See what happens when you grow up?
Disney
The Top 5 Cartoons of the 90s
The nineties were a time of crazy backwards clothing, 99 cent gas, oval office oral opprobria, and of course…CARTOONS! Man were kids ever catered to back then Disney channel was mostly cartoons and (shocker) so was cartoon network! I know crazy right? Well that was until some…changes…
The WB had morning cartoons as well and all was right in the toon world, we even got a live action crossover movie with the biggest basketball superstar of all time. So things were great. So to narrow it down to five is going to be rough but here are my top five as I remember them, If I leave any out feel free to list your “favs” in the comment section! The rules for inclusion I’m doing shows primarily meant for kids so no…Ren and Stimpy isn’t on here, it had to have STARTED in the 90s so 89 and before doesn’t cut it. Ok…here we go!
#5 Doug
Centering around the new kid and his huge imagination, Doug lured everyone in with its accessibility, and kept them there with their zany characters. Doug is a kid who doesn’t quite fit in but he’s got hi pal Scooter and his dog Porkchop along to help him out. With his huge imagination and strange ability to get into awkward situations, he’s able to keep us entertained. Plus every now and then he becomes one of the coolest superheros to wear a belt… QUAILMAN.
#4 X-men
Yes based on the extremely popular comic book series this show brought it off the page and onto your television set. Along with being just a great show in general, it gave us one of the best theme songs in the history of man-kind. I mean most of us are still hooked off the intro alone. Here’s something to try, walk into a crowded place and blast this song and watch what happens.
The character selection was great, they had Morph, Beast, Rogue, Cyclops, Storm,Wolverine, and much more. Even Jubilee served as a pretty good character in terms of introducing us to the X-men’s world. They did a really good job with character development and keeping them close to their comic book counterparts. From Wolverine and Sabertooth’s rivalry, right down to having Storm be afraid of tight spaces. This show really shaped the direction that Marvel has taken and helped it become the force in film that it is now. Without it we’d still be stuck with movies like the 90s captain america and the Avengers movie would never have existed! Thank you X-men!
#3 Ducktales
Ok the 90s has the crown when it comes to theme songs. If people can agree on nothing else we can at least agree on that! When this song comes on try not to go WoooOOO!
The show circles around Scrooge Mcduck, the richest duck in the world, and his 3 grand nephews. I’m not exactly sure who the father is(Darkwing duck?) but Donald is their uncle. Huey, Dewey, Louie, and their uncle get into all sorts of adventures while Scrooge tries to protect his riches while gaining more. My personal favorite is the episode the hound of castle mcduck. Based off of the book “the hound of the baskerville” it really demonstrates the variety of the show and its ability to make a story it’s own. Plus it taught us all that if you have enough money you can do this-
#2 What A Cartoon!
The What a Cartoon show was Cartoon Networks testing grounds. It just so happened that most of their tests were amazingly forward thinking, creative, and outright fun. You never knew exactly what you were going to get when this show came on, and that was half the fun. The other half was knowing that this one shot episode might come back later on for several seasons. Many great shows got their start here including the Power Puff girls, Courage the cowardly dog, Dexter’s laboratory,Johnny Bravo,Codename: Kids Next Door, and little known fact Family Guy!
With all these great shows owing their existence to “What a Cartoon” we have to give it its respect. Side Note: I wish that they’d come out with another show like this, it would really accelerate the amount of good shows being put on television.
#1 Batman The Animated Series
Oh Superman fans stay out of your feelings! Without this shows success your guy never would have made it.
If you’ve ever read even ONE of my blogs you knew Batman was going to be somewhere on this list (Statics not here because he just missed the cut off airing 9-23-2000). Seriously though even non fans have to admit with music by Danny Elfman backing it up and an atmosphere that completely changed the way people saw superheroes, it had to be on here. Batman led the way for other fan favorites such as Superman the animated series, Batman and robin the animated series, countless amazing DVD DC universe features, and a little show called The Justice League. Dare I say without this animated series we might not have seen Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” as any Bat-Fan will tell you if anybody got the Bat right it was this series and Nolan DID study it. It introduced to the world outside of comic books so many things such as how Gotham looks, the relationship between Batman and the police, and the infamous…Bat-Glare!
Little known fact that’s actually a superpower…joking but he has used it to effectively shutup Superman, Martian Manhunter and just about anybody else foolish enough to question his methods(except wonder woman who insisted on making him her boyfriend).
Close your eyes and try to listen to Batman’s voice…now the Jokers…how about two face? Penguin? I’m willing to bet that you heard in this order: Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Richard Moll, and Paul Williams. I’ve watched every Batman movie a million times over and still these are the voices I hear, no matter how great Heath Ledger was in the Dark Knight that was a one time gig, Hamill has been the joker for decades now. Kevin Conroy has been Batman for just as long and why? It’s off the success of this amazing program. The artwork was amazing in fact they had to give it its own name as it didn’t fit into any category that came before it “Dark Decko.”
