A Veritable Herd of Animated Dinosaurs!

As you may have guessed, I like dinosaurs a lot.  I like animation a lot.  And I love animated dinosaurs.  So the past couple of weeks have been awesome in that respect.  Firstly, the first episode of David James Armsby's "Dinosauria" is out and it is beautiful!

Armsby also posted this incredible making-of video and I don't know what impresses me more: the cancelled "All Days" series, the sculpture, or the "Dinosauria" series scrapbook.

And there's a teaser for the upcoming second episode.  Baby Troodons!  Fuzzy Pachyrhinosaurs!

And on top of all this, Dr. Mark Witton joined the "Fantasy/Animation Podcast" for an episode about "The Land Before Time", where they discuss the strangely intertwined history of dinosaurs and animation and the film's place in the Dinosaur Renaissance.

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Art of the Day!

I can't believe it's already the penultimate day of Sci-Art September.  What a great time!  I shared a lot of mostly paleoart and hopped on the "Dinosauria" fanart train:

"I Had a Dinosaur Dream!" - Thoughts on the "Animaniacs" Reboot

Like a lot of people my age, “Animaniacs” was a formative series for me.  It influenced my sense of humor at least as much as it’s contemporaries like “The Simpsons” and “The Far Side”.  I remember so many funny moments and terrific songs.

I also remember “Animaniacs” being wildly inconsistent in quality and tone.  There are some segments where the animation is noticeably worse that it is in other segments, sometimes in the same episode.  And some of the segments are just flat-out duds; I’m thinking mostly of cloying one-offs like “A Gift of Gold”.  But also... (sigh) look, the wildest and least surprising thing I’ve learned recently about the original “Animaniacs” run, something that kind of helps explain a lot of my least favorite reoccurring segments, is that because the show’s creators were no longer beholden to making characters based directly on other characters like in “Tiny Toons”, literally anyone could pitch a new character.  And so we got breakout hits like the Warners and Pinky and the Brain... and we also got things like Hip Hippos and Chicken Boo.  And their segments always gave me that distinctive and uncomfortable “I guess I understand that this is a joke and that it’s supposed to be funny but I don’t get the joke and I’m not laughing” feeling.  (And it’s fine if you liked those characters.  After all, teenage me thought Katie Kaboom was hilarious, mostly because I could not and still can not believe such a blatant metaphor for PMS made it to broadcast.)

So now we have thirteen brand new episodes, and the first taste of what to expect was made specifically for me.  Behold!

This teaser really does set the tone for new “Animaniacs” as a whole.  It is definitely a nostalgia trip, but it's a refreshingly good one.  The animation is much more consistently good and even excellent at times (holy moley the Anime sequence!)  It also trims a lot of fat off the original series; by now you probably know that the Warners and Pinky and the Brain are the only characters from the original series returning with their own full segments (though other characters have cameos).  There are a couple of new characters who appear in one short each.  I can’t help but wonder if this is to test our reaction to them (and in case that is the case, the one Starbox and Cindy short is cute but I don’t know how sustainable the premise is in a show that already has Pinky and the Brain, get the heck rid of the creepy screamy parasitic gnome).

Overall, new “Animaniacs” is very good.  I have a few more scattered thoughts but they might be a little spoilery, so meet me down by the Art of the Day until you watch all the episodes.

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* -  I’ve seen some hand-wringing over whether kids will like the new “Animaniacs” or not.  I think they will, especially if they’ve seen the original.  And while they won’t get every joke, who among us can say we got every joke right away back in 93?  Heck, not getting all the references is an old Warner Bros animation tradition.

* - Julia is the best new character hands down, and (again, just in case) I hope to see her again.  She’s a terrific foil for Brain and her design and animation gives me so many good Don Bluth vibes.

* - Speaking of the Brain, I figured he’d have a sad backstory (he is a lab mouse after all), but I never expected it would be THIS sad!  “Learned Helplessness” isn’t a phrase you expect to hear in context in a comedy cartoon, holy sh*t!

* - I don’t remember there being an awful lot of gross-out humor in the original “Animaniacs”, but a few new episodes dip into it here and there.  It’s not to the point where it’s annoying, but that one scene where a character needs her nails done and we get a closeup?  I cried.  Leave that kind of thing to an “Ozzy and Drix” reboot if you must, please and thank you.

* - All told, there are two (2) episodes I flat-out did not like.  I don’t even know what was going on in the episode set in Russia, where the jokes seem frozen in amber since the 80’s.  And the sketch that starts out like "Autotune is bad", then does the “Shakespeare was the Original Rapper” thing, then goes into ten more different directions, is awful and a REALLY really weird sentiment to come from characters born in the 90’s.

* - On the other hand, the Halloween episode is so, so good!  I’m so proud of Wakko; getting over his coulrophobia and tackling the scariest of clowns.  Like and repost if you are also proud of Wakko and his journey.  Well, Like anyway.

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Art of the Day!  Time for some fanart why not?

Let's Binge "Gargoyles"!

I can't offer you much in these Interesting Times, but I can offer you some recommendations what to binge watch while we're all stuck indoors.

