Author Archives: Joe

April 28, 2013

The Chronological Donald Volume One

By Joe
The Chronological Donald Volume One

The Chronological Donald Volume One

Mickey Mouse is the character that launched an empire.  When Walt’s darling little mouse took to the screen he captured the hearts of millions of movie-goers in the 1930’s, adult and children alike.  And even though he’s no longer a big part of Disney’s animation output, the theme parks and other merchandising have made sure that Mickey has never faded far from the spotlight. His earliest exploits though are thematically different from what is presented as Mickey Mouse today.  Sure the obvious distinction of Mickey no longer appearing in black and white is clear, but it’s his character traits that are most notable.  In his earliest days, Mickey was more like Bugs Bunny in that he was a bit of a trouble-maker.  He was never on Bugs’ level in that regard, but he did partake in things some parents were not overly fond with.  The cartoon that famously introduced the character Pluto, “The Chain Gang,” begins with Mickey in prison, of all places.  He smoked, he drank, and he could be a bit of a jerk in those old cartoons.  Walt Disney, after hearing the complaints from some parents, decided he needed Mickey to be the face of his company, and as a result, he needed to clean him up just a bit.  His cartoons still needed the characteristics he was about to excise from Mickey, so he took them (and then some) and applied them to a new character, an anthropomorphic duck he named Donald.

Donald took off like a rocket.  His easily irritable and temperamental nature made him a hit with fans who either rooted for him or against him.  His tendency to exhibit wild mood swings added a charge of electricity to his cartoons; fans knew the tantrum was coming, they just didn’t know when.  At first, Donald appeared alongside Mickey for the most part, but soon his popularity earned him his own series allowing him to surpass Mickey himself in terms of popularity.  To date, no other Disney character has appeared in more cartoons than Donald and he’s appeared in more comic strips than any character who doesn’t wear tights and fight crime.  Donald Duck is recognized all over the world and has become an institution, so it should come as no surprise that he has several DVD releases in the Walt Disney Treasures line as well.

I love Donald and always have.  I liked Mickey too when I was a kid, and I always had a fondness for Pluto, but Donald was my favorite.  He’s just an inherently funny character and a lot of that comes from the performance of Clarence “Ducky” Nash, Donald’s voice actor from the 1930’s thru to the early 80’s concluding with Mickey’s Christmas Carol.  That semi-intelligible voice is perfect for the character.  It sounds like something that would come from a duck, if a duck could speak.  Of course, that impression may only exist because Donald has been around for over 70 years but that certainly must have been the sentiment when Nash was awarded the role.  Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to figure out what Donald is saying, but that adds to the humor.  Early on, other duck characters that would appear in Donald cartoons, including Daisy, would speak like Donald but overtime that was dropped.  Donald’s nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, exhibited a lesser but similar speech pattern until DuckTales when they were basically made to speak somewhat normal.

Sharks find ducks tasty.

Sharks find ducks tasty.

The Chronological Donald was released in four parts from 2005-2008.  As the name implies, the shorts appear in chronological order beginning with Donald’s debut from the Silly Symphonies series “The Wise Little Hen.”  This makes Donald the rare character to debut in color before black and white.  His first appearance with Mickey came in the short “Orphan’s Benefit” which can be found on the set Mickey Mouse in Black and White.  It would have been nice to have it here too to mark the occasion as several other sets contain overlapping cartoons, but oh well.  After “The Wise Little Hen,” the rest of the shorts are Donald cartoons though he wasn’t officially given his own series until 1937 with the first short being “Don Donald.”  Mickey doesn’t appear in any of these cartoons (with the exception of one brief cameo), but Pluto and Goofy make appearances as Disney seemed to enjoy pairing Donald with those two.  This set also contains the debut of Donald’s nephews in the cartoon appropriately titled “Donald’s Nephews.”  We’re also introduced to Donald’s cousin Gus in one short who never made another appearance that I’m aware of.

For the most part, these shorts try to put Donald in a new role in each one.  That role is either an official one like “Officer Duck” or making him a golfer or a celebrity chaser.  Some of the ideas repeat, such as “Donald’s Ostrich” and “Donald’s Penguin.”  There’s repeating gags too, of course the most famous being Donald’s tantrum where he thrusts out one arm and swings the other while hopping up and down.  If he doesn’t assume this pose in every cartoon, well then he does in almost every one.  It’s hard for me to choose a favorite, as several shorts here are ones I’m familiar with from my childhood so they have a nostalgic quality for me.  “Sea Scouts” is one where Donald and his nephews are sailors and have to contend with a shark.  It’s a mostly slapstick affair with a great sequence of Donald trying to keep from getting swallowed by the shark.  “Beach Picnic” is another where Donald finds his water float to be uncooperative and Pluto finds himself victimized by the irascible duck.  This cartoon also contains the Pluto fly paper gag, one that shows up in several other cartoons.

This set was created before the vault concept was created for this series.  For those unaware, the vaulted cartoons are ones that contain offensive material.  Leonard Maltin is the host for the set and he does comment on some of the shorts.  The most common bit of offensive material is stereotypical portrayals of native americans.  Anyone around the age of thirty who grew up watching old Warner Bros. shorts or Disney cartoons (including feature-length films such as Peter Pan) should be familiar with this kind of material.  I don’t tell people how to raise their kids so if you’re not familiar with this kind of stuff and are weary about showing it to your kids do some research.  In the case of Donald Duck shorts, a great many can be viewed on video sites for free making it easy to preview the material first.

Things rarely end well for Donald.

Things rarely end well for Donald.

Of course, if you want to purchase such a set for your kids know that it isn’t easy.  Disney only released a limited amount figuring only collectors and Disney diehards would be interested so walking into a store and simply buying a set of Donald Duck cartoons is basically impossible.  Volume One was produced in larger numbers than others but still can command a hefty price.  Amazon has it currently priced at $65 and volume two at $54 with volumes three and four jumping over $100.  I don’t know if they’re worth it, but if you do love Donald and want some of his cartoons you will find this to be a quality set.  The DVDs came housed in a plastic DVD case which in turn is packaged in a silver tin.  The only negative to the packaging is that the tin can be prone to denting in the shipping process.  The cartoons look great for the most part, especially when one considers how old they are.  Some have survived better than others and it shows on some with the usual white Donald being a little dingy or sometimes yellowed.  The quality of the animation can’t be dulled by age though, and if anything, it only looks more impressive in today’s age where a lot of animation is low-budget or computer generated.  Hand drawn animation is practically dead and this set certainly helps to bring the viewer back to the golden age for animation.  Animation fans and Disney fans would do well to track these sets down.  I own three of the four, and the completest in me likely demands that I eventually get the fourth.  I’ve watched them all and on a lazy Sunday morning it’s not uncommon to find me on my couch with a cup of coffee and Donald Duck playing on my TV.

The shorts:

  • 1934
    • The Wise Little Hen
  • 1936
    • Donald and Pluto
  • 1937
    • Don Donald
    • Modern Inventions
    • Donald’s Ostrich
  • 1938
    • Self Control
    • Donald’s Better Self
    • Donald’s Nephews
    • Polar Trappers (with Goofy)
    • Good Scouts
    • The Fox Hunt (with Goofy)
    • Donald’s Golf Game
  • 1939
    • Donald’s Lucky Day
    • The Hockey Champ
    • Donald’s Cousin Gus
    • Beach Picnic
    • Sea Scouts
    • Donald’s Penguin
    • The Autograph Hound
    • Officer Duck

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Film

April 14, 2013

Roger Ebert and the Great Debate: Video Games as Art

By Joe

super-mario-mushroom-artNearly three years ago a blog entry popped up on famed film critic Roger Ebert’s site that ignited a response from the gaming community in a way usually only reserved for the likes of pro-censorship groups and individuals.  The title of this blog, Video Games Can Never Be Art, was a bold statement that seemed to cut to the core of many gamers and industry types.  It has attracted nearly 5,000 responses and spawned numerous rebuttals of various kinds.  Ebert, who passed away recently, never showed much desire to revisit the topic over the years preferring to let those words just hang in the air.

I do wish Ebert had chosen another title for his post as the absolute tone it takes seems foolhardy to me for someone so well learned.  The title is actually a quote and one he had given earlier intended as more of a throw-away line in a much larger discussion.  Ebert chose to return to it because it received more attention than he anticipated and elected not to change it, but did acknowledge its weakness.  Her clarified his opinion to something more along on the lines of that video games are not art presently, and no one currently alive will live to see them regarded as such.  That is definitely a much better argument as it’s impossible to predict where tastes are heading.

However the argument is to be phrased, gamers around the globe seemed to take it personally that their chosen recreation could be perceived as something other than art.  Most of this stems from the fact that many who elected to respond to the piece apparently did not get past the title.  Again, Ebert is partially blamed for that but it is important to understand where he is coming from before forming a proper rebuttal.  Ebert’s opinion resides on the game itself.  Components of a game are considered forms of art.  Still images, music, animation – these are all considered artwork.  I don’t know if it was asked of him, but Ebert would probably consider the directors of some games as artists of some kind.  He also expressed a sense of surprise in how his statement was received, noting that the likes of Michael Jordan and Bobby Fischer never seemed to take it personally that their games are not considered art.

DownloadedFile-15

It’s this lack of understanding of where Ebert is coming from that makes a great many of the responses to his opinion ill-conceived.  So many want to focus on the parts of a game that Ebert would consider a form of art and fail to understand that it’s the game that Ebert is declaring as non-art.   Another thing hampering Ebert’s argument is the fact that he openly declares he does not play modern games and had no desire to do such, thus we’re left to assume what first comes to mind for Ebert when the topic is brought up is Pong as opposed to Bioshock.  That’s not entirely relevant though, as is playing a game of virtual tennis any more or less artistic than shooting bad guys in high definition?  Neither is art, but modern gamers would immediately point to the story contained in a title like Bioshock, to which Ebert would point out that it ceases to be a game and is a representation of another form of art.  In other words, if your argument for games as art is that it’s an interactive story then Ebert considers it a representation of a novel or film and not really a game.  He does not, however, go on to say such games are forms of artwork so if there was hope for a compromise between the two camps it seems that door was shut.

