Tag Archives: Disney XD

Animation Monday: Lack of Action Animation On TV

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Geek Alabama Animation

There’s a crisis going on in the animation world.  The number of action animated shows being cancelled is alarming.  I mean, I enjoy the comedy animated shows like Phineas and Ferb, My Little Pony: FIM, and Adventure Time.  But I also like to enjoy the action animated shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Young Justice.  Sadly, many animated shows in the action genre have been cancelled.  And that sucks!

Last week, Disney and Lucasfilm announced the cancellation on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the delay of the upcoming series Star Wars: Detours.  Most likely, Disney is never going to make Star Wars: Detours.  The cancellation of The Clone Wars comes at a very bad time!  What is going to happen to Ahsoka Tano?  Lucasfilm Studios have said they are continuing production on new Clone Wars story arcs that promise to be some of the most thrilling adventures ever seen.  And they are advising fans to stay tuned for more information on where fans can soon find this bonus content. (cough: Disney XD)

It’s too bad we will probably never see Star Wars: Detours.  This comedy series co-created by the Robot Chicken team of Seth Green, Matthew Senreich and Todd Grimes was going to be awesome!

Sadly, Star Wars is not the only cancellation.  Many fans are upset that Cartoon Network has cancelled Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice.  Both shows ran their series finale episodes last weekend.  The fans and the creators of these shows have been all over Twitter trying to pressure Cartoon Network to save these shows.  Cartoon Network will premiere Teen Titans Go! and Beware the Batman in April on DC Nation.  You can tell Cartoon Network is wanting to take DC Nation to a more comedy direction.  Also, did you know Cartoon Network is bringing back The Powerpuff Girls?  Here is a screenshot from the new series.

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Over on Disney XD.  Marvel Universe has struggled along with only Ultimate Spider-Man which has done well.  Two new series will premiere this Summer.  Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Hulk and the Agents S.M.A.S.H. will air sneak peaks in late May.  My hope is these shows will last instead of being cancelled after just one season just like Motorcity and Tron: Uprising.  Sadly, I have noticed that both DC Nation and Marvel Universe have been doing poorly in the ratings.  This is not a good thing for people who love action animation!

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Nickelodeon has The Legend of Korra and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  And The Hub has Transformers: Prime which is on its last season.  Many people have said the lack of action animation is due to the lack of merchandise sales and not due to TV ratings.  I know many cartoons on TV today are tied to the merchandise sales to determine if the show gets another season or is cancelled.  I still think there is a market for action animated shows on TV.  The networks have to give these shows a chance to find an audience.  I hope I get to watch and review more action animated shows on Geek Alabama in the future!

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Animation Monday: Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja

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Tonight at 7/6c Disney XD premieres a new animated series from Scott Thomas and Jed Elinoff whose past shows include Celebrity Deathmatch. (that show was great)  Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja is already getting some great reviews and it sounds like a weird title but let me explain what the show is about.  The show will follow freshman Randy Cunningham who finds out he will be the ninja that will protect his town called Norrisville following a 800 year tradition.  He will be the official town ninja for the next 4 years until he graduates high school and cannot tell people who he really is except for his friend Howard Weinerman.  These two guys are really best friends and a part of this series is going to test their bromance.

From Disney XD.

 

From Disney XD.

Randy is voiced by Ben Schwartz from Parks & Recreation.  He loved Disney animation so much growing up that he’s just amazed he’s getting the opportunity to voice the lead for Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja.  Howard is voiced by Andrew Caldwell and the  town’s evil Sorcerer is voiced by Tim Curry from Home Alone 2.  The evil sorcerer wants to destroy the ninja so bad he is willing to turn the most vulnerable people in the school into rampaging monsters.  This sounds like the perfect plot for the show.

The ninja gets its powers from the 800-year-old guide known as the NinjaNomicon, and all of the responsibilities that go along with both. This means that Randy has to protect his school and the world; all while adjusting to pressures of high school.  Most kids today would fail if they had this responsibility.

From Disney XD.

This pilot of the show was really fun to watch.  And I do think this show is going to do well on Disney XD.  I hope they will show some preview episodes on Disney Channel since everyone does not get Disney XD.  The show does fit with the boy theme on Disney XD and I believe you will see many people watching this series.  Here’s to another hit for Titmouse Inc. and Boulder Media.  Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja will air each night at 7/6c this week on Disney XD.  Here’s the official promo of the show below!

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Animation Monday: New Animation for Fall 2012

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Every fall we get to see a bunch of brand new TV show that are trying to get us to watch.  While I will have a post later on my most anticipated fall TV shows; this post is about the new animated shows premiering this fall.  There is not many new animated shows premiering this fall.  But these few shows are shows I look forward to seeing!

