Titan Maximum Premires on Adult Swim

Last night I got a chance to watch the first episode of Titan Maximum, the new show from the same guys who created Robot Chicken. Titan Maximum is a spoof on various giant robot anime, and it's done in the same stop-motion style that robot chicken was done in.

The story revolves around the pilots of 5 space ships that form into Titan Maximum when activated together, much in the style of Voltron. But Voltron isn't the only reference I noticed... there were also a few references to Evangelion. In the beginning, everything starts out like your standard generic mecha anime, but the show really gets going when we find out the opening sequence is only a roleplay by some kids with action figures, and that the real titan maximum crew are wash up deadbeats. I like this change, it makes it feel a little more mature, and actually makes things funnier, when we learn about the pilots' real-life personalities.

The story is nice, but the best part about the show is how it combines all of the anime spoofs it sets forth with the same Robot Chicken style humor we've come to know and love, and it does it all without sacrificing plot development or pacing. I'm definitely looking forward to the second episode, and the rest of the series. Titan Maximum currently airs at 11:30pm every sunday. Check it out if you haven't already.

Chowder Impressions

Chowder is a cartoon that airs regularly on Cartoon Network. It first aired in November 2007 but since I took a break from watching TV for a while, I had never seen it before today.

The show was created by C.H. Greenblatt, who was formerly a storyboard artist on Spongebob as well as Billy & Mandy. Those are two high-profile cartoons, but this is Greenblatt's first foray into making his own series.

The show is divided into two approximately 15-minute stories per episode. I had watched two episodes back to back, and I must say... Chowder works on so many levels. It's got kiddie charm, but it's not mind-numbing. It's got great voice acting that's crazy, but not annoying, utilising some VERY GOOD comedic timing and delivery. Not only that, but the jokes aren't generic, and some can even make a 21 year old male like myself laugh out loud.

In this day and age most cartoons have been doing a lot of dumbing-down in terms of comedy, and they've all been trying to send a message to kids. I stopped watching a lot of cartoons because of this force-feeding of personal views. I kept thinking to myself "What ever happened to all the fun cartoons?" Well, Spongebob is one example of a fun cartoon nowadays, as well as Billy & Mandy... so it's to be expected that somebody who worked on both of those cartoons would make somethings great. I must say, Chowder works on so many levels that it's astounding. If you haven't seen the show yet, flip it on sometime... it's probobly the best thing since Rocko's Modern Life.

Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM Review

Hey guys! So, this is a little something new that I'm doing here. I've decided that I'm going to review a TV series instead of a movie or a game, and I think I might start doing these TV reviews more often, since we don't have enough of it on the site. For my first review, I'm going to be taking a look Sonic the Hedgehog. I was recently hanging out with Ed, who you guys should know from the site, and I brought over the DVD box set for a little mini-marathon. We didn't have a chance to get through the whole thing, but watching it reminded me just how much I liked it, and I figured I'd write up a review.

Sonic the Hedgehog is an animated series that premiered in 1993 on ABC. Dubbed SatAM by it's fans, it was the second Sonic cartoon to appear on TV. However, it premiered only 12 days after The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog did, so both shows were, for the most part, airing at the same time. Despite that, it's interesting to see how many similarities the two shows have. Both shows have chili dogs as Sonic's favorite food, both shows feature Jaleel White as the voice of Sonic, and even some of Sonic's catchphrases from the previous show are still in-tact. While the two shows were aired on separate networks, it's not surprising when you conciser both shows were produced by DIC, allowing the company to keep some sort of continuity between the two.

