My SPOILER FILLED First Impressions Of Visionquest

Marvel right now have been doing fairly well it comes to there new movies with Spider-Man: Brand New Day being perhaps the best selling Spider-Man of all time. There it only makes sense that they try and do the same thing with there shows however in order for that to happen they have to actually promote there shows something which they haven't done with the show that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED first impressions of the show that sees one trilogy come to a close with the show in question being called simply just "Visionquest" enjoy.

The plot of these episodes is Vision finds his secluded live style under threat when someone tries to assassinate him. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. The plot in these first two episodes was to be frank a really good one as we not only get a really good idea of what Vision has been up to since we last saw him in Wandavision but we also get a good idea of that is at stake for this character with the plot doing a good job of feeling epic but on a Tv show scale. Plot wise where these episodes do somewhat start to fail is in the fact that not alot about what this new version of Vision has been up is explained all that well and the things that do get explained have to no relevance in the episodes plot with even the plot of the first episode taking a good while to rally get going but that is something that is understandable as the first episode does have alot of plot to set up in the first place something which of course isn't the case for episode two which does have it's own problems plot namely being the fact that not alot actually happens plot wise in that episode with the episode not really focusing that much on plot but rather on telling a characters backstory which this early into the show wasn't needed as we should still be getting plot for the show whereas a backstory episode for this show very easily could be around episode three maybe episode four with the plot of these episodes also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in these episodes is this shows executive producer Paul Bettany as White Vision and James Spader as Ultron. Also starring in these episodes is Ruaridh Mollica as Thomas Shepherd , Todd Stashwick as Paladin , Lauren Morais as Lisa Molinari , Orla Brady as F.R.I.D.A.Y. , Diane Morgan as Handler , Polly Frame as Fiona Guthrie , Henry Lewis as Dum-E , Jonathan Sayer as U , Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H. , Ben Crompton as Clancy  and James D'Arcy as J.A.R.V.I.S..

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. The fact that these episodes have some really good acting in them was something that was both surprising and yet at the same time not entirely surprising it's surprising in that the episodes do have alot of what are to Americans alot of unknown names and faces in them but in saying this this is is why it's also not that surprising as those unknown names and faces are fairly well known names over here in the UK with of course the episodes more established actors also turning in some really good performances in there own right. With the best actor in these first two episodes without a shadow of a doubt being Paul Bettany as White Vision as he does have alot of scenes in both of these first two episodes alone that remind of us why he was such a good actor prior to joining the MCU as he does the impossible and that's make you feel something for a robot this is something that is very hard to do as robots be design are not meant to have emotion or show you emotion and that's something that he does really well in both of these episode and heck it wouldn't be all that surprising if at somepoint in the near future he was nominated for an award for his acting in these two episodes alone as he is just that good with his own natural charm and charisma really shining through in these episodes. With the acting that's in these first two episodes really being helped by the fact that the scripts for these episodes are so good that all these episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in these episodes.

Doing the CGI for these episodes is unknown as there are no effects companies listed anywhere on the shows IMDB page. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. With both of the episodes having some really good CGI in them as while of course the effects in these episodes won't look anywhere near as good as the effects in the movies they do still look really good with the episodes only really using CGI when they have to and not because they can do. This is something that does make the episodes effects alot more better as now they have something there on the set to be better blended with and it is something that is actually becoming more and more common place in marvel shows where alot of them are having more practical effects and doing things for real then they are having CGI animated effects in them and it's something that will always look so much more better especially taking into account that alot of the characters in these first two episodes are robots which is somethin that will always require some amount of CGI work done to make them look good and even Ultron who does appear in his robot form in episode one does look really good again tho he's not going to look as good as he did in Age Of Ultron but that's just because of the fact that that film had the budget t make him look good whereas this show has to spread it's effects budget across eight episodes.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This show is meant to be the conclusion of a trilogy of a shows that started back with Wandavision altho it technically should be a quadrilogy as the storyline was also continued in Doctor Strange And The Multiverse of Madness. With these first two episodes even revealing that Thomas Shepherd is actually Tommy Maximoff with it being revealed that at some point after the events of Agatha All Along he pretty much started to believe that Wanda and Vision aren't his real parents with him even seeing Vision as more of a nightmarish character and whilst the reveal of him being Tommy was good hook to end episode one one as it does make you want to watch the next episode this is the kind of reveal that might have worked better more towards the middle and end of the series and not at the start of the series as unless the makers of this show are going to pull an amazing twist of with this character there's not really all that much that they can do with him now as a character other then have him bond with Vision in the real world. Which in all fairness was something that the show would have done anyways regardless of when the reveal happened but that big twist of him being Tommy would have worked all the more if it was more towards the end of the show as then we would have had the chance to see some hints as to who he might be and it would have given us the audience the chance to make theories on who he might be instead of just having it said out loud by Tommy himself, however tho in saying this it is understandable as to why this big reveal happened here in episode one as it does give you a good hook for episode two and it does make you want to watch that next episode which is something that a good first episode should do and to be far episode two does follow up on this really well even having Vision rescue Tommy from Paladin's hands at the end of the episode.

