Let's begin...
Clone High, Canadian
IMDb; Toonarific; TV Tome
This aired on MTV for a while. It was about this high school for teenage clones of great historical figures, including Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, Gandhi, Cleopatra, JFK, etc. Abe's best friends were Joan and Gandhi. Joan had a major crush on Abe, but he never noticed because he wants to be with Cleo. Cleo is torn between Abe and JFK, and JFK is torn between Cleo and pretty much every other girl in school. Meanwhile, the whole thing is secret government project ultimately run by a shadowy military group or whatever, but we don't see much of them. The school is actually run by Principal Scudworth, who's just a mad scientist with plans of his own. He has a robotic butler named Mr. Butlertron. What else to say? Gandhi is a party animal, but not really popular. Anyway, the whole show is really hysterical and weird and stuff. More episodes aired in Canada than ever did on MTV, I guess. I wish I could see them all, but whatever. It was fun while it lasted....
The Critic, FOX
IMDb; Toonarific; TV Tome
Reruns on Comedy Central.
This was an awfully funny show. Jon Lovitz played Jay Sherman, a film critic whose catch phrase was "It stinks!" Um... he was adopted by rich parents. He has a little sister named Margo. He has a crazy rich boss, Duke Phillips. He has a divorced girlfriend, Alice who has a daughter, Penny. He's divorced himself, and has a son, Marty. He has an Australian movie star friend, Jeremy. Um. And stuff, I dunno. It's a funny show, anyway, and we get to see these fake movie clips that are pretty funny for how bad they are. And stuff.
Downtown, MTV
IMDb; Toonarific; TV Tome
This show didn't last long enough. It was cool. It was funny. It had great characters. The main characters were these cynical misfits Alex and Jen, kind of geeks, somewhat into sci-fi and anime and weird stuff... or not, I dunno. Whatever. Anyway, I thought they were cool. What else? Alex had a crush on this goth girl named Serena. (And seriously, who isn't into goth girls?) There were some other characters, too, who I mostly wasn't as interested in- Alex's younger sister Chaka and her friends, Mecca, Fruity, and Matt. There was also this weird guy named Goat, who was more interesting. Um... it was set in New York City, I'm afraid I can't be more specific than that. But I felt it important to mention, anyway. Not sure what else to say, but anyway... I liked it.
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Cartoon Network, Fridays 7pm
Cartoon Network; IMDb; Toonarific; TV Tome
Created by Craig McCracken, who also created The Powerpuff Girls (see cartoons 1). There's this 8-year-old kid named Mac, whose mom says he's too old for his imaginary friend, Bloo. The really cool thing is that everyone can see and hear imaginary friends. I mean, "imaginary" is just like this practically meaningless word, because they're all real, except that they were created by the imaginations of little kids. So, there's this foster home for abandoned imaginary friends, which was founded by this little old lady named Madame Foster. It's run by her granddaughter, Frankie (who's pretty cool), and Madame Foster's own imaginary friend, an officious old rabbit with an English accent, named Mr. Herriman, who she imagined as a little girl, but never outgrew. There are several other imaginary friends who become friends with Bloo and Mac when Bloo comes to live there, including Wilt (who is so polite he could be a Canadian), Eduardo (who is scared of most things, even though he looks like a cross between a bull and a chupacabra, or something), and Coco (who only says "coco" and lays plastic eggs with surprises inside). There's also an imaginary friend named Duchess, who everyone hates, because she's so snobby and mean (but she's rarely seen in the series).
I loved the pilot movie; it was one of the most deliciously zany and hilarious things I've ever seen, kind of like the Muppet Show, or something. What happens is, Duchess hatches a plot with Mac's older brother, Terrence, to get rid of Bloo forever. Which Mac helps thwart, and therefore Madame Foster allows Bloo to stay forever without getting adopted, as long as Mac promises to visit every day. And that's the premise of the series.
The show has really got some very clever gags. It's pretty retro, from the Victorian mansion it's set in, to the animation, to the theme music (which fits the show quite well, I think; it puts me in mind of some kind of old-fashioned amusement park, or something). So I kept on loving the show for some time after the pilot. But after awhile, it did start to get a little old. I still like it, and some eps can still be really good. But not always. And fairly often, I'm not even sure why Mac and Bloo are friends. Bloo can be pretty funny, but he can also be totally conceited and self-centered. He often annoys his friends, and rarely shows much interest in anyone beyond the main characters, except when they can be of use to him, or are at least willing to pay attention to him, cuz he craves attention. Still, the show's funny enough, even if Bloo isn't always likable.
