Villainy Comes Before a Fall

Some villains are too prideful when it comes to killing off heroes, or in this case, a great mouse detective.

Like the James Bond films of the 1960s, Professor Ratigan, the world's greatest criminal mind in all of Mousedom, decides in the Disney animated classic "The Great Mouse Detective" to kill Basil of Baker Street in the nastiest way he can think of.

After Basil and his side kick Major David Q. Dawson follow the peg legged bat, Fidget, into the under belly sewer pub of the mouse world, they immediately are led into a trap in which Ratigan gets the upper hand.

However, because Ratigan has to use his "superior" intellect to out wit Basil, he cannot kill him in an easy fashion. This is where villainy comes before a fall.

Let's count the number of times Ratigan could have killed Basil my fellow interns:

(1) If he bothered to send a henchman, namely a pegged bat to snatch a toy maker, Fidget could have barged into Basil's house and gutted him with his sharp claws.

(2) Basil and Dawson are ambushed by his entire gang of ruffians and thugs in which there is no escape or way to resist because the ambush was so clever. They should have died right there!

(3) Basil gets put into a mouse trap that is cleverly set off by a string being tightened at the time of the record finishing setting off a chain reaction of nasty axes, guns, crossbows, anvil, and the so predictable mouse trap. [As a side note, cartoons or villains in general that leave the hero unsupervised tend to have their plan of execution fail. Villains please do yourself a favor and just stay put until the protagonist has their demise].

(4) In the Big Ben brawl, he pushes Basil off a cog but fails to check if Basil is actually dead which inevitably leads to his fall, literally.

Conclusion:

SPOILER ALERT: You are only a "real" genius if you can actually kill the hero. Until you do, please save the rest of this world trouble by killing your ego. Ratigan fails to kill Basil and thus he is not a genius after all.

Batman the Animated Series: A Timeless Classic

Holy Cartoons, Batman!

In a world full of crime, fast cars, mysterious ladies, greasy food, politics, and jagged shadows, one animated series shines and still shines as a beacon of hope for animators all around the world: Batman the Animated Series.

With a kick-ass composer like Danny Elfman, the fan-faring trumpets immediately thrust the audience into its arms by quickly transitioning images of the Warner Brother's Studio logo into another image of lights hovering over Gotham City. Elfman was also the musical genius behind Tim Burton's first Batman movie titled, "Batman."

It is my observation that the dark tones Elfman chooses to wield in the intro's musical score was highly influential to Franz Schubert's score for the 2008 film "The Dark Knight." The stunning intro of Season 1 ends with Batman standing firm on a building gazing at the city but never displays the title of the show.

After the music and opening visuals have set the mood, immediately the viewers are engaged by what appears to be a movie title from some Alfred Hitchcock film. Each title to each episode is unique in its own way yet still maintains a movie title-like quality. The title of the episodes having a film-noir presence is incredibly reflective of the show's ability to present visual story telling frame by frame, angle by angle, as if the viewer is watching a movie rather than a silly side scrolling cartoon such as the Looney Tunes that mainly pans from right to left or left to right. Comic nerds and fans alike will notice that angles and frame-like sequences also portray themselves to be similar to that of a graphic novel (such as V for Vendetta.)

Lastly animators and illustrators alike should appreciate the show's lighting. Every block of Gotham City is covered in droves of shadows. By the shadows being so effective for setting the overall tone, the lighting from fire places or flashlights are even more powerful because of the surrounding darkness of the images. My biggest complaint with modern animated shows of today is their lack for detail to these, once again, film-like attributes. Shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The New Series (An EXTREMELY important note) are too bright and lack the level of depth that Batman the Animated Series executes.

Final Diagnosis:

- Kick ass intro/ music

- Film-like appreciation

- Lighting effects/ Attention to Detail

Darkwing Duck Season 1: Just Us Justice Ducks Part 1

Just Us Justice Ducks Part 1

Criticisms and highlights of our daring crusader who dares a little too dangerously.

In the beginning, Drake uses his "d-ex appeal" (Duck+Sex) and shear wit on Morgana, a duck we've never met before, who also emulates Morticia Addams from the Addams Family.

[Note to self: Who is Morgana and why is she dating Darkwing of all ducks?]

While fixing Drake's hair with a spell, she turns Drake into a yak. This adds some flashy-child like humor to the mix for the youngster demographic but adults are not so easily amused by this ridiculous act of hocus pocus.

[Never trust an amateur at casting spells on messy hair. The comb is a more effective wand.]

Suddenly the power goes out for the entire city. Who could behind this scheme thinks the audience? We know! Megavolt must be because he's the mastermind behind manipulating electricity in every single episode with electricity as a focal point.

Darkwing starts to over analyze the situation with his "infra-pink ultra scan specs." The forever annoying Gosalyn, his adopted daughter and my least favorite character, asks him "How about the power company, Cosmo?" Next the viewers see that it is definitely Megavolt's doing. Could there be a trap because this is all too obvious?

As Darkwing enters the lighted room to face Megavolt with his quirky lines such as, "I am the career man all single ladies want to date," Quackerjack shows up to aid in the mischief by using his toy teeth to clamp our hero and lead him into an electric chair [the irony]. Morgana tries to get Darkwing out of the chair's grip but once again screws up her spell; this time he turns into Jell-O. Both villains claim an alliance, laugh in unison, and so our adventure into the MEGA-PLOT begins!

