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2 Funny/Nerdvana: Funky Fresh Production Logos

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Today’s Nerdvana is a follow-up to an article we did back in October 2013, Monster Killer Logo Theater. You know, the one with all those scary-as-heck production logos.

These aren’t more creepy unsettling logos; today’s batch is the flip side of MKLT, where we show you some of our favorite production logos and variants. You can all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

First up, an old fave: the Rankin-Bass Productions logo, as seen at the end of perennial stop-motion holiday specials.

Some people have said that they were creeped out by this logo, but personally we have nothing but good memories attached to it. For one thing, it tells us that a wonderfully corny R-B special with talking snowmen and silly songs is on the way, and also because the logo is similar to that of the old Banks convenience stores in Salisbury, MD, where we spent fun summers at our grandparents’ house eating Twinkies and Fruit Pies, noshing on Hardee’s Big Deluxes and sipping on Nehis while watching SuperStation Funtime on TBS. Good times, man, good times.

Second, the old familiar CBS Special Presentation intro:

Again, don’t see how anybody could be put off by this. For us, it was something good: it meant that a Charlie Brown special was about to come on. Of course, we’re not really big Peanuts fans nowadays, but when we were kids, the night of a Peanuts special was bigger than Oscar night.

Next up, the Starry Night Productions logo, as seen at the end of NBC’s Night Court, one of our favorite sitcoms.

About that laugh at the end: the laughter heard at the end of that animation was that of Chuck Weegee, the father of series creator Reinhold Weegee, who was always present in the studio audience during the first seasons of the show. Again, Folks have told us that they found this logo creepy, but again, not us, probably because were such big fans of the show.

Next, the 2 Hanna-Barbera/Turner Entertainment production logos during the 1990’s.

Comedy

And Action

Now, we’re going to switch gears a little and go to the movies!

It’s Movie Logo Joke Time! First up, the variant on 20th Century Fox’s logo for The Cannonball Run:

Now let’s have some fun with Columbia Pictures’ Torch Lady. First, the variant for the movie Zotz!,  a 1962 fantasy/comedy film produced and directed by William Castle, about a man obtaining magical powers from a god of an ancient civilization. The film is based on the 1947 novel of the same name by Walter Karig.

The man who exclaims “Zotz!” is none other than the director, Willam Castle himself.

Next, the disco “classic” film from 1978, Thank God It’s Friday.

Next, from Cat Ballou starring Jane Fonda

The Mouse That Roared

And finally, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Next, a favorite variant from one of our favorite recent films, Disney’s Wreck-It-Ralph.

Simple, but brilliant.

Finally, a variant on the NBC peacock.

Trivia Time: that gag was made by the folks at Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

-And those are some of our favorite logos and variants. Well, there’s nothing left to say, but:

 

Why Miss Martian is Awesome!

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Miss-Martian-young-justice-28883271-700-881

  1. She’s a Martian. Space aliens are automatically cool.
  2. She’s the niece of J’onn J’onzz, aka The Martian Manhunter. So she got her through nepotism. What of it?
  3. She’s green, and green women are hot. This was proven years ago on Star Trek.
  4. She can fly.
  5. Her outfit resembles a Japanese schoolgirl’s sailor suit. I like that.
  6. She has a cheerful and upbeat attitude, despite the fact that it’s not easy being green.
  7. She can wipe someone’s mind clean like a dirty ashtray. Not that she would do that, but it’s cool to know that you could.
  8. For some reason, I really like that she has freckles.
  9. Her civilian name is M’gann M’rzz. Imagine someone having to write that name on a value club card.
  10. That adorable mini skirt.
  11. She once dated Superboy (Kon El).
  12. She can shapeshift. Anyone who can assume the form of a dragon is OK in my book!

2 Funny: Laff-A-Munich

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The massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the secret retaliation for said attack from the Israeli government known as Operation Act of God, was a tragic event which inspired a sobering 2005 historical drama/political thriller entitled Munich, produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. This unfortunate incident wasn’t funny at all, but imagine a re-enactment of the trailer for the film set in the Laff-A-Lympics universe, and that’s a different matter entirely. Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken brings us today’s 2 Funny, Laff-A-Munich. Enjoy.

