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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for The Black Cauldron and the latest episodes of Haven and Futurama, as well as the first few episodes of the Thundercats remake.
Haven "Love Machine"
The Trouble was a bit ridiculous this episode (they seem to be kind of reaching in season two already which is kind of a bad sign) but at least it was very Stephen King. Having the new Audrey lose her memory and then go however was a bit alarming however. I demand an explanation and the show doing that makes me believe they aren't in a hurry to give one. ***.
Haven "Sparks And Recreation"
Groan at the episode title. This show is probably smart to pair Audrey up with the Jason Priestly character. The audience hates him at the get-go and you are basically just counting down the days for him to either break her heart or die. The episode was a bit unpredictable though and Priestly had a VERY funny curse. ***1/2.
Haven "Roots"
Audrey: lose the guy already. The writers aren't fooling anyone and the sooner they get rid of Jason Priestly, the better. This is SO much predictable, tedious, audience manipulation. We're basically just counting down the days until he's gone (I hope it's soon). Audrey belongs with Nathan. Period.
The Trouble wasn't bad this week, but the reason behind it (and the solution to it) was super-corny and sappy. Geez, my teeth hurt.
Any good things? Finding out the reason Duke is staying in Haven is juicy and I never trusted his wife for a second. This sounds like an interesting plot development. **1/2.
Futurama "Mobius Dick"
Predictable episode. Nothing really funny happened either (other than the running gag of Zoidberg having hair) but the animation was kind of funky. ***.
Futurama "All The President's Heads"
The episode at least tried to give a plausible explanation for the celebrity heads in jars but if they were GONNA do it, I wanted a better and more thorough one.
I always thought Futurama shied away from time travel stories for a reason and this episode made it seem easy rather than the trial it was in Roswell That Ends Well and Bender's Big Score. I don't like that.
I liked the entire crew as Brits though. That was a funny turn. Decent but not great episode. ***1/2.
Futurama "Fry Am The Egg Man"
This episode fooled me more than once and I like the trick ending(s). I also thought it was interesting that the episode took the tack that the monster HAD turned out good, or at least beneficial. I've seen stories like this before but the monster always turned out rotten. Love the planet of Irishmen and the beer aquariums too. A Bone Vampire is a funny concept too. ****.
ThunderCats "Omens"
Promising opening that despite going against a LOT of the established ThunderCats scenarios was smart enough to pay tribute to the show. They even had Larry Kenney portray Lion-O's father (and he even got to do one last "ThunderCats HO!"!).
I like Cheetara as one of the monk warriors. VERY cool concept behind. I also like that she and Lion-O are way more overtly flirty than they were on the old show.
Like what I've seen of Mumm-Ra. However, I'm reserving final judgment until I see his full transformation.
Good role for Grune the Destroyer. You know he's bad but I bet the kiddies didn't.
I dislike this version of Snarf. I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed Snarf on the old show and I preferred his as Lion-O's guardian rather than his pet.
Interesting choice to make Panthro MIA for the first few episodes. We'll see how that works out.
Will Friedle was a great casting choice as Lion-O (as was Clancy Brown as Grune and Kevin Micheal Richardson as the fake Panthro) but I don't really like the idea of Lion-O and Tygra as brothers, especially if the show is going to have both go after Cheetara like on the old show. If not, I can accept it, even if a lion and tiger being brothers stretches credibilty.
There was a major thing I disliked about the show that I am a bit leery of: the portrayal of slavery as acceptable by the Cats. To be sure, I know that in a story arc driven show like this, this disgusting development will be built upon eventually. But this is also a KIDS show. That's unacceptable to do in a show geared towards children. Even a well-developed show like Gargoyles showed right and wrong in very black and white terms. Will the Cats' evil behavior be the explanation for their downfall? If so, it should have happened this episode. ****1/2.
ThunderCats "Ramlak Rising"
Filler episodes already? Geez, that's a bad omen (sorry). Of course the scene at the end with Mumm-Ra, Grune and Jaga was when I perked up. They needed to make this plot element central to the episode, rather than an unrelated tag. WilyKit and WilyKat are cute though. ***.
