Beginning with The New Adventures of Pinocchio in 1960 Rankin/Bass established themselves as one of the foremost pop culture animation houses in America.  Arthur Rankin Jr. & Jules Bass (along with a bevy of puppeteers, seamstresses, artisans, animators, musicians and talented actors & voice actors) spent the better part of thirty years bringing exceptional all-ages entertainment into our homes and theaters.  In fact, from the debut of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964 Rankin/Bass became synonymous with the Christmas season.  Between 1964 and 1985 the studio produced 18 beloved Christmas specials and feature films including Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town, The Little Drummer Boy, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and Jack Frost.

For this special holiday episode of the Supercast we decided to kick of the discussion with a look at the obscure 1981 Rankin/Bass special, The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold…

…and we follow that up with a special guest to the round-table, Mark Rudolph of CV Comics, the Art & Story podcast, and the creator behind the Curse of the Pharaohs, to talk about a very merry episode of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Cobra Claws are Coming to Town…

In the episode we also talk about Christmas episodes of other 80s/90s era cartoons like Batman the Animated Series (Christmas with the Joker) , Justice League (Comfort and Joy), Batman: Brave and the Bold (Invasion of the Secret Santas, Part 1 & Part 2), the He-Man & She-Ra Christmas Special, the Flintstones Christmas special, the insane Star Wars Holiday Special (Find all 15 parts of the special here), and the one G1 Transformers Christmas story we can recall.  We also mention the new online video service called Jaroo.com which features free viewing of such great cartoon series as Paddington Bear, Pole Position, the Littles, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Ulysses in the 31st Century, StarCom, Inspector Gadget, and Captain N the Gamemaster.

As for the Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold we also get into some more great Rankin/Bass voice acting from Robert McFadden and a surprisingly well-done Irish brogue from Art Carney, Bing Crosby’s rendition of Christmas in Killarney, 80s era political correctness keeping the Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold a little more obscure, banshees and the folklore and superstitions that arise in different regions of the world (including banshee combs and the concept of not directly passing the salt to another person), folklore hero and villain archetypes, battling the Devil, the lack of traditional Christmas lore in the LCG special, Czech shadow puppetry, the chroma key effect, the Last Unicorn and Rankin/Bass’ tradition of great animated water/waves, and Rankin/Bass’ clever use of common household items in their stop motion work.

While discussing the Cobra Claws are Coming to Town we also mention our previous round-table episodes on the G.I. Joe series in episodes 19 & 20 of the Saturday Supercast as well as getting into the very tenuous Christmas message in this episode, Toys for Tots, some more of the excellent voice-work by Frank Welker (who plays Polly in this episode), Neil Ross (Shipwreck), Arthur Burghardt (Destro), Morgan Lofting (the Baroness), & Liz Aubrey (Covergirl), the impending Shout Factory DVD re-release of G.I. Joe the Movie, Covergirl’s make-over as the cartoon series progressed, the writing chops of Gerry & Carla Conway and Roy & Dan Thomas, Trojan horses, the awesome costume changes of characters in 80s cartoons that feature very obvious seasonal and location changes, Joes out of costume in The Viper is Coming, revealing the real names of the G.I. Joe characters (or the hilarious lack-there-of) in episodes such as Cobra Claws are Coming to Town, The Trader, Flint’s Vacation, and Captives of Cobra.

If you’re interested in watching The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold, it’s available as part of the newly repackaged Classic Christmas Favorites set from Warner Brothers as a special feature on the How the Grinch Stole Christmas DVD. As for the Cobra Claws episode of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, you can also view it for free via Veoh, or you can find the episode on the Complete G.I. Joe series footlocker set, or on the individual season 1.3 release scheduled to hit store shelves on February 2nd, 2010.

As for us, well you can find more of Jerzy’s work at:
Make Like a Tree Comics
jdrozd.blogspot.com
Art & Story Podcast

Kevin is freelance illustrator, comic creator, and podcaster whose work can be found at:
Kevin Cross.net
Big Illustration Party Time Podcast
Ghettomation Podcast
Money Mod Webcomic

…and Shawn is a blogger and irregular podcaster whose stuff you can find at:
Branded in the 80s

If you have any questions, comments, or heck, even complaints, you can drop us a line at Saturday Supercast!

Become a fan of the Saturday Supercast on Facebook or follow us on Twitter!

The Sugary Serials theme song was preformed by Umberto.

