Racattack Junction!

2011-06-26T22:16:00.000-04:00

This place still gets a freakish amount of views, so...

Go here for my animation articles. It's a collab blog that I helped start that has a bunch of awesome guys on it.

Go here for my new personal blog (third times the charm, right?), which focuses on video games.

I've Moved

2009-12-13T22:22:00.001-05:00

I'm now here:

Tom Deslongchamp's "Kid Show"

2009-11-20T18:58:00.004-05:00

Until I start buckling down next month, and actually start doing some worthwhile posts, here's a little animated short for ya. Made as a senior project at the Rhode Island School of Design, "Kid Show" is basically about the wonders of being a kid. Seeing fun in everything, talking with inanimate objects...childhood was great wasn't it? Learn more about this screwy cartoon here, and read an interview with the creator here.

Mark Your Calanders...

2009-11-06T00:00:00.002-05:00

The long-waited "Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show," the finale for the popular animated series Ed, Edd n Eddy, finally makes its US debut on Sunday, November 8th at 7pm. Despite being advertised as a world premiere, it has aired in Australia, Southeast Asia, Scandinavia and Latin America in the past few months.

Over the weekend, Cartoon Network will be airing afternoon-long marathons of the show from noon to 7pm. And in case you miss the movie, it will be repeated on Monday at 8pm and Wednesday at 4pm.

Greenlights and Premieres

2009-10-13T16:35:00.002-04:00

Horrorbots Going Full Speed

Greenlit back in August, the new Cartoon Network series Horrorbots has finally started production early this month. The series follows two friends, Thrasher and Blastus, who must face their most difficult challenge yet: high school. But there's a catch, for you see, they are robots living on a planet inhabited solely by robots. Less horrific then their mechanical brethen, these two misfits set out on a quest to fit in. Created by Micheal Buckley (author of The Sisters Grimm) and produced at New York's World Leaders Entertainment (known for [adult swim]'s The Venture Bros.)

Regular Show Is Moving Along

Also an August greenlight, Regular Show may be the only series animation fans may see come out of the Cartoon Network's defunct Cartoonstitute project. Anything but average, the show features two groundskeepers, Mordecai (a blue jay) and Rigby (a raccoon) who do pretty much anything to keep themselves entertained. However, even something as mundane as a game of rock-paper-scissors can take a turn for the surreal and chaotic. Created by J.G. Quintel (creative director of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack) and produced at Cartoon Network Studios.

Fanboy and Chum to Land in November

Nickelodeon's newest animated series, the squash-and-strech CGI cartoon Fanboy and Chum Chum, is set for a November 7th premiere date. Fans of everything and fearful of nothing, our protagonists have many surreal adventures in their warped little town...all while wearing superhero costumes. Created by Eric Robles and produced at Nickelodeon Animation Studios.

Batman Returns to Action

Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold returns on October 16th to finish off its first season and jump right into the second. An episodic team-up series of epic proportions, each half-hour has the Caped Crusader teaming-up with a fellow DC hero to take down crime. Executive producer James Tucker (Justice League and League of Super Heroes); produced at Warner Bros. Animation.

Legal Cartoonstitute Shorts

2009-10-10T13:16:00.007-04:00

The Awesome Chronicles of Manny and Khan and 3 Dog Band are the only two Cartoonstitute shorts can be considered to be online legally. Manny and Khan was recently put up by the short's creators (Josh Lieberman and Joey Giardina), while 3 Dog Band was put up by the company that did the sound design (Easyfeel). I'll be doing a Cartoon Review of the latter in a week or two.

Cartoonstitute Shorts Online

2009-09-27T15:28:00.006-04:00

Yes, you read that correctly. Cartoon Network has uploaded every single short from their cancelled shorts program, Cartoonstitute. I couldn't possibly wait to share it with you all. Here's a link to the glorious page: Cartoonstitute on Youtube. Also, the highest hated short will be greenlighted to become an animated series. Loving it!

EDIT: The account was closed the next day.

I'm still alive...

2009-09-21T15:13:00.005-04:00

Until I get my act together, enjoy this little "Haruhi-Chan" cartoon and drop by your local library and withdrawal Dan Nadel's "Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries, 1900-1969." "Art Out of Time" is a good read in a way. It's not so much a book as it is a collection of comic strips from which you are supposed to study from and improve your own drawings. Basically, it's like John Kricfalusi's blog, but less in-depth about it all. Still worth to check out, since the book includes the works of Milt Gross and Gene Deitch.

Assorted Animation News

2009-08-08T09:30:00.012-04:00

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack will have a third season of 20 episodes, bringing it to a total of 60 half-hours.
Chowder will end at three seasons, with 49 episodes. Fans will get a grand finale by the name of "Chowder Grows Up," which showcases him as an adult now running his own catering company.
George Krstic, co-creator of Megas XLR, will be attending DragonCon to talk about the current status of the show and release never-before-seen footage.
A Looney Tunes revival is currently in production at Warner Bros. Animation. Known as Laff Riot, the series is likely to air on Cartoon Network. The amount of episodes being made is currently unknown.
Adventure Time with Finn & Jake will premiere in the Winter of 2010. Generator Rex, Sym-Bionic Titan, and Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. will also premiere around this time.

*EDIT: Season Three of Flapjack appears to have only 6 episodes...

Cartoon Review: The Awesome Chronicles of Manny and Khan

2009-07-30T20:53:00.002-04:00

As many of you should know, Cartoon Network's Cartoonstitute was cancelled a few months back, with only 14 shorts completed out of the targeted 39 (check this out for the list of shorts and creators). This is just one of the 14 that were made, and at the time of writing, none of the others have been leaked so far. Also, the leaked Manny and Khan short doesn't even have the ending. . .

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Name: The Awesome Chronicles of Manny and Khan

Creator(s): Josh Lieberman & Joey Giardina

Running Time: 7-to-8 minutes

Network: Cartoon Network

Leaked: July 18th, 2009

Rating: B

Created by two inexperienced animators, Manny and Khan started out slightly different from the final product. It started out as "Bigfoot & Gnome," and was pitched on June 5th 2007 to Craig McCracken and Rob Renzetti. They both liked the idea, but wanted the characters to be more unique in appearence. Gnome, after a lot of revisions became Khan (a dwarf wearing a leprechaun costume). Bigfoot, after a lot more thought, ended up as Manny (a man-o-puss: half-man, half-platypus). With McCracken and Renzetti both accepting these versions of the characters, the short when into production. So now that we have the backstory, let's begin the review.

The plot of this short was simple and basic: two friends play with a ball. The short starts with Khan refusing to play with Manny, insisting that he has important work to do. To quiet his friend, Khan throws the ball down and helps Manny get down to the ground and retrieve the ball. However, he discovers that he has been tricked by the Man-o-Puss, since he can't get back up the tree without his friend's help. When Khan finally decides to play, seeing no other option, the real fun begins. With both of them pretending that the grass surrounding the ball is lava, they conjure numerous plans to retrieve the ball.

To be honest, the cartoon gave me a warm feeling while watching it. It reminded me of one of my favorite episodes of Spongbob Squarepants: "The Idiot Box." In that episode, the characters of Spongebob and Patrick spent the majority of the 11 minutes using their imagination to have fun. The same is done here: an ordinary idea such as fetching a ball is utterly boring on its own. However, when they imagine that the stuff surrounding it is actually lava, it suddenly becomes an adventure. The duo must come up with with some pretty creative ideas to get that red rubber ball back. I won't spoil the methods used to get the ball, but I will say that they were nice to watch.

It would be foolish to say that John Kricfalusi's animated series Ren and Stimpy didn't have an effect on the short. The show pretty much redefined animated series (at least for a child audience) when it hit the airwaves back in 1991. In fact, near the beginning, when Manny was asking Khan to play with him, the character sounded EXACTLY like Stimpy. And the way these characters interacted also seemed a bit like Ren and Stimpy. But the only reason why I won't call them R&S knock-offs is for the simple fact that we barely know the characters. In Josh Lieberman's own words:

I believe both Joey and myself know a lot more about these characters than is presented in the cartoon. It is hard to know everything about a person from a single seven minute conversation, heck, you probably won't know anything about that person realistically. He or she will be categorized within the larger compartments of your brain as a general archetype until further information is gathered.

The backgrounds for this short were nothing short of perfect for it. It really did feel like a dense forest, gave off a nice Little Golden Book feel, and the characters never seemed to be out of place in this world. The fact that the character's live inside a tree with a huge hole in it is pretty absurd, but no stranger than a pineapple underneath the sea. The voice-acting was also pretty great, and felt like they truly belonged to the characters. Thus, they truly came to life above my eyes.

So why did I give this series a "B," despite loving a lot of the material? Some jokes, like the "magic carpet" (darn, gave away one of their methods) fell flat, due to their predictability. The short is also home to a good amount of screaming, something that I don't think the animation world needs anymore of. The Awesome Chronicles of Manny and Khan: a good try by two animation rookies, and I always find myself watching it over and over again.

*You can see the short yourself at the Big Star Animation Studios website. Go to clips, and click on the picture of "Manny and Khan."

Do The Bartman

2009-06-28T15:22:00.004-04:00

Written by the now-deceased Micheal Jackson, Do the Bartman ended up becoming one of the most popular songs in several countries. In fact, in became #1 in five countries in 1991. Hey, I needed something animated that had something to do with the dude.

Cartoon Review: Total Drama Action

2009-06-17T22:27:00.006-04:00

Total Drama Island was one of Cartoon Network's most popular series last year. It broke several records, with the finale getting the best ratings that the channel has gotten since 2002. It was due to this success that Cartoon Network picked up the second season (Total Drama Action), got total merchandising rights for the series in North America, and a third season is being produced. Some people are puzzled why a reality series spoof is doing so well, while others aren't so surprised...

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Name: Total Drama Action

Creator(s): Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis

Running Time: 22 minutes

Network: Teletoon (Canada) and Cartoon Network (United States)

Premiere: January 11, 2009 (Canada) and June 11, 2009 (United States)

Rating: C-

Total Drama has a simple concept: a bunch of teens competing in a reality show to win cash. It's a pretty simple idea that has been done and proven to work many times. But what makes Total Drama different from all the others, and why is it so popular? Is it the fact that its animated? The fact that it mocks the common conventions of reality shows? What ever is the secret behind the show's success, it extends to the second season (which premiered to the network's best ratings this year). The story behind TDA is that, after losing the chance for a million dollars, 14 contestants from the previous season are back to reclaim it. Leaving Camp Wawanakwa for an abandoned film set, the new season has the campers competing in challenges based on movie genres: from horror to science-fiction to crime. It took me over a month to actually find humor within TDI, so how good of a start did TDA have? Just like TDI: not the greatest beginning ever.

Total Drama Action is just another season of Total Drama Island, so if you don't know anything about these characters, then no worries: the writers happily break the the characters down to their core, and briefly explain the events of the last season to bring everyone up to speed. That's great if you missed the first season, and hope you can jump into the next one. But if you've already watched the TDI several times, and are such a fan that you are even getting the DVD, then it's just useless information that could have been replaced with more interesting stuff. Another critique was the length of the entire thing. After showing you around the set for 10 minutes, you only really get 8 minutes worth of the actual challenge (running away from a monster). I hoped that the season premiere would be an hour-long: more than enough time to add more substance to the plot than "teens-bricker-and-run-from-monster." While the first season's premiere went slowly, taking its time to show you all the numerous characters and their world, the Season Two premiere went by in a flash. When the episode ended, I was surprised a half-hour had already passed. At this point, there is nothing left to say: the only reason TDA has managed to get a C- from me is simple. The first season didn't really get me when it started, and then became pretty funny. I'm hoping the same time for Total Drama Action, because at this point, Cartoon Network's reality series "The Othersiders" is funnier...and it is not meant to be.

PVoA: Cartoon Network Rant #1

2009-06-06T20:29:00.007-04:00

I'm sorry to say that I don't know how to start this. Cartoon Network has been a very important part of my life. The channel introduced me to all kinds of animation: old and new. Sure, it has (and is currently doing) a few live-action projects, but it has never bothered me. That was because I never believed it would have a major impact on the animated side of the network. Heck, Rob Sorcher, the person that is currently the Chief Content Officer of Cartoon Network said that it will not effect the channel's animation output. And I believed that, since when the Stuart Synder regime came to the network, things were looking up. We saw the premiere of several successful animated series, the greenlight for a What A Cartoon!-esque short program (The Cartoonstitute), and the pickup of a new Genndy Tartakovsky series (Sym-Bionic Titan). They even canceled Out of Jimmy's Head. These people seemed to be genuine animation fans who knew what to do with the network and how to make it succeed.

But of course, things change. Someone at the network went ahead and decided that they should produce reality programming, and everybody went ahead with it. And on June 17th and June 20th, CN Real will premiere. Four reality shows, with two more coming by the end of the year. "Great!," is what I though at the time. I thought this would be a good thing to gain ratings for the channel and to finance the animated series. But then Cartoon Network started focusing all their energy into promoting them. Advertisements for new Batman: The Brave and the Bold and The Secret Saturdays are clumped together into a single ad for the entire block. Same for Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. But, being the optimist I am, I didn't really see this so much as a bad thing. Then, the creator of Chowder (C.H. Greenblatt) started getting worried (and later came to the conclusion) that his show will get cancelled. But I refused to believe this. But then Greenblatt said that Flapjack could also be in danger of cancellation, of which Thurop Van Orman has said nothing about. I refused to believe this either, since Flapjack didn't even premiere its second season yet, so the network had to see how it did in Season 2 before making the final decision. But then Jay Stephens (creator of TSS) came to Toon Zone with some troubling news: Cartoon Network Studios has closed its doors to comedy.

Yes, you read that right. Cartoon Network Studios, whose most popular animated series WERE comedies, have closed their doors to anymore animated comedy pitches and any comedy series in development (not production, so Adventure Time with Finn and Jake is safe). For the foreseeable future, Cartoon Network is now going to focus solely on action/adventure series. Sure, Jay has told us that the entertainment world changes all the time: that the doors for hilarity will likely be opened again in the future. That made my anger subdue, until I learned that Cartoonstitute was affected by this also. Of the planned 150 animated shorts to be made, only 14 were successfully completed. It was at the point when I realized that there was no real bright side to this other than 2 or 3 of these shorts becoming full-length series (if that's still happening). I completely and utterly hated what Cartoon Network has done. What the hell happened!!??

EDIT - Craig McCracken confirmed that only 39 shorts were to be made, which (in retrospect) makes more sense than 150 shorts. There is no way a studio could complete 150 shorts in 20 months without the help of several other studios. The only reason the project was canned was because of the horrible economy, so it was either the shorts program or something else.

Cartoon Network Upfront 2009: Animated

2009-03-27T12:24:00.011-04:00

It's been two months since I've made a post on this blog. In that time I've been working on raising my grades in high school before the end of the term, convincing my parents to pay money for animation classes in Fall, and (most importantly) keeping a close eye on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network held it's annual upfront on Wednesday, showcasing all the new stuff coming up in the next year...animation and live-action. Sure, there is a lot of animated goodness that has announced, but there is also as many live-action projects. Today, I will be reviewing and looking over the animated treats of the upfront.

*All images used in this blog post are completely and utterly owned by both Cartoon Network and Toon Zone

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Upcoming Animated Series (Four Originals and Three Acquisitions)

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake - Finn, the human boy with the awesome hat, and Jake, the wise dog, are close friends and partners in strange adventures in the land of Ooo. Adventure Time started out as a short at Nickelodeon, and later on picked up by Cartoon Network. If you've seen the short on Youtube, you'd know that it has some wacky & random humor, rubbery animation, and pleasing colors. Having seen a complete storyboard for one of the episodes, I'm highly anticipating the premiere of this little gem.

Stoked - Six teenaged groms (young surfers) come together for 12 weeks over summer to work and surf at the world renowned Surfer’s Paradise Resort on the legendary Sunset Island, home of the most epic surf break in the country. From the creators of Total Drama Island and 6teen, Stoked is basically what I would call "6teen on a beach". The characters and animation seem very similar. However, this show could surprise me. Only time will tell whether or not I'll become a fan.

Total Drama Island - Showcasing all the elements of favorite reality TV shows—romances and friendships; scheming and sabotage; death-defying stunts and stomach curdling challenges within larger-than-life elimination competition—Total Drama Action succeeds Total Drama Island. Fourteen contestants face thrilling challenges on an abandoned film studio back-lot, all inspired by the movies. After reviewing Total Drama Island, I became a fan of the series. So of course I'm hoping Total Drama Action will be as good, if not better than the first season. Though hindered by Flash animation, the show had good writing and fabulous characters. And it successfully mocks reality television...

Ben 10: Evolutions - An all-new animated series follows 16-year-old Ben Tennyson as his secret identity has been revealed to the world and he’s now an international mega-star super hero, loved by kids the world over but distrusted by many adults. Armed with a mysterious new Omnitrix, Ben will see action in places he’s never been. Before any confusion sets in, I'd like to say that this series takes place after the upcoming third season of Alien Force. I'd also like to say that I actually enjoy the Ben 10 franchise, and I'll happily accept another series.

