Western Animation - Discuss American, Canadian, and European cartoons here (or just bitch about wokeshit, I guess)

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So, I collect VHS tapes (because I am a total autistic sperg). It's the main way I discover new cartoons these days - I'm getting myself acquainted with old 90s cartoons I'd never seen before. For example:

This was on the debut lineup of Kids WB, and is equally as funny as any of the WB-made shows that accompanied it. And Dan Castellaneta is Earthworm Jim.

I have no idea how the hell I missed this one. Everybody told me to watch it - and then I did, and holy shit, I missed out. Hilarious stuff.

I actually own the complete series of this one on DVD. Really hilarious stuff, especially for its time. Not too many series just throw everything at the wall to see if it sticks, but this one does.

Some obscure French thing I'd never heard of before I picked up all three VHS tapes released of it. It's actually kinda funny - the writing staff included Bob Camp and Jim Gomez, and the voice cast had Charlie Adler, Maurice LaMarche and Jeff Bennett. (It was also the basis of a video game called Stupid Invaders that a friend of mine used to have - which had the same voice cast.)
 
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All excellent choices.

Steamboat_Bill said:
I have no idea how the hell I missed this one. Everybody told me to watch it - and then I did, and holy shit, I missed out. Hilarious stuff.
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One word... SPOON!

Could you believe Comedy Central once reran this for a while?
 
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Trilby said:
All excellent choices.


One word... SPOON!

Could you believe Comedy Central once reran this for a while?
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I could.

Now that they're bringing the Tick back in a new series on Amazon, you'd think they'd rerelease this classic. But Disney bought the Fox Kids library back in 2001, and they pretty much don't know they even have this stuff there, so it'll be rotting in the Disney Vault unless a miracle happens.
 
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Well hell, if we're gonna talk old Fox Kids cartoons...



 
Jewelsmakerguy said:
Why do I remember that this show exists?
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Strangely, this show got stuck in the 4AM slot on a station in town at one point. Not sure why they did that, but I guess they needed an excuse to not show an infomerical in that spot.
 
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I personally liked Spectacular Spider-man the most. I liked the characters and how they updated the stories of the comics. It was faithful the source material while also being its own fun thing.

/sorry for the random Spider-man sperging/
 
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I'm now going to share this classic among classics of so-bad-it's-good animation, and one I am proud to own on VHS (alongside a copy of Mr. T's Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool!)


What gets me about the whole thing is the huge amount of effort. All these companies agreed to have their characters appear in one cartoon together. It aired on every network at the same time (broadcast AND cable). They got Howard Ashman and Alan Menken to write some songs for it. And to top it all off, they had Bush Sr. give a message beforehand.

And all for something that's regarded as a nostalgic so-bad-it's-good curiosity these days.
 
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Steamboat_Bill said:
I'm now going to share this classic among classics of so-bad-it's-good animation, and one I am proud to own on VHS (alongside a copy of Mr. T's Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool!)


What gets me about the whole thing is the huge amount of effort. All these companies agreed to have their characters appear in one cartoon together. It aired on every network at the same time (broadcast AND cable). They got Howard Ashman and Alan Menken to write some songs for it. And to top it all off, they had Bush Sr. give a message beforehand.

And all for something that's regarded as a nostalgic so-bad-it's-good curiosity these days.
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I remember when it first aired too. McDonald's had a typical standee in their restaurants reminding you when it was to air as well as an add seen on their tray liners (I think a few comic books also had an ad too).
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Yes, every channel that at least had shows for kids that Saturday showed it, even Fox despite not having a Saturday morning line-up until that fall. Not sure I recall the George and Barbara Bush moment from the tape being shown, but do recall the "Love Live in Me" Ronald McDonald Children's Charities message. I think it was re-aired a year later, and had roughly the same exposure on many channels, of course by then, a VHS tape was made avalable as a free rental at many video shops (usually stuck in the "instructional/educational" section where vids there were always free, if you're into that ephermia).

For the special itself, it hasn't aged well, I thought it seemed like mess narrative-wise seeing it as a 12 year old, I couldn't tell if Michael was going in and out of these dreams or reality the way the toon figures kept popping up. Each of them do at least get their time to shine, some more than others (ALF I would say, which is interesting since his show ended that year), though I never understood the need for Garfield but at least Lorenzo Music was involved. Animation is so-so (a Wang Film effort so nothing to write about).

