I don't h8 the 90's anymore (Part 1.5).

• Part 1 (Cartoons)
• Part 2 (Movies part 1)
• Part 3 (Movies part 2)
• Part 4 (Regular-ass TV)
• Part 5 (Cable TV)
• Part 5.5 (Cable TV leftovers)
• Part 6 (Novels)
• Part 7 (Magazines/Comics)
• Part 8 (Music/Games/Internet)
• Part 9 (Trips/Treasures/Treats)

Looking back at the animation one, I sloppily rushed over a lot of stuff before slowing down at the very end to talk about topics more.
So, I thought I'd correct that a bit.
Here we go....


King Of The Hill/Beavis & Butt-Head

"King Of The Hill", confuses me.
I could never figure out what political side it comes down on, therefore what political side Mike Judge comes down on, therefore what the message was, therefore what the point was.

And we're invited to want to know what the fucking point is from his films, goddammit.

I know from B&B, and "Idiocracy", he hates stupid people, and the idiots he hates are typically what one thinks of as the Republican base.

But KotH, he has Hank solve problems and save the day with his stuffy conservative values, but he's only ever "the good guy", because the forces he's in opposition to are straw-man versions of thuggish PC liberalism, or progressive permissiveness run amuck.

So...he shows Hank and his community as uptight and repressed, but he's sympathetic to them, because in KotH world, liberals are always worse.

But then his third show (that bombed) "The Goode Family", the main characters are PC liberals, and they're all hypocritical, and dumb, and Gerald Goode is effeminate, and has the Van Driessen voice from B&B.
So, they're figures of ridicule, rather than the steady and dependable hero Hank is held up as.

So, is Judge conservative, and hates liberals, or does he hate everybody equally, or just think everyone's ridiculous, or what?

But if everyone's ridiculous, why make Hank a hero for 13 fuckin' years?

I could never figure out what the show was fuckin' about.
Could anyone?
Does anyone have the secret decoder wheel?
Or, like B&B, was it just a bunch of stuff that happened, and then ended?

Anyway, Tom Petty played Lucky.
I had no segway to this, so I just dropped it in.
Like Lucky himself.


Peter Pan & The Pirates (1990-1991)

Fucking Tim Curry, man!!
Fucking Tim Curry!!

That's all you need.
All you need to know is fucking Tim Curry played Captain Hook in this, and you should be scrambling, and tripping over furniture, and hurting yourself to watch this.


Tiny Toon Adventures/Animaniacs/
Pinky And The Brain/Freakazoid

Or, the Rob Paulson animated universe.

Rob Paulson has a podcast.

Rob Paulson was on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast.
(This one alone will give you everything you ever wanted to know about the dude)

And, Rob Paulson was on Saturday Morning Rewind.
(A cartoon nostalgia podcast)

Feast! Enjoy!


Toxic Crusaders (1991-1993)

Lloyd Kaufman saw it and the comic book as his chance into mainstream awareness and success, and it sadly didn't pan out.
It was up against Ninja Turtles, no one was taking down that juggernaut.
Poor Lloyd, always with mainstream fame dangling right out of his reach by torturous centimeters.
I know how he feels.

Anyway, here's a Toxic Avenger Garbage Pail Kid.

It's no Marvel movie, but its more of a mark than I'll probably leave on the world.
*Sigh*


Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (1990)

I found the VHSes of the first two movies (the only ones that existed at the time) at a stock clearance sale at Nicely's.
The tomatoes movies, and Toxic Avenger were among my first tapes I owned for myself.
I was off to a good start.
So, it was really wild to see both of these become cartoon shows.

Here's the quickie rundown of the movies before I can get to what the cartoon was about.

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (1978)-
All the tomatoes on Earth go bad, and attack and eat people.
Like "The Birds", but with tomatoes.
Some of them grow to giant proportions.
Good guys beat them by playing a terrible pop song.
Based on the flakey hippie belief born in the 70's that plants like music.
The tomatoes are just real tomatoes (except the giant one which is some cloth and chicken wire parade float concoction).
Pretty funny, put part 2 is way better.

