Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
Back in 1997 at the height of Dexter's Lab's fame, an episode called "Rude Removal" was created. The episode was quickly shelved because of it's content which included copious amounts of swearing, even after being censored it was still shelved; in 1998 the lost episode had been seen at a small amount of conventions but since then it was lost completely and many questioned it's existence until last year when Craig McCracken reported that it indeed existed in completed form which was later confirmed by the show's creator.
Late last year, Adult Swim showed interest in the episode and wanted to air it on their channel but it wasn't until January this year that the episode actually aired on Youtube on Adult Swim's channel but was sadly made into a private video so I can't show the episode here. (Sorry there are rules with this sort of thing) but the episode has been re-posted numerous times and should be easy to find so happy hunting.
The episode starts off as normal with Dee Dee annoying Dexter while he's working on a device called the Rude Removal Machine, a fight breaks out and the two accidentally make rude clones of themselves while the originals revert to British Accents and act all friendly and polite.
This is where the infamy comes in as the Rude Clones do nothing but swear and curse which later involves Dexter's Mom as they insult her constantly before returning to the lab to be stopped in their place; after succeeding in removing the clones the episode ends with Dexter's Mom preparing the soap for washing out Dexter & Dee Dee's mouths and so ends the lost episode of Dexter's Lab.
The language in this short is real, while censored it's still very, very real.
It's not uncommon for cartoon makers to go off the boil and make something too rude for broadcast in order to off load some of the pressures of animating.
Even as early as the 40s where many popular characters such as Bugs Bunny & Mickey Mouse were making war propaganda cartoons and racial stereotyping to match the mind set of the era. These days a mostly squeaky clean cartoon like Dexter's Lab would revert to a swearing episode just to offload stress.
For the whole month of June I shall be presenting Cartoon Network Month!
For the 30 days of June I shall be covering everything that made Cartoon Network such a big name including the likes of Adult Swim, Boomerang & Toonami.
Expect: Top ten lists, more entries to the Cartoon Vault, Anime reviews for some of the major heavy weights of the industry and some select entries for the Walk of Fame.
Stay tuned for more on Cartoon Network Month!
There are times that I question the insanity of some celebrities, it's bad enough that MC Hammer made a cartoon but I bet few people know that Chuck Norris also made one. Get ready for Karate Kommandos.
In 1986 Chuck Norris took on the form of likeable action hero for much of his early career following a starring role next to "better" rated action star Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon; at this point much like many of his contemporaries Hulk Hogan & Mr.T became marketable to the youth of that era, so much so that Hanna Barbara successors Ruby Spears took it upon themselves to create action cartoon Karate Kommandos starring Chuck Norris himself alongside a cast of cliches and stereotypes fighting a generic villain called the Claw (No not that one) and Shredder's whiny cousin Super Ninja.
This series ran for five episodes for one week in September 1986 a month before my own birth but also had a brief run on Adult Swim many years later. There was also a Home Video release with a DVD release under the classic Hanna Barbara label.
It can be best remembered for numerous groaner scenes and dated plotlines that defined many action cartoons of that era but I call it a GI Joe knock off run by a terrible actor, I've no doubts about his athletic ability or his martial arts but as an actor he is utterly terrible and the fact that this cartoon only lasted a week is not going to get him a free pass back to stardom, regardless of the amount of Chuck Norris facts he gets.
Still need convincing? Here's the intro.
It looks far too much like a bad toy commercial, enjoy the badness that is Karate Kommandos.
You know there are some days where the Anime I review just can't be reviewed and today is one of them; I present the weird and wonderful Elf Princess Rane.
We meet Go, an over eccentric explorer trying to find any kind of discovery that gives him excitement which gets better when a tiny elf ends up with him and together they must find the four hearts which I'm guessing by the readable dialogue has something to do with the four beasts which for some reason represent theme park attractions.
The so called villain or the innocent bystander villain is Takuma who speaks in backwards dialect and does chicken dances when he's happy and has a wacky hairstyle. Lead character Go also has at least six identical sisters bordering on Nurse Joy levels of identical; three are in a rock band, one works for Takuma, one works for a shrine and the other is part of the Fire Department who don't fight any fires.