However, Sonic the Hedgehog is much different than the other show. Instead of crazy slapstick shenanigans, we get a well written storyline. Instead of a sloppily animated pile of pen and ink, we get detailed backgrounds, and smooth animation throughout. It's pretty obvious that this show is vastly superior to The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Let me talk about the story a bit more. The show has somewhat of a dark tone to it, which is a nice change of pace. Don't get me wrong, this was still aired Saturday mornings, and it still had to be tailored for kids, but some of the things they got away with are pretty surprising. Sonic is part of a group called the Freedom Fighters, who are trying to fight the evil Dr. Robotnik, who is turning creatures into robots through a process they call "Robotisizing". The whole show revolves around this, and while there isn't much of an overlying plot in the first season, the second season starts to tie things together from episode to episode. Unlike many animé series that do something similar, Sonic the Hedgehog does it in an ingenious way. Each episode stands on it's own, but if you watch them all, you get a bigger picture of the storyline, making it good for anybody who likes to follow a story, or just flip on an episode sometimes.

The characters are all very likable and memorable. Each one of the Freedom Fighters has their own personality, and it really shows through with the excellent voice acting provided by many of them. There's also a love interest that starts up between Sonic and Sally, which is pretty surprising territory for a Saturday morning cartoon. Even the villains are very memorable, and they're just as easy to hate as the freedom fighters are to like.

Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog is an excellent cartoon series, and I highly recommend it to anybody who is a fan of animation, Sonic, Saturday morning cartoons, or anybody just looking for a cartoon series (Oh and furries, I recommend it to you guys as well).

I give Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) a 5 out of 5.

TV Review: Six Feet Under (Season 1)

I've been watching the first season of a whole bunch of series while on summer break. I heard about Six Feet Under years ago and how it kept winning Emmy's and Golden Globes. I never watched because I never really understood what is what. I'm actually happy about that though because I don't think I would have liked this show had I seen it 5 years ago.

"Nathaniel Fisher, his wife Ruth, and their children David and Claire run a small funeral business that offers the best care to be found anywhere close by. Prodigal son Nate Jr. arrives home for Christmas just as his father is killed by a bus, and has to stick around when he and David are willed the funeral service together. How does a family who helps others deal with grief deal with its own? Written by rmlohner" (thank you IMDB)

If you never got the chance to catch this series on tv don't let that stop you. This is one of the greatest series i've ever seen. It's the perfect balance of character and story and it really comes together nicely. At first some characters feel boring and not fun to watch but as their story arcs unfold pretty much all the characters are fun to watch. Michael C. Hall is the best example of someone who I hated for the first 3 or 4 episodes of the series but by the end he became my favorite character on screen.

All the characters are struggling with where their life should go and how to get along with each other. I like that there isn't a true main relationship, they establish Nate as the main character but all the other members of the family get episodes of their own that are most of my favorite ones. This is one of the earlier shows to bring a cinematic quality to the camerawork and it really shows not only in cinematography but editing as well. There are sequence with dead people acting as the conscience that are just brilliant to look at.

I'm unsure of where the series will go from here but I'm really looking forward to it. It was a fantastic start to a show with some excellent performances. I have to take special note that I don't think i've ever seen a better or more respectful portrayal of a gay character on television. This show doesn't judge it's characters but just acknowledges we are all just people trying to make it by day by day.

5 out of 5

Anime Preview: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 1

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a sequel to the widely popular Fullmetal Alchemist. However, it's not a direct sequel like the movie was. Instead, it seems to be taking the original story and just offering the continuing adventures of Edward and Alphonse. I'm not yet entirely sure when this is taking place, but it seems to be in-between one of the parts they skipped over in the original series.

I watched the first episode subbed. In it, Ed and Al are sent by Mustang to fight a rouge soldier who uses water alchemy. Throughout the episode, we get re-introduced to a bunch of different characters from the original series such as Mustang, Armstrong, King Bradley, and Hughes. After watching it, the entire thing feels very much like FMA should feel. The animation is still headed by BONES, the original voice cast returns, there's still that perfect mix of comedy and action, oh... and you can't forget about the short jokes! The entire thing felt very authentic, and I recommend it to anybody who likes any sort of action comedy. Definitely a must-watch for FMA fans.