Yet another animation thread

[Luftwaffles]

(Also known as Pertinent Analyses of Animated works by Sierra). note to self: fire Mhera

(Thanks to little otter and little bird for all the advise, encouragement and help).

So yeah, instead of creating 33.000 threads for the 33.000 analyses that I'm no doubt going to write and force down your throat, because I'm THAT mean I have decided that it would be better to have just one single topic to embrace all my works (because, if it's not "better", it should at least be a little less... chaotic).

Previous Works:

-Redwall Season 2 & 3

-Rita and Runt

(Originally posted by me on Retro-Daze, under the name "Silvervix").

So you wanna know about the centerpiece of my collection? Buy me some food and I'll tell ya all about it.

MY EARLY HISTORY WITH IT 'N STUFF:

You know, I love cartoons with a passion that cannot be described. I have been in love with the things since I was only four and a cable company here decided to be a pioneer by installing a signal 100% aimed at kids (such things took us all by surprise, since cable was a fairly new thing and most operators were using it for news and sports). These guys somehow really knew what they were doing and had the wits to gather some of the best cartoons I have ever seen in one schedule. It was really good.

In the course of 1994 we went from having nothing to witnessing some of the best cartoons of all-time being shown right in our faces. It was really a trip and it was so hypnotic and there was so much quality inserted there that it wasn't rare to spend a whole night glued to the TV, watching things like «Kimba the White Lion» and «Kissyfur». They went through a lot of trouble to license the best they could get and no expenses were spared to delivered them. Yet there was one catch... I don't know exactly why but, aside from some Warner Bros' cartoons like Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs!, the whole grid was filled with British and Japanese toons... it is not a bad thing, considering that they were able to license Detective Conan, Ranma 1/2, BT'X, Pokémon and Sailor Moon (to name a few) in the same time period, but it was really weird. And that was an ongoing policy too... not even at the end of their days did they include very many American Cartoons in the signal.

By the end of the year, their first signal «The Big Channel» was a massive success... every kid that had access to cable spent uncountable hours watching the channel with its toy commercials and great cartoons (with Samurai Pizza Cats being the flagship of the whole thing). The Big Channel was a phenomenon and really took us all by surprise, but the guys that were running it did something that I haven't been able to understand since... they basically sabotaged their own efforts by creating yet another, larger signal: Magic Kids.

The TBC logo as we all saw it. Those were the days.

This new signal was The Big Channel on strength and easily topped everything the other channel had done so far. They really went out of their way with this one and only top-quality content was provided for this one, letting the other one scavenge the scraps for what was left. The Big Channel had been always known for giving most cartoons a chance, but Magic only «hired» the best of the best... its schedule was a mess of top cartoons fighting each other for a place on the grid. You had Saint Seiya sharing places with Dragon Ball in one hand, and Detective Conan being shown in rapid succession with Ranma 1/2 and Captain Tsubasa... there were SO many good cartoons that the newer ones were even scheduled at midnight (yes, midnight!) in a segment called «El Club del Animé» that basically showcased some of the cartoons that couldn't make it to the regular grid. After that (yes, there were programs running that late at night) you had something like Rude Dog and the Dweebs and Dog City. It was truly a golden era that no other network could ever mimic.

All this had, however, a really sad consequence: years of misleading and only being «fed» scraps and cartoons that couldn't make it to the Magic Kid's schedule had mortally wounded The Big Channel... the thing was barely standing on its feet and most long-time viewers -myself included- had stopped watching a long time ago. To make it worse, the advertising company that brought us all those magnificent toy commercials went out of business, leaving the whole signal looking like an empty shell that finally sunk in 2000, going down on a very low note. They deserved better.

Magic Kids was the true "monster" of our generation. Even in its weakest times, people would still prefer it over Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

The death of TBC somehow had a positive side though... it allowed the people in charge of the whole thing to go crazy with expenses and get some of the most expensive cartoons out there on the air. That's how Slam Dunk! and I finally met.

