Unlike many of the other comic book based cartoons we've featured here on the SMCS, the Swamp Thing cartoon was both short lived and poorly received, which of course stopped no one from heavily merchandising the thing before it had even aired. It worked. A lot. As someone with at least five actions figures from the series, I can say his with no hyperbole whatsoever. For those of you not planning on listening during the daylight hours, this particular cartoon is a lot of fun if you listen with friends who have plenty of MST3k skills, because this show is soooo much fun to mock. :) It's even better with puppets.
On the upside, parents will no doubt appreciate the socially conscious environmental messages that are (slightly) less heavy handed than those found in Swamp Thing's contemporary Captain Planet & The Planeteers. But if they've had to buy eight different versions of the same character and a swamp buggy to put them in, they may not care that their kid now wants to recycle. What will stick with them is that little Stu and Sue are suddenly talking like Cajun ne'er do wells because they think Bayou Jack is just too cool for words (and little Sue has a crush on Gambit to boot). Okay, enough yammering. On to the podcast!
WIDR Week begins next week, but we've changed formats a little bit, so you'll get way more music as we beg for money to run the station. If you're not a Kalamazoo resident and want to know a little more about the station, the Wikipedia article is good, but a more in depth history can be found in the site's About WIDR section. If you'd like to make a donation/pledge and won't be awake/in town next weekend for the pledge drive, you can e-mail us at Gmail using the WIDRSMCS screen name to give us your contact info and the amount you're pledging, then we can get a form filled out for you when we have them in the studio.
Don't forget that in the 166 hours a week we're not on the air, you can still give us your requests for music and suggestions for future shows right here in the comments or via e-mail. In addition to be totally convenient, a head start on your desires makes it easier for us to procure and play them. No need to be shy. ;)
Next week we're taking a gentler approach and it will no doubt greatly appeal to those of you who, like me, dig fairy tales and folklore storytelling. Created in Spain and based on Dutch books, David The Gnome is a unconventional cartoon to be sure, but one that is smarter than most modern audiences give it credit for and augments the moral lessons with information instead of generalized platitudes. That alone makes it better than any number of cartoons-with-messages from that era. Even without being able to see the lush animation that stayed true to the book's illustrations, this is a thoroughly enjoyable show that listeners of all ages will enjoy. So, you know, come back and get it!
Have a happy Valentine's Day and good rest of your weekend, guys, and I'll see you back here next week. :) Enjoy!
- DJ Muppet
No comments:
Post a Comment