And so we end The Tribute with those channels that didn't quite Reach the Finish line last Month, But did Contribute to the airwaves nonetheless.
THE FOLLOWING POST IS INTENDED FOR AN ADULT AUDIENCE. IT WILL ALSO CONTAIN CONVERSATIONS OF REAL LIFE BIGOTRY, THAT EFFECTED SOME SHOWS AND SOME WORDS HAVE BEING EDITED!
Popgirl
On the 6th 2007, Chartshow tv launched two channels that shared Bandwidth, Popgirl, which aired 6 to 9pm on 626, and 186's Anime Central, which after 3 hours of Dead air, would show anime from 12 to 5, in an Era when Vivo (Sky Plus) didn't exist!
In the following year, to compete with Kix!, Popgirl would increase its air time to 11pm, at a cost of scraping Anime Central. But in return PopGirl would gain a plus one channel.
Popgirl would have an eponymous Mascot. Who would host the competitions and had an animated intro to introduce the music video block of girl band songs.
During midday, The channel would change it's ident to host the Little Miss Popgirl Block, showing Shows like Madeline and Strawberry Shortcake.
Popgirl would close in October 2015, to make way for Max Power, a Power Rangers only channel, before it would become Pop Max+1
So let's start with Popgirl and see what they were working with for 8 years.
6teen
While there was good done in a episode where a female character learns that Gay People are as same as anyone else, 6teen has the worst of a lot of western Animation. The Worst Artstyle, the Worst Theme, The Worst Characterization. There are Shows that are Formulaic, and then there are Shows that learn, Teach and achieve nothing. When your Halloween special ends with all your cast dying of Zombies only to go "It's All A Dream!" When you wrote yourself into a corner, Pack it in!
Braceface
Alicia Silverstone fresh off her Starring Role in Clueless, voices a teen girl going through awkward Teenage phrase and Correctional Dentistry.
Caused Backlash when The Anti-Drinking Episode showed Sharon ("Brace-Face") drunk. There was also another that was banned permanently called "Busted" that Went too Far into talking about Bras and Breasts.
Horseland
A 2000s horse-show that has Skewered Storylines, weak Characters
...
and moments that did not age well.
The YouTuber Li Speaks Spoke in length about this series, in an Episode to Episode Retrospective.
Madeline
The Delightful French Cartoon of the Orphan girl in a orphanage with 11 other girls. Was part of the Little Miss Popgirl Block.
Mary Kate and Ashley in Action
The Twin Teen Actresses (at the time,) are not only actresses in this cartoon, but apparently spies, in episodes that feel like a Game Of Madlibs after heavy drinking! I remember one episode where all the world's Fruitcakes was stolen by a pair of Surfers who plan to drop all the cakes in the Pacific due to their absorbent Properties will Cause a World ending Tsunami to Surf on!
Mew Mew Power
Toyko Mew Mew had a Dub, Unfortunately it was 4kids!
Ichigo/Zoe is a normal teenaged girl who while on a date is bombarded by radio waves to add The DNA Sequence of a Wildcat to her, giving her the power to turn into a cat themed Showgirl to fight Aliens who plan to mutate animals to destroy humanity and take our planet as their own. Soon found by the two researchers who gave her the powers, they under the cover of a trendy Cafe, offer Zoe employment, training and a mission to find others with her powers, defeat the Aliens while still managing her personal and love life, in a show that has great humour, break neck action and Subtle Environmental Message.
Only 2 seasons for the 3 season show got dubbed and ended on a cliffhanger, thankfully You can find the 2000s Show on YouTube completely subtitled. And I guess as season 3 went on it got more Japanese that 4kids were not able to get around.
There is a reboot called Tokyo Mew Mew New, on Crunchy Roll with better animation, but there is something about the original show that has some charm that the Reboot doesn't!
Pippi Longstocking
The return of the Braggadocios Super Strong World Traveler, who still Naïve to the same 2 Thieves who want to steal Pirate gold and treasures every episode.
Pretty Cure
The one and only attempt to dub The 7th biggest Anime Franchise In the world. Pretty Cure would start at the very Beginning with The first series retroactively now called We Are...Pretty Cure Dubbed by...you guessed it, 4kids.