Sadly, it was never meant to last. With only 24 episodes shown, PRAMER (the company that owned both TBC and Magic Kids) had to take it off the air due to economic reasons (there was a gigantic economic crisis going on at the time and it mortally wounded the signal), and I honestly felt betrayed by their decision (even when it wasn't their fault). I really cared about these characters, and I wanted to see how their stories unfolded... Was Captain Akagi going to win the championship on his last chance? Was Hanamichi going to date Haruko at last? Was Rukawa going to the USA after all? So many questions remained unanswered, and it wasn't till much later (as in 2014) that I was actually able to find the answers to all those questions... and it was glorious. Being able to pick it up exactly where I left off was something amazing, and I haven't felt this good towards a cartoon before nor after the fact. It was THAT good.

THE SHOW ITSELF:

Slam Dunk is an Animé from the early nineties that was based on an excellent Manga by Takehiko Inoue. This guy was a hardcore basketball enthusiast and he really made sure that his creation would actually resemble the thing with all fairness and without going crazy in terms of realism... his Manga always kept a nice, realistic tone that would only be perturbed for comedic purposes. The result? Slam Dunk became a mass phenomenon and was the best selling Manga in the world for a long time... it really deserved it, seeing how the author managed to create a lot of deep and interesting characters and was able to successfully make an engaging story out of them.

*** This next part contains spoilers used to explain the Animé and its characters in a deeper way. Read it at your own risk! ***

This Animé tells the story of Hanamichi Sakuragi, a freshman at the Shohoku high school that is best known for his strong red head and bad luck with the ladies. Hanamichi is short on temper and, thus, feared by most of his classmates. He only has a few friends and they really enjoy making fun of him whenever he fails at getting a girlfriend. His first day at Shohoku high had him reaching the infamous number of 50 rejections, the last one by a girl that was in love with a member of the Basketball team. I don't know if it is was because of the number of rejections being this high, or just that he was really angered, but this really got our hero mad... and what comes next is one of the best displays of physical humor that I have ever witnessed.

Hanamichi was kind of an idiot, but a great protagonist nonetheless.

While our hero is sitting on his desk, licking his wounds, he overhears some conversations and his mind tricks him into believing that they are talking about Basketball -even when they are clearly not-... it doesn't matter if the poor guys were discussing a movie or just making some last-minute corrections to their math homework, if their vocabulary resembled the name of that sport, they would be hit. This goes on for a while and it is a truly, sincerely hilarious moment. Just a little taste of what this show had to offer.

Later that day, our good Hanamichi laid eyes on a pretty girl he just saw walking down the school halls and tries to approach her while talking nicely and stuff, but it just so happens that this girl also has a crush on another member of the Basketball team. But she is so nice to him that he still wants to befriend the lady, and they develop some sort of fast paced friendship. Still, this day is far from being perfect for our main protagonists, because while he was escorting the aforementioned girl thru the halls, he picked a fight with a bunch of senior students, who challenge him to fight on the roof later that day. Hanamichi heads to the covenanted place, but finds that the thugs had already been defeated by another guy named Rukawa (who is the love-interest of Haruko, the girl who befriended Hanamichi earlier). Rukawa had some wounds from the fight but rudely refuses Haruko's medical assistance, which leads Hanamichi to try and beat him (not without being punched himself a bit). Haruko cannot stand that kind of behavior and insults our hero before leaving the place.

