Minorities in cartoons: “Teamo Supremo”

May 022013
 

Teamo SupremoThis week’s minorities in cartoons entry is the 2002 Disney-produced cartoon “Teamo Supremo.”

“Teamo Supremo” features the adventures of three kids who fight crime as superheroes. The series came out during the height of popularity of Cartoon Network’s “The PowerPuff Girls,” and thus came off to some as an attempt to cash in on the PowerPuff Girls’ popularity. (A similar simplified animation style might not’ve helped that impression). Unlike Townsville’s heroes, however, Teamo consists of three non-superpowered crime fighters, using various gadgets:

  • Captain Crandall: Real name Crandall. Cap’s the team’s leader. Crandall for some reason believes he’s really an alien from another planet, whose super-powers haven’t fully kicked in yet; he’s also generally obsessed with superheroes. The series reveals both of his grandfathers were also former superheroes—one resembling Batman (“The Dark Talon”), the other Captain America (“The Silver Shield”). Crandall’s gear includes a utility belt containing a portable shield, specialized yo-yo, and other equipment.
  • Rope Girl: Real name Brenda. Rope Girl speaks with a bit of a Southern accent, and fights crime using a high-tech jump rope, in a fashion akin to Wonder Girl/Wonder Woman’s lassos.
  • Skate Lad: Real name Hector Felipe Corrio (the only team member whose full name’s given). Skate Lad’s talent is being the state’s champion skateboarder. Hector uses a specialized high-tech rocket-powered skateboard, which also serves as Teamo’s means of transit. An episode centered around Cinco de Mayo suggests Skate Lad’s of Mexican heritage.

The trio’s crime fighting equipment was given to them by Governor Kevin, the governor of their (unnamed) state, and the state’s top-secret high-tech laboratory known as “Level 7.” Governor Kevin summons the kids whenever their talents are needed to fight the latest villain threatening their state. Said villains range from ones that wouldn’t be out of place in a “straight” superhero story (such as “The Gauntlet,” a guy using energy-blasting “power gauntlets” stolen from Level 7, or a M.O.D.O.K-like robotic villain named “Technor”) to unimpressive ones like the “Put-Down Artist,” whose shtick was…insulting others.

The members of “Teamo” also have battle cries. Captain Crandall’s is “Buh-Za!,” Rope Girl’s is “Wuh-Pa!,” and Skate Lad’s is “Chi-Ka!” Yes, their battle cries sound more like babies learning to speak; “Avengers Assemble!,” they’re not. Though it’s interesting that Skate Lad’s cry (when spoken) is the Spanish word for “girl” (chica).

Another trait of the show was its use of (via stock footage) a somewhat-drawn-out transformation sequence for when Teamo assumed their superhero identities: Crandall stating “Rope me, Brenda!,” then the group jumping Brenda’s jump rope at high speeds until their costumes came on from out of nowhere, with flashy effects in the background. (I’d presume this ability’s another high-tech feature of their Level 7-granted equipment.)

The show ran for two seasons on ABC, then went to Toon Disney for part of the 2000s, before vanishing from the air entirely. Since Disney’s (unfortunately) reluctant about releasing its older animated TV programs to DVD/Netflix/etc., there’s currently no (legal) way to view the show. Still, the show’s website (in all its Flash-based, 2002-era glory) is still up, which has some brief episode clips. There’s also the opening available on YouTube:

Crandall’s voice actor is Spencer Breslin. Rope Lad and Skate Girl both share the same voice actress, Alanna Ubacha, a Latino actress who’s done some other voice work, as well as star in “Meet the Fockers.” The Governor’s actor is comedian Martin Mull (the principal on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”).

“Finding Nemo” sequel “Finding Dory” to be released in November 2015

Apr 022013
 

Finding NemoIt was announced earlier today that we’ll be getting yet another Pixar movie sequel, this one to their 2003 hit “Finding Nemo.” Titled “Finding Dory,” the film will focus on Dory, the absent-minded blue fish voiced by Ellen DeGeneres. The sequel’s expected to be released at Thanksgiving in 2015. More details here:

The Mary Sue on “Finding Dory”

While I enjoyed “Finding Nemo,” I wondered (as did Ellen, with her amusing “Toy Story 16″ crack) why a sequel to “Nemo” didn’t come sooner. “Nemo” is one of the most popular Pixar films, and until “Cars,” was Pixar’s main go-to for merchandising (after “Toy Story”). That said, the large spate of sequels Pixar’s putting out is of some concern, especially after the mediocre effort that was “Cars 2.” However, I’d expect “Finding Dory” to be well above “Cars 2″ quality-wise.

