Saturday, March 31, 2012

Old School Lane says farewell to The Weakest Link

Hey everyone, welcome to a special, yet sad post courtesy of Old School Lane. There comes a time when you have to say goodbye to something that you love or has always been there for you when you needed it the most. Everyone has a TV show or genre in which they watch that they enjoy a lot to see, even though many people object to it. For me: it’s cooking shows and game shows. Game shows for me have an alluring charm to them that sucks you in for 30 minutes or an hour that you can’t help but sit down and watch the whole thing. Whether it’s the host, the contestants, the prizes, or the game show itself, game shows have been around television since the 1950’s and continue to be around today.



Some of the most popular shows in America were based on shows from the U.K. like American Idol, The Office, Big Brother, The Golden Girls, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, The X Factor, Dancing with the Stars, Who’s Line is it Anyway, and America’s Got Talent. But one for me that I always enjoy watching was The Weakest Link.



The rules of the game show goes like this: a team of 9 contestants work together answering a series of questions in order to make a chain amount of money. The more questions they get right, the higher the amount goes. If a person gets one question wrong, the chain breaks and the money is reduced to 0. If a person says “Bank”, then the money is saved and the chain starts over. At the end of the round, the contestants vote on who they thought was the weakest link until one person remains and wins the money that has been earned. Combining influences from shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Big Brother, the show first aired in August 14, 2000 and it became a critical smash among British TV. However, at the time, it was ranked #2 behind Who Wants to be a Millionaire that had aired two years previously.



To check out the very first episode of The Weakest Link, click on the “link” below. Hahaha! I kill me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPZpGimJWTg&feature=relmfu

What made the show so successful and different was the host Anne Robinson. Unlike game show hosts who would support the contestants and give them positive reinforcement, she was portrayed as mean, sarcastic, and showed almost no emotion in her face. She was intimidating and scary, yet funny and witty, which was a breath of fresh air to see something different among game show hosts. Every time a person would be voted off the game, Anne would stare at the contestant and say her now famous catchphrase, “You are the weakest link. Goodbye”. It was great!



She was already famous in the U.K. with a TV series called Watchdog, in which the show approaches businesses and corporate companies about the products they sell and if it’s worth buying.





To know more information about Watchdog, click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/about/

Pop quiz: Whenever a show gets popular in one country, what happens next?

A: You have it made in another country!

On April 26, 2001, less than a year after it debut on the U.K., they brought The Weakest Link to the U.S. hoping to gain the same popularity that Who Wants to be a Millionaire when it was brought to the U.S. Anne Robinson was the host of the U.S. version of The Weakest Link, unlike in the U.S. version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire in which Regis Philbin was the host instead of Chris Tarrant.






The show became popular among viewers, but never gained a huge amount of ratings since Who Wants to be a Millionaire was the most viewed game show at the time. Around the second season, they tried to gain viewers by having celebrity editions of The Weakest Link, however it made the ratings worse since there were already too many shows based on celebrities. Anne Robinson left the U.S. version of The Weakest Link and was replaced by George Gray and reduced the timing from an hour to 30 minutes.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPWn8FMXvrI&feature=relmfu
The show became a disaster and it was cancelled on May 20, 2003, two years after it debuted. For game show standards, two years on the air is a joke. However it gained a cult following among fans as there was a video game and board game adaptation of The Weakest Link.



Also the show was referenced among movies and TV shows, including Family Guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSn7f9lPF3c&feature=related

While the U.S. no longer aired The Weakest Link, the U.K. still did. It still remained among one of the most popular game shows and had many celebrity editions. One of my absolute favorites is the Doctor Who episode. The first minute of the opening kills me every time.





However, all good things must come to an end. As of March 31, 2012, The Weakest Link had aired its final episode in the U.K. after being on TV for 11 years. It is indeed a sad day for our friends across the pond as a game show that had so much heart, intensity, and a fantastic host is gone for good. But, as long as we have fond memories of it, it’ll never leave us. Maybe you feel the same way about this, maybe you don’t. Most likely, you haven’t even heard about this until today. But haven’t you had a show that you grew up with and had an empty feeling inside when it was gone? Post it in the comments below and tell us what show was it and the fond memories you had watching it. We will miss you, Anne.



