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. 

Degrassi: The Next Generation S04E07-08 "Time Stands Still" Parts 1 and 2 Review

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing okay. Today I'm going to be talking about one of the biggest episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation ever aired in the early days of the show. I'm going to be talking about season 4, episodes 7 and 8, "Time Stands Still". This is a pretty heavy episode so please keep that in mind when you read this. Let's get into it.

If you were watching Degrassi: The Next Generation in 2004, you remember this episode. In fact, I'd say if you were in middle school or high school in 2004, and had friends who were fans of the show, but you'd never seen a single episode, you know this episode. It was a game changer for the show and changed certain characters forever. For good or for bad. It's also one of the hardest episodes for me to watch, because of how badly Rick was bullied leading up to him shooting Jimmy in part 2. 

Unlike with alot of other situations on this show, or on any other shows, where I either can't relate to it, or I come down on a particular side, Rick being bullied, and Raditch's dismissal of the situation, which I will get into later, is something I can relate to. When my friends and I were in high school, we weren't exactly the most popular people in the school. In fact, we were at the bottom of the social ladder, unable, and in most cases unwilling, to climb up it further, and for whatever reason, we got picked on alot. And in my later years in high school, we had a principal who refused to do anything about the amount of bullying that was happening. Some of us dealt with it, because it wasn't as bad as it could've been, and most of us were good about reporting it to the vice principal if an incident occurred. However, my friend Sarah, was bullied so much that she transferred to a different school because our principal refused to do anything about it, no matter how many times she went to him about it. So I can relate to Rick both directly, since I was the target of bullying occasionally in both middle school AND high school, and indirectly, since I watched people I cared about, like Sarah, go through it even worse.

However, I cannot imagine being so angry and hurt that I'd take a gun to school and plan to hurt or kill my tormentors. Of course I can't imagine being an abusive boyfriend, which started this entire storyline. Rick Murray was introduced in Season 3, Episode 8, "Whisper to a Scream" where he had a crush on former main character, Terri MacGregor and they begin dating. However, he turns out to be an abusive boyfriend and Terri breaks up with him because of it. But he returns seven episodes later, and they get back together. But, Rick hasn't changed, and he abuses Terri yet again, this time putting her in a coma, resulting in him being expelled from Degrassi. But that wasn't the end of Rick.

The thing about Degrassi is that even when a minor character's storyline is seeingly finished, the writers sometimes find a way to bring them back for another storyline. For example, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes show up in the fourth season, and then return in season 5 and again in season 8. In the case of Rick, he was brought back in season 4, episode 4 intending to prove that his time away from Degrassi had changed him. But, everyone is still angry at him for what he did to Terri in season 3, that they start bullying him incessantly. The worst offenders being Spinner, Jay and Alex, three characters that I came to adore but they're at their worst this season. Spinner especially. 

Spinner was always a jerk right from the very beginning of the series, where he tended to make fun of the younger students, namely Emma, Toby, J.T., Manny and Liberty. But in season 4, he was the absolute worst. I don't know if it's because he'd fallen in with a bad crowd due to his friendship with Jay, or he was just insecure and angry following his breakup with Paige earlier in the season, but this season he was worse than he'd ever been before, though obviously not bad enough for his current girlfriend, Manny, to break up with him.

Watching both parts back to back was a different experience than it was in the mid-2000s when I saw the episode in reruns as I hadn't started watching the show yet when the episode aired. I also didn't know what had happened because nobody I knew watched it, at least not that I knew about. Watching it this time around I knew what was coming, and I was tense watching part 1 and the beginning of part 2.

Rick shooting Jimmy and then pointing the gun at Emma while Sean tries to talk him down, are probably two of the most intense scenes on TV that I have ever seen, outside of many of the fight sequences in the Arrowverse shows and the final sequence in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4 premiere, "The Best of Both Worlds Part 2" where Data is trying to get through Locutus to get Picard while the Borg attack the Enterprise. Like you know Rick is angry and hurt after the hell he's endured for weeks, possibly months, since he returned to Degrassi at the beginning of the season, but it's hard to reconcile empathy for what he's going through with the way he chose to handle it. Especially when he intends to kill Emma.