It's been only a day since Hanamichi joined Shohoku High and he's already had it with that place. But it just so happens that, while trying to leave, he is hit in the head with, lo and behold, a basketball. That's way beyond his limits and he starts to rant about how much he hates that sport and such... just to be heard by Captain Akagi, a really tall, smart and strong guy who had dedicated his entire life to that game and would not tolerate that kind of disrespectful attitude toward it. So, he challenges Hanamichi to a 1 vs 1 game in which Akagi has to score 10 points to win and have Hanamichi retract everything he has said, but if he somehow manages to score one point, he would win. When the match starts, everybody learns that Hanamichi doesn't know the rules of Basketball, going as far as to forget to bounce the ball or even use his feet... everything seems so desperate for him (especially since this match has attracted the attention of all the school and a large part of the students are witnessing the game) but he somehow manages to win the game with a really good strategy that surprises everyone. He then makes peace with both Haruko and Akagi... just to find out that they are actually brother and sister. So he now wants to join the team to impress the girl.

The duel with Akagi was the first truly exciting moment of the show. Everybody remembers this one.

But that's not an easy task for him, as Akagi doesn't want him on the team (despite the advice he is given by the other members, who considered Hanamichi to be a great addition to the team). So, annoyed and frustrated, Hanamichi breaks into the storage room just to «steal» a uniform and try to join the training... just to have Akagi totally ignore him. The next day he tries to clean the storage room (after breaking in once more), and does a great job there... just to have Akagi give credit to other people. So, incredibly angry and just about to give up, Hanamichi has his friends join him on the monumental task of waxing the stadium's floor, and he falls asleep while doing so. Surprisingly, Akagi finally does recognize his hard work and allows him to join the team. He is now teammates with Rukawa (who is not exactly his biggest fan after the «incident» on the roof). And that's something that really impressed me as a viewer: throughout the course of the series these two NEVER put aside their differences. It would have been so easy for the creators to just portray them to be close friends after a while, but no, they didn't do it; Slam Dunk doesn't care about what's typical, and that is precisely what it makes it worthwhile.

As the series progresses, Hanamichi gets more and more involved with Basketball, learning the ways of that sport he used to hate, and doing some extreme training. Not just because of Haruko anymore, but also because he is slowly falling in love with the game. But it would be silly for me to just end there, as -even when I'm giving away a considerable amount of spoilers- this animé really knows how to entertain you, and it always does it when you are not expecting it anymore (or at all). During the second half of the series run we see some really harsh and touching moments that no one would have expected by then... just think about it: we spent a big part of the series getting to know these characters, having breathtaking laughs with them, and regarding them as funny characters, only to have the cartoon expose us to some heavy scenes which would reveal some really dark moments about these guys' pasts and presents, some stories would be crossed with others, and some scenarios we thought were unlikely would become true within episodes. There was an extremely VIOLENT scene that came out of nowhere and lasted for an stunning five episodes... that thing was a complete mess on it's own, but it also was surprisingly touching, and ended up with a really warm message that I truly appreciate.

The «DR T» segments were small cartoons placed in the middle of the regular episodes. They were used to teach the rules of the game to the viewers. It is a really nice effort and it solved quite a few of my personal doubts. It's little stuff like this that makes the show stand out.

*** The spoilers end here ***.

TECHNICAL SPECS:

Now, let's talk about technical specs for a bit, shall we? Visually, Slam Dunk is a masterpiece.

Maybe it's because I'm too used to the exaggerated movements and overly cartoony looks and feels of the other cartoons and Animés of the time, but everybody in Slam Dunk really does look and feel actually alive. It is obvious at first glance that a lot of love and care went into the building of this «world» and you would be surprised at the level of detail present in every part of it. This show was made in 1993 (the same year in which Animaniacs! was still struggling to look consistent) and you can have a good time just observing the details (that you might miss the first time around). There are three levels of visual detail in this world.

There's the «basic» one that is used during most of the episodes and includes most characters and locations. It is definitely not bad, but maybe a little «blurry» in terms of shine.

Look at this painting. Just look at it... it is bursting with detail. I'm not a big fan of that strange glare that the show seemed eager to paste into every single shot, but the rest is gold.

Then there's the «medium» one. This one is used when the guys are playing a match and is a detail booster like you have never seen before. In this one you can have a closer look at the characters and locations, enjoying more and more details (heck, you can almost see those little bumps on the ball's surface) and the characters are given a lot more freedom to move, react and talk. This is definitely the highlight of the show and adds to the -already strong- desire to witness a match.

