Mainlining Christmas

AHHHHH. AHHHHH. No. Why. WHY? Just... Just NO. Someone watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie and then vomited out this horrid direct-to-video thing in about 10 minutes. The writing is uniformly terrible, but it's worse when they half-almost try to write the characters like the movie. I'd rather that they didn't, really. It's awful. The costumes are hideous and terrible, with animatronics that don't work, and they have no feet. The budget appears to have been about $50 and I'm assuming they spent most of it on beer. Also, the costumes are really scary-looking. We're talking horror-movie-possessed-toy scary. The voice “actors” occasionally do atrocious imitations of the movie cast, but it's really uneven. It burnsss... According to IMDB, it looks like either the entire cast and director did this under fake names, or they never worked again. Either sounds plausible to me. The voice syncing is basically nonexistent. T

Damn. When this show is good, it is so amazingly good. I love this episode. We watch it every year, and every year I'm reminded anew how great it is. “Holiday Knights” consists of four little holiday vignettes, in which plenty of characters get a chance to shine. On Dec 22nd, Harley and Ivy drug Bruce Wayne so he'll pay for a holiday shopping spree. It's a fantastic showcase for the two villainesses, and a fun piece in general. A great use of an extended shopping montage, and there's an especially excellent score in this section. On Dec 24th, Batgirl is shopping at “Mayfield's” when she has to help Bullock and Montoya arrest some shoplifters who aren't what they seem. Barbara is smart and professional here, and the cops are undercover in an amusing disguise. On Dec 31st, the Joker plans to massacre the New Year's Eve crowds, and Batman and Robin (Tim) go after him. Nice planning by the Joker here, and his character is very well written: a good bal

While Christmas With the Joker was the second episode made of Batman: The Animated Series, it didn't air until after about a dozen others.  So, while viewers already had opportunities to see the show's take on the Clown Prince of Crime, this was really the show's first try. As in everything in this continuity (Batman: TAS, Superman, Batman Beyond, and Justice League), the Joker was voiced by Mark Hamil.  You always get the sense he's having fun with the role, but I'm not sure he ever had THIS much fun again.  There's a spastic intensity, a cruel joy, in his laugh that's kind of infectious. As a whole, the episode's pace is a little off, but that's a lot of what gives this its charm: there's room for a lot of bizarre Joker moments they wouldn't spend time on later; it's a fantastic exploration of his character (though they'd refine and improve that character over time, giving him more complexity than he showed here). In par

This one isn't an official release: instead, it was put together as a fan video and released on YouTube. At thirteen minutes, it's pretty substantial, and the production values are pretty solid, all things considered. I've never read the comic this was based on, but it's a pretty safe bet they adapted it more or less faithfully. This is more or less exactly what it should be. I'm not really sure that's a good thing, though. Whether or not you should press play comes down to whether you like Lobo. Personally... I don't, at least not when he's the protagonist. As a supporting character, he can be a lot of fun, but on his own, I find the attempt to shock and repulse me kind of tedious. That said, I can understand the appeal of twisted humor. If you're a fan of the character, you'll want to check this out: it's probably the closest thing you'll get to a movie for a long, long time. If you don't know who Lobo is or what I'

My recent experiences with this show gave me doubts about this episode, and while I don't enjoy the series as wholeheartedly as I did in 1995, I was sucked in for this episode. Jubilee is excited about her first Christmas as an X-Man.  But when she is out shopping with Wolverine and Storm, they run into some Morlocks stealing medical supplies.  They learn that Leech is sick, and the Morlocks resent that Storm (their putative leader) hasn't been there for them.  So they go to try to help, and possibly hope for a Christmas miracle. Overall it's a cute episode. It's fairly well written, though some of the jokes fall flat. I couldn't resist the silliness of Jean Grey and Gambit fighting over holiday cooking, although I would completely understand someone cringing at those scenes. The animation is oddly static in places compared to what is commonly done now, particularly in characters' faces.  It wasn't too distracting, but it is sometimes hard to see muc

Ultimately, "The Tick Loves Santa!" is on par with most episodes of the animated series, which is to say it's absolutely phenomenal. The story introduces Multiple Santa, a bank robber who steals a Santa suit from someone on the corner, gets electrocuted, then develops the power to multiply himself.  The Tick, of course, is unable to bring himself to strike the clones out of fear that he might inadvertently be hitting the "real Santa." Along with brilliantly conceived action sequences featuring dozens of evil Santas (a surprisingly disturbing image, it turns out), this episode offers some of the best one-liners ever to grace holiday programming (personally, I'm partial to the villain's boast, "The streets will run red with Santas").  On top of that, this offers an ingenious and original portrayal of Saint Nick and his elves I'd rather not spoil. This is easily one of the best Christmas episodes out there.  If you haven't seen it,

This is a cute episode which is unfortunately fragmented.  In general, Darkwing Duck doesn't hold up as well as I wish it did. I still find it amusing, but often it's far too slapsticky for my taste.  (Whenever the writers turn up the seriousness just a little, it becomes a much better show.) This episode starts out pretty good, but fizzles towards the middle. The main story revolves around Bushroot taking over the town's Christmas trees and setting them to stealing presents. I wished that there was a smidge more explanation of his plotting, or that he were a bit more competent. It's just too much plot for the episode length.  There isn't enough prep time for the B-plot (Gosalyn switching from being selfish about presents to being charitable) to have any emotional weight. There isn't enough attention paid to the details of what's happening, so following the events gets dicey. There are some amusing bits, and a few jokes that land.  I wish that I coul

Oh, hell yes. Given the vast number of Christmas specials I'm sitting through, I can't think of higher praise than what I'm about to say: this hour-long special felt short. While there's certainly some bad Powerpuff Girls cartoons out there (seasons 5 and 6, I'm looking at you), the majority is very, very good.  And this represents some of the best. Even before the action picks up, just watching the Powerpuffs decorate is immensely enjoyable.  So much of what made the show a success was the contrast between childhood and super powers, and that's certainly on display. The story involves Princess, who breaks into Santa's workshop to alter the naughty/nice lists.  It's well put together and fast paced, leading up to a world-spanning battle. The end could have delivered more punch: the resolution felt a tad too easy (and nowhere near violent enough) for my tastes.  I also wasn't in love with the version of Santa used here.  Something about hi