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Merry Christmas “The Office”

December 15, 2008 By Jim

 

I’m about to watch the Christmas episode of The Office where Meridith lights herself on fire!  My my… haven’t seen it yet and I’m chuckling by the thought… oops, sorry Meridith!

You see, The Office show has found that sweet spot in me that Friends and Frasier vacated. I think it’s that unique setting (yeah, it’s an office… but I bet ‘ya no office is like their’s), it’s the people, and as Michael would say it… it’s the PAPER. LOL.

If anyone out there would care to ask what gift I would want for Christmas… well, it’s all 4 seasons of The Office on DVD.  I think each season sells for about US$30 at BestBuy.

The Office runs like Friends, by the way. When Ross and Rachel would fight and make up… it kept me on watching the show.  Now I’m waiting for Jim and Pam to do the same… oh when will they ever get married already!  🙂

MythBuster Favorite

March 27, 2008 By Jim

 

One of my favorite episodes would probably be the most simplest.  The show’s producers recorded this as the “most popular” question that people would like to know.  Here it is. “Would you pop your eyes out IF you sneeze with your eyes open”. (Episode 84: Viewer’s Choice special)

I myself wanted to know if it was so, but hey, if it was true I didn’t want to be the idiot who confirms it.  Imagine me saying “Ha! This myth is true… myth is true!” with my eyes dangling or hitting the floors rolling waay out.

Well, the first question is… could the myth-buster duo keep the eyes open WHILE sneezing.

Adam tried, but could not keep his eyes open for the feat, sooo he held it with two fingers.  THEN he sneezed, twice for the camera.

Aside from the laugh this brought the crew, they confirmed, no eyeball popped out of its sockets.  That’s good news for Adam, and me, because I’d certainly try it when a good sneeze comes about.

While this was a busted myth, Adam and Jamie (the show hosts) would like to give the myth at least a consolation prize.  They went to an eye doctor to get Adam’s eye examined.

True enough, that’s still a healthy eye!

Show history:  The show was pitched to Discovery Channel under the title Tall Tales or True by producer Peter Rees from Beyond Television Productions in 2002. Discovery then commissioned three pilot specials. Jamie Hyneman came to the show through Rees, who had previously interviewed him for his appearance on BattleBots. Adam Savage, who had worked with Hyneman in commercials and on BattleBots, was approached by Hyneman to help co-host the show because (according to Savage) Hyneman felt himself too uninteresting to host the show on his own.

Teen Titans season 2 DVD: Reviewed

December 29, 2006 By Spengs

Teen Titans season 2

Teen Titans is one of those shows that progressed in quality with each season, hardly fluctuating at all. The show started out rather kid-oriented but became darker and more complex with each passing season (though season 5 was mostly one big fangasm). Season 2 is one of the better seasons and also one of the most memorable, as it adapts possibly the most famous storyline from the New Teen Titans comic book series by Marv Wolfman and George Perez.

Season 2 roughly adapts “the Judas Contract”, but as you can guess, only imports a few of the basic plot elements and does its own thing with the concept. The first episode of the season, “How Long is Forever”, features Starfire being transported 20 years into a desolate future by the villainous Warp. The episode works as a foreshadowing of the events to come, as Starfire fears what might happen if the Titans drift apart (the eventual arrival of Terra causing a potential rift between the team). The show’s version of Warp is a bit different from his comic book counterpart; he’s British instead of French and is now a time traveler, where before he could just teleport from location to location. The episode also features Robin growing up to become Nightwing, but thankfully without that stupid mullet from the New Batman Adventures.

“Every Dog has his Day” is my least favorite episode on the set; a Beast Boy spotlight where said character morphs into a dog and is forced to be the pet of a dimwitted alien. A bit childish, even for this show, and just doesn’t contain much rewatch-value. “Terra” introduces the main arc of this season, the title character Terra. Terra can command earth-itself and is immensely powerful, but has little control over her abilities. She is invited to join the Titans and makes fast friends with Beast Boy. However, a misunderstanding and her own unbalanced head causes her to secretly drift into Slade’s clutches. “Only Human” is one of the better Cyborg spotlight’s (though season 3 would be “his season”). It features the hyper-competative robot, Atlas, taking the Titans hostage and Cyborg having to overcome his cybernetic limitations to save his friends. A really good character piece enhanced by an awesome voice over from Keith David as Atlas.