ThunderCats "Song Of The Petalars"
Depressing concept, beautiful animation. I have to say I don't like Slithe and his Lizard henchmen. I want to see Monkian and Jackalman and I don't think Slithe plays well off others when he's truly in charge. The end of Panthro and the Thundertank? Beyond cool, even if it was as big a deux ex machina as the Sword Of Omens was on the old show. ***1/2.
The Black Cauldron
I cannot think of a traditional animated Disney film with a more unlikable or unappealing lead than Taran. He's a sexist, a braggart, an egotist, a grave-robber, an idiot and a punk. He's Micheal Scott animated. This movie is rightly derided by Disney fans as subpar. Some of the animation effects are nice but when they AREN'T using visual effects the animation is boring and uninteresting. Gurgi and Hen Wen are kind of cute but besides them and perhaps Eilonwy, the film is seriously lacking any likable characters. You almost want to see the Horned King pull off his plot just to kill off the cast.
By the way, the climax is way too brief. A better movie would have milked that scenario for all it was worth.
I didn't care for this. **.
Backstage Disney:
Deleted Scene: The Fairfolk: The scene was wisely pared down. This would have added an extra ten minutes to the film which already seems overlong by the end. Which is weird considering how quick the climax is. **1/2.
Still Frame Gallery:
Still Galleries. Average. Overall: ***1/2.
Visual Development: I wish the film had looked this good. ****.
Character Development: Some of these designs were butt-ugly. **1/2.
Character Development by Tim Burton: Freaky. ***1/2.
Behind the Scenes: I like the photos that mix the crew with still pictures of the characters. Very Roger Rabbit. ****1/2.
Voice Talent: Whoa, the actress playing Eilonwy is WAAAYYYY older than she sounds. And Nigel Hawthorne is a goof. ***1/2.
Layouts and Backgrounds: Nice. ****.
Tokyo Disneyland: About the theme park attraction in Japan. ***1/2.
Promotion: Can't say this movie didn't have a big promotional push behind it. Favorites are the live show at Radio Music Hall, the Gurgi sticker for apples and the movie poster itself. *****.
Games & Activities:
Quest For The Black Cauldron: Easy, but fun game. ***1/2.
The Witches' Challenge: This was MUCH harder. The last riddle didn't make any sense. **.
Trick Or Treat: This Donald Duck cartoon was a lot of fun. Huey, Dewey and Louie were more on-model than I've ever seen in an animated short. Of course, Carl Barks based a story on this cartoon. ****.
DVD Menu: For such a lousy film, it got quite a pretty menu. ****1/2.
The Super Hero Squad Show Volumes 3 & 4: Quest For The Infinity Sword!
The second half of the first season of the comedic superhero cartoon is surprisingly good. It has a lot of funny character moments (such as M.O.D.O.K. rocking along to elevator muzak while saying "I like this song") and great action sequences. I always liked this show but the second half of the season is even better than the first. This was very enjoyable.
Best episodes on the set are the hilarious Mental Organism Designed Only For Kisses!, the cool Mark Hamill guest spot (Wrath Of The Red Skull!) and the two part season finale (Last Exit Before Doomsday! / This Al Dente Earth!). Set overall: ****.
Tremble At The Might Of... M.O.D.O.K.!: This episode is pretty funny but the very next episode is a better M.O.D.O.K. spotlight. ***1/2.
Mental Organism Designed Only For Kisses!: This episode is a scream. I loved M.O.D.O.K. and Miss Marvel's romantic musical montage and I found everyone's reactions to the situation hilarious. *****.
Invader From The Dark Dimension!: Predictable episode. But still decent. ***.
Tales Of Suspense!: The golf game between Wolverine, Reptil, Abomination and M.O.D.O.K. was the funniest part. Cool seeing War Machine too. ****.
Stranger From A Savage Land!: The jokes were kind of obvious, but that's the kind of show this is, so I can't gripe too much. ***1/2.