Also of note is this makes the second Pixar film to star a female character, after last year’s “Brave.”

Minorities in cartoons: “Doc McStuffins”

Mar 072013
 

Doc McStuffinsThis week’s minorities in cartoons entry is “Doc McStuffins,” the lead character of an eponymously named series on Disney Junior (in the US). Disney Junior is a recently-started cable channel aimed at preschoolers, with both original shows and the former “Playhouse Disney” block from the Disney Channel’s morning lineup.

The show centers around a six-year-old girl named Dottie McStuffins (nicknamed “Doc” by everyone), who like other little kids likes to play doctor to her stuffed animals. Unlike other kids, Doc has a magic stethoscope that (when others aren’t around) brings toys to life, akin to “Toy Story.” Episodes usually involve Doc and the toys learning simple life lessons and/or Doc diagnosing various toys’ “medical” problems (such as a lack of Velcro on a toy opossum). The latter, of course, is meant to help kids in real life learn to deal with doctor’s visits.

Doc is voiced by teenaged actress Kiara Muhammad. Another voice on the series (a stuffed snowman) is by Jess Harnell, familiar to older viewers as Wakko Warner on 90s series “Animaniacs.”

The show is one of Disney Junior’s biggest hits, and has gotten much praise for featuring an African-American female lead character. It’s also one of the few preschool shows these days that doesn’t talk down to its target audience via obnoxious “Dora the Explorer”-style “questioning” of the viewer.

Here’s an interview with the show’s creator.

“Brave,” “Paperman” win the 2013 animation Oscars

Feb 262013
 

BraveA bit late, but thought I’d note that this year’s Academy Award animation winners are:

  • Animated Feature Film: “Brave” by Pixar.
  • Animated Short Film: “Paperman” by Disney.

Looks like I guessed right (as vague as my guesses were), and it’s a sweep for Disney this year. This year also marks a strong showing for women in animation, between “Brave” being Pixar’s first film with a female lead and “Paperman” produced by a woman named Kristina Reed.

The low point of the evening, of course, was Seth MacFarlane hosting the ceremonies. While I opted to watch “The Amazing Race” instead of the Oscars, I did keep up on goings-on via Twitter, and wasn’t pleased with what I read. Between MacFarlane’s usual bottom-feeding humor and “The Onion”‘s inappropriate tweet about one of the child actresses, this must easily be one of the worst Oscar ceremonies I can recall. Maybe next year the Academy should offer this year’s Golden Globes hosts (Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who I heard were quite popular) twice whatever the Globes-folks paid them to host. That, or just stick with Billy Crystal.

Films I’ve missed: “Winnie the Pooh”

Feb 102013
 

Winnie the Pooh“Winnie the Pooh” is a 2011 animated film by Disney. Unusually for an animated film these days, it’s not an all-CGI film, but done in traditional 2D style.

The film’s based on several of the classic A.A. Milne “Pooh” books, and focuses on two main stories: finding a replacement tail for Eeyore, and trying to save Christopher Robin from a “backson” (after misinterpreting a note Christopher Robin left). The plot holds up to the previous classic Disney Pooh films, and ignores the various latter-day Pooh TV shows/films (replacing Christopher Robin with a girl, etc.). It also doesn’t include Gopher (an early Disney addition to the Pooh stories), and remembers to give Christopher Robin a British accent.

The characters are also their usual familiar selves. Kanga (voiced by Kristen Anderson-Lopez) plays more of a part in the plot than usual for Disney’s Pooh films, as does Owl, whose pompous behavior is well executed by voice artist Craig Ferguson. Pooh also as usual displays his being a “bear of very little brain,” while Tigger is still Tigger. (Both are voiced by Jim Cummings.)

Similar to the earlier Pooh films, the narrator and “characters in a book” nature are taken advantage of, including as the resolution to one plot point.

The film did OK at the box office, especially given it was up against extremely stiff competition (the final “Harry Potter” movie). It’s currently available on DVD.

