Tom and Jerry: Around the World. Available now!

Synopsis (WB):  Tom and Jerry travel the globe by land, sea, and air in this collection of 22 hilarious adventures. From Broadway to outer space, hitch a ride with your favorite cat and mouse for non-stop fun and action. Whether the furry duo is running from an erupting volcano on a tropical island or conducting an orchestra in Hollywood, you can count on laughs the whole way. Sword fights, magic spells, and treasure maps fill these delightful escapades and will have you climbing on board for more expeditions. So grab your luggage and bring the entire family along for a boisterous trip around the world and beyond.

My thoughts: I thought I was a fan of Tom and Jerry until my brother came along. As a kid, he used to watch Tom and Jerry for days, beating out the record I thought was impressive.

This new DVD of the famous cat-and-mouse chase has a great collection of 22 vintage and recent Tom and Jerry episodes, including episodes that feature many of my favorite sidekicks, such as the mischievous baby, Tom’s dog enemy Spike and his son Tyke and more.

This DVD is great for vintage animation lovers as well as children of all ages. If you are like and you have a huge Tom and Jerry lover in your family, make sure to get this DVD for them.

Tom and Jerry: Around the World

Available now (buy from the WB Shop)

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Happiness Is…Team Snoopy.  Available on DVD  now!

Synopsis (WB): Batter up with Peanuts and celebrate their greatest sports moments in this all-new collection. For Charlie Brown, a new baseball season equals new hopes of winning. Unfortunately, one player just isn’t measuring up, which makes the team decide that Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown. Then suit up for a triple-header of laughs with The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. In The Pelicans, Charlie Brown gets stuck with mascot duties while Peppermint Patty is on the road to victory with her baseball team. Great Pumpkin finds the Peanuts gang visiting the bowling alley in hopes of teaching Charlie Brown a new sport with hilarious results, and it’s game on as the neighborhood cat meets his match when Snoopy’s older brother Spike trots into town. It’s time to catch the winning spirit and share these tales with your teammates, since happiness is what Team Snoopy is all about!

My thoughts: There’s a lot that changes about life–I’ve learned over the course of my 23 years that a lot of your childhood favorites end up disappearing, either for a while or for good. However, the one thing that has been consistent is Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. It’s good to see that nothing ever really changes about Peanuts. This new DVD manages to capture all of the charm and whimsy about the original Peanuts specials into a fun tale about Charlie Brown’s adventures in trying to win a baseball game.

Recent Peanuts cartoons have looked, well, new. They haven’t really captured the classic feel of the original animation. But Happiness Is does capture it extremely well. Also captured very well is the voice acting. One of the best things about the original Peanuts cartoons is it made history for actually using children voices. Happiness Is continues that trend, finding children who sound very similar to the original characters.

If you want to feel comforted by nostalgia, make sure to get this DVD. It’ll really make you feel like a kid again.

Happiness Is…Team Snoopy

Available Now (buy from the WBshop)

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I apologize for this podcast and The DowntonCast not being put up on time. Things have been really hectic as of late–I’ve gotten several new responsibilities, Ashley’s about to graduate college, and both of us are about to move to Miami in July. So things might stay hectic for a while. But I do have The InazumaCast up now! Check out what we’ve talked about:

Current Inazuma update from Jasmine (about the current season and/or why she quit watching it)

Episodes 2 and 3–the battle with Occult Junior High, Gouenji joins the team, Pink-haired dude develops Dragon Wave kicking technique after feeling inferior and “prince of all sayians”-esque (must bring up the bit about the girls doing the laundry)

Monique’s rant–the melodrama and old-looking children

Crazy Inazuma Fan Moment of the Week–Anime Boy’s Thomas/Inazuma Eleven Parody – Duck’s Departure (fansub)

Also, apologies for any bad editing; I tried to edit it as best as I can under the circumstances.

Theme Song: “Vuvuzela [Creative Commons]” by Oscar TG is licensed under a Creative Commons License

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For the longest of time, I’d wrestled with the fact that while I’m all for correct racial casting when it comes to live-action films and television shows, I didn’t know how to tackle race when it came to voice acting for animation. Take for instance, The Last Airbender. Everyone, including me, hated the fact that the casting was all over the place when it came to the actual ethnicityof the characters, but I don’t think many people, if anyone, has come out against the voice actors, most of whom aren’t Asian. To compound the issue, I really liked their voices in the cartoon show, and didn’t feel any type of racial bias.

