The Wuzzles Cameos

UPDATED 6/19/14

The Wuzzles was a Disney animated series in the 1985 and it was made along with Gummi Bears and I know how much fans love Gummi Bears. For one reason or another, Gummi Bears suceeded and Wuzzles didn't. Wuuzles only made it to 13 episodes. One factor was that Wuzzles was on CBS and Gummi Bears was on ABC. One season later, Wuzzles moved to ABC (which was eventually sold to Disney) for reruns, and disappeared from network television after that. They made lots of Merchandise, party supplies, toys and even costumes and they have been popping up lately...

 

In a recent T-Mobile commercial, Bumbelion (the lead Wuzzle) has a jersey on and like a mascot.

Butterbee was a girl Wuzzle and she appeared last year in an episode of "Sonny With A Chance" which is now called "So Random." Anyway, one fan online thought it was a knock-off but since the Wuzzles were made by Disney and owned by Disney and Sonny With A Chance is also owned by Disney, it makes sense.

 

Rick Gonzalez dressed as Eleroo in the movie Old School during a birthday party. Thanks to mousepaws for the picture. http://www.tbs.com/stories/story/0,,161865,00.html

Wizards of Waverly Place Series Finale Review

It finally came down to this, it is a two-parter. The series was great, but at not one place, it didn't have continuation, nothing ever matched but they did reference old episodes and lots of the special effects were bad. In one episode, they went to a room that was going to transfer their powers and as soon as I saw it, I knew they were not going to use it and in the end, they didn't. They did a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire' like game show style. They also got Zeke, Alex's werewolf boyfriend and Justin's vampire girlfriend. During the competition to find out who will be the family wizard, Zeke and Harper get captured by a Griffin and Alex uses the time out to go save them but they return too late. They loose and loose all magic, the Russo business gets closed when there is strife between the trio sibling. And of course, it turns out to be part of the competition and the trio end up in a labyrinth maze, in the uniforms they wore in the TV movie. There was word of a second movie so hopefully we might get a reunion from them. The music was horrible though, it was worse than stock music.

New Nick and Disney Shows

I covered the current Nick and Disney shows but there is a new slew of them and many suck.

Disney's Ant Farm

A toothy girl goes to a school for intelligent and creative kids, she has her wacky friends and the blonde frenemy that is always trying to make her loose. Her talent is singing. It's so-so, I don't personally like it, but the lead is charming and the musical numbers aren't bad. But the friendemy is pretty stereotypical.

 Jesse

They saddled Debbie Ryan of Suite Life on Deck with a Suite Life of Zack & Cody clone as a babysitter to assorted multi-cultural kids. I don't even want to this mess. Kids told me they like it.

 Shake It Up

This is just horrible. The girls... one is charming and the other not so much, I will let you guess which one. The parents and other characters are pretty annoying and intelligible. It is about two dance show fans that end up working in said dance show.

Austin & Ally

Set in Miami Beach but it isn't filmed in Florida. I like it actually, it is pretty good. It is a bit slow moving but has good music. Three of the four characters have some characterizations, except for Austin's guy pal. Austin is  a stuck up web sensation who can't write songs and steals a song from a girl who works at her dad's music store. So Ally ends up writing his music and her best friend, who goes form job to job ends up being his manager.

Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures premiered on Nickelodeon on July 1, 2011 that seemed to disappear as soon as it appeared. Next up is How to Rock.

Related: http://spanengrish.blogspot.com/2010/07/defending-nick-and-disney-kid-shows.html

Sonny With a Chance becomes So Random

Demi Lovato has gone to rehab because of her cutting herself and depression, she opted not to continue on her Disney Channel show "Sonny With a Chance." Disney is fine with that, they were reportedly planning to make the show more about their sketch show So Random and do less of the Behind the Scenes stuff. But now that she won't be returning at all, they are sticking with that plan and renaming the show 'So Random.' I see they aren't showing the show reruns as much, probably the phase it out for kids. What will happen to Sterling Knight (Chad Michael Murray)? His character is not part of So Random, let's see how they handle it. Maybe McKenzie Falls is canceled and he has to join So Random.