2 Girls who could not more different from each other,(and given the Yin and Yang Motif, completely the entire point.) Are Given powers by 2 Small aliens from the Garden of Light to protect life from the Forces of the Dark King, a pure Embodiment of Entropy and Nihilism...in blobby 2000s CGI. Pretty Cure was handled better than most, though of course, noone actually dies in the dub, as Honaka/Hannah doesn't meet a Stranger who looks like her crush, the deceased Dark Servant Kiriya, it's him but reincarnated as a human, but given the other Dark Servants were reconstituted into 3 new Servents who were amalgamations of the four's body types, powers and personalities, This Dub change is not as innocuous as so many!
Ruby Gloom
A Character from Stationary that is Basically Baby's First Hot Topic, Despite being in a Monster World living in a Haunted House. Ruby as the theme song goes see the "Bright Side of The Dark Side "
Sabrina the Animated Series/ Sabrina's Secret Life.
Melissa Joan Hart's Sister, Emily Hart, who played Amanda in her sister's show, voices her big Sister's character in this comic adaptation of the show, which means this adaptation is completely different to what we see on the live action.
Sure Sabrina, Harvey and Salem are the same, but now Hilda and Zelda are punished by the council for abetting Salem by being turned into Teenagers as such we are now introduced to an Uncle Poochie, I mean Quigley, a mortal Uncle who acts as the voice of reason, now that the Spell that turned the Aunts into Teenagers has made them Stupid! (Or In Hilda's case, MORE stupid!)
The direct Sequel has a complete change, going from Disney to Dic, the frames are less polished, character designs are changed, some characters are completely removed, or replaced, which is rich when those characters replaced the once from the Live Action show. And it feels like a go around, as most of secret life's episodes are Either treated as follow-up to series one as they are, or complete rehashes of Morals we already know!
Sally Bollywood
Based on the Books, Sally is teen detective who teams with a Science Nerd who acts like a forensics Agent whose inventions literally blow up in his face! The Episodes Follow a Formula, Something gets Stolen or Vandalized, The entire class is given mass detention, They Trail Someone who is suspicious, he or she is holding a secret that is not relevant to the case, Sally has A Columbo-esque scene where Meeting an expert, teaches her something the Culprit missed, and we get the real Culprit and why...Which is usually the person who loves said McGuffin way too much!, Good for it's Age rating! But older kids will see the pattern after 2 episodes.
Trollz
Emily Hart also starred in the last time the Troll Dolls made a return. And considering the Franchise is now reduced to "Look what Song we Can Afford to have our Cast Butcher in our Toy Grab Slop!" At least in 2003, Dic Put plot and effort in their Toy Grabs.
Here the Trollz are focusing on the 2 parts that make the Troll dolls unique: The Hair and their gemstone Belly buttons, which is a conduit for the female of the species to do magic, usually in conjunction with their cell phones, sorry, with their "Spell-Phones". Anime and 2000s Conventions abound there are Beach Episodes and fashionable clothes as well as a good vs evil plot in there somewhere.
What about Mimi
One of those shows where the "humour" comes from the main character not getting anything she wanted, having other characters Contrive a Brick Joke to Snatch Mimi from the Jaws of Victory, only for the bully to get the win, and her to lose, but realize friendship is the real prize!
You Couldn't find a Better Show that deserved the Irish Language Kiss Of Death!
Z-Squad
A Korean Magical Girl show where crystals that sustained a Alien Prince, are scattered during an Interdimensional war land on Earth to become monsters. To resurrect the Prince, three girls are made into Superheroes using crystals to manifested items to solve lateral thinking problems, like a Prototype of Miraculous Ladybug
Zoey 101
Jamie Lynn Spears Vehicle to launch her as an actress...if not for the announcement of her teen pregnancy that caused a complete Rewrite and the abrupt end of the series after real live events...events that had Spears not even in episodes because she "Moved away " only to come back, Sitting down or filmed from the neck up to "apologize" for going away and to say goodbye in the last episode.
Too many Terrible Cheaply made Canadian live action shows to count!
Too Many Terrible Cheaply made Australian Live Action Shows to count!
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| Give Yourself a Prize if you know the exact show this image is from without using image Search, these actresses were in so many 2000s Aussie shows they started to blend into each other! |
Kix/Pop Max
On the 19th of May, 2008, Pop+1 was Replaced for the first time for A fourth kids Channel, 3 years after closing a Girls only channel, now they launched a Boys only channel...which quickly Evolved into a Action channel for everyone.
