Animation & Cartoons

Animation And Cartoons!

Next to music, my favorite art form (and YES IT IS an art) is animation. I love cartoons and animation. I mention both as separate entities cause they are. There is a HUGE difference between the two, but I love one as much as the other. Cartoons are the inexpensive, cookie cutter, type shows you see on Saturday mornings, and weekday afternoons. Animation is more like full-length feature films (Like Disney, Dreamworks, and Warner Bros.), and really, really good prime time television stuff. This section is dedicated to the animation I love (Excluding the Simpsons who have their own section).

Let’s star off with…

King Of The Hill.

This show is so special to me. I look at this show more as an animated version of a real life sitcom. But this show is more real than most real sitcoms. Unlike most Television shows, this show has a realness to it. It’s like you can see yourself or people you know, or situations in this show. The show was created by Mike Judge, who is best known as the man behind Beavis And Butt-Head. Judge is also an accomplished musician, and writer (he penned the movie Office Space), and I thank him for introducing us to the residents of Arlen, Texas. The characters on this show are people you could see yourself hanging out with in real life. My favorite citizens of Arlen are Dale Gribble, and Boomhauer. Dale’s conspiracy theories and total paranoia is some of the funniest stuff on Television. And Boomhauer’s womanizing would make Hawkeye Pierce, and Dan Fielding jealous. The only problem I have with the show is Peggy Hill. But this section is about what I love about this show, not what I don’t love about the show. Long live the King Of The Hill!

Next, we’re

Heading on down to South Park to meets from friends of mine.

Brought to us by the comic and musical genius’ Trey Parker and Matt Stone. These guys should be nominated for and should win EVERY award out there. There is nothing out there that can measure the talent these two possess. I could go on and on about their movies: BASEketball, Orgazmo, and Cannibal The Musical, but, this section is about animation, so let’s talk about South Park. I was late when it came to getting into this show, thanks to our local cable company’s unwillingness to put Comedy Central on the channel line up. But once I was introduced to the show, from the first episode I saw (Mecha-Striesand), I became hooked. There hasn’t been a season of this show yet where I haven’t asked myself; "How do these guys get away with some of this stuff?" Trey and Matt create and thrive on controversy. It’s so un-P.C. and that’s the way it should be. The second this show decides not to tackle a story line cause they don’t want to offend anyone is when the show is done. You’d think my favorite characters would be Stan, Kyle, Cartman, or Kenny, but like with the Simpsons (who Trey and Matt paid special homage to this season with total class) I tend to lean more towards the supporting cast for my faves. My favorite characters are Timmy, and Kyle’s little brother Ike. A lot of people think that Timmy’s character makes fun of the handicapped, I totally disagree. Timmy has tons of friends who like and support him, and he also has a kick ass band; Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld. He’s also a scout and is very popular. Trey and Matt celebrate the handycapable with Timmy. Then there’s Ike Brovlofski. Ike is Kyle’s adopted Canadian brother. For the life of me I can not explain why Ike makes me laugh like he does. Maybe it’s the voice, maybe it’s the way his head bobs around when he talks. What ever it is, it works. The show itself is just incredible. Sure the animation maybe a little crude being construction paper cut out stop motion, but that’s part of the shows innocence. Did I just use the word innocence in describing South Park? Yes I did. Granted 9/10 of the show is centered on the shows dark side which is it’s lifeblood, but there is that 1/10 innocence that is the shows heart that pumps the dark side blood. It may seem a little lopsided but, trust me, it all evens out! Mmmkay?

Next we move onto Seth Mcfarlain’s ‘The Family Guy’!

