Author Archives: Mr.Neil

About Mr.Neil

I draw cartoon chicks.

Episode 119: King Kong

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Amazingly brought to life by Willis O'Brien, a master of stop-motion animation.

Amazingly brought to life by Willis O’Brien, a master of stop-motion animation.

Joining us this week is Melissa Kaercher of Tinlizardproductions.com, and we present a very special episode of Animation Aficionados. We take a special look at the very first movie character who was a special effect.

King Kong is a triumph of stop-motion animation. Though stop-motion had been around for years by this point, this is the first time that a true character was realized using the art. Willis O’Brien brought this amazing character to life using metal armatures, rubber, and imagination.

We also talk about the people who were inspired by O’Brien, including the late Ray Harryhausen. At the time of this recording, Ray had not yet passed away, so we awkwardly talk about him as he was still alive.

Ray and so many others, such as Phil tippet, Stan Winston, and Peter Jackson, have had their lives transformed by the awe and spectacle of King Kong. The movie itself redefined the art of movie magic and set the standard for decades to come.

It was truly my pleasure to cover this movie. It is one of my favorite films of all-time, and in my opinion, it has never been topped.

Discussed:
Dinosaurs!
The Spider Pit Scene
The Log scene
Ray Harryhausen and Mighty Joe Young
Son Of Kong
Creation
The Most Dangerous Game
The Pest
Peter Jackson needs to learn how to use scissors
Red shirts
Dwan
Ann Darrow doesn’t care about King Kong
Nintendo 1; Universal 0

Kong's Close-Up

This really did scare the shit out of me when I first saw it.


The Spider Pit Scene

Perhaps lost forever. A legendary scene that has not been viewed since the earliest test screening of the movie.


The Log Scene

Originally, a styracosaurus was to be positioned on the other side of the log following a tremendous chase scene. Sadly, this scene also appears to be lost.

Stuff we forgot to mention:
Fay Wray’s boob slip
The pastel nightmare colorized King Kong



Episode 118: We Double-Checked, Filmation Still Sucks

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Fat Abbot

The show this is from is better animated than anything Filmation ever did.

“Inspired” by a recent altercation over something completely irrelevant, Ben and I tread over some familiar ground and stomp all over Filmation a second time. We talk about some shows so unimportant that we don’t even remember their names, and we mock the overuse of stock footage for which Filmation is so remembered.

In a bonus round, we also talk about the next Ninja Turtles crossover. Seriously, one was enough.





We Invade the Beacon!

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Beacon

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Over a month ago, Ben, Kittyhawk and I all made a special appearance on the Webcomic Beacon to talk about Crossoverkill stuff. As timely as ever, Fes sat on the episode for weeks until he finally released it today.

Here’s a special cut I made of the show, which Fes didn’t use for some reason. There’s no significant difference between my cut and his cut, except for an audio tweak here and there where I was inaudible for some reason. Otherwise, this is a rough cut without any ad breaks or show music.

You get to hear me bitch at length about the Zelda timeline.

The Last 1UP Podcast Ever

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Click this: http://www.1up.com/news/listen-final-1up-podcast

Hey, folks. We’re working on a special episode of Animation Aficionados for next week. In the meantime, I have a podcast recommendation for the gamers out there. It’s the final episode of 1UP’s flagship podcast, formerly known as Games Dammit, In This Thread, 4 Guys 1UP, Listen UP, 1UP Yours, and The 1UP Show. Regardless of what you call it, host Jose Otero wraps up ten years of 1UP, the best gaming website ever.

1UP was a gaming editorial website that came up out of Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine, of which I had long been a subscriber. EGM/1UP gained a lot of respect for me by being one of the few outlets where I felt the opinions of its editors were genuine. These were people who loved the industry but were never afraid to trash a game that deserved it. Often it cost them ad revenue in their magazine, but at least 1UP had their integrity, even as Ziff-Davis was crumbling down around them.

As EGM faded away, the podcasts became the new focus of 1UP. Many great shows have come and gone. The Oddcast, EGM Live, @1UP, and Active Time Babble were among my favorites. But it was Retronauts that became my favorite, mostly due to my on-going denial that the 16-bit era ended in 1996. Nevertheless, Retronauts is my most-often recommended podcast, and I hope the archive is preserved somewhere, perhaps on Archive.org. If not, then maybe IGN will allow Bob and Jeremy to host the old episodes on the new Retronauts website. It’d be a shame if 160 episode of retro gaming’s finest podcast simply went away.

But this write-up is about the final podcast on 1UP. Joining Jose is a staggering number of guests from the last ten years of 1UP. You’ll hear the voices of Jeremy Parish, Skip Pfister, Tina Sanchez, Ray Barnholt, Bob Mackey, Karen Chu, Seanbaby, and many, many more. I cannot recommend this enough.