I've done a few series marathons in the past in the good/bad old pre-streaming days and thankfully it's easier than ever to binge some of my favorites like "Gummi Bears" and "Fraggle Rock".  The former is available with Disney+ over which quite a lot of digital ink has been spilled and my extremely controversial opinion is that it is Good.  For one thing, it enabled me to finally, finally binge "Gargoyles", something I've been meaning to do since at least the late 90's and has been really difficult, up until Disney+ gave ready access to nearly every Disney Afternoon series.

Here's the trip report.  It gets a little spoilery the further in I get so either read it after or watch along with me.  My other really controversial opinion is that "Gargoyles" is excellent; easily one of the best animated series of the 1990's.  I'd go as far as to say that this is a series that tells as elaborate an ongoing saga with as well-developed characters as "Game of Thrones" except it's much more consistently good at it.

All that and you're internal dialogue will be voiced by Keith David for a while.

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Art!

Inktober Day 26 - "Over the Garden Wall"

If you missed "Over the Garden Wall" last year, you'll get to catch it again all this week.  There's been a lot of great fanart for the series over the past year and here's my entry:

Sweet like potatoes and molasses - Thoughts on "Over the Garden Wall"

On Saturday night I dropped ten bucks on iTunes for a series I have never seen and that hasn't even technically aired yet.  I watched the first episode, briefly thought of saving the rest for the next morning to enjoy over a cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee, and by Midnight I'd already ditched that plan and watched the whole thing.  And wanted to watch it again immediately.  And write this review telling everyone I know (and whoever I don't know who stumbles upon this here blog of mine; welcome, please stand clear of the doors and enjoy the ride) about how awesome the series is and how they should watch it, even though I was rendered pretty speechless and had to sleep on it, with the incredible songs and dreamy Jack Jones narration running through my brain all night.

Quick tangent, but it's an important one: We live in an incredible time for fans of animation.  Thus far in 2014, three of the best television series I've been watching are all animated ("Adventure Time", "Steven Universe", and "Gravity Falls".)  Lest we forget, "Legend of Korra" makes a fourth television series - if it were on TV but let's not even go there.  So far "South Park" has been very good, and there has been a host of great shows from previous years I missed out on but have been able to catch up with on Netflix instant ("Young Justice"!!!)  And so now we live in a world where Cartoon Network can air a five-night animated miniseries.

If Patrick McHale's animated miniseries (and again, how awesome is it that I live in a world where I can type that!) "Over the Garden Wall" isn't the best animated series I'll see in 2014, it will at least have been one of the most fascinating.  And if you don't want to read me gush about how wonderful the series is and what it *feels* like, just know that "Over the Garden Wall" is awesome, and you need to DVR it immediately.

It's rare that we get to see anything that feels so much like a glimpse into it's creators' brains in live-action, never mind a well-promoted animated miniseries on a popular cable network directed primarily at young folks.  And yet here's a weird, slightly spooky fable about what it is to be lost children in an overwhelming world that looks like it was dug right out of Maurice Sendak and Max Fleischer's long lost files.  It's a strange, forgotten, but lavishly illustrated turn of the century storybook set to fantastic music.  I can see how this story could have been told as a feature film, but the miniseries format helps it tremendously.  It allows the writers the freedom to follow the rambling, surreal tangents of traditional folktales.  The characters really only have one goal: finding their way back home, so why not get lost in the weird corners of imagination along the way?

Addendum: A quick look around the Internet reveals a minor controversy about "Over the Garden Wall": is it "too scary"?  My feeling is, if your kid freaks out at the monsters in "My Little Pony", this is definitely a no-go.  If your kid coasted through the Lich episodes of "Adventure Time", they should be fine.  Honestly, the creepiest thing about "Over the Garden Wall" is (spoilertime) this is the one animated series I'm aware of where the crazy "Ash is in a coma!" "Finn is dying and dreaming this whole thing!" people are right!

So yeah, "Over the Garden Wall".  It's outstanding.  You should watch it.  Then download the soundtrack and join me in a rousing rendition of the Highwayman's Song.

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Sketch of the Day!

It's a small throw-away joke, but you have to love Greg's unique theory, RE: dinosaur soft tissue. (With apologies to Brian Engh.)

Some Thoughts After Watching 29 Episodes of "Gummi Bears"

There is a wonderful, crazy rumor about "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears" that's worth recounting before we get rolling bouncing here.  The origin of "Gummi Bears" supposedly involves Michael Eisner in one of his most deeply Michael Eisnery moments.  He is said to have pitched one of the two first television animated series ever produced by Disney thus: "Hey, my son really loves those Gummy Bear candies.  Make a show about that!"

It is a testament to how awesome Disney can be in a pinch when the animators heard that command, looked at each other, said "okay" to Eisner, and came up with this.*

As I said in the previous post (which you should pause and read right now if you missed it), Disney had entered the wilderness of animated television cartoons with two series produced for the autumn of 1985, "The Wuzzles" and "Adventures of the Gummi Bears".  And in America, and I mention this again because I cannot emphasize how astonishing this fact is and how unthinkable this would be now, these two series aired on two different channels in the exact same time slot. "Gummi Bears" was much more successful and went on to become one of Disney's longest-running animated television series ever, surviving even into the early '90s.

Full confession: I wasn't really into this series as a child.  Remember, I was watching "The Wuzzles" on a competing network; I had no idea what I was missing.  And it turns out that I was missing something really special.