Brickleberry

This show premiering on Tuesday September 25th on Comedy Central shows a different kind of life in a national park.  This series is produced by Daniel Tosh and has some great voice talents such as Kaitlin Olson, Tom Kenny, and Dave Herman.  Yes this show has already caused some controversy like the bear rape scene being removed at Comic-Con.  This clip from Comedy Central show animals in nature in the wrong way. Clip is NSFW.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will premiere on Saturday September 29th on Nick and I have to wonder if this version of the classic show will be a hit.  We have seen multiple series featuring the turtles in the past and one has to wonder if this version will be a hit for the struggling Nickelodeon.  I will give it a try when it premieres.  Here is a clip from the show.

Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja

This show premiering on Monday September 17th on Disney XD features the voice talent of Ben Schwartz from Parks and Rec.  The plot is the town of Norrisville has been protected from a ninja for 800 years.  And after the current ninja graduates from high school he passes down his ninja suit to a 9th grader which Randy finds.  This series looks really fun to watch and enjoy watching this clip below.

Crash and Bernstein

This show is set to premiere on Monday October 8th on Disney XD and it is the first show to feature a puppet since Disney bought the rights to The Muppets.  The plot really does sound interesting and it’s about a boy named Wyatt Bernstein who lives with a family of three girls.  He goes to a “Build-A-Bestie” store to build a puppet named Crash and one day it comes to life.  Many geek websites have already talked about this show and I do look forward to seeing it!  Check out this commercial below!

Dragons: Riders of Berk

This show just premiered on Cartoon Network and this series is based of the 2010 film How To Train Your Dragon.  This series features the same characters, dragons, and scenery from the 2010 film.  And the first few episodes looked great!  I hope this series will help build the relationships between the people and dragons.  And I think everyone wants to see how Hiccup and Astrid relationship advances throughout the series.  Here is a preview clip from the series.

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Animation Monday: Tron Uprising

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On this edition of Animation Monday on Tuesday again I wanted to talk about the newest animated series that premieres June 7th on Disney XD.  Tron Uprising doesn’t premiere until early June but Disney put out a 31 minute prologue for Tron Uprising.  What; you didn’t see it?  Watch the entire episode below.

Tron Uprising takes place in between the two Tron movies and by the looks of the preview this series is going to be great!  The plot for Tron Uprising also looks great as well.  Beck is a young program who becomes the skillful leader of a revolution inside the computer world of The Grid. His mission is to free his home and friends from the reign of the villainous Clu and his henchman General Tesler. Beck will be trained by Tron – the greatest warrior the Grid has ever come to know. Tron will not only teach Beck the fighting and light cycle skills he needs to challenge this brutal military occupation, but he will be a guide and mentor to him as he grows beyond his youthful, impulsive nature into a courageous, powerful, strong leader. Destined to become the next Tron of the system, Beck adopts Tron’s persona and becomes the archenemy of General Tesler and his oppressive forces.

The animation in Tron Uprising was very strong!  All of the neon lights, light bikes, fighting, disc throwing and sky diving made the animation look very good.  Even though the animation looks very computish.  I think the story-line and all of the cool animation effects makes up for the animation.  I do look forward to seeing the premiere of Tron Uprising in June on Disney XD.

Animation Monday: Motorcity

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On Monday night Disney XD premiered the new animated series Motorcity.  I watched it on my DVR after watching “Two and A Half Men.”  This series is about an underground group of have-nots and runaways in the former Detroit which is now called Motorcity.  The new Detroit Deluxe has been built on top of Motorcity and its ruler is billionaire Abraham Kane.  This new totalitarian utopia is all sterile and clean and all of its citizens obey the ruler.  This is your type of show when people wants to overthrow a ruler.

Motorcity is created by Chris Prynoski and Titmouse Animation.  This entire series was made in America and not shipped off to other countries like Japan or South Korea.  Now the plot of the first episode “Battle for Motorcity” was kind of predictable.  But it was the pilot episode so we need to see if the future episodes tell a better story.  The animation in the show rocked!  The animation used Flash, CGI, and traditional animation so the animation looked great.  All of the futuristic stuff like the holographic tv screens adds a great feel to the show.

Of course the cars used in the show were visually eye-opening.  The adrenaline and energy in the show kind of makes up for the plot.  So I do look forward to future episodes of Motorcity.  And I found some great videos about the making of Motorcity.  Enjoy!

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Animation Monday: Superhero Blocks

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Recently we have been seeing new superhero themed blocks on Cartoon Network and Disney XD.  Cartoon Network started first; their block called DC Nation consists of the shows Green Lantern: the Animated Series and Young Justice.  Green Lantern is a computer animated show that focuses on the adventures of Hal Jordan; the Green Lantern of sector 2814.  The other show is Young Justice; showing the battles of several teenage sidekicks.  Both shows offer lots of action and great story lines.

