Superman: The Man of Steel #37 - Comic Book Review

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well today. So I couldn't decide whether to review a Batman comic or a Superman comic, so I decided to review a Superman comic that Batman appears in. I am talking about Superman: The Man of Steel #37, the first of the Superman tie-ins to Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time from 1994. So let's get into it.

I first saw the cover of this issue on an old Geocities website in the late 2000s, which contained covers for all of the Zero Hour issues, all of the tie-ins, and the #0 issues that came out the next month which gave us revamped origins for pretty much the entire DC Universe post-Zero Hour. I saw this cover and thought it was cool because I recognized some of the Batmans on this cover, like the one from Batman: The Animated Series, and the ones from the 1966 TV series, the 1943 movie serial, the comics from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (first costume). However not all of these versions appear in the actual comic. The ones that do appear are the original Bob Kane comic book version from 1939, the Dark Knight Returns version, the Neal Adams comic book version from the late 60s and early 70s, the Kelley Jones comic book version from 1994, the Dick Sprang comic book version from the 50s, the 1966 TV show version, and the Carmine Infantino/Joe Giella comic book version from 1964.

I'm a little skeptical that one of the Batmans that appear in this book, and on the cover, is the Kelley Jones version from 1994/1995. The DC Wiki says that that's the version of Batman it is, but, Kelley Jones didn't debut as the penciler on Batman until issue #515, which was published after this issue came out and the only other version of Batman he'd drawn up to this point is an Elseworlds version in the story Batman and Dracula: Red Rain which was published in 1992. So either it's actually the 1992 version from Red Rain or it's a preview to the version that Jones would've been working on at the same time this issue was being produced. Either way it's the Kelley Jones version, which is cool, it's just unless it's a preview for upcoming issues of Batman, it can't be a version that hasn't debuted yet.

There isn't a whole lot to the story. Superman is called by Batman because there's weird things happening in Gotham City, which were shown in the Batman comics being published at the time, with characters from the past/alternate timelines, like Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, Bruce's parents, pre-Crisis Earth-2 Alfred Beagle, and Dick Grayson as Robin appearing as if they belonged in the present day/current timeline. However, the Batman that Superman meets up with isn't the Batman he knows, as this one has never had his back broken by Bane, because he's from the 70s and never encountered Bane. Then pre-Crisis Batman and post-Crisis Superman encounter the Dark Knight Returns Batman as he's beating the crap out of a thug who's attempting to disrupt a special benefit concert being held to support the rebuilding of Metropolis after it was destroyed in an undisclosed incident that couldn't be prevented by Superman. I think it's a reference to everything that happened with Cyborg Superman in Reign of the Supermen/The Return of Superman, but nothing is specifically stated by anyone in the issue. It's possible another event happened in between Reign of the Supermen and this issue, since there was enough time for Bruce Wayne to have beaten by Bane, replaced as Batman by Jean Paul Valley, Superman to have met the Jean-Paul Valley Batman, and for Bruce to have returned, so it could be anything.

Anyway, the Neal Adams Batman becomes the Kelley Jones Batman, and the 1939 Bob Kane Bat-Man shows up, and Superman and the three Batmen protect the concert from the Mutants, criminals faced by the Frank Miller Batman in The Dark Knight Returns. And then they go find Professor Hamilton, who attempts to figure out what's going on by running scans on the Frank Miller Batman, who transforms into the Dick Sprang Batman before all the Batmen disappear and Superman races off to finally meet up with his Batman, who's waiting for him and then Metron shows up to take them to tell them what's going on.

That's the story. Like I said, there's not a whole lot going on, primarily because this is a tie-in to Zero Hour which was being published concurrently with the tie-ins as one does with a major crossover event, and so not alot could be done, except for showing what's drawing Superman and his friends and allies into the time crisis. Which is fine. I actually like this issue quite a bit. Louise Simonson, wife of legendary Thor writer Walt Simonson, and a wonderful comic book writer in her own right, is the writer on this issue, and I've always enjoyed her work on Superman, which I've only read here, and during the Death and Return of Superman story arc. Jon Bogdanove and Dennis Janke are the artists on this issue, and I like their work. Bogdanove is the penciler, so it's his character designs that populate this issue. Honestly he did a wonderful job of homaging the art styles of the different versions of Batman that appear in this issue. Also they both did the artwork for the cover and their Batmen are spot on to the era they're from including the BTAS (1992 animated series) Batman looks like he was lifted from an issue of The Batman Adventures which was still in publication in 1994. Which is cool. 

Definitely pick up this issue if you can find it. I haven't been able to find it on it's own in the back issue bins or at comic book sales. However I do have it in the Superman: Zero Hour trade paperback collection, which collects all of the Superman Zero Hour tie-ins and #0 issues for Action Comics, The Adventures of Superman, Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, Steel, and Superboy. It was published in 2018 so it should still be in print.

Alrighty that is going to be it for this week. I'll be back on Monday with more cool stuff coming your way here at the Review Basement. So until then have a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Animorphs #5 The Predator - Book Review

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing okay. Welcome to another Animorphs book review. I ended up finishing The Predator, which is book #5 in the series, before I went to bed last night so naturally I'd be coming on here to talk about it this morning. So let's get right into it. Before we do though, I do want to point out that I will not be discussing the changes made to this book like I have for the previous four books in the series. Mainly because there aren't any major ones in this book like there were last time. I'll just be talking about the story and characters etc. Alright now we can get into it.

The Predator is a major turning point in the series, especially for Marco. I'll get into why in a little while, but this book is anything but a filler. Unlike the previous book though, this one starts off like it's a filler book. It's not until chapter 18, out of a 24 chapter book, that you begin to realize, as do the characters themselves, that this is more than just your average filler book in the series. Which is kinda neat the way K.A. Applegate did that, because you are not prepared for it when the Animorphs's trap for the Yeerks is turned around on them and becomes a trap by the Yeerks for them. Alright, so going forward there will be spoilers, so if you haven't read this book yet, be aware of this.

Okay, so this is the first book narrated by Marco and it really packs a punch. You meet his dad in this book, you see the inside of Marco's apartment for the first time, though we saw the outside of it in the last book, and you learn the terrible secret that Marco's mom did not die in the boating accident that Jake mentioned back in The Invasion. Instead she was one of the earliest human hosts for the Yeerks, and eventually rose up the ranks to become Visser One, the leader of all Yeerk forces, the one who discovered Earth, even though...you know what, I don't think I'm going to mention that right now since it does tie into The Andalite Chronicles, which I won't get to for a while yet. Anyway, Visser One discovered Earth, infested Marco's mom, and began the invasion of the planet after spending a while on the planet as a Human Controller. Because unlike Visser Three, Visser One took the time to learn about the cultures on Earth, between inhabiting a human body, and spending lots of time on the planet. Which actually makes her the most competent Controller on Earth given that it seems like the Controllers under Visser Three's command only seem to know enough to blend in wherever their cover is, like with Chapman at the school, and Tom's Yeerk at Tom's house.

What fascinates me about this book is right up until he discovers his mom is alive and is Visser One, Marco was ready to leave the Animorphs as his breaking point was the two really bad morphing experiences he had in this book. I mean the lobster morph was bad, but man that ant morph was even worse. But like with Jake and Tobias in the first book and Rachel in the second, Marco finally has a personal reason to fight the Yeerks.

Marco is a great character. When I first read Animorphs in the sixth and seventh grades I didn't like Marco all that much. As I said in my review of The Invasion he always seemed too obnoxious for my taste, especially since I'd had to deal with people like him at school. Even when I would reread the series as a teenager I found it difficult to connect to the character the way I could Rachel, Tobias and Ax. Revisiting it as an adult though, I find myself intrigued by the character of Marco, and understand that his obnoxiousness is a coping mechanism for all the bad things happening around him. Something that I couldn't grasp at the age of 12, or even 15 and 16, but as a 34 year old living through a global pandemic, I can completely understand the concept of a coping mechanism. 

