telcontar328

"Why would anybody make a comedy about a WWII prison camp?"

Because the best way to fight evil, especially a snobby evil like Nazism, is to make fun of it.

Suppose some high-ranking Nazi--let's say Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo--could be magically brought forward in time and shown one film about World War II... If he saw a serious documentary or drama about the war, one that played up how fierce and cruel and efficiently nasty the Gestapo were, he'd be very proud of his organization. But if he saw an episode of "Hogan's Heroes"--especially one that features Major Hochstetter being fierce/cruel/Gestapo-nasty, with the studio audience laughing their heads off--he'd probably burst a blood vessel!

"Hogan's Heroes" is a situation comedy about a group of POWs whose insanely complicated undercover ops always involve fooling their stuffed-shirt kommandant. It doesn't make fun of real POWs or what they went through; if anything, it glamorizes them quite a bit. What it does do is make fun of people who think they're superior. Sure, it overplays how ridiculously silly the Germans were and how much damage the POWs could do (without getting shot), but exaggeration is the essence of comedy. Would "I Love Lucy" or "Gilligan's Island" be funny if only realistic things happened?

Granted, the basic plots can get pretty predictable--the heroes have to smuggle something or someone out of camp/out of Germany, or their operation is in danger of being discovered, or they have to sabotage something or save Klink/Schultz from the Russian front. Many episodes do have clever plot twists, but on the whole I give the plot quality a 7 out of 10.

The scripting, on the other hand, gets 10 out of 10. It's consistently stellar over the 168 episodes, with unforgettable lines like "I see nothink!", "Why is it, Kleenk, that you are always happier to see me than I am to see you?", "Love your barbed wire", and Major Hochstetter's two favorite remarks: "What is this man doing here?!?" and "BAAAH!"

The acting was fairly good, 9/10 overall; the regulars and recurring characters tended to be better than a lot of the one-shots. A few of the actors deserve special mention:

John Banner (Sergeant Schultz) gets 10 out of 10. He was one of the world's great comic actors, and "Hogan's Heroes" couldn't have existed without him.

Larry Hovis (Carter) also gets 10 of 10. Not only is Carter one of the world's cutest dumb guys, in my opinion, but his Hitler impersonation is the best in TV history!

Howard Caine (Major Hochstetter) provided something sorely needed on this slightly overoptimistic show--a dangerous Nazi. If it weren't for the intercom in the coffeepot, Hochstetter would have uncovered the heroes' operation several times over.

And let's not forget Ivan Dixon (Kinchloe)! One year before Lt. Uhura, he became TV's first black communications officer.

Hogan's Heroes is a very funny, family-friendly situation comedy about outwitting "superior" bureaucrats, keeping your sense of humor in tough situations, and never giving up--especially when a job is impossible.

Until I saw Spider-Man 2 in 2004, I knew nothing about Marvel superheroes. Period. So, I saw Spider-Man 2, then I read the first five or ten years of Spider-Man comics (in B&W), then I saw Spider-Man: The Animated Series. So I knew the backstories of all Stan's characters, but not much about Venom, Hobgoblin or anyone else from the later timeframe.

From that point of view, here's my take on the show:

1. A lot of reviews on here complain about the censorship. This was not the writers' fault, and I don't find it annoying. Sure, whenever anybody wanted to say "kill" they said "destroy" instead, but they didn't say either one often enough to bug me. And the laser guns, though totally unbelievable in modern-day New York, didn't bother me because this is a New York where people walk on walls, J. Jonah Jameson has a TV show, and there's a giant invisible Heli-carrier suspended above the city.

2. The animation was very cheaply done. I noticed particularly in the two-part X-Men crossover, Beast starts out about a foot taller than Wolverine and ends up about a foot shorter. And they re-used their explosion footage till you'd think it would wear out. And I can't stand to look at Captain America's face in the "Secret Wars"--he looks sort of like a plush toy. But most of the villains look terrific; just compare this Venom and the Spider-Man 3 movie Venom, for example.

