Tomorrow at 7:30 PM Eastern, the Defenders guest-star on The Super Hero Squad Show. This reworking of Marvel superhero characters for kids airs on the Cartoon Network. Here’s the plot description:

Baron Mordo transforms Iron Man into the evil “Iron Menace”, a deadly threat who overcomes both the Lethal Legion and the Squad! But when Silver Surfer and Hulk team with Dr. Strange and Valkyrie to form “The Defenders,” the forces of good will “Hero Up!” like never before! Gossip Girl alumni Michelle Trachtenberg reprises her role as Valkyrie in this exciting new episode of the most action-packed, family friendly series in the universe!

I haven’t seen any of this animated series, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the misfits that made up the Defenders. It’s the only long-running Marvel series I’ve read every single issue of. (I know, it was a wacky choice, but it worked for me.) The Super Hero Squad seems like it would be fun, only they don’t seem to have any female team members. Bummer.

Do any readers watch it? What’s it like?

The storyboard

The start of image generation

Modeling the set

More animation

Add clothing

Additional shading

Additional effects

Final lighting

Update: Here’s some more Up-related art, process work involving graphic design and illustration for the film.

Up (Blu-Ray)
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As is typical of their recent releases, they’re strongly pushing the Blu-Ray edition, which comes with four discs: the standard DVD movie with extras, the digital copy disc (why? does anyone use these?), and two Blu-Ray discs. Unfortunately for me, since I still see no reason to “upgrade” formats, the standard DVD with extras is no longer comparable in features to the Blu-Ray. This is an incredibly disappointing decision. The more studios try to force customer “choice” to what benefits them, the less likely I am to succumb, and I don’t appreciate being treated like a second-class customer because I’m not willing to shell out more money for new equipment when what I have works just fine for me.

Then there’s the DRM-restricted “extra” that makes the standard version a “two-disc deluxe edition”. The second disc is nothing but the digital copy. I’m not interested, because I don’t want to watch a movie of great visual scope on a postage-stamp-sized screen. Thus, I got the two-disc pack. Because although you would think the single disc would be the same as the DVD in the two-disc pack, it lacks the director commentary and possibly the travel featurette. How confused does Disney want customers to be? Of course, you can’t be sure of this in the store, because Disney doesn’t list full contents on the back cover, leaving that phrase “and more” to cover who knows what.

Given that many places are discounting the Blu-Ray version below the price of the special DVD edition — a choice I don’t understand, since I thought the point of pushing Blu-Ray was to make up for declining DVD revenue — I really resent having to pay for a “digital copy” disc I didn’t want anyway. It used to be an extra bonus, something free to make it easy for those who wanted to watch the movie on the go, but now it looks like I’m having to pay more for a useless plastic disc.

Up (Two-Disc DVD)
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Anyway, if one of the Amazon reviewers is correct, the first Blu-Ray has the same extras as the DVD:

• The six-minute “Partly Cloudy” cartoon that ran with the movie in theaters, about a bad-luck stork and his cloud dispatcher.
• A new original five-minute cartoon, “Dug’s Special Mission”, in which the beloved pup tries to help his pack capture the bird in his usual clumsy fashion. It leads into the movie scene in which Dug meets Carl and Russell.
• “Adventure Is Out There”, 22 minutes, showing the crew traveling the amazing real-life locations that inspired Paradise Falls.
• “Alternate Scene: The Many Endings of Muntz” — Five minutes about possible different ends for the bad guy.

The second Blu-Ray has all of the making-of material unavailable to DVD customers, showing interviews and sketches about the character designs for Carl, Russell, bird Kevin, the house, the balloons, and the dogs. Plus there’s a game and an alternate version of the opening married life sequence.

While I consider this movie the best Pixar has ever made, a beautiful meditation on loss and how to find new purpose in life, in terms of the DVD packaging, all I can say is “buyer beware”. They’re not interested in making it easy for you to watch what you want the way you want it. Let me make this clear, just in case Disney happens to be listening: withholding features from my preferred DVD format will not make me buy into Blu-Ray. It will instead make me stop buying your DVDs. In my reviews, I would rather talk about how great the movie is and the insight the special features gave me into the creation of such a wonderful film, instead of having to wade through all this format crap just to figure out what I should buy. I wish Disney would support that.

So here’s why you should watch Up: Pixar is known for making very good funny movies, but Up makes it clear that they’re just as interested in other deep emotions. It was a huge dramatic gamble that they pull off in expert fashion. The idea of an old man and a Boy Scout taking a flying house to a South American jungle, rescuing a near-extinct species, and defeating a corrupt hero and his band of talking dogs sounds like a bad joke, but it’s a movie that will show you great insight into the human spirit and its sense of wonder.

I’m sure this piece sounds angry, but it’s really frustration. I don’t understand why Disney is being so heavy-handed about all this, given their core audiences. A lot of families don’t have the money to upgrade right now, and do kids really care what format they watch?

I was very pleased to see another go-round of Warner’s Saturday Morning Cartoons compilations. They make very interesting samplers of what was happening in kid-vid in both the 1960s and 1970s, so they’re prime fare for baby boomers like me. Although you have to keep in mind that it’s not a complete snapshot of the era. Due to licensing restrictions (or possibly availability), the selections are pretty much limited to properties that Warner currently controls, represented here by the Hanna Barbera, Warner Bros., and MGM cartoon libraries.

Actually, I was both pleased and somewhat disappointed. Although there is a lot of good stuff on the sets, most of it is just additional episodes of the same series that were on Volume 1. And some of the better series from the first discs have been replaced with somewhat lesser series. So let’s break it down, beginning with…

1960s: Volume 2

Saturday Morning Cartoons:
1960s Volume 2
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Following up on some of the great series that were included on Volume 1, this new set has more

• Quick Draw McDraw (2 episodes. Yay!)
• Porky Pig Show (1 episode. Yay!)
• Atom Ant (1 episode. Yay!)
• Peter Potamus (1 episode, OK)
• The Jetsons (1 episode, not a great one)
• Magilla Gorilla (1 episode, OK)

In addition, there are a couple more Warner Bros. compilations (The Bugs Bunny Show and The Road Runner Show), both extremely popular, but both kinda redundant here as Warner has done a really good job of compiling Bugs Bunny and friends elsewhere on DVD (except for no collector set this year — hope they get back on track for next year). It is, however, really great to see and hear the original opening sequences and theme songs for the shows — especially that quirky only-of-its-era Road Runner song (“Road Runner goes Beep Beep!” and “That coyote is really a crazy clown!”). Some of the original between-cartoon bumpers are also shown, which is a nice touch. Later, both shows were combined into the mega-length Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show (see the 1970s Volume 2 collection, although it actually began in 1968).

Also on this set is The Tom & Jerry Show, making its first appearance in these compilations, and best known for appearing on Sunday mornings, although the show began on Saturdays in 1965 before moving to Sundays in 1967, remaining there until 1972. While it is great to see it represented here (especially with some of the Chuck Jones bumpers included), the Tom and Jerry cartoons have been endlessly repackaged by Warners for the last several years.

There are some new things here — although I have to admit that as a kid I seldom watched any of them, as I was watching something else on some other stations (in those long-ago days before recording VCRs and DVDs or time-shifting DVRs).

Kid Stuff

Space Kidettes/Young Samson and Goliath never actually appeared on Saturday morning — at least in this configuration. Young Samson did — solo — for one season beginning in 1967, before being pared with Space Kidettes in syndication. Young Samson is best described as a a cross between Marvel Comics’ Roy Thomas-revised version of Captain Marvel (a young teen transforms into a great hero by slamming his magic wristbands together) and later animated series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Young Samson turned into the adult superhero version of the biblical Samson, and his dog Goliath transformed into a super-powered lion. (Oddly, they were never shown turning back into their original forms in the cartoon.) Yeah, it was kinda dumb.

Space Kidettes appeared on Saturday morning in 1966, also for one season only. (Young Samson took over its time slot the following year). Space Kidettes was a very cute series featuring four very young kids (Scooter, Snoopy, Jennie, and Count Down) and their dog Pup Star who lived in outer space (seemingly without parents) and hung out in their space clubhouse. Unfortunately they were constantly menaced by the evil but inept Captain Spacehook and his equally inept henchman Static (both of whom inexplicably had British accents). Nothing in this series was ever explained, as it was primarily aimed at very young kids. In fact, its pairing with Young Samson in syndication was also a mystery as the two series had absolutely nothing in common, other than both being produced by Hanna Barbera, and both are largely forgotten today.

Forgotten Critters

Speaking of forgotten Hanna Barbera characters, a whole bunch of them all appeared on something which is called here The Wally Gator Show but was really titled The Hanna Barbera New Cartoon Series. This series also never actually appeared on Saturday Mornings (at least on the networks) but appeared in syndication (frequently cut up into its component parts) beginning in 1962. It consisted of three separate cartoons: Wally Gator (voiced by the great Daws Butler doing an Ed Wynn impersonation) is an alligator who normally lives in the City Zoo, but he loves to escape and have adventures on the outside. Mr Twiddle (Don Messick) is Wally’s frequently exasperated zookeeper. This concept was later expanded for Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch! (see the 1970s Volume 2).

Wally Gator	Touché Turtle and Dum Dum	Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har-Har

Touché Turtle and Dum Dum were a pair of swashbuckling heroes who were constantly saving various members of royalty in distress. Touché (voiced by Bill Thomson) was brave and dashing, Dum Dum (Alan Reed) was dumb. (Duh.) Elements of this cartoon were better used in subsequent cartoons, including Ricochet Rabbit (the comedic pairing) and Yippee, Yappie, and Yahooie (funny swordsmen). Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har-Har was one of Hanna Barbera’s funniest teams, with Lippy (Daws Butler) constantly attempting get-rich-quick schemes which inevitably backfired on Hardy (a deadpan Mel Blanc). Hardy was one of HB’s funniest characters — a laughing hyena who never laughed. Hardy instead seemed to be in constant agony, as well as being an eternal pessimist. Hardy could always be counted on to moan “Oh me, oh my, oh dear” at least a dozen times in each cartoon. He was a much-loved role model for me (along with Daffy Duck and Eeyore).

All of these characters later infrequently appeared in other HB “gang” shows like Yogi’s Gang. Wally was a regular on Laff-A-Lympics, and the original cartoons occasionally pop up on Boomerang — unfortunately as unscheduled “time-fillers” between shows. A DVD set of these cartoons was originally announced in 2006 but was later canceled due to the poor condition of the master prints. Too bad — that would have been a nice set and a great way to see these undeservingly forgotten characters.

Short People

The Adventures of Gullivar is another largely forgotten Hanna Barbera production, which originally aired between 1968 and 1970, and was later syndicated as a part of the various Banana Splits syndicated packages. Young Gullivar and his dog Tagg (There’s always a dog. Are you not paying attention?) are shipwrecked on a mysterious island, which is home to the kingdom of Lilliput (sound familiar yet?). It’s a pretty straight — and unfortunately ordinary — adventure show, although the Lilliputian people are done in a slightly lighter style than the other characters. (They remind me of the much-later HB Smurfs, as there’s only one girl, unfortunately named Flirtatia.) Only 17 episodes were produced, the first of which is presented here. Like lots of other kids, I was watching Wacky Races when this originally aired.