The shorts on DC Nation tells stories from all kinds of angles.  One short has brought back the Teen Titans.  Also Plastic Man, character stories and behind the scenes information is shown.  I do wish they would show a few more shorts during the block because they are entertaining.  Anyways this block has lots of potential and can be seen by many more people because Disney XD is often only shown on digital cable.

Marvel Universe premiered last weekend on Disney XD.  The shows consist of Ultimate Spider Man and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.  The new Spider Man series was pretty good.  I liked the Japanese style animation throughout the show.  And the animation was done very well.  The Avengers also has great potential; well because the movie comes out this summer.

The shorts were okay; I liked the behind the scenes shorts like drawing your favorite characters.  But the Marvel mash-up was a little bit childish.  The new question is how many people are going to see this block?  Disney XD is not offered everywhere Cartoon Network is shown.  So the folks at Disney needs to consider airing this block on Disney Channel.  That way more people can see Marvel Universe.

Both superhero blocks are great for all the superhero fans out there.  One has to wonder when Nickelodeon will offer up a similar block?

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Animation Monday: New Disney Animation

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This is an exciting time for Disney animation.  Let’s face it; the TV side of Disney’s animation has not done well for a while.  But Phineas and Ferb changed all of that.  And now there are exciting new animation series coming out on the Disney networks.  If you are an animation fan; you will love these shows.

The first show premiering in June is called Gravity Falls.   The show follows twins Dipper and Mabel; whose summer plans are ruined when their parents ship them off to spend the summer with their great Uncle Stan in the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon.  The town has strange places and weird things happening all the time.  This show sounds like lots of fun and I can’t wait for the premiere in June on Disney Channel.

The newest Disney animation is coming from Craig McCracken whose past work includes The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends.  Wonder Over Yonder involves Wander who is an overly-optimistic intergalactic traveler who, along with his loyal bullish steed, Sylvia, goes from planet to planet helping people to live free and have fun, all against the evil reign of Lord Hater and his army of Watchdogs.  This sounds like a fun show; no premiere date has been announced.

The next shows premiering in April on Disney XD is Ultimate Spider-Man and Motor City.  Ultimate Spider Man is part of the new Marvel Universe that premieres on Disney XD April 1st.  This block certainly looks like it has some great things coming and I do hope it is a success.  Here is a first look of Ultimate Spider Man.

Motor City is a car themed show (should be a man’s dream) and is about personal freedoms being restricted by corporate rulers in a futuristic Detroit.  Even automobiles are banned; which is sad for Detroit.  Motor City premieres April 30th on Disney XD.

But the animated show that shows lots of geeky promise is Tron: Uprising.  Here is preview below.

The show takes place in between the two Tron movies and introduces Beck, who has been chosen to lead the mission to free his home, a computer world known as The Grid, from the reign of the villainous Clu and his henchman General Tesler. Beck will be trained by the greatest warrior The Grid has ever known, Tron.  This sounds like a great show and no premiere date has been announced.

Overall these shows will help Disney become the king of TV animation again.  It should also keep attracting great animators to Disney and that is great.

All images copyright by Disney

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Happy Platypus Day 2012!

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Now off of the sad news.  It’s Platypus Day!  The first Saturday in March has been designed as an unofficial holiday to celebrate the teal colored; beaver tail; teeth chattering platypus we all know and love.  Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb has become a very popular character across the world.  Why is he so cool you ask?

He is a crime fighter.  How many mammals ever get the chance to fight evil every day.  Perry’s agent name is called Agent P and he fights the evil scientist Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz at his building called Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. (that is one popular evil jingle)  And he kicks butt every time.  Dr. Doof just can never learn how to defeat Agent P.

He really does care about Phineas and Ferb and their friends.  Sure when they went to the 2nd dimension Phineas got angry but they worked together to defeat the robot invasion.  It was sad to see Phineas and Ferb memories erased.  But Agent P has plenty of photos on that day to remember.  You never know when Agent P will need Phineas and Ferb’s help again.

He has a huge fan following.  Disney is making a ton of money selling Phineas and Ferb merchandise.  Many adult sized t-shirts with Perry the Platypus or Phineas and Ferb has been sold.  I have seen lots of people wearing Phineas and Ferb shirts.  And with this series getting more popular I expect that number to grow.

Of course; how many crime fighters have their own theme song?  Some of the most popular figures like James Bond and Indiana Jones have their own theme songs in which we hum in our heads often.  Well you need to add the theme song for Perry the Platypus to that list.  He’s a semi aquatic, egg-laying mammal of action!

So Disney wants us to all learn the new craze called the Platypus Walk.  It is not a hard dance to learn and I wonder how many people will try to do it.  I guess we will find out over the weekend.  So enjoy learning the Platypus Walk and the all day marathon of Phineas and Ferb on Disney Channel and Disney XD.  And keep fighting crime Agent P.

Here is the video to learn the Platypus Walk.

And here is the official Platypus Walk music video.