To lighten up the mood, let’s have some of the best stupidest answers from British game shows.




That’s all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane real soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

P.S. Tomorrow’s the big day for the reveal of our summer project at Old School Lane. 35 years ago, a TV network debuted. While it’s under a different name now, it’s still one of the most popular networks on television. Kevin and I will dedicate those three months talking about the shows, the products, and maybe some extra special things in between. Can you figure out what it is? Find out in 24 hours from now!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

Hey everyone, welcome to another movie review courtesy of Old School Lane. Today we’re taking a look at one of the most anticipated movies of the year based on a current popular book trend, The Hunger Games. This movie review is going to be a little bit different as I am not only reviewing this movie alone. I was guest starring in a movie podcast called Something Cinematic by Timdiana. We discuss over an hour about the trailers, the movie experience, and our overall rating. Is it as good as the book series? Will it be the next Twilight? Well, click on the link below and find out.



http://blip.tv/timdiana-the-reviews/something-cinematic-the-hunger-games-6054871

Until then, hope to see you around Old School Lane real soon. Take care.

-Patricia

P.S. I had a great time doing this podcast with Timdiana and hope to do it again real soon. Also another thing to mention: listening to my voice for the first time in a podcast was weird. :P

First Impressions: Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of First Impressions. Today we’re going to be talking about a sequel based on a Disney video game on the Nintendo Wii. I’m talking about Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.



To those who haven’t played the first Epic Mickey, the game is about everyone’s favorite Disney cartoon character, Mickey Mouse, venturing in to a place called The Wasteland where forgotten Disney characters and Disneyland attractions would go. After he accidently spills paint over the Wasteland, he creates the Shadow Blot and causes corruption. It’s up to him to undo the mistake he did by getting his magic paintbrush with paint and paint thinner and restoring Wasteland to normal. Along the way, he meets up with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who is not happy with Mickey for ruining his home and taking away his popularity as the official mascot of Disney. These facts are all true, especially since Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was created by Walt Disney first and was in a streamline of popular Disney shorts before Universal Studios bought the character and Mickey became the new mascot.



The game had some platforming mixed with RPG elements similar to Infamous and makes you travel through levels based on classic Disney cartoon shorts and attractions. It was a fascinating game and I loved it, but had too many flaws to call it a masterpiece. First and foremost, the camera controls were awkward. I could never attack my enemies where I wanted or jump where I wanted to before I plummeted to the ground and died. Also, there was a lack of voice acting that kind of disappointed me. Maybe I was expecting to be like Kingdom Hearts, but it was unfortunate that the characters weren’t talking in the game. Besides that, it’s a great game that has multiple endings, ton of side tasks to do, and a darker, serious storyline for a company known for family friendly characters and fun theme parks that take you back to your childhood. I mean, look at this! Yup, and it’s in the official seal of Disney! It’s awesome!



Now when talking about the sequel, it takes Mickey back into the Wasteland where he has to restore peace once again. But this time, he’s not alone. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit will be there to help him along this adventure. What’s that? There’s multiplayer in Epic Mickey 2? You bet! According to Warren Spector, he said “It’s drop-in, drop-out co-op, you can sit down at any time with a friend who is playing as Mickey, and you can take control of Oswald. If you’re playing as a single player, Oswald will be there every second of the game. He’s not just a multiplayer character, he’s a helper, whether you’re playing alone or with a friend or family member.”



Another thing that has been confirmed is that this game will not only have voice acting, but it will be a musical, which I’m really looking forward to. Some of the most iconic songs from our childhoods came from Disney movies and if they can put in the same effort and Disney magic (no pun intended), this will shape up as a fantastic game. To quote Warren Spector again, he said, “I’m such a geek about musicals, I love the co-op and next-gen stuff, but for me, when a character breaks into song, which they do on a regular basis in this game, it’s magic.” For some of you getting burned out about too many musicals being out in the media such as Glee or Smash, this may disappoint you. But as a lover of musicals myself, I am excited!



