Spongebob Squarepants is back with this direct-to-DVD release featuring seven new episodes! Johnny Depp guest stars in the title episode, “Spongebob Squarepants vs The Big One,” as Jack Kahuna Laguna, a master of the surfboard. Other special features include “Plankton’s Special Sinister Commentary,” and a music video called “Ridin’ The Hook.”

The bizarre undersea antics of the infamous invertebrate continue in the episode, “A Life in the Day,” where Spongebob and Patrick try to prove that they can be just as bold and daring as Larry the Lobster! Then in “Sun Bleached,” the sponge and starfish pals attempt to get tan so they can fit in at a Goo Lagoon beach party!

Next, Squidward gets sprayed with ‘Kelp Growth Garden Spray’ and becomes a BIG problem for Bikini Bottom in, “Giant Squidward.” Then poor Spongebob’s workday is threatened in “The Splinter,” where any injury could cause him to miss time at work at the Krusty Krab! Finally, in the previously unaired episode, “Slide Whistle Stooges,” Spongebob and Patrick get on Squidward’s nerves once again – this time with slide whistles!

With a complete running time of 89 minutes, there’s plenty of nautical nonsense to satisfy all fans of the beloved yellow sponge. Just recently released, “Spongebob Squarepants Vs. The Big One,” is now available from Nickelodeon and Paramount Home Pictures!

A Walt Disney Classic, The Lion King was originally released in 1994 and remains one of their most successful productions to date.

The story is simple; a young lion cub named Simba is the ‘heir apparent’ to the throne of his father, King Mufasa. Unfortunately, Simba’s uncle ‘Scar’ is covetous of the throne and the power of ruling the Pridelands. Scar is treacherous and unscrupulous, and will do whatever is necessary to assume the throne; even if it means causing the death of the Lion King.

Scar succeeds in his plot, and causes King Mufasa to fall to his death. Because Mufasa was trying to protect Simba, Simba blames himself for his father’s death. Scar is only too eager to encourage Simba’s feelings of guilt, and he suggests to Simba to leave the Pridelands as he has brought shame to his lineage.

Poor Simba, though he is only a young cub, leaves the Pridelands to spend the rest of his days a vagabond of the jungle. Fortunately he makes some friends in Timon, a spirited Meerkat, and Pubmaa, a well-meaning but slow-witted warthog. Simba remains with Timon and Pumbaa until he reaches full maturity.

Simba may well have lived out his entire days on the outskirts of the Pridelands, but in a twist of fate, his childhood friend Nala finds him. Nala tells him of the decline of the Pridelands under Scar’s rule; the lack of food, the danger surrounding the pride, and the loss of hope among all but Scar and his lackeys. Nala must convince Simba to return and fight for the pride, and to finally assume his rightful place as “The Lion King”

If you’ve never seen the 1973 animated movie Fantastic Planet, you have no idea what you’re missing. An obscure film created in France and Czechoslovakia, this hauntingly bizarre exposition is truly one of a kind. With an otherworldly plot and imaginative sights and sounds, the only other animated movie of its era even close to comparing would be the Beatles film, “Yellow Submarine.” Still, the two films are hardly similar.

The story follows the life of a man named ‘Terr,’ a human being kept from birth as a pet on an alien planet dominated by extremely large beings called “draags,” who appear much like humans themselves, but have blue skin, no hair, large red eyes, and fish-like appendages in place of human ears. On this planet, human beings are regarded by the draags as mere vermin. Though it is known that humans are capable of understanding language and forming civilizations, they are
considered vastly inferior. Some are kept as domesticated pets, while most occupy the alien wilderness and lead primitive, tribal lives. Because humans reproduce in vast numbers compared to the draag, they are often exterminated to keep them under control.

The human called ‘Terr,’ once old enough, eventually escapes his draag owners, and is taken in by a large tribe of ‘wild’ humans, where he educates them with his knowledge of draag technology. Aided with this knowledge, the humans attempt to escape the draag world in order to colonize the “Fantastic Planet,” a nearby planet where they assume they will be safe.

