Author silverstar

The Couch: The Why Why Family

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Welcome to a new segment of Twinsanity called The Couch, in which we unearth some of the the most unique, obscure and in some cases downright odd shows which many people have long forgotten (or just plain didn’t know about in the first place), but which we thought were kind of good, fun or at least had potential. Basically the flip side of The Retro Bin. Today, we’ll be looking at a forgotten toon titled Les Kikekoi, or as we Yanks called it, Saban’s The Why Why Family.

 
The Why Why Family was a French-produced animated children’s series which originally aired in syndication in 1996, written by Annabelle Perrichon and François-Emmanuel Porché and produced by Saban Entertainment and CineGroupe. Later, in 1998, the show was broadcast in the United States by Fox. I personally only saw a single episode of this during its’ initial run; I had to catch the rest of the series on YouTube. It centered on a family unit who all lived in a bizarro hodgepodge house which was a mishmash of several different structures, sporting an astronomical observatory, a rocket hangar, a greenhouse, a giant microscope, a zigzag slide and several platforms.
 
 
I hear the architect who designed the Why Why home used it as a prototype for Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

I hear the architect who designed the Why Why home used it as a prototype for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.

 
 
The plot was simpler than ABC: in each segment, the lone child of the family, one towheaded toddler named Baby Victor, would pose a question inquiring how a particular thing worked, then another respective family member would proceed to explain it in a fun, quirky way. There were 5 segments per show. Laugh, learn, wash, rinse, repeat. The Why Whys themselves were a unique and eclectic bunch, with each adult member specializing in a specific science, field of learning or expertise. Why Why-Keteer Roll Call:
 
 
 
MILF, er, um, I mean Mom Vanilla with Birds Kwik and Kwak: Botany and Zoology (aka Flora and Fauna for you laymen)
 
 
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is why-why-3.jpg
Dad Max: Technology and Electronics (curiously, Max was the only family member who ran through his segments without the aid of any partners, except for Victor, of course, or sidekick pets)
 
 
Grandma Eartha with shapeshifting polka-dotted dragon Basalt: Geography, Geology and Meteorology
 
 
Uncles Micro and Scopo: Biology of the Human Body (FTR, Micro is the short dude in the 10-gallon hat, Scopo is the somewhat goony looking big lug in the Polo shirt with the Popeye forearms)
 
Why Why 6
 
 
 
 
 
Zygo the dog and Grandpa Matik (together their names spell out the word ‘zygomatic’, because….clever??): Astronomy and the Universe.
 
 
 
 
Here’s a little taste:
 

Well, all right then.

The Why Why Family never went beyond 26 episodes, and in retrospect, it’s not hard to imagine why. For one thing, the show was syndicated; many of the local stations that carried it (including the ones in my area) aired the show insanely early in the mornings opposite the Farm Report.

 

Farmer

“Well shucks, why would yew wanna sit in front o’ that there teevee box when yew could watch corn a-growin’?”

 
 
For another, the show aired back in 1996. In the late 90’s most cartoons had to be “edgy” and “extreme to the Max”….
 
 
90's_kid

“DUUUUUDE! The toons of the 90’s were righteous to the extreme! BUST IT!”

 
…And The Why Why Family was neither of those things. The show wasn’t ‘hip’ or ‘cool’ by any stretch, in fact, it was almost radically square. There were no hip teenagers on the show: except for Victor, the family members were all adults with various degrees of learning, 2 of them elderly adults. The series’ art style was also notably retro: the cast resembled 1930’s cartoon characters (only in color), with Mickey Mouse style white gloves and Pac-Man dot eyes, and conventions like talking animals and inanimate objects suddenly coming to life with no explanation of why or how. The show’s style was also not edgy or extreme, leaning strongly towards gentle slapstick, squash-and-stretch physics (characters could get flattened like pancakes and just reform themselves an instant later without a scratch),  corny retrofied music, groan-inducing puns and silly sound effects. Each characters’ segments were book-ended by individual title cards (ex: So-And-So Character in “Such-And-Such Pun-Filled Title”) and even “The End” title cards, something you almost never see on cartoons these days.
 