On that level, I tend to side with Ebert on this one.  I love video games.  There have been times in my life where games have been my primary source for entertainment and it’s possible I’ll enter another phase later on where they will be again.  Video games will probably be a part of my life for its duration which certainly separates me from Ebert and is perhaps something he forgot.  When Ebert was born television was still fairly new and the only way to see a film was to go to a theater.  Video games were never a part of his life save for maybe on the periphery at times.  And even tough they have been a large part of my life, there still is no singular game that can stack up as art when compared with works from other accepted classes of art such as music, film, and poetry.

In order for a game to transcend into art it needs to incorporate the game itself into its argument.  Okami is a delightful game to look at, but physically playing it is not a remarkable experience when ignoring the visual style and plot.  Heavy Rain is an example of film-quality story-telling and a game I enjoyed very much, but it too falls into that representation of a film category Ebert mentioned.  In that game, the actual game components are fairly minimal and oftentimes are the biggest hindrance to enjoying the game as simply controlling the characters is awkward and, at times, a chore.  Many of the other games often cited by gamers in the comments section are too preoccupied with the game’s narrative and their emotional response to it.  Separate that narrative though and could it exist on its own and still instill such a response?  Or strip away the player control and just watch the “game,” how much does the emotional response change?  While I’m sure it would be affected in some way, probably not as much as some people would like to think.

Ico (2001)

Ico (2001)

In searching my brain I could only come up with one game I’m even tempted to make an argument for as one that toes the line between game and art:  Ico.  Ico, at its core, is not remarkable in a sense that it should be considered art.  It’s a fairly basic three-dimensional platform game.  The player controls the main character and has to negotiate jumps, push blocks, and fight enemies with a stick or sword all while attempting to defeat an ultimate bad guy and escape the castle.  Where it hits on a different level is through the non-player character Yorda.  Yorda is a helpless girl that needs to be lead through the castle and protected by Ico.  It’s the interactions with her that make this game different.  In order to progress, the player must take Yorda’s hand and guide her through certain scenarios.  This simple gameplay convention is remarkable in that it adds a semi-tangible element to a non-tangible experience.  When interacting with a game, we as gamers can only interact by ingesting the story being fed to us and with a controller in our hands.  This act of reaching out and grasping Yorda by the hand is an extension of that controller and it’s a simple mechanic that imparts so much.  We’re now a caretaker and this girl is entrusting us with her life.  She speaks a different language so there is no other way to communicate with her.  The game’s setup of giving us control of a character marked for death, has already made this an us against the world type of game, but in Yorda we have another purpose.  She isn’t so much an ally as a goal.  As a player, how much do we actually care for the main character?  And yet, I know when the evil shadow monsters are dragging Yorda down to a dark demise because I failed to protect her it’s not the same as when Ico misses a jump and falls to his death.

Ultimately, I do not know if I would go so far as to proclaim Ico a work of art, but I do know it’s one game (perhaps the only) where the act of playing it caused me to experience something I may not have while engaging other forms of art.  It is a remarkable experience and one I recommend others try.  I’ve played other games that borrow heavily from Ico, most recently Dokuro on the Playstation Vita, but none are able to resonate the way Ico does (not to say that Dokuro is a bad game, it’s quite the opposite, if you have a Vita you should absolutely have a copy).  In the end, I guess I side with Ebert on this one.  I recognize that many aspects of a game are forms of art, or collaborative art.  I think someone like Hideo Kojima is an artist of some renown even if his chosen work is not on par with other forms of art.  Where I differ with Ebert is that I do entertain the notion that in my lifetime games may take on a higher purpose.  They’ll never be as highly regarded as film or sculpture, but there is a movement towards games as art that probably can’t be stopped.  As long as they continue to become a larger part of society appreciation for them will continue to grow.  In the meantime, whether a video game is considered an important work of art or not is irrelevant to me.  If it’s a good game, taking into account there are many ways for a game to be good, I’ll enjoy it no matter what it’s place in the great debate may be.

As a postscript to this entry, I did want to offer my thoughts on Roger Ebert’s recent passing.  Ebert was a part of my youth through his television show with fellow critic Gene Siskel.  As a kid, I gravitated more towards Siskel when it came to criticism but as I got older I sided with Ebert more and more.  His website was a weekly ritual for me as I checked out his thoughts each Thursday on the latest releases.  He was always eager to champion the cause of animation, notably the works of Studio Ghibli, and it’s something about him I really appreciated.  Even though I didn’t agree with all of his reviews, I like to think we had similar tastes when it came to film and regardless of how he scored the film I could often tell if I would like it or not simply by reading his review.  There were even times where I felt like he was speaking for me instead of to me.  His review of Batman Begins so well captured my response to the movie and phrased it in a way I could never hope to.  He was a brilliant writer, and his blog was oftentimes more entertaining than his film criticism.  Since he lost the ability to speak, that blog became his outlet and he was not shy about putting his innermost thoughts on the internet for all to consume.  As a result, myself and many readers felt connected to Ebert in a way different from other mainstream writers, be they reporters or other critics.  I felt like I knew him without ever meeting him and was extremely sad to hear about his passing.  I will miss him.

DownloadedFile-14

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Video Games

April 7, 2013

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3

By Joe
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)

It seems to me that video game cartoons are much less popular today than they were when I was young.  Then again, I don’t have any kids so I’m not often watching children’s programming so I could be mistaken.  I’m sure Pokemon is still kicking around some network and Sonic may be running in syndication, but that’s all I can come up with off the top of my head.  When I was young there were several video game adaptations for the small screen.  Just going off the top of my head I can come up with Dragon Lair, Super Mario, Zelda, Captain N (not a strict adaptation of a game, but comprised almost entirely of characters from popular games), Sonic, Battletoads, Mega Man, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat.  I’m almost positive I’m forgetting some but that’s still a pretty solid sample for comparison.  Maybe it’s because so many popular games these days seem to be of the M and T rated variety that we don’t see many cartoon adaptations.  Or maybe it’s because companies like Nintendo are still shell-shocked from less than stellar cartoons based on their properties.  If that is the case, then we can lay a lot of the blame on The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 was, naturally, based on the video game Super Mario Bros. 3.  It was also the sequel of sorts to the more popular Super Maro Bros. Super Show which featured Mario cartoons that took place in a world based off of Super Mario Bros. 2 (the American version).  That show is mostly remembered for the live-action Mario and Luigi and the songs the welcomed viewers and saw them off (Do the Mario!).  The Super Mario Bros. 3 adaptation contained no live actors and no such songs.  The opening is simply a narrator talking over an animated sequence that sets up the series.  There’s no continuity from one episode to the next and each one runs a little over 10 minutes with 26 total episodes.  The retail release is three discs worth of content and I would be surprised if any of the discs is filled to near capacity.  Mario and Luigi had their voice actors recast to Walker Boone and Tony Rosato but the rest of the cast remains intact.  The animation style is also slightly different, most notably Mario is a little trimmer and the Koopa Troopa design from the previous show was scrapped.

The Koopa Kids are probably the best thing going in this show.

The Koopa Kids are probably the best thing going in this show.

The biggest changes from the previous show to this one occurred with the villains and the location.  Location wise, this is a more faithful depiction of the Mushroom Kingdom from the game complete with numerous warp pipes and floating blocks.  For the villains, King Koopa is still the antagonist but now he’s accompanied by his seven Koopa Kids.  The Koopalings resemble their video game counterparts in design but all have different names.  Allegedly, this was due to the series being developed before Nintendo had provided the names.  The characters, for the most part, have pretty stupid and unimaginative names.  Morton Koopa Jr. is now just called Big Mouth, because he has a (you guessed it) big mouth.  There’s a Bully Koopa, Cheatsy, and Wendy is now Kootie Pie.  It’s not very important what their names are but I’ll give credit to the writers for mostly giving each of the seven a distinct personality (with the exception of the twins Hip and Hop, who are basically the same).  The ones that end up standing out include Cheatsy, who’s cunning seems to surpass his father’s as he is often able to manipulate him (usually with flattery).  Cookie is the evil genius of the kids and is definitely the most insane.  And Kootie Pie, being Koopa’s only daughter, is not surprisingly a spoiled brat and her father is a slave to her whims.

Apparently the eyes are fully-functioning on the frog suit. Does that mean Mario can see out of them? I must know!

Apparently the eyes are fully-functioning on the frog suit. Does that mean Mario can see out of them? I must know!

The Koopa Kids are perhaps the only bright spot of this program.  Well, that and the power-ups.  Super Mario Bros. 3 is famous for its numerous power-ups and they’re all represented here, for the most part.  For some reason I get a giddy thrill from seeing them used in the show from the common raccoon tail to the absurd frog suit.  Even Koopa gets in on the action in the series finale which is certainly noteworthy.  The rest of the show though is comprised of tired writing and simple plots.  Not much has changed from the previous show and the majority of the episodes follow the same formula of the Mario Bros. having to foil one of Koopa’s attempts at taking over the Mushroom Kingdom.  There’s usually a chase sequence or montage set to a parody of a licensed song which had to be removed from the DVD release.  There is one exception in the episode “Recycled Koopa” which contains a song called “Trash City USA” (2:05 mark in video link).  It sounds suspiciously like the Glenn Danzig song “Spook City USA” and I wonder if it was intended by someone as a parody of that.  Since the song is so obscure it wouldn’t surprise me if it snuck past the legal team (at the time the episode was produced, the song only existed as a B side to the single “Who Killed Marlyn?” which was not exactly a wide release).  There’s also the requisite episode where things get turned around and Mario and Luigi have to be saved by the Princess and Toad.  There’s also a celebrity appearance by Milli Vanilli in one episode, “Kootie Pie Rocks.”  This may be the most hilarious episode in hindsight.

Koopa is backed, armed with an assortment of magic wands this time around.

Koopa is backed, armed with an assortment of magic wands this time around.

This series also establishes the existence of the home world of the Mario brothers as The Real World.  This means several episodes take place on earth and in places like New York and Venice.  There’s even one episode where each koopaling takes over a continent.  This labeling of this world as The Real World bugs the crap out of me.  This show isn’t like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with characters often breaking the fourth wall, instead that’s how the characters view this supposed real world.  What does that make the Mushroom Kingdom then?  The fake world?  I’m surprised the princess would stand for that!

