So just what the hell was George Lucas thinking!? No, not when he sold out to Disney- because we all know he wasn’t! But what was he thinking about, when it came to the final Star Wars sequel trilogy. What was the actual story meant to be? Well that’s what I try to uncover in my latest Superhero Pow! But before we can do that, I think it’s important to understand what Star Wars actually is! Being there when Star Wars first came on the scene, I’ve seen many people over the years get Star Wars completely wrong. Heck, I remember being the only one in the room saying Lucas was going to make 9 Star Wars movies. While everyone else argued, no it’s only three/ no it’s only six. So it drives me a bit crazy to hear people say Star Wars are kids movies and space fantasy. Again, completely disregarding the original statements made by George. So if this sounds new to you or if you are of the same thinking as I am, then I think you will enjoy this video the most! Star Wars as it was meant to be!
I feel I should add a bit more of my Star Wars opinion. Overall, I feel New Hope was the best, and Phantom Menace as the worst. None of the Prequels were better than the originals. And none of the Sequels were better than the Prequels. I’d agree that some of the Sequels were better made (editing, dialogue, pacing). But as for story and action, the Prequels were better. Feel free to fight 
Anyho, watch the video and let me know what you think!
Hey Party People,
Seems you all enjoy the Superfriends as much as I do, so I thought I’d make another video of them! At the same time, I came up with a new concept for videos: Why it’s Great! Where I will list a few reasons why something is great. Preferably something not completely obvious; like this one here: Superfriends season one! The so called worst season of the Superfriends. As it had no supervillains and Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog were stumbling their way through the whole season! But it was also the biggest thing going on in superheroes in 1973! Parent groups had basically outlawed superhero cartoons in 1969. So the Superfriends was basically superheroes grand return to TV. And on many levels it was quite different than the following seasons of the Superfriends. Which made it a crazy memory in most kids minds- before streaming, and dvds, and Cartoon Network or Boomerang. Did it actually happened? Did I remember that right? One thing I don’t get into in the video is the voice cast. It’s rather interesting to point out that the voices of Batman and Robin were performed by Olan Soule and Casey Kasem- who were the voice actor’s in Filmation’s Batman and Robin cartoon in 1968! Filmation’s Superman was played by Bud Collyer, who was Superman on the 1940’s radio program, as well as Fleischer Studios Animated shorts! Sadly Collyer had just passed away in 1969, so Hanna Barbera had to recast Superman with Danny Dark. Wonder Woman was voiced by Shannon Farnon. Who, along with Frank Welker, is the only main cast member still around and working in 2020! Aquaman was voiced by veteran character actor Norman Alden, he would only voice two season of the Superfriends before being replaced by William Callaway. And before he became famous on the Mary Tyler Moore show, Ted Knight, as he did in Filmation’s superhero shows was the narrator. The first season was also the only season to have a narrator. Just interesting tidbits all around I’d say. Anyway, that’s enough of that. Check out the video now and see if you agree, these five things made the first season of the Superfriends great!
https://youtu.be/pFkIa1f51r4
Hey party people, welcome to my latest video! For this one I dive deep into Wonder Woman (stop it). As DC Comics has proven over the past 70 years that they have no idea what to do with her. I mean, when she came out, she was selling like three comics (Sensation, Wonder Woman, and Comics Cavalcade)! Then when her creator William Moulton Marston stop writing her adventures, she was barely hanging on by her finger tips. If it wasn’t for all the merchandise she sold, DC would have dumped her all together. So let’s go back and checkout what Wonder Woman was like in the beginning. And see where DC went wrong- even super star George Perez didn’t get it completely right. And how DC just keeps making it worse and worse. Seriously, when I was researching Wonder Woman, I was getting mad that DC didn’t make her comics like Marston did. They are so frick’n fun and exciting! Her villains like Cheetah were equally amazing- but now? They are all dreary and hyper violent. And this isn’t to say Wonder Woman shouldn’t be updated for modern times. Just that she should be update in the same vein that Batman has been: Keeping true to their creators original vision. It shouldn’t be this hard, right? Anyway, please check out the video and tell me what you think! Am I nuts, or am I the only one who cracked the code?
