Behold my messy hair of determination!

It's a testament to the quality of Rumiko Takahashi's work when her worst animated series is still entertaining enough to watch. Still, InuYasha seems like a total phone-in when compared to Rumik's outrageous comedies and wildly inventive, gorgeously animated action flicks. It's not especially original, borrowing heavily from Japanese mythology, and the reluctant romance between the hot-headed title character and the Japanese schoolgirl who falls into his world seems half-baked next to the passionate crushes of Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura. Oh, and speaking of Kagome, there hasn't been a more self-centered, abusive, and whiny bitch on television since the 1980's, when prime time soap operas ruled the airwaves. Her shrill shrieks of "SIT, boy!" make even the picturesque scenery and lively fight scenes hard to endure. If only there were a code word to make her explode into the same bloody chunks as the demons that InuYasha frequently slays...

The creators of One Piece bring you twenty-two minutes of pure, distilled stupidity... or thirty, if you count the commercials. Just what is Bo-Bo-Bo about, anyway? I'm still not sure, but here's what I could gather from the episodes I've seen. Bo-Bo-Bo is a burly blonde armed with an afro and living nose hairs. Think of a cross between Hulk Hogan, Bob Ross, and Al Bundy and you've got the right idea. Throughout the series, Bo-Bo-Bo defends hair everywhere from an army of bald men running with scissors, animated gelatin, an ice cream vendor (I hope that's ice cream on his head...), and wrestlers with talking duck hats. It's a very surreal, very Japanese experience, with the show's English translators going to great lengths to make sense of the unending absurdity. In the end, though, there's nothing anyone can do to explain this show's existance on these shores... or why Bo-Bo-Bo was created in the first place.

It's Highlander for the junior set as high school student Kiyo battles evil along with a wide-eyed, mop-topped boy in a royal blue dress. Yup, it's a Japanese action series, all right! Anyway, the kid is packed with latent super powers that only his adoptive brother can unleash. As he defeats rivals (mostly small animals and other puppet-like children), Zatch Bell inches closer and closer to becoming the king of his home world. It's a concept that could work, and does for the first couple of episodes. However, it doesn't take long before the rocky relationship between Zatch and Kiyo is conveniently smoothed out. Worst of all, the show constantly straddles the fence between an action and comedy series, and isn't particularly compelling as either. The fights are limited to exchanges of energy bolts (didn't we already see this sort of thing on Dragonball Z?), and the humor is largely dependent on facial expressions that are more freaky than funny.

Tired of cartoons with ordinary super heroes? Well, this series features ten, ten, TEN alien creatures, all rolled into one bratty boy! Yes, Ben Tennison commands the abilities of ten intergalactic heroes in this unique show that offers up plenty of action along with a welcome touch of lighthearted humor. Although you'd think a kid with that much power would be nearly unstoppable, he's often held back by the temperamental nature of the watch he uses to transform, as well as his own impulsive behavior. This and the occasional plot twist keeps the action fresh and unpredictable, even if the artwork seems like it was lifted straight from Teen Titans.

Believe it... or not, this highly anticipated Japanese cartoon isn't as fantastic as everyone had expected it to be. Naruto has its moments, but in comparison to Samurai Champloo, this story of ninjas in training comes up woefully short. On one hand, the artwork is vivid and sharply rendered. On the other, the fight scenes are prefaced by far too much exposition ("Before I finish you off, let me explain in excruciating detail the techniques I'll use in this battle!"), and some of the characters are downright irritating. Especially brooding, self-absorbed Sasuke... but especially snobbish, lovestruck Sakura. But especially stubborn, smartalecky Naruto! All right, pretty much everybody here under the age of eighteen is obnoxious. Luckily, the teachers have a lot more personality than the students, but even they can't hold Naruto together for more than a few episodes.

I can't say I was expecting much from this show. Was it the rough artwork in the previews? The awkward title that suggests the writers were out of ideas before they even picked up their pens? That theme song that's forgettable at best and just plain annoying at worst? I'm not sure, but I have to admit that the series far exceeded my low expectations. When a clerical error sends ordinary grade schooler Adam Lyon into a den of real lions (and tigers and bears, oh my!), he's got to struggle to not only stay on top of his education, but the food chain as well. Adam's best friend at the school is also his closest genetic relative, a spider monkey named Jake whose hyperactivity often lands the pair in hot water with the rest of the students. The humor relies a bit too heavily on animal instincts, but the writers do hit the funny bone from time to time with situations and sight gags that bring back memories of Ren and Stimpy's first (and best!) season.

How do you bring together two things as completely different as feudal Japan and 20th century hip-hop, without making the resulting combination seem forced and ridiculous? First, you hire the creators of the legendary anime Cowboy Bebop to do the writing. Then you get leading animation studio Geneon to bring the scripts to life with richly detailed artwork and fight scenes so dynamic and intense, you'll feel like you're there, narrowly dodging each sword strike. Finally, you hunt down only the best translators and voice over artists before bringing the finished product to America. The result of all this hard work is a sharp action series made that's even more brilliant by its many contradictions. If you're burned out on Japanese animation, Samurai Champloo will almost certainly bring you back into the fold.

