Rabbit Fire (1951) Cartoon Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. So, today I'm doing a quick review on one of my favourite Looney Tunes cartoons, Rabbit Fire. This cartoon features Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd. I could be wrong about this, but I think this is probably the most well known Looney Tunes cartoon. At least among general audiences. It's the one that has been recreated the most over the years, including in the opening scene of Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). Let's get into it.

I love that the cover image used for the cartoon on IMDB is of the last scene where Bugs and Daffy are in hunters clothing, telling us to "be very very quiet" because they're hunting Elmers. Speaking of which, I love the looks on their faces when Bugs and Daffy have torn off all of the hunting posters from the tree, revealing the Elmer Season poster, because of everything they went through in this cartoon. Daffy especially. 

I guess some people might call these cartoons formulaic because the same thing happens every time pretty much. Be it Bugs vs. Elmer, Bugs vs. Yosemite Sam, Sylvester vs. Tweety, or Wile E. Coyote vs. Road Runner. But that's what's funny about these cartoons. Look, Elmer has been after Bugs since A Wild Hare came out in 1940 and the entire premise is Elmer chasing Bugs, and Bugs outwitting him. If Elmer caught him, he wouldn't know what to do, similar to how Wile E. Coyote didn't know what to do with Road Runner when he caught him in the 1980 cartoon Soup or Sonic. Plus, the series would be over.

So in the case of every Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon, it's okay for them to be formulaic, because if they weren't they'd have been short cartoon series. Yes, the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy cartoons all started earlier than Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, but they also died out alot sooner too, with the last Mickey Mouse cartoon, The Simple Things, coming out in 1953, which was at the height of the Looney Tunes's popularity. In the various histories of the Walt Disney Company this has often been blamed on the cartoon shorts being more expensive to produce than the animated feature films. I suspect though that the real issue is that the animators and story writers felt stale writing these shorts since the slapstick/physical comedy wasn't as prevalent, even in the Goofy and Donald Duck cartoons, as they were in the Looney Tunes cartoons, be it Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies.

It also helps that the Looney Tunes cartoons were being shown on TV in the various incarnations of what I knew as The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, and were the show's sole focus, while the Disney cartoons were only a small part of the show that I knew as The Wonderful World of Disney, or were limited to interstitials between shows on premium cable channels like the Disney Channel in the U.S. and Family Channel here in Canada. 

Speaking of The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, I'm pretty sure I saw Rabbit Fire on that show. I mean I basically saw the entirety of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series cartoons from the late '40s through to the '60s on that show, so chances are pretty good that I saw this cartoon there as well. Especially because I watched it on Global the entire time it aired on that channel, which was from 1990 until 2001. I may have stopped watching it earlier than that, but I know I definitely watched it throughout the '90s.

Overall, this is a fun cartoon to watch. I have it on iTunes along with a few other Looney Tunes cartoons featuring Bugs and Daffy, so that was fun watching it again. It's the first in a trilogy of Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer cartoons that continue the premise of this cartoon with Rabbit Seasoning coming out in 1952 and Duck! Rabbit, Duck! coming out in 1953. Of course, like I said, Looney Tunes: Back in Action opens with a fully animated segment, using this exact premise.

That's it for me for today. I'll be back soon with either a comic book review, or the next installment of my Star Wars Legends novels overview series. I haven't quite decided which one I'm going to do yet. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Wars Legends Novels Overview Part 1: The First Del Rey Era (1976-1983)

Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm starting a series chronicling the history of Star Wars novels from their beginnings in the mid to late '70s to when Disney ended the original Expanded Universe, now known as Legends, in 2014. This topic is vast, so I'm splitting it up into twelve parts, each one covering a particular block or series of books in publication order. I don't know if I'm doing this weekly like I have other overview series that I've done over the years, but it will be something that I put out semi-regularly. Of course, I'm starting at the very beginning. So let's get into it.

The Expanded Universe was the backbone of the Star Wars franchise for a good chunk of my life because while the Original Trilogy had wrapped up in 1983, and the cartoons and TV movies were all finished by 1986, there was still an appetite for stories set in this universe, even if  mainstream audiences had forgotten about it once the movies were over. These books, comics, video games, and short stories helped to fill in the gaps left by time constraints in the movies. Some dealt with the backstory of characters like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, others dealt with what was happening in the universe after Return of the Jedi, and the rest simply filled in what the characters might've been doing between the movies. Like how Luke got a new Lightsaber between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and how the Rebels abandoned Yavin IV and found Echo Base on Hoth after A New Hope. 

For me personally, the books, the ones published by Bantam Spectra from 1991 to 1999 in particular, are what turned me into a Star Wars fan. I liked the movies of course, but because I was born a Star Trek fan, I felt the movies lacked that sense of scope that the television format allowed Star Trek to build out its universe. So while I enjoyed the movies, it wasn't until I started reading the novels that I began to fall in love with the characters and the world George Lucas had started building in 1977 with that first movie. 

 The Star Wars expanded universe of novels began with the novelization of the movie on November 12th, 1976. Titled Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, the book was written by Alan Dean Foster, though George Lucas's name is on the front cover and the book's title page. Because this book came out in November of 1976, a little over six months before the movie was released in theatres, this is actually the very first piece of Star Wars media to ever be released. It's been re-released many times over the years and is still in print today.

The Expanded Universe truly began with a novel that began as a potential low budget sequel to A New Hope, should the movie be a moderate success rather than the gargantuan hit that it ended up being. That's why Splinter of the Mind's Eye takes place on a misty swamp planet so they could build the set easily and cheaply enough for such a low budget sequel should it get made into a movie. Published on February 12th, 1978, Splinter is a weird entry in the EU because, well, it has no connection to any other piece of Star Wars media, and alot of the stuff in the book would be retconned or removed by future movies and books. But, when you only have one movie to use as source material for your tie-in novel, there's going to be some discrepancies that end up popping up as more material comes out. This would be the last thing that Alan Dean Foster would write for Star Wars until 2002.

