Ben and Zane have had it up to here with Jerry. He’s constantly kidnapping them, using brainwashing or amnesia rays, and putting them in catsuits. And now he’s tried to introduce three young women to the Cartoncasters as if that makes up for it. He licked his lips and sweated as he assured them that the girls were all over 18. Regardless, they were too boring to even interact with, let alone try to objectify. Looks like we’ll have to put out a job opening for a new English butler.
190 - Bootlegg'd - Akira
It’s always satisfying to fill in a blind spot here at the Cartoncast, and this one was a mile wide. Akira establishes the cyberpunk genre, opened the doors for anime in the west - and the anime industry in Japan - and commented upon the timely (and timeless) themes of institutional power in a time of rapid evolution. No need to be psychic to judge how we felt about this work; it’s remarkable, and stands proudly as a pillar of the industry.
189 - Ask the StoryBots
Things were not going well in the computer that houses The Cartoncast. Ben and Zane, you see, are dumbasses. Wikipedia was down. TvTropes was down. Their dictionary had long been destroyed because “it just had bad vibes man, y’know?” And so in desperation, they called upon the last bastions of knowledge. They asked the StoryBots: “Where buy snowcones?”
The Eighth Annual Cartony Awards
Well, it’s that time again to celebrate the holiest of holidays - Cartony season. Sure, this past year was a bit of a struggle at times, with many contenders for the spot of New Ben before the original came back to claim his title. But amongst the strife came clarity on the true nature of Santa Claus (the answer may surprise you!) as well as a higher than recommended dose of dithering about with various guests. Join us as we debate whether or not most of the things this year happened.
Our categories this year:
Most Interesting Nonhuman
Best Musical Number to Worst Episode Ratio
Best Santa
Best Boy
Best Intro
Best Adoption of an Earlier Art Style
Best Conspiracy Theory
Best Ensemble Cast
Best Sibling Dynamic
Who Would Win in a Fight?
Biggest Coincidence (You’re Tellin’ Me)
Biggest Payoff for Creative Liberties Taken
Best Movie
Best Bonus Episode
Best Show
188 - Trigun
Ben and Zane - and stay with me here guys - were doing a Jesus. I mean, sure, they weren’t coming back to life or healing the sick, but they did carry around that cross for that nice priest and his weird, hungry friend. They also got into some trouble with the law and were repenting for some sinning they did in the last town over. The Cartoncasters weren’t really focused on the big-picture stuff, though, or even on the shootouts that kept happening every other day. They were too busy submitting the proper forms and playing some slick air guitars for that.
187 - The Critic
Most of the titles that cross Ben and Zane’s desk never make it to review, but they felt bad about rejecting cartoons out of line. As luck would have it, the Critique himself, our friendly neighborhood Dane Caverns came by to take the worst stuff off their hands. Within an hour, the Critique had given the most scathing criticism he could muster to the worst offenders, saving Ben and Zane from doing it themselves. With his help, the Cartoncasters will never have to review a show and proclaim… It stinks!
186 - The Powerpuff Girls
Egads! A gigantic monster is destroying the city! Thankfully, Ben and Zane have a direct line to the Powerpuff Girls, after an unrelated adventure where they both became the mayor. A quick call was all it would take. However, first they had to wait and listen about Bubbles’ new self-esteem issue, and the Professor’s new gadget, and a talking dog they found that’s probably evil, and on and on and on. They didn’t mind, it was all very entertaining and snappy, but, you know… the town was destroyed.
185 - Bootlegg'd - The Prince of Egypt
The Prince of Egypt has been lauded as one of the best told animated biblical stories - and rightly so. Heavy subject matter has to be sensitively portrayed, which can be a big ask in a medium primarily geared toward children. It takes a rare movie to balance biblical accuracy with enough gentleness not to stress younger viewers, all while still managing to be entertaining. With all that and a surprise appearance of Jeff Goldblum, this film delivered us to the promised land of holiday-related animation.
184 - Bootlegg'd - Rise of the Guardians
Happy… Easter? Yeah, this is another ostensibly Holiday movie, but really it’s an Avengers-style story of a team of superpowered mythological beings that unfortunately had to compete with the actual Avengers. These Guardians guard children’s dreams, hopes, and teeth against the literal Bogeyman with some impressive flair. Unfortunately this rabbit laid a big goose egg, but inside that egg was a fine movie.
Unshell'd - Dirkman Pitstain's New Year's Bash!
When the boss calls in an action hero for one last mission, there’s no way he can turn them down. But what if that hero has no idea that the mission exists, and falls into a few other missions along the way? Dirkman Pitstain doesn’t know, and he sure isn’t going to find out. Unlike avocados (sp?), there’s no bad time to enjoy his festivities.
