Sean Cocca

Comics Remastered: Episode 3 – The X-Men

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As a child, I didn’t have a whole lot of exposure to comic books. I was the oldest in my family, so I didn’t have the benefit of an older sibling who could introduce me to them. And, as far as I know, my parents weren’t all that into comics either. I had some nominal exposure to certain properties. I was familiar with the big names like Superman and Batman. Movies had been made about them. They were kind of hard to ignore. But, other than those big two, I had no real comic book knowledge or experience. I honestly can’t remember if I even knew they were comic book characters.

At that time, I was more of a fan of cartoons. I loved shows like Thundercats and the Real Ghostbusters. Like many kids my age, I spent a lot of my free time on Saturday mornings plopped right in front of the TV to catch all my favorite shows before I’d be kicked out of the house to go play outside. Many of those shows still have a special place in my heart.

Fast forward to Halloween 1992. I was 9 years old and enjoying my regular Saturday morning ritual of eating as many bowls of sugary cereal as my mother would allow while watching close to 4 hours of brightly colored, often action packed cartoons. On this particular morning, I was surprised to see a new show. It was called X-Men and, honestly, it blew me away.

It’s no exaggeration for me to say that this show single-handedly started my obsession with comic books. 75 episodes spread over 5 seasons just wasn’t enough for me. I had to know more. By 1995 I had convinced my mom to let me spend some money to purchase some comic book subscriptions. X-Men and Uncanny X-Men would be delivered to our mailbox once a month. The anticipation absolutely killed me, but it was always worth the wait once I was able to leaf through those glossy pages.

But who are the X-Men? Answering that question in detail would likely take several hours. Perhaps days. Definitely days. Diving into the quagmire that is the history of the X-Men could easily provide enough content for its own podcast. In fact, there are a few out there. I checked. But don’t worry. I’m not here to give you every little detail about the X-Men. I’m here to give you broad strokes.

The X-Men, like many of Marvel’s golden age comics, was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They first appeared in The X-Men #1 in 1963. If you’re completely unfamiliar with them (and honestly, I don’t know how you could be with close to a dozen animated shows since the 60s that either starred or featured the X-Men, coupled with nearly the same number of big budget Hollywood blockbuster films, and a handful of live action TV shows, as well as several video games, but, hey, maybe you just woke up from a coma), the X-Men are a team of superheroes. Specifically, they’re mutants.

The team was formed by Professor Charles Xavier (affectionately referred to as Professor X), who is a mutant himself with immense telepathic abilities. Xavier recruits other young people who possess similar special abilities. These abilities are tied to the X-gene — a mutation in otherwise normal human DNA. In the team’s original incarnation, these abilities ranged from Cyclops’ powerful optic beams, to Jean Gray’s telepathy and telekinesis, to Iceman’s ability to manipulate ice and cold, to Beast’s increased strength, stamina, and intelligence (and huge hands and feet), to Angel’s giant freaking wings that sprout from his back.

Over the years, the team’s membership has changed. Obviously, anyone familiar with the animated show from the 90s knows names like Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Banshee, Nightcrawler, Colossus, everyone’s favorite sparkler shooting mall rat Jubilee, and many others. There have also been several other teams that have branched off from the main X-Men team, like the New Mutants, X-Force, X-Factor, Excalibur, Generation X, and literally over a dozen others. There have been over 100 members of the X-Men. This includes some former villains who have joined their ranks, as well as a few non-mutants who have snuck in.

I meant it when I said you could devote an entire podcast to just explain what the heck is going on with this series. Because there’s a lot.

Speaking of villains though, you can’t talk about Charles Xavier and the X-Men without mentioning their greatest adversary — Magneto, the master of magnetism. I know, it’s kind of on the nose. I’ll give Stan Lee and Jack Kirby a pass for creating such a compelling character. Magneto and Professor X are old friends who had a bit of a falling out. You see, they both want to ensure the survival of the mutant race. Where they differ is how to reach that goal. While Xavier walks the path of peace and understanding, seeking to forge an alliance of sorts with the humans, Magneto takes a decidedly harder stance. He wants to conquer the humans race through force. He views mutanity as the superior race, and worthy to rule over the lesser humans.