Because of the short run-time, plots are often resolved quickly and haphazardly.  It’s clear the writers had little respect for children as the show is fairly thoughtless.  The animation isn’t anything to get excited over either.  For the most part, it’s fairly typical of its era but there are other shortcuts that bother me.  Most notably, whenever a character morphs into another form there’s no transition animation, it just happens, which is utter laziness.  Unfortunately, the transfers by Shout! Factory for the DVD release are atrocious.  Some episodes are okay while others drop out and look worse than what can be found on the internet.  Supposedly the master tapes for the series no longer exist, so I don’t know what the source was for the DVD, but clearly it sucked and no attempt was made for the episodes that are really bad.  The last two episodes on the set are especially bad and should have never been released in such a state.

I bought this set when I found it on sale and did so only for nostalgic purposes.  I liked the show enough when I was a kid but my memory of it wasn’t strong.  It didn’t last long as it was quickly replaced by a Super Mario World themed cartoon.  Even though the set was relatively cheap, it still wasn’t worth the purchase.  Don’t make the same mistake I did, just let this one pass, as your memories of the show are likely much better than the actual product.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Television, Video Games

April 6, 2013

The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time

By Joe
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

I never set out to make an entry on all of these Zelda titles, it just sort of happened.  It’s basically the end result of me not having any new titles to play on my portable gaming devices so I’ve revisited some classics.  I’ve already made entries on the first two Zelda titles, so naturally I should make one for the third game in the series:  A Link to the Past.  But wait!  This isn’t an entry on A Link to the Past, but the next game in the series (for home consoles):  Ocarina of Time.  That’s because I can’t play A Link to the Past on my 3DS (though I could have dusted off the old Gameboy Advance, I suppose) and never played the 3DS version of the Ocarina of Time:  Master Quest.  I played thru the normal quest on the 3DS version when it was released in 2011, and I have played the Nintendo 64 version (on a Gamecube) of the Master Quest as well, so this was far from a new experience.  And since the original version and the 3DS remake are largely the same, this can be considered an entry on both.

Ocarina of Time is considered by many to be the best in the series.  It’s usually a debate between that and A Link to the Past with the sides mostly split on age lines.  People who were introduced to the Zelda franchise during its formative years will mostly lean towards A Link to the Past, while those introduced to the franchise via Ocarina of Time naturally are slanted towards that.  And even though the two may not look all that similar, the core experience is very much the same between the two.  The player controls Link who must battle thru various dungeons collecting useful tools and items along the way.  There’s lots of wandering, conversing with non-player characters, and general adventure along the way.  The player also isn’t expected to just hack and slash their way to the end as there are lots of puzzles to challenge and frustrate as well.  Regardless of what position you may take on which game is superior, know that both are excellent and enjoyable games that should be experienced by all serious gamers.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (2011)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (2011)

Ocarina of Time is regarded as a near perfect gaming experience, so if you’re expecting this to be a contrarian take, look elsewhere.  And while it does earn its reputation, it also has its share of flaws.  This game is nearly 15 years old, which blows my mind.  There are many games of that age that are still considered an excellent experience today, but naturally some things age less gracefully than others.  Ocarina of Time is perhaps most notable for being Link’s first foray into the world of 3D.  Transitioning from 2D to 3D is a challenge and it’s one that has stymied other famous franchises of the same era.  While Mario was able to adapt, gaming’s other titan of the 16-bit era, Sonic, still struggles with it to this day.  Both of those characters were transitioning from side-scrollers to the 3D platform genre, while Link had the benefit of moving from that top-down perspective of the first and third Zelda titles which is actually a much easier transition.  Both Mario and Sonic were expected to jump and navigate various platforms in their games, while Link didn’t have that expectation.  Because of that, Nintendo didn’t even see fit to provide a jump button in Ocarina of Time; Link just does it automatically when he needs to.  Instead of the camera being positioned directly above Link, it’s moved behind him but still retains a high angle in many sections of the game.  Where age starts to rear its ugly head is with this camera.

The camera is often the make or break portion of any game from the late 90’s.  It still can be problematic in modern games but it seems to happen far less.  For Ocarina of Time, Nintendo opted to not give the player total control of the camera as some games do.  The players has one camera button at his or her disposal which automatically centers the camera behind Link in most cases.  There’s also the Z-Targeting lock-on button that fixes the camera on an enemy and puts Link into a sort of battle mode.  This works fine in open spaces, but some of the dungeons in the game can get cramped and in those areas the player is often left to battle the camera.  There’s one section in the game that has Link in a maze trying to avoid sentries like one Solid Snake.  This moment is brief in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still an utter failure of game design that feels shoe-horned into the experience.  The camera is very limited and almost stuck to Link’s back.  Trying to peer around a corner is cumbersome and, if you’re like me, you’ll probably just say “screw it” and plow ahead.  The automatic jump can also be a problem at times.  I do appreciate that Nintendo did not want to turn Link into Mario and have him bounce all over the place, but not giving the player control over that aspect of the character does create a disconnect of sorts.  I can’t think of any other way to describe it other than it just feels weird.  It also creates the problem of Link jumping to his death on occasion by accident (usually brought on by shoddy camera work).  In many games where jumping is relegated to a button press, simply running off a ledge causes the character to fall and grab onto the ledge.  When approaching a ledge very slowly and carefully in Ocarina of Time, the same is true, but give Link any kind of speed and he takes a leap of faith no matter what lies below.

A nice comparison shot of the two versions.

A nice comparison shot of the two versions.

Another flaw, I suppose, resides with the lock-on system and enemy AI.  When Link is locked onto an enemy all other enemies around him will back off making the game a series of one-on-one contests.  This is obviously something that was implemented deliberately by Nintendo, but it’s still kind of odd.  Though I suppose it’s no less odd than turn-based battles in role-playing games.  A lot of the dungeons are also fairly clever.  They make it obvious to the player where to go, but leave it up to the player to figure out how to get there.  There are moments though where I felt cheated and the only way to progress is to strike an object that 99% of the time has no function.  This forces the player to resort to smacking everything and anything with Link’s sword at times.  There are also a few boss encounters that rely on magic power or a specific disposable item, and if you run out, you’re out of luck and either have to reset or let the enemy kill you.  And then there’s Navi.  Oh, how I despise Navi.  Navi is this little fairy that accompanies Link and is supposed to give him advice when needed.  She’s also a targeting reticule and a means of selecting which enemy to combat.  She’s also incredibly annoying.  I hate her existence.  She’s insulting as her primary function is to state the obvious, as if Nintendo didn’t think we were capable of getting thru this game on our own.  If you try to run off and do side quests, expect to be interrupted by Navi every ten minutes or so to remind you to head to the game’s next dungeon.  And each time she does you get to hear this annoying, high-pitched voice shout “Hey!”  In the 3DS version she’s even worse as she’ll pop in to tell you to take a break if you’ve been playing for long stretches.  She doesn’t seem to recognize when the system goes into sleep mode so you may actually have only been playing for a few minutes before she starts barking.  Nintendo, all too often, pulls crap like this with its games and it drives me nuts that features like Navi can’t be toggled on and off.

Young Link in the 3DS version.

Young Link in the 3DS version.

Those are my main sources of irritation when it comes to Ocarina of Time, the rest of the game is pretty awesome, to put it simply.  Yes, there’s still some age-related items in terms of the game’s presentation and mechanics.  Link certainly doesn’t handle as smoothly as more modern titles.  He can feel a bit stiff, and combat is mostly a hack and slash affair, but it gets the job done and is easily forgiven.  The visuals on the Nintendo 64 version have not aged gracefully, but are not horrid either.  The 3DS is a noticeable improvement here as it ups the visual quality to something akin to an early generation Gamecube title.  It won’t knock your socks off, and Hyrule still seems woefully underpopulated, but it’s far better than the original.  A lot of the enemies Link will encounter are lifted from the older games and it’s fun to see them presented here.  The iron knuckles are most intimating now, and the poes possess a lot of character.  The stalfos, one of the easier enemies in prior games, are far more challenging this time around and more menacing too.

A lot of the fun experienced in a Zelda game comes from the items and power-ups Link acquires over the course of his adventure.  Many make their return in Ocarina of Time and are engaging in this new 3D world.  Link can now toss bombs and even lock onto enemies when doing so.  The hookshot doesn’t just allow him to get over gaps in the area but turns him into an elven Spider-Man of sorts!  The hammer also takes on new meaning as it’s basically a giant cavalry hammer, though I feel like it’s underutilized in Ocarina of Time.  Some of the items are only usable by child Link, and others by adult Link. The boomerang is one such item, but there’s always an item that levels the playing field.  In this case, the hookshot used by adult Link can stun enemies and retrieve certain items just like the boomerang.  The ocarina is, naturally, an important item in the game and it allows Link to play songs.  A majority of these songs function as a quick travel feature and transport Link to another area.  Others are used for puzzles.  The mechanic worked so well that it’s basically been included in some form in all of the games to follow.

Ocarina of Time marked the debut of Epona, Link's trusty stead.

Ocarina of Time marked the debut of Epona, Link’s trusty stead.

As was the case with the previous titles, the game is somewhat light on plot.  It’s fairly straight-forward but there is a story present with the best portion of it devoted to giving the antagonist, Ganondorf, a backstory.  The inclusion of time travel is kind of neat but not really fully utilized as the game basically exists in two parts, the young Link portion and the adult Link portion.  There’s only one dungeon that requires the player to tackle it with both Links and only a few instances of Link doing something in the past to affect something in the future.  Link’s method of time travel is a bit cumbersome, so I suppose it’s a good thing the game doesn’t require the player to constantly travel back and forth, but I do feel like it could have been exploited further.  Boss battles are usually rewarding, but not often challenging.  There’s often a specific way to defeat each boss, and once the player figures it out, it becomes easy.  I’d be hard-pressed to pick out the most challenging boss as few stand out in that regard, though the most interesting boss encounter may belong to Phantom Ganon of the Forest Temple.