While The Why Why Family was a bit corny (OK, a lot corny), at the same time, I can’t bring myself to dislike this show. Having revisited this show, I actually enjoy it in an odd way. It was silly, but a fun and harmless kind of silly. I did think it was kind of cool how each character represented a particular field of science and learning (science geek here), I loved that kooky house of theirs, and I must admit to having a bit of a mom-crush on Vanilla at the time; with her big blond hair and midriff top, she looked like a NASCAR racer’s trophy wife. Plus, one of their pets was a fracking dragon. A talking, shape-changing flipping DRAGON. I just can’t hate on a show with that. I kind of wanted to have seen a side episode which showed what these guys did when they weren’t doling out lessons; oh well, there’s always fan-fiction.
 
So here’s to you, Why Why Family. One things for sure: in a time where most cartoons were assembly-line carbon copies of one another, The Why Why Family was a red-blooded original.

Why Robin is Awesome!

silverstar 1 Comment

Hello and welcome to a new segment on Twinsanity entitled Why (blank) is Awesome!, in which we list the things we like about our favorite characters. Think of this as a sneak preview; a little sample of some of the new stuff you can expect from us in 2014. First up:

WHY ROBIN IS AWESOME!
  1. He’s the leader of the Teen Titans, despite not having any superpowers. Powers are cool, but if you can kick ass without them, well…
  2. He gets to live in a giant T.
  3. He’s a talented circus acrobat. Think a butt-kicking Flying Wallenda.
  4. He can wear a combination of Christmas tree colors (red, yellow and green) and pull it off.
  5. He was trained by the goddamn Batman.
  6. That stylin’ black-and-yellow-cape.
  7. The spiky hair, man. Chicks dig the hair.
  8. He’s mastered several martial arts, having sparred with a bear, a snake, a monkey and the True Master herself. Take that, Kung Fu Panda!
  9. He has a keen understanding of various sciences, like computing, physics and chemistry, and is a skilled mechanic and engineer, building all of his own gadgets and equipment. Who says nerds don’t make good superheroes?
  10. He rides a tricked out red cycle with jet-thrusters and his initial stamped on it.
  11. Birdarangs, baby. Birdarangs.
  12. He once went into battle wearing a Gatchaman style outfit, unironically.
  13. He owns a collapsible metal staff, which can be split into 2 Eskrima sticks. You can’t get that at Sports Authority.
  14. He owns energy disks which can explode, shock or emit foam. And play mp3s.
  15. He’s dated both Starfire and Batgirl.
    <
    Play on, playa.

Yearly Wrap-Up: What’s Next for Twinsanity

silverstar 4 Comments

Greetings, loyal readers.

First, we’d like to apologize for the long wait; we haven’t posted a new blog entry since November 11th. Normally we try to publish at least 1 new entry a month, but there’s been a lot of stuff going down for us in real life, add the inevitable preparation for the holiday season on top of that, and we just haven’t had the free time and space to blog the way we usually like to. A lot of the material we had planned has had to be pushed back or just isn’t ready yet, but we haven’t forgot about you guys, we promise there will be more blog entries to come, but since we’ve been so busy lately and have had so little free time to ourselves, it’s likely that this may be the final blog entry for 2013. So while it’s a little early, I’ve decided to post our yearly wrap-up, a summation of what we’ve accomplished this year and our plans for Twinsanity’s next year.

First, as many of you know, the blog went through a very negative and angry phase for the early parts of the year. This again was due to unpleasant experiences we were having both on and offline. It was during this period that we posted those infamous “Point and Laugh” articles, but thankfully you guys voiced your disapproval with them and set us back on the right path. Thakfully, things have lightened up since then: Jason (Goldstar) has been reinstated on Toon Zone (huzzah!) and we’ve successfully managed to get things back on track here, bringing the blog’s focus back to comedy, fun and humorous commentary/analysis on animation and pop-culture. Once again we wish to formally apologize to all of those we may have offended with the “Point and Laugh”s, and offer our solemn promise to you all that we will never make hateful, insulting posts like those again. You’ve stuck with us, and we truly appreciate it.