Much has been made of the relationship between Xavier and Magneto over the years. Many of the X-Men’s early battles were against Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants who sought to enslave humanity. But Magneto isn’t always the bad guy. Sometimes he’s even a member of X-Men. There are a few timelines where Magneto is actually the leader of the X-Men, instead of Xavier.

Now, I mentioned timelines just then. There are a lot of those in X-Men comics. Alternate timelines and alternate realities aren’t a new thing in comics. Different books can take place in different timelines and/or realities. I remember one time I was reading an issue of one X-Men comic. It was the climax of the Legacy Virus storyline. Long story short — the legacy virus was a fatal virus that only affected mutants. In this storyline, Colossus is faced with an impossible decision. A cure for the virus has been developed, but it required the death of the first person injected with it for it to activate and save all the others who were infected. Naturally, Colossus sacrificed himself to make this happen.

It was a heavy, emotional issue. Colossus’ sister had died from the virus. There was a real weight to what he was doing. I remember tearing up a little bit as I watched him die over the course of a few panels. I finished that issue, put it down, and picked up the newest issue of the other X-Men comic that had come that month. As I started reading, who did I see? Colossus, of course. He was alive and well in this book. Completely different storylines. It kind of lessened the impact of his sacrifice, to say the least.

But that’s the problem with comics sometimes. There can be so many versions of your favorite heroes. Sometimes, they exist concurrently. It can get confusing. Frustrating even. But you learn to deal with it.

Now, I can’t talk about X-Men without addressing some of the controversy surrounding the themes it addresses. Well, maybe controversy isn’t the right word. At least it’s not anymore. However, it could definitely be argued that it was at the time. X-Men was first published in the early 1960s. The themes it addressed of injustice and racism thrust upon a minority group paralleled the real world events of the Civil Rights Era. Professor X and Magneto were even compared to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X, respectively.

There were several instances, both in the animated show and in the comics, of groups like the Friends of Humanity, Humanity’s Last Stand, the Church of Humanity, and Stryker’s Purifiers rallying other humans to commit violence against mutants. These groups evoked images of the Ku Klux Klan, both explicitly and implicitly, and their actions were often akin to mob violence and lynchings.

I always kind of had a problem with the way mutants were treated in the Marvel Universe. Mutants were feared, by and large, because they had a genetic mutation that gifted them abilities far beyond that of mortal men. Well, most of the time. There are plenty of examples of mutants who have abilities that basically just make their lives harder with no discernible benefit. Beak, for example. Look him up. He drew the short straw in the mutant lottery.

But, the thing is, mutants are not unique in the Marvel Universe. There are plenty of other people who are effectively mutants who are not feared by the average Marvel citizen. In fact, they’re actually celebrated. The Fantastic Four are one such group. The Avengers are another. There are several other examples out there, but the question remains — what makes mutants so particularly hateable? Why does humanity focus on them when there are so many other metahumans out there who pose just as much of a threat to humanity’s safety, if not more, as the X-Men do? Maybe we’ll never know.

In the end, the X-Men, through all their various incarnations, are still sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them. They’re the scrappy underdogs who rise to every occasion (well, mostly). That’s the ultimate reason for their staying power. 5 decades later, and they’re still going strong.

If you want to check out some essential X-Men comics, you can pick up the Dark Phoenix Saga from 1980, Days of Future Past from 1981, Dancin’ in the Dark from 1983, The Trial of Magneto from 1985, Welcome to Genosha from 1988, Legacies from 1993, and The New X-Men from 2001-2003.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive into the world of comics. I’ll try to bring you interesting topics and compelling characters as they arise. If you have suggestions on topics or characters you’d like to see featured in a future episode, feel free to contact me on twitter. You can find me at @eyeheartcomics. Until next time, this has been Comic Remastered.

