Every Single Article Written by Sam - All 27
Growing Up TV: Earthworm Jim
Spawning many successful games, Earthworm Jim also had a cartoon series, debuting September 9, 1995. An ordinary earthworm has a super powered suit dropped on him thus turning him into the hero we all know. Watching this show growing up as a kid was awesome, my mother even laughed, and that’s hard to do, making this one of the most memorable cartoons in my childhood.
Growing Up TV: Darkwing Duck
Produced by Disney, a spin-off of Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck (think: clumsy Batman in duck form) and his pilot Launchpad (from that series) fly around town, fighting crime.
Growing Up TV: The Centurions
Produced by Ruby-Spears, The Centurions will forever hold a place in my heart for having the most explosions in a cartoon show. Our three heroes — Ace McCloud, Jake Rockwell , and Max Ray — have special suits known as exo-frames (think Lego blocks), and upon shouting “Power Extreme” have all kinds of weaponry beamed on to them by a satellite known as Sky Vault. Sky Vault is kept under maintenance by Crystal Kane, a smart woman who happens to have a monkey while the satellite orbits space. Doc Terror and his sidekick Hacker threaten to conquer earth with their machines, turning humans into cyborgs like them.
Growing Up TV: Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?
I miss the times when cartoon shows were both entertaining and highly educational, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? was such a show. As a kid I had a bit of a thing for Carmen with her red coat, hat, and long black hair. She was good example of sex appeal that made boys like myself want to watch the series and in the process learn a lot about history. Hell, Carmen Sandiego even helped me pass a few history tests back in elementary school.
Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Johnny Depp‘s iconic drunken pirate is back but does this movie hold any water or is it watered down? I’ll be honest I have now seen all four movies and the first one actually makes the most sense, however Stranger Tides is the second best out of the series. With that said the audience now knows what to expect from this franchise and its surprises just aren’t there anymore.
10 Days Of Anime! Finale – Grave Of The Fireflies
The following review was written by guest contributor Sam.
Based on the novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, which won the Japanese equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, this award-winning film (produced by Ryoichi Sato) transcends the anime art form as a true masterpiece.
10 Days Of Anime! – Akira
The following review was written by guest contributor Sam.
Akira (based on the graphic novel by Katsuhiro Ôtomo) takes place in the year 2019, some time after the third World War, leaving biker gangs to rule the streets in Neo-Tokyo. Kaneda (Cam Clarke) is the leader of one such biker gang, consistently at war with other factions. Upon an attack on a rival biker gang, Kaneda’s friend Tetsuo (Jan Rabson) wrecks his bike nearly running over a strange child on a dark freeway.
10 Days Of Anime! – Cowboy Bebop
The following review was written by guest contributor Sam.
Produced by Takayuki Yoshii and Ryôhei Tsunoda, this film is an alternate retelling of the popular anime series Cowboy Bebop. Some people may view anime as a childish form of art but this isn’t a Saturday morning cartoon, this puppy has an R rating. Steve Blum plays the voice of Spike Spiegel, an ex-mafia hitman-gone-bounty-hunter, in the year 2071.
10 Days Of Anime! – Excel Saga
The following review was written by guest contributor Sam.
Insanity is a word tossed around a lot, but Excel Saga (not to be confused with Xenosaga) goes above and beyond into complete and utter idiocy, but on purpose. Excel Saga is an anime on a quest for a plot the entire series providing for some of the best gut laughs any anime has ever offered.
10 Days Of Anime! – Ghost In The Shell
The following review was written by guest contributor Sam.
Ghost in the Shell takes place in the year 2029 AD; cybernetic terrorism is at an all-time high and a group known only as section 9 are designed to take on the biggest cases. A counter-terrorism cyborg leader known as the “Major” (a female robocop with enormous boobs) is called in when a mysterious entity known as the “Puppet Master” starts hacking into cyborg bodies. Section 9 becomes very concerned by these events as they are comprised mostly of cyborg cops who talk quasi-telepathically to each other.