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Though Stop Motion Animation has been around since the turn of the 20th century (with some of the earliest work attributed to Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton’s The Humpty Dumpty Circus in 1898, not to mention notable live-action/stop-motion pastiches such as The Lost World in 1925 and King Kong in 1933), it wasn’t until the 50s & 60s that the medium really enjoyed a golden era.  Between the work of Ray Harryhausen & Willis O’Brian in films such as Mighty Joe Young (’49) and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (’58), and Art Clokey’s Gumby (’57) & Davey and Goliath (’60) series on television, stop motion was wowing audiences all over the world.

Beginning with The New Adventures of Pinocchio in 1960 Rankin/Bass established themselves as one of the foremost pop culture animation houses in America.  Arthur Rankin Jr. & Jules Bass (along with a bevy of puppeteers, seamstresses, artisans, animators, musicians and talented actors & voice actors) spent the better part of thirty years bringing exceptional all-ages entertainment into our homes and theaters.  In fact, from the debut of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964 Rankin/Bass became synonymous with the Christmas season.  Between 1964 and 1985 the studio produced 18 beloved Christmas specials and feature films including Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town, The Little Drummer Boy, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and Jack Frost.

For this special holiday episode of the Supercast we decided to kick of the discussion with a look at the 1974 classic inspired by Phyllis McGinley’s poem of the same name,  The Year Without a Santa Claus…

In the episode, aside from an in depth summary of the film, we also mention some comic strip inspired seasonal specials such as Ziggy’s Gift (parts 1, 2, & 3), Blondie & Dagwood, and Cathy (parts 1, 2, & 3), as well as some other 80s Christmas cartoon specials like Garfield’s Christmas (parts 1, 2, & 3), Pac-Man: Christmas Comes to Pacland (parts 1, 2, & 3), and the He-Man & She-Ra Christmas Special.  We also discuss the swell Rankin/Bass tradition of casting wonderful narrators for their specials including Fred Astaire, Burl Ives, Jimmy Durante, Red Skelton, Buddy Hackett, and of course Shirley Booth in The Year Without a Santa Claus, as well as the interesting choices for voice actors including Robert McFadden (best known for playing Snarf and Slythe on Thundercats), Paul Frees, Bradley Bolke, Dick Shawn, George S. Irving, and the number one star in the world Mickey Rooney.

In addition we dig into some of TYWaSC merchandising, the newly produced sequel from Warner Brothers called A Miser Brother’s Christmas (which reunites Mickey Rooney and George S. Irving), how Rankin/Bass has that It’s a Small World vibe from the famous Disney attraction, growing up with and without a white Christmas, epic adventure (Rankin/Bass) vs. schmaltzy storytelling (e.g. Olive the Other Reindeer, Growing Pains Christmas special (parts 1, 2, & 3), and Santa Claus: The Movie) in holiday specials, the Boris Karloff reading of McGinley’s original poem, The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus, other Rankin/Bass productions (such as Thundercats, Silverhawks, Tigersharks and the Hobbit), the weird storytelling aesthetics and well-drawn villains of Rankin/Bass productions (Kubla Kraus, Burgermeister  Meisterburger, MonStar, Mum-Ra, and the Winter Warlock), the very high degree of craftsmanship in the R/B productions, The differences between the original poem and the animated special, trying to figure out when the special is set (using references and homages like the Charlie Chaplin cameo and the Keystone Cop-like police officer), the connection to the previous Christmas special Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, Murray Laws & Jules Bass’ musical collaborations, as well as replacement animation.

If you’re interested in watching The Year Without a Santa Claus it’s available in both a stand-alone release as well as part of the newly repackaged Classic Christmas Favorites set from Warner Brothers.  You can also view it for free via youtube (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5.)

As for us, well you can find more of Jerzy’s work at:
Make Like a Tree Comics
jdrozd.blogspot.com
Art & Story Podcast

Kevin is freelance illustrator, comic creator, and podcaster whose work can be found at:
Kevin Cross.net
Big Illustration Party Time Podcast
Ghettomation Podcast
Money Mod Webcomic

…and Shawn is a blogger and irregular podcaster whose stuff you can find at:
Branded in the 80s

If you have any questions, comments, or heck, even complaints, you can drop us a line at Saturday Supercast!

Become a fan of the Saturday Supercast on Facebook or follow us on Twitter!

The Sugary Serials theme song was preformed by Umberto.

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You can now purchase Switch Runners, first serialized in Sugary Serials issues 9 & 10, in its entirety and in print on IndyPlanet! The print edition features 4 new pages of character bios, and links to downloads available only to those who purchase the book.

You can also listen to an audio commentary about the making of Switch Runners over at the Art & Story podcast site. Co-creator Mark Rudolph & I go through our entire process of coming up with the ideas behind Switch Runners as well as our procedure for creating each page of the story.

