The All-New Challenge Of The Saturday Morning Cartoons

posted by Tygrrius @ 11:52 PM

Saturday mornings were some of the best times to be a kid. No school. No rush. And, most importantly, plenty of time for watching cartoons before starting the rest of the day.

Each Fall, a special about the new Saturday morning shows would air on a weeknight in prime time. Would last season's incarnation of Scooby-Doo be renewed? What arcade games would become cartoons this year? Would the Wonder Twins finally be replaced? These were the kinds of questions we worried about back then.

Though I enjoyed many Saturday morning shows, certain ones stand out amongst the others when I think back on those days. I've limited this Top Five list to Saturday morning cartoons that produced new episodes between 1977 and 1986, my main cartoon watching years. Well, okay, yeah, I still watch cartoons. But I watched them even more back then. Really.

#5: Pac-Man
I enjoyed this cartoon series almost as much as the video game itself. Unfortunately, the TV show is not one that really holds up over time. I still tend to visualize Pac-Man in this animated style, though. The game still holds up, at least. It is just as fun and frustrating as ever!

#4: Dungeons & Dragons
I was too young for this role-playing game at the peak of its popularity, but I do remember all of the fuss about it from certain adults at the time. The game was accused of being Satanic, and causing young people to separate from reality. This, of course, made for a great cartoon! I doubt it was very much like the game, but I definitely enjoyed the show.

#3: Smurfs
I seem to remember first becoming aware of the Smurfs through the tiny toys long before running across the cartoon. I know people make fun of it now, but I always loved this show. I even collected trading cards and other items from it, including a "Smurf Ahoy" game. A CGI movie version of Smurfs is apparently in the works.

#2: Jim Henson's Muppet Babies
Yes, the popularity of Muppet Babies led to such travesties as The Flintstone Kids, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, and Tom & Jerry Kids. But Muppet Babies itself was a great show, most noteworthy for its hilarious parodies of various movies, usually those of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. My favorite episode, of course, was one in which Kermit, Gonzo, Piggy, and the others make their own home video version of Star Wars.

#1: Super Friends
This one went by many titles over the years, but we always called it Super Friends. Featuring Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aqua Man, this was by far my favorite cartoon. Despite its annoying aspects (Zan, Jayna, and Gleek), Super Friends embodied the best traits of the Justice League, the world's superheroes working together for the common good.

Honorable mentions
Other favorites included, in no particular order, Dragon's Lair, The All-New Popeye Hour, Pole Position, The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse, and Ewoks.

Yes, you read that right, I liked Ewoks. Much better than the Droids cartoon, anyway. And I didn't mind the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, either.

The places where they wore thin on even me were The Ewok Adventure: Caravan of Courage and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, those really bad, live-action TV movies. And even in those movies, the Ewoks gave the most convincing acting performances.

Though not always a cartoon, I also must mention the ABC Weekend Specials series, hosted by Captain O.G. Readmore. One of my favorite episodes was "Homer and the Wacky Doughnut Machine," in which a boy soups up a doughnut machine at a diner and it won't stop making doughnuts. And a rich lady's diamond bracelet gets lost in one of them, which results in a contest to find it. Well, anyway, it was pretty good at the time. But I do, after all, like Ewoks. And Smurfs.

ABC Weekend Specials also featured Miss Switch the Witch, another favorite. Sure, lots of students may have suspected their teachers were witches, but Miss Switch really was one. Fortunately, she was a good witch--more like Glenda or Samantha Stevens than the Wicked Witch of the West.

Another favorite was "The Seven Wishes of Joanna Peabody" in which a girl from a poor family is granted seven wishes by a genie of sorts who lives inside her television. Of course, wishes never turn out quite like you expect. This was followed by a sequel, "The Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid," which was pretty much the same story except about a boy from a wealthy family. Not sure if that second one actually turned up on ABC Weekend Specials, but I remember seeing it somewhere along the line.

Yet another great ABC Weekend Special was The Mouse and The Motorcycle, the classic Beverly Cleary novel about Ralph S. Mouse. I could do a whole column on Cleary's books.

Okay, so maybe ABC Weekend Specials deservers more than just an honorable mention here. I'm going to bump it up to Grand Champion of Saturday Morning. Sorry, Super Friends.

The Power of the (Unaltered) Force

posted by Tygrrius @ 12:06 AM

It's been a long summer. Lucasfilm's May announcement that the unaltered versions of the original Star Wars trilogy will be released September 12 on DVD slowed time down to a crawl.

During the making of the originals, George Lucas was quoted as saying that he planned at least three trilogies in the Star Wars saga. In more recent years, he's stepped away from that comment.