Whilst interms of action episode two is easily the better of the two episodes interms of plot and character episode one is the better of the two episodes. This is something that is kind of understandable as the first episode does have alot of things to set up and therefor it does have to spend alot of time on the plot and alot of the characters whereas with episode two the makers of this show can just leap into the good stuff knowing full well that we would have seen the first episode which is fair enough as episode two was released at the same time as episode one but it still would have been nice if we did get more plot given t us in the second episode as all we get is Tommy's backstory and how he and possible love interest Lisa Molinari first met and escaped a prison bus together which was nice to see as Lisa Molinari does seem like a fun character. However it was something that wasn't needed this early on in the series as those scenes don't give us anything new in regards to plot that just show us what Tommy has mostly been up to since the last time we saw him and that's it and heck they don't reveal anything interesting about his character in those scenes other then the fact that he has powers which was something that we already knew thanks to Wandavision but in all fairness they did need to have Lisa find out that he had powers and having it be when there trying to escape the prison bus and a borderline abusive guard is something that does make sense but we don't get to see those powers play a part of the main plot of episode two which makes you wonder why that scene was even included in the first place as if it's to set up that he does have these powers then why not set it up an episode or two before he uses them in the main plot as now odds are we are going to forget that he has them by the time that he gets around to using them in the shows main plot.

Much like with the release of Star Wars: Maul Shadow Lord this show will be doing two episode drops a week until episode six as then the final two episodes will release one a week. To be frank this does feel like Disney+ is very slowly getting ready to just drop entire seasons of a show in one sitting as they've just released Coven Academy's first twenty one episode season in one go but that kind of drop was done on Freeform when it came to there own streaming service and Hulu the episodes where then cut down and edited into a ten episode season which was still released all in one go heck they even released Vampirina: Teenage Vampire's second season all in one go and while this is fine for something like Netflix of Apple TV for Disney+ you do expect the drops to be weekly as your not going to get the whole family to sit down and watch an entire season of a show in one sitting. With this being a show that is better released one episode at a time as then it would give us the audience a chance to theorize about what's going to happen next and while this is something that can still happen due to the amount of episodes that are being dropped it's not something that can have the same amount of impact as it would have if it was just one episode a week with a good way to do this for this show and to give the show a good hook for episode two being if the episode ended right before it was revealed who Thomas really was as that way us the audience could spend the entire week guessing in who he might be with this having the added benefit of making the numbers for Disney+ be up higher for alot more longer something which might have happened with Daredevil: Born Again.

Now then episode one of this show has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty three minuets and twenty one seconds with episode two having a grand total running time of exactly forty five minuets and six seconds. To be frank it is quite hard to fully judge the running time of either episode as both of them do have a decent amount of running time but you do feel that running time alot in the early parts of episode one just due to show much plot is being thrown at you whereas with episode it does feel like that that episode really could have been alot more shorter as outside of the death of J.A.R.V.I.S. there really isn't much of a reason to go back and watch that episode with both episodes having more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet despite both of these episodes having some really good running times to them neither of episodes uses there running time wisely as neither episode takes the time to fully develop thete plot this is something that does make some sense as these are only the first two episodes of the show but given the fact that this show is just eight episodes long there really does need to be plot development happening either in episode two or at the latest episode three as it would be far to late to start it after that as alot of people would have switched the show of if the show isn't leading anywhere good plot wise with the makes of this show putting more thought into redeeming Ultron then they did into giving either episode some plot development. The same thing is also true for the episodes character development altho to be fair they have started to lay the groundwork for Tommy fully trusting Vision as he does come to rescue a beaten up and ear dead Vision at the end of the second episode and while characters like Vision , Ultron and J.A.R.V.I.S. don't really need character development as they have the other films and shows to get there character development none of the shows new characters get any kind of character development with the makers of this show being more focused on fitting in as many UK comedy actors as they can then they in giving the characters character development but I really will admit that these episodes really do have some really good pacing to them tho.

So now then as this is an actin show that really does mean that I have to actually talk abut the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well ten in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty not that. The action in both of these episodes whilst it's not bad it's also not as good as the action was in Daredevil: Born Again season 2 due to the fact that outside of two action scenes in the second episode the maskers of this show do cut away from the action alot of the time which granted is a good way to save on budget but in saying this this is an action show therefor we want to see the action and just just the start and end of it. With the best action scene in both of these episodes being the scene in episode two where version has to rescue Tommy from a mental hospital that Paladin has him captured in as we get to see Vision just mow through all of Paladin's men like there paper and yet when he does get to Tommy that's when the real trap is sprung as it's revealed that the room Tommy is in basically a giant EMP room and is shutting down all of Visions systems with it only being then that Paladin shows up and starts shooting at Vision with adamantium rounds with it only being when J.A.R.V.I.S. sacrifices himself that Vision is able to escape Paladin that is such a good action scene as it does does show us what this version of Vison can do and how he differs from the Vision that we had in the movies as this one is more ruthless and is willing to kill people whereas the original Vision would at first try to talk you down and then failing that would then and only then hurt you with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall both of these first two episodes are alot more better then the entirety of Lanterns simply because of the fact that things actually happen in these episodes yet at the same time tho neither episode is perfect as they both lack the very thing that the other has with both of them still being perfectly enjoyable episodes in there own right in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in these very episodes in this very post and with this jus being my first impressions of the show I won't be giving a rating however if i'm still watching the show when the final episode is released i'll do a review of the show as a whole.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodea that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Rifftrax Experiments "Sting Of Death" Review