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Comics Remastered: Episode 2 – Captain Marvel

When you hear the name Captain Marvel, what comes to mind? I’m sure most of you would think of the latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Brie Larson is set to take up the mantle of the cosmic champion March 8, 2019 and, for many, the excitement is palpable. But who is Captain Marvel? Well, the answer to that really depends on whom you ask. And, if they’re a comic book fan, it probably depends on when they started reading comics and, most importantly, whether they’re a Marvel or DC fan.

You see, there have been a couple Captain Marvels. Well, more than a couple. Seven, actually. And that only counts the ones that have been published by Marvel Comics. There’s also a DC superhero by the same name, and a legal fight between DC and Fawcett Comics over this character back in the 50s was integral to Marvel decision to create their own character by that name.

One of the dirty little secrets of the golden and silver ages of comics is that there was a problem with plagiarism. A big one. Just think about it. How many comic book characters can you think of that are basically carbon copies of other characters from other companies? Specifically, from Marvel and DC we have Deadpool and Deathstroke, Black Cat and Catwoman, Hawkeye and Green Arrow, Namor and Aquaman, the Nova Corps and the Green Lantern Corps, X-Men and the Doom Patrol, and many more. Superman has several clones as well, but I don’t mean actual clones. I mean, there are several of those, but that’s a topic for another episode.

One of those clones was the very first Captain Marvel. A year after Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman for Action Comics in 1938, C.C. Beck and Bill Parker created a character called Captain Marvel. Cap was first published in Fawcett Comics in 1940. For anyone unfamiliar, Cap is basically a magical Superman. On the surface, he doesn’t seem all that similar. He’s not an alien. He’s actually a young boy who is granted superhuman abilities by an ancient wizard. His powers are derived not from Earth’s yellow sun, but from ancient gods like Hercules, Hermes, and Atlas. The problem is he looked really similar to Superman. So much so that DC, who now owned the Superman character, sued Fawcett in 1953 for copyright infringement.

The case eventually settled and it was found that, while Captain Marvel was indeed a ripoff of Superman, DC hadn’t done its due diligence to maintain the copyright. That meant they couldn’t stop Fawcett from publishing Captain Marvel-related comics. But Fawcett did stop. Waning comic book sales coupled with the prospect of future legal costs convinced Fawcett to get out of the comic book industry. Fawcett’s Captain Marvel eventually found his way to the pages of DC, but not before Marvel Comics decided to create their own Captain Marvel character.

See, by the time all these legal issues had been settled, Marvel was really starting to come into its own. The 1960s were the Golden Age of Marvel, and with the recent availability of the name, it made sense for Marvel’s writers to strike while the iron was hot.

In 1967, the first iteration of Marvel Comics’ Captain Marvel appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #12. This character, whose secret identity was a Kree warrior aptly named Mar-Vell, became the champion and protector of Earth after betraying the Kree Empire to align with his newly adopted world. The character’s popularity rose and fell through the years, leading to changes that writers hoped would attract new readers. Eventually, Mar-Vell graduated from Earth’s guardian to a cosmic guardian after Eon, one of the oldest and most powerful cosmic beings in the Marvel Comics universe, appointed him Protector of the Universe. After a few years, Mar-Vell finally met his end — not at the hands of some galactic-level calamity like Thanos or the Celestials. No, what finally ended Mar-Vell’s long battle was something with which many of us are probably familiar — Cancer. In 1982, The Death of Captain Marvel chronicled Mar-Vell’s cancer diagnosis and his eventual death. It was Marvel’s first long form graphic novel.

After Mar-Vell, several other heroes took up the mantle of Captain Marvel. Monica Rambeau was the first. She had energy manipulation powers and was a member of the Avengers. She eventually joined another superhero team and took on the name Pulsar. Next was Mar-Vell’s genetically engineered son Genis-Vell. A genetic clone of his father, Genis utilized the same powerset and equipment. He eventually changed his name to Photon and, because of an issue with his resurrection that was tied to the destruction of the universe (I know, I know), his body was scattered throughout the cosmos to prevent a universal cataclysm.