The thing that struck me the most about "Gummi Bears" is how much more care obviously went into it compared to "The Wuzzles".  Yes, it's a series with cute colorful funny animal characters living in a magical tree in an enchanted forest.  But the writers made an effort to give them fairly complex personalities and a well-established world to live in.  And, on top of all that and most impressive of all, a fairly elaborate mythology.

The idea is that we're seeing the final remnants of an ancient advanced civilization, one that is just starting to rediscover its heritage, magical powers, and lost technology.  (As far as the aforementioned lost technology goes, the Bears rediscover such items as what is basically a mech suit and a long-distance communication device/laser canon, neither of which I expected to see in a show like this and my goodness is it ever all the more awesome for it.)  Up until the end of the first season, the residents of Gummi Glen have no idea that they are not the last of their kind.  There's an underlying poignancy here that you aren't going to get in "The Wuzzles".

The setting of "Gummi Bears" is developed enough that I could do yet another parody of the "Game of Thrones" opening with its various locations if I had a penchant for stop-motion animation (and any desire to send yet another damn "Game of Thrones" opening sequence parody out into the world).  The visual design appears to take some influence from "The Sword in the Stone", especially in Dunwyn Castle and its residents.  But I detected an even stronger visual similarity to "The Black Cauldron", especially in the forests, Castle Drekmore, and the Quick Tunnels (a very cool device in their own right and I suddenly long for a dark ride based upon them).  I want to buy a round of pints for whatever layout artists designed Gummi Glen itself because it is just wonderful; you want to walk around inside it and explore every corner.

But the characters really drew me into the series.  There is not a single dud character in the main cast.  I could gush about them all day but I'll keep this quick: the characters are awesome.  Even the human characters are awesome.  Hell, even the younger characters are reasonably awesome!  (For the most part.  There aren't a lot of episodes centered on Sunni and Cubbi, and thankfully those are mostly okay.  Even so, by the end of the DVD set, I still wasn't completely sold on their voices or designs.  Dig Sunni's 80's hair.)

There is a noticeable bit of a dip in quality in the third season.  The writers focused less often on the high concepts introduced in the first two seasons.  They also break out in chronic new characters, including a very obnoxious "LOL, aren't artists random?!?" type. That said, the show is still, if you'll pardon the phrase, leaps and bounds over much of what it was competing with at the time.  I am very happy that I gave it a try.

So what does Calla have to do to be part of the Princess line already?

* - There is another crazy-awesome rumor about "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears" that links it with another Disney animated television series with a slightly larger fanbase.  Very early on in "Gummi Bears", there is an episode where an evil gargoyle who wants to hurt people comes to life at night and makes mischief in the castle.  The rumor insists that this episode may have inspired a later series about good gargoyles who want to help people and who come to life at night to protect the castle.  Yes, "Gargoyles" supposedly started life as a "Gummi Bears" spin-off.  If that's true, especially when you consider how many spin-offs they had in mind for "Gargoyles", then that is amazing.

Addendum: The wonderful Total Media Bridge agrees with me here, and goes into a little more detail regarding the history of the show and it's subsequent seasons.

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Sketch of the Day! This was a pretty big hit on Twitter, if I do say so myself:

Random 90's Animation - "South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut"

You know, reflecting back on the 1990's way, way before the series became the long-running institution it is today, the craziest thing about "South Park" is really the fact that it exists at all! 

Consider: you are the executive of a cable station that's still floundering a little in finding it's voice/main selling point.  These two weird dudes from Colorado want to sell you on a series based off a crude, cut-out animated Christmas card they'd created about Jesus battling Santa Claus as four foul-mouthed little kids look on.  The short had gained some attention on the Internet - but remember this is in the mid-90's.  That's not a pitch for an immediately popular hit television show that would last well into arguable "Jeez, that show is still on?" years, that's a string of randomly generated words!

But "South Park" debuted in 1997 and hit the ground running, becoming an instant sensation.  Since not all cable companies carried Comedy Central back then, a lot of us had to watch third-generation copies of tapes provided by friends who had Comedy Central and recorded the show.  And this was still my primary way of getting my "South Park" fix back in 1999, when the fantastically titled "South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut" debuted in theaters.  As it happens, this would be the first time I'd watched the film since college.

There are parts of this movie that are very of-the-moment and that play very differently now.  As with "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America", I haven't got the slightest idea what a person who isn't old enough to remember the cultural environment in which "South Park: BLU" would make of certain gags.  Furthermore, the show would be utterly incomprehensible to someone not already well-versed with the series.

Overall, "South Park: BLU" plays out almost exactly like a giant-sized early-season "South Park" episode.  The animation is still crude and has not been significantly souped-up for the big screen - save for a few selected scenes that relish in over the top ridiculous CGI effects.  The plot has some satire of real-life as it's hook, but the story progressively gets more and more bizarre from there.  There are random vocal cameos that are funny mostly because they are so strange!  (This is by far the greatest movie ever made where Nick Rhodes blows up David Foley.)

Ah, but then... you have the songs.

Holy sh*t, the songs.

The songs are fantastic.  They are the main reason why I liked "South Park: BLU".  As it happens, Trey Parker and Matt Stone cut their teeth on the insane "Cannibal: The Musical" and have since written excellent, hilarious songs for "Team America" and "The Book Of Mormon".  "South Park: BLU" is the first time they got to really show their songwriting powers in a public forum, and nearly every review from the time cites the songs as the best part of the film.