To borrow a line from Obi Wan, it turns out that what Lucas told us back then "was true, from a certain point-of-view."

For there really are three Star Wars trilogies now: the nostalgic originals, the 2004 special editions, and the prequels.

When news of the unaltered release of the originals broke, I could not quite believe it.

Sure, I always knew this would eventually happen. I just didn't expect it to be this year and in the exact way I hoped it would be: the true, original, theatrical releases.

Lucas has made it clear that he considers the upgraded editions of the movies (currently from 2004) to be the "official" versions from his perspective as an artist. The fact that he is allowing the unaltered versions to be released at all is an apparent attempt to make peace with a very vocal group of fans who have persistently requested them on DVD for years.

Lucasfilm's announcement indeed brought a brief, but very real, peace to the Star Wars fandom.

But, soon enough, the complaints began.

The audience is listening

First, there were complaints about the sound. The unaltered versions feature a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack, rather than the more modern Dolby 5.1 Surround that the 2004 editions sport.

While some audiophiles may find this unacceptable, I'll take the 2.0 sound - it fits with the nostalgia. And that's what this release is all about.

How much does it cost if it's free?

Then there were complaints that the unaltered versions are actually packaged as bonus features to re-releases of the 2004 editions of each movie, available for the first time as stand-alone movies rather than as a set.

I knew when I bought the 2004 versions that I would buy them again in their original forms as soon as they became available. And, when I buy these versions (with "free" backup copies of the 2004 editions), I'll know that I'll probably buy them five or six more times in my lifetime as the movies and formats evolve.

People are getting two full-length movies for the price of one if they shop wisely. I can only imagine what would have happened if they released these as single disc DVDs containing only the pre-1997 version of each movie (and they would have been about the same price point).

Some would likely complain that since they avoided the 2004 set for not including the pre-1997 versions, they were now being "forced" to go back and buy the boycotted set as a separate purchase. At least with these double-DVD sets, while they are being made to buy the 2004 versions--it's essentially at no extra cost.

Anamorphic whining

As complaints about the sound and packaging began to cool off, the big story hit.

Due the unavailability of the original movie negatives or acceptable prints of the first versions, the theatrical versions for the DVDs are taken from 1993 Laserdisc masters. Consequently, they are in a non-anamorphic format.

For those who watch the DVDs on widescreen TVs, this means they will either have to watch the unaltered movies with bars surrounding the entire image on all four sides, or zoom the picture in to remove the bars on the left and right at the expense of image quality.

Most modern DVDs, including the 2004 editions of the Star Wars trilogy, are presented in anamorphic widescreen--a higher quality process that utilizes more screen resolution for the actual movie picture.

For the record, I think these DVD versions will be better than the Laserdiscs. For one thing, they were sourced directly from the Laserdisc masters.

This is not the same thing as someone going out and buying the Laserdisc set and then making their own DVDs out of them. This is going to be higher quality than those sort of bootlegs, I have no doubt of that.

And yes, non-anamorphic is somewhat disappointing but certainly not a deal-breaker, at least not for me. This is still an upgrade from the existing VHS and Laserdisc versions. Is it the ultimate upgrade? No, but still an upgrade.

A question of motive

While I think early attempts to have Lucasfilm reconsider its stance that they would not restore the films in order to produce anamorphic versions were legitimate efforts, it soon turned into counter-productive whining.

Lucasfilm has been very upfront about it and given their reasoning directly to concerned fans. People can buy the DVDs, or not buy them.

Disappointed "fans" soon began filling Amazon and similar sites with negative reviews of the new DVDs, sight unseen. I'm sorry, that's just wrong.

The issue really is about ego, but not necessarily George Lucas' ego in this case.

It's the ego of those who want power over that which they did not create. It's obvious that a lot of the people stirring up the anamorphic controversy and calling for a boycott already own the Laserdiscs.

Here's something else to think about: the day Lucasfilm made the unaltered DVDs announcement, the value of those Laserdiscs and the associated equipment, which had been quite the collectibles, plummeted. I imagine the same could be said for DVD bootlegs sourced from those same Laserdiscs.

Could there be some other reason that some people don't want anyone buying DVD-quality versions of these movies? Could the seemingly altruistic campaign to make people boycott them really have a completely different motive?

Sure, I'm just speculating on why some are doing this. But isn't that exactly what they are doing on why Lucasfilm is releasing the DVDs in this form?

The future of the past

Taking Lucasfilm at their word, I believe they currently have no plans to restore the nostalgic versions beyond what we'll get this year. Business is business, though, and plans can change.

