kingandy | (no subject)

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How evil are you?

Just had to tear myself away from Fox Kids in order to check email and take stupid quizzes before I go to bed. This was not as easy as it sounds - apparently they have taken to showing THE BEST SHOWS IN THE WORLD after 10pm. Mask, Ulysses 31, Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors. SO COOL.

Also I find myself interested in trying to catch the newest incarnation of the Power Rangers - Ninja Storm. Not only are they colour-coded ninjas, being trained by a diminutive hampster, but the fight scenes look to be of reasonably high quality (bullet time!) and the dialogue looks to be hamfisted sub-Buffy nonsense. (Power Ranger: "Uh - hello? One of you, lots of us." Evil: "Oh, please!")Should be good for a giggle, if nothing else.

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Ulysees 31. Beautiful program. Shown on BBC around the same time as the excellent "Cities of Gold" and "Mysterious Cities of Gold." A rush-home-from-school program of my youth, so it was. As a young nerd, identifiying which bit of Greek mythology would be covered this episode was fun, and it had some loverly action sequences, and some tragic bits (the women who kept falling for Ulysees and being horribly destroyed, like Circe and Callisto). I have the vague fear that if I saw it again I wouldn't be impressed.

Oh yes, and it had a beginning and an end, which was (and is) quite rare for a kids program. If I remember correctly, wasn't Jace and the Wheeled Warriors written by J. Michael Straczynsci? I remember it had a "story arc" and everything, for all that it never really seemed to go anywhere.

You probably wouldn't be impressed, the dialogue is trite (upon hearing that the Cyclops kidnaps children and devours their energy, Telemachus brilliantly comes to the conclusion "I don't like it!") and the animation is weak. Except when there are energy blasts involved. Then they pull out all the stops with traditional Eastern flair. I always liked that about anime.

Fun fact: I spotted from the credits that the English translation of the program (it was apparently a French programme, animated by a Japanese or possibly Korean animation house) was courtesy of Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, who later brought us the Power Rangers.

As I recall, JMS wrote about 14 episodes of Jayce (and the series bible for The Real Ghostbusters, as well as a substantial run on Murder, She Wrote). It had an opening episode, but I think you're right that it never wound its way to a conclusion. It wasn't so much a story arc as an ongoing quest; they would occasionally appear to get a step closer to finding Jayce's father but it would inevitably turn out to be a false lead, or a clone, or something. I'm not sure how much continuity there was between episodes, either - I don't recall them using elements from or referring to past episodes very much. As toy tie-ins go, Jayce was something of a triumph - the original toy line ("Wheeled Warriors" - never really released over here) was just the vehicles, all the characters and plot were developed purely for the series.

Ah, the IMDB doesn't list any individual episodes for his work on Jayce, so maybe he did write it all...

Ulysses 31 is one of those rare gems where you can fondly remember how brilliant it was, but that you know would crush you under its crapness if you saw it now. Especially that bloody robot Nono.

Oh.. hang on... thats most cartoons like that.

Did Dungeons & Dragons ever resove itself?

No, nobody told them they weren't getting another season so they didn't have a chance. I think I read an interview once.

Kell was swearing blind to me over xmas that he has seen the last episode. Although without the swearing as hes only 6.
Do you know how many seasons they actually made?

Apparently three, with a varying number of episodes ... while there is a "last episode", it's not one that really resolves anything.

While we're on the subject ...

You are Diana the Acrobat. You are very agile and down to earth, practical. You have a magical quarterstaff that can expand or contract at
your will.

Which Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

This was something of a surprise as I did not pick a single "I am leader" answer (because I wouldn't want to lead - I'm an independent follower type at heart) and I choose melee weapons and bashing stuff as my battle tactics:

You are Hank the Ranger, leader of the group. You
have a nifty magic bow.

(http://quizilla.com/users/Betelgeuse/quizzes/Which%20Dungeons%20and%20Dragons%20Cartoon%20Character%20Are%20You%3F/)

Of course, it does mean your my biitch Andy! See you later.

You are Venger, the Force of Evil. You have tons of
magic powers, ravening hordes of minions, and a
different Dark Tower in every corner of the
Realm. Life is good.

Which Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Excellent - I'm the gayest villain since the lipstick bloke off Battle Of The Planets

That's funny, I thought your ambitions were to blast entire towns to dust.

I too was drawn to the TV the other day to see that Mask, Ulysses 31 and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors were playing. I sat to to enjoy but soon realised that the only good thing about Mask was the credits. I wandered away but returned for Ulysses and Jayce. Ulysses 31is great. The animation may not be today's standards, the dialogue is poor and the plots are resolved in inexplicable, overly-convenient ways but some of the re-interpretation of Greek Myth into futuristic space-fantasy in really quite good. I actually don't find Nono irritating either; he's kinda cute in a really crap way.
I enjoyed Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors too. The wizard in it is far more impressive than Gandalf in LOTR; he could do with a new tailor though.

Saw the first episode of U31 yesterday. Did you know the whole thing is NoNo's fault? Oh, sure, it was Ulysses' idea to shoot the cyclops in the face, but it was that little robot that actually did the deed. And in retribution for that, the Odyssey was cursed to wander space...

See you tonight!

Which is why I like Nono - plot impetus. Without him (and those pesky kids), nothing much would happen because Ulysses is quite efficient.

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Not what I expected...

Woot!

Re: Woot!

Definitely cool

Re: Definitely cool

Re: Definitely cool