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Post by Mr. Emoticon Man on Jul 12, 2009 20:35:51 GMT -5
Ah! Thanks for clearing that up. I KNEW it was something I had heard before, but I just couldn't remember what cartoon it was from.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 21, 2009 15:03:22 GMT -5
Sorry for the lay-off, but let's conclude this countdown! 10. Spider-Man: The Animated Series - 14 pointsSpider-Man, also known as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, is an American animated series starring the famous Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man. The show ran on Fox Kids from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998. The producer/story editor was John Semper, Jr. and production company was Marvel Productions. Reruns can currently be seen on Jetix Europe and Disney XD. The series tells the story of a 19-year-old Peter Parker in his first year at Empire State University, and his alter-ego Spider-Man. As the story begins, Peter has already gained his powers, is single and a part-time photographer for the Daily Bugle. The show features most of Spider-Man's classic villains, including the Kingpin, the Green Goblin, the Lizard, the Scorpion, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, the Rhino, the Shocker, The Vulture, and the Chameleon, as well as more recent villains such as Venom, Carnage, and the Hobgoblin. Over the course of the series the single Peter Parker contends with the romantic interests of Mary Jane Watson, Black Cat and her alter ego, Felicia Hardy. While Marvel's X-Men: The Animated Series was being produced by Saban, Spider-Man was produced by the newly formed Marvel Films Animation; it was the only series that in-house studio produced, but was animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha with Korean studios. The series is the second longest-running Marvel show created, after X-Men, as well as the longest-running series based on Spider-Man. It is currently owned and distributed by The Walt Disney Company, which acquired all Fox Kids-related properties from News Corporation and Saban International in 2001. To reproduce the New York's style background illustrators undertook a large amount of visual research, using photo archives from above New York, particularly rooftops. Maps were consulted for references and buildings were faithfully reproduced. It has been reported that the animation cells depicting Manhattan's Pan Am Building were scrapped after being complete because the California-based art staff learned the Midtown landmark had been given a new sign more than a year earlier. The animation staff were directed to populate the city with cars and crowds on the street level. Semper believed[citation needed] that was one of the limitations of earlier Spider-Man animated projects. Originally, Marvel Films planned to make the backgrounds completely CGI while Spider-Man 'webslinged' around New York, yet due to budget constraints were forced to use traditional cel based animation while occasionally using CGI backgrounds. As well, reuse of animation became more common as the series progressed, which also included reuse of animation involving a character speaking (these scenes were sometimes slowed down in order to better match the actor's voice to the animation). By 1994, heavy censorship was being enforced by Fox because certain shows were being banned for excessive violence in some countries. So in a bid to make Spider-Man as politically correct as possible, the producers of the show were instructed to abide by their extensive list of requirements.[1] Among the notable restrictions were: * Not mentioning "death", "die", "kill" or other words with a strong negative meaning. Death was to be avoided, leading Semper to skirt around the issue. "Destroy" and "destruction" were frequently employed as synonyms.[2] For example: o Rather than explicitly stating that Uncle Ben was killed it is only said that he "was shot" and that Peter "let him down." o It is stated that the Punisher's family was "caught in a crossfire between rival gangs", and the same applied to the wife of the Destroyer. o After the Lizard is transformed back into Dr. Conners, he is unconscious. His wife asks Spider-Man, "Is he-" and Spider-Man says, "He'll be okay." cutting her off. o At one point, when the Green Goblin returns after seemingly perishing, Spider-Man says, "You?! But I thought you were-" and the Green Goblin cuts him off with, "I'm not.. but you'll soon be!" before throwing a Pumpkin Bomb at Spider-Man. o When Hydro-Man was defeated and evaporated, Mary Jane asked "Is he-?" Spider-Man cuts her off by saying "Not necessarily." He goes on to explain that water that evaporates always eventually returns to the earth in the form of rain. o There were exceptions, such as when Felicia's mother was attacked by Kraven, and stated "That madman nearly killed you." or when Mary Jane suggested that Harry was trying to "avenge the death of his father." And even in the episode "Sting of the Scorpion", when J. Jonah Jameson offers Gargon to get back at Spider-Man. He replies by saying that he'd "kill for the chance." * Many realistic guns were not allowed, and no firearms could shoot bullets, so instead they fired lasers complimented by 'futuristic' sound effects. This often led to scenes in which ordinary policemen wielded futuristic pistols. However, in Episode 3.09, Robbie Robertson's son Randy finds a real-looking gun in his father's desk, though it is never fired on screen, and in Episode 56, when Keane Marlow is telling the story of how he lost his wife, the bank robbers are firing a pistol and a semi-automatic. In "Day of the Chameleon", the Chameleon is about to pull out a realistic looking pistol from behind his back before Spider-Man stops him. In "Sting of the Scorpion" a flashback shows Jameson's wife's killer supposedly using a realistic gun in a drive by shooting. In the episode "Make a Wish", a police officer is also pointing a realistic looking pistol at Spider-Man. It is worth noting that the roughly contemporary Batman: The Animated Series, which also aired on Fox Kids, portrayed realistic, if anachronistic, firearms onscreen throughout that show's run without ever having an episode banned or censored as a result. * Spider-Man was not allowed to hit anyone with his fist, however there were a few exceptions.[2] In Episode 39 ("The Spot") in which he used his spider-sense to guide a punch through a dimension portal and knock out the Spot. He also punched the Scorpion's tail near the end of the episode, "The Sting Of The Scorpion," & punched the villain twice in "The Final Nightmare." * No crashing glass was allowed. However, in Episode 43, when Spider-Man and Doc Ock were battling in Felicia and Anastasia Hardy's home, Ock accidentally smashed a glass window with one of his tentacles. * No children in peril, although there was a scene where the Rocket Racer, a teenager by the name of Robert, was stuck to the bottom of an elevator, about to be crushed until Spider-Man saved him.[2] * No vampires were allowed on the show. This created complications with the use of the characters Morbius the living vampire and Blade the vampire hunter. Consequently, Morbius only drained victims through suckers on his hands, rather than by biting them in the traditional vampire style on the neck, and rather than blood, his sustenance was referred to only as "plasma." However, the word "blood" is used regularly in non-vampire episodes. True vampires later appeared anyway, primarily in the form of Blade's vampire mother, but they are not shown actually biting anyone. * Spider-Man was not allowed to harm any pigeons when he landed on rooftops.[2] * Cletus Kasady a.k.a. Carnage was not a serial killer in the series, he was just a madman. Carnage never actually used his symbiotic blades to harm anyone, he was either stopped or dodged. He also absorbed people's energy rather than killing them outright. However, he has made a few references to attempts to murder. For instance, when Baron Mordo stated to him that he needed a few more life forces, Carnage said "Only a few? Too bad!". He also referred to his process of draining life force as "feeding". There are, however, notable exceptions to these rules. Examples include: * When Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson confront Hydro-Man in Episode 2.03 for the last time, Hydro-Man vaporizes when he touches hot ground, and never returns. * Due to the unstable DNA structure of the clones of Mary Jane Watson and Hydro-Man, they vaporized and died. * Several other characters, including Mysterio, Jameson's wife and the Kingpin's father were implied to have died off-screen. * It should be noted that the restricted words were sometimes mentioned regardless of Fox's censorship. For example, in "The Insidious Six", Scorpion states that he'd "kill to work for the Kingpin" (a common exaggeration used by many). Another variation appears in "Hydro Man", where Liz Allan says the word in pig latin to Mary Jane. When trying to reason with The Spot, Spider-Man said "You're no killer." Scorpion even said the word "kill" in his first appearance and the death words were used regularly in the Six Forgotten Warriors five-part episode saga. * Perhaps another well-known exception is the series' finale. Spider-Carnage, an insane version of Peter Parker combine with the Carnage symbiote, was snapped to his senses by a still-living Uncle Ben of the rich Spider-Man of that reality. Because the Carnage Symbiote was trying to regain control, Spider-Carnage commits suicide by detonating a 'reality bomb' in a small portal to kill himself and the symbiote. * The Kingpin was portrayed as a very obese man who would put Spidey in some massive bear hugs, many parents found this very negative since a fat man was able to hug Spidey and crush him. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, ABC Family heavily edited the season one finale "Day of the Chameleon" to remove the World Trade Center buildings, parts of the New York skyline, and a helicopter crashing into a building, exploding, and falling to the ground below, among other shots. This resulted in the first scene being impossible to comprehend as it was originally intended. Dialogue was re-looped to match the new, shorter version. Some production credits from the episode are missing as well, due to their being on screen during the omitted footage. Another noticeable edit can be viewed in season three's "Enter the Green Goblin." In the original, the Goblin Glider slams into a building with Spider-Man riding on top. In the newly edited version, the scene is cut, and Spider-Man is shown simply emerging from a hole in the side of the building. Another edit occurs near the end of season two's "Duel of the Hunters," when it is revealed that Kraven and Punisher's last battle with the "Man-Spider" was in fact inside the parking garage of the World Trade Center, and that Kraven had deduced the location by smelling some webbing left at a previous battle and detecting remnant soot in it from the terrorist bombing of the early 1990s. The whole sequence of Punisher finding out where they are and Kraven's explanation of how he knew where to look for them was cut, though the battle scenes within the garage are left intact, since obviously they could belong to any parking garage until the final revelation. Source: Wikipedia Opening I saw a little bit of this show when it first came out. I wasn't really into it as much, since it was on about the same time as Sonic and the Power Rangers. Looking back, it was pretty good stuff.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 21, 2009 15:13:46 GMT -5
9. South Park - 15 pointsSouth Park is an American animated sitcom, created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the cable channel Comedy Central. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become infamous for its crude, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics. The ongoing narrative revolves around four children—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick—and their bizarre adventures in and around the titular Colorado town. Parker and Stone developed the show from two animated shorts they created in 1992 and 1995. The latter became one of the first Internet viral videos, which led to the greenlighting of the series by Comedy Central. South Park debuted in August 1997 with great success, consistently earning the highest ratings of any basic cable program. Subsequent ratings have varied, but the show remains Comedy Central's highest-rated program even after 188 episodes. Parker and Stone, who continue to do most of the writing, directing, and voice acting, are under contract to produce 14 new episodes a year through 2011. Their staff creates each episode with computer software that emulates the show's distinct cutout animation style. Following the early success of the series, the acclaimed feature-length musical film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut had a widespread theatrical release in June 1999. South Park has also received numerous media awards, most notably three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. The show mostly follows a group of four boys—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick—and the adventures they share in South Park, a fictional small town located within the real-life South Park basin in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado. The town, sometimes described within the show as "a pissant white-bread mountain town", is also home to an assortment of frequent characters such as students, families, elementary school staff, and other various residents. Prominent settings on the show include the local elementary school, bus stop, various neighborhoods and the surrounding snowy landscape, and the shops and businesses along the town's main street, all of which are based on the appearance of similar locations in the town of Fairplay, Colorado. Stan is portrayed as the everyman of the group, as the show's official website describes him as "a normal, average, American, mixed-up kid". Kyle is the lone Jew among the group, and his portrayal in this role is often dealt with satirically. Stan is modeled after Parker, while Kyle is modeled after Stone. Stan and Kyle are best friends, and their relationship, which is intended to reflect the real-life friendship between Parker and Stone, is a common topic throughout the series. Cartman—loud, obnoxious, and obese—is often portrayed as an antagonist whose anti-Semitic attitude has resulted in an ever-progressing rivalry with Kyle. Kenny, who comes from a poor family, wears his parka hood so tightly that it covers most of his face and muffles his speech. During the show's first five seasons, Kenny would die in nearly each episode before returning in the next with little or no definitive explanation given. During the show's first 58 episodes, the boys were in the