Let's Watch This - An Episode of "Super Duper Sumos"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

I've never really understood why sumo wrestling is so popular. I don't know, watching fat nearly naked people beat each other up doesn't sound like my idea of a fun spectator sport. But in Japan, it's a national pastime, and to cartoons, it's comedy gold. After all, it involves two things - fat people and naked people - that everyone thinks are much funnier than they actually are. So if it's animated and it takes place in Japan, expect a sumo wrestler to pop up at some point. Even an advertisement for Ritz crackers got in on the act:

At some point, the folks at DiC Entertainment (same guys responsible for The Super Mario Bros. Super Show) got an idea: what if they did a cartoon starring sumo wrestlers? So they teamed up with South Korea firm Ameko Entertainment to produce three animated shows, the first one being Super Duper Sumos.

And thus, September 22nd, 2001 saw the premiere of Super Duper Sumos on Nickelodeon in the United States and on a channel called Tooniverse in South Korea. One season, consisting of twenty-six episodes, was produced, chronicling the adventures of sumo wrestling brothers Booma (the blonde-haired one, voiced by Matt Hill), Kimo (the Caucasian black-haired one, voiced by Ben Hur), and Mamoo (the black one, voiced by Cusse Mankuma). They live in a place called Generic City with their cousin Prima (voiced by Chantal Strand) and fight a corporation called Bad Inc., following the way of the "P.H.A.T.": Peace, Honor, And Truth.

Most people only know that Super Duper Sumos existed because cartoon reviewer RebelTaxi dubbed it the worst cartoon ever. And while I wouldn't go THAT far - shows like Planet Sheen exist, after all - after watching an episode I can confirm that it is indeed pretty bad. Why do I say that? Well, why don't we watch the eleventh episode, "Sumos on Ice", and I'll tell you just why Super Duper Sumos is anything BUT super. Let's get started...

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

Hey, paisanos! We're reviewing The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

You're probably familiar with this show already if you spend a lot of time on the internet. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show premiered in syndication on September 4th, 1989, created by Andy Heyward for Nintendo, Saban Entertainment, and DIC Enterprises. In fact, this was the first of THREE cartoons starring the iconic plumber to be created by DIC. Maybe we'll review the other two cartoons another time, maybe we won't. We'll see.

Each episode started and ended with a live action segment starring Mario and Luigi, portrayed in both animation and live action by Captain Lou Albano and Danny Wells respectively. This would show their lives in Brooklyn before they arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom, doing odd jobs for folks like Dr. Frankenstein, Inspector Gadget, and Cyndi Lauper. Sandwiched in between these live action bits were an animated segment where Mario and Luigi would help Princess Peach... I mean, Toadstool (voiced by Jeannie Elias) and her servant Toad (John Stocker) protect the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil Bowser... I mean, King Koopa (Harvey Atkin). The writers mostly used this as an excuse to do spoofs of various books, films, what have you.

Apparently, Nintendo was reluctant to do the show from the start and decided to end the show after production of the first season (consisting of sixty-three episodes) - which is why DIC made two more shows based on Super Mario Bros 3. and Super Mario World instead of just making more seasons of THIS show. Today, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show is mostly well-known for how corny it supposedly is. Ah yes, and every episode released on Friday had an animated segment based on The Legend of Zelda instead. I'm going to review an episode that doesn't have a Legend of Zelda segment because I've never played any of those games, ergo I don't think I'm a good choice to review an episode of a show adapting them.

Actually, we'll be reviewing the sixth episode, which consists of the segments "The Mario Monster Mash" and "Rolling Down the River". Does The Super Mario Bros. Super Show live up to the "hype"? Let's find out!

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Buzz on Maggie"

I have a confession to make. I'm afraid of flies. All bugs, really, but especially flies. I don't know why, I think it's a combination of the buzzing sound they make and those big compound eyes. Those compound, pupilless eyes. I know they're harmless, but they just scare the bejabbers out of me. So it's fortunate for me that this show starring flies makes them cartoony enough to NOT give me the willies.