King of the Hill, FOX
FOX; Fox DVD; IMDb; Toonarific; TV.com
I don't always watch it and I don't usually care too much if I miss it. But I do generally like it, more or less. Um... so like it's about Hank Hill, who lives in Arlen, Texas and sells propane and propane accessories, and takes his job like uber-seriously. Of course it's also about his wife Peggy (a substitute Spanish teacher), their son Bobby (who wants to be a stand up comic), their niece Luanne, and um... their odd assortment of friends. And stuff. I dunno what else to say at the moment.
Megas XLR, Cartoon Network
Absolute Anime; Cartoon Network; IMDb; Toonami UK; Toonarific; TV Tome
Reruns on Toonami Jetstream.
This series is based on a short which was originally called LowBrow (TV Tome) The first and only episode of LowBrow, "Test Trive," was extended to become a half-hour pilot for Megas XLR. Both the original short and the new series are pretty cool, totally anime-inspired. It's about a a giant robot from the future (MEGAS), which is humanity's last hope in the war against alien invaders called the Glorft. Actually, it turns out to be a prototype mech the Earth forces had stolen from the Glorft, to send back in time two years to help them win a battle they originally lost. Unfortunately, the robot ends up alot farther in the past than intended, in present day New Jersey, where it's found by this guy named Coop, who modified it by putting a car on the head and making it drive like a video game. Or whatever. When he's showing it to his friend Jamie, this woman named Kiva (who we like) shows up from the future to reclaim Megas. But then the Glorft show up to reclaim it themselves. Coop pilots Megas in a kick-ass battle against the Glorft, who then escape into nullspace, so they can return to fight again. It's all pretty funny and cool and has some voice actors familiar to anime fans. Plus it's from the creators of the MTV cartoon "Downtown" (see above). There's also a character named Goat who I suspect to be the same Goat who was in Downtown, but I'm not quite sure of that yet. Anyway, there are occasionally battles between Megas and the Glorft, but there are plenty of other battles, too.
Men in Black: The Series, WB
IMDb; Toonarific; TV Tome
Well, I suppose if you like the live-action movies Men in Black (IMDb) and MIIB (IMDb), or the comix (which I've never read) on which all this is based, you should probably like this. Anyway, y'know, ya got this secret organization, MIB, which monitors alien activity on Earth and deals with any bad aliens who need to be dealt with. And it's funny and it's got adventure and cool gadgets and stuff. It focuses on two agents, J and K (or Jay and Kay, though I prefer just letters). I dunno what else to say. Not one of my very favoritest cartoons, but still pretty good... Hmmm, and I guess we kinda like L (or Elle).
My Life as a Teenage Robot, Nickelodeon
IMDb; Nickelodeon; Toonarific; TV.com; Wikipedia; YTV
Reruns on Nicktoons Network.
This is about a robot called XJ9, who prefers to be called Jenny. Her "mother," Dr. Wakeman, designed XJ9 to save the world, but Jenny just wants to be a normal teenage girl. She makes a few friends: Brad, his little brother Tuck, and a teenage genius geek named Sheldon, who has a crush on Jenny. My best description of the show would be sort of a cross between Astroboy and the Powerpuff Girls. It definitely does seem to be somewhat anime-influenced, which is usually a plus, in my book. Anyway, the show is reasonably amusing and enjoyable. And rather retro in some ways. There's also an alien robot empire called the Cluster, ruled by the evil Queen Vexus, who's always attacking Earth, and wants Jenny to join the Cluster.
Project G.e.e.K.e.R., CBS
IMDb; Toonarific; TV Tome
This show was so funny and cool and it totally rocked! Oh yeah, there was this weird sort of thing called GKR, or GeeKeR, which was just weird. Created by like some scientist... Dr. Maston, who was like a Mastodon actually. Yes, there was this underground hidden world of dinosaurs and stuff. And Dr. Maston was working for this evil rich corporate (human) dude named Moloch. Maston created GeeKeR, for some nefarious purpose, and GeeKeR had all these weird abilities like shapeshifting or something, I dunno, but he was stupid and didn't quite know how to control himself. And he escaped and joined this cyborg named Lady MacBeth, who GeeKeR called Becky. Anyway, she just found him annoying. Also they had this dinosaur friend named Noah. And they were constantly on the run from Moloch and his henchmen. And there were these guys called Pinkers who I think were the henchmen, or maybe they were just like corrupt cops, or um... informants or some stupid gang or... I forget! I don't remember the show well, but it was really weird and really funny and cool and I loved it and now I miss it and I wanna see it again.
