Star Wars: Droids AKA Star Wars: Droids: The Adventures Of R2-D2 And C-3PO "The White Witch" Review

 

Now then Star Wars fans it's been at the very least three months since I last talked about anything to do with Star Wars. As such I thought that i'd rectify this by spending the next few days talking about two of the earliest animated adventures to take place in a galaxy , far , far away simply due to the fact that I don't see anyone talking about the two shows that I have in mind as such here is my review of the very first episode of "Star Wars; Droids" aka "Star Wars: Droids: The Adventures Of R2-D2 And C-3PO" called "The White Witch" enjoy.

The plot of the episode is C-3PO and R2-D2 find themselves in the service of two new masters called Jord Dusat and Thall Joben but when Jord is kidnapped by a local crime boss looking to over throw all the over gangs Thall , C-3PO and R2-D2 must team up with rebel spy Kea Moll in order to rescue Jord. In terms of what I thought about the plot it was honestly pretty good the story did a good a job of setting up these new characters while at the same time telling a fresh and new story and it helped that unlike the Disney films this plot was actually good and didn't disrespect the old characters or fans of the franchise.

Reprising his role from the films is the always great Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and joining him for the episode is Rob Cowan as Thall Joben. Also starring in this episode is Peter MacNeill as Jord Dusat , Winston Rekert as Tigg Fromm , John Stocker as Vlix Oncard and Lesleh Donaldson as Kea Moll , now i've not listed anyone as playing R2-D2 because well firstly he's just beeps and whistles and secondly in the opening credits to the show he's listed as playing himself which I just find to be cute and adorable at the same time.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in the episode well Anthony Daniels as to be expected kills it as C-3PO the man can do no wrong as this character in my opinion. Where the quality of the acting dips a little in my opinion is the new cast who simply have no idea if they should take the material that there given seriously or not and so give rather odd performances which in my opinion hurt the episode but R2 is amazing the guy deserves an OSCAR in my opinion.

Now I cannot find out who did the actual animation for the either show or the episode but I know that Nelvana and so i'm going to assume that it was them. The animation in this episode is exactly what you think it would be like for a Star Wars animated show released in the eighties and yeah it's exactly as bad as you think it is don't get me wrong when the episode wants to have good animation it can but for alot of the time the animation just looks off putting and cheap which for something based in the Star Wars universe shouldn't be the case at all.

They did kind of simplify the design of C-3PO which I honestly think works rather well altho why they made the part between his torso and chest blue when in the film's black is beyond me. I do honestly like the designs for both C-3PO and R2-D2 like I said they have more simplified designs here and those designs are things that I can really get behind it helps tho that R2 looks very close to his live action counterpart or as close as you can get in the realm of eighties animation and the fact that they gave C-3PO weird looking eyes is just off putting to me.

Now after doing some research I found out that this series is meant to bet set inbetween Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope. However as far as I can tell after just watching this one episode this series isn't essential viewing which I guess makes sense since the prequels were most likely not even planned out that much when this series was being made but at the same time it's still something that I feel alot of Star Wars fans should know about.

Now in terms of if this show is canon I honestly cannot give an answer because I can't find anything that either says it is canon or says that it isn't canon. Which honestly i'd be fine if it wasn't canon just because like I said before this series isn't essential viewing and so nothing of importance would be lost but at the same time I do feel that it would be fun if this show was considered  canon just due to seeing people trying to work out where certain things fit in terms of the franchises canon.

Now even tho she didn't get alot to do in this episode I liked the character of Kea Moll who as I mentioned is played by Lesleh Donaldson. If i'm right at this time we hadn't seen a female rebel spy and so to see one appear in the first episode was honestly rather interesting and it helped that the character had alot of potential it's just that they didn't give her alot to do in terms of the story as such she's just kind of there but I believe we get to find out more about her in either episode two or three so yeah there's that at least.

The episode aired on ABC on September 7th 1985 and forms part of the first arc which lasted until episode four which aired on September 28th 1985.For some reason the makers of the show chose to split it up into arc each arc lasting four episodes with C-3PO and R2-D2 meeting there new master or masters at the start of the arc and then being forced to leave them at the end of it , to me this kind of storytelling doesn't work with these characters simply because C-3PO and R2-D2 are two characters that don't really demand arcs if anything this series should have been episodic and been more of a comedy which since this is a kids show would have made alot of sense.

