I remember the days before video arcades began to totally suck in America. The one down here at Springfield Mall used to be packed with a wide selection of awesome brawlers, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men and the Simpsons. The Simpsons was delevoped by Konami and had a lot of similarities with their TMNT brawler, mostly since all of Konami’s brawlers had a very similar formula to them. Still, it was a formula that really worked, so you couldn’t complain. The Simpsons was one of their best and became a game that sucked far too many allowances out of my pocket. I recently replayed the game for the first Read more »

So, what can be said about this disaster that hasn’t been said already? I’m honestly not sure, but I’ll see if I can’t cobble something together. My brain’s still seeping out through my nose, though. I hear that’s a common symptom which follows exposure to this very “special” Holiday Special. Sorta like opening the Ark of the Covenant only worse because you have to stare at the unfathomable horror for 96 minutes. What’s the plot? Chewie’s Original Trilogy Extended Universe family wants him to come home for Kashyyk’s most important holiday of the year, Life Day. It’s sorta like a vague amalgamation of Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza and every other winter Read more »

Way out here in the distant future of 2006, I would have sooner expected a remake of the classic 1976 film ‘Rocky’ than a sixth installment. Yet, much to the surprise of many, Sylvester Stallone shocked everyone when he announced he’d be writing, directing and starring in a new chapter in the boxing epic. I mean, for heaven’s sake, the guy is sixty years old! This couldn’t possibly end well. 
Or could it? Check out the full review, Right Here! Read more »

Bored? Need to pass the time before March’s brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie? Check out my reviews for the original three live action films from the 90′s and dust off a little nostalgia! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Movie In all honesty, I rank this film among some of the best comic book-to-movie adaptations ever made. While it does import a few too many concepts from the 80’s cartoon for comfort, and it does have a few other set-backs, the end-result is still a very dark and accurate portrayal of the original Mirage Comics TMNT. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: the Secret of the Ooze Much like Phantasm Read more »

The full trailer for the upcoming live action big budget Transformers movie directed by Michael Bay went online this morning. I was rather impressed by it, though you only get brief glimpses of the Transformers-themselves (the pause button can fix that, though). The special effects from ILM look superb. A shame they didn’t include any dialogue from Peter Cullen (reprising the role of Optimus Prime for the film) but I guess they wanted to make the Transformers seem as alien as possible, and having them speak would ruin that effect. Watch the trailer, Right Here! Read more »

The American produced Street Fighter: the Series tends to get quite a bit of flack from fans, some going so far as to call it “the worst video game cartoon ever made”. Hey, it wasn’t perfect, but in no universe was it ever as bad as the mid-90’s Mega Man cartoon. But that’s another story. Street Fighter: the Series was a loose continuation of the live action Street Fighter film starring Jean Claude Van Damme. That sentence alone is enough to frighten most people away from ever watching the show, but bear with me. When I say it is a “loose” continuation, I mean it. There are several differences between Read more »

March 24th, 1911 – December 18th, 2006. You should all recognize this man, at least his last name and his body of work. Joseph Barbera was the other half of the cartoon legends Hanna-Barbera. Barbera can be co-credited for such immortal cartoon characters as Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo, Yogi Bear, the Flintstones, the Jetsons and numerous others. Barbera died of natural causes in his California home, with his wife Shiela by his side. As a fan of animation, and being one who grew up watching his cartoons since before I could think coherently, it is sad to hear this news. His legacy is an extensive one and his work Read more »

“The New Fantastic Four”, not to be confused with the 80’s cartoon of the same name, or the numerous alternate rosters of Marvel’s First Family. This article specifically covers a three issue-long, “blink and you’ll miss it” roster shake-up provided by Walter Simonson and Arthur Adams. The arc was basically a comedy bit and the New Fantastic Four were never intended to be around for more than a split second. While the whole thing was rather pointless, I can’t say it wasn’t without some entertainment value. The story goes like so: a rogue Skrull “freedom fighter” named D’lila crashlands on Earth while being pursued by a group of Skrull soldiers. Read more »

The first season of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series from Murakami-Wolf-Swanson is considered by many a fan to be the best season of the entire series. Incidentally, it also happens to be the shortest. It was initially a five-part miniseries, which TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird worked on rather closely. While I can’t say that the first season is a perfect interpretation of the dark and gritty Mirage comic books, it certainly does have a much harder edge to it. The first episode of the set, “Turtle Tracks”, gets the ball rolling, introducing all the characters, their origins and the general plot premise in a Read more »

Here’s a little oddity I stumbled across on You Tube: an episode of the Barbara Walters Special where she interviews the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Rather bizarre. The interview was done as a promotion for the “upcoming” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: the Secret of the Ooze. All the actors reprise their roles for the interview, that includes both the men in the suits and the voice actors. Its only about three minutes long, but it’s honestly quite funny, as they keep in character through the whole thing. As a bit of trivia, Donatello’s downpour of tears was actually a technical malfunction on the part of the Jim Henson staffer Read more »