The Buzz on Maggie premiered on Disney Channel in June 2005, the creation of South Park writer Dave Polsky. Taking place in the tiny inset-populated town of Stickyfeet, the show focused on an energetic teenage girl fly named Maggie Pesky, voiced by Jessica DiCicco (one of her first voice acting roles), who aspires to be a rock star. She attends junior high school and has to deal with typical teenage girl problems like babysitting her younger siblings, having a crush on her math tutor, dealing with the popular girl in school who hates her guts because she's not rich like her... y'know, basically the same stuff Penny Proud was already dealing with, except Penny was human whereas Maggie was a bug.

Maggie was designed by Dave Wasson of Time Squad fame (note to self: do a review of Time Squad at some point), who also served as a director on the show. In an interview with Animation Magazine, Dave said that he was influenced by Disney, Tex Avery, and Warner Brothers cartoons from the 1930s, which is why the characters wear white gloves. Maggie's home town of Stickyfeet is also located in a dump because, as he put it - "As an animator, that concept gives you a lot of visual opportunities. Who can resist building a whole city out of garbage?!"

Only one season of The Buzz on Maggie was produced, consisting of twenty-one episodes (each one consisting of two segments). The show received mostly positive reviews from critics, the show got the flyswatter when it had only been on the air for two months because it was doing lousily overseas. Then it was only aired at night, when most kids would likely be asleep, until 2008 when it was pulled from the schedule, pretty much torpedoing any chance of the show finding a new audience and maybe getting at least one more season. Oh, and only three episodes were released on DVD as part of an extremely rare promotional kit and it's not on Disney Plus. Fortunately, you can find episodes of the show on YouTube.

Today, The Buzz on Maggie is at best a cult classic. As for me, I remember watching the show when it was on, though I haven't watched it since it aired on TV so I don't know how well it holds up. We'll be watching the show's ninth episode, which consists of the segments "Slumber Party" and "Spelling Bees", to see if this is another cartoon that deserved better or if Disney made the right call taking a can of Raid to it. Let's get started!

Let's Watch This: "Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown" (1980)

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the special I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this special, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

Who wants to talk about another Peanuts TV special? I do!

By the 1980s, the folks making these Charlie Brown specials probably realized that they'd run out of holidays. There was a Christmas special, a Halloween special, a Thanksgiving special, an Easter special, even an Arbor Day special. And presumably, they realized that folks would think A Charlie Brown Cinco De Mayo was a dumb idea... actually, what WOULD that special be like? Would Snoopy have some sort of stereotypical Mexican alter ego? In what way would Charlie Brown get put the wringer?

Well, anyhow, before they started recycling holidays (I personally like It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown and I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown, but I know I'm probably in the minority), the folks making these specials started whipping up specials with plotlines that probably would've worked better for episodes of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show than full-length specials. Though, to be fair, they were doing this as far back as 1974 - It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown isn't anything to write home about.

Long story short, at one point somebody asked, "What if Snoopy decided to join the circus?" and that's how we got Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown. This is one of those specials that you rarely see people talk about. Airing on CBS on October 24th, 1980, the only truly noteworthy things about it are that A) it won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program and B) it introduced a character named Fifi, who would appear again years later in The Peanuts Movie. Oh, and it was one of the first Peanuts specials to be released on VHS.

I have never seen this special before. As a rule of thumb, if it never aired on TV at any point in the 2000s, chances are it's a Peanuts special that I've never seen (unless it was included as a bonus feature on the DVD of one of the holiday specials, like It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown was). But what luck, it's on Apple TV, so I can watch it now and do a review of it. Is Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown good? Let's find out, shall we?

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Goof Troop"

I was introduced to Goof Troop through reruns - specifically, the reruns that aired on Toon Disney. Same goes for most other Disney Afternoon shows like Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and Gargoyles. Y'know what episode I distinctively remember watching? The episode where Max films a video of Goofy to submit to a parody of America's Funniest Home Videos and then Pete disguises himself as Goofy to claim the prize for himself. I remember loving the joke where Pete's wife claims that her secret weapon against Pete is her mouth.