I would also like to talk about Raditch, because like I said, I had a principal like him at my high school, who didn't take bullying seriously despite the fact that our school had a zero tolerance policy. In part 1, Rick goes to see Raditch and ask him to do something about the bullying being done to him by Jimmy, who was just placed on the quiz team to replace the ever elusive Heather Sinclair, older sister to future main character Holly. J Sinclair. Raditch simply sees it as two students not getting along and tells Rick that he has to learn to get along with Jimmy. As Snake (Mr. Simpson) reveals in part 2, Rick and gone to see Raditch several times about the constant harrassment from the other kids like Spinner, Jay and Alex, but Raditch didn't do a thing to stop it. As a teenager I found it difficult to accept this due to my own experiences with Sarah being forced to transfer schools, and with being bullied as well. However, as an adult, I do see that there wasn't really anything Raditch could do. Especially since Jimmy was starting to soften towards Rick as they practiced for the quiz game, and Rick wasn't exactly forthcoming about what Spinner, Jay and Alex were doing to him either. And yet, when Rick continued to come to him because of the bullying, Raditch should've taken it much more seriously than he did.

Also, in the aftermath of the shooting, Raditch called the incident "one kid overreacting to spilled paint". Read that again. He said it was one kid overreacting. Overreacting would be egging someone's house in retaliation. Overreacting would be framing somebody for something you did because you had an argument with them. What Rick did was an extreme response to being ignored by the school's staff, which Snake acknowledged while he and Spike were with Emma at the school after the shooting. Also, did Raditch forget what Rick had done to Terri the previous school year? He knew that Rick's mental and emotional state was fragile, and yet he ignored him.

The shooting had a profound impact on all of the characters going forward. However, the three characters that I feel it impacted the most are Jimmy (for obvious reasons), Emma, and Sean. Jimmy is paralyzed from the waist down and has to use a wheelchair, or crutches, for the rest of his time on the series. I could definitely relate to, since right up until grade 9 I used crutches and a wheelchair, now I just use a walking stick and a wheelchair. The impact it had on Emma and Sean is more psychological. For example, Emma begins to shed her good girl image after this episode, and becomes easier to sway when it comes to breaking the rules and doing things like having parties at her house when her parents aren't home. The typical teenage stuff that she was unwilling to do prior to the trauma she endured from having a gun pointed directly at her. Sean's scars took longer to heal however. He had wrestled with Rick for control of the gun when it went off, resulting in Rick's death. The severity of the situation caused Sean to leave Toronto and Degrassi and return to his parents in Wasaga Beach. He wouldn't come back until the beginning of the sixth season.

There are other characters who were affected by the shooting. Like Toby, who had been friends with Rick before it happened, Spinner, who had inadvertently helped to incite the shooting in the first place, and even Paige was affected, staying with Hazel at the hospital to wait for Jimmy to regain consciousness. Oh and Craig, as he's the one who found Jimmy after Rick shot him.

There's a subplot about Joey Jeremiah, played by the wonderful Pat Mastroianni, selling his house with the help of his ex-girlfriend, Sydney, and his current girlfriend, Caitlin Ryan, played by Stacie Mistysyn, buying it for him. However it's quickly dropped once the shooting and the entire cast converges on the school for the aftermath. It's funny seeing the adult characters on the show, because they were kids on the original shows, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, but they were still relevant on TNG as they were on the shows from the late 80s/early 90s. However this plotline in this episode just didn't work for me. Probably because everything leading to the shooting, the shooting itself and the aftermath were more interesting than whatever was going on with Joey and Caitlin, although it was kind of funny seeing Craig pretend to be sick so he could stay home from school and "help" Joey by getting Sydney involved and then the second time around, probably to get Caitlin to do something about it too. Also, I think part of the problem I have with this storyline is that I watched this episode in a vacuum each time I've seen it with the benefit of having seen earlier episodes leading up to this point with Joey. Or the aftermath, because I don't remember if it's brought up again in later episodes.