But sure, multiplayer and music sounds great. But for me, if I can’t enjoy the gameplay, then I won’t enjoy it as much. Will they fix the problems from the previous game? Yes, they will. As I said, the most common problem of the first Epic Mickey was the camera control. Well, they will fix the cameras so that we will have a much more smoother gameplay and better experience. Warren Spector confirmed it as he said, “They’ll be working on it until the day we ship the second game. (There have been) over 1,000 specific changes made to the camera. Our goal is that you will not have to touch the manual camera controls even once to play through the main story path of this game.”



The game will be coming out this fall for the Wii, Playstation 3, and the XBOX 360. If you are a lover of everything Disney, (I’m looking at you, Moviefan12), then this game is definately for you! If you had fond memories of playing old school Disney video games such as The Magical Quest series, Castle of Illusion, or the Kingdom Hearts series, then you can’t miss this. If you had played the first Epic Mickey game, then pre-order this and have a blast going back to your childhoods playing as everyone’s favorite cartoon mouse. Who knows, maybe if the game sells well, then Oswald the Lucky Rabbit will soon be having some new cartoons about him. Or even better, become an additional character to meet and greet in the theme parks. If that can happen, that would be so great! After all, Oswald and Mickey are, in a way, half-brothers and having them together would be fantastic!

Here’s the trailer of Epic Mickey 2 for your enjoyment.






That’s all for now. Expect a special movie review of The Hunger Games soon with Timdiana in his podcast Something Cinematic where I will be guest starring talking about our review of this movie. Hope to see you around Old School Lane real soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

P.S. In three days, we will announce our special summer project. Have you guess what it is yet? I’ll give you a hint: this afternoon, Kevin and I are going to be talking to a special game show host about his years working for the TV network we’re going to be talking about. Guess away!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

First Impressions: Ninja Turtles

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of First Impressions. Today Kevin is going to be talking about an upcoming movie that when first hearing it, it got him enraged. No, scratch that, it got him so angry and frustrated that I had to calm him down to speak proper English and not saying an obscene word every two seconds just to type this article down. So, for those who are just as huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans as Kevin is, you feel the same pain as well. So be prepared as you read the most irratating movie that has been written in First Impressions since the one I wrote about Pee-wee’s XXX Adventure. Enjoy.



I am a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. I love everything about it; the comics, the movies, the cartoons, the action figures, and the video games. You already know that I’m a huge Turtles fan when I did my First Impressions on the new TMNT cartoon on Nickelodeon. But when I heard that Platinum Dunes will be doing a reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I was very, very, very, very angry! Michael Bay does not have a bone of originality in his body. He has ruined the horror movie genre with the remakes of Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Amityville Horror. Although, I have no interests of seeing the Transformers trilogy, I have heard that the first one was pretty good. The only movie I actually liked was Bad Boys,but that’s because Will Smith and Martin Lawrence were good together. Anyway, I have a lot to say about this so get comfortable. Here are a few reasons why I know this movie will be a huge disaster.

#1. We don’t need another movie telling us about the origins of the Turtles.

For really dedicated TMNT fans, they already know about the origins of the Turtles from reading the original comics, watching the first episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, watching the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and more. Come up with something creative, Michael Bay. We already know this story too many times. The Turtles became mutants when they encountered some radioactive ooze. Splinter was a rat trained by a Japanese warrior named Hamato Yoshi. When he came across the same ooze that mutated the turtles, he grew in size as well. Shredder, whose real name is Oroku Saki, is the main villain of the Turtles and Splinter and the leader of the Foot Clan. April O’Neal was once an assistant to Baxter before deciding to assist the Turtles and going on their many adventures (in the 1987 cartoon and Archie Comics, she was a news reporter).

Come up with something creative, Platinum Dunes!