Rounding out the 1960s Volume 2 collection is Completely Bananas: The Magilla Gorilla Show, a five-minute documentary only useful for pointing out two things: That Magillia (and Peter Potamus) were really the end of an era of animal character shows for HB (as shows like Space Ghost and Herculoids were waiting in the wings) and that pet store owner Mr. Peebles was probably related to The Jetson’s Mr. Spacely and Wally Gator’s Mr. Twiddle, due to their remarkably similar appearances. Oh, and Mark Evanier claims that Magilla’s theme song was one of HB’s best, to which I agree, even if the song cleverly mentions the show’s original sponsor — Ideal Toys.

Into the 1970s

Saturday Morning Cartoons:
1970s Volume 2
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Volume Two of the 1970s is a bit more problematic, since it unaccountably features three programs that actually debuted in the 1960s as well as including additional episodes of stuff we’ve already seen, like Yogi’s Gang, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, The Adventures of Batman (from Volume 1), and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour (as previously mentioned, it debuted in 1968).

Grumpy Genie

Also premiering in the 1960s was Shazzan! which debuted in the fall of 1967 and is more closely associated with other HB shows like Space Ghost and Herculoids, mostly because the show was created and designed by the legendary Alex Toth. Although this is not one of his better shows (except for his designs), as the premise is quite mockable — as demonstrated in the set’s The Power of Shazzan five-minute documentary. Here many of the show’s staff, as well as animation historians, discuss the lame premise of an all-powerful genie controlled by two young kids who find a mysterious chest with the two halves of a magic ring which only works when the two halves are combined (like when the latter-day Wonder Twins’ powers only activate when they touch). Further, the rings transport the kids to a parallel universe based on the land of the Arabian Nights, and they can only return home when they deliver the ring to its rightful owner. (This never happens.)

Shazzan is a remarkably cranky and petulant genie, which is probably no surprise since he has to put up with the whims of these annoying kids as well as the flying camel Kaboobie, who “talks” like a proto-Scooby Doo (not surprisingly, both are voiced by Don Messick, HB’s “Dean of Dogs”). The documentary guys also spend a fair amount of time mocking the poor animation and the shortcuts taken (Kaboobie only ever flies from left to right — or the exact opposite when the cells are flopped). As well as being pretty bad, Shazzan was also pretty violent (the genie doled out some righteous punishment), at least for Saturday morning, and it is frequently cited as one of the shows that stoked the fires of many of the parents’ groups that ultimately neutered Saturday morning cartoons for decades. This violence was later outrageously parodied in an episode of Robert Smigel’s Saturday TV Funhouse, originally broadcast on Saturday Night Live in 2005 and included on the SNL: Best of TV Funhouse DVD.

The Banana Splits: The Kings of Pop

Also debuting — in 1968 — was The Banana Splits Adventure Hour. This is the gem of this collection, as the first episode is shown complete (including some fabulous Kellogg’s commercials starring the Splits) in its original one-hour format. So you also get the first episodes of the animated Arabian Knights and The Three Musketeers, as well as the first episode of the live-action serial Danger Island, starring Jan Michael Vincent, directed by Richard Donner, and introducing “Uh-oh, Chongo!” into the lexicon. (A third cartoon series, Micro Ventures, also appeared, but true to its name, only four episodes were ever produced). Frankly, the cartoons were pretty bland HB adventure-type toons. Danger Island was silly fun, but it never seemed like the series was ever run in order (maybe I was watching them in reruns). Or, perhaps, I was just infatuated with the stars of the show.

The Banana Splits (Fleagle, Snooper, Bingo, and Snorky) were live action — basically four guys in cartoon-like animal suits (designed by Sid and Marty Krofft before they got to do their own memorable kid-vid shows), who ran around (and frequently into each other) and performed the worst jokes in the world, usually at a level below the best knock-knock jokes you can think of. Their arch-enemies were the Sour Grapes Bunch, a largely unseen rival “gang” who would send threatening notes to the Splits via one of the Sour Grapes messenger girls. There were apparently five different young girls (all named “Charlie”) who would dance into the Splits clubhouse wearing minidresses and go-go boots and generally intimidate the Splits before handing off the message. The Splits would frequently respond to the challenge, exiting the clubhouse to go to battle and reappear moments later, comically beaten-up in some way.

Drooper also had a major problem with taking out the trash (the trash fought back) or delivering advice in his “Dear Drooper” sequences. Occasionally, a Mariachi band (a real band of young girls named The Dilly Sisters) would turn up at their door to play the “Mexican Hat Dance” or some other ditty. This section of the show was largely inspired by Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, with silly humor and “blackout” style gags. Eventually, the Splits also added a “Gag Wall,” just like the one used in Laugh-In.

But the real reason I was hooked on the Splits was that they were a Monkees-like bubblegum band (their show also being a major influence on the Splits). The Splits’ music was quite good bubblegum. Although it was produced by largely anonymous studio guys, they were great studio guys, like Al Kooper, Gene Pitney, and Joey Levine. One song, “Doin’ The Banana Split”, was an early R&B composition by the great Barry White. The theme song, “The Tra La La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)” was released as a single and actually charted on Billboard’s Top 100. (For 1 week at #96, but hey! Do you see Scooby Doo on the Billboard charts? Noooooo!) They also released an album in 1969, now highly collectible.

Most of us kids got our Splits from the cardboard records on the backs of Kellogg’s cereal or real vinyl EPs that you would send in Kellogg’s box tops for. (I waited by my mailbox for that package from Battle Creek, Michigan for weeks!) Best of all, the TV show offered up proto-rock videos of the Splits performing. Many of these were just the Splits cavorting or running around at amusement parks or driving their cool “Banana-mobiles,” but a few of them were kid-friendly psychedelia at its very best. The Banana Splits were goofy and dumb, but they also were very groovy, man.

Back to the 70s

Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch! debuted in 1971 as a pretty simple show with a pretty simple premise: Three fun-loving bears — Hair, Bubi, and Square — are always trying to escape from the zoo to have fun. They are opposed by constantly annoyed zookeeper Peevly and his completely inept assistant Botch. The big gimmick of the show was the bears had an invisible motorcycle that was conveniently never explained. Fun, but slight.

The New Adventures of Gilligan was the scary harbinger of Saturday morning shows to come (like shows based on Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, and even SCTV’s Ed Grimley). It was produced by Filmation and featured all of the original cast voices except for Tina Louise (who wanted nothing to do with anything Gilligan) and Dawn Wells (who was unavailable). Because it was Filmation, everybody had to learn something in each episode. Oh, and because it was Saturday morning, Gilligan had a pet monkey, named Snubby, which is what you should do to this very awful show, which originally aired starting in 1974.

Fodder for Adult Swim

Premiering in 1972, Sealab 2020 was a very forward-thinking series, produced by Hanna Barbera. As you can probably tell from the title, it dealt with an underwater research base and many fairly new-at-the-time environmental themes. Unfortunately, it was prematurely canceled (probably because it was boring), leaving three completed episodes unaired. It’s probably best known today as being the basis for the proto-Adult Swim series Sealab 2021, where stock footage from the original series was re-used and re-voiced in a mocking way, similar to its companion series Harvey Birdman. Sealab 2021 aired on Cartoon Network from 2000 to 20005 for a total of 52 episodes — 36 more than the original series.

Valley of the Dinosaurs debuted in 1974 (on the same day — and the exact same time — as the similarly themed Land of the Lost). Obviously, Land of the Lost won that particular battle, becoming a cult classic with 43 episodes and three seasons opposed to Dinosaurs’ two seasons of 16 episodes. But Valley of the Dinosaurs had a couple of interesting things going for it, not the least of which is a relatively large number of females in the cast — a rarity in kid-vid in this era. The premise is simple (and told in the opening sequence): The Butler family (Mom Kim, Dad John, teen daughter Katie, young son Greg, and (of course) dog Digger) have a rafting accident on the Amazon river and are sucked into an underground cavern which opens into a prehistoric valley. There they are befriended by the caveman family (Gorak, his wife Gara, teen son Lok, and young daughter Tana). Interestingly, young Greg is voiced by Jackie Earle Haley, better known today for playing Rorschach in the Watchmen film.

Big, Small, and Dumb

1975’s Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show saw the famous cat and mouse team back in the hands of their creators Hanna and Barbera teamed with the dumb Grape Ape. This was the period where the rules against violence were at their most stringent for Saturday morning cartoons, and since violence was the main element of the classic Tom & Jerry cartoons, there were obviously some changes that needed to be made. Thus, this was the beginning of the infamous “red tie” version of the cat and mouse, as Jerry (now wearing a red bow tie) and Tom became pals that went on adventures together. Luckily, the characters were so strong that this didn’t destroy them, but it was just not the same, especially for those of us that grew up with the classic orchestrated violence of the original cartoons. Shockingly , the Grape Ape was a large (40 feet tall) purple gorilla who mostly said his own name a lot and palled around with normal-sized dog Beegle Beagle (pronounced “Beegley Beagley” by Grape Ape) when they weren’t sitting around discussing quantum mechanics. As the Ramones said: D-M-U-B! Yet another 16-episode series from HB.

I bet you can’t guess what Inch High Private Eye was all about! That’s all you need to know, really, other than it was yet another HB show, debuting in 1973 and ending the following year with only 13 episodes. After watching this I wished that Atom Ant would come along and beat up Inch.

Thus we come to the end of the Volume Twos of Saturday Morning Cartoons. If I had to vote for the shows I would most like to see in their own DVD sets out of this batch of shows (assuming that they can find all the pieces), they would be Quick Draw McGraw, Atom Ant (mostly for Hillbilly Bears!), The Wally Gator Show (especially Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har, if they could only do one), The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Yogi’s Gang (for the novelty of it — although I’d rather see Laff-A-Lympics), and the Banana Splits (even if I could only get the live action Splits and maybe Danger Island). And of course I want more Bugs Bunny and the classic Warner characters cartoons! I’d also love to see more of the Saturday Morning Cartoon series, although I think they’re starting to run out of decent 70s shows that are controlled by Warner (as shown by their sneaking in some 60s shows this time around).

Time to go out and play! (The studio provided review copies.)

Out today is Justice League: The Complete Series, and I can’t think of a better gift for any superheroic animation fan — even if it’s a gift that you give yourself. The set features all 91 episodes of both Justice League and Justice League Unlimited on 14 DVDs, plus ALL the Special Features that appeared on the previous DVD collections — all wrapped up in a nifty little collector’s tin slipcase. Plus there’s a bonus 15th disc, featuring a brand new 17-minute documentary: Unlimited Reserve: A League for the Ages, featuring all the key figures that worked on the show reflecting on the creation, history, and impact of the series.