The first book in The Han Solo Adventures, Han Solo at Stars' End, was published on April 1st, 1979. Written by Brian Daley, this book is set prior to the events of A New Hope, where Han and Chewie are smugglers and free lance pilots always trying to get rich on various schemes and adventures. This one pits Han and Chewie against the Corporate Authority, the militant arm of the lawless Corporate Sector. This book shows that Han, despite his sarcastic, tough exterior, has a softer side, which gives us insight into why he rescued Luke from Darth Vader in the Death Star trench in the last act of A New Hope. While the Empire is mentioned in this book, they don't appear at all.

The second book in the Han Solo Adventures trilogy, Han Solo's Revenge, was published on October 12th, 1979. Also written by Brian Daley, the book has Han and Chewie trying to go after people who owed them 10,000 credits following a job gone bad that happened to involve slavers, which Han and Chewie REALLY didn't agree with given their dislike of the slave trade. This was the first book to introduce Gallandro, a hired gun that Han had many encounters with over the years, and would return in later novels set in the original Expanded Universe. This book was the first appearance of Roa, an old Smuggling buddy of Han's who'd acted as his mentor when he and Chewie had first arrived on Nar Shaddaa, the Smuggler's Moon. 

The novelization of The Empire Strikes Back, written by Donald F. Glut, was published on April 12th, 1980, a little over a month before the movie came out in theatres. While this novelization was alot closer to what we saw in the movie, there's still at least one thing in it that isn't mentioned in the movie at all. Boba Fett's backstory as someone who wore the armor of a group of evil warriors defeated by the Jedi during the Clone Wars. Of course, this would get retconned completely by Lucas in the Prequel Trilogy, but it's still interesting that Lucas had Boba Fett connected to the Clone Wars in some fashion, even if the movies never say what until the prequels.

Four months later, on August 12th, the final book of the Han Solo Adventures trilogy was published. In this one Han and Chewie are chasing a long lost treasure with their friend, Badure, who would be mentioned in A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy published by Bantam Spectra in the late '90s, though he would never appear in person again after this book. 

The Han Solo Adventures would get collected into a single volume in 1992, and while each book would get an individual reprint in 1994, the collected edition version is the only way these books are available these days unless you want to try to track down second hand copies of either the original editions from 1979 and 1980 or the 1994 reprints of the individual volumes. Personally, I've never found the 1994 reprints, and the only original paperback edition I've found outside of the collected edition version, is the original paperback printing of Han Solo at Stars' End, and that was one Brad gave me when we were in high school.

The novelization of Return of the Jedi by James Kahn was published on May 12th, 1983, only twelve days before the movie came out. Unlike the previous two novelizations, the one for Return of the Jedi has Obi-Wan's Force spirit give Luke a more detailed explanation about how his father, Anakin, became Darth Vader. This backstory has Anakin and Obi-Wan fighting over a lava pit, with Anakin falling in, destroying his body and requiring him to wear the now iconic Darth Vader suit. About a year later George Lucas would talk about "The Duel", as it had become known as, in interviews, and this would become the official backstory for Darth Vader, which Lucas would refine for Revenge of the Sith 22 years later. But this is something that every Star Wars fan knew about long before we would actually see it on screen in 2005. I even remember talking about it with my friends in the school yard at Greely Elementary School when I was in grade six, in late 1998/early 1999, just before The Phantom Menace came out.

 Like with The Han Solo Adventures the novelizations of the three movies were collected together twice. The first was a boxed set called The Star Wars Saga, which contained the individual novelizations, which was published in 1983. The second was a three books in one compilation called The Star Wars Trilogy, which was originally published on May 12th, 1987. This compilation would have numerous reprints and editions over the years, with the most recent one being from sometime in the last three or four years. The novelizations have also been reprinted and republished individually over the last 48 years and are still available individually. 

The first book of The Lando Calrissian Adventures, Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu by L. Neil Smith, was published on June 12th, 1983. This book chronicles Lando's adventure on Rafa IV in the Centrality while he still owned the Millennium Falcon. He and his Droid partner, Vuffi Raa, attempt to stop a planetary governor from resurrecting the ancient Sharu civilization.

The second book in the trilogy, Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon takes place immediately after Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu and was published on September 12th, 1983. This time Lando is trying to just be an independent freighter captain for hire, but Rokur Gepta, the Sorcerer of Tund from the previous book seeks revenge on Lando for what happened in the Rafa System. And Han thought that he had bad luck. It appears that Lando has worse luck than Han.

The final book in the trilogy, Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka, was published on November 12th, 1983. This has Lando facing Gepta one last time, before deciding to settle down and be responsible. This was the final Star Wars novel that was published before Bantam published Heir to the Empire seven and a half years later. The movies were finished and books featuring the main heroes of the Original Trilogy had been published and people were already starting to move away from Star Wars thinking that it was over now that the movies were done. Even George Lucas wasn't sure if he would ever come back and make the prequel trilogy or a sequel trilogy. 

The Lando Calrissian Adventures would get compiled into a single volume in 1994. Unlike The Han Solo Adventures, the individual volumes of The Lando Calrissian Adventures never got reprints in the '90s. So the compilation edition is the only way you've been able to get these books for the last 29 and a half years. 

With the exception of A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy, this era of Star Wars novels has been almost completely ignored by later novels, even the ones that Del Rey published from 1999 to 2014, before Disney wiped away the EU in favour of its own novel and comic book canon. Vuffi Raa appears in Crispin's trilogy, and Roa appears in other books as well, but because of how disjointed and out of date these books are, it's really difficult to fit them into the Legends canon that started with Heir to the Empire in 1991.

When I was first collecting and reading Star Wars novels in the 2000s and early 2010s, I ended up having all ten books published during this era. Today I just have the novelizations of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, the 1992 edition of the paperback for The Han Solo Adventures and the Legends banner paperback of Splinter of the Mind's Eye. The Lando Calrissian Adventures are just so inconsequential for the Legends continuity that it's a fun trilogy to read once, just as an example of Star Wars novels being published during the time of the Original Trilogy, but it doesn't really contribute anything to the overall lore of Legends. 