When Kix launched it actually would set the groundwork for how Pop would operate til It's Closure on Sky: No Mascots, just a Voice over, though to set it apart from the others, between the breaks, a sports, Gross Science or Trivia Fact was set up in the Ad Breaks. Or a true or false question. Like the others, before it was dropped, Kix also Played Light Rock Music Videos, and later Skateboarding Videos.
Later in the year August 2018, Kix was rebranded as Pop Max, at first also a Male Centric channel, until it was devolved to being a second Pop with no identity of it's own, meandering until it closed in October in 2024.
Since Kix and Pop Max were the same channel number throughout it's Sky Tenure, I will treat both channels as one entity.
The Batman
With U2's The Edge writing the theme Music (True Story!) While not celebrated as much as BTAS, The Batman is just as good, if not as dark as What came before it. What saves the Show is there version of Clayface.
No longer Basil Carlow, an Actor obsessed with keeping his looks that he would undergo surgery that went wrong, Clayface is now Ethan Bennett, A Detective and Bruce Wayne's Best Friend, who would be kidnapped by the Joker and tortured with chemicals, and joker gas to morph his body and break his mind. Despite the Good intentions from Bruce as both Bruce and Batman. Ethan realizes that he can't go back to being One Person like a broken Former Detective, but as Clayface he can be anyone, take their form and anything they have.
The Surprise that Ethan turned into A long standing villain, gave this show the kick it needed to keep going, it also introduced new villains not yet seen before like The Cluemaster and Ragdoll!
Batman Beyond (Called Batman Of The Future in Britain)
Set 30 odd years after Batman Animated, Bruce Timm returned to Batman, but not as we know it, Bruce Wayne is now an Elderly man who has given up the cape, after age forced him to make mistakes that became fatal, until Fate would land Bruce and A Young Man named Terry McGuiness whose father was Set up to be murdered by a gang who worship the Joker. Under Bruce's Guidance, after Terry steals a futuristic Batsuit, Batman Returns to the 21st century, to fight Blight the man behind The death of Terry's father.
A clever thing that Batman Beyond did was take Legacy Villains from Decades ago and give them a Sci-fi spin. So much so that characters like the Royal Flush Gang fly around on Playing card shaped Hoverboards by Default in all other appearances.
Beyblade Series.
The many Attempts to sell Beyblades as a series, during the anime Mainstream Boom caused by Pokemon. Each Show was Fine, whether it was the Original where it seems each one of Team Japan would come to blows with their former team every arc, or the Burst Series that went the yugioh path by have World ending consequences to a children's Top Game.
Netflix has The new series Beyblade X, if you want to see the main character be treated like a Complete Jobber who can't do anything on his own, get on it!
Biker Mice From Mars 2006.
In 2006, I beat someone said "Man, 4kids has Ruined the Ninja Turtles For me. I wish someone remade one of the many Rip-off that stood on its own, like Biker Mice."
Instead of Picking up where we left off, We are fobbed off all series with a whole faction of Poochies, the Surfer Cats From Saturn, whose leader has being mutated into a Were-Whatever, who will attack when transformed once per episode, even when There has being resolution between the two, even when there is other storybeats that could be resolved.
Bunny Maloney
Once again, Li Speaks' Channel has covered the now lost media that is the English Dub of the wild French Show Bunny Maloney.
Bunny Maloney is...strange to pin down as a story, Since French Cartoons love to start their Series In Media Ries. And since this show has Episodes Missing, there was never one that Explained the plot,
But the best I got is...
Bunny Maloney , Girlfriend Candy and Jean François A Rare Creature from the Rainforest that only says his name like a Pokemon and their Shut in Engineer Stan Nuki, are Power Ranger/Gundam Pilots who protect their city from, and/or compete in Mech fights against Dr Dibillerman, who lusts over Candy. The Episode always end with The "Good Doctor's " Sub being sank.
But there is more to hero work than fighting villians, there is out of office Strife like Franchise Deals, Romance, Military Red Tape, Government Stupidity, Clingy Fans and Friends like Charlotte the cow who blatantly wants Bunny!
The Show is a Riot, it was Shown at 8pm because it was definitely not supposed to be shown to little children, despite some cutesy designs. There is a lot of Crap speeding past the Radar, Candy And Charlotte are naked like most cartoon animals but they have Curvy figures. There's even Scenes of Charlotte doing a Provocative Calender photo shoot on a car bonnet. And Candy pole dancing to seduce Bunny on a date!
Again, Li Speaks Video can be found on YouTube.
Code Lyoko
If you've being here long enough, You already know my admiration for Code Lyoko.