Phyla-Vell, Genis’s sister (Get it? Genus? Phylum?) became the next Captain Marvel. She later drops the Marvel name to become the new Quasar, before ultimately sacrificing her life to save the Guardians of the Galaxy. Khn’nr followed as the new Captain Marvel. Now, I say his name is Khn’nr, but I don’t actually know if that’s how you pronounce his name because it’s spelled KHN’NR. He was a Skrull sleeper agent who had his DNA combined with Mar-Vell’s. Apparently, some Skrulls don’t believe in using vowels when naming their children. If you weren’t aware, the Kree and Skrull empires have been at war with each other for hundreds of thousands of years. Khn’nr turned against his fellow Skrulls and fought to defend earth during the events of Secret Invasion.

The penultimate Captain Marvel was Noh-Vall. He was yet another Kree warrior who joined the Dark Avengers, but left that team when he discovered it was a team of villains. He renamed himself Protector when the Kree Supreme Intelligence granted him Mar-Vell’s original Nega Bands, which gave him a powerful suite of abilities.

Now, if you’re a bit confused, don’t worry! I am too. That’s just the nature of comics. Multiple people all sharing the same code name over multiple books. Captain Marvel is essentially like a brightly colored alien James Bond — just in spandex. In fact, it’s almost exactly like James Bond. Everyone remembers the first one (Mar-Vell/Sean Connery), maybe has a favorite among the middle group, and is very impressed with the latest iteration.

That’s about as good a segue as I can make to Carol Danvers. She’s a character who has existed in Marvel Comics since the 60s. She was a colonel in the US Air Force and security chief of a top secret military base. This is where she initially meets Mar-Vell, who she knew as Dr. Walter Lawson. Eventually, she is caught in an explosion of a Kree device,and nearly dies as a result. It was later revealed that the device actually merged her DNA with Mar-Vell’s, which made her a human-Kree hybrid. This gifted her a number of abilities, such as superhuman strength, endurance, stamina, and durability, the power of flight, and various forms of energy manipulation. She also had limited precognitive abilities and the benefits of an amalgamated Kree physiology, which made her immune to most toxins and poisons.

She debuted these powers as Ms. Marvel in the 1977. From the very beginning, she was a very progressive character. Her name incorporated the title “Ms.” instead of the more common “Miss” in apparent solidarity with the real world feminist movement at that time. Carol Danvers also fought for feminist causes in her civilian life like equal pay for women.

Her popularity as Ms. Marvel (and, for full disclosure, a number of other identities) ebbed and flowed for nearly 4 decades before she assumed the mantle of Captain Marvel in 2012. She interacted heavily with the X-Men and the Avengers during the 80s and 90s. Anyone familiar with the X-Men animated series from the 90s may remember Ms. Marvel making an appearance in an episode that delved into the origin of Rogue’s powers of flight and super strength. In the 2000s she sided with Iron Man and advocated for the Superhuman Registration Act during the events of Civil War.

After becoming Captain Marvel in 2012, she participated in crossover events like Avengers Assemble, Secret Wars, and Civil War II. She’s been a Guardian of the Galaxy, an Avenger, and one of the Ultimates. She had her own self-titled books as well and has spent a lot of time off-Earth battling galactic foes. She’s currently the focus of “The Life of Captain Marvel” which has been in publication since July 2018. In that story, it’s revealed that Carol Danvers’ mother is actually Kree, so the explosion that gave her powers simply awaked her latent abilities tied to her Kree heritage, rather than merging her DNA with Mar-Vell’s

She’s scheduled to be in a new volume of Captain Marvel which will have her return to Earth to reconnect with some fan-favorite, but decidedly Earthbound, heroes.

If you’re listening to this, you’re probably just as excited to see Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel make her debut on the big screen as I am. If you want to check out some essential Captain Marvel before you see the movie in March, you can pick up Captain Marvel Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight, Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Down, and Avengers: The Enemy Within from 2013, Captain Marvel Vol 1: Higher, Further, Faster from 2014, Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Stay Fly, Captain Marvel Vol. 3: Alis Volat Propriis, and Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps from 2015.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive into the world of comics. I’ll try to bring you interesting topics and compelling characters as they arise. If you have suggestions on topics or characters you’d like to see featured in a future episode, feel free to contact me on twitter. You can find me at @eyeheartcomics. Until next time, this has been Comic Remastered.

