"Make Mine Freedom" from 1948: Don't drink the Ism!

So help me, I'm going to show this cartoon from almost eighty years ago until I'm blue in the face, if that's what it takes to stop people from drinking Ism!

It was in 2009 when I first came across "Make Mine Freedom", a 1948 educational film produced by Harding College.  I was immediately struck by how prophetic this animated short was.  How it warned against the dangers of socialism.  "Ism" is a blight that corrupts and destroys everything that it touches.

Not for the first time, not for the last, there are people in this country trying to sell "Ism" to us.  But it is a bitter elixir that will do naught but poison us and rob us and our children of precious liberty.

America is not perfect.  It never has been.  It never will be.  We have made mistakes along the way, just as any other nation has.  But we as a people have done pretty good in owning up to that.  America does NOT need MORE government "fixing things" that we can do on our own.  In America there is equality of opportunity.  There is no guarantee of equality of outcome though, however.  But that is what today's supporters of "Ism" are trying to sell us, and all it results in is that much less freedom and prosperity.

Here is "Make Mine Freedom".  Remember: Don't drink the Ism!

Read More

The Berenstain Bears learn about sound economic policy

I knew it!  I just knew that I hadn't imagined this.  A cartoon from 37 years that I saw only once ago and I still remember it!

Around the mid-Eighties there was an animated series based on the beloved Berenstain Bears children's books.  The show ran on Saturday mornings on CBS.  It was pretty good as I seem to recall.  And often quite humorous.

Well, the other day one of the episodes sprang to mind as I was reading the news about the latest attempt to avoid a government shutdown.  It involved the Bear kiddies learning all about money.  How those little green pieces of paper don't have value on their own.  Instead they must be backed up by something with real tangible worth.  In the bears' world this happens to be the purest honey in existence.  Without that backing, as the kids' father puts it there would be total chaos.

In other words: fiat currency is a very terrible thing for a society to have.

This is wise economics from a nearly forty year old animated cartoon made for youngsters.  Even a child can understand the enormity of it.

If only more people had grasped the concept.  This country would not be headed toward the disaster it is hellbent on achieving.  It is indeed chaos and there is not going to be any avoiding it.

Here is the episode: "Raid On Fort Grizzly".  Well worth watching.

Read More

"Zathras warn": The trailer for BABYLON 5: THE ROAD HOME

It was released earlier today.  I've watched this trailer for Babylon 5: The Road Home at least five times now... and I am stoked.  It looks beautiful.  And it seems that they've done an excellent job at casting the voice actors for the characters whose original portrayers have "gone beyond the Rim" over the years.

(I'm hoping that we get at least one look inside Garibaldi's quarters aboard Babylon 5.  Just to see if the painting of Daffy Duck is still there.)

Anyhoo... enjoy!

Babylon 5: The Road Home hits digital download, 4K, and Blu-ray on August 15th, 2023.

Read More

"Faith manages": Babylon 5 returning with animated movie!

I'm feeling some geeky gears in my gray matter starting to rotate like they haven't in a VERY long time.

Babylon 5 - the single greatest television series that the Nineties ever spawned - is coming back as an animated film.

The show's creator J. Michael Straczynski unloaded the news on Twitter earlier this afternoon.  More details are coming soon, including the movie's title and release date.

I cannot emphasize enough how stoked I am about this.  Babylon 5 was like an extra few years of education on top of what I got in college.  The five-season story about that miles-long space station all alone in the night, the "last best hope for peace" in a galaxy rife with plotting and intrigue, shattered the ceiling both as a broadcast series and for what the medium was capable of giving viewers.  Had it not been for Babylon 5 paving the way, there may have never been a rebooted Battlestar Galactica, or Lost.  Or The Walking Dead for that matter, along with an armful of other shows.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes.  One thing that popped into mind: wouldn't it be really sweet if we saw an animated Garibaldi watching Daffy Duck cartoons?  That would be soooo meta.

