purplehpurple

IMDb member since June 2018
    Lifetime Total
    10+
    IMDb Member
    5 years

Reviews

Mega Man
(1994)

Surprisingly good
The 80's and 90's were not a great time for video game cartoons. Sure, you had some success stories like the later Mario cartoons and the Sonic cartoons prior to Underground, but most series fell more into the Captain N level of quality. Mega Man at first glance seems to be a huge departure from the games, but on closer inspection turns out to be an entertaining cartoon made with some love for the franchise.

If you've ever seen the initial pitch for the cartoon this shouldn't come, seeing as that looks just like the Mega Man Classic video games but as a cartoon. For whatever reason it was decided that American kids would prefer a more adult, super hero like Mega Man, so the series got a revamp between being picked up and releasing. Despite the shift, the cartoon was still made by people who actually knew something about the games. Mega's real name is Rock, and while he does not get called that much after the first episode it is nice that they kept that little detail. Proto Man being more a villain is weird, given Mega Man 6 had already release by the time the show was being made and Proto Man was known to be more of an anti-hero who didn't like Wily, but it works here.

The whole cast works pretty well. Roll is actually competent and helpful, Mega's jokes can be terrible but have a corny charm to them, Proto is a jerk you like to see being a jerk, and Wily is just a funny villain. The robot masters can be pretty funny as well. The weakest link is Rush, whose Scooby-Doo impression was not needed at all.

As 90's action cartoon with a fair bit of comedy it's pretty good. There are some interesting scenarios, some clever uses of Robot Master powers, and some decent animation at times.

Overall Mega Man is a pretty good cartoon. It's a shame we didn't get a version more like the initial pitch, but what we did get is fun in its own right.

Sonic X
(2003)

Dub or not, Sonic X has problems
Back in the day every series that 4Kids got their hands on was the subject of controversy. They were derided for their censorship and unusual changes made to series, and Sonic X certainly got its fair share of that. Honestly though, even if the dub were more accurate to the original it still would not have been great.

Sonic X is a series where its hero is so powerful and so competent that they have to focus on other characters fro the majority of the show, otherwise the stories would be over in half the time. Chris and his family are wastes of time. Sure, some people wound up liking the characters, but if you ask most people they'd tell you that when they watch a Sonic show what they want to see are Sonic characters. If they had been new animal people like the Freedom Fighters in SatAM and Archie Sonic that would be one thing, but these human characters are just given far too much focus in a Sonic the Hedgehog series.

It's not very funny, the animation isn't very thrilling, and it gives too much attention to characters most audiences don't care for. Yes, the original dub was a bit funnier and had more fourth wall breaking jokes, but that didn't make it great. Sonic X is just okay. I wouldn't recommend anyone seek it out, but if for some reason you have literally nothing else to watch and you just need something on, Sonic X will do.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
(1993)

One of the better Sonic cartoon series, for what that's worth
What if Sonic the Hegehog was a Looney Tunes character, but with far less than the Golden Age Looney Tunes budget, and worse jokes? Adventures of Sonic the Hegehog is a fun series, but it's not perfect. There are animation errors, but they aren't as abd as in some DIC cartoon adaptations. The biggest problem with this series is unfortunately its heroes. Jaleel White turns in a decent performance as Sonic, but his characterization is not great for this wacky comedy version of Sonic. Though he acts as a good friend to Tails and isn't a jerk by any means, when he's actually trying to be funny it's just not that successful. The problem here is that Sonic isn't the underdog in this series. He's too powerful, too successful, and a bit too full of himself when he's trying to deliver jokes. He's a hard hero to root for. Tails meanwhile sounds like his voice actor won a contest to be in a cartoon.

As usual, Dr. Robotnik is the best part of the series. It doesn't matter whether it's a game, cartoon, or comic, Dr. Robotnik is consistently the most entertaining part. Total goof Robotnik, serious and threatening Robotnik, somewhere between, all are great. Somehow all of his English language voices have also managed to be great, and Long John Baldry is perfect for this interpretation of the character. This conceited, over the top taskmaster is hilarious, and his interactions with his goons are always entertaining.