Related: http://spanengrish.blogspot.com/2010/11/about-demi-lovatos-depression.html

Upcoming Disney features (2011 and on)

Now I am not talking about Disney/Pixar, I am talking about just Disney. Which stopped traditional animation at Home on the Range in 2004 and went on to do the lack-luster computer animated films Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons (2007), and Bolt (2008). They went back to traditional animation with The Princess and the Frog (2009) but got mixed reviews. The computer animated Tangled (2010) was just a hit. But officially it seems Disney is only planning the traditionally animated Winnie The Pooh (2011).

"King of the Elves, a fantasy based on a story by Philip K. Dick, was originally scheduled for a 2012 release before development was scrapped. Allegations have recently emerged that work has resumed on this project. Even better is the recurring rumor that the film has been retooled as a traditionally animated feature." -http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/49176607.html
To tell you the truth I confused King of the Elves with Starz Animation's Gnomeo and Juliet. King of the Elves was to be computer animated. Here is the wikipedia page. Originally slated for release in 2012, the film was reported as shelved in December 2009. In July, 2010, it was reported by various sources that King of The Elves is back in development and it is being directed by Chris Williams, co-director of Bolt. It is based on Philip K. Dick's 1953 short story fantasy "The King of the Elves", the film is about a band of elves and one dwarf living in the modern-day Mississippi Delta who name a local human, Calder, their king after he helps save them from an evil troll.

Wreck-It Ralph (Formerly Reboot Ralph and formerly Joe Jump)
And that leaves almost two years before the next announced animated feature, "Reboot Ralph" scheduled for March 22, 2013. I got a lot of people asking if this was the formerly titled: "Joe Jump," and it is/was. - http://blueskydisney.blogspot.com/search/label/Joe%20Jump
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/21/entertainment/la-et-1121-tangled-20101121

It seems that there was a film being mulled over for a while called Joe Jump about an old videogame character (maybe from the 1980's) that tries to get into a new videogame. Sounds interesting. It is now called Reboot Ralph.
http://www.gamesradar.com/wii/disney-epic-mickey/news/disneys-reboot-ralph-a-videogame-centric-animated-film-coming-in-2013/a-20101123144129309010/g-2009102811119630063

There were plans in 2003 and 2008 for Snow Queen adapation. Glen Keene had quit on it in 2003. There are rumors it is still being worked on. But no official word. But supposedly it has been canceled. Above picture of her looking like a cook might have helped but that was just one concept, I am sure it would have been great.
http://www.slashfilm.com/exclusive-disneys-upcoming-hand-drawn-movies-revealed-including-the-snow-queen/
This concept art is by Harald Sieperman, a concept artist working on the last iteration.

In December 2011, Disney announced a new title for the film, Frozen, and a release date, November 27, 2013. A month later, it was confirmed that the film will be a 3D CG animated feature. On March 5, 2012, it was announced that actress Kristen Bell will provide her voice to the lead character, and Chris Buck will be directing along with John Lasseter and Peter Del Vecho producing.

And rumors are on Jack and the Beanstalk, as 'boy' films are in demand now and the 'girl' films aren't doing well (Princess and the Frog) and Disney might think since Tangled was a combo of the two, that a 'boy' film is the way to go. More here:
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/49176607.html
One article did say: "Indeed, Catmull and Lasseter killed two other fairy tale movies that had been in development, "The Snow Queen" and "Jack and the Beanstalk."

Interesting fact on Disney's Family Tree and Elbridge Gerry

There is a segment that airs during commercials called "My Family Tree" on the Disney Channel. Two children travel to find where their ancestor from their father's side, Elbridge Gerry, lived. Elbridge Gerry was an American statesman, diplomat and Vice-President to the USA. When the question of slavery came before Congress, Col. Isaac Coles of Virginia voted to abolish the practice of slavery, while his brother-in-law Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts voted to retain the same. "In his time there were not many who openly opposed slavery and he was no different, slavery was an unfortunate way of life back then." So basically he did not want to abolish slavery. The two kids' father is named after him and he is White, but their mother is Black and they look more like their mother, their skin color is similar. I think it is a quirky thing about the times, how they change. And maybe a bit ironic. Of course, the segment is short and doesn't mention slavery or how Gerry felt about it. I doubt the Disney Channel would bring it up otherwise in this sort of context.

