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Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Top 15 Episodes (SPOILERS AHEAD)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold caused slight askance glances among comics and animation nerds when its initial bright-as-shit promo art was released. "Really?" seemed to be the prevailing reaction even though the series was being headed up by James Tucker, a proven DCAU veteran of shows like Justice League. Especially considering that the promised Silver Age (or "that 50s-60s period where shit got REALLY weird") tone and aesthetic was so out of step with anything produced in the superhero animation landscape since Batman: The Animated Series had reshaped it. I was cautiously optimistic, especially when trailers and previews started coming out, and when Diedrich Bader was cast as Batman given he was by then a more-than-proven vocal talent on shows like Disney's Hercules and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. All fears were allayed with the series premiere on November 13, 2008, "Rise of the Blue Beetle!", which paired Batman with Jaime Reyes (Will Friedle), the recently introduced successor to the Blue Beetle legacy in the comics. The show was bright, colorful, and campy, yes, but there was a genuine wit and heart to the series, and the action scenes were first-rate, as if Superfriends had finally gained a budget and fight choreography that amounted to more than "the heroes stiffly restrain the villains".

The show continued for 65 episodes across three seasons, ending in November 2011, and I recently revisited them all. To my pleasant surprise, it holds up rather marvelously, barring some inevitable questionable bits of humor (I doubt it was ill-intentioned, but the thankfully-briefly-appearing Mrs. Manface is wincingly transphobic in retrospect) and a certain old-fashioned genteel "men are like This, women are like That" writing style. Nevertheless, I was inspired to rank and review what I feel are my top 15 episodes of the series, which I hope you will enjoy below:

#batman: the brave and the bold #analysis #reviews #dc comics #batman

utilitycaster

I feel similarly about Laudna. Maybe because I know people like that IRL. Where a relationship is all they boil down to and it is as if they no longer have internal drive and personal goals. Might also just be a post college thing.

Yeah I've also seen people like this, and the thing is, firstly, if that had been explored - if there had been an intent to explore a character who ultimately only wanted to become half of a relationship and sink into a partner's identity and be nothing more what might lead them to that, that could be interesting too! We've seen fantastic characters from Critical Role who ultimately didn't change much on purpose (notably, Caduceus) and that's totally fine! But Laudna feels a bit like a microcosm of many of my issues of the campaign, namely, she feels like a drifting path of least resistance to some bland endpoint that alleges to be happy while feeling utterly empty. She never really explored anything. She was just physically present while events occurred.

The second point though is that there's people straight up in their 30s like THIS CHARACTER IS GREAT, like I'd go much easier if Laudna were exclusively loved by 19 year olds because you know what it do be like that sometimes. but she seems to be very popular with 25+ year olds who write the way I did in middle school except somehow even more melodramatic.

eldritch-cuttlefish

i feel like this is just failing to understand laudna as a person. you're describing her idyllic happy ending cabin in the woods growing old with her lovely wife and crafts and being left the fuck alone as "bland" and "empty".

her whole backstory is about how those things were denied to her. like, what exactly is bland about getting everything you ever wanted after 30 years of fear and rejection and abuse

utilitycaster

I'll be discussing this extensively tomorrow as I have two further asks but in short: her backstory was extremely poorly conveyed through the acting, What Doesn't Break was easily the worst book I read last year but canonically per said book a decade of that is canonically her dumb ass running into the desert and sitting there doing nothing because a guy in Ank'Harel was literally entirely neutral to her, she intermittently brought up dealing with Delilah but was so utterly passive and wishy washy about it that I found it difficult to care, they had to bring in a ringer from an entirely different campaign to do anything about it, she has bound herself entirely to her partner, in a relationship I also find very dull and lacking in chemistry with seemingly no other goals so you can't even make this about finding herself or reclaiming her own life, I find living in a cottage in the middle of nowhere to simply be bland as fuck regardless of what came before it, and most crucially, she is pretend and happy endings for pretend people make, in my opinion, really boring stories. honestly a real person overcoming abuse and rejection and living in a cabin in the woods with their partner forever would be boring to me - it would be good for them, to be clear, and I would be happy for them, but unless I knew them personally through other means I would not be remotely interested in their life.

