By Tracy (and Shelby & Sarah) Edmunds
October 19, 2004
First of all, thanks to both of you who responded to my call for e-mails last week. I convinced Chris that quality is better than quantity and he agreed to let me continue this column for a while. Be sure to let me know if you love it, hate it, or could give a bleep. Know any cool stuff for kids that I may have missed? Tell me! I expect the inbox to overflow, people! Now, on to the business at hand.
As a concerned parent, I carefully monitor what my kids are watching on TV. Okay, that’s BS – I like cartoons. I have my computer strategically placed so that if the kids are stretched out on the couch watching TV, I can pretend to work and still not miss JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED or TEEN TITANS GO! There are some shows, however, that I’d rather tune out. I remember the girls had TiVo’d some of the old “positive message” SUPER FRIENDS episodes (with Marvin and Wendy) and I swear it felt like my brain was being pulled out through my nose. To encourage family viewing without brain hemorrhage, here is our list of the best comic-based (and non-comic-based) animated shows that kids and grownups (and not-so-grownups) can enjoy together.
Best TV Shows Based On Comic Books
TEEN TITANS GO! (CARTOON NETWORK/KIDS WB/DC COMICS): Easily the most fun you can have while watching TV with your kids. Anime-influenced (the kids love hyper-deformed characters), action-packed without being grossly violent – and it’s funny. The episode with Robin’s doppelganger, Larry, is one we’ve watched about thirty times and we still laugh out loud. A bonus: the greatest theme song ever.
Sarah: TEEN TITANS is a teenager kids group that has superpowers, only Robin does karate but he doesn’t have superpowers. Sometimes they make the TEEN TITANS look really cute. I like Beast Boy and Cyborg because they are both funny and they eat lots of junk food and Beast Boy is a vetrinarian – he doesn’t eat animal stuff. Cyborg is a robot and half man. And Beast Boy and Cyborg always burp! And Beast Boy’s power is to change into any kind of animal. And I like Starfire because I think that she’s in love with Robin.
Shelby: I like the TEEN TITANS because they are very funny and they come in manga style when it’s funny and whenever someone’s wacko or mad, there’s little white dots around their mouth and they turn manga. Robin is my favorite because he’s so cute.
Sarah: You’re in love with Robin!
Shelby: Oh, stop it! But it’s true. And I like Cyborg, too – all the boys. Starfire and Raven are cool because Starfire is from a different planet and she always says, “I didn’t know that.” And Raven is a girl that likes to meditate and she’s very quiet and talks way down low in a scratchy voice. The music is very good. You should watch it because it’s cool and very funny!
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (CARTOON NETWORK/KIDS WB/DC COMICS): I’m still ticked off that they changed the music, but the show is great. With the addition of countless characters, the kids are never bored – it’s almost a DC COMICS history lesson. I also like the way they mix up the moods – some episodes are very playful (Did you miss Batman singing a torch song?) and others are more serious. It works on many levels – the kids love the characters, action, and humor, there are actually some good lessons about friendship, honor, etc. (but never heavy-handed), and there are plenty of comic references and jokes for grownups, too.
Sarah: I like JLU because there are really good characters like Batman and I liked it when Batman had to sing in front of a stage. And Zatanna and the bad girl kept crying. My favorite and my love of all characters is Flash because he’s cute and because he’s funny. He says funny things and he said something weird about Wonder Woman’s country where she comes from and then Green Lantern smacked him on the head.
Shelby: I like Batman and Flash and Booster Gold, plus Superman. And Wonder Woman has a lasso that makes people tell the truth about something, but she turned into a pig on one episode. I think Batman and her are in love, just he doesn’t want to admit it. Hawk and Dove were these teenagers who were in these funky costumes who were really strong. They fight all the time and turn anything into a fight. (My sister and I have the superpower to turn anything into a fight, just like Hawk and Dove.)
THE BATMAN (KIDS WB/DC COMICS): Okay, so it’s not BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, but really, how could anyone follow that? It’s a bit dark and there’s lots of cartoon violence, but the girls really seem to like it and neither of them has tried to jump off a rooftop or kick the bejezus out of anyone…yet.
Shelby: The Batman is cool because he’s got a cool costume. It’s better than the old one because he takes his mask off more and I like that because you can see who he really is and I think he’s cute. Bane broke all of Batman’s bones when they fought for the first time. Alfred put them back together. When Bruce felt better, he did a move and he went, “Ow!” and Alfred said, “Are you better, sir?” Bruce said, “I just have to watch those certain moves.” Catwoman stole his utility belt and she was messing with the control and she didn’t know what it could do and she started the Batmobile and trashed the whole city. Kids would like it because it isn’t scary and Alfred is very funny.
Sarah: Bruce is Wayne is Batman and this is when he’s younger. I liked the drawings because last time Batman had a circle chin and this time he has a pointy chin. Joker looks a lot cooler because he has spiky hair and last time he wasn’t as weird and scary looking.
