Can't believe it was that long ago. Back when HBO was worth watching. The series lasted only one season for various reasons. I'm glad a bunch of the episodes are still up on You Tube. This one in particular was obviously influenced by Blade Runner. And Brando.
Can't believe it was that long ago. Back when HBO was worth watching. The series lasted only one season for various reasons. I'm glad a bunch of the episodes are still up on You Tube. This one in particular was obviously influenced by Blade Runner. And Brando.
Can't believe it was that long ago. Back when HBO was worth watching. The series lasted only one season for various reasons. I'm glad a bunch of the episodes are still up on You Tube. This one in particular was obviously influenced by Blade Runner. And Brando.
Never heard of this series. I like the animation and will enjoy watching whats available on YT. Thanks!
You're Welcome.
Hope you enjoy the episodes. As I recall HBO always used to bury this series on their late night schedule because that is the only time I ever saw it. It deserved a better fate.
I have a fondness for the George Lucas produced animated cut paper (or 'Lumage") film TWICE UPON A TIME, directed by John Korty. (Of course, I have a fondness for the more salty PG-rated version as that's the cut I first saw on HBO back in the 80's.)
I have a fondness for the George Lucas produced animated cut paper (or 'Lumage") film TWICE UPON A TIME, directed by John Korty. (Of course, I have a fondness for the more salty PG-rated version as that's the cut I first saw on HBO back in the 80's.)
Sorry for the late reply, forgot to respond at the time. Yes, I remember this release. Very strange movie! Not a project I would've expected from George. I suspect he wasn't really involved with the film other than as a financial backer. It was certainly creative.
Unknowingly to me several more "classic" anime's came out on DVD within the last couple of years. I've posted YouTube clips of both previously in this thread.
Wow! This was on pay cable a lot in the 80's. I can't believe this finally received an official release in the US. Very obscure anime. All I could find was a terrible copy in (I think) French on YT.
Thunderbirds 2086- I was trying to remember the name of an 80's anime series inspired by The Thunderbirds. I found it and it was actually called "Thunderbirds 2086" for the English market!
Most animation aficionados are aware of the first full-length animated feature film of the Fleischer Brothers (Max and Dave)--GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, released in 1939. Fewer are aware of the brothers' second and last animated feature--MR. BUG GOES TO TOWN.
Max Fleischer wanted to do a feature film based on Maurice Maeterlinck's "The Life of the Bee." Unable to get the film rights, he devised an original story along the same lines, making this the first animated feature not adapted from a work of literature. It was also the first one to take place in contemporary times, rather than "long ago and far away."
The production of the film precipitated the rift between Max Fleischer and his brother, Dave, a rift that was never resolved. One reason for this rift was that Dave wanted to write the musical score for MR. BUG, which Max refused. Most of the songs for the film were written by Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser.
The film's main titles are shown over what seems to be a 3-dimensional background because it is. The Fleischer Studio pioneered the idea of building models and filming them rather than drawing background plates. The opening credits shot, which begins in space and moves down to New York City, was accomplished with a miniature set of the city. The set took four months to construct, and consisted of over 16,000 miniature panes of glass set in wood and plastic models of buildings.
Paramount billed the 1941 film as the "First Full-Length Musical Comedy Cartoon." I don't know what they considered SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937) or PINOCCHIO (1940) to be.
Much of the movie's financial failure is blamed on the fact that it was released on 9 December 1941, only two days after Pearl Harbor was bombed. As a result of the box-office failure of the film, Paramount fired Max and Dave Fleischer and took over their studio, renaming it Famous Studios.
The film was re-issued in 1959, under the title HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN, by NTA, who had purchased most of the Fleischer Brothers' library from Paramount. Most television showings have been under that title, including the several that I saw when I was young.
Ironically, one reason that GULLIVER'S TRAVELS is the more well-known of the Fleischer's features is because it fell into the public domain when NTA failed to renew its copyright in 1967. Thus, there have been innumerable video versions available. But MR. BUG GOES TO TOWN has remained under copyright and has had only a few video incarnations. After VHS and laserdisc releases as HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN, a 2008 DVD release by Legend Films was under yet another title--BUGVILLE--probably to coast on the popularity of the 1998 Pixar film A BUG'S LIFE. But earlier this year, Reel Vault released a DVD that reverted to the HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN title.
Mighty Orbots Pt1- Re-posting "Mighty Orbots" because I just finished watching all 13 episodes. It was an American Saturday morning cartoon series co-produced and animated in Japan. Like any other Saturday morning cartoon it had generic story lines. An intergalactic bad guy sets out a plan to destroy our heroes and take over the Earth. There was nothing in the way of character development. Stories were all interchangeable.
The series was short lived and reportedly canceled when the creators of Go-Bots took them to court claiming "Mighty Orbots" was to similar to their own animated series.
"Mighty Orbots" stands out from any other Saturday morning cartoon series for two reasons. First the animation was very fluid for a television series. Each character even appeared to have their own walk cycle, a character element developed at Disney Studios. As seen in the intro.
Second while the series was generic in nature and even abruptly canceled they still manged to wrap up the series by destroying the villains home world and killing their leader himself. Makes for a very satisfying ending.
I just recently discovered animator Skip Jones worked on "Mighty Orbots". He worked with Don Bluth on Banjo, NIMH, An American Tail and other American animated productions like the Chipmunk Adventure.
Mighty Orbots Pt2- Here's the original un-aired "pilot" originally called "Broots". The character designs were changed for the final production. Some of the music in this pilot (or demo?) is from another Japanese animated series called "Orguss". Sadly this pilot is not included on the DVD set from Warners.
Riding Bean- This was a one off OVA (Original Video Animation) from Japan. Pretty legendary among 90's American anime fans as it was quickly imported into the US when the anime boom was just starting within the states.
During this time Japanese creators were taking inspirations from 80's American cinema and actors. The title character and story were inspired by Sylvester Stallone and his films.
This isn't for the faint of heart. Lots of graphic violence, gratuitous nudity and questionable actions by a minor character. I prefer subtitles over dubs but all I could find was a dub version.
You'll have to fix your link. I was able to find the video by going to YT. Animation wise I think the line art is very interesting. Very much in the style of brush strokes which was the typical style of black and white cartooning back then.
If you have an all-region blu-ray player, the French deluxe edition of this film is fantastic -- includes a CD Soundtrack -- and features the film as completed 30 years after its initial release by a stellar roster of animators.
The section of the film in which two youngsters are pursued through an underground city by a malicious giant robot was permanently imprinted on my young imagination when I first saw it as a kid at a Saturday afternoon matinee.
Gets high marks for ingenuity, and the premise alone. This is a Japanese animated 3D movie. (really a short clocking in at 22mins)
But there's no cats. The title is the code name of the operatives. Instead we have cute bunnies in a middle eastern urban warfare rescue mission. Camels are the terrorists. Uses every possible trope in the genre. Very violent but surprisingly sparse on blood, guts.
Stop-motion animated version of the fairy tale based primarily on the Humperdinck opera. Unfortunately, the quality of the video is not the best it could be.
