Who's Voicing Who On Marvel's "The Super Hero Squad Show"

Here is a list of famous faces lending their voices to the new Marvel "Super Hero Squad Show" (debuting today on the Cartoon Network, see end of post for show times and dates). Me and the BF discuss voicework for these superhero-type cartoons a lot, 'cause that's what we do.
Thus the geekiness ensueth:

Shawn Ashmore as Iceman
geek cred: That's the guy who played Iceman in the movies!





















LeVar Burton as War Machine
geek cred: That's LeVar Burton!




















Tricia Helfer as The Black Cat
geek cred: That's Tricia Helfer!





















Mark Hamill as The Red Skull
geek cred: that's the guy who played The Joker playing like another villain and stuff!





















Kevin Sorbo as Ka-Zar
geek cred: that's the guy who played Hercules playing another guy who's sort of like Hercules with the long hair and stuff!





















Adrian Pasdar as Hawkeye
geek cred: that's the guy from Heroes playing Hawkeye and stuff!





















Tamera Mowry as Misty Knight
geek cred: that's one of those cute twins from that show a while back!





















Robert Englund as Dormammu
geek cred: that's another guy who plays lots of bad guys playing another bad guy!





















James Marsters as Mr. Fantastic
geek cred: that's just really hot!





















Ray Stevenson as The Punisher
geek cred: that's the guy who played the Punisher in the movies no not Thomas Jane the other one!




















Michelle Trachtenberg as Valkyrie
geek cred: that's Dawn from Buffy all grown up!

















...and George Takei as Galactus
geek cred: 'Nuff said.




















9/14/09 Sneak Premiere (Episodes 1 & 2) - 7PM

9/16/09 Sneak Premiere (Episodes 1 & 2) - 7AM

9/18/09 Sneak Premiere (Episodes 1 & 2) - 3PM

9/19/09 Premiere (Episodes 1 & 2) - 8:30AM

9/26/09 - (Episode 3) - 8:30AM

10/3/09 - (Episode 4) - 8:30AM

10/10/09 - (Episode 5) - 8:30AM

10/17/09 - (Episode 6) - 8:30AM

Have Family Guy, Simpsons, South Park Jumped the Shark?

Oh, I know I've broached this subject before, but after watching three straight new episodes of South Park, Simpsons and Family Guy I have to ask this again. Have these shows finally jumped the shark? Have they already jumped the shark? Is this just a bad season? Are they paying the writers enough?

These episodes -- and I include the new "Treehouse of Horror" in this -- just left me flat.

First, we have the SP episode where the gang become Peruvian flute players. The only bright moment in this was Craig, the Boring Boy. But even with Craig, it felt like he was just being set up as the new "character" that everyone is supposed to repeat catch phrases from. From the stream-of-consciousness plot with the Gitmo references that seem like they've been done a dozen times before on the show, to the killer guinea pigs, to calling Craig a "dick" at the end of the episode. It felt stale, and the stream-of-consciousness plot seemed something more like what SP criticizes Family Guy for.


Onto yesterday's "Treehouse of Horror." Eh. When the funniest moment is the very fact that they actually did a Peanuts parody (not even the content of the parody itself), something's wrong. The election-booth sketch was too obvious, and strangely ultra-topical for a Simpsons epi. I can't even remember the sketch after that one; that's how good it was. The "Advertising Assassin" segment was horrible. And while I appreciated the water-color backgrounds on the "Great Pumpkin" story, Robot Chicken did this one 100% better.

Last, we have Family Guy's "Home Alone" episode, where Stewie is accidentally left behind while the rest of the gang go on vacation. What a weak installment! And I love Family Guy. I must have laughed four times, and two of those times involved poo or vomit (on the screen, not me). Peter's usual cutaway nonsequiturs were especially unfunny. What's going on, guys?




Is it just that these shows have been on too long?

That said, I've also realized why it has taken me longer to get into King of the Hill, American Dad, and Futurama. They actually have plots. King of the Hill is actually like the "New Yorker" of prime-time cartoons. It's actually deep. I actually have to pace myself watching that show. Hank Hill's stoic face is like that of a Buddha carved on a hillside. The next morning I'm huddled around my coffee still trying to parse the latest episode out.


That said, anyone watching Mad Men? That show is fucking awesome.

Watch on Hulu:
Treehouse of Horror 19
Family Guy, "Baby Not On Board"
King Of the Hill "Lost in My Space"

Watch on the South Park site:
"Pandemic 2: The Startling"

Cartoon Network Targets Boys (Because Girls Don't Watch Cartoons)

Cartoon Network's "Ben 10" has a strong female character
-- why wouldn't girls want to watch this?