Now having mentioned those songs, I will say that the best way to experience them by far is in the context of the film and that this is not a film for everyone.  And I say that because there still exist people who can not get over the fact that animation is not always for children.  These people make me very upset, but I'd figure I'd give them fair warning as they will probably have a conniption fit by the second verse of the second big musical number.

Every so often, some wag will write something with the phrase, "The MUSICAL is BACK!!!"  This is in spite of the fact that movie musicals never really went anywhere.  Just ask anybody who grew up with the Bronze Age Disney movies.  And having said this, as someone who grew up with the Bronze Age Disney musicals, I can state that the songs in "South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut" are every bit as good as those in "Beauty and the Beast".  Yeah, really!

Next up, we head a little ways into the 2000's with two bizarre live-action/animation combo films.

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A Note: For a few days I will not be able to access my email, etc.  Please be patient with regards to comment approval and such.  (It's cute how I act like this series of reviews has been popular at all.  Oh well.)

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Sketch of the Day!

Truly the most wise of Earthlings.

Random 90's Animation - "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America!"

You can say what you will about the 1990's, but one of the best things about that long, strange decade was this: the animated feature films of the time were incredibly diverse, and it was also a fantastic time for boundary-pushing animation

Soon after their debut on Mtv in 1993, "Beavis and Butt-head" quickly became the most-loathed fictional characters in the history of television.  Perhaps it was the fact that the humor and animation wasn't always the most sophisticated in the world.  Maybe it was the taint of controversy: the duo were blamed for inspiring copycats (the stigma still stuck even when it was revealed that the children in question had never even seen the show).  Or maybe it is because we tend to forget or ignore that -and you must trust the person who spent a couple of very long years as a substitute high school teacher- we have all met teenaged boys like this.

Point is, when "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" (fantastic title, that) arrived in theaters, it meant that a lot of Serious Movie Critics who would have never voluntarily sat down and watch Mike Judge's series would have to deal directly with these characters.  And if you go back and read their old reviews from the time, make sure you take a shot when you run into the inevitable variation of "I can't believe I actually liked it!"

(Side-note: As with "Gumby: The Movie", it's hard to say if "Beavis and Butt-head Do America" is a good introduction to the characters or not, since the format of the film diverges so wildly from what these characters usually do.  A bit of research online reveals that longtime fans of the show are polarized on the feature film, though people who weren't big fans of the series like it just fine.) 

It was hard to watch this movie without all that in my mind, and that's too bad.  Because "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" is screamingly hilarious.  Honestly, I think it's Mike Judge's funniest feature film.  If you think about it, every movie he has made is like a thesis statement on how obnoxious people are a pain to have to deal with (in particular, "Idiocracy" practically underlines this in red crayon.)  The difference here is that Judge has at least a little bit of affection for Beavis and Butt-head, and it's much more fun to see how the various people they meet deal with two goofballs who are only vaguely aware that they're not watching television than it is to cringe along with the only sensible person in a world of fools.  Dare I say it but there are even a few scenes that are, in their own weird way, downright moving.

The film is a bit episodic but that actually works in it's favor, as Beavis and Butt-head are funnier in small doses.  The guest voices are enthusiastic and very very funny (Cloris Leachman being the top show-stealer), and the songs are terrific.  The animation doesn't stray too far from the television series' style, aside from a fantastic nightmare inspired by Rob Zombie that's over much too soon.

Now with that said, this film is very definitely a product of it's time (it's also, strangely, the first film so far in our marathon I can say this about.)  I found it very very funny, but I can't imagine what a kid who doesn't remember the Clinton years would think of it.  Heck, there are scenes that are strangely poignant simply because they are evidence of a much simpler time; there is no way either of Cornholio's shenanigans would fly today.  I can also see how this would easily be a terrible, mediocre live-action monstrosity if made today, but let's not even go there.

Next, we get to the film that might just be the high point of this entire project!

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Go check out the second Pop Culture Gallery over at "Art Evolved"!

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Sketch of the Day!

Horses at Pineland Farm.

"You Gotta DEAL With It!" - Thoughts on "The Legend of Korra"

Today we're going to talk at length about a television series that serves as a sequel to a very well-loved cult hit that was set in a richly imagined fantasy universe and benefited from excellent characters and intelligent writing.  In its three seasons, it also did everything it could to school people who were skeptical about the kinds of things you could do in a series like this.  So the sequel series had a lot to live up to.

Set many, many decades after the original series, the sequel explores how the imagined world of the original had changed in all that time, and how those changes affect the various fictional peoples - including a few relatives and descendants of the characters in the original series.  Meanwhile, the series focuses on a whole new and, in many ways, very different cast of heroes and villains.  During the production, the creators of this sequel series must have felt like Odysseus sailing between Scylla and Charybdis -- except all of Scylla's horrible heads are screaming, "IT'S TOO DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL!!!"  And there are equally angry voices calling out from the giant Charybdis whirlpool, "NO, IT'S TOO SIMILAR!!!"  Fortunately, almost all of those voices shut up once the series found its groove.

So yes of course I am talking about "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

But I am extremely happy to report that the same can all be said for "The Legend of Korra".  Yes, even the part about the series finding its groove.  Because here we are only four episodes in and this series is already off the chain, as the kids say.