I like the idea that none of the Animorphs except for Jake would recognize Marco's mom. Despite Cassie basically being Jake's girlfriend, and Rachel being Jake's cousin, the four kids didn't all hang out together until they got their powers so they wouldn't've known Marco's mom, Tobias wasn't part of the group either back then, and Ax wasn't even on Earth yet. So it would make sense they wouldn't know who Visser One's host is. Whereas Jake is Marco's best friend, as well as his oldest friend, so he'd be the one to recognize Marco's mom. 

Aside from that lobster morph, my favourite scene in this book is when Jake and Marco take Ax to the mall to get the material he needs for his distress beacon. This is the first time that Ax has been in his human morph around people who aren't the Animorphs, unless something happened off screen that the audience isn't made aware of. That's unlikely though since at the beginning of chapter 4 they're planning their mission to take Ax to the mall and don't know how he'll behave in his human morph. Which they'd know if something had happened off screen.

The Yeerk politics in this book are incredible. This is really the first chance we've had other than the hints of it in The Visitor, of there being different factions within the Yeerk hierarchy, with Visser Three being a powerful, though hated, being within that hierarchy, for us to see the seeds of the Yeerk politics that will be introduced in the later books. I love the fact that Visser One let the Animorphs go just to make Visser Three look bad. That is the most petty thing ever, but it works because Visser Three is such an idiot to begin with. So any chance to see him look bad is great.

Overall this is a great book. As an adult I'm able to better appreciate where Marco is coming from in these early books than I did when I was a kid. I don't know if that's because I am an adult now and have a better understanding of other people's situations, or I'm just able to recognize certain things for what they are. Either way, this read through has made me appreciate, and like, Marco more than I did when I was a kid. And like I said before, this book, while it may feel like a filler when you start reading it, by the final act, this is the most plot heavy book we've had since probably The Visitor, when we learned more about Chapman and first heard about the Council of Thirteen. 

Alright guys that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back with a comic book review sometime tomorrow. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Superman & Lois Season 1, Episode 1 - TV Episode Review

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing alright. Last night the first episode of Superman & Lois aired. It was great and that's what I'm going to talk about today. There will be some minor spoilers for both this episode and for the last Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths so if you haven't watched this episode yet or haven't caught up on the CW/DC Comics shows, please beware of that. With that said, let's get right into it.

Superman & Lois feels like a cross between Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Smallville, mixed with the cinematic scope of a Netflix series or a Disney+ series. It airs on The CW like Smallville did, and even has some of the teenage elements that Smallville explored with Clark Kent. At the same time though it's very much focused on the relationship between Lois and Clark like Lois & Clark was. Even by looking at the name of the show, Superman & Lois, you know this show is going to have alot of Superman action rather than the more romantic aspect of Lois & Clark. Which totally works for the show that Greg Berlanti and Todd Helbing developed. If you're wondering why the name Todd Helbing is familiar, it's because he did alot of work on The Flash during that show's first five seasons and made that show as good as it was for so long. And of course we all know Greg Berlanti from his years writing and producing TV shows and movies. 

Because this is the first episode of a Superman TV series, the first one we've had since Lois & Clark ended in 1997, the opening of the episode presents to us Superman's origin, which we haven't gotten since Man of Steel in 2013, and which we only saw the part that pertained to Kara Zor-El in the first episode of Supergirl in 2015. Because this isn't a Spider-Man situation where every time a new version of the character pops up in movies or on TV, we have to have a full origin story for the character. No, in this case we get a highlights reel that pertains directly to Kal-El's arrival on Earth, his start at The Daily Planet, and his relationship with Lois Lane. Which I am totally okay with being that we haven't gotten a full Superman origin on TV since Smallville, and it was nice to see the Arrowverse's version of that story given that Superman was already active on Earth-38 (pre-Crisis) when Kara became Supergirl, and we don't know how long he's been operating in the post-Crisis Arrowverse. 

One of the coolest things we get to see in this flashback/montage is a nod to Action Comics #1 where Superman lifts up a green car from the back. In this case it's a PT Cruiser, because apparently in this iteration, Superman has been active since the late 90s or early 2000s. And trust me, PT Cruisers were EVERYWHERE in that time period. The coolest part of that section is that Superman is wearing the Max Fleischer cartoon Superman costume, complete with the red "S" against a black background with a yellow outline, which is similar to the colour scheme used by the Brandon Routh version of Superman seen in Crisis on Infinite Earths. I geeked out so hard when that flashback happened.

One of the things I was concerned about going into this episode is the kids, Jonathan and Jordan Kent. Just because this is a CW show, and most of the kid/teenage characters can be pretty obnoxious. Of course the adult characters in the Arrowverse shows have gotten pretty obnoxious at times too. However, at least in this episode, the three kids, Jonathan, Jordan, and Sarah, who is the older daughter of the Arrowverse's version of Lana Lang and her husband, Kyle Cushing, are actually pretty interesting characters. Although Sarah does have the potential to become as destructive as the majority of the characters on Riverdale, but I think Todd Helbing and the Writer's Room for Superman & Lois have a better handle on these characters than Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and the Riverdale Writer's Room have on that show's characters so we probably won't have to worry about that too much. I hope anyway. Especially since it would be great if Sarah found out about Jordan's powers sooner rather than later, instead of dragging it out for six seasons like Smallville did with Lana. Oh and so far Jordan seems to be the only one of the two boys whose powers have begun to manifest. 

Speaking of Lana Lang, I like this version alot. What's unique about this version is that Lana has no clue about Clark's powers and the fact that he's Superman. Which is bizarre because ever since The Man of Steel by John Byrne was published in 1986, Lana has pretty much always been one of the few people who does know that Superman and Clark Kent are one and the same. Even on Smallville Lana knew about Clark's powers (eventually). The exception being Superboy which aired from 1988 until 1992. Lana is played by Emmanuelle Chriqui, who played Claire Bonner, the love interest of Mark Webber's character in the 2000 Nickelodeon comedy film, Snow Day, which I saw like twenty years ago. So far, from what we got of her in this episode, Lana is pretty good in this series. Unlike Clark, Lana stayed in Smallville and became a loan officer at the Smallville Bank, marrying Kyle Cushing and having two daughters, Sarah and Sophie. We know that Clark and Lana were friends in high school, and they knew Pete Ross, but beyond that we don't know much about their relationship. She's also interesting because she doesn't shy away from it when Lois brings up that Morgan Edge bought the Smallville Bank.

Which brings me to the problem that I have with this episode. Everywhere I've looked it said that Superman & Lois is in the Arrowverse, with the show running concurrently with Supergirl and the other Arrowverse shows that are still on the air. However, there are subtle differences that hint at the possibility that this show doesn't take place within the Arrowverse proper. First, the exterior of the Kent Farm is no longer the old Smallville exterior used on Supergirl. Instead the exteriors look more like what the Kent Farm might look like in a movie. The second is that both Lois's father, Sam Lane, and Morgan Edge are played by different people than they were on Supergirl. Also, there's no mention of Kara or of James Olsen on this show. And General Lane is aware that Clark Kent is Superman, which is a complete switch from how things are between Superman and Lane. There are other more subtle differences too like how Lois and Clark got married in the 2000s, and Jonathan and Jordan are teenagers, instead of babies like they were at the end of Crisis. But other than those visual and continuity differences, not to mention the completely different tone of the show compared to the other Arrowverse shows, there's no real indication one way or the other if Superman & Lois is set in the Arrowverse, or is Arrowverse adjacent like Stargirl, Titans, Doom Patrol, and Swamp Thing are.

One more cool thing that I want to talk about before I end this review is the shows that Helbing took inspiration from for the tone of Superman & Lois. The two shows he took inspiration from are Everwood, also created by Greg Berlanti, and Friday Night Lights, created by Peter Berg. Which is interesting. Everwood was one of my favourite shows when I was in high school and so it's kind of nice to see it get some appreciation as I feel many people have forgotten about it despite the fact that Chris Pratt and Emily VanCamp both started on Everwood.  