Sym-Bionic Titan - From creator Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack) comes an exciting hybrid of high school drama and giant robot battles. Sym-Bionic Titan follows the adventures of three beings from the planet Galaluna who crash-land on Earth while attempting to escape their war-torn world. This series had me at Genndy Tartakovsky...wonder how he'll juggle this and the Samurai Jack movie though.

Generator Rex - Infected by microscopic molecular-altering nanites, 15-year-old Rex has the ability to grow incredible machines out of his body. Recruited by an organization called Providence, Rex travels the world investigating a host of biological mutations that were created by the same nanites that give Rex his powers. Created by Man of Action, the same group that gave us Ben 10, Generator Rex seems like an interesting concept. I'll be sure to check it out, if only for that badass-looking monkey with the cigar.

Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. - A sleepy little village, Crystal Cove, boasts a long history of ghost sightings, poltergeists, demon possession, phantoms and other paranormal occurrences. The renowned sleuthing team of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo arrive to prove all of this simply isn’t real—but they don’t realize the locals don’t welcome their help. If you ask me, the plot for this series sounds more like a 26-episode story arc (or a DTV film) than an actually series. Nevertheless, I'm glad that we're getting more Scooby-Doo. Aren't you?

Animated Films

Firebreather - Cartoon Network’s first original all-CG animation adventure presents Duncan Rosenblatt, a rather typical, awkward high school kid, except that his dad is a fire-breathing dragon and he is destined to protect the earth. Based upon a comic book series, Firebreather seems like an awesome concept. The main character doesn't hide his true self: he shows it to the world at all times. This already puts it near the top of my must-watch list.

Strangly enough, that was the only animated film mentioned at the upfront, despite having several more behind closed doors.

My Drawing Thread on Toon Zone

2009-02-14T15:52:00.004-05:00

I put drawings there...just so you know. Linkage.

P.S. - Hope to have more stuff up on both my blogs soon...

And the Day is Saved!

2009-02-01T15:45:00.003-05:00

Name: The Powerpuff Girls

Creator(s): Craig McCracken

Network(s): Cartoon Network; Reruns currently on Boomerang

Rating: A-

Original Airdates: November 18, 1998 – March 25, 2005

The Powerpuff Girls, believe it or not, was Cartoon Network's most successful original series. Making over a billion dollars worldwide, and also gaining a theatrical film back in 2002, is it any wonder why the channel honored it with a full day marathon ending with a brand new special that was written by creator Craig McCracken? While a few months late (the show's actual 10th anniversary was November 2008), the network gave it an amazing final hurrah. However, the idea had its start before the What a Cartoon! program. McCracken created the characters in college, and the PPGs could have become an animated series as early as 1994. But now let me get to reviewing the series itself.

Now, the series didn't get popular for nothing. The Powerpuff Girls had great humor: from parodying basic superhero and tokusatsu fare (the episode "Uh Oh, Dynamo" is a good example) to referencing pop culture (from Sesame Street to The Legend of Zelda). The series traveled a thin line between serious and hilarious, and did it perfectly at times. The humor wasn't the only good thing about the series: action was also a huge part. The action sequences were fun to watch and could be intense at times. The voice acting is good and believable, it isn't at all forced. You are able to care about the characters. The art style is stylized and simplistic in such a way that the creator has said he feels like he created a Flash show before Flash animation existed.

Sorry for the short review, but there isn't much to say, and I'm in a bit of a hurry. The review of the special will be up tomorrow, and I promise I'll have more to say.

Cartoon Review - Star Wars: The Clone Wars series

2009-01-20T19:43:00.010-05:00

Honestly? I never thought I would actually get to doing this review. I've fallen asleep though a few episodes, and never actually completed watching an episode that had Anakin Skywalker front and center. But I was able to catch up (for the most part) and I'm all ready to go.

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Name: Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Creator(s): Do I seriously have to tell you this?

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: B-

Premiere: October 3rd, 2008

Okay, when you heard that Cartoon Network snagged the newest Clone Wars series (you can't have forgotten Genndy Tartakovsky's superb mini-series), you had to know that the network would hype it up a lot. Here was a series that had "ratings-grabber" all over it. A series that was part of a huge franchise that has legions of fans, with a lot of those fans being tweenage boys in their target demograph. A series that would put Cartoon Network back on the map and make them the second most popular kids network in the United States once again. Stuart Synder truly wanted this series to succeed, so he got promoted it on every single Turner-owned (and non-Turner owned) network. He gave out money to help kids across the country make parties for the premiere. On the network itself, every break had at least one commercial devoted to the show. They spent most of their budget for acquisitions that year on Star Wars, and wanted to get their money's worth...and I'm pretty sure they did.

Now that I'm done talking about Cartoon Network's major promotion of the series premiere, let me talked about the series itself. Now the series takes place between Episodes Two and Three, chronicling the Clone Wars. Now you can see right off the bat that that is a little problem. Due to there being a movie talking what happens after the Clone Wars, its impossible to become attached to the characters. You know Anakin Skywalker is going to become Dark Vader. You know that Ahsoka Tano is going to die before or at series end. So right off the bat, you know the destination and the outcome. We can only hope that the journey is epic and entertaining. Sadly, while some might find the series amazing, I find half the series so far to be surprisingly boring.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is basically a documentary film on a space war. Some parts make you fall asleep, and others are just so amazing that it's just plain awesome. I want to get into the series, but the only characters I find truly interesting are the Clone Troopers, Yoda, and Ahsoka. Mostly the rarely-seen characters or a characters you know every little about. Characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin which I know a great about from the Internet don't really appeal to me, since you know their futures already.

The only real thing the series has got going for it is its great work and well-done CGI-animation. Everything else falls a little flat, despite the attempts of all the cast and crew. This series just isn't for me, but then again, I wasn't always into straight-foreword action series. I like shows that can make me laugh once in a while still being able to keep a serious atmosphere (Avatar: The Last Airbender, W.I.T.C.H., Huntik: Secrets and Seekers, Samurai Jack, etc.). Overall, this series is really trying. It just isn't quite there yet for me, so I sorry to say that I have to give this a B-.

Cartoon Review - Batman: The Brave and the Bold

2009-01-11T13:49:00.013-05:00

Name: Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Executive Producer(s): James Tucker

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: B+

Premiere: November 14, 2008

Okay, imagine that you are someone that just saw The Dark Knight this summer, and you loved it. Then you hear about a new Batman cartoon coming in a few months. You would think it would be a lot like the movie, wouldn't you? Featuring a dark and serious Batman, facing off against a bunch of Gotham villains. By himself with no Robin or Batgirl. Turn the TV on the day of the premiere, and you find out that you were dead wrong.

Congratulations, for you have come across something that hasn't been seen for YEARS...a light-hearted Batman cartoon! For you see, Batman: The Brave and the Bold isn't your average Batman cartoon. Based on the 50s comic series, Brave and the Bold, this series involves Batman leaving Gotham City and teaming up with heroes such as Blue Beetle and Wildcat, and facing off against villains like Gentleman Ghost and Black Manta. Actually, Batman is just here to draw you into the series, with the main attraction being the "hero of the week" he happens to be with. The real fun in the series is how Batman gets along with his partner, and how the overall problem ends up being solved. The series is simply a well-thought out excuse to showcase the various heroes and villains the DC Comics Universe, something that I truly enjoy. After all, without Batman being the header, characters like B'wana Beast would never make it to animation.

The artwork in this series is quite retro and harkens back to the Silver Age era of comics. The characters are often well-designed and the animation is well-done. Dialogue can be cheesy at times, but that just adds to the fun of this series. The series has no real storyline, unlike many of the other action series on Cartoon Network. If you only like a dark Batman, then its extremely likely that you will hate this series. Either way, this show gets a B+ from me.

Future "Racattack Junction!" Posts

2009-01-10T14:24:00.008-05:00

January

Cartoon Review - Batman: The Brave and the Bold (January 11th)
Cartoon Review - Star Wars: The Clone Wars review (January 20) I'll be reviewing the series
Cartoon Review - Total Drama Island revised (January 21th)
And the Day is Saved! (January 22th) Powerpuff Girls Tribute
Cartoon Review - The Powerpuff Girls Rule! (January 23th)
Animation News #5 (January 25th)

February

Be on the lookout for interviews with a few series creators like Joe Murray...hopefully.

The Return of Looney Tunes

2008-12-19T19:37:00.007-05:00

That's right folks! After four long years, the beloved Looney Tunes shorts are returning to television. Due to disputes between Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network involving the 2003 film (Looney Tunes: Back in Action), Cartoon Network was left unable to air post-1948 shorts. Turner Broadcasting owned the pre-1948 shorts, but the network has since refused to air the program until Warner Bros. gave them the post-1948 under certain conditions. It was thought impossible by all animation enthusiasts for the Looney Tunes shorts to ever air again.

But on January 1st, 2009, to ring in the new year, Cartoon Network is airing a 14-hour long Looney Tunes marathon! But, does this mean the permanent return of this classic shorts to the network? Only time will tell...and by that I mean when Zap2it gets up to the first full week of 2009.

EDIT: It's just a test-run to see if it would be profitable for the network to air.

Random! Cartoons - Episode One Review

2008-12-06T14:18:00.008-05:00

Well, I saw the first episode, and I can safely say that it was pretty good. And I also hope that I wasn't the only person that saw this episode, cause that would suck for both me and the person who missed out on these animated beauties.

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Solomon Fix isn't the worst short ever, but it was barely decent. The jokes were basically kiddy fare, some making no sense what so ever. The theme song came out and said that "the short was for kids". Well, I should have expected that. But I've seen preschool shows that are actually better than this. It was a waste of 7 minutes. I honestly expected better.

Rating: 5/10

Moobeard: The Cow Pirate was everything I expected. Easily the best short out of all of these aired today, it was pretty funny. The cow/pig jokes were a pretty entertaining running gag, and so was Moobeard's crying. There's a lot of room for this to become an animated series on either Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. It takes a lot to make me laugh, and I'm proud to say that the short actually made me chuckle at times.

Rating: 9/10

Two Witch Sisters was...weird, to say the least. It was eccentric, crazy, and colorful. It had a random-type of humor, and the designs were pretty cool to look at. The entire short was insane, and it kinda hard to find a plot in all of this. There was a handful of "WTH!?" moments that makes you wonder who was more insane/creative: Fred Siebert who accepted the short into R!C, or the creator herself. Either way, it was a very weird and crazy short.

Rating: 8/10

"Random! Cartoons" airs every Saturday at 1:30pm on Nicktoons Network.

P.S. - Don't cha hate it when your images get cut off? Click on them to see the full thing, okay? You do want to see the names of the people who created the shorts right? Riiiiiiight?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T12:55:00.003-05:00

Yes, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade just got rick roll'd, courtesy of Cartoon Network.

Yet Some More Animation News

2008-11-24T17:57:00.007-05:00

Random! Cartoons to Premiere this December

Starting this December, the long-awaited Random! Cartoons show is going to air...on Nicktoons Network. Unfortunately, it will not be airing on the main Nickelodeon channel. The series is a collection of animated shorts made by several animators in the business: both new and old. One of the shorts, Adventure Time, has been picked up by Cartoon Network and is scheduled to premiere next year. Here's the schedule for the Random! Cartoons episodes (all times 1:30pm EST):

Saturday, 12/6 - Episode 101 (Solomon Fix, MooBeard, Two Witch Sisters)
Sunday, 12/7 - Episode 102 (Finster Finster, Adventure Time, Mind the Kitty)
Saturday, 12/13 - Episode 103 (Ivan, Boneheads, Tiffany)
Saturday, 12/20 - Episode 104 (Call Me Bessie, Teapot, Hornswiggle)
Saturday, 12/27 - Episode 105 (Hero Heights, Yaki & Yumi, Gary Guitar)

So if you have the channel like I do, you better watch the show. 39 animated shorts in 13 episodes. And you better watch them all...

Cartoon Network has the Holiday Goods...

Starting December 4th, with the premiere of a Chowder Christmas special (Hey, Hey it’s Knishmas), Cartoon Network jump starts it's holiday festivities. Other Christmas goodies include a holiday-themed episode of 6teen, a Batman: The Brave and the Bold special, and special titled In Search of Santa. And let's not forgot all those Christmas specials of CN original series, that are also going to air along with some holiday classics. Cartoon Network looks like the place to be this December. Schedule is linked to in the picture to the left.

Yes, I know it's not much, but that's all I've got.

gasp A POST!!!

2008-11-23T20:13:00.003-05:00

Just to put in a post this month, after a long absence, I want to make some things known...

I'll try to put up a Animation News post this week, which also involves some news about the long delayed Random! Cartoons show from Nickelodeon.
Reviews of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and of the new Foster's movie (Destination Imagination) with all be up before the end of the month...I seriously promise.
For the time being, enjoy the Adventure Time short. In case you aren't in the know, Adventure Time is to premiere as an animated series in Fall 2009 on Cartoon Network. The initial order is for 13 half-hours (26x11 minutes).

Cartoon Review - The Secret Saturdays

2008-10-04T16:20:00.001-04:00

It was the year 2007. I was surfing the internet as I always do when I stumbled upon the official website for Cartoon Network's 2007 Upfront. Happily, I went to check out the 'Upcoming Shows' section, which showed five shows which would premiere. Well, Cartoon Network's try at live-action programming, Out of Jimmy's Head, failed and was cancelled back in June. Santo is currently somewhere in development hell. And Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack became hits. But on that day, one show stood out for me the most...The Secret Saturdays. Upon reading the plot and watching the Sizzle Reel, I went to Wikipedia and created the TSS Wikipedia page. I had the feeling that this show would be awesome beyond words and would be one of the greatest American action shows ever. And, upon watching it TWICE last night and once today, I have to say I was pretty close to right.

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Name: The Secret Saturdays

Creator(s): Jay Stephens

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: A

Premiere: October 3rd, 2008

Yesterday was my birthday, and of course, The Secret Saturdays and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (review on that on Tuesday) were the shows I wanted, no, needed to watch. So after grabbing some birthday cake, and sitting through the last three minutes of Johnny Test, I watched the greatness that was TSS (The Secret Saturdays). Oh, and one of these days, I have to do something on the "You Are Here" block, since that was one great intro. I'm going to like that King Nood...anyway, let me start this thing...

The Secret Saturdays is about the adventures of the Saturday family and their exotic cryptid pets. Traveling the world, it's up to them to keep the existence of cryptids (creatures undiscovered by science) secret, to protect both mankind and the cryptids themselves. And along the way, they have to tangle with twisted villains like V.V. Argost (host of the show Weird World; which was at the center of Cartoon Network's viral campaign for the show) and Van Rook (a rival cryptozoologist whose just in the cryptid biz just for the money). And the basic plot for the first 26 episodes (2 seasons) is that:

Now that V.V. Argost has gained the gotten Kur Stone, the Saturdays have to find him and try and stop him from using it to find the ancient Sumerian cryptid Kur, and take over the world.

Now, it may sound a bit cliche (with the whole 'good-guys-must-stop-bad-guy-from-taking-over the-world' plot), but I really like it. An animated series about cryptids a truly a new idea, and the execution is pretty great. Globe-trotting and stopping the bad guys...it has a real Johnny Quest-vibe, which is a GOOD thing. How can you not love it!? Also, in case you're wondering, there are going to be quite a few stand-alone episodes in these 26 episodes, so you can jump on in at any time (though you might have to watch "The Kur Stone" is get some things).

At times, the show can get a bit dull. The writing can be cheesy and awkward at times, and the timing is sometimes a bit off when it comes to dialogue. But I think that the timing problem will get fixed over time. I won't really comment on the sometimes stiff animation, due to the fact that since this is the pilot, it's the first animation that was done for the show. So I'm sure that it will get better over time too. But I must say that the art is fantastic. In fact, Jay Stephens actually based the art design on Hanna-Barbera's 60s animated action series (aka The Herculoids, Johnny Quest, etc.) and Alex Toth's art style. This really helps give the show a nice old-school Saturday morning feel that adds to the show's greatness.

Now the characters a pretty good too. I like Zak's energy and personality. I can understand his need to prove himself to his parents, but sometimes he just doesn't do it the right way. Seeing as nearly killed himself half-way during the pilot episode and was the cause of the airship crashing in the Amazon Rainforest, I see why his mom is worried for his safety. Doc and Drew are also pretty good characters. An interracial relationship isn't new in animation, but it certainly is pretty rare. And I also like how it isn't the "stupid dad-smart mom" thing that has started to become common in animation these days. They are both strong, competent characters that are pretty interesting. And they balance each other out: Doc is the calm, slightly-skeptic scientist while Drew is the impulsive, believing-before-seeing mystic. And V.V. Argost...he just has to be one of the best villains in recent animation history. He's harsh, creepy, secretive, and shows no mercy. He's just one of those villains who just seem to be evil for no reason, and it really works here. And the cryptids are pretty funny at times, while also being able to be threatening at others. It's great.