Created long before the age of computer animation, this movie is visually impressive, with highly detailed drawings. The musical score is representative of its era, with music reminiscent of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. The dialog and voice-acting are, at times, bland and unemotional, but overall, the movie is consistenly compelling.

Though Fantastic Planet is unrated, viewer discretion is advised; this movie contains graphic violence and nudity. It contains many images and scenes which may be frightening or otherwise unsuitable for children.

With that said, Fantastic Planet is a must-see for fans of science fiction, and for the sophisticated viewer seeking something truly unique and interesting, there is much to be appreciated about this film.

Futurama, the vastly underrated comedic science fiction series made a triumphant return in 2007 with the straight-to-DVD movie “Bender’s Big Score.” Successfully integrating many of the show’s familiar themes with a fresh, jam-packed plot, the movie remains consistent with the series while expanding on it considerably.

The story begins as Professor Farnsworth’s faithful crew consisting of Fry, Leela, Bender, Zoidberg, and Amy are duped in turn by a small group of alien internet scammers. Bender even downloads a virus which makes him fully obedient to the scammers. Farnsworth tries to get a handle on the situation by calling a meeting in which he himself gets scammed out of ownership of Planet Express. To make matters worse, the alien scammers soon discover a binary code that will allow them to travel through time.

According to the geeky science fiction lore that the series is well-known and loved for, time travel is inherently dangerous to the very fabric of the Universe due to the high potential of creating unresolvable paradoxes. Of course, the alien scammers’ desire to capitalize on time travel coupled with Bender’s typical disregard for order and stability results in wanton abuse of the time travel system.

In addition to the problems associated with the alien scammers and treacherous time travel, familiar subplots are woven into the story. Fry’s love for Leela is explored yet again, as is Fry’s desire to return to his own time in the 21st century. The friendship between Fry and Bender is put to the test as well.

In the midst of all this, a large number of the series’ recurring characters make appearances in the movie. There’s Leela’s pet Nibbler, Scruffy the janitor, Zapp Brannigan, Kif Kroker, Mr. Panucci, Fry’s dog Seymour, Hedonismbot, the head of Richard Nixon, and still others (even Hypnotoad makes an appearance.)

The end result of all this is a movie that is a sure hit with fans of the series, and despite having a plot that derives much from the TV show, it can still be enjoyed as a standalone feature by those who have little or no familiarity with it.

In addition to the live cast, animated shorts were prominently featured. Although the majority of the animation was created by small production studios, a few skits featuring the Looney Tunes’ Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote were produced for the show. The longest and most entertaining of these Road Runner skits takes the two adversaries out of their usual roles and pits them against each other in a race.

A sign post with a green light similar to a traffic signal looms above the pair as they position themselves for the race. It flashes the words “ON YOUR MARK” and a few seconds later “GET SET.” Anticipating the word “go,” the Coyote jumps the gun and dashes forth. The Road Runner calls out his usual “Meep Meep” to the Coyote and gestures for him to come back to the starting line. Wile E. returns and Roadrunner points up to the sign, which now says (for some strange reason) “SMILE.”

The Coyote is understandably confused, and tries to comply with the sign. He grins slightly and the sign again flashes the word “SMILE.” The coyote finally forces himself to smile, after which, the sign flashes the word “LAUGH.” The coyote begins to chuckle and builds himself up to a roaring laugh. Yet again, the sign changes to another command, “SHUT UP,” followed quickly by, “CRY.” Obedient to the strange sign, Wile E. Coyote does an emotional turnabout and begins tearfully sobbing and wailing, after which the sign again prompts him to “SHUT UP.”

Then the sign goes haywire and flashes commmands at a rapid-fire pace, and we see the Coyote alternate between laughing and crying at a frenzied pace. After a few seconds of this ludicrous scenario, we finally see who is behind the controls of the sign and it is, as one might guess, the Road Runner. He glances at the audience, let’s out a final “Meep Meep,” and zips away in his characteristic manner. The sign flashes “GOOD-BYE,” apparently of its own accord, and the skit (as well as the show) comes to an end.