Overall this was a great episode. When the show was announced I was afraid that Superman & Lois would just be yet another CW comic book based series with no real distinction between it and the other Arrowverse shows. And it does have the potential to quickly descend into those tropes. So far though, between the trailer and then this episode, I don't think we really have to worry about that happening. At least not for many many years. If you're a Superman fan there's lots here for you to geek out about. There's an interesting story here and I am really excited to see where it goes from here.

Alright guys that is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back on Friday with a comic book review. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

A Look Back at the Live Action Disney Sing-Along Songs VHS Tapes #1: Disneyland Fun (1990)

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing quite well today. So I'm sort of killing two birds with one stone with this post. Not only is it a review of the third, and final, Disney Sing-Along Songs tape that I had when I was a kid, but it's also the first review in a series of reviews that I'm going to be doing on the live action Disney Sing-Along Songs tapes that came out sporadically between 1990 and 1999. Aside from the tape I'm reviewing today, Disneyland Fun, I didn't grow up with these tapes. I've seen them since then, but I don't have any nostalgia for these tapes like I do for Disneyland Fun. As Professor Owl says at the beginning of the tape, let's have some Disneyland fun!

 Watching Disneyland Fun in 2021 is like hopping into your preferred time machine, be it TARDIS, DeLorean, or a starship slingshotting around the sun, and spending a day at Disneyland in 1990. For everyone else. For me, it feels like going back to January 27th, 1993 when my family and I spent a day at Disneyland while we were on vacation in Los Angeles. Not a whole lot changed in the park in the three to three and a half years between when this was filmed and when my family and I were there. Assuming this was filmed in the summer of 1989 or the winter of 1990, as the tape was released on August 14th, 1990, there had to be a turnover of six months to a year (or longer) from when this was filmed, to when it was first released on VHS. I don't know for sure though because most of these tapes are made through editing footage from the various movies, TV shows and theme park attractions that make up these tapes, and adding new sound for the host segments, and the title cards. 

An example of this is during "Follow the Leader", from Peter Pan, there's footage of the Jungle Cruise. Of course my family and I went on the Jungle Cruise when we were there in 1993 and nothing changed. According to Wikipedia, the boats were repainted in 1993 but I think that was later in the year since from what I remember from my trip in 1993 the boat we were on looked exactly like the one shown on this tape.

Unlike the regular Sing-Along Songs tapes, the live action ones usually had some kind of story to them. Disneyland Fun is the exception since it's just a day at Disneyland for everyone. Though I guess, the Disney characters getting the park ready for opening at the beginning of the tape could be considered to be a plotline. As I mentioned, the tape opens with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Roger Rabbit, Chip and Dale, and Pluto getting the park ready to open for the day. Obviously in reality, these characters aren't the ones who prep the park for the day, but within the context of the Disney characters being "real" people, Disneyland is their home, with the attendees being their visitors, so it would make sense for Mickey and the gang to get the park ready for the day. While they do this, they sing "Whistle While You Work" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is the first song on the tape. 

After "Step in Time" from Mary Poppins, "I'm Walking Right Down the Middle of Main Street U.S.A." from the attraction, Disneyland Is Your Land, which ran at Disneyland from 1980 until 1985, is sung, with various Disney characters dancing down Disneyland's Main Street with the crowd on either side of the street, watching. After this is the aforementioned "Follow the Leader", where Donald Duck leads some kids through Adventureland, including a ride on the Jungle Cruise. After that he hands the kids off to the Country Bears for "The Great Outdoors" which they sing after jumping on a raft to Tom Sawyer's Island. Next is "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" from Song of the South, but this is the more 90s version with the "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Rap". What's cool about this song is that it shows footage from the Star Tours ride, including a shot of R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars Trilogy. Which is really bizarre considering Disney wouldn't own Lucasfilm for another twelve years after this tape was released.

Next is my favourite song on this tape, "Rumbly in my Tumbly" from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, sung by Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh. Apart from "Whistle While You Work" this is the only song sung by a Disney character. All the other songs are sung by various people. While he sings, Pooh is looking for food around the park, which is pretty fun to watch. Next is "It's a Small World" with footage from the ride of the same name. We sang this song as part of our Disney themed Christmas concert at school when I was in either Junior Kindergarten or Senior Kindergarten, so I have fond memories of this song. After that is the song "Making Memories", sung over montage footage of people at Disneyland, some with cameras, including Minnie Mouse. One of the significant shots in this footage is of the wishing well at Snow White Grotto in Fantasyland, which is one of the places that my family and I went to when we went to Disneyland in 1993. So that was cool. 

After that is the spookiest song on the tape, "Grim Grinning Ghosts" sung by Thurl Ravenscroft, and it takes place at the Haunted Mansion at night as one of the kids, Danielle, imagines what happens there after the park is closed and everyone has left for the night. This song isn't actually scary, it's just very atmospheric and spooky, which is fun. While this isn't my favourite song on the tape, I still really enjoy it. It scared me a little bit as a kid because I was already afraid of the Wicked Queen from Snow White when she's in her old hag disguise and seeing it in live action like that freaked me out a little, especially since the face doesn't move so it's got a creepy expression on it. 

Next is "The Character Parade" which is sung over footage of one of the Disneyland parades. The parades are something I didn't get to experience when we were at Disneyland in 1993. I was six years old and sitting through a parade would not have been possible at that time. Plus we were only there for a few hours so there are many things I didn't get to do. The song is cool though. And finally we get a rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio, which is sung over footage of the kids saying goodbye to the Disney characters as the fireworks go off above Sleeping Beauty's Castle, ending a fun day at Disneyland and a fun Sing-Along Songs tape. I don't have to say anything more about that song since it's basically the Disney anthem at this point. 

I had the 1994 re-issue of the tape. Sort of. The earliest I would've gotten the tape was Christmas 1996. The tape itself has the Walt Disney Favorite Stories preview and the Winnie the Pooh: Learning preview that the 1994 re-issue has, but there's an added preview for the Spot the Dog videotapes and I haven't been able to find any information on whether it's just an earlier printing of the 1994 re-issue, or a later printing since the first tape in the Spot series, Where's Spot? (which I had), came out in 1993. The version of Disneyland Fun came packaged with a blue Mickey Mouse microphone and every listing I've seen for it says 1994. In fact, just hang on a moment while I look something up...

...okay so, there's the packaging above, and according to the Amazon listing, it came out on June 21st, 1994, almost two months after the first printing came out on April 22nd of that year. So that clears that up. That still leaves me with a question though. Is this printing exclusive to this set or did it come out without the microphone too? None of the collectors on YouTube seem to have this edition even, so is it that rare then? 

Regardless, I loved this tape when I was a kid. I was a bit older when I first got it as, like I said, the earliest I would've gotten it was Christmas 1996. In fact, Disneyland Fun is my second favourite Disney Sing-Along Songs tapes, besides The Bare Necessities. I think it's because it isn't just recycled footage edited together with brand new audio. It's something filmed specifically for this tape, and it uses a good range of songs, some which don't appear on any of the other Sing-Along tapes. Though there's still plenty of songs that appear on at least one of the other tapes. Oh and one of the kids on the tape is Candace Hutson, who voiced Cera in The Land Before Time, and it's first three sequels. So I thought that was cool. In case you're wondering, she's the blond girl that appears a couple of times. 

Like I said, this was my favourite Sing-Along Songs tape after The Bare Necessities. I watched it all the time when I was a kid. I probably watched it way more than I watched Heigh-Ho, because like I said in my review of that tape, I didn't like it quite as much as I did The Bare Necessities and Disneyland Fun.

