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thebryanandsilvergarbage · 4 months

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True Lies, Blockbuster, Velma Big Silver Garbage 2023 Winners

Blockbuster, True Lies, and Velma were the big winners at the 2023 Silver Garbage Awards, winning for Worst Comedy Series, Worst Drama Series, and Worst New Series, respectively.

Blockbuster, a Netflix flop, centered around one of the last Blockbuster stores, won the most awards with five wins, Worst Comedy Series, Supporting Actor (J.B. Smoove), Guest Performer (Bobby Moynihan), Writing and Directing.

True Lies, the CBS flop, which was a reboot of the 1994 James Cameron film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis won four awards - Worst Drama Series, Worst Actor (Steve Howey), Worst Supporting Actor (Omar Benson Miller), and Worst Guest Performer (Tom Arnold).

Velma, the HBO animated spin-off of Scooby Doo, won for Worst New Series, as well for Worst Actress in a Comedy Series for Mindy Kaling.

The recently ended Magnum P.I. reboot and the Fox Country Soap Monarch were tied for 11 nominations each, the most for any program. Monarch was completely shut out, while Magnum P.I. only won for Worst Couple in a Television Program for their controversial Magnum/Higgins pairing.

Worst New Series: Blockbuster (Netflix) First Kill (Netflix) Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount Plus) Monarch (FOX) True Lies (CBS) Velma (HBO)

Worst Comedy Series: Blockbuster (Netflix) Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount Plus) How I Met Your Father (Hulu) Maggie (Hulu) Velma (HBO) Young Rock (NBC)

Worst Drama Series: Fantasy Island (FOX) First Kill (Netflix) Magnum P.I. (NBC) Monarch (FOX) The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO) True Lies (CBS)

Worst Special Class Program: Beavis and Butthead Do The Universe (Paramount Plus) The 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship - Georgia vs. TCU (ESPN) Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix) Flowers In The Attic: The Origin (Lifetime) Harry & Meghan (Netflix)

Worst Reality Program: Chrisley Knows Best (USA) Dancing With Myself (NBC) The Family Stallone (Paramount Plus) Jersey Shore: Family Vacation (MTV) The Kardashians (Hulu) The Real Love Boat (CBS/Paramount Plus)

Worst Spin-Off, Reboot, or Revival: Fatal Attraction (Paramount Plus) - Reboot of the 1987 Movie Flowers In The Attic: The Origin (Lifetime) - Prequel to the “Flowers In The Attic” Series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount Plus) - Prequel to the Musical/Movie The Real Love Boat (CBS) - Reality Reboot of the 1970s Series True Lies (CBS) - Reboot of the 1994 Movie Velma (HBO) - Spin-Off of the Scooby Doo Franchise

Worst Performance by a Cast of a Program*: Blockbuster (Netflix) How I Met Your Father (Hulu) Jersey Shore: Family Vacation (MTV) The Kardashians (Hulu) Magnum P.I. (NBC) Monarch (FOX) * - Only actors that are over 18 and have appeared in 50 percent of the eligibility period episodes are included in this category.

Worst Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Hilary Duff - How I Met Your Father (Hulu) Melissa Fumero - Blockbuster (Netflix) Mindy Kaling - Velma (HBO) Elizabeth Mitchell - The Santa Clauses (Disney Plus) Rebecca Rittenhouse - Maggie (Hulu)

Worst Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Tim Allen - The Santa Clauses (Disney Plus) James Corden - Mammals (Prime Video) Dwayne Johnson - Young Rock (NBC) Randall Park - Blockbuster (Netflix) Sylvester Stallone - Tulsa King (Paramount Plus)

Worst Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Lizzy Caplan - Fatal Attraction (Paramount Plus) Sarah Catherine Hook - First Kill (Netflix) Rose Leslie - The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO) Imani Lewis - First Kill (Netflix) Susan Sarandon - Monarch (FOX)

Worst Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Trace Adkins - Monarch (FOX) Steve Howey - True Lies (CBS) Joshua Jackson - Fatal Attraction (Paramount Plus) Theo James - The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO) Jay Rodriguez - Magnum P.I. (NBC)

Worst Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Andrea Anders - That ‘90s Show (Netflix) Kim Cattrall - How I Met Your Father (Hulu) India de Beaufort - Night Court (NBC) Dana Delany - Tulsa King (Paramount Plus) Renee Elise Goldsberry - She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Disney Plus) Sally Hawkins - Mammals (Prime Video)

Worst Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Tom Ainsley - How I Met Your Father (Hulu) Garrett Hedlund - Tulsa King (Paramount Plus) Christopher Lowell - How I Met Your Father (Hulu) Kal Penn - The Santa Clauses (Disney Plus) Surej Sharma - How I Met Your Father (Hulu) J.B. Smoove - Blockbuster (Netflix)

Worst Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Kiara Barnes - Fantasy Island (FOX) Beth Ditto - Monarch (FOX) Anna Friel - Monarch (FOX) Rosie O’Donnell - American Gigolo (Showtime) Amanda Peet - Fatal Attraction (Paramount Plus) Perdita Weeks - Magnum P.I. (NBC)

Worst Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Stephen Hill - Magnum P.I. (NBC) Tim Kang - Magnum P.I. (NBC) Zachary Knighton - Magnum P.I. (NBC) Omar Benson Miller - True Lies (CBS) John Gabriel Rodriguez - Fantasy Island (FOX) Joshua Sasse - Monarch (FOX)

Worst Guest Performer in a Comedy Series: David Krumholtz - The Santa Clauses (Disney Plus) Peyton Manning - The Santa Clauses (Disney Plus) Leighton Meester - How I Met Your Father (Hulu) Bobby Moynihan - Blockbuster (Netflix) Keegan Connor Tracy - Blockbuster (Netflix)

Worst Guest Performer in a Drama Series: Tom Arnold - True Lies (CBS) Beverly D’Angelo - True Lies (CBS) Cheryl Hines - Fantasy Island (FOX) Judith Scott - Magnum P.I. (NBC) Bradley Whitford - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)

Worst Special Class Lead Performer: Prince Harry & Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex - Harry & Meghan (Netflix) Candace Cameron Bure - A Christmas…Present (Pure Flix) Jennifer Lopez - Shotgun Wedding (Prime Video) Evan Peters - Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix) Sylvester Stallone - Samaritan (Prime Video) The TCU Horned Frogs - The College Football Playoff National Championship (ESPN)

Worst Special Class Supporting Performer: Spencer Grammer - The 12 Days of Christmas Eve (Lifetime) Harry Hamlin - Flowers in the Attic: The Original (Lifetime) Richard Jenkins - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix) Penelope Ann Miller - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix) Kate Mulgrew - Flowers in the Attic: The Original (Lifetime) Tyler Perry - Harry & Meghan (Netflix)

Worst Screen Couple: CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - TCU Horned Frogs & Georgia Bulldogs (ESPN) FATAL ATTRACTION - Joshua Jackson & either Lizzy Caplan or Amanda Peet (Paramount Plus) FIRST KILL - Sarah Catherine Hook & Imani Lewis (Netflix) HARRY & MEGHAN - Prince Harry & Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex (Netflix) MAGNUM P.I. - Jay Rodriguez & Perdita Weeks (NBC) MONARCH - Susan Sarandon & Trace Adkins (FOX) SHOTGUN WEDDING - Jennifer Lopez & Josh Duhamel (Prime Video)

Worst Writing in a Comedy: Blockbuster (Netflix) How I Met Your Father (Hulu) Maggie (HBO) Night Court (NBC) Velma (HBO) Young Rock (NBC)

Worst Directing in a Comedy: American Auto (NBC) Blockbuster (Netflix) Maggie (Hulu) The Santa Clauses (Disney Plus) Velma (HBO) Young Rock (NBC) Worst Writing in a Drama: Fantasy Island (FOX) Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC) Magnum P.I. (NBC) Monarch (FOX) The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO) True Lies (CBS) Worst Directing in a Drama: The Company You Keep (ABC) Fantasy Island (FOX) Magnum P.I. (NBC) Monarch (FOX) The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO) True Lies (CBS)

Worst Special Class Writing: Beavis and Butthead Do The Universe (Paramount Plus) Flowers In The Attic: The Original (Lifetime) Meet Cute (Peacock) Shotgun Wedding (Prime Video) The Witcher: Blood Origin (Netflix)

Worst Special Class Directing: Beavis and Butthead Do The Universe (Paramount Plus) Flowers In The Attic: The Original (Lifetime) Harry & Meghan (Netflix) Shotgun Wedding (Prime Video) The Witcher: Blood Origin (Netflix)

#silver garbage awards #silver garbage awards 23 #worst of tv 2023 #worst of tv 2022

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tvguidancecounselor · 1 year

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TV Guidance Counselor Episode 576: Xanthe Pajarillo

April 12-18, 2003

This week Ken welcomes director-writer, podcaster and Air Force veteran Xanthe Pajarillo.

Ken and Xanthe discuss Ken's TV Guide collection, living in Germany on a military base, AFN (Armed Forces Network), catching US shows on German channels, TV via word of mouth in school, Comedy Central, being obsessed with SNL, getting shows a week late, Blade, Scooby Doo, being an only child, watching horror movies with your parents, Xanthe's podcast Kindergeist, It!, how strange brains are, the nonstop 9/11 support the troops barrage of 2001, being obsessed with the micro, hoping SNL doesn't get preempted, how Millennials really like rules, Reality TV, the terror of chaos, pranks, Xanthe's Scream influenced prank phone calls, the wisdom of Mr. Rogers, the great anti-war horror stories, Deathdream, PTSD, Dog Soldiers, Ken living in London in 2003, the Iraq War, Zoolander, cult films, Billy Madison, Adam Sandler movies, not seeing Dirty Work on a date, Virginia, taking Stephen King for granted in New England, Filipino horror, Legally Blond, Hopping Vampires, Manananggal, twist endings, movies on TV, being obsessed with South Park, Ken's inability to remember the name of the 2001 movie The Forsaken, early 2000s horror and CGI, Making the Video, pop punk, Green Day, being in punk rock bands, playing guitar, the post slasher pre-Scream era of horror, Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead screenings, naps, American Idol, William Hung, The US vs. UK, Doctor Who, College Radio Industrial music shows, Great Women on Comedy, I Love the 80s, Julia Louie Dreyfuss' shows between Seindfeld and Veep, "women aren't funny", Jamie Kennedy, Ken's love of Jennifer Love Hewitt, how Cadet Kelly isn't what basic training was really like, basing your life choices on Hilary Duff movies, Jeering war, hating Matt Lauer, March Madness, human selfishness, not lionizing serial killers, poor Jeff Fahey's Body Parts, the best worst video game movies, Double Dragon, House of the Dead, Splatter Royale mode in Evil Dead the game, being insulted by tweens when playing video games, Interview with the Vampire, Tagalog, The Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, directing the awards show remotely, and making long lists of horror movies we need to see.

