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Published: 2020-07-23 06:52:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 8116; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 0
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Template by KingZanderSanchez-iHey guys, it's Towers-of-Obscure here, back again with another showcase of reviews!
#6 - Courageous Cat & Minute Mouse - Let's kick this showcase off with a golden oldie that's pretty moldy - circa 1960. You'd think with a title such as Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse they'd be like Tom and Jerry, but in a superhero rivalry. You'd best think twice on that. Turns out, they're a platonic superhero duo. But the main complaint about this series is... WHY?! I mean, they have capes, yet rely on a transforming vehicle to get around. And they also have... ray guns for some reason? Makes it almost sound like if Mighty Mouse and classic Batman had a bizarre fusion, creating THIS ripoff. Even more weird, now that I mentioned Batman, this series was made by that same creator, Bob Kane, but isn't as much quality. Just goes to show you how some creators can rip off THEIR OWN WORK, even though it doesn't sound possible! Then again, you look at another 60s obscurity by Bob Kane, Cool McCool, which is basically just a Dick Tracy/James Bond spoof with a rogues gallery that have eerily similar qualities to those of Batman's rogues gallery. Long story short, the 60s were an effin' weird time for cartoons and Batman was probably the only Bob Kane creation that mattered...
#5 - Yvon of the Yukon - This next one was suggested to me by Eh-See , back in last November, around the time I was going to release my Thursday Review for Being Ian. Turns out, Ian James Corlett and Terry Klassen, two longtime veterans in terms of the Vancouver voice acting pool, worked on this 2000 classic before they did Being Ian! As you would expect from the title, it takes place in the Canadian arctic region of the Yukon Territory. Yvon (Drew Reichelt), the title character, was originally a 17th century explorer sent from France directly to the New World. Being not the flakiest croissant in the bread section he is, he got lost constantly to the point he was shipwrecked, and the turgid waters threw him overboard. He eventually froze to death in the icy waters... or so it seemed. Years later, as the ice kept piling on him, and civilization kept expanding, Yvon didn't know how much time had passed. Until one day, a kid named Tommy (Kirby Morrow), who was out for a joyride on his snowmobile, noticed his husky was peeing on a rather big lump of snow. Turns out, the urine melted the lump of snow, and the ice cube containing Yvon inside it, practically revitalizing him. A disgusting way to be brought back to life, I know, but it happens. Now, Tommy's made friends with Yvon as the revived explorer is getting used to his new surroundings, which is the town's trading post. All in all, I gotta say it's a pretty good spin on that "unfrozen caveman" plot. Also, this series is quite rare. Many of the episodes are unlisted and haven't been found yet, and so far, from experience, 46 episodes have been confirmed, but perhaps 52 were finalized. Still, a pretty interesting show worth not freezing your butt over!
#4 - Angel Wars - Can't figure out what the heck this is? It's a supernatural adventure of angels battling fallen spirits. Eli and Kira, two junior members of the Guardian Force must grow up in a hurry when their first mission to earth takes a detour, pitting them against Morg, a deadly but long forgotten foe. In a race against time, the Guardians must uncover the source of Morg's power, defeat his crafty minions, and stop the ruin of a mortal life, all while learning to work together. Or at least, that's what the synopsis says anyway. Disregard those things in it and be glad you forgot it! You wanna know why it's bad? It's not the subpar CGI, but because it's five words: wasted potential through biblical propaganda. If you do want actual biblical experiences... pick up an actual copy of the New Testament instead of watching this poorly done loose translation that only lasted six episodes!
#3 - Animalia - Let's move on to a series that actually uses CGI properly. My closest recollection of when I watched this when I was a kid was minimal, and I know it was PBS Kids for a while in 2007 (alongside another forgotten PBS Kids series at the time It's a Big Big World). First things first, you should know that this was made in production with Porchlight Entertainment, makers of the cartoon adaptation of Tutenstein. Unlike Tutenstein, this series was primarily produced in Australia, and apparently its story editor and voice director is Tom Ruegger, who previously worked on Animaniacs. The CGI is what you'd expect for something coming out of the mid to late 2000s, but the plot is where it shines. As for the plot, you've got this: Ever wonder what secrets YOUR library might hold? This series tells the story of two human children, Alex and his friend Zoe, who stumble into the magical library which transports them to the animal-inhabited world of Animalia. Strange events have undermined the Animalian civilization, and Alex and Zoe join forces with their new friends G’Bubu the gorilla and Iggy the iguana to save Animalia from evil and comical villains. It's pretty much underrated to say the least with its 40 episodes max, but I gotta give credit to fellow deviant and Grand Theft Auto fan Crescendodragon , for rating this as #9 on his "Top Ten Animated Series" (the previously mentioned Yvon of the Yukon was an honorable mention on his list). Hey, if he found it amazing, perhaps you will too!