More than cheese... more than wine... above all else, France's number one export is aggravation. The country's latest attempt to get under the skin of the rest of the free world comes in the form of a cartoon named Code: Lyoko. It's an awkward coupling of computer rendered action and hand-drawn artwork that pushes the story along... or more accurately, drags its lifeless corpse from one end of each episode to the other. The rendered scenes are definitely the better looking of the two segments, because things actually happen in them... however, with their barren environments and dead-eyed heroes, they're just barely an improvement over Mainframe's decade old Beast Wars series. The traditional animation lacks even more luster, with a failed faux-anime style that leaves the cast of middle schoolers with faces so sharp-edged, you could use their chins to cut glass! The worst part of Code: Lyoko has to be the repetitive storylines, usually capped off with one of the most infuriating deus ex machinas to ever creak its way onto a television screen. When Ulrich and his squad of net-surfing nerds can't outsmart Zana, that most malicious of computer viruses, they simply press a button to reverse time and snatch an undeserved victory from the jaws of defeat. There is no consequence or effort involved... a touch of the enter key is all it takes to delete their failures forever. Is there a key I can press to send this bomb back to its home country?

Contrary to what the title may suggest, there's nothing really new about this Disney series, set after the events of The Emperor's New Groove. It's got the same characters as that frantic fairy tale set in ancient South America, and even warms over many of the same jokes. The only significant difference is a storyline lifted straight from Disney's earlier Hercules series... self-centered and sarcastic Kuzco has to attend classes in order to keep the right to rule his people. Yeah, I don't follow the logic, either. Luckily, the decision to recast Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton as the bumbling villains makes a lot more sense. On the downside, David Spade is absent from this class, replaced with a low-grade imitator who just can't serve up the smarm like his predecessor. The show is so tame that you'll probably follow Spade's lead and drop out of School after just a couple of episodes.

The controversial comic (probably already replaced in your local newspaper with a rapping pit bull) has become a cartoon, and it couldn't have been more perfectly adapted. Creator Aaron MacGruder has taken his all-African-American family out of the confines of a four panel comic strip and given them the freedom to be more than just a mouthpiece for his political views. There's still plenty of social commentary here (which cuts both ways, drawing blood from both the white establishment and the conformist, often irresponsible black community), but it's delivered with detailed storytelling and satisfyingly complex character development. All this makes the Freemans a more genuine family than most you'll see on television sitcoms, even when they're conning a freshly-pimped car out of Xzibit or having dinner with long-dead civil rights leaders. The aggressive political commentary guarantees that The Boondocks won't be the next Simpsons, but it's got a pretty good shot at taking the torch from South Park, that other classic animated series with its best days well behind it.

UPDATE: The second season of the show is definitely an improvement over the first thanks to smoother, more expressive animation. However, these episodes have varied wildly in both quality and theme. Attack of the Killer Kung Fu Wolf Bitch and Stinkmeaner Strikes Back are in the Adult Swim hall of fame thanks to their outrageous comedy and frantic action, but then there are episodes like Attack of the Katrinians and The S-Word, which fray the nerves with astonishingly self-centered and irresponsible characters. Hopefully in its third season, The Boondocks will stop undermining the appeal of its cast and continue to offer the wild situations that makes the series shine.

If you've already seen Jake Long: American Dragon, there's going to be a lot about Juniper Lee that will sound familiar to you. A hip Asian kid defends the human world from magical creatures, and sometimes vice versa, occasionally relying on the wisdom of a talking dog and putting up with the antics of an obnoxious younger sibling. There are some important differences, though. Like most of Warner Bros.'s answers to Disney's cartoons, Juniper Lee is more daring and imaginative, with a tongue as sharp as Jake Long's is forked. There's more fight to the fight scenes, more comedy in the comic relief, and more character to the characters. Instead of quickly fading into the background, June's friends have personality, and a reason to exist aside from taking up empty camera space. Finally, Juniper herself is a lot more appealing than her Disney counterpart, who's got a bright future ahead of him as a spokesman for Poser Mobile.

It's easy to dismiss this as a lame Spongebob Squarepants clone... mostly because that's what it is. The role of the energetic, painfully optimistic sponge has been passed on to a banana-lipped monkey (who somehow manages to be more irritating than the character he so clearly apes), and the disgruntled, more than slightly effeminate mollusc of choice is a slug, rather than an octopus. Even when it's not lifting ideas directly from Nickelodeon's most popular cartoon, Lazlo remains a completely predictable experience. Look, Lazlo's bunkmate has a Hindu accent, because he's an ELEPHANT, and elephants come from India! Oh, and did I mention that he's a glutton? You know, because elephants are really big and fat. Sad to say, the entire show is like this, coasting on the fumes of much too familiar characters and situations.