third grade. In the season four episode "4th Grade" (2000), they—along with the other main child characters—entered the fourth grade, where they have remained ever since. Plots are often set in motion by events, ranging from the fairly typical to the supernatural and extraordinary, which frequently happen upon the town. The boys often act as the voice of reason when these events cause panic or incongruous behavior among the adult populace, who are customarily depicted as irrational, gullible, and prone to vociferation. The boys are also frequently confused by the contradictory and hypocritical behavior of their parents and other adults, and often perceive them as having distorted views on morality and society. Each episode opens with a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer: All characters and events in this show—even those based on real people—are entirely fictional. All celebrity voices are impersonated.....poorly. The following program contains coarse language and due to its content it should not be viewed by anyone. South Park was the first weekly program to be assigned the TV-MA rating, and is generally intended for adult audiences. The boys and most other child characters use strong profanity, with only the most taboo words being bleeped by censors during a broadcast. The use of such language serves as a means for Parker and Stone to display how they claim young boys really talk when they are alone. South Park commonly makes use of carnivalesque and absurdist techniques, numerous running gags, violence, sexual content, offhand pop-cultural references, and satirical portrayal of celebrities. The early episodes tended to be shock value-oriented and featured more slapstick-style humor. While social satire had been used on the show occasionally earlier on, it became more prevalent as the series progressed, with the show retaining some of its focus on the boys' fondness of scatological humor in an attempt to remind adult viewers "what it was like to be eight years old". Parker and Stone also began further developing other characters by giving them larger roles in certain storylines, and began writing plots as parables based around religion, politics, and numerous other topics. This provided the opportunity for the show to spoof both extreme sides of contentious issues, while lampooning both liberal and conservative points of view. Parker and Stone describe themselves as "equal opportunity offenders", whose main agenda is to "be funny" and "make people laugh", while stating that no particular topic or group of people be spared the expense of being subject to mockery and satire. The two insist that the show is still more about "kids being kids" and "what it's like to be in [elementary school] in America", stating that the introduction of a more satirical element to the series was the result of the two adding more of a "moral center" to the show so that it would rely less on simply being crude and shocking in an attempt to maintain an audience. While profane, and with a tendency to sometimes be cynical, Parker notes that there is still an "underlying sweetness" aspect to the child characters, and Time described the boys as "sometimes cruel but with a core of innocence". Usually, the boys and/or other characters ponder over what has transpired during an episode and convey the important lesson taken from it with a short monologue. During earlier seasons, this speech would commonly beginning with a variation of the phrase "You know what? I've learned something today...". Source: Wikipedia Opening This was a pretty good show until about a few years ago. Then, the producers started to make the show more of a statement on the going ons around the world, which IMO, hurt the show more than it helped it.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 21, 2009 15:22:03 GMT -5
8. The Real Ghostbusters - 16 pointsThe Real Ghostbusters is an American animated television series based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters. The series ran from 1986 to 1991, and was produced by Columbia Pictures Television (now Sony Pictures Television), DiC Entertainment and Coca-Cola. "The Real" was added to the title over a dispute with Filmation and its Ghost Busters properties. The series continues the adventures of paranormal investigators Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, Dr. Ray Stantz, their secretary Janine Melnitz and their mascot ghost Slimer. There also were two ongoing Real Ghostbusters comics, one published monthly by Now Comics in USA and the other published weekly (originally biweekly) by Marvel Comics in the United Kingdom, and a popular toy line manufactured by Kenner. The series is currently running on Kabillion On Demand. A short pilot episode was produced, but never aired in full. The full four minute promo was released on Time Life's DVD set in 2008. Scenes of the pilot can be seen in TV promos that aired prior to the beginning of the series. Among differences seen in the promo pilot, the Ghostbusters wore the beige jumpsuits they had worn in the film instead of the color coded jumpsuits they would wear in the finished series, and the character design for Peter Venkman bore more of a resemblance to actor Bill Murray than the character design seen in the finished series. When he auditioned for the voice of Egon Spengler, Maurice LaMarche, noted that while he was asked not to impersonate Harold Ramis, he did so anyway and eventually got the part. LaMarche also noted that Bill Murray complained that Lorenzo Music's voice of Peter Venkman sounded more like Garfield. Ernie Hudson was the only actor from the films who auditioned to play his character in the series, however the role was given to Arsenio Hall. At the same time The Real Ghostbusters was being created, Filmation was making a cartoon known simply as "Filmation's Ghostbusters", which was a revamp of Filmation's 1970s series The Ghost Busters. The character designs by Jim McDermott, were dramatically redesigned from the way the same characters looked in the movie. Although the "Ghostbusters" concept was tinkered with, the finalized show does feature many tie-ins from the films. The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man made numerous appearances. During the third season, Walter Peck, the Environmental Protection Agency antagonist from the original film, reappeared. The uniforms and containment unit was redesigned, and Slimer was changed from a bad ghost to a resident, events which are explained in the episode "Citizen Ghost" that flashbacks to what happened to the Ghostbusters right after the movie's events. Gozer is also mentioned repeatedly throughout the series, usually in comparison to a ghost they are currently battling. In the second season, some of the character designs were modified. Ray's character design was slimmed down to give the character a less overweight appearance and Slimer was given a tail instead of the formerly rounded bottom. The biggest change was to the character of Janine, whose hair was completely changed from being short and spiky to long and straight. Her overall design was softened, as was her personality. Her voice was also softened with Kath Soucie taking over the voice role from Laura Summer. At the start of the series' third season in 1988, the series was retitled to Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters. The opening was completely redone to center around Slimer. Eventually the episodes were expanded from their original half-hour format to last an hour and the overall feel of the show was changed to be more youthful, with episodes having a lighter tone to be less frightening.[citation needed] When Ghostbusters II was released, the character of Louis Tully was introduced to the show, with his voice provided by Rodger Bumpass. With the departure of writer J. Michael Straczynski, more changes were also made. Dave Coulier took over the role of voicing Peter from Lorenzo Music and Buster Jones replaced Arsenio Hall as the voice of Winston. The show was canceled in 1991, with Straczynski returned to the series for its final season in 1990. The only voice actors to remain for the entire series were Frank Welker and Maurice LaMarche. Source: Wikipedia Pilot Once again, I didn't really get into this show as much when it first came out because I had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But I did have a proton pack when I was little. God I miss that thing. Looking back, it was a great show. I do like that Lorenzo Music voiced my favorite Ghostbuster, as it reminds me of Garfield.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 21, 2009 15:32:25 GMT -5
7. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero - 16 pointsG.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a half-hour American animated television series based on the successful toyline from Hasbro and the comic book series from Marvel Comics. The cartoon had its beginnings with two five-part mini-series, then became a regular series that ran in syndication from 1985 to 1987. Ron Friedman created the G.I. Joe animated series for television, and wrote all four mini-series. The fourth mini-series was intended to be a feature film, but as noted subsequently was released as a television mini-series instead because of production difficulties. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero This five-part pilot mini-series was alternately aired under the title "The MASS Device" during the series' syndication. COBRA steals an experimental teleportation unit, known as the MASS device, which has the ability to transport matter to any global location, using a satellite to relay the teleportation beam. G.I. Joe must stop COBRA by creating a MASS system of their own, but first they'll need to gather the three rare elements that power the device, which consist of radioactive crystals, heavy water found in the depths of the ocean, and fragments from a giant meteorite. The elements are located in three different environments; thus, the story is structured in a way that showcases the Joes and their different specialties. G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra COBRA has returned in force, armed with a new weapon created by Destro — the Weather Dominator, which is able to manipulate storm systems. In the beginning of the miniseries, Cobra steals the power core for a new laser cannon the Joes were transporting to their headquarters, and adds it to the Weather Dominator, giving it unlimited power. Damaged in a preliminary battle, the device breaks into its three component pieces which scatter across the world. The G.I. Joe team must recover the pieces before COBRA can reclaim them to rebuild their weather weapon. Noticeably similar in structure to the first mini-series, The Revenge of Cobra has the Joes and COBRA sent to dangerously exotic locations that allow team members to showcase their unique abilities. It also has familiar plot echoes, such as Duke being captured and forced to fight in the Arena of Sport, this time along with Snake Eyes, Destro being the lone COBRA operative to escape the climax, and the same closing dialogue. G.I. Joe: The Pyramid of Darkness The third miniseries installment of the G.I. Joe series originally debuted in its complete form during prime time and was later adapted to the more familiar five-part daily miniseries format for rebroadcast. The story centers on Cobra's attempts to build and maintain a new weapon (of the title) that will neutralize all electrical power in the Earth's Northern hemisphere. Four giant "control" cubes are to be placed at key locations around the globe. Once the Joes orbiting space station is seized, the cubes are activated and the pyramid is complete. The Joe force must battle Cobra to destroy the pyramid and find the terrorist organization's secret headquarters. G.I. Joe: Arise, Serpentor, Arise! The fourth miniseries dealt with Cobra's attempts to genetically engineer a new leader, Serpentor. In light of Cobra Commander's persistent failings to lead Cobra to world domination, Dr. Mindbender, influenced by a vivid dream, sends Cobra's forces to locations around the world to gather DNA from history's most famous and ruthless leaders. DNA samples are collected from the graves of such historical figures as Genghis Khan, Vlad the Impaler (aka Dracula) and Sun Tzu (the one sample Cobra fails to obtain) and Ivan the Terrible, among several others. Mindbender even goes so far as to collect a sample from the captured Sergeant Slaughter. The final phase of the process is partially disrupted by Slaughter himself, freed by Cobra Commander, who has naturally been resistant to the project from the start. The Joes fight Cobra around the globe in an attempt to stop them from collecting the DNA samples, however, Mindbender completes the process, creating the ingenious but petulant and impatient Serpentor who is installed as the ultimate leader of Cobra. Following the initial two mini-series, the regular series began airing on September 16, 1985, debuting with a third five-part story, The Pyramid of Darkness. A public safety lesson was usually featured at the end of each episode, using G.I. Joe characters in brief scenarios to impart safety tips to children. These lessons gave birth to the catchphrase: "And knowing is half the battle." In each episode's opening title sequence famed voice actor Jackson Beck states that, "G.I. Joe is the code name for America's daring, highly-trained, Special Mission force. Its purpose: To defend human freedom against COBRA, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world." Because the cartoons were produced as a vehicle to sell the toys, each episode typically focused on a particular G.I. Joe character, giving almost everyone a moment in the spotlight. The animated series was not directly tied to the comic book produced by Marvel Comics, although several concepts, such as the Oktober Guard, Springfield, and Serpentor were all featured in the comic book and the animated series. Season 2 Season 2 featured former WWF and then-current AWA professional wrestler made cartoon hero Sgt. Slaughter, who appeared in the five-part season-opener Arise, Serpentor, Arise! The general consensus amongst fans of the G.I. Joe series is that the program reached its peak in its second season with the introductions of Sgt. Slaughter and Serpentor. Slaughter was a popular member of the cast and even gained his own action figure. However after a 1990-91 WWF storyline in which Slaughter "turned traitor" during the first Gulf War, Slaughter was disassociated from the franchise. Source: Wikipedia Opening I remember watching some of this as well. It was a pretty decent show, IMO, until they decided to make Serpentor the leader of COBRA. I thought it was kinda stupid to replace Cobra Commander. Then they completely go bat-s*** insane in the movie, saying COBRA was a branch of this ancient cult called Cobra-La. That, and they wanted to kill of Duke.
