3 days to go

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Olive Oyl for President

I'm getting this one up pretty late, but it's a fun one.  I like Popeye quite a bit, and this is a nice bit of old school entertainment during a U.S. election season that has been less than entertaining.  (Oh, I know there have been some shenanigans...it's the eventual result that has me concerned...)

I love the song in this one.

"Hooray for the new re-gee-mee!"  (By the way, there's about five minutes' worth of nothing worthwhile at the end of this video, but I like the quality of the cartoon itself compared to other versions on YouTube...)

Saturday Evening Cartoon: NFL Rush Zone trailer

Well, after welcoming the new college football season last weekend, we got to see the NFL start its 2016-17 campaign on Thursday night, as the Broncos reminded everyone why head injuries are such a concern in American football these days.

But enough about concussions.  Let's talk superheroes!  Using NFL branding to market an animated kids' show seems like a no-brainer (see what I did there?).  What we got a few years ago in NFL Rush Zone, though...well, it turned out weirder than I would have imagined.  Being a fan of mascots who grew up in the 80s, I have fond memories of the old NFL Huddles toy line.  The market-the-mascots approach seems like a good way to go, as far as I'm concerned.  But instead of, say, an anthropomorphic Colt, we got, in the words of Kid Fenris, "an ambulatory Madball in a Colts helmet."

But who are we to judge?  The cartoon lasted like four years.  Here's a trailer...

Saturday Evening Cartoon: How to Play Football (featuring Goofy)

One more football-related post for the weekend.  If you're a fan of Goofy sight gags, this short is for you...

Saturday Evening Cartoon: 1967 Fantastic Four cartoon (completely out of context)

The Fantastic Four animated series that ran from 1967-1970 on ABC has some funny moments.

Y'know what makes those moments even funnier, though?  Taking them completely out of context and stringing them together to make a collage of superheroic cartoon nonsense.  I really like this video...

Saturday Evening Cartoon: The Boy Who Learned to Fly (Usain Bolt)

If I ever start to think that some of the names that show up in comics are just a little too coincidentally perfect to take seriously...y'know, characters like Victor Fries or John Henry Irons...I remember that the fastest man in the world is named Usain Bolt.

Here's one final Olympic-related post before the Games end...a little tribute to one of the most superhuman people of our time (...as presented by Gatorade, so...well, product placement...).

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Misha, mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympics

I posted one for the home team with the Sam the Olympic Eagle anime...so here's a cartoon that seems like a great companion piece.

Hope y'all are feeling the Olympic spirit!

(Oh, and if you don't feel like watching the whole story, I highly recommend skipping ahead to 7:54 so you can hear the closing song!)

Saturday Evening Cartoon: 1967 Green Lantern short

Continuing the focus on Green Lantern media, here's the first GL short from 1967-8's Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure.  Pretty cool cartoon, even if the changes to the Guardians and Tom are a little...baffling...

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Re: Your Brains

Pandora can be great at introducing me to musicians that really do play what I want to hear, even if I didn't know I wanted to hear it.  I think it was entering "They Might Be Giants" that brought Jonathan Coulton to my attention.  Glad it did!

Saturday Evening Cartoon: The Killing Joke trailer

While I'll admit that my enthusiasm has been tempered a bit by the recent revelation of some tinkering with the Batman/Batgirl relationship (SPOILER at that link!), I don't plan to miss my brief chance this week to see Batman: The Killing Joke on the big screen.  It's a classic story and a Brian Azzarello take on the Alan Moore/Brian Bolland original.  Add in that DC has a pretty good track record with their animated features (and apparently isn't holding back at all with this one, as it seems to have earned an R rating), and that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are portraying the leads, and it's still something I don't want to miss in theaters.

USA screening information can be found here, UK here.  (May be showing elsewhere, too...not sure about that!)  It's a two-night event now, so I hope everyone gets a chance to see it if you want to.  Thanks to Tim over at HeroPress for initially giving me the heads-up on this!

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Unaired Real Ghostbusters Pilot

Ghostbusters have certainly been a hot topic this week!  Here's something I hadn't seen until recently...the unaired "pilot" (really more of a promotional music video) for the animated series The Real Ghostbusters.

It's also only recently that I realized that how much the Ghostbusters are viewed as a cultural icon may be partially dependent upon how old you were when this series first aired.  (Also, sorry about that sentence...)

Here's a link to the Ghostbusters Wiki's page on the pilot, which highlights some of the differences between the promo and the eventual series.

Saturday Evening Cartoon: The Aquabats!

I'm extremely impressed with what the Aquabats have accomplished over the last two decades.  I think it was 1998 that I first became familiar with them, after seeing them open for Reel Big Fish.  They were a lot of fun, something different for the ska kids, and spot-on musically.  In a few years, it seemed, they should be a great memory for all of us...

I never would have guessed that, under the guidance of The MC Bat Commander (aka Christian Jacobs), they'd still be a thing in 2016.  I hope they find someone to pick up their Super Show!...definitely a shame that was cancelled!  Here's a fun animated bit from it...

Saturday Evening Cartoon: World's Finest Bark

Another excellent DC Nation short.  I hope those of you also in the U.S. are enjoying your holiday weekend!

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Sam the Olympic Eagle anime

All right...building on the mascot theme...

One of my favorite mascots during my formative years was the symbol of the 1984 Summer Games, Sam the Olympic Eagle:

I even still have the little PVC figures of him that I got when I was a kid...

It's only recently, though, that I discovered that Sam starred in a Japanese TV series!  Or...a TV special.  Or something.  For some reason, we never got this in the USA.  Which...well, it seems like we'd be a great target audience, doesn't it?  Here are what seem to be the intro, outro, and something else (a clip? a commercial? a cold open?) for the Sam the Olympic Eagle anime.

You can also catch a complete episode at Dailymotion!

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Corporate Kaiju

Still got Godzilla on the brain.  This one's kinda weird.  I like it.

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Muhammad Ali intro

I really should have posted this "tribute" last week, but better late than never, I suppose.  Just over a week ago, we lost an American icon and a great citizen of the world.  Here's the intro to his 1970s cartoon, to which he lent his voice:

(And of course, let's not forget his other adventure that fits this blog so well...)

We'll miss you, Champ.

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Saturday Morning Watchmen

I finally picked up (and read) DC Universe: Rebirth.  Darn good comic.  I guess that at the end of the day, I'm still a bit of a sucker for Geoff Johns' "continuity porn."

Now, if there happens to be someone reading this who has a real interest in the story and has somehow managed to not have it spoiled for you, you should AVOID READING THE NEXT PARAGRAPH.
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So, now we know that the Watchmen characters are becoming part of the DC multiverse proper, and that the antagonist(s) of Rebirth seem to be one or both of Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias.  Here's a little nod to that revelation...

Saturday Evening Cartoon: TIE Fighter

Another extremely well-done animated fan film here.  If the creator isn't an agent of the Empire, she or he is certainly a sympathizer...

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Darwyn Cooke's Batman 75th Anniversary Short

To honor the passing of comic creator Darwyn Cooke one week ago, here's the Batman Beyond short he made for the Dark Knight's 75th Anniversary in 2014:

EDIT:  Tim over at the Other Side has included this very same cartoon in his tribute to Mr. Cooke, along with some great artwork.  Justin at Halls of the Nephilim also posted a nice series of Darwyn's works earlier this week.  They're both worth a click!

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Batman versus the Terminator

...and not the Terminator he usually faces.

There's a good chance this will be the best Batman v. film I'll see this year...