If this show has always been just off your radar screen and you want to "get a feel" for it, I wracked my brain trying to think of a clip from the show to put in this post, just a little iota of what it's about.  Someone on Facebook found one and it's perfect.  From the third season episode "Passing Through Gethsemane", Brad Dourif as Brother Edward, telling Delenn (the late Mira Furlan) and Lennier (Bill Mumy) about the last night that Christ spent before His death:

 

Yes, a science-fiction series that is respectful toward the concept of religion.  Just one of many such moments that Babylon 5 came to be renowned for.

This would be something that would compel me to get HBO Max, just to watch this.  I've always loved this show, its universe and this amazing cast of characters.  Ever since first reading about it in Starlog several months before it premiered in the winter of 1993, I've been enchanted by what this series was attempting.  And it pulled it off beautifully.

And now, more is coming.  Thing I'll celebrate by making some bagna cauda.  Hey, it's easier to find than Zima...

 

Read More

Lenten Blogging 2022: Day 24

What a week!  I was so pooped last night that I couldn't watch the Duke/Texas Tech game (GO DUKE!).  Your friend and humble narrator has transported four clients, made five drug runs (what I call getting medication to patients) and did all kinds of other stuff in the past several days.  Now it's the weekend.  Time for lots of playtime with Tammy and doing some minor tasks around the house.

But that's not much of an entry for "blogging during Lent".  I thought that since it's Friday, time for a little fun...

This spring is the fortieth (?!?) anniversary of G.I. Joe: that much beloved toy line from the Eighties.  Not just toys, but also the comic series (which was quite a serious read) and the animated series.  Lately Hasbro has been posting full episodes of G.I. Joe on YouTube and I've been relishing these little visits back to my childhood.

The other day they posted "The Invaders" and I thought this would be a good one to share.  Recall, that this episode premiered in 1985.  There was a LOT of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in those days, and it was reflected in much of the media.  Including but not limited to children's animated series.  So in this episode the American G.I. Joe team crosses paths with their Soviet counterparts the Oktober Guard.  And if it wasn't for having a shared enemy the two teams would have totally been at each others' throats!

So lets revisit not just an animated classic but a longstanding mindset.  Here is "The Invaders":

Read More

Lenten Blogging 2022: Day 23

 I've posted this cartoon before at least once.  And I think it's way past time that we watch it again.  This is from 1948 and if we had only heeded its wisdom all along.

But, I like to think that it's not too late to say "NO!" to "ism".

Courtesy of Harding College and in glorious Technicolor(tm), here is "Make Mine Freedom":

Read More

STAR WARS: TIE FIGHTER anime-style short will leave you lusting for more

If Disney was really smart, they would hire this guy to make a bunch of traditional-animated films like this!

There was a shorter version that Paul Johnson released a few years ago, but this is the full-fledged vision: Star Wars: TIE Fighter.  And it is breathtaking.  I dare say that I speak for a lot of fans out there when I say that this... THIS... is what we want to see.  And see more of.

Here it is:

For all the wonder of CGI-animation, the traditional 2D style has more... I dunno... "character"? "Emotion"? How about "heart"? And that's what this video has in spades. This is as much of a Star Wars story as the live-action films, in my opinion. And it's one that I would gladly pay to see more of at the box office.

Read More

Classic SESAME STREET: "Ladybugs' Picnic"

It's been some time since I posted any classic Sesame Street material.  Need to get better about that.

Well anyway, here from 1971 or so it's the very timeless "Ladybugs' Picnic"!



Few items of interest about this clip. Firstly, that's legendary muppeteer Jerry Nelson singing, with fellow muppet operator Richard Hunt playing the kazoo.

And it's also worth noting that this was animated by Bud Luckey, who is currently an animator at Pixar. Just think: this cartoon is from a guy who went on to work on stuff like Toy Story, WALL-E and a bunch of other Disney/Pixar movies.

This song was always memorable to me for some reason.  At one point it was seriously stuck in my head.  So now I'm showing it to you guys so that you can share my, errr... enjoyment :-)

Read More

Look at what I just found!

It's The Weird Spinning Head of Chris Knight!

That's from 1998.  It was on my personal websites for a long time. "Weird" Ed helped me make it: he snapped the photos with a film camera while I sat in his office chair and rotated around to get the various angles. Then after getting the pics developed I scanned 'em and then put them together with GIF Construction Set.

sigh...  Those were the days.