As mentioned before this started on September 7th 1985 and aired on ABC for thirteen episodes ending on November 30th 1985. However there was an hour long special that aired on ABC on June 7th 1986 which serves as a prequel to episode ten , I do believe that out of al the animated Star Wars shows ever made so far this one is the shortest since it technically lasted less then a few months where as others last a few years.

This is an action cartoon and so that means that I have to talk about the action that's in the episode itself. Which is honestly pretty decent at least for the time that it was released and the fact that it has a twenty three minuet running time but with that being said this is Star Wars and with that I do expect the action scenes to be freaking amazing and so so to see something with the Star Wars name have action that's just OK to me is a huge let down.

Overall this honestly wasn't that bad of an episode it did a good job of telling it's story as well as giving us some pretty decent action. That being said tho I can't say that this is that good of an episode since it has alot of things that are wrong all of which i've mentioned in this review but for what was the very first Star Wars animated series it honestly wasn't that bad and this episode at least does show some promise as such this episode gets a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

All the images that I used in this review were gathered from with the official Star Wars fandom wiki page or Google Images. I honestly wasn't expecting to find any high definition images for either this episode or the show as a whole as such I shocked to see that while there aren't that many there are some high definition images to be found on both websites as such I have to say use either website if you want any high definition images from either the show , this episode or of course the movies live action or animated.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures Animated Series "One Sweet & Sour Chinese Adventure To Go" Review

 

Well it seems we have a little bit of a streak going here were I pick obscure as hell or little known cartoons and well I hate to break a good thing when it's going. As luck would have it the franchise this show belongs to is actually on verge of coming back to back to life with a new movie due out in a couple and so I thought I thought i'd talk about an episode of the Bill & Ted animated show as such here is my review of the very first episode of "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures" called "One Sweet & Sour Chinese Adventure To Go" enjoy.

The plot of the episode is that Bill and Ted break a vass belonging to Bill's stepmom Missy and so the duo must travel back in time to ancient China to get a new one before she finds out. I will admit that the plot is just as wonderfully silly and over the top as you'd expect from a Bill & Ted story but at the same time the story is also pretty thin with it only really coming into play whenever the scene demands it and so I wouldn't blame anyone if they didn't like the plot to this episode but like I said it is still a fun story to see play out.

Reprising their roles from the films are Keanu Reeves as Ted "Theodore" Logan , Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston, Esq. and the late George Carlin as Rufus. For once i'm forced to end the cast list there because I can't tell you who else does any voices in this episode yes there are actors listed but it doesn't tell you who there playing and so it would be pointless for me to credit them since I can't tell which character they played.

In terms of what I thought about the acting tho the returning cast do a pretty good job voicing there characters but it's clear that there not voice actors and so they really can't deliver as good a performance as they could do in the live action films. As for the new cast the actress they got to play Missy was pretty good as was the actor who played Marco Polo who honestly did get a few laughs out of me but honestly that's really it since the new cast where just there apart from the two characters that I mentioned none of them really stood out for me.

Now even tho Hanna-Barbera Productions did produce the show's first season the actual animation for the first season and i'm guessing this episode was done by Fil-Cartoons. Honestly the animation wasn't as bad as it really could have been considering that this is a cartoon based of a movie and those typically don't have that good animation , here tho I felt that the animation was ta best passable which trust me for this type of show is really good thing.

Now I mentioned that Hanna-Barbera Productions produced the first season of the show and that's because for some odd reason for season two they switched production company with DIC Entertainment taking over production. Not only did DIC switch out animation studios with them going with both Big Star Enterprise and Spectrum Animation Studio respectively they also swapped out the entire main cast of the show Keanu Reeves , Alex Winter and George Carlin with there counterparts from the live action show of the same name.

Just to clear up any confusion about the title of this review there also a live action series based on Bill & Ted with the same name airing around the exact same time as the animated show was airing. Whoever freaking thought of having two shows based on the same brand and giving the same name needs to freaking fired because talk about confusing your audience they really should have given one of these shows a different name even if they just called the animated show Bill & Ted it would have worked since people wouldn't get confused about what show they want to watch or are talking about with there friends or family.