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is now officially back after Joels failed attempt to get funding secured for a fourteenth season. The guys over at Rifftrax have picked up the slack and have just released the first of four brand new MST3K episodes that all starring Mike Nelson as the host and the first one has just been released and well this is something that i've been dying to see for some time therefor I had to check it out the first chance that I got and so then join me as I review the episode that is technically the first MST3K big screen movie release since Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie with the episode in question being called simply just "Sting Of Death" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is roughly thirty years since he , Tom , Crow and Gypsy all returned to Earth Mike finds himself once again stuck in space with Tom and Crow being forced to watch movies by Pearl Forrester. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's a actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. Look to be frank plots for this show are usually really thin as there just served as an excuse for them to get to the movie that there watching in that particular episode which in this case is "Sting Of Death" with the plot and situation usually being explained away in the shows opening intro. However tho this episodes plot actually wasn't half bad as while yes it is on the thin side of things it was still fun seeing these characters again only thirty years older with the episode having a really solid plot and while first episodes for the show are nine times out of ten usually plot heavy as they do explain why the characters are in the situation that there in with the same thing also being true for when there's a new host here they didn't really need to do that as the host wasn't a new character it was someone that people have been wanting to see more off for literally decades now and therefor having a more thinner plot was something that does make sense altho it would have helped if they did have a more stronger plot just to get these new episodes off to a really stronger start with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is this episodes co-writer Michael J. Nelson as Mike Nelson and this episodes co-writer , producer and director Kevin Murphy as Tom Servo and Professor Bobo. Also starring in this episode is this episodes co-writer Bill Corbett as Crow T. Robot as Brain Guy , Mary Jo Pehl as Pearl Forrester , Patrick Brantseg as A Cheese Factory Employee , Beez McKeever as A Cheese Factory Employee and Jef Maynard as A Cheese Factory Employee.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's a actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. To be frank alot of the actors in this very episode do know full well that there acting is going to be treated that seriously as the show itself is not known for having great acting in it rather it's just known for poking fun at some really bad movies and that's and with this in mind this episodes acting does come off as being really good with all of the leads in the episode having some wonderful chemistry together is something that does make alot of sense as they all do Rifftrax together. With the best actor in this episode being Michael J. Nelson as Mike Nelson as he is just so lovable in this role with him not really being afraid to make fun of himself which is something that alot of actors wouldn't do and with him being a writer on these new episodes it would have been very easy for him to remove lines that make of fun him and yet he kept them in and led into them with alot of charm and grace with Michael J. Nelson playing the dumb but lovable hero really well as you do want to route for him but at the same time much like Tom and Crow he's an utter idiot but in all of the best ways possible with him having his own charm and charisma that really do shine through in this episode. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

One of the more famous aspects of the show is the hallway between the bridge of the Satellite Of Love and it's titular theater. With the hallway getting changed every view years and sadly it's change for these episodes is a bit of a down point for me personally as while there is nothing with the idea of them spoofing movies in them but its the fact that the sequence does go on for a long time that does make it a chore to sit through and while the makes of this episode do try and add something to it be it The Shining girls first welcoming us and then wishing we'd come to them or even the fact that an animated dinosaur fight is added in one of the scenes it doesn't make the scene alot more fun to watch rather it makes it drag on a bit longer. Granted this is something that was always going to make alot of people angry as there was no way in heck that they were going to match what they did in both the original show and to a lesser extent the Netflix era of the show as they did make use of practical effects whereas the Gizmoplex era had it be entirely animated with this one using a mixture of the two and while it does work in some places like the first one where we literally enter into a movie theater or even with the fighting dinosaurs it's when we get to the girls from The Shining where it does feel a little bit off putting almost as if the makers of the episode either didn't have enough money or enough time to fully finish it with it coming of as being a less funny South Park skit but the idea of having Pearl Forrester talk as the girls during that segment was a really good and funny idea but the whole hallway scene did need to be shortened just to make it more bearable to watch.

As you can see in the name of this post the movie that the MST3K crew are riffing in this episode is the movie Sting Of Death. With the movie to be honest being one that does look really bad and perfect for this show but in saying this tho the makers of this show even when they were making the original show always said that the bad movies have to be the good kind of bad in that they have to have not perfect but good enough picture and sound quality and have to allow themselves to be mocked and while this film does have plenty of things that could be mocked in it and while the picture quality is really good it's the sound quality that needed to be fixed as the film does have music cues start halfway threw a scene and spend the rest of the rest of the scene being completely silent thee is a good chance that they was how the film was meant to be viewed tho. Which if that was the case then fair enough and it does seem like they used the recently released Blu-Ray restoration of the film as the picture quality for the film the guys are riffing on does look really good but again it's the sound that's the issue here as it does feel like that there should have been more music in the film then what we actually here and heck given the fact that the film is silent for alot of the time it's surprising that they never picked up on and made fun of that as it is something that does stand out a mile, with the film being the type of schlock that you would expect to find being covered in this show and to be fair it does do it's job in not only making fun of a bad movie but in also making you want to see that same bad movie just to see if it's as bad as this episodes made it out to be and heck like alot of films that are featured on this show this film is mostly shown unedited whereas when they did something like This Island Earth they did have to cut alot of scenes out of the movie to tell there plot in there own movie.