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Comics Remastered: Episode 1 – Batwoman

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Batwoman

Batwoman is a name few casual comic book fans would recognize. In fact, I would wager most people have no idea who she is and, if they do, they don’t really know much about her other than her association with the Bat Family. That was certainly the case with my wife. She first heard about Batwoman because it was announced recently that Ruby Rose would be playing the caped heroine in an upcoming episode of Arrow. So she asked me about her, and I did what I normally do in these situations — a Wikipedia deep dive.

There are basically two version of Batwoman as a character. Initially, she was created to help combat the commonly held belief, at least at the time, that Batman was gay and in a relationship with Robin. This arose because of a book published in 1954 called Seduction of the Innocent. The solution was to create a character that could act as a romantic interest for the Caped Crusader. And it worked, at least for a little while. This version of Batwoman, whose secret identity was Kathy Kane, lasted about 10 years before she was cut, along with several other incidental Bat characters, when a new editor took control of the Batman comics.

She was, in fact, canonically erased because of the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earth, which is a topic for another day.

She made a few cameo appearances through the years, but never really regained her star status. That is, until 2006, when the character was revived after the crossover event Infinite Crisis. The new Batwoman’s name was Kate Kane and was pretty different from the original. Firstly, Kate Kane’s Batwoman doesn’t exist simply to help quash rumors of Batman’s latent or explicit homosexuality, mostly because that’s not an issue for comic book characters and readers anymore. Point of fact, Kate Kane is depicted as a lesbian herself. This was a bit controversial when it was first revealed, but readers soon came to embrace this new character.

In an interview with Wizard Entertainment, DC Comics Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Dan DiDio stated “It was from conversations we’ve had for expanding the DC Universe, for looking at levels of diversity. We wanted to have a cast that is much more reflective of today’s society and even today’s fanbase. One of the reasons we made her gay is that, again when you have the Batman Family—a series of characters that aren’t super-powered and inhabit the same circle and the same city—you really want to have a point of difference. It was really important to me to make sure every character felt unique.”

Kate Kane has a military background. She actually attended West Point and is a highly trained soldier who uses military hardware in both her bat suit and her weapons. She’s a wealthy heiress who uses her vast resources to fight crime in Gotham City. Sound familiar? She has a relationship with Renee Montoya, who fights crime as The Question. She regularly interacts with the members of the Bat Family, and in her most recent titles she actually runs a boot camp for young heroes that Batman organized.

If you want to check out some essential Batwoman comics, you can grab issues 7 and 11 of DC’s 52 from 2006, Batwoman: Elegy from 2009, Batwoman: New 52 from 2011-2015, and Batwoman: Rebirth from 2017 until now.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive. I’ll try to bring you interesting topics and compelling characters as they arise. If you have suggestions on topics or characters, feel free to contact me on twitter. You can find me at eyeheartcomics. Until next time, this has been Comic Books Remastered.

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Childhood Remastered: Episode 100 – TMNT 2 – The Secret of the Ooze

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Episode 100 – TNMT 2: The Secret of the Ooze

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been a cultural phenomenon since their debut in 1984. What started as a simple drawing of a little turtle wearing a mask with nunchakus strapped to its arms has rown into a media empire complete with comics, multiple TV series, and movie. Fans of this podcast will no doubt recall our fondness for the franchise. Fifty episodes ago, we covered the original Ninja Turtles movies from 1990.

Despite the somewhat negative critical reception of that film, it went on to earn over $135 million at the box office. This meant a sequel. It also meant a bigger budget. But an increased budget doesn’t always translate to a better movie. Let’s see if that’s the case as we take a look at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze.