DUCK DODGERS (CARTOON NETWORK/WARNER BROTHERS): One of my old favorites gets an update – gotta love Marvin the Martian, and Daffy’s always a kick in the pants: “Thome dayth, you just can’t get rid of a Marthian Spathe Mine!” Oh, and here you get the second greatest theme song ever.
Sarah: I like Duck Dodgers because Duck Dodgers has a funny voice and the martians look weird and the martian guy is really, really, really funny.
Shelby: Duck Dodgers was funny because they draw things funny lookin’. There’s a queen with no mouth, just like Marvin. Kids will like it because it is wacko, but no potty jokes.
Best Shows Not Based On a Comic, but Feel Like They Are
TEAMO SUPREMO (TOONDISNEY): “Not so fast, evildoers!” Hmmm, wonder if this is where GW got that expression? This is a DISNEY show that has been around a while. The whole family loves this one – we all walk around going, “Buzzah! Chicka! Woopah!” The heroes are kids, but the humor is definitely not lost on adults – lots of camp, a-la ADAM WEST, and really bad puns. There are great evildoers like Male Model, Mr. Vague, and Chopper Daddy – plus MARTIN MULL as the Guv!
Sarah: “TEAMO SUPREMO!” The three characters is Skate Lad, Rope Girl, and Captain Crandall. Skate Lad has this skateboard that has flames that comes out of it – it’s a rocket skateboard. Rope Girl has a jumprope that she can tie people up and it has special powers. Captain Crandall has a utility belt and it has a yo-yo he hits the bad guys with.
Shelby: I like the governor because he’s all “groovy,” and “sweet,” and “You kids have some funky, fresh moves.” The chief says, “Shouldn’t you kids be in school?” and he’s really fat. The bad guys are always lame like The Birthday Bandit, Dr. Blue Jeans, and Baron Blitz, who looks like a fish and always has little remote controls that we don’t know what they do. In one episode he had robot presidents that walk like zombies. The villains don’t want to take over the world, they want to take over the state, and that’s ridiculous. The music is like surf guitar and it’s great – I could probably play it on my guitar.
SUPER ROBOT MONKEY TEAM HYPERFORCE GO! (DISNEY’s JETIX): We went to the panel for this one at COMIC-CON and the girls got a kick out of meeting the voice actors (COREY FELDMAN, GREG CIPES, and the voice of SPONGE BOB, TOM KENNEY, among others). Sarah digs it totally. Hey, with a title like that, how can you go wrong? Warning: The theme song is like velcro to the brain – and not in a good way.
Sarah: This boy found a robot in his yard and it had all these robot monkeys inside of it. He turned on a switch and the monkeys came alive and he got gorilla power. There are five robot monkeys. Nova’s power is that she has strength. She’s the yellow girl, and she’s my favorite cause she’s the funniest. Nova always gets seen doing all this silly stuff when it’s an important mission. The blue guy, whatever his name is, is funny, too. The black robot monkey’s power is that he can grow hands and feet and arms. And the blue guy has drills in his hands. And the green guy has a cutter so he could cut through stuff, and the red guy has a magnet on his hands. They help the city they’re in – they fight the skeleton king. It has this funny guy in the city that has this fake penguin he carries around. He called the penguin Mr. Jeepers. Kids will like it because it’s funny.
Shelby: Kids would like it because it’s funny. They saved the red monkey by defeating the ridiculous robot guy and got into the red monkey’s rocket fist and they went home in it. They fly around in this big robot body and each part is a little room and each monkey flies one of them and the boy flies the body. They can’t fly without each other, if part of the spaceship is gone.
FOSTER’S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS (CARTOON NETWORK): Craig McKracken, the creator of POWERPUFF GIRLS, has made millions and can afford to take chances – this is a really different animated show. The style is kind of Andy Warhol meets the Victorian era, but the stories and dialogue are true cartoon goofiness. I’d love to see it spin off into a comic book.
Shelby: This show is about imaginary friends that live in a big house and they are waiting to be adopted by kids. Mac is a kid who made up Bloo by thinking him up and then he came to life. Mac’s mom said he had to get rid of Bloo because he’s too old for him. Bloo found Foster’s place on an ad and he liked it, so he stayed there but Mac has to visit him every day so he won’t get adopted by someone else. I liked the last episode on there because they found cute puppies that were imaginary friends, too. The drawing style looks like it’s drawn by a big kid, like third or fourth grade.
Sarah: It’s not exactly like other shows because there’s a huge bunny that wears a hat all the time (that’s Mr. Harriman) and a little old lady and there’s all these weird characters and they live in one big, big house. The last Foster’s I watched I liked because there were puppies and Mac brang them over and then Mr. Harriman was all scared of them. You know, puppies like to chew on rabbits.
NEXT TIME: Something a little different – I’m giving the girls the week off so I can warn you about comic books, graphic novels, and assorted goodies that look like they're for kids, but are definitely not: BARRY WEEN, BLUE MONDAY and SCOOTER GIRL, KINDERGOTH, and TWISTED TOYFARE THEATER. Pottymouths, sex, and violence, oh my! (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) You should read these, but the young’uns shouldn’t. Keep ‘em locked in the nightstand.
E-MAIL AUTHOR | ARCHIVES