I will try to describe a few specific reasons why without spoilers, but the point is that both "Avatar" series are excellent and you should watch them.  Like right now.  Like, instead of reading this.  There isn't a new episode scheduled for this weekend so you have time.  Do it!  (Let's not acknowledge the live-action movie, except for the fact that it so conveniently serves as the best-ever argument against live-action adaptations of animation.)

The first episode (hopefully still available streaming on Nickelodeon's fantastic homepage for the series by the time you read this) was preceded with a prologue that gave out just the very minimal amount of information for kids new to the "Avatar" universe to catch up.  After that's over with, the series proceeds to do exactly zero hand-holding, which is incredibly refreshing.  As it happens, this is indeed a sequel series in the "Star Trek" sense: it is set in the same world and a few of the characters from the first series show up here and there, but they mostly give the new main characters a lot of room.

And Korra is a hell of a character.  I've seen her described over and over as essentially the exact opposite of Aang in every meaningful way.  From the beginning, Aang was the kind of character you expect as your protagonist in an Epic Hero's Journey (TM); brave and enthusiastic, but also apprehensive and not exactly excited to confront the main villain anytime soon.  Korra could have very easily have been "Aang with a uterus", but thank the spirits she is very definitely not.   She's feisty, overconfident, and relishes in her God-tier powers.  She's in way over her head but she's still absolutely ready to save the world... except that the world of "Avatar" is technologically complicated now.  As a consequence, it has lost its mysticism and finesse.  Mastering the elements isn't such a huge deal as it once was.

This is essentially the story of a person who is an incarnation of God born into a world that is simply not impressed and it it airing before Noon on Saturday mornings and that is awesome.  (It's also a very interesting theme given that "Avatar" takes place in a world where spirits are absolutely real.  Huh.)

While enough digital ink (and spit and sweat and blood) has been spilled on this point on the message boards I frequent (sometimes admittedly to the point of tedium) it is also well worth mentioning that this is a Saturday morning cartoon set in a world where maybe one out of every ten humans is capable of manipulating part of nature.  There hadn't been much exploration in the original series of how much it would genuinely suck to be a person with no powers in a world where people can chuck mountains and lightning at each-other.  Well, to put it succinctly, that there is the main conflict of this series.

And without ruining a major plot point, I also love, love, love how the writers take something that a lot of fans decreed as a silly Deus ex Machina in the finale of the original series and make it the reason the main antagonist is so threatening in this one.  Fantastic.

The animation is gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking in the action scenes we've seen so far.  There are moments that remind me of both "Cowboy Beebop" and "Tokyo Godfathers".  And, of course, there is this, which is as good a note to end on as any:



Honestly, if you don't want to watch just to find out the context of this scene I do not understand you.

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Sketch of the Day!

Okapiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!

On new (to me) "Futurama" Episodes

I guess I could stay a little on-topic and talk about how having ten movies nominated for Best Picture ultimately makes the category almost meaningless and complaining (again) about the bullsh*t involved in the Best Animated Feature award (which this nice infographic does very well for me so never mind). Instead, let's talk the "Futurama" revival. And, later, bird seed.

I didn't get to see the new episodes of "Futurama" in their initial run, but I just found out this weekend that they are available via Netflix Instant Watch. So I spent a lazy Sunday watching the whole shebang in one go. Here are some thoughts:

Don't bother if you haven't seen the direct-to-DVD movies. This is a pretty continuity-heavy series. There's only four of them and they aren't that long. They are also all available via Netflix instant watch.

It takes a few episodes for the show to find it's footing again. Once it does, you've got episodes that rank up there with the best. Among the highlights are the revelation that, yes, history is cyclical in the "Futurama" universe (bummer for that guy in "The Cryonic Woman"), Amy's brain temporarily being overtaken by a self-aware piece of janitorial equipment, and an intelligent design advocate who happens to be a superintelligent orangutan.

I don't know if I've sold more people on this series or frightened them away...

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Sketch of the Day!

Release the Hounds!

Things I Must Post About!

This is partially for my benefit, partially for you readers to laugh at. I just finished an archive binge on my own blog and here are all the subjects I said I would write more about "someday":

* - WACOM Tablets and why they own so hard.

* - Jeff Smith's Bone. Actually, let's just get this one done: It's very good. Great art, terrific story. Just be aware that this is the kind of graphic novel that starts out like "Pogo" and ends like Dragonlance, and we all know what those are like, right?

* - Executive Meddling. Though I think between Don Bluth Month and the "Alien 3" review, I think that's been adequately covered. If you just can't get enough sad stories about an artist's vision being screwed by the higher-ups, you may read the namesake Trope, or listen to the whole spectacular debacle that the director of the film "Fanboys" suffered in this episode of the /Filmcast.

* - Speaking of: Podcasts! I got another shout-out by the very nice guys at "Science... Sort Of" in a recent episode. I think it's time to return the favor.

* - Obscure and or strange cartoons and shows like the previously and very briefly mentioned 1990's "Land of the Lost" reboot, "Kidd Video," and"Glow Friends".

* - The 1980's "Dinosaur" documentary with Phil Tippet animation and the PBS "Dinosaur" documentary with cel animation.

* - Reviews of illustrated books that somehow influenced me. William Stout's Dinosaurs, Rien Poortvliet's Gnomes, and Wayne D. Barlowe's Expedition.

* - Hazel Hedgehog and the Smurfette Principal. Maybe. Once again, the namesake trope pretty much covers it. Hazel herself is mentioned in the "Comics" section.

