Special TV-Cartoon All-Star's to The Rescue

So I decided it was finally time to talk about this, even though I am hardly the first to do so. Why? I’ll answer that as we go. I present one of the coolest ideas that any kid of the 80’s remembers :

 

This came along twenty-five years ago, April 21, 1990, and aired on all four networks! That was a major thing at the time! And if you were a kid, as I was, it was pure epicness! All of our favorite cartoon characters together? Oh hell yes! We couldn’t wait to watch this! But did it live up to the hype? Ummm..let’s talk about it

Top 5 Star Trek Female “Red Shirt” Death’s

Star Trek started a strange trend which has become a part of regular science fiction. Kirk and crew would beam down to a planet with some guy in a red shirt, and he would be killed off within seconds! They didn’t have to leave the ship either, these poor fellows in red shirts had all sorts of bad luck! This happened more times than I can count.

       

I did like in TOS how Kirk grieved every red shirt death. They series considered them disposable characters but in universe Kirk did not. He has a great seen in The Apple where he is grief stricken and Spock has to talk him down. I think that helped to keep the constant death’s from getting ridiculous.

Here are some examples :

“The Apple”-No less than five red shirt deaths all from different sources

“Obsession”-Another five red shirts (maybe six) all from the same cause this time. One killed was popular recurring character Mr.Leslie. But don’t worry, he was back to life a few episodes later.

“The Changeling”-Nomad zaps several people, but it’s only four red shirts who get flat out vaporized

“And The Children Shall Lead”-I always loved this one when Kirk beams two red shirts into the icy cold of space! Long story it wasn’t his fault.

“Where Silence Has Lease”-TNG is not exempt, take this episode where the alien kills a random helmsman (who was conveniently in Wesley Crusher’s place)

“Genesis”-The only person flat out killed in this episode was the unfortunate con officer, wearing a red shirt of course!

Even the movies were not free from this. Just look at Lt.Ilia in The Motion Picture. Heck, when we meet Lt.Hawk in “First Contact”, is there any doubt how his character is going to end up?

By the way while most of these examples were classically wearing “red shirts”, it’s not a requirement to be an expendable character there to be killed off. Gold can be a dangerous color too, and even blue isn’t safe!




What I wanted to talk about today was when female characters get the “red shirt” treatment. For whatever reason, these scenes are often more dramatic than when the male crewmen are killed. Not sure why but when it’s a woman officer killed it just seems to lead to more drama. Here now are five instances of a female Star Trek character introduced just to be unceremoniously killed off (often in the same scene) for the sake of the plot.



#5.Ensign…Unknown “Scientific Method”

Yeah this character doesn’t get a name, but the scene was still pretty intense. This episode is a favorite, long overdue for a “Underrated Trek” article. Long story short, aliens are performing medial experiments on the crew. The senior officer are discussing the situation when they get a call of a woman going into cardiac arrest on the Bridge. Janeway tries in vane, but the woman dies. What Janeway does after…it subject for another day. Yep, that article is way overdue….

Top 10 Favorite Disney Villain Sidekicks!! (w LES)

The other day  we discussed Disney hero sidekicks, but the real fun comes from the villain sidekicks! They are there to help the villains with their plans, and to fill a role that the villain lacks (usually in the comic relief area). Serious villains have goofy sidekicks while the goofier  the villain usually the scarier the sidekick. Let’s not waste any time let’s dive right in…….


RichB:Let’s talk about a nasty pair of sidekicks which are often forgotten.

#10.Desoto and Roscoe (Oliver & Company)

These Doberman’s meant business! It seemed to be a rule that the goofier the villain, the more serious the sidekick. And these guys were not kidding around. They spoke with soft Italian accents and were just menacing. When they chase our heroes, you really feel they are in jeapordy! These guys are a bit underrated, but are totally worth remembering!
Well Les after the other day I am dying to see your choices. What is your first?




LES:  Well, I gotta applaud your choice, as many people seem to forget all about Oliver & Company(likely because it’s the film right before “The Little Mermaid,” but I digress…Yeah, Desoto and Roscoe were definitely intimidating and a good match for their master, Mr. Sykes(Robert Loggia)  For my #10, I’m going with a robot with an attitude








#10 GO-4(WALLe)

Top 10 Favorite Disney Hero Sidekicks (w Les)

Since this has sort of become an unintentional Disney month (Star Trek blog on the 1st aside), why not go all the way with it? I talked about the minor characters in my last two articles, but what about the sidekicks? Heroes and villains both have them, and mostly they are there to bring in some comic relief. Though once in awhile they do a little more than that.