On the other hand, it's not like they're going to say, "We want you to be aware that we have future plans to restore the earlier versions and release them anamorphically in 2007," because then almost no one would buy these editions.

Well, yeah, schmucks like me would probably still buy them.

While I doubt we'll really have fully restored, anamorphic versions of the originals as early as 2007, I hope I'm wrong. I think it'll be more like 7 to 10 years before the pre-1997 versions re-surface again, though. By then, the 1993 masters will be an even harder sell.

So, while I don't really believe this will be the last time, I do think it'll be the last time for awhile.

And, hey, if I'm wrong and a higher quality DVD release of the nostalgic versions comes out next year, you can bet I won't lead a boycott in order to keep the value of my "inferior" DVDs up. I love these movies too much for that.

Where the fun began

The best thing of all about this new DVD release is that it'll serve as a reminder of the days when Star Wars was all about having fun.

Ultimately, why do so many people love Star Wars? Why is it so great? Because it's fun. For me, Star Wars is still about having fun. It's just harder to get past all the muck to see that sometimes.

The day it stops being fun, the day I find myself in sheer agony because of picture and sound not being 100% perfect or hurling insults at the very people who made this incredible universe (and deserve to profit from it), that's the day I'll leave Star Wars behind as a relic of my past.

I hope that day never comes.

Unaltered states

In the grand scheme of things, this is a small change, but one of the things I'm looking forward to most in the unaltered editions is seeing "Star Wars" without 1981's addition of "Episode IV, A New Hope" to the opening crawl.

As far as I can remember, I've never seen it this way in context--only the brief clip shown in Empire of Dreams. That will definitely start the unaltereds off right, giving that 1977 feel when Star Wars was just Star Wars.

Another seemingly small scene that I'll be happy to see in its original version again is the approach of the Falcon to Yavin IV after Han and Luke have rescued Leia from the Death Star in Star Wars.

The orange planet filling the top half of the screen had a much more dramatic effect than the way it looks now, even though I'm sure the overall shot is technically "better" in the special edition.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the first Death Star battle in its original presentation, without the CGI fighters. Matte lines and all, there's just something about physical models. And those effects were really one of Star Wars' main innovations.

I think people who haven't seen or don't remember the original versions will be quite surprised at the tremendous quality that was already there long before the 1997 and 2004 upgrades.

Nostalgic Originals vs. Special Editions

I love all three Star Wars trilogies. As a stand-alone trilogy, I prefer the unaltered originals.

Within the context of the overall six episode saga, though, I prefer the 2004 special editions. When I want updated effects, 5.1 surround sound, and films that flow a bit better with the prequels, I'll watch the 2004 versions.

When I want pure nostalgia, I'll go back to the originals.

Continuing the countdown

I'm definitely looking forward to finally watching Star Wars: Unaltered on DVD, and then pulling out the VHS copies one last time to see if it was worth the wait.

Hopefully, this will be the best home version of these movies released to date. I have a feeling it will be.

September 12 can't get here fast enough. I'm ready for the fun to begin . . . again!

Return of the Frontier

posted by Tygrrius @ 12:07 AM

Welcome to the first edition of Proverbial Galaxies, which will be an ongoing column of the Film Frontier. Proverbial Galaxies will feature my opinions and random thoughts on just about anything, but usually related to science fiction & fantasy adventures.

This raises a couple of questions. For starters, who am I? And why should you care about my opinions?

Who I Am

I'm just a fan of entertaining movies, probably not unlike you since you've found your way here. I'm in my early 30's (when did that happen?), which means I grew up in the late 70's and the 80's.

And as any American male from that time can tell you, this meant Star Wars was everywhere. Like everyone else, I played with the action figures, read the storybooks, listened to the records, and begged and pleaded to see the movies whenever they came out.

I was only two-years old, but I remember asking for the 1977 Star Wars action figure set for Christmas that year. That is, until my brother told me that it would just be an empty box. Not seeing the value of an empty box, I chose something else over what would eventually become one of the most sought-after Star Wars collectibles. I finally got my first Star Wars figures about three years later, for The Empire Strikes Back.

I also recall watching the 1978 Star Wars Christmas TV special. In fact, this special was the first Star Wars production I ever saw. Though I was "action figure-aware," I had not yet seen the actual movie. Since I was probably close to the target age-range of the special, I suppose it must've made a good impression in that I am still a Star Wars fan nearly thirty years later.

The first movie I ever saw at the theater was a re-release of The Jungle Book, but the second was Superman. By this time, I was already familiar with Superman from cartoons and reruns of The Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves.