It was like a godsend to find this article by “Sha Sha LaPerf,” who runs the website “My Boyfriend is Asian.” She highlighted everything that I had trouble finding the words for, and so, with her permission, I’m highlighting her article here.  (After reading, make sure to visit her website, which focuses on relationships between Asian men and African-American women.)

Enjoy!

——————————————————————–

So we all heard about the white-washing of The Last Airbender films. There were websites created about how unjust it was for a show heavily inspired by Asian culture to cast whites in the lead roles. There were boycotts held at movie theaters and even Roger Egbert spoke out about the casting. I have to admit I hadn’t seen much of the animated show but I had a basic idea of it, and also gave side-eye to Shyamalan when it came to casting (and even ranted about it a little in an earlier blog). But when we look at the casting of Avatar, are should we really have been surprised? After all:

from left: Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman, Jack DeSena, and Dante Basco

Look at the casting of the characters on the animated show. Like the movie, all the voice actors are white with the exception of the villain.

Despite the similarity in casting between the TV show and the live-action movie, there was little uproar about the animated show.  Avatar: The Last Airbender follow a long list of shows and movies that have decided to choose white people to do the voices of people of color (POC). A few hours on Wikipedia (woohoo lazy research tools) gave me some insight on who’s really behind the voices we see on TV.

It’s Not Just Avatar: White Faces Behind POC roles

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is one of the characters played by Hank Azaria.

Putting whites in the roles of POC in character is definitely nothing new and is still pretty common practice today. Just look at The Simpsons‘ Apu Nahasapeemapetilon who’s voice by Hank Azaria. Meanwhile Toby Huss played the Laotian character Kahn Souphanousinphone on King of the Hill. Apu is a stereotypical Indian supermarket owner and Kahn is a “redneck-hating” man who refuses to see his daughter as a daughter. Even more, both Huss and Azaria put on accents to play these characters, adding to the stereotypes. So perhaps we have two cases of yellowface here.

The messed up thing is the idea of whites in POC roles extends to animated shows and movies in which the main characters are POC. With both The Simpsons and King of the Hill, the Asian characters are supporting characters living in predominately white worlds. But The Cleveland Show is an animated show about a black family. The creators of the show went through the effort to hire Sanaa Latham, Reagan Gomez-Preston, and Kevin Michael Richardson to play the roles of Donna, Roberta, and Cleveland Jr. However the title character Cleveland is played by Mike Henry who is white. Henry also plays Rollo, Cleveland’s stepson who dons a big afro, deeper voice and snappy attitude. Granted the choice to have Henry play Cleveland is from the fact that Cleveland was originally a character on The Family Guy. But why wasn’t Kevin Michael Richardson offered the role? It’s not like he’s a new voice actor; his credits stretched back as far as 1989 on The Simpsons. 

Ironically Richardson does NOT do Dr. Hibbert on The Simpsons…that role was also given to a white man. Dr. Hibbert isn’t as stereotypical as Apu, but he does have some “black” moments. Think of the number of black hair styles he’s had including an afro and Stevie Wonder’s braids and beads. There’s even a scene where they show Dr. Hibbert attending an all black church rather than the church the Simpsons attend. Harry Shearer (who voices a lot of characters on The Simpsons including Mr. Burns, Kent Brochman, and Ned Flanders) uses a much deeper voice to portray Dr. Hibbert. He doesn’t put on any type of accents, but I wonder when Shearer was choosing a vocal style of Hibbert if he had to go through several different version before deciding on which voice was “black” enough. And better yet is this a case of animated blackface?

One major thing The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, and Avatar have in common is the fact that they were all created by white people. It’s pretty reflective of a lot of what we see in Hollywood. Whites have majority of control over what happens on Hollywood and will create shows for people that look like them. Despite the fact that they want to make their animated worlds a bit more “diverse,” there seems to be little effort into finding POC to fill the roles of the animated one. It’s frustrating that even in the world of animation we’re not seeing a lot of POC taking on roles of…well animated POC.