I’m personally very proud of this particular project, and if you’re a fan of exciting and fun action stories I’m certain that you or a young one in your life will enjoy reading it!

Get the full-color, 20-page comic at IndyPlanet! 

Throughout the 60s, 70s, & 80s kids all around the western hemisphere were treated with all sort of cartoon and claymation specials in celebration of the creepiest of holidays.  From branded mainstays like It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, to one-off movies and shows like Rankin/Bass’ Mad Monster Party and the Devil and Daniel Mouse, cartoons have become a really great part of celebrating the season.

In this episode we focus on a couple of obscure gems that we feel gives a nice overview of the genre as a whole…
The Chuck Jones classic Raggedy Ann & Andy in the Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile…

…and the off-the-wall Canadian special Witch’s Night Out.

We also spend some time discussing the stable of General Mills’ Monster cereals, in particular the wonderful commercials, toy premiums, and the actors that the characters pay homage to including Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff (as well as some missed opportunities in using Vincent Price, Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing for the characters Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy.)

This episode is chock full of content including some reminiscing over great voice actors like Daws Butler, June Foray, Les Tremayne, as well as the voice talents of Gilda Radner & Catherine O’Hara.  We also talk about James Mason’s wonderful performance in the UPA Studios amazing rendition of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Telltale Heart, the resurgence of the Universal Monsters in the late 50s through the 70s, Marvel and DC monster comics, Aurora monster model kits, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Mego Monster figures, Ben Cooper and Collegeville Halloween Costumes, the awesome skeleton costumes worn by Johnny and the Cobra Kai in the Karate Kid, the Drak Pack, the Groovie Goolies, Mary & Vincent Price’s Treasury of Recipes cookbook, Tom Sito’s Drawing the Line, the patented Chuck Jones devilish smile and his 60s & 70s specials including How the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, A Cricket in Times Square and Rikki Tikki Tavi, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Banjo and Harmonica music, some Halloween history nuggets, Canadian animation and Canada’s National Film Board, Nickelodeon, Doug, Mr. Men & Little Misses, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, the Halloween Specials website, the Paul Lynde Halloween Special, the iconic CBS Specials intro, the Toon into Animation podcast, Halloween is Grinch Night, the Ghettomation podcast, and the Branded in the 80s 31 Days of Monsters Halloween Countdown.

Unfortunately Witch’s Night Out is out of print on VHS and currently not available for free viewing on the internet, but if you’re curious about watching the Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile, it’s on youtube (part 1, part 2, and part 3.)

As for us, well you can find more of Jerzy’s work at:
Make Like a Tree Comics
jdrozd.blogspot.com
Art & Story Podcast

Kevin is freelance illustrator, comic creator, and podcaster whose work can be found at:
Kevin Cross.net
Big Illustration Party Time Podcast
Ghettomation Podcast

…and Shawn is a blogger and irregular podcaster whose stuff you can find at:
Branded in the 80s

If you have any questions, comments, or heck, even complaints, you can drop us a line at Saturday Supercast!

The Sugary Serials theme song was preformed by Umberto.

Subscribe Through iTunes
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Again, for those not familiar, in the series He-Man and his friends, the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms, Teela, Ram Man, Orko, and Stratos wage an endless battle defending Castle Greyskull and the planet Eternia against Skeletor and his evil warriors, Beastman, Evil-Lyn, Trap Jaw, Merman, and Triklops, who want to conquer and rule the world.

The series, produced by Filmation Studios in 1983, was a landmark cartoon mixing fantasy and science-fiction, reinvigorating children’s television with a sense of action and adventure, as well as helping to instill a solid sense of morality for an entire generation of kids.  Masters of the Universe was also one of the first series to break through the governmental ban on interweaving existing toy lines and cartoons, not to mention paving the way for first-run syndicated animation, defining the distribution format for shows through the 80s and 90s.

Join us as we deconstruct the series, diving into another four of our favorite episodes:

One of the most highly regarded in the series, Evilseed…

…as well as The Dragon’s Gift…

Quest for the Sword…

…and Prince Adam No More.

In this episode we touch on a lot of the talent that made He-Man possible including series producers Lou Schiemer (who also voiced half of the cast of characters including Orko and Stratos), voice actors John Erwin (He-Man and Beastman) and Alan Openheimer (Skeletor and Man-At-Arms), as well as some of the writers and artists such as Larry DiTillio, Tom Sito, and Michael Reaves.

