cartoons – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Thu, 08 Aug 2019 20:22:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png cartoons – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. cartoons – Nerds on Earth false episodic cartoons – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. cartoons – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Remembering Saturday Morning Cartoons https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/03/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/ Sat, 09 Mar 2019 13:00:43 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=23456

In looking back at the old Saturday morning cartoons, we take a look at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and why it holds such fond memories for so many.

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COWABUNGA, DUDES! Grab your pizza and scootch yourself RIGHT UP to the TV screen, as close as you can possibly get without your mom shooing you away.

It’s now 1994, and you are enjoying a day in the life of four-year-old me. I have my green Donatello socks (with the material tucked between my toes, so that I, too, could have turtle feet), my Michelangelo bowl, and my raspy faux-Shredder voice (yes, I did this frequently and yes, my parents might have been terrified), and I am ready to watch my absolute favorite show: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

What is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

This still-popular animated staple made its crime-fighting television debut in 1987; the turtles originated in their comic series of the same name, developed by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. They toned down the slightly darker comic series and developed it into a cartoon suitable for kids, thereby opening the door for the ever-popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (TMNT) toy lines that children still love today.

Speaking of the Turtles, let’s take a look at them and some of their friends:

  • Leonardo: Leo is the leader of the group and can be identified by his blue mask and two katana. He is the most responsible one in the group, and by far the most serious. 
  • Raphael: Raph wears the red mask and wields two sais. He is sarcastic and funny, maybe a little cranky; he is often depicted as lazy, whereas other versions of his character are quick to anger and even violent. 
  • Donatello: Donnie is the brains of this outfit! He wears the purple mask and fights with a bo staff and is also the resident nerd! He is always inventing new things (which typically blow up in his face) and usually ends up coming through with a solution to their turtle problems.
  • Michelangelo: Mikey is the resident party dude! He is the pizza loving, nunchuck-wielding, orange masked turtle who’s all about having a good time. He is the one mostly responsible for all of the slang phrases (see: cowabunga) featured in the show. 
  • Splinter: Master Splinter is the turtles’ rat sensei – in this instance, formerly a human, but transformed along with the Turtles by the ooze. His past as a human has direct ties to THE SHREDDER, the big bad of the series, as they were both ninjas in Japan with the same sensei. 
  • April: April O’Neil is a strong-willed, yellow-jumpsuit-wearing news reporter who discovers the Turtles in their sewer home. She is a loyal friend of the Turtles and fiercely dedicated to her journalistic integrity (AKA the heroine we didn’t know we needed!). 

TMNT was truly chock full of great characters, both good and evil; I hated The Shredder with a burning passion only a four-year-old is capable of. How dare he threaten my favorite television characters?! I was ready to drop-kick Bebop and Rocksteady and punch Krang in his stupid, gross, lumpy pink head (head-body?). 

Why was TMNT so popular?

Complete with action figures, Ninja Turtle slang, and a killer theme-song (that I still might listen to in the car, on occasion), TMNT appealed to me like no other show ever did.

The heroes in a half-shell were characters that I could relate to. Maybe not the crime-fighting ninja skills – although I could be seen flailing about with a bandana around my head – but their personalities offered a little bit of everything.

They represented qualities that I wanted to possess: intelligence, responsibility, humor, kindness, strength, and they were COOL AS HELL. I wanted to embody all of their good qualities and do it with a shell on my back. 

What is the legacy of TMNT?

The Turtles have translated well through the generations, as evident in the many incarnations of the animated series, along with a slew of live action films, video games (I’m looking at you, pixelated NES game!) and plenty of toy store merchandise.

I am elated to see that my childhood faves are still relevant and kicking. When I taught pre-k, several of my students (girls, too!) chose to dress up as Ninja Turtles for Halloween and could not wait to share the news with me.

I hope with all sincerity that countless future generations to come will know the desire to ride in the Party Van, the longing for a set of nunchucks to use while watching Michelangelo, and the abject terror of thinking The Shredder would finally conquer the reptilian heroes.

I would, however, like to issue a warning to the future: Ninja Turtles HAVE NOSES, not just little nostril-holes. It’s non-negotiable.

TMNT: See for Yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL4JftCKR8c&list=PLJOXtFyZkYoeQSXGSDHqhuX4Q2P777dl1


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Captain Planet: Remembering Saturday Morning Cartoons https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/02/captain-planet-saturday-morning-cartoons/ Sat, 16 Feb 2019 13:00:37 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=22225

In looking back at the old Saturday morning cartoons, we take a look at Captain Planet and why it holds such fond memories for so many.

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Good morning, Planeteers, the year is 1989 and Barbara Pyle has begun to create of one of the most original and eco-conscious cartoons ever to be made.

What is Captain Planet?