2. The Turtles are being depicted as aliens.

Okay, that is the stupidest thing that I have ever heard in my entire life! The Turtles are not aliens, they are mutants. They did not come from outer space, they are regular turtles that were covered with radioactive ooze. Look at the picture above you! They are mutants! It’s in the title of every single incarnation of every single Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles media ever! Even the crappy 1997 live action TV series had a form of the word “mutant” in it.



See? Don’t try to be clever and try to change everything that we know about them, Michael Bay! Don’t try to ruin a great series that we grew up with. What? You’re telling us to chill? Well, fuck you, Michael Bay. Fuck you!!! Every single franchise you have remade or produced, you don’t have a clue about. You don’t know a damn thing about the Turtles, otherwise you would never depict them as aliens. As for me, I’ve known about the Turtles since I was 3 years old. I’ve read the comics, I’ve seen the movies, the cartoons, I’ve played the video games, and I own figures. Don’t tell me to chill, you asshole! Even if I took a trillion of these, I’m still going to find a way to kill you in your sleep.



But unfortunately, it’s already been done. The script has been written by a group of assholes who don’t know anything about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and who are interested in putting in their resumes that they wrote this movie. Nothing more. Since Hollywood is doing mostly remakes or reboots on classic movies already, at least do it right! I mean, anyone can do a better movie about the Turtles than Michael Bay. Anyone! Even Bobo!



Overall, I’m not going to see this atrousity of a great series, but unfortunately, many people will. They are just so nostalgic about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that they would pay money to see a movie based on them, even if it sucks. To quote Robbie Rist, who voiced the character Michelangelo in the original 1990 live-action film adaptation, ”Bay is “sodomizing” the original movies and causing “the rape of our childhood memories.” I couldn’t agree with you more.



Another thing I want to point out is who would the casting actors and actresses be. We know that in the Transformers movies, we had Shia LeBouef, who’s a meh actor and Megan Fox, who’s there just for the sex appeal. Who’s going to be April O’Neal? Kim Kardashian? Paris Hilton? Lindsay Lohan? Who’s going to play Casey Jones? Michael Cera? Channing Tatum? Robert Patterson? Taylor Lautner? Seriously, they’ll choose people who are there just for sex appeal and who can’t act for shit.



A few years ago, people bitched about the 2007 CGI TMNT movie and called it one of the worst movies since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. Well, I can honestly say that after hearing about this movie, this takes the cake as the absolute worse Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie ever! I mean ever!

 

That’s all for now. Thanks for hanging out with us at Old School Lane. Catch you later.

-Kevin

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Avatar: The Legend of Korra releases early thanks to the fans

Hey everyone, Old School Lane is taking a 2 minute break from Kevn’s Top 100 Favorite Animated Shows, First Impressions, and other posts to bring you this beyond awesome news.



Avatar: The Legend of Korra, the spinoff of the popular Nickelodeon animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender, will be debuting early thanks to the 100,000 “Likes” on Twitter and Facebook. Instead of it coming out on Saturday, April 14th, it will come out this Saturday, March 24th!



For those who don’t know about The Legend of Korra, it takes place 70 years after the final episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The 100 war is over and the nations are living peacefully together. The majority of the main characters have passed on, including Aang, and a new Avatar was born. The new Avatar, a Southern Tribe waterbender named Korra travels to a new city called Republic City to learn Airbending after she mastered Water, Earth, and Fire.



Now you may be wondering, if Aang was the last Airbender and he’s now dead, how can Korra learn Airbending? Well, I’m glad you asked. Aang and Katara had gotten married and had three children. Their youngest child was an Airbender named Tenzin and he becomes Korra’s new teacher. She’ll be learning the basics and advanced techniques of Airbending along side Tenzin’s three children, who are also Airbenders. Tenzin is voiced by J.K. Simmons, who perfectly captures his calm, serious personality.



