MiscRave

Why the Magic School Bus Opening is the gr.. CARLOS!

04/20/201701/12/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Video Classic

The Magic School Bus celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2016 and while I may have missed it, it’s never too late to celebrate. It will be getting a new show as The Magic School Bus 360. So in honor of this let’s take a look at the original opening to the cartoon.

It’s quite a memorable theme song as it is catchy and the animation follows the lyrics to the song which are below. I wouldn’t say it’s a great song but it doesn’t have to be, it’s not an epic adventure show but more of a fun educational show that for some reason we watched.

Miscrave Digiculture Podcast episode 117 Star Wars The Last Jedi & Society

04/19/201701/11/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Miscrave Media

In today’s Episode of the new Miscrave Digiculture Podcast I talk about the new format of the show and Star Wars The Last Jedi cultural backlash it has gotten from both sides of the political spectrum. Listen below or download here.

Bruce Lee vs Jackie Chan in movies

04/18/201702/09/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Secret Movie

Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan re without a doubt two of the best martial artists that have ever been on film. Sadly Bruce Lee passed away in his prime and we never got to see mroe of what he could offer. This meant that we would never get to see them interact in a movie together; Well they did in the movie Enter The Dragon, where Jackie is just a grunt who gets beat up in a second but this was before Jackie Chan was known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTl_ZSaeDBo

Remembering Star Wars Gangsta Rap that was the first viral star wars song

04/17/201701/11/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Video Classic

In the summer of 2000 Star Wars held its first fan film awards and the winner of it was the Star Wars Gangsta Rap. This was before youtube was a thing your battle station needed to have the equipment to play .swf files so you could enjoy this classic from Atom Films. I must’ve watched this hundreds of times, I almost feel bad for my parents. If you’ve never watched it then you owe it to yourself to watch it:

Trying to re-create the original buzz Atom released a “Special Edition” version of the original Star Wars Gangsta Rap in 2004. The audio is exactly the same but the Star Wars Gangsta Rap Special edition featured brand new flash animation and like the real special editions they just aren’t as good as the original. The Flash animation is no longer amateurish looking but completely professional, that actually works against it as that was part of the charm of the original. Then again it could’ve just been that I watched the original so many times anything different just looks odd, go ahead and compare them yourself:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2k3 4Kids watch through

04/16/201701/11/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Miscellaneous

The 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show by 4Kids came out in my teens and by that time I had long grown out of cartoons, I remember knowing about the show because I was a “gamer” and I was looking forward to the new Konami game and thought the new turtles looked cool. I was also growing out of gaming pretty much at that point in life so I never played the game. Around the summer 2004 I got back into cartoons thanks to Teen Titans and re-watching Batman: TAS re-sparking my interest in cartoons. That’s when I started watching TMNT 2k3 in Miguzi, Cartoon Network’s old block. I watched it for a little bit before Cartoon Network took it off. I later started watching the show on Fox Box or 4Kids TV or whatever it was called and I watched the season that was airing at the time and I loved it. Like the original show, It wasn’t until later that I got to watch the whole show. So here is my review and random thoughts on each season.

Season 1, there are a lot of things happening in the first episode, definitely not a good ‘pilot’ for new viewers but its not bad. Second episode was definitely an improvement. So umm how old is April supposed to be in the show? I’m guessing around 24 since I’m assuming to have that Science assistant job she’s already out of college. Also her work outfit is just her regular attire with a lab coat? Just looks odd to see a lab coat over a crop-top shirt. Aprils first meeting with the turtles was handled much better in the original show and it felt more natural than it did here. Weird seeing something that was actually done better in the original show. Now the third episode does feel like a pilot episode and establishes the status quo, don’t get me wrong the first three episodes are cool for fans but its not a good way to set up the series for new viewers unless it was aired back to back like short movie. I mean it takes three episodes to explain what was done in one episode in the original show.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 Original Watch Through

04/15/201701/11/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Looking back on..

About 5 years ago I re-watched all of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) cartoon by Fred Wolf and I made notes about it as I watched it and thanks to that I can now post general comments on seasons, episodes, and continuity. Before this marathon I did, I had already watched all of the original toon up to season 4 but not much after that, just a few episodes here and there. As a kid I definitely remember watching the TMNT but maybe I was just too young to remember plots. I still watched enough of the show however since all the voices and songs are instantly recognizable so that’s a bit weird, I guess I did watch it a lot just not of other seasons and not as consistent as other shows plus my young age. It wasn’t until the DVD releases that I got to see many episodes and the whole show later when it was easier to watch. This isn’t a formal review but random questions, observations and thoughts on each season.

Season 1, there is stuff that bothers me like what happened to the other mutant gang members besides Rocksteady and Beebop? They just disappear. I also wonder how exactly Shredder met Krang what happened to the foot clan and why did he decide to follow Hamato to NY…heck Splinter makes a reference that he thought Shredder wasn’t alive anymore, maybe there was some type of battle between Shredder and Hamato before he went to NY? Shredder appeared to die so Hamato was still shunned by the foot clan therefore Shredder has no foot soldiers in the OT since they’re all in Japan thinking Hamato killed Oroku Saki. Just a weird theory I came up with.. The humor is so abstract, I love it, too bad later seasons don’t carry the same humor. I also feel bad for Baxter Stockman, why was he sent to jail? he wasn’t really a bad guy at all here, he was just threatened by the Shredder to do his evil stuff, heck he wasn’t even aware of everything he was doing! He even comments that Shredder must really hate rats to find a logic for his invention he was creating for him. I also really liked how much they fight foot soldiers, they never really use them after this season.

Original TMNT 1987 cartoon intro and episodes in CG

04/14/201701/11/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Secret Movie

The Nick CG show had a crossover with the original TMNT show from 1987 by Fred Wolf. In it you can see the original toon turtles in 3D and the CG turtles in 2D. It was definitely a cool episode that brought a lot of nostalgia. While the original turtles looked odd in CG, it was still neat to see them being interpreted like that. So why don’t we take a look at a remake of the original iconic opening re-done in CG?

It doesn’t quite fit the look the original turtles have on the CG Nick show since it is a much more realistic take on them. The amount of polish is amazing as everything looks so professional. It definitely misses a little bit of the mood of the show though by taking these artistic liberties. Now I don’t fault them for it but it’s worth pointing out. Oddly enough this isn’t the only time the intro has been remade in 3D.