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AWESOME-tober-fest 2009: Monster Force cartoon

Posted in cartoons, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, TV shows with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2009, cartoons, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, TV shows on October 16, 2009 by Paxton

I finish Frankenstein cartoon week with a little known monster gem from the mid ’90s: Monster Force.

This series was created in 1994 and lasted 13 episodes. The story is set around the year 2020 and features a team of teen warriors using high tech weaponry to battle the Universal Monsters as well as other spiritual beings. Frankenstein’s monster, aka The Monster, fights on the Monster Force team as does Luke Talbot, the Wolf Man (descendant of the original Larry Talbot from the Universal movie). Also on the team is a psychic girl named Shelley Frank who is somehow connected to Frankenstein.

The main villain of the cartoon is Dracula (with a weird goatee-type thing that looks totally beatnik) and his faithfully gross servant Renfield. Other monsters like Hotep (The Mummy) and The Creature (from the Black Lagoon) also pop up within the first 7 episodes. Monster Force was released on DVD this year. I got it off Netflix to watch expecting a cool, monster vanquishing adventure series. The verdict? It’s awful. Imagine a retarded kid doing a book report on Japanese stereo instructions. Now imagine that this book report is a tighter, more interesting script than anything you see in this show.

For instance, the psychic girl, Shelley Frank. Her name. Get it? Shelley, as in Mary SHELLEY. And Frank, as in FRANKenstein? And you know that she’s psychic because she and the team mention it probably three or four times EVERY EPISODE. You know, in case you forgot in the five minutes it takes for them to mention it again. Shelley is also the only one with wings on her battle armor so she can fly. Why? Why did they not think the rest of the team would want f’n WINGS on their battle armor? I would. I’m on the team, I want to f’n fly, dammit. That’s the type of character development you see in this show.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2009: Drak Pack cartoon

Posted in cartoons, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, pop culture, TV shows, werewolves with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2009, cartoons, Dracula, Drak Pack, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, TV shows, werewolves on October 14, 2009 by Paxton

Continuing my look at cartoons featuring Frankenstein’s monster. Today I look at Drak Pack.

This show originally aired on CBS between 1980 and 1982 and it was created by the Australian arm of Hanna-Barbera.

The cartoon had a great premise. As descendants of the original monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and Wolf Man), the three main teens use their monster abilities, and taking orders from the legendary Dracula, to fight crime and atone for their ancestors’ evil doings. Here is the opening sequence that explains the entire premise of the show (like many Hanna-Barbera cartoons are want to do).

This was a very clever series that merged the superhero genre as well as the monster genre. As you can see, the teens appeared normal until they called on their monster identities to fight evil. The three teens are Drak Jr (or just Drak), Frankie and Howler. They each had different abilities in their monster forms. To change into their monster personalities they high fived and yelled “WHACK-O!” (called the Drak Whack). Surprisingly, they went by the same names whether as regular teens or as the monsters which makes you wonder why they used secret identities. But I guess walking around as a 7 ft green monster would be a bit much. To get around they drove a bad ass hot rod called the Drakster which not only looked cool but had a ton of James Bond-ish gadgetry hiding within it.

I remember really enjoying this show. I only ever saw it a few times because the time that it aired constantly changed. I was always on the lookout for it but never could find it. It was released on DVD in Canada, but you can order it from Amazon (it’s Region 1, so you can watch it on a US DVD player). Unfortunately Netflix has not added it to their library just yet.

Definitely worth a look for monster fans as well as Hanna-Barbera fans. Another really great series staring every0ne’s favorite monsters as heroes.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2009: The Groovie Goolies cartoon

Posted in cartoons, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, pop culture, TV shows, werewolves with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2009, cartoons, Frankenstein, Groovie Goolies, Halloween, monsters, pop culture, TV shows on October 12, 2009 by Paxton

Okay, the Frankenstein theme begins in earnest this week. All the entries from here on out will feature the giant, green skinned behemoth in some pop culture incarnation. This week’s entries will look at Frankenstein cartoons. Next week I’ll look at Frankenstein novels and the final week of AWESOME-tober-fest will be spent looking at Frankenstein movies.

So, like I said, this week is cartoons. Frankenstein has been in a bunch of cartoons. He’s headlined a few, been a part of a few. Let’s take a look at one of the more fun ones.

Today’s entry is The Groovie Goolies

This cartoon originally aired on TV between 1971 and 1972. The show was created by one of the best animation houses around, Filmation, who also created He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids, Star Trek the animated series and many other of your favorite cartoons.