Check out this episode!

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myhahnestopinion · 3 years

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THE AARONS 2020 - Best Direct-to-Video Movie

Normally, this would be the space to recognize my most anticipated films of the upcoming year. With scheduling still up in the air across the board, I decided to switch things up with a brand new award.

Movies found a lot of new avenues for accessibility last year, with an uptick in streaming-service-originals and premium-on-demand releases, but that’s not what we’re looking at here. For competition purposes, my friend and I don’t count movies released direct-to-DVD in our yearly ranking, but I still have a soft-spot for them. Here’s a chance to highlight some smaller-scale works.

What’s the difference between a direct-to-streaming release and a direct-to-DVD one, you ask? Well, it’s like pornography. You know it when you see it.

Here is the Aaron for Best Direct-to-Video Movie:

WINNER: Ghoul Catchers

With so much content being created these days, it’s really hard for an indie filmmaker to catch anyone’s attention, regardless of talent. In fact, the best one might be able to hope for is for the slightly inebriated to stumble upon the work on Amazon Prime in pursuit of some weird, low-budget oddities. The homemade mockumentary Ghoul Catchers, shot for a few thousand dollars, was one such hidden gem for my roommate and myself. Unlike the trashy parody films that inspired our dive into Prime, the film is a genuinely funny comedy, capable of a big mid-narrative switch-up because it’s built on its characters and clever writing. Ghoul Catchers is pleasant proof for not letting a lack of resources scare you away from filmmaking dreams.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Versus the Reverend

Kimmy Schmidt’s interactive finale was as buoyant as the show, even while letting the viewer break up its narrative flow with bizarre tangents like Taco Snake.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge

The fighting-game adaptation cut-through low expectations with its jaw-dropping (or rather, jaw-breaking, spine-shattering, and limb-severing) animated action.

Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!

With the madcap Maxwell Atoms running the show, Halloween was an absolute treat for fans tricked by Scoob!

Superman: Man of Tomorrow

Man of Tomorrow brought a brand-new day to DC’s direct-to-DVD movies, with cleaner animation and a longer runtime that let moments breathe.

NEXT UP: THE AARONS - THE 2020 DAVID FOR BEST MASK

#film #TheAarons #TheAaronsFilm #best of 2020 #direct to video #ghoul catchers #kimmy schmidt #mortal kombat #scooby-doo #superman #TheAarons2020

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youchangedmedean · 3 years

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Why Dean’s Heaven Outfit is so Cursed

You may have seen my previous post about why Dean’s outfit in heaven is so cursed, but since then I have spotted even more.

According to Jared at the Virtual Con after 15x20 aired when asked ‘Were any lines added or ad libbed by you two [Jared and Jensen]?’ (starts at 29:28 timestamp)

... So, when we’re on that bridge and uh, and Dean says, “Heya Sammy” and then it cuts to Sam, and I’m dressed like, as best I could, like uh like the pilot with Dean, y’know. ...

So from this, we know that Sam on the bridge in 15x20 was supposed to be dressed like the pilot. I infer that Dean was also supposed to be dressed like the pilot but based on the wording it’s possible that’s not what he meant. As soon as we got BTS pics from the last day on set however, we all pointed out that they were dressed like the pilot but there is a difference.

So what did Dean wear in the pilot? He had on 2 different outfits. First a dark jacket and a red shirt.

After Dean gets covered in mud, he changes into a denim shirt and John’s leather jacket.

Another thing to note is that both Sam and Dean wear sneakers in the pilot. No boots for Dean.

So it looks like for Dean in 15x20, the heaven outfit is based on outfit 1 with the dark jacket, plain red shirt and jeans.

Dean consistently has plain red shirts through the seasons and continues to wear the dark jacket until 9x03 so I would bet that the very jacket was sitting in storage until s15.

Something to note is that while Sam is in a virtually identical outfit in 15x20 and the pilot, Dean is not. They must have had to source Sam’s outfit specifically for this. Sam does wear a hoodie and a beige jacket in later seasons so they could have built it out of Sam’s wardrobe but they chose not to. He does not wear these exact clothes at any other point in the series apart from in Heaven. Dean’s Heaven outfit is just made out of his clothing from later in the series. They both wore sneakers in the pilot but in Heaven Dean still has his boots while Sam is wearing sneakers.

Compare:

If I was building Dean’s heaven outfit out of later seasons outfits, I would have chosen his plain red shirt (note: this is not the Demon!Dean/MoC!Dean shirt, it is a different one).

By the later seasons, Dean doesn’t actually wear dark dark jackets much. His only black jacket in s15 was this denim one which he has had since 10x04:

But the wardrobe department decided not to go for these and instead decided on cursed items instead.

So what was Dean wearing in Heaven?

The Shirt

Now this shirt is just plain cursed. This is only seen at 2 other points in the whole series, and it was a new one for s15.

We first see it in 15x04 Atomic Monsters for the Chuck AU where Lucifer!Sam kills Dean. Directed by Mr Jensen Ackles himself.

Thanks to him, we also get a good look at the shirt

So this is the first time we ever see this shirt and its for a Chuck AU where Sam kills Dean.

The second time we see it, its in 15x13 and this is another cursed appearance. It is worn by Huntercorp!Dean while pretending to be our Dean in the bunker.

And why was Huntercorp!Dean there at all? Because Chuck was destroying worlds.

When AU!Dean leaves the bunker, there is an exchange that is a bit cursed.

Huntercorp!DEAN: Oh, uh, you think we could keep the flannel shirts?

DEAN: No.

So the shirt actually gets a mention by Huntercorp!Dean.

What we see here is that this shirt is NEVER worn by our Dean. It is worn by a Chuck AU Dean and Huntercorp!Dean fleeing a world Chuck had destroyed while pretending to be our Dean.

We never see our Dean wear this shit until Heaven which seems like an odd choice.

Dean also doesn’t normally wear red and black plaid shirt. In fact, the previous one he had has an interesting history as pointed out by @wigglebox when we were discussing it.

It is first seen in 12x21 and he continues to wear it into 12x23 when Dean has to go into Mary’s mind.

We then see it again and for the last time in 13x16 Scoobynatural.

Both of these episodes are sort of AU episodes where he’s venturing into another character’s mind or heading into Scooby-Doo world.

So both Dean’s black and red plaid shirts have a cursed history relating things not being real and for this specific shirt, AUs. They could have chosen a plain red shirt almost identical to the pilot but they chose not to.

The Jacket

Dean has this jacket for a long time. He has a blue one and a black one. This black jacket has been around since s9 and gets worn a fair bit. On the whole, it doesn’t have a very happy history, its first worn for Kevin’s funeral in 9x10 and is worn after Claire is bitten by a Werewolf in 12x16.

However, the most notable thing about this jacket is what should have been it’s demise.

Dean is wearing it in 13x23 when he fights Lucifer and AU!Michael takes over his body.

At the end of the episode, we see that Michael has changed dean’s clothes and presumably ditched them somewhere.

Dean comes back at the end of 14x02 wearing Michael’s clothes. He arrives back at the bunker in 14x03 and changes into Dean clothes but is missing his watch for the whole episode, presumably because Michael ditched it. The denim shirt Dean wears in 13x23 is never seen again (yes, I have watched s14 and s15 just to check and have spreadsheets for Dean’s outfits!). His boots are back in 14x03 but I suppose you could argue he had multiple pairs.

We are left to assume that the jacket is also gone (and it really should be gone) but it makes a miraculous reappearance in 14x13 Lebanon.

Now this episode is an odd episode. They get their Dad back by messing up time, Cas doesn’t know them until they reset it back again. The shirt in this episode is also notable and I will write a post on it soon. So again, we have part of Dean’s heaven outfit connecting to alternative timelines where it really shouldn’t be at all.

BUT IT GETS WORSE EVERYONE!

This jacket appears at just one other point in s15. Now if you had to pick the most cursed of cursed times to put it where would you put it on Dean?

The Vamp Chuck future in 15x09 where Sam and Dean die as vampires.

So this jacket should have disappeared in 13x23 but reappears for an episode where time is altered in 14x13 and when Chuck is showing Sam the future in 15x09 if they ‘win’ and they die as vampires. Dean is then killed on a vampire hunt in 15x20 and ends up wearing this jacket in Heaven. Cool, cool.

This jacket becomes connected to our Dean but in altered timelines and worlds while the shirt is connected to alternative Deans. Both the shirt and the jacket have direct connections to Chuck.

So we see Dean in Heaven wearing this cursed outfit drinking cursed El Sol beer with the same cursed monkey from 14x13 Lebanon (see above, it was in the roadhouse too).

This is not an outfit that screams happy. This is not an outfit that screams Sam and Dean won. This is an outfit that seems to scream Chuck won.

I guess we’ll just have to wait until Jackles manages to get a continuation...

One final odd thing to note. We all remember Jensen’s video posted before the finale when he was dressing up as Dean for the last time “at least for now”. Well he wasn’t actually wearing the outfit Dean wore in Heaven although all the Heaven scenes were shot on the last day of filming, the 10th of September.

He was wearing the Heaven plaid shirt, but not the Heaven Jacket. It was Dean’s black denim jacket I pointed out earlier. If you look it has seams that the Heaven Jacket doesn’t and the pocket flaps are a different shape.