That's it for this segment of my Star Wars Legends Novels Overview series. Next time I do this, we'll be entering the Bantam era, which is the most important era of Star Wars. Not just for Legends and not just for the novels, but for the franchise as a whole. I don't know when I'll get around to doing this again, but definitely soon. 

And that my friends is it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more posts. So until then have a great evening and I'll talk to you later. Take care. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation VHS Discussion

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm going to be talking about the VHS releases for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Specifically the VHS releases released by Paramount Home Video from 1992 to 1999. I've done posts on the Columbia House Video Library Collector's Edition releases, as well as on the Paramount Home Video VHS release of "Encounter at Farpoint" and the The Borg Collective VHS box set, but today I want to talk about these releases as a whole, season by season since TNG is the last Star Trek series to get a complete series VHS run from Paramount Home Video, and there's a decent amount to cover. So let's get into it.

On September 5th 1991 Paramount Home Video released "Encounter at Farpoint", "The Naked Now", and "Code of Honor" on VHS. I guess this was sort of a test run to see how well the episodes would sell in stores given that for the last year prior to this, they'd only been available through the mail from Columbia House. I had these three tapes at my grandparents's house. The openings for all three tapes are the exact same. The teaser for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which was only three months away from it's theatrical release date, is the only preview on these three tapes but, at least it's a Star Trek related preview. 

Then on April 1st, 1992, Paramount started releasing the rest of the season on VHS with "Haven", "Where No One Has Gone Before", "The Last Outpost", and "Lonely Among Us". It's interesting to note that these tapes were released in production order, rather than broadcast order, so "Haven" is labelled as Episode 5 rather than episode 11 and so on. These four tapes don't have any previews before the episodes. Neither do "Justice" or "The Battle", but beginning with "Hide & Q" and going until either "Datalore" or "Angel One", a preview for the soundtrack album, Star Trek: The Astral Symphony appears before the episodes. Then from either "Angel One" or "11001001" a preview for the first five movies, TOS, and TNG on home video, called the Star Trek Home Video Library, appears before the Astral Symphony preview. Basically the tapes released on August 26 and November 11th, 1992 had those previews on them. For the last four tapes that were released on May 26th, 1993 for the season, "Symbiosis", "We'll Always Have Paris", "Conspiracy", and "The Neutral Zone", those previews were removed and it was just the Feature Presentation title card and the Paramount logo that appear before the episodes.

The cover for these tapes are simple. They have a black background with the show's title in white and on a slant, at the top of the front cover, with the main characters and the Enterprise underneath the title. The episode title is in a yellow box on the left, and a still image from the episode in a half circle, which is actually a planet on the Columbia House releases, taking up the rest of the cover. The spines are black and the episode number is in a yellow upside down triangle. 

When I was a kid I had the entire season on VHS except for "Coming of Age", "Heart of Glory", and "The Neutral Zone". My grandmother would get them at Kmart for me all the time. "Conspiracy" was kept at my grandparents's place along with a second copy of "We'll Always Have Paris" and the first three tapes that I mentioned at the beginning.

 Paramount Home Video released season 2 of TNG on VHS from August 25th, 1993 to October 12th, 1994. The cover was changed to reflect the changes made for this season. The background colour is a mix of black and purple with a nebula behind the updated character picture. Geordi and Worf are now in Operations Gold, Tasha Yar was removed, Riker gained a beard, Deanna got a new hairstyle and new outfit, and Doctor Crusher was replaced by Doctor Pulaski. The show title was straightened as well, and the characters and ship are inside an upside down triangle, with the episode still in an oval underneath, with the episode title underneath that. The spine is still black but the episode number is now in a blue oval. There also aren't any previews on any of the season 2 tapes.

I only had four of these tapes when I was a kid. "Where Silence Has Lease" (episode 28), "The Outrageous Okona" (episode 30), "Pen Pals" (episode 41), and "Q Who" (episode 42). I had actually had two copies of "Q Who". One was included in the Borg Collective box set and the other was my original copy that Nana bought for me, and that copy went to her house since I didn't need two copies at home.

From March 22nd to October 3rd, 1995, season 3 was released on VHS. As you can see from the front cover, the characters are now shown on a blue background, the uniform collars have changed to reflect the new uniforms introduced in this season, and Doctor Crusher returns once again, replacing Pulaski. Otherwise the rest of the cast picture is exactly the same. Though the show title has a pink border arond the letters to go with the pink border at the top of the episode's still image. The episode title is now set into the still image on a purple and pink strip with the Starfleet emblem behind it, also in pink and purple. The spine is still black but the episode number is now in a pink six sided shape.

As with the season 2 tapes, the season 3 tapes didn't have any previews appearing before the episodes. Other than reprints of the 1991 VHS releases of the TOS movies, the 1991 re-releases of the TOS episodes, and movies like Star Trek VI and Star Trek Generations, not alot was coming out on home video for the franchise at this point. Though DS9 would start to be released on home video in 1996, and Voyager was just starting to air while these tapes were coming out. 

I only had two of the tapes from this season. "The Ensigns of Command" (episode 49), and "The Best of Both Worlds Part I" (episode 74). "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" was included in the Borg box set. By the time I was getting these tapes, Kmart had disappeared here in Canada, and Nana actually found it more difficult to find these tapes. Not to mention we were still getting Disney movies and other movies on VHS at the time too.

 Season 4 would be released on VHS from February 6th to August 20th, 1996. The cover was changed entirely once again. Instead of using the previous artwork, they used the official season 4 cast picture, which includes Wesley in his red Ensign's uniform, and Guinan, They placed space with a purple nebula behind the cast, with no sign of the Enterprise once again, and the still image is in a purple triangular shape with the episode title in a smaller triangular shape, with a purple background. Once again, the spine is black and the episode number is in a purple six sided shape. I only had "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" from this season, as it was in the Borg VHS box set.