This show does have some very early CGI and luckily it only appears at least once in this episode that's if your not counting the intro to the show that is. The CGI was I assume provided by San Francisco Production Group altho there really is nothing to either back that up or shoot it down so take it with a huge mega grain of salt , I will say that the CGI even tho it's very early CGI is honestly pretty decent espically for the time in which this show was made and so I can't really say that the CGI in the episode is bad because honestly given the time that this episode and show was released it's as good as we could have ever hoped for.

Now I can't fond who wrote the theme song for this first season of the show but I have to say after seeing the intro to both this first season and the second season. I honestly prefer the first season song and intro just because it perfectly capture that rock and roll lifestyle that the two characters try and fail to create for themselves and it helps that the first season theme song is honestly really freaking catchy which is always a good thing if you ask me.

This episode aired on CBS on September 15th 1990 with it's first season lasting until December 22nd 1990. The show would see a second season except now as mentioned it would be produced by DIC Entertainment and would air on Fox Kids since Fox was airing the live action show as well with the second season running from September 14th 1991 until November 16th 1991 and as you can no doubt work by when the seasons ended the first season had alot more episodes then the second with season one having thirteen episodes and season two only having eight but still two seasons for a cartoon based of a live action movie isn't a bad run if you ask me anyways.

Now then since this is a comedy that does mean that we have to talk about the jokes that are in the episode. I honestly thought that the jokes were just OK at best which is honestly me being very freaking kind just because i've always been more of a Wayne's World fan then a Bill & Ted fan as such I feel loyal to Wayne and Garth but with that being said when there is a good joke in this episode it can be really funny.

Overall in all honesty this episode isn't that bad but that's also the issue since it's not really that good either. This episode falls into a weird middle ground since for every good thing I found about the episode I found two or three more bad things about it but I will give the series this it did help keep the Bill & Ted brand name going and yes the new movie Bill & Ted Face The Music will be out both on demand and in theaters on August 28th of this year and this episode gets a 5 out of 10 from this animation fan.

All images used in this review were gathered from either the official Bill & Ted fandom wiki page or Google Images. For once I can't really recommend either website since both had images that are high quality and low quality and so it's hard for me to say which one you should use for images from this franchise as such i'll just say if you want any Bill & Ted images be it from this show or the live action show or the movies use whatever website you want.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! "What A Night For A Knight" Review

 

Scooby-Doo fans the last time you saw me talking about the anything from the franchise was about three or four months ago when Scoob was released. Well i'm here now with another review from this franchise and while it's not anything recent it is something that honestly I don't see people doing and that's taking a look back and reviewing one of the classic episodes and so here is my review of the very first episode of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" called "What A Night For A Knight" so enjoy everyone.

The plot of this episode is a professor who is delivering a suit of armour to the local museum disappears and it's up to Scooby and the gang to work out where he is , who took him if anyone did and why. The stories in Scooby-Doo are always super easy to follow and yeah the same is true here it's story that works because of how simple it is as such I can't see a plot like this working if it was super dark and complicated but with that said I would have liked a few twists and turns thrown just because I did predict who the culprit was.

Starring in the episode is the late and great Don Messick as Scooby-Doo , Professor Hyde White and The Sheriff. Also in the episode is the great and only actor still involved with the franchise and still playing the same character Frank Welker as Fred Jones , the late Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers , Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne Blake , Nicole Jaffe as Velma Dinkley and John Stephenson as Black Knight and Museum Worker 1.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in the episode I honestly didn't mind it that much yes a few of the performances could have been better but given that this was the very first episode and no one could have predicted that the franchise would still be going I have to give them a little slack. What was odd tho was hearing Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne just because i;m so used to hearing either Heather North or Grey Griffin so it was hard for me to hear what she originally sounded like but it was something that I quickly overcame.

I don't think that this needs saying since it's really freaking well known but doing the animation for not only this episode but this whole version f Scooby-Doo is Hanna-Barbera Productions. Now in terms of the quality of the animation I thought it was honestly pretty decent and is easily alot better then alot of other animated shows that were coming out around the same time period and is most probably the best animated TV that Hanna-Barbera Productions have worked on at least in terms of there classic shows anyways.

That being said however while I personally only spotted at least one animation error the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page found alot more. The only one that I found is where Velma looses her glasses for the first time and mistakes the Black Knight for Shaggy and when Shaggy comes running in Velma for some reason has her glasses back on despite not having picked them up it's nothing that's important to the plot of the episode but at the same time it's still an error that could have been fixed assuming that the team had the time to fix it that is.