I have gone through all the Heaven scenes and he is wearing the Heaven jacket in all of them. But I can’t think of a reason why on a hot day in September when Jensen is getting changed into costume he would have a different one of Dean’s jackets on over the shirt he needs to wear for the scenes.

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theyareweird · 2 years

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Top 10 Scooby-Doo Movies

Scooby-Doo is an American animated franchise. It comprises many animated television series produced from the year 1969 to the present. The franchise is also composed of several derivative media. One of these includes a direct-to-video film series with over thirty titles. Due to the long list of videos, the best Scooby-Doo movies will be presented. Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers to the following Scooby-Doo movies.

1. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

Although the Scooby franchise has always been about cracking urban legends and myths to reveal the truth in solving mysteries, this is one of the movies which breaks the tradition. However, unlike the other films, this video undoes the tradition in more ways than one. Apparently, an ancient cat god is the true religion in this universe. It’s also the start of everything in this dark and twisted tale.

2. Scooby-Doo & the Loch Ness Monster

Firstly, this movie has the best soundtrack out of all the Scooby-Doo films. Secondly, this movie mostly revolves around Daphne. It provides some background and creates a bit of family for her character too. Despite this, Scooby and Shaggy’s comedy steals the show whenever they’re on screen. Plus, the Loch Ness Monster also looks cool, even if a glimpse of the creature is only truly seen at the end.

3. Scooby-Doo & the Witch’s Ghost

This movie has a lot of classic Halloween vibes. It’s the perfect film to watch around the spookiest time of the year. The villain is voiced by none other than Tim Curry and his acting is always a treat. Regardless of this, the film is really only remembered by the introduction of the eco-goth band members, the Hex Girls. However, the idea magic, ghosts and witches are real is fun as well.

4. Scooby-Doo & the Alien Invaders

Shaggy and Scooby are the best characters from the franchise. Because of this, the movie made the list since it mostly revolves around these two individuals. The film may have a few corny scenes, but the desert artwork in this video is breath-taking. Plus, the different take on supernatural aliens is also rather refreshing.

5. Scooby-Doo & the Cyber Chase

Despite the ending-feel vibes this film has, there are a lot of creative moments. The montage of different levels is fun and interesting to watch. Also, like the previous movie mentioned, the animation in this film is great too. The “monster” in this is weird yet creepy in its own way. How this thing also came into being is something new to the franchise as well.

6. Scooby-Doo & the Goblin King

For a movie which is supposed to be all about Halloween, it takes a while to present all the fun visuals of the holiday. However, when the spirit of the holiday does come around it doesn’t disappoint. The Halloween creatures are a joy to watch. This video's only real downfall is not seeing Fred, Daphne and Velma remain monsters for a little while to witness what chaos they do. However, despite the corny scenes and weird moments, the film does focus on Shaggy and Scooby for the most part.

7. Scooby-Doo in Where’s My Mummy?

Even though Daphne takes over the film towards the end, this movie mostly centers around Velma. This is also another film in the franchise where yet another creature turns out to be real. The story is also nice too as this is the only movie without any of the typical corny scenes.

8. Scooby-Doo Pirates Ahoy

In this movie, Fred is the center of focus. Like what Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster did for Daphne, Fred’s character is gains some background and family too. Although there are many corny moments, the introduction to the ghosts is rather creepy. The beginning scene does a good job at setting up these monsters too.

9. Scooby-Doo & the Monster of Mexico

The villain in this film is a savage. It’s also kind of crazy for a Scooby movie to feature a demon as the main monster. Having the characters speak Spanish whenever they are referring to the beast may hide this detail from kid viewers, but some adults could pick up on this fact. Although there isn’t anything special to this film, its still fun to watch.

10. Aloha, Scooby-Doo

Out of all the Scooby-Doo movies featured in this list, this film is perhaps the goofiest. There are several silly scenes with the tiki monsters one losses track. Unlike certain movies, all the characters seem to have an equal part in this film too. Overall, this movie is fun to watch like all the other Scooby films.

What do you think? Do you agree with the top picks? If not, what are some of your favorite Scooby-Doo movies? Please share with me!

#scooby doo #article #scooby-doo #scooby doo movies

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transxfiles · 2 years

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top 10 scooby doo media tell me all about it

This was so hard but uhhhh

(btw these are not rated objectively they're rated by how much i like them so keep that in mind sometimes i do have bad/questionable taste)

1. Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost

this is hands down my favorite scooby-doo movie of all time it's so wonderful... the animators writers hell even the voice actors were clearly riding the high from zombie island this movie has all the charm and mystery of zombie island but a bit more lighthearted and now velma-centric which is all i need in a piece of scooby-doo media. 100% perfect comfort movie also shoutout to the writers for coming up with the hex girls for this film that's right this film is where the hex girls originated its all coming together best lesbian movie of all time for sure.

2. A Scooby-Doo Valentine (What's New, Scooby-Doo?)

without a doubt the best episode of the best scooby doo tv show what's new scooby doo is so good on its own but the valentine's day special goes HARD. epic chase scene dopplegangers trope AND velma and daphne are living together while fred and shaggy are roommates? fun concept fun execution surprisingly lgbt if yknow what i mean and it's also just a lgiht and fluffy + creepy valentine's day ep that holds a special place in my heart <3 PLUS daphne meta humor :D

3. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

objectively one of the best scooby doo films (AND animated films) of all time. fucked me up as a child. was one of the most expensive direct-to-video vhs tapes the year it was released. the animation and writing went SO HARD the daphne arc is epic the mystery gang's dynamic is all i want and more the french lady is evil AND there's like 4 different mysteries stacked on top of each other and NONE of them ever get solved fuck yeah FUCK YEAH!! + the soundtrack by skycycle fucks SO HARD i listen to "it's terror time again" once a week i know all the words and did i mention "the ghost is here"??? ph my god oh my god

4. What a Night for a Knight! (Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?)

the first scooby doo episode EVER to air on tv and you watch it and you know why it was an immediate hit the opening lines are literally hilarious like [scooby and shaggy are walking down an abandoned road at night] [they notice a car on the side of the road with a suit of armor in the driver's seat] and shaggy's first reaction is to say "well it looks like he was out for a KNIGHT!!" and scooby and shaggy loose their shit laughing except the animation budget was like 1 cent exactly so its really choppy and SO GOOD also shoutout to the o.g. mystery machine for being the MOST DISORGANIZED VEHICLE i've ever seen in my LIFE i love it i love it so much

5. The Scooby-Doo Project

scooby doo went ape making a blair witch spoof and it's highly implied that all the weird events are caused by scrappy just fucking with them all what can i say it's a masterpiece. the animation is so so cheap but so so fun and the idea of the gang doing a bunch of dumbass stuff bc they're teenagers and having shaggy video it on a camcorder bc they're teenagers is beautiful immaculate showstopping and incredibly in-character shoutout to cartoon network for understanding the assignment for once.

6. Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders

shaggy gets an ALIEN GF and like aliens are real but they're KIND and they just want to GET TO KNOW US A LIL BETTER and the animation is so pretty and i love the setting but points off for having the scientists be evil that never sat right with me as a child and also POINTS OFF FOR TAKING SHAGGYS ALIEN GF AWAY WHAT WERE YOU THINKING YOU SICK FU- [i am dragged away from the hanna-barbera department of warner brothers two ppl in 'security' uniforms]

7. Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo

so so fun you can tell this was made moments before warner brothers decided to kill the entire scooby-doo wing's animation budget the story's cute the art is pretty (it's not AMAZING mind you but it's sweet and fun to look at and the chase scenes are well animated) scooby isn't over-anthropomorphized i LOVE velma's sister she's so much fun, the magic school setting is epic the mystery is superb the GRYPHON as the villain is fantastic i would watch this movie on repeat as a kid and tbh i still do 10/10 perfect for a rainy day :)

8. Scooby-Doo (2002)

i know this is a somewhat controversial opinion in the scoobysphere but this movie fucks hard. its super fun to watch the characters are just over the top enough without it being completely weird i can tell the actors did their homework, sarah michelle geller as daphne is impeccable casting and matthew lillard was so good at shaggy in this film that he's still doing shaggy's voice on-and-off for scooby doo media. i love the way the movie looks, the plot and setting are super fun, and scrappy as the villain healed so many wounds left in my soul by the scooby doo and scrappy doo show.

9. Mystery 101 (Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!)

okay so i was reluctant going into be cool scooby doo but it's hilarious the daphne characterization is on point (they make her weird she's a weirdo you see these puppets she never takes them off her hands) and OF COURSE velma would have the dewey decimal system memorized. be cool scooby doo isn't my favorite of the incarnations of the mystery gang but this episode is so funny and definitely worth a rewatch every now and then!!

10. The Caped Crusader Caper (The New Scooby-Doo Movies)

this episode is literally so so dumb (affectionate) but it's hilarious and very fun i love watching batman and robin run around with the mystery gang i truly cannot say if this piece of scooby media was actually good or if i just loved it bc it was like one of the 3 scooby doo dvds i actually owned (the dvd itself was the brave and the bold crossover collection with 3ish eps on it) but it still holds a special place in my heart :D

so yeah that's about it!! a lot of these replies are very biased and i'm sure my opinions will change soon but this is it for now. also side note but there definitely would be at least 1 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo episode on here but it's been so long since i've rewatched that series that i can't remember exact episodes. the one where shaggy's bike gets stolen / the counterfeit money one is really good!! 10/10 understood the assignment.

#ask #good-or-bad-luck #scooby doo #ALSO DANI I SAW YOUR OTHER ASK I JUST MIGHT NOT HAVE TIME TO ANSWER IT RIGHT AWAY BC I KNOW IT WILL TAKE ME A WHILE TO EXPLAIN MY CHOICES #+ I HAVE A SCHOOL EVENT TO GO TO IN ABOUT AN HOUR

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justforbooks · 3 years

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Joseph Roland Barbera was born on March 24, 1911. He was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the 20th century.

He was born to Italian immigrants in New York City, where he lived, attended college and began his career through his young adult years. After working odd jobs and as a banker, Barbera joined Van Beuren Studios in 1927 and subsequently Terrytoons in 1929. In 1930, he moved to California and while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Barbera met William Hanna. The two men began a collaboration that was at first best known for producing Tom and Jerry. In 1957, after MGM dissolved their animation department, they co-founded Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, producing programs such as The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, Top Cat, The Smurfs, Huckleberry Hound, and The Jetsons. In 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million, but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company. In 1991, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner, owners of Warner Bros., in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors.