While it's great seeing Mike , Tom and Crow back again it is weird not seeing Gypsy with them as she was a big part of the original show and while the original show did give her a good send off by saying that she now owns and runs her own company. It still would have been nice to see her or even get a mention of her and what she's up to even if its in passing and heck we do spend a good few minuets catching up on what Pearl has been doing alot of which just retconns the last three seasons of the show as there's no mention of Kinga or her time spent helping her with Gizmoplex which is fair enough as alot of people really didn't like that season of the show therefor it would have been nice to find out just what it is that Gypsy has been up to in the years since season 10 even if it's just in a quick nothing line and yet she gets nothing. They even replaced her in the intro by having Tom show up twice and having Crow comment on it however there is still a good chance that she would be showing up in future episodes which is something that would be nice to see but given the fact that the intro spoil the fact that we will be seeing both TV's Fran and Dr. Forrester it does seem weird that she wouldn't be in the intro or even in the show as she had been a main character in quite literally every single season of the show even when she got renamed in season thirteen to GPC she was still in a good portion of the episodes and yet here we get nothing from her and while granted when it comes to the bots people mostly remember both Tom and Crow and that's really it it still would have been nice to have her in these episodes as these are meant to be anniversary episodes for Rifftrax and yet she's nowhere to be seen or heard in this episode, while the episode isn't really effected by her not being in the episode as everything would still play out the same not mentioning her and pretending that she was never a character in the first place feels a bit of a weird choice on the part of the makers of this episode.

Whilst this might sound like a cliche thing to say as it is something that could really be applied to any era of the show that has a into of money behind it. The show does from a visual stand point look really good with that Kickstarter fund going to some good places like giving us a good looking bridge for the SOL and even giving us improved shots in the earth segments with this making this episode feel alot more like a movie with it feeling like that the makers of this episode new full well that this is the episode that they'd have in a limited theatrical run and therefor they chose to make it look as good as they could have done in the the time that they had to make the episode as we do get camera shots that they would never do in a regular episode of the show with there being alot of tracking shots both in the opening of the episode where we push in on Mike's job at the Cheese factory and even when we first meet Pearl again. That is a small thing but its something that does make this episode visually look more cinematic so much so that you could have made this as an actual movie and released as a movie and no one would be able to tell that much of a difference and while the episode does loose the homemade feel as everything does look a little bit to good for this show this is something that does make sense as the Mike era was all about pushing the show forward and not holding it back and while there are somethings in this episode that were done for real and have that home made look to them alot of the effects in the show weren't done for real and they look good, the bridge for the SOL even looks really good with us finally having a practical bridge again unlike what we have last series which was just a practical control panel and an animated background here everything is practical with even Trace Beaulieu coming back to design it and it is something that will appease alot of long time fans of this truly iconic show.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty minuets and five seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have and to be fair this episode really does need to have that long a running time as even the shows intro sets up the main premise for the season we still do need to catch up with alot of the characters from the original show and find out what Pearls main scheme is this season as none of that is covered in the intro to the season and to not have any of that in the episode would not only be insulting to the fans that grew up watching the original show as they would know and love these characters and would want to know what it is they've been up to but it would also do a huge disservice to the episode itself with the episode having more the  enough plot there to really cover tat amount of running time in the first place. Yet with this being said tho the episode really doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot and whilst this is something that would be seen as being a bad thing here tho it is something that does make sense in someway as the shows intro does cover alot of the important plot stuff by saying that Pearl has kidnapped Mike from his steady little job with the episode itself telling us why she's doing it and but that's the only bit of plot that we get as we don't get to find out what Mike and the bots have been up to or why Tom and Crow are back on the SL when they ended the original show with Mike on earth these are things that could have added some small amount of plot to development to the episode with the makers of this episode being more focused on giving the Satellite Of Love a new name with it now being called Syd's Olive Loaf which they do explain as a joke then they are in giving the plot some plot development. The same thing is true for the episodes character development as none of them really get any kind of development at all but this is the show that doesn't really do character development as its always been a gag driven show but it still would have been nice if we really did get some kind of character development even if it was done as a joke with the makers of this episode really being more focused on reconning seasons eleven through thirteen then they are in giving the characters any kind of character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk abut the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To be frank the episodes comedy is the one thing that this episode does really well as it captures the spirit of the original show whilst also not being afraid to be add in things that the guys would have learnt from doing Rifftrax with the characters making some really good jokes about how bad the so called good dancing is in the movie or the fact that alot of the characters in the movie are smoking for no reason other then it's the sixties. With the best joke in the whole entire episode being the song that they sing when they first come back from the theater as Tom and Crow sing the song "Do The Tardigrade" which honestly is just a really funny song and is a play on the fact that in the film the characters are seen dancing to a song about a Jellyfish and while Mike at first doesn't want to take part in the song with hi trying to get into touch with his manager at the Cheese factory even he joins in at the end at the end wearing a giant Tardigrade costume and even both Brain Guy and Professor Bobo attempt to join in with Pearl very quickly shutting down there efforts and while the song isn't as good as "Every Country Has a Monster" from the season eleven premiere episode it still a really funny song that does show that these guy do still know how to make you laugh and aren't afraid of looking silly and playing the fool whilst doing it with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall may oh may is it so good to have this show back even if it just for four episodes it's better then nothing with this episode really proving that the old crew can still make us laugh and do still know how to make this show be really good and be just as funny as it was back in the eighties and nineties in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in ti very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Mystery Science Theater 3000 fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Superman: The Mechanical Monsters Review

Something that is hard to believe is that now technically Paramount Pictures owns DC Comics due to them of course buying Warner Bros. I only mention this because of the fact that the Superman cartoon from the nineteen forties were ironically distributed by Paramount Pictures with the character of Superman being popular still to this very day it made sense to a look back at one of the cartoons that not alot of people talk about and so then join me as I review the cartoon that sees Superman trying to defeat an army of giant robots with the cartoon in question being called simply just "The Mechanical Monsters" enjoy.