183 - Holiday Episodes
Cartoons have an interesting relationship with holiday specials. They tend to coincide with an animation and writing bump, but also have to navigate passing on those good feels without compromising their identity. Though it’s a mixed bag, today we look at three properties - Charlie Brown, Futurama, and Rugrats - to see how they handle the beast that is the Holiday Special.
182 - Bootlegg'd - The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus
For a guy who can travel the world in one night, Santa sure doesn’t know how to pace a movie. But like all of his traits, it’s endearingly innocent in a world that is working overtime to make sure that he’s protected from it. Check out this good boy and his annoying friends develop the Santa Mythos. Also a 90-second war.
181 - Bootlegg'd - Eight Crazy Nights
The era of Adam Sandler is firmly in the past, and looking back on his popularity is a dizzying experience. He used his notoriety as “The Hannukah guy” to create an animated movie about the meaning of Hannukah. At least, that’s the concept. In execution, it’s just a whole lot of Adam Sandler without any physics or logical consistency slowing him down. If you actually enjoyed this movie, that’s a technical foul.
The Hannukah Song
Adam Sandler’s “Cock and Balls” skit
Hannukah is unimportant, trust me on this
Rat in a Hot Tin Can
”I wanna Kiss you all ovah” - last Adam Sandler reference I swear
Tim Heideker’s Rogan imitation is spot on
Big Brother is more than a 1984 dystopia
Klaus graphic novel
Jon Lovitz in the Simpsons
Pooping deer in Castle Crashers
Patton Oswalt’s immortal heckler takedown
180 - Bootlegg'd - Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
Ben and Zane felt like something was off. They had a weird sense of Deja Vu, and their hands were real sweaty every time they picked up mice. Brie, the Cartoncast’s Fairy Godmother, revealed to them that time had been turned back, and they would have to re-watch Cinderella if they wanted to get out of it alive. It was good. Not great, but fun. And now they could get back to what’s really important: catching mice and training them to dress up and sing.
179 - Yuri on Ice
It was that time of year again, when the world was focused on Men’s Figure Skating. It was a hot and steamy competition so far, with everyone stimulated by the athletes, who themselves were clearly aroused by the competition. Ben and Zane did their best to keep score, but with only the barest knowledge of skating, they were reduced to the “hot or not” scale. They gave mediocre scores overall, especially since much of the routines were censored for the “family values” crowd. A winner was chosen by a surprisingly generous Russian judge.
178 - Arcane
Ben and Zane were due at the Hex-tech Animation Symposium in Piltover, but a wrong turn sent them to the undercity. Thankfully, a local known only as “Lucky Tim” offered to show them around. The undercity was vibrant, even if it lacked the refinement of the privileged class. All in all, a good detour, topped off with a surprise appearance of Imagine Dragons in The Last Drop.
177 - Scrambl'd - The Gumby Show
All was not well in the Cartonland. Ben and Zane couldn’t quite put their fingers on it - literally. Their fingers were gone, along with their clothes and a lot of their finer details. The world moved along at a choppy place, they could scarcely hold onto their own shapes, and they could feel their eyes bend. While in this state, they could barely leave their rooms - which turned out to be fine, because their rooms had the raddest stuff imaginable: marbles, mirrors, rolling pins, gears, and gum.
176 - Voltron: Defender of the Universe
Ben and Zane dropped the ball yet again. Instead of watching a show, they accidentally watched a fan dub of some show from Uruguay. What’s it about? Hard to say. There’s definitely explosions and feral cats, but beyond that it’s uncertain. The Cartoncasters decided that instead of talking about it, they would instead riff on Power Rangers, a bold step forward in merchandising unrelated media.
175 - Bootlegg'd - Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby Doo meets Courage the Cowardly Dog
Horror has a fairly narrow relationship with cartoons. Scooby doo paved the way for others to tip their toes in, and Courage the Cowardly Dog angled toward an absurdist bent where horror and comedy meet. Unfortunately, not even these two titans of the genre can withstand the Curse of the Direct to Video Movie.
Thanks to Dan Caves of The Cocktail Party Congress and Nic Robes of What’s With You Scooby Doo for coming on the show!
Links of note:
174 - Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?
Ben and Zane were having a hell of a time with a missing person’s case. Since Fillmore was off the case (he was a loose cannon who played by his own rules), they brought on the guy who connected them in the first place, Josh. As they looked for the child, whose description was remarkably similar to that of a speak-and-spell, they got a little sidetracked by a series of 80’s nostalgia. They didn’t come to any strong conclusions about what happened, but at least nobody missed the kid anyway.