Superman- The Arctic Giant

we end the month as we begin it, with Superman. this is one of the more famous cartoons, where he takes on a giant monster, frozen for millions of years in a block of ice. it's pretty darn cool.

Hulk- The Origin of the Hulk

yes, the actual origin of the Hulk, slightly animated to be more exciting. I can't figure out why they hired a man named Ygor and didn't suspect him as a spy right away. especially in the 60s. such is the way of comic books.

Spider-Man- Where Crawls The Lizard

doubling up a bit on a few heroes, as it's harder and harder to find originals. this is a pretty straightforward adaption of the original comic book story, which is a classic to this day. and since the Lizard is going to make some kind of appearance in the new Spider-man movie, this is a fun way of seeing how he really came to be.

Teen Titans - The Monster Round Up

four of the Teen Titans (why didn't they use Robin, how odd?) take on several space monsters in this fun fast paced cartoon. I actually saw the opening to one of these episodes, but for some reason didn't get to see the entire cartoon. it was very frustrating, I'll tell you what.

Micro Ventures "The Tiny Sea"

saw a few of these on the Banana Splits show back in the day. interesting concept, and it was a fun learning series, at least for basic science. I'm not sure if they ever explained just HOW the family learned how to shrink themselves. it's a cool gadget, and the car was cool as well.

Puss in Boots (2011)

watched this fun movie last night.  lots of adventure and daring do, but really light on fantasy.  unless you count talking cats and a walking talking egg as fantasy points.  I'm always surprised that people in these movies just accept cats and various creatures that talk, but it's not worth thinking about it too much, right?  of course, not, that's how their world is and that's how it should be accepted.

apparently taking place before Shrek 2, Puss and his companions Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws are after the legendary magic beans of "Jack and the Beanstalk" fame.  there are other forces and plans at work here, but that's the basic gist of the movie.

Sub-Mariner - Dr. Doom's Day

here's the first part of this story. it's actually the FF Annual story, I believe, where Sue and Reed get married. this has the X-men, Thor and the Sub-Mariner, as well as a host of villains. just great to see how they change the story to make it fit. all without using the true basis of the story!

JLA- Bad Day on Black Mountain

the very first animated adventures of the Justice League of America were aired in the 60s. I never saw one of these growing up, but it would have been awesome, despite the rather lame villains they used. the intro alone is great. too bad Aquaman isn't even in the episodes though. I wonder why they didn't use Wonder Woman, since Wonder Girl was in the Teen Titans.

Three Musketeers - Letter Of Peril

I didn't recall ever seeing this or the Arabian Knights cartoons on "The Banana Splits Show". I did remember seeing Micro-Adventures, which I thought was pretty cool. I have seen the H-B version of the Three Musketeers, which I also enjoyed, even if it was pretty sanitized.

Batman- Long John Joker

I have few memories of this Batman cartoon growing up. one of them is with Batgirl in a cage. how odd is that? anyway, this was definitely a product of it's times, though not nearly as silly as the live action show. it holds up rather well. interesting to hear "Skull Island" in a cartoon.

The Return of Captain America

this is the second part of the cartoon. it features some of the Avengers and of course, Rick Jones. Rick is something that was sorely needed in the Hulk movies, since it was his fault that the Hulk came into being. why they couldn't have Banner save him, it's a great story of self sacrifice. made Rick grow up a bit.

King Kong - Mechani-Kong

search King Kong and you'll find me referencing this show and this particular episode. gotta love the inspiration for the movie, right? well, the probable inspiration, anyway. this time Dr. Who pilots the great robot. this really is one cool show. and of course, the awesome theme song.

Avengers (2012)

I finally got to see this movie last night.  I have seen all the other Marvel movies that were made (except that first Hulk, just couldn't do it) and liked them well enough.  I thought the first Iron Man and Captain America were the best of the lot, but all of them had things I enjoyed.  of course, they all tried to be far too realistic as well, and since cool code names are passe` apparently I don't like that either.

and not wearing masks sucks big time.   I know why the actors don't want to do it, but dang, it's part of the genre.  get over it!