Return Of The Killer Tomatoes (1988)-
John Astin plays Dr. Gangrene, who we retroactively find out was responsible for the events in the first movie.
His new plot is using nuclear waste and different music to morph tomatoes into human replicas.
George Clooney played the wacky good-guy sidekick.
It was his first movie.
He's ashamed of it.
Sissy-baby.
The main good-guy who isn't George Clooney falls in love with a tomato girl.
Hi-jinks ensue.
This is the funniest of all of them.
Lot of fourth wall breaking, like Deadpool.

Killer Tomatoes Strike Back! (1990)-
Okay, I didn't know this one existed until a few years ago.
Here's what happened.
In an after credits scene of the second movie, they half-jokingly hinted at a sequel called "Killer Tomatoes Eat France".
Then they made this one.
Then they actually made "Killer Tomatoes Eat France", one year later!!
"Eat France", came to Nicely's, but not this one.
Naturally, I assumed "Eat France", was part three!
Wouldn't you!?!?
Anyway, this one is terrible.
Its got Dr. Gangrene back, and this time, the tomatoes are Muppets with faces, but generic characters, not the characters from the cartoon.
All the jokes fall flat, none of the magic is there.
Probably the worst of the four.

Killer Tomatoes Eat France! (1991)-
So then they finally really made this one.
Better than part 3, but still pretty weak.
Gangrene is back again, but this time, the Muppet-Tomatoes are the characters from the cartoon (and toys, and the NES game).
Total cash in on the fad.
The good-guy is the guy who played Skippy on "Family Ties".
This becomes a running gag of everyone breaking the fourth wall, and calling him Skippy.

So, finally, we get to...

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (1990)-

It's based on "Return Of The Killer Tomatoes", but the good-guy from the movie is a 9 year old for some reason, and his relationship to Tomato Girl is platonic.
John Astin voices Gangrene, and his henchmen are the tomatoes from "Eat France".

Oh, and a running character from all 4 movies and this show is Arthur Finletter, a paratrooper who never takes his opened chute off, and carries it around with him like a cape, and keeps tripping on it.
This joke became tiresome in the first movie, but they keep going back to it.
His sidekick is a fat black dude dressed up like the Lone Ranger.
He's supposed to be a master of disguise, and impressions, but he's terrible.
The stupid bad guys fall for his disguises/impressions anyway.

I wish more cult underground shit had been cartooned...

Eraserhead, the animated series!
Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, the animated series!
Hell Goes To Frogtown, the animated series!
Cherry 2000, the animated series!
Pink Flamingos the animated series!!!!!

The possibilities are infinite!!


The Disney Afternoon (1990-1997)

I could talk about this all day* but Nostalgia Critic already said it all.
(*and besides, I just did that for Killer Tomatoes)

So, here's the link to his thing.


Gargoyles

People forget, this was actually really fucking popular.
This actually kicked Batman's ass for its final seasons.

You'd never know it now.
People still talk about Batman:TAS, not this so much.
Weird.


Ren & Stimpy

How could I have not ranted about this?!?!?!?

Old review here.

I got way more hyperactive for this show than I probably should have...but fuck you, it was a revelation.
Remember (I've fucking mentioned it enough times), my teachers and counselors went to insane lengths to try to psychologically browbeat the weird out of me, and then this comes along, and in one fell swoop, finally makes it okay to be weird again.

I cannot describe the ecstasy of having my chains shatter.

Man, I was just a nerdy weirdo that wanted release of wacky zany humor.
Gay kids with Bible-thumper parents get that oppression a million times over.
Holy shit, my fucking sympathies.
While a vile country this is.

At least counter-culture rebels still sneak their stuff into the mainstream consciousness from time to time. I've never had the impulse to be a sellout writing formula pablum because of this experience.
Wacky shit for rejected misfits, or nothing.


Dilbert

Show was decent, theme song is taken from "Forbidden Zone", so that's kinda hipster cool.

But Scott Adams is a fuckface.
If I ever meet him, I'll have to consciously suppress the urge to push him down a flight of stairs.


The Critic

Maurice LaMarche is a God.
That is all.


THE END!!


Next time, we're going back to movies!!