eldritch-cuttlefish

wall of text to say you don't find laudna's story relatable. honestly i love that for you. that's what i meant by not understanding her.

still, a story can be worth telling even if it isn't about someone like you. i feel really fortunate that i got to see it play out. i'd be genuinely sad if she hadn't gotten her happy ending

utilitycaster

babygirl i do not know who the fuck you are other than someone who is too whiny to tolerate the mere existence of a post I didn't maintag, and sufficiently bad at reading to find 251 words to be a wall of text. get on this post one more time and I post the receipts from every shitty c3 fan I can think of tomorrow night, or quietly take the L of *checks notes* a random woman online who didn't know you existed until an hour ago, and wishes she could travel back to that time, thinking your blorbo is boring

spiderdreamer-blog

"I post the receipts from every shitty c3 fan I can think of tomorrow night" Please do this anyway, I am ready for VIOLENCE

#cr discourse #laudna #imodna is boring #like I am a sucker for fluff ships and this did N O T H I N G for me

FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)

Environmentalism in kids' entertainment in the early 90s is kind of a funny thing. Earth Day was a big focus, as was animal conservation and "doing your part" in terms of individual activism about picking up trash or planting trees. Captain Planet ruled the roost, with a multi-national team fighting grotesque stereotypes who bragged stupidly about how pollution was just so much fun even beyond the monetary value it might bring them. (looks at our current class of failson tech bro billionaries Actually that last part might not be so inaccurate...)

Looking back and with the looming specter of climate change reshaping our world, it seems almost quaint. Yet I wouldn't say all of that was wasted effort, nor were these unworthy causes. And a movie like FernGully: The Last Rainforest, corny as it might seem in places now, is both a reflection of that strange time and an interesting effort all its own. How does it hold up? Let's take a look.

#ferngully #analysis #reviews #ferngully: the last rainforest #robin williams #animation

2023 at the Movies: A Year in Review

2023 has been an odd year for American cinema in particular, between overall tepid box office outside of a few big hits and the combination of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes affecting release dates as well as promotional tactics. (Just so we're clear, this is a Union Solidarity Blog) But it was a fascinating year artistically nonetheless, especially on the blockbuster end. What this list aims to achieve is sort of a capsule review of the theatrical releases I saw (not counting streaming-only films even if I ended up seeing theatrical releases ON streaming) and how I felt about them in capsule review form. And even then, there's still stuff I need to catch up on like Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Oppenheimer, Elemental, or Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Anyhoo, on with my list, in chronological release order:

#movies #analysis #criticism #disney animated canon #wish 2023 #tmnt mutant mayhem #john wick #atsv #mission impossible #the boy and the heron #barbie #the super mario bros movie #indiana jones #guardians of the galaxy volume 3

The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

Movie sequels are a funny thing. Done well, they can be clever, meaningful expansions of the original film or give artists chances to take the creative impulse in a different direction; compare Ridley Scott's Alien to James Cameron's Aliens. Done poorly, they seem like cheap cash-ins with lazy writing and not an ounce of true artistic passion. Nowhere can this divide be more apparent than in the decade-plus of direct-to-video Disney sequels that kicked off with 1994's Aladdin follow-up The Retun of Jafar. As I've said in other posts, it's not ALWAYS true that these or the TV spinoffs were bad. In addition to my previously published review of 101 Dalmatians II and Atlantis: Milo's Return, I swear by Aladdin and the King of Thieves for being a solid adventure film. And Cinderella III: A Twist in Time fills in characterizations for characters that often came off as ciphers in the original, as well as being a clever story in its own right. Some could even be downright inspired, like how The Lion King 1 1/2 takes a page from both MST3K and Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead compared to the original's Hamlet influences. But many fumbled in trying to justify further stories for characters that weren't necessarily built for them or did lazy reversal rehashes. Curiously, though, a built-for-the-theaters sequel beat this crowd to it, in the form of 1990's The Rescuers Down Under, coming to us in the midst of the Disney Renaissance. How does that one stack up?