Toy Story 3 Blu-Ray Review

The movie is great and the DVD is great too, with lots of information, ideas and explanations. The Blu-Ray/DVD combo comes with FOUR discs. One disc is the digital copy, one is the regular DVD (no director's commentary on that), the Blu-Ray is just the movie (with three small cute videos), and the extras on the second disc. The Extras Disc is the one that has two Director's Commentary and lots and lots of extras, jam pack. If you are not familiar with the past two Toy Story re-issues, that has this cute 3 to 5 minute stories (Studio Stories) with drawings that are more or less true story. Two of the feautrettes in the DVD disc and Blu-Ray disc are repeated in the Extras disc. The Directors' Commentary has Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson. The director Lee Unkrich expresses that he wished he had more hours to express more stuff. Darla is the producer, she mostly tells of inside info of little small things in the movie people should keep their eyes out.

In the commentary, Lee does confirm the cameo of Sid, the trash guy--who is wearing the same skull shirt. The Extras are split up by 'Family Fun' and stuff for extreme fans and other stuff. But check it out! Check them out because there ARE THESE AWESOME commercial videos. These are faux commercials for Lotso the bear, made by Pixar and they are to look like real 80's commercials. I do not know how they did it. They look like those commercials recorded off the VHS on YouTube. In the Behind-The -Scenes of the Lotso commercials, they don't reveal much on the technological aspect, but really just some stuff on the shooting with kids, with a small glimpse at use of a portable green screen. Actually the DVD extras has a lot about Lotso, on how they made toy bears to help animate the character for the animators.

Related: http://spanengrish.blogspot.com/2010/07/toy-story-trilogy-review.html

TV Shows about Young Witches/Wizards with more 'mature' intros

For the Fourth Season of 'Wizards of Waverly Place', there is a new intro sequence. The old sequence was more child-like, interactive and looked like it cost a lot to make it. The new one looked like it didn't cost as much, that it did cost a great amount of money but it wasn't as much as the last one. The first song was sung by Selena Gomez but the new one is a remix, a more club mix, which sounds a bit like Selena's band. This reminds me of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, a sitcom that aired in the 90's on ABC and then later the WB with Melissa Joan Hart. The first sequence was just Sabrina, changing into different outfits. For the fourth season, it was changed to a club techno song with the whole cast in bubbles and other scenes in bubbles and the ending is very unbecoming of a sitcom, a very ominous mystical end.

I have a feeling Melissa Joan Hart was behind the change of her show's intro in the fourth season because she always wanted the show to be more mature, in the sixth season intro--in which she went to college, it showed her partying in a club---which rarely happened on the actual show. She even wanted the WB to change the name of the show to Sabrina, as Sabrina was no longer a teenager. Anyway, I think much like MJH, Selena was behind the change of the new intro, to show she's more mature and cool. But the show hasn't changed in mood as much from season 3, maybe from the first season but not as mature as the intro suggests. Who exactly do they think theya re selling with this intro? The show is for kids, not club kids. Anyhoo, I find it curious that both new sequences have the casts in circles (Bubbles and Crystal Balls). Judge yourself:

First Intro to 'Wizards of Waverly Place':


New Intro to 'Wizards of Waverly Place':


First, Second, and Third Season Intro to "Sabrina the Teenage Witch":


Fourth Season Intro to "Sabrina the Teenage Witch":

Disney's Tangled Review

I have loved the Rapunzel story since I was a kid, mainly because it hadn't become a Disney movie yet, but secretly did want it to become one. I have been anticipating this movie for a while, and so have been one of my friends. This movie started out as a story of a boy and girl from modern times stuck in the story, but Disney wisely thought to go back. To lure the boys and avoid the low box office of The Princess and the Frog, they focused more on the man. In the original Grimm tale, the man was a prince and Rapunzel was stolen because of stolen radishes. The witch here has been turned into Mother Gothel, who has no powers. A magical regenerative flower was found by old Gothel. Rapunzel's mother was sick while pregnant and was fed the flower, giving Rapunzel magic golden hair with said powers. Gothel stole Rapunzel and used her power every day to become younger, cheating life. Rapunzel has to sign in order for her hair to glow.