I think I've rambled about this episode long enough. I hope you enjoyed this look back at one of the most important episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation ever produced. I'm hoping to start a complete watch through of Degrassi, from Junior High through to the end of TNG as DHX Media, the company that owns the franchise, has uploaded just about every episode of the franchise, leaving out Degrassi: Next Class since it's on Netflix, and season 2 of Degrassi High (so far) on the official Degrassi YouTube channel, which is pretty awesome, and it's how I watched this two part episode. This is a tough episode to watch for all the reasons I talked about in this review, but at the same time, it's a great episode too. The reason I've always liked Degrassi, besides the fact that it's a Canadian series, is that it realistically portrays all of the issues that people go through when they're teenagers. They don't hold anything back, but they're also careful to make sure the topic is handled well. 

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

Animorphs #3: The Encounter - Book Review

 Hey guys! How were your weekends? Mine was pretty quiet. I just finished reading the third book in the Animorphs series, called The Encounter, which is Tobias's first book as narrator. So let's get right into it shall we?

The Encounter is really limited in the way the story can be told because Tobias is a hawk. And so, you don't get much screentime for the other Animorphs as a result. However, what you do get is alot about what's inside Tobias's mind since the story is from his point of view. And that's what makes this book so interesting. It's been weeks since Tobias was trapped in his hawk morph but he still struggles with that choice he made after the fight in the Yeerk Pool in the first book. There are even moments where he struggles with the hawk's natural instincts, something the Animorphs tend to gain control of as they get used to a morph. But because he's stuck as a hawk, Tobias ends up having the hawk's instincts become stronger than his human instincts because he's not a human anymore, he's a hawk. So that's something I hadn't actually considered when I was reading these books when I was a kid in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Plot wise, this book is pretty filler. I mean the Animorphs blow up a Yeerk water truck ship, which we never hear about again in any book after this, and that's all that happened. Visser Three is there, but Tom and Chapman aren't. Also, they only use one of the two morphs acquired in this book ever again, and that's the wolf morphs. Even then, only Cassie used the wolf morph often because that became her battle morph. The trout morph is never used again, as far as my memory of the series goes anyway.

I was going to save this for when I review the next book, The Message, since that's the first book narrated by Cassie, but she says something in this book that kind of made me remember why I didn't like Cassie as much as the other characters in this series when I read as a kid. On pages 27 and 28 Cassie says, "I halfway feel like we've done enough. You know? We attacked the Yeerk pool. We barely got out alive. We infiltrated Chapman's house and Rachel was captured. Again, we barely got out alive. I guess the question is, how many risks are we going to take? How many more times are we barely going to escape?" Which has always been my problem with Cassie. 

She never fully commits to fighting the Yeerks the way the others have, because she's never had to. As I mentioned in my review of the last book, Jake fights for Tom, Rachel fights for the Chapman family, specifically Melissa, her best friend, Marco fights for his mom though he won't fully commit until book 5, Tobias fights for Elfangor, and Ax fights because he's an Andalite. Cassie doesn't have a personal stake in this war, and she tries to get out of it many many times over the course of the series. Her parents aren't Controllers and are never in danger of being infested by the Yeerks, and she has no siblings to protect either. So she has no reason to fight the Yeerks at all. Especially since, as Rachel pointed out in the last book, the Animorphs aren't superheroes. 

While Tobias is often portrayed as being an early casualty in the Animorphs's fight against the Yeerks, I also see him in a different way. Whether you subscribe to the notion that Tobias deliberately trapped himself as a hawk back in book 1 to get away from the bullies at school and his difficult home life or not, Tobias is trapped as a hawk and so he doesn't have his morphing powers anymore and technically he's out of the fight. However, like Barbara Gordon, who became Oracle after the Joker shot her and paralyzed her in Batman: The Killing Joke and she couldn't be Batgirl anymore, Tobias honed the other skills that he had, like his increased sense of sight, and his flying ability, to help the Animorphs by acting as recon in dangerous situations, or carrying the Animorphs in smaller morphs to a site they're scoping out for a mission. So it shows that even if you don't have certain abilities, you can use the abilities you do have to do whatever you want to do. 