The plot of this cartoon is when a mad scientist starts using giant robots to rob banks it's up to Superman to stop him before its far two late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon was in all honesty really good. The cartoons plot was a simple but this is something that is to be expected as these cartoons didn't typically have alot of plot in them with them just having a very basic set up and that's and to be fair that's all it needed to have as nobody in the forties or even today for that matter goes into one of these cartoons expecting there to be this deep and thought provoking plot rather they just wanted something simple. With that being exactly what we got a simple plot that's very easy for people of all ages to follow and while it would have helped this cartoon if there was a little bit more meat to its plot as the plot of the cartoon does come of as being really thin it wasn't something that was needed in the long run as in the long run this cartoon works because of the fact that it was this short and simple plot with the cartoon still managing to get across alot of important things about the cartoons plot in it's short running as there no scene being wasted, with the only aspect about the plot that could either have been done better or not be in the cartoon at all was the fact that Lois gets kidnapped quite easily which just wasn't needed as Superman was already going to save the day anyway therefor plot wise it didn't make sense for her to get taken by one of the robots with the only way to fix this being if the robot kidnapped her first and then attacked the building where all the jewels are with the plot of this cartoon also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this cartoon is Bud Collyer as Clark Kent / Superman , Joan Alexander as Lois Lane and Tedd Pierce as Police Officer and The Inventor Of The Mechanical Monsters. Also starring in this cartoon is either George Lowther or Grant Richards as the Opening Narrator. For some unknown reason no body really knows just who it is that does the opening narration for these Superman cartoons which to be fair is kind of expected as it's not exactly a big role but at the same time tho there should have been some listing for who it is that is doing the narration as they did have the job of telling us the audience Superman's backstory in the first cartoon and in filling us in on who he is in quite literally every single Superman cartoon. With the fact that this cartoon does have such a small list of actors in it is something that really isn't all that surprising as heck even Warner Bros cartoon only had at most two maybe three actors in all of there cartoons and they all worked just fine with the same thing being true for this cartoon as well as there was no need to for this cartoon to have a large amount of actors in it as there aren't that many speaking characters in the cartoon and even then only three of them have big roles in the cartoon itself, therefor it would have have been odd for there to be alot of of speaking characters in this cartoon with the actors that the cartoon does have more then making up for the fact that there's not alot of speaking characters in the first place as they all do have voices that more then distract you from the fact that we are not hearing alot of people talking in the cartoon and heck it could even be seen as being a good skill as Tedd Pierce plays multiple roles in the cartoon and yet you wouldn't know it due to the fact that the characters that he plays do sound so radically different from each other.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon was in all honesty really good. The fact that we have some really good acting in tis cartoon is something that both is and isn't all that surprising as the acting in all of this series of cartoons was always really good and the fact that they managed to get both Bud Collyer whom along with Joan Alexander both of whom are reprising their roles from the The Adventures Of Superman radio show does make the acting in this cartoon alot mor better then what it really should have done as they have two people who know there characters inside out being asked to do them again only this time it's for animation and not for radio. With the best actor in this cartoon being Bud Collyer as he does manage to do something that no other actor playing Superman does and that's that he makes Clark Kent sound different from Superman this is a small thing yes but it's a small thing that helps to sell you on the fact that the people around Clark might not pick up on the fact that's Superman with his performance as both characters being truly wonderful to see in this cartoon with his own natural charm and charisma really shining through in this very cartoon. With the acting that's in this very cartoon really being helped by the fact that this cartoons script is just so good that all this cartoons actors have to do is just say the lines as they are are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the animation for this cartoon is the legends and the greats that were currently over at Fleischer Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon was in all honesty really good. The fact that this cartoon does have some really good looking animation in it is something that really isn't all that shocking as apart from Disney and Warner Bros Fleischer Studio was a big name in the forties in the world of animation with alot of the theatrical cartoons that they worked on be it either Betty Boop or Popeye having some really good animation in them and therefor it made sense that that is something that would be carried over not only to these Superman cartoons but this cartoon. There is alot of detail in all of the cartoons backgrounds which is something that the makers of this cartoon really didn't have to include as it would have been a nightmare to animate and yet they did it anyways with this making the world that these cartoons to take place in oddly enough feeling more lived in and real, even the fact that we get these hyper stylized close up shots of both Superman and the mad scientist these are both things that not only help to give these cartoons there own identity as your never going to confuse a shot from this cartoon with say an early Disney film or a Looney Tunes cartoon for example with even the cartoons characters having these hyper realistic movements to them that help to make the action in the cartoon leap of the screen.

