Essay: It's So Hard To Find Good Help These Days

[firestar9mm]

As my current icon may indicate, the best discovery I've made this month by far has to be the complete DVD set of a cartoon I adored when it was on the air, Pirates of Dark Water.  Originally a five-part miniseries that eventually extended to 21 episodes, Dark Water was fun, colorful and entertaining, and while I'm upset that it was cancelled

Comments

[bluehorse]

*picks up a warm cookie and happily takes a bite*

What a fun post! You reminded me of the original Space Ghost, who also had his share of the Good ( teenage twins Jan and Jace), the Bad (Zorak, Moltar, and Brak) and the Furry (Blip the Monkey.) That was an awful series, with stilted dialogue and poorly animated to boot, but it rocked when I was 12 *chuckles*

Hey, this cookie is delicious! *hugs* I love your ramblings, dearheart *^_^

[firestar9mm]

After so many posts cataloging the bloody battle vs. the Smug Married Agenda, I figured it was time to do something fun.

Watching the original Space Ghost (and we did, during dinner, sometimes) only made it funnier when he got his talk show and the bad guys became his silly co-hosts. My favorite was Zorak, but everyone always laughed when they did Brak-on-the-spot. He would always yell something like, "WHERE AM I?"

[bluehorse]

I think poor Brak was brain-damaged somewhere along the way *^_^* He was one of the fiercest villains on the original show. I can't decide who my favorite on the talk show is, though Moltar is awfully hard to beat. I loved it when he went on that bus trip *^_^* Then again, watching Zorak agonize over whether or not it was a good idea to get laid was pretty funny too.

[firestar9mm]

Paws down, my favorite bit was the one where Zorak described how praying mantises are cannibals, and you could never get up a decent kickball game in school because the students were always devouring each other. "And then you'd say, 'Where's my center fielder?' and they'd say, 'Oh, her. She got devoured.'" I loved that bit.

[alkmene]

I shall happily dine upon the offers of booze and cookies, and I thank you.

This was such a fun post and I enjoyed the conversation about The Pirates of Dark Water. It's brought back fond memories for myself; it's a series I'm going to save up for. I loved that flying monkey even if he was afraid most of the time XD He reminds me of He-Man's cat. Poor thing was always a walking nervous wreck until he was forced to transform into Battlecat.

White Blaze and Battlecat: put them on the battlefield together and they'd fuck shit up.

Another classic cartoon I'm currently watching almost every night on the Hub Channel is G.I. Joe. As an adult I get such a laugh over Cobra Commander's constant bungles. Him and his subordinates are always fucking up and blaming each other for their constant failures. But as you mentioned in your post, Cobra couldn't have gotten his high position without the backing and support of his huge army.

Truly, the main characters wouldn't be where they are today without the support of their allies.

[firestar9mm]

*clinks bottle against yours happily* Cheers, mate. I certainly hope I didn't bother you with all the comments over at your journal; I just get verbose when I'm excited about something! Like I was telling bluehorse, after all the entries cataloging my problems vs. the Smug Married Agenda and the Infinite Sadness, I decided it was high time we talked about something fun instead.

I admit I have a soft spot for alleged "cowardly" characters like Cringer and Niddler. I think it's because it always melts my icy heart when they overcome their fear for the one minute it takes for them to turn the tide in the heroes' favor. Even Scooby-Doo always manages to barrel accidentally into the skateboard and pulley that tie up the ghost so Freddy, Daphne and Velma can unmask it. I think that's great *^_^*

I've been dying to watch some old episodes of G.I. Joe. I got such a bang out of it when I was a kid, and I don't get the Hub Channel. Do you know if they ever released it on DVD? If they did, they better have included the "And knowing is half the

[moon_doggy]

Moreover, why didn't Cobra Commander just hang it up and head to the Caymans or something?

Since Destro and The Baroness were sketchy, little pricks that would cap his ass if he ever let his guard down. :D

CC: (cruising around on a Wave-Runner) BOOM!
Baroness: Ah, he's finally gone, my love. What now?
Destro: Now, they will now chant MY name! Des-tro. Des-tro.

[firestar9mm]

I wanted to raid the Baroness's closet.

[moon_doggy]

I'm glad you mentioned supporting villains... since most of my stuff is a one-trick pony revolving around them. You can't have a good story without good supporting villains. Besides, who's going to beat the tar out of the hero just before he faces off with the ultimate evil dude? I just dislike how when a supporting villain is actually doing their frikking job, only to have fangirls throw 'cannon sue' at them

[firestar9mm]

While we're on the subject, did anyone else get creeped out by the canonical affection between Cheetara and Liono? That didn't seem weird to them given his accelerated aging?

That's right! Spryte's father was King Oberon of the fairies--that's how she was able to transform Link back to normal with a kiss when that witch turned him into a frog.

Man, I miss the 80s.