Justice League: The Complete Series
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The Justice League cartoons originally ran on Cartoon Network from 2001 to 2004 and are based on the popular comic book which has been running (in various incarnations) since 1960. The first two seasons of the animated show were based around the adventures of the “Big 7” JLA members — Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter J’onn J’onzz, and Aquaman — although for the cartoon, Hawkgirl replaced Aquaman (who occasionally guest-starred) and this particular GL was John Stewart. Most of the episodes in the first two seasons were two-parters. They were usually first shown back-to-back, effectively making the series an hour-long show. This allowed the creators the luxury to spread out their stories, with plenty of airtime for the relatively large cast of characters. Also, the hour format allowed for some spectacularly choreographed super-heroic action and multifaceted battles. Having already developed (and completed) critically acclaimed animated series for both Batman and Superman, the show creators poured everything they had learned on those two shows into the creation of Justice League, ultimately making it one of the very best superheroic animated shows in history. But the best was yet to come.

Originally thinking that the series was done following the wrap-up of Season Two, almost everybody was surprised when Cartoon Network renewed the series for Season Three. However, there were two major conditions for the renewal: The network asked that the show be “rebranded”, and there were to be no more two-part episodes. In essence, the network was looking to simplify the program. The creators had other ideas.

Thus was born Justice League Unlimited, a far more complicated show than the previous two seasons. The cast expanded to include any and all characters in the DCU (not all in the same episode, but there were more than a couple that attempted it). The writers adapted to a seeming “done-in-one” episode structure, but fans quickly picked up on the fact that several ongoing plot threads crossed over from episode to episode, ultimately culminating in what seemed like season-long story arcs. It was one of the more amazing juggling acts in TV animation history. What was even more amazing that there was even more characterization packed into these episodes than in the previous two seasons — and those were no slouch in characterization department either.

The series also became slightly less majestic in tone than the earlier seasons, as Justice League Unlimited is sprinkled with crazy one-shot episodes, like the one where Wonder Woman is turned into a pig by Circe and B’wana Beast is enlisted to help capture her, while Batman and Zatanna must sing torch songs in a mysterious nightclub. Or the episode where Lex Luthor and The Flash exchange minds. Or the one (written by Gail Simone) where Green Arrow and Black Canary and The Question and Huntress are both on separate dates that bring them into conflict with each other. And that bizarre Warren Ellis-scripted episode starring the Atom dealing with nanotechnology, which I still haven’t figured out.

Many of the characters received significant attention throughout the series. The heart and soul of the show are the journeys that both John Stewart and Hawkgirl are involved in, both together and apart (with a remarkable revelation!). Hawkgirl also has a very touching relationship with the childlike Solomon Grundy which plays out over the entire series, while Batman and Wonder Woman seem to develop a more-than-friends interest in each other. J’onn J’onzz grows as a character, showcased in a wonderful Christmastime visit to Ma and Pa Kent’s farmhouse, and later makes a life-altering decision. Other, more minor characters shine — such as The Question in the latter seasons, and Supergirl making a couple of key appearances. The meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel in the final season is also amazing and pivotal — as is the entire last season story arc featuring the Secret Society of Super-Villains. (If you look closely and squint, you’ll see some clever references to the original Legion of Doom from another generation’s JLA show: Super Friends!)

If you don’t already own the Justice League on DVD, now is your chance to pick up the entire series in a very nice collector’s pack. If you already have the four previous season sets, I’m not sure if this new Collector’s Set is exciting enough to upgrade (although the tin is pretty nice!). But whatever format you decide on — get this series! It really is beyond amazing, and it’s the linchpin to the animated DC Universe. It might just be the best animated superhero series of them all!

(I just got this set, via studio review copy, a couple of days ago, which is not nearly enough time for me to plow through all 2062 minutes of Justice League goodness in one weekend. I’m gonna take my time and watch this great series all over again from scratch (and take notes!). So I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to share some more thoughts on this classic series. I’ve been wanting to watch these shows again for a long time and this new set is the perfect excuse! See you soon!)

Ruby-Spears Superman
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The following interview was provided by Warner Home Video. If you’re interested in reading a review of the set, try this one by Bob Greenberger.

QUESTION: How was the title character developed for your Superman series?

JOE RUBY: We went through a lot of different directions in development as to what kind of Superman we wanted. We had several different models — the crying/feeling Superman, the lecturing/do-gooder/save-the-day Superman, then there was the hip Superman, and even the long-haired Superman. And, of course, there was the old straight-as-an-arrow Superman. Ultimately, we settled on the Christopher Reeve model — he had personality and a sense of humor, and yet he was still Superman. We figured that it worked for the films, so it would work well for us.

QUESTION: Why were there only 13 episodes to the entire series?

JOE RUBY: I think the problem for us was our timeslot. It turned out 8:30 in the morning was a killer for Superman. Only the little kids were up, and they don’t understand Superman as well as the older kids. It wasn’t for 4- to 5-year-olds.

QUESTION: Was there a guiding theme to the series?

KEN SPEARS: I think we were true to Superman to begin with — we produced a show that the audience expected Superman to be. He was the tried and true Superman. That’s who they wanted to see — that’s the feedback that we continue to get today.

JOE RUBY: We basically had Superman tackling anything and everything, with the marching orders to have bigger-than-life fights.

QUESTION: What did you see as the strength of your Superman series?

KEN SPEARS: We had the best talent in the business at the time –- that was our strength. They were excellent. When you first create a show, you hope your talent will be able to plus it –- and they really plussed it. There are so many shots in the show that weren’t written into the script -– those kind of great additions come straight from the artists and the storyboarders.

JOE RUBY: We had a pretty amazing crew — and an especially great crew of artists -– including some of the best comic book guys in the business, and that made for good filmmaking. Guys like John Dorman and Gil Kane –- we had an army of great talent on that show. Give credit to John Dorman -– he’s a filmmaker and that’s the difference. He made sure the show had all the creative shots, the movement, some of that great left-to-right or down-angle camera moves. The show was well-paced, well-boarded, and I think John really put these things together well.

QUESTION: Did splitting the production between two overseas studios in Japan and Korea cause any problems?

JOE RUBY: It was an experience for us, from a production standpoint, traveling overseas and working with two different interpreters having to translate in three different languages. They’d be answering before I’d get done with my question. It was the worst torture I ever had in my life.

QUESTION: Looking back now, can you see how Ruby-Spears Superman fits in the canon of productions surrounding the Man of Steel?

JOE RUBY: As a kid, we all grew up with Superman. He’s the favorite, always. Your heroes stick with you. So we wanted to make the best Superman show we could, to really set it apart. I think everyone that worked on it felt that way. He’s Superman.

KEN SPEARS: It was like an honor to do something that classy and classic as Superman. He’s the No. 1 guy. We wanted to do it justice.

As promised a couple of weeks past (unfortunately delayed by illness), here’s my rundown of the latest Peanuts collection, just in time for holiday gift-giving (or turkey stuffing!).

Peanuts 1970’s Collection
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Play It Again, Charlie Brown, the 7th Peanuts special, originally aired on March 28, 1971. This may be the most musical of all the Peanuts specials, as it primarily features Schroeder and Lucy, using many of the gags from the original comic strip that revolve around this odd couple. Excerpts from nine different Beethoven pieces are used in the special, all performed by Lillian Steuber on piano. Schroeder is the character that most benefited from the journey to the printed page to film, as we can now hear the beautiful and amazing sounds that emerge from that wonderful toy piano. It’s also the first time someone other than Peter Robbins voiced Charlie Brown — Chris Inglis takes over the role in the episode. It’s also the first time this episode has been released on DVD.

I really enjoyed this different take on the Peanuts gang, as it was somewhat refreshing to not have the spotlight on either Snoopy or Charlie Brown — although both are present in the episode. I also love Linus and Snoopy’s “happy” dancing and the “Beethoven now comes in spray cans!” gag! Watch for the great role-reversal, as Snoopy takes over the “Psychiatric Help” booth when Lucy is the one in need of advice. We also learn, via Lucy, that Beethoven never had the “Nashville Sound”. Sad, that…

It’s sad that this episode is so underrated, as I think it’s one of the best in the series!

You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown first aired on October 29, 1972, as the 8th episode in the Peanuts series. It’s notable for the first use of the song “Joe Cool”, written, performed, and sung by Vince Guaraldi. Interestingly, the original title for the show was “You’re Elected, Charlie Brown” but it was changed at the last minute when they realized than not only is Charlie Brown not elected — he didn’t even run for office! The change was made too late to change the singing in the opening sequence or to fix the writing on the blackboard. (“Not” is added with a caret, instead of changing the whole cel.) This special was first released on DVD as a bonus feature on It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in its original 2000 release.

This episode is also the first TV appearance of Woodstock, Snoopy’s bird friend, although his first animated appearance was in the feature film Snoopy, Come Home, also released in 1972 in theaters. Interestingly, the original comic strips this special was based on were used to create the first official Peanuts Motion Comic — “Linus for President/The Election,” released on iTunes in 2008.

In usual Charlie Brown fashion, he attempts to run for Student Body President, until he is informed by his campaign manager (Lucy) that her polling indicates that he has absolutely no chance of winning. So Linus is drafted in his place, ultimately giving one of the best campaign speeches of this generation. And, of course he leads the polling — until he decides to spontaneously give a speech about the Great Pumpkin. Despite this, he actually wins by one vote (his opponent’s), but he soon discovers that he actually has no real power to change anything. A good episode, based largely from the comic strip.

Not All Can Be Gems

The 9th Peanuts special, There’s No Time For Love, Charlie Brown, originally aired on March 11, 1973. The show again featured the song “Joe Cool”, this time with additional lyrics. This show marks Marcie’s animated debut, and if you look closely in Peppermint Patty’s bedroom, you’ll see that she has UCLA, USC, and Stanford pennants on the walls.

There’s no time for love because the Peanuts gang is besieged with schoolwork and tests. Classic line from Peppermint Patty: “No book on psychology can be any good if you can understand it.” There’s lots of black-out jokes about school (most directly from the comic strip), and eventually, they get to the main storyline — a class trip to the local art museum. Unfortunately, Charlie Brown, Sally, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie get sidetracked and end up in the grocery store next door. We’re supposed to believe that none of them recognize the difference. (Well, Marcie does, but no one listens to her.) To make matters worse, Charlie Brown is supposed to write a report about the museum but writes it about the supermarket instead. Miraculously, he doesn’t get an “F”; he gets an “A” for writing a “delightful analogy comparing the museum to a supermarket!” Oh, good grief!

There’s some cute flirting and missed/mixed messages among Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie in this episode, but it’s not enough to overcome this really dumb premise and conclusion. The characters are sometimes naive — but not stupid, as they appear here.

Making its DVD debut, It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown originally aired on February 1, 1974, and is the 11th Peanuts special in the series. When Woodstock’s fancy new nest turns up missing, Snoopy dons a cloak, deerstalker hat, and (bubble) pipe to become the world-famous detective and investigate the mystery. The beagle and bird spend most of the episode scouring the neighborhood but come up empty, until the nest turns up at the school, labeled as a “prehistoric bird nest”. Later, we discover that the nest was taken by Sally to be her science exhibit. But since Sally is the most self-absorbed Peanuts character, she insists that that she’s been wronged, so all the characters present their case to Judge Judy Lucy, with Woodstock being represented by Joe Cool. Judge Lucy rules in Woodstock’s favor, so he gets his nest back, and Snoopy helps out Sally’s science experiment by offering to portray Pavlov’s dog.