The movie has beautiful animation, using new technology that lets combine hand drawing (digital pens) with computer animation. It is inspired by the Rococo paintings of French artist Jean-Honore Fragonard, supervised by Glenn Keane (producer)---who is responsible for Ariel and the Beast. So, the love interest is Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), who is a thief, not a prince, he steals the Princess crown. Rapunzel's royal parents send off flying lanterns in the air every birthday of hers and she seen them and wonder what they are and longs for them. Donna Murphy (Mother Gothel) does a great job. The songs aren't all that great, they are composed by Alan Menken, but doesn't have the flair the movies of the early 90's had---(I know everyone compares everything to The Little Mermaid), but what is missing is Howard Ashman. There truly is no other like him. But they gotta find one. Because the songs don't move the story, they state stuff we already know.

I went with my best friend, who I know will read this eventually and she says she got swept into the story. The movie is funny and the story is good, you feel it is a developed world, these characters will continue. Flynn as a hero gets knocked out all that easily. Flynn is rather sexy comes a long way since the Prince in Snow White; male animators have always have had trouble with the 'Prince.' Even though it has been reported it was hard with Prince Eric, prince Eric of the Little Mermaid is a pretty memorable Prince by many who grown up with the movie. Many ASFR and Male Knock Out fans will love what happens with Flynn. Rapunzel doesn't back down, she has a love-hate relationship with Gothel, a psychological abusive relationship. Rapunzel doesn't need saving from Flynn but does save herself and him. One thing I have to commend the producers and writers with is that you can feel the progression of romance between Flynn and Rapunzel, there are memorable scenes with them that show progression of them falling in love---much much better than those in The Princess and the Frog.

The romance between the heornie and hero in The Princess and the Frog felt forced. Mandy Moore does a great job as Rapunzel, she was a pop singer and has an awesome voice and she is a good actress so did a great scene. Basically, the movie is funny and the characters are memorable. Okay, here is the SPOILERS: I didn't like how Gothel died. I felt she could have lived, that Rapunzel could have left her, I hate this trend of villains falling to their death in Disney movies (Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, the cat in Cinderella, Mufasa in Lion King, the priest dude from The Hunchback from Notre Dame, and so many others).

Rapunzel's Pascal is a CHAMELEON, not a Frog Entertainment Weekly!

Entertainment Weekly accidentally says that Rapunzel's best friend pet Pascal is a frog but it is a chameleon in their review of Disney's Tangled. I like he's look, he's great.

EW.Com Review

Disney's Fluppy Dogs

This animated special featured 5 pastel-colored talking dogs that came through a inter-dimensional doorway and into the lives boy Jamie, with his teen neighbor, Claire. The basic premise for the series, much like the live-action sci-fi show called Sliders, was the story of a band of adventurous, cuddly, dog-like creatures who utilized a crystal key to open inter-dimensional doorways. They became lost between worlds while trying to find their way home and end up on Earth. However, a wealthy collector of rare animals is after them and the key that creates the portals necessary to travel has almost lost its power.

The Fluppy Dogs debuted earlier as plush dolls made by "Kenner". Several other merchandise, including books and annuals were also released. There were six dogs instead of five (the merchandise had 2 boys and 4 girls, while the special had 2 girls and 3 boys), and all of them had different names and personalities to the film. Disney changed its demographics so it appealed more to boys by redesigning the Fluppies and adding the futuristic "dimension hopping" idea which didn't exist in the previous incarnation. Based on these designs it would appear that the Fluppy Dogs were originally targeted to girls, and by the time it reached post-production, the focus was changed dramatically, but it wasn't enough to form a concrete target audience, which might explain its failure to become a regular series.