On March 19th, 1996, at the same time that four season 4 episodes were released, Paramount Home Video released the series finale, "All Good Things..." on VHS in a special release. The show's title is slanted yet again on this release, and it shows Picard and Q (in his judge's outfit) on a blue background, with the Playmates Toys lights and sounds Enterprise-D toy under the episode's title (which is in red letters). The episode would get re-released on a retail VHS release as part of the season 7 line in 1999. I never owned this release so I have no idea if there are any previews before the episode or not.

On the same day that the last batch of season 4 episodes came out, Paramount began releasing season 5 on VHS, with this season coming out between August 20th, 1996 and October 7th, 1997. The cover art has changed once again, this time with a blue background that was also on the spines and the back covers of this season. The season 5 cast picture is placed in front of the blue background at the bottom, with the Playmates Toys Enterprise above it and then the show title, which now matches what was shown on the comic and novel covers that had come out, with "Star" lined up with "Trek" rather than "Star" being slightly higher than "Trek" as it was on the previous VHS releases and on the show's opening title card itself, and the episode still in an orange four sided shape with the episode title in an orange bar, and episode number in smaller orange four sided shape on the now blue spine. 

The only preview at the beginning of these tapes is the 1996 Star Trek 30th Anniversary special from Kate Mulgrew, in her Janeway uniform and hairstyle, standing in front of the warp core in Engineering on the Voyager set, which was introduced at the beginning of the original VHS release of Star Trek Generations. I don't actually know if this preview is on the 1997 releases for the season or not, but "I, Borg" has it because it came out in 1996 in the Borg Collective box set before it was released individually, almost a year after the box set came out. 

I just had "I, Borg" from this season, as it was in that Borg box set. Grandma got me that box set, and I actually got it quite late, getting it for Christmas in 1997. But what fascinates me is why Paramount waited so long to release all of TNG on VHS. They started with season 1 in 1991 and it took them a year and a half to get the entirety of season 1 out. And by the time they got season 5 completed, TNG had been over for almost four years, and DS9 was about a year and a half away from wrapping up its original syndicated run. I wonder if it's because the TNG movies were still coming out with Generations in 1994, First Contact in 1996, and Insurrection in 1998, with Nemesis not being released until 2002. So they probably had something to do with Paramount stretching out TNG's home video release run for as long as they possibly could, knowing that the show's popularity would only be maintained if they kept putting episodes out on home video formats, and packaged in VHS box sets with episodes from the other Star Trek shows, past and present. Which is weird to me because TNG was still airing in reruns all the time throughout the '90s, including when the show was still airing brand new episodes. 

Season 6 was released from March 3rd to November 10th, 1998. Everybody but Picard was removed from the front cover and the space background design was changed to a gray-ish honeycomb or chainmail pattern with the show title, episode still and episode title returned to the bottom of the cover. The episode title and episode number backgrounds are now a brown colour with the episode still window's shape matching the episode number's shape. The spines, and presumably the back cover, share the honeycomb/chain mail pattern as well. 

I have no idea if there are any previews before the episodes on these tapes because I've never owned any of the season 6 tapes before. But, I think the Star Trek Home Video Library preview from the opening of the VHS release of Star Trek: First Contact, which came out four months before season 6 started to be released, is included in the opening of at least the first batch of episodes which were released on March 3rd, 1998. But, I don't have any clue otherwise. Even YouTube is light on TNG VHS openings besides the ones for "Encounter at Farpoint", "11001001", "Q, Who", and "I, Borg". I'm relying on images of the VHS covers online, including some eBay pictures to look at the spines.

 Finally, season 7 was released from November 10th, 1998 until May 25th, 1999, with the re-release of "All Good Things...", in the season 7 packaging, ending things for TNG on May 25th, 1999. Again, I have no idea why it took eight years for Paramount to release all seven seasons of TNG on home video. Especially because TOS, which only has three seasons, took a year and a half to release all 79 episodes, plus "The Cage" during the original 1985-1986 series release, and about six months to a year, if that, for the 1991-1992 series re-release.

The packaging is actually pretty bland compared to the releases of the first six seasons. None of the characters are anywhere to be seen outside of the episode still window, which has returned to the top of the front cover, and the background is pretty bland (as you can see from the example above the last paragraph. At least the spines are still colourful, but the episode number box is a very dark gray, rather than yellow, pink, purple, orange, blue, or brown. So yeah, pretty bland.

Once again, I never owned any of these tapes when I was a kid. Because I didn't own any of them, I wasn't even sure if seasons 6 or 7 had VHS releases, or what the packaging looked like, until I started exploring the Star Trek Wiki, Memory Alpha. I don't know what previews are on the tapes, if any, either. 

TOS and TNG are the only two live action Star Trek shows to get a complete VHS retail release, as DS9 stopped coming out midway through season 5, and Voyager didn't even make it to the end of the third season. Star Trek in general is one of the few TV shows to have more than ten to thirteen episodes on North American retail VHS releases, letalone the whole show. Rainbow Brite, Sailor Moon, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996) are the only other shows that I've watched that either had the entire series on VHS, or a good chunk of it getting released. Even Mighty Morphin Power Rangers only has about ten episodes from each season released on VHS, and The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin only had 19 out of the show's 65 episodes released on VHS.

VHS was just too primitive to release entire TV shows on. Just because it was harder to put more than one or two episodes on a tape, and when it did happen, they were edited together into a feature film most of the time, with the exception of The Collector's Edition Columbia House Star Trek releases, Sailor Moon releases from the 2000s, the Pokemon VHS releases and Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. It wasn't until DVDs became a thing in the late '90s, and improved in the early to mid 2000s that we started getting entire shows on DVD in season sets, as well as complete series sets. And even then for some shows we still don't have any DVD releases for them, and others are STILL incomplete sets. Luckily Star Trek, in all of its forms, is complete on DVD, with some shows being complete on Blu-ray, and others complete on VHS as well. Just not all of them. 

That's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon for another post soon. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.  