Manic, mean-spirited, and mindbendingly bizarre, Billy and Mandy is the kind of show that makes Nickelodeon executives dive headfirst into the slime-covered tunnels they call their homes. Fortunately for all of us, the show's fate isn't at the fickle hands of the first network for kids, but Cartoon Network, which cuts its cartoonists a bit more slack. Anyway, here's the 411 on this series. Darkhearted, domineering Mandy and her impossibly stupid friend Billy not only cheat Death, but force him into an eternity of humiliating servitude. While he's busy doing their chores, Billy and Mandy use Grim's dark powers to annoy everyone within a twelve mile radius. That includes nerdalicious neighbor Irwin, dentally-impaired goddess of chaos Eris, and my favorite of the bunch, Hoss Delgado. Imagine the heavy artillary of Bruce Campbell, the boundless testosterone and flowing locks of Kurt Russell, and the barrel-chested brutality of Sylvester Stallone all blended into one over-the-top action hero, and you've got a pretty good idea of what to expect from this guy. The first season of Billy and Mandy was weighed down by too much bathroom humor, but later episodes were chock full of hilarious pop culture references, broadening the appeal of the series and making it one of the best shows in Cartoon Network's primetime schedule.

UPDATE: Billy and Mandy's last great moment was The Keeper of the Reaper, where the two title characters fought for custody of The Grim Reaper. Modern Primitives was also a late high point of the series, with Billy tormenting a reanimated Fred Flintstone. However, the films that recently aired on Cartoon Network were kind of a downer, particularly the aimless Wrath of the Spider Queen and the Kids Next Door crossover which proved just how mismatched the two shows were. Series creator Maxwell Atoms announced in 2007 that The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy had been cancelled, and that he was hard at work on a spinoff starring the show's ancillary characters. However, without Billy, Mandy, or former writer C. H. Greenblatt, it remains to be seen if the tentatively titled Underfist will be a success.

Sure, it's more faithful than most animated adaptations of popular video games, but is it fun to watch? Eh, not really. Viewtiful Joe has the same sketchy comic book look as Capcom's GameCube hit, and even stars the same voice actors. However, the flashy fights that made the video game so intense have been replaced with awkwardly translated exchanges between Joe and his foes. You can tell when the show is trying to be funny, but thanks to the clumsy dialogue and an unwelcome helping of censorship (Joe's throwing a lot more than alfalfa at those cowboys in the wild west episode!), it rarely ever is. Like far too many cartoons based on video games, this henshin's a no-go, baby.

RETRO-RIFFIC
80's SPECIAL!
Cartoons from the decade of decadence,
given another look twenty years later

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Heck, it may have even seemed like a good cartoon back when you were eight. However, after seeing it twenty years later, you'll grudgingly admit that out of the many animated adaptations of popular video games, the first also happens to be one of the worst.

Saturday Supercade takes all your favorite game characters from the early 1980's and awkwardly crams them into the most unlikely sitcom situations. Frogger is now a journalist for a swamp newspaper, taking orders from a web-toed J. Jonah Jameson along with his girlfriend and a turtle who sounds uncannily like übernerd Woody Allen. Q*Bert's found his way back to high school in what can only be described as an animated American Graffiti, illustrated by a seven-year old M. C. Escher. Finally, in another unwelcome tip of the hat to the 1950's, Donkey Kong Jr. hangs out with a teen greaser who's like Fonz without the edge.

The resulting hour of television is every bit as bad as the above descriptions would suggest. Like most Ruby-Spears cartoons from the late 1970's and early 1980's, Saturday Supercade is a cheap imitation of Hanna-Barbera's already lackluster output. The scripts are full of dumb sight gags and awful puns, and the characters are either too plain (Mario, Frogger) or just plain annoying. Donkey Kong and his son are the best- or should I say worst?- examples of this. The big ape's brainless stuttering is supplied by comic burnout Soupy Sales, while his offspring apes the mannerisms of the world's most universally hated cartoon sidekick, even replacing Scrappy-Doo's cries of "Puppy Power!" with the equally grating "Monkey Muscle!"

Despite the questionable quality of Saturday Supercade, plenty of prominent figures in the world of kids' television were responsible for its creation. In addition to Ken Ruby and Joe Spears, that Mighty Morphin' Egyptian Ranger Haim Saban, and Batman: The Animated Series co-producer Paul Dini all had their hands in the production of the series. Saban supplied the ridiculous yet disturbingly catchy theme song (those seem to be his specialty, if Kidd Video and the Power Rangers are any indication...), and Paul Dini chipped in some scripts for Frogger.

Even with this all this talent behind the wheel, and even with last-hour changes that added the more relevant Pitfall! and Space Ace cartoons to the mix, there was nothing that could stop Saturday Supercade from a collision with the flaming wreck that the video game industry had become in 1984. Even if video games had remained popular through the mid 1980's, it's doubtful that this corny throwback to the dark ages of animation would have survived the onslaught of the Thundercats, Voltron, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Yes, it's yet another cartoon where the stars get trapped in a strange new dimension and spend the rest of the series desperately trying to find their way out. It's a plot device that has been wrung dry by everyone from Samurai Jack to the Smurfs, but few have used it with the same flair as Haim Saban. In those other cartoons, you feel as frustrated and helpless as the characters themselves, but in Kidd Video, you're happy to be along for the ride.

Years before striking gold with the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Saban enjoyed moderate success with Kidd Video, an animated journey through a vibrantly colorful world that's equal parts Alice in Wonderland and avant garde music video. Here, the musical expressions are interpreted literally, and even the fairies are clad in leotards and leg warmers. It's a world that reflects the trends of the 1980's as well as its creator's passion for songwriting.