“Fear Itself” was written by Dwayne MacDuffie, one of the writers of Justice League Unlimited, and is an excellent Raven spotlight. After battling the crazy fanboy, Control Freak, the Titans rent a horror movie and return home. Weird things start to happen all over Titans Tower as monsters pick the Titans off one-by-one, leaving Raven alone to cope with her fears. Control Freak is one of the more entertaining original villains to come out of the series, apparently originally intended to be a foe for Impulse back when MacDuffie was writing for that book. You’ll get to see more of him in later seasons.

“Date with Destiny” is my second least favorite episode on the set, though much funnier than “Every Dog has his Day”. Killer Moth, a villain with a horde of mutant moth monsters, forces Robin to take his bratty daughter, Kitten, to her Junior Prom. This causes Starfire to go mad with jealousy, as she has had a crush on Robin since the first episode. The episode is funny, though Kitten’s annoying antics can really grate on the nerves. Thomas Haden Church providing the voice of Killer Moth is one of the most “WTF” things I’ve seen in this show; I couldn’t believe it was him. Not one of my favorite episodes, but I don’t hate it. “Transformation” is Starfire’s spotlight episode, where she deals with Tamaranian puberty and begins changing into something she fears will be hideus. A sort of “meh” episode with a life lesson for the younger set that’s about as subtle as a steamroller. The storybook-style narration by the late Tony Jaye is a plus, though.

“Titan Rising” brings the return of Terra, who officially joins the team and becomes a Titan after helping to stop Slade from sinking Titan’s Tower into the ground. She has her own agenda, though. A good Terra episode and shows the Titans starting to really like her. Kind of depressing, too, as you know from the start that she’s only going to betray them. “Winner Take All” has the Master of Games summon Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Aqualad, Speedy, Gizmo, Hot Spot and Wildebeest to compete in a supposedly friendly tournament to see who the greatest young hero on Earth is. In reality, the Master of Games is absorbing the defeated warriors and stealing their powers. An awesome episode; I totally dig the video game gags within it. One of MacDuffie’s best episodes. Also introduces a bunch of characters from the comic. Speedy gets the big spotlight and will be one of the more recognizable expansion Titans. Hot Spot (called Joto in the comics) doesn’t do or say much, and neither does Wildebeest, I’m afraid. Aqualad puts up a good fight, though, and this is still easily the best interpretation of the character, as he’s closer to Tempest (the hero Aqualad became when he grew up in the comics) than the lame-o Aquaman sidekick with the curly hair.

“Betrayed” kicks Terra’s arc into high-gear, as she…betrays her fellow Titans to Slade. The cartoon portrays Terra in a much more sympathetic light than in the comics, where she was pure evil. Here she has legitimate feelings for Beast Boy and is more confused and frightened, leading to her partnership with Slade, rather than just being an evil mercenary. The ending with Beast Boy is quite sad, too. “Fractured” is the comic relief episode of the season. Teen Titans follows a formula of having a wacky comedy episode right before the season finale, and this one features the appearance of Larry, Robin’s “DNA buddy” from the 4.9th Dimension who can bend reality with his magic finger. At the same time, the bad guy Johnny Rancid has broken Robin’s arm, and every time Larry tries to help he only makes things worse. “Larry” is actually based on the character “Bat-Mite” from the Silver Age Batman comics, who was Batman’s biggest fan from the 5th Dimension and would try to use his powers to help, only to make things worse. It’s not my favorite of the “wacky” comedy relief episodes, not being as good as either Mad Mod episodes or the Mumbo episode, but nowhere near as bad as the Mother May-Eye episode.

The “Aftershock” two-parter is the big season finale. Terra attacks the Titans with full force, springing Plasmus, Cinderblock and Overload from prison. After going easy on her for an episode and trying to appeal to the Titan within her, the team eventually decides that she’s completely gone bad and choose to quit pulling their punches for their final showdown. A decent end for Terra, and a bit of a moving sequence, which makes use of the more sympathetic angle applied to this incarnation of the character. Some really good animation, too, in these episodes; some of Dong Woo’s best fight sequences and choreography.

Teen Titans season 2 is an overall improvement over season 1 and does an admirable job of adapting the most famous Teen Titans storyline for the medium. Great animation, splendid voice acting, and only a few weak links in the whole chain. Lots more characters from the comic, too. Definitely a recommendation.

Street Fighter: the Series (USA)

December 19, 2006 By Spengs

Street Fighter USA

The American produced Street Fighter: the Series tends to get quite a bit of flack from fans, some going so far as to call it “the worst video game cartoon ever made”. Hey, it wasn’t perfect, but in no universe was it ever as bad as the mid-90’s Mega Man cartoon. But that’s another story.

