Tough Girls on TV: 'Stay Off The Streets' not Believable

I have noticed a peculiar thing on Kids shows. The so-called 'Bad girls' that may have a future in jail. Alex Russo (Selena Gomez) of "Wizards of Waverly Place" is a mischievous minx but many characters on the show say that she has to 'stay off the streets' and she may have a future in jail or no job. Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy) is also seen as a bad girl, already been to Juvie, already knowing how much days you get if you hit a police officer and Carly having to fear canceling her show because Sam is in jail. But it doesn't ring true to me. Most 'bad' girls I have seen in real life as a substitute teacher are not exactly as caring as Sam and Alex or do exactly what these girls claim they do. If Sam really was doing what she said she would, I doubt she would be doing a web show. Or if she did and had a friend like Carly, I would believe she would stay off getting in jail. I know TV isn't always accurate, I don't know, it just seems wrong and strange. And also I do not like how Alex off-handily jokes about it, it is sending the wrong message. I know, I know, they are fantasy shows but some kids might think it's cool or normal to go to jail.

Defending the Nick and Disney Kid Shows

I am a sub teacher now and I have a nephew and he watches he likes Nick and Disney. The kids too like it, and I feel like I know what they are talking about. Many people just regard these following shows as kid shows and have no good writing but here are some of my thoughts.

The Good Ones:

iCarly (Nick)
One of the best shows recently from Nick. When I was a kid, the biggest shows on Nick at that time was The Secret World of Alex Mack, Clarissa Explains It All, etc. This show at first look is obnoxious but in fact, it is pretty clever. It is about a teenage girl that does a webshow from her artistic brother's apartment with two friends. It was real great writing. Some of my friends say that Carly as a character is bland and the thing to watch is his brother Spencer. Negatives: The villain in early episodes was a web-blogger named Nevel who was effeminate and wasn't stated was gay but was clearly a gay villain; also there was these two opposing 'pet-ographers' who were clearly gay. I don't like how it is showing that femininity in males is a bad thing or a thing to oppose or make fun of. As always, the interactions between teachers, principal and students is not 'real' enough.

Sonny With a Chance (Disney)
When I first saw an episode, I thought it was obnoxious and didn't understand the premise. It is about a girl named Sonny joining her favorite sketch show ala "All That," the show is done by the guy who wrote for "All That." They film next to a drama like Drawson's Creek called Mckenzie Falls and the star falls for Sonny. Anyhoo, many regard the show as a variety showcase as it has comedy, drama and singing. But I like the writing, it is witty and original, especially the episode about originality and 'dabbling.' And the sketch "The Real princesses of New Jersey." It is genuinely funny. Negatives: The acting sometimes can be a turn-off and also the fart jokes (yet Gassie is a veiled parody of fart joke sketches) and the duo of Nico and Grady sometimes are annoying.

Wizards of Waverly Place (Disney)
Easily regarded as a Harry Potter-rip-off but the show has its own mythology: A sister and two brothers, have to compete to see who will be the 'family wizard' and keep the powers. The show is applauded to be a mixed-race family, Italians and Mexicans. I thought that since they live in New York, their mother would be Puerto Rican but it is refreshing they didn't go with a cliche. Alex (Selena Gomez) as a character can be a bit much, annoying in her scheming ways. And when Max was younger, he was irritating, his acting has gotten better. The real attraction is Harper, a true friend and creative dress maker. Negatives: Some of the crappy effects. In the episode where both Justin and Alex loose their werewolf boyfriend and vampire girlfriend, the set is pretty lame. And one time they were hunting monsters and the monsters were lamer than anything on Sci-Fi channel. Also in one episode, they made us sympathetic to a wizard that is a lot like Alex but then is found out to be 'evil' so she is turned to ice and is broken into little pieces---which no one bats an eye or cares about to the fact that they killed a human.

The Troop (Nick)
I have reviewed this show before. Teenage monster hunters. It can be a bit redundant but it has its quirks. Not overtly original but it is a nice successor to Are You Afraid of the Dark and The Secret World of Alec Mack. Negatives: The obnoxious sister, some of the boring plots.

Here are the bad shows:
Victorious (Nick)
Utter crap. I am so tired of seeing the face of Victoria Justice. She can barely act and for a show about creative people, it is not awfully creative. The actress playing her sister is a fat face annoying person (maybe its the bad writing for her or her acting). Positives: She's Hispanic?

Good Luck Charlie (Disney)
An awful run-of-the-mill family sitcom, there is nothing special about this trash. It is an utter waste of the actress who played Justin's girlfriend in Wizards. This probably is a vehicle for both her and that guy playing her brother, the girl has promise. The actress playing her mother should never get hired again, it is sad to see her try to be funny or even act. She isn't very appealing, it puts me off. Positives: None.

Big Time Rush (Nick)
Boy Band show. No smart jokes. Not even funny. Over-exaggerated fluff. Positives: Only one of the guys are remotely cute, the others are not my type at all. One is the token Hispanic but is ugly, one is like James Van Der Beek (suppose to be cute but isn't) and one has awful bangs and sunbaked face.

Hannah Montana (Disney)
Can't stand this show. I have tried to give the show a chance on multiple occasions but it is just awful. The worse part is Miley Cyrus, whose acting is horrendous and annoying. Apparently she thinks shouting her lines is affective. I often like to call the show "Jem for retards." Positives: Girls seems to love it.