#the rescuers down under #analysis #reviews #disney animated canon #disney

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

When Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney in 1994 to form DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, it was essentially seen as a declaration of war against his former compatriots in the company. The first volleys in that war, however, would not come until 4 years later in 1998 with Antz and The Prince of Egypt. Both were bold statements, the former a CGI comedy directly designed to compete with Disney's new comrades at Pixar, the latter a big-budget traditionally animated musical taking aim at the prestige and box office returns of the Disney Renaissance that Katzenberg had helped shepherd at Feature Animation. Both made a strong impression at the time, and while Antz is somewhat forgotten today (especially thanks to the increasing controversy of Woody Allen as a filmmaker/performer and public figure), The Prince of Egypt has held on as a genuine classic. Does it deserve to be? Absolutely.

#the prince of egypt #dreamworks animation #reviews #media analysis

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

As observed in the last post, when the Disney Renaissance period "ends" isn't always entirely clear. Even after the high water mark of The Lion King, the animated films were still making money (esp. on the merchandising end) and getting good reviews, just somewhat less effusive ones depending on the film. Perhaps no film during this period was regarded with more curiosity and suspicion than their attempt at adapting Victor Hugo's classic French novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame (though if you want to get technical, that's the title of most adaptations, whereas the original French title is Notre Dame de Paris). The story of Quasimodo is often a dark one, after all, full of themes like religious hypocrisy and discrimination against minorities. Could Disney handle that, critics seemed to ask, or should they even TRY? Well, they ultimately did, and we have the film in front of us to judge. Let's dig in.

#disney #the hunchback of notre dame #disney animated canon #media analysis #reviews

Tarzan (1999)

It's hard to define sometimes where the end of the Disney Renaissance period from the late 80s through the 90s is. After the release of The Lion King, the 2D animated features steadily made less money and critical acclaim became more mixed. There was a sea change occurring thanks to more competition from companies like DreamWorks and Warner Bros., as well as the advent of the computer. For me, the dividing line is 1999's Tarzan, mostly because it's after this point that we get to what I and others call the 2000-2004 "experimental" age with films like The Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, and Treasure Planet. But Tarzan has much in common with those films, representing a step away from the Broadway musical traditions and into a new, intriguing arena of animation storytelling. It's genuinely one of my favorite Disney films to revisit, and I hope this review helps explain why.

#disney animated canon #tarzan #disney's tarzan #reviews #analysis

My Adventures With Superman: “Adventures of a Normal Man, Pts. 1 and 2″ Review

Since the end of Superman: The Animated Series, Superman has not had an animated series solely dedicated to himself as an adult in the intervening 23 years. He’s certainly been part of team shows like Justice League/Unlimited or Legion of Superheroes (albeit as a teenaged Superboy) that had his character as a key component. And there have been no shortage of movies, live action or animated, that starred him either. But it feels like something’s been lost, especially on the live action end, where interesting ideas by Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill largely failed to coalesce into a compelling character (and also were a major contributing factor in the current disaster zone that is Warner Bros. Discovery, so, that doesn’t help). But we finally have a new series starring him in My Adventures With Superman, and its two-part premiere has finally surfaced. How do things shake out for the Man of Steel?

#my adventures with superman #maws #reviews #media analysis

My Adventures With Superman PSA

The comparisons with Luz Noceda are starting to become actively aggravating. Luz is Afro-Latina. Lois is voiced by a Korean actress, Alice Lee, and is probably some variety of East Asian due to such. We don’t in fact have to flatten everything in a fandom monoculture.

#my adventures with superman #discourse #annoying #lois lane

finalgirlabigailhobbs

reblog to bonk the person you reblogged it from with a hollow cardboard tube

spiderdreamer-blog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqvGZLpoOGA

#bonk

Superman: The Animated Series: The Top 10 Episodes

P. self-explanatory, I’d imagine. Multi-parters will count as one episode Let’s get rolling!

FIVE HONORABLE MENTIONS

“In Brightest Day”: This one’s admittedly here more for the historical importance. It’s a solid episode on its own, with a much-abbreviated mashup of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner’s origins serving as the main thrust, and Kyle is a very likable protagonist in his first day on the job, especially against a formidable threat in Ted Levine’s arrogant, well-essayed Sinestro. But what this represented to the larger DCAU is hard to understate, with the Green Lanterns and Guardians of Oa introduced, as well as the soaring musical leitmotif that will also go on to represent John Stewart in Justice League. Of the hero team-up episodes, this is definitely on the higher end.