And then there's the «highest» level. This one is just ridiculously good and puts the other two to shame. Sadly, this one is only used in the opening and ending sequences and throws a large variety of artistic styles into the mix to make you realize how good the whole program is. There's a few really strong drawings, there's a handful of watercolors and a lot of superb animation going on at the same time. The show has had two openings and four endings and every single one of them looks fantastic due to this. Heck, I still watch them on a daily basis.

Another strong drawing, this time showcasing Haruko. She got a LOT of attention in this sequence, but never in a naughty way (for which I'm extraordinarily grateful).

The music is another winner. There are six «main» themes (one for sequence) and a handful of small tunes used to highlight scenes on the show. Those six «big ones» are honestly really beautiful compositions and they really set the mood for an episode. There's nothing like hearing the first notes of the second opening or getting caught up in the magnificence of the first one.

The second ending sequence features this long pan showcasing all the rivals that the series has had. In between the deep moments and the lyrics performed by WANDS on their song «Sekai ga Owaru Made Wa» it is impossible not to feel moved. Slam Dunk really does that well.

THE REMARKABLE THING:

Now, here's something interesting: the Shohoku team ACTUALLY LOSES SOME MATCHES! If you haven't seen many Animes, then this might not sound too remarkable to you, but trust me when I say that it is a big deal.

In many (MANY) other shows, the «star» team always walks away victorious due to some lucky shot or whatever and honestly, I'm calling nonsense on that one. Because if your characters always win then... what's the point of having the matches? You know the result beforehand, so it is not that fun to watch. Slam Dunk, on the other hand, just says «NO!» to all that and keeps you guessing what's going to happen. I have seen some matches lost at the last second and some others won the same way. It is exciting to watch.

And besides, with characters this complex, the defeat is a reward in itself, because now you are going to see some drama and how they'll learn from past mistakes. Some of the best entries of the series as a whole have come this way.

PET PEEVES:

Hopefully this one is going to be short (thank God!) because there's only one thing that Slam Dunk really stinks at, and that's... having an ending to its story (no, I'm not kidding here). The Animé stops right at the gates of the National Championship and THEY NEVER MADE ANY MORE EPISODES! That's an incredible letdown. The story continues in the Manga, though, and I heard -I can't confirm it though, since I haven't read it- that it gives closure to the whole thing. So there's that.

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Well, that's it guys. I hope that you have had as much fun reading this as I had writing it. But if you really made it this far, you both scare me and fascinate me

See ya soon!

[Mhera]

If you fire me the cats will starve

Once again, that was very entertaining; the short history of the networks and your experience with cartoons was interesting as well and made a fitting beginning for this thread

[Izeroth]

 I actually thought the part about the networks was really interesting. Animation networks have gone through similar cycles here, although I don't think any of them have gone out of business.

[Luftwaffles]

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it

I know that most of you are probably too young to remember this, but in the 90's, Warner Brothers was the all-mighty cartoon factory. They knocked everything they tried right out of the park: Tiny Toon Adventures, Pinky and The Brain, Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain, Batman: The Animated Series, Taz-Mania, and Animaniacs! just to name a few... it was all really good, and some of those shows are still very popular today, due to their superb material, great amount of pop-culture references and just the pure genius of their scripts. Warner Brothers really had a reputation amongst viewers and for that reason, nobody really questioned anything when, in 1998, they released "Histeria!", a fully-educational show created by some of the people that was already involved in the shows mentioned above and that borrowed some pages from the Animaniacs! scrapbook.