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Star Trek 43rd Birthday: Watching Season 1 on DVD Part I

Posted in movies, pop culture, reviews, Star Trek, TV shows with tags James T Kirk, movies, pop culture, reviews, Star Trek, TV shows on September 11, 2009 by Paxton

Okay, today we are continuing our Star Trek 43rd Anniversary celebration by revisiting the original TV series episodes. On Wednesday I did a movie retrospective of the first six Star Trek movies, but today I’m reviewing Season 1 of the TV series. Growing up in the ’80s, I was a big fan of the movie version of Star Trek. Treks II and VI were my favorite movies with the original cast. I had seen some of the episodes of the original TV show in syndication, but I didn’t remember them. I said before, that the only episode I’ve watched in its entirety more than once was Squire of Gothos because it contained the character of Trelane, the precursor to Star Trek: The Next Generations’ Q character.

Looking at the Season 1 set being offered from Netflix, I noticed something odd. The original unaired pilot, The Cage, is not offered on the first season set. I was disappointed because I really wanted to see this episode. However, after digging around on the internet I found out that The Cage was offered on the very last disc of Season 3 as a bonus. So I had to get the last disc of season 3 mailed to me from Netflix to see the unaired pilot. I just thought that was weird.

So, anyway, this is what I’m watching, the Blu-Ray set of Star Trek The Original Series, Season 1.

Going into this I was very worried that the original show was going to be a little dated and boring. That I wasn’t going to enjoy it as much as the movies. That’s one of the reasons I decided to re-watch the shows, to see the whole phenomenon how it originally aired.

Overview of Season 1 as a Whole

So, how does the series hold up? Very well, actually. Like I said, I was prepared to be a bit bored by the cheap special effects and low caliber story telling, but the series really surprised me. Yes, there are episodes that plod along and bore you, but for the most part it is fascinating to watch the crew at work. Predictably, Shatner is UNBELIEVABLE as James Kirk. All the reasons I love him in every Star Trek movie is presented in this first season. He is supremely bad ass, as macho as the offspring of a T-Rex and a Great White Shark and totally in charge at all times. He seeks out new life, then when the new life starts acting like bitches, he throws photon torpedoes at it until the problem goes away. Kirk doesn’t care. And Spock. OMFG, Nimoy is a treasure. He is the king of the subtle insults. Whenever some crew member is freaking out about the near death adventures Kirk keeps getting them into, Spock always comes at them completely deadpan with something similar to “emotions are illogical” or “emotions make you weak”. Then he gives them that penetrating Vulcan stare with the raised eyebrow that informs the crew member that they have just been OWNED. The crew of the Enterprise have got to think Spock is a douche. I love it.

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Happy 43rd Birthday, Star Trek!!

Posted in pop culture, Star Trek, TV shows with tags pop culture, Star Trek, TV shows on September 8, 2009 by Paxton

43 years ago today, on Sept 8, 1966, the first episode of Star Trek’s original series aired on NBC. The first broadcast episode was The Man Trap, however, chronologically the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before happens first (and the unaired pilot The Cage happens before that).

Being born in 1974 and having my formative years in the ’80s I missed watching the original series on television. What I did enjoy, was watching the movies. I missed the first Star Trek movie (probably because my dad didn’t enjoy it), but I watched Star Trek II as my first Star Trek experience and I loved it. I would grow to love Kirk and Spock and the rest of the crew through the next 4 movies (or 5, depending on if you count ST: Generations as an original cast movie). I would catch some of the syndicated reruns of the TV show, but only in pieces. I also used to watch the cartoon on Nickelodeon, but as a child, it seemed boring to me. I plan on revisiting that cartoon. The only original series episode I can think of off the top of my head that I’ve seen more than once is episode #17: The Squire of Gothos. I only watched that because the main adversary in that episode, Trelane, was the precursor to one of my favorite Next Generation characters, Q.

After watching the phenomenal JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot, and in light of Star Trek’s birthday, I decided to re-watch the original cast’s movies as well as the first season of the television show on DVD. I’ll have two more articles up this week with quick reviews of those movies and TV shows. Are they still bad ass? Are they completely played out? Find out this week in my reviews.

And Happy Birthday, Star Trek!

Star Trek 43rd Birthday Articles coming this week:
1. Review of the first 6 Star Trek movies
2. Review of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series Part I
3. Star Trek Season 1 highlights Part II