DR. BELCH
09-01-2001, 03:28 PM
SAMURAI JACK: V
I had misgivings about Jack on KWB because of concerns that there would be edits...plus my cable feed has been a little funny for the last couple of weeks, and the last thing I needed was for it to crap out on me in the middle of the show. Surprisingly the cuts seemed few, if any, and the feed held steady at least for another hour.
Jack encounters a strange creature--which looks to be some shaggy mix of both Lucas and Seuss--in the woods while trying to trap a boar in a snare (to be precise, the snare is tied around his ankle and the big brute drags him for several hundred yards). The masters of the beasts are small alien-like beings who use taserlike weapons to subdue it. Jack has misgivings about their cruelty but is so hungry he decides to put them aside.
He becomes even more suspicious when he notes how large and run-down their city is. He is horrified at the treatment of the beasts as they are forced to put on a show for him (like horses, one of the beings assures him, and if not kept in check the Woollies can be savage and dangerous) at dinner, but wisely keeps silent.
.Jack investigates later that night and is surprised to learn the animals are sentient. Guided by the Woolly from the boar trap, he furthermore learns of their history through a psychic connection with a great ancient Woolly statue. It seems the tyranncal aliens landed in, took over, and have tyrannically ruled the peaceful, intelligent behemoths for a good part of a century.
Nearly captured by the alien keepers, Jack pretends to be helping them...but in reality uses his blade to sever the electronic collar about the neck of his guide. The free Woolly proceeds to trample his former tormentors and free his bretheren...and the Great Old Woolly tells Jack to head north for what he seeks.
A fairly good episode that managed to deliver a message about treating both other cultures and animals humanely without getting overly Captain Planet preachy about it. Though I'll admit my favorite ep besides the full-length debut movie is still the one about the three archers and the wishing pool. That opening sequence never would've got past the KWB censors.
POKJJ: Type Casting
While on their way to the next town, Team Twerp learns that all the bridges over the river out of Goldenrod City were washed away by some monster storm, and the new one won't be built for six months. Meanwhile, Team Rocket wrecks their balloon by turning up the gas too high attempting to fry potatoes on sticks ( You should've used the handy-dandy Frydaddy, friends!) Burned pretty fast, too...what's it made of, toilet paper and Mylar?
Anyway, the only way across the river is by boat, and said craft is piloted by former Soviet Premier Brezhnev (note the bushy eyebrows and heavy Russian accent). Instead of money his price is a rare breed of Pokemon called a Pseudowuedo. It's a treelike Pokemon that hides in the forest and likes to camoflauge itself to look like shrubbery, much like a certain species of insect that lies still to look like a twig and fool predators.
While chasing after the fake tree Pokemon the kids meet Marie and Pierre (named for the Curies, discoverers of radium, for all you history buffs). They are scientists disputing over what type Pseudoweudo is--he says rock, she says plant. Although it resembles a plant, it dislikes water, much like a rock type. Jessy thinks it's the Team Rocket Pokemon, as it's cowardly, likes to use sneak attacks and disguises. Personally I'm inclined to say it's an insect Pokemon, noting as before its tendency to stand still and act like a tree to discourage predators, but whoever listens to me?
Team Rocket actually catches Pseudoweudo (in a pit, which the twerps and scientists at first mistake for a dig attack) and would probably still have it if James hadn't foolishly tried to water it (with a Squirtle watering can to boot!)
Pseudoweudo uses a couple of moves it must have seen on [i]WWF Raw--slapping its opponent in the back of the head and kicking his feet out from under him (which are dubbed with some really odd names by the translator). After a fake vine whip and a pathetic dried razor leaf, it demonstrates an ability to reverse both Chikorita's and Cyndaquil's attacks on them. It actually seems to mimic others' attacks, rather like Wobbafett...or like Ditto, but can't shapeshift. It's inexplicably classified as a rock Pokemon in the end because of its hydrophobia, but I think someone really frigged the dub there.
