Cartoon Interlude

Things have been on the busy side around here lately, so here's a classic Disney cartoon to tide you over.



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Top 10 Favorite/Most Influential Cartoons

There's something going around social media that asks people to list their Top 10 Favorite/Most Influential Cartoons. That sounded like a blog post topic to me, so here we are. I'm going to list these in no particular order, basically as they come to me. Also, I'm going with the "Most Influential" side of the equation, since "Favorite" would take too long to narrow down.

The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour


No conversation about cartoons would be complete without talking about Looney Tunes. These cartoons showed me many layers were possible in storytelling, and my whole family loves them. Heck, there will be times when we'll just start quoting Bugs & Daffy cartoons out of nowhere.


Star Blazers


This is a no brainer. I remember seeing Star Blazers when I was very young and that started my love of both anime and long form storytelling. The fact that this was a self contained quest, with a beginning, middle, and end fascinated me. American cartoons just didn't do that.


Gargoyles


I love many Disney cartoons, and many of the shows from the 90's, but none has resonated with me as much as Gargoyles. An equal mix of Mythology, Arthurian Legend, Shakespeare, and Superhero, this cartoon seems like it was made for me. Add to that the fact that the cast is just lousy with Star Trek actors, and I'm hooked.


He-Man and the Masters of the Universe


I've told the story on MotU-Cast about how I won a He-Man contest from Burger King as a kid. I was already a big He-Man fan, though. The idea that strength was to be used to the benefit of others, and wasn't a goal in itself, was a great message.


Battle of the Planets


As much as I hate, and I do mean HATE, 7-Zark-7, I can't deny that Battle of the Planets was a treat for me to watch as a kid. I don't remember seeing it with any regularity, so stumbling across it was always a special occasion. Plus, it lead me to Gatchaman, which is the FAR superior source material, so I can't ignore it.


Challenge of the Superfriends


I could list most of the Superfriends here, but the one that was my favorite (and, coincidentally, didn't have any Junior members) was Challenge. The intro sums it all up, "The Justice League of America versus The Legion of Doom." What more could you want?


The Incredible Hulk


When someone mentions The Incredible Hulk, this is the music that plays in my head. Much more than the wonderful Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno show, this is the comic brought to life. No, it's not 100% faithful, but Bruce Banner, Betty Ross, and Rick Jones are present, along with General Ross and Major Talbot. Plus, this Hulk can speak!


Record of Lodoss War


One of the first Anime that I saw when I was in college was Record of Lodoss War, which is, essentially, a Dungeons and Dragons session animated. Like with Star Blazers, this was a very definite beginning, middle (which was at the start, for some reason), and end. It was wonderfully animated and had some great characters.


Silverhawks


I'm a mark for Rankin-Bass, Science Fiction, and Superhero cartoons. This is a combination of all three, with the caveat that the heroes are actually space cops fighting the space mob. Plus, it had lessons about the solar system at the end, which is better than the "You see, Timmy ..." stuff that the other shows of this era were doing.


Flash Gordon


I love pretty much all of the Filmation adaptions, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Tarzan, Star Trek, but Flash Gordon holds a special place in my heart. Again, this was long form story telling, but there really wasn't an end to it, since every time Ming was defeated, he would just escape and come back. It did build on itself, though, which was really nice.

How about you, dear reader? What are your top 10 cartoons?


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Cartoon TV Themes 2

I was under the weather at the beginning of the week, so I didn't have time to write up a post. So enjoy these cartoon themes that might just be coming to a podcast episode at some point.



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I AIN'T NO BUNNY RABBIT!

For those of you that don't know, I had quite a bad car accident last week and, as a result, haven't had the time (or energy) to think of anything geeky to write. I got away with just bruises, so I'm lucky, but OUCH! So, here's a cartoon that contains a very applicable quote:

"I'm not like other people. I can't stand pain. It hurts me." - Daffy Duck


(Ep. 168) - The Abominable Snow Rabbit by ducthangsuachua

See you next week for the yearly Halloween post!

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Pryde of the X-Men

Inspired by a recent episode of The Coffee & Comics Podcast, and because I have had a really busy week, here's the 80's version of the X-Men.



Why this line-up, you ask? Well, because that's who the X-Men were in the comics in the mid to late 80's. This wasn't just something they threw together, it was the line-up from the comics.

And, yes, that's Michael Bell (aka Duke from GI Joe) as Cyclops.

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Animalypics

One of those cartoon "events" that I remember from being a kid is Animalympics. A movie about anthropomorphic animals completing in their own Olympic games. What's not to love?

I remember this being on HBO every Olympic year, and my sister & I would make sure to catch it. I didn't get all the references, but I remember loving it.

