Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

I'm a wee bit harsher in terms of what's allowed, and Power Rangers is mostly dudes in suits unless it's changed significantly. Unless someone wants to prove me wrong, most if not all, of the special effects don't show up until the very end and even then it's still not a whole lot.

I'd comparing it to the level of the earlier Godzilla films and I wouldn't count those.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

I'm still hung up on if I want to start straight into it or not. My other thought is that I'd watch some season sets of things but I know in the back of my mind I'll get bored before the season ends and switch to other things.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

That's easy for *you* to say... :) For me, this year's sci-fi/fantasy checklist was a breeze in spite of my general dislike for commentary tracks and "Rifftrax". This one presents a bit of a difficulty because of motion comics, anime, puppet shows, and Bakshi. There is no way I'll complete the check list without using wild-cards and re-watching 2 items from the sci-fi/fantasy challenge. Considering I do not like to re-watch so close it'll probably be a no-finisher for me.

But... shouldn't the "NC-17" and "X" ratings be combined as they are essentially the same thing? Most films that initially received an "X" rating from the MPAA got re-rated to NC-17 after the porno industry co-opted the "X" rating.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Last year for NC-17 I watched Team America: World Police and for X I watched Fritz The Cat. The selection of cartoons that are Rated X, NC-17, or even R are pretty limited, but there's enough out there to mix it up a little and keep them separated, I think.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

As a confirmed Power Rangers fan (I'm watching several eps. for the sci-fi challenge), I can assure you there is not enough CGI to qualify the series for the Animation Challenge. In fact, most of the Zords are created, not with CGI, but as plastic costumes worn by stuntmen running around miniature sets, a la Godzilla.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

I've ben going through my DVD collection and came across a movie I am curious about. Komodo vs Cobra. Bad CGI SyFy Channel movie. Would those count?

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

What kstublen said. Plus there has to be at least some challenge for this checklist.

Imdb hid the X rating filter in it's advanced search but you can still search by X if you edit the search query. Here's the link for X.
http://www.imdb.com/search/title?cer...ort=alpha,desc

The biggest issue are for things like Team America, where they were originally an adult rating but then got edited to an R. If the original version gets released, you'll then have the adult version but imdb will only show the rating for the version that was first released as an R.

I'd lean towards yes on those types of films. One of the "tests" I do for things I don't know about is "If I remove the animation, does the movie suffer substantially?"

Since the bad guys are all cgi, as far as I know, and they aren't the less is more type monsters, as with the first Alien film, you can't really have the film without them.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Here's the prizes offered by Hamilton Books

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Yesterday morning I saw a preview screening of The Smurfs in 3D. It was actually better than expected (Hank Azaria and George Lopez were hilarious). The story isn't anything terribly complex or original--the whole thing is really just an excuse for a seemingly endless parade of action sequences to appease short attention spans--but I think most people will expect these shortcomings. The pace is fast (probably too fast for some), but I can report that the kids in the theater all laughed at the stuff meant to make them laugh, and we adults found ourselves laughing at a lot of it, too. It's a showcase for 3D, so the frequent action scenes might become more tiresome to endure in 2D. Just something to consider for those who might have this on their radar during this challenge.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

I enjoyed the challenge last year. I've been DVRing a lot of animation over the last year and have picked up a nice amount of animated blu-rays/DVDs lately.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Any plans for the first title?

I'd like to make a plan but it'll probably just turn into King of the Hill and/or American Dad tonight.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

The first title on my list that I own or hav easy access to is Yu-Gi-Oh: Waking the Dragons, but snce I am not including Netflix Watch Instantly in my list or else my list would be too large, I am debating between either Yu Gi Oh, or Macross II: The Movie.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

I had a ton of animation ready to go for this challenge but when my DVR died last month I lost it all. I've got a few things at home but I think I will start with the new Avengers series and the Star Trek Animation Series. I've always wanted to sample the Star Trek series so I am really looking forward to it. There's a lot of good stuff on Netflix Streaming but I'll also be checking out my local library to see what they have of interest.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

I'm going to give this a try. Should be fun!