Honestly, there was no reason to believe that that was going to be bad (and there's still no reason to justify such thought) but the idea seemed to be doomed from the very start. Not only the cartoon never really could escape from its external influences (it sometimes felt like a cheap Animaniacs! knock off), but it had all sorts of problems of its very own. The cartoon was heavily over-budget (for more than ten million dollars!) and the original contract for 65 episodes was reduced to 52 due to this... even worst, the number wasn't even on the tables and was a direct result of the (sudden?) cancellation of the show, in March 21, 2000. That is annoying because, despite all its problems, Histeria! was a pretty good show with a lot of charm and personality (when it wasn't ripping off Animaniacs!, that is). It definitely had potential, but I feel like a lot of it went to a waste because it tried SO HARD to force cheap humor and wordplay in a setting that wasn't quite appropriated for that... but when it really tried and took advantage of what it had to work with, the show made me laugh hard.

Still, maybe its cancellation was for the better; it might not look like it, but they had to pull off all sorts of tricks to keep the boat afloat: some of the footage was reused more than a few times and the editing was kind of a lost art at some point, plus the new dialogue being played over old scenes was a really unsettling experience (with only 52 episodes to take material from, you could spot those "shortcuts" painfully easy).

Sometimes, all it takes for me to like a show it's a quick line like this one. Gotta love an educational show that features a character named "Miss Information".

...But that's really weird.

And this girl is my favorite character on the show, even though pretty much all she does is speak in a monotone, unenthusiastic tone and say that she's not happy. I don't know what her purpose nor what her problem is, but she's just great.

So, as you might have predicted, Histeria's main goal is to make fun of history as well as teaching it, and the show largely success at this... most of the time, anyway. But for some bizarre reason, even the strangest of ideas seem to work just fine here... like, what if I tell you that one segment actually reprises Franklin's and Jefferson's life and achievements... in a rap number? You would think I'm crazy, but it is not only enjoyable, but pretty informative as well (I didn't know half of that stuff). There's also a short segment named "History Blunders", where a host with a ridiculously long name tells the story of some of the biggest mistakes on history... it is actually not bad, and some of those are very funny. Unfortunately, not every idea was hit: there's another segment called "Ask me if I care", where a character named Toast invites all kinds of historical celebrities, listens to them for a while, and, if he gets bored of their life and stories, he just ejects them from the studio using a lever. I get that it was supposed to be funny, but it just isn't... it drags on for too long and you know what's gonna happen way before the segment is over, so it doesn't really add up to the show's quality.

Also, I should probably mention that Histeria! isn't a show you should watch if continuity is a mayor concern for you. I have already talked about how the editing was getting worse and worse as the series progressed, but even on the early episodes of its existence there were severe problems regarding that subject, with a lot of unrelated skits being shown in rapid succession one after another. My guess for that is that, since the show has a fairly huge cast (at least 24 characters), the writers felt obligated to use them all, and that's why so many segments were crammed into every single episode. This is not particularly good or bad as a practice, it is just kind of dizzying.

The Kids Chorus was one of the most clever ideas that this show pulled off. Not only all its members were part of the regular cast, but they were also a very ethnically diverse group. Their participation on the musical numbers might not have been that great, but they were still pretty entertaining to watch.

But aside for all those problems (and as I mentioned before) when real time and effort went into the Histeria! cartoons, the results would be amongst the best entries of ANY of the Warner Brothers' cartoons.

For example, there's this one episode about the US Civil War that is just mind-blowingly good. The way they introduced Lincoln's life -focusing almost exclusively on his failures on life, but being careful not to say his name until the moment they mention that he became president of the United States- is just pure genius. And so is the way they talk about the problems that ultimately ended up causing the Civil War... they do this by showing a game show named "UNcivil War", where three of the maximum representatives of each side of the conflict were playing some sort of Jeopardy game, naming all the possible causes for such conflict. Ridiculous as it sounds, it really works, because some of the categories were so unbelievably stupid that it is impossible not to laugh at them ("Name calling" has to be my personal favorite of them all). But it doesn't stop there, now does it? There's also a great musical number paying homage to Johnny Shiloh; the song covers almost every important aspect of his life, but it doesn't get tedious nor feels like history lesson being forced down your throat because there's a lot of humor put into the number, with lyrics like "after the war he went to West Point, wanting to serve his nation, but he was turned down, because he had... a third grade education!" -to which he replies- "Eh, I was busy!".  There's also a cool remark pointing out that he was so passionate for what he did, that he wouldn't stop playing the drum (making all the troops go crazy).