One of the longest running cartoons of the 90s, Captain Planet and the Planeteers ran from the years of 1990 to 1992, then after Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. was bought by Turner, it continued on from 1993 to 1996 under the name of The New Adventures of Captain Planet.

The core storyline of the Captain Planet cartoon centers on Gaia, the spirit of planet earth, who was first voiced by Whoopi Goldberg. Gaia sends five magic rings–four with the power to control an element of nature and one controlling the element of Heart–to five chosen youths across the globe.

  • Earth: Kwame hailed from Ghana, Africa, and possessing the power of earth, he was the unofficial leader of the Planeteers. He was voiced by LeVar Burton.
  • Fire: Wheeler was from New York and controlled the power of fire.
  • Wind: Linka was from the Soviet Union, although in later episodes was noted as being from Eastern Europe, in order to account for the collapse of the Communist regime.
  • Water: Gi was from Asia and controlled the power of water.
  • Heart: Ma-Ti was from the Amazon basin region of Brazil and wielded the power of heart.

They are then set against villains that embody environmental damage such as Duke Nukem, Sly Sludge, and Doctor Blight. But whenever the danger is too great, they put the power of their rings together to call forth the personification of the will of Gaia: Captain Planet!

Why was Captain Planet so popular?

The reason I’m such a fan of the Captain Planet cartoons is because it’s obviously designed to make the viewer think about global issues and how the individual can have an impact. From it’s outset, Captain Planet oozed it’s message, the best example being: “By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!”

It did all this without compromising the enjoyment of watching a cartoon. Then, once his work was done, Captain Planet would leave with the message: “The power is yours!”

It was also popular for lots of other reasons. The main characters are varied, the villains are overly-dramatic and exude the evils of which they are named after, and Captain Planet is the embodiment of everything hopeful. What’s more, the animation and music style personify the intensity and importance of each battle facing the Planeteers.

What is the legacy of Captain Planet?

As a concept, Captain Planet went above and beyond anything else in trying to make earth-conscious behavior as fun as any other Saturday morning cartoon.

Although the Captain Planet series did end in 1996, it still lives on in multiple iterations from toys, comic books, video games, and even an Ok K.O.! crossover episode in 1997. Captain Planet still has a lasting effect.  

There had even been talks of restarting Captain Planet with many different movie deals being proposed throughout the years, one being associated with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Captain Planet is one of the golden oldies and everyone should get the joy of experiencing the cartoon, not just for moral reasons, but for the sheer enjoyment. Because remember, Planeteers: “The power is yours!”


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A Brief Eulogy for the Toy Ads in Comic Books https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/12/comic-book-ads/ Wed, 27 Dec 2017 12:29:40 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=15271

Remember the comic book ads from back in the day? I sure do and I have a few things to say about them.

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We could get into the economics. Disruption, changing tastes, mismanagement, inflation, shareholder greed, and the simple fact that we just can’t have nice things anymore has yielded a business environment in which you just don’t see toy and snack ads in comic books the way we used to. Heck, you don’t see many comic books anymore.

We could get into the economics. And we could get into comic history, freelance ethics, IP rights, the direct market, and print versus digital. But the reality is that while it used to be that a .25¢ comic book could be a financial success simply by offering a few pages of advertisements, those days are long gone.

We could get into all that, but click ‘play’ on the above boombox and let’s instead talk about a young boy. Let’s say he is 10 or 11 and the year is 1985. He might live on either coast, or on a farm, or even in Manhatten really, but let’s just say he lives in a small blue collar town.

The boy of our story could be a young girl. The year might be 1982, or 1971, or 1956, or 1995. The time could be that hour right after school or a morning in June, during the first few days of a long Summer vacation. The ads could have been in Uncanny X-Men or Mad Magazine or from Tiger Beat.

But let’s just say it was a boy and let’s just say his parents are working, both of them. Conservative fiscal policy at the time lead to a rapid and dramatic increase in dual-income households, so with both parents now working, the “latchkey” generation is born, leaving millions of young boys and girls to have a large number of unsupervised hours where they were expected to wholly entertain themselves.

They could sit in front of a television, sure, and maybe hook up their Atari and later their Nintendo, but many latchkey kids entertained themselves by reading comics books. And in 1985 it was probably Chris Claremont X-Men stories.

Maybe our young boy was a little scared of his dad, who didn’t really make an effort to connect with him over comic books and thought they were childish, but screw it, he was stuck at home so at least he could get lost in imagination in the stories.

So at 10 or 11 years old, he devours Spider-Man and X-Men, the Avengers and later, New Mutants and Excalibur. When the boundaries of his world were still being set by his parents,  those floppy comic books opened up a whole new world.

Flipping through those pages, that young boy learned things about himself and how through great power must also come great responsibility. In a small way, those four color comics helped direct who he would grow up to become.