So-So:
Suite Life on Deck (Disney)
I am on the fence about this show. I do watch it. It is semi-entertaining. But it gets old quick. They wedged in the black actor, who was weened in that Tyler Perry show so he clearly knows the sitcom business but his character seems to have no purpose. And the characters 'visit' other countries (via sets or Disney's Epcot Center), but they are filled with stereotypes and nothing new to give. It would have been refreshing if they actually taught kids real facts on these countries.

Camp Rock 2 Teaching kids about hype

As usual Disney Channel is over-hyping this sequel TV movie, but they are claiming it is the cornerstone of the summer but it will premiere September 3rd. But the album comes out in August and they filmed this last summer. Plus the tour starts July 27th and ends in October. I guess they are holding out on kids. But the summer is over before the end of August. Kids go back to school at the end of August in most of the United States. Maybe they are releasing it late in case kids are in camp and can't see it. All I am saying the date is way too late. Demi Lavato and Joe Jonas might already be broken up by then! With Joe, it only takes 30 seconds.

Rapunzel getting no love for her movie!

I saw the trailer for the upcoming Tangled and it's beautiful animation but scruffy thief Flynn Rider is treated as the main protagonist and Rapunzel is barely seen. This is because Princess and the Frog failed to capture the boys audience. Disney is eagerly trying to capture the attention from boys (hence Cars 2 in some ways). It is very sad that a female protagonist movie has to have a male usurp her role. This will probably lead to Disney fans not considering her a 'real' Disney Princess.

Not only did Bo Beep lost her sheep but we lost Bo Beep all together!

Someone missing in the Toy Story 3 trailer? Bo Beep! Bo Peep and her sheep are adornments of Molly's bedside lamp. She was Woody's love interest in both first movies. It seems she will only appear in a video of the past, briefly in the home videos Mrs. Davis makes of Andy. Later on, Woody comments that she and toys like her were either given away or sold in garage sales. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I just hope they use this opportunity to have Woody be sad over the loss of her. It makes sense since she really wasn't Andy's toy, but Molly's. And it was something of when Molly was a baby, she no longer is a baby.

How is Toy Story 3 not rated yet?

Toy Story 3 is not rated yet, how could it not be rated? It has been in the works for years and the past two movies were rated G. Lazy by MPAA or Disney?

Rapunzel to be released this winter

The first look to Disney's Rapunzel, to be released November 24, 2010--the birthday of my second cousin and niece. The original version was that a girl got pulled from the modern world and replaced Rapunzel, and Rapunzel got turned into a squirrel. But now, thank the lord, it is going more traditional. It is a unique film as it is the first to be animated with new technology, to make it sound simple--they use special pens to draw and it ends up in the computer, they want the look to be more like watercolor paintings. As you can see above, this gives the film an unique look.

Mandy Moore provides the voice to Rapunzel, Zachary Levi as Flynn Ryder, and Donna Murphy as Mother Gothel. Disney has announced the future addition of Princess Rapunzel from the computer animated film.

Official:
RAPUNZEL (Domestic Release Date: Christmas 2010, Disney Digital 3-D(TM))
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Directors: Glen Keane, Dean Wellins
Producer: Roy Conli
In this new telling of the classic fairy tale, "Rapunzel," audiences
will be transported to a stunning CG fantasy world complete with the iconic
tower, an evil witch, a gallant hero and, of course, the mysterious girl
with the long golden tresses. Expect adventure, heart, humor, and hair ...
lots of hair, when Rapunzel unleashes her locks in theaters for the 2010 holiday.

Tinkerbell Movies

I know those Tinker Bell fans and parents to little girls already seen these films, but for others that haven't, I thought I'd write a report on the two films, as they both have aired on the Disney Channel. The two TinkerBell films: Tinker Bell and Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure are not bad at all. While they had production problems, fixed by John Lasseter of Pixar--Brittany Murphy was the original voice but with stopping production on one story [which was going to be a trilogy with the male fairies living separate]. I like the final product, it has good storytelling. It has nice and simple arcs. The big plot is that Ms. Bell accepting who she is and her life talents.

When her fairy friends were introduced--and that they each have an element [water, flowers, etc.], I thought they were lame and just cookie-cutter. But the movie introduces them well. The fiaries are in charge of the four seasons and male and female fairies co-exist, just like any other tribe. They are equal in fact. There are 'Season' ministers, two of which are male--Fall and Spring. Tinker Bell's 'love interest' or just friend, Terrence is a fairy dust keeper played by Jesse McCartney. They ration out the fairy dust. Tinker Bell can get carried away, she often learns her lesson after stating it to someone else and realizes her downfall. I hate when young heronies break down and cry at any sight of trouble, she does, but briefly. She is a strong character, she makes mistakes and is not 'perfect' or like Snow White, she's much like a 90's disney cartoon heronie, like Gadget of "Chip & dale's Rescue Rangers" or Goslyn of "Darkwing duck."

Yes, there is the token 'bad girl' or girl with attitude, Vidia [played by the talented voice actress Pamela Adlon], who gets more attention in the third movie Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue. Tinker's friends are rounded out by That's So Raven's Raven-Symone as the yellow light-powered African-American fairy Iridessa, Ugly Betty's America Ferrera and later Angela Bartys as the orange animal-caring Latina fairy Fawn, Pushing daisies' Kristin Chenoweth as Rosetta, the gardening fairy Rosetta and Lucy Liu as Silvermist, the Asian water fairy. Lucy Liu and Kristin Chenoweth are older than the other fairy friend voice actresses Raven, America, and Mae Whitman [who is a great choice as Tinker Bell, she was in short-lived series ABC family "State of Grace."] but they mix well. Her friends don't seem forced to mix but they slowly meld well. But they don't get much characterization in either movie.

