You Ever Notice...and What's the Deal...

[Sgt Floyd]

And Zaxby's too... now, there isn't a Zaxby's in my town, so I don't really know what they're all about, but I'm to believe that they're a chicken place, right? Well, okay, I guess that's no big deal, I like chicken, and I guess it doesn't hurt to have as many chicken places as there are burger joints (McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Krystal, whatever), but if I didn't know any better from their advertisements, I'd assume Zaxby's is a milkshake shop that likes to have random and obscure celebrities endorse them, like when Ryan Stiles hawked theirbirthday cake milkshake, or how Wayne Brady is currently hawking banana puddin' milkshakes, now all that's left is for Colin Mochrie to hawk a beaver tail milkshake and they'll be all set. And what's the deal with "zalads"? Did they get in trouble for copyright infringement or something? Is the word "salad" a registered trademark that they can't use, so they settled with "zalad"? But again, if this is a chicken place, then why should we care about the salads and milkshakes they have? I like salads and milkshakes, but what about the chicken? What kind of chicken do they have? How is it any different from KFC, or Chick-Fil-A, or Wishbone's?

Yes, they are a chicken place. Their slogan is, I kid you not, "Real Chicken." That's it. I've never seen these milkshake commercials you speak of, then again, I've never seen any commercials for them.

Now personally, I never liked KFC or Chick-Fil-A's chicken. KFC I just don't like period. Its too greasy and I don't care for how bland their chicken tastes. Chick-Fil-A always tasted processed to me. And their chicken is kinda rubbery... so by default, I prefer Zaxby's chicken over the other two. Never heard of Wishbone's.

I've never paid attention to most of their menu. I get something called like the Big Znack Snack Meal or some crazy name like that which is chicken strips, fries, and garlic toast.

The fries are seasoned, but I can't place the seasoning. Its not Bay seasoning and its not Cajun seasoning like on Popeyes...it almost has a slightly spicy cheesy taste. I say cheesy being the only word possibly used to describe it, but its not cheese.

Now the real highlight are the cheese bites, which are mozzarella nuggets. The breading is different than whats on a usual cheese stick. They are AMAZING, especially with honey mustard.

 

[minor muppetz]

Back in 1955, Warner Bros. sold its black and white Looney Tunes shorts (only to get the rights back in the 1960s), and during this time, the Warner bros. opening and closings were replaced with new opening and closing logo sequences, as well as editing any instance of the WB logo appearing on-screen elsewhere (as far as I know the only shorts to have additional images of the logo are Porky in Wackyland and You ought to Be in Pictures). But then in 1959 Warner Bros. sold the rest of its pre-1948 cartoons, and the various companies that had owned the rights between 1959 and 1997 never had to remove the opening and closing sequences (well, I wasn't alive until 1984, but I assume it hadn't been removed before then). The a.a.p. logo would often be shown before the WB logo sequence, but that's it (I'm surprised MGM didn't add its logo sequence to the shorts).

Also, I wonder why the Harmin-Ising Merrie Melodies were not included with the rest of the black and white shorts that were sold in 1955. The non-Harmin-Ising Merrie Melodies were included, and I know that the first Merrie Melody, Lady Play Your Mandolin, was not part of the pre-1948 package. I wonder how that one escaped being part of it (I would assume it was sold with the other black and white cartoons in 1955, but it is my understanding that that particular short had not been seen since its original 1931 release until its inclusion in the 2000 Toon Heads special "The Lost Warner Bros. Cartoons").

In many of the Berenstain Bears books (including "Forget Their Manners", "Too Much TV", and "Too Much Junk Food") Mama Bear manages to get the rest of the family to break their bad habits, but how come Mama always has to be perfect in what she's trying to accomplish? I know she doesn't share the same habits as the rest of the family and wants to better them, and in "Too Much TV" she mentions that she does like watching TV (but doesn't like it when the family just watches TV all the time), but wouldn't it have been great if in "Forget Their Manners" she forgot her manners at one point for some reason? Showing that even she could be rude given the right circumstance?

I recently saw the Bernstain Bears TV show adaptation of "Forget Their Manners", and noticed that in the first instance of Papa Bear having to do a chore for not remembering his manners, she then gives him more chores for not thanking her for giving him something to do the chore with (I think it was a duster). Considering Papa didn't want to do that extra chore, would it have really been neccessary for him to thank her for making him do it? When somebody gets punished, is it fair to expect them to actually thank you for punishing them?