Hanna and Barbera directed seven Academy Award films and won eight Emmy Awards. Their cartoon shows have become cultural icons, and their cartoon characters have appeared in other media such as films, books, and toys. Hanna-Barbera's shows had a worldwide audience of over 300 million people in the 1960s and have been translated into more than 28 languages.

In 1992, Barbera met with pop musician Michael Jackson, an avid cartoon fan, in an unsuccessful attempt to arrange for him to sing in Tom and Jerry: The Movie. Barbera drew five quick sketches of Tom and Jerry for Jackson and autographed them. Jackson autographed a picture of himself and his niece Nicole for Barbera with the words: "To my hero of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, with many thanks for all the many cartoon friends you gave me as a child. They were all I had. – Michael"

After Hanna's death from throat cancer in March 2001, Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation, with the unit dedicated to the Cartoon Network original series spun off into Cartoon Network Studios. Barbera remained active as an executive producer for Warner Bros. on direct-to-video cartoon features as well as television series such as What's New, Scooby-Doo? and Tom and Jerry Tales. He also wrote, co-storyboarded, co-directed and co-produced The Karate Guard (2005), the return of Tom and Jerry to the big screen. His final animated project was the direct-to-video feature Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale (2007).

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Joseph Barbera #Famous Birthdays

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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He’s All That: Influencer Addison Rae Helms a Cast of Familiar Faces

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For Gen-X viewers, He’s All That is a story we’ve seen before: Pygmalion or My Fair Lady, but updated with cultural references, settings, and technology that make the story of the lesson behind the plot—that the person you are is more important than the image you put forth—more connected to a modern audience. But digital natives who have grown up with as much with TikTok as with teen movie tropes will have a far richer experience, recognizing the cast not only as actors, but as the same influencers they’re playing.

From director Mark Waters, this update, a gender-bent response to 1999’s iconic She’s All That, features a young influencer who, due to the live broadcast of a messy breakup with her budding rock-star boyfriend, loses her sponsorship (and is outed as the poor girl she truly is). The only way to get her sponsor back and save face is to prove she’s the makeover queen, able to make over any boy at their school the way she sculpted her ex’s image.

While the cast features a number of familiar faces and voices, this is not only Addison Rae’s film, it’s her first film. As her character Padgett Sawyer, the real-world TikTok celeb leads the familiar story through all the right beats, accompanied by pop-up chat windows and emojis that represent the presence of social media in the lives of all but Cameron Kweller (played by Tanner Buchanan), the object of Padgett’s make-over efforts.

Here’s a look at the cast, including some blink-or-you’ll-miss-it cameos of other influencers among the cast members…

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Addison Rae as Padgett Sawyer

Although this is Rae’s first full-length feature, she is no stranger to the camera. She began her career as a dancer, who in 2019 launched a TikTok channel featuring her dance takes on popular songs. At only 20, the Louisiana celeb is worth over $5 million and has more than 83.4 million followers on TikTok (far more than her character in the film). Rae has her own merchandise line, but has also endorsed brands including Chantilly Boutique, Cheapskate, FashionNova, McCrary Jewelers, and Uptown. (It seems doubtful that she relies on any of them for corporate sponsorship, the way Padgett relies on sponsor Bunny Venom, given her per-video payout rate on TikTok and the reports of what she brings in monthly on YouTube.)

Character Padgett is known for her makeover how-tos (some of which give bad advice, such as using toothpaste to reduce pimples), and in fact Rae’s very first YouTube video was showing how to do hair and makeup. Another is a Q&A with her 2020 flame, Bryce Hall. But more of her videos on both YouTube and TikTok feature music, and in addition to the requisite teen movie dance numbers featured in He’s All That, Rae does an excellent karaoke in the film with co-star Buchanan.

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Bryce Hall‘s Cameo

Speaking of Bryce Hall, Rae’s fellow TikTok star (21 million followers) makes a cameo in the film. Hall’s career as an influencer began when he livestreaming on YouTube at age 15 in an effort to make friends after being bullied. The social media influencer moved from Maryland to Los Angeles and joined TalentX Entertainment’s Sway House to create content for multiple platforms.

In the film, Hall has no lines, but commiserates with Padgett’s ex, Jordan Van Draanen (Peyton Meyer) about girls. In the scene, Van Draanen soulfully mourns that the girl he dumped Padgett for has ghosted him, then asks his friends (including Hall) if they caught all that on camera. (By the time of the film release, Hall and Rae were no longer together, which may make viewers curious how Hall now feels about that scene…)

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Spencer X as the DJ

TikTok viewers may also catch the cameo of Beatboxer Spencer X as the DJ behind the karaoke competition. With over 54 million followers, the sound effects champ (who includes the label Mouth Music Man on his site) also has two singles of beatboxing and remixed vocals available on Spotify.

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Kourtney Kardashian as Jessica Miles Torres

While Kardashian needs no introduction, this real-life friend of Rae’s takes on the role of Padgett’s sponsor, an exec at Bunny Venom, who fires Padgett when her image goes wrong. Kardashian became a reality star in 2007’s Keeping up with the Kardashians and is involved in fashion along with her sisters. Due to her popular presence on social media, Kardashian is regularly compensated by brands for featuring their products in her posts. She has also helmed the lifestyle website, Poosh.

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Tanner Buchanan as Cameron Kweller

Coming from a more traditional acting background, Buchanan plays an artist who has no interest in the falseness of the high school world (and gives out sage words of wisdom)–though deep inside, he’s still mourning the loss of his mother and feel disconnected from his family and friends until Padgett breaks through his armor. Viewers might recognize him from TV series like Game Shakers or Designated Survivor, but the martial arts skills he shows off in He’s All That might be better attributed to the set of Cobra Kai, another Netflix production (after its first two seasons on YouTube Red) in which he plays Robby Keene.

Peyton Meyer and Madison Pettis

Padgett has two antagonists in the film: ex Jordan Van Draanen (Meyer) and rich girl frenemy Alden (Madison Pettis). Meyer is known for Girl Meets World and American Housewife, while Pettis made her name as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s daughter in The Game Plan on the Disney Channel. If her voice is familiar, it may be because the He’s All That mean girl also played animated characters including Izzy in Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Zuri in The Lion Guard.

Myra Molloy and Annie Jacob

This 2021 update to the classic teen movie features a secondary romance between two queer girls of color—Padgett and Cameron’s besties who hit it off, despite their social strata differences. LEGO fan Nisha is played by Annie Jacob, known for her role as Glory Moffett on Motherland: Fort Salem. Sweetheart rich girl Quinn is played by relative newcomer Myra Molloy.

Matthew Lillard as Principal Bosch

In the 1999 film She’s All That, Lillard played an obnoxious reality star who steals the girlfriend of the main character, played by Freddie Prinze Jr (also Lillard’s co-star in Scooby Doo). Lillard isn’t shown for most of He’s All That, as only his voice is featured for the majority of the movie, until the final scene, in which he’s revealed to be the principal of the high school.

Rachel Leigh Cook as Anna Sawyer

She’s All That lead star Cook comes back not as her original character, but as Padgett’s mom, who is a nurse working hard to keep them in the best school district. As the film comes to a close, a remix of the song “Kiss Me” plays at the school dance–a direct call back to the original film, which used that as the main theme. Cook’s recent Love, Guaranteed was another Netflix Original.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

While He’s All That offers no surprises, the cameos and callbacks to the original film make this teen movie enjoyable as exactly what it is: a familiar tale with the usual happy ending, updated for a new audience.

The post He’s All That: Influencer Addison Rae Helms a Cast of Familiar Faces appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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The Lion King Review and Analysis “Happy Birthday Kevin!”

Hello all you happy people! Today’s review is a special gift in honor of a special friend who without whom this blog woudln’t be making nearly as content and two of my best retrospectives, The Three Cablleros and Lena Retrospectives, wouldn’t even exist.

Of course i’m talking about @weirdkev27, one of my patrons on patreon, and a guy who goes out of his way to comission reviews from me on a weekly basis, sometims more than once. It’s thanks to him i’ve been able to sorta make a living of this and trying to not put my ENTIRE finacial well being on his back is the reason i’m currently doing a patreon membership drive. For a buck a month you get exclusive reviews, to pick a short when I review a bunch of them for disney and looney tunes character brithdays, and if you bump up to five you get a review a month of any episode of any show. And with the membership going right now I have stretch goals to hit to unlock reviews for everybody so go join up RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW.

But i’m not bringing this up just to plug myself: I genuinely appricate Kev, and he’s been a wonderful creative partner not only having REALLY great ideas for retrospectives (After the current Ducktales one we have Wallace and Gromit and The Evil Dead a coming so you can thank him for those), but also being respectful, asking what my pricing models are, making sure I get paid fairly, paying me promptly... he’s a really good dude is what i’m saying.

So when he asked to comission something for his birthday I gave it to him for free because he’s given me such good business and when he asked the limit on that and then explained he wanted me to review the original lion king, and CLEARLY would back down if I asked him to... I said sure.

I had not seen this film in well over a decade and frankly that was a clear “shame on me moment” for not doing so for so long. See this is a nice contrast to my LAST look at a classic Disney Movie that was popular with my generation, A Goofy Movie. That one I ended up loving but didn’t really remember well from childhood as the hot tub and principal call scenes really scared the crap out of me and made me not like what was honestly an utterly masterful flim.

Lion King on the otherhand? I remmebered beat for beat. I forgot some things sure, my memory is crap a lot of the time and what it retains is a roulette wheel spin I take every day so it’s not a suprise, but the general plot, the lyrics to the songs.. it was all burned into my brain depsite again, not having watched this film in god knows how long. I have warm memories of watching this film at my Grandma’s on her old VCR, using the rewinder, and yes there was a device JUST for rewinding tapes, to spin it back after. And granted I sound old as hell saying all this and I don’t care. This film was firmly part of my childhood alongside Aladdin (My personal faviorite disney film as a kid), The Little Rascals (My faviorite film period as a kid) and Problem Child. Rewatching it made me feel like a kid again and reminded me how much I used to love this film while making me fall in love with lit all over again. So obviously this reviews going ot be pretty gushing, i’m not going to hide that nor is childhood nostaliga going to prevent me from picking apart it’s few flaws.

