CARTOON VAGANZA

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The Polar Express (Picture 4) cartoon, animated, movie, Warner Bros, Robert Zemeckis, IMAX 3D theaters, images, widescreen, wallpaper, gallery, funny, picture, photo. On the train, the boy encounters a group of other children who are on their way to see Santa Claus, including a young girl, a know-it-all, and a lonely little boy also from Grand Rapids whose name is Billy. When the conductor asks for tickets from everyone so he can punch them, the boy discovers his ticket is miraculously in his left pocket. The conductor punches two letters into each child's ticket ("BE" for the Hero Boy and "LE" for the know-it-all). However, he forgets to punch the girl's ticket. Then hot chocolate is served, with waiters performing acrobatic jumps and flips to serve everyone while the conductor sings. The girl, however, kept a cup under her seat so she could give it to Billy, who is sitting in the observation car. The conductor catches her, but when she tells him what she was doing, he helps her. The Hero Boy then sees the girl's ticket lying on her seat and, realizing that it wasn't punched, tries to go to the next car to give it to her. However, he loses the ticket in the wind, but unknown to him, the ticket miraculously ends up in a vent in the same car that the boy was in. However, the boy does not realize this, and he tells the conductor that he lost the girls ticket. The conductor then takes the girl up to the roof, and the know-it-all says that she will be thrown off the train. The boy suddenly sees the ticket in the vent, and grabs it just before it slips away. The boy then climbs on the roof to try and stop the conductor. He meets a hobo (the self-proclaimed owner of the train as well as the "King of the North Pole") on the roof, who helps him to get towards the conductor and the girl by skiing as the train goes downhill. The Polar Express (Picture 4). The hobo warns the boy that Flattop Tunnel is approaching, and that it only has 1 inch of clearance. They do make it in time, and the boy jumps and lands in the tender. The hobo had disappeared after the boy had jumped. The boy then finds the girl driving the train. She explains that the two people who are supposed to be controlling the train, Smokey the engineer and Steamer the fireman, are trying to fix the light on the train and the conductor let her control. The scene goes to Smokey and Steamer, who manage to repair the light but see a herd of caribou on the tracks. Steamer yells to stop the train and the girl tells the boy that a yellow lever is the brake. He doubts her at first, but at the last second he pulls it, and the train stops in front of the caribou. The conductor comes out, angry at the boy for stopping the train, but the girl says that he was saving them. All three of them go outside, and they see thousands of caribou on the tracks. They tell the caribou to stay off the track by communicating using Smokey's beard (they pull it to make Smokey yell and thus communicate). The train continues on with nothing wrong until they reach a gulch. The conductor tells the boy and girl that the gulch is the steepest in the world and that the train should be slowing, but it is going too fast. They try to warn Smokey and Steamer, but they have their own problems; the cotter pin (British: split pin) functioning the throttle shears off, and they end up riding the gulch at full speed until they stop on an ice field. The cotter pin that Smokey and Steamer lost ends up sticking into the ice, causing the entire ice field to crack, but, with guidance from the conductor, they get the train safely on the tracks again before the ice completely cracks from under the train and the boy safely hands the girl her ticket for the conductor to punch. The throttle is mended using another cotter pin which Smokey was using as a hairpin. The Polar Express (Picture 4)

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The Polar Express (Picture 3) cartoon, animated, movie, Warner Bros, Robert Zemeckis, IMAX 3D theaters, images, widescreen, wallpaper, gallery, funny, picture, photo. So it was with much trepidation and even utter fear in my heart that I went to see this movie. After all, the last time I went to see a full-length adaptation of a favorite Christmas story, what I got was Ron Howard's absolutely God-awful "The Grinch". Having grown up with the book "The Polar Express" (according to my mom, I cited it as my favorite Christmas present when I was seven), I did not want to see this story bastardized in any way. Honestly, I was prepared for "Polar Express" to be a complete wreck. It soared. Completely. What