Alright guys that's gonna it for me for today. I'll be back on Wednesday with my review of the pilot episode of Superman & Lois and then a comic book review on Friday I'm thinking. I'm not sure when I'll have the next Disney Sing-Along Songs tape review up, but it'll probably be next week or the week after, so I'm spacing them out. Then again, it might be later this week, depending on what I feel like doing. The next tape I'll be talking about is The Twelve Days of Christmas. I know, it's February, but it's the only Christmas tape in this lineup, and it just happens to be the very next live action Sing-Along tape that was produced. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Revisiting The Muppet Show

 Hey guys! How's everyone's weekend going? Mine has been pretty good so far. I went with my parents to visit my sister this morning so that's why this post is just getting worked on now. I ended up binging six episodes of The Muppet Show on Disney+ before I went to bed last night and it was awesome. So I decided to talk about my overall history with the show, and how it holds up just from the six episodes that I watched last night. So I guess it's time to play the music and it's time to light the lights on The Muppet Show tonight!

I've watched the Muppets for longer than I can remember. Between Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock, and the movies Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, and The Muppet Christmas Carol the Muppets are forever characters for me, even before I knew who Jim Henson and Frank Oz were. They were just as much a part of my childhood as Star Trek and Batman were. And yet they were on a completely different level than Barney was. The Muppets were more on the level of Teddy Ruxpin, where it didn't matter how old I was, I would always watch Kermit and the gang in some form be it movie or TV show. 

I honestly don't remember the first time I watched The Muppet Show. That's the thing about the show, it's always been on. I know, there was a time where the show didn't exist, but, that was before my lifetime and so within the years that I've been alive, it's always been on. What's even crazier is that with the exception of Kermit, who debuted long before even Sesame Street began airing, The Muppet Show was the debut of Miss Piggy, Scooter, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and EVERY other Muppet ever seen on the show. Besides Kermit, the other exceptions are Sweetums and Kermit's nephew, Robin, who debuted in Tales From Muppetland: The Frog Prince. All the other Muppets were introduced here. Which is pretty weird to think about. 

Last night I split the six episodes between two seasons. The first three I watched were from season 1, and the second three were from season 4. And there's a huge difference between the two seasons of the show. In season one the show is focused more on the Muppets, with the celebrity guest stars playing a much smaller role. By season 4 however, the celebrity guest stars are more of the focus with the Muppets still carrying the show.

Of course these six episodes all showcased segments that I remember from childhood like Pigs in Space, Veterinarian's Hospital, the Swedish Chef, minus the chicken, Muppet News Flash, Fozzie's comedy segment, Statler and Waldorf included, and of course the musical numbers that the celebrity guest stars are involved in. Probably the dumbest segment (and the funniest) is Veterinarian's Hospital, just because Rowlf, Miss Piggy, and Janice are hilarious and it's meant to be a parody of the medical dramas, or soap operas involving medical procedures that were popular in the 70s. The jokes are REALLY bad though. Pigs in Space is pretty bad too, but bad in the good way.

Statler and Waldorf actually hold up pretty well considering they're hecklers and that kind of humour can be inappropriate sometimes in some cases. I mean the Muppets play it safe only to a point since it's a family friendly show, but Statler and Waldorf's cracks, particularly at Fozzie are pretty scathing even for a family friendly show produced in the late 70s and early 80s. They're still the funniest part of the show though.

I am very glad that Disney chose to put The Muppet Show on Disney+. It's probably been about sixteen or seventeen years since I watched it last. It used to be on in reruns on CTS, which was a Christian TV network here in Canada. They also played shows like Full House, 7th Heaven, Happy Days, Charles in Charge, and The Waltons weekday evenings, before and after 6 o'clock. Naturally, I would watch it, of course the episodes were edited down for syndication because on both the Kenny Rogers episode and the Stars of Star Wars episode, both from season 4, there were parts that I don't remember being in the episodes from when I watched the show on TV in the mid-2000s. But still, the fact that I even remember those episodes is amazing. Mind you, a dancing Chewbacca and Mark Hamill being on screen with, and talking to, Luke Skywalker are things that are pretty hard to forget. 

Alright guys that is going to be it for me for this week. I'll be back on Monday with a comic book review, or maybe a movie review, not sure which yet, and then on Wednesday I'll be reviewing the first episode of Superman & Lois which premieres on Tuesday night. So until then have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Some Childhood Comic Books

 Hey guys! Happy Friday! How's it going? I'm doing pretty great. Superman & Lois premieres on Tuesday, and it's airing on CTV Sci-Fi Channel here in Canada, so I'll actually get to watch it as it's airing this time around, AND The Hardy Boys is finally premiering on YTV on March 5th, so I am really excited for that. Especially since the show's entire first season dropped on Hulu in the U.S. on my birthday. In the meantime though, today I decided I was going to talk about a few comic books that I had when I was a kid, that I don't have anymore. I was gonna do a full comic book review of a comic that I do have, but I decided I'd go with this for today. So let's get into it.

The first comic I want to talk about is Casper, the Friendly Ghost #13, published by Harvey Comics in 1993. The Casper comic was done in the way that Archie Comics had done their Riverdale books, multiple stories in a single issue. This issue contained a three part story, and then a fourth story featuring Casper's cousin, Spooky, the Tuff Little Ghost. I don't remember a whole lot about this issue, but, I thought it was pretty cool. I'm pretty sure someone got this for me at the hospital gift shop, but I don't remember.

Up next is Scooby-Doo #3, also published by Harvey Comics in 1993. It also had multiple stories in it. These are your typical Scooby-Doo stories, though there's also a Flintstones story in here as well, which is weird. This was the only Scooby-Doo comic I ever owned. And I do remember where I got it. My mom bought it for either me or my brother, or both, from the hospital gift shop since there actually weren't any Batman or Star Trek comics there that I didn't already have at that point. I think this comic was actually my first exposure to Scooby-Doo since I got it before I saw reruns of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! on TV. 

Next is Aladdin #4 published by Marvel Comics in 1995. I don't really remember what the story was about, but I think there's another thief who is a kid, stealing things from Aladdin and the Sultan's palace. I think that's what the story is. What actually stands out to me about this issue is that on the back cover is an ad for one of the Tiger Electronics handheld Mighty Morphin Power Rangers games with the White Ranger in the ad. This issue came out right near the end of the second season, not that long after Tommy had become the White Ranger and Rocky, Adam and Aisha had replaced Jason, Zack and Trini on the show so the White Ranger was still everywhere at this point.

Up next is Beauty and the Beast #2 published by Disney Comics in 1992. This was the second of two issues published in this series meant as a prequel to the movie, which had come out less than a year before this issue was published. This was more my sister's comic than mine, but I read it a few times. There wasn't much to it, the Beast falls off a cliff and Chip has to rescue him, and Belle has a feeling that her destiny lies beyond her father's house just outside the village. This was another hospital gift shop purchase.

Muppet Babies #3, also published by Harvey Comics in 1993, was also a hospital gift shop purchase. There were two stories in this one, but the only one I remember is the second story where the Muppet Babies are pretending to be the crew of a starship in a Star Trek-esque setting, with Kermit as the captain, which is funny since Captain Mercer has a Kermit the Frog plush on his desk in his ready room on The Orville. They all had uniforms and everything. It was pretty cool. 

Next up we have Mickey and Donald #16, which is actually a movie adaptation, sort of. The comic adapts the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment from Fun and Fancy Free. This was also a hospital gift shop purchase. However, my mom bought this for me for a different reason than for me being good after a test or examination. She bought this for me because I had a long day ahead of me since I was at the hospital to see the Hematologist, and have a blood transfusion, so I was going to be there all day. She bought it for me to read/look at to pass the time while I was having the blood transfusion. Of course, when it got later in the day and there were fewer kids in the Medical Day Unit's playroom, I got the chance to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time on the Super Nintendo, but the comic was for the rest of the afternoon and for when my arm was too sore from the blood transfusion to play the game anymore.