All of that is great, but if there's something that REALLY made that cartoon stand out among the broader elements of the series, that's the direction they went after the colorful, upbeat and kind of sugary first part... because, after that, the cartoon went into a darker tone, with still shots showing exactly what war is all about. That's a pretty impressive display of rawness for kid's shows standards and they went as far as to describe things like hunger, deceases, and the one-liners that they dared to call "letters from home", explaining how their relatives were living the good life, safe at home, while they were getting crazy for all the fighting and perishing to exhaustion and the like. Combine that with lots of great humor and you have the perfect episode. In fact, that's precisely the case, this IS the perfect episode of Histeria! and the kind of cartoon that those characters should have been appearing in. It really left an impression on me and it also made me look up some names and learn some facts after I was done watching it... unfortunately, "The U.S Civil War" is the exception rather than the rule and almost every other entry on the series just went thru the motions, delivering emotionless, plain and kind of boring cartoons. That's a shame, because this show had a lot of potential and it was clear that the people behind it really knew what they were doing.

This is a really strong drawing with a lot of emotion to it. I wish that every episode could evoke such feelings.

Now, there's one last thing I'd like to mention before wrapping this up: it might not look like it, but Histeria's animation is actually pretty amazing. It might not sound like something too remarkable, but trust me that it is (even for a big-budget production like this one). Because, you see... as I said at the beginning of this article, Warner Brothers was working on a LOT of cartoons at the time, and that made them sign contracts with a bunch of animation studios to keep things going (you simply can't rely on one or two when you have all these series airing new episodes all the time... that would be crazy). They weren't exactly stingy with the studios they hired, seeing how at least three of them were top-notch (Tokio Movie Shinsa, Wang and StarToons come intermediately to mind) but not every single one of them meet that criteria, and some of the other studios they hired to keep production going weren't as good (Akom and Freelance were especially "bad" at what they did, but only by comparison). Having all those studios working on the different shows allowed the writers and directors to keep creating content without worrying too much about the air dates, but it also made most of the shows of the time look terribly inconsistent in terms of animation... it wasn't rare to see a Pinky and the Brain cartoon being shipped over to TMS one week and to Akom the very next one. It was actually kind of hilarious, seeing how all those studios had their "signature" styles and even as kids we were able to point out who was animating the episodes due to this. For that reason, it results almost incredible that Koko, StarToons and Wang were the companies who provided the animation services for Histeria!, seeing how the show was never a priority for the WB.  

Those three studios were given the responsibility and they turned great work after great work, "printing" their own distinctive styles into the episodes they animated (with Koko's detailed backgrounds, Wang's careful lighting and StarToons' strong drawings taking up the scene). Whatever else I might say about the show, they really cared about the looks (and sounds) of things.  

This image speaks by itself, doesn't it?

So, what are my final thoughts on this show? Well... I can't say that I'm a big fan of it (because I'm clearly not) but when I was actually able to enjoy it, I enjoyed it very much. I mean, SURE, it was INCREDIBLY tedious at times, and the jokes were mostly forgettable, but every so often they did something that really impressed me, and that was enough for me to keep going thru the entire series (and they almost always did that when I wasn't expecting it anymore and was ready to quit watching... which only added to the universal delight I got from those highlights).

Still, the show has some really great problems that are very hard to ignore and the price you might pay for getting to a really good episode the first time you watch this cartoon as a whole would most certainly include having to sit thru four or five average ones. But if you like history and you want to see it being portrayed in a very unique and hilarious way, this is the show I'd recommend to you (just don't set your expectations too high).