All in all, The Secret Saturdays is now one of my favorite shows. Two scientists, their son, and a few of goofy pets appear to be the winning combination for Cartoon Network. And with Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Ben 10: Alien Force, it will dominate Friday nights. The Secret Saturdays get an ever-loving A from me. Great work, Jay! Oh, and Brandon Sawyer and Scott Jeralds too.

Even More Animation News

2008-10-01T18:51:00.005-04:00

Cartoon Network Airing Action Movies In Toonami's Place

For possibly the rest of the year, in place of the now defunct Toonami block, Cartoon Network will now be airing an animated action movie each week, with new Naruto episodes airing bi-weekly. The film roster includes Batman: Gotham Knight (October 4th; 9pm), Justice League: The New Frontier (October 18th; 9pm), and Dr. Strange (November 1st; 9pm). Here is the schedule:

OCTOBER 4TH - Batman: Gotham Knight (9pm)*; Naruto (10:30pm)
OCTOBER 11TH - Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel (9pm)
OCTOBER 18TH - Justice League: The New Frontier (9pm)*; Naruto (10:30pm)
OCTOBER 25TH - The Batamn vs. Dracula (9pm)
NOVEMBER 1TH - Dr. Strange (9pm)*; Naruto (10:30pm)

It is rumored that Naruto the Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom* will air on Saturday, November 8th at 9pm.

*Network Premiere

"Underfist" Premieres on October 12th

On Sunday, October 12th at 7pm, a new Halloween special from Billy and Mandy creator Maxwell Atoms will appear. Entitled Underfist, the hour-long special is spin-off from his previous series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and features the characters Irwin, Jeff the Spider, Hoss Delgado, Fred Fredburger, and General Skarr. When an evil witch makes an evil army of "Trick-or-Treater Eaters" with plans to take over Endsville, it's up to Underfist to take her down. The special is to air after a 5-hour GAoBaM marathon.

"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" Premieres This November

On Friday, November 14th, the newest Batman animated series (The Brave and the Bold) is to premiere on Cartoon Network. The series, unlike the currently popular Nolan films starring a dark Batman universe, this show returns to a more light-hearted Batman. That doesn't mean Batman is going soft however. It's just going to be the overall tone of the show. In this show, instead of seeing Bat's regular rouge gallery, they're going old-school and showing off some of the Gotham Knight's lesser-known adversaries (such as Clock King). Most episodes will have Batman outside of Gotham City and teaming-up with several other heroes (such as Plastic Man). Oh, yeah, and Diedrich Baker is voicing Batman this time around.

Yeah, only three news items this time. Hey, I was going to add a fourth, but I decided it would be better to say that one in November.

Toonami Finale

2008-09-21T14:57:00.005-04:00

Last night, I watched most of the Toonami block. I didn't want to miss a second of it. Toonami was a great and amazing block. Even though it died, it had a great run. It lasted way longer than most shows and blocks do. 11 years is a pretty long time. They went through several hosts (I started watching Toonami around the time of TOM2). I must have been the only one who actually liked TOM4 a bit. He was the perfect version of TOM to close the Toonami block. "So, until we meet again, stay gold..." A perfect end to such a perfect block.

Bang.

More Random Animation News

2008-09-20T10:17:00.009-04:00

"Secret Saturdays" and "Clone Wars" Start This October

On October 3rd, both The Secret Saturdays and Star Wars: The Clone Wars have their premieres on Cartoon Network. At 8pm, get ready to see the amazing hour-long premiere ("The Kur Stone") of The Secret Saturdays, the first ever animated series about cryptids. From the mind of Jay Stephens, 26 episodes have been produced so far at Porchlight Entertainment. And at 9pm, get ready to go to a place far, far away, with two back-to-back episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (produced at Lucasfilm Animation). And lucky for you, I have the episode synopsis for both of them:

9:00 p.m. “AMBUSH”: Jedi Master Yoda is on a secret mission to forge a treaty with the King of the strategic system of Toydaria when his ship is ambushed by Count Dooku. Yoda and three clone troopers must face off against Count Dooku’s dreaded assassin Ventress and her massive droid army to prove the Jedi are strong enough to protect the king and his people from the forces of the war.

9:30 p.m. “RISING MALEVOLENCE”: Creating panic throughout the galaxy, a devastating Separatist mystery weapon terrorizes the clone Starfleet. Anakin and Ahsoka race to save Jedi Master Plo Koon and his clone troopers in time.

22 episodes have been produced for the first season, and reruns will be airing on TNT. The name of the new Friday night action block is still unknown, but the tagline is "YOU. ARE. HERE."

An Important Message About Toonami

Tonight, between 10:30pm and 11:00pm (Samurai Jack's time-slot), there will be a very important announcement that involves Toonami. What could it be: a Toonami channel? Extended block? New shows? No real info on whether the news is good or bad, but I really recommend you watch Toonami tonight for it. EDIT: The announcement is about the death of the Toonami block. 1997-2008: R.I.P. Toonami

"The Mighty B!" For A Mighty Second Season

Nickelodeon's newest hit animated series, The Mighty B!, has just been picked up for a 20-episode second season. The series is about a 9 and 3/4 year old Honeybee scout who aims to collect every single badge there is in order to become a superhero called The Mighty B. The series premiered on April 26th and has since become one of the channel's top rated series. Created by Amy Poehler (of SNL fame), Cynthia True (former FOP writer), and Erik Weise (former Spongebob writer and storyboarder).

Powerpuffs Get Complete Series Set

On January 20th, 2009, Warner Home Video and Cartoon Network will release The Complete Powerpuff Girls Anniversary Collector’s Set to celebrate the show's 10 year anniversary. The six-DVD boxed set includes all 78 episodes of the series (including the never-aired in the US series finale) and new bonus features such as a documentary on show creator Craig McCracken, commentaries, a music video and more. In addition to this, there will be an all-day marathon paying tribute to the series, ending with the TV premiere of a brand new PPG special from McCracken himself.

George Pipes and Bone (unrelated characters)

2008-09-14T16:35:00.004-04:00

Yeah, it's another artwork post. That's pretty much all you guys will be getting for the rest of the month. In fact, I plan to make these posts daily. I may not be able to do the follow-up reviews. But don't worry, I'll go back to my Cartoon Reviews next month, and you can expect more Animation News by the end of the week. So for now, enjoy these posts. And just so you guys know, these characters have nothing to do with each other.

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Okay I made this character way back in 8th grade, a few weeks before summer vacation. He was just a little scribble that I ended up liking a lot. In the beginning, he was just a character I liked drawing. A useless guy to draw when bored. But then I came up with a bunch of ideas for him. A run-of-the-mill guy in a a crazy town, a plumber battling monsters in the sewers, the list goes on. I still don't really know what to do with him, but all I know is that he's a plumber in an Anywhere, U.S.A town...

Picture A is a drawing of the guy as he looks normally. He's pretty calm most of the time, taking all of life problems and troubles with ease. Of course sometimes he goes crazy or insane, as seen in Picture B, and has no clue what to do in the face of extreme danger. In fact, I'm starting to like the "plumber who fights sewer monsters" idea now. It has this certain...tinge to it. It just seems to make sense for the character. Picture C is just George staring at something, somewhat confused. Probably confused by some weird painting done by a neighbor a local art show. Picture D is just George smiling. Like the drawings I made yesterday, the ones in pencil are just roughs that I did, and the ones outlined in pen are the ones I really liked.

Yes, I realize that there is a comic book character with the name of Bone, but I just came up with the name, and it seemed to fit this character. This character started as a bedtime character a few days ago, in that I first created him when I was in bed and drawing. And in case you couldn't notice, he's actually a dog. No joke. He just feels like a dog to me.

Picture A is Bone half-heartedly reaching his hand out to someone and telling him/her his name. Picture B is Bone being either shocked or surprised by something...I just don't really know what. You see, because I created this character such a short time ago, I never really had time to truly develop the character yet. Picture C has Bone smiling, being very happy, while in contrast, Picture D has Bone angry with a frown. The picture in pencil (Picture 1) was my first attempt at actually drawing Bone from the front. Pictures 2 and 3 were just drawn to take up space. That's all for today!

Johnny Labrat

2008-09-13T16:35:00.006-04:00

This is my newest character, Johnny Labrat. Picture A is actually a 'copy' of the first drawing I ever did of him. I first drew him in Honors Biology yesterday. And an idea I came up for the guy yesterday during the same class was that maybe he was the often used test subject of some crazy mad scientist, and he was about to be subject to another experiment. Thus came the name Johnny Labrat.

Picture B is one I made today, and it was the outcome of one of the experiments...a lot of his hair falling out. Picture C is another drawing I made of him today, which was the outcome of a different experiment: making Johnny smile. I decided, that like Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Johnny should almost never smile. And if he does...well, the results aren't too pretty.

The pictures in pencil are some roughs I made of him today, and the pen drawings are basically roughs that I decided I really liked. And, since I'm scared of people taking my characters, I decided that I should copyright it.

Random Animation News

2008-08-29T15:29:00.006-04:00

"The Secret Saturdays" premieres this October

The newest Cartoon Network original series, The Secret Saturdays, is set to premiere this October on a new Friday night fantasy/adventure block. Created by Jay Stephens, the series is about a family of cryptozoologists that work to keep the truth about cryptids from getting out, to protect both the human race and the creatures themselves. 26 episodes were produced for the channel by Porchlight Entertainment.

"The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" picked up for second season

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Cartoon Network's newest comedy series, has been picked up for a 20-episode second season that is likely to start airing next summer. Also, the remaining 8 episodes of the first season will start airing this winter. Created by Thurop Van Orman, the series is about a young boy named Flapjack who dreams of becoming an adventurer. Produced by Cartoon Network Studios.

"Adventure Time" for Cartoon Network

The animated short Adventure Time, created by Pendleton Ward for Nick's Random Cartoons, was picked up by Cartoon Network as a series. Pendleton Ward is currently a writer on the animated series Flapjack. Adventure Time is about a boy named Pen and his dog Jake, and there adventures in a strange land. Where the show is being produced is currently unknown. Short can be seen here.

Fanboy and Chum Chum" well into production at Nick

The animated short, Fanboy and Chum Chum, has recently been greenlighted for series by Nickelodeon. Originally to air as part of Random Cartoons, the short is about...some boy who wants to be a superhero. Created by Eric Robles, the series is being produced at Frederator Studios. 26 episodes have been ordered. More information available at production blog.

Cartoon Review - Interview with Jay Stephens

2008-08-21T19:55:00.009-04:00

Hello and welcome to Cartoon Review! Instead of doing that late Cartoon Review of Phineas and Ferb, I decided to do an interview with Jay Stephens. Jay, if you didn't know, is a cryptozoology freak who is the creator of the upcoming Cartoon Network show "The Secret Saturdays" (which I think will be one of the best action shows ever, maybe even better than Avatar). It's a rather short interview, which just answers a few short questions. So without adu, here's the interview!

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Me : Where did you grow up, and did your childhood have any affect on your work?
Jay: I grew up in a traditional North American 'broken home' where I was abandoned for hours-- even days-- at a time in front of a TV or with a stack of comic books. I found the love and nurturing I needed in junk culture, and it definitely sent me on this screwy 'career' path. I had to hone my imagination while dreaming up a happy childhood.

Me: How did the idea for your other animated series, Tutenstein, come about?
Jay: When I was 7 I saw a touring exhibit of 'The Treasures Of Tutankhamen' at the Art Gallery Of Ontario, and it blew my mind. Much later, I thought the idea of cross breeding a living mummy with Frankenstein's Monster would be wicked cool.

Me: Before Tutenstein and The Secret Saturdays, I hear you worked in comics. What was some of your work in that and how did you end up in animation?
Jay: I worked in comics (and continue to) for 15 years before coming to animation. You could do some homework on that stuff at my website: http://www.jaystephens.com
Basically, an executive saw my comics and thought they might make good TV. First Jetcat for Nick, then Tut, and the rest is history.

Me: How was it, working on The Secret Saturdays? And if the channel lets you, would you work on a third season?
Jay: We don't have a second season yet, so I'm not sure of what you mean (the first season order was for 26 episodes). CN has been my best experience in animation to date, by a wide margin. I would be delighted to continue the relationship.

Me: How did the Saturdays end up with Cartoon Network?
Jay: They were the only network we shopped it to with the vision to see it through. As luck would have it, the success of Ben 10 had executives hungry for more action stuff. I've been trying to get in that door for years, so it came as a kind of anti-climactic shock to suddenly be doing business with the best animated network out there.

Me: How did you end up being so interested in monsters and cryptids?
Jay: I've been told I have a sick mind. Monsters creep into my thoughts pretty naturally, I guess! When I was in grade school, I was voracious in my private reading habits, sneaking off to the Library across the street from my house as often as possible. It was there that I first discovered the secret science of cryptozoology, and I used evidence for the existence of Bigfoot as my grade 4 Public Speaking project. I won first prize. Cryptids have been good to me ever since.

Me: What do you do in your spare time?
Jay: Get well in a Mental Hospital. For real.

Me: Are there any significant people that influence your work?
Jay: Far too many to list here, and it's an ever expanding list. I can tell you that I was looking to Alex Toth, Doug Wildey, Warren Tufts, Milt Caniff, Roy Crane, Harvey Kurtzman, Daniel Torres, Jack Kirby, and Hergé as inspiration for the Secret Saturdays.

Me: Are there any secrets you can reveal about upcoming episodes?
Jay: If I told you, I'd have to sick my chupacabras on you.

Jay Stephens' "The Secret Saturdays" is set to premiere in October on Cartoon Network's new fantasy/adventure/action block along with Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

PVoA #3 - The Cartoons That Weren't

2008-08-15T20:39:00.006-04:00

Welcome to my PVoA, my Personal Views of Animation. Unlike the past two PVoA's, this one reads more like a Cartoon Review, since I'll be reviewing the two pilots I'm about to talk about. The first pilot is called "The Wizzard of Krudd", and was created by both Greg Miller (creator of the Cartoon Network series "Whatever Happened to Robot Jones") and Mike Stern for Nickelodeon. The second one I'm to show you is called "Zoot Rumpus", and was created by Kaz (of Spongebob Squarepants and Camp Lazlo fame) for Cartoon Network. So I don't have to spend time making a bunch of screenshots, I'll just post the videos.

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Name: The Wizzard of Krudd

Creator(s): Greg Miller and Mike Stern

Running Time: 7 minutes and 32 seconds (the 2 minutes after that are a quick, soundless summary of the pilot)

Network: Nickelodeon

Rating: B+

Status: Stored in a Viacom warehouse, never to see the light of day...except for the occasional "Shorts in a Bunch" airing.

The Wizzard of Krudd is basically about a young rocker Gordo McMullett who is enslaved by the evil wizard Butterbeard and his two idiotic goblin side-kicks in the strange land of Krudd. However, from the pilot, you can see that Gordo doesn't even realize he's a prisoner. If you have watched Whatever Happened to Robot Jones, then you will realize the 70s-80s feel Greg gives the cartoon. In fact, it wouldn't be hard to believe if both shows did take place in that time.

It feels like it could have made a good, retro styled cartoon if it was truly given the chance. However, it wasn't and it ended up not getting picked up for a series. It has a quirky humor and style to it that I really like. It would have made a good show, and I would have watched it. And the thing is...it truly fits the Nickelodeon name.

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Name: Zoot Rumpus

Creator(s): Kazimieras G. Prapuolenis (aka 'Kaz')

Running Time: 6 minutes and 34 seconds (this is just the first half of the pilot. Once the second part is put up on Youtube, I'll edit this post with it)

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: B

Status: Still a chance for the short to be greenlighted.

Zoot Rumpus is about a junkyard dog named Zoot and his attempts to prove that he could run the junkyard one day. It's a pretty zany cartoon that really feels like an old-school Nickelodeon show (like Rocko's Modern Life and The Angry Beavers). At first glances, it feels and looks like a Nick show, but after a while you can see that it has the markings of a Cartoon Network cartoon. In terms of humor, it's somewhere between Camp Lazlo and Rocko's Modern Life (both which were created by Joe Murray). The artwork is pretty appealing to my eyes, and the animation is decent.

Zoot is a good cartoon, but could it still get picked up for a series. It may depend. If Cartoon Network airs it as part of Cartoonstitute, then positive viewer response might make CN execs decide to greenlight it. After all, they do need some more shows going on. However, if it was up to themselves, Zoot could get the boot. We just need to wait and see...

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Thousands of cartoon pilots and ideas get submitted year, but only a small handful end up getting greenlighted. The two I just showed you are but two of the many pilots out there. If you were in the position to choose, would you have accepted these shorts or toss them out to the cold? If it were up to me, I would have accepted these for at least one season, to see how they would do. After all, I liked them a lot. But that's all I can really say for now. Both these pilots were good comedies, even though they didn't make me laugh (Zoot Rumpus came close though). Anyway, come by next week for my next PVoA on Toon Disney. Racattack Force, over and out...