Street Fighter: the Series was a loose continuation of the live action Street Fighter film starring Jean Claude Van Damme. That sentence alone is enough to frighten most people away from ever watching the show, but bear with me. When I say it is a “loose” continuation, I mean it. There are several differences between the film and the TV series, mostly due to the writers “fixing” a lot of the damage done by the film and making the characters and storyline more closely resemble that of the video games. While by and large the Series took more cues from the video games, a few concepts from the film worked their way into the show. Of all the ones to make it in, easily the most interesting was Blanka’s origin. In the movie, he was a character named Carlos “Charlie” Blanka, who was mutated by the scientist Dhalsim (who was under M. Bison’s conrol). In the series, Blanka deals with his new freakish appearance and learns to cope with what he has become. Meanwhile, the experience of being forced to commit crimes against humanity by Bison drove Dhalsim to the mystic arts, turning him into the guru character from the games. A character exclusive to the movie (and the movie-based fighting game), Colonal Sawada, also appears in the series and is actually a pretty good new-comer with some sweet special moves (he channels his chi through his sword for projectile attacks).

The plot of the series is sort of a bizarre fusion of the live action movie and the video games. The Allied Nations (kinda like the United Nations but not, for some reason) have developed a top secret organization called “Street Fighter”, comprised of the most skilled warriors from across the globe, to challenge the evil terrorist organization of Shadaloo, run by M. Bison.

I know what you’re thinking, “a military organization called Street Fighter? Lame.” And yeah, it *does* sound pretty freakin’ lame. However, the Street Fighter organization basically served the same purpose as Interpol from the various Street Fighter animes. In fact, in the second season, while the organization (run by a British guy named Escher) still functioned, it was down-played considerably.

Additionally, there were a lot of character-driven stories that had nothing to do with the plot of battling terrorism. Ken and Ryu still feature heavily in this series, getting quite a few episodes dedicated to them exclusively. However, since this show was produced in America, Ken tends to take the spotlight more often than the milquetoast Ryu. They adapt a number of Ken and Ryu’s stories from the games, and considering they had to work around the overall plot of the television series, did a decent job working them in. There’s the one about Akuma seeking vengeance on his brother and their master, Gouken. In the games, Akuma kills Gouken using the “Raging Demon”, while in the show he still attacks Gouken with the Raging Demon, but seriously injures him and steals his chi. Ken and Ryu have to defeat Akuma in order to reclaim their master’s lifeforce and save his life. Awkwardly, Ken is the one who defeats Akuma in the episode. They also cover Ryu’s battle with Sagat from the end of the first Street Fighter game. They even show him scarring the bad guy (albeit, bloodlessly). It also sets up Sakura’s story, as she was in the audience, watching the fight, and Ryu’s triumph over all odds drove her to study martial arts.

Guile, Blanka and Chun-Li are the headliners of the show, at least in regards to the good guys. Guile’s story is that, in order to join the Street Fighter organization, he had to be dishonorably discharged from the military. In reality, it was all a ruse to protect the top secret nature of the program, but to the general public, Guile was scum. Guile’s occupation also caused his wife, Cindy, to divorce him. This is another concept brought over from the games, though Guile’s wife is named “Jane” in that continuity. Over the course of the series, Guile eventually wins Cindy back as he reveals the truth about his job to her.

Chun-Li doesn’t get a whole lot of deep characterization, honestly. Her day-time occupation as a television news reporter has been imported from the film, and honestly, I wish it hadn’t. For some reason they always drew her with this ridiculously massive ponytail while in her civilian get-up. The video game origin, about Bison murdering her father, remains intact, though, and is mentioned quite frequently. A few other nods to her game characterization are also thrown in, such as her victory phrase “I’m the strongest woman in the world” and “Yatta!” However, Chun-Li’s voice actress wasn’t too good at pronouncing Japanese, so it came out more like “Yudduh!”

Blanka may have gotten the most attention. Blanka in the series is an interesting fusion of two game characters: Blanka (duh) and Charlie Nash. Though Blanka’s real name in the games was “Billy”, they chose to import his real identity from the movies. Secondly, though his name was Carlos “Charlie” Blanka instead of Charlie Nash, he was shown to actually be Charlie Nash in the episode “Eye of the Beholder”. He was returned to his human form in that episode, and while he still retained a few Hispanic features, his clothing was identical to that of Charlie’s from the video games. The combination of Charlie and Blanka was one of the few ideas from the movie I actually liked, and while the film didn’t do a very good job of presenting it, it was done justice in the television series. Blanka’s story was that he was an outcast from society and things always seemed to be getting worse for him. In the second season he gets doused in more mutagen and is turned even uglier (or, more like his game design) and life for him just sucks. He eventually comes to terms with himself at the end of the series, though.