So yeah this was a pleasure so thank you Kev.. and a happiest birthday to you dear friend I look forward to working with you for years to come. So join me under the cut as I pick apart Disney’s masterpiece won’t you?

As a note I watched this film last night with my good friend @jess-the-vampire. The two of us have a weekly movie night on Tuesdays and weds days on her days off. Granted sometimes we just binge shows (it’s how she got caught up on Amphibia and how I got her into Tuca and Bertie), but lately we’ve mostly been focusing on watching through all the direct to video scooby doo movies. It’s a trip and it’s given me PLENTY of things to review good, bad and “Fred mourning the mystery machine like it’s his dead wife and he most certainly made love to it”. That’s not even me joking the film has him call it baby and say “I know every sound it makes”. Fred had consensual sex with a van and I still don’t know how to properly deal with it. Point is she was fine with watching this and as happens with my star vs and owl house reviews provided valuable insight in a place or two. And the best chapter heading i’ve ever had. Okay now tha’ts out of way

The Making of: Finding making of stuff wasn’t as difficult this time, with me primarily going off an oral history as I didn’t have time to watch Disney’s offical docs. But needless to say most of it can easily be peppered in as we go, but I do have a few extra things I can get to before the film proper so.. here we are.

The film started as King of the Jungle a passion project of Jeffery Katzenberg who greenlit it and got people on board. He also claims the idea of family drama is his though there’s no real consensus: in teh oral history I found some said it was him some said it came later in development. My guess?

Point is the film was greenlit slowly evolving into it’s natural state: it first started as more of a “national geographic special” come to life but eventual rewrites turned it more into a combination of a heroes journey, as Disney was apparently REALLY big on doing one of those for every story at the time to the point a cliff’s notes version of “hero of a thousand faces” was given to writers to help them get it down pat, and hamlet. King Lear was the original base point but once they realized the evil uncle angle with Scar it became obvious and little other elements seeeped in. ONe of those was NOT Kimba the White lion. I”m getting this out of the way NOW: It was not based on the manga Kimba the white Lion. I would say more but HONESTLY I only know this not to be so true because Adam, the guy behind the youtube channel yourmoviessuckdotorg, did a two and a half hour video on Kimba throughly debunking this misconception while also showing just how throughly weird this franchise is. Keep in mind this spiraled out of him simply wanting to mention the controversy and finding it SUCH bullshit he spent two and a half hours tearing it the fuck apart. You can find it HERE.

They also had no idea this would be the MASSIVE hit it would be. Yeah this film while a passion project of Katzenberg, wasn’t really given the stuido’s a-team to work with and while still given a hefty budget and plenty of star power, wasn’t expected to be a huge hit: just a modest one to tie disney over till theri real, super star, tried and true ultra mega smash for next year: Pocahontas

I know i’m REALLY laughing at this. Pocahantas... one of disney’s worst ideas, the film that was a nauseating mixture of cultural apporiration, heavy handed racisim aesops that fell into “both sides-ism”, forced animal sidekicks, forgetable villians, a very cliche “princess wants better” story that just didn’t work with the framework and unintetional racisim in a film trying to be anti-racist. As you can tell I don’t have fond memories of this one, and Lindsay Ellis has torn it apart enough for me not to have to get into it some day.

And this isn’t even just me as a more knowledgble adult who sees how cringetastic the film is: at the time it bombed heavily and was critcized for a lot of this and as a kid, not knowing shit about racisim, I just found it really boring. The best I can say about it is Colors of the Wind really fucking slaps. That song is too good for the movie it’s in.

And to just rub salt in the wound while fellow flop the Goofy Movie got a critical revaluation over time and audience love and support via VHS, Pocahantas.. would be buired six feet deep and one of it’s stars would go on to be better known as an anti-semtic and abusive piece of shit.

But back to the actual movie before it’s Kevin’s NEXT birthday, point is this film was an unepxected hit and has become one of Disney’s most loved and profitable films. Let’s get into why shall we

The Circle of Life: We begin with one of the most iconic openings in all of Cinema: the Circle of Life. The majestic shots of the various animals of the Savannah, coupled with the amazing song written by Elton John, it’s easily one of the best songs in Disney History and one of their best openings. Just starting this movie last night my jaw dropped at seeing it in HD for the first time: every frame BEAUTIFULLY holds up, every animal moves as it would in the wild, not wasting a second or a movement, and there’s tons of gorgeous sunrisen detail as the whole of nature moves to greet their new prince. It’s just utterly mesmersing and engaging and gets you into the film right away.

Disney also for once knew what they had, and thus used this as the teaser trailer.. and damn straight they did: this is an engaging hook that instnatly invests you in the film and what’s happening. The animation being this good is also no accident: the crew took a trip to africa for research, something not really heard of at the time but ended up being vital to the film as it allowed the animators to view these animals in their natural habitats and thus animate them naturally and gracefully as they are in the wild and the resutls speak for themselves. Over 25 years later, 30 in just 3 short years, and this film’s animation looks as gorgeous as it did in 94.

It’s here we meet Mufasa, King of the Jungle voiced by utter legend and sith lord James Earl Jones, who proudly hands his son Simba over to Rafiki, voiced by Robert Gulliane, a legendary actor who stretched from stage to Screen and even lead his own show Benson, taking Simba from his life voiced by fellow legend Madge Sinclair. Needless to say this cast is both stacked and has a nice amount of amount of diversity for the time.

Rafiki is a shamn, marking Simba with some tribal paint and then iconically holding the boy to the air to all the animals. This shot would be endlessly parodied from here to doomsday but it’s iconic for a reason.

Before we move on the names are a result of the crew having an english to swahilli dictonary.. yes really. I.. honestly don’t know what to add to that but felt i’d be leaving something out if I left it out so moving on.

There is one notable absence from the “Look at my baby isn’t he neat” Ceremony: Scar, Mufasa’s brother voiced by Jeremey Irons. Scar is one of the best Disney Villians of all time and one of the most loved for damn good reason, a master manipulator with a dry sarcastic wit and a cool design.

He didn’t attend because as the king’s brother he was next in line.. and Simba means he’s essentially cut from the line of succesion and isn’t happy about it. Zazu, Mufasa’s chief advisor and tiny bird voiced by my boy Rowan Attkinson, chides him for it and also dickishly rubs the fact Scar isn’t going to be king in his face. Don’t get me wrong Scar himself is a peak asshole and his not attending is ENTIRELY a passive agressive jab at his brother and his newborn nephew. But Zazu rubbing salt in that wound dosen’t make HIM any better.. and is also really stupid given Scar nearly murders him and only dosen’t because Mufasa shows up just in time and puts Scar in his place, making it clear that if Scar actually challenged Mufasa for the crown, he’d die slow die fast now. It’s also clear this tension isn’t going anywhere and will only fester.

Some Years of Festering Later:

Simba is now a kid, cutely waking up his parents. Simba is voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas. If you don’t know that name.. fair enough, he hasn’t really done much since the 90′s where he was one of the kids on the Tim Allen sitcom Home Improvment, back when tim allen was america’s goofy dad instead of it’s trumptastic grandpa. He bankrolled that into a teen hearthrob career then just sorta quitely retired from acting an does a decent job here: a bit too loud but the kid could emote really well and does get to carry some really powerful moments, so he’s not a bad actor. I do however question hiring a white kid, and a white adult, to play Simba when both his parents are voiced by black actors and it comes off as a racist move by want to slap some marketable white people in there instead of letting a black voice actor break out with the roll.

So after waking his dad they go out for the morning rounds, wtih Zazu giving his morning report... which orignally had a song here. I know because the edition that restored it got promoted ENDLESSLY on disney channel so that small sectoin of the song they played is in my head. ON. LOOP.

But yeah Simba has no real respect for Zazu, shocker, and neither does Mufasa who uses the poor guy for pouncing practice. This.. really is a dick move not going to lie.

Mufasa then teaches Simba thee importance of the food chain and this is something I like about the film: the animals.. are still animals. They talk like humans.. but they still hunt and still eat other animals. It’s also emphasised WHY this was okay as it’s the natural order: the lions eat the antelope, and the lions will later decompose becoming the food for the grass, which the antelope eat. It’s a nice way of describing the food chain and showing WHY: it’s simply nature and nature is beautiful but also terrifying. It’s the circle of life as explained at the beginning.

It also shows Mufasa off as a wise and noble ruler.. but he’s not without blind spots as while he tells Simba everything the light touches at himn the dark is releigated to the hyennas, who are practically starving and who if they so much as dare to move into the pridelands are chased off, as Mufasa runs off to do.

This is something unteitonal in the scipt but in a lesser film could create a problem: Mufasa comes off racist.

Yeah.... he keeps another species, who just wants to eat more than scrap, in the most desolate, lifeless area, dosen’t give them anything himself and attack sthem when they come into his territory. While this is supposed to just be because the Hyenas are EVILLLLLLL and lions and hyeneas are natural rivals, when you anthromorphize them, it makes it seem like he’s instead a petty racist dick.

However.. it somehow DOSEN’T ruin the film. It simply makes Mufasa flawed: he’s a wise noble leader mostly.. but his racist and short sighed blindspot towards the Hyenas mean they rightfully resent him. It shows racisim is ultimately pointless and self destructive and that hating someone just for being another race... ends up destroying you. That wasn’t INTETIONAL, but had Mufasa been a just leader to them, Scar would NEVER have been able to kill him or take over pride rock later in the film. It also allows Simbas flaws more wiggle room as while his own father’s flaws are worse it shows even his seemingly perfect father was an imperfect ruler and he has the chance to be better. This is something I honestly wish the remake explored more and as far as I can tell it didn’t. I’m not watching it unless someone pays me for a reivew saying that now and keep in mind this is a flim with both Donald Glover AND my spirtual dad John Oliver in it. If them combined can’t get me to watch something you know it’s so toxic a muk will run from it.