The stars of the show, a band of teen musicians, find themselves sucked into this land after catching the eye of the sinister Master Blaster. The Master wants to chain them to an unbreakable contract, forcing them to sing for his pleasure and profit for the rest of eternity. However, our hip young heroes won't stand for this exploitation. They spend most of each episode running from this thinly disguised commentary on the greed of the recording industry, stopping just long enough to catch their breath and exhale it in the form of a campy pop song.

Kidd Video is a perfect snapshot of the decade of excess, with the low production values expected from 1980's cartoons, but the clever imagery and catchy beats so common in 1980's music videos. When the two balance each other out, you're left with an animated series that, while not up to today's high standards, certainly stands above much of the dreck that was on television twenty years ago. It's one of the few cartoons from the time that had something to say, aside from the usual "Hey kids, buy my merchandise!"

You'd think that Marvel's cartoons would have been a cynical attempt by the company to cash in on characters like Spiderman and The Incredible Hulk, but you'd be oh-so-very wrong. Well, mostly wrong, anyway. While Marvel and its subsidiary Cadence never passed up an opportunity to make a cartoon based on one of its successful comic book series, they also bravely stepped outside those boundaries, making shows that were uncommonly good by the low standards of 1980's animation.

One of these cartoons was Dungeons & Dragons, a remarkably accurate and genuinely entertaining show based on the tabletop role-playing game invented by Gary Gygax. When a handful of kids take a ride on a suspiciously named theme park attraction, they wind up stranded in a hostile medieval world, hotly pursued by the demonic sorceror Venger. The teens are given a thin chance for survival when a mysterious old man grants each one abilities that were tailor-made for them. Hot-blooded but pint-sized Bobby is crowned with a barbarian's horned cap, while sarcastic comic relief Eric is given a shield and the appropriate title "Cavalier."

With their new powers, the young band of heroes begin their search for a way back home, locked in an eternal stalemate with the wicked Venger and his minions. It's not a particularly original storyline- dozens of other cartoons have tread on the same territory- but the quality of Dungeons and Dragons is what sets it apart from the rest of the pack. The animation, though not always smooth, is impressive for its detailed, realistically drawn characters. The dialogue, though sometimes a bit stiff and redundant, really helps develop the characters and the world around them. Then there's Venger... oh yes, Venger. The writers really hit the mark with this guy... with a voice filled with hatred and a pair of wild eyes peeking out from a scarlet cloak, Venger manages to be more threatening than any three 80's cartoon villains put together.

Dungeons and Dragons isn't Cadence at the top of its game. The series doesn't compare favorably to the original G.I. Joe, with its larger, more appealing cast of characters and flashier animation, and it's at least a dozen experience levels behind The Tick, the hilarious superhero satire produced under the Sunbow brand name. At the same time, Dungeons and Dragons is more than a match for 80% of 80's cartoons, with enough action and wit to satisfy most fans of the game that inspired it.

"Jake's Grandfather: The horn does not make the unicorn.
Jake Long: Actually, it does. Otherwise, it's just a horse. "

Jake Long: American dragon revolves around Jake Long, a normal 13-year-old kid from NYC who lives with his family, which consists of his father, mother, grandfather, little sister Haley, and a Chinese Pug named Fu Dog. When he's not hanging out with his best friend Trixie, or his laid-back, Boomhauer-eqsue buddy, Spud, he's crushing on the new girl in school, Rose. Jake also has a secret... he is the latest in a long family line of heroes that are also dragons! His grandfather and Fu Dog (who can talk) train him in his never ending battle to protect the Fantasy Realm creatures that live in New York from being captured or destroyed by the evil Huntsman (and his sidekick, Huntsgirl) .

The cartoon is a very entertaining, solid offering; with an inventive concept, lots of action, and character designs that are a breath of fresh air. Jake's red dragon alter-ego is an interesting mesh of Eastern and Western influences. The show's backstory reminded me of "Big Trouble In Little China"-- a magical, mystical world existing right under our noses.

While the first two episodes of Jake Long were uneven, the rest of the series has been stellar. It's packed with plenty of well-executed chase and action scenes, fresh humor, and well written characters. In a welcome change from most Disney animated series, the story events and character arcs that happen in Jake Long permanently affect the course of the show-- it's been a real treat watching the characters grow. The only drawback to one's enjoyment of the show is that Disney has shown an annoying tendency to air some episodes out of order.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Unlike Shawn, I didn't like this show at first. Jake Long's constant fronting brought back uncomfortable memories of Vanilla Ice, but the fact that he's usually put in his place by his grandfather and friends makes him more slightly more palatable. Also, I love the occasional celebrity appearances on American Dragon, even if they don't make a whole lot of sense. Just listen to Monty Hall bellow, "and I'll be the most powerful game show host!" and try not to crack up!

THE TICK

GRAZ ENTERTAINMENT/SUNBOW

WITH MICKEY DOLENZ

WITHOUT

The Tick was one of the greatest shows Fox ever had on their channel. It was a series about a nigh-invulnerable 7' "wise fool" superhero and his neverending battle for truth and justice. Plus, he had one of the best battle cries ever.

