RIP Saturday Morning Cartoons on Broadcast TV

Blackstar

For those of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, there were four things we looked forward to each week. 1) Going outside to play with our friends, 2) morning cartoons, 3) afternoon cartoons and 4) Saturday morning cartoons. It seems that somewhere over the years as Saturdays have become filled with shuttling kids off to sports games and College Football or Golf or other events to show on TV, cartoons have become less and less important. I don't have any way to watch broadcast TV, so I haven't been able to watch this change as it happened. That's why it was such a surprise to see this post by Cory Doctorow regarding the CW being the last broadcast network to do away with the Saturday morning schedule. Yes, there are still kids shows on here and there, but gone is the four or five hour block of fun that our parents probably hated to see us sitting in front of each Saturday.

Back in the day, there were so many shows that I enjoyed seeing. I didn't get a chance to watch every Saturday, but I was happy when I did get to catch an episode here and there. Yes, they were probably just there to get me to convince my parents to go and buy some toy or other but I didn't care. Nowadays, there are entire networks devoted to kids shows all day long, but back then we had morning, afternoon and Saturday morning. Plus all of the shows were "free" - at least if you didn't mind watching commercials - and you didn't need a cable subscription to watch. Here are a few of the shows and characters that I would have never known if it wasn't for networks running Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Thudarr the Barbarian - a classic of post-apocalyptic adventure where Thundarr and his friends Princess Ariel and Ookla the Mok. It is a bit cheesy and has a sort of Color-forms over a static background feel but it was awesome. Don't believe me, take a look.

Thundarr the Barbarian

Dungeons & Dragons - Anyone who was pre- or early teens in 1983 - 1985 and liked fantasy probably saw this one. A group of kids on an amusement park ride are transported into the world of Dungeons & Dragons. It was cheesy and too little kid friendly over all, but it was so cool to see D&D on TV. Here's a clip and a link to the script pdf for the unproduced final episode of the show.

Dungeons & Dragons

Super Friends - Of course Saturday morning was littered with Super Heros of all kinds. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and untold others all had their slots in the morning lineup, but one of the best was the Super Friends. Yes, the Wonder Twins and their pet monkey were also cheesy, but I can't count how many times my wife and I have said, "Wonder Twin powers activate!". Add in Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and even Aquaman and we are going to have a good time.

Super Friends

Wonder Twin Powers Activate

There were of course many many other shows, some included the many versions of Scooby Doo, others were all new like Blackstar. You also had Bugs Bunny Show/Road Runner Show. In between cartoons we also got edu-ma-cated with probably one of the best shows ever, Schoolhouse Rock!. No matter what you think about TV rotting your brain, it didn't, it doesn't and cartoons should be part of everyone's childhood. Yes, I know that looking back they are all dated and nostalgia has elevated them to a status they might not deserve if looked at for the first time today, but they were all Awesome or Rad or Cool and no one can take that away from me.

Conjunction Junction

I'm Just A Bill

Sherlock v Elementary

In the past, I have posted reviews of the BBC show Sherlock and the CBS american Sherlock Holmes adaptation, Elementary, all based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original works. Recently we have been re-watching (mainlining one episode a night of) Sherlock with our daughter (who I think is a Benedict Cumberbatch fan) and the differences between the two versions of the Sherlock Holmes/Watson stories have been interesting to note. Therefore, I give you this set of ramblings about what makes the two shows so intriguingly different.

For those who don't know, Sherlock, starts with Dr. John Watson dealing with his experiences as a doctor in military service when he decides to share a flat with Sherlock Holmes. Watson is then pulled into Sherlock's job as the world's only consulting detective. The show is presented in three ~90 minute episodes per season. Elementary, on the other hand, begins with Dr. Joan Watson becoming the live-in sobriety companion for Sherlock Holmes, a brilliant recovering addict, who consults with the NYC police department. Elementary is presented in the standard american police procedural/crime drama format of 22 episodes a season each ~44 minutes in length.

To get the easy comparisons out of the way, Dr. Watson, is obviously different in each adaptation due to the gender chosen, but their differences go much deeper. In Sherlock, John is a man with a military past and is solid, dependable and able to deal with the physical aspects of being Sherlock Holmes' partner in crime-solving. John is also more of a chronicler of Sherlock's cases through his blog whereas Joan is more of a cerebral partner to Sherlock in the American version. Joan, over the course of the series begins to train almost as Sherlock's protege, becoming a bit of a detective in her own right. That isn't to say that John doesn't also show insight and deductive skills, but his relationship with Sherlock is more as a suffering friend, conscience and chronicler than companion and trainee.