makes the film such a success is not so much even the story itself, but an execution which somehow manages to inject every frame of the film with a feeling of childlike wonder and exuberance. In addition, there are so many clever touches and details added throughout that a feeling of mystery and excitement just fills the viewer. Among these are the waiters dancing and singing while serving hot chocolate to the kids on the train (a very funny scene, as well), the factory where the presents are prepared, and a ghost-like hobo who is never really explained, but is incredibly crucial to the feel of the film. The Polar Express (Picture 3). At one point, three of the children wander lost through the empty streets of Santa's North Pole town. As they wander, various old Christmas recordings are heard playing on phonographs throughout the town. The music provides a pleasant and nostalgic ambiance to the scene. It's touches like this that absolutely make the film. I'll never understand why films seem to be required to be at least 90 minutes long. I would pay money to see a 40-minute film, as long as it were good. And even if it sucked, I would have at least wasted less time. What I'm getting at is I have no idea why a 32-page picture book needed to be a 99-minute movie. What this means is that the original story is VASTLY expanded upon. However, what is added in actually fits quite well with the essence and spirit of the book. Some of it is just sheer entertainment; the train track is like a roller coaster, characters ski on top of the cars, danger lurks around every step of the journey to the North Pole (but admittedly fun danger). Other aspects further illuminate and expand upon the book's basic theme of the virtue of belief in the implausible. So I have no idea why this was made into a full-length, but in the end, I'm glad it was. It didn't even feel too long (and I think everything is too long). Much criticism has fallen on the look of the characters in the movie. I can agree to a point. While there is incredible visual detail in the faces, they usually seem void of expression. In general, a lot of the motion seems rather wooden, as well. The scenery, on the other hand, is gorgeous. Overall, the minor problems in animation (which really boil down to a matter of taste anyway) are certainly not enough to diminish what is an overwhelmingly successful movie. The Polar Express (Picture 3)

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The Polar Express (Picture 2) cartoon, animated, movie, Warner Bros, Robert Zemeckis, IMAX 3D theaters, images, widescreen, wallpaper, gallery, funny, picture, photo. All cinema is artifice. This isn’t a groundbreaking epiphany or statement, but the success of most movies hinges on the audience not taking that statement into account. But it’s true: all cinema is artifice of one kind or another. Even documentaries have some artificiality, because no matter how blisteringly true something from, say, Errol Morris is, he’s still shaped the raw footage he collected into a movie. Fictional films are far more artificial, depending on the content and presentation. Sometimes, if the director is shrewd enough, they can manipulate the audience in such a way that they’ve completely forgotten that they’re sitting in a darkened movie theater, so they believe they’re part of the movie they’re watching. Robert Zemeckis used to be such a director. There was a time–back when he made movies with real people, not animation–when his movies felt as timeless and magical as anything from Steven Spielberg. The Polar Express (Picture 2). Spielberg produced the trilogy that helped Zemeckis leap triumphantly into the mainstream, the Back to the Future films. I mentioned it on the show, but I’ll emphasize it here: I love the first Back to the Future film. (For posterity, I like Back to the Future, Part II a lot, despite appreciating its many flaws, but I’ve never been a huge fan of the final entry in the series.) I’ve seen it hundreds of times. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was watching it on HBO and reciting the film’s script, not only line by line but matching the emotions the actors are evincing. I wasn’t just able to parrot Christopher Lloyd as he said, to Michael J. Fox, “Weight has nothing to do with it,” in response to Fox’s Marty McFly commenting on the gravity of his time-traveling situation by saying “Heavy.” No, I was emulating the baffled frustration in Lloyd’s voice. Point is, I love Back to the Future. And I love Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the first true example of Zemeckis’ ambitious thirst to make unique and technologically advanced entertainments. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to watch this zany trip into nostalgia, but Who Framed Roger Rabbit clues us in to a problem Robert Zemeckis has had in the last decade: technological wizardry is more important to him than telling good stories well. Even from Cast Away, which features a bravura lead performance from Tom Hanks, it’s been clear that Zemeckis is more interested in pointing out what kind of cool tricks he’s pulled off. Though Cast Away is a good film, I remember the hubbub surrounding its production more than the movie itself. “Look, Tom Hanks lost so much weight and they had to pause production for six months!” Four years later, however, is when Zemeckis would throw his lot in with pure artificiality: motion-capture animation. Ever since The Polar Express in 2004, Robert Zemeckis has been disturbing people around the globe. OK, that’s a bit much, but one of the chief criticisms of that holiday film was that the human characters didn’t look quite right. There was something in the eyes, or more appropriately, there wasn’t something in the eyes. Why get invested in a story populated with such lifeless automatons? I discussed this a bit on the show, but I never had much of a problem with the characters in The Polar Express, at least not to the same degree that I found fault in Zemeckis’ other holiday film, the 2009 Walt Disney Pictures film A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge, Gary Oldman as Jacob Marley and Bob Cratchit, and Colin Firth as Fred. The Polar Express (Picture 2)

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The Polar Express (Picture 1) cartoon, animated, movie, Warner Bros, Robert Zemeckis, IMAX 3D theaters, images, widescreen, wallpaper, gallery, funny, picture, photo. The Polar Express is a 2004 motion capture computer-animated film based on the children's book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg. Written, produced, and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the human characters in the film were animated using live action performance capture technique, with the exception of the waiters who dispense hot chocolate on the train, because their feats were impossible for live actors to achieve. Performance capture technology incorporates the movements of live actors into animated characters. The film stars Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett, and Eddie Deezen, with Tom Hanks in six distinct roles. The film also included a performance by Tinashe at age 9, who later gained exposure as a pop singer in 2010, as the CGI-model for "Hero Girl". The film was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment in association with Shangri-La Entertainment, ImageMovers, Playtone and Golden Mean, for Warner Bros. The visual effects and performance capture were done at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The Polar Express (Picture 1). The studio first released the $165 million film in both conventional and IMAX 3D theaters on Wednesday, November 10, 2004. On Christmas Eve, a young boy who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan is hoping for belief in the true spirit of Christmas. He suddenly hears a noise from downstairs and runs to investigate. Seeing a shadow of what appears to be Santa Claus, he soon discovers that it is his parents. He runs back to his room and looks through magazines and encyclopedias for confirmation of Santa Claus and the North Pole, but to no avail. Hearing his parents coming, he runs back to bed and pretends to be asleep while his parents whisper about how he had once stayed up late listening for Santa Claus. After about an hour, he hears rumbling in the distance and his room starts to shake. In his haste to get outside, he accidentally rips open the right pocket of his robe. Once outside, he finds a magical train called the Polar Express. The conductor (played by Tom Hanks) tells him that the train is headed to the North Pole to go to Santa, and that this year is the year that he should board the train. Although he initially hesitates, at the last second as the train is pulling away he decides to board. The train route goes north, first through boreal pine forest, then across tundra, then across the frozen Arctic Ocean, to Polar City on an island, everywhere snowbound. In the tundra, the train had a difficult crossing of an area where flood submerged the track and then froze. The Polar Express (Picture 1)

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Samurai Jack (Picture 4)
Four. Cartoon, images, widescreen, wallpaper, gallery, Cartoon Network, Genndy Tartakovsky, animated, movie, funny, picture, photo.