The Proud Family’s main protagonist was Penny Proud, voiced by Kyla Pratt.

So what happens when it’s POC that are in control of a show? Hammerman, Wayneheadand The PJs were all created by well-known celebrities when they aired. I’m talking about MC Hammer, Damon Wayans, and Eddie Murphy. Of course these guys had enough clout in Hollywood at the time to make sure black actors were hired for their shows.Jackie Chan Adventures was the brainchild of Jackie Chan himself. The majority of the cast are Asian with Chan himself doing a role. But a show doesn’t need to have a big name behind it to have POC in voice acting roles.

Bruce Smith is the black man behind the show the Proud Family. The predominately black cast is filled with black actors like Tommy Davidson and Kyla Pratt. The BouleVardez family are all voiced by Latin actors. Dante Basco popped in to take on the role of Asian classmate Kwok in one episode. Of course we can’t talk about black animated shows without mentioning the Boondocks, with the likes of Regina King and John Witherspoon doing major roles on the show. And let’s not forget Static Shock, which was created by the late Dwayne McDuffie and used Phil LaMarr to voice Static Shock. Ni Hao, Kai-Lan was created by Chinese-American Karen Chau and has a young Asian girl doing the title character. I can’t say The Proud Family and Jackie Chan Adventures were free of stereotypes, but they did hire POC to take on the roles. The Proud Family actually showed a diverse group of black characters; sometimes they were loud and ghetto and other times they were smart and funny. Jackie Chan‘s show aired in the Kids WB! slot and fit the action formula of the slot. It’s pretty hard to say that people like Chau and Smith had a big say in voice actor casting, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these shows specifically created by POC have POC doing the roles here.

Phil LaMarr did the voice of Samurai Jack.

Who else was shocked to see Phil LaMar playing Samurai Jack? As I mentioned before LaMarr was no stranger to voice acting seeing as he was Hermes on Futurama and Static Shock. But what’s interesting is like Shearer did with Dr. Hibbert, he gave Jack a much deeper voice than the other characters he’s played. So it’s a stranger flip on a white man giving a black character a deep voice; we have a black man giving a deeper voice to an Asian character.

LaMarr isn’t the only black man to take on the role of an Asian. Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince (aka James Avery) did the original voice on Shredder on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And even on Jackie Chan’s show, big Japanese Tohru was played by big black Noah Nelson. None of the characters on Ninja Turtles were voices by Asians and I’m pretty sure Avery was the only POC period to have a role. So seeing him isn’t as surprising as seeing LaMarr and Nelson in there roles. I already discussed the cast of Jackie Chan Adventures. There are Asian voice actors in the show such as Mako, who is the evil Aku, and Sab Shimono, who plays the emperor. This type of casting doesn’t seem to be as common as whites being in POC roles however we have to be curious about why these men were chosen over potential Asian actors.

Furthermore, some why characters were also voiced by POC. Most notably are Penny from Inspector Gadget and Elmyra from Tiny Toon Adventures. Both characters were done by who should be considered the POC queen of voice acting: Cree Summer.  And in some cases we have POC playing “blue” characters as Jaleel White a.k.a Steve Urkel from Family Matters did the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog through most of the Sonic animated franchise. Then there’s Keith David, known for several roles, including that of Goliath in Disney’s Gargoyles.

Gargoyles and Sonic aren’t really “people” and thus were not coded as “black” because of their voice actors. Yet in some case, we get characters that aren’t human that audiences automatically identify as being “black.” And obvious case of this would be The TV show and movie versions of Transformers. The original version of Transformers feature Jazz and Blaster, two robots that were voice by black actors Scatman Crothers and Buster Jonesrespectively). These Autobots like music, dancing, and it’s a common belief that blaster’s name refers to a “ghetto blaster.” Although Blaster did not appear in the updated Transformers movie, Jazz–who was voiced by Family Matters actor, Darius McCreary, did. LOL and he was the only Autobot to die in the first movie…yeah we all know what that means. In the second Transformers movie, Jazz did not return, but two characters named Skid and Mudflap did, and boy did they cause a ruckus. The “twins” received a lot of criticism for being “black” characters. Only one of the robots was voiced by a black actor. It seems that in the latest version of the animated series–Transformers Prime–has gotten rid of “black” coded characters. However the series does feature POC as voice actors: Gina Torres plays Decepticon Airachinid, Kevin Michael Richardson is Autobot Bulhead,Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson plays human Agent Fowler, and Tania Gunadi plays human Miko Nakadai.