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Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 21, 2009 15:54:41 GMT -5
6. Family Guy - 16 pointsFamily Guy is an Emmy-nominated animated television sitcom, created by Seth MacFarlane, that airs on Fox and regularly on other television networks in syndication. The show centers on a dysfunctional family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. The show uses frequent "cutaway gags," jokes in the form of tangential vignettes. Family Guy was canceled in 2000 and again in 2002, but strong DVD sales and the large viewership of reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim convinced Fox to resume the show in 2005. It was the first of only two cancelled shows to be resurrected based on DVD sales. (The other being Futurama, which aired in proximity to Family Guy on Adult Swim for years.) Family Guy was created in 1999 after the Larry shorts (its predecessor) caught the attention of the Fox Broadcasting Company. Its cancellation was announced, but then a shift in power at Fox and outcry from the fans led to a reversal of that decision and the making of a third season, after which it was canceled again. Reruns on Adult Swim drove interest in the show up, and the DVD releases did quite well, selling over 2.2 million copies in one year, which renewed network interest. Family Guy returned to production in 2004, making four more seasons (for a total of seven) and a straight-to-DVD movie, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. The show celebrated its official 100th episode during its sixth season in autumn of 2007, resulting in the show's syndication. The show is contracted to continue producing episodes until 2012. The show usually revolves around the adventures of Peter Griffin, a bumbling, but well-intentioned, blue-collar worker. Peter is an Irish American Catholic with a prominent Rhode Island/Eastern Massachusetts accent. His wife Lois is a stay-at-home mother and piano teacher, and has a distinct New England accent from being a member of the Pewterschmidt family of wealthy socialites. Peter and Lois have three children: Meg, their teenage daughter, who is frequently the butt of Peter's jokes due to her homeliness and lack of popularity; Chris, their teenage son, who is overweight, unintelligent and, in many respects, a younger version of his father; and Stewie, their diabolical infant son of ambiguous sexual orientation who has adult mannerisms and speaks fluently with what some consider an upper-class affected English accent and stereotypical archvillain phrases. Living with the family is Brian, the family dog, who is highly anthropomorphized, walks on two legs, drinks Martinis, smokes cigarettes and engages in human conversation, though he is still considered a pet in many respects. Many recurring characters appear alongside the Griffin family. These include the family's colorful neighbors: sex-crazed airline-pilot bachelor Glenn Quagmire; mild-mannered deli owner Cleveland Brown and his wife (ex-wife as of the fourth-season episode "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire") Loretta Brown with their hyperactive son, Cleveland Jr.; paraplegic police officer Joe Swanson, his wife Bonnie and their baby daughter Susie; paranoid Jewish pharmacist Mort Goldman, his wife Muriel Goldman and their geeky and annoying son Neil; and elderly homosexual ephebophile Herbert. TV news anchors Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons, reporter Tricia Takanawa and Blaccu-Weather meteorologist Ollie Williams also make frequent appearances. The possibly deranged and ethically challenged Mayor Adam West (voiced by and named after the real Adam West) rounds out the recurring cast. For its first three seasons, Family Guy did not use an especially large cast of recurring minor characters. Since returning from cancellation, many one-shot characters from prior episodes have reappeared in new episodes, although most of the plotlines center on the exploits of the Griffin family. The majority of events on the show take place in Quahog, Rhode Island, a fictional outer suburb of Providence. Seth MacFarlane, the show's creator, resided in Providence when he was a student at Rhode Island School of Design, and leaves unequivocal Rhode Island landmarks from which one may infer intended real-world locations for events. MacFarlane also often borrows the names of Rhode Island locations and icons such as Pawtucket and Buddy Cianci for use in the show. MacFarlane, in an interview with local WNAC Fox 64 News, has stated that the town is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island. Several times every episode, the actual Providence skyline can be seen in the distance. The three buildings that are depicted are, from left to right and furthest to closest, One Financial Center, 50 Kennedy Plaza, and the Bank of America Tower. This ordering of buildings and the angle at which they are viewed (see figure at left) indicates that Quahog is primarily west of downtown Providence if it is to have a real-world counterpart. However, in a few episodes Quahog is shown to have a coastline (see "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", "Fore Father" and "Perfect Castaway"), which only Cranston and Providence possess. This is supported by the fact that the real-world "31 Spooner Street" is located in Providence, immediately west of Roger Williams Park. This could be a coincidence, as MacFarlane has said in a DVD commentary that the street was named after Spooner Hill Road, along which is his boyhood home. In "E. Peterbus Unum", a map of Rhode Island is shown with Quahog shown in red with Quahog appearing to be in the vicinity of Tiverton. According to Mayor Adam West in "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", the town was founded by a sailor of a boat bound for the New York colony who was thrown overboard for his loquaciousness. A magical clam rescued him and brought him to shore. Together the two founded a new town named Quahog (a quahog is a type of clam). On MacFarlane's part, the choice of name is a nod to the state's characteristic staple, however in "Peter's Progress" this is found out to be a myth, and the city was actually founded by Griffin Peterson, an ancestor of Peter. Although quahogs are common throughout New England, the small state of Rhode Island produces one quarter of the country's catch. Source: Wikipedia Opening with a twist I enjoyed this show. It was funny, satirical, you name it. But, once again, like South Park, it got more towards the political aspects going on in the world, which I thought hurt the show more than helped it.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 21, 2009 16:06:01 GMT -5
Alright, we're down to the top 5. And here are the clues: I am Vengeance. I am the Night. "@[=g3, ![8D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/insane.png) ]\&fbb=-q]/hk%fg" Who honestly thinks an attack with a load up time of 5 minutes would work? Heroes in a half-shell Excellent
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thelesserevil
Super Trooper
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Splat
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Post by thelesserevil on Jul 21, 2009 16:57:22 GMT -5
I don't think the Spider-Man cartoon has held up over time quite well, it's still good though, and I still love South Park.
as for the clues: Batman, don't know the second clue, DBZ, TMNT, Simpsons.