One of the many reasons why the show works for me is the silence factor because you hardly hear a long winded conversation from any of the characters. I think Aku is probably the only one that you can count on having a lot of dialog in the show where as Jack is a silent warrior trying his best to get back home. Everything is shown to you and done with facial expression rather than waste your time with characters making silly statements. The absence of music in a lot of the episodes also helps make it great because whiles the brief musical moments we get are great a bulk of the show relies on the natural sounds around us to sell the humor and the danger of Jack's current predicament. Jack himself is voiced by former "MAD TV" funny man Phil Lamar and he whiles he doesn't have the most lines the little he says is enough to make one sit up right and pay attention. The evil Aku is voiced by Mako and he is one voice you will never forget because he narrates the show's opening and usually has the most lines in the show. The animation style is that of great art with its simple fashion that relies more on making a great looking anime that fits the tone of the world rather than making all the moves of the characters super realistic. It is done by the same guys behind "Powerpuff Girls" so expect to see a lot of bug eyed people and flat environments. Giving the animation a cinematic feel and helping the show feel like a little movie than a cartoon show is the camera angles which switches sides depending on what were suppose to be looking at. If were looking at a great space of land then we go super, super wide with more than half of the screen being cut off to ensure that you pay attention to what you're suppose to be looking at and when danger is abound we go to a closed box angle that makes you pay very close attention to the characters facial expression and what could possibly be behind them. Most shows have a weak episode that you brush off as not being one of their best but I never had that problem with this show since every episode was a solid as a rock. You'd think the concept about a man trying to get home would run out of ideas after three episodes but this show just kept bringing the greatness and never for a moment lost its edge. Of all the great episodes of this classic my personal favorite ones are probably the episode in which Jack has to climb a very tall mountain in order to get to this next destination but before he does he gets into a fight one of Aku's boys which leaves him exhausted but through all that Jack still manages to get the courage to climb to the top only to find that there is more to climb. That pretty much captures the whole essence of the show and what Jack has to suffer through because just when he thinks he's overcome one obstacle there's another in his way but he never gives up or complains instead he just keeps on trucking. Another one of my personal favorites is the one where Jack has to fight three ancient Egyptian creatures whiles trying to stay warm. After all is said done with that episode Jack just quietly goes back to trying to start a fire so he can stay warm again and through out that whole time there isn't loud glorious music when he's done nor does do we have dramatic camera angles of Jack celebrating but instead he just goes back to doing what he was doing before which is one of the reasons this show is so bleepin' awesome. The one with the Irish man that starts off as one of Jack's toughest opponent and ends being one of his best friends in the whole series is also a great one. The show never forgets about the guy because in later episodes he comes back and we even get to meet his less than lovely wife. Usually great stories and entertainment of this caliber are reserved for Mature Japan anime but somehow this show captured all the greatness of "Bebop" and other great amines and made it kid friendly. There is a lot of action in each episode but they are done with cartoonish style that whiles looking cool as hell still manages to be not so extreme. Gendy Tartokosky *if I spelled that right* is a great example of why type casting is wrong because if you look at the stuff he's done in the past like "Dexter's Lab" and "Powerpuff" you'll dismiss him as someone that only did childish shows but he completely takes a different approach with this as he did with the "Clone Wars" series. Where as "Clone Wars" was more like taking on someone else's project this one this one is all 100% original and hopefully someday we'll get a live action version of "Samurai Jack". I have a "friend" who thinks he could do something special with the story.

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Samurai Jack (Picture 3)
Three. Cartoon, images, widescreen, wallpaper, gallery, Cartoon Network, Genndy Tartakovsky, animated, movie, funny, picture, photo.