What's Coming Up...

2008-08-12T21:37:00.007-04:00

All these blog posts will most likely happen in the order listed. Also, Tednut has been put on hiatus for the time being, I'll explain it next month. As you can see below, I plan to do four more blog posts this month, and a whopping nine posts next month.

Later This August...

A PVoA on animated pilots not picked up for series: First one made for Nickelodeon called "Wizzard of Krudd" created by Greg Miller (maker of the shortlived Cartoon Network series, "Whatever Happened To Robot Jones"). Then one made for Cartoon Network called "Zoot Rumpus" (which still may have a chance to be picked up for a series) created by underground cartoonist Kaz.

A late Cartoon Review of Phineas and Ferb.

A PVoA on the ten-year history of Toon Disney, and it's demise due to Disney wanting a network for boys. And get this, it ain't called Jetix.

A Cartoon Review of The Secret Saturdays...if it premieres this month.

This September...

A PVoA on Nickelodeon, and most importantly, it's animation.

A Cartoon Followup Review of "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack".

A PVoA on Disney XD, and it's possible future effects on current Toon Disney animation.

A Cartoon Followup Review of "Total Drama Island".

A PVoA on Williams Street, the company that made Cartoon Network's Toonami and Adult Swim blocks.

A Cartoon Followup Review of "Chowder".

Where's Tednut!?: Why the webtoon is on "hiatus"...

A Cartoon Review on The Secret Saturdays, if not done the previous month.

The start of my "History of Animation" series, in which I will write (for over a year) about animation history: in the United States and all over the world.

PVoA #2 - Cartoon Network

2008-08-08T18:07:00.010-04:00

Welcome to my PVoA, my Personal Views of Animation. This is the second part of my writings on Time Warner's animation library. For this part, I'm going to be focusing on Cartoon Network, and what the channel could do to improve itself. Sure, it's going up in the ratings now, but it still has some work to do. Basically, I'm going to be discussing programming and schedule. Oh, and that WALL-E review...I may never get to completing it. If it isn't up by the end of the week, then don't expect anything. And just so you know, I saw the movie on July 1st.

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Cartoon Network...ah yes, the ESPN of animation. The channel is doing fairly well in the ratings. Each month, the channel continues to get more an more viewers with it's "Har Har Tharsdays" block. Tweens 9-14 (my age group) went up 69% in just weeks. If that happened because of shows like Total Drama Island (which I've grown to love) and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (which is now tied for #1 series on the network), then just imagine what will happen when The Secret Saturdays, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, & Batman: The Brave and The Bold premiere in the next two months. The channel will go from a distant third to a closer third. And just add Cartoonstitute, the original movies (based on comics) they are developing, and anymore future projects to the mix. Cartoon Network could be heading towards it's former glory. But, that doesn't mean there isn't anymore room for improvement. No, far from it. There's some things the channel must do before it becomes truly great...

Programming

First off, Cartoon Network can keep the live action if it wants. As long as it continues to make up less than 5% of the weekly schedule (it currently makes up 1% to 2%). And I'm okay with them making The Vanishers comic a live-action instead of animated TV movie. In fact, the creator wants that, since he said he wanted it to be portrayed as realistically as possible. As long as animation continues to more than dominate the network, it's okay by me.

Second off, Cartoon Network should consider airing more classical programming. They air close to two hours of Tom and Jerry every day, so the least they could do is air some of The Flintstones and The Jetsons. Maybe some Smurfs and Snorks would do. And I don't care when they air the stuff. They could air in in the early mornings or in the middle of the afternoon, just air the stuff.

Third off, in addition of airing classic programming, they should air some of their old Cartoon Cartoons. Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls just have to air on the channel again. In the early mornings or late at night, I don't care, I just want to wake up and see them. Same for the 90s Warner Bros. cartoons. Which brings me to my own example schedule idea...

Schedule

Cartoon Network Schedule (Spring 2009)

This is an example schedule I made for Cartoon Network. It features classical cartoons, the Warner Bros. cartoons of the 90s, the old Cartoon Cartoons, current CN programming, and future CN programming. The red is for the "Dynamite Action Squad" block, if it still exists at that point. The green is for an after school block, the light purple for "Har Har Tharsdays", and dark red/brown for "Fried Dynamite" (it has started to get some real ratings, so it's gotta stay). Oh yeah, the black is for "Toonami", and the blue for the "Flicks" movie premiere block.

With this schedule, HHT is now three hours, and both "Fried Dynamite" & "Toonami" are four hours. Monday mornings feature action cartoons, Tuesday mornings show comedy, Wednesdays have Cartoon Cartoons, Thursdays are the classics, and Fridays are the 90s Warner Bros. cartoons. Saturday and Sunday mornings are just simply random. Like now, movies are on at 10 am every day except Saturday. And there is also a marathon every Sunday afternoon. Saturday afternoons show encores of premiere episodes that aired earlier in the week. In case you don't know, Cartoonstitute is a shorts project Cartoon Network is currently working on. It's similar to the What A Cartoon! Show that aired years before. Ironically, Cartoon Network seemed to have trademarked the phrase. Maybe as a new slogan for the network...who knows?

Of course, in the summer, Cartoon Network is free to do what every other kids network does: air their most popular shows 50 times a day. But for fall, winter, and spring, they have to mix it up a bit a give us some variety. And that's it for today. Next week, I'll talk a bit about some cartoon pilots that never got picked up for series, one or two from Nick, and one or two from Cartoon Network. Whatever pilots I can actually show you...

VIACOM VS YOU = BOYCOTT

2008-07-08T18:41:00.001-04:00

Oh crap, I seriously hate this. Viacom, you guys are serious...buttholes. But anyway, the Wall*E review will be up tomorrow. Please comment to voice your opinion on this.

Tednut Production News!

2008-07-02T12:00:00.004-04:00

I have posted this news both here on this blog and on the official Tednut website. Production on my web series, Tednut, has been temporarily halted until further notice. Well, no exactly halted, its more like I'm starting all over again (in a way). There are a number of reasons why I have to do this, which I shall list below:

Animation, is a major reason. I will most likely not be able to even start it until later this month, after I get back from a weeks at Pillars of Fire (which I'm going to after spending a week at a camp in the Adirondack Mountains). I'll be pretty much gone for two weeks, and have no access to any computer during this time.
Storyboards Only. I have to completely get rid of the scripts. After all, what use does a script have for a show where none of the characters actually talk? I was unable to get my hands on a microphone todo the voices, so I'm getting rid of that aspect. All humor will be based entirely on actions. This could be a chanllege, but I think I can handle it. This show will now only use storyboards, if I want at least the few episodes to be done by September 12th (it's a bi-weekly series).
Backgrounds. I haven't finished ANY of the backgrounds...okay, I finished one (Ted's bedroom) but I really need to redo that one since it's very messy. Most of the kitchen is colored, but I need to complete it. A school hallway I drew is completely uncolored (with the exception of a fish)

Okay, so that's all you really need to know at this point. Storyboarding and backgrounds will hopefully be done over the next three weeks, and I have to find good sound and music clips on the internet. All following news will be posted on the official Tednut website from now on unless it's very major.

Cartoon Review - Three Delivery

2008-06-28T13:17:00.004-04:00

Okay, in my last Cartoon Review, I said that I would rather watch a show Kappa Mikey or Three Delivery (which didn't yet premiere at the time) than the new Speed Racer cartoon, which was kinda bad. So today, after checking when it would next be one, I sat down and decided to watch "Three Delivery", Nicktoons Network's new original series. And I ended up watching the greatest NN series to date (but it isn't that big of a statement when you check out their original shows). It was entertaining, it kept me somewhat hooked to the end, and I see great things in the future for this show...namely two seasons and a TV movie. Now, let's get down to the review!

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Name: Three Delivery

Creator(s): Larry Schwarz

Running Time: 22 minutes

Network: Nicktoons Network

Rating: B+

Premiere: June 27, 2008

Now, let's check out the plot. According to the show's official website, this show is about three teenagers who are trying to stop the evil Kong Li from using the powerful recipes of a magic cookbook to take over the world...okaaaaaaaaayyyyy. Actually, I thought I misread the synopsis when I saw at. I mean, a magic cookbook? They couldn't be serious: I would have believed magic stones, mystical objects, or some other monkey guano thing like that! But, then again, this company also made a series of shorts about dancing sushi trying to become famous...yeah, so this is standard Animation Collective, with all their Flash animation glory. Thankfully, the animation is a real step up from some of their original work, like the first few episodes of Kappa Mikey or Princess Natasha. They've steadily improved, I'm glad to see that. Now, the animation is great, but could be better. It would look much more fluid if done in traditional 2D animation. Anyway, the fight scenes are well done: a real step above Danny Phantom, but not at the level of other shows such as Justice League.

Okay, this show takes place in Chinatown. I can't say which Chinatown, since the creator most likely went to Chinatowns all over the United States and took bits and pieces of each one to create this one. But is this Chinatown part of a bigger city, or it's own town? I don't know, and I don't really care at this point. I can say that, if memory serves, the creator loved hanging around in Chinatown when he was a kid growing up in...whatever city. Anyway, this show is downright entertaining and kinda fun to watch. You can tell that the creator is very close to this project, and has done all he can to help it succeed. The action is pretty good for a Nickelodeon show, second only to Avatar: The Last Airbender. The art is nice to look at, but the color palette is a bit dark. But that is explained by the fact that many episodes will take place at night. Which makes a bunch of sense, since all the stuff these teens are doing must be kept secret from the public. Or is it? I really don't know, since I don't think they erased anyone's memory of the random earthquakes, or the scary dragon, and all that other stuff. The dialogue is pretty standard, but some lines and actions do get a chuckle out of me. The theme song is not the greatest in the world, but it is pretty enjoyable. But you won't get me to watch/listen to in several times in a row.

All in all, this is the standard American action show: It has the basic team of heroes who sometimes don't get along, it has martial arts, and it has an old person that can do martial arts. I'm giving this show a B+, it's pretty good, and it really put me in a good mood. But I'm hungry from listening to all their talk about recipes and cooking...I'm ordering some Chinese food.

PVoA #1 - Time Warner's Animation Library (Vol. 1)

2008-06-26T10:36:00.005-04:00

Welcome to my first ever PVoA, which is short for "Personal Views on Animation". Each week, I talk something in the animation industry that really catches my attention. This week, I'd like to address something every important about a huge conglomerate. A huge conglomerate with a huge animation library that is incredibly unused. It's animation library is the biggest in the world. It holds many pre-1986 MGM animation, Warner Bros. animation, Hanna-Barbera, and others. And if it just believed in synergy, then maybe at least 90% of it could be put to good use. What is this company? Well, it's none other than...

Time Warner, the world's second largest conglomerate, made up of AOL, Time Inc., Warner Bros., Turner Broadcasting, and a few other subsidiaries. Of course, it didn't gain its huge animation library until Turner merged with Time Warner back in 1996. Ever since then, Time Warner has had a huge library of animation, which features many classic cartoons that could be shown on Boomerang. Which brings me to my first topic...

BOOMERANG

Boomerang was originally a block that Cartoon Network had back when it didn't even need it. Cartoon Network was originally made for Ted Turner to show off his huge library of animation. So it basically showed a whole mountain of classic cartoons and Boomerang was a block on the channel during that era. The channel didn't need the block because many of the shows on that block aired elsewhere on the channel. Anyway, what you need to know is that Boomerang was spin-off from Cartoon Network into it's own channel on April 1st, 2000. And has been showing pretty much the same few shows for the past 2 or so years. It doesn't show Looney Tunes at all because Warner Bros. won't let them air the post-1948 shorts (Turner owns the pre-48 ones) unless Turner pays them a hefty sum of money. The channel has recently added a few Cartoon Cartoons and recent Warner Bros. shows (such as The Batman), which kinda defeated the purpose of the channel. Also, the schedule never changes. It's always the same shows at the same time, every single month, with the exception of some shows being taken off and others being put on for short periods of time. So it's pretty much like the channel is running on auto-pilot.

Now, a week or so ago, I made a three-point plan on how Time Warner could actually improve the channel, use a great deal of their animation library, and also make a great deal of money from it. I will explain it in detail below:

Warner Bros. should buy around 35-45% of the Boomerang channel, making it co-own the channel with Turner Broadcasting. Now, Boomerang now has the full ability to air the entire Time Warner library and air the Looney Toons shorts, among other Warner Bros. properties.
Turner Broadcasting decides to take full advantage of it's huge animation library, and divides up the week into different decades of animation to make it easier to program the schedule. Sundays could be the 30s and 40s, Mondays the 50s, Tuesdays the 60s, Wednesdays the 70s, Thursdays the 80s, Fridays could possibly be the 90s, and Saturday a mix of animation from all those eras.
Warner Bros. and/or Turner Broadcasting decides to make some more "in-between" shorts and (maybe) one or two original programs. They also decide to relaunch the network and give it a huge makeover, with a new logo and bumpers. They also put on commercials, eventually allowing them to move the channel to basic cable, allowing a wider audience to see it. Ratings will get higher, and Time Warner will be able to make more money off the channel.

Okay, with the first part of the plan, I think it would be a good idea for Warner Bros. to own some percentage of the channel, with Turner Broadcasting still owning a good amount of it. After all, they created the channel, so they still should have major control. This way, Boomerang would be able to broadcast several Warner Bros. cartoons in addition to the post-48 Looney Tunes shorts. With Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros. working together with the channel, the once-divided animation library will combine, and Time Warner would be able to make full use of it.

With the second part of the plan, they decide to divide up the schedule, deciding to air different decades of animation on different days. This should make it easier to program, since they won't have to struggle with trying to figure out which shows should stay and which should go, and won't have to leave out a bunch of programs. They can air all or most of their 60s animation on Tuesday, a good chuck of their 90s animation on Fridays, etc. I'll later post up an example schedule to show you how this can work exactly. But for now, I think you understand this part.

With the third, but possibly not final part, Boomerang gets a major redesign. Like the Cartoon Network relaunch of 2004, Boomerang will be relaunched with a new logo, brand new bumpers (it has been using those toy bumps since day one), new shorts to air in between programs, and maybe some original programming to air on Saturdays. However, this original programming will make up little of the channel if done. However, it would be preferred if they don't choose to add original programming, so they can still use "Classic Cartoons. 24/7." as a tagline or motto. But I just put it up there as a possibility. Anyway, then they must air commercials. Eventually, they could make enough money from these commercials and go from being a digital tier channel to a basic cable channel. More people will be able to see it and they will slowly (but surely) get fantastic ratings.

If they put this into action, Time Warner will finally use a good chuck of it's animation programming, and nothing would get wasted. Everyone will get to see a bunch of the old cartoons they once loved, Time Warner makes money, and everyone wins. And hey, who knows? Maybe Time Warner could try and get the rights to air shows from Cookie Jar Entertainment, Filmation, and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises if (and when) the channel gets successful enough...

NEXT WEEK: Time Warner's Animation Library (Vol. 2)*

*Also known as "Save Some For Cartoon Network Bub!"

I Ain't Dead, I'm I Mummy?

2008-06-22T14:17:00.011-04:00

Okay, so I've realized that I haven't been posting anything on this blog in a while. Well, at least anything of real importance. The only thing I've posted in a while was a somewhat badly animated music video that had a song that I liked. And someone posted a bunch of curse words in the comments for that video here...Anyway, I've been really busy with finishing up my school work. I still have one test left, then there's graduation, then the last day of school. Now let me show you what I would have done if I had the time:

Animation News: I would have just been copying and pasting news from Toon Zone over to here. Plain and simple. However, I'll be also adding comments on the news from Toon Zone I post, and be adding some news of my own. And that starts on Friday.

Reviews: I actually planned on doing a review of a new show that premiered on Toon Disney/Jetix a while ago, but I never actually got around to watching an episode. I plan on doing that review this weekend, along with a review of a new Nicktoons Network series that premieres on Friday. As for the Kung Fu Panda review...that may not be happening any time soon. I'm just going to try and do Wall*E. Face it, do you really think I would pick Dreamworks over Pixar? Get real.

Others: I don't feel like telling you guys, but I was going to talk about Flash animation, Time Warner's animation library (biggest in the world), and John K. Okay, that's it. TTFN (that "Ta-Ta For Now").

~ Racattack Force

The Simple Carnival - Really Really Weird

2008-06-14T09:44:00.001-04:00

This was just just silly video I found on Youtube. I'm pretty sure that brought me was the music, that and the weirdly enjoyable animation. I could listen to this song and watch this video for hours! Anyway, I'll just to the Animation News for this week...at some point.