On the bad guy side you had M. Bison. His organization, Shadaloo, is returned to a terrorist syndicate like in the games, as opposed to the warring nation seen in the movie. The first season of the series is the weaker half, far more cut and dry with less continuity between episodes. Bison was treated more like Cobra Commander in those episodes, than anything. With the second season, Bison had an over-arcing goal and a few devious plots that spanned the entire season. In the beginning of season 2, Bison is injured in battle. He seeks out the the mystical statue of Kali, which replenishes his psycho-power, but also pollutes his mind (more polluted than it already is, anyhow). Bison goes nuts and decides he wants to destroy the planet instead of conquering it, and steals nuclear warhead launch codes from MI5 (England’s top secret government agency).

Season 2 also contains a story arc involving Cammy’s betrayal of the Street Fighter organization. Bison had killed her family when she was a child and brainwashed her into servitude of Shadaloo using his psycho-power. He then brainwashed her again into forgetting all that and sent her to go join MI5’s Delta Red and the Street Fighter organization. He then uses her to get info on all his enemies and at the beginning of season 2 uses a code word to make her remember her Shadaloo loyalty (man, that’s complicated). Season 2 deals mostly with the Street Fighter organization trying to deal with Cammy’s defection, including ordering Delta Red to assassinate her before she can divulge too many military secrets.

Just about every character from Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha are in this series, either as main characters or via cameo appearances. Dee Jay is now a good guy (though he was evil in the movie), E. Honda is there (as the group’s tech guy for some reason), T. Hawk gets a number of appearances, Fei Long stars in a few episodes with his movie star origin intact, Zangief is still a bad guy (though he was shown turning good at the end of the movie), Vega is shown a few times, usually as a nemesis of Blanka and Balrog is now evil (he was a good guy in the movie). Rose gets a spotlight episode, while Dan and a bunch of other Alpha guys get brief cameos (no speaking roles, just shown fighting in a tournament). Delta Red, Cammy’s MI5 crew from the games, feature in quite a few episodes, particularly in the second season. However, for some odd reason, they undergo name changes and slight redesigns. Colonal Wolfman becomes Burke, McCoy becomes Rory and Lita becomes Celia. I have no clue what that was all about.

One advantage Street Fighter the Series had over the Japanese shows is that it made use of Street Fighter’s vast cast of characters much better. Everyone gets in an appearance or two.

Another respectable thing about the series was that it managed a few crossovers or adaptations of other Capcom games. In the aptly named episode “Final Fight”, the story of the first Final Fight video game is told rather well. They have to shoe-horn in Ken and Ryu into the plot and water it down for 30 minutes, but they do an admirable job. Guy and Cody are still there and follow Ken and Ryu as they infiltrate the Mad Gears to rescue Mayor Haggar’s daughter, Jessica. The episode actually progresses in a manner similar to the different levels in the games, from the streets to the subway all the way to the final showdown at the top of the Mad Gears’ office building. Rolento and Sodom show up as “bosses”, nicely, and get a few good fights in (Rolento’s moves are particularly cool). Other Mad Gear thugs from the games show up, including Andore, Edi E., Damnd and Belger. Haggar is ufortunately underused due to the time constraints and doesn’t get to do any fighting (they he does throw furniture and break down doors). One of my favorite episodes.

Then there’s one major oddity, “the Warrior King”, which is a crossover with the game Magic Sword. Seriously. You can tell that the writers for this show played the games, as there are so many details and obscure references to the Street Fighter franchise and other games throughout the course of the series. A shame they never got around to a Ghosts n’ Goblins crossover.

The show is quite odd, but entertaining never-the-less. I don’t think it gets enough credit, mostly because of its ties to the Street Fighter movie. The animation fluctuated wildly in the series. Some episodes were animated by an awful Korean studio, while the best ones were handled by Sunrise studios in Japan, the same people who brought us Cowboy Bebop and a lot of the Gundam shows. When the show wanted to look good, it looked *really* good. I also liked how they handled the characters and their special moves. In the Japanese cartoons, hadoukens and sonic booms are treated like “OMG!” special moments, where-as in the games, you can use them whenever you want. The characters in this series use them frequently, just like in the games, and don’t treat them like glorious kamehamehas.