Space Ghost - The Heat Thing

this is the first Space Ghost cartoon aired. I've seen it so many times now it's not funny. I hadn't seen Space Ghost in years, and then I was in a store and saw a VHS tape with three episodes (and one Dino-Boy) on it. I bought that one right away and watched it a lot. I didn't realize there had been a series of tapes from the H-B archives already, usually in hour format. I later found the Shazzan and Mightor/Moby Dick ones to rent.

Sinbad Jr. and the Flying Carpet

I really like the second theme song much better, since that's the one I remember. Hanna-Barbera produced those. these are the first set, that AIP was doing for a while. it's a fun cartoon.

Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (1979)

I want to like this movie more than I do.  great cast, lots of great fighting and some cool music.  but the movie's narrative is a mess, and it's confusing as it's told in three different flashbacks leading up to the final battle.  it's taken me two viewings to figure out exactly what was going on the whole time.

add to that that several of the heroes are NOT very likable at all, and it's hard for me to care about them, whether they get killed or not, since it's a revenge story of sorts, and also Ching vs Ming as well.

THE FLASH in "TO CATCH A BLUE BOLT"

once more with Filmation and the guest heroes. this is the best Flash episode, even if the villain doesn't appear in the comics. wonder why they didn't use the Reverse Flash? that would have been pretty cool. gotta love the hip dialog.

The Mighty Heroes: The Shocker

my introduction to these heroes was in the 80s Mighty Mouse cartoon. I didn't realize they had been around for 20 years by then. I don't care that much for that Mighty Mouse series any more. I know it's considered a classic, but meh.

Fantastic Four- Klaws

I have no idea why the name of the episode is "Klaws", since the villain is just Klaw. he even identifies himself as Klaw. this is an adaption of one of the comic books, but they did a few different things. there's no Black Panther mentioned for one thing. this is still the best adaption of the FF that's been made.

Birdman Meets Birdgirl

this was the first Birdman cartoon I ever saw (as far as I can remember. It was in the late 80s when I got a nice tape of various H-B cartoons, and I chose one just to see it. he's sure no Space Ghost. this is the one that made me think he was the squarest hero that has ever been.

The H-Man (1958)

watched this movie again for the first time in years.  it's a beautiful movie- in both presentation on the DVD and the way it's shot.  the colors are gorgeous.  it's amazing that we got this in all it's glory to view at any time we like.

Courageous Cat and The Case of the monstro mecanico

man, that Batman show from the 60s is something else. not only did it save the Batman comics from being canceled (poor serious bat-fans, they can't even fathom that now) it spawned a whole cottage industry of parody cartoons and shows. we've already seen Bat-Fink, which I like more than this one, due to it's slightly different take.

Aquaman: War Of The Water Worlds

I did see a lot of these episodes growing up. Aquaman was just awesome as well. they adapted a lot of his various villains, and even included Mera as well, which is nice. I've talked about this cartoon before, so check the tags if you want to see more. suffice it to say, it's just as fun, silly and full of action as most of Filmation's cartoons of the time.

THE AVENGERS: the LAVA MEN!

this is technically an episode of the 1966 Thor cartoon, but it's adapted from the Avengers (issue #5). possibly the first animated Avengers story, though there are several others adapted into cartoon form in the other series as well. I love how the heroes do not look roided out- they are muscular, but still look human.

Batfink: The Copycat Bat

Hugo-a-gogo is awesome. this is a cartoon I saw a few times growing up, and it is a lot of fun. obviously inspired by the then current Batman show (notice all the animated words) it went for straight parody. it did a great job of it as well, which is rather surprising, all things considered.

The Last Unicorn (1982)

I love this book, have read it many time.  my sister bought it for me sometime in the late 70s.  so when the movie was made, I was prepared for the worst, what with Rankin/Bass being involved (see The Hobbit for the exact reasons- and I like that cartoon to a degree).  the first time I saw it I was not impressed.  I have no idea why the band America was chosen to do any of the songs, as they were well past their prime by then.  it's not awful, but it kind of jerks you out of the movie on occasion.

Arabian Knights: The Great Brass Beast

here's the first episode of this fun cartoon. I would have really enjoyed seeing this one growing up, a team of heroes, always my favorite. and they all had such unique powers. even the donkey. come to think of it, I must have seen it at least once when I was a kid. this is a cool episode, with was it essentially a tank fighting our heroes.