Undergrads, MTV
IMDb; Toonarific; TV Tome
This was basically about four guys who were friends in high school for some reason, despite being pretty different sorts of people, who went off to three different colleges which happen to be in the same town as each other. There was this nerd called Gimpy; it's a bit of a toss-up whether he was my first or second favorite character, but he was definitely the funniest. He went to Tekerson Tech, a school for like real smart kids or whatever. And he almost never left his dorm room. But he stayed in contact with his friends via computer. He also became the leader of a group of geeks at Tekerson, and his right-hand man was this fat kid named Mump. Gimpy's hacker/prankster identity was G Prime. The main character seemed to be Nitz, who was just sort of bland, but he was probably my favorite character, anyway. Except that he had this stupid crush on this girl Kimmy, who he knew from high school, who obviously wasn't interested in him, and I personally didn't find her that interesting, either. But there was this other girl, Jesse, who Nitz met at college who he became friends with, and I thought she was really cool and cute and stuff. Anyway, Nitz and Kimmy and Jesse all went to State U. So did the most annoying of the four main characters, Cal. He was really dumb and had a really annoying, high voice, but he liked pretty much everyone and everything and had sex with alot of girls. The fourth main character was this other dumb guy named Rocko, who like used to be a bully or whatever. He drank alot, and liked porn, and joined a frat that didn't really want him around. He went to Central State Junior Community College. And there were some other characters, I guess, like some odd characters at Nitz's school, including some of Jesse's friends. Um, anyway, yes, it was an odd little show but really funny and stuff. I dunno what else to say. Except that Gimpy loves Star Wars and hates Star Trek, which I think is just wrong because people should be able to love both. But that's just my opinion. Oh yeah, and somehow the animation reminded me of the Hobbit or something, especially this one stoner guy....
W.I.T.C.H.
Absolute Anime; IMDb; Jetix; Otakuphrenia Gallery; Toonarific; TV.com; Wikipedia
The show, which was made in France, is based on Italian comic books, which I've never read, though I might like to, someday. (I gather there are several differences between the books and the show.) The title comes from the initials of these five teenage girls: Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin (all of whom we kinda like; especially Will and Hay Lin). As is pointed out in at least one episode, they're not actually witches, in spite of their initials- and their powers. Which I'll get to momentarily.... Anyway, I think the show has some slightly lame lines occasionally (especially in the early part of the first season), but mostly I think it's fairly fun and interesting and somewhat amusing, and just gets better and better as the story progresses. Oh, also, I like the theme song. Though the artist who performed it changed partway through the first season, for some reason. I seem to recall preferring the original version, but now, I'm not sure I even recall what it sounded like. In fact I'm not convinced that they haven't switched back. Whatever, I like the current version. Not that any of this is important....
The series begins with Hay Lin's grandmother, Yan Lin, explaining some things to Hay Lin and her friends. Yan Lin was one of a group of "Guardians of the Veil," who each had their own elemental power. Now there is to be a new generation of Guardians. Hay Lin has power over air; she and her friends Irma Lair (water), Taranee Cook (fire), and Cornelia Hale (earth), are joined by Will Vandom, who's just moved to Heatherfield, where they all attend the Sheffield Institute. Will doesn't seem to have a power of her own, at least not an elemental one. Hay Lin's grandmother gives her a pendant called the Heart of Candracar (or Kandrakhar), which she can use to transform all five of them. Their natural powers are greatly enhanced, and they can fly (because they get wings), and they get costumes, of course (viva la henshin sequence, baby). It should also be noted that when they transform, they appear to get a bit older. Normally they're all about 13, and I guess in their Guardian forms, they appear to be in their late teens. They get taller (which I generally have trouble noticing, unless they're standing right next to someone when they change), and, as is occasionally pointed out, more... um, developed. (Though not excessively so, and it's another thing I don't find greatly noticeable, since it's not like they're completely lacking in development in their normal forms.) Whatever, this also isn't important....