The 2013 Oscar animation nominations

Jan 112013
 

Bugs Bunny with his OscarThis year’s Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday. For animation, the nominees (and my guesses who’ll win) are below:

Animated Feature Film

  • Brave
  • Frankenweenie
  • ParaNorman
  • The Pirates! Band of Misfits
  • Wreck-It Ralph

Will win: A tough one. I’ll go with “Brave” (it’s Pixar), “Ralph” (it’s Pixar-like), or “Frankenweenie” (by a well-known-to-Hollywood-types live-action director). Going against my choices: “Brave” stars female protagonists (Hollywood sexism), “Ralph” is about video games (too low brow and/or the “competition” media-wise to movies), and “Frankenweenie” might be too odd for Hollywood, though per “The Artist,” they’re OK with black-and-white.

Should win: “Brave” or “Ralph.”

Animated Short Film

  • Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
  • Paperman
  • Adam and Dog
  • Fresh Guacamole
  • Head Over Heels

Will win: Not sure, only having seen “Paperman.” It won’t be Maggie’s short—it’s A) based on a TV property, and B) it’s actually comedic; unlike Bugs Bunny’s day when “Knighty Knight Bugs” won, the Oscar folk nowadays seem allergic to comedies for animated shorts, instead favoring arthouse-type fare. Thus I’ll assume it’ll be one of the other four nominees, though given “Paperman” is from Disney, it might be too mainstream.

Should win: Again, can’t really say, though I did enjoy “Paperman.”

This year’s awards are being hosted by Seth MacFarlane of “Family Guy” fame, which removes any interest in my watching this year. Well, even moreso than usual. Of late, I’ve only flipped to the Oscars to see the animation and best picture categories before changing channel back to something else, so I suppose it doesn’t matter. Besides, I have Twitter and YouTube in case something goofy or interesting happens…

Minorities in cartoons: “Lilo and Stitch”

Jan 102013
 
Lilo and Stitch

From left to right, Lilo, Nani, and Stitch.

This week’s minorities in cartoons entry is the 2002 Disney animated movie “Lilo and Stitch.”

The movie centers around the titular characters: Lilo, a young, eccentric Hawaiian girl (voiced by Daveigh Chase), and Stitch, also known as “Experiment 626,” the product of an unauthorized experiment by Russian-accented alien mad scientist Jumba. (Stitch is voiced by his real-life creator, Chris Sanders; Jumba is voiced by David Ogden Stiers). Lilo lives with her older sister Nani (voiced by Tia Carrere); both of their parents are deceased. Lilo spends her time listening to Elvis Presley records (and I do mean records, per the retro feel of the movie despite its modern setting), going to hula practice, and believing in the most bizarre things (to the point she’s teased by a snobby local girl, Mertle, and Mertle’s yes-men-like group of friends). Stitch, meanwhile, escapes from confinement, and travels to Earth to attempt to carry out his purpose in life, destroying major cities. However, Stitch crash-lands on the Hawaiian island Lilo lives, which lacks any cities to destroy. Stitch is taken in by Lilo (mistaking him for a dog at the pound), and eventually learns to overcome (somewhat) his more destructive tendencies. Jumba and Pleakley, an easily-excitable representative of the “Galactic Federation,” are sent to Earth to try to capture Stitch, as does Captain Gantu (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson), a stoic Federation armada captain. Eventually, Stitch gets to stay with his new family on Earth, as does a now-reformed Jumba and Pleakley.

“Lilo and Stitch” was the last major successful non-CGI animated film for Disney until until 2009′s “The Princess and the Frog.” Its success spawned several direct-to-video sequels, a Japanese anime adaption (Stitch became quite popular in Japan), and a Western animated TV series. The TV series, similar in some ways to “Pokemon,” presented many of the 625 experiments Jumba created before Stitch being unleashed on Hawaii. Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley attempted to capture them all and reform them, like Lilo did for Stitch. Also in the TV series was Gantu, working for a hamster-like alien mad scientist trying to capture the experiments for his own ends. The final direct-to-video movie, “Leroy and Stitch,” wraps up the TV series’ run.

Elements of traditional Hawaiian culture are shown in the movies/TV series, mostly in the context of Lilo’s hometown relying heavily on tourism. As such, Nani and her boyfriend David (a fire dancer, voiced by Jason Scott Lee) are often shown working at various tourist traps. Some Elvis Presley songs are also present in the soundtrack, along with more traditional Hawaiian music.

 

The best and worst of 2012 in animation

Dec 312012
 

BraveNext on the “best and worst of 2012″ rundown is animation.