Actor Samuel Jackson took on the role of Afro Samurai.

Disney is pretty hit or miss when it comes to voice acting. Of course Disney has slipped up a few times like those fuckin racists crows in Dumbo. And, none of the voice actors in the movie Aladdin were remotely Middle Eastern. Although Disney bastardized the story of Pochantas, I have to commend them for finding a Native American female to take on the title character. Mulan used Ming-Na and BD Wong while the Atlantis movie featured a multicultural cast and featured actors like Cree Summer, Phil Morris, and Jacqueline Obradors. Then there’s The Princess and the Frog with Anika Noni Rose in the lead role. Of course Disney had a WTF moment when they changed the black prince to a racial ambiguous not-so-light,not-so-dark skinned prince, but they get Keith David, Terrance Howard, Jenifer Lewis, and freakin Oprah Winfrey to play roles as well.

Comic book creator Stan Lee brought his black superhero Black Panther to life last year and the six episode series featured the voices of Dijimon Hounsou, Kerry Washington, and Alfre Woodard. LOL actually this show gets extra props for hiring an African to play an African! Additionally Afro Samurai is a manga series that was later adapted into an anime. They got Samuel Jackson to fight those muthafuckin samurai in muthafuckin Japan. Ugh I guess that line doesn’t really work that way. As for shows where blacks are just supporting cast take a look at Archer, which has comedian Aisha Tyler playing black female agent Lana Kane.

That’s the question of the day. Should we considered some of these things blackface or yellowface since we’re not even seeing a “real face?” Since we’re not seeing a face at all should it even matter about the race behind a cartoon character? even after I spent all this time writing this, I have to say I’m on the fence here. For the most part and animated character isn’t that different from a live-action character. If a live-action TV show calls for a black character, they should hire a black actor to play the role. The same should apply to voice actors. The number of animated characters that are POC is probably as limited as they are on live-action TV, and I’m sure competition for actors that are POC is tougher because we aren’t seeing their faces. Expand the freaking pool and let others besides Cree Summer, Phil LaMarr, and Dante Basco get roles.

At the same time, when I watched Samurai Jack I enjoyed hearing Phil LaMarr’s voice. For that matter I haven’t been particularly bugged by Shearer’s Dr. Hibbert either. Perhaps because LaMarr and Shearer stayed away from silly accents they don’t seem to be bad choices for the roles they play. As a fan of anime I’ve found a lot of English dub voice actors that do a great job despite the fact that they are often white (except for Johnny Yong Bosch who is half-Asian). Here’s a question of choosing the best actor for the role despite their race. But like white-washed movies like the potential upcoming Akira film we still have to wonder why is it when it comes to whites that in roles on as POC character they’re always chosen because they are the “best” for the role? How much effort was put into finding the “best” black or Asian actor to begin with? Moreover how can non-white actors learn how to become the “best” when they aren’t given any chances to spread their wings?

What a tough call, that sadly I don’t have any of the answers.

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(L-R) SARA and TOM. Credit: Cartoon Network

I can’t believe I’ve witnessed the brief return of Toonami during Adult Swim! If you were awake at midnight eastern time, you were probably excited to see the return of Tom and shows like “Dragonball Z,” “Big O,” “Gundam Wing,” “Yu Yu Hakusho” and more.

However, what’s terrible about Toonami coming back is that it was only an April Fools prank. Now, I’m well aware of Adult Swim does a lot of pranks during April Fools’ Day, but this is the first time I can remember that Adult Swim has brought back a whole cancelled block of programming as an April Fools’ joke. However, I have a theory: I think Cartoon Network is trying to see how big the reaction will be to a full Toonami return. Here’s a snippet from my article that I’ve written on ShockYa.com:

Last night and today, fans have taken to forums (including the official Adult Swim forums) as well as YouTube. Also, today on Twitter, Toonami was the the second-highest Twitter trend. It’s currently the third-highest Twitter trend.

