From The Archives: Is Cartoon Network Christophobic?

(originally published July 21, 2010)

Don't you just love it when fan blogs get all political and/or religious on you?

In November of 1999 Cartoon Network premiered a little show called ...

The show was the brainchild of then Dexter's Laboratory Art Director Craig McCracken (who has since gone on to create another little gem called Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends) Craig based his pitch off a short film he created in art school that he loving christened The Whoop@$$ Girls! Said student film is posted below.

Of course there was no way the Network was going to air a show with that title, so the term 'Powerpuff' was dreamed up at the last second to take it's place. However, according to an interview the now defunct Cartoon Network Fridays: The Fan Site conducted with Mr. McCracken that wasn't the only change the Network asked him to make.

Anyone remember this guy?

What you see pictured above is the PPG's second worst nemesis. A creature so wicked, so evil, so horribly vile that even the mere utterance of his name strikes fear into the hearts of men! This is my friends, is the fiend that the citizens of Townsville could only refer to as ... HIM!

Are you ready for another shock? Originally this character was supposed to be the Devil! Yeah, I know, the designers certainly did a good job of hiding that influence, didn't they?

The Network vetoed that concept on the grounds that they weren't going to allow any religious references into their shows. Okay, fair enough, but I have to wonder. If there aren't going to mention religion then how the heck did this get made?

In case you don't have seven minutes to spare, the cartoon above was a pilot episode for a show that never got the green light. Swaroop as it was called, followed the life of a young Indian boy named (what else?) Swaroop and his family living in New Jersey and his attempts to save a cow from becoming his neighbor's barbecue. It's not hilarious, but it's not bad either though I'm sure it's a kick if you're on the animal rights bandwagon. Still, Swaroop clearly depicts several customs straight out of Hinduism, which are far more religion specific than a general reference to the Devil.

Another interesting thing (and I actually hate to bring this up because I love this show) comes from Samurai Jack. Apparently both the pilot (Episode I) and Samurai Versus Ninja (Episode XL) depict our hero ...

In a Buddhist Temple ...

Now before anyone gets their panties in a wad, let me clarify my position. I have no problem whatsoever with Samurai Jack appearing in a Buddhist temple. I can't say that about Swaroop on the grounds that I really wanted sacred cow to get messily devoured.

My problem is that, or rather would be, that CN feels, or at the very least felt at one time, that one religion was not suitable for their program, but others were. I say, at one time, because a number of shows currently featured on CN do mention Christianity. You want to know what the catch is, though? THEY ALL TEAR IT DOWN!

Seriously, turn on Family Guy, The Venture Brothers, Moral Oral, and you know what you'll find? A seething pot of Christophobia!

If they were biased against religion in the first place, that would be a different matter. It would be fair. But to exclude a single religion and then allow it admittance on the grounds that it can only be run down is nothing short of discrimination.

See, the Powerpuff Girls and the renaming of Him are not the real subject of this piece. They only provide perspective for a growing problem on what was once a haven of geekdom for animation fans (again I saw 'once' because the moment they started airing live action content, yeah, things kind of went down hill after that).

I'm speechless with contempt! Who's responsible for this? Who created this network in the ... oh yeah.

... so that's why they didn't want to have Ted Turn, er, I mean the devil as a bad guy. Silly me.

From The Archives: The 'Other' Wizards And Warriors

(originally published on July 16, 2010)

Most everyone from my generation will remember Wizards and Warriors as a classic nintendo fantasy adventure.

This world of epic daring do pitted a bold medieval warrior against sorcerers, the four elements, and whatever else Japanese software designers could dream up. BUT! Did you know there was also a short lived television series by the same name?

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the other Wizards and Warriors!

As you might have guessed, the series is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but that's what makes it work so well. The humor was smart, snappy, and fun, the battles were grand (for their time anyway), the staging was epic, and the writing intelligent.

It's set in the future, rather than the past actually, in a world where science is so advanced only wizards can comprehend it. Our locale is the dragon shaped continent of Aperans, where the sunlit southern kingdom of Camarand is under assault by the vile northern kingdom of Karteia and its dread ruler, Prince Dirk

Blackpool portrayed by the multi-talented Duncan Regehr!