[Cornflower MM]

Hey, this is awesome, Sierra! I can't wait to see more. Keep iyt up, buddy!

[Skyblade]

These are enjoyable to read. Excellent reviews, Sierra, keep it up

[Luftwaffles]

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate your kind comments, my friends

(Please excuse and don't hesitate to point out the errors on this thing, I will gladly fix them).

The other day I did something stupid, like really stupid. How bad was it? It was dead-monkey intelligence level . I went to YouTube and I looked for the endings of two Futurama episodes: "The Luck of the Fryrish" and "Jurassic Bark".

I don't know what I wanted to prove to myself, but if I had access to a time machine, I would go back to the precise moment when that idea was conceived in my brain and I would definitely smack myself really hard on the head with a hammer. Think I'm exaggerating? Take a look at this comment:

Yeah.

Ok so, "The Luck of the Fryrish" is a pretty interesting episode that is based around the former relationships that Fry had in the past, especially with this older brother Yancy, who seemed to really like to steal everything from him; from his break-dance movements to his beloved clover (Fry's personal lucky charm). The setting is pretty intense, because most of the episode goes back and forth between flashbacks of New York in the XXI Century and the ruins of said place in the XXXI Century. Pretty normal, yet funny and somehow touching stuff in the episode so far, but everything would change when Fry finds out that he's not the only Phillip J. Fry that ever lived, in fact another one has had a very successful life doing everything that our good old delivery boy always wanted to accomplish: including being the first man on Mars.

Fry naturally believes that Yancy took advantage of his disappearance at the beginning of the century to "steal" his name, so he wants to travel to the ruins of the old New York to recover the clover from when he remembered to hid it. When he gets there, he discovers that the lucky charm is no longer there and he figures that the "other" Fry must have been buried with it, so he travels to the space graveyard ("Orbiting Meadows", that made me smile a bit) to profane the tomb of his brother and try to recover the thing... only thing is, nothing is what it seems. And in what it is a masterful example of what good scripting should be, while being full of anger and stuff, Fry knocks some moss from the impressive tombstone to reveal the truth...

I don't wanna say what happens, but I'm going to post a link to the scene so you can watch it: Only warning, though! Tissues will be needed.

The music really sells the moment but you can't ignore the terrific animation here. The lighting and camera angles used on the gravestone, and the last pan of the graveyard as the camera pulls out thru the glass are beautiful.

In fact, when I watched it the other day it didn't affect that much, but that was because someone was talking to me in the background, when I had a chance to re-watch it in peace, I felt BETRAYED by my own body... my head started to shake and I couldn't stop crying (and I'm not talking about two or three tears rolling down my cheek, no, it was a complete tidal wave). And that bothers me because, when we get down to it, it's just an animated scene featured on a COMEDY show... how can it be so powerful? It doesn't make any sense, but I appreciate the feeling... being able to just being honest with oneself and have a cry is an acquired taste, a privilege if you will.  

Jurassic Bark is not as forgiving, though.

In fact, the whole episode plays out like a beginner's' trap.

The episode begins almost by accident, with Bender and Fry practicing some magic tricks with a newspaper (which is strangely common for them)... but the newspaper has news of a new archeological discovery on the ruins of Old New York, a complete pizzeria that is none other than Panucci's Pizza, the place Fry used to work at before he was frozen on December 31, 1999. There are a lot of stuff in exhibition and Fry does recognizes all of it, but there's also one thing that immediately triggers some memories for him: the fossilized rests of his former dog, Seymour. Fry then decides to steal the dog from the museum. but he's caught and thrown out of the place.

He then spends the next three days dancing outside the place in some sort of protests, so he can have his dog back (all of this under a freezing weather). And in a gesture that still surprises me, the museum actually returns the animal to him. Much later, Fry finds out that the fossil still has a lot of its molecular structure intact, which makes it possible for the Professor to clone him. Now HERE is when everything goes straight to heck.

