviceable. There are points where I actually found myself audibly giggling or laughing, or at least quietly acknowledging how well put together some of it is. Clearly, whoever choreographed the slapstick at least understood Tom and Jerry enough that this aspect was done so serviceably.

SOUND AND MUSIC

Ah, now for the more mixed aspect of the show: the audio.

I'm not sure if it's the print I watched that had a compromised mix, but well... that was just it. The audio mixing was 60% of the time good and 40% of the time kind of iffy. While previous versions of Tom and Jerry have grappled with this hurdle to some extent (what with combining archived audio from William Hanna and Mel Blanc with more modern sounds), this is probably the worst it's gotten. It's not unbearable, but it is distracting enough when certain sounds and vocals either don't fit, stand out too much, or are simply missing. And it's like that for almost all seven episodes. And as for the character's yelps, laughs, screams and gasps, mostly original, new clips are used. But as the episodes go on, more and more classic screams are heard in the episodes. Normally I don't mind this, especially if it's handled masterfully, but this is one of those instances where I wish they stuck to a lane, and I note that the lane more suited for this cartoon's presentation is the lane of new screams and yells. Though they can have one or two classic "̷̢̦̩̋̔̌Ạ̴̉̽Ă̸̧̜̬͑̏Ä̸̯̥́̅̓ͅÀ̶̪̺͝ͅĀ̴̝͌̂A̴͕̅A̴̝̺̒̈́Ȃ̸̼Ą̶̤̠̏͛A̸̢͓̿̃̅A̶̛̯͂̌Ă̵̰̥͠A̸̰̳͆̎Ạ̸̥͖̀A̶̞̦̩͌̾́H̴̛̻̬̿̏Ḥ̸̟̙̀H̵̛̛̠̙͌"̴̠̲̓̂'s. Just as a treat.

Now, the music on the other hand is pleasant to listen to. Some instances and phrases of it are even evocative, or even outright reference certain notable stings and melodies from the classic Tom and Jerry series; even down to the tempo becoming more frantic to match the actions of the characters. That aspect, I admired. Unfortunately, sometimes that too falls victim to some of the questionable mixing that runs through this series.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Nothing beats the classics, that much is true. In fact, this wouldn't be here if not for it. But you cannot go wrong with giving this mini-series a try. It is a well made, well put together (for the most part) labor of love, or at least respect, for both Tom and Jerry and the world they inhabit. So if you're a fan of Tom and Jerry, or at least just want something well made for the kids, or you always asked yourself "What if Tom and Jerry lived in Singapore?", then this series will do you no wrong.

FAVORITE EPISODES (SO FAR)

Sky's the Limit - A fun little romp with kites and drones.

Count on Merli - Features a cute iteration of Merli, Singapore's Mascot, who just wants Tom and Jerry to get along. But they don't seem to wanna listen. Poor Merli.

Colorful Chase - Simple for the plot point that they used, while they could have done more with the concept, it was only three minutes. And for three minutes, they did good.

LEAST FAVORITE EPISODE

What's that Smell? - The pilot. Passable on its own, but isn't as Tom and Jerry as the other episodes. Also it's the pilot. Things are bound to be weird.

#tom and jerry #cartoon #tv review #cartoon review #tom and jerry 2023 #tom and jerry singapore

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