Cartoon Review - Speed Racer: The Next Generation

2008-06-09T18:36:00.003-04:00

Okay, for those of you who don't know, the original "Speed Racer" was a manga series created by Tatsuo Yoshida in 1967. It was titled "Mach GoGoGo" and about a year after the manga hit stores, an anime series was produced. The anime series was directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa and around 52 episodes were made. It soon came to America under the name "Speed Racer" (which became the main character's name), heavily edited and dubbed by American producer Peter Fernandez. The series is now famous for it's "fast" dialogue and "bad" dubbing, and at least two other series (other than this one I'm reviewing) and a number of video games followed. If you want to see for yourself, all 52 episodes of the original series is legally available on Hulu (to promote the live-action movie of course). But anyway, now that I've filled you in on the basics on the series, on with the review!

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Name: Speed Racer: The Next Generation

Creator(s): Larry Schwarz (original series by Tatsuo Yoshida)

Running Time: 23 minutes

Network: Nicktoons Network

Rating: B-/C

Premiere: April 27, 2008

This show is actually pretty decent to say the least. The animation in the racing scenes are pretty superb, flawlessly switching between Flash and CGI animation. And it's simple to understand. Even if you have no actual knowledge of any of the previous series or manga. The backgrounds are kinda well-done, and the characters are well designed. Fans of the original series might not like this series (which is non-canon in the franchise's continuity), but I have seen quite a few that do enjoy this series. But, I'm going to have to say that the bad qualities of this show can overshadow the good ones.

"Nicktoons Network" is, of course, a spinoff network of "Nickelodeon"; Viacom's "brilliant" answer to channels like "Boomerang" (Time Warner) and "Toon Disney"/"Jetix" (Disney). And the channel's most successful series by far was "Kappa Mikey". So Animation Collective, the animation studio (residing in NYC) that made the show, was hired to make the new "Speed Racer" cartoon. So Larry Schwarz (the founder of the studio and creator of all of their series) rounded up a nice group of voice actors, that also includes Peter Fernandez, and set off to work on the 26 episodes that make up this little season. The show is produced in Adobe Flash, and is quite stiff, with limited animation. Somewhat like the first "Speed Racer" series, expect with brighter colors. So that gets a point from me...a very slight point. But, they just had to put the whole thing in a school and make the villian so lame. So very, very lame...I mean, what villian cares about ruining the social life of his targets? Why should he even care about their socail status, if he wants them out of the darn way? That loses a big point from me...a very big point. The animation in this show could be a bit smoother, and their attempts of comedy simply fails...every single time. It doesn't even sound like the voice actor of Speed Jr. (Kurt Csolak) is actually putting any emotion into the character.

It pains me to say that this series isn't really that good. It actually pales in comparision with the 1968 series, which I truly find much better. Give me some more "Kappa Mikey"! Premiere "Three Delivery" already! But this Animation Collective show doesn't do it for me. I'm not saying this series is horrible. If it was, I would have given it a D or F. This series is completely watchable, and I get some slight amusment out of watching it. But there are few redemmable qualities, and you would have to just watch it yourself to find them. I'm giving this series a C...a B- at the most. This is likely to be the show's first and last season though. Not for bad ratings, but for the fact that the movie it was supposed to promote completely bombed at the box office. For those interested, the 66 minute pilot is on DVD, and available on the Lionsgate website.

Cartoon Review - Total Drama Island

2008-06-08T18:43:00.004-04:00

So, after the premiere of "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" (which I previously reviewed), we got the United States premiere of "Total Drama Island". The reason why I said 'United States premiere' instead of just premiere is because this show is Canadian. And this series premiered in Canada a year ago on Teletoon. In fact, it's second season (titled "Total Drama Action") is going to premiere in Fall. Anyway, I was kinda surprised to see a show like this. First of all, it's...actually, let me talk about it in the review. Is that okay?

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Name: Total Drama Island

Creator(s): Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis

Running Time: 22 minutes

Network: Teletoon (Canada); Cartoon Network (United States)

Rating: C+

Premiere: July 8, 2007 (Canada); June 5, 2008 (United States)

Well, it's best for me to start with that little stereotype about Canadian cartoons. You know, the one about all cartoons from Canada totally sucking? Well, that stereotype is wrong...half of the time, anyway. And for this show, that stereotype may just be half right. Well, this show doesn't exactly suck, but it isn't a masterpiece either. Maybe my hopes where too high? After all, this premiered right after I finished laughed at the decently good comedy that is "Flapjack". Maybe I was expecting a huge parody of the entire reality series genre? Yes, this show is an animated reality series...a concept that is pretty weird to me. On a side note, this is the first cartoon to ever do such a thing. So anyway, something I hate about Canadian cartoons is that the series premiere of them is almost always a two-parter. With that "new" episode of "Johnny Test" airing right after TDI, there was obviously no hope for Cartoon Network to show the entire hour-long premiere on Thursday. It started like any reality series (animated or not) should start out: The host explaining the location, the show, the rules, etc. And then we meet the contestants. All 22 of them...but wait, aren't there 26 episodes in this season? Will we ever get real character development and some episodes where no characters are eliminated? It's pretty possible. Basically, all "Not So Happy Campers" (the name of the pilot of course) did was introduce us to all the characters and give us brief glances at their personalities. And you can automatically tell...they are all stereotypes. But I'm pretty sure that that was the intention. And you can't really get some real character development until at least half of these guys are eliminated.

So, one thing that amazes me about this series is how it owes up to it's PG rating. Besides a few censored words like "crap" (which I think was uttered only once), Cartoon Network kept a lot of things in. In this first episode, Cartoon Network (thankfully) kept in a homosexual gag that was done halfway into the episode. Now, I always knew that Cartoon Network's BS&P was more accepting than those of other kids' channels, but I never thought they would accept this. I personally think they kept it in because they knew this joke would go over the heads of younger kids, and only teenagers and adults would catch it. However, I've been told that this joke is tame in comparison with other things later in the season, so let's see how Cartoon Network. Anyway, so in case you didn't know, the creators of this show also created "6teen". You know, that animated series that got bounced around a lot on Nickelodeon's schedule and eventually got taken off the air due to poor ratings (if you bounce any show around a lot, it's bound for bad ratings). Anyway, Cartoon Network seems to be thanking care of this show. It gets advertised quite a bit (not as much as "Ben 10: Alien Force", "Flapjack", and "Chowder", but still a lot), so Cartoon Network really wants it to do well. I can't say that much about the production and ideas behind the show since the closest I've found for that is the official blog and a lot of the information there has been taken down to avoid spoilers for American viewers (thus leaving me with only two pictures bad, low resoultion pictures found off the Internet to show you guys).

Anyway, I gave this show a C+ because, despite being a comedy, it didn't make me laugh at all. "Chowder" makes me laugh. "Flapjack" makes me laugh. But this show just doesn't make me laugh. Maybe it will in the future, but I won't really let you know that until I do a follow-up review a bit later...anyway, see you tomorrow when I get down to reviewing "Speed Racer". The new cartoon, not the live-action movie....

Cartoon Review - The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack

2008-06-07T11:29:00.006-04:00

Now, when I first saw this cartoon, one thought came to mind: "This looks stupid." I mean, a few months ago, I generally thought the artwork was great, but I expected the writing to be horrible and unfunny. True, it takes a bit of something to make me laugh, but I still believed it would be horrible and be cancelled within 26 episodes (the amount of episodes a Cartoon Network series has to prove itself). However, once Cartoon Network started pumping out those Flapjack wedgies, my interest quickly went up. They continued to go up as I saw various sneak peeks and interviews with creator Thruop Van Orman on Cartoon Network Video. Finally, just two days ago, I sat down I watched the series premiere. And this is basically what I got from watching this whale of a tale...

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Name: The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack

Creator(s): Mark "Thurop" Van Orman

Running Time: 22 minutes (2x11 minute segments)

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: B+

Premiere: June 5, 2008

Okay, after seeing review after review, interview after interview, short after short, and sneak peek after sneak peek; I finally came to this show expecting something that wouldn't waste my time. And that's exactly what I got...from the second half at least. The second half that was supposed to air as episode "7B". That alone tells me that this show will get funnier as I continue to watch. The first half, which is the original pilot, left me a bit empty in comparison. It wasn't terrible...but it wasn't exactly good either. The reason for that is because there were some really good jokes that didn't use. Jokes that they didn't take real advantage of. The "juvenile delinquents" and "child labor" had many goods jokes just waiting to happen, but they only used so few of those. There were quite gems in the pilot, "Several Leagues Under the Sea". One of those is where the guy in the "picture box" that the bad guy 'invented" (all his inventions are run by kids) jumps out and declared that he's going to art school. That moment got a good chuckle out of me. But that episode wasn't weird enough. However, the second segment, "Eye Sea You", was pretty good. As I said a minute ago, this was supposed to air later in the season. The segment had several good facial expressions, well-timed jokes, and much more. But it still wasn't weird enough. Sure, the crazy dolphins wearing Captain K'nuckles clothes were pretty cool. So was Peppermint Larry's Candy Wife seeking revenge and the giggling "The End" sign at the end. But it could be weirder. But I feel that is just weird enough to be up in the ranks of "Cow & Chicken", "Billy & Mandy", and "Chowder" (if just barely).

The creator of the series, Matthew "Thruop" Van Orman, has his own ideas about comedy. He says, and I quote: "Comedy, or at least the kind of comedy I like, are the ones that make you feel a bit uncomfortable and then hit you with a great joke." And this is good, since that's the comedy I like also. Why do you think I gave "Chowder" an A- when I reviewed it all those months ago? Yeah, I love comedy animation even more than action animation. Anyway, one thing I didn't like about the series is that the title sequence is a weird upon first hearing. But believe me, it gets real enjoyable after repeated viewings.

Anyway, "Flapjack" appears to be inspired by an event that happened when the creator was a teenager. In fact, it was also inspired by his childhood. It's easy to see where he got the idea for this series when he lived next to an old sailor in Florida. When he was a teenager, and his family moved to "Salt Lake City", he didn't like it there. So after some convincing, he got to stay with his relatives back in Florida. From there, he had a thirst for adventure, so he went and decided to go to a deserted island off the coast. However, he got stranded on the way and had to stay in the water for the entire night until he got rescued. He ended up going home, feeling like a failure. But, through that experience (and people asking him what happened), his learned that people liked hearing about misadventures more than actual adventures. And there came the concept of "Flapjack". Flapjack, his friend Captain K'nuckles, and his whale mother Bubbie are supposed to represent the outcast weirdos of Stromalong. And the people of the harbor are supposed to be representing the hardships of "real life". However, if you ask me, then I'll say that the people are harbor are even more weird than Flapjack and Co. But that's just me.

Anyway, there is not much to say at this point. All I can say is that "Flapjack" is a pretty good comedy that might take a while to hit it's stride, like a whole bunch of other shows. But when it does hit it's stride, it will be wonderful to see. So, for now, "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" gets a B-, for it still has yet to get it's sea legs. Ta-ta for now.

Animation Week #1

2008-06-06T17:33:00.003-04:00

Okay, before I post the news, I have to apologize for the "Random Drawing Craze". I planned on posting two drawings today, to make up for not posting anything the past two days, but the scanner wasn't working. With some luck, I may be a able to post up a whole bunch of drawings next week Wednesday and Thursday. Anyway, here's all the animation-related news of the week, from last Friday to yesterday. Some of this stuff has already happened, but I'm posting it anyway. Also, I didn't post reviews, so if you want to see those, so here:

5/30/08

5/31/08

6/02/08 (Nothing on the 1st)

6/03/08

6/04/08

"Total Drama Island" Animated Reality Show Debuts on Cartoon Network on June 5, 2008 (I have to say that this show really uses it's PG rating. Despite the fact that CN edited out a certain word, they let a homosexual joke slide.)
New "Chowder" Episodes Debut on June 5, 2008 (New "Chowder" episodes for the next 8 weeks. These episodes are the original season finale, and the 7 extra episodes Cartoon Network ordered for the first season.)
LA Times on Yanked "Boondocks" Episodes
ADV Films Announces New August Titles Including "Red Garden" Vol. 6
Viz Media Announces New Sept. & Oct. Titles Including "Naruto" Box 10

6/05/08

"Dilbert" Becomes Daily Animated Strip On-Line (I've known about this prior to Toon Zone reporting it, but whatever)
Briefly: MTV Seeks Animators to Drive "Engine Room"; iTunes Movies in UK and Canada
Voice Cast Announced for "Madagascar 2"
"Kung Fu Panda" Interviews with Jack Black and Co-Dirs Osborne and Stevenson
Newsarama Interviews Dara Naraghi on "Igor" Comic Book Prequels
From Spider-Man to Venom: The Symbiote's Journey on "Spectacular Spider-Man" (One of these days, I have to watch this series and review it)
Josh Olson on Going from Oscar to "Batman Gotham Knight"
New Images for "Wolverine and the X-Men"

Time to Get Down to Business!

2008-06-03T18:39:00.004-04:00

I rarely post on this blog, so I've been thinking of ways for me to try and made way more posts, then I figured it out! I have a few ideas on how exactly I can break at least 80 posts by the end of the year. So this is what you'll expect for the rest of the year (mind you, I won't really be doing this every week, just when possible).

Saturdays/Sundays/Mondays: Cartoon Reviews (movies, television shows, etc.) -- As you know, I usually wait until a series has aired at least two or three episodes, then I review it. But I'm going to start changing that...at least with Cartoon Network. On Saturday, you'll be getting a review of "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" which has had many sneak peeks and a bunch of wedgies shown in the weeks before it even premiered! On Sunday, I'll be reviewing "Total Drama Island", which makes it's US premiere on Thursday on Cartoon Network. On Monday, I'll try to do that "Speed Racer: The Next Generation" that I promised for Lionsgate that I kept putting off.

Tuesday: Personal Views on Animation (PVoA) -- On Tuesday, I'll be making some posts, big and small, on what I think about certain things in Animation. This starts next week with me talking about Flash Animation.

Wednesday/Thursday: Random Drawing Craze -- Each week on Wednesday, I'll be posting a drawing that I see fit on this blog. Some will be recent, some from when I was much younger, etc. This starts tomorrow.

Friday: Animation Week -- I'll basically be posting news that I got from Toon Zone and other animation sites from over the week. This also starts this week.

Cartoon Summer O' Paradise

2008-05-20T18:38:00.009-04:00

Okay, this summer, unlike the past several years, I actually plan to see more than one movie. All of these movies will be (of course) animated. I really want to see what's in store for animation this summer, so I'm planning to see these three movies: Kung Fu Panda, WALL•E, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Why? Because I can...I think. Anyway, here are what these films are about, with a few of my own added thoughts. And I will write reviews on these films after I'm able to see them.

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Name: Kung Fu Panda

Director(s): Mark Osborne and John Stevenson

Running Time: 91 minutes

Distributors: DreamWorks Animation, Paramount Pictures

Release Date(s): June 6th, 2008

Summary: The movies takes place in ancient China and stars Po (voiced by Jack Black), a panda who is possibly the laziest animal in all of China. Po is an apprentice noodle-maker and also a huge kung fu fanatic. But when an evil warrior by the name of Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escapes from prison, and all hope gets been put on a prophecy naming Po as the "Chosen One" the must defeat Tai Lung and save the day. Therefore, he must go an seek training from a kung fu master, Sifu (Dustin Hoffman), who "has trained five of the greatest warriors that the world has ever known", to fulfill his destiny. Rated PG.

Thoughts: Once again, DreamWorks gives us a funny animal movie. And of course, it has kung fu. And we all know how many martial arts movies we've seen, even if many of them didn't feature animals. Anyway, I'll just be seeing this one in hope for a good laugh, and to hope it doesn't fall into the old clichés.

Name: WALL•E

Director(s): Andrew Stanton

Running Time: Unknown

Distributors: Walt Disney Pictures (produced by Pixar)

Release Date(s): June 27th, 2008 (United States); July 18th, 2008 (United Kingdom); September 18th, 2008 (Australia)

Summary: It's the year 2700, and planet Earth has long been uninhabitable due to rampant, unchecked consumerism. For hundreds of years, WALL•E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) has been on his lonely clean-up duty, and collecting a bunch of junk in order not to be bored. However, unknown to the little robot, WALL•E has recently stumbled onto a amazing secret that could save the planet Earth, and once again make the ravaged planet safe for all humankind. When the highly advanced search robot EVE comes to Earth to check on the clean-up, she quickly makes friends with WALL•E. When she realizes the value of his remarkable discovery, she excitedly races back to let the humans know that there's hope for their home planet after all. But after centuries alone in space, WALL•E can't stand the thought of losing the only friend he's ever known (and loved), and eagerly follows her into the deepest reaches of space for the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way, this friendly trash-collecting robot who has always known what he was built for slowly begins to understand what he was meant for. Features the voices of Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, and Ben Burtt. Rated G.

Thoughts: This film won't fail to entertain the audidence and tickle the old funny bone with it's brilliant robotic comedy. After all, this is Pixar, and they never made a movie that a majority can honestly say sunk.