For 5 years, for Good and bad, Every Episode was Reviewed in detail, Of Moonscoop's Masterpiece after Cartoon Network shoved season 3 onto their website to finish it's run. And Kix could only get the tapes for seasons 1 and 2.
But if you are late to the party (Or Funeral, in this case!), Code Lyoko is a French Cartoon, that follows a Group of Boarding school Students who uncover a Secret Factory that contains a Sentient Computer Program Girl named Aelita in a Virtual World called Lyoko. However, reactivating the factory also releases X.A.NA, A Digital Terrorist Program that can possess and subvert electronics and Machines (At First!) Thanks to Jeremie's Fast Friendships with his Roommates and a Japanese Girl that isn't a Boarder at School, The 3 others, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi can get into the Factory's Scanners and travel from 2d Burgundy, to 3d Lyoko to hit X.A.N.A where he lives.
96 episodes were created, with The Terrible Live Action, Evolution, never making it to Britain.
The Entire Series is up on YouTube on Code Lyoko's official Page.
or you can stay here and read my reviews of the show!
Dinosaur King
It's a funny old world, the world of animation.
Imagine China in 2005, making a Card game to teach about Dinosaurs, but in typical fashion, you Rip-off Pokemon, you even go and make a shonen Anime that is essentially Pokemon with Dinosaurs. It somehow falls on the lap of executives of Spinmaster, Sega's Toy arm, but also dubbed by 4kids, so yes! Rip-off Ash, Gary and Dawn who fight a rip off Jesse-are voiced by their very same English V.As!
Wouldn't You know who won the Pony?
DinoSquad
Before it was Fixed, TV Tropes Had a page for this show that Actually was a Slam piece! And I get it! Terrible Theme, Flat Characterization, A silly use of the Villain's power of Devolving Mutagen, which is good as a concept, but in the First episode Veloci turns A Great White into A Megalodon, but instead they turned it into a plesiosaur-STILL CALLS IT A MEGALODON! Also has an environmental message that they beat you over the head with, to the point a message to remind kids to recycle is aired over the End Credits.
Dukes of Brokstonia
A 5 minute cartoon that was Filler in the early years. 3 Rockstars who are Beavis and Butthead inspired airheads cause Toilet humour and Noise pollution while on the Road in The Australian Touring Scene.
Once Again, Diamondbolt covered this in one of his Videos on his countries Animations
High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange
WHY?
Inazuma Eleven (series 1 and 2 Only)
After Disney XD Dropped all it's anime when rebranding from Jetix, Kix, being part of the home of 3rd Parties, Picked up the series tied to the Soccer RPG series for the DS. Mark Evans is the Goalkeeper and Captain of the Ailing Inazuma High Soccor team barely Scrapes up 11 players to compete in a High paying Inter-school Tournament. Soon They are playing against Animal themed Mutants, Psychic Child Soldiers, Fake Ghosts who use Superstition, mind games and Carny tricks to mess with people, Otakus and The final team who are Giving Illicit Substances to give them the Power of Literal Gods!
Despite this, The series Has a who's who of Voice actors of the 2000s and even to this day. The show even follows the spirit of the gameplay, Where you can recruit other players in a Transfer system. You can even move Characters into other positions, Given that Mark is the component part of one of the most powerful team moves, at cost of him leaving the goal wide open! and the Story beats of Ambition, Traitors, Injury, Pride, Learning from The Previous Generation are all down to earth!
THEN ALIENS INVADE IN SEASON 2!
There was a 3 season to raise the stakes to a World Cup Level but it was never brought over here!
Iron Man Armoured Adventures.
They Aged Down Iron Man, they made Pepper Clingy and Annoying, they Made Obadiah Stane into Lex Luthor with a "GRRRR! GRAVELLY POWER RANGER MONSTER OF THE WEEK," Voice, and they made Mandarin into a wimp in p*ss yellow slacks!
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| "Get in the Locker, NERD!" |
Justice League
NOW WE ARE TALKING!
Bruce Timm's Culmination of works from Batman the Animated Series, to Superman the Animated Series, To this show, when you saw the opening credits of this show for the first time, you knew this was going to be a show that going to be made on a grand Scale.
And it didn't disappoint, While we got the usual suspects of the Trinity: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, we also were also introduced to Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter and The John Stewart Green Lantern.