From Wikipedia:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is a 1991 American martial arts superhero comedy film directed by Michael Pressman, based on the fictional superhero team the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It is the sequel to the 1990 film Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesThe Secret of the Ooze was followed by a third film in 1993, and an unrelated fourth (TMNT) in 2007. The film is distributed in the United States by New Line Cinema, and internationally distributed by 20th Century Fox.

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Childhood Remastered: Episode 97 – Nick Arcade

People have been obsessed with video games since Pong debuted back in 1972. Since that time, video games have crept into our everyday lives in various ways. Several movies have been produced both about video games, like Mario Brothers, Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, and Warcraft, and featuring characters that play video games, like The Wizard and The Last Starfighter.

There have also been tons of TV shows featuring video game characters. But that’s just it. Most have been about video games, not about what goes on inside them. One notable exception is Reboot, but that’s a story for another episode. One show in particular asked players and viewers to actually step inside the game and play it for real. That show was Nick Arcade.

From Wikipedia:

Nick Arcade (also stylized Nickelodeon Arcade) is an American children’s game show created by James Bethea and Karim Miteff and hosted by Phil Moore, with Andrea Lively announcing, that aired on Nickelodeon in 1992 (in the first season, the shows were taped in December 1991 and aired in early 1992),[4] airing originally during weekend afternoons, with reruns airing until September 28, 1997. It was taped at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. In Nick Arcade, two teams of contestants played two initial trivia rounds, with the winner advancing to the “Video Zone” to play against the virtual “Video Game Wizard” of the day.

Highlights:

James Bethea, UPN, Star Trek: Voyager, Nickelodeon, Clueless, Dilbert, Moesha, Karim Miteff, Jon Favreau, Dan Vitco, Mark Schultz, Dean Friedman, Phil Moore, Robot Chicken, Figure It Out, Rosewood, Andrea Lively, Superboy, Video Games, Nintendo, Atari, Sega, NES, SNES, arcades, Florida, Universal Studios, Resort

Links:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Arcade
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300828/
Super-cut: https://youtu.be/nSCFlafbXBs
Example of a winning game:

Behind the scenes: https://youtu.be/EvJqEyXoaiY

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Childhood Remastered: Episode 95 – Clarissa Explains It All

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Sitcoms are a staple of the television industry. They’ve been extremely popular since at least the 50s. Shows like I Love Lucy, Gilligan’s Island, All In The Family, Taxi, MASH, Three’s Company, Seinfeld and Scrubs, to modern shows like Parks and Recreation, Big Bang Theory, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine have all experienced tons of success.

But While the early 90s had plenty of sitcoms for adults, the same couldn’t be said about shows geared towards kids. Nickelodeon broke into the genre with Hey Dude in 1989. After proving that sitcoms for children could actually work, they followed Hey Dude with a new show in 1991 about a teenage girl and how she deals with things like boys, growing up, and dealing with her annoying brother. That show was Clarissa Explains It All.

From Wikipedia:

Clarissa Explains It All is an American teen sitcom created by Mitchell Kriegman for Nickelodeon.[3][5] In the series, Clarissa Darling, played by Melissa Joan Hart,[6][7][8] is a teenager who addresses the audience directly to describe the things that are happening in her life, dealing with typical adolescent concerns such as school, boys, pimples, wearing her first training bra, and an annoying little brother.

Highlights:

Nickelodeon, Mitchell Kriegman, Bear in the Big Blue House, Shadowmotion, Rachel Sweet, Everlasting Love, Hairspray, John Waters, Dharma & Greg, Melissa Joan Hart, Clarissa Marie Darling, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Melissa and Joey, Jason Zimbler, Ferguson Darling, HBO, Sean O’Neal, Elizabeth Hess, Joe O’Conor, Michelle Trachtenberg, Wayne Brady, James Van Der Beek, Shannon Woodward, Westworld

Links:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarissa_Explains_It_All
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101065/
Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqAmG9A7TBc
News story: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/clarissa-explains-it-all-reboot-starring-melissa-joan-hart-works-at-nickelodeon-1094940
Episode of The Book of Pooh (2001): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPMvdp2JMQ

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Childhood Remastered: Episode 94 – The Adventures of Pete and Pete

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Imagine it’s 1989 and you’re watching Nickelodeon. You’ve just finished watching an episode of Double Dare and, instead of commercials, you’re treated to a quick scene of a young red headed boy who tells you a story. Sometimes, it’s about how his brother is still frozen from a game of freeze tag the day before. Other times, it’s about what he and his friends would do for a dollar, or about his terrible summer job mowing lawns along Route 34.