Turns out Marie is Brezhnev's granddaughter, and he was scheming to help her in her research by asking everyone he met looking for a ride across the river to hunt up a Pseudoweudo.
Note that Psyduck seems to be the only one who can see the Pseudoweud through the trees. And Misty callously calls him dense....
There's a really trippy scene where Brock chases, tackles, and licks Pseudowuedo, made even more inexplicable by my feed acting up and causing me to miss some of the dialogue. Paging Dr. Freud....
CRDCPTRS: Trouble in the Park
This was a strange enough episode made all the more problematic by my feed fuzzing out intermittently, so I missed a lot of the dialogue. But here goes.
Sakura is still troubled by the same visions from last week's ep--the blossoms, the falling leaves, Clow Reed--and by her own fatigue. She's constantly worn out and when she sleeps, the visions plague her. She falls asleep in calss listening to the new teacher (it's mentioned in an earlier ep that Mackenzie has moved) and Madison and Li catches her before she hits the floor. They're both blushing, though note for vastly different reasons.
Outside Tori confronts Julian, who is complaining of blackouts and constant hunger. He basically implies that he knows what Julain really is; that he's more than he seems. Note the weird mottled splotches of sunlight filtered through the tree leaves onto the two's faces as they talk...rather interesting effect.
Sakura is mixing an energy drink in the kitchen when Julian visits.
While she's out of the room Yue and Keroberos palaver. Julian inexplicably comes back to himself, forcing Keroberos--with difficulty in his full form--to hide.
Ruby crops up at some point to taunt--or seduce, I'm not sure--Julian.
Sakura senses a powerful magic, which she thinks is Clow Reed's --though Kero insists with the man dead for some time it's hard to say-- and discovers a pit in the park by the penguin slide. Calling upon her new angel wings, she dives into it. Now here I thought it'd be the whole Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole thing--but instead it fills up with...sheep? Not really threatening unless one is painfully allergic to wool.
Keroberos and Li try to go into the hole, but Eli has blocked it with his magic. Sakura uses the erase card to dispose of the sheep and break the spell, then the power card to put the slide back into place...which saps her more than before.
Now here Eli and Ruby explicitly mention the word "test"...so I am right on that. To what end or what Eli is trying to prove remains to be seen, though....
CUBIX: The Iron Chef
Isn't there already a TV show by that name? I wonder if someone'll be hollering lawsuit....
A cooking robot that inexplicably malfunctions--it's Solex again, whatever that is. I'm convinced more and more that doctor guy is doing a service draining it out of the robots (it seems to be like abnormal brain chemicals in the mentally disturbed, or robotic kidney stones) and those kids are just getting underfoot. Plus Cubix's owner films an infomercial, and his wooden acting makes Shaq look like Olivier.
Anyone else that the cooking robot's owner looked a lot like Kat from Max Steel?
RH: GRT: "Sibling Blowout"/Meyhem in the Mist"
While remodeling their old house, Jack learns his sister Jill (tempt me not, evil Muse) has joined an elite Texas fire fighters squad and is vehemently against it. Sexism or overprotectiveness I'm not sure, but the feelings come to a head during an oil rig fire in which Jack has to learn to let go--and we learn his middle name is Percy.
There was a media flap several years ago about some women who wanted to join a fire department. Some feminists said they should be allowed to without discrimination, even though they lacked the requisite upper body strength to even lift the spurting hoses! Balance is one thing, but for the love of all that's holy, qualifications take precedence over quotas. Who cares about fairness and equality when your bloody house is on fire?
The second short was about a traffic pileup in London (and I was hoping from the title it'd be about gorillas, darn!) The feed got so ridiculous I turned it off halfway through.
Anybody catch that Toonami animated music videos program on Cartoon Network last night? My favorite was that last Gorillaz video with the giant purple zombie gorillas. Trippy. I'm thinking some old-school stuff should be resurrected and given this treatment, though--it'd teach these little buggers nowadays what real music is....