Name: Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Director(s): Dave Filoni

Running Time: Unknown

Distributors: Warner Bros. (produced by Lucasfilm Animation)

Release Date(s): August 14th, 2008 (Australia); August 15th, 2008 (United States)

Summary: The Clone Wars are raging between the Separatists and the Galactic Republic. When Jabba the Hutt's son is taken by a group of renegades, two Jedi are summoned to investigate. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi depart in search of answers: where is the Hutt's son, and who is controlling this mysterious renegade group? Yoda sends Ahsoka Tano along as Anakin's apprentice, Obi-Wan duels Asajj Ventress, and Anakin finds himself dueling Count Dooku once more. Meanwhile, the Sith plan to instigate a three-way war, including the Hutts. Rated PG.

Thoughts: At first, I was scared of adding this to my summer movie list (which is very small, these are the only three movies I'm seeing). I didn't know anything about Star Wars. In fact, I feel asleep during a movie on a bus ride to a one week sleep-away camp last summer. But after being told that it would be an enjoyable adventure and that (while it may help) I don't have to watch any other movie to understand it, I decided "What the heck!" and put it down.

And those are all the movies I'm seeing this summer! And I think it will be some pretty great fun also, to actually go to the movies more than once a year.

The Tednut of Months Past...

2008-05-04T21:33:00.002-04:00

Things sure change huh? I made this teaser for my webtoon Tednut way back in December. You've gotta see the official Tednut website to see how Tednut is looking right now!

Cartoon Review - Ben 10: Alien Force

2008-05-03T18:17:00.004-04:00

Yeah, it's a bit late, but better late than ever. I finally got around to writing a review on this sequel to the series Ben 10. Now, it's not because I wasn't able to watch, it was because I was lazy. So I watched the third episode last night (the premiere was a two-parter) on Cartoon Network Video and reviewed it. And this is what I got...

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Name: Ben 10: Alien Force

Creator(s): Man of Action (Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle

Running Time: 22 minutes

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: B+

Premiere: April 18, 2008

If you came to see this show expecting to see the light action and witty batter that the original Ben 10 series thrived on, then you should turn back, because this series is a bit different. Ben 10: Alien Force takes place 5 years from where the first series left off, with a teenaged Ben Tennyson putting on the Omnitrix once more, in search for his lost grandfather Max. Coming along for the ride is his cousin Gwen and his former nemesis Kevin Levin. Along the way, they discover this huge alien conspiracy that involves an evil group of aliens planing to takeover the Earth...or destroy it. The series takes a more serious and possibly a darker note than the first series. This may be because of the fact that Glen Murakami, a key creative force on shows DCAU shows like Batman Beyond, Teen Titans and The Batman, is the supervising producer for the show.

Glen takes the show with a different perspective, and as a result, the show is a bit different from it's predecessor, but not so different as to near impossible to compare the two. Of course, that change in the feel of the show should be expected. After all, a lot can happen in five years. There is no longer much "hate" between Ben and Gwen, in fact, they get along a lot better as 15-year-olds then they did as 10-year-olds. Dwayne McDuffie has written the three episodes I've seen so far, and he also seems to be the story editor. He seems to invoke a continuing air of mystery within each episode of the series. Unlike the first show, there are less attempts (if any) at humor, and greater focus on possible character development and the story at hand. The voice actors for the main characters are all different from Ben 10. Ben is now voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, who usually voices a character in many English dubs of Japanese anime, when it comes to animation roles. And it's ironic that Ashely Johnson and Greg Cripes (respectively) voice Gwen and Kevin, when Kevin secretly loves Gwen. Let me point to the resume of these voice actors and see that that on the shows they both voiced on, the characters they voice are in love with each other. Could this led to a blooming Kevin and Gwen romance? Maybe. Or, then again, maybe not.
Anyway, the show started off with a huge bang, being the highest rated original series Cartoon Network premiered in it's entire history. And I must say, that's quite a statement. The show is amazing, and it will surely continue to be a hit, but it does have a few flaws, but nothing I can't deal with. One flaw is the aliens. Glen's excuse for it is that the original aliens covered pretty much all the bases, and I can't help but to disagree. So I have to excuse them for the mix-matched aliens that are really parts of previous episodes. Another is the fact of Gwen not really looking like you would think Gwen would look like when she's older. But then you soon forget about that while watching the show. So I'm giving Ben 10: Alien Force a B+, for it is a real step above the first Ben 10. And I will followup this series when it reaches 13 episodes (the halfway point of season one).

Succeeding in Animation

2008-05-02T21:25:00.004-04:00

I've recently found this really interesting online booklet on how to succeed in the field of animation. Its pretty helpful, and is a pretty darn good read also. It will help you get a start in the wonderful world of animation. It's written by a man named Gene Deitch, who is a somewhat well-known animator, who has been behind several successful animated cartoons, such as Tom and Jerry (1960-1962), and Tom Terrific. His article, "How To Succeed In Animation" is a must-read for any inspiring animator/cartoonist.

P.S.: John Kricfalusi, creator of animated series Ren and Stimpy, is looking for artists that can help him with new George Liquor cartoons. He finally got a sponsor and now he can make up to 40 minutes worth of George Liquor cartoons. If you are interested, go see his blog: all kinds of stuff

Cartoon Review - The Mighty B!

2008-04-26T21:10:00.013-04:00

Yeah, this is the fourth edition of Cartoon Review. I actually started reviewing actual cartoons again, and I'm pretty happy about that. This time, I'm going to be reviewing Nickeldoen's newest Nicktoon: The Mighty B! Now, this show was pretty interesting...

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Name: The Mighty B!

Creator(s): Amy Poehler, Erik Wiese, and Cynthia True

Running Time: 22 minutes (2x11 minute segments)

Network: Nickelodeon

Rating: B

Premiere: April 26, 2008

Out of the Nickelodeon Studios in Burbank comes the channel's newest cartoon, "The Mighty B!". The show follows the quest of 9 and 3/4 years old Bessie Higgenbottom, as she seeks to gain every Honeybee Scout badge. Why? Because she holds the belief that if she does, she will become a superhero called "The Mighty B!". Since this has never been done before, there is nothing to say that it may not be true. The show is pretty amusing, with the performances of the voices actors making the show pretty entertaining. You would think an annoying nine year old with a lisp would have a grating voice...well Amy Poehler makes sure it isn't.

The art and animation style is something like Spongebob Squarepants meets Ren and Stimpy. Ironically the creators of both cartoons are given a 'Special Thanks" at the end of the credits, so this art style is likely on purpose. The character design is pretty deceiving, as the characters are more "flexible" than they actually appear to be. Many of the jokes in the series are brought along solely through visuals and actions. Bessie being stretched and squashed by a taffy machine in "Sweet Sixteen" was a pretty great moment. The crew behind the show attempts to go "back in time" and they use techniques that are seldom used in today's cartoons. Hand-painted backgrounds, some animation done in America, hand-drawn animation...they are clearly trying to get back to animation's roots.

The characters are decent to say the least, but Portia and her friend seem like the generic "popular kids" that are seen in a lot of cartoons these days. However, this seems to be the point of the characters. To directly hit that well-known cliche in the stomach. Bessie dangerously treads the line between annoying and funny, but is able to combine it both for a good plot. She is an off-beat werido that I, at times, can relate to. Her brother that looks up to her is nice character to have along, and so is her pet dog "Happy", which was introduced in the pilot episode "So Happy Together". This show is pretty good, but has room for potential that may be reached in the next few episodes. After we get half-way through the season, I will do a short follow-up review on the show. But for now, "The Mighty B" gets a B.

Creative Restrictions in Animation: The Good

2008-04-21T13:37:00.008-04:00

I haven't been posting here for over a month, and it's about due time I get to posting something interesting. So here I am to tell you how a network's guidelines can do to a cartoon. You see, the way these restrictions can effect a cartoon depends on both who is the executive producer (or creator) and the crew behind the show...I've found some good things can happen due to network interference.

For a prime example, let's look at John Kricfalusi. For those who have no idea who he is, he is the creator of a popular 90's cartoon called "Ren and Stimpy". Now, if it wasn't for Nick's rules on cartoons, I pretty much doubt that "Ren and Stimpy" would have been as good. Sure, the animation would be amazing, but the writing would undoubtedly be pretty weak. It's because of Nickelodeon's restrictions that John K. and the Spumco crew were putting so much work into such creative stories. With those restrictions, "Ren and Stimpy" would have been like "Adult Party Cartoon" or "The Goddamn George Liquor Program" (both by John K.). On both of those shows, John had more control, and was able to do the weird and gross stuff he loved. Unfortunately, they both were 'ugly'. In case you don't know what I mean, look at the first George Liquor cartoon: http://www.coldhardflash.com/video/g...r-Episode1.swf. If Nick gave John more control on the original "Ren and Stimpy", we would have gotten something like that...

Another example is Jhonen Vasquez's Invader Zim. Invader Zim was a decent cartoon that was to appeal to an older age group. However, if Jhonen had more control, than it would have become more like his comics. Surreal and dark beyond belief. With Nick's restrictions, Jhonen had to focus more on humor, to make up for what he couldn't do.

How to Make an "Easy" Webtoon

2008-03-07T20:44:00.006-05:00

1) Open up Mircosoft Paint. Although this program appears weak, it can give way to some really great works of art. And the great art you'll be making is a cartoon!

2) Make the first frame (or drawing). First make sure that the area you'll be drawing in is somewhat in the shape of a square. Now your first frame should be what you want your cartoon to start with. For example, if you want your opening scene to be a bedroom, then you should draw a bedroom.

3)Save the picture under a name of your cartoon, such as Tednut1. You should make a folder to hold all the pictures though. It's 12 drawings a second, which means 720 drawings a minute. If you are making a 5 minute long cartoon, then you'll need 3,600 drawings! So best to make a folder with the name of that cartoon's episode. (Ex- Tednut: The Day)

4)Edit the picture and save it again, under a slighty different name, like Tednut2. Do this several times. When changing scenes, erase the area and draw something else. If you have to revisit the same scene...you can either re-draw it or be lazy and reuse a previous drawing that had the scene.

5)When you have your 3,600 drawings, you can now go to Windows Movie Maker. Now you got to put each drawing (in order) onto the storyboard. You then go and select Edit Movie > Video Effects > Speed Up, Double. Use this on each image 6 times (or just use it on the first and then copy it to the rest. From there you can add brightness, fade ins/outs, and other things to make your cartoon amazing.

6) Add titles and end credits if you want. That is all I shall say for now.

Posting Something...

2008-02-28T16:21:00.003-05:00

Dang, I really should be posting here a lot more often. But whatever. Anyway, I have decided to put most of my recent artwork onto my "new" deviantArt account. I haven't put everything there yet, but you can just go ahead and check out all the stuff: http://chownini.deviantart.com/. Also, I joined Toonzone a just last month and have gotten into a bunch of interesting discussions there. Things are pretty boring on my end, with school and not being able to start animating Tednut. But it will get better at some point.
I recently found the blog of an awesome kid whose really getting some great art skills. He's apparently a big fan of Maxwell Atoms works: http://chrisjonesmyheroismaxwellatoms.blogspot.com/. On a different note, my computer really sucks at this point.

~ "राकात्तैक" (आगे १३)

Onyxe (old design) and Edd

2008-02-13T15:59:00.001-05:00

Earth Guy

2008-02-12T19:50:00.002-05:00

Cartoon Review - Codename: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.

2008-01-26T12:54:00.001-05:00

This is the third edition of Cartoon Reviews. I finally got around to doing this stuff again! With these reviews, I look over what I liked about a cartoon (or cartoon related) thing I watched recently. And this weeks is the one hour finale of Codename: Kids Next Door, Codename: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.
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Name: Codename: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S. (It's Now The Extra Really Very Interesting End Wrap-up Story)

Creator: Tom "Mistuh" Warburton

Writer(s): Andy Rheingold, Mr. Warburton

Running Time: 44 minutes

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: B+

Premiere Date: January 21st, 2008

This episode was actually pretty good. From what I know, not many cartoons actually get a true ending. A finale that ties up the show's plot and answers many of the viewer's questions. However, you do have to pay attention to learn the answers to some of the questions this finale episode brings up. For example, if you payed attention, you would have learned that:

Numbah Two and Five are now married

Numbah Three and Four are also married

Numbah One returned from space, and didn't stay up there forever
Sector V was never really decommissioned

Father is now going on an interstellar goose chase.

Numbah Five becomes Supreme Commander of the KND

There are many more, but I don't fell like listing them. Well, the plot of the episode was pretty good. A C.A.K.E.D. mission turned out to be a very good note to end the show on. The writing was very superb and there were some surprising moments. One such was with the B.E.A.R.H.U.G.G.A.H., a weapon that turned out to give huge bear hugs. You wouldn't know that from the commericals! So, the guys from the Philippines got to see it before us North Americans did, and left a bunch of huge spoilers on the Internet. So what? It didn't stop me from completely enjoying the the episode.

The live-action moments may have hampered my enjoyment of the episode a little, but those parts were still awesome. The mixing of the live-action and animated scenes were just amazing. The showing of almost every single character that appeared in Codename: Kids Next Door was just astounding. But note I said, since The Tommy, Cree, and a few others were missing. The final animated scene was just heart-warming, and I won't be surprised if some of you guys watered up a bit at it. The final live-action scene was just so full of mystery. The revealing of the interviewer (Father) was surprising. Especially with him being in Computer-generated imagery (CGI). The finally was just plain great, and nothing more. I think fans got all they wanted from the series, and that's good for me. I rated this finale a B+. But one last note. It was better an end for the characters than it was for the actual series.

1000 Views!!!!

2008-01-25T23:38:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right! Over 1000 people have viewed this blog since November (about four months since I started it), and helped it become the website it is today. Well, not a website, I'm too stingy to get one of those. But I will celebrate this by actually including a picture I drew myself (by hand) on this blog! Happy day, happy day. I hope you guys will continue to come to this blog, cause in the future, I shall review the history of animation and cartoons, review animated series and movies, and continued update on my animation projects. So stayed tuned!

Also, anyone who wants to show their animation genius to the web, you should get a blog here: http://www.animationblogspot.com/

Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show

2008-01-18T23:07:00.000-05:00

I just realized I had to put it up for you EEnE fans out there. Production on the movie has been delayed. The chances of a movie airing this year is unlikely. Yes, the movie is going to air next year most likely. Good news though! There are two new episodes on the way in case you didn't know! And the sound designer for the show who joined a fansite I'm a member of revealed a sound clip for a very important episode of the show! "May I Have This Ed?", an episode that will give us clues on who Nazz has a crush on! And here they are. It is the same scene, but which one of the five is one that will be used? I bet on either 3 and 5. But I really dig number 4 and 5 the the most of all. You'll be happy to know that Sheldon is back...well, not really. But you get to meet Sheldon Jr.

http://www.technomorph.com/technomorph/Screeners.html

Tednut Production Status

2008-01-13T02:02:00.002-05:00

I have decided to set you guys straight on the whole production of Tednut, if you haven't gone to the website yet. Here's the link if you guys want to see, cause I have noticed there are some new people showing up to this blog: HERE.

Anyway, first things first. They will only be 7 episodes for the first season ("The Fall Season" as I call it) of Tednut. Not counting the Halloween special. I am currently finishing up writing up that script I never wrote for "The Day", the first episode of Tednut. And studying up on how I want the characters mouths to move (known as "mouth direction"). In other words? I'm starting over with this series. Since I never even finished the first 20 seconds, you guys shouldn't be disappointed. I probably won't get around to doing and actual episode until February, so sorry guys. In the mean time it is trying to keep that unfullied promised of adding more downloads and adding to the character list to the main site. Hope you aren't mad at me. So basically, here are the plans for Tednut:

*Pre-Production (Jan 13, 2008-Feb 2008): Writing and Storyboarding, Mouth Direction, Animation Practice

*Production (Feb 2008-Oct 2008): Animating Tednut episodes

*Post-Production (Oct 2008-April 2008): Animation practice, Writing and Storyboarding, Co-Animating and Writing for Fiznut

Also, here are the episodes that are going to be in the "Fall Season":

1) The Day
2)Mourning Recess
3)Survival Test
4)Bullies
Halloween Special (Mountain of the Vamps)
5)Backyard Jungle
6)Book of Weirdos
7)Treasuring Hunt

Cartoon Review!- Interview with Mr. Warburton

2008-01-07T15:40:00.002-05:00

Hello! It's me again with another interview with an animator. This week's animator is Mr. Warburton, the creator of the cartoon Codename: Kids Next Door. We are now heading into the wacky mind of this pretty cool guy. So here's the interview!
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Me: How are you doing?

Warburton: Rockin'. And you?

Me: Was you day okay?

Warburton: So far so good!

Me: Anyway, I want to ask you something.

Warburton: No, you can't borrow a dollar.

Me: Could I please interview you for my blog?

Warburton: Um... you sure you don't want a dollar instead?

Me: It would mean a lot to me?

Warburton: Well... okay. But I'm keeping the dollar then.