It’s a pretty undistinguished offering from the series, bordering on annoying with many unfunny and repeated jokes (Woodstock doesn’t like being wet — we get it!), and even Guaraldi’s normally reliable music is meandering and boring in this episode. We do learn two things however: Woodstock uses an invisible elevator to get from his nest to the ground. And legal advice from Lucy is more expensive than psychiatric advice: 7 cents.

Happy Holidays

I’ve previously reviewed A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on this site.

It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, the 12th Peanuts special, originally aired on April 9, 1974, and features the first appearance of the famous Bunny-Wunnies, the stars of Snoopy’s favorite book series, as presented in the comic strip.

The episode is one of the better ones in the series, mostly due to its multifaceted shoreline. Everybody’s preparing for Easter, which Linus claims is not necessary since the Easter Beagle will do all the work when he arrives (ala the Great Pumpkin). Sally is skeptical after being burned last Halloween, when she stayed up all night in a pumpkin patch. Meanwhile, Peppermint Patty gets more and more aggravated (always a good thing) trying to teach Marcie how to decorate Easter Eggs. After Woodstock decides that he doesn’t like nests anymore, Snoopy helps him set up a new birdhouse — which he decorates in 70s-era finery (lots of shag carpeting!). And Lucy has figured out the secret to Easter — if you hide the eggs, then you know where to find them. Unfortunately, she didn’t count on Snoopy following behind her and collecting all the eggs, which he hands out on Easter morning as he portrays Guess Who?

While shopping for Easter stuff, the kids discover the local store is decorated for Christmas (“only 246 days until Xmas” says a holiday banner). Plus, there are a lot of logic-defying escalator gags. And there’s a very cute scene where Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie dance to the music of several music boxes — and then the girls swoon after Snoopy kisses them!

One Special Feature

Woodstock: Creating Snoopy’s Sidekick is the set’s sole Special Feature (and unique to this set). Unfortunately, once again the previous documentary about the Thanksgiving Special is not included on this set. This feature is a 13-minute documentary on the origins of Snoopy’s little bird pal, who originally appeared in the comics strip for three years before anyone knew his name. Producer Lee Mendelson, Jean Schulz, and others compare the bird and beagle team to Laurel and Hardy and comment about how Woodstock was the perfect companion for Snoopy’s crazy adventures. The little bird certainly was a popular character — he appears in more than 1,000 Peanuts comic strips.

Of course, Warners, not missing a beat, has affixed this plug on the end of the documentary: “Available from Warner Home Video: Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Director’s Cut”. Sheesh! Have they not watched A Charlie Brown Christmas?!? Unforgivable commercialization aside, the Peanuts 1970’s Collection Volume 1 is a worthwhile collection of mostly still-classic Peanuts specials, although the uniqueness of the series is starting to wear off a bit. It’s a great set for those looking to grab a nice handful of Peanuts episodes (without a lot of special features) at an affordable price. (The studio provided a review copy.)

I was happily surprised by Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, a new Disney holiday DVD obviously aimed at kids. I found plenty of fun stuff here as well, due to a cool concept, some great voice work, and some heads-up joke writing. But before I jump into the main feature, perhaps some discussion of Disney’s House of Mouse (the first episode of which is a bonus feature on the DVD) is in order.

Mickey’s Magical Christmas
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Originally airing on Saturday mornings from 2001 to 2003, Disney’s House of Mouse (HoM) featured the classic Disney characters — Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto — all hosting a night club that provides entertainment to an audience made up of any and all Disney characters that you can think of, including the stars of Disney’s classic theatrical cartoons.

So you see characters like Ariel and Belle intermingling with Pooh and Tigger or even bad guys like Hades or or Jafar or Cruella de Ville — all served food and drinks by the penguin waiters from Mary Poppins! Even obscure Disney characters appear, such as Panchito and Jose Carioca (from The Three Caballeros), or Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore or Horace Horsecollar — who has my favorite line in the first episode: After being beaten and tied up by Pete, Mickey discovers him and exclaims, “Horace! What’s wrong!” Horace replies, “All the rain forests are being chopped down, nobody votes anymore, and the internet’s too dang slow!”

The “entertainment” largely consists of short cartoons (or excerpts) from classic Disney shorts or cartoons from the previous Disney show Mickey Mouse Works (the precursor to HoM). So, in essence, the House of Mouse material is just new wraparounds for the previous cartoons. But this is where most of the fun comes from, seeing all the various characters interact, using some very clever jokes, including inside jokes and nods to a more mature audience.

In the first episode, Mickey gets dejected after Pete (the club’s evil landlord) tries to shut the club down, and Donald, sensing his chance, attempts to take over the club — with disastrous results. Snow White is served a poison apple, Daisy tries to find a table that seats 101 (for the Dalmatians), and worst of all, Ariel is served flounder for dinner — her friend Flounder! Attempts to change the name of the club to House of Duck brings a series of misprinted signs, including House of Yuck, House of Buck (hmmm…), and House of Pancakes. Other bizarre jokes include a situation explaining that Mickey owes Goofy a big favor, then we see a “flashback” to an early Mickey Mouse short from 40 or 50 years ago when Goofy helped Mickey break out of jail! Later, when Pete is attempting to distract his pursuers from throwing him out of the club, he points and shouts, “Look! It’s Annette Funicello!”

It’s also worth noting that many of the movie characters are voiced here by the same voice talent who originally performed their voices in the features (unless they have passed away or are busy “superstars”). Also, House of Mouse has a very cool theme song, performed by Brian Setzer.

Snowed in at the House of Mouse was the first direct-to-video spin-off from House of Mouse, first released in November of 2001. It’s a 60-minute version of a typical HoM episode, incorporating Mickey’s Christmas Carol and Pluto’s Christmas Tree (Hey, didn’t I just see these?), as well as some newer cartoons (most likely from Mickey Mouse Works). Here, an unexpected blizzard has trapped all the Disney characters in the club and they all have to decide who will eat whom in case help doesn’t arrive soon (Pardon me, someone is being silly. — Johanna) — and they all have to entertain each other while they are snowed in. Except Donald is obviously lacking the Christmas Spirit, so the others try to get him more in the mood. (Too bad they don’t serve liquor in the House of Mouse!)

The highlight here (other than seeing Ludwig von Drake bite off the head of a gingerbread boy cookie, and then have his gingerbread dad in the audience pass out — No, really!) is the whacked-out Disney version of The Nutcracker. It’s narrated by a flummoxed John Cleese, with a couple of Pythonesque flourishes — as when von Drake starts acting too silly, Cleese throws him out of the cartoon!

Minnie plays Maria, the little girl who is given a toy soldier nutcracker (Mickey) who comes to life after Marie is shrunken to toy size. The two then encounter the Mouse King (Donald, wearing mouse ears and buck teeth and looking inexplicably like Jerry Lewis) who traps Maria in the crystal ball of his evil scepter. Then Goofy appears, confused as usual and in his normal “street clothes” but actually playing the Magical Snow Fairy. This is all too much for Cleese, who can no longer keep everybody’s names straight, and he gets more and more exasperated as the cartoon goes on.

Donald releases Minnie, er, Maria and attempts to crown her his Duck Mouse Queen, when Mickey and Goofy arrive and Mickey and Donald face off. Mickey succeeds in rescuing Maria, but Goofy is sucked into the evil Mouse King’s scepter. Donald the Mouse KIng makes one more attempt to capture the mice — with a death ray that turns a gingerbread man cookie into a gingerbread skeleton cookie (Note: Disney hates gingerbread!), but the mice prevail and the Mouse King is trapped in his own scepter, where Goofy is glad to see him (“I’ve got card games!” he says while shuffling). Oh, and while all this is going on, the Nutcracker Suite is playing in the background, sounding as if it’s being performed by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on acid, at 78 RPM. Not your typical Disney cartoon.

Meanwhile back at the House of Mouse, Jiminy Cricket attempts to cheer up Donald (is that perfect, or what?), and everything is saved when Donald is allowed to put the star on top of the tree, rekindling his Christmas sprit and everybody sings a new Christmas song –“The Best Christmas of All”. Awww…

The DVD is topped off with a couple of animated singalong cartoons — for “Deck the Halls” and “Sleigh Ride” — and “The Sound of Christmas,” a short featurette about Wayne Allwine (the voice of Mickey Mouse and a former sound effects editor) teaching kids about sound effects. It only runs three minutes or so, but it is a very nice tribute to Allwine, who passed away earlier this year and seldom appeared on-screen.

Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse is a great Christmas video for the kids and actually has enough fun stuff so that adults won’t mind watching it either! Very rare in Kid-Vid!

I wish that I could watch more House of Mouse, but it’s not currently airing in America on any of the Disney channels. Nor is it available on DVD — something that drives me crazy as Disney has many great animated programs, both classic and modern, that I think would do well as season (or series) sets on DVD. Interestingly, House of Mouse was reportedly made in the widescreen HD format (but only shown here in standard format), so it would look great on DVD or Blu-Ray! (The studio provided a review copy.)

Like The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight, Halo Legends is an anthology, containing cartoons done in both CG and anime styles. Like most Warner original-to-DVD animation releases, there will be a two-disc Special Edition ($29.98), a single-disc version ($19.98), and Blu-Ray ($34.99). Here’s the description from the press release:

Halo Legends is a seven-story anthology –- told across eight spectacular episodes -– that explores the origin and historical events of the Halo universe and its intriguing characters. … each individual episode imagined by a cutting-edge, renowned Japanese anime director/animator, including Shinji Aramaki, Mamoru Oshii, Hideki Futamura, Tomoki Kyoda and Yasushi Muraki…. The individual episodes fall within Halo’s 26th Century mythology as the battle between humanity and aliens rages on in an attempt to protect Earth and mankind’s expansive number of space colonies. The dramatic, action-packed stories feature characters and locales familiar to Halo fans, and episodes range in length between 10 and 17 minutes -–  resulting in nearly two hours of animated adventures.

Bonus Features include:

• The Making of Halo Legends -– An introduction to Halo Legends followed by a making-of segment for each episode.
• Halo: Gaming Evolved –- Explaining the Halo phenomenon from its inception as an Xbox video game to a present day entertainment franchise.
• Audio Commentary with directors Frank O’Connor and Joseph Chou

The Blu-Ray version has, in addition, “Halo: The Story so Far”, a Halo universe overview.

Imagine being immersed in a long, meandering conversation with someone that speaks their mind openly on any and everything. Further imagine that you look at your watch and discovered you’ve been captivated by this person for several hours, and it’s only been the two of you the whole time. That’s what it’s like to read Hayao Miyazaki’s Starting Point: 1979-1996. It’s one of most delightful, enlightening, and at times surprisingly confessional books I’ve read in a great while.

Starting Point: 1979-1996
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Starting Point is a collection of Miyazaki’s writings and interviews. There is a nice bonus in the center of the book, an eight-page, full-color manga on the history of in-flight dining done for Winds, Japan Airlines’ magazine. This is followed by nine black-and-white pages from Miyazaki’s notebooks. (The last three are untranslated so you can see the quality of Miyazaki’s penmanship.) The foreword is by John Lasseter, one of the founders of Pixar and friend of Miyazaki. The afterword is by Isao Takahata, long-time collaborator of Miyazaki and co-founder of Studio Ghibli.