Also, this year we listened to another frequent request from our readers and re-enabled comments for the blog entries. Things started out a little rocky, but thanks to your cooperation (and Blogger’s Comment Moderation option) we’ve all succeeded in keeping the blog’s comments and discussions civil, on-topic and open. Once again, thanks for following the rules we set out for the comments, guys. Your input means a lot to us. We appreciate the feedback of our followers who have helped contribute to the blog discussions and didn’t just come on here to troll. We’re happy to report that we will continue to allow comments on Twinsanity.

Next, back in late July/early August we (well, mostly me) attempted to launch a second blog called Twinsanity Toons, which would have been devoted to original stories and fiction. After only 2 entries, this other blog was eventually shut down; as of this writing, Twinsanity Toons is no more. Why? It’s not that we didn’t have any ideas for stories or that we didn’t want to share them with you; quite the opposite, in fact, it’s just that Jason was right all along (I really should listen to him more): it’s that a blog just wasn’t the right medium for what we had/have in mind for TT. We want you guys to fully experience our work, and that requires more than just us typing words on a screen, we want visuals, sounds, music, etc. You may have noticed that as the blog entries this year have continued, they’ve been getting progressively more and more visual, with images and embedded videos becoming more and more commonplace. Well, in the coming months we’ve been considering taking this visual idea a step further and possibly expanding Twinsanity to a full-blown website; we’re in the process of securing a domain name and a web host even as I type. We’re also planning to learn the ins and outs of video making: editing, digital design, taking the art and visual aspects of our ideas as far as we can take them. We’ve been inspired by the likes of the Nostalgia Critic, Linkara, Obscurus Lupa, Phelous, the Blockbuster Buster, Rifftrax and the Isle of Rangoon, and we’re both huge Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans, so we’d like to do stuff like that: video reviews and riffs on toons and short films, and possibly even original webtoons. We are working to make this dream a reality. So while Twinsanity Toons may be gone, the idea is far from dead. If all goes well, we can make Twinsanity bigger and better than it’s ever been. (One change has already took place: we changed the template of the site around November. Looks spiffy, don’t it?)

Also, we’ll be dialing back on the reviews in the upcoming year. For one thing, neither of us think we do reviews very well (we seem to do the commentaries, analyses and strictly-for-laughs stuff much better) and for another, some of the most recent shows we’ve devoted full reviews to (Teen Titans GO!, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Steven Universe) turned out to not be very good, at least not to us. So we’ll be cutting back on the reviews and focusing more on the other segments.

Finally, I’d like to mention that in February 2014, Twinsanity will be 4 years old. (Also, in this past year–2013–we’ve published more blog entries than any year since Twinsanity was first launched back in 2010.) We may be commemorating the occasion in some way. Many of the established segments such as Talkin’ Nerdy, The Retro Box, Videots and the like will continue, and we’re also tossing around ideas for potential new segments. Among the new stuff you can expect:

  • Ad Nausea: Where we look at the oddest and goofiest commercials and advertising characters.
  • Beyond the Background: Where we give obscure, unused and less celebrated characters some time in the spotlight.
  • If We Made It: We discuss how we’d handle some popular shows.
  • Why (blank) is Awesome!: Where we list all the things we love about our favorite characters.
  • Wild World of Shows: We catch those unique (or just uniquely weird) shows which have fallen through the cracks.

And if all goes well, in December 2014 we plan to devote the month to Weird Christmas Specials.

So in closing, thanks for sticking with us all this time, guys. We appreciate your viewership and input and hope to continue having fun here with you in 2014, and hopefully beyond. We look forward to another year of Twinsanity. So if we don’t post again until then………

See ya next year!

Bringing Action Back, Part 3: Some Possible Solutions

silverstar 3 Comments

As you can guess by the title, this is a follow-up to “Bringing Action Back”.

By now we all know the situation: action cartoons are in a bad way right now. The recent 2-month hiatus of Beware the Batman (which has already been covered by Jason in “Beware the Backlash”) is just the latest blow to action toons. We’ve already been over why action cartoons are having such a tough time presently, but the question remains: what can be done to restore action cartoons to their former glory, aside from securing them a toy line? Here are some possible solutions:

1. Simplify the designs. One of the chief reasons that action cartoons take such a hard hit when they fail is because they’re more expensive to produce than comedy cartoons. Yeah, it’s great how so many action cartoons are drawn and animated in such amazing detail, from the more complex character designs to the intricate cityscapes, but let’s face it, that jazz costs a lot of money. One way to help make action cartoons gain profits is to make them cheaper to produce, and one way that can be done by avoiding realistic character designs. The less detailed and more cartoony the designs, the cheaper and easier the show is to animate. Every action cartoon doesn’t have to look like Princess Mononoke. No, I’m not suggesting that action cartoons should be reduced to fighting stick figures, but the less detailed the characters and designs are, the less expensive they are to produce. Shows such as Samurai Jack have proven that you can make a decent action toon with sparse, stylized designs and without having to draw and animate every wrinkle and pore on the faces and every drop of dew on every blade of grass.

“We’re just gonna paint a happy sun, and some happy grass, and some happy robot ninjas beating up a giant mutant scorpion…”

2. The networks that run action cartoons should promote and support them. On one of the message boards that I’m on, a fellow poster implied that actions should expand its’ viewer base towards a broader audience (in other words, adults) to keep the shows going. We’ve already gone over why most networks aren’t going to start gearing their action toons towards adults in parts 1 and 2, so no need to repeat that. Action cartoons don’t necessarily need to be marketed towards adults in order to secure them loyal viewers, all that really needs to happen is for their network to support them. Let’s use the recent Beware the Batman debacle as an example: it got next to zero promotion by Cartoon Network, and the few ads it did air began airing about a week before the show’s debut with no follow-up advertising afterward and were only shown during the hour when DC Nation was on. Really, when was the last time you saw an ad for a DC Nation show outside of the DC Nation block? Teen Titans GO! doesn’t count, because it gets to air its’ premiere episodes on a different night than the block and it gets encores throughout the week. Any good advertiser knows that you have to make the public want your product; how are kids going to want to see a show when the network it runs on barely talks about it? 

Why doesn’t CN promote the DC Nation shows? Run ads for them, give them at least 1 encore, ensure that they get to premiere alongside other premiere shows, since kids are more prone to stick around to watch a show when there are other new episodes airing before and after them to check out. If CN promoted their DC action toons half as much as the promotional blitzes they gave TTGO!, Uncle Grandpa and Steven Universe, then maybe the DC Nation shows wouldn’t be in the pickle they’re in right now. Say what you will about Disney, but they at least promote their shows, even the action cartoons, and given them plenty of encores. 
“Hey, Warner Bros. We own Marvel, and our superhero movies make money and don’t suck. So take a wild guess what YOU can suck! Ha-Ha!”
Don’t get cocky; you’re latest Marvel action cartoon offerings haven’t been that great, and last I heard, you were moving Marvel Universe to 8 AM on Sunday mornings, not a good sign. Moving on…
3. Make action cartoons more accessible to a mass audience, not just hardcore action fans.  Another reason action toons are having such a tough time right now is because many of them follow extensive and ongoing story arcs, which not only forces a newbie just coming in to them to play catch-up in order to keep from getting lost in the overall plot with but also shortens their lifespan in reruns, since only the most devoted fans are willing to revisit an arc once it’s over. Perhaps making more stand-alone stories is the way to go, since that way the episodes can be rerun in any given order without viewers feeling lost. I think that action cartoons should try to have more self contained stories rather than having so many season long story arcs, as self contained stories have greater replay value because the episodes don’t have to be shown in any particular order and ongoing sagas tend to not do well in reruns. Networks aren’t going to run these shows in a straight, linear, coherent order after their initial airings anyway. Back in the ancient 1980’s, plenty of the action cartoons from that era such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe and even the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did mostly stand-alone episodes, save for the occasional 2 or 3-parter. There’s no reason today’s action toons can’t do the same.
4. Schedule them at a time when people will actually be around to see them. Going back to Beware the Batman for a moment (geez, people are talking more about BtB now then when it was on the air), one reason that show failed to find an audience was because there weren’t any other premiere shows running alongside of it; Ben 10: Omniverse was already in reruns by the time BtB debuted, and the Teen Titans GO! episodes which air on DC Nation are just encores of the eps which premiere on Monday nights. It doesn’t take a genius to see that a single new first-run show isn’t going to get as many viewers when it’s sandwiched between 2 reruns, especially when the network running said show does next to squat to remind its’ viewer that the bloody show is even on. One reason the Hub’s Puppy/Pony/Pet combo works so well is because those shows usually air their premiere episodes at more or less the same time; a kid is more wont to stick around where there’s a good hour or 2 of premiere goodness in store for them. Which brings me to a point raised by Jason during a recent conversation, which I’ll quote here:

Why don’t cable/satellite channels run action cartoons on weekday afternoons anymore? Toonami in it’s hey day did well in the ratings on weekday afternoons for years. Miguzi (which was like a scaled down Toonami geared toward a slightly younger audience) wasn’t as successful as Toonami was, but the block at least did well enough to stay on for a couple of years. That formula worked once, why can’t it work again?