The Fluppy Dogs special aired on the U.S. television network ABC on December 1, 1986, pre-empting news program Our World. It scored a Nielsen rating of 5.3/10; placing 70th among network programming, it was the week's lowest-ranked program. I remember watching the special when I was four and loving it. I had the coloring book and wondered why there was never a series. I always chalked it up as a movie. But now as an adult, I figured it was a pilot. It is sad it never got a chance, because the animators really did try with the special. It is said that this series was to compete with Pound Puppies but the special reminds me much of Care Bears in spirit as it was cue and cuddly but had serious tone moments and suspenseful music.

Avalon High Feminist Plot Twist

I first didn't think much of the Avalon High Disney Channel TV movie, about reincarnated teens of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the round table. A girl has dreams and feels compelled to bring the reincarnated King Arthur to fight an old evil. Even the villain Moore thought she could be the Lady of the Lake but not King Arthur. The actress Brittany Robertson (Allie) said in an interview it is not every day she gets to sword fight and wear heavy armor. The promos and movie has one think King Arthur is the adorably British Gregg Sulkin (Wizards of Waverly Place). Disney Channel kept it a secret but did show video of her fighting in armor and a sword. The movie is not really post-feminist, it is a bit tack in its reveal and a pretty basic Disney Channel movie. But any children's movie that implores strong women is a good thing.

About Demi Lovato's depression

This has been going around a lot, about Demi Lovato being stressed out too much at work, and she has had the habit of cutting herself lightly, not for suicide but for a release of some sort or whatever other reason. She has admitted herself for help, which I think it is a good idea, that she should get help. I can understand where this is coming form. I have had depression for years and started as a teenage and so was anxiety. People can say that she has everything, a teen star, lots of money and easy job, but it can be stressful, she can be overworked or told she isn't good enough, not thin enough, etc. Even if she is treated well, she could have her own anxieties in her mind that invade. We all have doubts, sometimes they grow too big and get to us. I sure hope she gets help and works out whatever she has to work out.

The Black Cauldron on ABC Family

The film is based on Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain book series, which is in turn based on Welsh mythology. It debuted in 1985 and took many years to make, maybe 8 or 5. John Katzenberg came in when it was almost finished and he wanted to cut out a lot of the violence. The animators told him you can't edit an Animated film once it has already been animated. Anyway, Katzenberg made the hard work into a mess, the quality isn't 100%, it was a box office failure. This morning I wake at 8:30 to discover it was airing! It aired from 7am to 9am on ABC Family and it is not scheduled to air again any time soon. They most likely aired it for Halloween, it would have been nice to get a heads up.It was the most expensive animated feature made as of its release in 1985. It cost $25 million to produce, but grossed only $21 million at the North American box office. In September, it was released on DVD.

Beauty and the Beast Comparison between Original and Extended Edition

The "Human Again" sequence was added to Beauty and the Beast for the 2002 DVD (after the duet "Something There"). It has been re-released once again on DVD this week and I say thank god because the 2002 DVD was impossible to find and out of print. The new one comes with new extras... only available on Blu Ray unfortunately. I don't have Blu Ray so I can't see it but luckily it came with regular DVD, so I can see it, it has the three versions--regular, the extended version and the unfinished one that showed in New York (which is a fun watch). Anyway, I have never seen anyone compare the scenes after "Human Again" because in that new sequence, the gang cleans the house---so the Beast's room has been spruced up, but up until Belle leaves, so logic tells us the Beast messed up his room again because she left.


The "Human Again" sequence was added immediately before Beast takes his bath, as you can see, they fixed the torn sheets, fixed the mirror and cleaned up the floor.




And as you can see below, Lumiere's chair has been changed to some sort of footstool probably because the chair was at an angle and it would be too much to add a chair.




It seems Cogsworth's movements had been changed a bit, including one animation I loved and I have no idea to why they changed it.




Now here it is the part, it is to after Belle leaves...

Cogsworth asks Beast 'Why?' and he does it in a dramatic fashion. This animation has completely been redone and I have not seen anyone mention it online. It is not even mentioned in the Director's Commentary. As you can see, in the new one, he has barely any shadow and Beast's tail is barely in the shot. Cogsworth does a more subtle 'why' looking upwards. I loved the way he used to do it. I've been trying to make a video of it but having great difficulty in doing so.