“Cosmic Quantum Ray” Series Talkback Thread

[Mr. Blau]

Okay, I'm sold on Cosmic Quantum Ray. When the villain is a possessed ultra-vegan anti-meat animal "freedom" fighter -- I'M THERE!!!

Best exchange of dialog:

ALLISON/KRONECKER (VILLAIN): "Did you think it would be that easy to defeat me?"

COSMIC QUANTUM RAY: "Well, yeah. You're stuck up a teenage girl's nose."

"Cosmic Quantum Ray" was a real surprise. Simply the best CGI animation I've seen on TV. Great timing on the gags. Very funny.

[The Huntsman]

Frankly, I thought Cosmic Quantum Ray was the weakest of The Hub’s day one animated programs – at least out of the ones that I watched. It wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t really enjoy it, and really, can’t even remember that much about it a few days later. I may check out a few more episodes, but I’m inclined to believe that I won’t be considering myself a fan.

[Mr. Blau]

The second episode "SLIPTILICUS" is the weakest episode, but after that it's amazing. I'm a huge CGI fan and this really satisfies me. The dialog is sharper than ANYTHING else in animation -- the throwaway lines are hilarious. The problem with CQR is it demands you pay attention. You can't just sit down and see the same story you've seen a million times before -- this is new and ORIGINAL (not another spin-off of some generic action show that starts the third act with "LET'S GO GET THEM!"). We should be encouraging more original programs and fewer repeats of "classics". And regards "classics" -- some "classic" series people value as GREAT totally escapes me. There are people out there that actually love THE BIONIC SIX! Come on!

[Mr. Blau]

Hey, just found out TOM KENNY is the voice of COSMIC QUANTUM RAY. Everybody should know Kenny as the voice of noneother than SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!!

From what I read, Kenny says this is one of his favorite series he ever worked on and he does additional villain voices later in the series. Nice.

[Blackstar]

Hey, just found out TOM KENNY is the voice of COSMIC QUANTUM RAY. Everybody should know Kenny as the voice of noneother than SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!!

...As well as Heffer from Rocko's Modern Life, the Mayor and the narrator from The Powerpuff Girls, Dog and Cliff from CatDog, Raimundo from Xiaolin Showdown, Eduardo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and several others. SpongeBob is undoubtedly Mr. Kenny' most popular voice, but it's hardly his 1st gig.

[Mr. Blau]

... his "live" work on MR. SHOW (one of the greatest sketch comedy series ever).

[Blackstar]

... his "live" work on MR. SHOW (one of the greatest sketch comedy series ever).

Amen to that, m'friend! Mr. Show with Bob and David was great. I have the entire series on DVD. Worth every penny.

About Quantum Cosmic Ray, I haven't seen it yet, but perhaps this weekend I'll check it out.

[Mr. Blau]

Just found this website dedicated to voice actors. I'm loading the link to Tom Kenny and CQR.

http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/...voice-credits/

[Mr. Blau]

Apparently Cosmic Quantum Ray debuted in Germany before it debuted here even though it's a U.S.-produced (the writing, anyway) show. So I went to You Tube -- funny even in German. The big revelation was the man who plays BUCKETWORTH (in Germany he's called Buckingham) -- it's a guy named Stefan Gossler who is known as the German GEORGE CLOONEY because he does the dubbing for all of George Clooney's films that come to Germany and Austria. Now I'm stuck on this new thing -- apparently when you dub into another language, the man or woman who dubs your voice does all the films and becomes the only voice associated with the actor in the particular foreign country. I'm on a hunt now for the Spanish Vince Vaughn -- which has got to be an odd occupation.

[Mr. Blau]

Okay, not the best of the series. The animation wasn't up to that of ALLISON ATTACKS. I've seen some of the upcoming episodes on the early preview on THE SCIENCE CHANNEL, so this is corrected in the following eps. However, you've got to admire that they took a physics/quantum physics idea -- the lack of electro-magnetism -- and turned it into a giant BANANA PEEL JOKE!

Great idea, if there's no electro-magnetism there's no friction. If there's no friction everything goes sliding.

Fascinating, too, that they did a BUCKETWORTH'S QUANTUM UNIVERSE at the end that demonstrating that in the simple act of walking you don't slide because the electromagnetic forces between your foot and the ground are trying to merge -- and that's what keeps us from slipping.

Also, Chip Monahan -- the kid that wears the squirrel costume and is the team mascot for the school's FIGHTING SQUIRRELS teams -- is going to be a break-out character. He's hilarious, and the voice just cracks me up.

[Silverstar]

Just saw CQR this morning. It was OK. Ray's powers were pretty cool, and I liked the crew, especially the twins Aytee and Geecey. They were super-cute. I may be checking out more episodes.

[Mr. Blau]

Love your Neil Innes quote. But to be totally accurate that was Neil Innes when he was a member of the BONZO DOG DO-DAH BAND. Did you ever see any episodes of their /British series called DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET which, apparently, was a childrens show.

The best appearance by the Bonzos was in the horribly-filmed Beatles' movie MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR in which they appeared as the bar band for a strip club.