We also dig into the immediately identifiable synthesizer music of He-Man (as well as its Wagnerian themes, lush quality, and a debate on whether or not it helps to bind the sci-fi and fantasy genres of the series or if just dates it), the series’ budgetary constraints as both boon and bane, 65 episode syndicated seasons vs. the more traditional (at the time) 13 episode Saturday morning seasons, jump-scares, Evilseed’s secret under his robes revealed, Billie Holiday’s haunting rendition of the tragic song “Strange Fruit”, Star Trek the Animated Series, solving problems with book smarts and the RIF (Reading is Fundamental) program, Ray Harryhausen, the Rankin/Bass Hobbit cartoon, horrible Irish stereotypes, the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock, Ents, the Visionaries, He-Man inspiring public office, Andy Mangels and his awesome work on the BCI Ink & Paint editions of He-Man on DVD, Bustatoon’s He-Man & She-Ra Blog, Matty Collector’s amazing new line of Masters of the Universe action figures, and the insanity of the Bollywood He-Man stage show!

If you’re curious about watching this great series you can purchase a copy of season 1-part 1, or season 1-part 2 at Amazon, or head on over to Hulu where you can watch 13 of the 1st season episodes for free.

As for us, well you can find more of Jerzy’s work at:
Make Like a Tree Comics
jdrozd.blogspot.com
Art & Story Podcast

Kevin is freelance illustrator, comic creator, and podcaster whose work can be found at:
Kevin Cross.net
Big Illustration Party Time Podcast

…and Shawn is a blogger and irregular podcaster whose stuff you can find at:
Branded in the 80s.com

If you have any questions, comments, or heck, even complaints, you can drop us a line at Saturday Supercast!
The Sugary Serials theme song was preformed by Umberto.

Subscribe Through iTunes
Podcast RSS

In the series, He-Man and his friends, the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms, Teela, Ram Man, Orko, and Stratos wage an endless battle defending Castle Greyskull and the planet Eternia against Skeletor and his evil warriors, Beastman, Evil-Lyn, Trap Jaw, Merman, and Triklops, who want to conquer and rule the world. The series, produced by Filmation Studios in 1983, was a landmark cartoon mixing fantasy and science-fiction, reinvigorating children’s television with a sense of action and adventure, as well as helping to instill a solid sense of morality for an entire generation of kids. Masters of the Universe was also one of the first series to break through the governmental ban on interweaving existing toy lines and cartoons, not to mention paving the way for first-run syndicated animation, defining the distribution format for shows through the 80s and 90s.Join us as we deconstruct the overall series, and dive into three of our favorite episodes:

The Diamond Ray of Disappearance…

Teela’s Quest…

and The Wizard of Stone Mountain…

In this episode we touch on a lot of the talent that made He-Man possible including series producers Lou Scheimer (who also voiced half of the cast of characters including Orko and Stratos) and Hal Sutherland, voice actors John Erwin (He-Man and Beastman), Alan Openheimer (Skeletor and Man-At-Arms), and Linda Gary (Teela, the Sorceress and Evil-Lyn), and some of the writers, directors and artists such as Paul Dini, Larry DiTillio, Tom Sito, Bruce Timm, Robby London, and Michael Reaves.

We also discuss the Masters of the Universe toy line, its inventor Roger Sweet, and its packaging, as well as Star Wars, Clash of the Titans, and Space 1999 toys, getting toys when you’re home sick as a kid, Jack Kirby’s 4th World, the MOTU mini-comics, rotoscoped animation, Barbarian fantasies in the early 80s (including Thundarr and Conan), the 2002 Mike Young Productions He-Man cartoon, how easy and boring it is to make fun of the He-Man cartoon, alter egos and how Prince Adam is an important aspect to the ideal of the He-Man mythos, the myth of Robert Johnson and his fight against the devil, Andy Mangel’s excellent special features on the BCI Eclipse editions of the original He-Man cartoon on DVD, and our friends at the Horror Etc. podcast.

If you’re curious about watching this great series you can purchase a copy of season 1-part 1, or season 1-part 2 at Amazon, or head on over to Hulu where you can watch 13 of the 1st season episodes for free.

As for us, well you can find more of Jerzy’s work at:
Make Like a Tree Comics
jdrozd.blogspot.com
Art & Story podcast

Kevin is a freelance illustrator, comic creator, and podcaster whose work can be found at:
Kevin Cross.net
Big Illustration Party Time Podcast

…and Shawn is a blogger and irregular podcaster whose stuff you can find at:
Branded in the 80s.com

If you have any questions, comments, or heck, even complaints, you can drop us a line at Saturday Supercast!

The Sugary Serials theme song was preformed by Umberto.