But never fear, for at every turn Blackpool finds himself beset upon and foiled by the valiant efforts of Prince Erik Greystone, defender of Camarand!

Who some of you may remember looking like this on the ABC/NBC sitcome Taxi!

So that's your premise. It's Bobby Wheeler vs. the Monster Squad's Count Dracula for the fate of a medieval kingdom in the future! And if that's not enough uncut awesome to satisfy you, would you believe it was directed by the Incredible Hulk?!?!

Bill Bixby who played Dr. David Bruce Banner in the CBS television series based on the Marvel Comics Character actually lent his expertise behind the camera, and boy did it show!

Unfortunately, with a series this original, fantastic, and ground breaking, you'd have to realize it couldn't last long. The show premired in 1983 and lasted until ... yep, you guessed it, 1983. Only eight hour long episodes were made and the series has never had a release on vhs or dvd.

The show has a cult following despite this, and quite frankly it deserves one. For those of you who might remember this series from your youth, for those who are interested in fantasy, or for those who are just looking for a good time, Wizards and Warriors might just be the fix you've been searching for!

For the curious among us who are eager to learn more, please follow the below link where you'll find an excellent fansite just brimming with fun and exciting content!

May the gods go with you!

From The Archives: The Transformers Are Back!

(originally published on July 27, 2010)

Last year Hasbro, the toy company who owns G.I. Joe, the Transformers, and My Little Pony among other franchises announced they would be partnering with Discovery Kids with the object of relaunching that channel as THE HUB!

That announcement was jointly unveiled with news that Hasbro would be creating it's own animation studio to produce a new series of cartoons based on their properties.

The big talk at first was that Lauren Faust who wrote and directed for both The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends (to say nothing as having served as an animator on Cat's Don't Dance and The Iron Giant) would be retooling My Little Pony in an effort to make a cartoon aimed at little girls that little girls might actually want to watch.

Now, I'm a huge fan of animation and Lauren Faust is one of the best talents working in that industry so whether or not you like the Ponies, it's nice to hear that they're at least in good hands, HOWEVER, this is Hasbro we're talking about! These guys own Optimus Prime, Cobra Commander, and Stretch Armstrong! It was inevitable we'd be hearing more about some of (and maybe still hopefully all) these other characters.

Well that day has dawned! At Comic Con, Hasbro has premiered test animation for a brand new Transformers cartoon called TRANSFORMERS PRIME! Below is a clip of said test animation.

Okay, a couple of quick comments. I'm not crazy that the characters are being rendered in CGI, and the designs, while not exactly unappealing are clearly based off the films by director Michael Bay. I can see where that makes sense, as that's what most new fans are going to know, but I can't help but feel myself pining for the original character layouts.

That being said, the idea of the inhabitants of Cybertron in CG isn't exactly new. I still prefer my Autobots hand drawn, but Beast Wars was CG and that show was the last truly great entry in the Transformers series so far as I'm concerned.

There was however, one more little tidbit of news that got me VERY excited.
Hasbro has announce that Mr. Peter Cullen will be reprising the role of Optimus Prime!!!

... and Mr. Frank Welker will be reprising the role of Megatron!!!

The most recent Transformer's cartoon, Transformers Animated was voice directed by Susan Blu who provided the voice of Arcee in the original cartoon. That series saw several of the voice actors from the 1980's animated series return to their previous roles, but for some odd reason neither Mr. Cullen nor Mr. Welker were among them.

The news of their return sparks hope (in this Transfan at least) that other familiar voices will be joining the ranks of Transformers: Prime as well. Unfortunately hoping seems to be all we can do until further announcements are made, but as far as kick offs for new shows go, it's not a bad start! Not bad at all.

Transform and Roll Out!

From The Archives: Cartoons That Could Have Been

(originally posted on August 14, 2010)

Here are three pilots I found on youtube.com for cartoon series that were never developed further. All of them are interesting, more so than any number of current animated programs currently littering Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.

Give 'em a look!


CONSTANT PAYNE

This pilot was never aired because a scene near the end was said to be similar to the events of 911. Pity too. It looks like it had potential.

PLASTIC MAN

A pilot for the DC Comics character that was co-developed by Tom Kenny, the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, of all people!