Over the course of the book, the reader is able to develop a well-rounded picture of Miyazaki, both the man and the animator. In high school, Miyazaki originally wanted to be a gekiga manga artist (49). (Gekiga is a style of realistically drawn manga. The stories are often gritty, dark portrayals of modern life.) However, the Japanese animated movie Hakujaden (The Tale of the White Serpent) literally changed his life.

It made me realize that, behind a facade of cynical pronouncements, in actuality I really was in love with the pure, earnest world of film, even if it were only another cheap melodrama. I was no longer able to deny the fact that there was another me — a me that yearned desperately to affirm the world rather than negate it. (70)

Miyazaki went off to college where, surprisingly, he majored in political economics. While in college he was also part of the Children Literature Study Group (311).

In 1963, he was hired by Toei Animation as an in-between animator (the entry-level job for animation companies). He found the daily grind of television animation becoming unbearable. He was ready to return to his former dream of becoming a manga artist, when a Russian animated film reignited his passion. “Had I not one day seen Snedronnigen (The Snow Queen) during a film screening hosted by the company labor union, I honestly doubt that I would have continued working as an animator.” (71)

In 1978, Miyazaki would make his directorial debut with the television series Future Boy Conan (yet to be released in the US). In 1979, Miyazaki directed his first feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. In 1985, Studio Ghibli was founded. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Miyazaki has a great deal of faith in the unlimited potential of animation as a storytelling medium. In this sense he reminds me of Tezuka, who believed that manga had unlimited potential and was an art form on par with novels, short stories, and theater. I find Miyazaki’s passion for cartoons compelling and share his belief that the only limits to cartoons are the imaginations of animators.

In other words, I am talking about doing something with animation that can’t be done with manga magazines, children’s literature, or even live-action films. I’m talking about building a truly unique imaginary world, tossing in characters I like, and then creating a complete drama using them. Simply put, this is what animation is to me. (17)

He has equally high hopes for what his films will accomplish.

To my way of thinking, creating animation means creating a fictional world. That world soothes the spirit of those who are disheartened and exhausted from dealing with the sharp edges of reality, or suffering from a nearsighted distortion of their emotions. When the audience is watching animation, they are apt to feel light and cheerful or purified and refreshed. (25)

But if we can free ourselves from the various complexes we have and the tangled relationships we are in to live a freer, more open world, we might be able to become strong and heroic. I think everyone entertains thoughts of becoming more beautiful, or more gentle, or of having a more meaningful existence. (306)

His high ambitions for animation have made him a harsh critic of much of the animation he sees. “I frankly despise the truncated word ‘anime’ because it only symbolizes the current desolation of our industry.” (72)

But I’d like to see effort put into filmmaking sufficient to withstand the bare-knuckled criticism that I’m providing here. Cartoons have certain weaknesses that we normally don’t notice, and a type of laxity arises precisely because the films are treated as mere cartoons. (118)

His most vehement criticism is leveled at television animation.

“Producing an animation series merely to fill time slots in the broadcast schedule is like generating cultural pollution.” (186)

TV cartoon shows were all just a bunch of slapdash, amateurish, uninspired, derivative creations. We used to say among ourselves that making them was like working with still-open wounds. (279)

Is it any wonder that one he was given the freedom to make animated films, he never returned to television again?

I was also amazed some of the personal confessions that show up in this book. A touching reflection on his relationship with his father and his perceived failings as a parent, “I tried to be a good father, but in the end I wasn’t a very good parent.” (204) His flaws as a first-time director, “The schedule slipped and I caused a lot of trouble for the staff and the production company. This was entirely due to my failing, as I can only work following my intuition and feelings.” (66) Even his personal shortcomings, “I’m a careless sort of person, so I am often quick to say bad things about people.” (211)

My favorite sections of the book are where he discusses Future Boy Conan and each of his films in detail. We learn Miyazaki didn’t intend for the ending of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind to have the religious overtones that it did. But once the film headed in that direction he couldn’t steer it otherwise. (393) Further, we find out Kiki’s Delivery Service was actually made for young women heading to Tokyo to find their first job and make a place for themselves in this world. (262, 378) Porco Rosso was made, “…for tired, middle-aged men whose brain cells have turned to tofu.” (267) There are so many more interesting facts about the production and themes in each of his major works.

So many great quotes can be pulled from this book. There are tons of fascinating ideas that could fuel extended discussions among its readers. Not to mention, lots of behind-the-scenes glimpses of the reality of making animated TV shows and feature films. There is such a wealth of information, no review can truly hope to touch on everything contained within the pages of this book.

I honestly believe that every anime fan needs to read Miyazaki’s Starting Point: 1979-1996. It’s a chance to see deeply inside the anime industry, as well as an opportunity to intimately know one of anime’s greatest directors. I highly recommend Takahata’s afterward as a loving, but brutally honest, portrayal that only a real friend could write. This is also a must-read for American animation fans. It offers a different perspective on cartoons, and how they should be made, than we generally hear in the US. Simply put, this is too significant a book to let simply pass you by. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

Bonus Feature: I showed Johanna what my copy of Starting Point looked like when I was reading it and she thought it would be fun to take a picture of it share with you. So here are my photos. I annotated each photo in an attempt to justify/explain my process.

The Character’s Comic Origin

Plastic Man was one of the greatest conceptual characters ever created in comic books, especially during his Golden Age career where his adventures were chronicled by his creator, the amazing Jack Cole. Primarily a humorist, Cole’s Plastic Man adventures (beginning in the pages of Police Comics in 1941) were wildly funny and amazingly innovative, with Cole’s often surreal artwork and outrageous slapstick humor.

Plastic Man: The Complete Collection
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But Plastic Man wasn’t just a great humor strip — there were darker elements as well, especially in the character’s origins as former criminal Eel O’Brian, abandoned by his gang and left for dead when a heist goes bad. Saved by a monk and taken to recover at his monastery, O’Brian discovers that exposure to a mysterious acid during the failed crime has changed him physically — his body is pliable like rubber! With the revelation of this remarkable power, and with the monk’s belief that he had the capacity for greater good, O’Brian decides to change his life completely. Disguising himself by remolding his face and donning cool goggles and a patently ridiculous stretchable leotard (with a distinctive black and yellow striped belt), he becomes the crime fighter Plastic Man!

Eventually joining the police department and then the FBI, Plastic Man becomes an incredibly successfully hero, mostly because he still maintains his Eel O’Brian identity as a criminal in order to keep tabs on the criminal underworld. Thus, with one foot in each “world”, Plas’ adventures are filled with wild comedy as well as crime elements, as he’s pitted against any number of bizarre crooks and femme fatales. Cole capitalized on the character’s unique costume and abilities by either making Plas a master of disguise or by having him “blend into the background” by taking the shape of normal everyday objects, like mailboxes and lamp poles — all with tell-tale black and yellow stripes or stylized goggles. Thus, he became his generation’s “Where’s Waldo?” long before Waldo was born, and readers delighted in ferreting out where Plas was hiding in Cole’s often bizarre artwork!

Plas in Modern Comics

Plastic Man had a long and successful Golden Age career in both Police Comics and his own title until his publisher, Quality Comics, folded in 1956. DC Comics (then National Periodical Publications) acquired the publishing rights to three Quality properties — Blackhawk, G.I. Combat, and Plastic Man. They almost immediately began publishing the first two but completely forgot about Plastic Man until 1966, where he finally popped up in the Dial H For Hero feature in House of Mystery. That was probably just a way to promote his upcoming (but short-lived) ten-issue series, the first issue memorably illustrated by Gil Kane. But the character wasn’t the same.

Since then, Plastic Man has had a very long, very intermittent, and mostly confusing history/continuity at DC. Every few years the character would be revived, either with a new series or as a member of the All-Star Squadron or eventually, the Justice League. But the exact combination of key elements of each appearance were never quite satisfactory. Almost no one could replicate Cole’s magic touch with the character. (Although Kyle Baker’s series came close. At least it looked great!) A lot of his later writers could just not capture his humor properly, especially in his JLA appearances, where it seemed like he was an obnoxious jerk who wouldn’t shut up. Or they made the character too serious, with family problems or really wrong feelings of insecurity. In the modern DC world, he’s still a good character, but he has lost many of the elements that originally made him great.

Destined for Animation

Unfortunately, such is the same with Plas’ animation career. It’s not that The Plastic Man Comedy/ Adventure Show (running 1979-1981, from which this four-DVD set is compiled) is actually a bad show — it’s not! It’s got a great pedigree, and some great folks working on it. Plus, Plas is a character who is destined to be animated — stretching and morphing into other shapes is only really cool when you can see it in action! It’s just that it is obviously a product of its time, subject to the whims of the great Saturday Morning Television Network gods, their P.C. desires and fears of complaints from parental groups. It probably didn’t help that the show was co-produced by Hanna Barbera (long past their prime, pre-Cartoon Network) and Ruby-Spears (did they have a prime?).

Here’s some of the good stuff: Plas himself, who does some cool stunts throughout the series and throws out some occasionally great one-liners while under pressure. He’s ably voiced by Michael Bell, although his voice tends to occasionally get a bit whiny when agitated (or is that just because he’s fighting to be heard against the relentlessly bad generic non-stop soundtrack music in each episode?). The villains are pretty cool. I especially like The Clam, an actual talking clam wearing a little sailor’s cap. Dr. Dome (not Doom) pops up from the 60s DC comic series, and Carrot Man (from the 70s comics) also makes an odd appearance. Plus, there are some great comic book writers on the writing staff including Mark Evanier, Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas, and Buzz Dixon. Unfortunately, there are no individual episode credits, so you’re on your own trying to identify who wrote what. (Sounds like a great drinking game to me!)

This Might Be Annoying

And here’s some of the bad stuff: Plas’s blonde bombshell partner Penny, who is voiced with the most annoying Southern accent since Veronica on the Archie cartoons from the 60s. (The voice actress, Melendy Britt, did a much better job voicing Princess Adora/She-Ra.) Penny obviously has a huge crush on Plastic Man, which is mostly unrequited as Plas only has eyes for the female Chief (also voiced by Britt). In the DVD documentary for the series, animation producer James Tucker speculates that Penny might only be there to help make it clear that Plas is actually interested in girls, being, you know, so unusually dressed in a leotard all the time. (Oh dear.) Penny finally succeeds in getting her man, as sometime between the first and second seasons, Plas and Penny not only marry — but actually spawn. There’s a little Baby Plas running around in Season Two, not only in his own cartoon series (called Baby Plas, natch), but in the Plastic Family series of cartoons staring Mom, Pop, and Baby Plas. Sadly (or fortunately — your choice), the Baby Plas and Plastic Family cartoons are not included in this set, making it not quite so Complete after all. (But trust me, I’m not complaining!)

By the way, we don’t actually see any of the wedding, except for being told about it in the opening sequence of the second season, in lieu of actually getting a real theme song. But then again, there’s no theme song for the first season either, just a discussion of how Plas’ powers work, set to more relentless generic soundtrack. Was there so much cost-cutting going on that the producers didn’t want to pay for a theme song, or were there just not that many good rhymes for “plastic”?

