Iron Giant Targets Congress

...and this is just one of today's animation-related headlines at Yahoo! News.

In an effort to boost the home video release of the critically acclaimed box office flop, Warner Bros. is appealing to Capitol Hill for help.

Am I the only one who thinks this is the most bizarre marketing gimmick ever used by a studio or have I just not been paying attention? Or is this just their lame way of saying, "We didn't bother to market the film the first time, and we aren't sure how to do it now. Hey, maybe we can get the government to do it for us!"

So this is the multimillion-dollar marketing campaign we were promised? If this is how WB plans to promote it, they're certainly going about it in an odd way.

Also, if you didn't see the updated news at Animation Blast yet, check out Amid Amidi's little rant on WB's lack of marketing for this great film. We all here seem to agree we don't really like this guy or his lack of an objective opinion, but I'd say he's currently among the top 5 best sources for animation news. I guess sometimes you take it wherever you can get it. I don't particularly like going through the trash to find something useful, but one man's junk is another man's treasure... or so they say.

And not to rub it in or anything, but I went to see IG for the 7th time yesterday (finally got my brother to go with me to see it this time - I went to see it by myself for the 6th time on Monday). I'm not bragging - I just want to squeeze in as many viewings as possible while it's still in theaters. It's probably the last chance I'll ever get to see it in all its silver screen glory. I love it a little more each time too - always discovering some subtle nuance or detail I hadn't noticed before.

It's a shame IG couldn't have gotten half of the publicity and exposure that Pokeflick's getting.

And speaking of...

I believe it was Brainatra who reported the bit on the 70,000 phone calls for the free tickets for the Pokémon movie premiere. If you'd like to read the full details on the story, here's the rest of the story from Yahoo! News, and from Animation Artist Magazine. I'd also seen the news bit earlier this week at Another Universe about WB moving up the release date for the Pokémon movie from the 12th to the 10th on account of the possibility of kids having Veteran's Day off from school bringing them into theaters to watch Pokémon... to commemmorate the holiday - remembering those who died in the service of their country, of course. After all, Pokémon and Veterans' Day have so much in common.

But I didn't see too many of us here really wanting to know about the date being changed, so I didn't bother to post it. I figure that those who want to know will be keeping up with it on their own time. But to show that I'm impartial, if you want to see two news items on Pokémon: The First Merchandising Blitz, visit The Comics Continuum. Even Burger King and Betty Crocker have been able to cash in on its popularity.

Oh, here's a news update at AWN.com, for those who enjoy Cartoon Network's "The Powerpuff Girls" - they'll be hosting "a Teen People Online chat session on AOL on Thursday, November 4 at 7 pm ET." I'll be at work when this event takes place, so if any here are able to attend, please let me know if there's any mention of the character voices. My guess is the voice talent won't be involved at all and it will be the same as that AOL chat they had with CN's "Toonami Tom". You're basically chatting w/ someone(s) who works at Cartoon Network, but their true identity is a complete mystery.

This is something I've been meaning to offer as a service to our members here, only I haven't told a soul about it. At the end of every month, when I get my Time Warner Channel Guide in the mail, I go through the movies and specials index and plan out my month. Yeah, I realize how sad that sounds, but I don't deny I'm a cable addict.

From this point on (if others claim to benefit from this service), I will post a list of WB-related animated movies/specials or recommended items of an animated nature at the beginning of every month. If I receive no response from this, I'll continue to keep it to myself. I just thought I'd share something with others that I take the time to do for myself every month. If not, I may continue to offer it once my TZ directory is set up if you'd like to see the movies that Gookie will be watching every month.


Showing on cable this month:

- Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982)
HBO Family
November
11 - 4pm
12 - 3:10am
24 - 7:30pm
27 - 4:30pm
28 - 3:40am

- The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
HBO
Nov. 19 - 9:30am
HBO Family
November
12 - 6pm
24 - 6pm
25 - 3:25am

- Cats Don't Dance (1997)
Disney - Nov. 10 6:30pm
Disney2 - Nov. 10 9:30pm

- Dafy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983)
HBO
November
5 - 8:30am
10 - 11am
25 - 3:30pm
HBO Family
November
6 - 4:30pm
7 - 3:05am
12 - 7:30pm
18 - 4:30pm
19 - 3:15am
22 - 4pm

- Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988)
MoreMax (Cinemax2) - Nov. 16 - 6:30am

- How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
TNT - Nov. 27 - 6:30pm

- Lady & The Tramp (1955)
Disney
November
6 - 6:30pm
9 - 6pm
23 - 7pm
(repeats each time 3 hours later on Disney2)

- The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981)
HBO
November
11 - 9am
23 - 7am
HBO Family
November
5 - 9pm
9 - 4pm
10 - 3:35am
21 - 2:05am
24 - 4:30pm

- The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
HBO
November
7 - 8:30am
11 - 10:30am
22 - 2pm
HBO Family
November
4 - 7:45pm
9 - 6pm
14 - 4pm
15 - 2:55am
20 - 6pm
21 - 3:25am
24 - 8:45pm
29 - 7:30pm

- The Muppets Go To the Movies
Odyssey - Nov. 13 - 6pm

- Fantastic Miss Piggy Show
Odyssey - Nov. 6 - 6pm

- Quest for Camelot (1998)
(If there's anyone who actually wants to see this)
HBO Plus - Nov. 26 - 7am

- Roujin Z (1991)
This is an anime sci-fi flick about an old man's "robot caregiver" that runs amok, destroying a Japanese city in the process (as happens in most every anime title I've ever seen ;^). But this is stylistically a high-quality animated film and with a healthy dose of humor and city-wide destruction, and I definitely recommend it.)
Airs Nov. 27 at 10am on the Sci-Fi Channel

- Scooby-Doo & The Witch's Ghost (1999)
Hard to believe this is just out on video and Cartoon Network's already showing it? Not really, considering the hefty amount of Scooby programming CN airs anyway.
Airs Nov. 27 - 6pm; and 28 - 9am

- Space Jam (1996)
I believe this is airing only on a local Memphis station Nov. 14, so the rest of you will be spared.


**My apologies for any typos in the above entires - I did double-check, but I'm still prone to errors. Be sure to check your local listings for air times in your area, or visit the stations' websites.

And now for the collectibles news I promised earlier.

First of all, I want to mention again that if you haven't visited the WB Studio Store nearest you recently, you need to - even if only to see the "Behind The Scenes" mini-documentary on the making of Scooby-Doo & The Witch's Ghost currently showing on the video wall at the WBSS. While the direct-to-video movie did little to impress me (which explains why I didn't bother to write a review of it when I watched it early last week), I did enjoy the voice cast. And this mini-documentary includes brief interviews with all members of the voice cast: Tim Curry (Ben Ravencroft); B.J. Ward (Velma Dinkley); Scott Innes (Shaggy & Scooby); Frank Welker (Freddy Jones); Mary Kay Bergman (Daphne Blake). And also the voices of the "Hex Girls", along with Joe Barbera and Billy Ray Cyrus who sings the title theme (to fulfill part of his contract, since his 15 minutes of fame are all used up. Don't it just break your acky-breaky heart?).

Actually, this mini-documentary makes the video seem a lot more interesting, especially with Tim Curry involved. I mainly just enjoyed seeing Welker in action - hadn't seen any of him since he guest-starred in that Manny The Uncanny segment with Paul Rugg a good while back.

But as my brother and I observed, it is our theory that "Witch's Ghost" is merely a veiled attempt to get the Hex Girls their own animated series. For those that saw it, they did focus on them just a bit too much for it to be a Scooby video. And they mostly reminded me of a goth girl version of the all-female band in the 80's cartoon, "Jem", which in turn were an updated version (at the time) of "Josie & The Pussycats". So I suppose we were overdue for this bit of cliché to be resurrected once again.

Oh, wait - I meant to tell you about the new collectibles. (Boy, does my mind wander fast or what?)

General WB Items

- Most of all the bean bags inventory at my local WBSS are now discounted 50%, so I can finally afford them. It is my understanding that this should be in effect for WB Studio Stores nationwide.

- I've been meaning to post this for at for months now, but I keep forgetting. There is a Warner Bros version of Trivial Pursuit available from Hasbro - it went on sale as early as August (shows you how long it's continued to slip my mind). I tried finding a professional pic of the game for you, but nothing other than this, thanks to ebay. Not even Trivial Pursuit's official site had one. If you can't see the detail there, the board itself, as pictured on the back of the box includes Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Looney Tunes, Batman:TAS, Space Ghost, various Hanna-Barbera characters, and even non-animated WB properties such as "The Wizard of Oz", the Batman movies and etc. If the game weren't $35, I'd have bought one - but with only my brother and I to play it (and him not being interested at all, really), I decided it wasn't a financially sound decision.