Subscribe Through iTunes
Podcast RSS

The cartoon was produced by Sunbow who also went on to work on other series like the Transformers, Jem, the Visionaries, and the Inhumanoids.  Though the title screens were left off for this mini series, the episodes talked about in this discussion include:

Part 3: The Worms of Death

Part 4: Duel in the Devil’s Cauldron

Part 5: A Stake in the Serpent’s Heart

We also talk about the FHE VHS home video release of this first mini series, Larry Hama (writer of the comic series as well as a consultant on the show), Ron Friedman (writer for this and a handful of other Sunbow shows), Arthur Burghardt (voice of Destro), Chris Latta (voice of Cobra Commander), Frank Welker (voice of Wild Bill), Michael Bell (Voice of Duke), and Rob Paulsen (voice of Tripwire).  We also get into the underused original line-up of characters, in particular Steeler who gets a nice send off in the episode World’s Without End (parts 1 and 2), the myth of Hercules and Linus, Transformers Animated, the new live action G.I. Joe movie, The Rise of Cobra, the recent G.I. Joe cartoon Resolute, Warren Ellis, unmasking mysterious characters, the original Star Wars Clone Wars cartoon, Lancelot Link, Hasbro, getting into anime as a teenager, antihero boredom, and the great Jack Kirby.  Again, in related news, you can find the 1^st G.I. Joe mini series on the Season 1.1 DVD set put together by Shout! Factory, which was released this past Tuesday.

As for us, well you can find more of Jerzy’s work at:

Make Like a Tree Comics

jdrozd.blogspot.com

Art & Story Podcast

Kevin is freelance illustrator, comic creator, and podcaster whose work can be found at:

Kevin Cross.net

Big Illustration Party Time Podcast

…and Shawn is a blogger and irregular podcaster whose stuff you can find at:

Branded in the 80s.com

If you have any questions, comments, or heck, even complaints, you can drop us a line at Saturday Supercast!

The Sugary Serials theme song was preformed by Umberto.

Subscribe Through iTunes

Podcast RSS

The cartoon was produced by Sunbow who also went on to work on other series like the The Transformers, Jem, Visionaries, and  Inhumanoids.  Though the title screens were left off for this mini series, the episodes talked about in this discussion include:

Part 1: The Cobra Strikes

Part 2: Slave of the Cobra Master

We also talk about the show’s theme song, Marvel Cartoon Productions and the G.I. Joe comic book series (including the origin of the animated series in the comic commercials), as well as the toys and file cards, Steve Gerber, Buzz Dixon & the G.I. Joe Writer’s Guide, He-Man and Star Wars toy commercials, Action for Children’s Television, a couple of the releases of the Mini Series on DVD (Battle Packs and the Shout Season 1.1 DVD), and backlit animation techniques. In related news, Shout! Factory is releasing G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Season 1.1 set on July 14!

As for us, well you can find more of Jerzy’s work at:

Make Like a Tree Comics

The Art & Story Podcast

www.jdrozd.blogspot.com

Kevin is freelance illustrator, comic creator, and podcaster whose work can be found at:

Kevin Cross.net

Big Illustration Party Time Podcast

…and Shawn is a blogger and irregular podcaster whose stuff you can find at:

Branded in the 80s

The theme song for the show was written and preformed by Umberto.

If you have any questions, comments, or heck, even complaints, you can drop us a line at Saturday Supercast!
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This is a free event to the public, featuring over 40 creators of comics that are good for kids, including Dwayne McDuffie (of Ben 10 and Justice League Unlimited fame), Chris Yambar (author of Bongo Comics’ Bart Simpson Comics), Marc Sumerak (writer of the Marvel Adventures Spider-Man series), as well as talents from some of your favorite cartoons, such as Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal (voice actors from Cartoon Network’s Naruto series and Legion of Super Heroes).
Sugary Serials will be represented, too–Sara Turner of The Boys of the Den, Mark Rudolph of Curse of the Pharaohs, and I will be seated in artists’ alley.

But this is more than a convention. If you check out the programming page, you’ll see that Saturday is chock-full of interactive workshops and demonstrations for kids and adults to get up to their elbows in the craft of making their own comics and characters. I’ll be leading two events geared toward educators on how to use comic books in the classroom to foster reading comprehension.

All in all, it promises to be a fun and interactive event. And did I mention that it’s free? If you have a young or young-at-heart comics lover in your life, or have a healthy curiosity as to what makes these comics things so darned exciting, I hope to see you there!

I’m hard at work getting Sugary Serials #11, #12, and #13 into print, after which we will collect the entire run in a massive 300+ page trade paperback. More on that as we get closer to release.

We’re also working on lining up content for Sugary Serials "Season Two", which will feature follow-up stories to the comics in Season One, as well as some new titles. I’ll post previews for those new comics soon.