cup-o-robots

So after watching the first two episodes of WB’s new cartoon The Batman, I have to say I’m pretty disappointed by it and not surprised. Like I mentioned in an earlier blog, this series has a different team of creators than from the original, more well-known Batman: The Animated Series. The show just seemed pretty generic (while trying to be different) and doesn’t have the fresh style, the edge or the storytelling like the original series or the current Justice League Unlimited. I’ll probably watch a few more episodes, hoping it will improve, though I’ve lost a lot of interest.

On the flipside, I wanna talk about one cartoon series that has really made me a fan and a follower. That show is Disney’s Kim Possible. I started watching the show last year as research for this design project. (It was for a series of projects called Explanatoids which focuses on finding inventive ways to teach math and science to kids.) As inspiration we researched what activities and trends were popular, and what kinda TV shows and movies were being watched. One cartoon that stood out was Kim Possible, which my professor loved as well as some of my friends, I later found out. This show is awesome. It’s really comic booky and action-packed (think Batman or anime like Ranma 1/2) and has a lot of humor and randomness (think DuckTales, Doug, at times even Futurama). It’s a lot of fun and a pleasant surprise to the other shows out there. I’m mentioning this show now, because tomorrow, Saturday, September, 25th, will be the first new episode of the third and, unfortunately last, season of the show. Apparently, the Disney Channel only produce shows for about three seasons in order to have a fresh lineup every now and then. Though overall, Kim Possible has become pretty popular to a lot of children AND adults.

There are a lot of guest celebrity voices - the Kim Possible TV movie has people like Vivica A. Fox, Kelly Ripa and Michael Clarke Duncan - and the regular voice cast is great like John Di Maggio (Bender on Futurama) who is the voice of the main villain Dr. Drakken. I particularly like the character designs which have a great rogues gallery that can be compared to Batman, Dick Tracy or Spider-Man. Dude, there’s even a villain with a mullet - that’s just total coolness. The characters were designed by Stephen Silver, who is now working on Nickelodeon’s Danny Phantom (also a pretty good show). Actually Kim Possible was created by the same team, including Silver, who worked on the short-short-lived Clerks cartoon. The animation is really well done and I think it’s because it’s really consistent in its unique style and design, something that’s pretty crucial if a cartoon wants to succeed. Sooooooooooooo, I really really recommend this show to anyone who likes cartoons and will be open-minded to the wackiness and craziness of Kim Possible. Hmm, it’d be cool if the entire series will come on DVD - Disney Channel needs to push stuff out there, they have some good shows, like Even Stevens and Kim Possible. Anyways, until then.. Boo-yaaah!