As quickly as it arrived, the odd little story is over and you’re back watching ads for toys or cartoons or whatever else Nickelodeon was trying to sell. What was that? Was that a show? Did you imagine it? Well, actually, what you witnessed was the genesis of a new show that would formally debut two years later as a handful of 24-minute specials, which then spawned another 3 seasons of brotherly goodness.

That show was The Adventures of Pete and Pete.

From Wikipedia:

The Adventures of Pete & Pete began on Nickelodeon in 1989, as minute-long shorts that aired as interstitials. Owing to the popularity of the shorts, five half-hour specials were made, followed by a regular half-hour series that ran for three seasons from 1993 to 1996. Reruns of the shorts and the shows now run on TeenNick as part of their block NickSplat on October 5, 2015. Jason Ankeny of AllMusic called the series “the greatest children’s show ever”,[1] while IGN called it “one of the most well-written kids shows ever”.[2] The first two seasons were released on DVD in 2005; the third was planned for 2006 but was indefinitely postponed.

Highlights:

Will McRobbChris ViscardiMichael C. MaronnaDanny TamberelliJudy GrafeAlison Fanelli, Hardy RawlsToby HussMichelle TrachtenbergRick Gomez, Nickelodeon, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Iggy Pop, Steve BuscemiAdam WestJaneane GarofaloLL Cool JDebbie Harry,  Luscious JacksonNiceDrop Nineteens,  Poi Dog PonderingSyd StrawPolaris

Links:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Pete_%26_Pete
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105933/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRUD8NqLGuc
Michael Maronna & Danny Tamberelli’s Podcast: https://theadventuresofdannyandmike.com/

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Childhood Remastered: Episode 91 – Captain N – The Game Master

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This week we decided to cover Captain N: The Game Master at Sean’s request. We mentioned before how Toyetic some shows were, but this easily has them beat. The protagonist is named “Captain Nintendo”, which can’t be any more of a product placement. This show was quite popular in it’s time, and it’s easy to see why: it hit every mark for any early 90’s kid. But could that just be our nostalgia brain, or was there real truth to that. To be fair, Sean picked this show to cover specifically because he thought it might be terrible and not hold up 27 years worth of Nostalgia goggles. Come grab a listen and if he was right…or not.

From Wikipedia:

Captain N: The Game Master is an AmericanCanadian animated television series that aired on television from 1989 to 1991 as part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup on NBC. The show is produced by DIC Entertainment and incorporated elements from many of the most popular video games of the time from the Japanese company Nintendo. There was also a comic book version by Valiant Comics, despite only featuring characters from games produced by Nintendo. The show is also part of an hour-long block in Season 2 with The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and with Super Mario World in Season 3 in a half-hour block.

Highlights:

NBC, Nintendo of America, DIC Entertainment, The Real Ghostbusters, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Captain Planet, Sonic the Hedgehog, Nintendo Power, Randy Studdard, Haim Saban, Shuki Levy, Michael Tavera, Matt Hill, Street Sharks, “Ed, Edd n Eddy”, Venus Terzo, Da Vinci’s Inquest, Blackarachnia, Beast Wars, Castlevania, Andrew Kavadas, Reboot, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, Alessandro Juliani, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, The 100, Death Note, Doug Parker, Terrorsaur, Game Boy, Frank Welker, Mother Brain, Levi Stubbs, The Four Tops, Audrey II, Little Shop of Horrors, Garry Chalk, Optimus Primal, Stargate SG-1, Eureka, Arrow, Supernatural, Ian James Corlett, Cheetor, Bots Master, Donkey Kong, Valiant Comics, Samus Aran

Links:

Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_N:_The_Game_Master
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096554/
Show Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyoUecpe_wU
Fan website: http://captainn.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_N:_The_Game_Master

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Childhood Remastered: Episode 90 – Freakazoid!