What’s interesting to note about this skit is the complete lack of cartoon violence that defines the Road Runner cartoon. It is entertaining nonetheless and is also educational in a cleverly passive way. The words flashed by the sign are never vocalized; it is up to the child watching to determine what the sign is telling the coyote to do.

Otherwise, the skit maintains the spirit of the original cartoon in the sense that, by the end, it is clear that the Road Runner has gotten the best of Wile E. Coyote once again.

Gumby, the definitive icon of the world of claymation, was unquestionably a good-natured fellow; loyal to his friends, Pokey, Prickle, and Goo, and committed in his efforts to stop the evil Blockheads from carrying out their underhanded schemes. Indeed, the green slab of clay set a good example for his young, impressionable audience – most of the time.

In the short episode “Gumball Gumby,” we see what sort of character Gumby is when no one’s looking. While skateboarding through his surreal toy-store world he comes across a gumball machine. Hankering for a sweet treat, he reaches into his pockets to find he had no money. Rather than skate home to his piggy bank or search for the nearest ATM, he simply decides to STEAL a gumball by reaching into the machine’s dispenser.

Unfortunately for our protagonist petty thief, his reaching into the machine causes him to be sucked up inside it and subsequently trapped. Will this predicament cause Gumby to reconsider his dishonest ways? Hell no!

Instead, he transforms himself into a bunch of green gumball-shaped pieces and waits for the next person to happen by and put a coin in the machine. Fortunately for him, his pal Pokey comes by just in time to supply the coin. When Pokey turns the knob, the machine dispenses all the Gumby gumballs which quickly reform into Gumby’s natural shape. But Gumby has not returned from inside the machine empty-handed. He has smuggled out two gumballs; one for Pokey and one for himself. Gumby then mounts his pony pal and they ride away chewing blissfully.

If this story has a moral, it would have to be that if you don’t have the money to get what you want, then just steal it. Some minor inconvenience may result, but as long as you’re crafty enough, you can ultimately get away with theft. And of course, the ends justify the means.

So the next time you are prevented from robbing a vending machine by nagging moral qualms, just remember; Gumby says, “theft is okay if you don’t have any money on you!”

Since the “owner” of this video has disabled embedding, you can watch it at youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPYdyKmVi08

When people think of Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes, many humorous recollections can come to mind. Some recall Calvin’s primary alter egos, Spaceman Spiff and Stupendous Man. Others remember his wacky imaginary inventions, such as the Transmogrifier, or his club, Get Rid Of Slimy girlS. Another creation of Calvin’s, the incomparable game known as “Calvinball,” seems to be remembered by many.

Then of course, who could forget Calvin’s legacy of “Snow Art” that he created in the wintertime during the comic strip’s run? Since Groundhog Day’s Punxsutawney Phil has recently indicated that winter is still far from over, I thought it appropriate to review some of Calvin’s wintry wizardry.

Tom and Jerry, one of our “Top Ten Cartoons Of All Time” here at cartoonstation.com, was rated as such because, aside from its universal appeal across cultures and generations, the characters were easily adaptable to a wide variety of storylines. Although the show tends to be remembered most for the slapstick resulting from Tom and Jerry’s eternal battle for supremacy, there were many instances where the show succeeded in breaking out of this format.

In one of the early episodes, “That’s My Mommy,” a duckling in the process of hatching out of its egg falls away from its nest and assumes Tom is its mother. Tom is quick to take advantage of the situation and make a meal out of the duckling. Oblivious to Tom’s intentions, the duckling offers no resistance as Tom attempts to cook it. Fortunately, Jerry sees what is happening and rescues the duckling from certain doom.

From the duckling’s perspective, Jerry is kidnapping him from his mother. So he instinctively fights to escape from Jerry and return to Tom. Of course, this gives Tom another easy opportunity to enjoy a free meal. After this scenario is repeated a number of times, Jerry finally attempts to show the duckling that Tom is a cat, and not his mother. The duckling refuses to accept this, but after returning to Tom one last time, he sadly realizes that his “mother” wants to eat him.