So this Variety article discusses Cartoon Network's new game plan: target young male viewers:

"Turner Animation prexy Stu Snyder and Rob Sorcher, Cartoon's recently hired chief content officer, have set their sights on male teens and tweens in their sweeping overhaul of the cabler.

They're hoping to stanch the flow of young viewers leaving the network for Disney and Nick, but they're also trying to rebuild the net as "the home for boys," in Snyder's words (though he quickly adds that he hopes the female aud sticks around for shows like Cartoon's new comedy "Chowder")."

"We need a cartoon for girls."

"I know...CHOWDER!"

"Brilliant!"

Chowder: for girls because it has teh pink bunnehs

There are several things about Cartoon Network's strategy here that I'm going to respectfully quibble with.

First, the assumption that their "boy-targeted" shows like Clone Wars, Ben 10, and Batman are only enjoyed by boys. As far as I've been able to observe, these are shows with an appeal to both genders. These are shows that appeal to children who like fun.

Second, to be a cartoon cable network and mostly focus on male viewers -- which is the impression I'm getting from this article -- is kind of shortsighted. There is nothing inherent in animated television programming that suggests girls are attracted to it less than boys. This is, as far as I know, a genderless medium.

And even if you want to make the argument that little girls want more Barbie-type stuff and boys want more Batman-type stuff (I'm not saying this is true, but this might be the argument made by the marketing department) -- go make a Barbie cartoon! Go make a My Little Pony remake. Go make an American Girl CGI cartoon where it looks like the dolls themselves are animated.


These are just suggestions.

(with a hat tip to A Boy Named Art for the post idea)

The Kids WB Is RIP

Holy Shmokes!

I just read on The Beat that The CW is discontinuing their Kids WB programming.

From the Toon Zone article:

"The CW has announced it will be shutting down the Kids WB! Saturday morning programming block at the end of the current 2007 - 2008 season. Rival 4Kids Entertainment will handle programming and marketing of the block starting with the new season in September 2008. Some current Kids WB programs may continue to air after the changeover, but no decisions have been have yet."

And this from Variety:

"Warner Bros. TV Group prexy Bruce Rosenblum said the company examined the Saturday morning issue "closely with our partners at CBS," and ultimately decided leasing the space to 4Kids made the most business sense. For example, by farming out Saturday morning, the net believes it can focus more ad sales energy toward the online world."

The Variety article goes on to quote Rosenblum as saying that the WB will still produce cartoons for "cable, direct-to-DVD, broadband and wireless."

And all this just when I was really getting into "Legion of the Superheroes in the 31st Century!"

Damnit.

Has "Family Guy" Jumped The Shark?

I'm putting this out there to you because I'm a bit undecided.

Watched the much-hyped "Family Guy Star Wars Special" last night.

It was okay...but not great. The jokes were more hit-or-miss than in your usual Family Guy episode.

My favorite jokes were:

1) Moving the couch
2) Meg
3) R2D2 with the handgun
4) The "Robot Chicken" tirade at the end (bearing in mind that Chris is voiced by "RC" creator Seth Green)

Conversely, there were a bunch of jokes that just fell flat or I just didn't get. Also, it was a pretty paltry use of the enormous comedic talents of Stewie as Darth Vader. Rick Moranis did a much better job as Dark Helmet, in my opinion

I'm wondering how much is my disappointment stems from the fact that this seemed to be an episode written for hard-core "Star Wars" fans (me being a "soft core" fan). There were a lot of references to the sort of nitpicky flubs and details that such fans have always griped about -- which must have been as funny as hell to them, but which I just blink-blinked on.

It all brought me back to the general idea that even a funny show like "Family Guy" tends to jump the shark after a point, and I'm wonder if the Star Wars thing was it, or maybe it came before (like that Stewie DVD movie).

Disney Via David Lynch

Found these on Cartoon Brew. Strangely compelling, in an evil "Eraserhead" sort of way:





and, just to be topical:

"Justice League: New Frontier"
Cartoon Voice Line-Up
A Fanboy/girl's Wet Dream

Think of it:

Neil Patrick Harris as Flash

David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan. David $%@&%@ Boreanaz!

Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman.

Kyle Maclachlan as Superman.

and Brooke Shields as Carol Ferris.

Collective fan orgasm, Meg Ryan's beating the tabletop, it's all good.