In fact for a whole generation, John Stewart was a lot of people's introduction to The Green Lantern, So much so when Ryan Reynolds was revealed to play Hal Jordan, the first Green Lantern, people online were angry that A white man was playing "A BLACK CHARACTER!"
Kix Did edit out some scenes. For instance, in Legends part 2, The 1950s Streak tell John it's an honour to "Work with one of his kind", there is also the 3 Parter the Savage Time, where Vandal Savage rewrites History to make the Allies Lose WWII, Without ever saying the word "N*zi" or showing anything more than Grey uniforms, that was there original doing, however, there Kix did remove a conversation between Martian Manhunter and Savage, where Savage Essentially say's something in the lines of "So this is what the Ultimate man looks, it's a shame your skin is the wrong colour!" Oh and In Twilight Part 1, Wonder Woman has her A*s slapped by a New God, which was edited out too!
But they were slight changes, and it didn't veer too much from the show, which had great action, a lot of depth and amazing characterization, even the villains had more to them, you wanted to see them succeed to some way.
The Pop wikipedia page claims to have shown Justice League Unlimited, But that's a lie!
Labrats Challenge
A messy Australian Gameshow that teaches science in a fun way. I remember this being combined with Grossology to become a block. The BBC took this concept and put Top Gear's Richard Hammond as the Host as Richard Hammond's Blast Lab
Legend of The Dragon.
Jeff "Swampy" Marsh's last show for the BBC before Creating Phineas and Ferb for Disney. Two Fraternal twin martial artists train all their lives to one day become The Golden Dragon , a powerful warrior of a Secret society of Zodiac themed Guardians, but in true Kung Fu Fashion, only one can be worthy and the other can kick rocks! So when the Sister is denied, she falls under the thumb of the Evil Zodiac Master, and gives her the Shadow Dragon Cuff, to become the Shadow Dragon, And now there is a quest to train under the other Zodiac Guardians and free her sister. Which they did at the end of season 2. In season 2 the now new Big Bad, The Emperor, who reveals his shadow Zodiac Guardians....but they wrote themselves into a corner as they only revealed Shadow Rat, Monkey, Horse and Snake and Wolf in place of Dog. I wonder what Shadow Rabbit would look like?
Lego Legends Of Chima
Lego made a set called Chima, a Kind of Thundecats like world, where factions of animals who drive vehicles and mechs that share their Visage. That is Until the Prince of the crocodiles, manipulated by His Sister and a paranoia inducing Flower, Invades The lion kingdom for the power source of this world, Chi, which essentially Energon for all technology. Halfway through In a point and a shrug moment, The Prince in his paranoid stupor, realizes the princess is trying to usurp his power, imprisons her, but still reveals he's evil all the long, then Lion Guy uses Magic Friendship powers and platonically loves the hate out of him.
Season 2 goes for a Fire vs Ice Motif as heroic Phoenixes and Factions of Ice age Mammals return to settle a war with the season 1 species now pulling for the Phoenixes.
Medabots
A late 90s anime show, that is a Companion Piece for the robot builder sets with Interchangeable parts. Iki is a Boy who is the only one who doesn't have a Medabot, until one day he buys with little money he saved, a Second hand Robot and a medal, the source of all robot power and identity, But instead of a loyal Robot like the rest of them, Medabee is somewhat of a Jerk, but he can back in up robattles. But mystery surround Medabee, why is he so powerful? And what was his part in the Apocalyptic Seven Days of Darkness exactly 10 years ago? A light and breezy show that despite the art's downward shift in season 2 had enough excitement and mystery to keep you interested.
Monster Warriors
"I MAKE ZE MONSTERS BIG!"
Cheesy, silly and Hokey show Where teen Legally Distinct Ghostbusters fight the Creations of a Disgruntled B-Movie Director. Which are usually Giant 3d (badly Clipped Walk Cycles of) Monsters. Cheap Slop from Canada Eh!
¡Mucha Lucha!
The Cult Classic Flash Animation which follows a trio of Friends in a high School for Lucha Libre, Ricochet, A High spirited Boy who gets advice from the action Figure of A Legendary Wrestler, Bueno Girl, the Voice of reason, and The Flea, imagine Gollum, Bender and Eddie from From Ed, Edd, and Eddie put in a blender, Venture to Grap shaped Giggles and a lot of good Representation of Latino Culture! They even got the rights to use the likeness of then NWA Champion Blue Demon Jnr in an episode.