Also today, [Steve] Blum [voice of Toonami's host TOM]–who is chief among the fans who want Toonami to return–took to his Facebook and Twitter pages to release this statement:

“Yo, Toonami Faithful…
Thanks for tuning in. Hope it kicked in some happy memories and kicked off a happy April! As you (hopefully) know, bringing Toonami back isn’t up to me. I’m just a voice guy. Many of you want to know how to make your voices heard. Maybe start here… http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/feedback/ Go to “programming” then “Toonami”
Love you guys from the bottom of my servos.”

Click here to read more about Toonami, and if you want to keep Toonami on the airwaves, make sure to do what Blum said and write to Cartoon Network! While you’re at it, go write to Adult Swim, too!

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Own The Looney Tunes Show–Season One, Volume Three NOW!

Synopsis (WB):  A new half-hour animated comedy series starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. No longer confined to 7-minute shorts, Bugs and Daffy are out of the woods and living in the suburbs among such colorful neighbors as Yosemite Sam, Granny, Tweety and Sylvester. In addition to each episode’s main story, The Looney Tunes Show also features “cartoons within a cartoon.” The Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian and other classic characters sing original songs in two-minute music videos called Merrie Melodies. The legendary LooneyTunes cartoons are getting a 21st century relaunch and a CGI overhaul for a new generation.

My thoughts: At the risk of reiterating myself from the last Looney Tunes Show review, this show is amazing. For me, it’s one of the smartest shows on Cartoon Network, if not on television. The further we progress into the seasons, the more complex things get. In fact, the fact that there is continuity in this show is what makes the jokes become funnier and funnier. You have to keep up with the show; it’s not just another episodic-type affair where things are reversed after they’ve been built up.

In short, if you’ve bought all of the volumes up until now, make sure to get this one to keep your collection going. You won’t be sorry.

The Looney Tunes Show–Season One, Volume Three

$9.95

In stores NOW, also available for purchase at The WB Shop. 

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Looney Tunes: Pepe Le Pew Collection. Own it on DVD today!

Synopsis (WB): A new compilation featuring 17 iconic shorts of the loveable French skunk, Pepe Le Pew! Pepe is always strolling around Paris in the springtime, where everyone’s thoughts are of love. While he is constantly seeking l ‘amour of his own, his huge turnoff to any prospective mate is his malodorous scent. Together for the first time are some of Pepe’s most beloved and comical shorts.

My thoughts: I never was a huge fan of Pepe Le Pew. I thought he was amusing, but I also thought he was a little bit creepy. Who locks up victims and calls them “lovers” aside from people who have some serious issues? In any case, he’s way up there on the sexual harassment scale.

However, I did laugh at the shorts featured in this DVD. They are very well written, animated, and are crafted from beginning to end with the goal of making you laugh in mind. It shows that the team behind the Looney Tunes cartoons were at the top of their game for several decades, and these cartoons could be used as a masterclass for animators who are looking to recapture some of the original verve these “old-school” cartoons have.

Overall, if you’re a fan of old-school Looney Tunes, you might want to pick this up.

Looney Tunes: Pepe Le Pew Collection

Buy now!

$18.95

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Here’s some news that was disconcerting at first, but I might actually think this could be good.

According to Latino Review, Peter Segal ( has been tapped to direct the Warner Bros. live-action version of Bleach, a film based on the popular manga and anime about a boy who develops the ability to fight demons.

Immediately, one might think that there is going to be no respect for the manga, similar to how Akira was going to be before they decided to shelve the project. However, here’s some news that warns against that thought.

You probably already knew this, but Masi Oka is set to produce the film. I feel like that will help out greatly when it comes to the integrity of the manga being imbued into the movie.

Masi Oka, an actor of Japanese descent, is bound to understand how important it is for the film to reflect its Japanese roots. We’ll see how this film develops, but for now, I’m going to be looking at it holding my breath for good things.

