Form of Sexy Hispanic!
Shape of Comic Fan Boy!
I loved “Superfriends.” It cashed in on the Scooby-Doo franchise by giving us two human teen characters and an annoying dog, and also introduced some of the stupidest superheroes of all time like Apache Chief, and the Wonder Twins. Ah, the Wonder Twins, a product of the disco era with a bit of “Xanadu” and pure retardation thrown in for good measure.
Fans of my Volume 1 reviews, stand at attention, rejoice, and testify, for we are here with reviews for Volume 2 of “Animaniacs” and “Pinky and the Brain,” the gorgeous collections for animations fans, and fans of the series. Guilty on both counts, suckas. So, for this time around, “Animaniacs” and its spin-off really seem to come into their own. Where as the first volume was more of them feeling their oats, the writing team really exercises the comedy for this go around, particularly with “Animaniacs.”
For all the grief animation gets, “Animaniacs” is both a show for adults and children. While we have mallets, and anvils, we also have funny one-liners set to a “Moby Dick” spoof, and inside jokes referencing the likes of Groucho Marx, Milton Berle, and the great Madeline Khan whose own personality is reflected in an episode of Rita and Runt as they stumble on a Frankenstein scientist who looks an awful lot like the late comedienne a la Mel Brooks.
Season Seven with the Duke Boys found the audience corralled with the likes of Mr. Tom Wopat, and John Schneider as the Duke Boys taking on all sorts of bushwhackers and whatnot narrated by Mr. Waylon Jennings. “The Dukes of Hazzard: The Complete Seventh Season” has a dedication to Mr. Jennings and a music video featuring the three stars, but the series is where the following will take pure satisfaction.
If you’re a fan of “Oban Star Racers,” or “Speed Racer,” movie 4 of the “Acceleracers” series will please tween boys with bright animation, epic car races, and stories simplistic enough to keep their attention. This final installment involves the Acceleracers devising a plan to save one of their kidnapped team mates Wylde brother of the hero Kurt. To do this they have to open the Cosmic Realm, a dimension of twists and turns and infiltrate Racing Drones Headquarters, and the action beefs up for this last go around. Are you excited?! I sure am! Even though I have no idea what I just wrote! Can you get your son to explain to me?
Season four is when “Lois & Clark” started to fall apart. While this series basically was just Luke & Laura a la Krypton, by season four, we saw Lois and Clark finally wed, and that’s when the series began to topple, because that’s when the romantic chemistry died, and the “Moonlighting” dichotomy faded; thus season four was the final season of this series, now on DVD from Warner Brothers Home Video.
Those who know me, know I’m a hardcore passionate Superman fan, have been since I was four. But those at the superman site I discuss the character with also know very well that “Lois & Clark” was probably the worst Superman adaptation I’ve ever seen.
Yar, “Tales from the Crypt” season five is now out on DVD, and boy what a set it is. Season Five is considerably hit or miss, as was the entire series, but there are also some genuine twists and turns with some rather fantastic episodes. Season five reaches around the home stretch, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to take from it. The humor is still as demented, and the crypt keeper is still a bastard. Gore flies, and the monsters are still rather horrifying with episodes that feature a possessive hypnotist keeping his assistant under his control, a controlling man trying to ship his wife in pieces in a trunk, a real estate salesman who comes across a family of freaks, and, my personal favorite episode of the season, “House of Horror.”
If you’re a child of the nineties, you’ll remember that back then, animated series had texture. They weren’t like today where it was colorful and filled with characters with no basic coherent storyline. Back then animated series had stories, arcs, brains, and influence. Gems like “Talespin”, “Captain Planet”, and “Mighty Max” were what made animation so incredible. But they were intimidating, and that’s why networks sought out to bring them down and cancel them.
Such is the case for “Animaniacs”, which was so influential, the network sought out to sabotage its presence by dumbing down its clever and sharp gags and historical references, and forcing it to include educational interludes that never fit with the program and talked down to its audience.