Sifl & Olly

The 90s was a great time for TV, especially for cartoons. During this time MTV jumped on the band wagon and made adult friendly animated shows. That was one of my favorite things about MTV. Majority of those shows were short lived and fell into obscurity. One particular show I watched religiously was the Sifl and Olly show. Although not being animated it still fit the bill for obscure experimental shows that aired on MTV. Sifl and Olly was a show hosted by 2 sock puppets, it contained random sketches of musical numbers, interviews with fictitious characters, home shopping spoofs, fictitious news among other things. All was done with sock puppets.The show was created by Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco, two musicians famous for the song "United States of Whatever" Majority of the sketches were recorded even before the show was thought of. They incorporated these early recordings into the show. The show ran from 1997-1999. It didn't do to well and aired late night. The show also featured popular music videos of time during episodes much like Beavis and Butthead would. Reruns omitted the music video segments although. Three seasons were made but only two aired, the third appeared on dvd but aren't easy to find today. 

The shows comedy was an acquired taste for most viewers, it was nonsensical at times and very random, With very psychedelic visuals. I was 12 when I watched this show so my mind set was just right for it. I'm sure the adult MTV demographic was not. The show is defiantly underrated and I hardly meet people who remember the show. MTV took very unique approaches with shows such as these and defiantly had a broader audience with the variety of programing compared to today. MTV did have a small revival of shows in this vein a couple years ago with Andy Milonakis, Wondershowzen, and crank yankers. Not to mention the Beavis and Butthead revival. But unfortunately are still short lived because of the over saturation of reality shows. But Without obscurity there wouldn't be blogs such as these.

Informative retro

To keep things more active im doing even more mini blogs! This one is about this old VHS I acquired free through a craigslist transaction last year. The VHS is entitled  How to score more points on nintendo games. Now the VHS format itself is becoming somewhat of a relic, but still recognizable and big part of the "retro" era. This VHS is pretty self explanatory with its title but I'll explain anyway. This is a 30 minute video going over several video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and teaching the viewer tips,tricks and tutorial on how to overcome certain levels. The video contains all the cheesy 80s visuals and dialogue that we all love. The tape was a nice addition to my retro collection.

                                heres the first part to the featured video

Which brings me to another issue. Back in the day kids had to rely on resources such as magazines,TV,books, video tapes, costly 1-900 hotlines (and even before that local newspaper and zines) if they wanted any kind of help on a video game or wanted to know the latest news. Today its easy to just go on the internet for anything you want. In my opinion this simplicity takes the flavor out of everything and will never have the same appeal and charm that a magazine,video or tv show did back then. Newer generations will unfortunately never know the feeling of walking into a video store and only relying on the front cover to make your selection. But the video store blog entry is for another time.

Nintendo power was one of the most oldest and popular magazines back then that gave you news on everything Nintendo.

     Shows like Video Power and Nick arcade are the earliest video game related TV back then

                                       

Nostalgia On DVD!

 Just a quick post this time around folks. This one about a underrated DVD and entertainment company called SHOUT! Factory. Founded in 2003 by some guy from rhino records, Shout! Factory distribute dvds and media for television series,movies, sports and live music. They are best known for their release of retro shows, primarily from the 80s and 90s. Rhino was already releasing some retro stuff but this new company takes the cake. Some noteworthy shows are Small Wonder, Super Mario Super show, Sonic The Hedgehog, Gem,Beast Wars, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Cat dog, Freaks and Geeks, Ghost Writer, Max Headroom,Reeboot,Gi Joe.Theres way too many to list but you get my drift. Check out the website for yourself at www.shoutfactory.com  This is a great opportunity for you folks to relive some shows and movies you grew up with or find something you might have missed. Not to mention open the door for a new generation to see what they missed. I believe without Shout! a lot of television & film from our childhood would of been lost,so my hats off to them for not allowing our pop culture to fall into the depths of obscurity.

Critical Hit!

Id like to talk about one more 80s nostalgic cartoon while it’s still fresh in my mind. The show was released in 1983 with 3 seasons spanning 27 episodes. That show of course is Dungeons and Dragons. Now I know what you’re thinking, isn’t Dungeons and Dragon a board game from the 70s? And isn’t Dungeons and Dragons not that obscure? Yes both are true but little people know about the animated series that spawned from the game.