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) and Sabrina: The Animated Series (1999) Retrospective

 Hey everyone! Happy Friday! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm here to talk about Sabrina the Teenage Witch on home video. Not just the TV show, but all three TV movies AND the 1999 animated series spin-off, since the show doesn't have that many home video releases and the movies on their own don't either. So let's dive in, starting with the 1996 TV movie.

Premiering on April 7th, 1996 on Showtime, Sabrina the Teenage Witch acted as a proof of concept rather than a pilot movie, given that the show would be completely different from the movie, including an almost entirely different cast. Following the end of Clarissa Explains It All in 1994, Melissa Joan Hart's mom, Paula, was looking for another show for Melissa to be on since she was 18 when Clarissa ended and transitioning into more adult roles. She found the Archie Comics series, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and immediately secured the rights for a TV adaptation. Through her production company, Hartbreak Films, Paula took the concept to Viacom, owned by Paramount Pictures, and made a production deal.

The movie was made in Canada, therefore it includes some Canadian performers, including a young Ryan Reynolds as Sabrina's crush, Seth, who is a total jerk. The rest of the cast includes Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Sawyer (not Spellman as it is in the comics as well as it would be on the TV show), Sherry Miller as Aunt Hilda, Charlene Fernetz as Aunt Zelda, Michelle Beaudoin as Sabrina's best friend, Marnie (renamed Jenny for the series), Tobias Mehler as Harvey, and Brian Steele as the voice of Salem. With the exception of Melissa and Michelle, the entire cast would be replaced for the TV show.

I remember seeing this movie at some point after I started watching the TV show in 1998. I'm pretty sure I saw it on TV, but I may have seen it on VHS. I don't remember. I just remember watching it and remember thinking how different it was from the TV show. The movie has more of a '90s teen drama vibe to it, like Ready or Not and Beverly Hills 90210 than the show would. Let's take a look at the home video releases.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch was first released on VHS on September 24th, 1996, only a few months after it had aired on Showtime. I have no idea if there are previews on this release or not because I don't recall having any personal experience with this tape.

The movie was re-released on VHS on July 25th, 2000. Of course, if I did see it on VHS between 1998 and 2003, this is probably the edition I saw. But, like I said, I'm pretty sure I saw it on TV rather than on VHS. 

Then on August 19th, 2003, the movie was released on DVD for the first, and only time. Despite the popularity of the TV show, this movie has all been forgotten by the vast majority of people. Even though it was released on DVD, the movie is so different from the show that it probably won't be included in a series box set. It also likely won't see a streaming release. Though a few people have uploaded it to YouTube and the Internet Archive since the DVD is out of print and likely won't get another release.

Debuting on September 27th, 1996, Sabrina the Teenage Witch was picked up as a series by ABC for its Friday night comedy lineup, TGIF as a lead-in to the other new TGIF series, Clueless, which was based on the 1995 movie of the same name, and the fourth season of Boy Meets World. While Clueless would change networks at the end of the season, both Sabrina and Boy Meets World would become staples of TGIF until 2000 when the original version of the lineup ended. Boy Meets World ended after seven seasons, and Sabrina moved to The WB for its final three seasons.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch was based on the comic book series published by Archie Comics from 1977 to 1983. As with many screen adaptations of popular comic books, novels, movies or past TV shows, the TV show changed quite a bit from the source material. For example, while Sabrina, Aunt Hilda, and Aunt Zelda live in Greendale in the comics, which is close to Riverdale, on the show they live in another fictional town called Westbridge, in Massachusetts. There's also no reference to their cousin, Ambrose either. 

With the exception of Melissa (whose character's name was changed back to Sabrina Spellman) and Michelle (whose character's name was changed from Marnie to Jenny), the entire cast from the movie was replaced, with Caroline Rhea as Aunt Hilda, Beth Broderick as Aunt Zelda, Nick Bakay as the voice of Salem, and Nate Richert as Harvey. New additions would come during these seasons with Paul Feig as Mr. Pool, and Jenna Leigh Green as mean girl Libby Chessler, with Martin Mull as Mr. Kraft, Mary Gross as Mrs. Quick, and Lindsay Sloane as Sabrina's replacement best friend, Valerie Birkhead appearing in season 2.

 The success of the TV show convinced Archie Comics to start publishing a new comic book series, which incorporated alot of the elements of the show, into the comic. In fact, the TV version of Sabrina would appear on most of the covers for the comic, alongside her comic book counterpart. While I've never owned any individual issues of Sabrina, many of the stories from these issues have appeared in various Archie Digests and Double Digests, so I'm quite familiar with Sabrina in the comics.

The show also had an entire series of novelizations that came out during the show's early seasons in the late '90s. I'm pretty sure they were all adaptations of episodes from the show and the two TV movies that aired on ABC rather than original stories, but I could be wrong about that. While we never owned any of these books, I remember seeing them in the Scholastic Book Orders and at the Scholastic Book Fair as well.

My dad worked weekends at this time, so Mom, my sister, my brother, and I would sit down and watch Sabrina on TGIF, alongside Boy Meets World, Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, and single season shows Teen Angel, You Wish, and Two of a Kind (starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in their second TV show following Full House). Oddly enough I vaguely remember watching season 1 of Sabrina and don't remember season 4 at all, but seasons 2 and 3 are the ones I remember the most. I think that's because season 2 is when Teen Angel and You Wish were on and season 3 is when Two of a Kind and Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place were on. So during those Friday nights, we'd watch TV for those two hours and then we'd go to bed at 10 since none of us had school the next morning. And for season 4 of Sabrina and season 7 of Boy Meets World in 1999-2000, Boy Meets World was on at 8, with Sabrina on at 9, so I think that's why I don't remember season 4, because we didn't watch it. 

Once Sabrina moved to The WB in the U.S., I remember watching a few episodes from season 5 up at the cottage on Satellite TV but that's it. I don't remember what episodes they were but I remember the new sets, new characters, Sabrina being in college, and the new opening title sequence.

Unlike the preceding TV movie, the TV show didn't have any VHS releases. However in 2007, CBS Home Entertainment released all seven seasons on DVD. There aren't any bonus features on these releases, except for one on the season 7 release, which I'll get to later. Until recently, I had season 1 on DVD, but I got rid of it for a reason that I'll get to shortly.