Even though the boss fights aren’t all that challenging, the game does present a challenge elsewhere.  The traditional quest is fairly painless, but the Master Quest ups the ante by making enemies much stronger.  This kind of slants the game a little as it becomes much harder early on when Link only has a small amount of hearts.  Once that’s built up it basically normalizes.  The only other changes with the Master Quest involve the dungeons being mirrored which does kind of throw you off but is easy to adapt to.  The gold skultulas are also harder to find but the heart pieces remain in the same locations.  The 3DS version takes the mirroring concept one step further and turns the whole game into a mirror-mode of the original quest.  I actually found that harder to adapt to than the dungeons as Hyrule Field is now flipped over so what was once east is now west.  Link’s handedness even changes from being a southpaw to a righty in the Master Quest.

Link and Sheik enjoying a jam session.

Link and Sheik enjoying a jam session.

Aside from the Master Quest and visual upgrade, the 3DS version does present some other modifications to the original game.  Most notable is the use of the touch screen for items.  Items can be mapped to the face buttons as well as two additional touch “buttons” which prove useful for certain types of items.  This also reduces the clutter on the top screen as Link’s health and magic is kept on the bottom screen.  There some drawbacks to the 3DS version though, such as the cramped space.  Z-Targeting is now L-Targeting and it can get awkward due to the dimensions of the 3DS.  Tight quarters also tend to feel even more claustrophobic on the 3DS screen and the gyro-controls for first-person view and aiming is just a so-so addition to the game.  The ending credits do have an updated song that’s fully orchestrated (something the N64 was incapable of capturing) which was a nice surprise upon completion.  All in all, if you’re looking to play this game for the first time there’s no obviously better version.  I would probably just go with whatever is easier to obtain, or if you know you want to play this primarily in front of your television, the original is more than sufficient.  You could also look up gameplay on a video sharing sight to decide if the visuals are a big enough reason to select one over the other.  And I guess if you love the whole 3D thing, that’s a factor too (I played the game in its entirety with the 3D feature turned off).

Ocarina of Time, no matter how or when you choose to experience it, is an excellent gameplay experience.  It holds up remarkably well, not just when age is considered, but just in how easy it is to come back to.  I’m mostly a one and done kind of gamer, meaning I beat a game once and that’s enough for me.  With Ocarina of Time, I’ve played thru and beaten it multiple times and each time the journey is an enjoyable one.  My only real concern with the game is for people who have never played it.  They may approach it thinking it’s a perfect game, but it’s not.  The game had some flaws when it was released in 1998 and some other flaws have been exposed due to age.  No one should approach any game expecting perfection though as there is no such game, just as there is no perfect movie or perfect book.  Our opinions and tastes are too broad as a people to ever declare any one game perfect.  We can only apply such absolutes in the broadest of strokes and at the highest categorical level:  Food is great.  Oxygen is excellent.  Zelda is fantastic.  Yeah, that sounds about right.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Video Games

March 24, 2013

Queen – The Crown Jewels

By Joe
Queen - The Crown Jewels (1998)

Queen – The Crown Jewels (1998)

My blog, affectionately titled The Nostalgia Spot, is definitely centered towards video games and movies.  Every now and then though, I like to post about music.  Here is one such post.  Queen is a band most are likely quite familiar with, even if it’s just for a song or two.  The “Bohemian Rhapsody” scene from Wayne’s World may be the best rock-inspired scene ever created and “We Are the Champions” basically concludes every major championship in America.  I always knew The Beatles were more popular in the US than they were in the UK, but I was still surprised to find out that Queen can boast having the all-time best-selling album in the UK (though I think it’s only fair to point out, Queen’s top album is Greatest Hits, while an actual album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band represents The Beatles).  The point being, Queen has a claim as one of the biggest acts in the world, though the band is definitely bigger outside of the US than it is within.  Queen is a band that I’ve always had a fondness for, and yet up until recently I only owned compilation albums by them.  I set out to remedy this and was a bit disappointed to find out that current CD releases for the band are a bit pricey, as are the recently remastered box sets.  I dug a bit deeper though and was able to find a brand new copy of their box set The Crown Jewels and I couldn’t be happier.

The Crown Jewels was first released in 1998 to commemorate the band’s 25th anniversary dated back to the release of the first Queen album.  I don’t know how long it was in production for but considering I was able to find a still sealed version in 2013 I would guess it was in production for at least a few years.  Box sets aren’t always huge sellers so it’s not shocking to find some hanging around years after release.  I imagine it’s no longer in production now, having been replaced with a new line of remastered sets titled Queen 40.  Those new sets seem pretty cool, but The Crown Jewels was the best way to get as many Queen albums at once in one purchase.  It contains the first 8 studio albums from the band:  Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, News of the World, Jazz, and The Game.  Each disc comes packaged in a cardboard sleeve to replicate the original vinyl release, albeit in a smaller form (that’s what the label claims, anyways, it’s entirely possible this was the most cost-effective way to package each disc).  There’s also a booklet containing the lyrics from each album as well as a brief bio from Matt Pinfield (remember him?).  The whole thing is housed in a blue, velvet-trimmed box that makes for a sturdy and attractive way to store everything.  Everything sounds great too.  I’m no audiophile, but Queen were masters of production and often ahead of the game so these albums have aged well.  The remastering of these albums didn’t knock anything out of whack and all of the levels sound appropriate.

Queen is John Deacon, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Freddie Mercury.

Queen is John Deacon, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Freddie Mercury.

It’s nice that packaging is solid but really it’s rather extraneous because the works within speak for themselves.  The music is what matters most and was the only thing I particularly cared about.  These eight albums represent the band’s best work, though the late entry Innuendo may be worthy of inclusion in that discussion.  At any rate, most agree the band dropped off for a bit with the album Hot Space, which arrived after The Game (I’m ignoring the soundtrack Flash Gordon) when their music embraced a bit too much of the current pop scene.  The albums here are wonderfully varied leading to many people having a different opinion on which one is best.  I’m not sure I can pick one, though there are a few that definitely feel like they’re lesser than their brothers.  I figured I’d do a quick rundown of each album presented here before wrapping things up:

Queen – The debut, and one that failed to find much success.  Queen’s first two albums were mostly ignored by the press, but they’re both worth listening to.  Queen’s first effort is the lesser of the two as the band had yet to find it’s true calling.  The lyrics are mostly fantasy inspired and this was before Queen had a robust production budget as well.  There’s some decent tracks here, but this is definitely the album I’ve listened to the least since purchasing the set.

Queen II – Queen II was mostly maligned by the press.  I can’t tell if they preferred the first album or if they just expected bigger things.  Regardless, I actually like the album quite a bit.  It’s not their best, but it has some interesting arrangements.  “The March of the Black Queen” is a cool little number and I’m practically begging for 3 Inches of Blood to cover “Ogre Battle.”  This album is Queen’s most prog-like which probably makes it more acceptable now than it was when originally released.

Sheer Heart Attack – This is the album that kick-started everything.  It contains the band’s first hit “Killer Queen” as well as other now recognizable tracks like “Now I’m Here” and “Stone Cold Crazy.”  This also is probably the band’s heaviest and most rock-oriented release.  It’s a great album to listen to while driving and a good one to keep coming back to because of the variety in the tracks, something that would become a hallmark for just about every Queen release.

A Night at the Opera – Sheer Heart Attack put the band on the map, while A Night at the Opera catapulted it to number 1.  Casual fans will recognize several tracks from this release including “I’m in Love With My Car,” “You’re My Best Friend,” and of course “Bohemian Rhapsody.”  There are some other, lesser tracks that stand out too such as the opener “Death on Two Legs” and the ballad “Love of My Life.”  A very good album, but I couldn’t help but feel it’s a tad overrated.  I find other albums in this set work better as complete albums.  The presence of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” one of the all-time best songs ever conceived, definitely helps this album out a lot.

A Day at the Races – It’s tough to follow-up a mega-success like A Night at the Opera, and it sounds like Queen basically tried to create a sequel.  In style, the two albums are very similar right down to the cover artwork.  Sequels are rarely as good as their predecessors though, and the same is true for A Day at the Races.  While it contains perhaps Queen’s best opening number, “Tie Your Mother Down,” the rest of the album fails to live up to expectations.  By any standard, this is still a good album, but by Queen’s it’s a bit lesser.

News of the World – This is one of the more interesting albums in the set, or at least, I found it to be.  Perhaps the band felt the production on the previous albums was too glossy, because this one is fairly bare-bones.  There’s less vocal layers, fewer complex melodies, and some songs just sound like they could have been done in one take.  This helps it to stand out amongst a collection like this and for the better.  Not because this approach is necessarily better than the others, but because it suits the material.  This album contains some familiar tunes as well as a few less-heralded songs that stand out such as “Spread Your Wings” and “It’s Late.”  It also contains the punky “Sheer Heart Attack” which lives up to it’s name-sake.  This one turned out to be one of my favorite albums in the set and is one not to be missed.

Jazz – Jazz brings things back to the sound of A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races  but fails to capture the magic of the former.  It’s a touch better than the latter though, and more casual fans will be happy to find “Fat-Bottomed Girls” and “Bicycle Race” among the songs on this set.  “Don’t Stop Me Now” is another classic and the band’s best party song, but other tracks just fall a bit flat for me.  And good luck making sense of “Mustapha.”  This album just might be the band’s silliest.

The Game – If there was a surprise album for me in this set, it was The Game.  For whatever reason, I didn’t expect much of this album but ended up finding a delightful little gem.  It’s a bit softer than the other albums but the melodies the band made use of are, at times, pristine.  Basically, the first six tracks are just killer and complement each other well.  The album stutters a bit in the last act, but the closing number “Save Me” makes up for it and sets up a nice bookend with the opener.  This one is also one of Queen’s shortest albums as it comes in at under 36 minutes.  At least it makes good use of those 36 minutes.  It’s also the only Queen album to reach number 1 in the US, so maybe it isn’t as overlooked as I thought.