The Mysterious Cities of Gold
A sequel to The 1982 film anime movie, Esteban, Child of the Sun, which was internationally released as The Mysterious Cities of Gold, follows the adventures of 3 young people, Esteban, a Spanish boy, An Incan Priestess and a boy who claims heritage from the lost city of Mu, travel throughout The Age of Discovery World to find Mu, Atlantis and thwart Greedy Conquistadors.
I know that This Franchise is a big deal, especially in Latin America. But I didn't give it a second look, because I thought it was an educational show!
Nate is Late
A 10 minute Time Filler where the Titular Nate gets Himself and his friend Malika stuck in Fantastical And Far fetched Adventures, Ten minutes before final bell.
There was actually no fooling, an Avengers Endgame Final Battle between Nate, Malika, The Principal and every Character that cause Nate to be late against Amnesia inducing Aliens, so off course when Nate is proven not he be a liar by the Principal, WOULDN'T YOU KNOW WHO WON THE PONY?, The Principal gets shot by an Amnesia laser at the very end, because Status Quo is God!
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
The Infamous Live Action tv show, that was shockingly Bad with terrible decisions. Case in Point, from the Jump, Venus, a 5th Turtle Girl who does magic who is a Mary Sue, because she Kills Shredder in the first episode! Like, straight up, casts a Spell that kills Shredder with the weight of his own sins. So Shredder is dead, no sign of Krang, No Mutants, No Foot Clan, who do we have left for the Turtles to fight?
An army of Dragon Ninjas? Okay that'll do for starts, what else?
An evil Scientist who Deceived Donnie to help with his schemes through his love of science? Not strong enough for fight scenes, but Characterization is always good! What else?
3 annoyingly voiced Vampires!
-Hold on...what do Vampires have to do with Turtles? Who else?
a Game Hunter who talks like "Macho Man" Randy Savage!
Okay, Okay, The Turtles could be seen as rare Creatures to Hunt, that's something they could work with, as long as the next villian isn't completely ridiculo...
A Yeti who has become a Gangster after winning the lottery!
.....and look at that, the show is cancelled!
Oggy and the Cockroaches
Painfully Annoying Rip-off of Tom and Jerry.
Pinky And The Brain
In the 2010s Kix showed the Famous Spin-off of the Animaniacs show. We know who Pinky And The Brain are, they are The Gene Spliced Mice who for reasons explored in a episode, want to take over the world, in goofy schemes. The jokes about SNL and Clinton's Affair haven't aged well a decade later and the children won't get it, but as Nostalgia for people my age, it was great to see it once again.
Rated A For Awesome
A Disney show where a group of friends try to improve something lame through fashion, Tech and Theatrics. Only to either have it backfire or turned back after their alterations upsets the original person. While the 26 episodes have ugly designs and awful music, (if you can a chorus singing what's happening at the very moment as music) for the episodes where Les and the gang feels guilty it's refreshing to see children not Rebel against everything Generational!
Scan2Go
Another Shonen Style Toy Grab, this time for Toy cars that moved when scanned with card swipes.
Shezow
This Infamous Australian show that didn't deserve the Backlash from Conservative News sites and Trump-Suckers like Ben Shapiro.
The Series follows Guy, who on the Death of his aunt, puts on a ring on a whim and is transformed, for you see, Guy's Aunt was Shezow, a pink skirt and knee high clad Superhero armed with weoponized makeup.
So off course, the Conservative nitwits the world over dumped their nappies, when they saw this with The shows Creator having to tell Shapiro, Guy is not Gay, he just wearing a silly costume that offsets the fact it gives him powers. He's not Provocatively dressed in Drag, he's not pretending to be a women, he doesn't change his personality, it's just a silly costume for an idea the Creator had since they were a child.
And it's just silly harmless show that didn't deserve it's flack and should free to enjoy it's terrible puns in peace!
Sky Surfer Strike Force
A Comic book show from the 90s that was Generic, and started in Media Ries, but was uninteresting.
Slugterra
In a Subterranean World below the earth's Surface, a Young Man who has come of age descends into Slugterra to find his missing father. Eli Shane, like his father before him, becomes a lawman who inherits his father's guns, that doesn't shoot bullets, but actual Slugs with elemental powe...yeah its another Pokemonesque Cash grab. At 6 Seasons Slugterra was a long show. But I'd admit I never watched this from end to end. It's good, but It's not ground breaking
Sonic Boom
Both the Worst Sonic Game ever made,...and the funniest tie-in cartoon ever made. Once the programmers were screwed over by the designers, the writers just went, let's go mental, at first it felt like Disrespectful like what they did on Teen Titans, Go! But it gets funny when certain...parts of the sonic Fandom gets put down a Peg!