Street Fighte: the Series is basically the end result of the Street Fighter games having a baby with G.I. Joe (and no, I’m not referring to those G.I. Joe/Street Fighter toys made by Hasbro in the 90’s). Several plots as well as characterizations from the games remain intact, but they’re fused with anti-terrorist Joe vs. Cobra/Street Fighter vs. Shadaloo action, which turns many Street Fighter purists off. Honestly, if it came down to a choice between Street Fighter: the Series and Street Fighter II V, I’d go with the Series. It had even less episodes than II V but managed to fit in three times as many characters and adapt even more plots from the games. If anything, storywise, the Series got more right than II V did. Not that I hate II V, or anything.

You can get the series on DVD in region 1. The first season of 13 episodes is available in a box set titled “Code of Honor”, while season 2 is available in a set called “Soul Power”. These season sets are incredibly cheap; I doubt you’ll have to pay more than $40 for both of them. So, if you’re a Street Fighter fan who has only watched the Japanese cartoons and you are SICK TO DEATH of nothing but Ken and Ryu, then pick these sets up. You get a wide array of characters, some decent stories and animation as well as plenty of Capcom Easter Eggs thrown in by the writers and animators.

Men in Black: the Series – Retrospective

December 11, 2006 By Spengs

men in black the series

In 1997, the blockbuster film Men in Black hit screens and suddenly became the “Ghostbusters of the 90’s” (just ignore that whole Extreme Ghostbusters thing). Being the huge Ghostbusters fan that I am, I was immediately drawn to Men in Black. Though it carried a similar concept in passing, Men in Black was quite different from my childhood obsession. While the Ghostbusters were a small, four-man operation that was more like a pest control service, the Men in Black were a huge, interplanetary organization with countless members and an extensive history.

That year, Sony debuted Men in Black: the Series (let’s start using “MIB” for short). The Series picked up pretty much where the first movie left off (save for omitting the part where Kay retires) and reintroduces us to several members of the film’s cast, as well as a plethora of new faces. Much like the Real Ghostbusters, the tone of MIB: the Series was borderline bi-polar. One day the episode would be deadly serious, with the MIB battling a monster that’s mutilating other aliens and stealing their organs, and the next day the episode would be goofy and out there, with the MIB rescuing Santa Claus from an alien kidnapper. Some thought this was inconsistent, and I suppose that’s a fair term for it. However, I thought it was rather refreshing. Too many serious episodes and you get burned out, too many funny episodes and you just get sick of the wackiness. MIB: the Series managed to balance out their serious arcs with comedy relief episodes rather smoothly. They also managed to get away with some heavy duty violence. They were constantly dismembering and exploding aliens left and right, but never came under any scrutiny, because the blood was colored blue, green or whatever…just not red.

MIB: the Series followed the story premise of the film quite admirably. Aliens have been immigrating to Earth for decades, using various technological means to blend in unnoticed. The Men in Black are a top secret organization, not affiliated with any government, who police these aliens and make sure the general public never finds out about them. When an alien does reveal itself to a person or persons, the MIB use a device called a neurolizer to wipe the witness’ memory clean of the incident. Members of the MIB must sacrifice their civilian lives and even names (all agents are designated by letter) upon joining. When things get out of hand, from small skirmishes between conflicting races to world-conquering overlords invading the planet, the MIB use high-tech off-world weaponry to quell the situation.

Agents Kay (Ed O’Ross in season one, then Greg Berger for season 2-4) and Jay (Keith Diamond) return as the stars of the series. Jay, though more knowledgeable of his new occupation, is still looked at as the organization’s rookie and continues to have a tough time adapting to all the craziness of trafficking alien species. Kay is more stoic than ever, and as the seasoned veteran compliments Jay’s inexperience quite nicely. Their commander, Zed (Charle Napier), also makes a come back, barking all the orders. Zed was one of the more mysterious members of the organization, considering that all we knew about him was that he’d been with the MIB since the beginning and little more. Agent Elle (Jennifer Lien season 1-3 and Jennifer Martin in season 4) also returned as a star of the series. You might remember she was the coroner Dr. Laurel Weaving in the film who can be seen briefly as a new agent at the end. Although she was even greener than Jay, she seemed more knowledgeable and further up the organization’s food chain than he was.