But I’m forgetting about one of the worst comic relief sidekicks in all of cartoons. Hula Hula was a Polynesian (you can tell by his Hawaiian shirt) man (or boy? who can tell?), who inexplicably talked like Lou Costello (from Abbott &…) and had horrible bad luck that affected everybody around him. And apparently made him stupid as well. Fortunately, the producers came to their senses and didn’t call him by the horribly racist name “Coconut” like they wanted to. The character was already offensive enough without that added burden. He was no Woozy Winks, I’ll tell you that!

Extras! Extras!

But all is not lost. As if to prove that Plas could be a great animated star, the DVD set also includes an unaired Plastic Man pilot episode that was produced for Cartoon Network in 2006, and it is the best thing on this set. It was developed by Andy Suriano (producer on Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and Tom Kenny (voice of Spongebob Squarepants), who also plays Plastic Man. It’s a great cartoon, full of manic energy (maybe a bit too manic, actually), but there are lots of good gags, and Plas seems more like Plas than he has since the 1940s. Perhaps it’s a little bit too Ren & Stimpy/Kricfalusi influenced, for my taste anyway. There’s enough great stuff in the cartoon to not really need the crutch of the borrowed influence, and that may be why it was not picked up to go to series. I’d love to see Suriano and Kenny try it again — and Plas does occasionally pop up on Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by Kenny), and in a much more appealing style, at least in my opinion.

Also included in the set is a 14-minute documentary, PLAS-tastic: A Brief History of Plastic Man. Featuring comic historians Jerry Beck, Mark Evanier (who also wrote for the show), and Alan Kistler, plus animation veterans Dan Riba, Andy Suriano, James Tucker, Tom Kenny, Andrea Romano, and Jeff Hall, the group discuss the series in-depth, as well as the unaired pilot, Kyle Baker’s take on Plastic Man at DC comics, and Plas’ appearances on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Notably, no DC staffers appear in the documentary.

One last thing, the Bonus Features aren’t on Disc 4 where the packaging says they are. The Documentary is actually on Disc 1 and the unaired pilot “Puddle Trouble” is on Disc 2.

All in all, a very nice DVD set, for a series that may or may not really deserve it — but that’s pretty much left up for you to decide. If you grew up watching this series as a kid, and have fond memories of watching it, you will love it. For the rest of us, there’s a lot to love about Plastic Man, and for something you love, a lot can be forgiven.

Classic comic book adventures of Plastic Man by Jack Cole can be found in Volumes 1-8 of the Plastic Man Archives, published by DC Comics, and highly recommended. (The studio provided a DVD review copy.)

Peanuts 1970’s Collection
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The Peanuts 1970’s Collection, Volume 1, continues Warner’s series of chronological Peanuts collections with the first six specials of the the 1970s, including two which are new to DVD: Play It Again, Charlie Brown and It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown. The other titles are You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown, There’s No Time For Love, Charlie Brown, and the two well-known holiday specials A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.

All of the features are completely remastered, and there’s an all-new featurette, Woodstock: Creating Snoopy’s Sidekick, which I assume will include the origins of the intrepid bird named after the famous rock festival. Unfortunately, the original featurettes that accompanied the previously released specials on DVD are not included. So, as usual, Warner has produced yet another Peanuts collection which is high on entertainment value and production quality, but not so much on completeness. But if you’re looking for an easy way to scoop up six Peanuts specials in one compact two-DVD set, this is your collection.

More soon. In the meantime, here’s a clip from the famous Thanksgiving show with that terrific music.

Disney is reissuing some of their great Christmas cartoons in new editions this year, just in time for the holidays.

Disney Animation Collection: Mickey’s Christmas Carol

Mickey’s Christmas Carol is a new entry in the Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films series that I reviewed earlier this year. The lead feature is an all-star adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens’ tale, originally theatrically released in 1983 as a special feature with the re-release of The Rescuers. It was the first new Mickey Mouse cartoon made in over 30 years, and the first ever to include all of Disney’s classic characters (except Pluto, for some reason).

The cast includes Uncle Scrooge (playing Ebenezer Scrooge, in the greatest no-brainer casting ever done by Hollywood). Mickey plays the Bob Cratchit role, Goofy plays the ghost of Marley, Jiminy Cricket is the Ghost of Christmas Past, Willie the Giant is the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Pete (Mickey’s frequent nemesis) is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol
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Donald Duck also appears as Scrooge’s nephew Fred, voiced by Clarence Nash in his last theatrical appearance as Donald before his death in 1985. Donald was the only character in the film to be voiced by his original voice, although several voice actors made their first appearance as classic Disney characters in this film — most notably, Alan Young as Uncle Scrooge, Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse, Eddie Carroll as Jiminy Cricket, Willie the Giant by Will Ryan, and Patricia Parris as Daisy Duck. And, as a matter of curiosity, current Chief Creative Officer for Pixar and Disney Animation, John Lasseter, has an early creative credit on this film.

The film also includes dozens of cameos from across the history of Disney animation including The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, Max Hare, Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse, Donald’s nephews, Gus Goose, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, Grandma Duck, Chip ‘n’ Dale, and many more from the cast of Robin Hood and also from The Wind and the Willows (which had roughly the same time and place setting as A Christmas Carol, Victorian England).

The film is pretty faithful to the original Dickens story, but at just 24 minutes, not every scene is as fleshed-out as it could be. The characters play it pretty straight, but there’s some occasional humor — Willie the Giant climbing out of the top of Scrooge’s house and wandering around town is very funny, and Marley Goofy has some great moments, as well as a Goofy Holler! The animation is crisp and the backgrounds, especially in the opening sequences, are gorgeous. Some of the more notable Disney talents on the film include animators Glenn Keane, Mark Henn, Randy Cartwright, creative consultant Eric Larson, and director Burny Mattinson. The film is very historically important and also one of Disney’s best short features.

Other Classic Holiday Shorts

Also included is The Small One, originally released in theaters in 1978 with the re-release of Pinocchio. It’s also the last Disney production featuring the work of producer and director Don Bluth, who left Disney the following year to start his own animation company, best known for The Secret of NIMH (1982). He also produced animation for the popular Dragon’s Lair (1983) and Space Ace (1984) video games and provided the memorable animated segment in Xanadu (1980 — one of Johanna’s favorites).

The Small One, based on the book by Charles Tazewell, is a tremendously moving film and one of the very best examples of character animation. It’s truly one of Disney’s “hidden gems”. It’s the incredibly poignant story of a poor young boy who cares for his father’s donkeys. His favorite is “Small One”, an undersized and older donkey who struggles to keep up with his chores. Ultimately, the father determines that Small One is too old to work and must be sold to raise money for the poor family. So the boy accompanies Small One to the marketplace, but he finds selling the old donkey is much more difficult than first thought.

This is the first time that I’ve ever seen this cartoon, and initially thought that things were going to go in a much different way than they actually do, as this film has a very surprising resolution. In fact, you’ll wonder why this is part of a holiday collection until you see the very last minute of this memorable short film.

Rounding out the collection is Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952), a fun romp as Mickey and Pluto inadvertently bring home a Christmas tree that Chip and Dale (Disney’s trouble-making chipmunks) are living in. Hilarity ensues. Plus, cameos by Donald, Goofy, and Minnie Mouse. Also included is Santa’s Workshop, a 1932 Silly Symphony cartoon where Santa and his elves are preparing for Christmas Day, and all the toys come to life! And since it’s an early Disney cartoon, everybody sings and dances! Yay! And there’s an early appearance of the “checkered paint” gag! I’ve seen it a billion times, yet I laugh each time I see it! (NOTE: this cartoon has been edited to remove a racially stereotyped caricature.)

All in all, a great collection, although it’s unfortunate that Mickey’s Christmas Carol is not presented in its original letterbox format. There are nice film transfers on all the cartoons, even the relatively ancient Silly Symphony.

Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving

Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving
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Also available in a new 10th Anniversary edition is Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving. This release combines three Pooh shorts that were originally made-for-TV, including A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving (1998) and two shorts originally from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (”Groundpiglet Day” and “Find Her, Keep Her”), into one “film”. Also on the disc are two bonus cartoons from the New Adventures series, “Magic Earmuffs” and “The Wishing Bear”. All of these short cartoons are from the 1988-89 season of the show.

This is probably a perfectly fine release for young children, although I did see a few comments around the ‘net that some very young kids might have problems with some occasionally scary scenes. Even I was a little disturbed by seeing Piglet in a pretty tense situation in “Magic Earmuffs”, when he’s skating from ice floe to ice floe while on the edge of a big waterfall! Adults will have a tougher time with this release, as by this time the Disney cartoons have drifted farther and farther away from the the original A. A. Milne books. They added many new and uninspired characters, while some of the originals (most notably Kanga, mother to Roo) disappeared. Also, the hodge-podge of cartoons offers up a number of confusions — stylistic differences from cartoon to cartoon, different voice actors portraying characters (sadly, many of the original voice actors had passed away prior to these cartoons), and even Christopher Robin’s accent switching back-and-forth from British to American! “Oh, bother!” might exclaim Pooh.

If you have no problem with your Pooh not being all that Milne-like (or even as good as the original Disney Pooh shorts!), then this will be fine for your kids’ holiday viewing, although they will have to tolerate the characters frequently acting like idiots. In the long-standing Disney DVD tradition, there are a couple of Pooh games to play as bonus features. If you’re a Disney or Pooh collector, the Gift Set version of the DVD comes with a very cute baby-sized Christmas stocking featuring Pooh, Tigger and Piglet.

(Complimentary copies for this review were provided by the studio.)

Reasonably faithful to the original source material, the new Superman/Batman: Public Enemies animated feature plays much better than some of the recent DCU animated films but still has some problems in both animation quality and story.

Based on the opening salvo in DC’s Superman/Batman comic book (the story arc was originally called “The World’s Finest” in tribute to the long-running comic that the original Superman and Batman team-ups appeared in), the six-issue comic story was a non-stop, in-your-face romp, featuring dozens of DC heroes and villains and crazy DC concepts. It was to be the climatic storyline of the Lex Luthor, President of the DCU scenario that had ruled in the comics for the previous couple of years.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Two-Disc Special Edition
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Written by then-Superman writer Jeph Loeb and illustrated by his long-time artistic collaborator Ed McGuinness, the story was a crazy snapshot of a transitional time in the comic books and touched upon a number of other DCU stories of the era — most notably the Batman stories “No Man’s Land” and “Bruce Wayne – Murderer?” as well as the Our Worlds at War crossover. It also set up a number of future storylines and concepts for the DCU, later picked up in Infinite Crisis, 52, and Countdown. None of these story bits appear in the animated version — a wise decision by the animation folks who needed the film to stand on its own.

We do get most of the broad strokes of the original in the film, however, and pretty faithfully done as well! The animation design is largely based on McGuinness’ art choices, down to the spikey-haired and highlighted Superman (perhaps a bit overdone in the film) to the lantern-jawed Batman who rarely has bright light fall across his blocky-cowled face. Large chunks of Loeb’s original story remains (thankfully excluding a slightly confusing visit from a time-displaced Superman — although unfortunately losing some great action scenes in the process). Much of Loeb’s original dialogue remains as well, although that’s not always a good thing, as anyone who’s ever read a comic book out loud may know. Some of the most powerful lines of any comic do not always transfer well to the spoken word and can come off as corny — or even dumb — in the wrong hands. There are a couple of those moments here, also. Sadly, Loeb’s best writing trick — the ongoing point-counterpoint caption boxes of Superman and Batman (actually their thoughts) — are not often attempted for the animated film, mostly because they’re a print-only kind of writing trick. And they are missed.