In 2010, Paramount released all seven seasons in a complete series value pack, similar to what they did with the classic Star Trek live action shows in the early to mid 2000s. This was merely the original individual season releases packaged together.

In 2016 Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Complete Series DVD box set was released by Paramount. The set contains all 24 discs from the original DVD releases, with no bonus features, except for the single one from the season 7 set. This set was re-released in 2021. This set is the reason I got rid of my season 1 DVD set recently. I got it from Amazon earlier this week, so I decided to get rid of my season 1 set. I'm looking forward to watching the entire series, especially the seasons I didn't watch or didn't watch much of.

Sabrina Goes to Rome is a TV movie that aired on ABC on Sunday, October 4th, 1998, starring Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina and Nick Bakay as the voice of Salem. And they're the only two characters from the TV show that appear in this movie. Also, the voice of Alpha 5 himself, Richard Steven Horvitz, is the voice of a Guinea Pig named Stonehenge in this movie. I vaguely remember watching this movie when it aired in 1998, but it's been over 25 years since I saw it, so I don't remember a thing about it.

The only home video release Sabrina Goes to Rome has is as a bonus feature on the season 7 DVD set. It also appears on the final disc in the The Complete Series DVD set as well.

Finally, on Sunday, September 26th, 1999, ABC aired Sabrina Down Under, a sequel to Sabrina Goes to Rome. Once again Sabrina and Salem are the only characters from the show to appear in the movie. Though Lindsay Sloane, who played Valerie on the show, plays a mermaid in this movie. Now, this is one I didn't see at all. I didn't even know about it until recently. 

Sabrina Down Under got a DVD release on February 7th, 2017, almost 18 years after it aired on TV. Apparently there was a VHS release of the movie too, but, the only one I could find was one released in Australia, so I have no idea if it had a North American VHS release or not.

 Due to the success of the live action show, DIC was approached by Paula Hart to produce an animated spin-off, that aired on ABC and UPN. The cast consisted of Melissa Joan Hart as Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda, Melissa's younger sister, Emily, as Sabrina, and Bill Switzer as Harvey, with Nick Bakay voicing Salem, like he did in the live action show. 

In this series, Sabrina is 12 years old and in middle school and Hilda and Zelda have the appearance of teenagers as punishment for misusing magic. As a result, their mortal uncle, Quigley, who was created for this show, comes to live with them as their legal guardian since Salem is a cat. Which is quite the departure from previous versions of the characters.

Archie Comics published a comic book based on the animated series from 2000 to 2009, replacing the revival series that had taken elements from the live action show. However, it wasn't a straight adaptation of Sabrina: The Animated Series. Instead Archie Comics made it so that the Goblin Queen named Repulsa sends Sabrina to the past in order to relive her middle school years, while Repulsa attacks Enchantra, who is the head of the Witches' Council, in order to bring it in line with the main comic book series at the time. This version only lasted 37 issues, before the Repulsa storyline ended and the series returned to the main status quo of Sabrina as a teenager, in high school.

Around the time the live action series was ending its run on ABC, the animated series was airing on Teletoon here in Canada, and my siblings and I watched this all the time. It was cool for us because we didn't know about the Sabrina cartoon from the '70s since it never aired in reruns here when I was growing up. Or, if it did, it didn't air on a channel we had access to. So, while we loved the live action series, it was also cool to have our own animated series version of Sabrina too. 

Unlike the live action series, Sabrina: The Animated Series had several VHS releases. Two were released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment in 2001, and the other three by Sterling Entertainment in 2004. 

The series also had several DVD releases. The first was released in 2001 by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, at the same time as the two VHS releases, and is a compilation of the two VHS releases. Then in 2004, Sterling Entertainment released DVD versions of the three VHS releases they put out. In 2006 Shout! Factory released a two-disc DVD set called The Very Best of Sabrina: The Animated Series. On February 15th, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment released two DVD sets. The first was a single disc released called Sabrina: The Animated Series - A Touch of Magic, which contained 11 episodes of the series. The second set they put out was Sabrina: The Animated Series Volume 1, which contained three discs with a total of 32 (out of 65) episodes. So far there hasn't been a release containing all 65 episodes.

And that my friends is my nostalgic look at Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the three TV movies, Sabrina: The Animated Series, their home video releases, and the comic book series they inspired. I originally had just planned to do the home video releases of the sitcom, planning on doing a more indepth review of the series once I finished watching the DVDs. But as I was writing this post, it just kinda took on a life of its own and before I knew it, I was talking about the comics, the TV movies, and Sabrina: The Animated Series. So I hope you enjoyed this post, because it's a long one.

That's it for me for this week. I'll be back next week with lots of blog posts. So until then, have a great evening and a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes Book One (2022) Comic Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Wednesday. I'm back with another comic book review, and my first review of a trade paperback edition in a really long time. This week I'm taking a look at Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes Book One, published by DC Comics in 2022. Because the comics collected in this trade are nearly 20 years old at this point, there will be some spoilers, but not too many, so let's get into it.

Collecting the first twelve issues of the original Blue Beetle series featuring Jaime Reyes, the most recent/current Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes Book One is a good introduction to the character without having to track down his debut in the 2005-2006 crossover event, Infinite Crisis. There are flashbacks to Jaime's involvement in Infinite Crisis, so we get the story that way. So I never felt like I was missing anything while reading this book.

I'm beginning to see a bit of a trend with comics starring teenagers that came out in the late '90s and into the 2000s. Because teen dramas like Smallville, One Tree Hill, and The O.C. were hugely popular around this time, with the second wave ones like Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries just around the corner, the comics themselves feel like they were written as if each issue was an episode of one of those shows. For example, in this volume, around issues 3 and 4, Jaime discovers that the major crime boss in El Paso is also his best friend, Brenda's aunt, which, just like any good WB/CW lead character would, he decides to not tell Brenda that her aunt is the mysterious crime boss, La Dama. Because THAT won't blow up in his face, but, y'know, that's how these things work. 