Sticking with odd little things that I noticed not long after the gang split up Velma and Scooby stick there head around a door but just a few seconds before that Shaggy walks right past them and so Velma shouldn't have said that they lost Shaggy because she would have saw him walking. I personally don't count that as an animation error but I wouldn't blame anyone if they did since it's so freaking strange it honestly makes Velma look a little bit dumb if i;m being honest.

Now that i've spent a little while talking about the negatives of the episode it's about time that I got back to talking about some of the episodes positive points. That being I like the Black Knight in this episode he / it is a really creepy looking villain and it's a villain that honestly I could see them making a straight up horror slasher film with him / it as the villain since it already looks so freaking creepy and those eyes just put it over the top in terms of creep factor.

This episode was first broadcast on September 13th 1969 on CBS and for once I actually cannot say when it's ended because it's technically still going on since the show has been rebooted and retooled so many times to keep the franchise fresh and new. I can say that this version even tho it lasted three seasons ended on December 23rd 1978 after ABC revived this version of the show for a new third season.

Now then since this is comedy that does mean that we have to talk about the jokes that are in the episode itself. Of course we get some of the usual gags that the show would become well known for like Velma loosing her glasses in some way and in this case Scooby disguising himself to fool the ghost now while someone loosing there glasses isn't funny it is one of the thing s that the show has become will known for and the jokes themselves are fairly decent.

Now then since Scooby-Doo is built on being a mystery franchise that means I have to talk about the actual mystery of the episode. Which I honestly thought was pretty decent yes it is kind of predictable who the villain of the episode is but for me the fun is trying to work who it is and how the show goes about giving you it's clues which this episode does really well in my opinion it gives you just enough clues so that you can work it out for yourself which is what alot of good mystery shows or movies should do however like I said a few times already I already worked out who did and so I felt like the characters were playing catch up to me which should never be the case both you and the characters should e on a level playing field you should know what they know about the case that there trying to solve , it should them playing catch up with you or you having to play catch up with the characters at least in my opinion anyways.

Overall this was honestly a rather fun episode to watch and it's not hard to see how the show became the hit that it did. That being said I did have alot of issues with the episode all of which i've covered in hopefully great detail in this review but those issues weren't really enough to stop me from enjoying the episode in fact they oddly made it more enjoyable to me well at least animation error did as such this episode gets an 8 out of 10 from me.

All the images that I used in this review were gathered from either the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page or Google Images. I have to say that I wasn't expecting any of the images to be HD at all and so the fact that all but one of them was high definition is to me a huge freaking plus as such I highly , highly , highly recommend that you get you r Scooby-Doo images from the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page just because there are really freaking HD.

 

 

 

The Real Ghostbusters "Ghosts R Us" Review

 

Animation i'm just going to let you all know now that over the next few days to a week chances are your going to see a lot more posts from me just because I have a ton of animated episode reviews that I want to do and I have the episodes already on my laptop. So yeah you better get ready to see alot of reviews of older shows because trust me I have alot of them and as you can tell for this review i'm taking a look at the very first episode of The Real Ghostbusters called "Ghosts R Us" so enjoy guys and girls and everything inbetween.

The plot of the episode is the Ghostbusters find themselves being run out of business called Ghosts R Us but the Ghostbusters suspect that nothing quite what it seems with the new ghost hunting business. I found the plot to be honestly rather enjoyable and while the plot isn't as good the plot of the first movie for a Saturday morning cartoon the plot was honestly rather enjoyable and it was fun to see this storyline play out.

Starring in the episode is Maurice LaMarche as Egon Spengler and Mr. Conrad , Frank Welker as Ray Stantz , Zonk and Slimer , Garfield voice actor Lorenzo Music as Peter Venkman and Arsenio Hall as Winston Zeddemore. Also starring in the episode is Laura Summer as Janine Melnitz and Snarg and  Ron Masak as Slug and Toy Ghost. I'm honestly shocked that alot of the cast voice multiple characters in this episode just because you really cannot tell at all that it's them doing the voices for alot of the episodes cast of character.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in the episode it was honestly not that bad and was alot better then what I thought it was going to be. Which given the cast is kind of to be expected and I felt that all of the characters were perfectly cast but I will say that it was easy to spot Frank Welker since he's using the voice he does for Fred in Scooby-Doo but performance wise every actor brought it in my opinion.