Next is another issue of Aladdin. This time it was Aladdin #7, also published by Marvel Comics in 1995. This is the comic I remember the most about because I probably read it more times than the other Aladdin comic I've already mentioned. This one involves the Genie hosting a Genie convention at the Sultan's palace, which quickly gets out of hand, resulting in the palace nearly getting destroyed. Once again, this was a hospital gift shop purchase. It was a funny issue though and seeing all of those Genies together was a blast.

The final comic I'm going to be talking about is Beauty and the Beast #7 published by Marvel Comics in 1995. However, I don't remember for sure if we had this one or if I just saw it on the rack at the hospital gift shop. I'm about 90% sure we did have it because of the cover, but I don't think I read it all that often. The Beauty and the Beast comics were more for my sister back then because as much as I loved the movie and watched it with her all the time, she's the one that had the merchandise. 

That's going to be it for me for today. I think tomorrow's movie review is going to be another overview style post, because I can't decide on a movie and The Muppet Show is on Disney+ now, so that's what I'm gonna be watching. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Disney Sing-Along Songs: Heigh-Ho VHS Review

 Hey guys! Welcome to my next Disney Sing-Along Songs review. My idea was to go by wave and just talk about each release in that wave. But I decided to just review the three tapes that I had when I was a kid. And since I've already reviewed The Bare Necessities, I thought it was high time that I reviewed the second Sing-Along Songs tape I had as a kid which was Heigh-Ho. So let's get into it.

Heigh-Ho, the second tape to be released in the series, was released on May 19th, 1987 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original theatrical release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I loved this tape when I was a kid. It was the second of three that I owned as well as the second Sing-Along Songs tape I ever watched. While I didn't watch it as often as The Bare Necessities and Disneyland Fun I still watched it quite a bit. My favourite song on this tape is a tie between "Up, Down, Touch the Ground" from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins. My least favourite songs are probably "The Siamese Cat Song" from Lady and the Tramp and "Yo-Ho" from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. Which is interesting because when Heigh-Ho was re-released in 1994 both songs were removed from the tape. Also, the weakest song on this tape would have to be "A Cowboy Needs a Horse" from the 1956 cartoon of the same name. I don't like or dislike it, it's just a weak song compared to the others. 

This tape is hosted by Professor Owl, voiced by Corey Burton, with footage from two 1953 short cartoons, Adventures in Music: Melody and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom being used. I think this footage is probably my favourite part of the tape. I guess just the classroom setting, with birds as the students and teacher, intrigued me. I'm not a huge bird person, but cartoon birds always entertained me for whatever reason. Probably because of Kessie, the baby bird from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh that Rabbit took care of in the episode "Newfound Friends". I dunno, I just liked the characters in the host segments, they seemed more fun than just Jiminy Cricket, who sounds more like a teacher than Professor Owl does, which is weird. I also enjoyed the tapes where Ludwig von Drake is the host. Just because of the whole crazy professor thing he's got going on. 

Aside from Zorro, this tape was my first exposure to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, The Three Caballeros, Lady and the Tramp, A Cowboy Needs a Horse, Pirates of the Caribbean (the Disneyland ride), and Mary Poppins as I hadn't had the opportunity to see the five movies represented here yet since they either weren't on home video yet, or I just hadn't seen them yet. It's a good tape, but as much as I loved it, it's my least favourite of the three that I owned as a kid. And I think that's because some of the songs on the tape were from "darker" Disney films and rides (like Pirates of the Caribbean) and so they scared me more than they entertained me. I still watched it and loved it, obviously, but the darker nature of the tape just kind of threw me off as a kid.

Overall Heigh-Ho is a great tape, though definitely a bit scarier than your average Sing-Along Songs tape. I guess it's just one of those things. I would still recommend it though, because there are some fun songs on it like "Heigh-Ho", "Up, Down, Touch the Ground" and "Let's Go Fly a Kite". Sadly, this tape isn't one of the ones that was released on DVD in the 2000s like The Bare Necessities was, so the only way you can watch it is either YouTube (it's in parts), or finding one of the VHS releases.

Alright guys that's it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow with a look at some of my childhood comic books that I no longer own. There aren't any DC Comics titles in this bunch, nor are there any Marvel superhero titles. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Thoughts on the Cruella (2021) Trailer

 Hey guys! I am back once again, this time with a trailer discussion. I know, I haven't done one of these in a while. Actually, I've never done one of these for one movie on here before. I did talk about the trailer for The Batman during my DC FanDome post but nothing like this. So let's dive right in shall we?

The trailer is good. Cruella is very much not my kind of movie, and honestly, I don't think it's aimed at me or my generation of Disney fans. I think it's very much for the crowd that enjoyed Maleficent and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Disney movies. It's also aimed at the people who enjoyed Joker and Birds of Prey. It's dark, it's gritty, and visually it's dreary. Very different from the colourful and lively feel of the 1996 live action movie, 101 Dalmatians starring Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil or even the original 1961 animated version. And I'm not sure this movie is necessary.

I mean, like I said, the trailer looks good but we've had so many live action remakes and prequels to Disney's animated classics at this point, not to mention remakes and prequels to other movies and TV shows, that I'm tired of it. Especially when they look this drab and gritty. Like, can we not get a fun, lighthearted movie that's bright and cheerful please? 

Emma Stone looks pretty good as Cruella, though I think she's the last person I would've thought of when it comes to this role. I mean Glenn Close was a great Cruella in the 1996 movie and it's 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians that it's kind of hard to see anyone else in that role, especially since it's been a little over 24 years since the 1996 movie was released, and a little over 20 since it's sequel came out. That's just me though. Having seen the trailer twice, once this morning, and once a few minutes ago for this post, I actually felt like Emma's portrayal of Cruella is similar to the way Michelle Pfeiffer played Catwoman/Selina Kyle in Batman Returns. Not outright copying that performance, but doing something very similar in terms of her characterization. So that's interesting. 

One thing this movie has in it's favour is the fact that Glenn Close is an executive producer on the movie. So that's a bonus, because it's almost like this movie has the blessing of the previous two live action movies in the franchise. 

Honestly, I'm not going to be able to see this movie in theatres, because the pandemic is still going on and I'll be lucky if I'm vaccinated by the time the movie comes out in May. But the trailer has me curious, and cautiously optimistic, enough to watch it when it arrives on Disney+ later in the year. I have very low expectations for the movie because like I said, it's not really my kind of movie just because of how dreary it is visually. As long as it's not a character study movie, because I'm also kinda sick of those too. 

Alright guys that is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for the first part in my new Disney Sing-Along Songs overview series. So until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Animorphs #4: The Message - Book Review

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm pretty good. So today I'm going to be talking about the fourth book in the Animorphs series, The Message. It's the first book narrated by Cassie and it's also the first to introduce a new major character since The Invasion. So let's get into it.

Ordinarily I tend not to like Cassie books as much as I do the others. Mostly because, aside from this one and like book #50, Cassie books tend to be the more outlandish/ridiculous ones of the bunch, with the exception of the books narrated by Ax, which are just bizarre all on their own. I like this book though mainly because it does introduce Ax into the series and with that addition to the series, this book is actually a turning point for the series. As you may have noticed in the first three books, the Animorphs usually just stumble into a mission and then stumble their way through it, because let's face it, these are kids and they don't know what typical Yeerk behaviour is apart from infesting other races. Even Elfangor's info dump into Tobias's head in the first book, which is basically never brought up again after that, didn't give the kids EVERY detail they needed to fight the Yeerks. Once Ax joins the group, he has more knowledge about the Yeerks that he can provide to the team even if they still have to look for new entrances to the Yeerk Pool and things like that. I guess I'm starting with my thoughts on Ax overall as a character.

I love Ax. He is one of my absolutely favourite characters in the entire series. Sure, he's an addition to the comic relief with his antics in his Human morph, which is a weird blend of Jake, Rachel, Cassie and Marco, but he's also so much more than that. He's the outsider like Spock, Data, Worf, Quark, Odo, Tuvok, Neelix, Seven of Nine, T'Pol, and Saru are on Star Trek, and like Data and Seven of Nine do, Ax explores human culture with the help of the Animorphs. Also the authors made a very strong statement that Ax isn't an Animorph, as in text, mainly on the back covers of the books, when they're referring to the group, they usually say the Animorphs and Ax, rather than just, the Animorphs. Which I noticed when I read this series as a kid since there's a character later on in the series who is called the sixth Animorph. But I'll get to that at another time.

