Episode 14: Children’s Television

The Four Wheel Chairs of the Apocalypse

The Four Wheel Chairs of the Apocalypse

We’re joined by Ben’s friend Rob this week as we talk about cartoons for the kiddies. We digress a lot in the episode, so bear with us. If you don’t mind having a good laugh, though, then please enjoy. In spite of the subject matter, this show is probably not appropriate for children.

Show Topics:
Structure? What structure?!
The “it’s just a cartoon” mentality
Writing up to children rather than writing down
Spongebob Squarepants
Ed, Edd, & Eddy
Rugrats and Klasky Csupo
Disney ruined Doug
Pepper Ann’s theme song SUCKS!!!
Neil wants Toonmaker’s Sailor Moon pitch reel on Blu Ray
Miyazaki needs to embrace technology
Preachy cartoons
Teddy Ruxpin is scary
Too much juice
Excel Saga… Wait, WHAT?!?!!?

Bonus Round: This week on Destroy All Podcasts DX, Jeremy and company talk about one of Neil’s favorite movies, The Secret of NIMH. It’s an 80-minute film, by the way.

Episode 12 – Super Dimension Fortress Macross (and Robotech)

CHOO! CHOO!

Stage fright! Go away! This is our big day! In today’s exciting entry in the continuing odyssey of Animation Aficionados, Ben and Neil are joined by Tim the Canadian Macross expert after a first attempt at this episode ended in disaster. We talk about giant planes that can transform into pilotable mecha, with the intent to battling an alien race composed entirely of giant raging virgins.

After a brief history lesson in Robotechnology, the gang moves onto the show that everyone wants to talk about and never again mentions Southern Cross or Mospaeda. MAAAA-KUUUU-ROOOOSSSS!!!!!

Topics covered:
Do You Remember Love is beautiful
Maximilian Jenius is the greatest human being to ever live
Dueling Minmays; which would we murder first?
Admiral Hunter has an Ahab moment and becomes a genocidal maniac
The Shadow Chronicles is a titillating addition to the Robotech saga
Robotech was nearly grafted onto the continuity of another show (Oh the irony!)
Skyfire has a gerwalk mode (from the episode “Day Of The Machines,” by the way)
Simon Furman likes to destroy Go-Bots
Salads can be deadly
Carl Macek gets props
Toby MaGuire does not
You can end wars by singing
You can still fight when yerrrr drunk!

Also, nobody mentions Kaifun, the worst character in Macross. Yay!

Oh, and finally, here is the clip of Machine Robo with the most recognizable Go-Bots designs. Surreal, isn’t it?

Episode 11-ish – The Impromptu Birdy Show


In this titillating episode, Ben and Neil sit down to talk about an old favorite, Birdy The Mighty, confirming once again that you can never get enough of invincible girls in revealing battle leotards. This is a special side-by-side episode, where we talk about the Birdy OVA versus the Birdy Decode TV series.

The animation direction in both are nice, but we definitely prefer the original.

Neil also weighs in the sub-versus-dub debate and confirms yet again that he had a very heterosexual childhood.

This episode is not very produced. There are some volume issues, but with a higher quality recording, clarity shouldn’t be a problem. Just make sure to have your volume set at a comfortable level. Also note that we were very tired.

Be sure to check out Neil’s second appearance on This Week In Geek, as he sat in for the Nerd News. Neil before Dodd!

Next week is Macross. No, really.

Episode 9 – Ben’s Top 20

It’s Ben’s top 20 animated series! What made the list? What is number 1? Which cartoon characters are called out for being Poochie? Find out in this 70-minute discussion about cartoons of yesteryear.

On this special episode, we’re joined by webcomic artist Stephanie O’Donnell, author of Perfect Agent. Also, Neil is reunited with childhood friend Jeff Waske.

Episode 7 – X-Men Evolution

A good series that doesn’t get the praise it deserves.  It was a well-written show with characters you actually like, compelling stories, appealing character models, and high quality animation.

Unfortunately, the show was pulled just as it was getting good.