Terrence does get characterization in the second movie. The animation is dazzling and they are both beautiful movies. They don't sing in the movie, but the songs are nice, not distracting, they have an Irish jig inspiration.

Source:
The tragey of TinkerBell Part 1
The tragedy of TinkerBell Part 2

Disney's One Two

Disney's One Too was a spinoff of Disney's One Saturday Morning, and resembled The Disney Afternoon. In the summer of 1999, UPN and Disney began a programming alliance where UPN would air two hours of Disney children's programming during its kids block on Sunday mornings and weekday afternoons. Originally announced as "Whomptastic," the block debuted on September 5, 1999 six-days-a-week as a companion to Disney's One Saturday Morning franchise on ABC. Hercules is the only series to transition from Disney Afternoon to Disney's One Two. On Wekkedays, it was 3pm to 5pm and on Sundays, it was 7am to 9am or any other time depending on the local channel.

September 5, 1999–February 6, 2000 had: Hercules: The Animated Series (1998-1999), Disney's Doug (1996-1999), Sabrina: The Animated Series (1999-2000) and Disney's Recess (1997-2003).

February 7, 2000-October 1, 2000 had: Disney's Doug (1996-1999), Sabrina: The Animated Series (1999-2000), Pepper Ann (1997-2001) and Disney's Recess (1997-2003).

October 2, 2000–September 2, 2001, Pepper Ann was moved to 3pm and Sabrina: The Animated Series stayed at 3:30 and the new Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001) that aired on UPN took the 4pm slot and Recess stayed at 4:30pm.

From September 3, 2001-September 1, 2002, Sabrina moved to 3pm, Recess moved to 3:30 and The Legend of Tarzan (2001-2003) took 4:30, while Buzz Lightyear stayed at 4pm. The Weekenders aired on Sunday, being the first show of the block, taking Sabrina's place.

From September 2, 2002-August 29, 2003, Digimon Frontier took the 4pm slot. Buzz was first, followed by Recess and Digimon was followed by Tarzan. Recess had six seasons and 128 episodes. Sabrina the Teenage Witch returned to syndication years later through DiC.

Series that first-run aired on ABC:
Disney's Doug (1996-1999)
Pepper Ann (1997-2001)
Sabrina: The Animated Series (2000-2001)
Hercules (1998-1999)
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001)
Recess (1997-2003)

Series that first-run aired on CBS (since now mostly DiC cartoons run on CBS):
Sabrina: The Animated Series (2006-2007)
Series that first-run aired on UPN:
Sabrina: The Animated Series (1999-2002)
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001)
The Legend of Tarzan (2001-2003)

On September 14, 2002, Disney's One Saturday Morning was terminated and rebranded as ABC Kids. ABC Kids' block is now completely reruns from the Disney Channel, except for the Power Rangers, which now only airs on ABC. In the summer of 2003, Disney's One Two block completely ended. NBC became the first network to drop children's programming entirely in 1992, when it was replaced by the live-action teen programming block called TNBC ("Saved by the Bell"). The WB and UPN merged to form The CW in 2006, leaving The CW to air the Kids' WB block up until 2008, when became The CW4Kids. However, some Fox affiliates aired the 4KidsTV starting in 2002 and it was dropped the Fox Box/4KidsTV block entirely in 2008 as the block became CW4Kids. Now, only NBC (which started again in 2002), CBS, ABC, and theCW air children's programming on Saturdays. FOX and MyNetworkTV do not.

Related Topic: Disney Afternoon

Bonkers and Marsupilami

The Bonkers animated series originated from an attempt at a television adaptation of the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which never reached production due to legal complications. As a result, the show created original characters, but still set the action in a Roger Rabbit-like world where "toons" and humans co-exist. Unlike the film that inspired it, however, Bonkers was entirely animated and featured no live action Disney was developing a 65-half hour series for their Disney Afternoon block entitled He's Bonkers D. Bobcat. The series dealt with his adventures post-stardom. The actual production of this series was troubled, in large part because the so-called real characters in the series were also animated, only not as broadly as Bonkers and friends.

At the same time, Michael Eisner had purchased the rights to the popular Belgian comic strip Marsupilami. At some point, someone had the post-modern idea to actually make the cartoons that Bonkers had starred in before becoming a policeman, and the show that would become Raw Toonage was born. Raw Toonage only aired 12 episodes in 1992. Marsupilami had bumpers or eye-catchers on CBS for s ome time and htne had its own spin-off series that aired only 13 episodes.

The "Miranda" episodes were actually produced first, and produced by Duane Capizzi & Robert Hathcock. But the episodes including Lucky Piquel were aired first and Bonkers varied in appearance. This discrepancy becomes evident when observing the look of the main character in both sets of episodes. In the Raw Toonage shorts, Bonkers was orange with one brown spot, golf-club-like ears, and an undone tail. This look was used for the Miranda Wright-era episodes. When the Lucky Piquel episodes (produced by Robert Taylor) were made, the character had a major overhaul: skinnier ears, two black spots on each his tufts, black Tigger-like stripes on his tail, and a different uniform.

The Raw Toonage shorts were an after-thought of production. While the Bonkers series was in pre-production, the Raw Toonage team, headed by Larry Latham produced 12 "He's Bonkers" shorts. These shorts were, in the context of Bonkers, explained to be some of the shorts Bonkers made at Wackytoons Studios before he was fired. The animated short entitled Petal to the Metal was originally shown in theaters in 1992 before the feature movie 3 Ninjas. In syndication, the shorts were collected into four full episodes with fillers of new material in between.

Meanwhile, Duane Capizzi, making his producing debut, was brought into the fold and teamed with animation veteran Robert Hathcock and charged with making 65 episodes (a full season's worth in syndication) with Miranda. These episodes came back from overseas animation studios looking less than spectacular, causing considerable concern at Disney. Only 19 of the original-order "Miranda" episodes survived to air. Ultimately, the original team was replaced, and a team headed by Robert Taylor. Taylor threw out the old premise of the show, replaced it with the Lucky Piquel scenario, but his episodes were revised and established to occur before the original episodes. 42 episodes of the "Piquel Era" were made. "New Partners On The Block" bridged the gap between the two somewhat contradictory storylines.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit rejuvenated the animation industry, as Steven Spielberg worked with Amblin Entertainment and Warner Brothers to produce "Tiny Toon Adventures," "Animaniacs," "Pinky and the Brain," "Histeria!" and "Freakazoid." And Disney with the Disney Afternoon cartoons.

Related Topic: Disney Afternoon | Disney Cartoons in the 90's that were not in the Disney Afternoon

Disney Cartoons in the 90's that were not part of Disney Afternoon

The following cartoons were made by Disney during the 1990's but were not part of the Disney Afternoon, they either aired on CBS or ABC on Saturdays.

The Wuzzles (1985-1986), CBS and (1986-1987), ABC
It aired on CBS in 1985 while the Gummi Bears aired on NBC that same season, but Gummi Bears caught on and The Wuzzles did not. I loved the Wuzzles! I had my four-year birthday themed to that. There was only 13 episodes and there were Wuzzles that didn't appeared on the show from the merchandise.

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-1991), ABC

This is the most famous and popular of the Winnie the Pooh series, Christopher Robin spoke with a distinctly American accent, the first time since the Pooh short Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. In all other previous shorts, he has a British accent. There was 83 episodes, a usual cartoon series at that time had 65 episodes and it is the only Disney series at that time to remain on ABC and not be syndicated while it first aired. After that, of course it has been on the Disney Channel and Toon Disney.

Raw Toonage (1992)/Marsupilami (1993), CBS
Raw Toonage was a strange creature. There are 12 episodes (a 13th one was in production but was never completed) and aired from September to November 1992. It had different shorts in each episode. Disney's version of Marsupilami first appeared on television in Raw Toonage in 1992, and was then spun off into his own eponymous show on the CBS network. Marsupilami was originally a Belgain comic strip started in 1952. Disney's Marsupilami only lasted 13 episodes itself. Michael Eisner had purchased the rights to the popular Belgian comic strip Marsupilami. At some point, someone had the post-modern idea to actually make the cartoons that Bonkers had starred in before becoming a policeman, and the show that would become Raw Toonage was born. The additional segment, Totally Tasteless Video, was intended as a satire of popular culture, not a proving ground for new stars. The host was added to give the show the familiar feel of the World of Disney show.

The Little Mermaid (1992-1994), CBS
The Little Mermaid, much like Winnie the Pooh, maybe was too 'soft' for the Disney Afternoon or maybe, they could only make so many episodes since it was just weekly. The Little Mermaid premiered in the fall of 1992 with the animated prime time special called "A Whale of a Tale," then moved to Saturday mornings. It lasted 31 episodes and three seasons. The series was set before the first movie, but now the new 2008 prequel The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning contradicts the events in the series.

Disney's House of Mouse (2001-2003), ABC
This cartoon wanted to re-interduce kids to Mickey Mouse and his crew with new shorts and it was surrounded by segments with characters from Disney movies like Aladdin, Snow White, etc.

Related Topics: Disney Afternoon | Bonkers and Marsupilami

Disney Afternoon

Many non-Americans may not know about this or people who were not kids from 1987 to 2000, the popular cartoons Duck Tales and Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers were part of a programming block known as "The Disney Afternoon," that ran from 3pm to 5pm. I used to love it and always looked forward fro the new cartoon to premiere at 4:30pm every fall. The Disney Afetrnoon aired in syndication, syndication is when shows are not part of a network channel. This is really rare these days. The only syndicated programs today are Jerry Springer and The Legend of the Seeker. The most popular syndicated shows known are Baywatch, Xena and Hercules.

Duck Tales started in 1987 and Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers started in 1989 on the Disney Channel with a 2 hour TV Movie that was split into four episode. DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers started it all with one hour long cartoon block in 1989-1990. Disney invested a far greater amount of money into the TV series than they had previously been spent on animated series (Wuzzles and Gummi Bears). This was considered a risky move, because animated TV series were generally considered low-budget investments for most of the TV cartoon history. The studio gambled on the idea that a larger investment into quality animation could be made through syndication — a concept that worked well with live-action TV reruns, but which had only been used with inexpensive cartoon series that either recycled theatrical shorts from decades past or only featured low-budget animation.

In 1990, the Disney Afternoon officially began. Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (created in 1985 for NBC and then ran on ABC in 1989) was put at 3pm with DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin was the first series presumably created expressly for The Disney Afternoon. When Tad Stones (Hellboy: Sword of Storms, Buzzlighter of Star Command and Darkwing Duck) first came up with the idea of the Rescue Rangers series, Chip 'n Dale were not part of the show, but Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted established Disney characters to work with. Tale Spin was also supposed to have Lunchpad from Ducktales.

In 1991-1992, my favorite--Darkwing Duck premiered, the first spin-off from Ducktales. New episodes premiered on ABC and then went into the syndicated rotation. It lasted three seasons and ended in 1992. When a new cartoon came in at 4:30pm, the cartoon at 3pm was retired and the other cartoons were bumped up in time.


The popularity of the Disney Afternoon led to a temporary attraction at Disneyland called Disney Afternoon Avenue in 1991. Gadget's Go Coaster is the only remaining Disneyland ride to be based on the Disney Afternoon. At Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Mickey's Birthdayland was renamed Mickey's Starland in 1990. This new "land" featured a stage show called Mickey's Magical TV World and starred the new Disney Afternoon characters. I remember seeing Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin and the Rescue Rangers there, they all each had their own area on the stage.

In 1992-1993, Goof Troop joined the block. Because of the failure of the theatrical release of Ducktales the movie, the Goofy Movie lost too many refrences to Goof Troop. The only characters from Goof Troop that survived the movie were Max and Pete's son, who had grown in age. In 1993-1994 season, Bonkers was added. I will cover more on Bonkers in my next post. In the 1994-1995 season this practice changed somewhat, as Gargoyles and Shnookums and Meat premiered at 4:00 p.m. Aladdin aired at 4:30pm. Also, the practice changed again as Bonkers was replaced with the 1996-1997 season, which featured Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, Aladdin and Quack Pack. At 4:30pm, The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa ran on Mondays, and The Mighty Ducks, on Fridays and Quack Pack ran on the other weekdays.

Many Disney cartoons on the Disney Afternoon alternated from CBS and ABC for their first run. Mighty Ducks started in 1996 and new episodes aired on ABC, while Timon and Pumbaa started in 1995 and new episodes aired on CBS. Disney's The Little Mermaid Animated Series aired from 1992 to 1994 on CBS. Raw Toonage (which ran in 1992) and The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show (1993-1995) also ran on CBS. All other series aired on ABC like Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, etc. Gummi Bears was the only Disney cartoon to air on NBC, I believe.

'First-run' means to run first with new episodes, not repeats. I am aware many of the Disney Afternoon shows have been on the Disney Channel or Toon Disney, but they did not premiere or star on Toon Disney.

Disney Afternoon Cartoons to first-run air on CBS, other than syndication:
The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show (1993-1995)
Aladdin (1994-1995)
The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa (1995-1998)

Disney Afternoon Cartoons to first-run air on ABC, other than syndication:
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1989-199o), it originally ran on NBC from 1985-1999.
Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers (1989-1990)
Darkwing Duck (1991-1992)
Goof Troop (1992-1993)
Gargoyles (1996-1997), it ran from 1994-1997
Mighty Ducks (1996-1997)
Disney's 101 Dalmations: The Series (1997-1998)
Hercules (1998-1999)
Disney's Doug (1996-1999)

Disney Afternoon Cartoons to first-run air on Disney Channel, other than syndication:
Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers (1989-1990)
Bonkers (1993-1995)

Non-Disney Afternoon Disney Animated Series:
(These series were from Disney but were not part of the Disney Afternoon)
The Wuzzles (1985-1986), CBS and (1986-1987), ABC
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-1991), ABC
Raw Toonage (1992), CBS
The Little Mermaid (1992-1994), CBS
Disney's House of Mouse (2001-2003), ABC

By the time of 1997-1998, Disney Adventures had been reduced from 2 hours to a 90 minutes. By 1997, The Disney Afternoon was terminated as a formally named series. DuckTales, Quack Pack, Mighty Ducks on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Disney's 101 Dalmatians: The Series. In 1998-1999, it was Disney's 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Disney's Doug, and Hercules: The Animated Series. At the same time, local stations found it hard to comply with FCC restrictions on children's advertising in terms of allowed quantity and content and still remain profitable in such blocks. Still, FOX, UPN, and WB wanted to try to hold on to children's programming during the week. Disney continued the 90-minute syndicated block until the Fall of 1999, at which time UPN made a deal for Disney to take programming control over their children's block, which had struggled to find an audience under two iterations as a general cartoon block and with programming targeting young teenage girls.

By 2002, Fox Kids had died and there was no longer weekday afternnon cartoons on Fox. While Kid's WB's weekday slot ended in 2001, Kids' WB ceased airing weekday morning programming, and gave that slot to the local affiliates. On January 6, 2006, the weekday afternoon Kids' WB block was dropped "at the request of the local affiliates", replaced by Daytime WB. By the 1999-2000 television season, some remnants of The Disney Afternoon package were moved to Saturday mornings, solely on the ABC network, under the name Disney's One Saturday Morning. Weekdays, the remnants of this block aired on UPN affiliates under the name of Disney's One Too until its full discontinuation in the fall of 2003. These cartoons included Disney's Recess (1997-2003), Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001), Digimon Frontier, Disney's Doug (1996-1999), Hercules: The Animated Series (1998-1999), Pepper Ann (1997-2001), Sabrina: The Animated Series (1999-200), The Legend of Tarzan (2001-2003) and The Weekenders (2000-2004). I will cover this more in detail on another post.

Related Topics: Disney's One Two | Bonkers and Marsupilami | Disney Cartoons in the 90's that were not in the Disney Afternoon

TR2N

Tron (1982) is one of my favorite movies, I was born when it came out but I always saw it on reruns on syndicated channels on saturdays. I was thrilled when it would come on, I was probably six when I could remember it. There was always a rumored that there would be a sequel, some fans don't believe there should be a sequel, that the new technically would outshadow the original or the story would fall flat. I suspected Disney would make a remake, I would accept a remake in a few years. About story---critics say the story fall flat. Anyhoo, Disney surprised fans in July at ComicCon with a sneakpeak trailer to Tron 2. The animation is amazing! From that little clip, I feel the animation is not too over-the-top but enough of a homage to the original that it works. Let's hope the rest of the movie is the same.

Yo Quiero Mi Principe

Two weeks ago was my four-year-old niece's birthday party and she loves the Disney Princesses. We got her Ariel, big Belle and the non-princess big Tinker Bell. She looked at all her dolls and then she asked, "Donde esta mi principe?" We laughed but I gave this great thought. She had many Princesses (Jasmine, Cinderella, Baby Ariel, etc.), but she had no prince. She didn't have no Barbie nor Ken. My eldest niece, her cousin, hates Barbies and is happy she doesn't have any Barbies. But when I wished to get the little niece "A" a Prince doll for Christmas, my eldest niece "M" suggested buying Ken's prince. I went to Toys R Us and they only had the new Diamond-no-se-que (Diamond-I-don't-know-what) and he didn't look much like a prince. And they had Sleeping Beauty with Prince Phillip for $22 in a pack. Even as much as I love them, no way I was going to pay that much. I found the Princesses in 'wedding dresses' but no groom. What kind of wedding is that? Are they promoting same-sex weddings? If so, awesome but I doubt it.

So I decided to go to the Disney Store. I was sure I would find it. There was the tall wall of the Princesses: Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine, and Mulan. And down there, a few of the Beast. It shows off that you can change the Beast into the prince. As much as I love the Beast, "A" loves the Little Mermaid and has the doll in that size. In the back of the packaging of the Beast, there is the other Princes: Prince Charming, Phillip, Aladdin, Eric, and the Beast. I went to the sales lady and said, "Yo amo la Bestia, pero no tenien los otro princepes?" She told to look back there, I told her I did, she asked if I searched, I told her I glanced at it. We went to the second wall of dolls and searched, I just moved a bit of figures and she finally accepted there wasn't any. She then went to the back to check. I told her I would prefer Eric, but she said she would get what she could.

I went back to the first big wall of dolls, search and search and nothing. It is obvious where that the kids give up searching, the dolls above were all perfectly stacked. There was only the beast. I fear that my niece "A" will loose the beast head. So the lady came back with a couple of Prince Charmings and Prince Eric. I was so thrilled, I tried taking Eric from her but she needed help to carry them. So I helped put them on the shelf. She felt bad for poor Beast. Having less Prince merchandise in Princesses is common with any gender-based merchandise, there are few male CabbagePatch Kids, there are few female Power Rangers or even female figures in any male-based toyline. Because with the theory or proof that they don't sell well. The Princes were pretty good deal too, originally they were $12.50, they are now $8.

Disneyland in Brazil?

Just when you thought Disney Resorts had learned their lesson with "Eurodisney," there are plans to build in Burle Max Park, which is a nature reserve. The capital's government has offered Disney a 30-year lease on 175 hectares (432 acres) in Burle Marx Park for the attraction. So far it is a rumor and supposedly in the works,so it may not even happen.

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LaughingPlace

Who Framed Roger Rabbit Retrospective

I have had this movie for a while but it is one of my favorite movies and since I have covered Animation before, I decided to do a play-by-play like I did with Clueless.


I saw this movie when I was 5 1/2 and looked so forward to seeing it. I remembered it open on a Wednesday, which was rare for a movie. It seldom happens these days. I saw it a couple times in theaters, which is rare. I first saw it with my parents and then again in a school field trip. The opening cartoon obviously took roots from Tex Avery and i remember having a fascination with Tex Avery cartoons afterwards. I was an animation buff, even back then and wanted to be an animator. Some of this was drawn in England and they misspelled Chili as 'Chilli' and had to re-shoot the sequence with the bottle.

The extreme violence in the opening toon, you can't find these days. Baby Herman passing by a female on the set of the opening cartoon and sticking his middle finger up her dress, and then coming back from under the dress with a drool of spit on his lip. This was edited out of the first DVD edition of the movie, though it can be found on editions of the VHS, laserdisc, and my DVD.

This movie was a huge event for the audience. i remember going and hearing the cheers when a famous toon would appear. The first was Dumbo. It was amazing to see him and be referenced as "we got him on loan from Disney" which was strange for me at that age because I knew the movie was from Disney. I didn't understand at that time the man was talking about Maroon cartoons.


What always gets me and wasn't referenced in the director's commentary was the kids smoking and giving the cigarettes to Eddie. I think it is just plain awesome. So many things got away from the censors, which make this movie cool. It made it more real. Of course, I didn't notice this as a kid. I also like the little touches, even with how this movie was extremely hard to make and everyone involved is still tired... there was a mute veteran with no explanation.


Joanna Cassidy is freaking awesome as Dolores, the heart of the movie. She says the lines with a straight face like "A toon dropped a piano on his head" or "Is that a rabbit in your jacket or are you just happy to see me?" and of course, "I had to shake the weasels." I remember seeing her in Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter is Dead, she played Christina Applegate's fashion-ista boss. Also to the right, the gorilla bouncer who says, "Wiseass." Disney made a fuss but at least it wasn't a Disney character cursing. I remember seeing the VHS in class with other students (third grade) and we all made noise when he said it. The teacher didn't like it of course.


The stuff the octopus' held and all the things in the Ink and Paint Club, they were held by puppeteers. Just amazing. I found it weird as a child that Eddie had to go to an illegal club where humans and toons can be together. I thought cartoons are cool and fun, why wouldn't humans want to be with them. Obviously as an adult, I see it as a civil rights metaphor.