Next at the police station, we see Bushroot (a villain we've seen multiple times manipulate plant life similar to Poison Ivy) and the Liquidator, a new villain that appears for the first time in this episode, up to no good [Their intention is not all that clear]. The Liquidator is a dog-like being made out of pure water and has the ability to knock people down by becoming a wave. [I really like this villain because he acts more badass compared to the others with an exception of NegaDuck who is beyond the league of everyone's villainy.]

[This next scene doesn't contribute much at all except hilarious in every way, a Freakazoidian moment]

In this scene we meet Stegmutt, what Darkwing calls a "duck-turned" stegosaurus friend introduced for the first time in the entire series, selling hot dogs to people. Darkwing crashes his bike into him on his way to catch the villains. [Here comes the ridiculous part]. Stegmutt begs Darkwing to buy a hot dog but Darkwing says, "No, I haven't the time." Next Stegmutt follows Darkwing continuously asking him to purchase a hot dog. Darkwing finally decides that he needs to buy a hot dog so he can be on his way.

[The Freakazoidian part commences]. Stegmutt says, "First I pull out the hot dog. Then I put it in a bun." Darkwing at this point is getting upset and says, "Well!" Stegmutt then says, "That'll be seventy-five cents." Darkwing hands him a dollar and runs away because doesn't have time to deal with his slow friend. [This helps enforce Disney's policy of efficiency].

After consulting his professor friend, J. Gander Hooter [which sounds like J. Edgar Hoover, First Director of the FBI) at S.H.U.S.H. (a sneaky parody of marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D.), NegaDuck appears and looks exactly like Darkwing except is SUPER evil not to mention wearing a black mask. He takes S.H.U.S.H. newest gun, which has the ability to produce large amounts of pies, and causes the room to fill up with doe.

Darkwing gets excited after cleaning off the doe. He realizes that with S.H.U.S.H. and the police station out of commission he claims "this is my biggest battle yet." But then the national guard arrives with Gizmo Duck, a Robo Cop like duck from the series Duck Tales.

As the national guard comes to help the city NegaDuck commands Megavolt to use the device that was seen in the beginning during the power surge to create a electronic laser barrier that cuts the bridge in half sending the army into the water. Finally St. Canard gets taken over by the Fearsome Five (NegaDuck, Bushroot, Quackerjack, Megavolt, and the Liquidator).

To Darkwing's command is Gizmo Duck, Morgana, Stegmutt, and then Neptunia shows up. Neptunia is like a female version of aquaman. [Then again aquaman wasn't much of a man]. These five make the "Just Us Ducks" according to Gosalyn even though not all of them are ducks but majority. [Remember Stegmutt was a duck at one point]. Just when every thing was getting good Darkwing pulls one of his "I can take them all alone" and dismisses the entire group.

After using some quick detective skills via microscope, Darkwing heads to the base of the villains and gets pulverized. As he is dropped through a vent he is then shot outside the tall building continuously falling until the audience then sees the words:

To be continued.

Foxy Lady

Robin Hood a Classic or Sexual Fantasy?

Many colleagues of my own heart (Humans) would say that Maid Marian is a "fox." Of course she is a fox to the every day simpleton who only looks with the head connected to his shoulder!

Yeah she has fur all over her body, yes she has a bushy tail, and yes she has a black-balled nose, but the physical and emotional connection she has with Robin Hood makes her even more of a foxy lady.

According to etymology.com the word foxy was used as an American-English slang word for "attractive" in 1895; it wasn't until the 1940s the word was equated with "sexually attracted woman."

Who wouldn't want to cuddle next to Maid Marian in this film? She like many of Disney's other main female characters is 100-percent more attractive than that clucking rooster friend of hers.

This is not a notion of bestiality. No, sir! In fact, because the Disney animators portray the animals in an anthropomorphic way, we are actually viewing them as humans rather than beasts of the field. After all she isn't walking on all four like the average fox.

The love we see between the two is beautiful, sexually passionate (like in the fighting scene when they talk about where they want to go to make babies), and enduring (during the neat sequence of the layered trees at night, one of the most visually stunning scenes in older Disney history.)

Who is Darkwing Duck?

Patient:
Darkwing Duck's real identity is Drake Mallard of St. Canard, a city similar to Duckburg but with more of a Gotham City flavor.

Bio:
Mallard takes on the appearance of not only a fighter but an intellectual, and introspective citizen of St. Canard. He says things like, " The bad part of town... where the sun never shines, where brutality is a way of life, and where, uh, people just rea... they're really not very nice at all. Really."

According to fans and scholarly observers of this Disney hero, Mallard's crime-fighting image is based off of D.C. Comics' Crimson Avenger and Batman. Mallard has a grappling gun, an aircraft called the Thunderquack, and a motorcycle known as the Ratcatcher. He loves solving mysteries using his detective skills such as magnifying glasses and deductive reasoning; thus enforcing the ideals of D.C.'s audience.

Symptoms:
- patient suffers from over confidence, selfishness, and arrogance.
- patient has an uncanny ability throughout the series to know exactly who is behind what crime.
- patient tries to be professional even though he himself is unprofessional.

Final Diagnosis:
The hero is more incompetent than he should be. It is apparent that throughout the series he is only able to complete his missions with the help of others.