 

[minor muppetz]

How come the Walt Disney anthology series had many title changes over the years? From Disneyland to The Wonderful World of Color to The Magical World of Disney and even simply titled Walt Disney at one point. Couldn't it have just kept its title for its entire run? I can see maybe justifying changing the Disneyland title (because it's not just a show about Disneyland), and maybe changing to The Wonderful World of Color because of the show's switch to color (though I've read that the show had always been produced in color). And I guess a title change can be neccessary in cases where the anthology series had been off the air for awhile (but why not just consider it a different Disney anthology series?). It's kinda funny how two of the shows titles were "Walt Disney's Wonderful World" and "The Wonderful World of Disney", two very similar titles (though the change didn't occur back-to-back, I don't think).

I also kinda wonder this about the various Bugs Bunny shows. There's been many different titles, like The Bugs Bunny Show, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour, and The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Most books and websites about television lump all those shows in one entry (while often having seperate entries for other Looney Tunes shows). It makes sense for the first few examples, as The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show and Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour were combinations of The Bugs Bunny Show and The Road Runner Show, and they continued to have the Bugs Bunny Show bridging sequences until the late-1970s, and most of these shows have the "This is It" theme, but I've often considered most of the Looney Tunes shows to be different from each other (even though most of them are just airings of the classic shorts, with no new footage).

And speaking of that, anybody notice how the Looney Tunes entry at tvshowsondvd.com lists it as The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour, even though there are no Looney Tunes DVDs with that particular opening?

And was The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie given that title to tie in with The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show? It would make sense, and before I knew about the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show I thought it was weird that Road Runner's name was in the title despite not co-hosting or being featured as much as Bugs.

And why is Daffy out front with Bugs on stage in the This is It opening? It's called The Bugs Bunny Show, Daffy should be in the chorus line (or it should be made clear his dancing with Bugs was an attempt to sabotage the performance). It's even weirder in the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show and Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show openings since Road Runner and Tweety still have to be in the chorus line with the others while Daffy is paired with Bugs.

And is it just me or does Cartoon Network not have a special title for its current broadcasts of the Looney Tunes shorts? It seems like when they start they just start with the cartoons, skipping a special opening. Not that it matters, but it is kind of interesting.

 

[Drtooth]

What's the deal with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic having a large male fan base? As far as I know neither show was aimed at males, and I don't think many males would have watched the original series if they didn't have to (I admit I did watch the show at least twice, can't remember why, I reckon I watched because there was a girl there watching), so it's not like there's a big nostalgiac factor. I know there are fans of the show on the forum... Can any of you explain the male audience appeal of the new show (I've never watched it, don't have The Hub)?

Like I've said before... the writing is sharp. That gives it a multi-demographic appeal. It's done so that little girls can watch this with a parent and not want to blow their heads off. Girl's cartoons tend to... well... suck. And I put that politely. Bratz is one of the worst things to happen to little girls... the cartoon that came with it was the second worst thing. There's some unwritten rule that girls can only be heroes if they're super duper pretty and have tea parties. That's why I like things like Jem, She-Ra, and especially Pepper Ann. We need strong female role models in a show specifically targeting a female Demographic (I don't really count Word Girl or PPG, since they were made for multiple demographics. Of course, PPG had a make up kit ).

But the real reason... There were 2 articles... one lamenting the death of creator owned cartoons (only because The Hub had a network... since then, we've seen nothing but creator driven cartoons outside of the 2 Transformers shows, that G.I. Joe Series, and MLP) and another of an overly analytical uber feminist that poked holes in the new MLP by watching barely one episode and thrusting her "are you kidding me?" agendas onto it. For a larf, someone on 4Chan watched the show to see if it was really that bad, and it wasn't. I needn't add more to the conversation, because it's 4Chan... and I swear some of the Bronies are Bronies ironically for the lulz.

And the internet acts like it's the only fanbase that has perverted guys drawing cartoon porn. If that was so, I could look up any cartoon series with a safe search off and not be exceedingly disgusted. Last time I checked, the Cattillac Cats, Rescue Rangers and Sonic fanbase was also tainted.

 

[minor muppetz]

What's the deal with the third "New Super Mario Bros." game being "The New Super Mario Bros. 2", while the other sequels just use the system titles ("New Super Mario Bros. Wii" and "New Super Mario Bros. U")? I haven't played The New Super Mario bros. U, but all three games all feel like the same game but on different systems. Yes, I know there are significant differences, but the differences don't seem different enough (though I do like all of "The New Super Mario Bros." games that I've played... But hey, if they're all basically the same and one is good then they're all good).