Have spent most of the day working on my book.  Chapter 23 took several huge steps forward this evening.  I wound up taking a break and came across that GIF.  Was bored and figured I'd post it for a few cheap laughs :-P

Read More

THE TICK's very special Christmas episode!

I will go to my grave believing that the Nineties gave us the best television animated series that have ever been produced.  Think about it: Tiny Toons, Gargoyles, X-Men... and of course Batman: The Animated Series, a show that forever raised the bar and redefined what cartoons were capable of.

But of all those shows and more, it's The Tick that holds the most special place in my heart from that era.

Based on Ben Edlund's underground comic book, The Tick premiered in 1994, ran for three seasons and stunned everyone with its unique style of superhero parody and screwball comedy.  The Tick was the one show I made a point to always watch on Saturday mornings (even if I worked late the previous night and was low on sleep).  It was such a big influence on me that when I finally got Internet access for the first time, the very first screen name I used was "The Man Eating Cow".

Anyway a lot of shows - including the animated ones - put on a Christmas-themed episode, and The Tick was no exception.  Of course, the one we got wasn't like those of other series.  So far as holiday episodes go, the only one that remotely approaches The Tick's entry is the "Turkeys Away" episode of W.K.R.P in Cincinnati.  It's just too whacked for words to adequately convey.

So without further ado, here from December 1995 is Tick fighting Multiple Santa in... "The Tick Loves Santa!":


"Ho Ho Ho, make them work! Ho Ho Ho, make them work!"

They just can't make humor like that anymore.

Read More

Hey Hey Hey! It's the profanity-strewn prison rape episode of FAT ALBERT!

A few weeks ago I came across a religious broadcasting station that runs episodes of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids on weekday afternoons.  I'd forgotten how awesome this show was!  My DVR has been set accordingly, so I can once again watch the wacky adventures of Fat Albert and his gang during the evenings or whenever.

From the show's start, its creator/producer/narrator Bill Cosby intended for the series to teach and enlighten as much as it entertained (it eventually became the basis of Cosby's doctorate in education).  As the show progressed, Cosby and his staff began to take on bolder issues, such as racism and guns (interestingly, that particular episode did not condemn firearms entirely, it just cautioned young people to be extremely careful with them).

So it was 1984 and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was finally winding down after being on Saturday morning television for twelve years.  And the Cos' decided that at long last it was time to unload a "scared straight" story at the kiddies.  Many other shows enjoyed by children were also doing "very special episodes" (I still cringe whenever I think of "Gordon Jump as the pervert bike shop owner" on Diff'rent Strokes... come to think of it, most of the Diff'rent Strokes episodes were like that.  Being "very special", not Dudley and the pervert bike store owner I mean).  Anyway...

"Busted" would be unusual if it had been produced today, but in the mid-Eighties it was way more daring.  In a departure from the norm, Bill Cosby began the show warning viewers that this episode would have foul language (like "bastard", "damn" and "hell") but it had to be that way to be as accurate as possible.  What Bill didn't tell us about is that we would soon be witnessing Fat Albert and his friends being oggled with lustful eyes by hardened felons!  No other episode to the best of my recollection ever had Fat Albert jumping scared into Dumb Donald's arms.  Or had poor little Russell (my favorite character of the entire show) being asked if he wants "a candy bar".

The language has been toned down from its original airing, but everything else is as disturbing as ever.  From 1984 here are Fat Albert, Rudy, Bill, Russell, Bucky, Dumb Donald, Weird Harold and Mushmouth in "Busted"...



That would frighten anybody into doing whatever they possibly could to avoid going to the big house!

Unfortunately, twelve years later would see the publication of Alex Ross' and Mark Waid's classic graphic novel Kingdom Come.  And in its very first pages we find Fat Albert and his pals shooting down some civilians on the streets of Gotham City, just before getting arrested by Batman's patrol droids.

(Looks like "scared straight" didn't work, huh.  One can only assume that Rudy wound up learning the hard way to watch himself in the shower...)