For once I actually have no idea who for sure did the animation for this episode since several companies are listed as doing the animation for the show but none are listed as doing the animation for the actual episode.Which is a shame because the animation in this episode is honestly pretty freaking good i;m not going to lie and say that it's amazing because it's honestly not but for a Saturday morning TV show the animation was really freaking decent which in my opinion is a good thing.

Now while doing some research for the show I found out that only one actor from the show was interested in reprising his role from the film and that was the great Ernie Hudson. However instead of doing the respectful thing and offering him the role of Winston Zeddemore he was force to audition which makes no sense since he already played the character in the first film so why not just offer him the role.

One of the things that I think this show is well known for is it's creature / monster design and yeah the monsters / creatures in this episode look really creepy. I never thought that i'd say this about a kids show but they actually made the monsters in this episode quite scary which I honestly loved since the Ghostbusters movie had some scary scenes and so it makes sense that the cartoon version should have some creepy looking monsters in it as well.

Even tho this does get explained in a later episode I still find it jarring that they have Slimer a character who was somewhat of a villain in the movie act as an alley to the Ghostbusters not only in this episode but in this whole series. I'm not against the character becoming alley's with the Ghostbusters but when you explain it in a later episode and not in the first one it can come across as jarring especially for those of us who have seen the first film and know the character to be a kind of villain.

This show started airing on September 13th 1986 and run for seven seasons lasting until October 5th 1991 with the show airing on ABC for it's entire run. When this show and oddly enough the character of Slimer was at his most popular the show would be retooled into Slimer And The Real Ghostbusters with the show adding in a new Slimer cartoon which I guess makes sense since the character was popular with kids but why not just give him his own show there;s no need to retool a show that was already a hit.

This episode saw the introduction of the Ecto-2 which is as far as I can gather a mini helicopter type vehicle that the Ghostbusters store in the back of Ecto-1. Which to me is just weird since it's such an obvious  ploy to sell a toy version of the vehicle plus it honestly makes you question firstly how in the hell these four guys who know nothing about flying managed to build a fully functioning mini helicopter and they somehow managed to fit it in to the back of Ecto-1.

Overall this was a pretty decent debut episode and if i'm right for many this was there introduction to the world of Ghostbusters. That being said even tho this episode is pretty fun to watch the episode does get a few things wrong all of which i've covered in this review of the episode but at the same time I have to give this show credit since it did keep the Ghostbusters brand name alive and in the minds of the public as such this episode gets a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

All the images that I used in this review were gathered from the official Ghostbusters fandom wiki page. I fully admit I wasn't expecting to find any high definition images not only for this show but this episode and so to find quite alot of HD images for the episode is to me quite surprising as such I have no choice but to recommend the official Ghostbusters fandom wiki page to those of you who want to use high definition images of from anything to do with the Ghostbusters brand be it animated shows , live action films , the comics or the games. 

 

 

 

Godzilla 1978 Animated Series "The Firebird" Review

 

Now depending on where your seeing this review then you'll know that i'm a fan of the Godzilla franchise having seen alot of the original films in Japanese and i've seen all of the American films as well. However there are a few things related to the jolly green monster that i'm yet to take a look at and one of those is his original animated series and no i'm not talking about the one from nineties i'm talking about the one from 1978 and so here is my review of the debut episode of "Godzilla" called "The Firebird" enjoy.

The plot of the episode is a bird made of fire is causing havoc in the Arctic and so it's up to our heroes the crew of a ship called The Calico and Godzilla to put a stop to the creature before it's to late. Plot wise the episode was fairly good i'm not going to say that it's the best Godzilla plot out there because honestly the first film will always have that honour for me but in terms of a kids Godzilla cartoon made in the lade seventies it was a decent plot since it did a good of telling the story as well as showing us what this version of Godzilla is like.

Starring in this episode and the rest of the series is Ted Cassidy as Godzilla and Don Messick as Godzooky. Also starring in this episode and the rest if the series is Jeff David as Captain Carl Majors , Al Eisenman as Pete Darian , Hilly Hicks as Brock Borden and Brenda Thomson as Doctor Quinn Darian. Honestly I find out really odd that they brought Lurch from the original Addams Family to play Godzilla since Hanna-Barbara already have a guy who can do the roars of any creature on there pay roll that being Frank Welker so they didn't cast him is freaking beyond me.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in the episode it was honestly alot better then what I was expecting it to be. Which in this case isn't really a good thing since the Japanese Godzilla films even the bad ones have good acting in them but here the acting is just OK which for a franchise this legendary isn't a really a good thing yes the fact that they have the great Don Messick putting a solid performance does help things but one man doesn't make a team in this case.

