Saturday, April 3, 2010

Cartoons - Round 6 (The Finals)

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10 comments:

  1. PhoenicianApril 3, 2010 at 1:17 AM

    Okay, so has anyone else noticed that Gargoyles has been misspelled all weekend? Gargolyes on the bracket and from the looks of it, Gaygoyles on the poll . . .

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  2. UnknownApril 3, 2010 at 8:36 AM

    Oh wow. Sorry about that. Why'd you wait til the last round to call me out?

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  3. PhoenicianApril 3, 2010 at 11:05 AM

    Actually the poll's spelling was fine up to now, it was just the bracket's spelling that's been off for the week (and what're we going to do, bug to modify a jpeg current for only a day?) . . .

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  4. UnknownApril 3, 2010 at 11:54 AM

    Well you can chalk today's misspelling up to working a double last night and following that up with 2 Jack Daniels. When I got home last night I knew I had to update it right then or else it wouldn't get done. I was loopy though. And here I am back at the bar ready for more punishment. Have you joined our Facebook page?

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  5. UnknownApril 3, 2010 at 6:28 PM

    heh... gaygoyles... very happy about that typo.

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  6. AnonymousApril 3, 2010 at 7:09 PM

    I'd like to respond to the Gargoyles/Looney Tunes debate. As a fan of both - this is a tough call for me. I've been an animation fan all my life(As weird as it may sound-I'm 44-so I've seen my share of animation - both vintage and contemporary). I grew up with Looney Tunes (I prefer to call them Warner Brothers shorts-since there were more than just Looney Tunes, anyway). When Gargoyles tuned up in the early 1990's it impacted me and many others in a way no other program of it's type has. You have elements of history, mythology, legend, literature, sci-fi-all rolled into one program. It was also a continuing story. You had to follow it from the beginning to really know the characters and follow what was happening-very unique for an animated series(especially a Disney one). You also had the special added feature of real actors playing most of the rolls of the characters - not just animation voice actors(many of them being from from the first 4 Star Trek series-an added treat for Trek fans.) If you didn't watch it for more than an episode or two-or just read up on it, you won't understand it. If you saw both season one and two and read the recent comic series - you'd really understand why the show has touched so many people, affected them in an almost spiritual way.
    I love the warner brothers shorts just as much - since they're part of my childhood(and likely most people's childhoods to some degree). They're the best of early comedy animation-bar none. I own all the Warners shorts that can be purchased on DVD(Yay-there are more on the way!) and Gargoyles(what you can get, which is only up to the middle of season 2) plus the comics. It's a tough choice for anyone. I won't say how I voted. For me, you can't go wrong either way.

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  7. UnknownApril 3, 2010 at 8:32 PM

    Wingless, I appreciate what you have to say, and the diplomatic way that you worded it. Really, I do. However, I couldn't force myself, even with the assistance of beer, to get more than halfway through the first season. I watched the 5 part series opener, which was both animated poorly, and written poorly. They don't even stay true to the fundamentals of the show. It is touted on fansites as realistic and gritty, but it is still campy, where people are thrown from 45 ft, land on a convenient hay cart, and walk away uninjured. The assertion is made in the first or second episode that they cannot fly, only glide. After that they are shown flying, and at one point shown beating their wings and gaining ground against the downdraft of a jet engine. The closing scene of one of the episodes shows Goliath "gliding" in toward the skyscraper with a castle on top, miles above the nearby rooftops, with open sky behind him.

    The robot gargoyles may have been scripted to show a dichotomy between the old world system and ultra-modern "superior technology", maybe even with the intention of emphasizing that traditional honor and a reasoning mind should and could triumph, but what happened was sub-par dialogue during an aerial battle between living gargoyles and steel armored cyborg gargoyles. (I will also point out that one way the robots were supposed to be superior was their flight capability, as opposed to only gliding... see above.) That already ridiculous scene culminates in the female, human hating gargoyle (Demona... clever...) teaming up with a human, and shooting at Goliath with a shoulder mounted rocket launcher. Classic literature! If only Mark Twain had known about RPGs, Huck Finn would have been a much better read.

    Now I will nit-pick. Of the Scottish gargoyles, one has a Scottish accent. The vikings didn't sound like viking, and the vikings didn't fight like vikings. The scots didn't sound like scots, and the scots didnt fight like scots. The castle the scots lived in is a significant feature, as Scotland didn't have castles for another hundred years or so, and it predates stone castles in Scotland by about 200 years. Where exactly did you see elements of history, mythology, legend, literature, and sci-fi? Would it be from the terribly inaccurate timelines? How would you balance out the fact that they didn't follow any mythology known to man? What legend would you be referring to again? What comparison or parallel can you make to literature? Sci-fi... you got me... the robots... good call.

    Also, since I haven't really held anything back so far (not intentionally at least), Gargoyles didn't turn up (or tune up, if that wasn't a typo) in the early 90s for you or anyone else, it first aired in late 94. That is the mid-90s. It went off the air in early 97, and I have no trouble seeing why.

    I stated earlier that Gargoyles wasn't a bad show, just an average 90s cartoon. I lied. I was trying to be nice, but in truth it was terrible. I have watched many cartoons, some great, some good, some bad. This one is, to me, all but unwatchable. I won't say how I voted either...

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  8. PhoenicianApril 3, 2010 at 10:05 PM

    Roger: Yup, just joined not too long ago . . . this has been a fun week (but of course I'm biased), but I do think I'll stick around and check out next week's video games bracket as well as any future installments.

    I arrived late for the t-shirt contest this week -- was this a one-time promotion or is there a day I should tell myself to send a jpeg for next week? :)

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  9. AnonymousApril 4, 2010 at 12:19 AM

    Benjamin, you seem to forget that while the show has appealed to adults, they still had to write it for CHILDREN. 8 year olds. So yes, it's going to be campy... Just throwing that out there. Not at all disagreeing with you, other than finding it unwatchable (I found it to be beautiful and incredibly fun). It just had to appeal to a wide audience, while more specifically targeting children.

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  10. UnknownApril 4, 2010 at 12:59 AM

    Phoenician, sorry. I have to get some more t-shirts made before we can have another contest. But stay tuned I'm sure there will be more to come.

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