Own it on DVD now (released December 6)! Credit: WB

Synopsis (from WB): This half-hour animated comedy series starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck is no longer confined to 7-minute shorts. Bugs and Daffy are out of the woods and living in the suburbs among such colorful neighbors as Yosemite Sam, Granny, Tweety and Sylvester. In addition to each episode?s main story, The Looney Tunes Show also features ?cartoons within a cartoon.? The Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian and other classic characters sing original songs in two-minute music videos called Merrie Melodies . The legendary Looney Tunes cartoons are getting a 21st century relaunch and a CGI overhaul for a new generation.

My opinion: One of the breakout shows on Cartoon Network is The Looney Tunes Show. I actually didn’t know if I would even like the show when I first saw it during its premiere, but ever since, I have been a fan. There’s a crazy genius to the show and its expert writing, which imbibes it with an “everyday situation” comedy like Seinfeld. The craziest thing is that it works expertly well. To me, it’s one of the best sitcoms on television. It’s also the most underrated, because even though it’s got writing that rivals sitcoms like The Office, it’s on Cartoon Network, meaning that a lot of people will think it’s for kids.

To be fair, a lot of people have realized that Cartoon Network’s primetime lineup is just as adult-friendly as Adult Swim. However, what some people still don’t realize is that quite a few of the shows, such as Adventure Time and Looney Tunes, are getting more adult-exclusive as the episodes progress.

I will say that if you’re a Looney Tunes purist, you might think you won’t like this show. I thought I wouldn’t like it either. But, take into consideration that the original Looney Tunes weren’t really all that kid-friendly, either. People just hold them as “children’s cartoons” because they’re classics. People have forgotten just how bawdy the cartoons actually are.

I say that anyone who loves Looney Tunes should give this show an honest shot. It has stars like Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Roz Ryan, Garry Marshall and voice-over veteran June Foray giving their talents, tightly-written scripts and actual laugh-out-loud humor. I give it a thumbs-up.

The Looney Tunes Show: Season One, Volume Two

Out now!

Episodes: “Monster Talent-A Zipline in the Sand,” “Reunion-Cock of the Walk-Fee Fi Fo Dumb,” “Casa De Calma-Queso Bandito-Sail Fail,” “Devil Dog-Unsafe At Any Speed”

Website: click here

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The Lion King roars back into theaters. Credit: Disney

I have to start off this review saying that it’s going to be heavily biased. I have a really huge relationship with this movie; it was the first Disney movie I saw as a kid, and even though most Disney movies have affected me, this is one that has a very deep resonance with me. There were a lot of firsts for me when I saw this film–aside from it being the first Disney movie I’d seen, it was the first time I’d seen a story about the death of a parent, the first time I’d felt betrayed (even though I knew Scar was the villain, I didn’t really know just how villainous he would be), and the first time I learned that life is much more complicated than just me sitting at home with my parents, my Barbies, Play-Doh, and my Easy Bake oven. I learned that life can be both tremendously overpowering as well as serene and subdued. Basically, the movie means a lot to me.

Because of my feelings about the movie, it was practically an obligation that I had to go see the film when it came back to theaters. I was nervous about the 3D because my past experience with 3D hasn’t been that great. But the 3D was not only amazing in its own right, but it complemented the film well. It made the already expansive panoramas even more detailed, providing sensory layers between the foreground, middle, and background. These additions made it seem like you were seeing a film that was part-animation, part-nature documentary. It’s like you can practically walk in the savanna. Additionally, the film was remastered in HD, so even if you saw it without the 3D, you still got a clear, crisp, beautiful picture.

The film itself is an epic piece of storytelling, and it’s good to know that it’s not only stood up against the test of time technically, but is also still engrossing and emotionally moving. This might be harping on small minutae to some, but the fact that there are a number of moments in the film that give breathing room is amazing. These moments–the beginning shots showing the elephants walking in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro,  scenes with the rain falling around Rafiki’s tree, the water pushing the skull away towards the end, the 20-30 second upward shot of the stars at night–give a grand scope of the majesty of Africa. In short, the fact that the film is back at the top of the b.o. charts after 17 years is a testament to how much the film is loved.

As far as I’m concerned, The Lion King is as near perfect as a film can be. If you happen to decide to see it in 3D, it’s worth your money. Make sure to look for the film when it is re-released on DVD and released for the first time on Blu-ray October 4.

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