The Animated Series that Ruined Spaceballs

"Spaceballs: the Animated Series" is the 2008 follow up to the 1987 comedy classic that does absolutely no justice to the original. In this awful show's defense, I only watched the first two episodes. Maybe it got really good after that. I highly doubt it, but maybe. I couldn't put myself through anymore, but I had to watch enough to give you folks an honest review. First, Mel Brooks and Joan Rivers are the only two voices from the original. Next, even the theme song is awful. Finally, the writing is terrible. Not that the original movie had life-changing dialog, but at least it was funny. The television show bounced around from point to point, pulling jokes like teeth, until I was more disappointed in myself for watching it than I was with Mel Brooks for making it. There's nothing smart about this writing, and any review that tells you otherwise is written by a dolt.

"actual real life" snapshot of the original cast watching the pilot

I had thought the fact that it was a Mel Brooks creation meant that it wouldn't have been a total waste of time. I've been more wrong before, but I was wrong nonetheless. Both episodes I watched made me chuckle twice. Once because of a legitimately decent joke and another time strictly because of how awful the show was. Posted below is a short video clip of one of the episodes I didn't watch. One would think a Spaceballs parody of Grand Theft Auto would be intriguing...

One would have thought wrong.

Teen Titans GO!

When I grew up in the 90s I was used to watching awesome cartoons throughout my lazy days. Shows like Ren and Stimpy, Doug, and AHH Real Monsters were my favorite to watch. As I got older I started to realize the quality of actual funny cartoons has dropped significantly. I turned to watching more adult programs when I should have been enjoying all my favorite cartoons that were slowly disappearing. Now that I am an adult the only kids cartoons that I watch are the ones my daughter likes. Most of them are garbage shows leaning towards teaching them how to share and count, but one show has caught my interest and reminds me of the great shows that I grew up on. Teen Titans GO! is a cartoon with a style that looks much more kid friendly compared to its sister show closely named Teen Titans. It consists of the characters Robin, Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy from the DC universe, but the focus of the show rarely has the Teen Titans fighting crime or supervialians, but more often facing daily challenges in a comical way.
As I read through the internet I notice a very mixed bunch of reviews. The main complaints seem to be Teen Titans GO!'s new direction. I guess I could spare you the trouble and tell you that this is not a super hero drama at all. The fact that the characters have super powers is really just there to add to the comedy, such as blowing up doors or teleporting to other weird dimensions. It almost seems like this show could have been made by Marvel instead of DC. Marvel has a way of showing super heroes in a comical way, while still keeping them dark and misunderstood, and DC just goes for the depressed moody characters.
The Teen Titans are a fun group who are lead by Robin before he becomes Nightwing. He is in love with his colleague Starfire, who is a princess on another planet. She struggles to fit in with the people of earth, and she fully doesn't understand the concept of "normal".
The duo of Cyborg and Beast Boy reminds me of Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott in the movie "Dude Where's My Car" because of the non-stop dude and bro banter. They actually do speak like teenagers, and their relationship is just like high school best friends, but with super powers. Beast Boy exclaiming "That's what's up!" during episodes always finds a way to make me laugh.

The last remaining character of the Teen Titans is Raven, and she is my absolute favorite. Raven plays a typical teenage girl who is not interested in what any of the other Titans are doing. Everyone thinks she is anti-social, but really she is just the smart one of the group. She is voiced by Tara Strong, who voices countless characters such as Bubbles from Power Puff Girls, Timmy Turner from Fairly Odd Parents, and many others. Look her up, you wont be disappointed.

 



I know that kids love when their parents are into the same stuff they are, but this show is something that my daughter and I can both get excited about. She still doesn't understand time, but it's a good thing that I do and can remind her when a new episode is going to start. Teen Titans GO!