Muppet Babies - 20+ years later

[GonzoLeaper]

I've seen some of the Pac-Man cartoon- it's good fun. Especially the "Christmas Comes to PacLand" special- classic!
Saturday Supercade is good too- but The Super Mario Bros. Superh Show is definitely classic- grew up with that one. And The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 as well- somehow missed Super Mario World though- but all three are pretty good fun.

 

[Yorick]

I've seen some of the Pac-Man cartoon- it's good fun. Especially the "Christmas Comes to PacLand" special- classic!

Yeah! I love the Christmas one too, and the show in general is so much fun! It's very silly ("Play it cool! - PAC cool!") but that's part of the fun! I really love the way their town is, and the animation and the music and everything that contributes to the colorful happy vibe.

Saturday Supercade is good too- but The Super Mario Bros. Superh Show is definitely classic- grew up with that one. And The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 as well- somehow missed Super Mario World though- but all three are pretty good fun.

I agree Saturday Supercade is good. I am so glad youtube gave us the chance to see it, because I read about it on sites and wished I could see episodes of it!

And with the Mario shows, I must say, I liked SMB3, and I only recall the theme of SMW, but SMB Super Show was great, and I really loved the intro and outro skits with Danny Wells and Captain Lou! It was like the closest thing to a classic local show feel at that time Nothing like that now!

I read on the IMDB message boards (not sure if it was a SMB Super Show board, Danny board or Lou board) that Danny and Lou did appearances together not long before Lou passed away, and that were both the nicest people you could meet, and so very happy to talk to their fans.

 

[Drtooth]

Saturday Supercade is good too- but The Super Mario Bros. Superh Show is definitely classic- grew up with that one. And The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 as well- somehow missed Super Mario World though- but all three are pretty good fun.

Well, with SMW, I almost want to say not to bother. SMBSS and AOSMB3 are far better shows,... SMW barely gets out of the rut of plots about introducing new concepts to the cavemen and King Koopa exploiting it for his own purposed... something done MUCH better, BTW, on Kirby of the Stars. And there's only 2 or 3 good Captain N's paired with them... NEVER watch the one where they go to Hoopworld. That's one of the worst cartoons I've ever seen, and I LIKE Captain N. But SMW is kinda fun. I'd say get the single disks from N Circle, and save the money rather than getting the big box set. I got the box set, but only because I found it at a store that's now out of business... and it was 5 bucks before any clearance discounting.

 

[Fraggline]

and horrendous copycats (Baby Looney Tunes).

Yeah, I do think that show was sort of a copycat, though it was really quite entertaining. Half of me wonders how they even got away with making it! But, well, maybe some people really liked it--at the least, it's Muppet Babies times 2!

 

[Drtooth]

I'm sorry, but Baby Looney Tunes is outright garbage, along with that other pathetic attempt to make them "hip," Loonatics Unleashed.

Though, I will at least defend Loonatics to an extent for having an actually WATCHABLE second season, when they decided to have them fight futuristic versions of their own villains, instead of cheap stereotypical, derivative super hero fare. The Sylvester and Tweety one was actually.. choke... GOOD! The one with Porky Pig was pretty good too, actually. And, well, I'll also give them credit for the Parliment/Funkadellic references. Still a horrid version of the show. But Baby Looney Tunes? It's not just a knockoff because of the fact they're children. No. They willfully copied everything they could, right down to Granny in the Nanny role... come on, Baby Taz= Baby Animal. Only thing they didn't copy was the fact Muppet Babies was GOOD.

I support new Looney Tunes efforts as LONG as they keep to the integrity of the originals (I'm not a purist that thinks they should have died after Warners shut their shorts department down). Taz-Mania, Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Duck Dodgers, the newer theatricals... even the CGI Road Runner shorts... dunno about Looney Tunes Show, they keep delaying it... but those were all enjoyable and kept to the originals to certain extents. baby Looney Tunes didn't. No one got bonked on the head, eaten, waved pathetically to the camera when something was going down... they just sat their and did the stuff the Muppet babies did without the fun.