Mysterious Mayhem At Mutant High!: The X-Men! This episode was great. I loved what a prom queen Jean Grey was. Professor X was pretty funny too. ****.
Election Of Evil!: Parts of this made me uncomfortable but I couldn't tell you why. Good guest star turns by Wayne Knight and Stan Lee though. ***.
Hexed, Vexed, And Perplexed!: Magneto! And Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch! I thought Magneto was very silly and I love how Falcon fell in love with Scarlet Witch. I also like that Wanda and Pietro were both depicted as good guys. Quicksilver is usually a bad guy on the X-Men cartoons. ****.
The Ice Melt Cometh!: Boring and frankly, a bit annoying. **.
Wrath Of The Red Skul!l: Mark Hamill delivers a magnificent performance as The Red Skull. He's almost unrecognizable which is the mark of a very talented voice actor. Oh, the episode was great too. ****1/2.
Mother Of Doom!: Very funny episode, but I imagine this REALLY cheesed off Doctor Doom fanboys. I think very SERIOUS geeks loathe this show. ****.
Last Exit Before Doomsday!: George Takei as Galactus! Awesome! Great two-parter. *****.
This Al Dente Earth!: Kudos to the show for actually putting the Infinity Sword back together and wrapping up a story arc that I never fully understood. I also like Reptil's new powers and thought it was a gutsy move to have Silver Surfer leave. I hear he turns bad next season and I like that the show isn't afraid to mix things up. Great finale. *****. Two Part Average: *****.
Interview With Grey Delisle: I didn't realize this was one of the rare shows that still has all of the actors in the same recording booth. ***1/2.
Villain Concept Art: Still gallery. ***1/2.
Interview With Charlie Adler: For an older dude, Adler is BUFF. That guy is huge. And crazy. I'm a little bit scared now. ****1/2.
DVD Menus: Cute. ****.
Haven "Love Machine"
The Trouble was a bit ridiculous this episode (they seem to be kind of reaching in season two already which is kind of a bad sign) but at least it was very Stephen King. Having the new Audrey lose her memory and then go however was a bit alarming however. I demand an explanation and the show doing that makes me believe they aren't in a hurry to give one. ***.
Haven "Sparks And Recreation"
Groan at the episode title. This show is probably smart to pair Audrey up with the Jason Priestly character. The audience hates him at the get-go and you are basically just counting down the days for him to either break her heart or die. The episode was a bit unpredictable though and Priestly had a VERY funny curse. ***1/2.
Haven "Roots"
Audrey: lose the guy already. The writers aren't fooling anyone and the sooner they get rid of Jason Priestly, the better. This is SO much predictable, tedious, audience manipulation. We're basically just counting down the days until he's gone (I hope it's soon). Audrey belongs with Nathan. Period.
The Trouble wasn't bad this week, but the reason behind it (and the solution to it) was super-corny and sappy. Geez, my teeth hurt.
Any good things? Finding out the reason Duke is staying in Haven is juicy and I never trusted his wife for a second. This sounds like an interesting plot development. **1/2.
Futurama "Mobius Dick"
Predictable episode. Nothing really funny happened either (other than the running gag of Zoidberg having hair) but the animation was kind of funky. ***.
Futurama "All The President's Heads"
The episode at least tried to give a plausible explanation for the celebrity heads in jars but if they were GONNA do it, I wanted a better and more thorough one.
I always thought Futurama shied away from time travel stories for a reason and this episode made it seem easy rather than the trial it was in Roswell That Ends Well and Bender's Big Score. I don't like that.
I liked the entire crew as Brits though. That was a funny turn. Decent but not great episode. ***1/2.
Futurama "Fry Am The Egg Man"
This episode fooled me more than once and I like the trick ending(s). I also thought it was interesting that the episode took the tack that the monster HAD turned out good, or at least beneficial. I've seen stories like this before but the monster always turned out rotten. Love the planet of Irishmen and the beer aquariums too. A Bone Vampire is a funny concept too. ****.