* - Classic Ranger Rick, though this is seeming less and less likely, and that makes me sad.

* - "Inception" and how much it melted my face off. Actually, yeah, there's my review. "Inception" = Awesomesauce.

"Trish, this is a movie that is essentially a victory lap for one of your favorite directors, stars an actor you've been a fan of since forever, the rest of the cast is incredible, it has amazing music, a brilliant fight scene unlike anything ever attempted before, and many shout-outs to M.C. Escher and Jungian symbolism and other stuff that you find awesome. And all you have to say about it is, 'It's Awesomesauce'? You know you wrote an entire blog post about a Tinkerbell book..."

Yeah. Yeah I know. It's just that I'm very late to the party and better writers have beaten me to everything interesting I could say about "Inception". I'm pretty sure I don't need to sell the movie to anyone at this point either. And I consider the Tinkerbell review an Old Shame.

By the way, Christopher Nolan was totally robbed. Bad Academy! Bad!

* - Other good 2010 movies I haven't got a chance to review yet and deserve long write-ups because they are underrated/obscure/whatever.

* - MOER OLD PALEOART!!! Especially the tale of Syntarsus (got that ready for Thursday!) and the Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia.

* - "Fraggle Rock" for cryin' out loud! Jim Henson's stuff in general.

* - "Invader Zim" and "Super Mario Brothers"

* - Movies That Are Good But Have a Ton to Answer For.

* - Expensive bird seed failure.

* - Dinosauroids and maybe other weird pop culture paleo-stuff.

* - And maybe this will be the year I write about the classic Christmas specials, yah?

OK, I'm promising nothing, but there's a good long list of subjects. Hopefully "someday" will be "over the next few weeks".

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Art of the Day!

I have updated my DeviantArt ID finally! I don't know, I think Spewey is a good mascot don't you?


DA ID 2011 by ~babbletrish on deviantART

So... "Gotham High"

With that headline and perhaps with what you can discern of my mood lately, I'm guessing it's pretty transparent that some stuff happened recently in real life that made it hard for me to keep on top of things in the wider pop culture world. I... might explain what's going on later or I might not; right now, it's too soon.

Anyway, here is something the rest of the animation blogosphere is already over:



Mad props if you can recognize all the characters. "Gotham High" was a show that was being developed by the comic book artist/author team Celeste Green and Jeffrey Thomas. The whole thing was prompted by a piece of art they had made and sent in to DC. You can see it and the other concept art for the series on their blog.

So as far as anyone knows, this was not the "make us a cartoon about Batman in high school to appeal to the young parsons!" series that, through clever interpretation, eventually became "Batman: Beyond". It's a more recent proposal that was lost in the great sea of Batman-related animation projects pitched in-between the two (thus far) Christopher Nolan (hold that thought) films. It was rejected and it isn't happening. I think the "this is a secret test" theory over at Topless Robot is intriguing, though a little unlikely. The whole thing was probably going to be in the vein of the dearly missed "Clone High".

This is, if it were actually happening, a fine example of the crazy and stupid stuff Warner Bros. likes to do with it's characters now (let's not bring THAT series up again). But with the "This is not actually going to happen" safety net securely beneath us, I have to say that, surprisingly enough... I don't hate this. Which is to say, I think the concept art and character designs look really, really good. Clayface leaves me a tad confused, but every other character design choice is pretty clever.

I am glad this isn't happening, don't get me wrong. Now, have you heard of that crazy Spider-Man musical?

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Been surprisingly disciplined in adding new reviews to the Realm of Mad-Ness. The latest is of a kid's movie that will scar children for life. Actually, that describes most of the kid's movies I review. Huh.
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Sketch of the Day!

Yeah... I still kinda feel like this.

In Which Trish lists Things to Geek Out about in the new "My Little Pony" series. Because of COURSE she would.

Oh, c'mon. You knew something like this was going to happen. And yes, I am going to recap the first two episodes of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" when everyone and their mom and their dog is gushing over "The Walking Dead" (which is very good, by the way). That's just how I roll.

So I've just seen the first two episodes of "Friendship is Magic" (it is a two-part premier) but I have already noticed some things that make me very happy as an older Pony fan. VERY happy. This is how you revive an 80's cartoon and do it right. (Suck it, Transformers fans.)

So here's my humble "OMG, did you notice..." list. Pictures and screenshots are from the lovely My Little Pony Lexicon message board. Most of it will be references to the original My Little Pony toys and cartoons -- and this is a brilliant move on the producer's part; after all, the first generation of Pony collectors are old enough to watch this cartoon with their children. Awww...

* - Twilight Sparkle (yeesh, how's that for an unfortunate name?) may be named in honor of the brave little unicorn Twilight in the very first animated "My Little Pony" episode. There's also mention of a Moondancer and an antagonist who wishes for -if you will- a night that never ends.

* - We've got ourselves some male Ponies in this new version of Ponyland (now called Equestria). As a nice continuity nod, yes, they still have those hairy hooves.

* - It took decades, but winged unicorns are finally canon. Finally! We've only seen two so far, and it appears they are both Uber-tier characters, filling a role rather similar to that of the Princess Ponies in the G1 series. (And a whole lot of online personas just got a whole lot Mary-Sue-iier.)