Sherlock himself is also different in many ways. The BBC Sherlock Holmes seems to be a younger Holmes. He is still making his name and beginning to deal with the notoriety that comes from his skill and capabilities. The CBS Sherlock seems older, weathered, he has a past and demons that he is dealing with. We are told but very rarely shown that the CBS Sherlock we find is after his days supporting Scotland Yard and Detective Inspector Lestrade. Both Sherlocks have keen deductive minds and we see both training their minds and bodies on numerous topics. Both have minds that store in numerous facts that they can access as needed. Another interesting difference is how that capability is shown in the two shows. For the BBC Sherlock, we get to see how his mind operates through the use of on-screen text and cutting edits in the video helping us "see" what he is picking up from his observations. The CBS version does similar things but less overtly. Given the longer format of the BBC episodes you are also given more explanation in some instances on how Sherlock comes to his conclusions.

Both shows also have different takes on the other classic characters of the show such as Holmes' brother Mycroft, Irene Adler and, of course, Moriarty. My wife and I both think that the CBS version's take on Adler and Moriarty is more novel and possibly more interesting, however, Andrew Scott's portrayal of the uber-villian is outstanding. Even Detective Inspector Lestrade is quite different between the shows and interesting in both cases. Finally, there is the format of the show itself. By having longer run episodes, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss and team are able to craft more dense and intricate stories for the BBC show than you see with the American one. However, you may get slightly less on-screen evolution of the characters. The CBS show seems to be more linear in its timeline with less gaps than are seen on BBC.

If you like crime dramas or layered mysteries or a good police procedural, you can't go wrong with either show. The BBC show is available on-demand through Netflix and is fantastic story-telling. The CBS show is about to return for its third season and we have already purchased our season pass off iTunes to ensure it is available to us (without commercials) the day after it airs. Same characters, same pairing of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, very different takes and characterization. Watch both and enjoy.

Spellfall - Puzzle RPG Review

I like a nice match-3 game with RPG elements. Dr. WHO, Puzzle Quest, 10000000, Hexic all have sucked copious amounts of my waiting time over the years. Take a little move the pieces to make color, item matches and see things blow up and add some battle trappings and power-ups and we are going to have a good time. That made it very easy for Spellfall™ - Puzzle RPG (Spellfall) from Backflip Studios - free on iTunes - to jump right onto my iPad mini.

Spellfall is set in a fantasy world where spellfall has started and monsters are pouring out to take over the land and only duskwalkers (like you) can cast the spells needed to stop them. You cast spells by matching elements on the game board by swapping elements (fire, water, air, electricity, plant) or collect coins. String together more than 3 tiles and you can get powered up elements that can change all the tiles around them when matched. There are also glowing tiles that when matched will give you a special attack. The element structure also comes into play since monsters may be weak to one element or another. You get a certain number of moves before the monster will attack. Monster attacks will lower your hit points, run out and you lose the battle.

In addition to the basic mechanics of swapping and matching tiles, you have equipment you can bring into each battle - armor and weapon - that can also have runes equipped that will give you further power-ups. Equip a heal rune and you can power it up by matching water tiles allowing you to eventually cast a heal and recover hit points in the middle of a battle. You can only have one active rune at a time, so its best to switch to the one you want to power before you make a move on the board.

Being free to play, the main timer in Spellfall is your hit points. If you are low, you can just wait a while and they will recover. Luckily this is not an all at once type recovery and you can choose how long to wait before proceeding to the next battle. You can also spend some of the coins you earn to heal quickly. Coins are pretty easy to come by as you can get them in your battles as well as from areas of the world you have already cleared of monsters. I am only a few areas (about 50 battles) into the game but I am always hovering about 10,000 coins. Coins are also used to buy equipment (which comes in different rarities - of course) and runes from the store - you unlock new items in the store by defeating monsters (one per battle). The inventory rotates so things are constantly entering and leaving the store.

There is a lot of customization you can make to your equipment depending on the runes and items you equip. During battles you also earn experience and rune points that help level you and your runes up. The further along you get into the game, you will run into monsters too tough for you. If so, you can always go back and redo battles you had previously completed to get more experience. The longer the game goes on, monsters can retake areas you have already cleared. Re-clearing them will be harder but give better rewards.

You can play through Spellfall just mindlessly matching tiles, but the real benefit is through deciding the right equipment for the monster you are fighting and carefully deciding which rune to have active before you move. The way Spellfall is monetized is the typical - spend money to get more equipment or to retry a battle ($0.99 per) if you lost. Some items are outrageously expensive (see the $79.99 price per Claideahm sword), but I recommend you avoid them as the one I have doesn't seem to make that much of a difference in battles. To help you get items without spending cash, the game also offers you a mystery box containing one item for free per day. There are also rewards for login in each day - get 20 days in a row and get a Claideahm sword.