First off the show is epic! (In its own right and at a certain POV) Now even though the show is based off the game it actually seems to stand alone. Most of the time when I was watching it, I forget it was based off the game. The show probably would have done just as good without the D&D name. The stories for each episode are great, the animation is good. The characters don’t come off too annoying. It’s campy; don’t get me wrong but campy in a good way. I actually enjoyed this show very much. There are enough main characters that have different attitudes, abilities, age groups and sensibility’s that a kid can choose to relate with. The show even gets intense and nail biting at times. That’s what cartoons of the 80s and 90s were all about, epic adventures, warriors, knights, good formulas and shows that just had balls.

Great artwork!

The shows basic premise is five friends are at a carnival and go onto a D&D based ride. The ride then transports them into a real life fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons. The kids are immediately thrown into danger and are magically given a “role” and magical weapon by a mysterious riddle spewing wizard named Dungeon master.

Main Characters of D&D: Diana, the Acrobat, Sheila, the Thief,Presto, the Magician,Bobby, the Barbarian,Eric, the Cavalier,Hank, the Ranger and Uni, the Unicorn

The plot of the show's episodes are pretty much the kids are trying to find a way home and the dungeon master appears mysteriously (most of the time) and gives the kids riddles on how to solve the problem they face in each episode.  The main antagonist is Venger, voiced by Peter Cullen, known for Optimus Prime. Venger (like all bad guys) wants to take over the land but first he needs all the weapons from the kids to do so. But of course the kids overcome him whenever they meet, Wash, rinse, repeat.

Dungeon Master

Venger!

Two episodes I can think of off the bat that where my favorites was "The Time Lost" Where a Nazi pilot makes it into their world, wants to turn over a new leaf and ends up helping to kids and returning to his own time reformed. The other is  "The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn" This episode was balls to the walls! Where the”implied” devil himself is released and everyone is drained of their powers. Everyone ends up being defeated and is saved seconds before death. One episode actually created controversy and was so intense that the National Coalition on Television Violence demanded that the FTC run a warning during each broadcast stating that it had been linked to real life violent deaths.

 

In closing I recommend you watch this show, it’s a great trip down memory lane. Definitely noteworthy enough to mention on this blog. I picked up the entire series cheap at Frys Electronics for 15 bucks.

The final episode was never made but a script and radio drama was made. Fans of the show have actually decided to make the episode a reality by animating it themselves.

Attention Flesh Slugs! Im back!

 

After much neglect im back in biz! Im as nerdy as ever and ready to educate!

I’d like to shed light on a show I just recently watched. That show is inhumanoids. Inhumanoids was released in 1986 and aired only thirteen episodes. The show was released by Hasbro, the same company that brought you the more popular Gi Joe and transformers. Much like those shows, inhumanoids main objective was for children to buy their toys.  (Which are pretty cool btw!) Inhumanoids started off as a movie what was cut up into 6 minute segments and aired on a show called “Super Sunday” which featured a slew of different animated shows in one half hour. After some popularity it actually became its own show, along with Jem and the Holograms. (Another show on super Sunday)

What can I say about inhumanoids? It’s an intense cluster fuck of nonstop action, giant monsters, futuristic weapons/vehicles, grotesque scenes and gore, that satisfies the avid Saturday morning sugar induced viewer. There’s a lot going on! So stay with me folks as I’ll try to summarize as best as possible without boring you with facts.

                     

The show is about 4 scientist that work for a government funded group called earth corps.  Each of them have armored battle suits with different ability’s. Two prehistoric monsters known as the inhumanoids frozen underground get unearthed and then free there leader at the earth’s core. Every episode the inhumanoids try to conquer earth. Earth corps thwarts there plans at the end of every episode and it all starts over again. Majority of the show takes place at the earth’s core with lost civilizations, more creatures and characters joining the cast.

The main objective of Hasbro was to sell toys, these suckers were huge!

       

  

                    Onto the Roster of characters!

The leader of the inhumanoids is Metlar, an armored, lava breathing baddie that can turn statues to life to do his bidding. He pretty much calls the shots and is the most serious of the three. 

Next up is Tendril a giant plant like creature based on H.P. Lovecrafts Cthulu.. Has the ability to change sizes at will and not the most free thinking of the three. 

The best of the three is D'Compose! A undead dinosaur that has the ability to turn any living thing into an undead ghoul. His guts and rib cage are exposed which he uses to trap victims inside. He also commands an army of the living dead. 

Friendly monsters known as Mutores that have been battling the inhumanoids for centuries join earth corps throughout the series. Tree stumps that come to life called the redwoods. Underground rock men called Granites and a monster named Magnokor. A sort of lava rock man who has the ability to split into two polarized halves. He has magnetic energy that seems to be the only way to stop Metlar.  