Hey animation fans, got a another Animator on Animation for ya. This time I talk about the one of the craziest shows Disney TV ever made: Gargoyles! Seriously, whoever thought Disney would ever make such a show! It’s just so hardcore action- basically Disney’s answer to Warner Bros. Batman: The Animated Series. And often times, I’d say it was better. B:TAS cut lots of corners in the name of style (not that that is a bad thing), but Gargoyles just said f- it. We are making something as fully rendered as Johnny Quest- with better/more expensive animation! Just wow, all around.
But no show is prefect, because while the 1990’s was a Golden Age for television animation, it still had a lot of quality issues left over from the 70’s and 80’s. Now a days, nearly every show looks great- or at least as good as the production team wants it to look. But in the 1990’s, even with Warner Bros and Disney finally getting into the mix, the overseas animation studios weren’t all up to snuff. So there will still be good stuff and bad stuff to talk about!
But just to talk about the 1990’s for a bit more, what a great time. It was a small window of time where the industry continued to make good money in syndication, with toy tie-ins, before the FCC outlawed them. And before the cable TV take over. Now a days, streaming services are trying to become the goto place for animation. And I welcome the change. As long as they continue to innovate, but time will tell.
Anyway, let’s have some fun and check it out! As we do, let’s talk about animation timing, the stuff that makes animation work- and Karl Gnass. Who’s he you ask? Well, you can ask any animation artist working today- or just watch my video! Enjoy!
Hey party people, in a mad dash to get this video up before the Halloween. So I don’t have too much to say about it other than, I love classic monster movies- ever since my youth of watching the Son of Svengoolie in Chicago. Funny to think that Chicago gave the USA, Oprah and Svengoolie! So here is a top 5 list of classic monster movie quotes. Hope it gets ya in the mood, as we are currently living through our own pandemic horror movie! Take care and have fun!
Hey party people, confession time, I’m more of a DC fan than a Marvel fan. So putting this list together was kinda tough. I hit up a lot of Marvel fans for notes- but they were all over the place! Marvel was such a powerhouse in the 1980’s, basically all their books sold well. So coming up with a top ten list people could agree on, was nearly impossible- but I did it anyway! One thing I unfortunately omitted from the video was perhaps Marvel’s greatest failure of the 80’s: The New Universe. It was ‘Big’ Jim Shooter next ‘big’ idea. Another Earth, with no superheroes, per say. Now there was superpowered beings on the world, like NIGHTMASK, STAR BRAND, JUSTICE, PSI-FORCE and others. But they weren’t the typical long underwear brigand in your typical superhero comic. For reasons that could fill a novel (no money for talent, failed leadership), the new line failed and was canceled fairly quickly (even with a last ditch effort to save it). It also helped Marvel show Jim Shooter the door (his overbearing style was becoming too much as well). So while I stand by my list of Marvel best work of the 1980’s. I should have mentioned their giant flop as well. Because I honestly doubt, any comicbook company ever survived such a colossal blunder. No not even DC’s Nu52- because it started with great sales and very slowly fell apart, giving DC the time to undo it, before it could undo the company. In contrast, Marvel’s New Universe was pretty much dead on arrival. So when talking about Marvel in the 1980’s, I should have mentioned it.
Be that as it may, I hope you enjoy the list. As it was quite a nice walk down memory lane to put it together. Even as a DC fan, I bought several of these comics back then! As for a little house cleaning- yes this video is about two weeks late. But, I still have hopes of putting out a Halloween video in the next two weeks- wish me luck! But more over that will make November’s video pretty d@mn late as well. I’ll tease it by saying it will be another Animator on Animation video. But until then, thanks for all the support and I’ll catch you on the flipper!