Me: It you do, please answer these questions?

Warburton: Right...let's rock.

Me: How did you get into the animation biz?

Warburton: It's what I always wanted to do. Initially I didn't think I was good enough, but tried anyway. To be honest, I still don't think I'm good enough. I keep expecting someone to suddenly yell, "HEY! HOW'D HE GET IN HERE! SECURITY!"

Me: How hard is it working on a cartoon?

Warburton: Imagine carrying a grand piano filled with lead bricks up Mount Everest while wearing roller skates as rabid ice weasels give you noogies, pink bellies, and arm burns the whole way. And that's just what your MORNING is like. But I happen to like grand pianos filled with lead bricks, mountain climbing, roller skating, and weasels. I don't like the other stuff but you can't have everything in life, right?

Me: How is it like working at one of the few animation studios in New York?

Warburton: Well, I've worked at a lot of great studios in NYC in the past but Curious Pictures is really the last big studio left- which allows me to have a sooper, triple, giant office with 5 floors, an indoor pool, game room, and 14 car garage (Totally Best Office Ever award, Workplace Quarterly Magazine, June 2007). Regardless, I love being in a studio with lots of different projects going on... it's inspiring to hang out with so many talented people.

Me: How was life growing up?

Warburton: Who says I ever grew up?

Me: What are you going to do now that Codename:KND is over?

Warburton: Watch TV. Not worry about what next week's gihoogic KND story is gonna be. Read Carl Greenblatt's blog and laugh at how much work he has to do (Chowder RULES, btw). But aside from those things, I've doing a children's book for HarperCollins called 'A 1000 Times No'. I'm helping out Cartoon Network with developing some shows with other people aaaaaaaaand I've got a sooper fun new show that's starting to make the rounds.

Me: How do you come up with episode name? Those acronyms must be hard to make.

Warburton: Hint- Stay away from the letter X. But believe it or not... it gets easier after you've done 10,465.2 acronyms. But sometimes you're paging through the dictionary, desperate for a word that starts with R. Sometimes I'd even change the title of the show if the acronym wasn't working out. One of my favorites was R.A.I.N.B.O.W.S. (Running Amok In Nature's Bounty Observing Wild Simians). Sheer poetry, right?

Me: Any final words?

Warburton: Final words? Why would I have any final-- HEY! Is that a kitchen knife? What are you-- NO NO! AAAAAAAAAH!

Future Interviews

2008-01-02T16:33:00.002-05:00

Okay, I had to do something here at school. Yes, I am posting this one from school. Anyway, I have decided to test my luck if I could snag an interview with a few more animators. I have selected only the greatest ones...okay, these were only only guys I had the attention span to try and find today. But these guys are great, and it's a bonus that I could find their email addresses!I hope they don't refuse my plead for an interview. These are the amazing people I was able to seek out:

*Joe Murray - Creator of "Rocko's Modern Life" and "Camp Lazlo"
*Butch Hartman - Creator of "The Fairly OddParents!" and "Danny Phantom"
*Mr. "Tom" Warburton - Creator of "Codename: Kids Next Door"

Cartoon Review! - Interview with C.H. Greenblatt

2008-01-01T14:20:00.002-05:00

Hello, and welcome to the first Cartoon Review! Interview since November! And have I got a nice treat for you...and awesome interview with veteran storyboarder for Spongebob Squarepants and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Oh, and the creator of the popular, Annie-nominated cartoon Chowder! Yes, I am talking about none other than C.H. Greenblatt! So without further adu, here the interview!
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Me: So what does the H in your name stand for?

Greenblatt: The "H" is a closely guarded secret.

Me: What made you want to go into the animation biz?

Greenblatt: Growing up, I always loved animation. I'd watch every cartoon on TV. I read a ton of comic books as well. For the longest time, I thought I wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist and do a daily comic strip. Or make comic books. But what I like about animation versus those other mediums is the addition of sound and movement. Drawing my own comics is fun because it's a very one-on-one way of communicating, whereas animation (TV and movies) has to be filtered through dozens of hands before it's complete. But I can do a lot more with animation than I can with a comic strip. It's more like making a little film.

Me: Where did you get the idea of Chowder?

Greenblatt: The idea for Chowder slowly came together and evolved while I was working on other shows. I thought about what I liked and what I'd want to see in a cartoon show. I really liked The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the relationship in that. So I knew I wanted it to be about a young kid and an old master he learned from. The rest just slowly built over time.

Me: What's it like making a cartoon?

Greenblatt: Making a cartoon is really fun. Every day I come in to work and try to think up whatever silliness I can. It's also the hardest job I've ever done (not physically, but mentally). The schedule of making a TV show is very demanding and there's no time to stop. If you're not feeling funny, you still have to write. You can't really wait for inspiration. And some days it's really hard to get what you want expressed through your drawings. And then it's even more stressful when you're running a show. There's always a million things that have to get done and you have to communicate to everyone what you want done and make sure all the pieces are working together correctly. But I still love it.

Me: What's it like living in Burbank?

Greenblatt: Burbank is kind of dull. It's like any other city. Living out in the San Fernando Valley reminds me a lot of living in Texas, but with more mountains.

Me: What was life like growing up?

Greenblatt: I grew up in a very suburban area of North Dallas, Texas. I spent a lot of time drawing cartoons and watching TV. I worked hard at school and did really well. Basically I was a total nerd. But I think I was lucky to have a really nice, happy childhood. I wish I had a more exciting tale to tell.

Me: Any final words to the people on the net that are hoping to become true animators?

Greenblatt: The best advice I can give is to draw every day. Draw all sorts of things. Not just people, but cars, buildings, whatever. If you can draw well and understand the fundamentals of composition and design, you should be able to find work doing what you love. Never stop drawing.

Ted Walking

2007-12-12T17:41:00.002-05:00

Ted Hopping

2007-12-12T17:38:00.002-05:00

Tednut Devlopment is GO!

2007-12-12T15:19:00.001-05:00

I have found the future, and it's name is Flash! Yes, I have decided to make my cartoon, Tednut, in Flash. Why Flash? Well, Flash is better looking and easier to use. So a friend of my hooked me up to Flash 8. And I was able to download it for free thankfully. And since then, I have been making countless animations in Flash. I made one of Ted walking, which I shall download later, since I am making this post at school and have not downloaded it to Photobucket or Youtube. I am also applying for a job as an animator on a a webtoon called Codename_webtoon. Not a real cartoon, but a cartoon the same. Visit the Tednut website: tednut.sampasite.com. There are posts on the development of the show, comics, downloads, and much more. Please join the forum, it is very lonely. Anyway, that's all for now. See you in like a week XD.

EDIT: Couldn't post it at school, so...Blogger Video sucks possum!

New blog

2007-12-02T14:29:00.001-05:00

Since I am not prepared to do a Cartoon Review today, I will accounce that I have a brand new blog. It is called Racttack Productions, and you can link to it from the list "People I think are Amazing" or from this: Racattack Productions. I made it as a blog to tell people about the cartoons I am making. That is all. So...bye.

Tednut...My first webtoon

2007-12-01T10:37:00.002-05:00

Cartoon Review! - Interview with Scotty "SMH"

2007-11-28T20:09:00.001-05:00

New interview today. With some guy named Scott, also known as SMH. Those are probably his initials. Anyway, he makes comics, so here's the interview:
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Me: So what's your name?

Scotty: SMH

Me: So can you tell us about your comics?

Scotty: It doesn't have many fans. And there isn't many jokes, it's mostly about life.

Me: So what are your comics about?

Scotty: EL oop doesn't really have a plot, it's just random things. And the Paperboy is about a boy who has to go into cartoons, anime, and games to deliver the paper.

Me: Where did you get the idea for EL oop?

Scotty: Well my sister was doing a play of High School Musical in Indiana, so I drew while we go there and drew EL oop. I had been looking for a web comic for some time, so I used him.

Me: And Paperboy?

Scotty: Well the Paperboy was something that I misread. A long time ago Fizzlo was telling me about Fizzlo, Cheeko , and The Pepperboy. And lately I thought that the paperboy should live.

Me: How old are you? And when did you get into web comics?

Scotty: I'm now 12. And I go to the Cubetoons.com forum and like every one there and there mom has a web comic so I tried it and loved it

Me: So your mom has a web comic? Cool, so what are your dreams for the future of EL oop?

Scotty: No that was an expression. My dreams for EL oop are... Well I want to be a writer and either get EL oop a movie or a kids TV show.

Me: And Paperboy?

Scotty: I don't have much of a dream besides getting a live movie (as in real people)

Me: Okay, so any final words to the people on the web?

Scotty: Not many but thanks for having me here..... kinda. Well I'm going to go figure out what they're saying on this http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/389/Caramel+Dansen/ Bye every peoples

Me: Okay, that's it.

Scotty: Okay thanks

Super Post #1

2007-11-27T16:25:00.000-05:00

Whoo! I am running my own newspaper...well, technically, not. The first issue won't be up until New Years' Day. Let me explain. I am a member of the a Chowder fan site: Chowder Zone. A few days ago, I put up a joke about me making a site news paper called the Chowder Zone Times. What I didn't expect was that Tyler K. would actually like the idea. Now the train tracks are set and production on the paper is starting. So far there are several people working with me, including Tyler, who is only going to stay on for 8 to 10 issues. So I'm learning the how to layout the site from him. Currently, I am still looking for people to work on the newspaper, but I think there are enough to keep the website going. Here are the people that are working on it:

Quinton B.

Robert F. (Creator of Fizzlo, which is going live on Saturday)

Dru S.

Johnny

Scotty

Jmill

Tyler K. (temporally due to making comics)

Here's a basic summary that I made for Tyler:

"The Chowder Zone Times is the first ever Chowder related newspaper. It has many sections towards it. There is an Episode Review section where the recapists have recaps and reviews on episodes. There will be stories about what is going on with the production of the show and the cast and crew. Photographers get pictures and srceenshots of Chowder stuff. Fan art and Fan fiction is self-explanatory. There will be a page showing who works on the paper. All of this is sent to me, who edits it and then sends it to RELYT1992 who edits some more and lays it out on the newspaper. This is a bi-weekly newspaper."

---Chownini, Editor-in-Chief and Creator of the CZ Times

And that's all for the CZ Times until next time...oh, and here's what the pages will look like this:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/1475/cztimesissue1wmln1.png

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------One of my songs are below. It was for a Fizzlo webtoon. Oh yeah, I work on Fizzlo as a Songwriter now. I will post the song that helped me get the job later. :)

It's the time for holiday cheer,

Let us join hands in merry carolllling,

for we sing joy and for we sing,

This is the greatest Christmas of all,

Merry, merry Christmas.

And a Happy New Year.

From...all...us...and...Fizzlo,

we sing lalalalaroo!

Presents and family,

holiday cheer...*drip**drip*

Cartoon Review - Ben 10: Race Against Time

2007-11-25T15:20:00.003-05:00

This is the second edition of Cartoon Reviews. Every week I will post a review of a new cartoon I watched recently. And this weeks is the live action movie of Ben 10, Ben 10: Race Against Time!
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Name: Ben 10: Race Against Time

Director: Alex Winter

Running Time: 91 minutes

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: B-

Premiere Date: November 21, 2007

This movie was surprisingly good from what I can tell. I may have missed the premiere, but I saw the movie later on Friday. But I did miss the first 30 minutes. Oh well, the recap makes up for that. Anyway, it is an awesome movie. For those who don't know, this movie tells about when the characters go back to their hometown of Bellwood after the long summer road trip. Soon, they are faced with a new adventure when Eon, an alien with the power to control time comes to use Ben and the Omnitrix to "turn on" the Hands of Armageddon, a device that can act as a portal to bring Eon's people to Earth and conquer it.

The movie was fairly good, with okay special effects and acting. The plot and story structure was actually pretty good. The production in making this movie was pretty cool too. It may have only had four of Ben's aliens but when in three episodes combined has Ben ever used all of his aliens. And don't count the season 2 finale because that was without the normal conditions. Winter ac achieved his dream of making the movie more cinematic than cartoony. The CG effects were good, with the exception of Wildmutt, which could have been done better.

The script was written by Mitch Watson, a guy I didn't know who existed until today. Of course, from what I told you, Alex Winter's produced and directed it. Internet Movie Database users rated the movie 4.6/10 as of today, and Tv.com users rated it 7.5/10. So basically, it depends on your tastes. Some people are really hoping this movie gets on DVD before Christmas.

So overall, this movie was pretty nice. This movie may help people soften up to there being live-action stuff on Cartoon Network. Well, may be live-action movies, but not television shows. Oh well, till next time.

EDIT: Was changed to B-. Forgot about the werid British alien guy.

The Speck Project

2007-11-24T10:31:00.002-05:00

I have created a new cartoon character during lunch days ago. His name? Speck. Why? Because he is short for his age as a dragon. He lives on a planet opposite to that of Earth. On this alternate Earth, called Cryptid, all mythical beasts and cryptids, and extraterrestrial creatures live on harmony on this planet. And there is a secret hidden from most of these creatures...powerful humans that seek to destroy their world are hiding among them. The person who must keep their existence secret and also stop them from accomplishing their task is the Zastarin, a dragon would has strange marking on his/her body and has the seal of Zastarin on their back. One is found every 100 years, and Speck is the newest one. Here is his picture (did this one in paint so it's bad).Anyway, I did this picture before I added other features to him, but let me talk about Speck first. Speck is 12 1/2 years old and lives in the Crescent March, just outside Webtionzie Town. He discovered his purpose at age two, and to conceal his identity, he wears a cloak, mask, and gloves that cover his entire body expect his eyes, light growth horn, his back horns, wings, and tail. Unlike most dragons, who usually have two powers at the most, Speck has 15 powers. The ones he uses the most are Fire and Water, so most will think he's a normal dragon. Only his friends and family know what he looks like under his clothing. He has an IQ of 126 and attends St. Storsjöodjuret Middle School. He has a white patch around his left eye and his eye color is a gray-red.

This is a picture I made of his sister during Social Studies class. Her name is Pebble and she is 7 years old. She was some of the Zastarin spirit in her since she can sometimes use other power than her own and can breathe in space like her brother, but for a shorter time. She is 3 feet tall and has two tails that helps her focus her powers. She has one horn at the back of her head like all female dragons and retractable arms. She has an IQ of 110, which is high for someone of her age. Her hair is light brown and her scales was aqua. She attends Tun D. Erbird Elementary School. She usually wears a pink dress with a picture of a flower on it.

This is a drawing I made in Social Studies along with Pebble. His name is Stone and is Pebble's and Speck's villainous older brother. He hated Speck with all his heart and seeks to destroy him. He actually is working with the evil humans who hopes to destroy the planet, with his job being to destroy his brother. If he doesn't do it within two ears, then he's going to be the first dragon they kill. I forgot to draw his wings, and he also needs a tail. He does not have any horns or spikes. In those places are simply hair. He dropped out of Man Eater Tre High when he was 13. He hates all his follow Cryptidians, and wants them all destroyed.

That is all for now, I will try to do another Cartoon Review! tomorrow.

30 People

2007-11-21T22:37:00.002-05:00

30 people have viewed my blog in the past 5 days and I just want to say...thank you! I feels nice to know that people are reading. Oh, and I am kinds in trouble for getting a bad report card:

80 - English, Social Studies, Science

85 - Mathematics

70 - Spanish

This got me whooped on the buttock! Anyway, I will try to post something real later.

Cartoon Review! - Interview With Mr. Fizzlo

2007-11-19T19:21:00.002-05:00

Hello, and welcome to a weekday edition of Cartoon Review! In this one, I have finally gotten my first interview. The person...Robert Fagan! Director and Creator of Fizzlo, an animated web toon that is to air on Fizzlo.com on December 1st. You can talk to Robert on the website forums. For those who don't know, Fizzlo is a show about a duckish-alien thing from some far off planet and his friends, enemies, and other such things. But Rob can explain it better. Anyway, on to the interview!
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Me: Okay, so what is your name?

Robert: My name is Robert F.

Me: OK, so where did the idea for Fizzlo come from?

Robert: I always doodled in Math class when my teacher wasn't looking, then I drew Fizzlo, I liked the drawing a lot so I showed my friends. They liked it too. One of my friends said it should be a Pokemon named "Gorbird". I just started animating, so I decided to make a cartoon on the Internet.

Me: So exactly how old are you? And so Fizzlo was always his name?

Robert: I'm 11. and Fizzlo was first called Lord Dinky Pasan Pan and looked like this:

Me: So Fizzlo has come a long way I see. So where did the other characters come in?

Robert: All my other characters were characters from my old comic books I made when I was 6.

Me: How did you figure out the voices for the characters?

Robert: My friend made up what most of what my characters sound like.

Me: And who voices who?

Robert: I voice Fizzlo, Fudge, Clennis, Dennis, Plop, Gylo, Chubi, and Gurgle (Mostly everyone). My little brother voices Quack. My little sister voices Cooky, Mushie, Mooshie, and Mishie. My friend, Anthony voices Darklo, and some background characters.