Anyways Simba is naturally curious about the Hyena terriotory which his dad didn’t tell him shit about because vaugely hinting about something to your child and saying don’t do that is the quickest way to get them to do that.

The second quickest is their uncle talking them into it as Simba goes to talk to Scar, who shows just how awesomely manipulative he is. And as Jess put it to Simba.. Scar’s just his moody uncle. Unlike his dad, who knows what his brother is capable of to a point, and simply just underestimated HOW badly Scar wanted the throne, Simba fully trusts Scar. So Scar shows off just HOW skilled a manipulator he is by abusing that trust: he fully plays simba, using the child’s need to be seen as brave like his dad to hype up the elephant’s graveyard, even naming it for the kid and telling him only the bravest go there KNOWING what his nephew will do and knowing that it will likely result in the death of his only competition for the throne. But i’s also done in a way that gives Scar deniablity. After all he could easily spin how he talked to simba as just trying to respect the boy’s intellegence or just teling him stories not thinking he’d actually doing it while knowing full well it’s all bullshit. This gives him a perfect deniable death. It also shows off Scar’s craft: He’s already bought of the Hyena’s as we’ll see later, he simply waited for the right trap to spring on his newphew’s neck.

I Just Can’t Wait To Be King:

Simba goes to hang out with his best friend Nala and sneak over, and we get a cute scene of both being bathed byt heir mothers as cats do. There is a wrinkle though as they send Zazu to babysit the kids to the watering hole, Simba’s cover, but Simba naturally planned for that and shows that even if he’s rambunctious and short sighed, he’s not dumb and does have some clever planning skills.

So he distracts him via song, I Just Can’t Wait To Be King, an utterly awesome track. The animation here is colorful as all hell, and the lyrics are just fun as Simba boastas about the power and seeming freeodom of being a king and is a huge dick to zazu. It showss off how the boy dosen’t get what being a king really is, the chains of command and the power and responsiblity that come with them in a fun kid freindly way that’s also a real fun bop. You also really CAN’T blame Simba for not liking Zazu when Zazu constantly talks down to the boy and acts like he’s the worst when he’s just you know, a child. It’s just a fun show of the dynamic between the two. As one last note as I don’t have much other to say about this song other than “it slaps”, Jason weaver sings instead of JTT, and would later go on to be on Smart Guy.. and also go by the name J-Weav for some reason.

Weaver does a great job though and the song’s iconic for good reason, I just really don’t have a ton to say about it.

So Simba and Nala head to the elephant graveyard and encounter Zazu... who apparenntly can teleport and wnats to take them home... only for the three to encounter the hyenas, Shenzi, Banzi and Ed, voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Maron and Jim Cummings. As for how they got the parts as you can probably guess by Maron’s casting they WANTED his partner Tommy Chong for the Shenzi roll, but Chong was too busy. This ended up working out great as while I love chong from that 70′s show, Goldberg is a better fit as the leader and more compietent one of these chuckleheads. Jim Cummings meanwhile go this roll because voice acting legend Frank Welker, aka Fred “Vanfucker” Jones, Megatron and Scooby Dooby Doo among MANY others, coudln’t get the roll down right and recommended Jim, and since Jim had already worked witht he company a lot it likely wasn’t a hard sell. The three are great characters, Shenzi being a fun, clever leader but still goofy in her own right, Banzi being her sarcastic sidekick and ed just sorta making various noises and being entertaining for it.

But the film makes no bones about the fact that, while comical, these three ARE deadly predators and are more than willing to murder all three , not helped by Simba announcing he’s the prince.. aka the son of the guy whose the reason their exiled here. A really harrowing chase ensues and the three NEARLY die.. until Motherfucking Mufasa makes his presence know with a giant roar and scares them the fuck off telling them to NEVER fuck with his son again or else, scarring the crap out of them, and Simba and also me because James Earl Jones can be pants destroyingly terrifying when he wnats to be.

He then sternly tells Zazu to take Nala home, he’s going to have a talk with Simba.. which made me worry given his tone but it turns out Mufasa is a fair and just parent: he does chide his son for near sucidally risking his life and disobeying him... but listens to his reasons why, wanting to be brave and fearless like his dad and pointing out why their flawed: Mufasa is brave sure.. but that’s not what makes a king. And as for fearless.. he was TERRIFIED seeing his son in mortal peril. Being a king isn’t about being strong or powerful or imposing.. it’s about what’s inside you, about knowing what to do and standing up when the time is right. He also makes a pointed and important observation when Simba assumes he’ll be around forever: he won’t. No one lives forever, but to Mufasa the kings live in the stars, and he’lla lways be iwth him in a way.. but someday he will be gone.

The Coup of the Century:

So we cut back to the Hyena’s who are squabbling amongst themselves until Scar comes in revealing himself as his boss.. something I didn’t bother to hide because this film is only slightly younger than I am. He, being a terrible boss as well as an even worse brother, is annoyed they didn’t do a murder on his nephew and when one jests that “what were we going to do kill mufasa”.. that’s exactly what Scar wanted and reveals his end game in the classic disney manner.. in a banger ofa villian song...

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...... what.

Fresh hell.

Is this?

How the hell did John Faverau, Disney, Chewetel Ejofor, and Mickey Mouse HIMSELF think that taking one of the most iconic, riviting, and just play badass villian songs of all time in both visual and music and making it into a spoken word piece even William Shatner and shooting it at one in the morning with no lighting whatsoever so I can’t tell if scar is in this much less the hyenas, think this was a good idea? No no no let me show you how it’s done...

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I know i’ve gushed about the other songs so far... and will abotu the ones remaning but holy. shit. This is, and this is with PLENTY of classic competition like “Friends on the Other Side”, “Hellfire”, “Poor Unfortunate Souls”, “Shiny”, and “Love is an Open Door”, without a doubt the BEST Disney Villian song. In just a few short minutes Scar shows WHY he’s so damn loved: the ego, the swagger, the cunning, giving the Hyean’s a cut of everything in exchange fo rbacking his plan> And all of this backed to gorgeous animation with three notable and awesome color phases: Green as Scar ramps up to his scheme, bragging about it and himself as only Jeremey Irons and Jim Cummings could, and gracefully moving, every bit of coreography as controlled and awesome as the lion himself.

Then we move to his big grand speech in a shade of stark, striking yellow as he gets his army and they mark in step, willing to serve him for a full belly, before moving to red as he makes it VERY clear whose in charge, that they need him and just who their fucking with. IT’s fucking gorgeous, horrifying and awesome all in one package.

And I did mentoin Jim Cummings but not for ed: See while Jeremey Irons is many awessome things a singer isn’t one of them, so while he could carry a tune well enough, a bit of the song was beyond him so Jim Cummings stepped in.. and you can’t tell the diffrence. The most I caught of jim was toward the end and even then he still sounds enough like Jeremy it’s not distracting and you’d NEVER tell if you weren’t looking for it.. I know because I COULDN’T tell last night, and only found out Jim filled in parts of the vocals in post. THAT’S how good he was. This song is straight fire and if i’ts not on any of your spotify playlists it damn well should be.

So Scar sets out his true plan and it’s a work of poetry. Poetry written by Lex Luthor but poetry none the less. He takes Simba to a canyon, and has him wait for his dad whose TOTALLY coming there and totally dosen’t know his brother dragged his nephew into a crevice to die.

He also tells the boy to practice his roar.. and told the hyenas to startle some nearbye wildebeasts the second it happened. This leads to an utterly horrifing and awesome sight as the poor child is caught in a storm of scared stamping hooves. One of the crew had the idea for this after seeing a stampeded of Wildebeasts on tv, but the rest of the crew were skeptical. Not because it wasn’t cool it was but because “how the hell could we pull this off.”. The answer was computers: they animated the beasts in CG, used cell shading to make them look real and then used a program to make the patterns random like a real stampede. The result.. is flawless. I genuinely can’t tell it’s the same drawing over and over again and the motion is frantic and terrifying and melds perfectly

Scar’s next step is to bring Mufasa to the stampede, and Zazu but he quickly takes care of that complicatoin, knockign the bird out in a way that dosen’t implicate himself. Mufasa is able to save Simba.. but finds himself stranded on the cliff begging scar to help him... which scar naturally responds to with “Long live the king” and throwing him off a cliff.

Before we get to his final master stroke, we get an utterly heartstomping scene. Simba goes to his dad’s corpse... and tries to get him to wake up. To obviously no avail it’s a dead body and this isn’t marvel. If it was.. he’d still be dead but he’d back in a few years or so. Maybe two. He’s a big enough character.

Point is it’s crushing and while Jonathan Taylor thomas can be mildly annoying, he’s mostly just endearing.. and oh so good at conveying this poor child having his soul crushed in front of your eyes.

Scar dosen’t help, feeding into Simba’s guilt over seemingly causing it and telling the boy to “run as far as you can and never come back”. Being a bastard though he dosen’t leave his bets at “hope the boy dosen’t come back and sends the hyenas after him. Simba BARELY escapes through some thorns due to his side and the Hyenas.. just let him go asuming he’ll die of heat stroke and presumibily told Scar he died. But despite this hole in things.. it still works. Scar is egostistical, he woudlnt’ dare presume his new minons would lie or that his nephew could POSSIBLY surivive out there and probably figured the hyena’s might have given up.. but it dosen’t matter. So yeah Scar completely and utterly wins and takes over and showss off his new army to the greiving masses.

Problem Free Philosophy:

So Simba, in one day has had his dad die, has been gaslighted into thinking he’s responsible, ran for his life and is now wandering the desert half dead surrounded by vultures ready to eat his corpse when he dies aka in a few minutes at best.

So jus tas he’s abotu to die he meets two new friends, protectors and replacement dads Timon and Pumbaa, played by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, aka america’s gay uncle and that guy what owned a resort on saved by the bell respectively.

The duo were part of the film for some time, being fellow childhood friends of Simbas, but that was removed as it really undercut the whole food chain aspect. The two were later reinstated and reformed after Lane and Sabella, who had been doing a stage show together, riffed while auditioning for the hyenas and a month later got the call that not only did they get cast afterall after assuming they blew it, but that they riffed off each other SO well they WROTE parts just for them. The two also filled in a key gap: being the ones tha tboth took care of simba while he was in exile but also taught him to be lazy and avoid his problems.