3. The scripting varied widely. For the most part, it was okay to great, but there were spots where it was just wince-producing. For example, I loved how Venom sacrificed himself to save the world (and his girlfriend), but the girlfriend sounding off about it afterwards--yeesh! That said, Venom himself was scripted much better (I thought) than in Spider-Man 3, with the same totally irrational sense of humor he had in the comics.

4. The voicecasting--wow. I'll just review some of the voices individually. Hobgoblin... This was the first time I'd ever heard Mark Hamill, and he was terrific! My whole family agrees that the Hobgoblin is much cooler than the Joker, mainly due to his voice (and scripting). Aunt Anna Watson... Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was totally perfect. As Star Trek: TOS fans, we think of her as Nurse Chapel rather than Lwaxana Troi, and when we found out who'd voiced Anna Watson we were all like, "My gosh, she's perfect!" Dr. Octopus... He sounds so German, and so Octopussy, it's hard to believe Efrem Zimbalist Jr. has been Batman's butler for years. Venom... This was the first Venom I ever saw or heard, my standard of comparison. The Eddie Brock voice got a little whiny at times, but Venom with that double echo was amazing--even if he never did get to say "spleen".

5. The story lines, while they were never taken directly from the comics, were usually interesting re-interpretations of comic-book story lines that respected the characters and their motivations. Granted, making Electro the Red Skull's son was completely off-the-wall, even if they were in a hurry to get into the whole Secret Wars/Spider Wars thing before they got canceled. But the "Make a Wish" two-parter--based on two comic-book stories, "The Boy Who Collects Spider-Man" and the storyline where an amnesiac Spider-Man teamed with Doc Ock--was a really terrific use of both ideas and neatly overcame the difficulty of putting supervillain fights in a kid-with-cancer story. (Not to mention, Mousie the cab driver was hilarious!)

On the whole, I've enjoyed this show, even if I find it advisable to shut my eyes in some places due to the sheer badness of the animation. I'd recommend it as an introduction to Spider-Man, with the caveat that you'd better check your facts against a Guide to the Marvel Universe before using them in any fan-fic or anything; I'd also recommend it for little boys who are not yet bored of explosions, and for people (like my mom) who are more interested in Peter and MJ's relationship than in fight scenes.

So, if you're only interested in good guys beating up bad guys, go watch a Bruce Timm show. If you're looking for high-end animation, try "The Incredibles." But if you want a fun, family-friendly show about the problems of a teenage science nerd who happens to walk on walls and get beat up by hi-tech lunatics... this is the show you've been looking for.

I'm a second-generation Monkees fan--my mom had a crush on Davy Jones back in grade school--so I guess I have a different perspective here than a lot of the older reviewers. To me, it's a totally zany show with some of the best comic actors I've ever seen. It's about fifty-fifty which is funnier, the Peter Tork character or Bob Denver's Gilligan. In my opinion, Tork and Denver are the two best comedians in the whole "dumb klutz" genre.

I definitely think the Monkees should be rerun more often. It's a great show--the complete lack of continuity makes it a little hard to explain to people who haven't seen it, though, except maybe by reciting the whole job-interview sequence from Episode 3, "Monkee Vs. Machine". That's what I did for a friend of my mom's the other day; we were both cracking up by the time I finished.

Funniest moment: Peter is using the orange squeezer and out of the spout comes a goldfish. (His expression was absolutely priceless.)

Save the Texas Prairie Chicken!

Touched by an Angel is a great show. Some of the episodes are not what I would want my little brother to see, because they are about sexual problems and situations that he doesn't need to hear about yet, but on the whole I love it, love it, love it.

The three angels are totally terrific. Tess is hilarious, Monica is lovely, and Andrew is just the sweetest, kindest, gentlest, most lovable Angel of Death you'd ever want to meet. They work together perfectly, and not only help everyone they meet but inspire almost everyone who sees the show to help others.

In the words of a boy I know who just saw the famous 100th episode--and he'd never seen any Touched by an Angel before--"Emotionally charged. It's not like the shows I usually watch, because there were no car chases or people shooting people, but... that was good." That episode has gotten other compliments--most of the people I've seen it with cried at the end. Many people say Touched by an Angel is the show that makes you cry, but always in a good way.