ThunderCats "Omens"
Promising opening that despite going against a LOT of the established ThunderCats scenarios was smart enough to pay tribute to the show. They even had Larry Kenney portray Lion-O's father (and he even got to do one last "ThunderCats HO!"!).
I like Cheetara as one of the monk warriors. VERY cool concept behind. I also like that she and Lion-O are way more overtly flirty than they were on the old show.
Like what I've seen of Mumm-Ra. However, I'm reserving final judgment until I see his full transformation.
Good role for Grune the Destroyer. You know he's bad but I bet the kiddies didn't.
I dislike this version of Snarf. I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed Snarf on the old show and I preferred his as Lion-O's guardian rather than his pet.
Interesting choice to make Panthro MIA for the first few episodes. We'll see how that works out.
Will Friedle was a great casting choice as Lion-O (as was Clancy Brown as Grune and Kevin Micheal Richardson as the fake Panthro) but I don't really like the idea of Lion-O and Tygra as brothers, especially if the show is going to have both go after Cheetara like on the old show. If not, I can accept it, even if a lion and tiger being brothers stretches credibilty.
There was a major thing I disliked about the show that I am a bit leery of: the portrayal of slavery as acceptable by the Cats. To be sure, I know that in a story arc driven show like this, this disgusting development will be built upon eventually. But this is also a KIDS show. That's unacceptable to do in a show geared towards children. Even a well-developed show like Gargoyles showed right and wrong in very black and white terms. Will the Cats' evil behavior be the explanation for their downfall? If so, it should have happened this episode. ****1/2.
ThunderCats "Ramlak Rising"
Filler episodes already? Geez, that's a bad omen (sorry). Of course the scene at the end with Mumm-Ra, Grune and Jaga was when I perked up. They needed to make this plot element central to the episode, rather than an unrelated tag. WilyKit and WilyKat are cute though. ***.
ThunderCats "Song Of The Petalars"
Depressing concept, beautiful animation. I have to say I don't like Slithe and his Lizard henchmen. I want to see Monkian and Jackalman and I don't think Slithe plays well off others when he's truly in charge. The end of Panthro and the Thundertank? Beyond cool, even if it was as big a deux ex machina as the Sword Of Omens was on the old show. ***1/2.
The Black Cauldron
I cannot think of a traditional animated Disney film with a more unlikable or unappealing lead than Taran. He's a sexist, a braggart, an egotist, a grave-robber, an idiot and a punk. He's Micheal Scott animated. This movie is rightly derided by Disney fans as subpar. Some of the animation effects are nice but when they AREN'T using visual effects the animation is boring and uninteresting. Gurgi and Hen Wen are kind of cute but besides them and perhaps Eilonwy, the film is seriously lacking any likable characters. You almost want to see the Horned King pull off his plot just to kill off the cast.
By the way, the climax is way too brief. A better movie would have milked that scenario for all it was worth.
I didn't care for this. **.
Backstage Disney:
Deleted Scene: The Fairfolk: The scene was wisely pared down. This would have added an extra ten minutes to the film which already seems overlong by the end. Which is weird considering how quick the climax is. **1/2.
Still Frame Gallery:
Still Galleries. Average. Overall: ***1/2.
Visual Development: I wish the film had looked this good. ****.
Character Development: Some of these designs were butt-ugly. **1/2.
Character Development by Tim Burton: Freaky. ***1/2.
Behind the Scenes: I like the photos that mix the crew with still pictures of the characters. Very Roger Rabbit. ****1/2.
Voice Talent: Whoa, the actress playing Eilonwy is WAAAYYYY older than she sounds. And Nigel Hawthorne is a goof. ***1/2.
Layouts and Backgrounds: Nice. ****.
Tokyo Disneyland: About the theme park attraction in Japan. ***1/2.
Promotion: Can't say this movie didn't have a big promotional push behind it. Favorites are the live show at Radio Music Hall, the Gurgi sticker for apples and the movie poster itself. *****.