Nominated for 19 awards and winning a Daytime Emmy this show embodied not only the Dark Knight and Gotham, but the entire idea of what we want to see in our superhero cartoons. Each hero has a fan following for a reason, when you bring that to the screen you keep those fans and add more (I don’t get what’s so hard about it? Stop letting your ego get in the way Hollywood.)
That’s the best five for right now but as I was doing more research I’m thinking about making a top twenty because WOW the 90s weren’t playing when it came to cartoons! So for now I hope you enjoyed this but I’ll definitely be updating it soon!
Thanks for reading Sincerely,
Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries
The Top 5 Disney Movies You’ve Already Forgotten
Things are different for the big mouse these days, that is to say they are now even bigger than ever! A few years back they acquired Marvel and made some big moves, and recently they bought Lucas arts and all of Star Wars from George Lucas. So with Marvel movies and comic fans to be pleased, mixed with the Star Wars fanboys, Disney has a lot on its plate, aside from that new pirates movie I’m hearing about. So today lets take a look back at the family fun cartoon movies made by Disney that in this new hullabaloo, you’ve already forgotten.
#5-Oliver and Company
Ok I know this movie gets a lot of slack. But Billy Joel has never been a critics favorite and the audience LOVED this film so take THAT learned critics. This movie is set in New York City and features a host of talking singing animals. Its a modern day take on Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist. Oliver the cat is left behind when all of his other litter-mates are adopted. He wanders the street until he meets Dodger the dog and helps him rob a hot dog vendor. Dodger takes off with the food and unbeknownst to him, is tailed by Oliver. They eventually team up to help his owner pay back the ruthless “Sykes.”
With a lot of great songs by Billy Joel and Huey Lewis and The News this was destined to be an audience pleaser and critic hair puller.
Why You’ve Forgotten It
Probably because it’s not played anywhere due to terrible ratings online. Disney just doesn’t play it, even on the extended channels, which is a shame because it really is a great movie.
#4 Angels in the Outfield
So I stepped out of the field of animation for a second for this movie. Being a baseball player growing up there were three movies that were required watching. Sandlot(if you didn’t know who the great Bambino was you could NOT be on my team because you probably played like a girl), Rookie of the year, and Angels in the outfield. You were not a real baseball player if you hadn’t watched these movies to the point that you could quote them from beginning to end.
A young boy’s deadbeat father tells him that he’ll start coming to see him if the angels win the pennant.
The only known photo of his father.
Suddenly a real angel appears in the form of Christopher Llyod and his zany antics set the Angel baseball team on the fast track to winning the entire World Series. A pretty fun movie with an interesting concept.
Why You’ve Forgotten It
It doesn’t really hold up over time and doesn’t get any airplay. Despite great acting sometimes writing was just to on the nose and fell flat. Also it had a god awful sequel called Angels in the Endzone. Sigh silly sequels, stop tainting the originals, you too prequels! The trailer still gives me chills though here it is.
#3 Flight Of The Navigator
Another foray outside of the animated setting. This film is about a young boy living in Ft Lauderdale, Florida who goes to retrieve his younger brother from a friend’s house, he returns 8 years later and hasn’t aged a day. They take him to the doctor and while they try and figure out why he hasn’t aged, a spaceship has crashed nearby. The next day David hears a voice and follows it into the spaceship who informs him, yes the spaceship itself informs him, that he is it’s only way home. He “downloaded” star maps into David’s brain and after the crash he lost them all. Thus David is now “The navigator.” An interesting storyline and eventually a pretty fun movie to watch.
Why You’ve Forgotten it
Well maybe if the child star had been a bit more memorable and in a few other things, people would go check it out. Actually it might even get some airtime, however this child star fizzled out pretty quickly and hasn’t been in a movie since an uncredited role in 96. While Sarah Jessica Parker is in this movie its a small role though I do believe there is some scantily clad scenes for her, shocking for Disney I know. They are currently remaking this film so I’m sure we’ll all be remembering it soon enough.
#2 Treasure Planet
I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a lot of slack for this list. However Treasure Planet is one of the most innovative and daring movies in Disney history. Some quick facts about Pirate movies, before Pirates of the Caribbean, they just didn’t work. From Cutthroat island to Hook, they bombed. Disney decided to bring the classic tale of Treasure Island into the new age with a brand new twist, they’d be in space. Jim Hawkins is a 12 year old boy who is given a sphere and is told to beware the cyborg. He eventually sets off on a quest that spans worlds. Creating an entirely new universe from scratch, Disney laid upon us amazing visuals and creative ideas one after another. With quirky new characters and a lead that was able to connect to an audience even in this new sci-fi world, this was a really good movie that suffered from poor advertising and poor timing.
Why You’ve Forgotten It
Because it bombed at the box office. It came out in 2002, if you don’t remember that means this film had to compete with Spider-man, Harry Potter, Lord of the rings, Star wars, Austin Powers, Men in Black 2, Die another day…yeah there just isn’t a place to squeeze this new creative Disney film in. However its failure at the box office didn’t make it any less of a movie and it was nominated for a best animated feature oscar. Oh and Joesph-Gordon Levitt is in it so…there’s that, ROBIN!
