next...

[Nftnat]

So, anyone have anything to say about the latest Cartoon Cartoon? For those not in the know, it's Time Squad & it'll be debuting tonight. I'm surprised that there's been almost no buzz about it; I've heard more about Justice League & Samurai Jack & they're months away. Me, I'll give it a chance, but it seems to be a blatant ripoff of Voyagers (Caps'd prolly be the only other one to remember that one, if he were still here) & Peabody, & to a lesser extent The Time Tunnel & Quantum Leap. The kid even looks like Sherman, for crying out loud. Well, maybe a cross of Sherman & that kid from Detention, y'all know which one I mean. I won't be here when it debuts as I'll be playing for a graduation tonight, but I'll be looking forward to watching the tape Ill be making of it, as well as hearing your opinions on it. Did I mention I'm a sucker for time-based shows? That also applies to programs like John Palmer's Instant Recall, Linda Ellerbee & Ray Gandolf's Our World, etc.

[DR. BELCH]

My first thought from the promos?
Histeria, if Tom Ruegger had dropped a couple shots of acid wraped in a peyote mushroom before writing a script.

[Sharklady]

I caught the 'Time Squad' premier episode, and in my opinion it shows promise.

The Time Squad is in charge of maintaining the historical time-continuium. It's two original members are a Big Tough Cop type (who looks like Space Ghost gone badly to seed), and a rather effete robot w/ a mellower version of the Joker's voice (Mark Hamil, of course.) Their relationship is more than a little reminiscent of 'Futurama's Zapp and Kif, but their main problem is that neither one of 'em is very knowledgeble about history. That gap gets filled when they stumble upon Otto, a bookish kid who's more than happy to leave his oppressive orphanage (where they don't allow reading!) to become the Squad's third member.

Their first adventure involves tracking down Eli Whitney, to persuade him that his inventing talent would be better used producing the cotton gin, rather than flesh-eating robots. That's pretty much all the history that's taught- 'Histera' would've included some mention of how the gin was such a boon to the cotton industry that it motivated the importation of more slaves, which contributed to the provocation of the Civil War.

In the second ep, the Squad arrives at ancient Troy and witnesses a Greek commander repeatedly bungling the Trojan Horse operation. Since there's no solid evident the Trojan Horse actually existed, this doesn't really qualify as a history lesson at all. So I'm unsure whether this show is actually trying to be educational, but so far it's doing OK in the entertainment department, mostly due to the amusing voice characterizations.

Future episodes (so to speak) should establish whether this show is worthy of my regular viewing. I'll let you know.