The two do so as they take him into the jungle, the mighty jungle, not carring that he dosen’t want to talk about his past and intorducing the kid to bugs and to their fun and fancy free life. These two characters.. are awesome. Their funny, endearing and while slackers you get why: the jungle turned i’ts back on them.. so when given the chance they don’t turn their back on Simba, instead taking him in as their own. Granted Timon later implies part of it is protection from predators... but he still took in a kid who could’ve decided “nope i’m going to eat you” and raised him with his commonlaw husband best he could, a kid who clearly had lost everything, didn’t want to talk about why, and was far from home and scared. Timon may be a bit of a jerk at time but it’s clear at his core he’s a good person. Pumbaa on the other hand is just friendly and loveable.

The two outline their philosphy in the all time classic Hakuna Matata, which means no worries for the rest of your day. It’s another lively, iconic number iwth gorgeous visuals and is just a nice, happy break after the misery and terror of Mufasa’s death, Simba’s exile and Scar’s takeover. This was intentional: to prvent things from getting too dour but felt organic: by the time Simba runs into the two, just enough space has been given by the vulcture scene to transition back into comedy, and there’s still enough pathos in their first interaction, with Simba still heavily depressed and content to die in the desert till Timon and PUmbaa talk him into coming with, to have it not be TOO jarring. The lack of Simba telling them his story also means when his past comes crashing in on his present later, their utterly floored making for good interactions.

The song also has a really great transition, showing Simba slowly growing before becoming a full adult played by Matthew Brodrick who DOES do an excellent job and is a talented performer. I may not like ALL his performances, Ferris Buller and Godzilla specifically aren’t great for writing reasons even if he treis his best, but he’s a damn fine human being as far as I can tell and is still acting his ass off today.

One final note is that Jim Cummings admitted in the Oral History that he and Jess Harnell, yes Wakko Jess Harnell, sung the song first, as Lane and Sabella not being trained in music at the time, had trouble keeping in time and this gave them a guideline. Jim is also the one who came up with the whole when I was a young warthog bit, which naturally stayed.

Romance Subplot Because Shut Up:

Scar has suprisingly fucked up as king, with the Hyean’s growing restless because they ran out of food and Scar stubbornly refusing to go anywhere else.

Okay enough of that back in the jungle, the mighty jungle, Timon and Pumba are goofing off only to find some peril at the hands of a grown up Nala Thankfully Simba’s around and easily matches her and the two fight for a bit before recognizing each other and then chuckling it up and everything with Timon understandably pissed off that Simba is suddenly chummy with the woman who just tried to eat his husband.

The two banter, Pumba accepts her and Nala and Simba catch up: Simba explains he escaped, nala explains she went looking for help and it’s all okay now because Simba will come back and be king and everyone will dance and skip.

Yeah SHOCKINGLY the traumatized... however old Simba is, dosen’t want to go back still thinking he killed his dad and not knowing how bad it’s gotten, figuring his good uncle scar is in charage and totally didn’t rule with an iron fist.

The two go off to talk anyway with Timon convinced they lost him as he now found a love intrest as Can You Feel The Love Tonight plays over the two bonding and reconnecting.

This song... is my least faviorite. It’s also the last new one, so it’s an eh note to go out on. Now don’t get it twisted it is a pretty damn good song.. they all are there’s a reason this soundtrack sold like gangbusters, including one copy to Sabella himself who was shocked to find he was on said soundtrack. And this is sir Elton John wirting a love ballad, the man’s words are like silk.

It’s issue is context: the others help push the story forward help move it and help emote things... this one.. tries to use a ballad to massage the fact these are two people who haven’t seen each other in a decade and end up together because the 90′s thought men and women coudln’t be friends without wanting to hump one another unless one of them was gay. It’s just.. the weakest part of the film and while it dosen’t drag the film down, it does just sorta drag for a second.

The argument after dosen’t helpas Nala outlines just how BAD things are: food is gone, Scar let the hyenas in (which we knew btu Simba didn’t) and things are very dire, with her having come for help. Simba however.. i sa tad annoying as he refuses to just admit the father thing and instead says “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND MY PAINNNNNN I CAN’T TELL YOU..... IT’S TOOOOOOO BADDDDD I CAN’T HELLLPPPP YOUUUU OR MY MOMMMMMMYYYYY I’M GONNAAAA RUNN OFFF FNOOWWW” Okay that may not be the dialouge EXACTLY but my brain is a bit fuzzy sometimes. It’s what I heard anyway.

So Simba Runs Off to Cry:

And ends up finding Rafiki, who found out Simba was alive via his magic skills... after what was clearly a decade or whatever.

So he goes to find Simba whose moping in the savannah and helps the boy. By giving him a swift knock on the head. But more improtantly we get a really cool, really powerful metaphorical moment as Rafiki reinforces what his dad taught: Those we love aren’t really gone.. they live on.. but not in the stars, though they kinda do we’ll see in a second.. but inside us. He has Simba look at the water and realize that his reflection looks just like his dad.. his dad died.. but his spirit, what he taught his son, the love he gave him and the lessons simba learned form him are there.

So then Simba hears his dad and finds his cloud head in the sky with an important message

I mean basically. He tells him he must take his place, face his past and become his future and we get a really tearful bit as simba runs after his dad’s ghost cloud. But with this the boy finally realizes he can’t keep running, that he can’t keep trying to avoid who he was and has to face his mistakes and be the man his father knows he can be.

Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss:

So Simba returns home, horrified at what he sees.. and soon joined by Nala, Timon and Pumbaa. Simba is determined to take his crown and dethrone the asshole. And come up with a plan... live bait. No really Simba’s plan is “have my friends distract the hyena hoard and hope they don’t die”. And timon’s actual response is “what do you want me to do put on drag and sing the hula”

Cue a really funny and as it turns out improvised song as Timon sings a song and uses his husband as a lure and the two book it, leaving Simba clear and free to confront scar.

Speaking of Scar, Simba’s mother’s already confronting him, pointing out there IS no food and they need to leave. Scar naturally attacks her... only to stop when Simba arrives, utterly horrified as it looks like his brother has come back from the dead. Simba awakes his mother the same way he did as a kid and i’ts cute.

But as the title said Scar quickly rebounds and is like...

I mean i’ts not wrong: he brings up the daeth, but without context and while Simba rightly protests it was an accidnet Scar uses that to back the stronger lion off and scare him up onto the cliff of pride rock.. with things only getting worse when lighting hits lighting everything in hellish fire.

It’s then Scar makes what both jess and I call his one REALLY dumb move of the movie. Like this one unlike the hyena’s thing and not checking them has no excuse other than just pure ego: Scar tells simba he killed his dad ..... which this being a movie Simba gets his second wind, escapes near death and corners his now terrified uncle.

SO with that Scar puts some Ash in Simbas face and a fight insues, with our hero eventually winning the day and pinning scar long enough, with Scar blaming everything on the hyena’s.. who naturally hear it after getting their asses owned by the unambgiously gay duo, before being forced to say what he did to everyone exonerating the new king. Scar ends up falling into the fire.. but he dosen’t die. Oh no that’d be TOO nice. No the hyena’s find him, and all corner him, eyes glowing as Scar begs for his life, reduced from a master manipulator.. to what he truly is at his score: a scared, power hungry coward who got too greedy and let his own ego and sadisim eat him alive.. meatpahorically> The Hyenas are going to take care of making it VERY literal.

So with that the day is saved, the rain puts out the fire, and Simba asecneds and becomes king, and we end as we began, full circle of life with Simba and Nala welcoming their own daughter. I smell a sequel.

Yup the circle of life continues.. as does the need for DTV money. Though i’ll come back to that some other day.. maybe. I dunno.

Final Thoughts: This film is a masterpiece. It has flaws sure, i’ve listed them, but their all papered over by the story being SO good it self corrects any holes in it with stellar characterization and flawless voice acting. The cast is phenominal, the music is all classic from the bops of vocal songs to the uplfiting and engaging score, and the naimation STILL holds up nearly 30 years later. If you haven’t watched this one in a while do, it’s awesome.

So as I close this out i’d like to thank Kev for suggesting this review and for supporting me. I said it before and i’ll say it again.. your a good friend man. Thank you so much for the past year and a half and here’s to many more.

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all-souls-matinee · 4 years

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Scooby-Doo

This year my brother and I made the ill-advised decision to rewatch every single Scooby-Doo direct-to-vhs/dvd movie we did when we were kids, and the results were surprising enough that I thought I’d share them with all of you.

This will be a two-part post, because there were nine of them. Before we begin:

I graded these on a curve, i.e, how I would rate them out of the other Scooby films in the group rather than an overall score. The original four will be on a scale of 1-4 stars, the following five will be on a scale of 1-5

I don’t know how much value these ratings will have for people who don’t have any nostalgia for Scooby-Doo. Hopefully none

We did NOT watch Reluctant Werewolf or Ghoul School, not because we didn’t enjoy them as kids but because I simply didn’t want to look at Scrappy for an hour, as is my right

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)

★★★★

Zombie Island is not only the best Scooby-Doo movie ever made but is one of the best movies ever made. I know people like to hype it up, and as we sat down to watch I found myself doubting it deserved that level of praise considering, well, the everything about it. All doubts instantly vanished; the plot is rock-solid for a TV movie (the gang has been apart for some time and is reuniting to find a real ghost; return to status quo but with higher stakes), the animation is gorgeous, the soundtrack owns, and it’s genuinely frightening!

I won’t focus on my early memories of these movies since the point is to explain how well they hold up in 2020, but every kid I ever talked to on the school bus admitted how much Zombie Island freaked them out. Whether it was the zombies, the murderous pirates, the ghosts, or the surprise villains and their disgusting demise (the best twist!) it’s an intense story for children and makes for a perfect first horror movie. You also have the benefit of already caring about the main cast, and with surprisingly good writing/production on that end it leaves more room for developing the setting and supporting characters. Even characters that don’t talk have some of the best personalities in the whole franchise, and really sell you on the mixture of cartoon goofiness and supernatural threat.