Elf Princess Rane also speaks in Random language which sometimes switches to normal and she's followed by a little witch called Leen who either wants to kill her or make out with her, she's easily forgetful.
Oh and there's the childhood friend Mari who is the only normal character in this whole production which is only two episodes long, they even had the nerve to ask for more money but I certainly wouldn't give them any.
I watched this OVA both in Japanese & English and still can't work out what's going on, while the subtitles do help a lot more I get the feeling Media Blasters had their work cut out for them as there is a scene where Takuma is giving a speech in his backwards language and the subtitles if read closely says "buy all our anime products from Media Blasters and while your at it buy some from our rivals Bandai and Animego as well"
If even Media Blasters had to go that far just to work with this show then this one is a no hope.
Final Verdict: It makes no sense in any language, in fact I can make more sense of Excel Saga in Spanish.
Anime can offer a lot of things to western cartoons but what can western cartoons do for Anime? Lets experiment by listing the Top 10 Anime that would benefit from Disney. (Disney being the most obvious one to start with) Honorable Mention: Nadia Secret of Blue Water, Kiki's Delivery Service & Sailor Moon
10. Rose of Versailles
A classic series from a bygone age of anime about a daughter of a king's guard growing up as a man but later torn between duty and feelings, it also has the earliest examples of Yuri. While the woman disguised as a man trick was already done with Mulan it would easily work in Disney hands. The French Revolution lends itself to some beautiful scenes and enough elements to make it work as a full length film on the same level as Hutchback of Notre Dame.
9. Fruits Basket
If Disney can make this work it would use a number of elements that made the show a hit such as the animal transformations, something Disney is already well versed in, and can still run a good love story and actually make me cry, something which Fruits Basket failed to do despite the content.
8. Turn A Gundam
While I don't think it can emulate the cruel and unforgiving plot of a Gundam Series, it can however use Turn A's cast very well. Loran Cehack makes for a decent protagonist, Dianna Counter makes for a good Princess and Gym Ghingnham makes a great villain, the steampunk fashion also lends itself nicely to a good story.
7. Tsubasa & InuYasha
I couldn't decide between these two as both are listed for the same reason but different elements. The whole small group on a big adventure works nicely for both shows. Tsubasa has a protagonist and a princess that would suit Disney's requirements while InuYasha gives Disney an excuse to try a story in feudal Japan. While I don't think it can use Rumiko Takahashi's Action or CLAMP's personal touch I still think their worth a try.
6. Princess Tutu
I think Disney curse the fact that they were beaten to the Swan Lake story by another company and the fact that their last attempts at ballet involved an alligator & a hippo. So if they want ballet, a story with Swan Lake elements and a great story then they should try this, it even has a duck as the lead transforming into a beautiful girl, it really works for them.
5. Negima
I was annoyed by how much Ken Akamatsu missed the point of how a fantasy series works, he's not that kind of writer and never will be. So if you could make a good fantasy, give Disney a shot at working with Negima. If done right it could make a lot of money in merchandise.
4. Mermaid Melody
I could put any Magical Girl show on this list but I chose this one for the element of song and the fact that they're Mermaids. It remains one of the few anime series with villain songs which is a staple of a good Disney film, plus with all the color and marketable mermaids available the Disney Princess line will be full of color coded pop stars voiced by Hannah Montana knockoffs.
3. The Sacred Blacksmith
I hate all the missed potential this show has, you can add so much to this but every time it just continues to miss it, which is a shame because the story is really good and would make a worthy replacement to the god awful Black Cauldron.
2. Twin Signal
To be honest I've never seen Disney do the robot thing right so why not try this one. You've got memorable characters, decent action and enough to play with to keep it friendly with the target audience.
1. Zatch Bell
I always think of this show as "It's about a boy in a dress playing with a Pocky Box" obviously there's more to it than that. I've watched a number of scenes in AMVs and the only song I can hear is Randy Newman's "You've got a Friend". I was never a fan of Zatch Bell but the Toy Story treatment will do it justice.