When you think of cartoon you don't usually think of there being continuity errors as afterall how can there be any when the person animating it is there checking it all the time. Yet that is the one thing that this cartoon and it's such a glaring mistake that it's wonder how it got past the makers of this cartoon as when the robot is sent to get the jewels we can quite clearly see that its got a number five on it's back and yet when it enters the building with the jewels we see that it's got the number thirteen on it's front and on it's back and yet in another shot we see the number five show up on it's back again how was a mistake like this missed by all the people that this cartoon would have had to have gone threw as it is a mistake that does stand out. While you could argue that perhaps the mad scientist sent down two robots I checked he only sends out the one this is something that fair enough might not have been easy to fix as it would meant having to entirely animate the scene over again unlike today where you could just fix it with CGI and maybe that's how the mistake was left in the cartoon which is something that would be fair enough as these cartoons were very expensive to produce but at the same time tho it is a mistake that does stand out and while people in the forties might not have picked up on it due to the fact that the numbers on the robots don't show up for all that long it is something that once you see the mistake you really can't unsee as it does stand out a mile due to the fact that its the only robot that we see robbing people in the whole cartoon, this error is one is kind of rare for Fleischer Studios as they are usually really good with things like this and it is something that does make you wonder why Dave Fleischer the series director or the producer his father Max Fleischer didn't notice this mistake as both of them worked closely with the cartoon to notice any errors like this one.

The one thing that I felt didn't really work in this cartoon was again the fact that Lois got kidnapped far to easily in this cartoon. With it feeling like it was done so that Superman could have someone to rescue and while it made sense in the previous cartoon as she was in the way of danger at the time here she literally runs away from Clark while he's calls Perry to tell him what's going on and heads into danger on her own free will and it just doesn't work as this is a cartoon that really didn't need Lois in it as Superman would still have been at the building when the robot attacked and got the jewels and therefor would still have beaten up the bad guy and defeated all of his robots at the end with Lois not really adding anything to the cartoon itself. Heck you could cut Lois out of the cartoon entirely and nothing about the plot would need to be changed as she adds nothing to the plot and yet for one reason or another the makers of this cartoon thought that it would be a wise choice to have her in the cartoon and while yes you could very well make the argument that alot of the forties Superman comic books had Lois take part in the stories when she didn't need to be there and that would be a fair point to make but those stories weren't being told in a short amount of time to tell its story and didn't have plots that were told in one go whereas this cartoon does have both of those things and therefor a pointless character like Lois Lane in this cartoon wouldn't have been needed in the cartoon and heck nobody is going to a Superman cartoon to see Lois be forced into a story rather they want to see Superman do his things and while adding Lois to the story would have been a great way to make the attacks personal to Clark it also makes her look like a dumb character as she willingly climbs into the back the robot before it takes of back to its base.

The main villain of the cartoon an unnamed mad scientist type is a pretty decent villain as while he is underdeveloped as a villain. Given the cartoons running time this is understandable with him also clearly being a smart person as he's built not not only several giant robots but also a machine that he can use to control them all which is a good idea as it does mean that none of them are going to be going against him any time as he could very easily just switch them of if he so chose and while he isn't that creepy of a villain he does have more then a menacing look about him that you do end up still being afraid of him due to the fact that his design whilst yes it is that of a typical mustache twirling villain it is something that des work well enough for this cartoon. With the only thing that does let him down as a villain being the fact that we don't get to find out why he wants all of these jewels and money in the first place as he just steels them for no reason and while the cartoon might not have been able to fully develop him as a character as that would take up screen time from the cartoons plot they very easily could have added in a line or two about him wanting the money to fund either more robots or just because he wants to be the richest man in the world yes those are typical things but there better then what this cartoon gives us which is nothing with us only hating him because of the fact that one of his robots accidentally took Lois as well as a bunch of jewels ad that's really it as if you remove Lois from the cartoon we would have no reason whatsoever to hate this character as the cartoon doesn't give us a reason to hate him in the first place rather the makers of this cartoon just expect us to hate him due to the fact that he's going up against Superman and that's it.

Now then this cartoon has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly ten minuets and twenty three seconds. Which to be fair to this cartoon is pretty much the bogstandard running time for these Superman cartoon as alot of them did have very similar running times and while this cartoon doesn't really need that running time as the plot of the cartoon is that thin it is hard to picture just what it is that would need to be cut in order to make the running time shorter as every single scene in the cartoon is all about advancing the cartoons plot and in giving us some really good action and animation therefor this is a cartoon that while it could be shorter it would be difficult to make it shorter with the cartoon having more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. However tho this cartoon still doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the cartoon doesn't take its time to fully develop its plot due to the fact that this cartoon doesn't really add anything like why Clark is there with these jewels we find out why Lois is there as she's there to get a woman's point of view on things but not why Clark is there and we don't get to find but why the scientist wants these jewels all of this money in the first place both of which are things that could have made the cartoons plot feel alot more well developed with the makers of this cartoon putting more thought and effort into getting Lois kidnapped then they did into giving the plot some much needed plot development. With this also being something that does effects the cartoons character development as due to how short the cartoon is they really can't fully develop any of the characters which is fair enough as none of the characters in any cartoon from around this time period got any kind of character development but it is still something that could have happend just with Clark telling Lois not to run of again with the makers of this cartoon putting more thought and effort into the cartoon action then they did the cartoons character development but I really will admit that this cartoon really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is an action cartoon that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon was in all honesty really really good. The action in this cartoon really does leap of the screen due to how hard hitting the that the animation makes the things like punches and kicks look both of which are things that make the action in this cartoon really stand out as it would have been super easy for the makers of this cartoon to just phone it is and give us some really bland action and yet they don't do that rather instead they made the choice to go all out and it is something that does help the cartoon out in the long run. With the best action scene in the whole cartoon also technically being the cartoons only action scene as it's the attack on the villains base and while the attack on the base is where the action picks up thats not where it starts as it does technically start in Metropolis with Superman attacking the robot mid flight with the robot being forced to turn itself upside down to shake Superman of it's back causing him to line in some electrical wiring with Superman eventually getting free and attacking all of the robots at the same time at the villains mountain base and while there are times where it does look like Superman will get defeated he does of course save both the day and Lois and drops the villain of at prison with the whole scene being a really exciting scene to see as we get to see things like Superman beating up a bunch of robots before then using his cape to project both himself and Lois from some hot liquid with the rest of the cartoons action being really good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall this was a pretty good cartoon as it does give you everything that you'd want to see in a Superman cartoon but at the same time tho there are things in this cartoon that really could have been done alot more different all of which are things that would have made the cartoon alot more better in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very cartoon in this very review and as such that really does mean that his very cartoon really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images hat I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very cartoon that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very cartoon with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Rugrats: Tommy's First Birthday Review