#1 The Emperor’s New Groove
Some movies I just don’t know HOW they pitched to anybody with sense. An aztec style stuck up, self absorbed, prince gets turned into a llama and has to enlist the help of one of the very people he was hurting to get back to his original form. And David Spade’s going to play the llama.
Seriously though, how does this work? Precisely that reason, casting. The brilliant casting of David Spade as Emperor Kuzco, Eartha Kitt as Yzma the evil scientist, John Goodman as the friendly Pacha, and Patrick Warburton as Kronk. The movie is funny, fresh, original, and spawned a successful television series.
Why You’ve Already Forgotten It
No clue, mostly I know I’d forgotten about it precisely because Disney hasn’t done anything like it in years. 2D animated movies are extremely hard to come by in American Theaters these days and without being able to say “hey this movie sucks and they can do better because look at this one,” Emperor’s new groove kind of falls to the back of the movies to watch list.
Well that’s my list! If you have any additions or comments about existing parts of the list please let me know in the comments section!
Thanks for reading as usual you guys are amazing!
Sincerely,
Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries
Toy Story Sega Genesis Review
I got a Sega Genesis rather late in the game…and by late I mean Dreamcast was out. Oh well I loved it nonetheless because my parents were awesome enough to get me one for my birthday. With it came Ms. Pacman, Jurassic Park, Sonic Spinball, and Toy story. I’ll get to the other games later I promise, but now we are on Toy Story, focus people focus!
This is a game by Disney Interactive Studios. It came out in April of 1996 on SNES, Sega Genesis, and PC. These versions were pretty much identical save one or two levels that Sega threw in so this review could technically cover those systems as well. First things first lets get to the story!
STORYLINE
So if you don’t know this storyline…Randy Newman’s piano gently weeps for your childhood. However I will give you the basis you sad misguided individual (Seriously why are you still here? Go watch this its 2013! Are you back? Great wasn’t it? You’ve got two more movies, the last one makes grown men cry, have fun). For the rest of you, the game storyline is exactly the same as the movie. Moving on to-
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Woody-The main character that you will control. His basic functions are pretty easy to grasp. A or C to jump and B to use his drawstring as a whip. This can disrupt flight patterns and tie up other enemies.
Buzz- You never play as Buzz but he has a new incarnation in the game. Nightmare buzz! He fires real lasers and is surrounded by fireballs. But usually he’s just you’re average, everyday, toy that thinks he’s a real “space rangeeeeeer.”
R/C-This is a nice change up, in the Sega version there are two levels where you control the R/C car. You must pick up batteries to keep the car running and complete your tasks. He is the only other character you control outside of Woody and technically Rex.
Rex- Rex is here and you ride on his back for one level.
The rest of the cast all make appearances and at one point are your enemies after you knock Buzz out of the window.
GAMEPLAY
A lot of variety here, usually it is a 2D scroller, however it makes a switch notably in the claw machine to a 3D format.
Woody’s whip doesn’t destroy anything, rather it wraps them up temporarily. This gives you the need to keep going forward as to go back would be to put yourself in harms way again.
For children this game may be rather tough. I remember when I first got the game I could not get past that 3D area in the claw machine.
The R/C controls are slippery but doable.
It gets a little repetitive around the Sid level, but the bosses and R/C mode move it along nicely.
Overall the gameplay is pretty good. I have a few gripes about the R/C mode, the difficulty regarding the target demographic. You can go into the options menu and add a few lives, and there is a option to take off the story leaving straight gameplay which is cool but, I have to have my stories. Overall a good time could be had by all.
GRAPHICS
Graphics are pretty good for a Sega Genesis game. Not as bright as the SNES version but still good. The 3d levels look GREAT though a little pixelated until you move Woody in closer.
DOES IT STAND OR FALL?
Well as I was playing this game several times I found myself a little bored, being used to high impact, shocking games from today that need a twist every two seconds, or a vehicle or a new way to destroy something. It had a few things thrown in to catch your attention but not quite enough. I’d say it kneels. It doesn’t completely fall on its face in today’s world, you can play it but you’d put it down before finishing it. I would still recommend it for a new gamer to play just for the reference that movie games CAN INDEED be good.
Four Stars! Not a bad game right? But still its starting to creak in it’s old age, we still love it but it just doesn’t grab that Frisbee out the air like it used to.
What would happen if it were released today?
Well lets just look at what happened when Toy Story 3’s video game was released. Positive reviews all around mate! Many were surprised but the game did really well on every platform except the Wii, which, is a whole ‘nother review for a whole ‘nother day.
So if you have someone who incessantly babbles on about how it’d be impossible to make a good video game from a movie, get a Sega Genesis with Toy Story, and turn it on.
Thanks for reading! My readers are awesome! Stick around for more articles!
Sincerely,
Just some guy with a computer
Wiseguy Industries Media 