And scattered throughout those pages were also advertisements that in no small way developed his tastes and his interests, subtly manipulated and molded by marketers and promoters and by shady manipulators, and any number of vested interests looking to make a profit, operating in a marketplace and within regulatory frameworks. We could get into the economics.

But let’s talk about those ads. Because those images are also a part of the nostalgia of this young boy’s life. They determined what he ate (and how he found comfort).

They determined what he drank.

They determined how he played.

They determined what he watched.

They determined who his heroes were.

They determined his style choices.

They determined what his pets were?

And yes, they determined how he spent his quarters in that small blue collar town.

For OG comic readers, the advertisements in comic books hold emotional resonance. You can’t go back, nor should you. But it’s well and good to hold a brief eulogy for the toy ads in comic books. After all, they shaped an entire generations of nerds.

[Also, Chris Claremont X-Men, forever.]

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Throwback Cartoon Theme Songs that You Won’t Be Able to Get out of Your Head https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/01/throwback-cartoon-theme-songs-that-you-wont-be-able-to-get-out-of-your-head/ Thu, 19 Jan 2017 13:00:23 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=11776

The internet has gifted to the world the collected totality of human knowledge and creation. It’s like a modern-day Library of Alexandria, only with more Biden/Obama memes and cat videos. Some of these creations include the best cartoon theme songs of the 1980s and 1990s, just waiting for our listening pleasure. Prepare yourselves—these earworms are […]

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The internet has gifted to the world the collected totality of human knowledge and creation. It’s like a modern-day Library of Alexandria, only with more Biden/Obama memes and cat videos. Some of these creations include the best cartoon theme songs of the 1980s and 1990s, just waiting for our listening pleasure. Prepare yourselves—these earworms are next to impossible to forget.

Throwback Cartoon Theme Songs that You Won’t Be Able to Get out of Your Head

Ducktales
The Ducktales theme opens with a bass riff pulled almost note-for-note from Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True”, and it sets the tone for the rest of the song and the show. Those punchy backbeats, the great animation, the Indiana Jones-ish vibe—what more could you want from an opening minute of a show?

If your response is, “Intricate rhyme schemes and slavish devotion to and emphasis on the word ‘duck,’” you’re in luck. “Duck-blur” is rhymed with Duckburg, “good luck tales” with “Ducktales,” and the singer ends the song mockingly crowing, “Not pony tales or cotton tales but Ducktales!” And good luck getting that “Woo-ooo!” out of your head for the rest of the week.

 

The Adventures of Pete & Pete
I know this isn’t a cartoon, but bear with me. Considered a bona fide cult classic nowadays, The Adventures of Pete & Pete has a theme song worthy of a spot in any Spotify playlist. “Hey Sandy” is a genuinely good one minute song, sounding like a more upbeat Toad the Wet Sprocket B-side without sacrificing the deeply quirky nature of the show.

They even manage to sneak in a surprisingly long, awesome guitar solo. This is because it was written by real band-turned-fictional TV band Polaris, whose penchant for nearly indecipherable lyrics (seriously, can anyone actually tell what the words to the third line are?) and long, luxurious locks makes them prime candidates for boyfriend-of-the-week on an episode of Gilmore Girls.

 

Muppet Babies
With a 1950s doo-wop beat and the best background singer this side of Frankie Lymon or the Skyliners, this Jim Henson classic sounded like a blast from the past even during its mid-80s heyday. This isn’t accidental—much like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the high priests of 1980s movie culture, Henson was an ardent disciple of vaudeville, movie serials, and radio shows.

Seriously, this song could be playing in the background of a scene from American Graffiti and no one would be the wiser. One of the loveliest things about Jim Henson’s M.O. was his sincere belief in the uplifting potential of television, and the Muppet Babies theme carries the flag proudly by emphasizing the power of imagination (although poor Beaker looks like his imagination trip might be a little too strong).

 

Thundercats
Thundercats might be the Holy Grail of nerdy TV theme songs. As the ‘Cats emblem flickers onto the screen a primal roar sounds, a trumpet issues the clarion call, and the drummer drops an absolutely sick tom fill—audibly communicating that whatever comes next is bound to be gnarly.

Over the next minute or so, we are introduced to everything we need to know: awesome good guys, evil bad guys, explosions, cool vehicles, spectral mentors, the works. During all of this, the drums keep pounding, and the best 80s guitarist not named Oz Fox joins the fun, adding some blistering fretwork to an already rocking song.

All of this would be enough for any other show, but it’s time to introduce the actual bad guy: the dreaded Mumm-ra, who gets to hog the final twenty seconds of the credits pushing Lion-O around and lording over his sweet pyramid/castle stronghold. Between the theme song and the top-notch animation of the opening credits, the first minute was probably the most expensive part of the entire episode.

 

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