When you think of iconic nineties kids TV shows you think of shows like Spongebob and to a lesser extent Power Rangers. Yet there is another iconic show from that same time period one that has spawned a few spin off shows , movies and a recently released terrible reboot and it's the first episode of that show that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the episode that introduced the world to some truly iconic babies with the episode in question being called simply just "Tommy's First Birthday" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is it's Tommy's first birthday and all his wants to do is eat some dog food but when some puppeteers don't show up things get out of control when his father and uncle are forced to perform the show themselves. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's a actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. This episodes plot while on the service it could be seen as being a nothing plot as all it is is Tommy wishing he could do something and then he does it there's a little bit more to it then that as we do get to see him struggle to get what he wants with the parents mistaking his crying from something else entirely. This is something that does add some charm to not only the episode as a whole but also the show as well as all throughout the show we do see the adults mistake things that the babies want for something else and it is something that does add an extra layer to this episode as planning a birthday party for anyone is always going to be a stressful time for anyone to have the plot of this episode revolve around that and all of the chaos that that does bring is something that does make the episodes plot feel oddly relevant just to be clear this doesn't make the episodes plot good as there are aspects of the plot that don't quite work but on the whole the episodes plot was a really good one with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Michael Bell as Drew Pickles and Boris Kropotkin and Cavanaugh as Chuckie Finster. Also starring in this episode is Melanie Chartoff as Didi Pickles and Minka Kropotkin , Cheryl Chase as Angelica Pickles , Elizabeth Daily as Tommy Pickles , David Doyle as Grandpa Lou Pickles , Phil Proctor as Howard DeVille , Jack Riley as Stu Pickles and Kath Soucie as Phil DeVille , Lil DeVille and Betty DeVille.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's a actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To be frank this episodes acting was alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this episodes acting shouldn't have been that good and yet due to the fact that the episode does have some really good actors in it alot of whom are voice acting legends in there own right the acting in this episode does end up being alot more better ten the acting in alot of the first episodes of other TV shows. With the best actor in this episode being Elizabeth Daily as Tommy Pickles as she really does have the perfect voice for this character so much so that she is pretty much the only person to have every played the character with this episode proving why she is so good at playing Tommy as every single scene that she is in she just steals it and makes it her own with her even having some good chemistry with alot of the other actors in the episode something which really does make you wonder if the actors playing the babies recorded there lines together as you really do need to get the sense that they are friends and that's really not something that your going to get if the actors record there lines separately with Elizabeth really nailing Tommy's character right from the second that he starts talking with her natural charisma really shining through in this episode. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Wang Film Productions Company. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's a actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The episodes animation whilst it is really good in it's own right is also something that could have been alot more better with this mainly being due to the fact that the designs for the characters don't really allow for expressive movement and therefor it is hard to get emotion out of the characters without making them look really ugly. However tho there are times where the episode does pull of some really good looking animation like the fact that we get to see Drew arriving with Angelica with the whole scene being from the point of view of Angelica which is a really impressive scene to pull off and is something that could only be pulled of in animation with the episode even giving the characters some really good looking facial expressions when you pause the episode but again it's the character designs that while they do make the show more memorable as they give the show a unique look but it also feels like it's holding the animators back an stopping the episode from being as well as animated as it had the potential to be and while the things don't get much better with the reboot as these characters should only be done in 2D it is clear the makers of this episode couldn't work out how to make the character designs work in the realm of 2D animation.