Other characters appear as the show progresses. Like Russian military, journalists, senators, US air force pilots, movie directors and an array of creatures. More enemies make appearances as well like the reoccurring corrupt industrialist Blackthorne Shore, undead scitentist night crawler, Gagoyle, a blue cycloptic dinosaur that eats everything, has a transparent stomach so you can watch it’s victims get digested  and a whole new snake like inhumanoid named Sslither!

The show was pretty intense for children at the time with its scenes of  graphic gore and horror. As an adult watching it I found it campy  most of the time, with corny dialogue and plots similar to that of a usual 80s cartoon. But it was targeted toward kids and only lasted one season so I shouldn’t expect a whole lot. The animation and characters are great and imaginative. The main characters are not memorable at all, which is why I didn’t get too in depth with them. For the exception of Auger, he’s the usual badass antihero type character. There’s a running gag where if he doesn’t like a TV program he throws his shoe at the screen. It goes so far that the other characters have brand new TVs handy when he breaks them and even set up a net in front of the screen in one episode. At the final episodes they might have reaching because the plot gets to the point of ridiculous with Metlar getting into a domestic partnership with the actual statue of liberty. Inhumanoids has defiantly fallen into obscurity and the gory scenes is what really makes this series standalone from others. It also has a theme song that gets stuck in your head. I recommend it, if you can find it.

The show also spawned a short lived comic series.

                         

Little Nemo: The Dream Master

Today I’m dusting off Little Nemo: The Dream Master for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Also known as "Pajama Hiro Nimo" in japan.  The game is based off of the animated movie Little Nemo: Adventures in slumber land, which is based off the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumber land by Winsor McCay that appeared in New York newspapers throughout the early 20^th century.

Little Nemo: the dream master for the nes. This is a one of many games from  my childhood, as a kid I played it countless times but could never get passed the 2^nd stage. I decided to give it another go twenty years later. I actually own this game on cartridge, no roms or internet or anything like that. Old fashioned plug and play on my old school Nintendo. I played this game straight through and I gotta say, THIS GAME IS HARD! Developed by Capcom (creators of Street fighter, resident evil, and megaman) Yet another movie game that they capitalized on. This game may appear innocent but its tough majority of the time. I luckily have issue 18 of Nintendo Power from 1990, which helped out a lot in finding out what to do during the game.

Capcom also released an arcade game of little Nemo just titled “NEMO” this one was more accurate to the animated film.

The plot is much like the comic with a mixture of the movie. You assume the control of nemo and you’re on your way to Slumber land.  All you have as weapons is candy. You use this candy to feed and tame certain animals to either become them or ride them to help you along the way and to cross certain terrain. Some of the animals Nemo tames are frogs, gorillas,moles,giant lizards, and a mouse with a mallet to name a few. Very cool concept! Whenever you want to turn back into Nemo just press select. The game has 8 stages in total. You must travel through different lands collecting keys to unlock the doors at the end of every stage. Each stage gets Nemo closer to slumberland to meet with the princess and defeat the nightmare king. Some of the enemies in the game are friendly animals from the movie,even Nemo's pet flying squirrel, a bit strange...but whatever.  They should of put the winged goblins from the movie , that would have been better.
 

 

The game has great graphics for its time and solid controls. The games soundtrack is great too, composed by Junko Tamiya; she has done work on games like bionic commando, strider and other Capcom titles. Like I said before this game is TOUGH especially stage 3 and stage 8. There are certain secret crucial areas that I honestly would never guess in a million years if it wasn’t for my Nintendo power. Thankfully the game gives infinite amounts of continues but if you turn it off you gotta start all over again. I must talk about Stage 8,it’s the only stage in the game where you wield the kings scepter as a weapon. If you’re familiar with megaman games it’s an iron man stage. Meaning you must go through several levels nonstop each with their own boss (including the final boss) only on one continue. You will lose sleep on this believe me. But after you get the pattern to all the enemies and obstacles down pat the game becomes passable. The manta ray from the movie makes an appearance as a boss and the nightmare castle looks like it does in the film, as well as the nightmare king. The only con about this game is the fact that it has infinite continues, it lowers the challenge of the game but don’t get me wrong it’s still difficult. Another thing is the censorship with the game, the American version has flip (the hobo clown) with no cigar and there’s also a cigar smoking gorilla in the game that was also censored. With all that said, Little Nemo: The Dream Master is up there being one of the most underrated games for the NES. I give it 4 flying beds out of 5.  Tune in for a future blog on the entire Nemo franchise.