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After covering such an awful show subject last week we felt we needed a palate cleanser. Freakazoid! we are actually the requesters this week, and we couldn’t be happier with our decision. Freakazoid was a sort of accident pet project of Steven Spielberg, Bruce Timm, and Tom Ruegger that was cut far shorter than it should have been. How did such a smart and ingenious show get cancelled after only 2 short seasons? Would this show be successful today?

From Wikipedia:

Freakazoid! is an American animated television series created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini and developed by Tom Ruegger for the Kids’ WB programming block of The WB. The series chronicles the adventures of the title character, Freakazoid, a manic, insane superhero who battles with an array of super villains. The show also features mini-episodes of adventures of other bizarre superheroes. The show was produced by Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the third animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. Animationduring the animation renaissance of the 1990s.

Highlights:

Warner Brothers, Kids’ WB, Bruce Timm, Tom Ruegger, Steven Spielberg, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Blackstar, Snorks, Hanna-Barbera, Batman: The Animated Series, Paul Dini, Jem, DC Comics, Amblin Television, John P. McCann, Mitch Schauer, Richard Stone, Steve Bernstein, Julie Bernstein, Gordon Goodwin, Dark Lord Chuckles The Silly Piggy, David Kaufman, Jimmy Olsen, Superman: The Animated Series, Danny Phantom, Back to the Future, Tress MacNeille, Agnes Skinner, The Simpsons, Futurama, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, Daisy Duck, Frank Welker, Edward Asner, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Star Wars: KOTR, Gargoyles, Craig Ferguson, The Drew Carey Show, Tracy Rowe, Jonathan Harris, Lost in Space, David Warner, Star Trek, Captain Picard, Jeff Bennett, Johnny Bravo, Earthworm Jim, Ricardo Montalbán,  Khan Noonien Singh, Fantasy Island, Bebe Neuwirth, Richard Moll, Mighty Max

Links:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakazoid!
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111970/
TV show Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed-hUoeHcz0

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Childhood Remastered: Episode 88 – The Little Mermaid (TV Series)

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This week’s request comes from an unknown listener lost to the mists of time…If you ARE that listener, drop us a line and let us know! The Little Mermaid animated series was a short lived animated series based on the Disney film of the same name. This was a first for Disney, and was quite a big deal at the time. Even leading to animated TV series for other Disney properties. Both of us remember very little of this show, and neither of us remotely qualify as the prime demographic for this show. But what the hell, let’s dive in!

From Wikipedia:

Disney’s The Little Mermaid is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animationbased on the 1989 Disney film of the same name. It features the adventures of Ariel as a mermaid prior to the events of the film. This series is the first Disney television series to be spun off from a major animated film. Some of the voice actors of the film reprise their roles in the series, among them Jodi Benson as Ariel, Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian, Kenneth Mars as King Triton and Pat Carroll as Ursula. Other voice actors include Edan Gross and Bradley Pierce as Flounder, and Jeff Bennett as Prince Eric.

Highlights:

Disney, Ron Clements, John Musker, The Princess and the Frog, Moana, Hans Christian Andersen, Howard Ashman, Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, Alan Menken, Aladdin, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Splash, Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniels Barnes, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, Buddy Hackett, Ben Wright, Thumbelina, Spider-Man, Paddi Edwards, René Auberjonois, Frank Welker, Maurice Lamarche, Mark Hamill, Jim Cummings, Ron Perlman, Clancy Brown, Kath Soucie, Whitby Hertford, Cree Summers, Tim Curry,

Links:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_(TV_series)
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103477/
Anime series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_the_Little_Mermaid
Fan website: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_(TV_series)
Little Mermaid’s Island Pilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imem8pXhOyg

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