Along the way, Korra meets two brothers, who become her companions throughout the show. The oldest, Mako, is a dark, serious, and brooding Firebender whose similar to Zuko.  Bolin, the younger brother, is a lighthearted, goofy, and funny Earthbender whose similar to Sokka. By the way, the little red panda ferret is Bolin’s companion named Pabu. Isn’t he cute?



The main villain in the show is a mysterious masked man named Amon. He’s the leader of an organization called The Equalists who wants to get rid of the Avatar and the benders of the world for “being the cause of the 100 year war and having a period of destruction and dispair”. They use chi-blocking to defend themselves against the benders, similar to Ty Lee’s fighting style.



Unlike Avatar: The Last Airbender, there will only be 26 episodes, but there will be no filler. Each episode will have purpose and have a full completed storyline. But it might increase the number of the episodes if it becomes popular similar to its predecessor. The original show was supposed to end at the Northern Water Tribe, but it became such a huge hit that they had two more seasons. We’ll just have to wait and see if it turns out well.



For more information about the show, check out the main website to see the trailer, the main characters, and more information about the plot.

http/www.nick.com/shows/legend-of-korra

Expect an episode review from yours truly after The Legend of Korra is out. Who else is uber hyped about this announcement? Post it in the comments and let us know. Until then, hope to see you Old School Lane. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

P.S. On April 1, expect a huge announcement from us about our upcoming summer project. Hint: a TV network debuted on that day 35 years ago. Although it’s under a different name, it’s still one of the most popular networks ever! Can you guess what it is?

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Old School Lane celebrates the 15th anniversary of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

During the late 80’s and mid 90’s, the Castlevania series from Konami were incredible action packed side scrolling action video games created by Konami. The adventures involving the Belmont family taking down Dracula every 100 years was always fun to go through. The Castlevania trilogy on the NES are classics (not so much Simon’s Quest for me), the Game Boy games were okay, Super Castlevania IV on the SNES was a masterpiece, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (Castlevania: Dracula X) on the SNES was okay, and Castlevania: Bloodlines from the Sega Genesis was different, yet familiar to the series. All the games followed the same formula, until March 20, 1997, one game brought a breath of fresh air to the series and changed the Castlevania series forever: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.



The game takes place in 1797, 5 years after the events of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood when Richter Belmont defeated Dracula. The game starts from the final level from Rondo of Blood in which Ricther defeats Dracula and saved his girlfriend Annette after she was kidnapped. Playing the final level was a lot of fun and not as frustrating hard as Rondo of Blood was. Listening to the voice acting and dialogue now is a bit cheesy, but it came out when voice acting was still kind of new, so no complaints. It just makes it nostalgic and funny to listen to.




Afterwards, Richter disappears and Maria, a vampire hunter and Annette’s younger sister who was a playable character in Rondo of Blood, enters the castle to find him. You play as Alucard, the son of Dracula who enters the castle to find Richter and would defeat many enemies along the way, including his father and the priest Shaft. In the beginning, Death takes Alucard’s weapons and powers away and you start leveling him up again as your adventure begins.



What made Symphony of the Night differ from the other Castlevania games is the gameplay. It combines RPG elements to strengthen Alucard with weapons, unique powers, and health when you defeat the enemies. Also, the castle’s librarian sells you items to help you along the game, which becomes very helpful at times.



It also has a huge non-linear feel in which the castle has dead ends, multiple saving rooms, rooms that you can’t enter without requiring a certain powerup, and a large map to find your way around. It got many of these ideas from the Metroid series, which created a new video game genre called Metroidvania.



Alucard meets up with Maria and eventually find out that Richter had been brainwashed and is now the current leader of the castle. Maria begs Alucard to find a way to save Richter without killing him and Alucard agrees. With that in mind, the adventure continues as Alucard defeats many other enemies and goes through many other obstactles.



The final fight with Dracula is definitely one of the most difficult in the series, but one of the most epic. I mean, look at this and tell me that this is not epic. I dare you!



The game was praised from critics and gamers as the best Castlevania game in the series with its fresh gameplay, amazing graphics, and epic soundtrack. In a time when 3D games was becoming popular with games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night showed us that 2D games could still be epic and exciting.



