Rover_Wow
06-07-2005, 12:10 AM
Aaron Barnhart's site says:
She’ll rescue you … from your rerun-filled weekends.
Cartoon Network is promoting the lights out of its newest home-grown show, “The Life and Times of Juniper Lee”, and I can’t say I blame them. This one has it all: action, slapstick, grown-up humor, hilarious monsters and moxie that just won’t quit.
“Juniper Lee” tells the adventures of an 11-year-old girl who’s called out of class and after-school activities to fight monsters. You’re thinking “Powerpuff Girls.” Think Bugs Bunny instead. June is a jaded hero who nonchalantly ties her adversaries in knots while wisecracking to herself. Just as often, she’s having to contend with her bratty younger brother Ray Ray and temperamental talking dog Monroe, her fellow ghostbusters.
Judd Winick, the comic-book artist and, yes, former “Real World San Francisco” hamster, dreamed up “Juniper” with his wife, Pam, whom he met on “Real World.” He seems to get the Powerpuff comparisons a lot.
“There aren’t that many female protagonists out there, so every time another one comes along people drag out ‘girl power,’.” he said with a sigh in a recent phone interview. “They never drag out ‘boy power,’ but there you go.”
Well, you go anyway, June, even if your classmates have no clue that in the spirit world your name is actually Te Xuan Ze and you’re the sheriff. (Like Winick’s wife, June is Chinese.)
“She’s got this magic bracelet,” Winick explained. “It’s like a little pager that goes off to tell her some monster is doing something he’s not supposed to.”
That’s part of the fun of “Juniper Lee”: Blood-curdling beasts are constantly invading her space, but only she can see them. So, around peers, with whom she is desperate to fit in, she has to pretend she’s talking to imaginary friends. It’s a conceit that may get tiresome after about 20 episodes, but there is so much going on in this show that viewers may not even notice.
“We’re borrowing wholesale from the book of Chuck Jones,” said Winick, referring to the creator of Bugs, Daffy Duck and lots of other fast-talking, rubber-bodied greats. “It’s old school animation we’re bringing back, more like the classic WB cartoons, with full backgrounds, really bright palettes. A lot of comedy shows don’t have action and a lot of action shows don’t have much comedy. We’ve got it all.”
Feedback, please.
She’ll rescue you … from your rerun-filled weekends.
Cartoon Network is promoting the lights out of its newest home-grown show, “The Life and Times of Juniper Lee”, and I can’t say I blame them. This one has it all: action, slapstick, grown-up humor, hilarious monsters and moxie that just won’t quit.
“Juniper Lee” tells the adventures of an 11-year-old girl who’s called out of class and after-school activities to fight monsters. You’re thinking “Powerpuff Girls.” Think Bugs Bunny instead. June is a jaded hero who nonchalantly ties her adversaries in knots while wisecracking to herself. Just as often, she’s having to contend with her bratty younger brother Ray Ray and temperamental talking dog Monroe, her fellow ghostbusters.
Judd Winick, the comic-book artist and, yes, former “Real World San Francisco” hamster, dreamed up “Juniper” with his wife, Pam, whom he met on “Real World.” He seems to get the Powerpuff comparisons a lot.
“There aren’t that many female protagonists out there, so every time another one comes along people drag out ‘girl power,’.” he said with a sigh in a recent phone interview. “They never drag out ‘boy power,’ but there you go.”
Well, you go anyway, June, even if your classmates have no clue that in the spirit world your name is actually Te Xuan Ze and you’re the sheriff. (Like Winick’s wife, June is Chinese.)
“She’s got this magic bracelet,” Winick explained. “It’s like a little pager that goes off to tell her some monster is doing something he’s not supposed to.”
That’s part of the fun of “Juniper Lee”: Blood-curdling beasts are constantly invading her space, but only she can see them. So, around peers, with whom she is desperate to fit in, she has to pretend she’s talking to imaginary friends. It’s a conceit that may get tiresome after about 20 episodes, but there is so much going on in this show that viewers may not even notice.
“We’re borrowing wholesale from the book of Chuck Jones,” said Winick, referring to the creator of Bugs, Daffy Duck and lots of other fast-talking, rubber-bodied greats. “It’s old school animation we’re bringing back, more like the classic WB cartoons, with full backgrounds, really bright palettes. A lot of comedy shows don’t have action and a lot of action shows don’t have much comedy. We’ve got it all.”
Feedback, please.