Superboy meets Mighty Lad

I do love Filmation's Superboy cartoons. a lot of that has to do with seeing Krypto. you can search for my love of these cartoons. it's here all over the blog at this point. one of the other great things is the theme music, which is really great. Superman has been blessed with several awesome theme songs, and this is one of them. it sure sucks that DC is still in litigation about this character, as I'd love to get a legit DVD set of these.

Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero - The MothMen

here's another interesting and fun cartoon. one 25 minute episode chopped up into five minute segments, it seems to be one of the few that are now actually lost to history. I saw it a time or two growing up, and it always intrigued me. there were 138 episodes, which is just amazing. Johnny has some cool powers, and you can recognize many familiar voices.

Iron Man : Double Disaster

I'm still surprised at how limited the animation for this series was. the first time I was introduced to these Marvel toons I was so disappointed they were static. now I really enjoy just seeing all the original artwork with some good voice acting to help it along. it's like the 70s recordings they did to go along with various comic books.

Galaxy Trio - Episode 1

yeah, it's got a real title, something about Primevia. right now this is as good as it gets with me. I never saw the Trio growing up, for whatever reason. I think I would have really liked them as they were half Star Trek and half Fantastic Four. there's almost no way to top that.

Green Lantern "Evil is as Evil Does"

we are still in the 60s, when so many great cartoons were made. this is Filmation's version of Green Lantern and I remember being stunned to actually see one of his cartoons when I was growing up. I didn't even KNOW he'd ever been animated. I'd seen the Superman, Superboy, Batman and Aquaman cartoons, but to find out there were other heroes that were animated? heaven.

Star Wars (1977)

yes, I've written about it before. but since it's "Star Wars" Day, I figured I'd watch it again and make some observations.  it's been about five years since I've viewed the movie, so that's a good long time.  I only watch my favorite movies like that, so they stay special.  and despite what I'm about to say, I love this movie.  it's a great one.

needless to say, I watched the original edition.  that should be the only edition, but then I also don't have a say in that.

first thing first, about this DVD version- really Lucas, you can't make the original movies, the ones that made you all your money, anamorphic and cleaned up?  I know you don't like to acknowledge their existence, but this is the move of a schmuck.

Hercules and the Three Headed Hydra

I used to see these cartoons occasionally on Channel 7's "Nole and Andy" show, which was a kid's show on early in the morning. I remember it had skits, the puppet "Nole" and then cartoons like this one. probably other ones, humorous, but I would have preferred these of course.

Gigantor vs Tiny

in the episode "Treasure Mountain" our heroes end up fighting Pisarro in an ancient Inca temple.  gold will make people do strange things.  somehow, Pisarro manages to have enough money to create several robot worms to help him along in his quest to steal the Incan gold.

Spider-man "Sting Of The Scorpion"

we land in 1967, my favorite incarnation of Spider-man and the best cartoon theme song ever. here is the second Scorpion episode, one I desperately wanted to see growing up and never did, except perhaps once when I was very little. it never aired when I was in WV watching WDCA at 6 AM.

Superman "Volcano"

this is the first animated superhero series, and it's still the best. the animation is excellent and has never been equaled. it's still amazing to watch these to this day, no question. it's too bad they never did any other DC heroes. and this Superman is no-nonsense, that's for sure. the music is really great as well.

Young Samson & Goliath "The SSX-19"

since this month is cartoon month, I'm going to be trying to present a full episode of cool cartoons I love. this is one of my favorite cartoons as a kid, and I am glad to have a full set I recorded off WGN back in the early 90s. it's a pretty silly concept, based on the the then popular peplums running on tv (since the fad had died down about 2 years earlier in the movies) but it's loads of fun.

cartoon month!

as has been my custom this year, I have a theme for this month- cartoons.  more accurately, cartoon episodes from tv.  I'm going to try to feature all my faves, if I can find them. 

probably U.S. cartoons, since my favorite Japanese ones tend to be of the 30 minute variety.

but I'm not sure, so we'll see how that goes.  maybe I can sneak in a few full length shows as well.