* - Fun little visual shout-out to the old Sprinkles' Waterfall playset, when Rainbow Dash summons that little raincloud for Twilight.

* - Doesn't this new version of Rarity the unicorn look an awful lot like Majesty? And Pinkie Pie looks a bit like Cotton Candy (first Pony I ever owned, for the curious)! The opening credits have quick cameos from Sundance, Baby Lickety Split, Shady, Fizzy, Gusty, and Posy, and the later crowd scenes sport Bubbles, Minty, Melody -- or at least new characters who look a great deal like them.

* - And Applejack's back! I love how her personality was established as the cool older sister already; It's fitting given how she's the oldest character we've seen so far.

* - The new characters have personalities that remind me a great deal of the Ponies from the G1 series. Twilight is sort of like Magic Star and Paradise, Pinkie Pie is like Fizzie and Surprise (and apparently, in an early draft, she *was* Surprise), Fluttershy is like Sweet Stuff and Posy (and, likewise, was Posy in that earlier draft), and Rainbow Dash is the second coming of Firefly.
Somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight, there is a fellow Browncoat who saw that last bit in a Google search and is about to be horribly disappointed.

* - Speaking of Fluttershy.  She is, basically, 😍 in the form of a pegasus. D'awwww...!

* - A very refreshing change that, I am happy to say, I'm not the only fan who is very happy about: the overall color scheme of Ponyland/Equestria is no longer pink but BLUE!!! Oh, thank Heaven! (And this is coming from someone who just filled a whole Sketchbook with pink critters.)

* - I love all the little touches in the layouts. The unicorn city has spiraling horn-shaped roofs, Ponyville is mostly thatched roofs that kid of look like manes, ect.

* - Manticores!  River Dragons! MALE UNICORNS!!! BIRDS!!! Actual realistic bird-looking birds, not generic little yellow or blue tweety things!!! OMG, this series is going to be amazing!

* - I can't have been the only person who, upon the moment where the Ponies had to cross a raging river, immediately thought, "Ohhh sh*t, here come the Sea Ponies!!!"

* - Great visual shout-out to "Powerpuff Girls" /"Sailor Moon" at the climax. And the Rainbow of Light!!! ZOMG!!!

* - Spoilery stuff: As much as it would have been cool to have a reoccurring villain, I am so, so very happy that Nightmare/Luna got a Heel/Face Turn in the end. After all, the Moon is not evil. And since unicorns are associated with the moon...

Listen, I had zero expectations for this show. I happened to catch a preview on YouTube and fell right in love. This show has put the biggest smile on my face and I have to give mad props to Lauren Faust. (I also definitely have to revisit "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" some day soon.)

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Art of the Day! This is kind of old (from April), but relevant:



By the way, "Tintin"! Even though they aren't shoing what Tintin's face will look like! Which, to me, raises a gigantic red flag!
By the way, did I just see a Coke commercial of all things make a reference to "Primer"?

_How to Create Animation_, by Cawley and Korkis

Well first off, Guess who's exhibiting this weekend at ArtsFest? Sadly, I will not be able to attend in person, but if you're in the area and you want to own the original painting, "Support the Gulf", go check it out.

Second off (?), I really ought to wait until we get better art than this crappy little screenshot, but after five generations we finally have an honest-to-Arceus "Raptor Pokemon".

On to the topic. You may, if you like, consider this to be an addendum to Don Bluth Month.

When I was but a lass, I had read a few books about animation, it's history, and how it is produced. I had read Leonard Maltin and Jerry Beck's standard-bearing Of Mice and Magic, Charles Solomon's lavishly illustrated (and enormous) Enchanted Drawings, and the dueling studio histories, Disney's Art of Animation and That's All Folks! These are all wonderful books, but none of them really take you into the trenches -- or drafting tables rather. None of them really tell you the history of animation from the animators' point of view.

I was in my undergrad college library when this weird little book caught my eye:



That's really not the best cover art in the world, is it? But look at that list of contributors! How to Create Animation is a one-of-a-kind book, because it it made up almost entirely of interviews with animation artists.

Co-author John Cawley has been kind enough to post these interviews on his website, which is excellent of him, as some of the history revealed in this book is indispensable. (Note that not every interview from the book is posted online. You will have to dig up a hard copy for Bob Clampett, Jack Hannah, Chuck Jones, and Bill Scott. Also, the online version has no illustrations.) Some of the advice is very good too -- but the world of animation is very different from the way it was in 1990, when the book was published.

So that means, in this book, Glen Keane is JUST starting to design the character of Beast from "Beauty and the Beast" and is just starting to kick around ideas for "Aladdin". Most of the animators from Disney are JUST getting over the hangover they woke up with after "Roger Rabbit" and "Little Mermaid". The future couldn't be brighter for Sullivan/Bluth Studio, and television animation, especially on Saturday mornings, is unstoppable.

Suffice it to say, there are a few Funny Aneurysms in this book. The very worst might be Chris Buck talking enthusiastically about the new series he is working on based off Brad Bird's "Amazing Stories" short, "Family Dog". (For those not in the know, "Family Dog" was, prior to "Father of the Pride", the single most epic failure in the world of prime-time television animation.  Hardly remember either of these?  Exactly.)