As a kid, I loved Marvin Acme and felt it was a cool explanation on Acme company always used on Loony Tunes. I felt like there was more to this whole meeting of cartoons event, there was this secret world that explained everything. The producers say they thought it was cool to make a character that was related to the Acme company. As for Betty Boop, most kids in the 80's knew her from merchandising. funny enough, the animators who in charge of her drew in frames of her flashing--as tradition as they did back i the day---but it was cut out, while all the other Roger 'easter eggs' weren't until today.

Ah, the famous Jessica entrance. Labidios went high in the theater and anywhere else I saw the movie with a crowd. We didn't really get a real feel for the character until the scene with Eddie shirtless.


The patty-cake scene, where Eddie takes the pictures as Jessica moans---all kids thought it was sex and still beleive it was sex. I found it funny back then and still find it funny these days with the patty cake flip photos.


This scene where Roger went into an alley and looked through old photos of him and Jessica was added to make the audience feel for him because up to this point, he was just 'annoying.' In the background of the pictures is caricatures of the producers.


When they mentioned Eddie's brother, I felt like I missed something. As a kid, I wanted a scene with them together, flashback or something. I still love the background music in this scene. it has a great soundtrack, which the director calls a great mix of film noir oldy time music with toony music. I love the film noir elements, as a kid it made me feel like I was watching a real adult movie, in some ways.


I don't like how in the photo above it says 'some floozy' instead of Dolores. Richard LeParmentier played Lt. Santino, also played Admiral Motti who Darth Vader killed. He said "The Rabbit cacked him last night" in this scene and they took the word 'cacked' from an old Jazz musician.

When Yosemite Sam leaped out of Toon Town, it always made me happy because it like a sneak preview to the wonderful Toon Town. As for the jackass to the right, I hated him so much because he tormented Eddie.



Ah, Christopher Lloyd, I knew him from Back to the Future and for a time, didn't recognize him in this role.


Ah, the infamous Dip scene. This brought chills and moans to all the kids in the audience. It was a big deal but I was never scared. One thing producers decided not to do was have his partner shoe see his partner die.


I always found Baby Herman cool and interesting. I remember there was always a debate with kids over the baby was female or male. His arm moved strangely because it was a robotic arm moving the real cigar. As for the scene to the right, 'Eddie' was put in blue screen to cut out a bit of scene to make it shorter. Unfortunately if they wanted a scene out, they had to take it out completely, animation and all.


The best detail was the fingerprints on the chair Roger touched. As for the scene to the right, the image always got on my nerves.

In this scene where Roger and Eddie are handcuffed together and they are in a secret cellar, the light swings to and fro, giving a on-purpose challenge to the animators by the director. They had to match the light on Roger. As for the 'big pills' joke, Roger confuses probate with prostate, even the producers asmit fans will probably get it now that they are older, because back when in theaters no one (in all-kids audience) laughed.


In a deleted scene, now known as the 'Pighead sequence,' Eddie returned to Jessica's dressing room to find her, Judge Doom, the Weasels, and the doorman gorilla. This was broadcasted on CBS as part of the movie and when I saw it on TV, I found it strange I didn't remember it since I already saw it in theaters so many times. It was also included in the laserdisc, but on current DVDs, it is as a deleted scene.


The Weasels take Eddie to toon town, the camera pans up to Witch Hazel zipping around and being hit by lighting from a cloud and the moon acting none the wiser. The sun then comes up.


Eddie comes out with a bag on his head to reveal he has been and I quote, "tooned-a-rooned."


He washes it off in the shower in a creepy sequence as the eyes pop into the drain.

This is why he is shirtless when Jessica comes into his home in the movie. To ease the transition, they had Jessica's silhouette behind his door and we heard a toilet flush, supposedly he went to the bathroom with his shirt off. As a kid, I found this sequence crucial in Jessica's character. She says how she is not really bad, she was just drawn that way. I don't know if it was because I am gay but I thought you couldn't trust her and I had a sigh of relief to discover she was not bad.

To the left is a sequence which is one of the few or just the only errors in the movie, Dolores fixes Eddie's collar and in another shot, it isn't fixed. This is because more of the plot was fleshed out and shot in California, instead of England.


The chalk sequence in which Doom squeeks a chalk, always got on me and my nephew's nerves as kids. What I didn't notice was that Doom used the amputee's sleeve to clean the board. My favorite scene is the reverse psychology use on Roger to drink his drink.


One indicator to later in the plot was Doom staying away from the dip. To the right, Roger and Eddie hop in the Toon Patrol car and find Benny the Cab. Roger was so thrilled but I was scratching my head. As a kid, Roger, Herman and Jessica were all new characters to all of us obviously so it was kinda exhausting to be this long into the movie (for a kid, minutes are longer) to discover yet another new character.


The short Goofy Gymnastics (1949) was used for the movie, even though it is set in 1947 because it is the only wacky Disney cartoon they could find for the movie. As for the pull in when Eddie reveals to Roger that his brother was killed by a toon, producers were afraid of moving the camera with a cartoon but they believe it all came out fine. I personally think it pulled out too fast, a bit like macromedia flash action.


When Roger was upset about a news reel, I never knew about news reel being shown in movie theaters when I was 7. It was interesting. As for the picture to the right, it is a classic death, what editors' dream to do to their boss with their old editor machines.

One of the producers said a woman said 'thank god' in a screening when Eddie poured out their drink. Everyone complains about the drinking, but as a kid, I found it more real. As for the tunnel, as a kid, I loved this scene but I wa shocked to find out it was a miniature tunnel. It looks pretty well.