Games & Activities:
Quest For The Black Cauldron: Easy, but fun game. ***1/2.
The Witches' Challenge: This was MUCH harder. The last riddle didn't make any sense. **.
Trick Or Treat: This Donald Duck cartoon was a lot of fun. Huey, Dewey and Louie were more on-model than I've ever seen in an animated short. Of course, Carl Barks based a story on this cartoon. ****.
DVD Menu: For such a lousy film, it got quite a pretty menu. ****1/2.
The Super Hero Squad Show Volumes 3 & 4: Quest For The Infinity Sword!
The second half of the first season of the comedic superhero cartoon is surprisingly good. It has a lot of funny character moments (such as M.O.D.O.K. rocking along to elevator muzak while saying "I like this song") and great action sequences. I always liked this show but the second half of the season is even better than the first. This was very enjoyable.
Best episodes on the set are the hilarious Mental Organism Designed Only For Kisses!, the cool Mark Hamill guest spot (Wrath Of The Red Skull!) and the two part season finale (Last Exit Before Doomsday! / This Al Dente Earth!). Set overall: ****.
Tremble At The Might Of... M.O.D.O.K.!: This episode is pretty funny but the very next episode is a better M.O.D.O.K. spotlight. ***1/2.
Mental Organism Designed Only For Kisses!: This episode is a scream. I loved M.O.D.O.K. and Miss Marvel's romantic musical montage and I found everyone's reactions to the situation hilarious. *****.
Invader From The Dark Dimension!: Predictable episode. But still decent. ***.
Tales Of Suspense!: The golf game between Wolverine, Reptil, Abomination and M.O.D.O.K. was the funniest part. Cool seeing War Machine too. ****.
Stranger From A Savage Land!: The jokes were kind of obvious, but that's the kind of show this is, so I can't gripe too much. ***1/2.
Mysterious Mayhem At Mutant High!: The X-Men! This episode was great. I loved what a prom queen Jean Grey was. Professor X was pretty funny too. ****.
Election Of Evil!: Parts of this made me uncomfortable but I couldn't tell you why. Good guest star turns by Wayne Knight and Stan Lee though. ***.
Hexed, Vexed, And Perplexed!: Magneto! And Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch! I thought Magneto was very silly and I love how Falcon fell in love with Scarlet Witch. I also like that Wanda and Pietro were both depicted as good guys. Quicksilver is usually a bad guy on the X-Men cartoons. ****.
The Ice Melt Cometh!: Boring and frankly, a bit annoying. **.
Wrath Of The Red Skul!l: Mark Hamill delivers a magnificent performance as The Red Skull. He's almost unrecognizable which is the mark of a very talented voice actor. Oh, the episode was great too. ****1/2.
Mother Of Doom!: Very funny episode, but I imagine this REALLY cheesed off Doctor Doom fanboys. I think very SERIOUS geeks loathe this show. ****.
Last Exit Before Doomsday!: George Takei as Galactus! Awesome! Great two-parter. *****.
This Al Dente Earth!: Kudos to the show for actually putting the Infinity Sword back together and wrapping up a story arc that I never fully understood. I also like Reptil's new powers and thought it was a gutsy move to have Silver Surfer leave. I hear he turns bad next season and I like that the show isn't afraid to mix things up. Great finale. *****. Two Part Average: *****.
Interview With Grey Delisle: I didn't realize this was one of the rare shows that still has all of the actors in the same recording booth. ***1/2.
Villain Concept Art: Still gallery. ***1/2.
Interview With Charlie Adler: For an older dude, Adler is BUFF. That guy is huge. And crazy. I'm a little bit scared now. ****1/2.
DVD Menus: Cute. ****.
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 11:20 am (UTC)I didn't realize it was back until it was too late either. I'm gonna wait for a season two marathon to catch up but I might just have to wait for the DVDs.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 03:51 am (UTC)I'm watching them on the Nick Toons website. I hope you can catch up, season two is shaping up to be better than season one, with much higher stakes!
no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 11:28 pm (UTC)