Cranial Pasta was an early idea for videos by the retro computer guy we now know as The 8-Bit Guy. I think he made the right choice going for the retro computing and electronics discussions. That said, neither of us recommend climbing on an electric fence. Better safe than fried, kids. It won’t give you superpowers and it’s not a fun ride. Sorry.
I thought I’d end this year on something fun. I’ve posted numerous versions of A Christmas Carol to the playlist and previous Christmas postings here at BW Media Spotlight, but this one is a bit different for two reasons. One is that 1935’s Scrooge is the first “talkies” adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic tale of redemption at Christmas but it’s reviewed by Linkara and his friends at the time the riff was produced. It’s a timeless classic but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun making fun of it. Enjoy.
And on that Yuletide redemption we close out the BW Christmas Special-A-Thon. I’ll take a break until the start of the new year, or finishing this year’s Captain Yuletide, whichever comes first. I hope you had a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, or at least a really good December 25th, and let’s hope 2023 is a better year than 2022.
You wouldn’t think that I of all people would be posting a show about supervillains at Christmas time but…have you heard of the Grinch? Seriously, if Skeletor can find the Christmas spirit (didn’t realised I posted that one so many times pre-playlist), why not sitcom supervillains?
The supervillain family of The Villains Of Valley View, a show I don’t watch because my backlog is long I can’t give anything a chance these days and Nickelodeon has ruined the idea of superhero/supervillain sitcoms anyway, is about to run headfirst into the Christmas spirit when they try to win the annual supervillain “destroy Christmas” contest.
I learned about Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug And Cat Noir through cosplays at conventions and Free Comic Book Day preview comics before it finally aired someplace I could watch it. The heroes aren’t perfect, but they do try to improve, which is hard when you’re a character in a show that likes its status quos. They also made a Christmas episode and the official YouTube channel is offering me an addition to the Christmas playlist.
It’s Adrian’s first Christmas without his mother, and his running off panics all of his friends and loved ones. This leads to a series of events in which even Ladybug mistakenly believes that a street Santa is a bad guy…which the villainous Hawkmoth (secretly Adrian’s father) uses to his advantage, using his powers to turn people into supervillains under his control. It’s up to Adrian to clear his name, and his superhero identity Cat Noir to help Ladybug undo the mistake and save Christmas. Also, there’s a surprising amount of singing, so good thing Marinette and Adrian’s voice actors have good singing voices in-character.
This seems to be the year for Christmas-saving stories. I guess it’s all the studios using YouTube to host shows officially now for a little extra ad revenue. Makes me miss when Hulu used to do that.
The sequels to Men In Black may have taken more and more a dip in quality (I haven’t seen International yet but I hear mixed reviews) but the animated series that ignores the ending to keep J and K together (I still say the sequel should have followed J and L on new adventures) was a great use of the characters. Following the movie rather than the original comics, J and K continue their adventures to protect the world from invading aliens while allowing decent aliens to hide among us, though in this special Santa Claus is human and the elves are aliens. Then another group of aliens kidnaps Santa and his toys, forcing our favorite agents to work with one of the space elves to save Christmas…and maybe help J figure out what to get K for Christmas.
Yep, this is made by the same company that would later make Jackie Chan Adventures, our other Santa-rescuing story. Guess they liked saving Santa Claus. Surprise Godzilla and Batman didn’t get to do that. Imagine 90’s US Godzilla in a Santa hat, while Santa exists in the DC multiverse, so why not The Batman?
Let’s start with something fun. Alice’s Wonderland Bakery has the descendant of the Alice of the Disney movie (at least I think so) traveling to Wonderland to open a magic bakery…which is becoming a genre considering this isn’t the first magic bakery in kids’ fiction. This episode sees a much nicer (but still a bit ego-driven) Queen Of Hearts having a royal banquet, only to have a bunch of little pests ruin the festivities. It’s up to Alice and her friends to save the banquet…with gingerbread.
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
Cartoon Hero’s Lair SF Debris Four Million Years Later
BW Media Spotlight 