I know Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant didn't intend for Tobias to be an allegory for disabled people, but that's how I see him. Which is funny considering they do mention disabled people in two of the books, in book 40, The Other there's a disabled Andalite and we learn why we don't see disabled Andalites until this book, and in book 50, The Ultimate, the Animorphs decide to bulk up their forces by giving morphing powers to disabled children since the Yeerks wouldn't infest them so the Animorphs wouldn't have to worry about there being any Controllers among those kids.

  Like with The Visitor, the changes in the 2011 re-release of The Encounter are pretty minimal. I don't know if that's just because this is a Tobias book and he isn't exactly able to read books, play video games, or whatever else he did before he became trapped as a hawk, or if it's just because this book and the last didn't have any significant pop culture and tech references that are specifically 90s. In fact, I'd say you'd have to be really looking for them in order to notice the few changes made.

Overall The Encounter is a pretty skippable book in terms of the overall plot of the series. No new characters are introduced, and no significant events happen in this book. It's just an average, close call, mission for the Animorphs. However, if you're a Tobias fan, then this book is the one where he gains his territory in the woods near Cassie's barn, which is significant for him if not for the series itself. But that's to be expected for a series as long as Animorphs is. There's so much story that you can't always have big, major, events happening in every book. It's still a pretty good book though and like I said, the changes in the 2011 version are minimal. Especially in comparison to the changes made in The Invasion.

Alright guys that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back on Wednesday with another post so until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Batman Forever: The Official Comics Adaptation Review

 Hey guys! How's it going? I'm actually doing pretty well for a Saturday morning. Today I'm going to be reviewing the comic book adaptation of the 1995 movie, Batman Forever. It's a comic that I had when I was a kid, and right now I have it in the trade paperback collection, Batman: The Movies which contains the comic book adaptations of Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin. So let's get right into it.

The thing I find interesting about this movie adaptation, as well as the ones for the other three Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman movies, is that it was written by comic book veteran, Dennis O'Neil, who spent most of his career writing or editing Batman comics. I also find it interesting what they left out from the movie for this comic book version. For example, Bruce's struggle to be both Bruce Wayne and Batman is all but completely left out of here, aside from a brief conversation with Chase Meridian just before Alfred calls him on his wrist communicator to inform him that Dick had stolen the Batmobile. Even that is severely trimmed down from how it is in the movie. But that's the nature of adapting a movie into comic book form. More is cut to keep the page count down to over-sized comic book norms, unless it's expanded to full comic book mini-series form, which surprisingly didn't happen all that often, even back when comic book adaptations of movies were actually a thing.

I got this comic probably in 1996, after I already had the movie on VHS. My dad had taken me to the hospital, I think for an asthma attack or something like that, I don't remember what it was for. It was in the evening and we were only there for a few hours before they sent me home with some antibiotics, so it could've been for an infection. Anyway, while we waited for test results, my dad took me down to the gift shop, and I saw this comic on the shelf and my dad bought it for me so I would at least have something to do if the doctors decided to admit me to the hospital. Apart from it being the comic book adaptation of my second favourite Batman movie (my first being 1966's Batman: The Movie), the reason I asked my dad to buy it for me is because I love the cover. I mean Batman and Robin are in a classic pose, and Riddler and Two-Face are above them. That's like the perfectly classic 90s comic book cover right there so of course I wanted it. 

I'm not familiar with the penciler on this book, Michal Dutkiewicz. I don't think he did anything else for DC unless I'm horribly mistaken. However, the inker is Scott Hanna and he's done tons of work for DC Comics, on various Batman titles. Mainly Detective Comics in the 90s. 