I remember not being able to see a whole lot because the people sitting in front of me were much taller than I was. Who am I kidding, pretty much everyone in the world was much taller than I was back then. Thinking back on Superman is a reminder of how frustrating it could be to see movies in the theater as a little kid. Luckily for me, my brother held me up a few times so that I could see over their heads. One of those times was during Jor-El and Lara's scene on Krypton, which is actually my most vivid memory of seeing the movie that afternoon. After seeing Christopher Reeve's Superman, he became my favorite super hero.

While Superman and, eventually, Star Wars dominated my early movie-going experiences, one of the highlights of TV when I was young was watching reruns of Star Trek. As far as the Trek movies went, though, I actually missed seeing the first two in the theater. Didn't my family realize they were depriving me of research and anecdotes for my future website?

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was the first Trek movie I saw in the theater. In addition to the larger scale of the story compared to the episodes, I was awed by how incredible the Enterprise looked. By that time, I had managed to see at least Star Trek: The Motion Picture on TV and most likely Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan as well. There was no comparison between seeing the refit Enterprise on a small TV screen versus a gigantic movie screen.

However, it was the debut of the Enterprise-A in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home a couple of years later that solidified my status as a huge fan of the Star Trek movies.

For each of these movies, I read all the material I could get my hands on. Initially, I accomplished this through borrowing books and magazines from the library. Later, I slowly grew a collection of my own. No single volume told the whole story of each movie's production, but I realized that bits and pieces from each one could be woven together to form a more complete tapestry.

The First Frontier

In 1997, I opened the first version of this website, which was then called "Star Trek: The Film Frontier." I spent that entire summer compiling information and quotes from dozens of sources and assembling them together for each of the first eight Trek movies.

Though this site now looks completely different than it did back then, many of those same Production Notes are still in use. You may even run into them on other sites as well, but they were here first.

A New Frontier

After a hiatus, I decided to bring the site back earlier this year. This new version is a bit different from previous incarnations. Rather than focus exclusively on Star Trek, I am expanding it to include Superman and Star Wars—those other classics of my childhood. To reflect the change, the site is now known simply as "The Film Frontier."

Putting Superman aside, how can Star Trek and Star Wars coexist on the same fan site? Don't Star Trek fans hate Star Wars, and vice-versa?

Through this site and this column, I'll show that it doesn't have to be that way. Why limit yourself to only one universe when there's plenty of fun to be had in each of them?

While news coverage has begun for all three topics, only the Star Trek movie section is currently online. You can expect the beginnings of the Star Wars and Superman movie sections to arrive later this year.

Questions and Answers

What a year of news it has already been for Superman, Star Wars, and Star Trek.

For Superman, the biggest question of the year has already been answered: Will Superman Returns be any good?

We are only weeks away from answering the Star Wars question of the year as well: Will the Star Wars: Unaltered DVDs be worth buying? Elsewhere, you've probably read vehement complaints about them having poor picture quality and being non-anamorphic. As far as I'm concerned, though, the jury is still out until the DVDs arrive.

As we approach the 40th anniversary of the debut of Star Trek, 2006 is turning out to be a very important year for a movie series many thought dead. With Paramount's announcement that J.J. Abrams is writing and producing the next movie, the biggest Trek question is: What kind of movie will Abrams make? As tightlipped as he and others on the project are being, that may very well be the Trek question for next year as well. I have a feeling Abrams will make some kind of announcement by the end of this year, though.

This is an exciting time to be a fan of these franchises. I'm looking forward to covering these and many other stories for you in the months and years to come.

So, there you have it. That's who I am, or part of me anyway.

But wait, I still haven't told you why you should care about my opinion on anything.

Why You Should Care

In the end, I'm just one voice among many competing for your attention. The blessing and the curse of the web are that it's full of opinions. Anyone with access to a computer can pound some keys to form words and publish them within seconds. The sometimes hateful rantings of "fans" on many Star Trek and Star Wars sites seemingly rival some of the most heated political rhetoric.

With the Film Frontier, my goal is to always keep everything within a certain perspective, that perspective being that I have a genuine affection for these movies. Even the "bad" ones. That's not to say I'll sugarcoat reality or avoid being critical. I'll continue to call them as I see them, but you won't see "George Lucas ruined my childhood!" or similar muck here. My childhood memories are safe and secure.

I hope that you'll find something of value here. Maybe you'll be reminded of yourself, or you'll see new ways to look at seemingly old things. Perhaps something on this site will make you think. But don't think too hard. These are just kids movies, after all. And the whole point of these movies and, ultimately, this site, is to have fun.

Thanks for joining me in my little hobby. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.