Now I notice that the mushrooms look like Chinese stereotypes and on top of it, the controversial Tar Baby from the even more controversial Song of the South is to the far right. He has a sign that says 'Visit La Brea Tar Pits. ' I think it was supposed to be Brer instead of Brea.

Droopy Dog not only appeared in this movie but in some of the following Roger Rabbit shorts. And of course, the famous scary-looking Jessica-impersonating Lena Hyena (Toon Hag).


The door nob is the doornob from Alice in Wonderland and the writing on the wall says, "For good time call Allyson "Wonderland." The best is yet to be.


When Tweety is taking off Eddie's fingers, he looks so disinterested. And with Mickey and Bugs, many swear Bugs gave Mickey the middle finger but he is just twiddling his fingers. According to Wikipedia: For one frame in the middle of this, animator Dave Spafford claims that he deliberately drew Bugs as flipping Mickey off, and requested that the animator working on Mickey respond with a shocked expression.

other than the ending, a brief cameo of Porky Pig is to the left on an advertisement. And some say this silhouette who speaks to Eddie is Dick Tracy.

Where Jessica saved Eddie, Judge Doom ran away. I remember seeing this and thinking it wasn't Doom, I was confused and thought it was another character. I was aware enough to know it wasn't Christopher Lloyd. It was actually Ken Ralston, the visual effects supervisor. As for the scene to the right, Jessica's famous panty showing has been 'covered' on the DVD. What it basically was just skin-color, no actually vagina. When the DVD set was reissued in 2002--which is the one I have, the scene was reanimated so that a piece of Jessica's skirt strategically covers Jessica as she rolls down the hill.

One of the weasels reaches in to Jessica's breasts and finds a bear trap. Eddie called it a 'booby trap.' Lame pun but not so much for Disney, it's considered risque. Meanwhile, a classic look: a car driving a car. You don't even see that in Cars, where a car rides inside a truck.


When Jessica sees the Dip, the shot always freaked me out because of her exaggerated reaction. The animators mentioned how if humanoid characters did something un-characteristic, it would look horrific, which this does, we even see her nose. To the right is Eddie and Jessica's reaction to when Judge Doom says, "People will going off and on... off and on all day." Hilarious dirty innuendo.


In this final battle sequence, it gets tiring to see the dip 'almost' get Jessica and Roger about 2 to 3 times. One cool thing about Judge Doom that people don't know is that he originally was going to be the guy who killed Bambi's mother but of course, Disney didn't approve.

There was much debate if either the Frank Sinatra sword should be the old or young Frank, it was a reaction to caricatures of celebrities in early toons. As for the big reveal of Judge Doom, it always freaked me and the younger kids in family out. His squeeky voice still runs chills down my spine. When he would pop up walking, I knew it wasn't traditional animation when I first saw it--I was 6. Indeed it was stop-action animation.

This sequence where Judge Doom tries killing Eddie, it takes Beetlejuice territory and a bit too, I don't know what, even for the movie. When Doom dies, he says, "what a world, what a world' which supposedly the wicked witch in the Wizard of OZ said when she died similarly but I don't recall her really saying it.


This is a rare known fact that in the train that passes them that it contains different murders inside the windows. A toon is hanged, one commits suicide and various other killings occur.


The first toons of the horde of toons that appear at the end to appear first is Peter from Disney's Peter and the Wolf and various little woodlen critters.


Above: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop, Daffy, Donald Duck, Baby Herman, Sylvester, Tweety, Bambi, Pinocchio, Pluto the dog, Dopey...

Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales*, Wile E. Coyote*, The Road Runner*, Jose Carioca, The Singing Harp from Mickey and the Beanstalk, Koko the Clown, and Droopy Dog
* - denotes the characters were created after 1947.


Brer Bear, Woody Woodpecker, Hector the Bulldog, Big Bad Wolf, Snow White, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian*, and the next picture: Clarabelle Cow. Look how Bugs Bunny looks mildly interested.


The Reluctant Dragon, Various Fantasia characters, and the Joker from Noveltoons.


From back in the center of the picture to the left, I see Sam Sheepdog*.

In the back, the guy in blue is Pete. Then even more confusingly, Porky comes up behind him in a similar blue outfit with hat. I remember seeing Porky Pig and Tinkerbell together and thought it all came full circle. Like I said before, it was a big event picture was happening and it was the coolest thing ever. Zemeckis says they added Tinkerbell for Michael Eisner because he said, "We are ending the picture with a Warner character?!" I still feel like Porky ended the picture.


This the 'test' done to see if the movie could be done and approved. One of the big wigs at Disney thought it was a guy in a costume. The first time I saw it, it freaked me out a bit.


To the left, an animation mistake, Roger disappears through the pole. As for Eddie, it is a stand-in actor.


They used rubber stand-ins for the characters for reference and then filmed it without them and those frames were used as backplates for the animators.


Charlie Fleischer, the voice of Roger famously dressed as Roger to 'go into the dressing room' like the other actors. Around the studio. they could hear people go, "did you see that guy in the rabbit suit? Who is going to see that movie?"


Famous Studio/Paramount characters Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oyl, Little Lulu, and Casper the Friendly Ghost, as well as Pat Sullivan's Felix the Cat and MGM's Tom & Jerry, were all scripted to appear, but the rights to the characters could not be obtained. Although, a photo of Felix shaking hands with R.K. Maroon is seen in Maroon's office when he first hires Eddie and Felix also appears as as the masks of tragedy and comedy on the entrance for Toon Town.