Most of the changes in the film script — by long-time DCU animation writer Stan Berkowitz — over the comic book occur in the third act, mostly in an attempt to keep the film as a stand-alone story. In the original, Captain Atom (not Batman) makes the fateful flight on the Composite Superman and sacrifices himself in the process (actually, he gets blown into the Wildstorm Universe, but that’s a different story). With no powers, in the film, the foregone conclusion of Batman’s survival becomes somewhat miraculous. In the comic, Batman also pursues Luthor to get some measure of retribution for what Luthor has done to him (behind-the-scenes in the destruction of Gotham and setting up Bruce Wayne as a murderer). Also, Luthor escapes from Batman (in the great comic book tradition) using Apokolips tech (too confusing an element for the film). It’s better for the film to have Luthor taken into custody and pay for his crimes. Much better closure.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Blu-Ray Edition
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The film features Power Girl’s first actual appearance in a DCU animated project (a similar character, Galatea, appeared in a couple of episodes of Justice League Unlimited), but she doesn’t appear to be anything like the DCU Power Girl in personality or temperament. She’s more similar to the original 1950s Linda Lee Supergirl than the robust Power Girl portrayed in the comics. Having voice actress Allison Mack (Smallville) portray this Power Girl with an especially “girly” and demure voice adds to this discrepancy. Also, in the original comic, Power Girl (and the non-appearing) Katana are originally revealed as Superman and Batman’s deliberate “plants” in Luthor’s Super Hero Task Force, which lends a bit more weight to the character.

There are some shortcomings in the animation. Early in the film, there are some poorly animated vehicles that not only look badly drawn, they look to have no weight whatsoever to them, giving them the appearance of large toys. Later in the last third of the film, and especially in the last ten minutes, there are some horrible off-model faces, which pulled me right out of the film at its most climactic moment. I can accept occasional weak animation in the rapid-paced world of daily TV series production, but now that folks have to pay for these direct-to-DVD films, I think it would be nice to see a little bit higher quality animation, or at least not having it look like it was “rushed”. The short running time — 67 minutes, six of which were opening and closing credits — also lends weight to thinking this release had some time pressure.

I was very happy to see the return of Clancy Brown, Kevin Conroy, and Tim Daly to the roles of Lex Luthor, Batman, and Superman, respectively. The fact that the three often recorded together in the studio was felt in the film, especially in the more intense scenes. Brown’s performance was especially notable, slyly playing Lex from supreme megalomaniac to his rapid decline into insanity. Kudos also to returning C.C.H. Pounder as Amanda Waller, easily one of Casting Director Andrea Romano’s best choices of actor matching character.

Special Features

Rounding out Disc One are the “Special Features”: “Blackest Night: Inside the DC Comics Event”, “Wonder Woman: The Amazon Princess”, “Batman Gotham Night — An Anime Revolution”, “From Graphic Novel to Original Animated Movie — Justice League: The New Frontier”, and “Green Lantern: First Flight — The Animated Movie Sneak Peek”. All of these have appeared on other DC Universe animated DVDs, which kinda makes them less Special Features than extended promotional material — great for new-to-the-series viewers, but not so much for those of us who have been following right along with each new release. Also included are extra trailers for the Green Lantern animated movie, Fringe: Season One DVD, and the Batman: Arkham Asylum video game. These are in addition to the front-loaded trailers for Sherlock Holmes, Halo Legends, Smallville Season 8, and the ubiquitous Warner Blu-Ray ad.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Standard DVD Edition
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The real Special Features are on the second disc. First up is “A Test of Minds: The Psychology of Superman and Batman”, 19 minutes of psychobabble and armchair psychiatry by the likes of DC suits Gregory Noveck and Paul Levitz, director Alan Burnett, original writer Jeph Loeb, a couple of authors, and an actual Ph.D.! My favorite part was when Dan Didio explained that Superman was the “fireman” of the DCU while Batman was the “policeman”. Based on this new information, I fully expect to see Krypto transformed into a Dalmatian by Red Kryptonite in next year’s DC books. Seriously, I’ve been a part of more interesting (and lively) discussions of this type with both comic fans and professionals at various convention watering holes over the years.

Much better is “Dinner with DCU and Special Guest Kevin Conroy”, the DCU being Bruce Timm, Andrea Romano, and Gregory Noveck. It’s 25 minutes of great dinner conversation between these folks and “the” animated voice of Batman. Topics range from Conroy’s casting (from more than 250 hopefuls) to how Conroy alters his voice for different interpretations of the character to a great anecdote about Conroy driving around on the LA freeways, dressed as Batman.

“First Look at Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths” features Timm, Romano, director Lauren Montgomery, and writer Dwayne McDuffie discussing the next DC Universe animated feature. Apparently based on concepts from the second original JLA-JSA crossover from the 1960s (but not including the JSA), this new film will feature an animated version of the Crime Syndicate, the evil dopplegangers of the Justice League from a parallel world. It’s from a script called “Worlds Collide,” originally written by McDuffie for the unproduced fifth season of the Justice League animated series, newly rewritten by McDuffie to be less JLU-animated continuity and more DCU. The film returns to the concept of using superstar talent for the lead voices, rather than the long-established voices from the original animated series. Announced are Billy Baldwin as Batman, Mark Harmon as Superman, Chris Noth as Lex Luthor, Gina Torres as Superwoman, and James Woods as Owlman. This preview runs 11 minutes and the completed film is due for release in the spring of 2010. Looks very interesting!

Finally, there are Bruce Timm’s Top Picks, two episodes from the original Superman: The Animated Series. Both from Season 3, “The Demon Reborn” features Superman teaming with Batman to battle Ra’s al Ghul, while “Knight Time” teams Supes (disguising himself as Batman) with Robin to find the missing Batman.

For more information, the official site is SupermanBatmanDVD.com. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the studio.)

“A Wonderful Piece of Eye-Candy!” — Mike Wazowski

“Two thumbs up! Er… what’s a thumb?” — Mater

“Best book since — SQUIRREL!” — Dug

Pixarpedia: A Complete Guide to the World of Pixar… And Beyond! is a lavish, full-color, kid-friendly roundup of everything Pixar. It ranges from a brief history of the company to hints on finding the inside jokes and references in each Pixar film — and everything else in-between!

Pixarpedia
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In fact, calling it “A Complete Guide to the World of Pixar… And Beyond!” may actually be selling it a bit short. Because not only is there plenty of information on the Pixar “stars” like Woody, Buzz, Flik, Sulley, Nemo, Mr. Incredible, Lightning McQueen, Remy, WALL*E, and Carl Fredricksen, but also covered are all your favorite PIxar supporting characters, including Mr. Potato Head, Tuck and Roll, Jessie, Roz, Dory, Edna Mode, Mater, Anton Ego, M-O, and Dug. Believe it or not, pretty much EVERY character who ever spoke a line (or got a laugh) or even just appeared in the background in a Pixar movie is included — Headless Doll (and Headless Doll’s Sister!), Poo Poo Platter Waiter, Amy, Harley P. Gerson, Two Pelicans, Snug, Petrol Pulaski, Ambrister, BRL-A, and Omega! Now that’s detailed! (Can you I.D. them all? Bet your kid can!)

Besides a plot summary for each film, there are also details on the fantastic locales and settings for all of them, including Pizza Planet, Bug City, Al’s Toy Barn, Monsteropolis, Coral Reef, Nomanisan Island, Radiator Springs, Remy’s Paris, The Axiom, and Paradise Falls.

There’s also lots of info on all of Pixar’s short features from the very beginning (Luxo Jr., starring the Luxo lamp that has become Pixar’s trademark) all the way to Partly Cloudy, starring Gus the cloud and Peck the loyal delivery stork (which appeared with Pixar’s latest feature, Up). These short features are fan favorites, ranging from the wildly hysterical (For The Birds, Lifted, Presto) to heartwarming (Geri’s Game, Boundin’). Little do most viewers know that these short films are usually experiments for trying new and different computer techniques.

The illustrations (mostly stills from the films themselves) are wonderful and eye-catching. Besides the pictures of all the Pixar characters, there are dozens of other shots from the films, many of them presented as huge 2-page spreads. The shot of the Incredibles’ family embracing after their fight on the island is almost worth the entire price of the book. Many of these spreads are poster-worthy!

While the bulk of this 350-page oversized hardcover is taken up with kid-centric descriptions of all the characters and films, there is also a a section in the back of the book which offers “A Closer Look” at each of the films. Here you will find the Major Credits for each film (including a list of the Voice Talent) and “Fascinating Facts”, key trivia (like the cover date of the Life Magazine shown in Toy Story 2 being director John Lasseter’s birth date). Plus, there are clues to finding some of Pixar’s (and Disney) running jokes – “Spot the Pizza Planet Truck,” Hidden Mickeys, John Ratzenberger (his voice appears in every Pixar feature! Do you know where?), and “A113”, the now-famous classroom number at CalArts, where a number of leading animators (including some key Pixar staff) learned their trade. And speaking of the Pixar staff, a key member of each film gets to comment on the film in this section.

The Forward is by Andrew Stanton, the writer and director of Academy Award-winning Best Animated Films Finding Nemo and WALL*E. Stanton has played a role (occasionally, literally as a voice actor) in every Pixar feature and is the writer/director of John Carter of Mars for Pixar, scheduled for 2012 release.

Pixarpedia is one of the best coffee-table books ever produced for an audience too young for coffee. While it may be a little bit lightweight for the adult Pixar fan, every imaginative young child who’s ever seen a Pixar film (i.e. pretty much every kid on the planet) would love this book as a wonderful holiday gift.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

First, there’s the schedule. Only the Blu-Ray version ($39.99) will be released this month. The standard DVD edition is due out November 24, almost two months later, with a list price of $29.99.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Diamond Edition (Blu-Ray looking
like DVD package)
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(This isn’t the first time Disney’s messed with release dates in order to attempt to drive customers to the more expensive Blu-Ray format. Last time, with Bolt, it was only two days early, though.)

More interesting to me is the cover format. In addition to the typical Blu-Ray design, they’ve released the same content (2 Blu-Ray discs and one DVD) in a design that looks like the usual DVD package, as shown here.

This version comes with a sticker on it that says “Great Value! This Combo Pack also includes a Blu-Ray of the movie! Limited Time!” The combo pack has been used on several recent Disney movie releases, shipping a single DVD disc with the movie with the Blu-Ray in order to convince families to “prepare for the future”. The only people inconvenienced are those who want to view the extras on their regular DVD player, a group I’m part of.