All in all, this is a great collection of music.  If you’re someone looking to get into the band, this would be a worthwhile set to track down.  I suppose digital distribution might be cheaper, but I’m the type that needs a tangible copy of any music, movie, or game that I buy.  Nonetheless, Queen is awesome; this set is awesome; listen to Queen!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Music

March 4, 2013

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

By Joe
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987)

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987)

What?  Three Zelda entries in a row?!  I guess I’m on a roll.  This one should come as no surprise though, since I mentioned I just finished up playing the original Legend of Zelda on my 3DS, and what’s a more logical next step?  Why, Zelda II of course!  I received a free copy of Zelda II along with the original (and several others) as part of the 3DS Ambassador program that was launched by Nintendo in 2011.  I mostly have kept myself busy during my daily commute to and from work with retail 3DS games.  I’ve also spent time with my Vita (what’s that?) so I haven’t had much reason to play those free games Nintendo bestowed upon me.  I currently don’t have any unfinished 3DS games though so it made sense to finally start digging thru these titles, especially since Nintendo has updated them since they were released to include that ever so lovely save state feature made famous by illegal emulators in the late 1990’s.

The Legend of Zelda is an unquestioned classic.  It is beloved.  People today who pick it up having never experienced it might not quite get it, but anyone willing to invest the time will be able to at least appreciate the game for what it is and what it means to the franchise as a whole.  Zelda II, on the other hand, is often regarded as the worst entry in the series (developed by Nintendo) and is sometimes the target of much hate from the Zelda faithful.  It’s the black sheep of the franchise, the Jan Brady of Zelda games, because it’s so different from other games in the series and no one loves it.  That’s somewhat of an embellishment as the game does have its share of fans (or as some like to call them, apologists) but you would be hard pressed to find someone willing to argue it’s among the elite.

In theory, there actually isn’t a whole lot different about Zelda II when compared with its predecessor.  The player still controls the hero Link as he journeys across Hyrule collecting items to help him in his quest to recover the Triforce of Courage.  The music still kicks ass.  Link will encounter some familiar enemies like keese, stalfos, and moblins as they seek to avenge the defeat of their master Ganon, whom Link bested in the original game.  Where things change though, is in how the player interacts with Hyrule this time around.

No longer do gamers have to stare down at the top of Link's head.

No longer do gamers have to stare down at the top of Link’s head.

In the original Legend of Zelda, Link was viewed from a top-down perspective; kind of like over-looking a chess board.  For a Nintendo game the map was pretty large and the enemies would come onto the screen and Link could run up and stab them or take them down from a distance either with his sword or other means.  In Zelda II, the player controls Link from a more traditional side-scrolling perspective.  He plays more like a Belmont than a Mario, but he’s a pretty solid jumper considering this is his first go-around at platform action.  He still attacks with his sword and can block certain attacks with his shield.  When his health is full he can shoot little beams out of his sword which can damage some enemies.  It’s kind of surprising that fans seemed to be so put off by this change in perspective given that this was only the second game in the series.  It’s not as if it was much of an established property at this point.

Switching to a side-scrolling style of gameplay was just the beginning.  The RPG was just starting to gain momentum in the gaming world and Nintendo saw Zelda II as an opportunity to introduce some RPG elements into one of their games.  Link no longer travels the world in search of heart containers to increase his health (though there are still a few) or relies on getting a better sword to increase his damage output.  Instead he gains experience points for defeating enemies and at certain intervals he’s able to level-up one of three attributes:  Life, Magic, and Attack.  Life should be thought of more as defense as it doesn’t increase Link’s health meter, just reduces how much damage he takes.  Magic more clearly is tied to actual magic points, but upgrading the stat doesn’t visually impact the magic meter.  Attack is rather self-explanatory and increases how much damage Link can inflict with a single sword swipe.  There are a limited amount of magic containers and health containers that permanently increase each attribute respectively, but there’s no master sword for Link to find.  There’s also a world map which is similar to one from a Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy game.  When Link is roaming the world map enemies can appear on screen and attack him, which bring the player to a side-scrolling area to face off with some monsters, or run away.

Link can converse with the townsfolk, some of whom will help him out by refilling his life or magic.

Link can converse with the townsfolk, some of whom will help him out by refilling his life or magic.

The magic itself is also something that’s new.  Link is able to travel to towns now and interact with the locals, most of which have nothing of interest to share with the hero.  Hidden in each one though is a wizardly looking character who can teach Link a magic spell.  Link will come to rely on these throughout the game, some more than others.  Some examples are a shield spell that reduces the damage Link receives from enemies, and a jump spell that lets him jump higher.  All spells, except for the life spell which restores some of Link’s health, last for one screen.  The more powerful spells, naturally, consume more magic than others.  Interestingly, enemies no longer drop rupees or hearts (there’s no need for currency in this Hyrule) but will drop magic potions from time to time making magic one of the few ways Link can restore his health.  The game also has an extra life system, like most games, which perhaps makes up for the lack of restorative items.  There is still the occasional fairy hiding in a dungeon or roaming the world map that can fully restore Link’s health, but that’s it.

This approach is one reason why Zelda II is often regarded as the hardest game in the series.  That’s just one contributing factor to the difficulty though.  The main contributor early on is simply in how the game plays.  It takes some getting used to because Link is armed with perhaps the world’s worst sword.  The thing is tiny and Link’s attack range, simply put, blows.  In order to attack, Link needs to get in pretty close.  Having full health and the beam attack can be useful, but the beam doesn’t travel very far and most of the enemies in the game are immune to it anyways.  Most gamers will adapt though and eventually the game becomes easier.  Link even learns some additional moves, the downward thrust and upward thrust, which help to open things up.  Just when you’re starting to feel like you have this game figured out though it takes it to another level.  The first couple of dungeons (palaces, actually) are pretty straight-forward.  The game gets much harder around palace 3 or so.  Older enemies get stronger, and new, more powerful ones are introduced.  Most will come to loathe the blue knucklehead, an armored knight who throws knives and has a tendency to want to back away from Link making it hard to get in close.  And just when you’re getting used to taking them out, a bigger lizard like one will take it’s place or a jumping bird one that’s truly a pain in the ass.  Link also suffers from that same affliction that has killed many a Belmont in that he gets pushed backwards if struck by an enemy.  The game exploits this by filling the air with flying skulls and flaming eyeballs to get in Link’s face while he’s trying to jump across some laval pools.  The game will utilize pretty much every cheap trick in the book to try and kill you.  The player can continue as many times as he or she likes but doing so brings Link back to the beginning of the game and takes away his current experience points, which is really annoying if you’re deep into a palace or nearing a level-up.  The only aspect of the game that isn’t very challenging are the boss encounters.  It’s actually strange for that to be but most of the bosses in this game just aren’t any harder than the regular enemies.  I’d be hard-pressed to even name which one was the hardest since none of them are all that difficult to conquer, so long as you know what you’re doing.

Some of the boss fights are pretty lame.

Some of the boss fights are pretty lame.

The game plays differently, and is definitely harder than the first game in the series, but there are other areas where the game seems to invite criticism.  Just like the original Zelda, Zelda II has the hero traversing dungeons and finding new items that help Link to advance further in the game.  In the original Legend of Zelda, many of these items had multiple uses like the bow or the boomerang.  In Zelda II, many end up being single use items that have no impact on the gameplay.  There were some duds in the fist game like the raft and ladder, but just about every item in Zelda II is like the raft (which makes a return!) and essentially does nothing.  The magic spells kind of make up for this, but most of them are kind of dull too.  The game is also pretty lazy in the dungeon layouts.  The original game was too, but Zelda II is an even bigger offender with some palaces having the same room repeat upwards of three times!  And there’s “puzzles” like the thirsty woman in town with a water fountain right next to her house.  It’s not exactly thought-provoking.  And just to add one more kind of oddity with the game is the absence of Ganon.  He only appears if the player receives a game over, otherwise he doesn’t show his pig face.  Other games in the series do not feature Ganon too, but most of the main ones do, though I can’t say it bothers me to have a different antagonist this go-around (not that there’s much of an in game storyline).

Zelda II:  The Adventure of Link is certainly a memorable title, though some would say for the wrong reasons.  It’s legacy is defined by the fact that it was such a change from the first game in the series and for its punishing difficulty.  If not for the save state feature on my 3DS version of the game, I likely wouldn’t have had the patience to make it all the way thru this one. It’s not really in the running for hardest game on the NES, but it’s definitely in the top 20, maybe top 10.  As a video game, it’s actually a pretty solid title.  For all of the things people didn’t like, there are some good ideas that would be carried over into future Zelda titles.  It wouldn’t bother me in the least to even see Nintendo revisit some of the RPG mechanics of this game for a future Zelda title, or even to attempt a brand new side-scroller.  I think there’s a better game to be found than what’s here.  As a Zelda game, this one definitely is lacking but not because it’s different.  It’s just missing something, that special ingredient, that makes a Zelda game truly special.  Zelda fans certainly owe it to themselves to experience the title, just don’t expect to find a new favorite.

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Video Games

March 3, 2013

The Legend of Zelda (The Animated Series)

By Joe
Title screen from the Zelda cartoon (1989).

Title screen from the Zelda cartoon (1989).

Back in the 1980’s you could not get away from Nintendo.  The Nintendo Entertainment System was flying off store shelves and Super Mario was turned into a household name.  It only made sense that Mario and other Nintendo properties would have a lot of marketing power.  There were toys, pencils, lunch boxes, cereal, soda and so on.  It was Mario Mania!  Not surprisingly, Nintendo licensed the stomper of koopas for television and it wasn’t long before kids were sitting down in front of the tube to watch the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.  Hosted by former WWF personality Captain Lou Albano, as Mario, and Danny Wells (Luigi), the Super Mario Bros. Super Show began with two in a live-action setting before leading into a cartoon.  The live-action segments are probably the best remembered parts of the show because they’re quite absurd by any standard, especially for people who didn’t live through it.  The theme song was also pretty memorable, “The Plumber’s Rap,” and the ending theme “Do the Mario!” has enjoyed a second life on youtube.