Best

  • Pixar’s “Brave” and Disney-proper’s “Wreck-It Ralph” were both enjoyable films. Oddly, “Brave” felt more like a Disney film, while “Ralph” felt like a Pixar one.
  • Seth MacFarlane’s take on “The Flintstones” is apparently dead in the water. Thank goodness. The last thing I need is to see the “modern Stone Age family” have pointless flashbacks once every 3.7 seconds, among other “Family Guy”-isms.
  • “Total Drama: Revenge of the Island” was amusing this season, albeit with a shorter run than normal. Favorite character: Sam, the video game geek. Don’t agree with the choice of the American-broadcast-version’s winner, Lightning, however.
  • You can now Google “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” using (among others) cartoon characters!
  • More DVD releases from the Warner Archive program, including the primetime “Flintstones” specials and (announced for 2013) the final volume of “Animaniacs.” Speaking of the latter show, it’s also now back on TV after being off the US airwaves for a decade, with The Hub (home of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic”) picking up reruns of the series as of late December.

Worst

  • “The Looney Tunes Show.” I’ve tried giving it a chance, but ultimately decided to bail. The Looney Tunes being shoved into boring sitcom plots more at home with “Seinfeld” (a show I never liked) and with zero slapstick, fourth-wall-breaking, unfunny jokes, etc. isn’t “Looney Tunes.”

For 2013, I look forward to the aforementioned “Animanaics” DVD set, plus the debut of the also-announced-this-year “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” cartoon on The Hub. I also plan to see “Monsters University,” the next Pixar movie (a prequel to “Monsters, Inc.”).

 

Marvel to acquire the “Star Wars” comics license, new books to begin in 2015

Dec 242012
 

Star WarsAs I figured would happen, Disney’s announced it will be acquiring the license to produce “Star Wars” comics from comics publisher Dark Horse. The new Marvel-produced books (Marvel now being under Disney’s ownership), however, won’t come out until 2015 (in time for the upcoming new “Star Wars” film). The existing Dark Horse license is to expire after 2013.

That seems a bit of a wait for new “Star Wars” comics material, especially after Dark Horse having handled the comics for so long. I presume the new Marvel-published comics will tie into the upcoming film.

Marvel has had the “Star Wars” license before, though Dark Horse has been the longest-lasting publisher of “Star Wars” comics. This also keeps with Disney having (re)acquired the Pixar and Disney character licenses from Boom! Studios after they bought Marvel, though so far, they haven’t done much with either. Besides some reprints of Pixar material, there’s currently no Donald Duck or Uncle Scrooge comics (or long-running title “Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories”) being published in the US.

Minorities in cartoons: “Aladdin”

Nov 092012
 

AladdinThis week’s “minorities in cartoons” entry is the 1992 Disney movie “Aladdin.” While the story’s been retold in cartoons and comics plenty of times (including a 1930s Popeye featurette), I thought I’d focus on the Disney version.

The film’s plot is based, of course, on the ancient story of Aladdin. The usual trademark Disney features are thrown into the familiar story: the evil vizier, Jafar, has a sidekick/hench-parrot, Iago (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried), while Aladdin also has his own sidekick, a non-talking pet monkey named Abu. (Ditto Princess Jasmine, with a non-anthropomorphized pet tiger, Rajah.) Jasmine, of course, is another Disney princess, in this case, wanting to choose who she wants to marry versus being forced into an arranged marriage by her father, the (nameless) Sultan.

The film’s high point, of course, was the Genie, voiced by Robin Williams, who gave the film some of its funniest moments. In a departure from most previous Disney animated fare, the film incorporated a more irreverent tone, including sight gags and pop culture references more in line with Looney Tunes or “The Simpsons.”

“Aladdin” was succesful enough to get a direct-to-DVD sequel (the first of its kind for Disney, but unfortunately not the last for a good many years), “The Return of Jafar.” This film saw Iago switch sides to Aladdin and company, fighting against his former “boss”/owner, Jafar. (A similar aspect would be seen with the TV series “Cyberchase” years later, with Gottfried voicing the Hacker’s former henchbird, Digit, in that series, too.) The sequel led directly into a made-for-TV spinoff series, which ran under the “Disney Afternoon” lineup. Finally, as a bookend to the franchise, a final made-for-DVD sequel, “Aladdin and the King of Thieves,” was produced, giving the characters a final sendoff. In “Return of Jafar” and the TV series, Genie was voiced by Dan Castellaneta (Homer on “The Simpsons”), while Robin Williams returned for “King of Thieves.”

 

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