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| If you know who this is a reference to, I'm sorry for that Cursed knowledge! |
Spectacular Spiderman
The Spiderman 2000s Spiderman show, who took the bright idea to cover the Spectacular Spiderman Storyline, over the Film's storyline. Introducing Gwen Stacey and having a better go around introducing Eddie Brock/Venom in a great slow burn.
Storm Hawks
A Ytv Cartoon which had a great Story of A Steampunk Sky world defended by Storm Hawks, Sky bike riding Knights, until one of their own Betrayed them over a Dark empress, now a bunch of youngster take up the mantle.
Storm Hawks fell so Slugterra could run! Storm Hawks had a lot of issues that Action Cartoons like Avatar fixed from day one: Human Proportions. Both Storm Hawks can be Funny and Serious. But when Storm Hawks try for serious the Character models kind of ruin the moment.
Tales from the Cryptkeeper
The 90s Cartoon of the Horror comedy series. DIC did the bare minimum in terms of animation. Seeing this recently on A Saturday Morning Cartoon YouTube channel as an adult you really see how jank the animation was. But at least the Stories were fun.
Team Jay
One of the worst Cash Grabs, from the final years of Pop Max. Instead of a toy or game. Someone had the idea to animate and Distribute outside of Italy, a series about Juventus Soccer club's Mascot
Transformers (Original Series)
while Boom Boom Bay's Transformers were stinking up the Cinemas, On Kix, For free you could relive every episode of the 80s Transformers. (Except the movie) From Episode 1 to the 3 episodes of the Headmasters Saga, it was great for the younger generation to learn how it all started.
Transformers Cyberverse
I've mentioned Cyberverse in passing in my Review of Transformers One last Month in the Christmas Special. So I'll expand the show that made way for Earthspark...and had all it's Storyline destroyed by Earthspark.
In Cyberverse, New fan Favourite Wingblade Finds BumbleeBee Out of Commission, Offline and when reactivated, has lost his memory and the ability to speak Normally Now speaking in Memes and Movie Lines. (Thankfully he gets better!)
Wingblade gets to the meat of the matter, Optimus is Missing and Bee was the last one to see him, So Wingblade Attaches Bumblebee to her ships computer to fix his fragmented Memory to hopefully find Optimus. In this series as it was started in Prime, Optimus and Megatron Past is now explored, With Megatron Expanded upon as a Brave Anti-Prime Radical who Defied Death and Punishment in the Gladiatorial Ring. The show Ends where Earthspark Starts with the Million Year war between Optimus and Megatron being over and Megatron becoming co Leader of the Autobots...Until Earthspark Ruined Everything because Status Quo is God!
Trollhunters
A Hidden Gem in the Dreamworks Crown, Guilermo Del Toro is the last person you'd expect to make a Children's show, But the Show is Dark, Broody, Exciting and Has twists and Fantastic action.
Jim Lake is a Mature 16 year old, his mother is an Emergency Doctor, He enjoys cooking for her when she returns from the night shift, his father as a twist to Disney is not dead but had abandoned him. And despite all this, he lives a quiet life in Arcadia, California, Thinking nothing but getting Good grades, impressing Claire Nunez and saving up money for a Vespa!
That is until fate gets in the way.
Uncovering rubble on the way to school, which was previously the body of a Troll, he finds an amulet in the rocks. After Creatures attack him and his friends searching for the amulet, he reads the incantation that transforms into armour and sword to fight these creatures.
Jim soon learns he is the Trollhunter, the only hope to keep the Natural and Supernatural seperated from each other, But the time of war stirs closer, The Troll Traitor Gumnar has being revived, Changelings in Human Disguises plot their moves, Aliens would land, and even Morgan and Merlin changes the lives of Jim and Claire forever!
And I would be remiss to not point out that Anton Yelchin who voiced Jim Lake in Season 1 and up to the end of season 2, Died in a car crash. He was Only 27. Emile Hirsch would voice Jim afterwards in the sequels 3Below and Wizards, neither of them were shown on Pop max!
Trollhunters can be found On Netflix!
Ultimate Muscle
The Sequel to Kinikuman, which was not dubbed but somehow made it to the west anyway, as a game and Figures. had it's Sequel Dubbed by 4KIDS.