Hey Party People,
Here’s my latest video, and can you believe it’s not a Superhero Pow!? Yes, it’s a new series called Animator on Animation. Where I, you’re host animator, will look at some animation clips, and talk about what’s good about them and what’s bad about them. Along the way I’ll tell little tales of my days working in animation studios, and the realities of the animation industry. Mine, all from my point of view. So people can disagree with me, I’m fine with that.
To give away my inspiration, I’ve been a fan of Corridor Crew’s VFX Artist React for the passed year. And since I already bother my wife, sitting on the couch watching cartoons, with my so called wisdom- I thought I should do my own react videos. With animation, because that’s what I studied and got payed to do for a while.
Next month I’ll have another Superhero Pow video. I always have a few videos idea rolling around at one time. If I’m extra lucky, I might get two videos for October- a Superhero Pow and a Halloween one. Time will tell, as I’m still dealing with a 1 year old and a 4 year old every day (never worked so hard in my life)!
Anyway, enjoy the video and let me know if you’d like to see more.
Hey party people, here is my latest video, The Most- as in which superhero is the most- pick a category. I’m sure you know how much us superhero fans enjoy arguing about superheroes. Who’s the strongest, who’s the fastest, etc. Well this (possible) series will help answer those questions (inspire heated debate, depending on how much you disagree with me). In this first video, I go over the strongest, smartest, fastest, most powerful and most dexterous superheroes! I basically go down a list of basic role playing stats!
For those of you interested, I’ll go into more boring details of what’s up in Toonocity world. For the most part, I’m still stuck at home watching my two sons. Which doesn’t leave me much time for anything else. I’m often amazed that I manage to keep getting videos done! It’s hard for me to even keep up with my nerdy hobbies. I sure hope you are having a better time, during this pandemic time. One thing I just did, was re-watch The Umbrella Academy season 1, to get myself ready for season 2. And wow, Season 1 is such an up-grade from the comicbook. Mind you, while the comicbook is great, the show cuts down on the bug nuts crazy and increases the emotion roller coaster of everyone. In reminds me of what James Gunn did with the Guardians of the Galaxy. All the characters are tragically flawed, and only have each other for support. Which creates an amazing blend of humor and sadness to the story. And, overall, makes to care for the characters all the more. I find it very rare that the Hollywood production is superior to the comic. But Steve Blackman, just crushed it here. I so can’t wait for season 2.
Either way, that’s all for now. Hope you enjoy the video and I’ll ‘see’ ya next month!
Wowie, wow, wow, wow! Creating videos is hard work! This one took longer than I hoped, and it was aided by the fact that I started to do a little bit more writing for Anititcool.com. You can swing by there and read some of my, “This Week in Comics” articles. That, plus preschools being closed just makes my spare time disappear before I know I have it!
Anyway, this video is about DC Comics- my first comicbook love. DC’s, and comics in general’s best decades were the 40’s, 60’s and 80’s. So this video is about the Top Ten stuff DC published in the 1980’s. I gotta say, it was pretty hard coming up with the list. DC just put out so much good stuff that decade. It probably didn’t help that, that was also the time I started reading comics! I got a few subscriptions for Christmas gifts (FF and Marvel Team-Up), started using my allowance on buying Justice League of America and others at the grocery store, and eventually convinced by parents and older brother and sister to drive me to a comicbook store once a month! That turned weekly once I was able to drive. To date myself, one of my first comics bought at the comicbook store was Blue Devil #1 (I somehow thought that series was going to follow me all the way up today! Little did I know back then how fast things would get canceled!). But still 80’s was a great time, beyond my personal connection. Aside from the top ten list, I have 24 items in the Honor Mentions section! So I tell you honestly, I can’t wait to hear your complaints about this list. Because just about everything DC was doing at this time was so good! So have at it and enjoy, and I’ll see ya next time.
The Offical blog of Toonocity
http://www.toonocity.com/