The show only ran from September 1989 to December of the same year but since it aired every weekday afternoon it spawned 65 episodes worth of content.  It would be replaced with new Mario cartoons that didn’t feature the live-action segments and were based on later games in the Super Mario Bros. series.  They would be featured with another Nintendo cartoon, Captain N:  The Game Master, as part of the Nintendo Power Hour on Saturday mornings.  Before that though, Mario was on five times a week in live-action form, and four times in cartoon form.  The cartoon was mostly based on the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 but with some differences.  The creators wisely left out the whole vegetable tossing angle in favor of fire flowers and the antagonist of the series was King Bowser Koopa instead of Wart.  It was basically an adventure type of show where Mario, Luigi, Toad, and the Princess Toadstool would travel to different parts of the Mushroom Kingdom while foiling the schemes of Koopa.  There would often be a musical number and many episodes were parodies of popular movies and stories.  It was a very gimmicky show, like a lot of cartoons from that era, and it’s one that really hasn’t aged that well.

Remember these guys?

Remember these guys?

Now the show aired five days a week, but the Super Mario Bros. cartoon only aired four days a week.  That’s because every Friday Mario took a day off and made room for another hero:  Link.  Link, of course, is the hero of the Legend of Zelda games who was also pretty popular at that time.  The Zelda cartoon was different in tone from the Mario one.  Yes, it was still geared towards kids but it shunned a lot of the tired chase sequences and movie parodies that were commonplace in the Mario cartoon.  The show revolves around Link, the hero of Hyrule, as he defends the castle and its coveted Triforce of Wisdom from the forces of the evil sorcerer Ganon.  The show is based off of the first Zelda game with some references made to its sequel as well.  Link is pretty clearly modeled after the character illustrations from those booklets and wields the same dinky little sword he has in Zelda II.  Ganon, on the other hand, looks to be more of a concept.  In both games, he’s pictured as a big green/blue pig who does have some magical powers.  In the show, he has more of a wizardly look with an ugly pig-like face.  He’s actually more menacing looking this way, but he’s not going to get in there and mix things up with Link.  He’d rather stand back and let his minions do the fighting, who are not surprisingly incompetent.  He’s in possession of the Triforce of Power (the show makes no mention of the Triforce of Courage) and has an endless supply of Moblins and Stalfos.

Other characters include a fairy named Spryte, who is likely modeled after the generic fairies from the Zelda games.  She is kind of the Tinker Bell to Link’s Pan in that she likes Link, but he only has eyes for the princess Zelda.  Zelda appears in each episode and is portrayed in a way that probably surprised viewers at the time.  Zelda shuns the traditional princess attire and instead sports trousers and tunic much like Link.  She’s not the typical damsel in distress and seems pretty capable of taking care of herself.  She does have a snotty side, and because she’s the target of many of Ganon’s schemes, she does often require saving from her “hero.”

Zelda is not afraid to get her hands dirty.

Zelda is not afraid to get her hands dirty.

The portrayal of Link in this series is what many fans dislike about the show most.  Link, in the games, really had no personality.  Even in the modern games, he doesn’t have much of a personality so I don’t know what fans were expecting from the character, it just wasn’t this.  Link is a brash, cocky, and kind of lazy character.  He views his title of “hero” as a job and one that just gets in the way of his pursuit of Zelda.  Not an episode goes by where Link doesn’t beg the princess for a kiss, and because viewers need a reason to tune in, he never gets one.  He’s also been given a catch phrase, “Excuuuuuse me, princess!”  Some day I would like to watch the entire series and count how many times Link says that line (according to Wikipedia, it was 29 times).  The show only produced 13 15-minute Zelda cartoons, but I’m willing to bet that Link easily averaged more than two occurrences of that catch phrase an episode.  Sometimes the line makes sense, and sometimes it’s just shoe-horned into the script.  It even occurs during the opening credits.  Link may have said that stupid line more often than Michelangelo said “Cowabunga” on the TMNT cartoon, on a per episode basis.

Ganon and the two things he covets most.

Ganon and the two things he covets most.

Anyways, that aside, the show is of a better quality than the Mario cartoons, though that isn’t saying much.  In general, each episode features Ganon executing a new plan to capture the Triforce.  Some of these are more clever and entertaining than others.  There’s one where Ganon goes Robin Hood and to sneak into a magic contest, there’s another where a Zelda clone infiltrates Hyrule, and there’s even a frog prince story-line where Link finds himself the victim of a magic spell (and if you’re wondering, no, Zelda doesn’t break the curse with a kiss).  That said, there isn’t anything in the writing to this show that’s going to impress.  It’s pretty standard fare for the period.  One thing I can appreciate though is the attempt of the writers to explain a few loose ends from the video game.  Namely, how can Link carry so much crap around with him?  Apparently, he has a magic pouch that causes items to shrink down to micro size to fit in.  Throughout the series he and Zelda will often pull out items from the games like the boomerang, bow, and bombs.  Other enemies make appearances too like the octoroks and just about every boss character from the original game.  If you’re watching it to spot items from the game, you’ll have some fun with the show.

Animation wise, the show is mostly crap.  It’s not awful to look at but this is a DiC produced show and DiC liked to put out lots of licensed cartoons on the cheap.  They would get a large amount of cartoons made in a short amount of time so that the shows could go direct to syndication and exist for a few years and bounce around several channels.  I think, on average, the animation here is better than what’s in the Mario cartoons but that’s not saying a whole lot.  The audio is okay though and the Zelda theme is used throughout, which doesn’t hurt it.  Link’s voice, when he’s not saying that regrettable line, is all right.  Ganon is voiced by Len Carlson who should be familiar to fans of 80’s and early 90’s cartoons as he got around.  He uses a shrill voice for Ganon that works for this portrayal of the character.  Zelda is voiced by Cynthia Preston and I always enjoyed her voice.  I don’t really know why but I was drawn to it as a kid.  Maybe because Link sexualized her and I wasn’t accustomed to seeing that in other kid shows of the time.

She's such a tease.

She’s such a tease.

The Legend of Zelda cartoon is not something that is remembered because it’s a wonderful companion piece to the video games, it’s remembered for nostalgic purposes only and is a kind of humorous reminder of how games were marketed back in the day.  A lot of fans prefer the Zelda themed episodes of Captain N to this show because Link was more of a hero type in that show than he is here.  That show really isn’t any better on the whole as it was just another marketing tool (and all of these old cartoons are basically shunned by Nintendo today) to move video games.  This isn’t a show that most adults can turn on and digest over an hour as it’s pretty damn bad.  It’s kind of funny to laugh at, and I can say I do enjoy it more than the Mario cartoons, but if I didn’t watch it as a kid there’s no way I’m making it thru more than one episode.  The complete series was released by Shout a few years ago and can probably be had on the cheap for those looking to experience it.  Those that have never seen it would probably be better off just watching some clips on the internet as opposed to spending real money on the series.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Television, Video Games

February 24, 2013

The Legend of Zelda

By Joe
The Legend of Zelda (1986)

The Legend of Zelda (1986)

It likely comes as no surprise that the author of a blog titled The Nostalgia Spot enjoys playing old games.  I love having old consoles laying around the house, either hooked up to a television set or even just sitting in a closet waiting for a rainy day.  It’s almost a sort of nostalgic high to snap a cartridge into a Sega Genesis or hear that familiar spring when pushing a cart into place on a Nintendo Entertainment System.  Because so many of these systems are existing in a closet or attic, it can be a bit of a chore to relive the old days but thankfully digital distribution is here to make things easier.  Sure, nothing is better than the original experience.  Often times if there’s an old game I feel like I missed out on I’m more apt to find a used copy on the internet than download it.  The one exception is in the portable realm.  Nintendo is one such company that has released a lot of its old titles for download onto portable gaming systems.  I’d actually argue the company hasn’t released enough.  It has a tendency to focus on old portable games when selecting new ones to release and not enough on old NES or SNES games.  A lot of the classics are available though, and that’s why I’ve been spending a lot of quality time with an old favorite recently:  The Legend of Zelda.

I’ve actually had a copy of The Legend of Zelda on my 3DS for awhile now.  I bought the system at launch only for Nintendo to drop the price dramatically not long after due to lackluster sales.  To avoid ticking off the early adopters Nintendo released 20 free games to these “Ambassadors,” as they called them.  They were ten NES games and 10 Gameboy Advance games.  Among those ten was The Legend of Zelda.  Initially these releases were bare-bones lacking some of the features of the typical downloadable games.  As the games were released to the public though, Ambassadors were able to re-download them for free with the save state feature.  The feature is certainly a nice one to have, especially for a game like The Legend of Zelda which popularized the save feature in console games.  The feature was rather crude by today’s standards, but the re-release fixes that and allows the user to save whenever he or she wishes, which is a necessity for gaming on the go.

The boss of the first (and 8th) dungeon is a cake-walk.

The boss of the first (and 8th) dungeon is a cake-walk.

For the most part, I don’t blog about the all-time classic titles, there’s just enough of that stuff all over the web.  Sometimes a game becomes so old though that people tend to forget about just how good it is.  No one I know would say The Legend of Zelda is a bad game, bust most would the caveat that it’s “good for its era.”  That is just not true.  This is a title that does not need to get by on reputation.  Before playing it I had spent a few weeks playing a recent RPG released for the 3DS:  Paper Mario Sticker Star.  The Paper Mario series is a pretty good one, but Sticker Star is not a very good game.  It’s far from awful, but it’s so tedious and needlessly gimmicky that I just found it tiresome.  I saw it thru to the end but really wanted to wash the stink away.  I didn’t have a new game lined up, so I dug into those ambassador titles and settled on The Legend of Zelda.  Now, I’d be lying if I said it was easy to jump right into.  There’s always a bit of a culture shock when going back nearly 30 years with an old game.  That’s when one realizes just how used to today’s comforts they’ve become.  With The Legend of Zelda we’re talking about an early generation NES game.  It’s not even considered good looking for an NES game.  The backgrounds are pretty sparse, all of the dungeons look the same (save for the color), and Link (the protagonist, for those unaware) doesn’t have much personality.  Pretty much the entire plot to the game was contained in the booklet that came with it, so don’t expect much in the presentation department.  This is just a really simple looking game.

Pretty much everyone is familiar with the gold NES cart, but fewer are aware that in Japan the game was originally released for the Famicom Disk attachment. This was never released in other parts of the world, which is what necessitated the inclusion of a battery for saving in the American cart.

Pretty much everyone is familiar with the gold NES cart, but fewer are aware that in Japan the game was originally released for the Famicom Disk attachment. This was never released in other parts of the world, which is what necessitated the inclusion of a battery for saving in the American cart.