UPDATE:  Since this article was first published, Cartoon Network has commissioned a series of one minute animated shorts based on this pilot to air as part of their Saturday morning DC Nation block.  This hardly qualifies as the full fledged series originally imagined, but it is nice to know the idea has lived on in some form or another.


BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER


This last one is only a promo and not a complete pilot but it's still interesting.

From The Archives: Sym-Bionic Titan Must Not Fail!

(originally posted on March 28, 2011)

Few animators have ever had both the acclaim and the vision of Genndy Tartakovsky. He created Dexter's Laboratory and served as the Executive Producer on The Powerpuff Girls where his talent and energy proved to be nearly inexhaustible.

From there Mr. Tartakovsky went on to create the Emmy Award Winning series Samurai Jack and the much lauded Star Wars: The Clone Wars mini-series (arguably the only good thing to come out of George Lucas' new trilogy). And after that ... he disappeared or at least that's how it seemed. Mr. Tartakovsky actually struck a deal to create a feature animation studio which lingered but never really finished anything due to funding issues. For a time he was attached to direct to the Jim Henson fantasy film The Power of the Dark Crystal, but bowed out of that for reasons that are unknown (at least to this blogger), and while he did storyboard some of the fight scenes for Iron Man 2 his actual directorial output seemed nonexistent.
Finally it was announced that Genndy was coming home! He was returning to Cartoon Network with a brand new series that spoke of his sci-fi/comic book/anime roots. This was Sym-Bionic Titan!

A labor of love which has so far produced 20 stellar episodes that have delivered great competitive ratings which is why Cartoon Network has decided to reward one of the main men involved in its early success by ... canceling the show?

Yeah ... that was my reaction too. Nothing is confirmed, though one quote over at cartoonbrew.com did offer an interesting and somewhat disturbing suggestion for the series' abrupt end. And on the plus side a facebook page has been started to petition the network to renew the show, and this Lone Fan is solidly behind it! Now get on over there and let's put that guy from The Social Network's Frankenstein brainchild to a good geeky use for once and save that show!

SYM-BIONIC TITAN SHALL RISE FROM THE ASHES!!!

UPDATE:  Since the posting of this article a little more than a year ago, the status of the series has not changed.  Despite the efforts of fans online (of which I am one) Cartoon Network has failed to renew Sym-Bonic Titan and Mr. Tartakovsky has moved on to Sony Pictures Animation where he is currently directing an animated feature entitled Hotel Transylvannia.

You can watch the trailer for it below:

From The Archives: Ben Chapman, The Original Gill-Man!

(Originally posted on October 2, 2010)

If you've never bothered to look it up, you should know that there have been several famous men down through the ages named Ben Chapman. But I'm not here to tell you about the Ben Chapman who served Oliver Cromwell and later resided at Killua Castle, anymore than I'm going to mention the Ben Chapman who played for no less than eight major league baseball teams and stole more bases than anyone else before him. No, the Ben Chapman I want to talk about did something many would consider less important, but those many are not me. The Ben Chapman I want to tell you about put on a rubber costume and originated the role of one of the most famous monsters in the history of motion pictures. He created memories and helped shape a pop culture icon. In short, he was the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

I had previously talked about the role of the Gill-Man in reference to Ricou Browning. Mr. Browning was the only actor to play the creature in more than one film and he was actually in the suit for all three of them. Once more, because it is obviously harder to swim in the suit than to walk in it, many people have felt he had a harder job than the actors who played the Gill-Man on land. But far too often the efforts of Ben Chapman have been overlooked and on the last day of Creature Week we're going to give the man his due!

Mr. Chapman's film career was short. He only appeared in a total of five films, two television shows (in one of which he played the Gill-Man), and three documentaries (all of which were about the Gill-Man).

His television appearance as the Gill-Man is especially worth noting because it not only plays a huge part in Gill-Man lore but it was also one of the actor's major claims to fame. In order to help promote The Creature From The Black Lagoon Universal Studios arranged to have the Gill-Man appear on the Colgate Comedy Hour in a short skit with legendary funny man Lou Costello.

Here's the clip (though let me apologize in advance for the poor quality)

This brief cameo is the very first appearance of the Gill-Man, as it was shown prior to the film's release, and the monster was played by Ben Chapman with Ricou Browning nowhere to be seen.