Jaime is very much like Peter Parker, except all of his friends and family know that he's the new Blue Beetle, so he doesn't have very many secrets to keep from them, except for the whole Brenda's aunt being a crime boss thing. In a way Jaime's version of the Blue Beetle is the template that DC used for the teenage superhero, Sideways back in 2018 following the Dark Nights: Metal crossover in the way they get their powers and how neither of them have any idea why they have their powers to begin with, at first. 

Jaime's supporting cast, consisting of his best friends, Paco and Brenda, his family, Alberto, Bianca, and Milagro, Peacemaker (Mitchell Black, not Christopher Smith), and tech support, Hector and Nadia are pretty good. They all share a decent amount of page time, though I think I like Paco and Brenda the best. Mainly because their dynamic with each other is that which I have with my friends, and had with them when I was in high school, while everyone else, with the exception of Jaime's family, are related to the superhero stuff. 

Personally, I think I like the Mitchell Black version of Peacemaker than I do the Christopher Smith version, but that's only because I don't like Peacemaker as a concept for a character. But, Black is better than Smith, so I'm good with the character in this book, even if he has to actively keep himself from attacking Jaime because of the Scarab, which gives him the Blue Beetle armor. In his defense though, half the people Jaime encounters in this volume have to actively keep themselves from attacking him because of the Scarab, so Peacemaker isn't the only one. 

Reading this volume isn't my first encounter with the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle. I originally saw him in Young Justice: Invasion (season 2 of Young Justice), and I also saw him in the first episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Which is actually why I wanted to read this series, knowing that it was Jaime's first run in the DC Universe, and, if you've followed my blogs for a while, you know I can't stay away from comics published by DC in the 2000s, particularly the mid to late 2000s, which is when I got back into buying comics on a regular basis. They just seemed to take alot more risks with their books in the 1990s and the 2000s that they just are too afraid to do today. 

The trade itself is pretty good. The only bonus material is concept art for the main characters and the then new Blue Beetle suit since both Ted Kord, and the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, had different suits compared to what Jaime has. The one downside of this trade is that, while it does have chapter stops, they only use the cover art, not full replicas of the original single issue covers. And, because there are twelve issues in this book, it's easy to lose track of how many issues you've read when it doesn't give any indication as to what issue you're on, the way that Teen Titans By Geoff Johns Book One, Stargirl By Geoff Johns and the vast majority of trade paperback editions collecting Batman story arcs from the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, do. These issues were originally collected in the 2000s, in the first two volumes of the original trade paperback collected edition volumes, Shellshocked, and Road Trip. But, those volumes are long out of print, so, unless you can get them cheap at a comic book convention, comic book sale, or geek sale, your best bet is to pick up this volume if you're interested in reading this series, whether you wanna read the source material before watching the movie, or if you've seen the movie and want to try the source material.

That's it for me for today. I'll be back on Friday for another post. I just got the complete series DVD set for Sabrina the Teenage Witch, so I think I'll cover that show on my TV Shows on Home Video post series this week. So until then, have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Batman: The Movie (1966) DVD Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing okay. I'm back with another movie review. I watched the 1966 Batman movie on DVD last night, so I'm going to talk about the movie and the DVD release that I have of it. So let's get into it.

Batman: The Movie is my favourite Batman movie of all time. It's not the best Batman movie of all time, in fact, there are several that could claim that title depending on your personal tastes. But for me, this is funny, campy, stupid, and all around fun. Yes, I love the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher movies, and The Dark Knight Trilogy is amazing, but this is the movie that knew what it wanted to be and wasn't embarrassed to be silly and occasionally stupid, while still being entertaining.

If you grew up in Canada in the '90s then chances are you might've watched YTV at some point during that time, and if you watched YTV then you tuned into The Zone with PJ Phil and Snit, with the occasional co-host joining them at some point. Which means that you may have encountered the show this movie is based on in reruns at 5 pm. 

I was introduced to Batman in general in 1992 when reruns of the 1966 TV series, starring Adam West as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Burt Ward as Robin/Dick Grayson began airing on YTV, at 5 pm at the end of The Zone. I don't remember what was on after it from 1992 to 1993, but from 1993 to 1994, new episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired right after it, and then when MMPR was removed from YTV after the first season had finished airing, Rugrats aired after Batman from 1994 until reruns of the show stopped airing in 1996. Then in 1997, when CTV Sci-Fi Channel, originally known as Space Channel, debuted, the Batman reruns began airing at 5:30 pm with its sister show, The Green Hornet, starring Van Williams as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet, and Bruce Lee as his partner, Kato, airing reruns at 5. These reruns aired until 1998, basically the first year of Space Channel's existence, and then Batman returned in reruns on TV Land in the mid to late 2000s.

Batman and Robin are asked to investigate the disappearance of a yacht, carrying Commodore Schmidlapp, and his latest invention, a portable dehydrator, to Gotham City. During their investigation, they discover that the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman have banded together to use Schmidlapp's dehydrator to kidnap the United World Organization's security council and hold them for ransom. Can the Dynamic Duo stop the United Underworld in time? Or is this the end for our heroes? Find out tomorrow, same Bat time, same Bat channel! Of course they do, but, y'know, there aren't any cliffhanger endings in this movie, so I had to put that line in somewhere.

I first saw Batman: The Movie on VHS when my dad taped it off PBS for me in 1993 or early 1994. I got it on DVD later on in 2001, along with Spaceballs, as the first two DVDs that I owned personally. Because we had the movie taped off TV we didn't own a retail VHS release of it, though I did get to watch part of the 1989 VHS release at the house of a friend of my dad's that we went to visit one time, probably around 1995 or 1996, and I have that same VHS release in my collection now.

