Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
You can tell I've fallen behind, this is my second review tonight as we move onto Steven Universe.
Steven Universe is from a group of writers from Adventure Time, about a boy named Steven who inherits a power gem from his late mother; her mother's friends the Crystal Gems, adopt Steven into their lives and attempt to teach him to be a Crystal Gem himself but there are many troubles along the way.
Now Steven Universe is a bit of a bogey cartoon, on the one hand the clever story telling and its ability to take it's audience seriously along with Steven's believable personality can easily make this one of the best cartoons of all time but on the other hand, Steven has no indoor voice, (Which never sits well with me) your not given much to work with in terms of backstory or learning anything about the main cast and compared to Adventure Time which can hold it's own better, it doesn't really capture the same creativity.
It's not bad but doesn't really encourage itself to be really good, not helped by Cartoon Network's poor scheduling which seems to relegate it to a weekend showing (in the UK at least)
Compared to other new shows that premiered around the same time it's certainly the strongest of the lot and really shows that Cartoon Network hasn't completely lost it's creativity but don't expect another Adventure Time for a while.
Now on to the final leg of the tribute as we finish off 2014's deceased from October-December.
Kazuko Yanaga 1947-2014
Veteran voice actress known for being the dub voice for Sigourney Weaver, Susan Sarandon and Jamie Lee Curtis as well as voice work on many anime series.
Rokuro Naya 1932-2014
Veteran voice actor who provided the dub voice for Professor X and Squidward Tentacles. Most recognized for his voice work in Crayon Shin Chan.
Bunta Sugawara 1933-2014
Veteran actor who provided voice work for Spirited Away and Tales from Earthsea as well as the inspiration for One Piece's Admiral Akainu
Ralph H. Baer 1922-2014
The Father of Video Games. Developed the first home games console and game in 1966.
Martha Goldman Sigall 1917-2014
Inker and Painter for Looney Tunes for over 50 years.
Norman Bridwell 1928-2014
Author of Clifford the Big Red Dog
Robert Taylor 1944-2014
Award winning animator, writer, producer and film director known for his work on Talespin, Fritz the Cat, Goof Troop and Aladdin the King of Thieves among others.
Hidetoshi Nakamura 1954-2014
Veteran voice actor known for numerous Gundam roles among hundred others. Also Pepe Le Pew's dub voice.
Christine Cavanaugh 1963-2014
Veteran voice actress of Chuckie Finster from Rugrats, Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, Gosalyn Mallard from Darkwing Duck, Bunnie Rabbot from Sonic, Oblina from Aaargh Real Monsters, Babe the Sheep Pig along with many others.
So why is a good show axed when bad shows still get season after season?
Well these examples may put a few things to rest.
1. Invader Zim
Everyone's favorite psychotic alien in one of Nicktoons darkest & funniest shows of all time.
Why Cancel?: Nickelodeon claimed it was low ratings, the real reason was that Invader Zim frequently broke its budget and became too expensive for the Network to make.
Aftermath: It's staff would later be hired for Avatar the Last Airbender.
2. Class of 3000
A performance arts college led by Andre 3000 of OutKast. Decent animation and decent music.
Why Cancel?: Cartoon Network claimed it was too expensive to make, the real reason came when Andre 3000 was sued for plagiarism which ultimately sealed it's fate.
Aftermath: It was the last cartoon to be made under the old Cartoon Network banner which led up to the events of the 2007 Boston Bomb Scare which cost former head Jim Samples his job, what followed was a few years of crap Cartoon Network.
3. Warner Bros 90s Cartoons
Freakazoid, Animaniacs, Pinky & the Brain, Hysteria, all of Warner's finest from that era.
Why Cancel?: Some guy named Jamie Kellner decided to scrap the range claiming it wasn't right for the channel's image to have cartoons appealing to grown ups. Ironically this also happened to the Avengers cartoon.
Aftermath: Warner Bros have not been the same since.
4. Cancelled without reason
Danny Phantom, El Tigre, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go, Juniper Lee, American Dragon, Young Justice, Megas XLR, Swat Kats & Samurai Jack.
Why Cancel?: In some cases poor time slots, in others it simply dropped off the channel for no reason. For Swat Kats, Ted Turner claimed it was too violent. Samurai Jack's chances look slim for a comeback following Mako's death and because Samurai Jack needs his voice but not other voices it poses quite a problem.
5. Gargoyles
Core of Disney's epic run of tv cartoons in the 90s.
Why Cancel?: Fell out of Disney's favor and ended up being drawn by a different animation house.
Aftermath: Disney seem to do this a lot with these kinds of shows, the same fate befell many of the shows I've mentioned along with the likes of WITCH & PB & J Otter.
6. Adult Swim Cartoons
Anything not Venture Bros or Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Why Cancel?: Adult Swim is too poorly run to sustain cartoons properly, some never made it pass episode one. In the case of Titan Maximum which had better ratings than many of it's staple shows, creator Seth Green felt that Robot Chicken was more important.
7. Classic British Cartoons
It's worthy of note that many of our classic cartoons, mostly stop motion shows like Postman Pat, Bagpuss & Camberwick Green are notoriously short.
Why Cancel?: They were never cancelled, the shows were really that short.
Wallace & Gromit our best cartoon has only had four episodes, one movie and numerous shorts in 24 years and it frequently wins awards no problem.