Snow White is legitimately a classic, the first full-length animated movie, and I’m sure the cleanup looks amazing. (It’s also, according to Disney, “the first film ever to have a motion picture soundtrack, as well as the first film that uses music to advance the story.”) I’m curious to watch the story of an old woman jealous of her step-daughter’s beauty again, even though it plays into all kinds of female stereotypes, including the biggest of all: waiting for a prince to rescue you. I’ll just have to wait two months to enjoy the background material.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Diamond Edition (Blu-Ray package)
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The Blu-Ray extras include:

• The Magic Mirror, a guide through the special features. “The host for an incredibly immersive experience … will recognize viewing patterns, knows where the audience has left off and will even suggest where to navigate next.” (Because DVDs weren’t interactive enough, I guess.)
• DisneyView. “Utilizing Disney Blu-ray technology, acclaimed Disney artist Toby Bluth was able to draw beyond the borders of the classic full frame cinema and fill the otherwise dark edges of the screen with beautiful custom imagery, giving audiences a new view of the animated classic favorite.” Homemade widescreen!
• Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. Uses BD-Live to set up a “personal message from [a] favorite princess” who will then call you on the phone. Creepy! Although great to bribe kids with, I imagine. “Clean up your room, or you won’t hear from Jasmine!”
• A couple of games. Does anyone play DVD games? Don’t we have video game systems and handhelds and cellphones for this?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Diamond Edition (Standard DVD)
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These will be on both the Blu-Ray and the later DVD special edition:

• “Snow White Returns” thanks to recently found storyboards that “suggest a brand new Snow White featurette that never got made.”
• “The One That Started It All” reveals how Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs “forever changed the world of movies and the world at large.”
• Karaoke sing-along to “Heigh-Ho”

The single-disc DVD extras (all editions) are as follows:

• Audio commentary with Walt Disney, hosted by John Canemaker (an animation historian; this commentary also appeared on the last re-release of Snow White, the Platinum Edition)
• An “all-new music video” of “Someday My Prince Will Come” from Tiffany Thornton (no idea who she is, I’m assuming one of Disney’s latest teen packages they want to give a music career to)
• Sneak peak of The Princess and the Frog, Disney’s Christmas movie release

In case you were wondering, the “Diamond Collection” is a new designation for “The Walt Disney Studio’s most prestigious animated classics.” 14 movies will be released over the next 7 years, featuring “groundbreaking, state-of-the-art immersive bonus content and … unprecedented levels of interactivity, personalization, and customization, only made possible by Blu-Ray technology.”

Viz’s Vampire Knight is one of the better-known manga in this genre — the latest in the series, Volume 7, was #6 on the most recent New York Times manga bestseller list, its 8th week on the list — and now they’re adding the anime as well.

No dates or specific release plans are yet available, but Viz yesterday announced that “it has acquired the domestic TV, Home Entertainment, Streaming, DTO, and Merchandising rights to the hit VAMPIRE KNIGHT animated series.” (I believe “DTO” means Download-to-Own.) This includes all home video outlets, including Blu-Ray, plus video on demand and mobile technology. I’m sure there will be more announcements coming over the rest of the year.

The G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Complete Series Limited Edition Collector’s Set comes in a footlocker (of course). The 95 episodes are found on 17 DVDs, along with lots of bonus material. Here’s the description:

Loaded with over 36 hours of content, this 17-disc collector’s set of G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero contains all 95 episodes including the final episodes that have never been available on DVD until now, brand-new bonus features celebrating G.I. JOE’s rich history, a special collectible book, an exclusive 1-GB “Dog Tag” Flash Drive (USB 2.0) with G.I. JOE silent comics, and special Arashikage and Cobra rub-on tattoos…. Plus, there is a special DVD place holder inside [the footlocker] case for the G.I. JOE original animated movie when it becomes available next year!

That’s thinking ahead, and it’s the kind of detail that dedicated fans appreciate. You can order the set now from the website for $145, or it will be in stores on November 10 at a suggested list price of $180. Maybe that allows for the store to give a discount of 20%, which brings the price to … $144! Imagine that coincidence!

The bonus features on DVD include:

• Looking Back with writer Ron Friedman, Parts One, Two, and Three
• “Knowing Is Half the Battle” PSAs
• G.I. JOE’s original 1963 Toy Fair presentation
• Archival Hasbro toy commercials
• Printable “Jungle Trap” script
• Every Day Heroes: The History of G.I. JOE (includes brand-new interviews)
• Men & Women of Action: Creating the G.I. JOE Animated Series (with creative team members and voice talent)
• Voices of A Real American Hero (roundtable discussion with eight voice cast members, including those who played Duke, Spirit, Destro, Serpentor, and Scarlett)
• Greenshirts: The G.I. JOE Fandom
• Declassified: A Conversation With Larry Hama
• Fan Material – Live-action fan film Battle for the Serpent Stone

Using provided audio and images of the Hulk, Wolverine, or Nova, contestants assemble seven pages by October 5. If the “Aniboom community” votes your entry one of the top 50, you get a free one-year subscription to the Marvel digital comics site. The rest of the rules are a little hinky — all the dates are listed as “on or around”, and the main page says the grand prize winner will be announced on both November 16 and November 23. Anyway, five finalists will be picked on October 19 (four by “a panel of Marvel judges”, one by the “community”), and they will get $2000 and two weeks to finish their motion comic before the grand prize judging.

There are also one or two wildcard finalists, picked by the judges, “who independently complete their original submission.” So even if you don’t win any money, you can still work for Marvel for free! Isn’t that great? In that way, it’s typical of these contests — the company gets a lot for not very much money (in their eyes), one or a handful of lucky fans get a token payment in exchange for losing all rights, and most of the entrants just gave away their work for nothing. But so long as you know what you’re getting into… I’m told digital sharecropping is the way things work online now. And really, what are most people going to do with a partially completed Marvel motion comic anyway?

There’s a whole lot of rules, of course, including that you can only use provided content, nothing else (that way, there’s no ownership quibbles); that it’s all property of Marvel Entertainment; and that your entry “may not be used or displayed commercially.” So if you run ads on your blog, don’t post your entry!

You also can’t mention any other properties or movies or actual people or be derogatory about the companies or characters or just about anyone or be “sexually explicit, obscene, pornographic, gratuitously violent, self-mutilating, discriminatory, illegal, offensive, threatening, profane, or harassing”. Whew! Those Must Nots just gave me a ton of ideas. I do like this FAQ entry, at the very end:

Do I need special software…?

No. We’re looking to see how you imagine bringing a comic book to life, so it’s up to you to figure out how you’ll do so. Whether you use free software or custom software, take stop motion images of the pages, or just cut out the characters and mount them on popsicle sticks, the choice is up to you!

I want to see Marvel popsicle comics!

Nana (Uncut Box Set 1)
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The two Nanas meet by accident on the train and then fall into becoming roommates. One Nana is a tough rock chick, coming to the big city to form a band and succeed at music; the other is following a guy, because she doesn’t know what to do with herself other than pretend to be in love.

What the Series Does Well

In reviewing the story of a musician and her friends, it’s important to know: is the music any good? Yes. It’s very in keeping with what we know about Nana, her attitude and mood. The other Nana, aka Hachi (voiced in English by Kelly Sheridan), is just as silly and naive as she needs to be. Her voice is chirpy, almost annoying, while Rock Nana (Rebecca Shoichet) is sly, lower, and knowing. Hachi’s crush on Nana is obvious from the first, and the background music they use for her is wonderfully silly. Even KC, who didn’t know the story and doesn’t watch anime, was laughing at some of the scenes and exaggerated responses. The voice acting (dubbed) is, based on my limited knowledge, very good. It’s done by Ocean Studios in Canada.

The art is lovely, in keeping with Ai Yazawa’s designs and characters. I found myself often admiring the backgrounds and settings. There’s a lot of snow in this series, and it works beautifully on screen. The animation is limited, with sometimes only mouths moving, or sound playing over static scenes, but well-done. Hachi’s narration frames the sequences, providing the nostalgic look back characteristic of the series’ storytelling. Even when she’s talking in cliches, the context gives them new meaning. And given Hachi’s love of movies, it’s no surprise that she thinks of love in those types of romantic terms. She envisions herself in film scenes without much attention paid to realism or effects on others.

Although we aren’t given much to go on, I’ve always kind of admired Hachi’s boyfriend Shoji. She should have known, when his rule was “you can come join me in Tokyo if you get a job and take care of yourself”, that they had different views of what their relationship meant. But I liked his unwillingness to take advantage of her, even when she was ready to move in and be his maid and cook.

Episode List

Episode 1 introduces the characters.

Episode 2 is Hachi’s flashback of her checkered romantic history (including sleeping with an older married man, which might be why the set is rated 18 and up, or maybe it’s because of Nana and Ren’s habit of taking baths together, or their debate about birth control, or even just the smoking).

Episode 3, Hachi and Shoji get to know each other better and start dating, in spite of her idiocy and lack of forethought. She’s so young, regardless of her age, and although her friends care, they’re just looking for someone else to take care of her so they can get on with their lives. She has no dreams of her own and doesn’t seem to feel the lack.

Episode 4 shows the aftermath of her friends’ decisions to move to Tokyo without her and her understanding with Shoji. Then we begin Nana’s flashbacks, starting with her band.

Disc 2, Episode 5 first mentions Trapnest, the band Ren joins in Tokyo, and shows how Nana’s band, Blast, formed. Nana also explains why she didn’t go with Ren and says goodbye to him.

Episode 6 returns to present by repeating episode 1 all over again, interspersed with a few new bits elaborating on what happened.

Episode 7 repeats how the two came to share an apartment before going into more about how Hachi broke the news to Shoji. Yasu has the best entrance ever. He and Nana are such great characters because they speak truth without a lot of worry about other’s feelings. While Hachi does the same thing out of cluelessness, it’s a lot more attractive from the more striking pair.

Episode 8 has the two starting to furnish their apartment and learning a lot more about each other and the boys they’re with.

They’re all really very damaged people. That’s what makes them so interesting to watch. Nana seems like the most together, but when you model yourself after Sid and Nancy, the viewer should realize that she’s broken, too.

Disc 3, Episode 9 has Hachi working at her first job, while Nana’s old bandmate Nobu comes to Tokyo. This sequence begins a set about the transformative power of making music, as well as starting off another plot that will cause big changes in Hachi’s life.

Episode 10, Hachi decides that Nana needs a band, so she starts trying to find another member for them.

Episode 11 brings Hachi to stark awareness of how expensive living in a city can be. I found it interesting that, by the end of this set, we haven’t met Trapnest yet, and Hachi is still with Shoji. There’s still a lot more to come.

The Box Set Features

I like the length of the episodes. 22 minutes is enough to get you a chunk of the story but short enough that my attention doesn’t wander. The three-disc set contains 11 episodes, plus a recap episode called 11.5, featuring the fourth-wall-breaking Junko’s Place familiar to comic readers. (Which means if you watch the whole set, you see some of these events three times within four hours.) You can view the episodes subtitled or dubbed, although dub is the default.

Extras include a subtitled interview with the director, versions of the opening and closing credits with no credits (”clean” versions), line art of the character designs, and previews for other Viz products, including the Nana movie, which was a lot more emotional than this version. The set also comes with a logo-decorated guitar pick. For more information, visit the official website. You can also buy the first season on iTunes or watch free on Hulu. The next 11-episode set is due out near the end of November.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)