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Post by Mr. Emoticon Man on Jul 21, 2009 17:09:08 GMT -5
I loved the old Spiderman cartoon as a kid, and I still wouldn't mind seeing it on tv regularly.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 27, 2009 18:28:12 GMT -5
Time to end the countdown! 5. Batman: The Animated Series - 16 pointsBatman: The Animated Series (often shortened Batman: TAS) is an American, two-time Emmy Award-winning animated series adaptation of the comic book series starring the famous DC Comics superhero, Batman. The series is noted for being the first to take place in the long-running DC Animated Universe. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The visual style of the series is based on the artwork of producer Bruce Timm. The original series aired on FOX from September 5, 1992 to September 15, 1995. When the first season of the series aired on weekday afternoons, it lacked an on-screen title but was officially titled Batman: The Animated Series, as evidenced in promotional advertisements for the series. When its timeslot was moved to weekends (on some Fox channels) for the second season, it was re-named The Adventures of Batman & Robin. I am vengeance, I am the night, I am Batman! The original series was partially inspired by the Frank Miller comic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the Tim Burton films Batman and Batman Returns and the acclaimed Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios in the 1940s. Timm and Radomski designed the series by closely emulating the Tim Burton films' "otherworldly timelessness," incorporating period features such as black-and-white title cards, police blimps, 40s influenced fashion, 40s influenced car styling and a "vintage" color scheme in a largely film noir-influenced style. The series initially took a variation of music written by Danny Elfman for the Burton films Batman and Batman Returns as its theme; later episodes of the series used a new theme with a similar style by Shirley Walker. The score of the series was influenced by Elfman and Walker's work on Batman and Batman Returns and the music of 40s film noir. The program was much more adult-oriented than previous typical superhero cartoon series. In their constant quest to make the show darker, the producers pushed the boundaries of action cartoons: it was the first such cartoon in years to depict firearms being fired instead of laser guns (only one person has ever been actually depicted as shot; Commissioner Gordon in the episode "I Am the Night" was seen to have a gunshot wound after the firefight was finished), Batman actually punching and kicking the antagonists, as well as the existence of blood; in addition, many of the series' backgrounds were painted on black paper.[3] The distinctive visual combination of film noir imagery and Art Deco designs with a very dark color scheme was called "Dark Deco" by the producers. First-time producers Timm and Radomski reportedly encountered resistance from studio executives, but the success of Burton's first film allowed the embryonic series to survive long enough to produce a pilot episode, "On Leather Wings", which according to Timm "got a lot of people off our backs."[3] The Emmy Award-winning series quickly received wide acclaim for its distinctive animation and mature writing, and it instantly became a hit. Fans of a wide age range praised the show's sophisticated, cinematic tone and psychological stories. Voice-actor Kevin Conroy used two distinct voices to portray Bruce Wayne and Batman, as Michael Keaton had done in the films. This series also featured a supporting cast that included major actors performing the voices of the various classic villains, most notably Mark Hamill, who defined a whole new career for himself in animation[4] with his cheerfully deranged portrayal of The Joker. The voice recording sessions were recorded with the actors together in a studio, like a radio play, unlike most animated films, in which the principal voice actors record separately and never meet (various interviews have noted that such an arrangement (having the cast record together) was a benefit to the show as a whole, as the actors were able to 'react' to one another, rather than simply 'reading the words'). Key to the series' artistic success is that it managed to redefine classic characters, paying homage to their previous portrayals while giving them new dramatic force. The characterization of villains such as Two-Face and the Riddler and heroes like Robin — who had appeared in the Joel Schumacher film Batman Forever — demonstrate this. The Penguin is based upon his appearance in Batman Returns, which was being released at the same time as the series. The series also gave new life to nearly forgotten characters like the Clock King. Often noted examples of these dramatic changes are the villains Clayface and Mr. Freeze (whose character in the episode "Heart of Ice" won the show an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program.); Batman: TAS turned Mr. Freeze from a clichéd mad scientist with a gimmick for cold, to a tragic figure whose frigid exterior hides a doomed love and a vindictive fury. Part of the tragedy is mimicked later in the plot of Joel Schumacher's infamous movie Batman & Robin, although much of the drama was lost with the resurrection of the pun-quipping mad scientist image. The most famous of the series' innovations is the Joker's hapless assistant/love interest, Harley Quinn, who became so popular that DC Comics later added her to the mainstream Batman comics continuity. This series became a cornerstone of the Warner Bros.' animation department, which became one of the top producers of television animation. For years, Warner Bros. Animation had been known only for doing Looney Tunes and their offshoots such as Tiny Toon Adventures. This was Warner's first attempt at doing a serious animated cartoon and it was an unexpected success for the animation department. It also sparked a large franchise of similar TV adaptations of DC Comics characters. Despite the marketing decision by Warner Bros. of making the series a Saturday morning cartoon, producer Bruce Timm and the crew have often stated that the series is not a children's program but merely includes children in its audience. The same has been said for most of the other series in the DCAU. New villains like Red Claw, the ninja Kyodai Ken, Tygrus, and the Sewer King were invented for the series, but to little acclaim. Far more successful was the introduction of Harley Quinn, the Joker's girlfriend/henchwoman, Officer / Detective Renee Montoya, and the sociopathic vigilante Lock-Up, all of whom became characters in the comics. Aside from creating characters that crossed over into the mainline DC Comics, several of the series's reinterpretations were carried over as well. Mr. Freeze was revised to emulate the series' tragic story, the success of which actually compelled DC to bring the character back after "killing" him off some years earlier; Clayface was revised to be much more similar in appearance to his animated counterpart; Poison Ivy took on the slightly inhuman skin color she received in later episodes of the series; and Two-Face's black and white suit has become a common appearance for the character. The Phantasm and the general storyline for the movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm were modified from the Mike Barr-penned story "Batman: Year Two", which ran in Detective Comics #575-578 in the late 1980s; the villain in the comics was named The Reaper. While some characters like Count Vertigo, the Mirror Man, and the Clock King were adapted from the comics, they were modified in costume and personality. All characters received an update in The New Batman Adventures, having costumes, voices, mannerisms, and overall looks modified. The artwork and colors became sharper and somewhat more cartoonish. One of the most noteworthy changes made is the treatment of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne. In nearly all other media, including the comics, television shows, and films, Bruce deliberately plays up his image as a vacuous, self-absorbed, and not-too-bright billionaire playboy. In Batman: TAS, his character is treated more seriously, shown as assertive, intelligent, and actively involved in the management of Wayne Enterprises, without jeopardizing his secret identity. In the episode "Eternal Youth", for example, he is shown angrily ordering one of his directors to cancel a secret deal with a timber company in the Amazon rainforest ("Shut it down, or you're gone!"). In the episode "Night of the Ninja", he revealed to reporter Summer Gleason that he has some martial arts training, as the reporter previously researched that he once lived in Japan, though he later throws a fight with a ninja in front of Gleason to disguise his prowess. Batman's tools such as the utility belt, grappling hook and Batmobile were redesigned for the series; they have been previously redesigned numerous times over the course of Batman's comic book series as well as for various movie and TV incarnations of Batman. The grapple-launcher, notably, was introduced in the 1989 Batman movie from Tim Burton, and became an important aspect of the animated character. The Batmobile and Batplane are similar to the ones used in the 1989 movie. The show also featured numerous adaptations of various Batman comics stories over the years to when the show was produced. The following episodes that were adaptations were: * "The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy" was an adaptation of "The Cape and Cowl Death Trap!" from Detective Comics #450 of August 1975, written by Elliot S. Maggin. * "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne" was based on the comic stories "The Dead Yet Live" and "I Am the Batman!" from Detective Comics #471 and #472, of August/September 1977 by Steve Englehart. * "Dreams in Darkness" takes its cues of a graphic novel titled The Last Arkham. * "Moon of the Wolf" is based on the comic story of the same by writer Len Wein from Batman #255, April 1974. * "Off Balance" is a direct adaptation of "Batman: Into the Den of the Death-Dealers" of Detective Comics #411, May 1971 by Dennis O'Neil, famous for the first appearance of character Talia Al Ghul. * Also a direct adaptation is the two-part episode "The Demon's Quest", based on "Daughter of the Demon" from Batman #232, June 1971, and "The Demon Lives Again" Batman #244, September 1972, also by Dennis O'Neil. Famous for introducing one of Batman's deadlier foes; Ra's Al Ghul, father of Talia. * The episode "The Laughing Fish" was based on three Batman comics, blended together; "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge" from Batman #251, September 1973 by Dennis O'Neil, followed by "The Laughing Fish" and "Sign of the Joker!" from Detective Comics #475 and #476, of February/March 1978, both by writer Steve Englehart. In a spotlight podcast from Comic Con 2007, Paul Dini explained that the reason why the episode combined those stories was because the show's creators could not adapt them separately, because their content and thematic elements would not have been cleared by the censors. * Part 1 of " Robin's Reckoning" takes its cues from Detective Comics #38 of June 1940. * "A Bullet for Bullock" is based on the comic of the same name from Detective Comics #651, October 1992, by Chuck Dixon. * "Joker's Millions" from The New Batman Adventures based on Detective Comics #180 in February 1952. * The feature film, Mask of the Phantasm is also an adaptation. The film's flashbacks were inspired by Batman: Year One, whereas the character of the Andrea Beaumont and the Phantasm were inspired by Batman: Year Two. * Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) - based on the animated series, the film started production as a direct-to-video release, but was changed to be a theatrical release near the end of production. * Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998) - a direct-to-video release, also based on the series, which was initially completed as a tie-in to 1997's Batman & Robin, but due to the poor reception of that movie, its release was delayed a year. Source: Wikipedia Opening Once again, another show I didn't get into as much when it first came out due to the Power Rangers. However, I look back on it, and it was a damn good show. I think the Justice League show got me interested in it, and there was a number of good episodes.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 27, 2009 18:37:42 GMT -5