At the time when the showed aired the Sonic Says segments were insulting, but now they can be pretty funny. The series in general is known for some of its accidentally funny content, and has been immortalized on the internet through YouTube Poops.

It's not the best Sonic series, but it's up there. If Sonic were written a bit differently it could have been even better, but as it stands it's a series where you're wanting to see more of the villain than the hero.

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
(1989)

A poorly made show that I enjoy watching anyway
DIC spared nearly every expense with this show. The animated segments are full of animation errors. Hooded Robin is a tour de force for what not to do in animation. It's really quite stunning what got missed in this show. That being said, the show is endlessly entertaining, even if it's mostly on accident. Danny Wells does a good job as Luigi, and while I wouldn't say Lou Albano does a good job, I love his Mario anyway. The main character you want to hear least is Toad, who's squeaky voice seems almost designed to irritate. If you're watching the series these days you're likely watching an edit made after the license ran out for the song parodies, so there will be one action sequence per episode set to stock Mario music that seems out of place and awkward.

Don't even get me started on the live action segments. Pee-wee's Playhouse this ain't. The Mario sound effects are always out of place here, the weird transitions are so bad, and "Uh oh" catchphrase is so low effort it hurts. Lou Albano can't quite keep up with his co-star, and in many segments resorts to just shaking his body in place of properly emoting. Every episode also fills some time with an out of context clip from the Legend of Zelda cartoon, which always begins with an intro that you will memorize if you watch enough episodes.

It's honestly a pretty bad series, but I rate things based on how much I enjoy them, not on how good they are. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! is both fascinating and hilarious in its failures, and I enjoy it a lot.

The Nutshack
(2007)

It really was quite bad
The Nutshack might have made for great meme fuel on YouTube, but as a show it's really awful. For a 2007-2011 TV show it sure looks a lot like an early 00's flash animation you'd seen on Newgrounds, but at least those were entertaining at the time for their primary audience. The Nutshack is a brutal endurance challenge tickle your funny bone during the opening, for a moments after it starts, and then leave you wanting to do almost anything else for the remainder of its run time. It's baffling, but it's not that interesting. You're better off reading the joke breakdowns that people have made online, or just watching the intro and calling it a day.

Dexter's Laboratory
(1996)

Shame about those later seasons
If I could rate them separately, I would give the original two seasons a 10/10, and the later two seasons a 6/10. As it stands, I'm giving the entire series an 8/10. People think bad reboots are a new thing, but they've always been around, and the later seasons of Dexter's Laboratory are one of those. It's a shame, considering how great the original series was.

Ed, Edd n Eddy
(1999)

The best cartoon to come out of Canada
Ed, Edd, n Eddy does a lot with a little. Despite it's small cast and limited locations until the final season, EEnE never feels repetitive. The series is constantly funny. Unlike a lot of all ages comedy, EEnE remembers that it's a comedy first and foremost, and it does not allow itself to become bogged down moral lessons, storylines, or edutainment. It's also a visual treat. It is one of the last western animated series to be animated on cels. The crew show a great understanding of animation fundamentals. It's a great show.

Lasagna Cat
(2007)

Some of the finest internet video out there
I love Lasagna Cat. The original set of videos from 2007 quickly became a favorite among my friends in high school upon its release, and the 2017 series is an amazing follow up that didn't lose any of the funny. It would be incredibly easy for this kind of series to become formulaic and boring, but Lasagna Cat always finds ways to surprise you, and the 2017 series became even more experimental.

SiIvaGunner
(2016)

He only makes high-quality rips, and that's a good thing
I've listened to more SiIvaGunner than I'm willing to admit. I can't stop. I like to listen with my grand dad.

Sonic Mania Adventures
(2018)

The best Sonic cartoon to date
Who would have thought the best Sonic cartoon would be some shorts designed to promote a game's DLC? Thanks to the excellent work by Tyson Hesse that's the case. Unlike Boom, where the characters could be swapped out for any other set of cartoon characters, or X, where the audience is forced to spend a lot of time with Humans nobody cares about, Mania Adventures feels like a Sonic cartoon. It tells its story well without any voice acting, and it's as cute and funny as you would expect a series based on Classic Sonic to be. Here's hoping future Sonic cartoons can keep up this mini-series' quality.

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