 

[Vic Romano]

An interesting and mature retrospective, D.W.! I haven't seen MB since it was airing original episodes. I liked it back then, and I'm relatively sure I'd like it now, if for no other reason then the nostalgia factor. I am sadly learning in my older age though, that a lot of that "classic" stuff from the 80's doesn't hold up. I was watching a few episodes from the first season of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, and it was impossible to sit through. Maybe it's because it was the very early episodes, maybe I was just such a huge GB fan when I was a kid, I overlooked it, or maybe it was because I had a direct defiance for the Filmation version. Either way, it's always intriguing when we dust off the old favs and see them again.

 

[Drtooth]

I personally find BOTH The Real Ghostbusters and Filmation's version to hold up very well... well, maybe there are some very mushy and lame episodes at the end of the run (the one where they're in the toy land clock sticks out in my mind)... and the Slimer! cartoons are virtually unwatchable. Even the unfairly maligned Extreme Ghostbusters is a great action film that holds up to the movie. One of the few movie based cartoons that does. Never watch Evolution Continued or whatever it was called... it took a movie that was slightly like Ghostbusters and turned it into a dead on rip-off, right down to the theme song (which sounded almost exactly like a parody of the famous GB anthem). The other Ghost Busters was very good too, a different tone and everything... Prime Evil is such an underrated 80's villain. I like him more than Skeletor.

I'm glad to say most of the stuff I rewatched held up... some groaners that were understandable but I still enjoyed them... only things that bug me are the girlier stuff I liked when I was very little because of the bright candy like colors. I try very hard not to let nostalgic feelings keep me from seeing how I truely feel about them... but I'm usually upbeat about most of the stuff I rediscovered or discovered for the first time. Didn't really get a chance at seeing Bravestarr until recently, and that one really holds up.

Still... Captain Planet brings back a "what was I thinking" feeling... but probably because I was more a fan of Toxic Crusaders...kiddy cartoon based on a hyperviolent adult's cult film? How is that not the dictionary definition of awesome... and I don't even like using that word.

 

[Yorick]

I personally find BOTH The Real Ghostbusters and Filmation's version to hold up very well...Prime Evil is such an underrated 80's villain. I like him more than Skeletor. Toxic Crusaders...kiddy cartoon based on a hyperviolent adult's cult film? How is that not the dictionary definition of awesome... and I don't even like using that word.

I agree on both Filmation's Ghostbusters and The "Real" Ghostbusters. I like both. I also like "Slimer!" but I totally understand why many wouldn't. I also agree on Prime Evil being great, and it was so cool to learn that's Alan voicing him, since he did Skeletor tooAs for Toxic Avengers being based on an R movie Toxic Crusader, it reminds me of how they made Robocop cartoons also based on an R movie...and I'm sure there are others like Rambo.

 

[Yorick]

MB/Felix/Care Bears/Pac Man and Smurf records etc

Overall, it's strange to see an American classic made into a Japanese series... only other one I can think of is Little Lulu... sadly I can only find the "Bullet" holed American version of the theme...(don't get me started on Bullets... "ooh that One Piece Rap sucked" those guys never watched a anime dubbed before 1999! Shudder... Harmony Gold... worse name than 4Kids, lemme tell ya!)... sorry about that tangent. Now, I'm not counting the American shows animated in Japan for American audiences that used classic characters (Muppet Babies being one of them), but straight up Japanese versions of Western comics.

I never knew that about Little Lulu, Bullets, or Harmony Gold, actually...when did this happen?

With Felix, I know what you mean about the 1960's halted way of speaking like the 60's Chipmunks, and I will look for "Twisted Tales." Ever see the Felix movie, or play the NES game?
I didn't know about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeAaTgZNHH4

About Care Bears, yes, there was an adventure aspect of the Nelvana produced ones, (I recall liking how strange-in-a-good-way the pre-Nelvana specials were) and I loved Movie 1 and Wonderland - I don't think I saw Movie 2 or Nutcracker. And you gotta love Beastly! And yes, John Stocker's got a great voice!

And once again, I gotta agree Muppet Babies is one of the best! Love it, love it, love it! I especially love the Gonzo and Animal moments, not just "Go Bye Bye" which is great, but also just on the show. Ha, a lot of moments with Animal are my favorites. Animal teaching Scooter that "messy" art is better than computer art, and Animal in that comic with Fozzie! HA! Hilarious!