Me: So what is your dream for the future of Fizzlo?

Robert: When I grow up, I want to become a cartoonist and make Fizzlo a children's show on T.V.

Me: And what will be your backup plan? If cartoons will be too hard for you to get a job in. Living in New York, it would be hard, so would you move to Burbank?

Robert: Ha ha, I live in New York now, just not in the city. My back-up plan would be to continue making cartoons on the Internet.

Me: I know, you live on Long Island. I live in The Bronx, and Manhattan is where a real animation studio (Curious Pictures) is. Okay, any final words to the people on the web?

Robert: No, not really.

Me: Okay, that is all. So thanks for letting me interview you. :)

Robert: OK, see ya'!

Fizzlo

2007-11-19T17:32:00.002-05:00

I am currently processing a request for an interview with the creator of the web cartoon, Fizzlo. For those who don't know, I am Chownini on Chowder Zone, and [insert name of the month here] Nazedd on Ed, Edd n Eddy fan sites. Here's hoping that I am able to get an interview with the mastermind. :) Here is a picture of Fizzlo of course. And below is a link to the theme song (sadly its mute, since I discovered about this just when the site went down for the next few weeks.

http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb292/Fizzlo/?action=view&current=mrcfixzop.flv

EDIT: I got the interview and the theme song here has been scrapped for a new one. And it turns out the site is up and running unlike last night. The picture I put up was old too, so I put up the new one.

Cartoon Reviews - Chowder

2007-11-18T17:07:00.002-05:00

This is the first edition of Cartoon Reviews. Every few weeks I will post a review of a new cartoon I watched recently. And this weeks is Chowder!
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Name: Chowder

Creator: C.H. Greenblatt

Running Time: 22 minutes

Network: Cartoon Network

Rating: A-

Premiere Date: November 2, 2007

Chowder is a surprisingly good cartoon from what I can tell. From the premiere episode, I could tell this would be an awesome show that will help Cartoon Network back to its former glory! For those who don't know, Chowder is a cartoon about a cat/bear/rabbit thingy named Chowder who wants to be a chef. Although his hunger can be confused as the main cause of comedy, don't be fooled...okay, it is the funniest.

But the way it is written (or rather drawn) is the way the laughs are made. For you see, Chowder is a premise show, meaning that they take a premise for an episode (the people who make this are shown at the beginning of each episode as the people who wrote the story). It is then giving to the storyboard artists to write up the rest. This is a six week process from what I know. This is how some lines like "Chowder's dead." and "Hey, ugly!" are born.

The show is hand-drawn and some parts in an episode is done with puppets or claymation. This makes this show very original and greatly loved. This show has gotten many good reviews from many animation websites and newspapers. It has a fan site already and tons of fans. It ranked as the top 2007 telecast this year according to Toonzone. This brings fans (like me) hope for a second season of Chowdery goodness. :)

The colorful backgrounds are a work of art that deserve to be put up in a museum. The architectural design of buildings and such should be appreciated greatly. The songs are so very catchy and livey. The theme song and "Everyone's Got a Song Inside" are amazing works written by Greenblatt himself. If CN had a bit more shows as great as this one, then the channel would be saved from utter destruction.

Getting serious about High School

2007-09-22T14:29:00.001-04:00

It is time for me to start getting serious about heading off to high school. I am in the eighth grade, and just nine months to the end of this school year. I now must decide the next four years of my educated life in school. I have to start choosing my high school now. So me and my mom are working on a list of high schools I could possibly go to. And it is not counting the New York Specialized High Schools. I am going to take the SHSAT (Specialized High School Admissions Test) next month, so I am going to an after school program that will prepare me for the test. I will only put down Bronx High School of Science and High School for American Studies at Lehman College. As for my High School application, I will put down at least eight schools. Mostly those at Christopher Columbus and Evander Childs. Well, that is all I can say about high schools. I did end up going to some meeting at my school (whose page on the site needs to be updated since there is a new principal.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't have as much time to draw stuff as I did during last week. I can only really draw on weekends, and I do my homework then. So I can only really draw during vacations and holidays. Most of my drawings on my Photobucket account are really just plain Ed, Edd n' Eddy drawings, due to requests of those pictures by people at The 3 Eds.com. Anyway, to the right are Jeff and Meg's mom and their baby brother Todd. Also known as 'Todd the Menace' or just 'Menace'! I will get back to drawing more pictures of the characters later, once I finish getting to...stuff I just forgot. D'OH! Oh, I remembered what I wanted to say after that Simpsons reference. I am working on some Simpsons looking characters for my show. Basically just Bart, Lisa, Homer, Marge, and Maggie. I need a bit of help figuring it out. Please leave pointers or something in the comments. Write anything in the comments! Anyway, I should be doing my homework right now...if there is any left. And I think that is just math. So bye!

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P.S. Sorry for not doing this yesterday!

Weekey Update #1

2007-09-14T13:10:00.001-04:00

Starting today, I will start updating my blog weekly. That way, you can all understand more of my life, and update more info. And have more important things to say. To the right is a picture that I actually drew. It is of the two main characters of a cartoon idea I have, Jeff + Meg. Since I am to lazy to re-write this, I will cut and paste from what I wrote as 'Double Nazedd' on The3eds forums:

"My show is called Jeff + Meg, after the main characters, twins Jefrey and Megumi (yes, it is a Japanese name). They live in the town of Fragile, Minnesota, where most of their adventures (and misadventures) take place. There are subtle and board continuity in each episode, such as if a house was destroyed, then it will be re-built for a few episodes. And each season takes place in one season (ex. Season 1 in Fall and Season 2 in Winter). They have a bunch of fun and mischief with their friends at Landmark Jr. High and around the town. A running gag is that some building or monument in the town always breaks in an episode, a hint to the town's name. I am still working on the character designs and will start writing up a few episodes. I actually intend to create this series when I get older and give it to Cartoon Network (if they didn't die yet)."

And here is yet another thing about the show:

"Some more info on my show. The main characters all live on the the same street. In a cul-de-sac. A sort of homage towards Ed, Edd n Eddy. Pictures of the other characters come later. I want to have a fixed set number of characters, so I hope I can just make under 30 characters that I truly need. I should have the pictures of a few more characters (at least 3) by tomorrow."

I will edit this post later when I upload the other picture.

EDIT: I got the picture up. As my English teacher would say, "Like Beyonce, To the left, to the left." Class groans.

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Now it is time to post about school. I am in eighth grade now, so you know what that means! Yes! High applications, major tests, and, if you're in the gifted class, 9th grade regents! Simply amazing! It is time to think about the next few years of my life. I can't believe I have to choose 12 high schools. Also, I am thinking of taking the Specialized High School test. Bronx Science (or American Studies) or bust! I got a nice homeroom teacher that is also my English teacher. I only have classes on two floors. My homeroom has its own lockers, so I can keep my notebooks and a few textbooks in! My book bag is so light now. Okay, maybe not light, but it is a lot more manageable. My class (801), is going to start studying for our Science regents on Mondays. If there is a holiday on Monday, then we have it on Friday. I attend Pablo Casals Middle School 181, located in Co-op City, in the Bronx. I should be doing my homework now, but I will get to it later. Spanish, I can tell, is going to be very tough. Especially since I paid no attention to it last year. Oh, but those are my woes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think this is my longest post ever. Well, know that I have decided to post weekly, I shall have no worries. That is all I can say...besides that this is my Photobucket account, in case you want to see some pics of mine.

Sorry...and some EEnE stuff!

2007-08-21T19:01:00.000-04:00

First off, I apologize for not posting anything on this blog for almost a month. I had a good time at Northern Frontier and after I got home I preceded to goof off. I finished my Math summer homework which is good.

Now for what is to the left. I joined an Ed, Edd n' Eddy fan site called http://www.the3eds.com. The site has up-to-date news on the all things Ed Edd n Eddy. The newest thing on this website is the latest news on the Ed, Edd n' Eddy video game: Scam of the Century. I made the Wikipedia page for the game in fact, using the information.

Another thing about the show is that it has a 90-minute TV movie coming in 2008. The movie will be called "Ed, Edd n' Eddy's Big Picture Show". Their is a fake trailer on Youtube for the movie (but it says 'Pitcher' instead of 'Picture'). The plot of the movie is that the Eds are looking for Eddy's infamous older brother. The movie will also reveal things like who Nazz is crushing on, what is under Double Dee's (Edd's) hat, and others.

Despite common thought, the show's sixth season has not been cancelled. It has simply been shortened. Two episodes are in production for the season. This means there may be a seventh season to air the final 11 episodes.

Here is the fake trailer for the movie (no, I don't know how to put Youtube videos on my blog):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3-bM5-IeEA

Yesterday and Today.

2007-07-24T17:09:00.002-04:00

Since the edit button is no where to be found, I have to write about both yesterday and today. Darn it, I hate this stuff. Anyway, I just put the image to the right because it was the only one I could find with both Danny and Ember. The image shows them both fighting. I guess no one drew and image of them in a Boyfriend-Girlfriend relationship. This relationship is slightly popular on the Internet. But it has not gotten any, um...in-depth sex stories like Danny+Sam. But I still like this pair-up. I mean, it is not slightly forced like Val and Danny, and it is not very weird like Danny and Desiree. Anyway, about my first two days at Day Camp, which started on Monday...

Yesterday...

When I got to day camp yesterday, I started playing a game called 'Beanbag Race'. It consists of two buckets and 6 beanbags (which was a soft cloth filled with hard beans). There are two players. They each get three beanbags and must be the first to get their beanbags into their bucket. Then run back with the bean bags. Pretty simple...but I always lost to five-year-olds. They kept dunking. And that is not allowed. Any, it was raining that day. In other news, we did some math and reading work there. I didn't do the reading work since I am turning 13 on October 3. I had to check some of the reading work instead. Then we ate lunch, then we had some free time. Then we watched the movie Pride. It was okay by my standards. Then I went home.

Today...

Today at Camp, I watched someone there playing Super Mario 64 on their Nintendo DS Lite. He is pretty good at it. Then I watched a DVD on Northern Frontier, a week long Christan sleep-away camp in the Adirondack Mountains. For those who don't know, the mountain range is in Northeastern New York. It is near the New Yorker-Canadian border. A picture of the mountains in the fall is to the left. anyway, the camp has archery, shooting, kayaking, swimming, rock-climbing, and a bunch of other cool things! We then did some reading work (including me). We will be doing that for the rest of the week. We then went to lunch, and then to the pool. The pool was fun, but I spent more than half of the time there at the kiddie pool. I spent the last ten or something minutes racing the kids. The races would have been faster, but I didn't know how to swim. We left the pool and came back to the camp, where we had free time. We then had bible study and then snack. We (the boys) got bags full of stuff we will need when going to Northern Frontier on Sunday (5:45 in morning!). That is all...end blog entry.

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This is the real end to this triple/quadruple length blog entry.

EDIT: The edit buttons are back...this is the real, real end. (6:59)

Spongebob's First Day at Day Camp

2007-07-23T07:45:00.000-04:00

Yup. You can already tell this is about Spongebob Squarepants. I had a 30-min Spongebob dream that I am about to forget. That is why I am writing this segment here, in the early morning. The dream had to do with Patrick wanting a Krabby Patty. Squidward was taking a break, since hardly anyone was there at the place. Patrick went up and asked Spongebob for a Krabby Patty, and Spongebob told him to wait his turn. After Spongebob, severed a fish, Patrick came up. He had a number 2 card. And my dream ended there since my dad woke me up. I will type more in this post later.

Final Harry Book, Left at Chruch, and an Email

2007-07-22T13:03:00.002-04:00

Yes! I have got it. And my brother paid for it. The latest Harry Potter book. And I will check out this awesome book. I have not read books 2-6, but it does not really matter to me at all. I am so happy to get my hands on this 759 page book full of magic and adventure. But enough about this book that almost everyone wants to read, and that got in trouble with the Jewish sabbath. Let's get back to my everyday life.

Today, at my church, my mom forgot me there. I was playing with a five year old child (who was small for his age) when I saw her car turn a corner.. I screamed and ran after her car for about a block before someone told me to calm down. I told her I could just walk home, and after a little talk, I went to ask Pastor Rob if I could walk home and he said yes. As I was walking home, I met up with my friend Daniel who said that I should call home. I did call home and I did. My mom came to get me, and that is the end of that story.

Now the email part. Yesterday, I emailed an old friend of mine that I have not talked to in a year. I sent him the first post of my blog and he actually replied. I now know that he checks his mail somewhat regularly. Anyway, he replied with the following Email:

===================================================================

hey Ukari its true i like ur blog u will here from me soon i might make my own blog but im always busy with HW from an advance program called Breakthrough also i got into private school im going to reapeaT the 7th grade but i dont care your friend kevin P.S. are u going to read the 7th harry potter book

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That is all I am going to post for today! Bye till tomorrow afternoon!

My first post

2007-07-21T19:44:00.001-04:00

Hello. My alias is UK. I live in the City of New York and age 12. This is my first ever blog, and I hope to continue using it for years to come. That is all for now! I messed up with the name of my blog but it does not really matter...for now. Dun dun dun! Note the evil Master Cyclonis from Cartoon Network's and YTV's Storm Hawks series. Don't say I didn't warn you. But enough about me. Okay, more about me. I love spending time online, so this will be one of those rare blogs that actually update every single day...expect when I am on vacation, at camp, or, possibly, when I am in college. I love the show, the Fairly Odd Parents. One of Butch's best work. Soon, season seven shall come, and we will finally get to see the baby. Whose baby will it be!? No one knows...besides the FOP staff and Nickelodeon. *random shrug*

So I want to become a cartoonist. And here are ideas I have for shows, before I go and decide to draw them during the 2007-08 school year:

Sie

A talking optic beagle and his human owner have amazing, outta-this-world adventures in a Illinois town. They face, school, bullies, and evil man-and-dog eating toilets. The usual stuff.

Coop!

What happens when a tweenage boy that lives in a chicken coop makes contact with a small Montana town? Everything from Ninjas to Alien Mutants that's what. Just an ordinary day in the life of Cooper Martian Rune.

Xtraordinary Generation

A show about a family of five kids with amazing superpowers that the world has never known. In their hands, is the fate of the world...if they would only realize it sooner! Before battling the evils in their Boston town, they must battle each other!

Racattack Junction!

I've Moved

Tom Deslongchamp's "Kid Show"

Mark Your Calanders...

Greenlights and Premieres

Legal Cartoonstitute Shorts

Cartoonstitute Shorts Online

I'm still alive...

Assorted Animation News

Cartoon Review: The Awesome Chronicles of Manny and Khan

Do The Bartman

Cartoon Review: Total Drama Action

PVoA: Cartoon Network Rant #1

Cartoon Network Upfront 2009: Animated

My Drawing Thread on Toon Zone

And the Day is Saved!

Cartoon Review - Star Wars: The Clone Wars series

Cartoon Review - Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Future "Racattack Junction!" Posts

The Return of Looney Tunes

Random! Cartoons - Episode One Review

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yet Some More Animation News

*gasp* A POST!!!

Cartoon Review - The Secret Saturdays

Even More Animation News

Toonami Finale

More Random Animation News

George Pipes and Bone (unrelated characters)

Johnny Labrat

Random Animation News

Cartoon Review - Interview with Jay Stephens

PVoA #3 - The Cartoons That Weren't

What's Coming Up...

PVoA #2 - Cartoon Network

VIACOM VS YOU = BOYCOTT

Tednut Production News!

Cartoon Review - Three Delivery

PVoA #1 - Time Warner's Animation Library (Vol. 1)

I Ain't Dead, I'm I Mummy?

The Simple Carnival - Really Really Weird

Cartoon Review - Speed Racer: The Next Generation

Cartoon Review - Total Drama Island

Cartoon Review - The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack

Animation Week #1

Time to Get Down to Business!

Cartoon Summer O' Paradise

The Tednut of Months Past...

Cartoon Review - Ben 10: Alien Force

Succeeding in Animation

Cartoon Review - The Mighty B!

Creative Restrictions in Animation: The Good

How to Make an "Easy" Webtoon

Posting Something...

Onyxe (old design) and Edd

Earth Guy

Cartoon Review - Codename: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.

1000 Views!!!!

Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show

Tednut Production Status

Cartoon Review!- Interview with Mr. Warburton

Future Interviews

Cartoon Review! - Interview with C.H. Greenblatt

Ted Walking

Ted Hopping

Tednut Devlopment is GO!

New blog

Tednut...My first webtoon

Cartoon Review! - Interview with Scotty "SMH"

Super Post #1

Cartoon Review - Ben 10: Race Against Time

The Speck Project

30 People

Cartoon Review! - Interview With Mr. Fizzlo

Fizzlo

Cartoon Reviews - Chowder

Getting serious about High School

Weekey Update #1

Sorry...and some EEnE stuff!

Yesterday and Today.

gasp A POST!!!