4. Freakazoid! - 18 pointsFreakazoid! is an American animated television series, produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation that aired for two seasons from September 9, 1995 to June 1, 1997. Then, after cancellation, reruns aired on Cartoon Network until March 8, 2003. Bruce Timm, best known as a major principal of the DC animated universe, originally intended it to be a straightforward superhero action-adventure cartoon with comic overtones, but executive producer Steven Spielberg asked series producer/writer Tom Ruegger and the Animaniacs team to turn Freakazoid! into a flat-out comedy.[1] The show chronicles the adventures of the title character, Freakazoid, a manic, insane superhero who battles with an array of super villains. The show also features mini-episodes of adventures of other bizarre superheroes. The show's title character is the superhero alter ego of geeky sixteen-year-old Dexter Douglas (voiced by David Kaufman) who attends Harry Connick High School. His name is a parody of various superheroes with the first and last names using the same first letter or sound (e.g. Clark Kent, Peter Parker, etc). Gaining his abilities from a computer bug (becoming absorbed into his computer and instantly gaining all the information on the Internet), Freakazoid (voiced by Paul Rugg) has enhanced strength and endurance, extraordinary speed, agility, and negligible amounts of sanity. These changes make him a powerful and fearsome force for upholding freedom and righteousness, unless he gets distracted by something like a bear riding a motorcycle. He has a base called the Freakalair, a parody of the Batcave, built by his mute butler, Ingmar. The Freakalair contains a "Hall of Nifty Things to Know" and even a mad scientist lab. His greatest weakness, as he once explained to a villain, is that he can be imprisoned in a cage with graphite bars charged with negative ions. He also expresses a great aversion to "poo gas." Peripheral powers come and go: Freakazoid once developed telekinesis triggered by anger that was never mentioned again after the episode, and once crossed the globe to yell at a Tibetan monk for raking too loud. He also has the ability to assume the form of electricity and cover long distances instantaneously, although he just as often simply sticks his arms forward and runs while making swooshing sounds with his mouth, pretending to fly. Dexter can change into and out of Freakazoid at will with the words "Freak out!" and "Freak in!" When not in Freakazoid mode, Dexter looks and acts completely normal, and his family is unaware that anything has happened to him. Freakazoid spends this time in an area of Dexter's brain called the Freakazone, where he reflects, has profound thoughts, and watches reruns of The Rat Patrol. The "secret key sequence" that must be typed for the computer bug to become active begins with: "@[=g3, ![8D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/insane.png) ]\&fbb=-q]/hk%fg" (the quotes are included) as seen when Roddy MacStew types the combination in "The Chip (Act IV)". The bug manifests when the user presses Delete after entering the string. The bug was first manifested when Dexter's cat crawled onto the keyboard. While the show's setting is set around Washington D.C., the locale often varies with the show's humor, taking Freakazoid to locations around the world as needed. The Douglas Family * Duncan Douglas (voiced by Googy Gress) - Dexter's older brother. He is a bully towards Dexter, and is portrayed as a caricature of a high school jock. * Debbie Douglas (voiced by Tress MacNeille) - Dexter's mother. She has no clue that her son is Freakazoid, and is in general blithe and clueless. Her lines often involve morose subjects delivered in a cheery tone, a parody of a stereotypical domestic mother. * Douglas Douglas (voiced by John P. McCann) - Dexter's father. An automobile dealer who thinks a goblin lives in the gas tank of his car. Occasionally used for laughs as a stereotypically technologically-inept father figure. * Mr. Chubbikins (voiced by Frank Welker) - The Douglas' morbidly obese cat. He jumped on Dexter's keyboard while chasing a butterfly, accidentally typing in the key sequence which activated the Pinnacle chip's flaw, turning Dexter into Freakazoid. Enemies Freakazoid! features a number of campy villains and enemies, including: * The Lobe (voiced by David Warner) - Freakazoid's archenemy. He is a super genius whose entire head appears to be a giant brain. Despite his high intellect, he has very low self-esteem, once even having a scheme foiled by Freakazoid simply insulting the plan, despite actually being impressed by it. No background information of any kind is given for The Lobe; not even his real name is revealed. * Cave Guy (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - A thuggish blue caveman with upper-class diction, education, and taste. His real name is Royce Mumphry and he subscribes to The New Yorker. He also seems to have an odd fear of Klingons. His voice is similar to that of Thurston Howell, III's. * Cobra Queen (voiced by Tress MacNeille) - A former shoplifter named Audrey Manatee whose encounter with an experimental cosmetic left in the sun too long transformed her into a cobra woman, with command over snakes and other reptiles. In later episodes, Cave Guy and Cobra Queen are a couple. She has a lair in the sewers, and often complained about the lack of light until Freakazoid suggested getting Japanese lanterns. * Longhorn (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) - Formerly Jubal "Bull" Nixon, he was once an employee of the "Johnny Cat" cat litter company, until he turned to a life of crime. Because he was searched for by law enforcement so frequently, he had plastic surgery to turn himself into a steer. He loves country music and, despite being a lousy songwriter, is determined to get a recording contract at Nashville. He also owns a massive truck, nicknamed "Bessie Mae", which is outfitted with all kinds of devices. He also has a sidekick named Turk (voiced by Hal Rayle). * Armando Guitierrez (voiced by Ricardo Montalban) - The eye-patched man whose company, Apex Microchips (not to be confused with Apex Digital), designed the faulty Pinnacle chip responsible for Freakazoid's creation. Physically, Guitierrez resembles Ricardo Montalban, who provides the character's voice as well; at times he shows similarities to Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek 2; also played by Montalban. One of his recurring jokes is asking others to laugh with him, including his henchman Jocko. Originally a normal human being, he briefly gains powers similar to Freakazoid's by exploiting the Pinnacle chip's flaw; later, he appears as a cyborg in a hood and cloak to cover scars caused by Freakazoid knocking him into a pit. He hates being called a weenie. * The Nerdator (voiced by Aron Kincaid) - A man who planned to kidnap all the nerds in the world and absorb their knowledge to become a "Super-Nerd". His plan succeeded until Freakazoid convinced him of the downsides of being a nerd, where he instead kidnapped "good-looking, but vapid airheads". Is a parody of the Predator. * Candlejack (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - A supernatural villain with a burlap sack over his head, called "the Boogeyman, the for-real one" in the series. He abducts anyone who says his name and ties them up with rope. Although he prides himself on being scary, he has a weakness for pie and also seems to enjoy watching F Troop. He has inspired an Internet meme to mention Candlejack's name and then stop typing in the middle of the sentence (e.g. "Just who is this Candlejack charac"). * Waylon Jeepers (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - A creepy little man originanlly from Venice Beach, CA who created the Medusa Watch, which has the power to turn people (and pigeons) into stone. He has also created a similar device that turned beavers into gold, and once summoned the demon, "Vorn the Unspeakable", with the help of a book entitled How to Summon Monsters the E-Z Way. His schemes seem to deeply infuriate Freakazoid. His name is a play on the name of famous country guitarist Waylon Jennings. * Vorn the Unspeakable (voiced by Richard Moll) - a demon summoned by Jeepers, who bears a resemblance to H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu. * Invisibo (voiced by Corey Burton) - Real name Ahmon Kor-Unch. An invisible, smart mouthed pharaoh who is only visible via the staff he carries. Freakazoid gave Invisibo his name because "you're invisible and it's my show and we already had a title card made up and it makes me very happy!" Invisibo accepts the name, saying it has a "somewhat sinister ring to it." His voice sounds exactly like Vincent Price's. * Arms Akimbo (voiced by John Schuck) - A spoiled model turned extortionist with an Edward G. Robinson-esqe voice who, after years of posing, was left with his arms frozen in a jaunty pose, hands on hips. When fighting, he strikes with his over sized elbows. His first appearance is in a local shop selling "oops insurance," a form of protection racketeering, which mainly consists of him breaking something of value (or causing a building to detonate spectacularly), before comically following it up with a small "oops." * Milk Man - Only shown/mentioned in the episode And Fanboy was his Name. Shown on a news report in a pitched battle with Freakazoid and his then-sidekick, Expendable Lad. As the name implies, he uses milk as his theme. * Mary Beth (voiced by Tress MacNeille) - Cosgrove's former girlfriend, cosmetics executive, and monster. She is short tempered and when angered, turns green and develops a deep raspy voice, and often lights candles by shooting flame from her nose. Her plan to steal Freakazoid's hero essence to remain immortal is foiled and, as a result, she shrivels, dies, and becomes a pile of dust. Her name is a play off of the cosmetics giant Mary Kay. * Janos Ivnovels (voiced by Jim Cummings) - The ruthless dictator of Vuka Nova and minister of state security. He is responsible for capturing Freakazoid's family (and a mime) and imprisoning them in the High-Security Wing of Chesky Beresch Prison, the toughest prison in Europe. His subordinate is Colonel Anton Mohans (voiced by Larry Cedar), a vicious thug who finds it relaxing when Janos tortures his prisoners. Janos and Anton were defeated after Freakazoid and his friends rescued the Douglas Family (and the mime). Janos and Anton were last seen being tortured by the mime and his pals. He is a one-time villain, having appeared in "Mission: Freakazoid!". * Dr. Mystico (voiced by Tim Curry) - A mad scientist who turns orangutans into human-like beings (and viceversa) in parody of H. G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau. He seeks to take over the world, though he always seems to say Cleveland instead. He has a white cat, similar to Ernst Stavro Blofeld. His first name may actually be Wendell, since he once says, "They called me mad, insane, Wendell!". * Kid Carrion (voiced by Jeff Bennett) A zombie cowboy who was never named, and only appeared in "Relax-o-Vision" and "The Lobe". He can be seen in the opening credits standing next to Candlejack. He bears a passing resemblence to the revamped version of The Scarecrow from Bruce Timm's The New Batman Adventures. Allies Aiding Freakazoid in his surrealistic battles are: * Sgt. Mike Cosgrove (voiced by — and physically resembles — Edward Asner) - A heavyset, gruff cop with a heart of gold, who is friends with Freakazoid and several other characters. He has the almost supernatural ability to get people to "cut it out" on command, no matter what they may be doing at the time, be it panicking at the sight of a villain, stealing a television, or attempting to capture Cosgrove and Freakazoid. (In the Animaniacs comic series, he even once managed to get Yakko, Wakko, and Dot to "cut it out", something many had tried, and failed, to do.) Often has nothing better to do than engage in hobbies or visit tourist traps with Freakazoid (such as building a Go-kart or getting a mint). He speaks in a gruff monotone and shows very little enthusiasm for anything. Strangely, he always manages to find Freakazoid with his police car, no matter where he is at the time (he will even catch up with him in different countries, car and all). * Roddy MacStew (voiced by Craig Ferguson) - Freakazoid's mentor, and expositionist; an ill-tempered Scotsman who once worked for Guitierrez. He first found that the Pinnacle chip was flawed. In the continuation of the seventh episode (detailing how Freakazoid gained his powers) he was trapped in the Internet. He was later kicked out of the Internet by Guitierrez and resumed his mentor role. Favorite word: "Crud!" * Steff (voiced by Tracy Rowe) - Freakazoid's perky blonde girlfriend; her real name is Stephanie. She discovers Freakazoid's secret identity when Cosgrove accidentally points it out aloud in "Mission: Freakazoid". * Hans - A mysterious agent with a Western European accent, who takes Freakazoid to Professor Heiney's lab. * Professor Heiney (voiced by Ed Gilbert) - A scientist, with a lab in the mountains, who Freakazoid often goes to for help. He does research on monsters, zaps them and is often attacked by them at his lab. * Ingmar - Freakazoid's mute butler, in charge of the maintenance of the Freakalair (according to Freakazoid, he constructed it himself from scratch). He quit in "Mission: Freakazoid" to become a rodeo clown and was replaced by Professor Jones. A take-off on Bernardo, the mute manservant of Zorro and Batman's butler Alfred. * Professor Jones (voiced by Jonathan Harris) - A snooty, cowardly manservant, essentially recreating his role as Doctor Zachary Smith from Lost In Space (every time Jones appears in a scene, someone asks him if he was "on a show with a robot"). He is the replacement to the Freakalair's previous butler, and old friends with him. Does not get along with Cosgrove well. * Joe Leahy - The show's very vocal announcer (voiced by himself), who sometimes gets a little more involved than the job usually requires. * Freakazette- Only mentioned in the first episode for a brief verse during the "Freakazoid and Friends" theme song (which plays to the same theme as Animaniacs). Since she never was elaborated on in the show, most fans assume her to be Steff, having turned into a Freakazoid with blonde hair and blue outfit. * Foamy the Freakadog (voiced by Frank Welker) - a vicious, rabid dog which Freakazoid had freed from the pound. Foamy is painted blue, has a Freakazoid costume (complete with hair), and is prone to maul and/or beat Freakazoid to a pulp. * Handman (voiced by Paul Rugg) - Freakazoid's brief "right hand man". He is quite literally just a painted face on Freakazoid's hand who has great difficulty pronouncing Freakazoid's name correctly. Fell in love with and married Freakazoid's left hand. * Expendable Lad, Freakazoid's brief sidekick from the start of And Fanboy was his Name. He was taken to the hospital due to injuries sustained from milk (a bruised clavicle) and was subsequently released from the service of Freakazoid. * Norm Abram - He was kidnapped by The Lobe to make a wooden instrument to destroy Freakazoid but got free and helped turn the tables. Abram supplied his own voice and trademark line for the episode. * Leonard Maltin - He was kidnapped by Dr. Mystico during the episode Island of Dr. Mystico, while Maltin was giving his opinion of the same episode. Freakazoid points out that Mystico's prisoners all have superpowers, and Mr. Maltin's is that he knows every movie ever made. Maltin provided his own voice for the episode. * Henry Kissinger- A Jewish politician who was kidnaped by Dr. Mystico's "orangu-men". In the show, he speaks in a low, groggy, incomprehensible mumble (provided by Maurice LaMarche). He is briefly mentioned in one episode after his only appearance. Other characters A few characters fall somewhere in the space between "enemies" and "allies" to land squarely in the category of "nuisances." * Mo-Ron/Bo-Ron (voiced by Stan Freberg) - A dimwitted alien from the planet Barone's. His name was later changed to Bo-Ron, to appease network censors' concerns that use of the word moron might be offensive.[citation needed] In one episode Lord Bravery refers to him as "Mo-Ron or... Bo-Ron, whatever." Is a parody of Ro-Man, the ridiculous-looking monster from the notoriously bad science fiction film Robot Monster. His first appearance was when he tried to deliver Earth an ”important message” , only to forget what it was. He also appeared in an episode that was a parody of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. * Fanboy (voiced by Stephen Furst) - An obese, acne-stricken, socially awkward fanboy (hence his name) and would-be sidekick to Freakazoid who obsesses about numerous comic books, TV shows and movies, from The Black Hole to Star Wars. Fanboy's age is never specified; he could be anywhere between his late teens to early thirties. * Deadpan (voiced by Bebe Neuwirth) - A plain-looking (almost blank-faced) woman with a monotonous voice. She is a shapeshifter who once tried to conquer Washington by transforming into Freakazoid, but this plan was quickly foiled when the real Freakazoid appeared immediately after and nonchalantly pointed her out. She had only one appearance in a short segment before the opening credits for episode 1x13, The Wrath of Guiterrez. * Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Princess Diana make frequent cameos in the show, partly because Dexter Douglas lives in Washington, D.C. * Barbra Streisand also makes a number of appearances, most notably in the episode "Dexter's Date," which features a parody of Hello, Dolly!. * Hero Boy (voiced by John P. McCann) - The title character from Freakazoid's favorite TV show that is first shown in the episode of the same name. Hero Boy has no powers (save for flying) and his black and white show is a parody of the animated series Astro Boy. Hero Boy has the catchphrase "I must succeed!", though he is invariably shrugged off by the monsters he fights when his pathetic fighting techniques (consisting of weakly pounding on the enemies) fail miserably. * Steven Spielberg (voiced by Frank Welker) - The show's executive producer. * Paul Harvey (voiced by Paul Rugg) - A loud, obnoxious man who often interrupts the story to give background information on a villain, or to spoil the ending. He is a parody of the radio personality, and his scenes in the series frequently feature "The Rest of the Backstory." * Lonnie Tallbutt (voiced by Mitch Schauer) - A werewolf that begs Dexter for help. His name is a combination of that of Lon Chaney, Jr. and Lawrence Talbot, the character Chaney played in the 1941 movie The Wolf Man. He is prone to grabbing people's shirt collars and yelling "You don't understand!" * Emmitt Nervend (pictured), usually shows up at least once an episode, always in the opening credits, but usually in the background. He stands looking at the camera (as pictured), never saying a word. Sometimes things happen to him directly, like birds pecking his head or laser beams shooting just above his head. The end credits will often contain a credit revealing how many times Emmitt can be found in a particular episode. * Weena Mercator as The Hopping Woman – a person acknowledged whenever credits are used in an episode. Note that no episode or sketch has ever featured a hopping woman. Her name also appears with multiple spellings. "Mercator" in "Dance of Doom" and "Mercatur" in "The Cloud." Mini-Segments Freakazoid! also features several mini-segments, primarily during the first season. Each of these have their own theme songs, title cards and cast, and only rarely "cross over" into the continuity of the main show. These segments include: * Lord Bravery (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - A John Cleese-esque superhero from the United Kingdom in an outfit slightly resembling that of a Roman soldier. He doesn't do much in the way of superheroism; in fact, he's very snooty, cynical and unwilling to do unpleasant tasks in the course of his duties such as entering a sewer to perform a rescue. Likewise, he gets little respect and recognition as a superhero from the general public and even his wife and mother-in-law, with whom he lives. At one point he loses his name due to a trademark dispute with a bakery of the same name, after which he changes his name to Lord Smoked Meats and Fishes. His theme song is delivered in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan's song "A British Tar". * The Huntsman (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - A good guess at what Robin Hood would be like if portrayed by Charlton Heston; he can never find enough crime to fight and secretly suspects that the police are hiding crimes from him because they don't trust him. He was once a hunter called Marty Feeb, who saved an elf from a crow, and the elf rewarded him with a magic sack of corn, which granted him strength, speed, and shiny teeth. He also has a brother called Hector Feeb, who he claims lives in a townhouse. He can be summoned by blowing into the Horn of Urgency, and his battle cry is "Into action!". Possibly a parody of comic character Green Arrow. His trademark phrase is "Darn, the luck, darn!". His sketches are often themed around beginning with a lengthy, overly heroic opener, with a title that would indicate an action-oriented episode, that ends up being a short, anticlimactic skit of the Huntsman not being needed. * The Lawn Gnomes - A group of lawn statuary that come to life at night in a parody of the Gargoyles animated series. Infamous for their mischief, they were cursed to become stone by day by a powerful wizard after they played a prank on him and after they attacked his brother Erik the Large. They would revert at night, during which time they were given the opportunity to mend their ways to fight evil alongside mankind, after which the curse would be lifted. They have yet to do so to this day. * Toby Danger - A (somewhat) loving parody of Jonny Quest, featuring the voices of Scott Menville, Don Messick (in his last role before he died) and Granville Van Dusen (all of whom provided voices for JQ). This was originally written by Tom Minton as a twelve minute stand-alone short for Animaniacs, but slotted into Freakazoid! after that series was green-lighted and had an eight minute opening. The completed twelve minute Toby Danger storyboard was trimmed by director Eric Radomski to fit into the available Freakazoid! time slot. * Fatman and Boy Blubber - The misadventures of two morbidly obese superheroes, in a parody of the Batman TV series. Their only segment involves them saving a boy being bullied about his weight, only to bully him themselves when he won't give up his lunchbox. Fatman also makes an appearance during an episode, where it is revealed the episode is also a storybook being read by Fatman to children. Source: Wikipedia Opening This show rocked. It had hilarious times, HULA GIRLS!, serious times, HULA GIRLS!, great storylines, HULA GIRLS!, HULA GIRLS!! Do I got time for another gaucking at the girls bit? Yeah, I do.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 27, 2009 18:46:49 GMT -5
3. Dragonball Z - 19 pointsDragon Ball Z is the second anime adaptation of the Dragon Ball manga series by Akira Toriyama. Produced by Toei Animation and picking up where the original Dragon Ball anime series left off, Dragon Ball Z is adapted from the final twenty-six volumes of the manga. It premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on April 26, 1989, taking over its predecessor's time slot, and ran for 291 episodes until its conclusion on January 31, 1996. Following the canceled dub of Dragon Ball, Funimation licensed Dragon Ball Z for an English language release in North America. For the dubbing of the series, the Ocean Group was contracted to produce an English dub track. Like the original dub of Dragon Ball, the Ocean Group dub of DBZ was heavily edited for content, reducing the first 67 episodes into 53. The dubbed episodes premiered in the United States on The WB in September 1996, though it was eventually canceled in May 1998. During the fall of the same year, the dub began airing on Cartoon Network as part of the channel's new Toonami programming block. Soon after, Funimation continued dubbing the series from where the syndicated dub left off, now using their own in-house voice actors, a new musical score, and less editing. The new dub of DBZ ran on Cartoon Network from September 1999 to April 2003. In August 2004, Geneon Entertainment lost its licensing rights to the old Ocean Group dubbed episodes of DBZ, allowing Funimation to re-dub the first 67 episodes, restore the removed content and replace the old dubbing with their in-house voice cast. These re-dubbed episodes aired on Cartoon Network throughout the summer of 2005. The Funimation dubbed episodes also aired in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland. In 2006, Funimation canceled the Ultimate Uncut DVD releases, remastered the episodes, then began re-releasing it across individual season boxsets. The first season set was released on February 6, 2007. On May 19, 2009, the ninth season set was released, thus completing the series. Source: Wikipedia Newest Japanese opening This show also rocked. Probably one of the first animes that I watched when I was younger. In fact, this was probably the show that officially got me into anime. So, I thank you, Dragonball Z. Plus, did anyone else think that Krillin was everyone's bitch?
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Post by The Raven on Jul 27, 2009 19:00:40 GMT -5
I'm a bit shocked that Batman is that low.