Of the four books that I've read in the series so far, Cassie's first book isn't as psychologically complex as The Encounter and The Visitor are, and it doesn't suffer from being an origin story like The Invasion is. Instead it's much more natural in a way. I mean, yes, Cassie has to decide whether to act, which might get one of her friends killed, or do nothing and let the Yeerks capture another Andalite, based on some weird dreams that she and Tobias have been having, but, it's on a much smaller scale than Jake's decision to save the Earth from a secret alien invasion and not as personal as Rachel's decision to help Melissa by spying on Chapman, or Tobias's decision to live as a hawk. So it's much more straightforward than the first three books. There's also a bit more romance to this book than the first three books had too.

Despite their efforts to dance around the subject, upon this recent read through, I think that Jake and Cassie are indeed a romantic couple. Or at the very least much closer friends than Jake let on in the first book. Apparently he's over at Cassie's house alot more often, AND according to Jake during the scene where he and Cassie are chatting while shoveling manure, he was at Cassie's place for Thanksgiving the year before this book takes place. Most friends don't have Thanksgiving together until they're adults, and even then, only when they live far enough away from their families that going home for just the weekend doesn't make sense. Also, Cassie always refers to what she and Jake have as a relationship, never as a friendship. And according to Cassie, Jake keeps a picture of her shoving a pill down a badger's throat (that is the weirdest sentence I have ever written on this blog) next to his computer in his bedroom. However, I think it's the kind of relationship that thirteen year olds have, where they're not really dating, but they're not just friends either. Which is super cute in this book, knowing what happens later on in the series. 

I actually like Cassie better in this book than I have in the previous two books. She's still bland, and still doesn't really have a personal reason for joining the Animorphs like Jake, Rachel, Tobias, and Marco (we're getting there in the next book) have. But I think she's more relatable in this book. The problem with Cassie in the previous three books is that we didn't get alot of time with her in them. And even the POV characters for those books didn't spend much time with her on screen. And because of this we didn't get to really know her like we did the other four kids. And while she still doesn't have a personal reason for being an Animorph, she's still willing to do so. And we also learn that she's not a very good leader, which is why she didn't just take charge when the kids first got their powers in the first book.

Okay, so now it's time to talk about the changes made in the 2011 revised edition and in my opinion this book is the worst offender of this whole practice. I mean Marco saying he has dreams about Elmo from Sesame Street instead of King Friday from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is weird, but fine, since Mister Rogers had been off the air for about ten years when this book was re-released, while Sesame Street is more relevant. Plus it makes Marco look even more like a total geek for dreaming about Elmo (yes even Sesame Street is considered to be geeky these days). And removing the Baywatch reference is fine too. However, my problem with the changes, is that while they changed those, they DIDN'T change the name of the dolphins at the Gardens so that they're no longer named after the main characters from Friends. I mean the Friends reference makes sense now, since the show has had a bit of a renaissance in the last few years since it's been on Netflix and is now on HBO Max in the US and on Crave here in Canada, but in 2011? Was the target audience watching reruns of the show with their parents? Were any of my generation, who read Animorphs in the 90s, watching reruns of Friends on TV in 2011? I couldn't tell you. I just know that people weren't talking about it online as much as they do today that's for sure.

The pop culture reference changes aren't the problem with this "revised" edition. No, the problem with this edition is the technological reference change. So the book is supposed to be set in 1996, probably close to the end of it since the Animorphs have been fighting the Yeerks for at least a month at this point. That's a bit fuzzy, because in both The Visitor and The Encounter, the POV characters, Rachel and Tobias respectively, mention they've been fighting the Yeerks for weeks now. So in terms of how many months is hard to determine. Anyway, this book, like the previous three, is supposed to be set in 1996. So why are VHS tapes and VCRs being referred to as being "prehistoric" technology, and DVR being referenced? In the three books I've read up to this point, references to technology of the 90s have been either removed, or made generic so that this wouldn't be a problem. And yet, in this book they not only refer to VCRs as being old or prehistoric, but then reference a modern (for 2011) piece of technology, something THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN EVER AGAIN IN THE RELAUNCH SERIES!!! Like don't mess with that sort of thing. At least with the Bruno & Boots series references to technology is limited to either devices that Elmer Drimsdale builds or to Wizzle's computer, so when the series was republished in 2003, with updated changes, the changes to the technology were also minimal, with Wizzle's outdated computer being changed to software since computers were way more common in schools (even in Canadian ones) in 2003 than they were in 1982. 

My problem is not that some people still use VCRs in 2011 to record things if they don't have DVRs. After all, I still used a VCR in 2011 (I still use a VCR today, just not to record shows off the TV) since we didn't have a PVR (DVR) until 2016 when we moved into the house we're in now. My problem is that the marketing people at Scholastic Publishing thought it was a good idea to "modernize" Animorphs in the same haphazard way they decided to "modernize" Bruno & Boots in 2003. The problem is that Animorphs isn't Bruno & Boots, The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or even Goosebumps. It's very much rooted in the 90s. It doesn't matter if it's 2011 or 2021, you can't update Animorphs to the modern day simply because a secret alien invasion doesn't work if the heroes all have cell phones with cameras on them, can record the Yeerks landing and killing Elfangor, and then sending the footage to every news service in the world, or posting it to social media, be it YouTube, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. That just blows the Yeerks plans right out of the proverbial water and the series is done in a single book. Or it becomes a trilogy with a VERY different story. 

I mean what were they gonna do if the relaunch had been successful and they got into the later books? Especially since Animorphs #34, The Prophecy, has Marco talking about Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and how at the time (September 1999) the movie wasn't going to come out on DVD until 2001. Would Scholastic have removed that line entirely, or changed the movie to something else and change DVD to some streaming service? Considering this was back in 2011 that this relaunch started and it would be 2014 or 2015 by the time The Prophecy would've been reprinted, DVD would've changed to Netflix, since Disney+ wasn't a thing yet, and The Phantom Menace would've been changed to The Force Awakens or something like that. Either way, you can't modernize Animorphs. It's too ingrained in the culture of the mid 90s to early 2000s, as much as Stranger Things is ingrained in the culture of the 80s. 

Aside from these idiotic changes made to this book, my only other problem with it is, how is this the first time that Cassie, Tobias, and Visser Three are hearing Ax's calls for help? It's been weeks, maybe even a few months since the Dome of the Andalite Dome Ship crashed into the Pacific Ocean (the books are set in California afterall), with Elfangor crashing in the construction site around the same time. So with this being the case, either Ax just started sending the thought speech distress call or for some reason the signal wasn't getting through until now. If he did just start sending the call out, what was Ax doing for the weeks between the crash of the Dome and when he started sending the distress call out? The book itself doesn't give a timeline for when Cassie and Tobias started having the dreams about the ocean with Ax's distress call inside them, but the back cover says that Cassie had been ignoring the dreams since she'd started having really bizarre ones since becoming an Animorph. So it's possible the dreams started at least two weeks prior to the start of this book, maybe, since the previous book was narrated by Tobias, and this isn't a dream he'd been having in that book. And we also don't know how much time has passed between the end of The Encounter and the beginning of The Message.

My favourite part of this book, aside from the introduction of Ax, is the two exchanges between Jake and Cassie. As I mentioned earlier about their relationship status, the two characters have great chemistry together. I mean so do Rachel and Tobias, but Jake and Cassie's relationship is a little more conventional, and appropriate for their age, while Rachel and Tobias have other things to consider when going on dates, especially later in the series, after book #13, The Change. So Jake and Cassie's scenes together are easily the best part of this book. Same with Cassie and Marco's brief interaction following the group's first attempt to get at Ax's ship underwater.