In another flashback to 1999, we see that Fry has been order with an obviously fake delivery to the Applied Cryogenics lab and that the dogs tries everything he can to convince him not to go, but Fry assures him that the trip is not going to take long and that he should await for him in front of the restaurant.

Now, back in the present again (get used to that, the episode LOVES its flashbacks) Fry is absolutely delighted with the idea of having his old friend back and he starts to buy dog food, toys and goodies... much to Bender's dismay, who is feeling left out. In fact, this sole feeling would lead to the soul-breaking moment: when the robot realizes how much his friend cares about Seymour, he can't actually stand it and throws the fossil to the lava pit that the Professor uses to power-up the cloning machine. Fry is obviously very mad at this and when Bender realizes his error, he throw himself into the lava to try and save the dog (seeing how both the fossil and him are made from certain percentage of an extremely-durable kind of rock). When everything is set-up again, Fry realizes that Seymour lived 15 years (which means that he lived thirteen years without his master); Fry wrongly realizes that Seymour went and lived a happy life without him and breaks the cloning machine, aborting any attempt of ever doing it again (which delivers the only laugh on the cartoon "Oh yeah, smack the smart guy's machine"... a simple smile delivered to ease the pain of what's next).

This is what happens at the end:

The animation on this scene is spot on. The time passing looks somehow natural and only adds to the -already heavy- atmosphere. Once again is the music what sells the moment, but the artistic style chosen to portray this scene is very well executed. The laggy (almost like a slideshow) animation really nails the delivery.

Remember the YT comment that I pasted at the beginning of this write up? The guy is not kidding, man. This is as hard as it possible gets... in fact, I don't know ONE person who could watch this episode more than once without crying like a child... and most people I know wouldn't watch it again. It is just mean as it is powerful. If you haven't seen it, well... you missed something beautiful and several days of therapy. I swear, every time I watch it I need to go and hug my pets REALLY hard.

This is not only one of the saddest episodes of ANY cartoon, but it is also the reason that made a lot of people realize that Futurama was going to shine with its own light and not being another mindless Simpsons' clone. It is incredibly destructive, yet beautiful as well.

[Cornflower MM]

*Claps* Very nice, again! Can't see the videos, but your write up is very good!

[SoranMBane]

Yeah, moments like those are part of what sets Futurama apart from its peers in the world of animated sitcoms for adults; not only was Futurama really funny, but it also wasn't afraid to be genuinely, beautifully sincere from time to time. The Devils Hands Are Idle Playthings is also a pretty good example (that's the episode where Fry makes a deal with the Robot Devil for a pair of new hands so he can become a master holophonor player to woo Leela); the ending isn't crushing like those other two, but it is still very sweet.

[Luftwaffles]

Thank you Corn, that means a lot to me Why can't you see the vids, though? I had a problem like twenty seconds ago but it's now solved.

Yeah, moments like those are part of what sets Futurama apart from its peers in the world of animated sitcoms for adults; not only was Futurama really funny, but it also wasn't afraid to be genuinely, beautifully sincere from time to time. The Devils Hands Are Idle Playthings is also a pretty good example (that's the episode where Fry makes a deal with the Robot Devil for a pair of new hands so he can become a master holophonor player to woo Leela); the ending isn't crushing like those other two, but it is still very sweet.

Hey Soran, that's an awesome episode in every regard of the word (the opera part is fantastic and so are the lyrics). But for me, the only episode that can top those two in terms of emotion is the last one, Meanwhile.  I'm not going to spoil anything, but that last episode combined everything I loved about the show in one single, master shot: the action, the jokes, the touching moments, and the explosive finale, it was all there. And, while watching it, I was reminded of everything that cartoon had delivered over the years. It was quite a ride.

Futurama has had some bad episodes, but when they tried, the results were really amazing. It is almost a crime that Jurassic Bark lost against an episode of The Simpsons for the television awards.