“Speed Demons”: Speaking of which, this also has a great deal of importance in introducing Wally West as the Flash to the DCAU. And the episode is a ton of fun, especially with the mix of personalities and TMS’ animation bolstering the speedy movements of our heroes and environmental effects. The main reason it’s here and not on the list proper is that it’s fairly light and fluffy as these go. Weather Wizard gets a lot of mileage out of Miguel Ferrer’s confident sneering villainy and going as far to attempt to murder his nebbish brother, but he’s ultimately just kind of A Guy here, and the frivolity is indicated all too well by the ending tag as Superman and Flash cheerfully resume their race. It came close, but it can’t quite go the distance.

“Little Girl Lost”: Another important episode, this introduces Supergirl as well as Granny Goodness and her Female Furies on Apokolips. Nicholle Tom of The Nanny fame makes for an immediately winning Kara, sympathetic in her desire to roam free and tough enough to make her a credible heroine. As said in the main post, the legendary Ed Asner is hilarious and menacing in equal measure as Granny, just the right edge of camp, which Apokolips should always have to one degree or another. It doesn’t make the main list because I think it is a LOT of material to cover even in a two-parter, and I wonder if having Supergirl start in a more mundane adventure could’ve been beneficial. Still, what’s here is fun, and we get enough of Ironside’s Darkseid to tease us further, especially his darkly funny exit: “Teach Granny the price of failure.”

“Monkey Fun”: This is pure Silver Age ridiculousness, and I mean that as the highest compliment possible. Titano the giant space-irradiated monkey is one of Supes’ goofiest threats, and to see him get battered around like a children’s toy is remarkably funny. It’s also a good episode for Lois, as we learn about her military father Sam and childhood with Titano (few things can tug on the heartstrings like a little girl being devastated at a pet being taken away). She even gets to save the day in her own fashion.

“Legacy”: Yes, this is another series where the finale doesn’t end up on the top 10. No, I don’t know how this keeps happening. Mainly I quibbled with putting it there because while they’re excellent episodes, there is a clear sense of unfinished business. We wouldn’t fully answer the questions raised by the story until Justice League Unlimited, especially in regards to characters like Hamilton. And the final note is bittersweet, but hardly definitive. Still, this is some of the best action and drama in the series, especially the iconic Timm-boarded throwdown between Superman and Darkseid, which features just as many great lines as punches.

Other Miscellaneous Favorites: “My Girl”, “Fun and Games”, “Brave New Metropolis”, “The Hand of Fate”, “Knight Time”.

THE TOP 10

10. “Two’s A Crowd”: This feels underrated by a lot of fans tbh. Stan Berkowitz gives us a clever premise in Supes having to rely on Parasite’s absorbing abilities to tap into the mind of Dr. Earl Garver, who’s holding the city ransom via a bomb that he’s hidden. But it’s not quite that simple, and the twists it takes with Garver and Rudy Jones interacting are very well done. Garver benefits hugely from the vocal presence of the legendary Brian Cox, who brings his typical brand of egotistical intellect and confidence to what could have been a generic madman, relishing Berkowitz’s hammy dialogue with gusto. It’s a good showing for Brion James as Jones too, who has his own opinions about getting crowded out of his body, and expressive TMS animation is the cherry on top; while they were always great with action scenes, their character acting is a great boon to this episode in particular.

9. “The Main Man”: Sometimes two-parters in this series feel like butter scraped over too much bread in terms of thin plots getting padded out by action scenes (this would also be an issue at times in the first two seasons of Justice League before the Unlimited rebrand). Thankfully, that’s not the case here, primarily because we have such a surplus of character work. As noted in the main post, Brad Garrett is terrific as Lobo, a character who should never be taken completely seriously, and his comedic crassness matches well with Tim Daly’s increasingly impatient straight man. (Credit also to Harvey R. Cohen for giving Lobo a distinct musical identity with bitchin’ electric guitars) It also does have a genuinely intriguing plot, with the creepy Preserver as a formidable foe and Superman having to use his wits to get out of the situation; my particular favorite moment is him briar patching a group of thugs. Also features the iconic scene where Clark sarcastically confesses to being Superman to annoy Lois.