I shall look into the English takes of the Smurf comic, and I will even sooner if the chance at a library or bookstore comes around as you suggest - good idea

Even the less than great Pac Man and Smurf songs on the records are cool because of the early 80's feel (to me, anyway!) but there are some really cool songs by both Pac Man and the Smurfs. However, the second Pac Man album is pretty bad, 80's or not, I have to say I wasn't a big fan. But I will listen once more maybe just in case it grows on me! If I find the link I'll post it here! Or maybe in it's own thread, actually.

 

[Drtooth]

I agree on both Filmation's Ghostbusters and The "Real" Ghostbusters. I like both. I also like "Slimer!" but I totally understand why many wouldn't. I also agree on Prime Evil being great, and it was so cool to learn that's Alan voicing him, since he did Skeletor tooAs for Toxic Avengers being based on an R movie Toxic Crusader, it reminds me of how they made Robocop cartoons also based on an R movie...and I'm sure there are others like Rambo.

Well, the story is that part of the agreement between both Columbia and Filmation for the use of the name, Filmation was to do the series based off the movie. But things fell through and Columbia went to DIC, and Filmation decided to do it themselves based on their version.

I've said it a million times, but it was one of the most unfortunate co-incidences in entertainment history, right up there with Dennis the Menace. Us Americans will remember a blond haired little kid who thinks he's more helpful than he really is, and getting into trouble and annoying Mr. Wilson. The UK will remember a spikey black haired boy who actually WAS a menace. It wouldn't seem strange... but BOTH were created at the same time.

Now, with the movie Ghostbusters, the title was originally Ghostsmashers (among others) and the name was changed, not to reflect the 1970's Filmation show they were clearly unaware of (the writers would've been too old to bother watching Saturday morning shows, let alone one that lasted only a season), but an even older film called Spook Busters (to add to the confusion, guess what the working title of that was called!)... clearly both Filmation and the movie team were aware of that film.

So anyway, back to what I was saying about the cartoon... I'm sure the cartoon we know as Real Ghostbusters would have turned out similar to Filmation's series, which just wouldn't have fit (dispatcher villain in most of the series especially)... but instead we got 2 very good cartoons instead of one alright cartoon.

That said, the sequence in Ghostbusters 2 where the kids sing "Who ya gonna call? HE-MAN!" ... I still think that was a kind of jab at Filmation.

I never knew that about Little Lulu, Bullets, or Harmony Gold, actually...when did this happen?

With Felix, I know what you mean about the 1960's halted way of speaking like the 60's Chipmunks, and I will look for "Twisted Tales." Ever see the Felix movie, or play the NES game?
I didn't know about this:

Long story short... the little Lulu anime is from the 70's... I think it was distributed by Ziv international outside Japan. I only knew of its existence because there were all these odd anime (Americanized) theme songs in a line of promos at the end of a Gumby tape I used to have. I saw a couple episodes, and even though Lulu's dub voice doesn't fit, it's pretty good. But drastically different from the Lulu shorts.

Harmony Gold (mentioned in a tangent) was a dubbing/distribution company. They were responsible for Robotech among others... they did the dubbing of the horrid Toei animation version of Marvel Comics Tomb of Dracula movie... they also did pilot dubs for Dragon Ball (I've seen the movies), Dr. Slump (which was actually pretty close to the original) and Muteking... the fact that we ALMOST grew up with those series saddens me that they weren't picked up. However, they were INFAMOUS for taking an entire series, or two completely different shows and mushing and crushing and squashing them together to either make a DTV movie or a TV series. They took Captain Harlock and Queen Millenia, and made it into one series for example.

As for the Bullets... they were a session band that recorded new music, mostly for Harmony Gold, but also for a couple others... let's just say anime fans of today would flip out and I can't blame them.

Now, the Felix movie, I heard too much bad stuff about to finish. I saw some of it and felt it was less than meh. Now, when it comes to my favorite Felix bits, the original silent cartoons, the 60's series and Twisted Tales... I think those are all the tops. There was even a pretty good Felix comic published in the 90's... wish I didn't give up on it due to financial restraints when I did.