In this series, the city of... The City... is full of superheroes hiding in plain sight. From the patriotic American Maid to the mysterious Die Fledermaus, The City was full of bizarre (and in some cases derivative) superheroes. One day, an enigmatic hero known as "The Tick" came to town. He took under his wing a sidekick known as Arthur, a former accountant who dressed as a moth.

In addition to this, the villains were rather interesting. From Chairface Chippendale (whose failed attempt to write his name on the moon stared down from the night sky as the series went on) to The Terror, an older-than-dirt villain surrounded by lackeys like a man-eating cow and "Stalingrad," a dead ringer for the former leader of the more-recently-former USSR, the bad guys of The City had their evil plots foiled by the always vigilant Tick.

But one of the greatest things about this series was Mickey Dolenz. Yes, the former Monkee Mickey Dolenz. In the beginning of the series, he was the voice of Arthur, and he actually did pretty well as the "regular guy who winds up in bizarre situations involving evil villains and/or monsters" in the show. However, they eventually replaced him with Rob Paulsen--who, while not horrible, seems more at home playing the "smart-ass" role than the "befuddled sidekick" role. The show was still good after that, however, so if you see it (it's going to be on Toon Disney), it wouldn't kill you to check it out.

Robot Chicken is a claymation show on Adult Swim that has rapid-fire spoofs on pop culture. They cover such varying gags as a Real World series with superheroes, presidential campaign ads (and their expressions of approval of the message contained therein), Very Special Episodes, and Fox reality shows. Some of the stuff will amuse you, some will offend you, and the rest will do both. That said, very few shows would have a Michael Moore documentary on the former "Masters of the Universe" or the world's most one-sided fistfights caught on film. Also, the "Transformers" segment in the first episode actually was mentioned on a medical association's site as a vehicle to raise awareness of prostate cancer. You'll find a link to the reference here.

If I had one complaint about this show, it's that it's too short. Even for a fifteen minute show, it feels like it should have lasted longer. That said, it's probably one of the best ways I can imagine to kill fifteen minutes... and your fond childhood memories of cartoon heroes.

This action series is a huge departure for Nickelodeon, a network whose programming blocks have traditionally been populated by hyperactive, abstractly drawn characters. You won't find any of them here, though. Avatar is heavily inspired by not only Japanese animation, but Eastern culture as a whole... young Ang travels across the wide, mountainous expanses of a fantasy Tibet with his friends. Along the way, he uses the power of wind to battle hostile members of three rival tribes, each with their own mastery of an elemental force. Ironically, the Japanesque artwork that has become tiresome and predictable on other networks is a welcome breath of fresh air on Nickelodeon. It not only offers viewers a break from the crack-addled antics of Spongebob Squarepants and The Fairly Oddparents, but it also lends the kind of excitement and urgency to Avatar's fight scenes that you'll never see in Nick's other, far less impressive action show Danny Phantom.

UPDATE: Avatar is still one of the most clever, exciting, and original series on Nickelodeon. It's a terrible shame that distinguished voice actor Mako is no longer with us, but at least he went out on a poignant note with the Tales of Ba Sing Se. In this episode, Mako's character Uncle Iroh visited the grave of his long-dead son, and choked back tears as he sang his child's favorite lullaby.

So OK, like, there's this show about these three self-absorbed teenage girls, who aren't just girls, but are like totally spies and some junk. And while they're at school trading insults with the class bitch, they fall through trap doors and stuff and are given assignments by some British guy who's, like, a total rip-off of Q from those James Bond movies. He gives 'em these gnarly weapons made from all those things a girl's just got to have, like makeup mirrors and junk, and then they run around in super tight spandex and foil the plans of weird bad guys. Like, how weird? Probably about as weird as like, the pervs who thought the teenage spies would look hot in tight outfits. Gross-o-rama! If that's not bogus enough, you should like, see the artwork in this show. It's from France and some junk, but they try to make it look like it's from Japan or something. Yeah, like anyone's gonna be fooled by valley girls who look like Sailor Moon! Totally Spies isn't grody to the max... I mean, the animation's pretty good and there's a lot of action, but girls who act like THAT in this day and age are major joanies. Like, you know what I'm sayin'?

We are... we are... we aren't bad, actually. I was pleasantly surprised by this French series, which offers a deeper storyline and more natural dialogue than other cartoons with a cast of adolescent girls. When they're not hanging out at middle school, the stars of W.I.T.C.H. battle invading creatures from an alternate, medievel universe. Each of the kids has the power to harness a natural element, but if their unusual striped stockings are any indication, all of them are in constant danger of being flattened by falling Kansas farmhouses. All right, so they look a little ridiculous, but they know how to fight... and the interaction between these young heroes is considerably more geniune than what you'll find in Winx Club or Totally Spies. The series isn't compelling enough to keep the average adult interested, but at the same time, you won't find yourself complaining when your kid sister or niece insists on watching it.

UPDATE: Gargoyles producer Greg Weisman was at the helm of this series during its second season, which probably explains why it managed to elevate itself above other girl-centric action series like Winx Club.