#2 - The Zhu Zhus - You know it, you love it, it's another one of my "Nelvana 101" lessons! This series is oddly enough, still new, making its debut in 2016. It takes the concept of one of the greatest toy examples ever - imitation pets! Now, imitation pets, as I said, are those for girls who feel like they just aren't responsible enough to take care of a real pet, since they're so young. Sure, Barbie may have had pets from time to time, but that's classified and a completely different story. Nintendogs was out of the question, since the last time Nintendo ever collaborated with an animated series was after the dreadful run of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3. My Little Pony doesn't even count as an "imitation pet", since I think quite a few people own pet horses... unless they're in the countryside. (That would explain Applejack quite well.) And as for that other dog-related saga, Puppy in My Pocket... it exists. And was made by no one's expectations, by Mondo TV Spa, creators of Angel's Friends, and its episodes were also on Boomerang for a time.
So what other imitation toy pets are out there? Hamsters? That's a good bet. For those of you who don't know, Zhu Zhu Pets, for a time, were mini-battery powered toy hamsters, that which when you press their backs, you watch 'em scurry around until they whack their adorbs little hamster noses against something, or if they topple over. Sure, there may have been habitrail playsets to go with it, but it's more fun to let them run wild in your own house! (Trust me, I know this, since I owned almost all the hamsters from "Kung Zhu", its "for boys" counterpart.) And appropriately, guess what this series is based off of! Except in this series... the hamsters are real, despite being animated. First things first, this is about an energetic eight-year-old girl named Frankie Pamplemoose (Jenna Warren, her mom and dad are played by Stacey DePass and Zachary Bennett respectively). She lives in suburban area "originally" called Anytown, and is practically what would one expect from a girl that's possibly in 2nd grade. But she is no ordinary girl - she's got four pet hamsters that have the amazing ability to talk! And is if this series isn't girly/cute enough, her hamsters' names are Pipsqueak (Tajja Isen), Mr. Squiggles (Richard Binsley), Num Nums (Stephany Seki), and Chunk (Rob Tinkler). Plot per each ep plays out like a previously similar Nelvana series, Willa's Wild Life (or almost like a reboot of Hamtaro), and it's also on the list of obscure cartoons by Silent-Sid .
Now, before I move on to our final show in this case, let me tell you something a bit peculiar - for the first four episodes, Frankie wasn't always known as Frankie. Hard to believe, I know, but in those first four episodes, she was named Polly. Nelvana soon discovered this flaw, and the fact that another certain toy-based girl named Polly exist, to which two years later she would develop her own series, complete with her shrinking locket. By now, I bet you can guess which Polly I'm talking about (and that series is of course, an absolute recommendation), but that's different from that. So if you're looking to start watching this series, start from episode 5. Take my word on it!
#1 - Atomic Betty - Speaking of the previously mentioned Tajja "Pipsqueak" Isen, after getting older from being the little sis on The Berenstain Bears, it was high time she got to play the lead. After going through puberty, of course. And as a matter of fact, Tajja wound up in two lead situations: Jane and the Dragon was one of them. The other was series that is an obvious childhood overload, which came before Jane and the Dragon. And I'm not gonna lie here, this review? Put in development hell for the longest time! You wanna know what time I was originally going to review this? The dawn of the new year, 2019! The same year I started doing individual written Thursday Reviews! Enough personal backstory, here's how it goes: Originally, this started out as a bunch of shorts (referred to as its pilots, and I don't know if they are rare) released on Teletoon's website before it could come into fruition in 2004. After a few years, it got onto Cartoon Network, and then later on to Discovery Family, back then when it was still called The Hub. Despite its weird channel hopping legacy, it still calls Teletoon its home! Either way, not much to say here. Betty Barrett (as mentioned before played by Tajja Isen) is your standard 4th grade girl. What most people don't know, is that she's part of a society of galactic guardians, with her codename being "Atomic Betty". She gets missions from Admiral DeGill (Adrian Truss), and is allied with her partners Sparky (Rick Miller) and X-5 (Bruce Hunter) to stop intergalactic crimes, the majority of the crimes caused by a catlike alien named Maximus IQ (Colin Fox). It remained successful and lasted until it's third season, which had the subtitle of "Mission Earth", kinda like how the later seasons of Totally Spies were called Totally Spies: Undercover. All in all, if you loved this from your childhood, and know friends who've never heard of it, show it to them, and hope they'll get a supernova-bright quality of entertainment!
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Comments: 7
AlexLuque26 [2020-09-24 22:40:23 +0000 UTC]
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
CuriousUserX90 [2020-08-19 13:13:44 +0000 UTC]
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CuriousUserX90 [2020-08-19 13:09:17 +0000 UTC]
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Eh-See [2020-07-24 01:45:45 +0000 UTC]
Surprised you know about Courageous Cat & Minute Mouse, it had Dallas McKennon in it!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Towers-of-Obscure In reply to Eh-See [2020-07-24 01:50:30 +0000 UTC]
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Eh-See In reply to Towers-of-Obscure [2020-07-24 01:55:28 +0000 UTC]
Gumby & Archie Andrews! Also did voice work for Disney films!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Crescendodragon [2020-07-23 10:35:58 +0000 UTC]
👍: 0 ⏩: 0