[moon_doggy]

Seriously, that Zelda show has to be one of the most campiest things ever. But, it was the cracked-out amusement you needed on Friday; the weekend, no school. I have the series on VHS (yeah, I said VHS).

Though I like Spryte, I have to admit... I think the only sane people in that show was Link's horse and the monster-thingy that orginized a strike agients Ganon. Even the Hylinians were nuts, man. Link beign the worse... remember when he dropped and BROKE the damn Triforce? :D

Link: Why did it stop glowing? Oh, man... Zelda's gonna KILL me!

I wasn't creeped out, though. But, I though Lion-o's flirting with any chick/animal-hybrid/Amazon was kind of disturbing. I mean, come on... he's younger then those Kit-Kat twins. But, for me - I loved Mum-ra mumblings to himself. They were halarious. Or his talking to Ma-Mutt (with his little dog house and all).

Mu-ha-ha-ha... good dog. Good Ma-mutt.

Re: Man, I miss the 80s.

[firestar9mm]

Liono was the James T. Kirk of the Thundercats--regardless of what maelstrom raged around him, he would always mack it to whatever female character showed up. Especially Willa, the Amazon sharpshooter, and she had tons of issues of her own.

LMAO Ma-Mutt...

Fun Fact!

[moon_doggy]

You know... I totally forgot to mention this about the Ninja Turtles.

Did you know that the Ninja Turtles are from Maine? Even cooler is that the guy that created them is from the town next-door to my hometown. No lie!

I even met the guy, at the local ice cream joint, once. Really nice dude... he even gave me an autograph on a Ninja Turtle notebook I owned (still have it).

Re: Fun Fact!

[firestar9mm]

Woah! Cool! Which guy was it, Eastman or Laird?

Re: Fun Fact!

[moon_doggy]

Eastman. He still has his house in Springvale, ME, too.
Laird is also from New England... North Adams, MA.

It's so cool that they keep doing what they do in New England. And still talk to their before-they-got-rich friends and other people in the area. So many people up and leave their neighborhoods and go to fancier homes when they make it big. Not these guys.

[plainrea]

Actually, BOTH Rosalie and Jasper offer to kill her, the difference being Rosalie looks to Carlisle for "permission" (or rather, justification) while Jasper simply stands there formulating the best way to inconspicuously end her life. =^_^= Bonus: He was willing to go through Edward to do it (who IMO should be thrown in a big bonfire three seconds after Pants is offed).

But I agree that not NEARLY enough attention is paid to the supporting cast (of anything). Think of all the heroes/heroines who'd been obliterated Episode 1 without the aid and ingenuity of the "groupies." Ryo, Ren, Sailor Moon...all are only as strong as the team supporting them. I mean, Kogane would have had a pretty hard time forming Golion by himself.

The Troopers are by far my favorite supporting cast, largely because the creators of the show respected their characters by establishing them AS characters instead of the third, fourth, and fifth armors. They had personalities, interests, families, historical backgrounds, and even a friggin' stat chart for

[firestar9mm]

I feel like the YST team did such a good job on the four other Ronin that I don't even feel like they're a supporting cast. I consider the entire unit of five to be the "main character". And as you said, that's saying a lot.

I don't know if you've ever seen that bit on the RWXL site entitled "Ryo's Glass Cage of Emotion", but it is hilarious. I always wanted to do a video montage called "Ode to the Face Plant" which consisted of a series of smash cuts between shots of Ryo and the other Ronin getting pile-driven through three floors and a basement, probably set to a nice classical piece, like "Ave Maria" or "The Blue Danube". Which is another thing I love about the Ronin story--the heroes have to work for it. Especially in the beginning--when the Ronin are all locked in their places of power and Mia is ferrying everyone around to help save them, they're always fine when they wake up. It's the rescuers who are bloody and battered.

[plainrea]

I haven't visited a YST/RW site in years (I didn't think any were up and running, besides mine). But I think multi-floor pitfalls through ten-story buildings is a staple favorite of mine in film. My favorite "fall-through-multiple-floors" scene is from The Frighteners when Michael J. Fox is caught between Patricia and Dammers, both wielding shotguns, and "trips" himself backwards so that Patricia's shotgun fires at Dammers face. He falls (quite dramatically) through like, 5 or 6 floors, until he crashes back-first into one of the sub-floors, where Patricia eventually chokes him to death with the same shotgun that shot Dammers. It's kind of ridiculous, when you think about it, but I don't think a movie before or since has handled crashing through multiple floors so well.

If you ever did get around to making that montage, I'd be first in line to see it. Lord knows, you'd have plenty of footage to work with. *^_^*

[firestar9mm]

The Frighteners has got to be one of the most underrated movies ever. I know it's got a huge cult following, but it deserves to have one! I only wish I'd been able to see that film in a theater. They never show it on cable unless I'm at my parents', and my sister will never watch it with me because she says it's scary. I argue that only about half of the movie is scary--the rest is a comedy.