If you watched the Disney Afternoon when it was on, or watched reruns of the shows on Toon Disney like I did, chances are you don't need to be told what the premise of the show was. But for those of you that didn't, I'll fill you in - there were a couple of shorts where Goofy was shown as the father of a redheaded boy named Junior. This show brought back the "Goofy as a father" concept, turning Junior into the much "hipper" eleven-year-old Max, who has since become a recurring character in "Mickey Mouse and Friends" productions. Goofy, voiced by Bill Farmer, and Max, voiced by Dana Hill, lived in the suburban town of Spoonerville. Goofy being... well, Goofy, hijinks ensued, especially when the neighbors got involved. Those neighbors? Mickey's foe Pete, voiced by Jim Cummings, his wife Peg, voiced by April Winchell, and their two children: Max's best buddy PJ, voiced by Rob Paulsen, and rambunctious daughter Pistol, voiced by Nancy Cartwright.

Goof Troop was created by Michael Peraza Jr., the latter of whom talked about the show's development on his blog. Apparently, when he was brought in, they still had no idea what they wanted the show to be other than "Goofy is the main character". Tons of ideas for a hypothetical premise, all of them whipped up by the same creative executive who'd just been hired, were thrown out: one minute Goofy was the head scoutmaster of a group of scouts (which is why the show we got is called "Goof TROOP"), then he was a firefighter, then he was a detective, then he was a "swash-buckling hero fighting the Flying Dutchman". That same creative executive also came up with bizarre supporting casts for these premises that included alien dragon babies and giant gorillas (somebody in Disney's television department apparently thought giant gorillas were hilarious, which explains why there were episodes of both Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers AND Darkwing Duck with giant gorillas in them [and why there was a giant gorilla in Marsupilami]).

Concept art by Michael for the "Goofy as a detective" pitch.

Eventually, the idea became to do a show starring Goofy in Toontown from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which had recently been screened at the studio). He would be the driver of Benny the Cab, who was promptly replaced by a talking SUV named Woody. Michael Peraza Jr. explained to the executive why this wasn't such a good idea - what made Toontown work in the movie was the crossover of the live action world with the zany animated world where everything from the trees to the buildings was alive. And if Goofy is shown in a GOOFY world, is he still really Goofy? Not to mention they likely wouldn't get the rights to use all the same cartoon characters from non-Disney studios the movie did. The executive didn't listen and just told him to whip up some concept art.

Then Michael got a call from Gary Krisel, the president of Walt Disney Television Animation, who wanted to check on the progress of the Goofy show. Upon arriving at Gary's office, Michael explained that he didn't think they had a show to present yet and talked to him about all the different scenarios that had been started. When he got to the "Goofy in Toontown" pitch, he explained why he didn't think it would work and Gary agreed completely before asking Michael what HE would do. Michael had this to say: "Goofy is a recognized star of Disney animation, so why re-invent the wheel? His son is an average kid dealing with many of the usual issues they face: peer pressure, young love, grades, school bullies, and so on. On top of all that, he has the zaniest, wackiest GOOFIEST dad to live down. No matter how insane the situations get though, they will always love each other. They're a family." Gary loved the idea and told him to get started. Robert Taylor was brought in to produce the project, and before long the show was premiering in syndication on September 5th, 1992. Two seasons were produced, making for a total of seventy-eight episodes, plus a Christmas special.

Today, you can find episodes of Goof Troop on Disney Plus (a handful of episodes were also released on DVD). We're going to watch the thirty-third episode of the show, "A Goof of the People". Why this episode in particular? Because I'm writing this review on Earth Day and according to TV Tropes, this one has an environmental message. This is Goof Troop!

NOTE: For some reason, despite Wikipedia claiming that this is the thirty-third episode, Disney Plus lists it as the thirty-NINTH episode. Very strange...

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Danger Rangers"

I watched a lot of PBS Kids in the 2000s. I don't think a single day went by when I didn't tune in to see an episode of Arthur, Zoboomafoo, Sesame Street, or some other show that was airing on that channel at the time. And yet I have absolutely no memory of watching Danger Rangers. My introduction to it was, of all things, seeing clips of it used in a video somebody on YouTube made to a song from The Simpsons!

So what exactly IS Danger Rangers? Well, it was a cartoon show created to teach kids about safety. Apparently parents weren't doing a very good job of teaching kids, for example, to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle or call 911 in case of an emergency, so somebody thought, "Well, surely the kids will listen to a cartoon character..." Especially if that cartoon character is singing an upbeat song about it. Thus, Walter Douglas Smith Jr. and Michael D. Moore created these characters known as the Danger Rangers for the companies Educational Adventures and Animotion Works Inc. Jerry Houser, Ginny McSwain, Sean Roche, and Lucasfilm member Howard G. Kazanjian served as producers. The show's musical numbers were written by Randy Rogel of Animaniacs fame.