As for Krillin...yeah, kinda. But he almost killed Nappa, that was interesting.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 27, 2009 19:04:35 GMT -5
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 27 pointsTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (known as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in the United Kingdom) is an animated television series produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and Shogakukan Studios. It premiered December 14, 1987, first as a five-part mini-series animated by Toei. The series features the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created in comic book form by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, but the property was changed considerably from the darker-toned comic in order to make it more suitable for the family. The initial motivation behind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series was that, upon being approached to create a toy line, Playmates Toys was uneasy with the comic book characters' small cult following. They requested that a television deal be acquired first, and after the initial five-episode series debuted, the California toy company released their first series of Ninja Turtles action figures in the summer of 1988.[1] The two media would correspond in marketing style and popularity for many years to come. David Wise and Patti Howeth wrote the screenplay for the first five-part miniseries with input from Eastman and Laird. When the series continued in the second season, comic artist Jack Mendelsohn joined the show as the executive story editor. The show was in Saturday morning syndication from October 1, 1988 to September 23, 1989. After it became an instant hit, the show was expanded to five days a week and aired weekday afternoons in syndication in most markets, from September 25, 1989 to September 17, 1993. On September 8, 1990, the series began its secondary run on CBS's Saturday morning lineup, beginning as a 60-minute block from 1990 to 1994 and then as a 30-minute block until the series ended on November 2, 1996. The show helped launch the characters into mainstream popularity and became one of the most popular animated series in television history. Breakfast cereals, plush toys, and all manner of products featuring the characters appeared on the market during the late 1980s and early 1990s. A successful Archie Comics comic book based on the animated show instead of the original black-and-white comics was published throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Action figures were top-sellers around the world. In 1990, the cartoon series was being shown daily on more than 125 television stations, and the comic books sold 125,000 copies a month. The origin story in the 1987 TV series differs greatly from that of the original Mirage Studios comics, presumably to make it more appropriate for a family audience. In this version, Splinter was formerly a human being, an honorable ninja master named Hamato Yoshi. Yoshi was banished from the Foot Clan in Japan after being deceived by the seditious Oroku Saki, who pinned Hamato Yoshi's dogi to the wall with a knife, preventing him from kneeling before their sensei, which was seen as an insult. When Yoshi removed the knife, the sensei was again insulted, believing Yoshi was drawing the blade in opposition to him. Exiled from the ninja clan, Hamato Yoshi moved to New York City, where he was forced to live in the sewers. While living in the sewers with the rats as his friends, Yoshi one day found four turtles, recently bought from a pet store by an unnamed boy who accidentally dropped them in the sewer. Yoshi returned one day from his explorations around New York to find the turtles covered with a strange glowing ooze. The substance caused the turtles, most recently exposed to Yoshi, to become humanoid, while Yoshi, most recently exposed to sewer rats, became a humanoid rat, and started going by the pseudonym "Splinter". This, and the following Archie TMNT Adventures Comics, is the only origin story in the TMNT franchise where the Turtles come to Yoshi before being exposed to mutagen. Also, Yoshi becomes a rat, whereas in most other versions, he is Yoshi's pet rat that becomes humanoid. This is also the only version in which the Turtles become fully grown immediately after exposure to the mutagen, where Splinter raises them from infancy in other versions. Yoshi adopts the four turtles as his sons and trains them in the art of ninjitsu. He names them after his favorite Italian renaissance artists: Leonardo da Vinci ( Leonardo), Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( Donatello), Raffaello Sanzio ( Raphael), and Michelangelo Buonarroti ( Michaelangelo). In most versions, the Turtles tend to go by nicknames Leo, Donny, Raph and Mikey, but in this version they are always addressed by their full name: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo. Each Ninja Turtle wears a mask over his eyes with a distinctive color, and is trained in the art of a distinct weapon. Meanwhile, Oroku Saki has left Japan and tracked Yoshi to New York City, where he intends to destroy him once and for all. He has become associated with Krang, a disembodied alien brain who has been banished from his home, Dimension X, where he was a great warlord. Saki has taken on a new persona, donning a suit covered with razor spikes, complimented by a long cape, and a metal mask over his mouth. He has also taken on the pseudonym "The Shredder". It becomes clear in the first season that the mutagen that transformed the Turtles and Splinter into their new forms was dumped into the sewer by Shredder in an effort to destroy Yoshi. Shredder thought it was a deadly poison. The Turtles vow to take revenge on the Shredder for dishonoring their master, as well as turning him into a rat. The Turtles want to force him to turn Splinter back into a human again, though this quickly evolves into stopping Shredder's ongoing criminal career. The Turtles begin to take on the role of vigilante crime-fighters operating outside of the jurisdiction of law enforcement against any criminals, much like Casey Jones in the third season. For the first couple of seasons, it seems as if the Turtles are constantly preoccupied with hiding their existence. This seems to be slowly relaxed and, by the last few seasons, most citizens seem to be well aware of them. Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady (two street thugs morphed into animal form by exposure to the Shredder's mutagen) and a small army of robotic Foot Soldiers try to destroy the Turtles and take over the World. Much of their quest for world domination hinges on bringing the Technodrome (Krang's mobile fortress, and his and The Shredder's base of operation) to the surface as it was either stuck in the earth's core, Dimension X, the arctic or Arctic Ocean. In the last two seasons of the show, the Turtles finally banish The Shredder and Krang to Dimension X. They destroy the engines and the "trans-dimensional portal" of the Technodrome preventing them from ever returning to Earth. The show, which had already lasted well past the average lifespan of most Saturday morning cartoon series, then went through dramatic changes. The animation became darker and closer to the original comic book style, the color of the sky in each episode changed from the traditional blue to a continuous and ominous dark-red sky (which was commonplace with newer action-oriented children's programming at that time), and the theme song was changed. A new villain, Lord Dregg, an evil alien warlord, also appears as their new chief nemesis. Lord Dregg begins a propaganda campaign against the Turtles, turning the general population against them and in favor of him and his forces. In the last episode of the series, the Turtles trap Dregg in Dimension X. These are the core characters of the series and appear in nearly every episode for the first eight seasons. After season eight, only the Turtles, April, and Splinter were retained as main characters, although Shredder and Krang returned for several episodes in season ten. * Leonardo (voiced by Cam Clarke in US, Bill Wise in Europe ad Canada), the blue-masked turtle, wields two Katanas. He is the leader of the team and is the closest to Splinter. * Donatello, (voiced by Barry Gordon), the purple-masked turtle, wields a Bo staff (often used to disarm adversaries). He is the scientist of the team and is constantly tinkering with various inventions. * Raphael (voiced by Rob Paulsen), the red-masked turtle, wields two sai (which makes him a match for any swordsman). He is the joker of the team and often comes out with sarcastic remarks. * Michelangelo (voiced by Townsend Coleman), the orange-masked turtle, wields the whirling Nunchakus and later a grappling hook (and often whirling pizzas). He is the most relaxed member of the team and is the source for many of the catch phrases of the series such as "Cowabunga!" * Splinter (voiced by Peter Renaday), a strict and wizened sensei, is the mutant rat who trained the Turtles in ninjitsu. * April O'Neil (voiced by Renae Jacobs), a redheaded TV reporter, discovers the Turtles' home in the sewers and befriends the TMNT. Shredder as seen in the opening credits. * Shredder (voiced by James Avery), the arch-villain of the Turtles, is usually the main villain in other media, but in this TV series Shredder always, against his will, has to take orders from Krang. * Krang (voiced by Pat Fraley), a disembodied brain from Dimension X, who commands the Technodrome. He funds and helps plan most of Shredder's schemes. * Bebop and Rocksteady (voiced by Barry Gordon and Cam Clarke, respectively), Shredder's clumsy, oafish henchmen, who often provided the show's comic relief. A mutant warthog and a rhinoceros, respectively. Like many cartoon superheroes, the Turtles have a wide array of turtle-themed vehicles and gadgets. [edit] Vehicles * Turtle Van (also known as the Party Wagon): A van that originally belonged to Baxter Stockman before he was arrested. Donatello rigged up the van with other equipment from Stockman's lab, including various monitoring devices and missile systems. The Turtle Van, despite having bright yellow and green colors and being very conspicuous, is the Turtles' main form of transportation. April used a van in the third issue of the original Mirage comic. The Battle Shell in the 2003 series is similar to the Turtle Van. It is apparently based on an early Dodge forward-control van, due to its split windshield and engine under the front seats). * Turtle Blimp: A blimp created by Donatello in the season one finale is one of the Turtles' modes of transportation. The blimp had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles logo displayed prominently on the side. The glider can detach from the blimp to allow the Turtles better accessibility where a large blimp would be impractical. This vehicle gets destroyed in the red-sky series. * Cheap Skates: Donatello made four skateboards in season two with propellers on the rear. * Turtle Bike: A motorcycle with a sidecar, normally ridden by Leonardo, first seen in season three. * Sewer Tubes * Sewerski Gadgets * Turtle Comm: Turtle Communicators (frequently shortened to Turtle Comms) are small and designed to look like turtle shells, and were created by Donatello. The Turtles, Splinter, and April each have one and can instantly communicate with each other. The Turtles' and Splinter's communicators stretch open where April's is built with a flip top to resemble a makeup compact. Zach, a fan of the Turtles, gets a Turtle Comm in the episode The Fifth Turtle. Even the Punk Frogs have a Turtle Comm. Krang, Shredder, and the henchmutants each have a Comlink, a similar device for communication. A device called the Shell Cell, which bears a strong resemblance to the Turtle Comm, is used in the 2003 television series. * Retro catapult: Introduced in Season 3. * Portable portal generator: Also introduced in Season 3. * The plunger gun * Pizza thrower In the UK, TMNT was released under the name Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (TMHT). This was due to the controversy surrounding ninjas and related weapons such as nunchuks at the time. The intro sequence was heavily edited because of this, replacing the word ninja with hero or fighting, using a digitally faded logo instead of the animated blob, and removing any scenes in which Michaelangelo wields his nunchuks, replacing them with random clips from the show. The TMHT version was aired in other European countries, including Belgium, Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, in local dubs (the Finnish version was in English with subtitles, while Polish was in English with a lector). In Denmark the English censored version was aired on the national broadcaster TV2. It had subtitles as well, however, only season 2 and 3 were aired in this fashion. Season 1 was aired as one spliced movie, instead of the original five part miniseries. The movie was titled "how it all began", and included heavy edits from each of the five episodes. After the 2 seasons had aired on Danish TV, the show was canceled, however it later returned with local dubs of episodes from season 5, and Denmark was also one of the first countries to get to see the episodes in which the turtles travels to Europe. These were also aired with subtitles. The original series is currently airing in the early morning hours on TV2. All 193 episodes have been re-dubbed, and this time they aired in their original US unedited form. Episodes in Spain, the name of the cartoon was translated to Las Tortugas Ninja (with the word ninja in the title), but the TMHT version was still used for dubbing. Other European countries (including Bulgaria, France, Italy, and Russia) dubbed the original TMNT version. In Ireland, the series was initially known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the intro sequence was unedited when it debuted with the airing of the second season. After the first two episodes were broadcast, the name was changed to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and the intro was edited. When shown on the BBC, phrases like "Let's kick some shell!" and "Bummer!" were removed from the episodes. The series Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation also referred to the Hero Turtles, possibly using the term hero to separate the television series from the live action movies. The 2003 television series, however, remained intact when shown in the UK and Ireland. This led the UK and Ireland to have a disambiguation between the two animated series, using Hero Turtles to separate the 1987 television series from the other incarnations of the franchise. In 2009, a DVD of the first two seasons was released under the Ninja Turtles branding, thus bringing this version of the franchise into line with the later versions. Source: Wikipedia Unfortunately, I can't find a good enough video on Youtube of the intro. Which is a shame, because this show was my favorite BEFORE Sonic the Hedgehog came on. This show kicked ass so much as well. But they stopped airing it on a channel that I could watch it on.
