Those who only know Underdog from the rather odd 2007 live-action movie, sorry you! Underdog was a hit animated TV series produced by Total Television (who were also responsible for Tennessee Tuxedo), starting in 1964 and running more than 120 episodes until 1973 (and in re-runs ever since). Now Shout Factory have released the complete original series on DVD for the first time, featuring all 124 episodes in a 9-disc box set. Watch as Shoeshine Boy and his super-powered alter ego, Underdog, battle the evil likes of Riff Raff and Simon Bar Sinister to protect his true love, Sweet Polly Purebread. The DVDs also include original episodes of the Underdog back-up shorts GoGo Gophers, Klondike Kat, and Commander McBrag. Check it out at Shout Factory’s web site.
DVD and Video
Avoid the Yak-Nog…
And speaking of dragons, this one managed to sneak on by us… They’re fast critters sometimes! Following the current trend of releasing holiday-themed specials, Dreamworks Animation has released Dragons: The Gift of the Night Fury direct to Blu-Ray and DVD. Directed by Tom Owens, this short film introduces us to holiday traditions in the viking village of Berk, where folk are now living in peace with dragons. But, when the dragons mysteriously all fly off one day, the kids try to think up new traditions to cheer up the devastated village-folk. Some work… some, not so much. Also on the DVD is the short film Book of Dragons (directed by Steve Hickner), a sort of dragon encyclopedia overview guided by Hiccup and his friends. Of note to furry fans: Unlike Legend of the Boneknapper, these two shorts feature Toothless the Night Fury — a lot.
Zee Best of Pepe Le Pew
Thanks to the folks at Cartoon Brew and TV on DVD, we now know that the next release in Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes Super Stars series will be Pepe Le Pew: Zee Best of Zee Best. In spite of what this single-DVD collection’s box cover says, it actually contains 17 cartoons: All 15 of Chuck Jones’ Pepe cartoons, a one-off directed by Art Davis (Odor of the Day), and one Tweety Bird cartoon (Dog Pounded, directed by Friz Freleng) in which Pepe makes a cameo appearance. Everyone’s favorite romantic skunk with zee accent of LOVE comes to DVD on December 27th.
You Don’t Have Nine Lives
Humans really do use anthropomorphic characters for everything… we mean everything! Recently in France there appeared this animated public service announcement, explaining the need for sexually active people to protect themselves from AIDS… which uses the medium of cartoon animals, animated to look like something out of the 1930’s. Seriously. Where on earth did they show this thing, we wonder? Well it’s viewable on YouTube, but take warning: There’s nothing terribly explicit in this, but it is most certainly for adults only! Need more proof? The production company that created it is called Passion Pictures.
If you like Talking Cars, try Talking Planes
Cartoon Brew recently put up an article letting us know about a new project from Disney’s Movietoon Studios (creators of A Goofy Movie and other works). It’s a new direct-to-DVD CGI called Planes, and it’s all about — you guessed it — anthropomorphic airplanes. Here’s the Press Release from DMS: “Planes will introduce an entirely original and hilarious crew of daredevils from every corner of the globe and draws inspiration from the immensely popular Disney/Pixar’s Cars world. ‘We had such a great time exploring the world of Cars over the course of two films, so it seemed only natural for us to see where our imaginations would take us in a film where planes were the main characters. By expanding the Cars world, Planes gave us a whole new set of fun-filled situations and a great opportunity to introduce some fantastic new characters,’ commented John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. Planes takes off with an international cast of the fastest air racers around, in a comedy packed with action and adventure starring Dusty, a small town dreamer who longs to enter the most epic around-the-world air race … despite his fear of heights. With the help and support of a fleet of new and hilarious characters, Dusty wings his way into the biggest challenge of his life.” Look for Planes to take off in the spring of 2013.
Summer Wars Comes To DVD… Here!
In case it passed you by: Summer Wars is a very popular and successful Japanese anime feature film conceived by Mamoru Hosoda, written by Satoko Okudera, and directed by Hosoda. It was produced by Madhouse, and released in 2009 by Warner Brothers Pictures Japan. The basics of the story: Kenji Koiso is a shy and awkward high school math-wiz, employed part-time as a sysop for a massive virtual world game called “Oz”. The first problem — Kenji is falsely implicated in hacking the game. But then he and his friends stumble upon a much bigger conspiracy at work… and he, they, and all of their avatars must work together to keep the real and virtual worlds from colliding destructively! Why should Furry Fans care about this? Check out some of the avatars in the picture below! That’s why! The good news is that an English-language version of the film has been completed for Blu-Ray and DVD release. Funimation Entertainment will be bringing the DVD/Blu-Ray edition to North America on February 15th, and Manga Entertainment will be releasing it in the U.K. in March.
Fox Spirits Are After You!
Media Blasters have released the first four episodes of Kanokon: The Girl Who Cried Fox on DVD. How to describe this anime series? We’ll let them do it: “Kouta, a country boy who lives with his grandfather, is now moving to the city to attend high school. Changes come with his new home and new school, but nothing could have prepared the gentle young man for girls, specifically a bombshell fox spirit named Chizuru. As if her aggressive advances weren’t enough, he also catches the attention of a frosty wolf spirit named Nozomu. Kouta is dragged into supernatural events as a result of his contact with the two girls, and his school life only gets more chaotic by the day. But with a girl who gives ‘foxy’ new meaning and another howling after him, things are looking up for his love life.” We love anime for a reason, don’t we? Find out more about it at Anime Castle.