Many Castlevania games, especially the handheld games from the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and DS took direction from Symphony of the Night and used the same Metroidvania gameplay such as Harmony of Dissonance, Dawn of Sorrow, Aria of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia, Portrait of Ruin, and more.



This game is available for the PS1, Sega Saturn, XBOX Live, PSN, and the PSP. If you own any of these versions, I recommened that you play it tonight to celebrate this awesome masterpiece. If you’ve never played this game, own it, or haven’t played it in a while, why are you reading this? Go get it right now! Go play it! You will not regret it.



To celebrate this game more, here are some of my favorite videos talking about Symphony of the Night:

The Angry Video Game Nerd’s Castlevania Marathon part 4




Little Miss Gamer’s review of Symphony of the Night




Happy 15th anniversary, Symphony of the Night. Thanks for giving us so much happy memories with your amazing game.



That’s all for now. Thanks for hanging out with us at Old School Lane. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane presents Kevin's Top 100 Favorite Animated Shows (59-50)

Hey everyone, welcome back. We’re reaching the half way point so let’s get to it.

59. Goof Troop (1992)



This Disney channel shows us what would Goofy’s life would be like if he had a son named Max and if his next door neighbor was the nasty, selfish Pete. Pete even had a wife named Peg, a daugher named Pistol, and a son named P.J. The episodes involving these characters going through some crazy situations are my favorites, especially the ones involving Max and P.J. The movies that takes place years after the show, A Goofy Movie and An Extremely Goofy Movie are really good. It’s also interesting to mention that even after Goofy graduates from college in An Extremely Goofy Movie, he works as a waiter in the show House of Mouse. I guess life isn’t easy for everyone, including a Disney character.



58. Darkwing Duck (1991)



This awesome spinoff of Ducktales takes us to the adventures of Drake Mallard as the kickass Darkwing Duck. This was the first Disney Afternoon cartoon that emphasized more on action than adventure and it reminded me of a lighter more Howard the Duck-like version of Batman: The Animated Series. Jim Cummings does, once again, an excellent job voicing this awesome main character. The addition of Launchpad McQuack from Ducktales and Drake’s adopted daughter Gosalyn made this show so hilarious. Let’s get dangerous!



57. Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers (1989)



Who would think that two tiny little chipmunks would be great detectives? Any case that you have, big or small, you can be sure that Chip and Dale, along with Monterey Jack, Gadget, and Zipper will be there to help you out as well as taking down the evil Fat Cat and his sidekicks. Not to mention that the theme song is catchy as hell.



56. My Pet Monster (1987)



This cartoon based on an awesome toy from the 80’s was definitely one not to miss. The story involves Monster living with a boy named Max. Whenever Monster wears his handcuffs, he turns into a stuffed animal. Max’s next door neighbor Mr. Hinkle suspects that Max is up to something, but doesn’t know what. There’s also another monster in the show named Beastur, who wants nothing more but to bring Monster back to their home world. One thing to mention is that the toy is now very rare and very expensive and I had always one, but I never got it. My idiot cousin had one, but he threw it away years ago. I wanted to kill him after I found out what he did.



55. Josie and the Pussycats (1970)



After Hanna Barbera released Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, there was so many ripoffs and clones of that show. One that was just as good as Scooby-Doo was Josie and the Pussycats, which was also created by Hanna Barbera. Based on the Archie comic strips, the Pussycats were a band composed of Josie, Valerie, Alan, Alexander, Alexandra, and their cat Sebastian who always end up solving mysteries in every location they go to perform. The songs are very catchy and memorable and the mysteries were always fun to solve along with them. One of my favorite is when they meet up with the cast of Scooby-Doo.



54. Arthur (1996)



This cartoon based on the books by Marc Brown transitioned very well. The episodes had all the characters from the books and fleshed them out more to unique, lovable, and memorable characters. Arthur is basically the every man, his younger sister D.W. is annoying, yet clever, Buster is the odd one who loves jokes, aliens, and food, Francine is the athletic one, and Binky is the tough, but lovable bully. I’m glad that Arthur was picked as #26 as TV Guide’s greatest cartoon characters of all time and PBS is still running episodes to this day.