The cast of this movie is amazing. Adam West plays a wonderful Batman. His version of the character is straight out of the comic books being published in the mid to late '60s, which were campy and silly stories. Then you had Burt Ward as Robin, and he's also straight out of the comics, including his "Holy heart failure Batman!" lines, though those were definitely dialed up for the TV show and this movie. Caesar Romero plays the Joker, and I love this version of the character. He's the Clown Prince of Crime and I always love the episodes where he and Batman face off against each other. Frank Gorshin plays the Riddler, and honestly, he's a bit too much like the Joker in this movie and on the show, but I still like him. Burgess Meredith plays the Penguin and this version is actually my second favourite version of the character. My favourite version is a cross between the version from Batman: The Animated Series and the '90s and 2000s comic book version, who owns the Iceberg Lounge and carries himself as a more sophisticated criminal. Catwoman is played by Lee Meriwether in this movie, as Julie Newmar was busy working on another project at the time and wasn't available to reprise her role from the TV show. Meriwether does a good job as Catwoman, though she doesn't have the same romantic chemistry with Batman the way Newmar does. Which makes sense since she only has to pretend to be in love with Bruce Wayne, and isn't throwing herself at Batman the way she does in the show. 

Neil Hamilton, Stafford Repp, Madge Blake, and Alan Napier don't have very much to do as Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara, Aunt Harriet, and Alfred, but Alfred does go out on patrol with Robin while Bruce is on his date with Miss Kitka, who is actually Catwoman in disguise, and Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara do pop in about as much as Pat Hingle does as the Commissioner in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher movies. In fact, we wouldn't have a decent screen version of Commissioner Gordon until Gary Oldman took the role in The Dark Knight Trilogy from 2005 to 2012, though Lyle Talbot does a decent enough job in the 1949 movie serial.

My favourite scene in this movie is when Batman is trying to dispose of a bomb that the bad guys left in their hideout, but is unsuccessful, so just before he tosses it into the water, he turns to the camera and says, "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!". Such a classic line.

Now this movie isn't supposed to be taken seriously. It's campy, silly and complete nonsense, however, there's one thing that does bug me about it in regards to its continuity. This movie takes place after the first season of the show, and before the second season. In the first season Catwoman has appeared in front of both Batman and Robin without her mask in pretty much every episode she was in. So, why didn't Batman recognize Catwoman immediately when she was disguised as Kitka? I mean, yes, the first time they met, she was in a coat and hat, with her hair hidden, but when she arrived with the riddles at Stately Wayne Manor, surely Bruce and Alfred would've recognized her immediately. But, nope, they did not. Oh well, I guess it makes sense for the story they're telling in the movie.

So I have the 2008 DVD, which was released on July 1st, 2008, alongside the Blu-ray release. A bunch of Batman stuff was released or re-released on DVD that year because of the theatrical release of The Dark Knight, so this got a re-release on DVD and a release on Blu-ray. Aside from the new packaging, which is a black background with the bat symbol from the 1966 Batmobile, and the new disc art, which has the same symbol and black background, this release is exactly the same as the 2001 DVD release was. Right down to the same Fox DVD preview before the main menu comes up. The same audio commentary by Adam West and Burt Ward is on it, as well as the same featurettes that focus on the movie itself, with interviews with both West and Ward, and on George Barris and the Batmobile that he created for the show in 1965 (the series premiered on January 12th, 1966). So content wise there's no difference between the 2001 and 2008 DVD releases. According to the World's Finest fan site, the Blu-ray has more bonus features that weren't included on the DVD, which is actually unusual given how early in the Blu-ray format's lifespan the movie came out in. The only reason I upgraded to the 2008 DVD release is because it was my dad's, so it was already in the house, and my copy of the 2001 release started skipping during the scene where Batman is carrying the bomb down the stairs from the criminals's hideout to the bar. 

Overall, this isn't the best Batman movie ever made, but it's still my favourite Batman movie, even after 30 years. If you haven't seen this movie before I recommend watching it, even if you prefer a darker take on the Dark Knight. Just as a part of Batman's history on the silver screen if nothing else. The bonus features are worth checking out too.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today, but I'll be back on Wednesday for a comic book review. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Once Upon a Studio (2023) Movie Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? Happy Friday! I'm back for my first movie review of the year where I will be briefly talking about the animated/live-action short that Disney put out to celebrate its 100th anniversary last year, Once Upon a Studio. There won't much to talk about, and there will be spoilers, so this'll be a short review. Let's get into it!

I've been a fan of Disney animation since the day I was born. Or, at least since the day I was old enough to watch movies on VHS with things like Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and Disney Sing-Along Songs: The Bare Necessities. So when I found out this short had been released, I immediately put it on to watch on Disney+. That was a couple of months ago now. As I mentioned in a previous post, Disney uploaded the short to the official Walt Disney Animation Studios YouTube channel a few weeks ago, and that's where I rewatched it for this review. The story is that all of the characters from the animated Disney movies meet together at the Walt Disney Animation Studios for the 100th year group picture. And when I say all of the Disney animated characters, I mean ALL of them.

Some of the characters who appear in this short haven't been seen since their original movie came out twenty, thirty, or even forty, years ago. Others are ones from the most recent films such as Encanto, Wish, and Strange World. And then we have all of the characters we love from the classics we grew up with whether you're four years old or 100 years old. There's a total of 543 characters in this short. Because this is a celebration of Walt Disney Animation Studios, known as Walt Disney Feature Animation in the '90s, there aren't any Pixar characters in this short. However, when needed they use archive voice recordings from the movies themselves for the characters they didn't want to recast like the Genie from Aladdin. For the rest they brought back as many of the original voice actors as they could. Which was cool.

The short blends traditional 2-D cel animation, 3-D CG animation, and live action similar to how movies like Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pete's Dragon, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit blended animation and live action together. Which was awesome to see.

Overall, this was a fun little short. If you're a fan of Disney, or spent your childhood watching Disney movies, I recommend checking out this short. It's fun, nostalgic (in a good way), and neat way to see the evolution of Disney Animation over the last 100 years. 

Alright my friends, that's it for me for this week, but I'll be back next week with more posts and reviews. So until then, have a great weekend and I will talk to you all soon. Take care.