Ben loved the character! During the filming of the original movie, he used to hide submerged in a small pond on the Universal Studios' lot and rise slowly out of the water as he heard various people approaching. If his contract with Universal had not run out, he probably would have played the monster in all three films. He was very proud of the role and of his part in creating it, and it was that very attitude that sparked the controversy which is the other thing he is probably most known for.

Decades after his participation in the original film. Mr. Chapman began touring the convention circuit and signing autographs. He never did it for the money, he simply enjoyed spending time with fans of the Gill-Man. However, after a time, he began to notice that pictures of the Gill-Man on land were being signed by Ricou Browning. Mr. Chapman responded indignantly to this, claiming that Mr. Browning was taking credit for the role he had created. He said that Ricou had no right to sign a photograph of the Gill-Man unless it was from a scene where he was actually in the suit. Mr. Chapman further added that he would never sign a photograph unless he knew it was of himself in the costume.

Opinions varied on this reaction. Ricou had worked constantly in show business for most of his life, while Ben had moved on to other things. Some people claimed it was jealousy on Mr. Chapman's part while others thought he was being petty. Neither opinion does Mr. Chapman justice.

If you read interviews with Ricou Browning one of the things that you'll discover is that while he is grateful for his part in shaping the Gill-Man's legacy, to him it was just a job. He never took it seriously. If someone handed him a photo and asked him to sign it, he did it because he didn't see how it mattered who was in the suit. He was known as the Gill-Man, someone wanted him to sign a picture of the Gill-Man, so he did.

But to Ben Chapman, the Gill-Man was so much more! It was the role of a lifetime! It was his contribution to film history and monster lore! He took the monster, the part, and the movie seriously from the very beginning and he never lost that spark of reverence.

I had heard Ricou Browning state in an interview that he and Ben Chapman met sometime after the initial controversy and got on pretty well. I haven't found a similar statement from Mr. Chapman, but then I haven't read every interview he ever gave and I have no reason to believe that Mr. Browning would lie, so it appears the story has a happy ending after all.

Ben Chapman loved the Gill-Man, he loved the movie he helped make, and he loved his fans. With so many iconic Hollywood figures who either hated their roles or were ruined by them, its refreshing to find a man in such a position who was so defined by joy and pride for the craft he plied even if he never became a star. In his later years, he even created a website to honor his participation in the film.

On February 21st of 2008, Mr. Chapman died in his Honolulu home. He was born in California but raised primarily in Tahiti, he served his country and was decorated in the Korean War, and he raised a family. None of these details were overlooked in his obituary but none of them were the focus of it either. They talked primarily of his participation in an old film, set in a far off land, where man was pitted against monster and a legend was born in the minds of millions. The article mainly spoke of the Gill-Man and honestly, I think Mr. Chapman would have wanted it that way.

This is the end of Creature Week. It tells of Ben Chapman, but not of his end, for as long as the Gill-Man is remembered, so will he be and in that way he will never truly die.

From The Archives: Julie Adams, First Lady of the Black Lagoon

(originally posted on September 28, 2010)

As Creature Weeks starts to wrap (tomorrow is the last night) I thought we'd take some time to focus on one of the lovely ladies of the Creature Series.

Here we have, courtesy of youtube.com ...

TERROR TRANSMISSION'S INTERVIEW WITH JULIE ADAMS

FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILM LAND'S INTERVIEW WITH JULIE ADAMS

And finally, here's a brief clip of Ms. Adams being escorted out onto stage at Creature From The Black Lagoon: The Musical courtesy of youtube user devincf!

Julie was born and billed early in her career as Betty Adams, before adopting the stage name Julia Adams which she later shortened to Julie. Her film career began with a small, uncredited roll in a 1949 crime comedy entitled: Red, Hot, And Blue.

She would gradute to a starring role for her next movie and make eighteen more pictures (most of them westerns) before landing the role of Kay Lawrence in Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Though all the Gill-Man movies had strong and memorable female leads, Julie is the one who seems to have made the strongest impression on fans. She is still remembered today and her official website actually has a store devoted to Creature merchandise.

She has remained active in film and is still acting today, having appeared most recently as Amelia on Lost.