The one word that can best be used to describe this episode it's childlike as that's what the whole episode feels like and it's something that does work. As it allows you to see things from a unique point of view that being the point of view of a baby and things that might seem odd to us as adults to them seems new and wonderful with even the fact that we see Anjelica say to Tommy that she gets first dibs on all of the toys is something that does feel like a child would say to another kid at a birthday party and it is something that does force you to remember that this show is being told from the point of view of a kid even seeing how the babies react when they find out she's coming to Tommy's birthday is somethings that does work as they know full well that she's not the kindest of people but can't say anything because there children. Even the main plot of the episode feels very childlike in nature as babies do like to eat weird things and seeing Tommy and his friends try to eat dog food is something that does play into that with it being something that does make it feel like that the makers of this episode really did do there research when it comes to babies and how they act to certain things as outside of when there alone and talking to each other the babies do feel like exactly that babies with them all having the attitudes and thoughts that you'd expect a baby to have only now we re hearing them say what there thinking instead of having to guess it and while yes this the fact that this episode is very child like could be seen as something that's holding the episode back as even the adults at the end start to act more like children given the fact that this is show that was made for kids this is something that could just ben seen as a fun thing to have in the episode.

Incase your wondering in this Tommy only wears his red shirt and his more iconic blue shirt with the only possible reason for this being the fact that this episode is about his birthday with his blue shirt being more for everyday things. This is something that not alot of people will pick up on as when they think of Tommy and of this show they'll always picture hi wearing his blue shirt and therefor it is something that will drive them crazy when they see this episode and see him in his red shirt there might a production reason for that like maybe the color of the shirt was confirmed until late in this episodes production which is something that would explain why he doesn't start wearing it until the next episode. Or of course there could very well be a story reason that was left out of the final episode either way it is fun to speculate what the actual reason for this might be as while it doesn't effect the episode at all Tommy's blue shirt is an iconic part of his character and the character oddly looks weird seeing him in his red one either way it would have been nice if the makers of this episode did give an in universe reason as to why he's wearing his red shirt even if it was something that added it retroactively, heck all of the characters are wearing the clothes that you usually think of when you think of those characters and there attending the party therefor while it still wouldn't make sense for Tommy to wear his blue shirt as that one could be seen as being used more for every day things with his red being used more for parties and other such things it is still something that would have an extra layer of realism if Didi saw his blue one but chose to put n the red one as it's day of birthday party.

This is a episode that you really can watch and get on two vastly different levels as when you first see it as a kid you get it from the point of the kids and what there going through in the episode. However then when you get older and you watch this same episode again you get from the point of the view of the adults and what there going through this is something that does make both the show and this episode have a universal appeal and generational appeal to it as your not going to say an episode of Spongebob on two different levels as that's not that kind of a show but this show with all it being done without having any crude or adult humor in this episode rather it just places both sets of a characters in a relatable situation and lets us see what happens. While yes the adult stuff is something that could have been much more better handled as there stuff is pretty much just the side plot of the episode this is something that does make alot of sense as the show is meant to be about the babies and not the adults therefor it does make sense for the adults to have the side plot as there showing us things as they really are whereas from the babies point of view we are seeing things as we want to see them, heck the episode does dive into the stress about organizing a party and even the stress of just feeding a now one year old baby these are things that little kids won't get but as they get older and more mature then it is something that they will start to pick up on with this episode handling those things beautifully as both Didi and Stew aren't being presented as clueless parents like they could have been rather they are presented as parents that are working this out as they go along much like how Tommy isn't being presented as being the smartest baby he's being presented as being just a normal baby who just wants what the typical baby wants and that's it.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty three minuets and twenty two seconds. With this episode breaking away from what would become the norm for the show and telling one single story instead of two eleven minuet stories this is something that does work to this episode having to introduce not only the characters for the show but also the shows main setting and the general premise for the show itself and while yes it could very easily have done that in eleven minuets to do so what be to do a huge disservice to the characters and it wouldn't allot for alot of time for us the audience to decide on if we like the characters or not with the episodes having more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time that it could have done to fully develop its plot with the characters just spending more time about talking about dog food rather then exploring fun and creative ways about getting it which is something that whilst it wouldn't have added anything to the plot of the episode it would have made the episode alot more fun to watch but given the fact that this show is mostly a slice of life show one could also argue that having a fully developed plot wouldn't make sense for the show as a whole with the makers of this episode being more focused on giving us puppet show drama that they are in giving us a fully developed plot. Heck the same thing is also true for the episodes characters as none of them get any kind of character development which much like the plot could be down to the fact that this is a slice of life of show and people don't genuinely develop and change who they are in twenty three minuets however one could also argue that the characters get there development in both later episodes of the show and in any of the shows three movies with the makers of this of this show putting more thought and effort into making sure that we hate Anjelica then they did into giving any of the characters some character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's  actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To be frank much like with episodes acting the comedy in this episode was alot more better then what it really had any right to be as this is an episode that by all rights shouldn't have been that funny as the set up for the episode doesn't really allow for there to be much comedic moments in it and yet somehow the makers of this episode did find a way to make this episode be really funny. With the best joke in the whole entire episode being when the babies do finally eat some of Spike's dog food they find that they don't like it and because they believe that eating the food will turn them into dogs they all start acting all like dogs which is just such a cute and funny moment in the episode with even all of the adults coming together to stop there arguing and just watch the kids be exactly that kids with that joke being one that adults will laugh out due to how childlike and innocent it is and the kids will laugh at it because it's people acting silly but in a smart way with it being the kind of joke that could only work if it was done well which it was here as it was something that was built up all throughout the episode with that joke even being able to remind us adults of what it really was like to be kids and just be silly as there's nothing wrong with that with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this was a decent first episode to a truly iconic show with it really being an episode that both old fans and even fans of the 2021 reboot will really like with the episode itself really more then holding all of these years later as it really is just that timeless of an episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.