Also, most of the Mario Kart games have the systems in the titles (Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart Wii... the original Super Mario Kart for Super Nintendo might even count since that's the only one with "Super" in the title, which was common for both Super Nintendo and Mario games), but then the most recent one is just titled Mario Kart 7. The only one with a sequel number in the title. And it's not even truly the seventh Mario Kart game (Namco released two for the arcades, which I assume Nintendo doesn't count, but if you count those then Mario Kart 7 is actually the ninth Mario Kart game).

 

[minor muppetz]

Was Shrek meant to be for kids and adults or just older audiences? I remember when Shrek first came out, I assumed it was for teens and up (though my younger brother saw it with me at the theater), but shortly after somebody referred to Shrek as a "kids movie", surprising me... And then it seems like the sequels were all more kiddie. It's been a long time since I last saw any of them... Did Shrek start out as an "older kids" franchise and eventually become more juvenile as they became popular?

On a similar note, I've noticed that The Simpsons is pretty much for older kids and adults (though my parents did let me watch it a bit when it was new), but most of the merchandise (expecially during the early 1990s) seems to be aimed at kids. Of course there is merchandise for the collectors and adult fans as well, but it seems there's just as much Simpsons merchandise aimed at younger kids (the comic book seems like a good example, as do the various video games).

 

[Drtooth]

What's the deal with the third "New Super Mario Bros." game being "The New Super Mario Bros. 2", while the other sequels just use the system titles ("New Super Mario Bros. Wii" and "New Super Mario Bros. U")? I haven't played The New Super Mario bros. U, but all three games all feel like the same game but on different systems. Yes, I know there are significant differences, but the differences don't seem different enough (though I do like all of "The New Super Mario Bros." games that I've played... But hey, if they're all basically the same and one is good then they're all good).

I can't wrap my head around the sequels they had back in the days of Gameboy, SNES, and N64.

Super Mario World was named Super Mario Bros 4 internationally. Then came Yoshi's Island... it's called Super Mario World 2... and I swear there was a Yoshi's Island 2. Not to mention the first Wario game was Super Mario Land 3... and then there was Wario Land 2.

What's up with that?

 

[D'Snowth]

Yoshi's Island was intended to be a prequel to Super Mario World, due to Yoshi's popularity.

 

[D'Snowth]

Was Shrek meant to be for kids and adults or just older audiences? I remember when Shrek first came out, I assumed it was for teens and up (though my younger brother saw it with me at the theater), but shortly after somebody referred to Shrek as a "kids movie", surprising me... And then it seems like the sequels were all more kiddie. It's been a long time since I last saw any of them... Did Shrek start out as an "older kids" franchise and eventually become more juvenile as they became popular?

DreamWorks always had a reputation for kind of pushing the limits as far as family movies go: on the animated front, ANTZ was essentially a darker and edgier version of A BUG'S LIFE, and on the live action front, while MOUSEHUNT is labeled as being a kid's movie, it contains some swearing and some suggestive humor throughout. The same can be said with SHREK, I think in that case, DreamWorks was wanting to distinguish themselves from Pixar and other studios (since CGI movies were still relatively new and Pixar kind of had a monopoly on them back then), that could be why SHREK was considerably edgier than most CGI movies at the time. I think because they were becoming successful as a studio, and because kids make up a large majority of their audience, that that's why they probably toned their movies down a tad, as you're right, the Shrek sequels are more kid-friendly, and any kind of "adult" humor is more subtle and goes over the kids heads (again, I saw SHREK THE THIRD in theaters, and when the villains turned Ye Olde Pottery into Ye Olde Hooters, the entire audience burst into laughter... all except a little girl sitting next to me, who turned to her mother and asked, "What's so funny?"). DreamWorks DID have one other more adult CGI movie with SHARKTALE, and it even had a PG-13 rating, but then again, that one was a blatant spoof of movies like THE GODFATHER, and those kind of mafia movies.

 

[Drtooth]

Yoshi's Island was intended to be a prequel to Super Mario World, due to Yoshi's popularity.

The cover clearly says "Super Mario World 2." Intended as a prequel or not, it's the numbering.

Now, I was only half right about Yoshi's Island 2...

They renamed it Yoshi's Island DS.

So... technically, Yoshi's Island should be Super Mario Bros. 5 and Yoshi's Island DS should be SMB 6... It's complicated.

What's worse is Super Mario Advance. 2 is 1, 3 is 4, 4 is 2, and 5 is 3.