It's always fun to read the history of a medium right from the mouths of the people who lived it. Some highlights from the book, including revelations that surprised me:

* I've never met anyone who didn't like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Yet almost all of the artists who worked on it cannot stand the movie! It's either because they thought Roger himself was annoying or because the movie was so hard to work on -- the book reveals that the film was in development limbo since 1983 at least. But what's also strange is the fact that a few artists who did not work on "Roger Rabbit" dislike it too, either because of Roger himself being annoying or because it "doesn't respect animation history" (what?) Especially odd, because this is probably THE movie that kick-started the new appreciation of classic animated shorts.

* On that note, if animators who started work in the 70's have a Purgatory, Filmation is it. EVERYONE seems to have started out there. I guess you have to start somewhere, but yikes!

* It's often the unsung heroes and artists I never heard of who have the best stories in this book. Consider freelance animator Mark Kausler, who has probably got the most interesting resume imaginable, having worked at almost every studio. Or, Bob Givens, who started out working on "Snow White" and, by the time this book was written, wound up on... "Garfield and Friends"...

* If nothing else, this book proves that NOBODY saw the CGI revolution coming. Pixar gets one offhand mention in the introduction as a small studio that makes interesting little shorts and commercials and such.

But even with this last reveal in mind, the animators still have one indisputable piece of advice that they all agree upon: You need to learn how to draw. There's no getting around that. Take some life drawing classes, go outside and sketch, train your eyes to see.

All in all, this is a fascinating book and I wish the authors would consider creating an updated version. My only real complaint: boy do I wish one woman, at all, had been interviewed.

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So I just caught up on some podcasts and guess who got a mention towards the end of this episode of the lovely "Science... Sort-Of"?

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Art of the Day! Speaking of Sketchbooks...

Top Five Unresolved Plot Points from... "Avatar: the Last Airbender".

I know, but It's going to take me a while to process the "Lost" finale. (Exceedingly minor spoilers in that link.)



So here's a rundown of mysteriously abandoned characters and plotlines from another television series my entire family was in total agreement of and that none of us wanted to end. Supposedly, the producers are working on some feature-length direct-to-DVD sequels. Hopefully, these will be at least be addressed if not fully wrapped up.
Mind you, I love the hell out of this series. Unfortunately, this kind of thing kinda comes with the territory when the network decides that they're only going to give you half a season to wrap everything up in your epic fantasy series. Wah.
These are in no particular order:

The White Lotus Society
They built this up so badly in the final season. This secret society made up mostly of cool older characters did show up in the finale, but their previous mentions in the series were so mysterious. So this isn't technically a dropped plot, but it's one of those things, like the Blue Spirit and Combustion Man and, infamously, Uncle Iroh's jailbreak, that we expected to have a much, much bigger payoff

Toph's Family
For a lot of people, this is one of the big ones. So Toph is a character who joins the main cast early in the second season, and she quickly becomes one of the best characters in the show. Thing is, she is a runaway; she went off on her adventures with Aang and company without saying anything to her rich parents. In the *final season* she decides to send a message to her mom to let her know she's alive. This is never again acknowledged. Heck, we don't even know if Toph's family received the message, as it was sent via Sokka's messenger hawk. And since I brought Hawkie up, that leads us naturally to...

Dropped Characters
This is a series with loads and loads of characters. Not all of them are going to appear more than once, but there were several who seemed to have been developed enough that they were going to have larger roles later on. Among them are Aang's mentor Guru Pathik, eerie spirit Koh the Face-Stealer, the aforementioned Hawkie, and probably many more that I can't remember right now. But the big one here deserves her own entry:

OK, So What's the Deal With Ursa?
She is Zuko and Azula's mother. She has been missing, presumed dead, since before the series began. There is a great deal of evidence that she's still alive in the series, she appears -as a hallucination- in one of the final episodes, and in the very last episode it is revealed that she is indeed alive. It is wildly speculated that the first DTV film will focus on her somehow.

And Finally, What's the Deal With Bosco the Bear?
Katara: (reading a newspaper) "The king's having a party tonight for his pet bear!"
Aang: "You mean platypus-bear?"
Katara: "No, it just says, 'bear.'"
Sokka: "Certainly you mean his pet skunk-bear?"
Toph: "Or his armadillo-bear?"
Aang: "Gopher-bear?"
Katara: "Just... 'bear.'"
(There is a pregnant pause.)
Toph: "This place is weird."
That dialogue pretty much speaks for itself. Bosco is the pet bear of the Earth King and he is one of the odd little non sequiters in the show that was treated as kind of a joke for those of us who were paying attention. However, this "joke" has some pretty weird implications for the Avatar universe. All of the non-supernatural animals seen in "Avatar" are weird hybrids, very likely in tribute to "Dungeons and Dragons" (Owlbears anyone?) Taking for granted that the very act of calling a Turtleduck a Turtleduck is a translation convention and normal animals like Bosko are unknown, if Wuzzles/Firffels are normal for the Avatar world then...?

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Totally unrelated, but happy Towel Day!!!
Also, here's a nifty interview with Don Hahn via the wonderful /Filmcast.
Also via /Film, a preview of illustrations for Josh Cooley's upcoming book Movies R Fun! Oh good lord, they are beautiful
ALSO also via /Film, our first look at fully-rendered CGI Wile E. Coyote in Three-Effin-Dee. Dear reader, you can probably guess with 99% accuracy how I feel about this...

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Sketch of the day!
Let's consider this a teaser for the next post: