Courtesy of a conversation in the pub today, a bitter disappointment when I last tangled with free to air US TV last year and seen as I now have enough TV shows and films to sort me for a few months I though I would try and add some cartoons to the pile and hopefully foster a bit of discussion.
Note that there are several existing threads on anime and while a good anime is appreciated I was hoping for some western cartoons. Fantasy (swords and sorcery/medieval/viking sort of thing) is what I am really after but anything as I will hopefully demonstrate shortly is OK by me. I am not after anything aimed explicitly at kids either although a good cartoon is appreciated regardless.
I would appreciate it if people would say how difficult it is to get ahold of the cartoon (DVD + everything, VHS only, readily available otherwise or do I have to venture into fan forums and learn the secret handshake before a late night and exchange of brown bagged items/cash.
A lot of the stuff from the last 7 odd years has flown over my head which probably makes the paragraph above fall at the first hurdle but hey.
Onto the list and in order that I remember them as I am typing.
Sharky and George ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRdCoXI6Hq8...feature=related )
I saw the English dub on normal UK TV (probably channel 4) whenever it appeared on it. It dealt with a duo of crime fighting fish in a underwater take of a 1930's prohibition type US city.
Apparently only released on VHS in the late 90's (and consequently very rare) although there is a petition
http://www.classickidstv.co.uk/wiki/Sharky_and_George
Trapdoor
Clay animation about a servent to a dark creature of some form
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe2vpM_eJRw
DVDs available in R2 (not sure about other regions) for next to nothing (at least on amazon).
Avatar the last airbender.
3 series (called "books" if you look it up), 6 shows left to air (and should do before the end of the summer)
Fan site (in my mind better than the official one) http://avatarspirit.net/
Follows a young martial arts type as he attempts to restore peace to the world.
DVDs, TV, internet should all be able to drag stuff up for you.
Starship troopers: the series/ Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles.
Based somewhere between the films and the books.
DVDs released as short films (condensed from the shows and out of broadcast order) and alas never actually finished
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190198/
Follows a squad of said troopers going by the title Roughnecks and more specifically the exploits of Johnny Rico normally from the perspective of the cameraman attached to the unit. I would have gone for a darker tone but it is still damn good.
For a fan of the films I did not care much for the first film (I watched it after the series) but liked the second. The book was fairly good sci-fi in my opinion although as is often the case somewhat eclipsed by later works and I quite liked the RTS game.
Metalocalypse. Follows the events of a sort of parallel world where a death metal band (dethklok) is the "greatest cultural force". Series 1 is finished and on DVD while series 2 is currently on mid series break (back this evening if I am not mistaken: http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/ )
UBOS: short for ultimate book of spells although usually just called ubos. Laugh at me if you will but I like it, set in a school for witches and wizards and details the exploits of a three students attempting to fight a banished wizard.
I see it occasionally on POP in the UK (one of the channels which seems to exist solely on older cartoons: original transformers up really which is OK by me) but nothing about a DVD can be dragged up in a quick search
Dexter's lab. A boy genius has a lab and the show follows his experiments, his competition with his rival(s) and other stuff closely tied to it. (Also spawned a great GBA chess game)
Ironically only an R4 DVD release exists of the first series, the second is supposedly to appear in about a month.
Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy/Grim and Evil during pilot. Features a rastafarian grim reaper, need I saw more?. None the less the grim reaper is tricked into being slaves for two kids and it follows their adventures. The main reason I like it I figuire is because of the frequent swipes at life in general (a popular theme among TV shows, films, books..... I utilise).
First series DVD hit around September last year and a few other shows/films have also appeared.
Transformers: I am mainly talking about the original series set in more or less the same universe as the film (with the film pretty much finishing the series). Leaving aside a diatribe I have been wanting to write on how the live action film last year may have been the worst thing mankind has made in the "if an alien came down..." scenario since [insert name of choice in the porn film world] the original series was not bad (although pales like most things compared to the Transformers: The movie.) All manner of DVDs and rips are available, try and find the broadcast versions if possible as the DVDs are missing scenes and such. I see the odd episode on POP in the UK too.
I will leave some for everyone else to fill in but rocko's modern life, ren and stimpy, rex the runt, stressed eric, Family Guy, American Dad, Xmen (original although evolution was not bad either), most Marvel cartoons, a lot of DC comics cartoons also feature in such a list.
Also I have to work it in but Minnie the Moocher:
http://cinemaniacal.com/video/betty-boop-minnie-the-moocher
Note that there are several existing threads on anime and while a good anime is appreciated I was hoping for some western cartoons. Fantasy (swords and sorcery/medieval/viking sort of thing) is what I am really after but anything as I will hopefully demonstrate shortly is OK by me. I am not after anything aimed explicitly at kids either although a good cartoon is appreciated regardless.
I would appreciate it if people would say how difficult it is to get ahold of the cartoon (DVD + everything, VHS only, readily available otherwise or do I have to venture into fan forums and learn the secret handshake before a late night and exchange of brown bagged items/cash.
A lot of the stuff from the last 7 odd years has flown over my head which probably makes the paragraph above fall at the first hurdle but hey.
Onto the list and in order that I remember them as I am typing.
Sharky and George ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRdCoXI6Hq8...feature=related )
I saw the English dub on normal UK TV (probably channel 4) whenever it appeared on it. It dealt with a duo of crime fighting fish in a underwater take of a 1930's prohibition type US city.
Apparently only released on VHS in the late 90's (and consequently very rare) although there is a petition
http://www.classickidstv.co.uk/wiki/Sharky_and_George
Trapdoor
Clay animation about a servent to a dark creature of some form
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe2vpM_eJRw
DVDs available in R2 (not sure about other regions) for next to nothing (at least on amazon).
Avatar the last airbender.
3 series (called "books" if you look it up), 6 shows left to air (and should do before the end of the summer)
Fan site (in my mind better than the official one) http://avatarspirit.net/
Follows a young martial arts type as he attempts to restore peace to the world.
DVDs, TV, internet should all be able to drag stuff up for you.
Starship troopers: the series/ Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles.
Based somewhere between the films and the books.
DVDs released as short films (condensed from the shows and out of broadcast order) and alas never actually finished
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190198/
Follows a squad of said troopers going by the title Roughnecks and more specifically the exploits of Johnny Rico normally from the perspective of the cameraman attached to the unit. I would have gone for a darker tone but it is still damn good.
For a fan of the films I did not care much for the first film (I watched it after the series) but liked the second. The book was fairly good sci-fi in my opinion although as is often the case somewhat eclipsed by later works and I quite liked the RTS game.
Metalocalypse. Follows the events of a sort of parallel world where a death metal band (dethklok) is the "greatest cultural force". Series 1 is finished and on DVD while series 2 is currently on mid series break (back this evening if I am not mistaken: http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/ )
UBOS: short for ultimate book of spells although usually just called ubos. Laugh at me if you will but I like it, set in a school for witches and wizards and details the exploits of a three students attempting to fight a banished wizard.
I see it occasionally on POP in the UK (one of the channels which seems to exist solely on older cartoons: original transformers up really which is OK by me) but nothing about a DVD can be dragged up in a quick search
Dexter's lab. A boy genius has a lab and the show follows his experiments, his competition with his rival(s) and other stuff closely tied to it. (Also spawned a great GBA chess game)
Ironically only an R4 DVD release exists of the first series, the second is supposedly to appear in about a month.
Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy/Grim and Evil during pilot. Features a rastafarian grim reaper, need I saw more?. None the less the grim reaper is tricked into being slaves for two kids and it follows their adventures. The main reason I like it I figuire is because of the frequent swipes at life in general (a popular theme among TV shows, films, books..... I utilise).
First series DVD hit around September last year and a few other shows/films have also appeared.
Transformers: I am mainly talking about the original series set in more or less the same universe as the film (with the film pretty much finishing the series). Leaving aside a diatribe I have been wanting to write on how the live action film last year may have been the worst thing mankind has made in the "if an alien came down..." scenario since [insert name of choice in the porn film world] the original series was not bad (although pales like most things compared to the Transformers: The movie.) All manner of DVDs and rips are available, try and find the broadcast versions if possible as the DVDs are missing scenes and such. I see the odd episode on POP in the UK too.
I will leave some for everyone else to fill in but rocko's modern life, ren and stimpy, rex the runt, stressed eric, Family Guy, American Dad, Xmen (original although evolution was not bad either), most Marvel cartoons, a lot of DC comics cartoons also feature in such a list.
Also I have to work it in but Minnie the Moocher:
http://cinemaniacal.com/video/betty-boop-minnie-the-moocher