Another purpose to which Will can put the Heart is to close portals between our world and another one, called Meridian. There's an evil prince there named Phobos, who controls Meridian, but there's a rebellion against him, too, led by a teenage boy named Caleb. He will come to spend some time in our world, but frequently returns to Meridian, with the help of this weird little creature called a Passling, named Blunk, who is a smuggler, and who can sense the location of portals. Of course, Caleb also works together with the Guardians alot (and he and Cornelia eventually start dating). There's also a boy named Matt Olsen, who's in a band, and who Will eventually starts dating. And he gives her a dormouse named Mr. Huggles.
Anyway, Phobos has various servants, the main one being a guy named Cedric, who can turn into a sort of giant snake thing. He searches for Phobos's long-lost sister, the true heir to the throne of Meridian, who was taken to our world as a baby to protect her, and she doesn't even know who she truly is. Phobos wishes to absorb her powers. Eventually Cedric discovers her to be Elyon Brown (who I reckon we also kinda like), who happens, coincidentally enough, to be Cornelia's best friend. He takes her to Meridian, where she's tricked into believing Phobos is good, and the Guardians (and the rebellion) are evil.
At the end of the first season, Phobos is defeated, and he and his minions are imprisoned, and Elyon becomes queen of Meridian. Which brings us to season 2, in which I feel I should mention each of the 26 episodes is named for a letter of the alphabet. Now that Phobos is no longer a threat, the Council of Candracar dropped the Veil that kept Meridian separated from other worlds. This meant there were no more portals, but using the Heart of Candracar, the Guardians could "fold" between worlds. And Blunk was given the Tooth of Tonga, which allows him to fold, as well. Another effect of the Veil dropping is that each of the Guardians gains a new power. Will could now use lightning, and also inanimate objects start talking to her. Irma gained the power to influence the thoughts of others. Taranee gained the capacity to link the Guardians in telepathic communication. Cornelia gained telekinesis. Hay Lin gained the power of invisibility.
But, all is not well. There's a new villain this season, an old witch named Nerissa, who gathers some of Phobos' defeated minions to form the Knights of Vengeance, who will pose a new threat to the Guardians. For awhile, anyway. Oh, and Caleb begins training Matt as a warrior, since he wants to be more actively involved in that part of Will's life. Well... Nerissa is clearly powerful, and one of her most useful powers is the glamour... to change her appearance. This... is far more devastating than you might think. It is responsible for a number of shocking surprises she uses to increase her own power, including acquiring the Heart of Meridian (Elyon). Using this new power, she creates the Knights of Destruction (the Vengeance Knights are of no further use to her, now). The most important of these is called Shagon, who she creates from Matt. He'll gain power from hatred. Another, Khor, she creates from Mr. Huggles, who will feed on anger. The other two knights are Tridart, who feeds on fear, and Ember, who feeds on despair. Those two, at least, weren't created from living beings. But all four will be forced to serve her, and fight the Guardians. Also, Shagon will appear to be glamoured as Matt, and attend Sheffield to watch the Guardians, though for some time Will hates him because she doesn't know he really is Matt, who's been missing recently....
Well, eventually Matt will fight to regain control of himself, yet still retain the ability to transform into Shagon. Mr. Huggles will also return to his own dormouse self, but by this point Nerissa will never no further need for the Knights of Destruction. I tell you, throughout the season, she keeps unveiling shocking revelations to her enemies, I don't even want to spoil all of them. Especially the most disturbing one, which involves Caleb.... But I will say, and I had guessed this well before it was revealed, anyway, though it was at least shocking to the Guardians, that she was one of the former Guardians. And her power was Quintessence, the fifth element. It's interesting to me to note that in the first season, during the henshin sequence, each Guardian said the name of her element as she transformed, but you really couldn't quite make out what it was that Will said. However, in season 2, it appears to have been rerecorded, because it was quite clear that she said "the heart." But that wouldn't last. Once Nerissa's true identity and power were understood, Will started saying "Quintessence" during the her transformation. Anyway... Nerissa manages to acquire the Heart of Zamballa, a world of intelligent trees, protected by Kadma, the former Guardian of earth. Nerissa managed to get Kadma on her side, as she had already done with the spirit of Cassidy, the spirit of the deceased former Guardian of water. She also gained control of Halinor, a member of the Council of Candracar and former Guardian of fire. She even managed to gain control of Yan Lin, former Guardian of air. When all five former Guardians were assembled, she gave them all the appearance of their youth (so we kinda liked them all, even Nerissa).