8. “The Way of All Flesh”: This is a fascinating episode because it takes a premise that would have been an outright tragedy in Batman: The Animated Series and tweaks it to fit this series’ tone. Corben is never anything less than a brutal asshole intent on killing Superman and clearly has no regrets on that score. But the struggle with his dwindling senses is nevertheless compelling, and Malcolm McDowell gives a stellar performance as Corben rages against his loss of humanity. Add in some great TMS-aided fight scenes and one of my favorite cold-blooded Luthor moments (”And just what makes you think there’s anything of him left to find?”), and you’ve got a classic.

7. “Solar Power”: There’s a bit of a pattern with my favorite episodes in terms of Superman having to rely on more than just his powers to solve the problem, and this fits in well here. Edward Lytener, who first debuted in the episode “Target” as a stalker/burned source of Lois, returns to take vengeance on Superman by becoming Doctor Light Luminus and creating a device that turns the Earth’s yellow sun rays into red ones to put Superman on a normal human level. It’s clever plotting, and Robert Hays gives a fantastically smug performance as Lytener, relishing his attacks and holographic tricks (it resembles the kind of stuff Mysterio puts Spider-Man through on the regular at points); he also has one of my favorite big “NO!” deliveries ever.

6. “Mxyzpixilated”: This has a great Looney Tunes vibe, with Superman baffled and confused by Mxyzpltk’s braying jackass routine, but ultimately turning the tables and becoming more of a Bugs Bunny type trickster than I’ve ever seen him as before. It’s another one where Tim Daly gets to shine with deadpan deliveries, such as a moment where a stunned Mxyzpltk blusters that his friends will remain animals if he doesn’t play along: “They don’t seem to mind.” Very funny stuff, with an immensely satisfying ending.

5. “Ghost in the Machine”: Much like Harley Quinn’s introduction in Batman, Luthor’s bodyguard Mercy Graves proved compelling enough in her creation here that she crossed over into the main DCU comics. And it’s easy to see why, with Lisa Edelstein giving her a fantastic don’t-fuck-with-me vocal edge and proving to be incredibly competent. This is a rare showcase for her and Luthor’s relationship, with us learning that she believes that Luthor taking her off the streets made her what she is. It’s more than a little sad, especially with the final moments playing out as Superman looks on. We also get Brainiac and Luthor interacting, which has fantastic dividends here with the tycoon oddly vulnerable and his protestations having little effect on the brutally efficient A.I. (plus it pays off down the line in a very unexpected way in Unlimited).

4. “The Last Son of Krypton”: As said in the main post, this is a top-tier pilot movie, especially part 1 with my favorite depiction of Krypton’s destruction ever. But the other two parts are equally good, with Jason Marsden giving teenage Clark genuine teenage angst without going over the top in part 2, and some truly kickass TMS action in part 3, plus a final scene that says everything it needs to about Superman and Luthor’s relationship.

3. “Apokolips...Now!”: The first part of this is quite good, bringing in Jack Kirby’s New Gods elegantly and giving us the backstory on them and Darkseid. But it’s part two that everyone remembers and gets it on the list, with Darkseid’s invasion of Earth offering dark action scenes with a genuinely operatic atmosphere. The stakes have never been higher, illustrated all too well by the death of Dan Turpin, which still shocks me to this day in its swift brutality. It becomes a loving tribute to Kirby and his work, and this would carry forward in the DCAU to even greater ends.

2. “The Late Mr. Kent”: I’ve never been fond of the idea with either Batman or Superman that one persona is fake and the other is “real”. To me, both should be true to some extent even if they ‘mask’ plenty. And this great episode illustrates why Clark Kent is necessary to him; he belongs in this world, not separate from humanity. The plotting is ingenious, making us wonder how Superman can get an innocent man off death row while appearing to die himself as Clark, and it’s a terrific showing for Lois as she takes up Clark’s quest as a way of honoring him, as best shown in a wonderfully played moment where she admits that she respected and liked him even amidst all the teasing. It features possibly the most chilling ending I’ve ever seen in a Western kid’s cartoon that still gives me goosebumps.