I decided that there was no way to do this justice alone (as you’ll see I there are many Disney movies in my “still have to see” pile”). So my friend Les offered to help.

RichB:Welcome Les!

LES:  Hi rich.  Thanks for having me in on this one.
RichB:My pleasure my friend!  So let’s start with my #10 choice for the hero sidekicks —


#10.Flora, Fauna and Merryweather (Sleeping Beauty)


Staring with this because it’s hard to say they are sidekicks, but there is no real “hero” in this movie. There are only a couple things memorable in this movie. And none of them are Sleeping Beauty herself. The villain is memorable. The final action scene is memorable. And, yes, the three fairies are very cute characters.But what I like about them is that you truly feel they care for Aurora. And the way they try to help in the final battle is awesome! They’re powerful little fairies!



LES:  You make a pretty good point about the most memorable thing about the film isn’t the heroine, but the villain, the final action scene and these 3 characters.  Years after seeing the film, I still remember them and remember them being pretty funny.  As for my #10, I’m going with a mass of protoplasm.



#10  Morph(Treasure Planet)

This is an interesting character as he’s the sidekick of pseudo-villain Long John Silver…AND hero Jim Hawkins.  It might be his morphability is also prevalent in his personality.  In fact one of the great scenes is during a firefight aboard the ship, Morph has the Treasure Map and Silver’s on one side beckoning him to come to him, and Jim’s on the other side trying to coax him as well.  You can see poor Morph struggling between his two loyalties.  The rest of the time, he’s mischievous and clever, using his powers to imitate anything.

Top 5 Minor Disney Characters I Love!!

So there are three types of characters. The main characters. The secondary characters. And then you have the Tertiary characters. These are characters with roles very small, maybe just a couple of scenes, and often do nothing except to, well, be there they but are memorable characters nevertheless. Sometimes they are comic relief, sometimes they are meant to be what starts the story and/or be rescued at the end, and other times they are just there to fill a role that that the main characters can’t fill.


The other day I talked about Tertiary villains, today it’s time to look at the other side of the coin. These are the good guys that don’t have as much to do, usually only one or maybe two real memorable moments, but they manage to stand out anyway and are as remembered as any pf the major characters.





#5. Gepetto (Pinocchio)


Went back and forth on this one. The funny thing is, Gepetto is a minor character in this movie. He vanishes for a large part of it, until the last act when we find out he was eaten by a whale. But that alone speaks for how much heart this guy has. I have said bad things about this movie (it was scary, etc) but the parts I did like were mostly the parts that involved Gepetto. He’s such a nice guy that we are genuinely happy in the end when his wish comes true and Pinocchio does indeed become a real boy. He even gets a laugh when he is also crying over his dead son’s body. That isn’t easy to do!

Top 5 Minor Disney Antagonists I Love to Hate

Been awhile since I did a Disney list. We all know the major villains in Disney movies. From Maleficent to Jafar and so on. But the characters that often get overlooked are the minor villains. Those characters who appear briefly, simply to advance the plot or give the villain’s a means to meet their goals. In some cases they don’t advance the plot at all. they’re filler but are so memorable that we never forget them.




Today I wanted to talk about five such minor antagonists who I love to hate, almost more than the main characters despite their minor roles.  The only rule is they have to be characters who did something nasty against our heroes, and weren’t just there for comic relief or to be redeemed later.




5.Lucifer (Cinderella)

 

Yeah I know it’s just a cat, but what a nasty kitty! He seems to know and love how evil that witch stepmother is and loves every second she is making Cinderella’s life miserable. He loves it so much, he makes things worst for her! He goes back and makes a mess out of what she had cleaned, and loves every second of her getting scolded. Lucifer spends the majority of the film getting in the way of Gus and Jacques, and is one who does get a comeuppance of sorts. But that nasty kitty is, well, mean! Hey, what is it with Disney and making their cats evil?

Overrated Trek:The City on the Edge of Forever

Welcome back to overrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek episodes that I hate…which may be popular or even loved by most. This has been a long time coming as I wanted to do this for awhile. Today let’s talk about an episode that is just an utter bore and makes no sense. I give you :

 

This episode is one of the best episodes of the series…right?