If anything, it's interesting the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the Emmy people) was that deadset on putting this together at all, but it was the late 80's and everyone was on the anti-drug bandwagon then.
 
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Trilby said:
I remember when it first aired too. McDonald's had a typical standee in their restaurants reminding you when it was to air as well as an add seen on their tray liners (I think a few comic books also had an ad too).
View attachment 100189

Yes, every channel that at least had shows for kids that Saturday showed it, even Fox despite not having a Saturday morning line-up until that fall. Not sure I recall the George and Barbara Bush moment from the tape being shown, but do recall the "Love Live in Me" Ronald McDonald Children's Charities message. I think it was re-aired a year later, and had roughly the same exposure on many channels, of course by then, a VHS tape was made avalable as a free rental at many video shops (usually stuck in the "instructional/educational" section where vids there were always free, if you're into that ephermia).

For the special itself, it hasn't aged well, I thought it seemed like mess narrative-wise seeing it as a 12 year old, I couldn't tell if Michael was going in and out of these dreams or reality the way the toon figures kept popping up. Each of them do at least get their time to shine, some more than others (ALF I would say, which is interesting since his show ended that year), though I never understood the need for Garfield but at least Lorenzo Music was involved. Animation is so-so (a Wang Film effort so nothing to write about).

If anything, it's interesting the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the Emmy people) was that deadset on putting this together at all, but it was the late 80's and everyone was on the anti-drug bandwagon then.
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It's an irony that a special that's designed to get you off drugs at times seems like it was made on them.

I want to note that the animation for this one was done in six weeks, tops. And even reviews at the time pointed out that it probably would have very little effect in the War on Drugs - one mentioned that the character with the most presence, the one who stuck in the mind, was the George C. Scott puff of smoke. (Of course, if General Patton told me to start smoking pot, then I probably would.)
 
Steamboat_Bill said:
It's an irony that a special that's designed to get you off drugs at times seems like it was made on them.
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Aha! This was also a time when McDonald's was all tree-hugging hippy crap and they got rid of their styrofoam packaging in place of paper containers, replaced ice cream with frozen yogurt, and even did a thing with giving you a free Colorado Spruce seedling wtih every meal (I think they're still growing in our back yard). It was quite a time.

I want to note that the animation for this one was done in six weeks, tops. And even reviews at the time pointed out that it probably would have very little effect in the War on Drugs - one mentioned that the character with the most presence, the one who stuck in the mind, was the George C. Scott puff of smoke. (Of course, if General Patton told me to start smoking pot, then I probably would.)
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I suppose the six weeks was to get it out of the way because they still had next year's shows to work on.
 
Trilby said:
I remember when it first aired too. McDonald's had a typical standee in their restaurants reminding you when it was to air as well as an add seen on their tray liners (I think a few comic books also had an ad too).
View attachment 100189

Yes, every channel that at least had shows for kids that Saturday showed it, even Fox despite not having a Saturday morning line-up until that fall. Not sure I recall the George and Barbara Bush moment from the tape being shown, but do recall the "Love Live in Me" Ronald McDonald Children's Charities message. I think it was re-aired a year later, and had roughly the same exposure on many channels, of course by then, a VHS tape was made avalable as a free rental at many video shops (usually stuck in the "instructional/educational" section where vids there were always free, if you're into that ephermia).

For the special itself, it hasn't aged well, I thought it seemed like mess narrative-wise seeing it as a 12 year old, I couldn't tell if Michael was going in and out of these dreams or reality the way the toon figures kept popping up. Each of them do at least get their time to shine, some more than others (ALF I would say, which is interesting since his show ended that year), though I never understood the need for Garfield but at least Lorenzo Music was involved. Animation is so-so (a Wang Film effort so nothing to write about).

If anything, it's interesting the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the Emmy people) was that deadset on putting this together at all, but it was the late 80's and everyone was on the anti-drug bandwagon then.
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Usually (from what I've seen anyways) Wang churns out better work for their non H-B stuff (with exceptions, obviously), but as @Steamboat_Bill mentioned, it was made in six weeks. Not really an excuse from any standpoint, as some of the renderings of characters can be downright horrifying at times, but still.