Mix equal parts brilliant satire, genius pop culture references, and some of the funniest gags ever to grace television, and you have ‘The Family Guy’, the story of a small town family from Rhode Island. Father Peter Griffin works at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Company. His wife Lois teaches piano, and is the care takers for the family. Then we have the kids; Megan (Meg), who’s always looking to fit in, Christopher (Chris), the artistic one who’s always trying to avoid the evil monkey that lives in his closet, and Stewart (Stewie), the evil baby genius bent on world domination. And finally, Brian Griffin, the Griffin’s talking, and ultra-intelligent dog. The neighbors are just as great! Especially my favorite character (Next to Stewie of course), Glenn Quagmire! (Heh heh heh, all right!) Quagmire is the neighborhood sex fiend. He’s a mailman, and has a more than un-healthy obsession with Lois. The Griffin’s are bookmarked on one side by Cleveland, Loretta, and Cleveland Jr. and on the other side by Joe, Bonnie, and Kevin. The Mensa members at Fox broadcasting (Sarcasm mode off), recently cancelled ‘The Family Guy’, which is sad for so many reasons. The network never really gave the show a fair shot. They were CONSTANTLY moving the show from one time slot to another, and not really letting the fans know where it was. You had to actively seek out the show. I can think of at least 4 different nights it was on. Like South Park, ‘The Family Guy’ wasn’t afraid to take on any and all subjects. From Meg getting hooked on drugs, via licking toads, to joining a cult and almost falling victim to a mass suicide, to Brian getting hooked on cocaine, and becoming a porno movie director. I keep praying another network, such as Comedy Central would pick the show up, or maybe Fox putting all the shows out on DVD. (I have every episode on video tape, but hey, DVD is DVD!) If you missed out on ‘The Family Guy’, I’m truly sorry. UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE: FAMILY GUY IS BACK! Behold the power of people! The Family Guy DVD sales, and their Cartoon Network ratings were SO HIGH, that the idiots at Fox decided to do something right, and BRING THE SHOW BACK TO TV! That’s right, brand new episodes of Family Guy are in pre-production AS WE SPEAK, and are suppose to start airing around November, or December of this year! (Unfortunately, I’ve recently found out that the new episodes will not be seen until around summer of ’05…But hey, at least there will be NEW EPISODES!!!) YES, YES, YES! Thank you GOD! Thank you Fox. And thank you to anyone who either bought a Family Guy DVD set, or watched the show on Cartoon Network. It was YOU who made it possible to come back and be as cool as it always was to begin with. Now, as long as Fox gives it a decent time slot, and promotes it properly, the show will be around as long as the Simpsons, and King Of The Hill. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Let’s say on New Year’s Eve 1999 you fall backwards off of a chair into a chriogenics tube and are frozen for a thousand years. Now, lets say you’re thawed out and now have to adjust to an insane future only Matt Groening could come up with. What do you end up with?

This show doesn’t get the respect it deserves. It has a core audience that is very loyal, but that’s not enough. It seems the network doesn’t want to give it a chance. It put the show on in one of the worst possible time slots on TV. It’s on at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night. Let me tell you, during football season we’re lucky enough to get a hand full of episodes. I hear as of now that ultra-think tank of Fox exects has canceled the show. The new season is only left over episodes from last season, and they have no plans on ordering the production of new episodes. Again, it’s a good thing I have every episode on tape. And on March 25, ‘03 the first complete season of Futurama will be released on DVD. WOO HOO! This show is so cool, if only people had given it a chance. Fry is the perfect fish out of water. More at home ten centuries in the future. Like Dave on Titus, Bender is who we all want to be, cause he says and does anything and everything he wants, and gets away with it. The other hilarious standouts are Dr. Zoidberg (the crew’s lobster-esq doctor), Professor Farnsworth (The head of the crew’s delivery service and resident mad scientist), and Zap Branigan (womanizing wannabe). I’m going to be so sorry to see the show go next season when they run out of first run episodes. Till then, I got my VCR at the ready.

What do you get when eight cartoons move into a house and not only start acting real, but start acting insane? Comedy Central’s newest animated reality show, Drawn Together.

At first I didn’t think I’d like this show, but the first episode changed my mind right away. A bunch of different genera type cartoon characters move into a house together and find out just how nuts each other are. First there’s Captain Hero. He’s the womanizing super hero type. He’s also dumb as a bag of hammers. Then there’s Princess Clara. She’s a Disney princess type character who just happens to be a homophobic racist. Next we have Foxxy Love a Josie And The Pussycats, mystery solving musician type. She’s also sassy, and not afraid to whoop some serious ass when needed. Also not afraid to tell it like it is. Then there is Xander. He’s kind of a nod to the Legend Of Zelda. He’s on a never ending quest to save his girl-friend. The only problem is, he recently realized he was gay. That changes everything. Toots Braunstein is Betty Boops evil alter-ego. She’s a washed up 20s throw back. She’s also into self mutilation (she’s a cutter), and manipulation. Spanky ham is an internet cartoon. He’s rude, crude, and drunk all the time. I don’t know if there is a honorable bone in his body, and I don’t know if we’d like him if there was. I don’t know what to make of Wooldoor Sockbat. He’s kind of like Spongebob Squarepants on acid. He’s attention starved, and likes to pull things out of his butt for comedy effect. And lastly there’s Ling Ling. He’s the way Picachu should be. He’s blood thirsty, he’s evil, he hates doing dishes, and he’s ULTRA-handy with a sewing machine. This show makes me laugh harder than most shows on TV today. I hope it stays around for a long, long time.