Overall The Message is still a good book, despite the changes made to the 2011 revised edition. The changes don't change the story very much, if at all, they're just stupid and unnecessary. Otherwise, it's a great introduction to Ax, and it finally gives us some insights into Cassie since up to this point we really haven't spent much time with her. Which has been a detriment to the character until now. Especially in the earlier Jake and Rachel books.

Alright guys that's it for this review. However, I will be back in a little while, because the trailer for Cruella, the origin/spin-off film of the villain from 101 Dalmatians, dropped this morning, and I have some thoughts on it. So I will see you back here shortly.

Is Disney Backing Away from Physical Media?

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. I finished reading the fourth Animorphs book, The Message before I went to bed last night so my plan was put the review out today. But as I was watching some YouTube videos this morning, I got to thinking about how most of Disney's physical media releases have pretty much dried up since 2019. So I decided to talk a little bit about Disney's history of releasing (and re-releasing) the animated movies on home video and what it means going forward now that the entire Disney Animated Canon is on Disney+. So let's get into it. To start out let's go back to 1985 when a particular Disney classic received it's first home video release.

It was a big deal when Pinocchio was released on VHS as part of the Walt Disney Classics line for the first time on July 16th, 1985. Robin Hood had sold pretty well when it was released on VHS in 1984 and both Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland had done well when they'd been released in 1981. But this was huge because Pinocchio had been considered to be one of the "untouchables", the movies that Disney would never release on home video under any circumstances. And yet it was released as the second release in the Walt Disney Classics line after Robin Hood. 

As the 90s wore on and transitioned into the 2000s, Disney started putting more and more effort into the DVD and VHS releases they were putting out, often putting bonus features onto the releases. Though if you had the Walt Disney Gold Classics Collection DVDs you didn't need the VHS releases since the bonus features were the exact same on each. By the time the Walt Disney Platinum Editions launched with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the VHS had fewer features on them while all of the DVDs in this line were 2-Disc editions. By the time the line ended with Pinocchio in 2009, VHS was gone, DVD had replaced VHS, while Blu-ray had begun to replace DVD as the primary home media platform.

When Pinocchio was released on Blu-ray in 2009, it contained all of the bonus features that the Platinum Edition DVD, which came out at the same time as the Blu-ray, had. So when Disney switched over from the Platinum Edition line to the Diamond Editions where all the movies had DVD and Blu-ray releases, the DVDs started having less features on it while the Blu-rays got the deluxe treatment.

The thing about the Blu-ray releases is that by 2014 when The Jungle Book was released on Blu-ray for the first time and re-released on DVD, alot of the bonus features stayed the same and nothing new was added that people didn't already have if they had previous DVD releases of the movies. For example, one of the bonus features on the Peter Pan Diamond Edition Blu-ray is the featurette, "You Can Fly!: The Making of Peter Pan". However if you had the Masterpiece Collection VHS, the Masterpiece Collection Laserdisc, or the Platinum Edition DVD, you had this featurette already. In fact if you had any of the DVD and VHS releases from the Masterpiece Collection onward, except for the 1999 Limited Issue DVD, you had this featurette, and other bonus features that didn't change. This wasn't always the case as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast got all new bonus features for the Diamond Edition DVD and Blu-ray releases. Though some of them were ported over from the Platinum Edition and Special Edition DVDs. 

By the time the Signature Collection line started in 2016, none of the releases got all new bonus features. They were a mix of the old ones from previous releases, with one or two brand new bonus features that were really short, keeping in line with bonus features for current movies being released on physical media platforms. Unless you wanted the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit pilot cartoon, Poor Papa, you didn't need to buy the Signature Collection Blu-ray release of Pinocchio if you had the 2009 Platinum Edition Blu-ray or DVD because the majority of the bonus features were the same. 

From 2018 to 2019 Disney started re-releasing some of the animated classics on Blu-ray through the Disney Movie Club as exclusive releases, unless they were part of the Signature Collection line. While Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Aladdin, 101 Dalmatians, and Sleeping Beauty were all re-released on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital in 2018 and 2019, there's one movie that was supposed to be part of that line, but ended up being removed from that lineup. That movie is The Jungle Book. Instead it was released as a limited edition through the Disney Movie Club, but if you already had the Diamond Edition Blu-ray from 2014, then you didn't need to buy this release because they were the exact same, just with different cover art. Which brings me back to the question. Is Disney backing away from physical media now that Disney+ is up and running?

The answer is yes and no. For the classic movies like Snow White, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, and the classic Pixar films, it definitely looks that way. However, Pixar's newest release, Soul is getting DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K releases next month. As did the live action version of Mulan and other new movies that came out between 2017 and 2018. But, will Raya and the Last Dragon? Or any of the other upcoming films from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar? I honestly don't know. 

Another question that I have about this is, did Disney start shying away from re-releasing their classic films on physical media because of Disney+ or because of the pandemic? I'd say neither. They started re-releasing the classic movies on Blu-ray exclusively through the Disney Movie Club in 2018, before Disney+ launched and before the pandemic hit. It's not impossible though since they knew Disney+ was happening by then, I mean I remember hearing rumblings about Disney+ from Disney itself as early as 2016. So I think Disney was always going to start backing away from physical media, even before they decided on doing Disney+, because of other streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. At least in terms of their older movies since like I said, they continue to release their new movies on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K. So far anyway. I guess only time will tell.

Anyways guys that's all I have to say on this topic for now. I just thought it was interesting because I realized that it's been a minute since I saw any commercials on TV for the latest physical media release of a classic Disney animated movie. Whereas I remember seeing home video commercials for any Disney feature film that was released on VHS, and then later on VHS and DVD when I was growing up in the 90s and 2000s. This is what I want to be talking more about on the blog, because physical media has been an important part of my life since I was 3 years old. Not just VHS, but DVD as well, with Blu-ray being to a smaller degree. 

That's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of The Message. On Thursday I'm starting a four or five part series on the Disney Sing-Along Songs video series, where I talk about the tapes and DVDs in an overview style rather than a review style. On Friday I'll have a comic book review coming out, with a movie review coming out on Saturday. So it's going to be a busy week here at the Review Basement. Until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.  

The Muppet Movie (1979) Movie Review

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. It's REALLY cold out today, so I'm not going outside. Also tomorrow is Valentine's Day, which honestly kind of snuck up on me this year. I mean, we're still in the pandemic, and in lockdown with stay at home orders in effect, so I can't have Kelly or Katie over for dinner like I normally would. Today I am going to be talking about one of the greatest movies ever made. That movie is The Muppet Movie from 1979. So let's get right into it.

One of the coolest things about The Muppet Movie is that it was my first shared cinematic universe. Big Bird makes a cameo appearance in the movie, and while Kermit had been on Sesame Street in the Sesame Street News Flash segments, where he'd begin with "Hi ho this is Kermit the Frog here from Sesame Street News", since 1972, I think this movie is the first time where Big Bird interacted with Fozzie as Fozzie never appeared on Sesame Street, even before Disney bought the Jim Henson Company. And being as young as I was when I first saw this movie, I thought it was cool that Big Bird was in the movie. I still think it's cool.

I appreciate that the jokes weren't overused. I mean there are some movies, and TV shows, where a joke or running gag is used too much, and it just stops being funny after awhile. But not here though. For example, at the beginning when Kermit is in the swamp, he encounters a talent agent from Hollywood, Bernie, who explains to him that he's lost, and Kermit asks, "Have you tried Hare Krishna?", which is meant to be a joke. However, they only use it once or twice more in the film, before giving it up, because even by the third time, where it's written on a sign next to the church where Kermit and Fozzie meet Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (the band Animal is in), it's starting to get old. One of my favourite jokes is when Kermit and Fozzie, and I think Gonzo and Camilla are with them at this point, are in the car and about to turn left and Kermit says, "Bear left" and Fozzie replies, "Right frog". Kermit just looks at him and says, "What?" with Fozzie replying, "Never mind". I laughed pretty hard at that scene because it goes back to the word play that Abbott and Costello did in their "Who's on First?" sketch, which is my favourite Abbott and Costello sketch.