Explain: We British don't do filler, also helps that British shows tend to have all episodes filmed in a series before broadcast.
8. And an Anime Example
The original Gundam Series
Why Cancel?: Surprisingly poor ratings cut the show to 39 episodes forcing creator Yoshiyuki Tomino to improvise an ending.
Aftermath: Rerun figures were better and with new editing and cuts was redone into a film trilogy before Zeta Gundam's release.
Last time on Cartoon Vault, the Kung-Fu Dino Posse was the subject thanks to a list of shameless Ninja Turtles knockoffs but there is one show I missed on that list, but there is a good reason which I’ll explain in this Cartoon Vault entry the Chop Socky Chooks
Dr Wasabi is an evil genius fish who has taken over the city and rebuilt it in his image, but three chickens disagree with Wasabi’s rule. Our heroes are Chick P, KO Joe & Chuckie Chan, a team of chickens who know Kung-Fu who oppose Wasabi’s rule and put a stop to every scheme he cooks up to try and grab the attention & control of the populous.
The Chooks are entirely CGI, which seems to work surprisingly well with the British Aardman animation team on board but some of the designs are really creepy such as in one episode with evil ninja babies (don’t ask) who are just plain scary.
The series does a surprisingly good job in both story and characters; Wasabi is clearly incompetent but is shown to still be dangerous, Bubba his Mafia Suited Gorilla bodyguard is clearly stupid but can still dish out decent pain, even the Ninja chimps manage to get in proper hits sometimes showing that they are not entirely useless. Equally the heroes are not always guaranteed a victory and usually have to work twice as hard to succeed and have even been known to struggle against lesser villains. Staying with the lead three characters, the reason why I don’t regard this as a shameless Ninja Turtles knockoff is because it negates the main ingredient needed to be one of those shows, which is near identical designs. Each Chook is very different going as far down to their civilian identities.
Chick P passes as a proper Kung Fu girl reminiscent of modern martial arts films where being a lead female is not so rare and breaks predetermined gender roles by being a maintenance engineer in her civilian identity, she’s even the unofficial leader if the opening theme is any indication.
KO Joe (which is an awesome name) is portrayed as a retro 70s martial artist complete with Afro and even he breaks predetermined roles by being a comic book store owner in his civilian identity.
Only Chuckie Chan keeps his predetermined role by not only being a wise old man with supernatural powers but also being a Martial Arts teacher in civilian attire.
These are great characters and are fun to watch and are even well voiced by Great British talent, if it weren’t for such creepy designs and a few utter bizarre stories, this show could easily be one of the best CGI cartoons ever made, and I never say that lightly.
I’ve not done this feature for a while, mainly because research for these either take a long time or there isn’t enough material for a full feature, today we review all the small legends that won’t be making full features but should be spoken about.
Toy Story Legends
Concept designs for CGI cowboy Woody originally depict him as being selfish and a complete jerkass, it never made it beyond that.
In another legend before the actual Toy Story 3 came out, the original storyline would’ve been Buzz Lightyear being recalled by the company that made him and the other toys retrieving him from the factory.
Japan Did It First
Staying with Pixar, they can’t take credit for first ever use of CGI, that honor goes to Japanese anime classic Golgo 13: the Professional dated 1983 before Pixar released its first ever short films.
Johnny Bravo & The Twin Towers
An infamous still shot in a Johnny Bravo cartoon aired five months before 9/11 depicts a movie poster with the words “Coming Soon” written above a skyscraper on fire.
Conspiracy theorists believe it to be a deadly premonition but I think it’s only a coincidence; a movie called “Towering Inferno” about a skyscraper on fire is often referenced in American cartoons, sitcoms and comedies, also I don’t give the creator that much credit, after all saying that a cartoon about a dumb blonde strongman who speaks like Elvis predicted a major terrorist attack is like saying a Breakfast Cereal predicted the Rapture.
Creator’s Rights Win
During the production of Sci-Fi Cartoon Oban Star Racers, executives & promoters pushed the creator to create a male protagonist instead of using a female one. The creator was not impressed and not only did he keep his original design, he even created his own company to make sure no one interfered. This became an in-house joke with original pilot Rick Thunderbolt being replaced by Molly very early on and being written out of the show completely.
Batman Can Sing
WB Kids have some funny ways of advertising it’s shows, a promotional shot for Pokemon involved Batman singing the Jigglypuff Lullaby Song, made even funnier as he tries to maintain his serious face throughout, seriously check it out.
Story of Little Black Sambo & Mr Popo
As racist as Mr Popo looks, his design actually has an origin from a late 19th Century Children’s book called Little Black Sambo. It’s a strange story about a South Indian child who gives up his colorful clothes to tigers to avoid being eaten, the tigers argued & chased each other until they ended up as pools of butter, which Sambo’s mother decides to use to make pancakes, yes it’s that bizarre. Sambo’s design is of a black child with huge red lips similar to the way Mr Popo is designed, so Popo isn’t racist he’s paying homage to a storybook character & Little Black Sambo is ridiculously popular in Japan, plus he gets bonus points for at least trying to look Indian. Also worth noting is the Pokemon Jynx who also pays homage but unconfirmed by its creators.
Subaru Makes an Anime
I’ve got one more Urban Legend to give but this one does need a post all to its self, and yes I am referring to the car company Subaru.
