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Voiceroy

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The Time Bugs Bunny Saved Duck Dodgers. Twice.

The Time Bugs Bunny Saved Duck Dodgers. Twice.

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Ask any fans of classic Looney Tunes to list their favorite theatrical shorts and it’s nearly guaranteed that Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese) will be included in there somewhere. Animation guru/historian Jerry Beck of CartoonBrew.com gave it the #4 slot in his 1994 book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons, and of course it made the cut again in Beck’s 2010 compilation, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. And if that still doesn’t convince you and you’re up to the task, try counting how many times Duck Dodgers is mentioned when Jerry asked for feedback in compiling his “100 Greatest” list. In 1980, Warner Bros produced the first of three sequels, Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century (again with Jones directing and Maltese writing). And in 2003, Duck Dodgers deservedly got his own TV series, jointly produced by Warner Bros Animation and Cartoon Network. What many Looney Tunes fans may not know is that there was another sequel

The Dark Lord…of Time?

The Dark Lord…of Time?

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This might just blow your mind a little. But first let’s get it out of the way that there has been fan speculation for years that the exterminating Daleks on Doctor Who appear to have served as inspiration for the design of R2D2 in Star Wars, and the Daleks made their television debut in 1964 too — more than a decade before Star Wars hit theaters in 1977. While there’s no official source to confirm this, the similarities are undeniable — just Google R2D2 Dalek and there’s pages and pages of fun stuff, like this and this and this and this and this and especially this. But there’s another and much more infamous character from Star Wars who made something of an appearance in the opening and closing credits of Doctor Whoduring the early 1970s — the era of The Third Doctor (played by Jon Pertwee). It’s the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader himself, who seems to materialize repeatedly during the opening/closing sequences. This is a quick shot

Tom & Jerry: The Friendly Feud

Tom & Jerry: The Friendly Feud

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Cartoon icons Tom & Jerry have been trying to kill each other for more than 70 years. Their weapons of choice include “everything from axes, firearms, explosives, traps and poison” [- Wikipedia.org] in attempt to maim, maul and murder each other. With such a long and glorious tradition of cartoon violence, I don’t understand how anyone could watch a T&J ‘toon and get the impression that they are BFFs. But apparently the designer of this key chain decided they were. And this T-shirt too… …and this kids’ book: ..and even an ad for a Windows Phone app: Of course you could accuse me of being too literal, but that’s part of my nerd heritage. And even arguing that cats and mice are natural enemies is just more nerd rage (although Japanese scientists found a way to make cats and mice marginally friendly). It’s just that when I think of friendship, a cartoon cat and mouse trying to off each other over and over again is the furthest thing from my

Batman Following

Batman Following

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The 1998 indie thriller Following is notable for more than the fact that it’s a critically-acclaimed, award-winning independent film. It also happens to be the first full feature film written/directed by Christopher Nolan, who has now written/directed three of the most popular and successful comic-based movies ever. Seven years before Batman Begins scored big-time with Bat-fans and movie audiences worldwide, Nolan’s Following premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and over the next year achieved a following of its own. Made on a wafer-thin budget of $6,000, Following managed to earn nearly $50K at the box office even with extremely limited distribution. But like you care about any of this. What you might care about, however, is that Following includes a subtle reference in the background that foreshadows… perhaps even predicts the Bat-legacy that Nolan would later achieve. Note the sticker on the door as it appears in the film:

So THAT’S How It’s Spelled (or, Fun With Subtitles!)

So THAT’S How It’s Spelled (or, Fun With Subtitles!)

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If you don’t watch movies or TV shows with the closed captioning or subtitles on, you are missing out. Well, sort of. Let me explain. Captions/subtitles aren’t just beneficial for the hearing impaired or hard of hearing. After all, foreign films without subtitles would be… well, a lot more foreign. (Also, the people who can read might find them handy.) But I have discovered another use for captions and subtitles that will give movie fans back their lives. Sorry, not that they didn’t have lives before. But you know all that boring stuff in movies you don’t have the patience for? You can turn on the subtitles and scan through all that crap. And provided you can read the subtitles as you fast-forward, you can still get the gist of what’s going on without having to suffer through stuff like the opening credits, music video montages, and whole entire romantic comedies. Subtitles are also a huge time-saver for scrolling through mediocre to crappy movies you’ve just lost interest in, but

Funny Flea Market Finds: Episode One

Funny Flea Market Finds: Episode One

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For some, Love is their drug. For others, drugs are their drug. For me, it’s flea markets. They’re addictive — once you’ve experienced one, you feel the need to visit regularly or else you might miss some junk you don’t need that you wouldn’t have found otherwise. I love the discount deals on household items and the occasional rare score of a vintage geek collectible for a great price. But what I love most about flea markets is the amusement to be found in odd and unusual knock-off and/or bootleg products, particularly cheaply-made imports with their crudely designed artwork, garishly colored packaging, and “Engrish” product descriptions. There are whole websites devoted to the showcasing and collecting of these products (hereafter referred to as “KOs”). But I just photograph them for others’ amusement. First up is this knock-off toy based on Pixar’s Cars movie franchise, with its creepy, ventriloquist dummy-type bulging eyes. (Note the packaging says “Funny Car” and unintentionally so.) You have to give the designer some credit for the