Of course I'm very familiar with the main stars of the movie. I mean it's the Muppets and I grew up with the Muppets and have seen almost all of their movies except for The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014), so yeah, I'm familiar with the cast. Also, a few of the Sesame Street characters, besides Big Bird that is, appear at the end for "Rainbow Connection". Which is kinda cool since Bert and Ernie are there, as are Cookie Monster, Guy Smiley, Herry Monster, and the Two-Headed Monster. I'm also pretty familiar with some of the Human guest and cameo appearances like Dom DeLuise, Mel Brooks, Orson Welles, Edgar Bergen (along with Charlie McCarthy), Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Steve Martin, and Richard Pryor among others. 

The songs in the movie are pretty great too. My favourite would have to be a cross between "Rainbow Connection" and "Movin' Right Along". Aside from "Rainbow Connection", which has more of a Broadway Musical feel to it, the rest of the music in the movie has a very country music feel to it. Which is cool, even though I had forgotten that that's the kind of music the movie has.

I don't exactly remember when I first saw The Muppet Movie, but I'm pretty sure it was before 1993. I'm pretty sure it was before that because I saw it before we moved out to Greely, AND the movie was re-released on VHS in 1993 with a clamshell case as well, so I think it was before that when the 1984 VHS release (cover shown above) was still in print. We only rented it once or twice, and I'm pretty sure I saw it again on TV at some point, but I don't remember for sure. I just remember seeing it when I was a kid and loving it. So it's been at least 30 years since I saw the movie last before I watched it on Disney+ last night. And it's held up quite well for a 42 year old movie. I was afraid it wouldn't because I remember it fondly, and it's been hyped up to me over the years from other people who watched it more frequently than I have.

Overall if you haven't seen The Muppet Movie, I strongly suggest you do so, because it is awesome. As I said, it's on Disney+ so you can stream it whenever you want. It's Muppets, and that's all you need to know about the movie. So definitely go watch it.

Alrighty that is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back next week with more reviews, and other dorky stuff here at the Review Basement. So until then have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Gargoyles #1 (SLG) Comic Book Review

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm going to be reviewing an interesting comic book. It's halfway a What-If? scenario, half a continuation of a beloved 90s animated series. It's issue #1 of Gargoyles, published in 2006 by SLG Comics. Let's get into it.

Gargoyles has the distinction of being one of the only comic book series, if not the only comic book series, to be written by the creator of the TV series it's adapting. In most cases that would be really cool, however in this instance it might actually be a detriment to the book and to the show itself. Series creator, Greg Weisman, has never liked the fact that Disney continued Gargoyles (with The Goliath Chronicles) without him. And it's no wonder since they actually removed all of the elements that made the first two seasons of the show so successful. The serialized storytelling, the influences from the works of Shakespeare, and characters like Macbeth were removed entirely while both Demona and Xanatos had reduced roles, probably because their voice actors, Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis, were busy with Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection at the time. So I think this comic is just Greg Weisman being petty because this issue and the next are just an adaptation of the first episode of The Goliath Chronicles, "The Journey". Having said that it's a pretty first issue.

Following the events of "Hunter's Moon", the three part finale of season 2, the Manhattan Clan, led by Goliath, has formed an alliance with former enemy, David Xanatos, and have returned to their ancestral home, Castle Wyvern, which sits on top of Xanatos's Eyrie Building in New York City. However, the existence of the Gargoyles has been revealed to the world due to someone catching them evacuating the Clock Tower in "Hunter's Moon". Of course, they've revealed themselves to many people over the course of the first two seasons, so why this is the time where they're "unveiled" to the world is beyond me. Much like how Rocky, Adam and Aisha are the first ones to find out the identity of the Power Rangers in the second season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers when they regularly call each other by name in front of other people. Trust me I will get to that. Anyway, due to their existence being revealed, the Gargoyles are now being hunted by a group of radicals known as the Quarrymen, led by John Castaway, who spread fear and hate towards the beings who have saved the world numerous times from people like Demona and Xanatos. There's some speculation that Castaway is secretly John Canmore, the last surviving Hunter, who have been trying to kill Demona for close to a thousand years, because she was a jerk once upon a time and caused the death of a guy.

Goliath goes to visit Elisa so they can go on their date, because for some reason Weisman decided that it would be a good idea for the two to act on their feelings for each other, despite them being of two different species. Huh, I'm just beginning to realize that this was apparently a thing in the 90s, because K.A. Applegate did this with Rachel and Tobias in Animorphs about the time the TV show version of this issue aired. Anyway, the Quarrymen show up while Goliath is turned to stone, and once he awakens he and Elisa go on the run, and that's the end of the issue.

Yeah, not a whole lot actually happens in this issue. But that's what happens when you turn a 30 minute TV episode into a comic book, you have to split it into two issues where the first issue is just setup. It's better than what Marvel did back in the 90s.

In 1995 (though some sources say 1994), not long after the TV series started airing, Marvel Comics began publishing a comic book series that was actually darker in tone than the TV series, because 90s Marvel was all about darkness and incessant violence. And as you can tell from the cover of the first issue, the covers were just as ridiculous as any other Marvel Comics book being produced at the time. Of course, the series didn't last long, while the Marvel Comics section of the Gargoyles Wikipedia article states that Marvel's filing for bankruptcy is what caused the cancellation of the book, I don't think that's likely since the comic ended a year before Marvel filed for bankruptcy, so I'm pretty sure that ratings were down because nobody wanted to read this series when the TV series source material was superior to it in every way.

So this first issue of the SLG series is way better than the Marvel series ever could be. And to bring this back to the Power Rangers for a minute, the same thing happened with Marvel's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book series, which was also coming out around this same time. But still the artwork on this book is okay, there's just a few places where it looks REALLY bad because you can't see a character's face properly as if you were filming something but the autofocus was on and it kept focusing on the background behind you or something like that.

The series does get better, including the artwork, as it goes along. About ten years ago I was borrowing alot of books from the library since I didn't have this blog yet and there was nothing else to keep me occupied during the day. So at one point I borrowed both trade paperback volumes that collected this series, and the first (and only volume) of the spin-off series, Gargoyles: Bad Guys, which is a Suicide Squad-esque series featuring the Pack and a few other villains teaming up for missions. So I was able to catch up on the series since I haven't been able to find the other issues in the series, and yes it does get better. It's just there's no real difference between this issue and the first half of the episode it's adapting.

Aside from the artwork, the only thing that bugs me is a section where Goliath is relating the history of the Manhattan Clan from it's beginnings in 994 A.D. when they were part of the clan at Castle Wyvern, through to the current situation with the Quarrymen, even though Elisa knows the 994 A.D. part of their history AND WAS THERE for the rest of it! I get it's supposed to be a way to give readers the history of the series, and to incorporate the season 2 opening theme narration, but people who bought this in 2006 know the show already, since the first season and first half of season 2 were already out on DVD by this point, so what was the point of this sequence? It's not in the episode it's adapting, and if you've never seen the TV show then chances are you weren't picking this book up. This book was for the fans and a way for Weisman to finish the series the way HE wanted to finish it, instead of the way Disney finished the series on TV with The Goliath Chronicles back in the 90s.

Unfortunately, I can't really recommend this issue on it's own. If you can find it with issue #2, or better yet in the first trade paperback volume, then you'll get more out of it than if you just read it on it's own. Also, if you're not already a fan of the TV series, then this series isn't for you either, because you really need to know some of the show's history before diving into this book. It's still pretty good, but like I said, it's for fans of the TV show more than it is for the casual comic book reader. 

Alright guys that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back on Saturday with a movie review. So until then have a wonderful night tonight and a wonderful day tomorrow and I will talk to you all later. Take care.