The Danger Rangers consist of Sully, voiced by Jerry Houser, a blue sea lion who acts as the leader of the group. He's competent, but also very goofy...

A creatively named cat named Kitty, voiced by Grey DeLisle-Griffin, Sully's second-in-command and possible love interest (because usually if the second-in-command of a team is the opposite gender of the leader, they're the love interest - Hunter and Colleen, Ace and Lexi Bunny, etc.) if I'm not looking too far into this...

Burble, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, a large polar bear who serves as the group's "gentle giant"...

Burt, a turtle who frequently builds inventions that help the Danger Rangers with their missions, which more or less makes him the Tech E. Coyote of the group. He is voiced by Mark Hamill, believe it or not...

Squeeky the mouse, a wisecracking smart-mouth with the voice of Rob Paulsen, which automatically makes him the best character on the show...

Gabriella, voiced by Tasia Valenza, a red hummingbird who rarely tags along on the Danger Rangers' missions, usually just staying back at headquarters and supervising. I guess there's only so much a tiny bird can do to save kids from crumbling buildings or whatever. Or maybe she's just lazy...

...and Fallbot, a John Kassir-voiced robot invented by Burt who also rarely tags along on the missions because he's a clumsy, incompetent goof (and who sounds like a cross between Pete the Puma and Bobcat Goldthwait).

Danger Rangers premiered on PBS Kids in September 2005. One season of sixteen episodes were produced, but a couple of things contributed to the show's not receiving more episodes. First of all, it only aired on select local PBS affiliates because it wasn't an in-house PBS production (maybe that's why I never saw it?). Second, at some point Educational Adventures decided to branch out into deals with Virgin Atlantic and Safe Kids Worldwide, it was hit with a lawsuit claiming that it committed fraud and financial mismanagement - bringing production of Season 2 to a screeching halt and crew members not getting paid for their work. Reruns also aired for a while on CBS' Cookie Jar TV Saturday Morning block, but the episodes were heavily edited to make room for more ads. Nonetheless, Danger Rangers has a small cult following, especially in North Korea.

How did I get into the show? I recently began watching the Annoverse's videos, and they've reviewed every single episode of the show. After watching their reviews of the first three episodes, I decided to do a review of the show myself. To make sure I didn't wind up parroting them, I'm gonna do a review of an episode that I haven't watched THEIR review of. So if I make any similar jokes, points, what have you, it's entirely coincidental. We're watching the fifth episode of the show, "Medicine Mix-Up". Let's get started, shall we?

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Pet Alien"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

Y'know what my only memory of Pet Alien is? I think my family was in an airport and the show (or at least an ad for it) was playing on a TV there. That's it!

Considering that this show, created by Jeff Muncy, aired on Cartoon Network in the United States, it's strange that I never saw any of it when it was on. Premiering at some point in 2004, this is actually a very loose adaptation of a toyline that Jeff Muncy created in the 2000s. The theme song explains the show's premise: a thirteen-year-old boy named Tommy (voiced by Charlie Schlatter) has his life turned upside-down when a spaceship lands on the roof of his lighthouse. From that spaceship emerges five wacky aliens: dinosaur-like Dinko (Charlie Adler), gluttonous and dimwitted Gumpers (Jess Harnell), blue-skinned Swanky (also Jess Harnell), hyperactive parrot-esque Flip (also Charlie Adler), and Dinko's purple dog-ish pet Scruffy. With the exception of Scruffy, they're really not so much pets as they are houseguests.

Two seasons of Pet Alien were produced, making for a total of fifty-two episodes... unless you count each segment as a separate episode (this is one of those "each episode is two segments in one" shows), in which case there were one hundred and four. The show's reception online seems to be pretty mixed, there are some folks who like it and some folks who hate it. Which side will I fall on? Let's find out. We're going to be watching the seventh episode of the show, which consists of the segments "They Came From Outer Space" and "Tentacles of Terror". This is Pet Alien.