As The Dark Knight wraps up the definitive cinematic Batman; we take a look back at the cowled crusader of the small screen. Below is a video essay composed by my friend from film school John Keefer for Indie Wire. He has encapsulated both the semblance and soul of Batman: The Animated Series better than I ever could; so I’ll just let his words do the talking.
Batman the Animated Series Video Essay from John Keefer on Vimeo.
It seems like every week I stumble across some new and awesome cartoon; this weeks being the Ultimate Spiderman. It first aired April 1 on DisneyXD, so I know I’m a bit late to the game on this one; but I was only exposed to it after a Kevin Smith interview with the creator/writer team on the show: Man Of Action (Ben 10, Generator Rex). Spidey is getting some major comic heavyweight treatment with Paul Dini and Jeph Loeb as EP’s, animation cred from Joe Quesada, and cameos in every episode from Stan “the man” Lee (who plays the school janitor of all things)! Suffice it to say that even out of the gate this isn’t your parents Spiderman!
[Editors Note: We have with us our very special first guest writer, show him some love and welcome to the group, Ash]
After watching the first three seasons of The Big Bang Theory, I’ve noticed something. The show seems to divide people who think it colors “nerds” in a certain light. In these arguments, the word “stereotypical” seems to get thrown at these characters. You know the image: the socially awkward comic book/sci-fi genre fan who has no fashion sense and is plagued by strange medical conditions; or the hyper-intelligent geek who’s so smart he’s actually stupid. Such as Sheldon, the self-proclaimed most intelligent of the characters, while trying to make a new friend ends up talking to a little girl in the children’s section of a bookstore. He decides they can be friends based on simple, shared interests; but can’t see how what he’s doing could be seen as socially strange, or even illegal.
While there are jokes that poke fun of these things in BBT, some people really seem to take offense to it. Now I’m a genre fan; I like comic books, video games and toys, I’ve been to Monster-Mania conventions and I have a ton of collectibles. I get the humor on the show; and in my life as a fan I’ve seen that nerd stereotypes really can be true, not just the bad ones. I can admit that I see these nerd traits in myself. I’ve lined up for hours to meet celebrities at conventions and for midnight video game releases. I was part of a podcast about shitty movies; so I like to think my nerd credentials are in good order. However, I have certainly been mocked many times over the course of my life; and I know how much that type of mockery can hurt. It’s something anyone can relate to.
The new Thundercats series has been on the air for just about a year now; and it looks like Cartoon Network is already looking to cancel it. This is a shame, not only is Thundercats one of the few shows on CN that is actually a cartoon; but is one of only a handful of quality animated shows at all on the air today. I’m talking today with Marisha Ray of Save The Thundercats who is spearheading the campaign to save this show and others like it.
Pure Nerd Nip: Marisha; when exactly did it come to light that the network may be canceling T-cats? On the surface everything looks good, new episodes are rolling out regularly and the over-arching story has never been as focused as it is right now; what happened?
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Tonight, with little fanfare or prelude, DisneyXD premiered the new animated show Tron: Uprising. It seemingly tells the story leading up to the events of Tron: Legacy. Uprising features all the things we loved about Legacy while not suffering any of the shortcomings. The visuals, soundtrack, and innovative acrobatic action sequences dazzle the senses without the drawn out, painful dialogue that was Legacys major shortcoming. I’ve said to many people that I would have loved Tron so much more if they could maintain the pace set by the first hour throughout.