Batman & Other DC Comics Stuff

- New adult-sized Batman gift tee that comes packaged in container which is a plastic replica of the classic Batman logo - and the t-shirt's a nice design too. ($14)

- Batman/Superman tee (silver age comic-style art) that must be seen to be appreciated - click here, and look in the top left corner. ($14)

- A Justice Legue version of Monopoly which includes a limited edition reprint of the original 1960 JLA comic (the one with the giant starfish-thingie). And also a DC Comics version of Monopoly too - you can find a pic of the board game here. ($35)

- Batman Beyond "micro board" - which is a miniature replica of a skateboard. Really great detail on it. Obviously my brother thought this one was so cool he had to buy one. And there's a somewhat-similar one for Batman, not as well-crafted, but it's a keychain so it's not expected to be. Unlike the BB "micro board", the Batman one is encased in transparent plastic and is slightly shorter than and fashioned more like old-style skateboards. (BB micro board is $5; keychain is $4)

- Speaking of keychains, there are two new ones for Batman Beyond. Both are rubber - one is just Batman himself in an action pose (roughly 3.5 inches tall) with the caption below "New Hero In Town", and the other is square-shaped (about 2 x 2 inches) and has the character heads of Batman, 2 Jokerz members and Blight. ($3.50)

- Batman pen set, with TNBA designs. 6 pens in all, each featuring a different character: Batman, Robin, Joker, Harley Quinn, Batgirl and Mr. Freeze. ($4)

- Batman Beyond baseball cap. There are 3 different designs that I have seen now - one is the name logo w/ Batman; the second just the logo itself from his chest; and the newest is the logo from the title design - more stylistic than the image on his chest. ($12)

- The Blight figure from Kenner's Batman Beyond line is now available. But I won't review it unless requested. This message is already getting too lengthy.


Animaniacs - Pinky & The Brain - Looney Tunes

If for no other reason, you should visit the WBSS to see the new WB Miniature Classic Collection. Granted, it's a direct copy of the same thing D*sney has done with a whole slew of their characters, but for WB fans, these make great little collectibles.

There are at least 50 characters in the set (to date), if you count "The Wizard of Oz" collection. Each figurine is about 1.5 to 2 inches tall on a 3-quarter inch base; hand-painted and made of polyresin; and comes in its own little display container with a background designed appropriately for each individual collection. You can remove them from their container, but they're made for display "as-is", so why would you want to? I admit, I did take Yakko out of his, but it was only to see what material the figures were made from.

I didn't think anyone here would care about the Wizard of Oz collection, so I'm just going to list the ones in the other sets:

Batman:TAS - Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Joker, Mr. Freeze and Penguin. (No others were listed on the display card.)

Scooby-Doo - Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Fred, Velma, Mystery Machine, Ghost of Red Beard (the Pirate) and Carlotta the Gypsy.

Looney Tunes - Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Hector/Spike, Pepé Le Peu, Penelope Cat. Individual ones of Porky and Daffy wearing their garb from "Duck Dodgers" - Daffy's is painted red? Go fig!; Marvin Martian; K-9 and "Instant" Martian. I'm going to say there are more to come in this set because the little display card didn't list Bugs, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Road Runner, Coyote, among others.

Animaniacs - Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Pinky and the Brain. The Warners have the Water Tower and WB backlot in the background, and P&TB have their cage at ACME Labs in theirs (how appropoo).

For the most part, the paint jobs for all of the miniatures are very well-rendered (excepting Daffy's red costume, and Porky's is pink). Had to go through all the Brain's though, to find one that didn't make him look like he had a lazy eye. And for some reason, they chose to leave a highlight on all of the Warners' noses, so they have this white dab of paint right in the center. Kinda tacky, but no complaints otherwise. Overall, I'd say they'd make great additions to any collection, but right now, they're $6 each.

- I mentioned the new Christmas ornaments Tuesday - there's a whole lottuvum, I tell ya! And they're all great (anywhere from $4 to $12 each, depending on the level of detail or size). All complete new designs from last years's Christmas ornies which makes me wonder what my store did with all of last year's leftover inventory...

