comic-con 2002

adam, jonathan, sumir, and vince on 08/09/2002 12:19:52 -0700

Index
<< 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 >>

Panelists: Mike Lazzo, Michael Ouweleen, Erik Richter, Dave R Willis, Matt Maiellaro, and Keith Crofford.

I should start off by saying that I was there from the beginning. Well, I should credit my friend Jason for telling me about debut of Adult Swim (the Sunday lineup, not the Saturday anime lineup), because he was an avid Space Ghost: Coast to Coast fan. But since the beginning, I watched the new episodes of Brak, Harvey Birdman, and Sealab every week, even during some of their greater declines in quality. I've stayed somewhat of a purist, though, avoiding some of the shows that were tacked on but were not Cartoon Network originals. For those of you who need a little breakdown of the [original Cartoon Network] lineup, it looks something like this, but varies from week to week:
 

	The Brak Show: Details the life of Brak, a former space pirate in the Space Ghost world who was irradiated by Pirranamyte, which degraded his intelligence. But as ignorance is bliss, he never passes up an opportunity to sing or to hang around with his friend Zorak, a mantis creature from SG:CTC. Adventures include his mom, his human dad, and his neighbor Thundercleese, a destructive robot.
	Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: The same way Space Ghost turned in his superhero status for that of a late night show host, Birdman decides to take up law. In every episode he defends a classic Hanna Barbera character in court. It's even funnier than it sounds. Watch "Very Personal Injury" or "Bannon Custody Case" first to get the feel of it.
	Sealab 2021: Few of my friends enjoy this show except for Jason or Nate, but it's still fantastic if not quirky. It's more or less a remake of the crew from the show Sealab 2020, which includes Capt. Murphy, Marco (voiced by Erik Estrada!), Sparks, Quinn, Debbie, Stormy, and Hesh. Often, their differences and misgivings combined with their overall talent for things to go awry tends to lead to their base's destruction. It's the equivalent of poking a beehive until bees come and sting you to death.
	Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Not really my cup of tea, but to each his own. Actually another spinoff of SG:CTC, it chronicles the adventures of three detectives who are human-sized food products as they solve mysteries and swim in their neighbor Carl's pool. They are Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad. Make your own joke here.

So at the panel we viewed a couple of episodes, old and new, of Birdman and Aqua Teen, and midway through the panel during the Q&A session, a lot of people started leaving. Or actually, gravitating towards the back of the room. I followed them and found out they were passing out free Harvey Birdman wall clocks, free Sealab T-shirts, and free Aqua Teen car air fresheners.

I love Cartoon Network so much. Please marry me.

Apparently the entire Adult Swim lineup was more or less conceived on a whim, as evidenced by many of the episodes, all of which are based on the "what if?" premise. I think Cartoon Network deserves a lot more appreciation than, for instance, FOX, because of the vast freedom they give to their writers and animators, which is probably why the shows are done in 11 minute segments. According to the Q&A, they may expand each episode to 22 minutes (they're planning a few two-parters next season), but with most of these storylines, they really can last only 11 minutes before it would just get drawn out. Which is fine with me*.

*Vincent officially suffers from ADD. Well, not so much "suffer" as "inflicts upon others".

Index
<< 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 >>