{Animation} Warner Brothers vs. Disney Afternoon

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Oct 012011
 

Earlier today, I was listening to the Rob Paulsen Live podcast Talkin’ Toons (which, by the way, if you have never listened to, you REALLY REALLY should), and his guest was the legendary Animation Voice Director Andrea Romano:

http://robpaulsenlive.com/episode-16-with-guest-andrea-romano/

This particular show reminded me a personal blog post I wrote dating back to 8/11/2006, so I thought I’d share it with you.  Enjoy:

So, I’m sitting here, watching Animaniacs, and I’m having childhood flashbacks to those innocent afternoons. I remember coming home from the bus, looking forward to watching my favorite cartoons, on the floor of my room watching a little tv, hoping that my folks didn’t get home until 5 because if they got home sooner, I’d have to turn off the tv and go do homework. Not just because they wanted me to get my home work done, but because they didn’t “get it”. They thought I should be outgrowing cartoons and didn’t want me watching them anymore. Plus, there was that whole, “no tv till your homework is done” rule that almost every family has. Since my room faced the driveway, I tilted my blinds just enough so I could see out, but they couldn’t see it. If I heard one of the driving up, I would wait till the last possible moment, then quickly turn off the tv and pretend to be reading the whole time. I felt like I was getting away with something when I was watching them. It was a guilty pleasure that I had throughout middle school and highschool (except when I stayed after for club meetings).

If I remember correctly, my afternoons after school was divided into 2 phases.

The first phase was the Disney Afternoon. You remember: Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers, and Tail Spin. I just can’t remember if Gummi Bears was in the afternoon or on Saturday mornings.

Then came the Warner Brothers era: Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Pinky and the Brain, and Batman: The Animated Adventures.

If you remember, there was always the feud between the Disney and Warners animation studios, and I think this is a great comparison.

What were your afternoons after school like? What do you remember? Also, which of the above did you prefer and why?

Anyway, just a thought I was having that I wanted to share.

 Posted by sflsocialgeeks at 5:04 pm

{TV Review} Person of Interest

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Sep 302011
 
Imagine a television show that combined the concepts of “The A-Team”, “Knight Rider”, “Burn Notice”, and all those other ‘soldiers of fortune” into one.  “Person of Interest” is not that show, but I think it is something better.For those of you who don’t know the concept, Michael Emerson’s character built a BigBrother-like machine in order to stop the next 9/11 terrorist attack.  In 2002, he had configured it to start capturing all the e-mails, phone calls, security camera feeds, etc.. from the state of the New York.  It would take the machine at least 3-4 years before it would be smart enough to interpret a potential threat.  As of the second episode [SPOILER] by 2007, only 8 people knew of the machine’s existence..

Unfortunately, for its creators, this machine couldn’t separate the real terrorist threats from the everyday ones, which were dubbed ‘insignificant’.  As the machine got smarter, he programmed these cases to be deleted every night at midnight.  While we do not know what, something happened to someone significant in his character’s life that made him want to make a difference.

He decided to build a backdoor where, before midnight, the machine spit out the social security numbers of those involved, dubbed ‘persons of interest’.  These individuals could be the victims, the instigators, or just somehow wrapped up in the wrong thing at the wrong time with the wrong people.  Whatever the reason, the bottom-line is something is going to happen and neither the viewer, nor the characters know what.

If you were a LOST fan, you would obviously see the resemblance between Ben’s character (also played by Michael Emerson) walking around with a list he claimed came from Jacob, and his new character which comes from a machine.  It is a nice symmetry.

I could go into the additional backstory of the special forces officer seeking redemption, the resilient detective trying to track him down, or the corrupt cop being used on his inside informant, but is not where I’m headed.

What I want to talk about is the potential of this show, where it is, and where it is going.

These ‘person of interest’ one-shot storylines are going to be enough to keep the audience for one, maybe 2 seasons, but this has the potential to end up being something more.  Maybe I’ve seen too many movies and television shows, but I can almost guarantee that the machine is going to come back and bite Michael’s character big-time.

Perhaps the government finds out about the backdoor and decides to take control over how much information is actually let out, or they bring him into the fold.  Maybe those 8 people start to wind up dead, leak false information, or corrupt the database for their own purposes.  There could be a whole conspiracy season storyline where 2 or more factions within the government decide they want control over this machine.

Basically, what I’m staying is that this show has growth potential.  I just hope it doesn’t get weird like the last 2-3 seasons of Alias did.

Oh, and even though these are supposed to be Social Security numbers, if this machine ever spits out 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, & 42, then I’m done.

 Posted by sflsocialgeeks at 12:12 am

{REVIEW TV} You are on the Global Frequency

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Jul 072005
 

[REPOSTED from personal blog post on 7/7/2005]

From Cinescape:

Tune in this FREQUENCY – If you’re as net-savvy as I imagine most of you are, you’re probably already aware of the sad tale of GLOBAL FREQUENCY. For those who aren’t, here’s the short version: last season, screenwriter John Rogers (whose actual scripts are far, far better than his produced bibliography would have you believe) oversaw an adaptation of Warren Ellis’ comic series GLOBAL FREQUENCY into a TV pilot. The potential series attracted some top-notch talent, including some Whedonverse veterans and even BABYLON 5′s J. Michael Straczynski, but alas, it was not to be. The WB didn’t pick the show up, and that was that. Or was it? As always happens in this age of internet wonderment, somebody leaked the pilot online. And then things got really interesting. Interesting as in, Rogers is now in talks with various shadowy powers about the possibility of reviving the show in some form or another. It will most likely end up amounting to nothing, as so many save-our-show campaigns have, but then again… we do live in a world where FAMILY GUY is back on the air and FIREFLY will soon have its resurrection on the big screen. If GLOBAL FREQUENCY actually does return in some form, then we have officially entered the undiscovered country. And I couldn’t be more thrilled. Rogers has stated that his most realistic goal is to lobby Warners to release the pilot as a one-off DVD, and if sales for that merit a second look, then who knows? In the meantime, Wired has done a solid job summarizing the events and their import, and you can always keep up with the latest via Rogers’ always entertaining blog.

As described in the Wired link, “It’s the child of X-Files having sex with Alias”.

{UPDATED}- Just finished watching it, and very cool. They should’ve made this series. I would’ve watched it. If it comes out on DVD, I actually might get it. As soon as you see this posting, start Downloading. The explaination of the child of X-Files and Alias is right on the money. Everyone who reads this who’s a geek at heart will enjoy this.  Oh, and did I forget to mention that Michelle Forbes is incredibly awesome.

 Posted by sflsocialgeeks at 4:30 pm
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