All of the ornies are made of polyresin and plastic, but some actually have non-resin/plastic details which make them such great pieces. I'll just name a few that might be of interest here; Granny, Sylvester & Tweety on sort of a miniature collector's plate, labelled "Deck the Halls at Granny's House"; Road Runner and W.E. Coyote playing golf on the "North Pole"; Daffy dressed as Santa hanging by his belt from a candy cane, hands outstreched in his greedy expression; Pepe & Penelop in the center of a wreath that reads "1st Christmas" (for newlyweds, obvoiusly); Speedy Gonzales with banner reading "Feliz Navidad"; Bugs and Penguin on ice skates; Bugs with a candy cane-colored baseball bat; New Years Porky Pig; Batman with Joker-in-a-box (head on a spring - TNBA design); Super-Santa (Superman dressed as Jolly Nick, with a pack slung over his back); Harley Quinn straddling a yellow half-moon ($8) - a particularly lovely ornament, IMO.

And my personal favorite - the aforementioned Pinky & The Brain Sleigh Ornament ($12). It's very detailed and hand-painted - nearly 6 inches long, with Pinky hitched up as a reindeer (complete with antlers), and Brain as Santa in the sleigh and his mouth open - you can alomst imagine him saying, "Hyah!". The great detail on this is that the harness around Pinky's neck has tiny jingle bells on it that actually jingle when you shake it. And Brain's "Santa Sack" is made of real cloth. Coming from one who has all the P&TB ornies except the Christopher Radko set, I believe I can say that this is the most well-crafted P&TB Christmas Ornament they've done to date.

But that's not all, folks.

Also for P&TB:

- Glass drinking mug, 6 inches tall, featuring an image of Brain "pondering" and Pinky looking as though he's about to respond with "No... no, wait..." ($6)

- Keyring and pen set, with Brain on a gold-painted keyring (maybe brass, but probably some cheap metal) in his classic stance (hands in "pockets", dour expression), and Pinky on the clip of a lime-green colored pen (looking as Pinky usually does). The pen is nearly the exact same design from the P&TB pen set from about 2-3 years ago (maybe longer, I lose track). ($12)

- "Intruder Detector" - P&TB Computer *Rear View Mirror*. I'm sure you've all seen this novelty item somewhere before - little car rear view mirror-like thing which when attached to the top of your monitor, a quick glance into it reveals any approaching, which sometimes gives you just enough time to throw up a dummy screen so your boss won't know you've been playing solitaire on company time. I've already mounted mine atop my new monitor. A warning, though, to those who purchase it after me - the adhesive strip is very sticky on the underside (naturally), but where it sticks to the plastic base isn't so sticky. The adhesive strip held in place beautifully - unfortunately, the rest of it plunged to the floor. (Thank god for thick carpet.) ($12)

- Now the 3rd of its kind, there is a new P&TB journal/diary in the WBSS - hardcover, with "Are you pondering what I'm pondering" beneath images of P&TB's heads. Above them, thought balloons with the pi/pie gag which all P&TB fans have seen at one time or another. The background is an alternating blue/yellow/magenta spotted pattern (which frankly is a little hard on the eyes). ($8)

- New P&TB Mens' Watch. 3 different dial design, plus the main dial. (Yeah, I know that sounds confusing, but you've seen the kind if you just think about it - I haven't a clue how else to describe it). Silver metal and band - very classy design. Emerald-green watchface with images of Pinky to the right and Brain to the left. (A whopping $85!! - probably best to wait on that one.)

- Finally (and I've saved the best for last), there is a new mousepad and I think it's the best one yet. This one is just Brain's head - approximately 12 inches long by 7-8 inches high (counting the height of the ears). The gag here is a diagram of what goes on in various regions of Brain's medulla oblongatta. ($7) This item I have scanned for those who would like to see it and it will be available as soon as Harley is kind enough and has the time to drop it into my TZ directory. I'll make a note when it's available.

- BTW, wbstore.com has reduced the P&TB Halloween costumes from $60 to just $15 each. I don't like to use my credit card for anything but extreme emergencies, but where else can you get a deal like that on such great collectible items?


Gookie
--...blarg.