Doing the animation for this episode and thus the rest of the series is Hanna-Barbera Productions and if you've seen in animated show from the sixties or grew up in the nineties then chances are you've seen there work. Hanna-Barbera are known to be very cheap especially when it comes to the animation and yeah the same is true here since there are alot of repeating backgrounds and there are some shots where you see the back of a person's head and you here them talking which is classic way to save money on animation since you don't have to animate the lips moving.

I really do not think that this is the best showcase for what Hanna-Barbera could do since even tho they have fairly low standards when it comes to the animation this episode doesn't even meet that. That doesn't mean that the animation in the episode is terrible because in all honesty it's not but there are better animated Hanna-Barbera shows out there and there are better animated shows from around the same time period as this show.

Now then this is a Godzilla show after all and so you'd think that this episode would feature alot of our favourite monster. You would be so wrong since he only shows up a handful of times in this episode most of which he's only there for a few minuets and then he disappears but he does show up and take part in the final fight with the firebird which I will get more into later in the review but I do feel that this episode especially should have featured more of Godzilla since his name is the name of the freaking show.

I actually like the design of Godzilla here they really didn't change that much from the original Gojira which for me is a good thing. For some reason tho they made his skin green which really isn't that big of a deal since the original Gojira is in black and white and so you could really make his skin any colour you wanted and it would make sense but what I really don't like is the fact that they gave him a permanent scowl which would work if he was the villain of the show but here he's meant to be the good guy and so they really didn't need that scowl at all in my opinion.

Now let's talk about everyone's favourite most useful character oops I mean't everyone's least favourite useless character in the how and this episode Godzooky. Why the hell the producers thought that this character was needed is beyond me since they already have a character designed for kids to like that being Pete and so why this useless character was added is beyond me. I honestly wouldn't mind the character that much if he actually did something useful in the episode but he doesn't infact it's him wondering of that causes Pete to get himself into danger looking for Godzooky.

Like with Godzilla I like the design of the villain of this episode who if you can't tell by the name of the episode if The Firebird. I just think that having a creature made entirely out of fire is just so freaking awesome and it highlights the creativity in the Godzilla franchise so you can have a monster or creature made out of anything and it would make sense so yeah I honestly cannot fault the design of this character whatsoever.

This show started airing on NBC on September 9th 1978 and the series lasted a full two seasons ending on December 9th 1979 and the show was paired with another show called Jana of the Jungle where together they formed The Godzilla Power Hour. With each episode being around twenty two minuets each I honestly don't see why they had to pair Godzilla with anything since they could have got a large amount of people watching this show just based of the Godzilla name alone but I guess it was more for Jana then it was Godzilla since Jana doesn't even have her name in the title.

Now then since this is an action show that does mean that we have to talk about the action that is in the episode. Which i'm not going to lie I found to be rather enjoyable yes it's not up to the standards of the usual Godzilla action scenes like we don't get to see Godzilla destroying any cities but we do get to see an honestly pretty cool final fight between the king of monsters of the firebird which is honestly my favourite part of the entire episode.

Overall I can't say that this is a bad episode because in all honesty it's not and I can't even say it's a bad representation of Godzilla either. What I can say tho is that for a show based of the Godzilla franchise this episode lacks alot of the things that we love about the Godzilla franchise which i've mentioned in this review but at the same time there is some enjoyment to be found from this episode as such it gets a 6 out of 10 from me.

All images used in this review was gathered from either the official Godzilla fandom wiki page or Google Images. I fully admit I wasn't expecting to find any high definition images not only from this show but also this episode and yet I was shocked to see that the vast majority of the images used in this review or pretty HD as such I have t recommend either website if you want to use images from this episode or this show. 

 

 

Spider-Man: The Animated Series "Night Of The Lizard" Review

 

Marvel fans i've taken a look at many Marvel movies in the past and I will be looking at more in the future however the one thing that i've very rarely done is look at the companies previous animated projects. Which is a shame because alot of those shows especially the ones in the nineties served as my introduction to those characters with all that in mind here is my review of the very first episode of the 1994 Spider-Man animated series "Night Of The Lizard" enjoy comic book and animation fans and everyone inbetween.