I should mention that while all the drama of fighting Nerissa and whatever minions she's working with at any given time is going on, as always, the Guardians have stuff going on in their regular lives. Irma becomes host of the Sheffield Institute's radio station, and uses the handle "Lair on the Air." And some of the girls have crushes to guys, and there's always family stuff going on. Sometimes this intersects with Guardian business, such as Hay Lin's grandmother being taken over by Nerissa. And Cornelia's little sister, Lilian, turns out to have some witchy powers of her own, and Lilian's cat, Napoleon, turns out to be her familiar. Though it is decided that Lilian should not be made aware of any of this until she's old enough to really understand and handle her powers properly. Meanwhile, Matt, Mr. Huggles, and Napoleon are made her regents.
Meanwhile, in the fight against Nerissa, the Guardians decide to take the shockingly ill-conceived action of releasing Phobos, who, as an heir to the throne of Meridian, is the only one who should be capable of taking the Heart of Meridian- which is now part of the Seal of Nerissa, containing her own power as well as the Hearts of Meridian and Zamballa- away from Nerissa without permission. He also convinces them to release Cedric and another of his servants, Miranda (a girl who posed as a friend to Elyon in season 1, and who can turn into a giant spider).
And that's all I can say for now. It seems like I've said too much already, but trust me... I've left a bit out. It never ceases to surprise me just how much Nerissa can... well, surprise me. It's a really awesome season, and I look forward to seeing the remaining episodes, and hope another season gets made....
Xiaolin Showdown, Kids' WB on the CW, Saturdays 11am
Absolute Anime; Cartoon Network; IMDb; Kids' WB; official website; Toonarific; TV.com; Voice Chasers; Wikipedia; YTV
Also reruns on Cartoon Network.
Part of the current trend of anime-inspired American cartoons. It's fairly amusing. There are these four kids, "chosen ones," who are in training as Xiaolin "dragon warriors." Each represents a different elemental power which they call on when going into battle. They are Omi, who has this weird-looking round yellow head, and has trained all his life to be a Xiaolin dragon- his element is water; Kimiko, a Japanese rich girl, whose look totally changes when she's on a mission, for some reason- fire; Raimundo, a Brazilian circus star- air; and Clay, a Texan cowboy- earth. They're all trained by Master Fung. There's also a real dragon named Dojo, who's usually small, but occasionally grows much larger, and flies, to ferry the kids to a Shen Gong Wu whenever one is located.
Which is pretty much the point of the series, they're all looking for Shen Gong Wu, which are these ancient mystical artifacts of great power, each one does something different. Also searching for the Shen Gong Wu is an ancient Haylin witch named Wuya, who was defeated 1500 years ago by Grand Master Dashi, trapped in a puzzle box. At the start of the series she gets released, as a ghost. She teams up with Jack Spicer, an evil boy genius who builds robots in his basement and wants to take over the world. They are later joined for a few eps by a girl called Katnappe, kind of a junior Catwoman. Anyway, sometimes the good guys and bad guys will reach a Shen Gong Wu at the same time, at which point they have a showdown to determine who gets to keep it, at least for a while (and they each wager at least one Shen Gong Wu they already possess). One thing I like about this show is that the bad guys actually win once in a while.
At the end of the first season, Rai gets mad at his friends and betrays them, joining Wuya's side. He uses two Shen Gong Wu to help her come back to life. At the start of season 2, she takes over the world. Meanwhile, Jack rescues the Xiaolin gang and sends Omi into the past to find Dashi to ask for help. He gets a new puzzle box, and returns to help his friends overthrow Wuya. Rai, predictably, ends up trapping Wuya and rejoining his friends. But in the next ep, Katnappe releases Wuya, once again a ghost. They try working together, but it doesn't last. Things go back to normal, after that. But more villains will be introduced, some who work alone, like Pandabubba; others work with Jack and/or Wuya, from time to time. A fat ninja named Tubbimura, a giant cyclops, some Russian guy named Vlad. Katnappe occasionally shows up, too.
But the main new villain is Chase Young, who is very powerful (and has no particular interest in Shen Gong Wu). Jack wants to work with him, but he has no interest in Jack. Instead, he wants Omi to turn to the dark side and join him, for he foresees Omi growing very powerful one day. Also, Wuya eventually ditches Jack to work with Chase. Allegiances among the various villains continually shift, and Jack occasionally works with the good guys, but never for long. The most disturbing thing, though, is that over the course of season two, we see Omi slowly growing ever-closer to Chase, in spite of his determination not to join him....