Now I get the references to Howard Cosell, Muhammad Ali, Mark Spitz, John Travolta, and all the other celebrities. I also get the paradoy of Olympic coverage, as I have watched a number of broadcasts of the games.

This is definitely a cartoon aimed at adults*, but with enough stuff for kids to enjoy, in the best Termite Terrace tradition. Also, since the Olympics are currently going on, what better time for a re-watch? I've added the video below, for your convenience.

* No, I'm not talking about Kit Mambo or Brenda Springer. Not that I'm complaining about them, mind you. ;-)

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Thunderbirds Are Go!

We recently finished watching the new series called "Thunderbirds Are Go!" on Amazon and, as anyone who follows me on social media knows, I LOVED it! One of the reasons for this is that I'm a huge fan of the original, Supermarionation version. That's something that my father introduced me to when I was a kid and, since this was in the days before video on demand, it was always a special event when we got to watch it.

The new series can be seen either as a re-imagining or as a sequel to that series. I prefer to see it as a sequel, just with updated tech for International Rescue. There are differences in the series, the most major of which (and this is a spoiler) is that Jeff Tracy, the father, doesn't appear in the show. We have the boys all running things, more or less, by committee.

Another difference is that Tin-Tin is no longer on the sidelines (or called Tin-Tin). Now she's known as Kayo, for her strong KO punch, and is an operative. I like that she's given something to do in this show and I understand the name change, as Tintin has been copyrighted. She's still the niece of the main villain, though, and the object of Alan's affections.

Once nice bit of continuity is a couple of the voices. You'll notice that the countdown and the line "Thunderbirds are go!" in the two videos below are the same. That's because they lifted the audio from the late Peter Dyneley (voice of the aforementioned Jeff Tracy) from the original series. You have no idea how thrilled I was when I first heard that.

Another returning voice is that of David Graham, who reprised his role as Parker, Lady Penelope's Man Friday. Parker is one of those characters that is just fun to watch. He's got an interesting back story, which is carried over from the original, and Graham is obviously enjoying his role here.

Whether you're a fan of the original or someone who's never watched the show before, I would highly recommend it. It's got some great stories and the premise, a group that rescues people who would have been killed otherwise, is something that we could use more of today.




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Garfield Halloween

It's become a tradition for me to post videos around Halloween, so I'm going to keep that up. This one isn't a Disney one, unlike the previous three posts about this holiday. No, this one is the Garfield Halloween Special that we would watch every year as kids. I think it still holds up pretty well, and ends up being on the scary side, even with all the candy, candy, candy candy, candy.



It's a shame that we don't have any Halloween specials that have come out recently that have this kind of staying power. (Cue people in the comments proving me wrong.)

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Filmation's Flash Gordon

One of the benefit of my wife working (beyond the obvious monetary gain) is that I get to expose our daughter to geeky properties that we wouldn't necessarily watch as a family. Such was the case the other night when we watched the 1980 Flash Gordon movie. While I love that movie, mainly for the fact that it is a love letter to the old Buster Crabbe serials and the music, that's not what we're going to talk about here.

No, for this we're going to go back to the Filmation cartoon series, which I remember watching as a kid. While this does have all the hallmarks of being a Filmation production, namely stock music, repeated animations, simple lines, etc, I still think it works really well. Yes, there's a good deal of rotoscoping, mainly of the spacecraft, but that adds to the feel of the series.

It's quite a long series, going over 32 episodes, but it captures the feel of the serials, with each episode ending on a "how will they survive this?" cliff-hanger. Add to that the fact that we get to see races of Mongo that wouldn't be practical in a live action venue and we have a really enjoyable cartoon.

Luckily, my daughter agrees, as we watched the first few episodes after the movie, and have continued on every now and again. If you're interested in watching it, there are a few ways to do that. We're watching it on Hulu, but it is also available on DVD.

Do yourself a favor, though, and watch the compilation movie "The Greatest Adventure of All", as you get to see just how Flash, Dale, and Zarkov got to Mongo in the first place. Yes, there's some stuff repeated from the series, but it's well worth your time, in my opinion.




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Cartoon TV Themes

As I'm sure you're already aware, I released an episode of The Hammer Podcasts! on my favorite Cartoon TV Themes. If you haven't heard it yet, you can find it here. And, for your enjoyment, below I have the videos for all the themes I talked about.



As I limited myself to 9 this time out, I thought I'd post a few that didn't quite make the cut. In no particular order, here they are.















I know there are a bunch that didn't make the cut, even with the runners up, but I'd like to hear your opinions. What did you think of my list? Should I have put swapped something out? Let me know either in the comments here or drop an e-mail to Gene@TheHammerStrikes.com.

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Like what I'm doing here on the blog and podcast? Why not check out my Patreon Page to see how you can help me do more? http://www.patreon.com/TheHammerStrikes