A bit of a nitpick: Scrappy-Doo was never featured in Laff-A-Lympics; he made his debut on Scooby and Scrappy-Doo in 1979, a year after the final season of LAL, on ABC’s Scooby’s All-Stars, but since the scene in question had me in stitches, I’m willing to overlook that little hiccup.

Toons & Tunes: Fantastic Four Cartoon Openings

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PPL70004 Fantastic 4

In honor of the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot movie from Marvel and the fact today is April 4th (4/4–I couldn’t have planned that better if I tried) I’ve decided that now is as good a time as any to go over some of the various opening themes from the various Fantastic Four cartoons over the years.

First up, we’re goin’ all old-school on ya with the 1967 F4 cartoon opening:

-A bit dated by today’s standards, but still iconic and full of action. My rating: B.

“Hmm. The dichotomy of order and chaos in that opening calls to mind the paradoxical thought experiment known as Schrodinger’s Cat, as devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents a cat which may be simultaneously both alive and dead, a state known as a quantum superposition, as a result of being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur.”

“Ahh, stow it, Dictionary-Breath! Yer borin’ th’ blogosphere! If these folks wanted ta learn stuff, they’d go ta Wikipedia!”

Next up, the 90’s syndicated Marvel Action Hour. This block boasted 2 openings for the team. Here’s season 1’s intro:

OK, this one’s a tad corny, but I think it sums up the goofy, upbeat nature of the team’s adventures pretty well. My rating: A.

“Yeah, I really like the ‘Just 4. No more. Now that’s numerical!’ part. Some people think that opening was too silly, but I personally thought it was OUTTA SIGHT! -What? So lame puns are only funny when you guys do them??”

Now, season 2’s intro:

I guess the producers felt the first opening was a tad too campy and wanted something more serious and epic in tone, but I personally found this intro to be a tad generic; it could have been for any superhero show in the 90’s. But still, it’s not without its’ merits. My rating: B-.

“DUDE! That opening gets me PUMPED! Makes me wanna blaze through town in search of hot babes in my souped-up ride! But then, breathing makes me wanna do that too! Am I right? Up-top!”

Finally, the opening to Cartoon Network’s Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes. A vastly underrated show, IMO.

(Note how Victor Von Doom was accompanying the team into space during the initial shot. This series was made hot on the heels of those live-action movies, but we’ll forgive them for that.)

Honestly the only thing I didn’t like about FF:WGH was Ben’s outfit. A ‘4’ spray painted on the chest? Really? Plus, the white gap on Ben’s pants made it look like he was in his low-riding underwear.

“Yeah, those weren’t exactly the most stylin’ duds, but whaddaya want? It’s hard to find clothes in my size. I gotta get my stuff from Prof. Fashion’s Boutique for the Big, Tall an’ Freaking Huge!”

Not as good as the others, but still pretty good. Of course now, I’ll be hearing that “aaAAaaah!” in my head all day. My rating: B.

So there you have it. The intros to the Fantastic Four cartoons.

H.E.R.B.I.E.

“Hey, you didn’t cover the ‘New Fantastic Four’ cartoon from 1978, you know the one with me in it! Yeah, I was a member of the Fantastic Four, for a few months!”

“Nobody cares about that cartoon, brah. Know why? ‘Cause I wasn’t in it! I was totally workin’ on a solo movie deal during that time. It didn’t happen, but I totally spent that money! BTW, Hollywood, I’m still available for movies, guest shots and reality shows. And the ladies! Which reminds me: anybody wanna see my butt-ring?”

‘Kay, let’s wrap this up. Now!

2 Funny: Street Fighter Red Tape

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Today’s April Fool’s Day–the day for pranks, jokes and general tomfoolery. (Though for us every day is kind of like that.) In the spirit of this occasion, we present a series if vignettes by comedian Pete Holmes as a bureaucrat giving the combatants from Capcom’s Street Fighter 2 franchise the blues. Here’s Street Fighter Red Tape. All 8 of them.

RYU (feat. Mark-Paul Gosselaar)

VEGA (feat. Thomas Middleditch)

BLANKA (feat. Matt McCarthy)

M. BISON (feat. Patrick Huesinger)

GUILE (feat. Joel McHale)

DHALSIM (feat. Kumail Nanjani)

CHUN-LI (feat. Lilan Bowden)

KEN (feat. Thomas Middleditch–again)

And finally, for no good reason, a completely gratuitous shot of Cammy’s cheeks.

Happy April Something Something Whatever!