The plot of the episode is there's a new creature in New York and Peter Parker and Eddie Brock are both tasked with getting pictures with the winner receiving a prize meanwhile Spider-Man has to find out who the creature is before it's to late. Plot wise I felt that the episode was pretty good with the story moving along at a nice pace but the story wasn't the series best in my opinion but it did a good job f setting up most of the main cast of characters.

Starring in the episode is Christopher Daniel Barnes as Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Edward Asner as J. Jonah Jameson. Also starring in the episode is , Linda Gary as Aunt May Parker , Rodney Saulsberry as Joseph Robertson , Liz Georges as Debra Whitman , Hank Azaria as Eddie Brock and Bud , Joseph Campanella as Curt Connors / Lizard , Giselle Loren as Margaret Connors , Toby Scott Ganger as Billy Connors and Ken Chandler as Sam.

As for what I thought about the acting in the episode it honestly wasn't that bad but at the same time I feel that it could have been alot better. While the acting was indeed good and was very passable for the episode that's all it was and that to me isn't a good thing since you should always be trying to put in a solid performance that could rival better shows and not turn in a performance that would earn you a paycheck.

Doing the animation for not only this episode but also the whole series is TMS Entertainment who have mainly worked on anime like Akira and episodes of Batman: the Animated Series among many others. The animation here I thought for the time that this show was made it was honestly really good i'm not going to say that it's amazing animation because it's really not but for a mid nineties animated show it's really good.

That said however there is something that we have to talk about and that's the fact that not only this episode but this entire series makes use of CGI. Which is just as bad as you'd think it would be don't get me wrong as a kid growing up when this show was I thought that the CGI looked really good but yikes it hasn't aged well at all the only good thing about the CGI is they don't use it often in this episode but when they do my god do you notice it.

Now this is something that I never noticed before now but to me the character of Debra Whitman (Liz Georges) looks so much like Betty Ross from the nineties Incredible Hulk animated series. I know that these shows were produced at least a year apart and so chances of the studio working on The Incredible Hulk getting there hands on the Debra character model are very unlikely but one cannot help but wonder why they chose to make Betty Ross character look so similar to Debra.

Now as you can no doubt work out by any of the above images this episode and the show aired on Fox Kids starting in 1994 and lasted until 1998 which I think makes it the longest running Marvel animated series of the nineties but I might be wrong. Either way way there is no way in hell you can tell that this show was made in the nineties apart from the dated CGI since the episode doesn't make any kind of reference to things from the nineties which oddly makes the episode feel timeless.

I have to say that I liked how they did Lizard in this episode which is they basically made him a Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde type of character. With Lizard not really being able to remember much of what his human half is doing and what Curt's memories are all of which make him a vastly interesting character since your now wondering if the character is acting like this because he's evil or is it because he feels threatened by Spider-Man basically breaking into his home.

Let's talk about the show's theme song because it really needs to be talked about just like any other superhero show that came out around this time the theme song is so freaking good. Which shouldn't come as a surprise since it was performed by the lead guitarist of Aerosmith Joe Perry it's just a shame that the lyrics don't quite match up the awesome electric guitar but the theme song is still so freaking good.

Now then since this is an action show that means that we have to talk about the action that's in this episode. Which yeah is exactly what you'd think it would be like for a nineties animated action show in that there's not much action when there it's just two people fighting but that to me works in the episodes favour since the focus of the episode isn't the action it's the story being told and the characters but I still would have liked to better action tho.

Overall this episode wasn't that bad since it does a good job of setting up the world and the characters in the show. That being said however I do feel that this episode could have been since there are alot of issues with the episode which i've covered in this review but at the same time I feel that those issues serve as part of both the show and the episodes charm and so to change them would cause both the episode and the show to loose something and so this episode gets a 7 out of 10 from me.

All images used in this review were gathered from the official Marvel Animated Universe fandom wiki page and oddly enough nowhere else. I wasn't expecting tho find any of these images to be high definition and so I wasn't shocked at all to see that there are very little HD images as such I can't really recommend you use the official Marvel Animated Universe fandom wiki page but if you want to use it then I say go for it.

The Little Mermaid "Whale Of A Tale" Review

Disney fans the company has produced many animated films over the years and well some of those films were so popular that they eventually got there own TV series. Now how good those shows depends on who you ask but there is one thing that people cannot deney which this trend that Disney started started with The Little Mermaid and so I thought that i'd take a look at the very first episode of the show to see if it still holds up and so here is my review "Whale Of A Tale" enjoy.