Most of the bit players from the film also returned as supporting cast members or comedy relief sidekicks. Frank the Pug was in a numbr of episodes as the MIB’s “word on the street” guy. The Worm Guys also appeared quite frequently, though they were rather annoying. They developed a Ninja Turtle-style obsession, but with coffee instead of pizza. Jack Jeebs was another regular who informed the MIB on any goings-on within the black market of alien goods. They recycled the whole “that stings!” gag with him a little too much, honestly. Mikey, the alien Kay blew up at the beginning of the first film also appears in the pilot…somehow. Though it’s perfectly possible that was just another alien of the same race. The two MIB technicians, “unpronounceable” and Bob, also appear regularly running the MIB’s computer network.

One of the show’s stronger points was the rotating gallery of villains. There was the mute bounty hunter, Buzzard, who only appeared in about three episodes, regretfully. He had a great character design (especially once he tore off that trenchcoat “disguise” and started going all bat-s*** crazy) and there was lots of potential for him as a returning bad guy. They never used him enough, I felt. The “Bugs” also appeared repeatedly, following up on the death of Edgar from the end of the film. Most notably: Edgar’s twin brother Edwin (with Vincent D’Onofrio reprising the role!) and the Queen of the “Bug” race.

However, one can’t mention the villains of the MIB without bringing up that unstoppable scourge, Alpha (David Warner in one of his best roles). Alpha was the villain that just wouldn’t go away no matter what they did to him. His story was that he was a founding member of the MIB, but was eventually corrupted by the power of the organization and went rogue. He used a device called a “cosmic integrator” on his own body, which gave him the ability to take organs and appendages from other aliens and fuse them to himself. He was a rather dark villain, as he’d “harvest” organs and what-not from aliens, sometimes killing them in the process. As the series progressed, Alpha would get badly injured and need to steal body parts to repair himself. The result was that he was very grotesque in appearance by the end of the series. He almost always got away, though. I remember the episode where they finally caught him; I practically cheered. He escaped, of course, and was a major player in the series finale, the two-part “End Game Syndrome” arc.

One thing I liked about the series was that, while Kay and Jay were the stars, they were still just agents among a staff of hundreds. Perhaps the most high-profile, but still just agents. Zed berated them repeatedly, and in one instance, Jay was actually discharged and neurolized (of course, they ended up taking him back). One episode I really liked, one of the sadder episodes, had Jay accidentally neurolizing Kay. He didn’t set the device properly and Kay reverted back to thinking he was a teenager. Kay eventually gets away from the MIB and returns to his family. You see him talking with his elderly father who is overcome with joy to see his son again after decades. However, following strict MIB procedure, Kay’s father is neurolized so he wouldn’t remember the event, Kay is returned to normal and both he and Jay are neurolized so they don’t remember any of what happened, either. Very sad, but proof that just because they’re high-ranking or high-profile members of the organization, they get no special treatment in matters of protocol.

Another episode mimicked a plot device used in the Real Ghostbusters I was rather fond of. It was revealed in MIB: the Series that, while the events happened almost exactly as presented, MIB the movie was just that…a movie. At least in their reality. The Worm Guys write a script based on Jay’s initiation and the battle with Edgar and sell it to a Hollywood producer. Over the phone, the producer reads off the cast and mentions Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Rip Torn by name. They did something very similar in the Real Ghostbusters, as well, even doing an almost identical “cast list” gag.

And speaking of movies, we probably never would have gotten the mediocre Men in Black II if it hadn’t been for the popularity of MIB: the Series. If you watch MIB II you’ll probably notice nods to the cartoon thrown in, such as Frank and the Worm Guys (popular characters from the cartoon) getting much larger roles. A shame the movie sucked, though.

The fourth season of MIB: the Series signified something of a downfall, unfortunately. New characters were added, which is always a sign that the end times are near. You had Dr. Zeeltor (Steve Kehela) who replaced Agent Elle as the MIB’s head lab technician. There wasn’t much to speak of about him, he was just your standard eccentric scientist-guy. Since Elle got moved to field work, she was paired with Agent X (Adam Baldwin? For real?) who was actually an alien. The worst thing about season 4 was the big change in Elle’s character. She went from being the stoic, hard as a rock character to a bumbling ditz, playing off of Agent X’s “cool factor”. It was a very poor choice, and when mixed with her suddenly having a new voice actress, didn’t win anybody over.

Men in Black: the Series was one of the better shows on Saturday Mornings and proof that America can (or could) still make high-quality action cartoons. It had some very mature plots and themes, dark animation and several story arcs that reached over numerous seasons before being resolved. At four seasons and 53 episodes, this show deserves a DVD release. Do you hear me, Sony!?

Watch the opening sequence!

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