That's pretty much all I have to say about this comic because I haven't talked about the movie yet and I don't want to go too in depth here. I will say that this is a pretty good comic book adaptation. Yes, it leaves some things out, and changes a couple of scenes around a little, but it's a fun read. Especially if you read it after watching the movie. Or while you're watching the movie as a side by side comparison. I'm still hoping to get an individual copy of the issue again since I got rid of my original copy, and I have the other three Burton/Schumacher Batman movie comic book adaptations individually already, as well as in the trade paperback collection I have that I mentioned earlier. 

Alright guys that's going to be it for me for today. I'm going to be starting to watch Flash Gordon tonight for my other blog, so expect that review to come out on Tuesday or Wednesday. For here though I got a VHS post coming out on Monday, and then maybe I'll have a review of Animorphs: The Encounter for you around then too. We'll see though. In the meantime have a great rest of your weekend and I will talk to you later. Take care.

Blog Update for February, 2021

 Hey guys! How's it going? I just wanted to come on here and give a little blog update since there's been some changes since I did my January update. So let's get into it. 

The first change is that I started a new blog that focuses entirely on TV shows and pre-television movie serials and short cartoons. My original idea was to do an entire blog series devoted to the Degrassi series so I could watch it from the original shows in the 80s to the end of the series that I watched when I was in high school in the 2000s, and then maybe review the last show, Degrassi: Next Class if I had access to it. Similar to how I reviewed Community last year. Then it was announced that The Muppet Show will be dropping on Disney+ later this month, and Dinosaurs dropped on Disney+ at the end of January and I realized I have shows on DVD and Blu-ray that I haven't watched through yet except for an episode or two here and there. So then I decided that I would do a completely separate blog devoted entirely to television where I could talk about anything TV related that I could think of in addition to the season by season reviews of the shows I have access to. Which leads to the second change that I'm actually just announcing here now.

So as you know I am a huge fan of VHS. I have a decent collection of them, I actually watch the tapes, and I love talking about them on the blog. I've attempted to do this before, and nothing's really come of it for one reason or another, but with the TV show blog being my priority and I can easily do VHS and comic book reviews, especially since with the VHS reviews, I'm basically talking about my memories of watching those particular tapes.

What this new series is is a look at the tapes that I grew up with. Whether I owned them, rented them from the video store, or borrowed them from someone, I want to talk about VHS tapes. Basically I will pick one tape a week to talk about, and if I have the tape then I will watch it before writing about it. I'll talk about when I got the tape, if I remember when I got it and who got it for me, and I'll talk a little bit about the contents of the tape as well. Because we rented alot of tapes when I was growing up, I'm only going to talk about the ones we rented more than once, or tapes that were my favourites but I only rented once. 

I'm also going to be talking about my favourite DVDs that I had in my collection when I was in high school as well. We didn't have alot of DVDs until after I had graduated from high school because DVD players were pretty expensive in the early to mid 2000s, we had VCRs that worked perfectly fine, and all of our VHS tapes worked just fine too, so we didn't feel the need to upgrade until the price of DVD players went down to something affordable. Plus with the death of VHS in 2005 through to 2006, it made sense to keep renting and buying movies that way. So I'm going to talk about those too. 

Comics and books are going to go that way too. Just ones that I had when I was a kid and into high school. It narrows things down to basically my favourites and things that I can talk about easily whether I revisit those tapes, DVDs, comics, and novels, or talk about them from memory, which I can do if I watched them or read them enough times. I might do that with video games too, but most of my video game memories come from watching my family playing the games rather than me playing them myself. Especially when I was younger. Though once I got to late elementary school and into middle school and high school, I actually played the games myself more often. But we'll see. For now, just VHS, DVDs, comics and novels. 

Anyways guys that's going to be it for me for today. Join me over on JC's History of Television (my new blog in case you were wondering) tomorrow for my review of the Mickey Mouse cartoons, and then join me back here on Saturday for a comic book review. Until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.