An additional bit of trivia, the Bonzos covered "Suspicion" and the producer on the song was the equally-bizarre drummer for the Who, Keith Moon.


<"I'm the Urban Spaceman, baby, I can fly. I'm a supersonic guy." - Neil Innes>

[Mr. Blau]

Now that President Obama is going on Mythbusters to promote science education, it looks like their eyes have shifted to COSMIC QUANTUM RAY: a funny cartoon that teaches the basics of quantum physics. Looks like the White House is backing up their words with deeds..

[Mr. Blau]

Does anyone here know what a fermionic condensate is?

-- Mr. Blau

[Mr. Blau]

This week's episode should be IT WAS NOTHING. I got the advanced scoop on this and it's a great idea. The concept that there is no such thing as NOTHING and if NOTHING did exist it would destroy everything! I love this idea. For kids to realize that when they walk outside, they're walking through molecules, atoms, energy fields -- that even the inaccurately named "vacuum" of space ISN'T a vacuum -- that's a real brain-teaser. This episode is a real mind-blower with a simple to understand (but basic) realm of quantum physics.

Oh, and the villains are PROFESSOR EVIL BRAINHEAD AND MOTHER (Mother, by the way, is a hamster -- the result of an experiment gone wrong... PEBH wanted to give his mother a fur coat for her birthday).

This series has been consistently funny, never preachy, never "instructional" -- it's the most entertaining cartoon I watch. More series with "education" should copy its style. Can't wait to see what kind of sight gags go with "nothing."

[Mr. Blau]

Can't get Chip Monahan, MR. NUTSI, out of my head! He has got to one of the funniest characters I've ever seen on TV! A kid that's always in a squirrel suit because he's the mascot for the school's FIGHTING SQUIRRELS! LOVE IT!!!

I've noticed on YOUTUBE that there are some future episodes that involve EVIL ALIEN SQUIRRELS. Chip Monahan has got to be a part of those stories!!!

[Mr. Blau]

Great episode! Hope everyone caught it! LOVE PROFESSOR EVIL BRAINEHEAD AND HIS MOTHER. And in a brilliant move, Mother mistook Chip Monahan (in his squirrel costume) for a REAL squirrel and fell in love with him.

BEST LINE OF THE EPISODE: When Mother discovers Chip Monahan isn't a real squirrel: "YOU'RE JUST A KID IN A SQUIRREL COSTUME AND I'M HOME ALONE ON A SATURDAY NIGHT!"

This series is starting to remind me of HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and BUCKAROO BANZAI.

-- Mr. Blau

[Sprocket]

Boy, you're a real fan of this show, aren't you?

I found it kind of amusing when this series was announced for the Hub. Despite being made for Germany, it was animated in English, and bounced around US TV for the last two years before the Hub picked it up. I saw it on the Voom HD Network 'Animania' back in fall 2008, and then again on Comcast's free On-Demand kid's channel 'Kabillion', which may still run it. Once it completes its run of however many episodes Mike Young Productions made, I don't see any new episodes being made.

[Mr. Blau]

Yeah, big fan. Never saw it on Animania. You were lucky, Animania only reaches about 200,000 households. And although it was first realeased in Germany, it was actually a co-production between KI.KA Germany and M6 France (they were the major investors).

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as Mike Young Productions as they were absorbed by their partner, MOONSCOOP. The series was shown on Animania first because KI.KA and M6 had one-year network exclusives on the series (Animania didn't violate the agreement). It then went to England where it was a certified hit. That same year it beat out Disney, Nick, Warners and everybody else in the world to win the Pulcinella for Best Series (the European equivalent of winning the Emmy for Best Series in the U.S.). It also won the Silver Hugo in Chicago in 2008 before it was aired ANYWHERE. They gave it to the show on the strength of its production and writing alone.

I've been watching the shows that were dubbed into German and have been waiting to see the original English productions because of Tom Kenny's involvement. Some time ago I read an interview in which Kenny said this was one of his favorite roles. Now that it's on Hub I think everyone and their dog should watch it.

If the show's a hit, more episodes will be made. That's just economics. At KI.KA they co-produced it to bring in an older boy audience and it was extremely successful at this. Naturally, since it is now on the HUB, there will be toys. If the toys sell, there's even more reason to bring it back with new episodes. TMNT wasn't constantly picked up because the episodes were successful, many times it was renewed because the toy line sold phenomenally well.

Anyhow. Glad somebody else is watching and enjoying COSMIC QUANTUM RAY.

Mr. Blau "STOP IN THE NAME OF NATURAL LAW!"

[Sprocket]

...why would there be toys? Hasbro doesn't make toys of every show that airs on the Hub, that's just silly. And toy sales mean next to nothing these days, as Marvel can tell you. As for Mike Young Productions, the web site is still up, and they still have a site for Cosmic Quantum Ray...

Don't be too jealous about Animania: I only got Voom HD about two months before it was shut down. Makes me wish we'd picked up an HDTV earlier: Voom was free on Cablevision, which makes sense given how buddy-buddy they were.


Also, just because something is critically acclaimed and highly successful in Europe doesn't mean it'll succeed here. Happens rather often, really. It took over two years to find someone willing to run it on their network, and there's a lot of channels to choose from these days.