1. “World’s Finest”: Let’s see. Beautiful TMS animation? Check. Thrilling action scenes? Check. Snappy dialogue and outstanding character interactions? Check, double check, triple check. This isn’t just one of the most important episode of the DCAU historically, it’s one of the most purely FUN, barely seeming like it’s straining for effort in bringing all these characters together. Batman and Superman’s initial wary partnership is played just right, with hostility giving way to camaraderie as they save each other by turn and give the promise of more in the future. Even better might be Bruce Wayne and Lois Lane having a genuinely spicy romance, something that feels so obvious but is so rarely played out, and Conroy and Delany feel like an old-school movie star couple in their vocal stylings. And of course there’s the villains, as Luthor and Joker’s deal is inevitably, hilariously doomed to fail, and we get to watch two masters of the craft in Clancy Brown and Mark Hamill go at it like prizefighters. (Also hey, remember when the Joker was threatening AND funny instead of validating every weirdo edgelord on the Internet?) I never get tired of watching this one.

#superman: the animated series #stas #dcau #media analysis #reviews #lists

Superman: The Animated Series (1996)

It’s not always easy to appreciate how groundbreaking Batman: The Animated Series was. Much in the same way that The Simpsons revolutionized adult animated sitcoms, Batman completely changed the game for action cartoons in America. And as it wrapped up its initial run, the obvious question arose of what to do next. While creator/producer Bruce Timm wasn’t initially eager to do a Superman series, believing it would be much more difficult even with Batman under his team’s belt, he warmed to the idea and set forth on a series that would follow in those footsteps, but create its own identity. Gone were the gothic shadows of Gotham City, replaced by sunny Epcot-esque futurism. The heavy Max Fleischer influence on the character design would give way to a sleeker, streamlined look more reminiscent of Jack Kirby and Japanese anime (designer and art director Glen Murakami would take the latter influences even further on series like Batman Beyond and Teen Titans). And Superman himself would be a vastly different lead character, which trickled downwards. So how do things hold up?

#superman: the animated series #stas #dcau #media analysis #reviews

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993)

Thirty years ago, the American TV landscape was a world apart from the one we know today. Broadcast networks and syndicated local markets still ruled the roost, the Internet was just starting to have an influence, and cable had a few powerhouses but was still fairly expensive. Perhaps most importantly, while serialized storytelling wasn’t nonexistent-soap operas were popular in daytime, and network dramas and sitcoms like Hill Street Blues and Cheers had made inroads in terms of story arcs and long-term character development even within episodic structures-it was still a relatively fresh concept. In terms of sci-fi genre fare, largely episodic TV was still the order of the day with series like the various Star Trek entries or Quantum Leap. And the televised Western was relatively dead by comparison. Thus we come to The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., a one-season hybrid mash-up on FOX that is practically tailor-made for the designation of “cult classic”. How does it hold up in our streaming age?

A lot of this is down to the cast, who is top to bottom terrific, with nary a bad performance in the regular, recurring, or various guest casts. Campbell often self-deprecates about his acting ability compared to some of his contemporaries, but I would say that his very blue-collar, get-the-job-done mentality is an unimaginable boon to his screen presence. There are many actors who could have played Brisco and well, but there’s a potential danger of either too much machismo overpowering the charm of the character or that aforementioned self-parody aspect being too much of a “ain’t this ridiculous, folks” twinkle in the eye. That does work for a character like Ash, who is sympathetic but ultimately a buffoon with one particular skillset, but Campbell wisely modulates and plays more of a straight man here. His comic timing never reaches too far for a laugh, letting them come out naturally rather than mugging for attention (good example is when he throws Dixie over his shoulder at one point and she demands to be put down: “Alright, you look bad in a wig and you were too easy to find!”) This lets him be a good balance to Carry in particular, who’s wonderfully exuberant and over-the-top by comparison, though he too modulates as necessary. Clemenson is the perfect likable nerd, not too action-hero but not too pathetic either, and Rutherford finds the right balance of Dixie being a canny career woman who nonetheless has the soul of a romantic at times. Warwick is also a lot of fun when he shows up, with Astin’s grandfatherly likability that can make even the groaniest of groaner dad jokes land on full display. The various guest villains make good impressions too, with Drago as a particular standout in terms of being genuinely scary for such an ultimately lighthearted show, and John Pyper-Ferguson manages to make a hell of an impression as Pete Hutter, a gunman with delusions of intellectual grandeur and an unhealthy fixation on his prized “piece” revolver. Think cowboy Team Rocket and you’re halfway there.