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Speed Racer
Junior Woodchuck
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Post by Speed Racer on Jul 27, 2009 19:18:31 GMT -5
1. The Simpsons - 30 pointsThe Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional city of Springfield, and lampoons American culture, society and television, and many aspects of the human condition. The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990). Since its debut on December 17, 1989 the show has broadcast 441 episodes and the twentieth season began airing on September 28, 2008.[1] The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and July 27, 2007, and grossed US$527 million worldwide. The Simpsons has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 24 Primetime Emmy Awards, 26 Annie Awards and a Peabody Award. Time magazine's December 31, 1999 issue named it the 20th century's best television series, and on January 14, 2000 the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest running American primetime entertainment series. Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon, while The Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms. Groening conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Brooks had asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, which Groening initially intended to present as his Life in Hell series. However, when Groening realized that animating Life in Hell would require the rescinding of publication rights for his life's work, he chose another approach and formulated his version of a dysfunctional family. He named the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The Simpson family first appeared as shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987.[4] Groening submitted only basic sketches to the animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned-up in production. However, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial short episodes.[3] One of the earliest jobs of the Klasky Csupo company was creating animated sequences for the The Tracey Ullman Show which led to the start of The Simpsons.[5] In 1989, a team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included what is now the Klasky Csupo animation house. Jim Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content.[6] Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching.[7] The half-hour series premiered on December 17, 1989 with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", a Christmas special.[8] "Some Enchanted Evening" was the first full-length episode produced, but it did not broadcast until May 1990, as the last episode of the first season, because of animation problems.[9] In 1992, Tracey Ullman filed a lawsuit against Fox, claiming that her show was the source of the series' success. The suit said she should receive a share of the profits of The Simpsons—a claim rejected by the courts. The Simpsons are a typical family who live in a fictional "Middle American" town of Springfield.[59] Homer, the father, works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, a position at odds with his careless, buffoonish personality. He is married to Marge Simpson, a stereotypical American housewife and mother. They have three children: Bart, a ten-year-old troublemaker; Lisa, a precocious eight-year-old activist; and Maggie, a baby who rarely speaks, but communicates by sucking on a pacifier. The family owns a dog, Santa's Little Helper, and a cat, Snowball V, renamed Snowball II in "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot". Both pets have had starring roles in several episodes. Despite the passing of yearly milestones such as holidays or birthdays, the Simpsons do not physically age and still appear just as they did at the end of the 1980s. Although the family is dysfunctional, many episodes examine their relationships and bonds with each other and they are often shown to care about one another.[60] The show includes an array of quirky characters: co-workers, teachers, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople and local celebrities. The creators originally intended many of these characters as one-time jokesters or for fulfilling needed functions in the town. A number of them have gained expanded roles and subsequently starred in their own episodes. According to Matt Groening, the show adopted the concept of a large supporting cast from the comedy show SCTV. The Simpsons takes place in the fictional American town of Springfield, without any geographical coordinates or references to U.S. states that might identify which part of the country it represents. Nevertheless, fans have tried to determine the town's location by taking the town's characteristics, surrounding geography, and nearby landmarks as clues. As a response, the show has become intentionally evasive in regard to Springfield's location.[62] The name "Springfield" is a common one in America and appears in over half of the states.[63] Springfield's geography, and that of its surroundings, contain coastlines, deserts, vast farmland, tall mountains, or whatever the story or joke requires.[64] Despite this, Groening has said that Springfield has much in common with Portland, Oregon, the city where he grew up. The Simpsons uses the standard setup of a situational comedy, or sitcom, as its premise. The series centers on a family and their life in a typical American town.[59] However, because of its animated nature, The Simpsons' scope is larger than that of a regular sitcom. The town of Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. By having Homer work in a nuclear power plant, the show can comment on the state of the environment.[66] Through Bart and Lisa's days at Springfield Elementary School, the show's writers illustrate pressing or controversial issues in the field of education. The town features a vast array of media channels—from kids' television programming to local news, which enables the producers to make jokes about themselves and the entertainment industry.[67] Some commentators say the show is political in nature and susceptible to a left-wing bias.[68] Al Jean admitted in an interview that "We [the show] are of liberal bent."[69] The writers often evince an appreciation for liberal ideals, but the show makes jokes across the political spectrum.[70] The show portrays government and large corporations as callous entities that take advantage of the common worker.[69] Thus, the writers often portray authority figures in an unflattering or negative light. In The Simpsons, politicians are corrupt, ministers such as Reverend Lovejoy are indifferent to churchgoers, and the local police force is incompetent.[71] Religion also figures as a recurring theme. In times of crisis, the family often turns to God, and the show has dealt with most of the major religions. The Simpsons' opening sequence is one of the show's most memorable hallmarks. Most episodes open with the camera zooming through the show's title towards the town of Springfield. The camera then follows the members of the family on their way home. Upon entering their house, the Simpsons settle down on their couch to watch television. The opening was created by David Silverman, the first task he did when production began on the show.[73] The series' distinctive theme song was composed by musician Danny Elfman in 1989, after Groening approached him requesting a retro style piece. This piece, which took two days to create, has been noted by Elfman as the most popular of his career.[74] One of the most distinctive aspects of the opening is that three of the segments change from episode to episode: Bart writes different things on the school chalkboard,[73] Lisa plays different solos on her saxophone, and different gags accompany the family as they enter their living room to sit on the couch.[75] On February 15, 2009, a new opening credit sequence was introduced to accompany the switch to HDTV. The sequence had all of the features of the original opening, but added numerous details and characters. The special Halloween episode has become an annual tradition. "Treehouse of Horror" first broadcast in 1990 as part of season two and established the pattern of three separate, self-contained stories in each Halloween episode.[77] These pieces usually involve the family in some horror, science fiction, or supernatural setting and often parody or pay homage to a famous piece of work in those genres.[78] They always take place outside the normal continuity of the show. Although the Treehouse series is meant to be seen on Halloween, in recent years, new installments have premiered after Halloween due to Fox's current contract with Major League Baseball's World Series. The show's humor turns on cultural references that cover a wide spectrum of society so that viewers from all generations can enjoy the show.[80] Such references, for example, come from movies, television, music, literature, science, and history.[80] The animators also regularly add jokes or sight gags into the show's background via humorous or incongruous bits of text in signs, newspapers, and elsewhere.[81] The audience may often not notice the visual jokes in a single viewing. Some are so fleeting that they become apparent only by pausing a video recording of the show.[81] Kristin Thompson argues that The Simpsons uses a "...flurry of cultural references, intentionally inconsistent characterization, and considerable self-reflexivity about television conventions and the status of the programme as a television show."[82] The show uses catchphrases, and most of the primary and secondary characters have at least one each.[83] Notable expressions include Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!", Mr. Burns' "Excellent..." and Nelson Muntz's "Ha-ha!". Some of Bart's catchphrases, such as "¡Ay, caramba!", "Don't have a cow, man!" and "Eat my shorts!" appeared on t-shirts in the show's early days.[84] However, Bart rarely used the latter two phrases until after they became popular through the merchandising. The use of many of these catchphrases has declined in recent seasons. The episode "Bart Gets Famous" mocks catchphrase-based humor, as Bart achieves fame on the Krusty the Clown Show solely for saying "I didn't do it." Source: Wikipedia New Opening Sadly, I haven't watched this show in years. I used to think that this show was awesome, but it jumped the shark years ago.
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thelesserevil
Super Trooper
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star.png)
Thinks RKO is A-OK
Splat
Posts: 1,449
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Post by thelesserevil on Jul 27, 2009 19:31:25 GMT -5
I'm a bit shocked that Batman is that low. As for Krillin...yeah, kinda. But he almost killed Nappa, that was interesting. Low as in 5 is bad (which it isn't) or low as in good.
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Post by bob on Jul 27, 2009 19:47:10 GMT -5
this was fun
my top 10
Tony Toon Adventures Ren and Stimpy Beavis and Butthead Animaniacs The Jetsons The Simpsons South Park Futurama Family Guy King of the Hill
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Post by Mr. Emoticon Man on Jul 27, 2009 22:39:09 GMT -5
I really like 2 of the top five, watched but didn't particularly enjoy 2 others, and have never seen a full episode of the remaining cartoon.
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Post by The Raven on Jul 28, 2009 10:00:10 GMT -5
10. Freakazoid
9. Aladdin
8. Tiny Toon Adventures
7. Pinky and the Brain
6. The Simpsons
5. Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
4. The Flintstones
3. Batman TAS (90's)
2. Spider-Man TAS (90's)
1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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Post by The Raven on Jul 28, 2009 10:01:50 GMT -5
I really like 2 of the top five, watched but didn't particularly enjoy 2 others, and have never seen a full episode of the remaining cartoon. You really need to be more specific. ![:P](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png)
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