I have an itching suspicion that Krypto the Super Dog was given life by a half-dozen businessmen with dollar signs dancing in front of their eyes, rather than a creative cartoonist with a clever idea. Krypto is your usual story about a boy and his dog, except the dog is endowed with super powers and high intelligence. After a few episodes, you'll wonder if there's any reason for the boy to exist. After a couple more, you'll wonder what dark forces Warner Bros. used to bring Hanna-Barbera's animators from the 1980's back from the dead. After a few more episodes, you'll grind your teeth at the canine bastardizations of famous DC superheroes like Batman. And after that... who am I kidding? You'll have stopped watching long before then.

UPDATE: The comment about undead Hanna-Barbera animators was eerily prophetic... as it turns out, Krypto's characters were designed by animation veteran Iwao Takamoto, who died shortly after the series debuted. For the record, he died of a heart attack, not of acute embarrassment.

Everyone's favorite webslinger has gotten a lot more sophisticated in the twenty five years since this series debuted, but kids who grew up watching Spiderman and his Amazing Friends will swear by it to the bitter end. Take me, for instance! I'll admit that the show's got flaws when compared to the Spiderman cartoon of the mid 1990's. It doesn't even try to adhere to the plot of the long-running comic... Spiderman and his sidekicks, the shapely Firestorm and wisecracking Iceman, just fight their way out of ridiculous situations, throwing a web here, a punchline there, and a random Marvel supervillain in jail at the end of each neatly wrapped up episode. As compensation for the stiff writing and animation, the producers throw special guest stars like Tony Stark (sans the Iron Man suit) and The Incredible Hulk into the mix. When even that's not enough to soothe the savage nitpicking of obsessed comic book geeks, they invite Spiderman co-creator and shameless camera hog Stan Lee to explain away all the plotholes, often creating new ones in the process. With all this in mind, it doesn't sound like Spiderman and his Amazing Friends deserves such a high rating. Perhaps it doesn't, but it does deliver a truckload of what the later Spiderman cartoons and even the recent films offer in agonizingly small amounts... comic relief. Rather than endlessly whining about his dead uncle and love life, this Spiderman loves his job, fighting the forces of evil while dishing out one-liners like a spandex-clad Alan Alda. Now THAT'S the Peter Parker I know!

You wouldn't expect much from this cartoon at first. Just look at the artwork... it's as derivitive as it can possibly be without sparking a lawsuit from Nickelodeon. Imagine what would happen if The Fairly Oddparents creator Butch Hartman was beaten over the head with Groo the Wanderer's heaviest club, and you have a pretty good idea of how Dave the Barbarian looks. Even the pace of the show closely mirrors Nickelodeon's frantic cartoon comedy... but the humor is what sets Dave apart from its obvious inspiration. The cowardly title character and his family of oddballs battle such hilariously ineffective villains as a scheming pig and a time-travelling nerd, ultimately winning the conflicts because they're just slightly less pathetic than their foes. The voice acting is terrific, featuring some of the biggest names in the business, and the writing at its best is as refreshingly unpredictable as the first seasons of Ren and Stimpy and Spongebob Squarepants. Dave the Barbarian may have been cut from the same cloth as Nick's best cartoons, but Disney used a pretty sharp pair of scissors to do it.

Anne McCaffrey novels and NASCAR racing collide in this unique computer rendered cartoon. After a period of instability between humans and dragons, the two species have come to an understanding, and even race in competitions. The reptiles in Dragon Booster aren't your typical winged beasts with fiery breath and a temper to match. These creatures are scale-covered greyhounds; sleek, lanky, and unfailingly loyal to their riders. However, that loyalty is tested when a villain and his scheming son try to spark a war between humans and dragons... a conflict that can only be prevented by a stable boy with a talent for racing and a secret identity. As you may have already guessed, the fresh storyline is Dragon Booster's greatest asset. It's an oasis of originality in a parched desert of redundant Japanese action shows and loud, obnoxious animated comedies. On the downside, the visuals are every bit as disappointing as the premise is unique. The producers tried to mimic the look of hand-drawn animation with minimal shading and thick outlines, but this approach just makes the characters look ugly and flat. If the creators of Dragon Booster had gone all the way and used old-school artwork rather than settling for cost-effective rendering, the show could have been fantastic. As it is, it's good enough to satisfy, but not good enough to truly impress.

RETROSPECT: My word, what was I thinking? There's no way this series deserves a six, regardless of the originality of the storyline. Nerd Corps deserves credit for stepping up its game with the improved Storm Hawks, but even that has some of the quirks that made Dragon Booster hard to watch. If I were making a call on this show today, I'd give it a five, and that's being generous.

Shinzo was originally supposed to debut five years ago on Fox, but Disney's acquisition of Haim Saban's properties put an end to that plan pretty quickly. If Disney had been smart, they would have taken the opportunity to bury this predictable Japanese cartoon for good, rather than airing it well after the novelty of anime had worn off. Maybe Shinzo would have been amusing in the year 2000, but now, it's just another white-capped wave in the endless sea of Japanese animation, a body of water which has slammed into our saturated shores for the past half decade. Past a somewhat original storyline (a young human girl is protected by three alien warriors, who merge to form an especially powerful knight), Shinzo doesn't even try to distinguish itself from other Japanese cartoons. You'll find the same effeminate villains, the same skill-enhancing cards, and the same colorful but largely inert artwork you've already seen in dozens of other shows from the far East.