So you know the score by Now, No Blood, no death, (Even when the plot of the Ricardo Fight Arc is he did Murder his Master!) But Back to the lack of Blood, they changed Blood into Sweat and claimed the heroes were Weak and Out of shape out of Complicity. The Show's main Humour comes from Toilet Humour like the original show. The Dub could be self-referencal to 4kids dubbing policies, like when Roxanne introduces herself and photos of her life is shown, her in a Sailor fuku school Uniform and she says "I Even went through A sailor Moon Phase!". But as a Wrestling Writer Myself, I have to poo-poo on 4kids not being wrestling fans when Expys of Kevin Nash, Stephanie McMachon and Triple H turn up as Kevin Mask, Jacqueline Muscle and Ikeman, respectfully. The first time we see Kevin Mask is him falling from a height. The opportunity to have Him Say "OW! I TORE MY QUAD!" Was right there!
As for the Show, It relies too much on Fart jokes and Will they Won't they between Kid Muscle and Roxanne with some instances of Roxy falling head over heels for the Heels, with the most unsatisfying ending Ever, With Kid Muscle Victorious Over Kevin Mask in 3 parter that showed him taking it serious and not making a single fart joke, he gets the title belt put on, its too tight and he lets off, with Roxanne claiming if Kid thought he was getting a kiss after pulling that stunt, think again only for her other friends to claim the Lady Doth Protest Too Much!
If you can't stand Toilet humour, avoid this one!
Wolverine and The X-men
Right off the Bat, this Show has one of the Best Intros of A marvel Show, Sentinels chase Young children driven from their beds and homes in the middle of the night because they are Mutants only to come afoul of Wolverine.
The Show doesn't do anything new. But it does Add Emma Frost as a X-men and Finally adds Psylocke to the Mythos. The Phoenix saga is rehashed again, However Emma Is now trying to redeem herself to control it while Charles is stuck in the Future! If you can get over the Aeon Flux type lanky designs. and focus on the Xmen stories you know and love, you'll definitely enjoy this!
X-men Evolution
a Decade before, taking big Inspiration from the first X-men movies, We got the Origin stories of characters not in the movies, but given new designs that would make them Fit. The X-men, bar Wolverine, Professor x, magneto and Mystique are now teenagers, coping with their Burgeoning powers, One thing they did right was no longer making the Brotherhood into mindless minions to be slapped around, but gave them backstories and Drive. Eventually we see a New future where the brotherhood are just as heroic and dependable as the x-men.
Yoohoo and Friends
So this is an Odd Bird!
Yoohoo and Friends is a Korean Preschool Show which got rights to be distributed to America, and soon landed on the lap of David Feiss , creator of Cow and Chicken, At this point in 2012, Feiss had just moved house and his new Neighbour happened to be The Rapper Flava Flav. Flav at the time, was practically begging Producers who lived in his area to put him on their shows, Feiss yielded and somehow, Fiess would blend his style with Flav's Voice into new scenes into a Gag Dub for a older 7-12 audience.
So Flav voices Father Time, who, cajoled by his wife Mother Nature, tells him To stop 5 evil Executives from destroying earth For profit or she's filing for divorce. So he turns the 5 executives into 5 cute animals and tells them if they reverse what they did in the past, one misdeed at a time and learn from it, they will gain a crystal from each with the full amount of crystal turning them human, with the mission being the original Yoohoo Footage.
Aurora Studios took one look at season 1.
There was never to be a season 2
Zak Storm
While Holidaying in Bermuda, 13 year old Zak Storm is caught in a Hurricane that places him in the Bermuda Triangle, A interdimsional world where time has no meaning, where Vikings can live with 1940's flying aces, and Aliens, are Displaced and trapped in the seven Elemental Seas of the triangle Forever, so their are only two Choices: Cut your loses and built Society or try to find an escape. Luckily Zak becomes captain of the "Seven C's" (All the characters names begin with C, with Zac's real name being Conrad,) Search to find a way out, whilst keeping the undead from finding the escape route first, in this Zagtoon cartoon which was short lived, due to the demand to get Ladybug's 5 Season finished
And that will finish our long retrospective into Now Defunct Pop Channels. And like the Citv retrospective, I'm sad to announce that a lot of shows are also lost to time.
As the Time towards The Battle Riot looms closer, so does February. But the with chance of the New Bank Holiday, gives me enough time to work on Finally getting out My Review of K-Pop Demon Hunters Next month.