53. The Ren and Stimpy Show (1991)



The Nickelodeon show that started it all in revolutioning mixing in adult humor and jokes to cartoons that we still see to this day. The episodes takes us to the crazy, zany lives of Ren and Stimpy. Billy West did an amazing job voicing both Ren and Stimpy and Jon Kricfausi did a good job voicing Ren during the first few episodes. The supporting cast were great and the guest voice actors such as Phil Hartman, Gilbert Gottfried, Rosie O’Donnell, Frank Zappa, and Mark Hamill were amazing. The memorable moments for me were the Happy Happy Joy Joy song, the Log song, Ask Dr. Stupid, and Powdered Toast Man. This show brought Nickelodeon on the map as the network to see for cartoons and still holds up very well. The MTV version of Ren and Stimpy sucks, don’t watch it by all means.



52. Tom and Jerry (1940)



What can be said about this cartoon that hasn’t been said before? Tom and Jerry are fantastic cartoon shorts that deal with the simple premise of a cat and mouse chasing each other and dealing blows with each other with violent action. What made it great still to this day is the violent slapstick humor, everytime I see Tom get hurt and he screams loud with pain, it cracks me up every time. Tom and Jerry Kids, the younger version of the characters, is also a good series if you grew up with it. The movies are crap, especially the first one. Cartoon Network continues to show these shorts still to this day. Why? Because they’re still really fun to watch.

Tom And Jerry

51. Spiderman (1967 and 1994 versions)



With the new Spiderman movie coming out, it got me thinking of all the adaptations of this webslinging hero. What it came to the cartoons, the 1967 and the 1994 animated Spiderman cartoons were my favorites, so I’m putting both of them on the list. The 1967 animated series was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and it follows the story very well with the comic books taking place when Peter Parker first got his powers and becomes Spiderman. The voice casting is really good with Paul Soles voicing as Peter Parker/Spiderman. When Ralph Bakshi produced the series around the 2nd and 3rd season, it becomes really nice looking and action packed.



With the popular Batman: The Animated Series on air at the time, a lot of cartoons try to take it to the shows to a darker, more serious tone, especially ones based on superheroes. The 1994 Spiderman cartoon was one of them. Created once again by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, it takes place during Peter’s college years and his job at the Daily Bugle. All the classic Spiderman characters are back and more threatening than ever, especially my favorite Spiderman villain Venom. The episodes were packed with adventure, twists, and unexpected turns that made them fun to watch.



50. Superman/Superman: The Animated Series (1941) (1996)



Well, once again, there are so many adaptations based on the Man of Steel and I can’t choose which one I like the best, so I picked both the 1941 Max Fleischer cartoons and Superman: The Animated Series. Although it had only 17 episodes, this cartoon is highly recommended if you’re a fan of Superman. The animation was amazing for its time, it has some great action, and the voice acting was pretty good. Great quality from the same guy who animated the Popeye cartoons. If they had Superman and Popeye together fighting against Lex Luthor and Bluto, that would have been awesome!



Once again, capitalizing the popularity of Batman: The Animated Series, a more modern and serious adaptation of Superman was released in 1996. It takes us to the origins of Superman and the adventures with him fighting against Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Darkseid, and more. Tim Daly does a fantastic job voicing as Superman. Overall, this is another Superman cartoon you have to check out.



One time when I was at a comic book store, the owner had the original first issue of Superman from 1939 and he let me take a look at it. That moment was one of the greatest moments of my life and I enjoyed every minute of reading it that I wouldn’t replace anything in the world with.



We’ve reached the half way point and we’re going to dive in to some really fantastic cartoons as the countdown reaches to #1. Do you have any fond memories of these cartoons? Post it in the comments and let me know. Hope to see you around Old School Lane real soon. Thanks for reading.

-Kevin