Here's an unusual cartoon that I barely remember. It ran for one year as a part of a Mighty Mouse series. It was created by a young Ralph Bakshi (later of Wizards and Fritz the Cat fame and mentor to John Kricfalusi of Ren and Stimpy). I remembered the heroes, particularly Rope Man and Coo-Coo Man, but I couldn't recall anything else about them, including the title! I actually stumbled across them while looking for a different cartoon.
The damned thing about this cartoon is that it looks great. The characters, including the villains, were all very clever and original. It's just very poorly written. All the stories follow virtually the same story structure - City in trouble, Mighty Heroes called to help, Mighty Heroes ineptly battle the bad guy until they somehow turn it around, bad guy gets caught. They never spend any time developing the characters or their relationships. We never learn about their origins or why they are even together. All the heroes seem to be of an even peer status and don't seem to have any feelings either way about each other. And even though they all have a unique ability, they don't seem to have a unique perspective.
The dialogue is atrocious, mostly made up of "To the rescue!" "Up, up and away!" "I'll get him!" "Take that!" etc.
So, why include it? Well, like I said, it looks great And if you are at all a Ralph Bakshi or John K. fan, it's interesting.
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I asked...
"A man in Morrisville, North Carolina was charged with assaulting a government official when he did what?"
12% thought "Gave a dirty look to a cop"- That's right. He punched the cop with his eyes. Um, no.
12% picked "Flashed a cop"
- Boy, if you could sue someone for assaulting their eyes, none of us would get any work done. So, no.
1% chose "Hit a cop with his car"
- The darn thing was, he hid the car in his shoe. No.
75% hacked up the right answer "Coughed on a cop"
According to The News & Observer, when Morrisville police officer Chris Gill handed him a ticket, Kent Kauffman coughed. Next thing Kauffman knew, Gill was charging him with assault on a government official. A Wake County judge will decide the intent behind Kauffman's cough, because he doesn't have anything better to do with his time, apparently.