Yeah, how about it, CN? Really what else are you doing during that time? More encores? That joke of a block you laughingly call Cartoon Planet? Why not try running action toons on weekday afternoons to early evenings again? It couldn’t hurt to try.

5. Give the viewers some original ideas, characters and concepts. Yes, I understand that action cartoons are a risky and costly investment, and as such most networks prefer to play it safe with known properties, but that may be part of the problem. People might be getting sick of nonstop reboots of Batman, Spider-Man, the Transformers and the Avengers. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give them heroes, villains, premises and settings which they haven’t already seen 100 times already. I know you’d risk losing money on a new action idea if it tanks, but you’re losing money on the established properties right now, so what more harm could experimentation do?
-As always, we’re not saying that these ideas are guaranteed to work, but they’re at least ideas. They’re better than just continuing to let action toons languish, I think. It wouldn’t kill The Powers That Be to give 1 or 2 of these suggestions a try at least. After all, you can’t hope to succeed if you don’t dare to fail.

Our Favorite TV Show Openings At the Moment

silverstar 3 Comments

After sending a chill down everyone’s collective spines last month with a selection of creepy, scary and just plain disturbing production logos last month, we’ve decided to make things a little more mellow and talk about something that we like. We give you some of our favorite TV show intros of the moment:

Let’s start with an oldie, but a goodie. The opening for Cartoon Network’s 1st original series: Space Ghost Coast to Coast.


Man, the late Sonny Sharrock could certainly rock!

Next, here’s another smooth jazz tune that I’ve always enjoyed. The opening theme from The WB’s Mission Hill, courtesy of alternative ska band Cake.

I like Mission Hill‘s closing theme also, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find that one anywhere.

On the subject of Adult Swim shows, here are a couple more of our favorites. Here’s the into Sealab 2021, courtesy of Calamine. Some of Williams Street’s funhouse mirror version of old Hanna-Barbera shows have rubbed some people the wrong way, but Sealab 2021 was good, at least it was up until the unfortunate passing of Harry Goz, the voice of Captain Murphy. The show was never the same since.

And here’s one of my personal picks, the intro for Metalocalypse. Doesn’t this kick a little ass? But should we expect anything less from the most brutal band in the world?

This next one is tad out of date now, since the series has been renamed twice since then, but I think this theme is best of the revamps. Here’s the intro for the 1st re-branding of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, performed by Queens of the Stone Age.

Next, here’s a great intro from a show starring one of the coolest bands of the moment, the opening of The Hub’s The Aquabats Super Show!

We realize that this next series opening isn’t from a cartoon, but we like it anyway. This is from the IFC  channel’s original series, Comedy Bang! Bang! We think the show is great, but we’re also a little ticked at creator Scott Aukerman for taking that title. Comedy Bang! Bang! could’ve easily been the name of this blog!


Next, again this isn’t from a cartoon, it’s from an internet series, 2 Best Friends Play, in which 2 two foul-mouthed but hilarious dudes play through video games while cracking wise and ripping on each other throughout. Hardcore gamers will know that the music is actually from Green Greens, which is the 1st level on several of the Kirby games.

Finally, here’s one from the most recent series. The intro for the Disney Channel’s newest animated series Wander Over Yonder, the brain child of Craig McKraken. Theme song courtesy of The Two Man Gentleman Band. Say what you will about the show, the opening theme is downright infectious.

Honorable mention goes to the opening theme for Comedy Central’s Key & Peele, which like the Comedy Bang! Bang! theme, was written and performed by Reggie Watts. We would have included it here, but the intro doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the internet. Bottom line: don’t screw with Viacom!