The plot of the episode is Ariel and Flounder come across a baby killer whale and name it spot due to the spot on it's tail and the duo along with Sebastian are ordered by King Triton to train the whale before releasing it back into the wild. Plot wise the episode is pretty weak due to the fact that there aren't really any stakes and so there's no real reason as to why we the audience should be invested in the story but with that being said the story is exactly what you think of when you think of a TV show based on Disney's version of The Little Mermaid and it tells the story well enough that you barely notice any of the flaws that I just mentioned.

Reprising their roles from the film are Jodi Benson as Ariel , Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian and Kenneth Mars as King Triton. Joining them in this episode is Edan Gross as Flounder and Frank Welker as Spot. I love the fact that the crew behind the TV show actually reached out to get back as many of the original voice cast as they could since for many myself included these actors simply are these characters and so it makes sense that they would bring them back for the TV show instead of recasting all of the parts.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in the episode it was honestly a lot better then what I remember it being. Which for me is a very good thing but at the same time what makes the acting so good is the returning cast since they know these characters and so they know there character would react and how they would talk and so there performance feels true to the characters which is always a good thing.

Now this episode had animation provided by Walt Disney Animation Japan as well as Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Shanghai Morning Sun Animation. For an early nineties show the animation was alot better then it really had any right to be since alot of shows that came out around this time had animation that just looked cheap but nope here the animation actually good of course it's not on par with the movies but for a TV based of a movie it looks alot better then it really had any right to in my opinion.

This show is a prequel to the movie and so that means that you already know how this show and I guess this episode is going to end. Which I do consider to be a flaw for this episode since it makes the episode feel predictable which is a shame because given how the movie ended there's alot that you could do with a TV series set after the events of the movie but for some reason Disney went with a prequel series rather then a sequel series.

The heart of this episode for me at least is the friendship between Ariel and Spot without any dialog coming from Spot you get to see how much she means it / him which makes there bond a truly standout point of the episode. On the flip side of that you get to see Ariel become somewhat of a mother to Spot something which she even says herself in the episode and I thought that that was honestly a really interesting thing to do.

However the episode due to it's twenty four minuet running time can't really develop that or explore what it truly means to be a mother. As such it comes out of know where and doesn't play a part in the episode's climax Ariel just says it and that's it that's the only mention we get on the subject which is a shame because again there's alot you could do with that idea if the episode was given the proper time to fully develop that idea.

This episode and thus the show aired on CBS from 1992 to 1994 before moving over to the Disney Channel and Toon Disney Disney for reruns. What makes this episode however standout isn't where it aired but where's it didn't air because for some strange reason this episode isn't on Disney+ which is weird because Disney own the rights to the show and so they could have put up all the episodes but for some reason they added every episode barring this one for no reason whatsoever.

Now then boys and girls this is a musical comedy show and so we have to take a look at both of those aspects starting with the comedy. Which I honestly found to be rather hit and miss since for every good joke that the episode had there were two or three that followed it that didn't get a smile out of me which is a shame because they really went all out on the jokes but they just weren't that funny to me but given that all comedy is subjective maybe someone did find all the jokes in the episode to be freaking funny as all hell

Now that we've talked about the jokes in the episode let's now talk about the songs which were written by Jack Feldman. Yeah like the comedy both songs in this episode were very hit and miss for me with the first song "Just A Little Love" being in my opinion a pretty bad song which is full of early nineties cheesy music which dates it right away but on the flip side of that "You Got To Be You" is actually a pretty good song which oddly feels in keeping with the movie.

Overall this was a pretty fun episode but at the same given that it's a prequel and that Spot isn't mentioned in the film you know exactly what's going to happen. I can honestly see little kids or little girls getting more enjoyment out of this then little boys would but that's not to see that little boys will hate it it's just that this is a show aimed at little girls even so this episode gets a 7 out of 10 from this Disney fan.

All of the images that I used in this review were gathered from the official Disney fandom wiki page and for once nowhere else. I wasn't expecting alot of the images from the episode to be as high definition as they are but I was honestly shocked to see how many HD images there are of this episode and as such I have t recommend that you use the Disney fandom wiki page for any HD images from Disney owned shows or movies.