I had misgivings about Jack on KWB because of concerns that there would be edits...plus my cable feed has been a little funny for the last couple of weeks, and the last thing I needed was for it to crap out on me in the middle of the show. Surprisingly the cuts seemed few, if any, and the feed held steady at least for another hour.
Jack encounters a strange creature--which looks to be some shaggy mix of both Lucas and Seuss--in the woods while trying to trap a boar in a snare (to be precise, the snare is tied around his ankle and the big brute drags him for several hundred yards). The masters of the beasts are small alien-like beings who use taserlike weapons to subdue it. Jack has misgivings about their cruelty but is so hungry he decides to put them aside.
He becomes even more suspicious when he notes how large and run-down their city is. He is horrified at the treatment of the beasts as they are forced to put on a show for him (like horses, one of the beings assures him, and if not kept in check the Woollies can be savage and dangerous) at dinner, but wisely keeps silent.
.Jack investigates later that night and is surprised to learn the animals are sentient. Guided by the Woolly from the boar trap, he furthermore learns of their history through a psychic connection with a great ancient Woolly statue. It seems the tyranncal aliens landed in, took over, and have tyrannically ruled the peaceful, intelligent behemoths for a good part of a century.
Nearly captured by the alien keepers, Jack pretends to be helping them...but in reality uses his blade to sever the electronic collar about the neck of his guide. The free Woolly proceeds to trample his former tormentors and free his bretheren...and the Great Old Woolly tells Jack to head north for what he seeks.
A fairly good episode that managed to deliver a message about treating both other cultures and animals humanely without getting overly Captain Planet preachy about it. Though I'll admit my favorite ep besides the full-length debut movie is still the one about the three archers and the wishing pool. That opening sequence never would've got past the KWB censors.
POKJJ: Type Casting
While on their way to the next town, Team Twerp learns that all the bridges over the river out of Goldenrod City were washed away by some monster storm, and the new one won't be built for six months. Meanwhile, Team Rocket wrecks their balloon by turning up the gas too high attempting to fry potatoes on sticks ( You should've used the handy-dandy Frydaddy, friends!) Burned pretty fast, too...what's it made of, toilet paper and Mylar?
Anyway, the only way across the river is by boat, and said craft is piloted by former Soviet Premier Brezhnev (note the bushy eyebrows and heavy Russian accent). Instead of money his price is a rare breed of Pokemon called a Pseudowuedo. It's a treelike Pokemon that hides in the forest and likes to camoflauge itself to look like shrubbery, much like a certain species of insect that lies still to look like a twig and fool predators.
While chasing after the fake tree Pokemon the kids meet Marie and Pierre (named for the Curies, discoverers of radium, for all you history buffs). They are scientists disputing over what type Pseudoweudo is--he says rock, she says plant. Although it resembles a plant, it dislikes water, much like a rock type. Jessy thinks it's the Team Rocket Pokemon, as it's cowardly, likes to use sneak attacks and disguises. Personally I'm inclined to say it's an insect Pokemon, noting as before its tendency to stand still and act like a tree to discourage predators, but whoever listens to me?
Team Rocket actually catches Pseudoweudo (in a pit, which the twerps and scientists at first mistake for a dig attack) and would probably still have it if James hadn't foolishly tried to water it (with a Squirtle watering can to boot!)
Pseudoweudo uses a couple of moves it must have seen on [i]WWF Raw--slapping its opponent in the back of the head and kicking his feet out from under him (which are dubbed with some really odd names by the translator). After a fake vine whip and a pathetic dried razor leaf, it demonstrates an ability to reverse both Chikorita's and Cyndaquil's attacks on them. It actually seems to mimic others' attacks, rather like Wobbafett...or like Ditto, but can't shapeshift. It's inexplicably classified as a rock Pokemon in the end because of its hydrophobia, but I think someone really frigged the dub there.