Also, I remember seeing this in school once. Even I was wondering the point on this, it felt like a "super-serial" version of a Pooh's Adventures story, only animated by professionals, and on drugs. And when it feels like your special's on the exact thing you're trying to promote kids not to do. Then you dun' fucked up big time. And some of the characters are either pointless as hell (exactly what use did the Smurfs or Slimer have to the proceedings anyway) or were really inappropriate (yeah, let's use the ninja turtle who sounds stoned 24/7 to help preach our message. That's what the kids want, right? And let's have him be in a sewer that's clearly spiked with LSD!)
 
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Jewelsmakerguy said:
Usually (from what I've seen anyways) Wang churns out better work for their non H-B stuff (with exceptions, obviously), but as @Steamboat_Bill mentioned, it was made in six weeks. Not really an excuse from any standpoint, as some of the renderings of characters can be downright horrifying at times, but still.
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I know how you feel. Some of these characters I don't think Wang Film had ever worked on before like Muppet Babies (AKOM was working on that at the time), Michaelangelo from TMNT (still not bad for the time) or ALF (Which DiC sent over to Japanese studios for their shows but it's amusing to see Gordon with tiny black pupils instead of his usual dark eyes). Of course it wouldn't be the last for the WB characters given the shows they'd do for them later.

Also, I remember seeing this in school once. Even I was wondering the point on this, it felt like a "super-serial" version of a Pooh's Adventures story, only animated by professionals, and on drugs. And when it feels like your special's on the exact thing you're trying to promote kids not to do. Then you dun' fucked up big time. And some of the characters are either pointless as hell (exactly what use did the Smurfs or Slimer have to the proceedings anyway)
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Some of them just didnt work to me other than an excuse to get more characters involved, and the VA's to do the songs. Only a certain amount get to have at least some sort of dialogue with our troubled teen as they go into the usual copyright factoids we've all heard before.

or were really inappropriate (yeah, let's use the ninja turtle who sounds stoned 24/7 to help preach our message. That's what the kids want, right? And let's have him be in a sewer that's clearly spiked with LSD!)
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Michaelangelo wasn't a good choice certainly (perhaps Raph in the alleyway instead of Bugs would've sufficed)!
 
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Jewelsmakerguy said:
Usually (from what I've seen anyways) Wang churns out better work for their non H-B stuff (with exceptions, obviously), but as @Steamboat_Bill mentioned, it was made in six weeks. Not really an excuse from any standpoint, as some of the renderings of characters can be downright horrifying at times, but still.

Also, I remember seeing this in school once. Even I was wondering the point on this, it felt like a "super-serial" version of a Pooh's Adventures story, only animated by professionals, and on drugs. And when it feels like your special's on the exact thing you're trying to promote kids not to do. Then you dun' fucked up big time. And some of the characters are either pointless as hell (exactly what use did the Smurfs or Slimer have to the proceedings anyway) or were really inappropriate (yeah, let's use the ninja turtle who sounds stoned 24/7 to help preach our message. That's what the kids want, right? And let's have him be in a sewer that's clearly spiked with LSD!)

Oh, and here's the obligatory Annotated riff on it:
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I wonder if anyone's made a Pooh's Adventures of Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. What would that be like?

Don't forget in this same lineup you have a cat who cannot stop eating (clearly a gigantic case of the munchies) and a bear who's addicted to honey. (Fun fact: Jim Cummings had the sense to ask the producers to take out any lines that implied Pooh knew anything about drugs - quoth him, "He's an innocent. It makes no sense for him to know about it.")
 
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Steamboat_Bill said:
I wonder if anyone's made a Pooh's Adventures of Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. What would that be like?

Don't forget in this same lineup you have a cat who cannot stop eating (clearly a gigantic case of the munchies) and a bear who's addicted to honey. (Fun fact: Jim Cummings had the sense to ask the producers to take out any lines that implied Pooh knew anything about drugs - quoth him, "He's an innocent. It makes no sense for him to know about it.")
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Makes you think, I mean Pooh's already in the special as it is. So who knows what kind of clusterfuck might occur if more toons/fictional characters would be added.
 
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