Read More

Yes, it can really be like this...

Bipolar Bear, whose entire appearance in the animated series The Tick was for a whopping 8 seconds (series premiere The Tick vs. The Idea Men, 1994):

Heh-heh, love it! I've thought since the beginning that The Tick was one of the most intelligent, cerebral and funny shows to ever come out of animation. Nothing of the past decade and a half comes even close. The Nineties seriously was the height of the animated series as an art form and The Tick embodies everything that was good and pure about that era.

Speaking of bipolar disorder, I currently have three new pieces for Being Bipolar on the burner... and I can't figure out which one to run with next. Recent events complicated matters in terms of issue appropriateness, if anyone's curious. I'm hoping to have a new one up real soon.

And no, I don't mind laughing about my own mental illness. Not at all. When you're in a spot like me, you have to. But even so, I'm thankful for The Tick to have made it funny as only it could :-)

Read More

Dear Disney:

Please hire this guy...

Read More

This is the greatest Star Wars thing I've seen in YEARS

A seriously talented dude on YouTube with the username "otaking77077" has created what is by every possible measure the most astounding work of Star Wars art that has been produced in a very, very long time. Fellow YouTuber "JPL4185" added some music and sound effects from pre-existing sources. But it's the animation that will drop your jaw and have you begging for more...

Mr. George Lucas, THIS is the Star Wars that we the fans desperately want to see!! No more of that CGI stuff. otaking7077 has taken Star Wars and animated it in the style of Robotech and it is in this blogger's opinion the purest Star Wars sequence that I have seen since... dare I say it... the original trilogy. I especially loved the details inside the TIE Fighters that were liberally taken from the LucasArts X-Wing computer game series.

You know what watching this makes me feel like? What it was to be a Star Wars fan in the early to mid Nineties. That magical, mystical time after Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire reignited our love for the saga. That near-decade before the prequel trilogy when all we had were the novels and the comics and each other across the Internet. It was the Golden Age of Star Wars fandom and this animated work by otaking77077 took me totally back to that.

THIS is what Star Wars once was, and what Star Wars could be again.

And in a sane world, this dude will get hired by Lucasfilm immediately so he can give us a traditional animated Star Wars epic. Make this a television series, and the ratings would shatter the roof.

Read More

Walt Disney presents... "The Story of Menstruation"

This video turned up on my YouTube front page this afternoon. Why, I've no idea whatsoever, apart from wondering if Google/YouTube is aware of my fondness for old animation. Especially old animation that isn't shown anymore for various reasons.

From 1946, here is the ten-minute long "The Story of Menstruation", produced by Walt Disney ("through the courtesy of Kotex Products")...

Read More

For everyone caught up in the Chick-fil-A controversy...

...here is a cautionary tale from 1987. Written by none other than legendary screen and comics scribe J. Michael Straczynski, it's The Real Ghostbusters episode "Chicken, He Clucked"!

Read More

I need to laugh. Heck, we ALL need to laugh...

Trying to move forward on some things, after the events of the past few weeks. Our family is still dealing with Mom's passing, and all of the matters pertaining to that.

I'm gonna try to resume blogging in earnest during the next few days, 'cuz a lot of y'all have been sending some really nice compliments and condolences, and apparently this lil' site is a pleasurable pastime for more people than I had realized. That means more than I can possibly convey. So for sake of this site's regular readers as much as my own, I need to get back into the swing of things.

I can share the news that my first real film project in quite a long time is in the very early stages right now. It's something that Kristen and I had the idea for together so we're writing it together! Lord willing we'll start shooting it in the spring. The hard part is finding the right props, though I'm pretty sure the cigarettes and sweaters will be easy to score...

Okay well, we could all probably use a good chuckle, and I know I could. So here's something that I've always found hysterically funny for some reason or another. From 1941 it's Tex Avery's last black and white animated short: "Porky's Preview"!

Read More

"Hold still, dumb-ass!" It's the first new BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD since November 28th 1997!

I choose to take this as a sign that there is hope yet for our culture.