Scooy-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999)

★☆☆☆

People have almost as much nostalgia for this one as they do Zombie Island and remember it being good because it’s the one with The Hex Girls, but we were WRONG. Witch’s Ghost somehow manages to do the opposite of everything its predecessor did right; the characters are weak and the writing and pacing are some of the worst in the series. Jokes land flat, action sequences leave you wondering where anything is in relation to each other, and the plot honestly could’ve been leant to a different movie. This one feels the least Mystery-Inc-focused of the franchise.

I will give it the benefit of having interesting ideas on paper; one of those story pitches that needed more editing than it got. Maybe they were too focused on the songs or creating an appropriately hammy but truly messed-up ending for Tim Curry (the movie’s two best features), but it leaves you wanting more. Or just wanting something else.

Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000)

★★★☆

I’ve seen this cited as the weakest movie in the lineup because it’s seemingly disinterested in the mystery and spends almost its entire runtime giving Scooby and Shaggy love interests, so I hoped my memory of the characters being good would be enough to outweigh all that. They went above and beyond.

The setup is actually one of the more grounded ones we get from these movies (car breaks down in the desert and the gang has to spend a few days in a small town), and yeah the mystery isn’t the most compelling but maybe for once it isn’t about the mystery you know? Maybe it’s about the worst imaginary love song you’ve ever heard performed at a diner right after being kidnapped off a crazy old artist’s roof. It’s all charming and completely bizarre, right up to the twist ending. There are threats of physical harm which gives it some credit on the ‘scary’ front, and on the comedy front everyone is hilarious? Especially Fred? It’s for literally no reason and we never see quite that kind of characterization from him or any of the others again. The real mystery was the friends we made along the way.

Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001)

★★☆☆

Cyber Chase has the opposite problem of Alien Invaders; sounds amazing on paper but doesn’t quite come together in the end. The mystery has a perfect amount of clues sprinkled in for a kid to be able to work out whodunnit, but the cast of characters is so small and boring anyone can do the same just by process of elimination. The pacing is set up so that the gang is fighting through ten levels of a video game, but we spend more than half the movie on just level 10 with the rest left to montage.

Great individual elements and plot, really bad pacing and characters (though my brother points out an evil computer virus is one of the better creature designs we’ve seen and I have to agree with them- sad trombone sound effect.) The good thing about this movie is that it features a heinous cover of the Scooby-Doo theme song by the B-52s that it does feel like a weirdly sweet and appropriate sendoff to the original series; with the early 2000s gang meeting their 60s-teenage-sleuth counterparts in VR, facing old foes, and saying goodbye and moving on. Fortunately or unfortunately, Warner Brothers was only just getting started.

(Part I) (Part II)

#scooby doo #halloween #halloween... recs?#not sure how to categorize these but they needed to be made

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tvguidancecounselor · 1 year

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TV Guidance Counselor Episode 576: Xanthe Pajarillo

April 12-18, 2003

This week Ken welcomes director-writer, podcaster and Air Force veteran Xanthe Pajarillo.

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twistedtummies2 · 3 years

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Gotham’s 31 Most Wanted - NUMBER ONE

The first month of the new year ends today. Ladies and gentlemen…undecided…fellow geeks and nerds alike…the hour has come. Today marks the end of Gotham’s 31 Most Wanted. All throughout January, I’ve counted down My Top 31 Favorite Batman Villains of All Time. Now, the time has arrived for me to unveil the wicked fiend at the top of the criminal heap. If you haven’t guessed who it is by now – especially if you know me fairly well – that’s quite a shock. But if you need a hint: he can’t be killed, that’s why they cast a Phoenix to play him. (And again, if you got that reference, you are awesome.) MY NUMBER ONE FAVORITE BATMAN VILLAIN IS…The Joker.

Now, for MOST of you reading this, this is probably neither a surprise nor a disappointment. The Joker – The Clown Prince of Crime – has been Batman’s nemesis practically since he was first created. The character first appeared in the first issue of Batman’s title series in 1940; the character had only been around for three years, and most of his villains prior to the Ace of Knaves never really “stuck,” so to speak. However, despite apparently dying in that first issue, the Joker was, at the last minute, given a second lease of life: someone on the team making Batman recognized the potential of the character, and a final panel of the comic was hastily slapped together, revealing that the Joker wasn’t actually dead. This began a long tradition for the character: over and over and over again, the Joker has seemingly died in horrible ways. He’s been stabbed, shot, electrocuted, drowned, torched, blown to bits, hit by automobiles, and has fallen from great heights, just to name a FEW of the ways the character has seemingly kicked the bucket…but, inevitably, the character pops up again, usually with no real explanation of HOW he survived, just to cause trouble once more. However, one could argue this also marked the beginning of a trend that, in recent years, has been seen more and more frequently: the OVERUSE of the Joker. You see, after that initial appearance in Batman #1, the Joker appeared over and Over and OVER again in multiple stories that followed, almost one after the other. And to this date, the character has appeared – both in and out of comics – more times than any other Batman Villain out there. Counting only live-action standalone theatrical films (and you will note how VERY specific that category is), the character has appeared in movies no less than FOUR times. In direct contrast, looking at the same category, most Batman Villains who have even gotten a CHANCE to appear in such movies don’t get more than one or two appearances. I think the only ones who have come close so far are Catwoman and Scarecrow, and in the latter’s case, that was because he appeared in all three “episodes” of the Dark Knight Trilogy. So, technically, there’s only one version of Jonathan Crane in this sector. And let’s not even THINK of other media beyond that, like animated features, TV shows and their spinoffs, direct-to-video movies, video games, et cetera and so on and Scooby-Dooby-Doo. (Literally, since he’s APPEARED in Scooby-Doo…multiple times…see what I mean?) As a result of this constant popping up over and over again, the character has, in recent years, received a bit of a backlash. It’s probably been around for a while, but the time when I heard it becoming most vocal was when the “Arkham” games came out. In “Arkham City,” you see, the character died, and many fans felt it was one of the best “True” deaths the character had. It was even meant to cap off a career, as it marked – at the time – what everybody thought would be the inimitable Mark Hamill’s last time playing the role. But just as he has in comics before, the Joker – and Hamill as the Joker – returned in later installments of the series, and many felt the Clown Prince was starting to poke his pale nose into places he really didn’t belong. More and more people were saying that the Joker was, while perhaps not necessarily OVERRATED as a villain, certainly OVERUSED: people wanted other Batman Villains to get the same focus and attention he was getting, and for DC to stop falling back on him as a way to get sales going and get fans interested. I must confess, despite my placing him here at the top…very recently, I’ve started having similar feelings. I needn’t discuss the…well…EVERYTHING that was Jared Leto’s Joker, and while I personally liked the TV series “Gotham,” the way they handled Joker/The Valeska Brothers is actually one of my personal biggest upsets with the series. Those are just two examples. However, it doesn’t annoy me as much as the overuse I’ve mentioned from his (ex?) girlfriend, Harley Quinn, who really, REALLY gets on my nerves with how she keeps popping up in places and in ways she really shouldn’t. It's for this reason some may feel that me placing the Joker as my favorite villain is too predictable, and perhaps not even fully deserved. But here’s the thing: being overused does NOT mean the character, by default, is bad. Do I wish other Batman Rogues would get more attention? WELL, DUH. I’d love to see a more comic-accurate take on Two-Face, or a film with Scarecrow as the main bad guy, or, heck, ANYTHING with Jervis Tetch on the silver screen. GOD. PLEASE. JUST….SOMETHING WITH JERVIS TETCH. But that doesn’t make me like the Joker, himself, any less. The ways he works and the reasons he works have been analyzed, argued, and even essayed upon so many times, I think not even HE would find it funny at this point; he’s a character who opens up discussion very easily, and you can see why his fate as the Dark Knight’s arch-nemesis was so quickly set. With all the horrible things he’s done to Batman over the years, no one is truly a more personal threat than him; sure, Bane broke his back, and sure, Catwoman and Talia have had many a romance with him, but it’s hard to say any of them have CONSISTENTLY proven to be as big a pain the neck as the Joker. He’s crippled friends, murdered allies – occasionally allowing them to return as villains themselves – and done numerous other atrocities that are pretty hard for ANY Batman Villain to top, not only in terms of how high the body count ranks, but in just how HORRIBLE the actions are and how meaningless the reasons frequently tend to be. He is, very simply, one of the most evil characters in literary history…and yet also one of the most entertaining. The genius of the Joker, generally speaking, is he makes you laugh and grin…but then you realize what you’re laughing at, and you almost feel nauseated. He is the Master of Dark Humor. Ever since I was a little boy, the Joker was pretty much always my favorite Batman Villain. And as time has gone on, that feeling has never truly wavered, and I doubt it ever will. In fact, as time has gone on, instead of liking the Joker less, I’ve only seemed to like him more and more; as a kid, I liked the character for his dark sense of humor, his eye-catching design, his zany gadgets and tricks, and his flair for the dramatic. As an adult, I find the philosophy of the character fascinating, I like seeing how different people interpret his origins, and I love to see how people continually toy with the twisted relationship he has with the Dark Knight. Much like Batman himself, he’s another one of those characters it’s just really hard to ruin…though Lord knows certain reimaginings have done their best to attempt THAT. Is he perhaps too popular and too focused on for his own good? Oh, almost undeniably…but at least he’s popular and focused on for a good reason, at the end of the day. It's better him than Killer Moth. The Joker: forever and always My Favorite Batman Villain…and, very possibly, my favorite villain of all time, period. “Laugh, Clown, Laugh.” Thank you all for joining me during the course of this countdown! I don’t know if I’ll do another one in the future; not sure what topic it may cover or what event it could be for. XD We’ll see what happens, but in any case, hope you all stay safe, and let’s hope 2021 shapes up better than 2020 as the New Year Rolls On…

#gotham's 31 most wanted #january advent calendar #new year's countdown #batman villains #batman #villains #dc #comics #supervillains #rogues gallery #joker #mr. j #clown prince of crime #ace of knaves #harlequin of hate

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