The latest Power Rangers series to come out in the US (at least until SPD) evokes the original series, with everything from the high-school setting to the robotic dinosaurs. In fact, they even managed to add one of the original rangers (Tommy) to the program. Add to that the most ambitious villain I've seen in a long time anywhere (instead of simply conquering or destroying the world, the vile Mesogog wishes to revert it to a prehistoric state) with one of the best "evil hiss voices" that I've ever heard from anyone not named Tim Curry, and this series is a should-see for anyone who enjoys Power Rangers.

The town of Jefferton has a mayor who has a bizarre "open-door" policy, which involves his taking ideas from anybody who walks in from the street. Enter Tom Peters, the perennial "idea man" who has bizarre ideas filling his head to the point of rupture. With this combination, hilarity is bound to ensue.

The characters are cutouts of actual people in blue and white, never really moving their mouths. This makes it look sort of like something by Roy Liechtenstein. The writing by Bob Odenkirk of "Mr. Show" infamy is pretty decent. The plot of any given episode essentially goes like this: Tom has an idea, the Mayor implements this idea, the idea backfires in some way, hilarity ensues.

Surprisingly, given its place on Adult Swim, there seems to be little mature content or subject matter. In fact, the only instance of this show I saw that could be construed as being offensive in any way was an episode in which Tom wants to make a World War II-themed restaurant for educational purposes. The mayor's nephew-- a 27-year-old who, as the result of his inhaler, looks, sounds and acts like a 12-year-old-- hits Tom in the head with a brick after his inhaler gets knocked away accidentally, then hijacks the project, turning the restaurant into a Chuck E. Cheese clone, complete with singing animatronic Hitler and Tojo (and piano-playing animatronic FDR).

In all, the series is fairly amusing, by-the-numbers plot and bizarre art style notwithstanding. If you're up at that time of night, it wouldn't kill you to sit through an episode of it.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I personally hated this series, but I hate Tim and Eric's Awesome Show Great Job! even more. It's not so much a "show" as two guys making fools of themselves on camera. Truly a series for the braindead, meme-hungry YouTube generation.

Ah yes, the cornocopia. We don't think much about this woven, horn-shaped basket loaded to overflowing with delectable goodies. At least, not until Thanksgiving, when we get the opportunity to hold it over our gaping mouths and empty its contents straight into our stomachs.

Then there's the day AFTER Thanksgiving. That's when the major networks dispense with the usual afternoons full of game shows and Oprah, and instead air nothing but cartoons to pacify all those bored kids who've got three more days before school and a half pound of sugar coarsing through their bloodstreams.

Since you've got the day off too, you'll probably be watching a lot of these shows along with the kids. Be warned, though... some of these animated series are so awful, they'll nearly make you bring up last night's helping of turkey and gravy. After where it's been, I don't think anyone's going to want to see your meal make an encore appearance.

Lucky for you, The Gameroom Blitz is here to help. We've got nearly a dozen cartoon reviews to help you decide what's safe for you to watch, and what will leave you scrambling for the bathroom... or, if you can't quite make it there, that plastic bag which used to hold all your Christmas shopping. At least, I hope you emptied it out first.

I was sorely disappointed by the first original action series in the Jetix programming block, but at the same time I guess I should have seen it coming. After all, the first cartoon created exclusively for Toon Disney was one of the worst animated series ever made, a soulless clone of The Powerpuff Girls with none of the creativity and even worse artwork. Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! (whew!) is marginally better than Teamo Supremo, but it's certainly no more original, swiping most of its ideas from Voltron and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Instead of unearthing mighty lions or prehistoric beasts, however, the main character discovers five brightly colored, abstractly drawn monkeys, who pilot a boxy robot that looks like it was dug out of the bottom of a cereal box. Doesn't quite have the same impact, does it? That would be forgivable if Super Robot Monkey, er, whatever were a parody of giant robot cartoons like Megas XLR, but it's not brave enough to satirize the mech culture, and the fights aren't stylish enough to make you forgive the series for its timid approach to the subject matter. This show provides so little incentive to watch it that you start to wonder why Disney didn't skip making it entirely and just fill its time slot with commercials.

RETROSPECT: I think I was too rough on this one. The animation sucks, but I've been told that it was designed that way to capture the spirit of classic Japanese cartoons like Astro Boy. On top of that, it just seems like more thought was put into the plot (as jumbled and random as it is) than the simplistic storyline of a child-oriented cartoon like Sushi Pack. If I were making the call today, I'd bump this one up to a five.

I want to like Atomic Betty, I really do. This Canadian creation isn't all bad... the voice over acting fits the characters like a glove, and some of the characters are surprisingly original. My personal favorite is IQ Maximus, a diabolical but bumbling intergalactic evildoer who's part Ming the Merciless and part Siamese cat. He's got the intellect and subtlety that most cartoon villains lack, and you've just got to appreciate that. On the other hand, Atomic Betty is kind of aimless despite the title character's frequent journeys to outer space. The artwork, presumably done in Flash, lacks impact, and Atomic Betty's adventures on Earth, where she's just plain Betty, take a lot of the fun and excitement out of the show. It's just not that fun to watch Betty try to keep her mother's spoiled cat from wrecking the house when you know she could be out saving the universe... and trading witty banter with IQ Maximus. Did I mention that he's my favorite character in the show?