Spellfall is a fun match-3 with RPG elements. A lot of work has been put into adding depth in the strategy of equipping your character and choosing which load out to use against each monster. There are also 3 save slots in the game in case you want to run different games on the same device. While not quite at the level of some of the games I mentioned at the start of this review, Spellfall gets 3.5 Mick Happies.

Weekend Movie Round-Up

Pretty much every weekend you will find my family with butts firmly planted on couch or chair with the dog watching TV. Netflix delivers 1 - 3 new videos for us to watch or we rent something from iTunes or dive into our own collection of DVDs. What better way to spend some time than with the whole family doing something we (typically) enjoy while having a bit of popcorn or frozen yogurt dessert. This weekend has been no exception with 3 new (to us) movies from Netflix and one from our own library. Here are some quick reviews of each.

From the Rough - We started with Pierre Bagley's bio-pic about Catana Starks, the first woman to coach a college men's golf team. The setting is Tennessee State University where the administration has just decided to start a golf program. Coach Starks takes over and has to search far and wide for members of her fledgling team. This is a typical feel-good sports movie with a scrappy coach working hard, running into major challenges mid-way through the movie, and then…(well you know). Tajari P. Henson is very convincing as Coach Starks and our favorite character was Roger played by the great (and unfortunately, late) Michael Clarke Duncan. If you want a sports movie that hits all the right notes, you can't go wrong with From the Rough, it gets 4 Mick Happies. Side note, my family usually won't watch sports-based movies with me but they watched this one and enjoyed it.

Draft Day - To follow one sports movie with another, I was on my own. Draft Day stars Kevin Costner as the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns, Sonny Weaver Jr., on the fictional 2014 NFL Draft Day. Joining Costner are Jennifer Garner as his co-worker and girlfriend and Dennis Leary as the Browns Head Coach. In this movie, we are given a glimpse into the high-pressure behind the scenes work at an NFL franchise on one of the biggest days of the year. It is hard to know if what is portrayed on screen is accurate to what goes on in real life, but what you get in Draft Day is compelling and will keep you interested all the way through. Weaver is tasked with making "a splash" to help put fans in seats or it may cost him his job. We get to go along for the ride as Costner deftly plays a man who is on the edge of losing it on the biggest day of his GM career. By the end of the movie, both my wife and daughter had joined me to see how things wrapped up and asked questions to be caught up on what they missed. There are many many ESPN cameos and interesting characters. Draft Day was an excellent movie and never seemed to have a slow point. Draft Day gets 4.5 Mick Happies.

Moms' Night Out - We followed up the sports movies with a comedy about stressed moms and incompetent dads thinking that would be fun. The Andrew and Jon Erwin directed film includes some familiar actors/actresses/celebrities including Patricia Heaton (who we liked from Everybody Loves Raymond), Sean Astin and Trace Adkins. Sarah Drew plays the lead, Allyson, who is losing her mind trying to deal with 3 kids and needs a break. What follows is a car crash of a night as Allyson and two friends try to get a little down time. The movie started off well and hit many of the right notes with some sharp (and accurate) portrayal of the modern stay-at-home overworked mom. It then proceeds to be less fun as the film progresses with the husbands being nearly useless - it's bad with the men without kids are the ones with the most common sense. Trace Adkins is fun as Bones, a tattoo artist the ladies run into. Another quibble with the film is that it is a bit over the top with the presentation of Christian values - I am completely okay with faith-based films, but this one tends to get a little preachy at times and wastes screen time that could have been used for more laughs or wrapping up minor plot points. Overall, Moms' Night Out was the weakest of the films this weekend at 2 Mick Happies.

Hackers - Last but not least, my wife wanted to end on a proven good movie after Moms' Night Out didn't quite leave us happy. Hackers is the classic 1995 film written by Rafael Moreu, directed by Iain Softley and starring none other than Jonny Lee Miller and Angeline Jolie (both looking very much like teenagers - or at least early 20-somethings). The film also has Jesse Bradford and Matthew Lillard along with Lorraine Bracco and Marc Anthony (yep, that one). This is the fictional story of some high school hackers who get into some trouble when they tap into the wrong company's computer and have to fight the company and the FBI to save themselves. Miller plays a hacker who 7 years previously had been indicted for crashing over 1,500 computer systems with a virus. Jolie plays his present day nemesis and, of course, erstwhile love interest. As I said before, this is a classic. There is chain-smoking teenagers, weird outfits, edgy computer geekery, a laughable visualization of the interior of a computer system and generally a lot of fun. Including one of our favorite lines ever about Spandex. You can't go wrong with a movie that has a character named Cereal Killer who proclaims "Look at that pooper". Hackers is a must see if you haven't already and gets 5 Mick Happies. If only 1995 was really like that.