Episode 121: The Book of Virtues


What idiots buy for their children

What idiots buy for their children

All I can say is…UGH. Ben needed a topic for this week, and we spun our “Wheel O’ Topics” which landed on this turd.

What happens when you let a talentless political idealist direct a cartoon as opposed to an actual cartoonist? You get this. A half-hour of preachy values, strained connections to ancient fables, and bargain basement cartoon characters so forgettable that even Chris-Chan doesn’t know who they are.

I suppose it could have been worse. It could have been Veggie Tales.

19 thoughts on “Episode 121: The Book of Virtues

  1. Oh, come on. Veggie Tales is way better than this. This is just your vicious anti-early-90’s-tech-demo-3D bias rearing it’s ugly head again. Long live Reboot!!!!

    • Oh, I can’t STAND looking at early 3-D modeling. It’s just so…ugh… UGLY! How can anyone stand looking at that? It’s like watching a TV series made out of the cut scenes in Final Fantasy VII.

      Though, I have to admit that Book Of Virtues is animated so poorly that it actually gives Veggie Tales a run for its money…as they both race to the bottom of the barrel.

  2. Seriously? You guys LIKED Time Squad? That was one of the worst cartoons I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t funny at all.

  3. I was offended, when I saw “What idiots buy for their children”. Since my parents bought that for me on my birthday. But I forgive you, cause I hated that VHS.
    It was my first VHS that I learn to record over, I think I still have the tape somewhere
    Have you guys find a guy to do the Fairy Tail episode with? If not, I could (but I have to build my courage up)
    I wish there was a Time Squad and Mega XLR Box set, those shows was awesome

  4. Media with an agenda from never ceases to amaze me with how mediocre it always seems to end up being. And Ben you are totally right about Star Trek and its new treatment, I enjoyed the first movie enough but its getting a little to far away for the formula for my tastes. I think Star Trek is at its best when its television because then the stakes don’t always have to be so sky high, they can focus on the scientific exploration core of the series (and the space politics and conflicts that come with that) and the character relationships/development that occur along that journey.

    But I don’t think that stuff translates so well to a big tent pole movie, at least maybe not now in 2013, so I can’t fault them for what they are doing. I guess I just would like another tv show that was more true idea of the show to go along with the new movies.

    • The internet is way ahead of you with 2 new challengers.
      “Star Trek: Phase 2” and “Star Trek Continues.” these webisodes should wet your appetite until you find a star trek movie you love.

  5. Yeah, the problem with “Manga-esque” comics is that they don’t think of it as making comics, they think of it as copying manga. But they don’t realize what makes stories like Bleach or Soul Eater popular.

    The Walking Dead is a good example of how to do it right. I could see tricking someone into thinking that it was a seinen horror manga, but if you showed it to someone who had never even seen a Japanese comic book before they would just think of it as a regular comic.

  6. From what I’ve read Big Hero 6 was created in the late 90’s by two of the chuckleheads who would go on to create Ben 10 and they were drawn in typical super hero comic style. They basically lifted a bunch of anime tropes and threw them together nonsensically to create a silly super hero team no one cared about. I guess when the market for Manga started booming in the America they brought them back and got someone to ape the style but still no one cared.

    Apparently John Lasseter is pretty much responsible for picking those guys out of several other Marvel characters they had to choose from and it’s not hard to guess why.

    • You should put quotes around ‘create’ when talking about Ben 10, since filing the serial numbers off “Dial H for a Hero” isn’t really creating.

      • I have to disagree with you Ben The Host. Superheroes who require transformation trinkets have been around long before “Dial H for Hero.” I might as well claim that “Dial H for hero” and “Ben 10” filed off “Ultraman’s” transformation trinket’s serial numbers.

        • I stand corrected “Ben’s Onmimatrix” and “Dial H for Hero” watches look to similar. If I look at Ben 10’s watch. Oh my land!

  7. If you guys were so desperate for a topic, and you wanted to look at a show that had something to do with a supposed inoffensive topic, I would have suggested looking at the imported shows “Superbook” or “The Flying House”. I’m not sure if those shows are being sold (outside of eBay), and the animation is extremely dated, but those were both decent shows.

  8. I have not seen this show, but I will certainly have the opportunity. We just receive over-the-air programming now and one of the stations (Qubo?) shows this on occasion. Now I have to check it out just to see how bad it truly is. Thanks, guys.

  9. Actually, my parents specifically got me and my sister to play video games to improve our hand-eye co-ordination.

    Then again, ours is an exceptional circumstance. Besides, their choice of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was not a bad one.

    • Yeah, in a way, I don’t have a problem with that. I’m just saying that, like any art form, video games exist only to serve themselves. They don’t exist to be teaching tools. The fact that they can be used this way is fine but mostly irrelevant.

      Clearly, your parents knew what was up. They picked a game that you’d stick with, as opposed to something that subverts the medium, like Math Blasters.

      Maybe I’m just cranky about this subject, because I was a kid when Janet Reno was saying some exceptionally stupid things about the nature of video games.

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