Turns out Marie is Brezhnev's granddaughter, and he was scheming to help her in her research by asking everyone he met looking for a ride across the river to hunt up a Pseudoweudo.
Note that Psyduck seems to be the only one who can see the Pseudoweud through the trees. And Misty callously calls him dense....
There's a really trippy scene where Brock chases, tackles, and licks Pseudowuedo, made even more inexplicable by my feed acting up and causing me to miss some of the dialogue. Paging Dr. Freud....
CRDCPTRS: Trouble in the Park
This was a strange enough episode made all the more problematic by my feed fuzzing out intermittently, so I missed a lot of the dialogue. But here goes.
Sakura is still troubled by the same visions from last week's ep--the blossoms, the falling leaves, Clow Reed--and by her own fatigue. She's constantly worn out and when she sleeps, the visions plague her. She falls asleep in calss listening to the new teacher (it's mentioned in an earlier ep that Mackenzie has moved) and Madison and Li catches her before she hits the floor. They're both blushing, though note for vastly different reasons.
Outside Tori confronts Julian, who is complaining of blackouts and constant hunger. He basically implies that he knows what Julain really is; that he's more than he seems. Note the weird mottled splotches of sunlight filtered through the tree leaves onto the two's faces as they talk...rather interesting effect.
Sakura is mixing an energy drink in the kitchen when Julian visits.
While she's out of the room Yue and Keroberos palaver. Julian inexplicably comes back to himself, forcing Keroberos--with difficulty in his full form--to hide.
Ruby crops up at some point to taunt--or seduce, I'm not sure--Julian.
Sakura senses a powerful magic, which she thinks is Clow Reed's --though Kero insists with the man dead for some time it's hard to say-- and discovers a pit in the park by the penguin slide. Calling upon her new angel wings, she dives into it. Now here I thought it'd be the whole Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole thing--but instead it fills up with...sheep? Not really threatening unless one is painfully allergic to wool.
Keroberos and Li try to go into the hole, but Eli has blocked it with his magic. Sakura uses the erase card to dispose of the sheep and break the spell, then the power card to put the slide back into place...which saps her more than before.
Now here Eli and Ruby explicitly mention the word "test"...so I am right on that. To what end or what Eli is trying to prove remains to be seen, though....
CUBIX: The Iron Chef
Isn't there already a TV show by that name? I wonder if someone'll be hollering lawsuit....
A cooking robot that inexplicably malfunctions--it's Solex again, whatever that is. I'm convinced more and more that doctor guy is doing a service draining it out of the robots (it seems to be like abnormal brain chemicals in the mentally disturbed, or robotic kidney stones) and those kids are just getting underfoot. Plus Cubix's owner films an infomercial, and his wooden acting makes Shaq look like Olivier.
Anyone else that the cooking robot's owner looked a lot like Kat from Max Steel?
RH: GRT: "Sibling Blowout"/Meyhem in the Mist"
While remodeling their old house, Jack learns his sister Jill (tempt me not, evil Muse) has joined an elite Texas fire fighters squad and is vehemently against it. Sexism or overprotectiveness I'm not sure, but the feelings come to a head during an oil rig fire in which Jack has to learn to let go--and we learn his middle name is Percy.
There was a media flap several years ago about some women who wanted to join a fire department. Some feminists said they should be allowed to without discrimination, even though they lacked the requisite upper body strength to even lift the spurting hoses! Balance is one thing, but for the love of all that's holy, qualifications take precedence over quotas. Who cares about fairness and equality when your bloody house is on fire?
The second short was about a traffic pileup in London (and I was hoping from the title it'd be about gorillas, darn!) The feed got so ridiculous I turned it off halfway through.
Anybody catch that Toonami animated music videos program on Cartoon Network last night? My favorite was that last Gorillaz video with the giant purple zombie gorillas. Trippy. I'm thinking some old-school stuff should be resurrected and given this treatment, though--it'd teach these little buggers nowadays what real music is....