As he is about to voluntarily jump into a pot of boiling water, he tells Tom that he still loves his “mommy”. Tom is overwhelmed with emotion and saves the duckling from boiling himself. In the final scene, Tom has assumed the role of the duckling’s mother and the duckling, speaking to the audience, points to Tom and says, “That’s my mommy!”

This episode, while being hilarious, cute, and touching all at once, is a unique departure from the standard cat-and-mouse game for a number of reasons. First, Tom is not portrayed as a villain per se; he is simply taking advantage of an easy situation. Second, he has no interest in dealing with Jerry, and Jerry likewise has no particular conflict with Tom; he is just compassionately concerned with saving a baby duck from being eaten. Finally, the episode gives both Tom and Jerry a bit of character development; Jerry becomes a comedic martyr and Tom overcomes his typical self-interest to a hilarious extent as he is won over by the duckling.

In the end, this episode is an example of how the series actually thrived through occasional departures from its own conventions.

When anything character-based becomes popular, whether it’s a game, a toy, a movie, a comic strip, a TV show, or something else, there is usually an attempt to cross over into other forms of media. For example, recently the TV Show The Simpsons made an appearance on the big screen. There have been numerous Simpsons video games made over the years. The characters have been featured on music CDs and so on (anyone remember ‘Do the Bartman?’)

In some instances, this “crossing over” works well; Garfield, who originated in the comics was a reasonably successful TV show. Peanuts, featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy, worked out as well. Game crossovers, however, have proven to be tricky, especially when an attempt is made to make a series out of a video game (in the 1980s, there was Pac-Man, Q*Bert, Super Mario Bros, etc.)

As traversing media boundaries is common in the entertainment world, it can occasionally produce some bizarre results. Quite possibly the best example in the history of animation is “Rubik the Amazing Cube.” Only in the 1980s could a Rubik’s Cube be granted life, consciousness, the ability to talk, the ability to FLY and MAGIC POWERS! And here, for your viewing pleasure, is the show’s introduction, in all its incomprehensible weirdness.

Rubik lost his powers and became a regular Rubik’s Cube when his colors became misaligned. He could only be brought back to life by “solving the puzzle” (realigning the colors). I don’t know about you, but personally, I like Rubik a lot better in his unsolved manifestation.

Perhaps it’s this reason that one of the series’ final episodes, “The Problem With Power,” is generally regarded by its devoted fan base as one of the best of the 130 episodes produced. The episode stands out due to its seriousness and depth.

For those new to the series, this episode creates an existential dilemma for Prince Adam when he, as He-Man, is deceived into believing he has caused an innocent man’s death. Overcome with feelings of guilt and unworthiness, he renounces the power given to him and vows never to use it again. Teela, captain of the royal guard, feels it is her responsibility to vanquish Skeletor in He-Man’s absence, which causes Prince Adam great anxiety in addition to his remorse.

Here is a nice scene from the episode showing Prince Adam casting the sword of power into the abyss of Greyskull.

According to the episode’s writer, Larry DiTillo, this scene was written as an homage to Prince Valiant.

This episode is available on both “The Best Of He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe” DVD and the 5-disc boxed set, “He-Man: Season Two, Volume Two.” The boxed set version features an insightful and entertaining commentary track by Larry DiTillo.

Count Duckula was one of those quirky ’80s cartoons that is still entertaining to watch in the 21st century. It had great characters, humor, stories, and a really catchy theme song!


There were two versions of this masterpiece of cheesy but irresistible 1980′s synth-pop. The first version used in the opening title sequence was prefaced by a spooky spoken introduction with typical haunted house type music. But the version in the animated ending credit roll was even better.

Typically, TV show ending credits aren’t a big production; it’s just a rehash of the theme song with the credits set to pictures of scenes from the show. It’s not something people pay much attention to at all. With Count Duckula, however, it’s a different story. Check it out and enjoy.

I personally can’t think of a better TV show ending segment ever produced. It’s one of the many things that made Count Duckula an outstanding cartoon show.