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

I must be crazy but, after watching almost 100 sic-fi/fantasy movies this month, I'm actually thinking about doing this.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Can we use an movie more than 1 time in the checklist

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Just watched the first ep of Macross II and was wondering, do I count each indivudual ep separately, or since its a miniseries, do I count it as one entry when the mini series is over?

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Time for a sticky on the List thread.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

For the 90+ minutes of shorts can they include things included as extras on dvds like the 3 mini movies in despicable me and others that are shorts included with some Disney releases?

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Those are the very kind of short films being described in the checklist. Disney releases--particularly Pixar--are terrific about including shorts. Also, don't forget to check a lot of golden age Warner movies, which often include shorts, too. For instance, if you have The Adventures of Robin Hood, it includes:

Katnip Kollege
Rabbit Hood
Robin Hood Daffy

Also, I believe there was a small list in last year's discussion thread about animated short films that were included with live action movie DVDs. You may have some stuff in your library you didn't even realize!

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Thanks Min

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Yes but you can always try to do one movie one time if you really want to.

I actually already have this in the rules after writing something up.
Just requested.

As already pointed out, yes.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Thanks, Hamilton Books and Golden Wheels!

Edit: Thanks to Full Moon too!

Just looked up my total for last year: 5.5. I'm hoping I can beat that :lol:

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Before diving into "full" animation I did somewhat of a seque from the sci-fi/animation challenge and started with The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, a film I've not seen since it came out in 2000. It wasn't as bad as I'd remembered, has some fun puns, but is too long by 15-20 minutes. Another of those films that ended and went on with another 10 minutes of mostly needless scenes/wrap up. I followed that up with some of my favorite Harryhausen films.

Today is going to be all "full" animation starting with Top Cat. It's been *years* since I've seen this one and while it's never been one of my favorites, it's not too bad. Essentially an animated version of You'll Never Get Rich (aka The Phil Silvers Show/Stg. Bilko). I prefer its inspiration. There's a fairly good review of this series here on DVDTalk. I pretty much agree with the review and recall feeling this way when it originally aired. Of course I'd watch it anytime it came on but in the early 60s there weren't lots of channels nor lots of cartoon watching opportunities. Mostly Saturday mornings and a 30-60 minute block (along with The Little Rascals and Three Stooges) weekday afternoons on *one* channel.

I listened to the commentary track on the first episode and was surprised no one mentioned how it essentially clones the Silvers show. Keep in mind that Jerry Beck is one of the commentators. They went so far as to comment about 6 "primary" characters being "a lot of drawing" but didn't make the connection to Silvers show and how this basically cloned the idea with cats in a New York alley. They even debated whether or not Hawaii Here We Come, the first episode on the DVD set, aired first. According to IMDB, it did. Again, considering the commentators (3 "animation historians" and a cast member) you'd think they'd know this and/or have been better prepared.

Re: 2nd Annual August Animation Challenge - Discussion Thread
 

Started today with Rock-a-Doodle, which had been on my To See list for about 20 years now. I was fairly disappointed with it. My chief problem is that the movie doesn't seem to be very self-confident or patient with itself. For instance, the movie opens with Chanticleer (voiced by Glen Campbell) singing about how he wakes up the sun and life is good, etc., but he's barely into the second verse before being drowned out by the narration and the screen quits following Chanticleer altogether. Why even bother making it a musical, much less hiring Glen Campbell, just to lose interest in him so quickly? And don't forget: Chanticleer is the most important character in the movie!

It's as though they had a conversation and decided they wanted to make a movie for the kids who enjoyed Disney movies but felt they had outgrown them, but they had no real confidence about how to make that movie. It's a shame, because when it first began I thought I was going to get the kind of goofiness that endeared me to Disney's Robin Hood. Maybe I would have, had Bluth, et al, been willing to let their story play out. Instead, there were no less than three instances where an important plot point was introduced and instead of exploring it, the narration interrupted with exposition that made it pointless to actually see any character or plot development.