#TV #media analysis #reviews #the adventures of brisco county jr.#bruce campbell

Disney DTV Sequel Capsule Reviews: Atlantis: Milo’s Return (2003) and 101 Dalmatians: Patch’s London Adventure (2003)

The legacy of the DTV sequel/TV spinoff era for Disney’s animated films is a fascinating question. In terms of the naysayers, it was seen as diluting the brand with cheap recycling of the characters and plots of the classic movies (this is also the current argument aimed at the live action remakes). On the positive end, fans who grew up with them cite expanded worldbuilding and stories with new, compelling characters as points in their favor. I’m somewhere in the middle: I think at their worst with films like The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, The Jungle Book 2, or The Fox and the Hound 2, the stories are lazy and inspired with dull characters that don’t further the narratives. (FATH2 also lands in the strange “midquel” territory, which tends to present structural and dramatic issues) But at their best, those positive elements do stand out: even with some janky animation here and there, the Aladdin sequels and series created a robust action-adventure universe, The Lion King 1 1/2 is a genuinely clever spin (I also have a fondness for the Timon and Pumbaa TV show in terms of unabashed cartoon shenanigans, and Simba’s Pride has some strong drama to it), An Extremely Goofy Movie is a very solid follow-up to its predecessor, while Cinderella III: A Twist in Time arguably improves on the original in terms of the character writing. So I find myself here today having watched a couple of them I hadn’t seen before and found them interesting enough to write about. Let’s dig in, shall we?

#disney #disney dtv sequels #atlantis: the lost empire #atlantis: milo's return #101 dalmatians #101 dalmatians: patch's london adventure #media analysis #reviews

Treasure Planet (2002)

The year 2002 was a weird time for the Disney animation studios, to put it mildly. After the legendary stretch of films that constituted the Disney Renaissance-The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King-the yearly animated offerings were still making money, but they largely weren’t outright phenomenons anymore. Worse, competition had arisen both within and without: Pixar had totally changed the game with 1995′s revolutionary Toy Story, but the fancy new CGI bells and whistles were making more money than the studio’s traditional 2D animation and seemingly had more staying power to boot. Former studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg had left to form DreamWorks with legends Steven Spielberg and David Geffen thanks to a highly publicized power struggle with CEO Michael Eisner after the 1994 death of company president Frank Wells. They were succeeding too, with 2001′s Shrek being a (ahem) monster hit in particular. Eisner’s grip on the Magic Kingdom was slipping after this and other costly blunders like the creation of Euro Disney/Disneyland Paris, and he knew it. In the middle of all this, one of the most expensive films in the company’s history, a passion project for directors Ron Clements and John Musker, was nearing the end of production: a sci-fi adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure novel Treasure Island. How does it hold up? Well, if you’re like me and grew up with this, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and The Road to El Dorado on loop, the answer is “I cannot be remotely objective about that”, but let’s get down into the nitty gritty on why this movie rules.

#disney animated canon #treasure planet #reviews #media analysis

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Nature of Change

The Legend of Vox Machina is two-thirds of the way into its second season, with three episodes left in terms of the adaptation of this portion of the campaign’s Chroma Conclave arc. I think on balance, it’s been pretty great! The first season tackling the Briarwoods arc was excellent, but as with most first seasons, it took a bit to find its creative identity and how to approach the material. The Conclave arc is bigger, bolder, and wider in scope, and they’ve done a hell of a job upping the stakes as well as their production values, already very good to start with. Additionally, there have been even more changes made to the story and character choices than there were in the first season. This has caused a lot of debate, inevitably, and I don’t begrudge people for DISLIKING some or even most of them; for my part, I think they took a bit to figure out how to translate Scanlan’s crass humor when at the table, much of the edge is taken off by his cast members’ genuine laughter and assurance that it’s all in good fun. And I think there have been some odd friendships seemingly lost in translation like Vax and Grog’s prank war, or Percy bonding with Keyleth initially because he thinks she’s the only other adult in the group. But outside of my own minor personal gripes, I think there has been a broad failure here of a proper analytical framework for an animated series as opposed to a tabletop campaign, and I wanted to dig into that in my own long-winded way. Strap in.

#tlovm #tlovm spoilers #critical role #cr spoilers #media analysis #reviews

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