Despite that though, it really didn’t take me long to get sucked in.  It actually didn’t take me as long as I would have guessed.  Once I got my feet wet and found that first dungeon I was off and running.  Things started coming back to me, I started getting used to how to approach each enemy again, and I started to have fun.  Lots of fun.  This game has no business being this good still.  It’s also crazy how similar it is to every game in the franchise.  It’s easy to forget where the series started when chasing down Ganondorf or watching Link turn into a wolf, but the same basic game design has remained the same since 1986.  It’s funny to me, and a bit misguided, how Nintendo has tried to give gamers a new experience by adding some silly gimmick to recent Zelda titles but has never really attempted to change the experience.  Majora’s Mask is probably the lone exception on console games, while the portable titles have mixed things up to some degree while maintaining a familiar interface.  Though even there, Nintendo has still muddled things with gimmicks like touch controls or trains.  Nintendo consistently fails to realize that it often implements change, like touch controls or the waggle controls on the Wii edition of Twilight Princess, for the sake of doing so and rarely addresses the actual gameplay experience.  Whether gamers are pressing a button or flicking their wrist, they’re still making Link swing a sword.

Tangent aside, it’s actually a great deal of fun to be reminded of where the series started.  I always liked this title back on the NES, and the sequel only reinforced that, so I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that I still like it.  The game probably would be less fun for someone who has never played it.  There are so many little things one has to do to make it thru to the end that the game just doesn’t even clue you in on.  Throughout the game there are these old hermits living in caves that offer advice.  Some of it is cryptic but does have value.  Some of it seems like nonsense, a mistranslation perhaps.  Then there are other secrets that just have no indication whatsoever.  The entrance to Level 8 is one such thing where Link has to burn a random bush on the overworld map.  Most bushes aren’t affected by the candle item Link has to use to burn this one particular bush down, but the player is still expected to figure it out somehow.  I suppose this bush isn’t completely inconspicuous, but others are.  There are a few hidden stores or caves that a player isn’t going to find without help.  And that may have been the idea as there were numerous tip hotlines and the like for games back in the 1980’s.  Nintendo would get in on the action with Nintendo Power though this game arrived before that.  And Zelda games weren’t the only offender, but it’s something that really isn’t heard of in modern games.  We’d consider it poor design.  In other words, if this is your first time playing this game, expect to be in need of a walkthrough at some point.

The ones in blue are a pain to deal with.

The ones in blue are a pain to deal with.

Aside from some confusing moments, the game actually isn’t too difficult provided you know what you’re doing.  If one never upgraded the sword or Link’s armor then the game would get really hard.  I actually got the magic sword one dungeon later than I could have and that last dungeon with the mid-level sword was a bastard.  The game takes some getting used to in order to figure out just how close Link needs to get in order to defeat enemies.  Early on I found myself taking unnecessary hits but once I found my bearings I was okay.  Most of the enemies move faster than Link, and since this was before the invention of his spin attack, it can be challenging to keep them at bay.  The boomerang becomes Link’s best friend and remains so for most of the game as it freezes enemies on contact.  Keeping Link’s health maxed out is also a tremendous asset as that lets him shoot beams out of his sword.  Some enemies though are just plain hard to defeat without taking damage.  The wizrobes are probably the most challenging as they take 3 hits with the magical sword to defeat.  Striking them also doesn’t interrupt their movement or attack, and they can teleport all over the screen.  Needless to say, getting out of a room full of them without taking any damage is a true challenge.  The boss encounters, on the other hand, are all pretty easy as long as you know what you’re doing.  The final boss, Ganon naturally, can only be killed with a silver arrow and it’s entirely possible to reach him without ever finding said arrows making survival an impossibility.

Ultimately, I’m making this entry because I’ve been surprised with how much enjoyment I’ve been able to squeeze out of this title recently.  If you’re a younger gamer who never played the original Legend of Zelda then I suggest you do.  There are many options for playing it in this day and age as it’s been re-released more times than I can remember.  The easiest way to get it is via download from Nintendo and I think it only costs five bucks, but I’m not certain.  This is one title that has withstood the test of time, Zelda II on the other hand…

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Video Games

February 18, 2013

Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp

By Joe
Lady and the Tramp (1955))

Lady and the Tramp (1955)

It wasn’t my intention to double-up on the Disney posts but with it being Valentine’s weekend why not take a look at one of Disney’s most famous love stories?  It’s kind of funny that arguably Disney’s best stab at a love story involves two dogs considering all of the prince and princess relationships they’ve produced over the years.  There’s something special and endearing about the romance of Lady the cocker-spaniel and that loveable Tramp.  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that most people like dogs and this movie was clearly worked on by such people.  It gives the story a genuine feeling.  There’s often a feeling of audience manipulation with these Disney tales be it the need to be a good boy found in Pinocchio or the importance of growing up in Peter Pan.  Lady and the Tramp isn’t so obvious with its message, if it has one.  It’s one of the simpler tales produced during Disney’s prime years, along with Dumbo, and some of that is likely due to it not being based on a popular tale of old.  Lady and the Tramp is just a nice piece of entertainment, and one of my favorite Disney movies to date.

Incidentally, the fact that Lady and the Tramp wasn’t based on a well known story made Walt Disney nervous.  He felt that audiences would be less interested in the film as a result so he made sure a novelization was released before the film.  There was also a Disneyland TV special that aired before the movie premiered and basically went over the entire plot (this is included on the DVD and Blu Ray release, for those interested) scene for scene.  I don’t know why Disney felt that way, but it does seem odd to me.  I’ve also considered it one of the film’s strengths that it’s not a retelling of a popular fairy tale.  Those stories are well and good, but there’s little surprise for even younger viewers.  Also surprising is that the film was not well received initially.  Audiences gobbled it up but critics hated it, even panning the artwork.  Such a notion seems shocking to me when I watch it today and it seems like all of the critics that hated it either changed their mind or are dead.

If the puppy Lady sequence doesn't warm your heart then you simply have no soul.

If the puppy Lady sequence doesn’t warm your heart then you simply have no soul.

Visually, Lady and the Tramp is a remarkable picture.  Disney artists have become famous for their attention to detail when it comes to drawing animals.   Look up the making of pretty much any such picture from them and you’ll find the artists drawing from real life as they observe their subjects.  They’ve been doing it for years and it becomes clear why when watching any such film because the animals move and react in fantastic ways.  The common and expected movements of walking, sitting, begging, running, and so on are spot on for the canines in this film.  The subtler ones are also perfect such as when Lady is confused or is trying to get her beloved Jim Dear’s attention.  The animators also clearly want the audience to experience this world as the dogs do.  Every scene is from a dog’s point of view as Lady’s home is always displayed at floor level.  It’s rare to see a human’s face and often the people in the background are still paintings.  The animators want you to focus on the dogs, the humans are just ancillary.  Lady and the Tramp is also noteworthy for being the first animated feature to be shot in wide-screen Cinemascope.  This is a plus as it gives us even more artwork to take in!  Whether it’s the dogs themselves or the lovingly painted scenery, this film is a feast for the eyes.

These cats are jerks.

These cats are jerks.

Disney films are often as famous for their visuals as they are their songs.  Lady and the Tramp is more subtle in its use of music but is fantastic in its execution.  The music all works within the narrative and even after immediately watching it I have to think hard to remember when the film breaks into song.  That’s because it’s used so effectively and works with the picture as opposed to being an in-film music video.  One of the more popular spots for song is the introduction of the siamese cats (“We are siamese if you please,”) which is short and effective and sure to stick with you.  The most famous song though is easily “Bella Notte,” the song sung to Lady and Tramp by the italian restaurant owners during their iconic scene.  I’m not sure if there’s a more famous scene in any other Disney feature than the one where Tramp and Lady share their famous plate of spaghetti.  Describing the scene to someone who has never seen it is futile.  It sounds cute but utterly ridiculous.  The scene was shot and animated with such care though that it works.  It will charm you the first time you see it just as much as the fiftieth.

The animators had no trouble getting these dogs to display a wide range of facial expressions.

The animators had no trouble getting these dogs to display a wide range of facial expressions.

The film looks great, the film sounds great, but it wouldn’t be anything without a good plot.  Lady and the Tramp was a combination of storyman Joe Grant’s own tales about his English Springer-Spaniel and a short story Disney himself enjoyed called “Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog.”  It’s a tale about two worlds colliding as the upscale Lady falls in with the lowborn Tramp.  Tramp is a tramp of his own choosing apparently and rather enjoys his carefree lifestyle where as Lady can’t imagine life without her masters, Jim Dear and Darling (if Lady is aware of what their real names are she doesn’t let on).  Lady is introduced in the film’s first scene as Jim presents his wife with a Christmas present containing her.  The sequence that follows is perhaps the film’s best as we see the young couple get introduced to life with a puppy.  Jim wants to be stern with Lady on her first night and establish a nightly pattern where as Lady just wants to sleep with her new mom and dad.  Lady, of course, wins out and gets accustomed to life as the center of attention in the household.  It’s not until Jim Dear and Darling are expecting their first child that she gets a peak at what life could be like as second fiddle.  This is how Tramp is able to work his way in initially, and when Aunt Clara comes to babysit and views Lady as a nuisance, Tramp is there to seal the deal.  Lady gets a taste of what life is like for Tramp, the good parts and the bad, and our budding lovers are forced to confront their differences and Tramp is shown he needs to change if he wants to win the heart of his Lady.

Some Disney stories are scary and some are even sad, but Lady and the Tramp shuns most of these conceptions and remains a mostly fun picture with a very warm and happy outcome.  There are some scenes featuring action and suspense that may be a little frightening for young children, but this one is pretty tame by any standard.  Dog lovers will especially fall in love with this picture as it’s practically a love letter to our canine compadres and really only presents them in a favorable light.  Maybe those who do not have much affection for dogs will find this one harder to enjoy than others, but for my money this is one of Disney’s most watchable films and belongs in any movie collection.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Film

February 9, 2013

Walt Disney’s Peter Pan

By Joe
Walt Disney's Peter Pan (1953)

Walt Disney’s Peter Pan (1953)

The story of the boy who shunned time and refused to grow up is a timeless one that has captured the hearts of many who experienced it.  Michael Jackson was famously said to be obsessed with the story.  He probably took things too far.  Walt Disney was another individual who found the story captivating and the producer within knew he could market it to a wide audience.  He was so eager to get Peter Pan into production that it was originally planned as the follow-up to the hugely successful Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but the technology of the time wasn’t where it was needed in order to fulfill Disney’s vision.  Disney also had a harder than expected time of securing the rights to create the film.  All of this meant putting Peter Pan off for a little while and it would eventually see release in 1953 making it the 14th film in the Disney Classics series.  It was also the last Disney film to be released via RKO while later pictures would be released through Disney’s own Buena Vista Distribution.