At Comic-Con 2011 going on this weekend in San Diego, Mike Judge announced that Beavis and Butt-head - one of the most classic and beloved shows of the Nineties - is coming back with new episodes this fall!

'Course, things have changed for MTV since the boys last graced (?) that network with their presence in the autumn of 1997. For one thing, MTV doesn't do the music videos thing like they did back in the day. Based on the following clip, looks like Beavis and Butt-head are gonna now be ragging on things like reality television and such.

So look! New Beavis and Butt-head footage!

Looks fresh as ever! Now I'll just have to clear some space on my DVR for when the show begins running :-)

Read More

"Twenty-one dollars a day, once a month!"

Alright, sure. Why not? :-)

So I'd been working on something for Memorial Day, for a huge chunk of this past weekend and late into last night and several drafts later, the finished product was nothing like what I had originally envisioned.

And that's perfectly fine. The other things that had been on my heart to convey, those can wait for another day. But I gotta tell y'all: I was really looking forward to closing it out with something decidedly upbeat.

So it didn't make it into the Memorial Day tribute proper. That's fine. I still think this is well worth sharing for... well, lots of reasons! It's a catchy lil' ditty that'll no doubt be stuck in your head the rest of the night! It's a classic cartoon from Walter Lantz Studios (look for cameo appearances by one or two famous characters).

And then there is the sheer weight of its theatrical release date: December 6th, 1941.

Think about that for a moment. This cartoon premiered on the very last day of true American innocence. While audiences were first enjoying this cartoon, the navy of the Empire of Japan was steaming across the Pacific toward Pearl Harbor and the date of infamy.

In every way possible that I can imagine, what you're about to see is a historical document of amazing import. It's like one final glimpse of the America that we once were and haven't been since.

Okay, 'nuff from me. Without further ado, here is... "$21 a Day (Once a Month)"!

Read More

The teaser and first posters for THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: SECRET OF THE UNICORN!

As of this writing I'm in the midst of an emergency that has me... well, occupied, to put it mildly. Can't say enough how thankful my family is for the thoughts and prayers that a lot of people have been sending. And that's all I should say for the time being.

But I've a dire need to post something upbeat. And all two of my readers (okay there's more than that, and this blogger appreciates every one of you who takes time to read The Knight Shift on a regular basis :-) deserve something uber-kewl to tide y'all over until I get back to regular postin'.

So let me preface this by saying thusly, that you heard it here first: this movie will make a billion dollars at the box office. At least.

It was the summer of 1993, during my crazy two-week visit to a good friend in Belgium, that I was introduced to The Adventures of Tintin. And in spite of the sad lack of availability of the Tintin comics on this side of the pond, I most certainly consider myself to be a fan of Tintin: the intrepid young investigative journalist who along with faithful canine sidekick Snowy, has a lot of neat... ummmmmm... well, adventures :-) Tintin is a huge phenomenon all around the world but not in America. Not yet...

I told my friend Bennie in '93 that Tintin would make an awesome movie. I've been waiting for that to happen ever since.

Well, coming this Christmas to movie theaters everywhere, it's The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. Directed by... Steven Spielberg (it's his first time ever directing a CGI film)! Produced by... Peter Jackson! The screenplay by... Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish! Orchestral score by... John Williams! Starring... Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Cary Elwes, and Daniel Craig! Among many others!

Holy Toledo. Just seeing Spielberg's and Jackson's and Williams' and Moffat's (currently the showrunner of Doctor Who) together like that alone gives me geek cardiac infarction.

Well a few days ago the international and U.S. teaser posters were released. Here's the international poster and courtesy of Ain't It Cool News the site that got it first, here's the AWESOME domestic poster for The Adventures of Tintin...

Click on it to drastically embiggenize.

That is... totally Tintin and Snowy. The darkness and ambiance of this image, is spot-on the world of Tintin.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!! Now behold the first teaser trailer that got released yesterday. Is this not the most GLORIOUS computer-generated animated EVER or what?!?

Can not, can not, CAN NOT wait until Christmas! This is going to be epic on a generational scale.

Okay, that should satisfy y'all until I can get back good 'n proper in the next few days :-)

Read More