I imagine this show is going to piss off a lot of hardcore anime fans. After all, it takes everything they hold dear and punches an eight foot wide hole through it. Well, they may not appreciate the pointed satire of the giant robot culture, but I sure as hell do. Megas XLR is truly a guilty pleasure if ever there was one... it almost seems sacriligeous to enjoy a series that pokes fun at such a cherished Japanese cartoon tradition. Perhaps it's because a show like this one, which takes a fifty-foot mech and outfits it with nudie mudflaps, video game joysticks, and a hula-dancing bobblehead, is long overdue. We've sat through twenty years of television depicting giant robots as invincible war machines, piloted by soldiers in tight spandex and silly helmets. Nobody's ever stopped to consider just how ridiculous the concept really is, even after a decade of increasingly silly Power Rangers episodes. Fortunately, the creators of Megas XLR have, taking the familiar formula, turning it upsidedown, and shaking it violently. They've kept the enormous mech, but replaced the squeaky clean heroes with a couple of irresponsible slackers who seem more like they'd be at home in the film Clerks than fighting the galaxy's greatest threats. But fight they do, frequently taking out not only the monsters, but half the state of New Jersey in the process. It's this care-free and totally irreverent approach to the material that makes Megas XLR one of the most welcome cartoons on television today. It's just a shame that it didn't come earlier, when the Power Rangers and Gundam were still hot properties.

Adult Swim has brought us yet another parody of a corny Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960's. This time, however, the satire is a great deal more subtle, bringing us an entirely new cast of characters rather than just stiffly animating the old ones. There also was a lot more work put into this mockery of Jonny Quest than there was in either Space Ghost: Coast to Coast or Sealab 2021. There's real animation this time, rather than the tilting of heads and the blinking of eyes. Cartoon Network was able to get away with that in the past, but there's no way they could have done it here. To be a truly effective parody of Jonny Quest, you've got to have exciting action sequences, and plenty of them. The Venture Brothers doesn't skimp on the chase scenes or the violent fights, and they're all outrageously over the top, thanks to the Venture family's bodyguard. Brock Samson is a former government agent with muscles of iron and pure testosterone flowing through his veins. He's such an intimidating figure that the mere mention of his name would strike fear into his enemies... if he bothered to leave any of them alive. Brock is definitely the star of this show, but that's not to say that there aren't any other great characters in The Venture Brothers. Dr. Thaddeus Venture takes the emotionally distant father in Jonny Quest to the next level, being a self-centered, bitter man who spends more time popping pills than taking care of his two sons (they're both weenies, so you won't feel too sorry for them). Then there are the ingeniously ineffective bad guys... with names like Girl Hitler, Underbite, and The Monarch, you probably know what to expect from them (here's a hint: not much, especially with Brock around).

UPDATE: The second season of Venture Bros. was even better than the first! David Bowie's mock appearance on Showdown at Cremation Creek (loaded with loving references to his past work) makes me wonder why the real-life singer decided to contribute his voice to Spongebob Squarepants instead.

The television adaptation of Sonic's latest adventures is a success, but not due to its own merit. The truth is, the storylines are pretty bland, and the action isn't nearly as exciting as just playing the games on the Dreamcast or GameCube. However, when compared to previous Sonic cartoons, particularly DIC's embarassing The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic X truly excels. The artwork is gorgeous, with brightly colored, sharply drawn characters streaking through lush forests and bustling cities at the speed of sound. High-quality, hand-drawn animation like this is truly welcome at a time when most studios settle for third-rate computer rendering, or even worse, Flash. The characters' personalities are accurately depicted in Sonic X, as well... Knuckles is consumed by his distrust of Sonic, Robotnik is as pompous as he is bulbous, and Tails is cheek-pinchingly adorable, even if he doesn't contribute much to the storyline. In other words, he's exactly like he was in the video games. Sonic X doesn't compare favorably to original action cartoons like Megas XLR or Teen Titans, but it's miles ahead of other kids' shows based on popular video games.

There's nothing like a little age regression to take the wind out of an arrogant junior detective's sails. That's the lesson learned by Case Closed: One Truth Prevails. When Jimmy Kudo stumbles across members of an organized crime syndicate while solving a murder, he's knocked out and force-fed a pill containing a lethal poison untracable by an autopsy. At least, that's what the goons thought they were giving him. It turns out that the pill, still in its prototype form, turns back the clock on its victim, transforming the cocky teenager into a small child. Considerably more vulnerable than before, he adopts an alias and gets adopted by his former girlfriend and her incompetant, booze-swilling father, who just happens to be a professional detective. It doesn't take long before Jimmy, as pint-sized Conan Edegawa, secretly solves all of Richard Moore's cases for him, using his cunning and a handful of inventions from his father's brainy friend.

It's a promising scenerio that charges out of the starting gate but runs out of steam near the finish line. The first two dozen episodes of Case Closed were exceptional, featuring brilliantly