Watching old films from my youth can be enjoyable for many reasons.  There’s the intrinsic nostalgia value of seeing something I remember fondly.  There’s also the feeling of a new discovery.  Peter Pan falls into the latter as it wasn’t a film I was exposed to much as a child.  VHS tapes could be pretty pricey when I was a kid, especially Walt Disney releases that tried to make things seem more special with better packaging and a heightened sense of tradition.  The whole vault concept was around then too, which for those unaware, is the concept by Disney of only supplying stores for a set amount of time with a given film before ceasing production.  I remember the commercials would make it seem like these films would never be released again, which of course wasn’t true as most have been released multiple times since.  As a kid, I never owned Peter Pan or saw it in theaters but I was exposed to it.  It’s possible I had only seen it once before watching it recently following its latest release on Blu Ray.  This kind of viewing experience is almost more fun as I get to approach the film almost for the first time where I’m more apt to take notice of the things I wouldn’t have as a kid.  For the most part, only the film’s opening scene felt familiar to me.  I attribute that to a poor attention span as a child.  Even something with a running time under 80 minutes is a long period for a child to sit still.  More often than not, when a movie was put on in front of me I’d watch the first twenty minutes before being inspired to play.  Only the most exciting moments could hold my attention.

Peter's grand entrance.

Peter’s grand entrance.

The film opens with the audience being introduced to the Darling family.  The Mr. and Mrs. are getting ready for a party while the children are getting ready for bed.  Mr. Darling is presented as a bit of a neurotic while Mrs. Darling is calm and together.  The eldest of their children, Wendy, is a bit of a romantic with a love of fairy tales, especially Peter Pan.  She has two younger brothers, John and Michael.  John is the brainier of the two with a very naive sense of the world around him as illustrated by his willingness to fight pirates and Indians.  Michael is the youngest and most impressionable.  They’re all of a good nature with Wendy being the most strong-willed and the boys the most impressionable.  Nana, the nurse dog, may be a canine but embodies the characteristics of a nanny.  She dotes on the children and tries, in vain, to keep the nursery clean and organized.  She is only slightly anthropomorphized in that she doesn’t speak or display any ability to maneuver in a way unfamiliar to a dog but is obviously of a human intelligence.  A series of events leads to Mr. Darling getting short with the children and expressing a need to his eldest that she grow up.  Wendy, unlike 99.9% of young girls, is heartbroken when her father informs her it’s time she move out of the nursery and into her own bedroom.

Peter Pan is introduced soon after as the Mr. and Mrs. leave for a party with the children tucked in for the night.  Peter is presented as a boy of about twelve who embodies all of the characteristics of a child but heightened in a way to make them obvious.  He’s brash, egocentric, and almost incapable of anything resembling empathy.  He takes no situation seriously and is used to getting his way.  He’s also fun-loving, care-free, and eager to share the fun experiences of life with other children.  He has no desire to mature and grow up and seeks only to play for the rest of his days.  With him is Tinker Bell, his pixie companion, as the two are attempting to retrieve Pan’s shadow which somehow ended up in the Darling household.  The children are delighted to meet the real Peter Pan, and when he proposes they join him in Never Land, the boys are most excited to go.  Wendy is a bit more reserved but the thrill of flying and seeing Never Land is too much for her to ignore.

Captain Hook is consumed by his need for vengeance against Peter Pan, who famously chopped off his hand. I wonder what he was called before that happened?

Captain Hook is consumed by his need for vengeance against Peter Pan, who famously chopped off his hand. I wonder what he was called before that happened?

The setting of London is presented always at night giving it a cold and charmless quality.  Never Land is almost always presented during the day and is bright and colorful.  It’s populated by a host of interesting characters that are both charming and menacing though rarely scary.  Even the film’s chief villains, the pirates, are presented in a colorful manner.  The man-eating crocodile, who seems to only have an interest in Captain Hook, is more funny than frightening and even the youngest of children are unlikely to be scared by this film.

Captain Hook is the film’s primary antagonist.  He embodies all of the characteristics of a traditional Disney villain.  He’s mean-spirited, hot-tempered, cowardly, and manipulative.  The film suggests a mutiny may play out early in the film as Hook has kept the ship docked in Never Land as he has become obsessed with getting revenge against Pan, the boy who chopped off his hand and fed it to the crocodile.  His first mate, Mr. Smee, is his most loyal servant that is ceaselessly bossed around by Hook.  The film hints that he may be a decent person but never expressly confirms that.  Also joining the supporting cast are the Lost Boys who all dress in animal-like costumes and follow Pan whole-heartedly.  There are Indians on the island of Never Land as well who appear to engage in a friendly rivalry with the Lost Boys until the chief’s daughter, Tiger Lily, goes missing.  Perhaps the most interesting member of the supporting cast is none other than Tinker Bell.  Tinker Bell has become a popular character with young girls in recent years, even starring in her own series of direct-to-video movies.  I’ve never seen any of those films for what I hope are obvious reasons, so I don’t know how she is portrayed in them but I assume it is not how she is portrayed in Peter Pan.  Young fans of the character may be surprised to see she is a jealous, brat of a pixie.  Her actions can, in part, be blamed on Peter who she clearly has strong affection for but he is dubious of such feelings.  She is almost instantly jealous of Wendy and the attention Peter gives her.  Tinker Bell is so jealous and spiteful of Wendy that at one point she attempts to trick the Lost Boys into killing her.  Her actions actually cast her as a minor villain to Hook’s role of primary antagonist.  Only by redeeming herself in the end does she avoid the label of true villain

Tinker Bell has become a star since her debut in "Peter Pan," despite being a very unlikable character.

Tinker Bell has become a star since her debut in “Peter Pan,” despite being a very unlikable character.

The story plays out rather expectedly with Wendy eventually seeing the faults in Peter’s view of the world and accepts the responsibility of growing up.  There’s a spectacular confrontation between Pan and Hook, while the stubborn character of George Darling sees the beauty in viewing the world through the eyes of a child.  It’s a nice little tale on the wonders of youth that doesn’t beat the audience over the head with the notion of being a responsible adult.  As with pretty much all Disney films, the exquisite visuals are set to song at times with most of the songs fitting into the narrative of the story as opposed to the broadway approach of the recent animated outputs.  The only exception to this rule is the film’s most famous song, “You Can Fly!,” which occurs during the flight from London to Never Land.  It’s a fun, uplifting, tune that is very much in the same style as all of the Disney songs from that era with a choir of individuals used for the vocals.  It has that old, fuzzy, quality to the vocals but still manages to sound clear.  “A Pirate’s Life” is probably the other well-known song from the film, with the “What Made the Red Man Red?” being known for more dubious reasons (more on that to follow).  As someone who doesn’t often enjoy the song portions of Disney films, I can say these are not too intrusive but I did grow bored with most of the sequences, the only exception being the flying scene.  “You Can Fly!” is the kind of uptempo song I can get into and enjoy and the scene is just long enough that it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

The film is not without controversy, as illustrated by this image.

The film is not without controversy, as illustrated by this image.

Over the years Peter Pan has become noteworthy for reasons beyond its visuals or story.  The portrayal of the Indians has become somewhat of a touchy subject as it contains many of the old Hollywood stereotypes.  When first encountered they greet others with the tired expression “How?,” and often charge into a scene with the battle-cry formed by shouting while patting their mouths repeatedly with an open palm.  Their skin is of a reddish tint, some being obviously exaggerated, and the children hold a negative view of the Indians.  At least John and Michael do, while the Lost Boys basically view them as playmates.  The film early on teases that Indians are a savage and stupid lot, but this is the viewpoint of the naive John and the film dispels this notion by having him humorously outsmarted by the Indians while he explains their stupidity to the other boys.  For anyone who grew up being able to view old Looney Tunes shorts on television, the portrayal of Indians in this film is far from shocking.  This was commonplace for the era and as recently as the early 90’s this kind of thing was shown during children’s programming.  I learned in school at a very early age that this was not an honest portrayal of Native Americans, and kids today might not even be familiar with the old “How?” greeting, but some unfamiliar with this film who buy it for their kids may be caught by surprise.  To add a little extra shock value is the musical number “What Made the Red Man Red?” which is certainly not politically correct by today’s standards.  I find it hard to get worked up by the number though, considering the most popular sport in the country today has a team in the nation’s capital called the Redskins.  Beyond the reference to color, I didn’t pick anything out of the song that sounds particularly offensive, but I’ve never read the lyrics either.  Apparently it suggests they became red as a result of blushing in their pursuit of women or something.  Unquestionably, if the film were made today the song wouldn’t exist and it’s possible the Indians wouldn’t be included at all.  If it sounds like something that would bother you then by all means look elsewhere for entertainment.  There are plenty of other animated films out there with less controversial material.

On the whole, Peter Pan is a mostly enjoyable film and, controversy aside, a fairly harmless one at that.  It doesn’t set out to make any bold, life-affirming statements and exists primarily as entertainment.  As far as visual entertainment goes, it’s well done though it lacks a definitive visual moment such as Monstro from Pinocchio or the forest fire in Bambi.  The flying sequence comes close, but falls a bit short of iconic status.  It makes up for this with its signature song, “You Can Fly!,” and by having a very even presentation with no wasted scenes.  At a running time of just 76 minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and has a neat and tidy presentation.  It’s an entertaining movie, more so for children than adults, but it does possess the ability to charm even older audiences.  I don’t love it like I do some of the other Disney animated features, but it’s something I can watch from time to time and it’s a film that’s worthy of the term “classic.”

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Film