Samurai Jack is an animated television series created by animator Genndy Tartakovsky. It is noted for its highly detailed, outline-free, masking-based animation, as well as for its cinematic style and pacing. The plots of individual episodes range from dark and epic to light-hearted and comedic, but typically follow Jack in his singular quest to find a method of traveling back in time. Many of the battle scenes in the series are reminiscent of samurai films, and since Jack's robotic enemies "bleed" oil or electricity and monsters/aliens bleed slime or goo, the series is able to exhibit the action of these films while avoiding censorship for violence. A few years prior to this day, I had yet to take a single glimpse on Samurai Jack. For some time, I heard people raving about its outstanding animation techniques, never seen before fighting sequences and humor. Curiosity and anxiety surrounded my mind, wondering if it really reached or even surpassed the standards set by Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls. Incidentally, Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of this new show, has worked on the previous two before and based on my knowledge, his vision upon the animation industry is pretty unlike anything any other animators have seen before. Not long after its first run, I managed to witness an episode of Samurai Jack on Cartoon Network in my aunt's house. In fact, in my first viewpoint, the show really seemed a bit simplistic, focused more on battles and at some points, a sense of humor to keep the audience's interest. Yes, it bears similarity to other Genndy's older works. However, I'm just talking to one of the episodes shown on the channel. Initially, the similarity ended when I began to watch the rest of the episodes. The plot itself is quite simple: Samurai Jack (his original Japanese name remains a mystery) lives in ancient Japan where his homeland is being ravaged by a mightily powerful but weird-looking, sometimes insipid demon named Aku. Jack used his mystical sword to fight him and eventually he defeats him after a few bouts. But before Jack manages to destroy the demon once and for all, Aku casts a spell that sends Jack into the future, a time when Aku reigns supreme. Now, it is up to Jack to find a way to go back into the past by wandering around the futuristic cities, barren wastelands and ancient ruins inhabited by aliens and other bizarre creatures you haven't seen before and most importantly, meeting allies and friends (like the crazed muscular Scotsman) to give our struggling hero spiritual hope and motivation to reach his destiny (the maturity of Jack can be seen throughout the seasons, as he seems to be more confident and has the right to call himself 'The Legendary Samurai'. Something like that). The character designs and the environments are extremely odd in Genndy's favor but perhaps these are the reasons why Samurai Jack is such an appealing show to watch at. Firstly, unlike the typical Saturday cartoons we usually see, it is almost an ambiguous cartoon with really abstract elements (specially when you watch a peculiar episode for the first time ever). You have absolutely no idea what is going on there: the creatures, the aliens, the bizarre skyscrapers, the contraptions. They are all refreshingly cubic and bizarre and yet have a reason for their existence. Despite its subtle and uneven premise, Samurai Jack is simply a straightforward action show with easily identifiable objects (toon experts will know that for sure) and characters (its basic concept is mostly derived from the Star Wars universe, in which Genndy also directs under the name Clone Wars). At one case, some of the elements of Samurai Jack are derived from Akira Kurosawa's movies, anime (both state-of-the-art or cliché) and on another point, famous American icons and world cultures. Some even serve as a precursor to Craig McCracken's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends with bits and pieces from Dexter's Lab and PPG. Sure, most of the episodes don't capture the scope of full-length movies but the slowness of its nature allows the audience to accept the fact that it almost feels like a movie, in a shorter form at least. If you ask whether the show's appropriate for kids, well, Samurai Jack is a surprisingly violent cartoon (that's beyond the boundary of Dex and PPG) but that otherwise proves that Genndy's skills to handle a particular context has matured. What really fascinate me are Genndy's abilities to master the essential film-making techniques such as pace, flow, mise-en-scene and mood, smooth animation and most importantly, character appeal such as Samurai Jack himself. Some sequences are even squeezed in to a particular ratio aspect to provide a cinematic point of view as well as to increase the tension of a situation. Creative editing techniques also helps to build anticipation, fasten the pace of the action sequences (mostly beautifully choreographed despite the fact that they are just frames of drawings!) and create decisive matters as Jack faces frequent pandemonium.

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Samurai Jack (Picture 2)
Two. Cartoon, images, widescreen, wallpaper, gallery, Cartoon Network, Genndy Tartakovsky, animated, movie, funny, picture, photo.
Long ago, in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape shfiting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil. But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forward to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil… More is law. Now, the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku! This cartoon from Dexter's Labratory creator Genndy Tartakovsky tells the story of a great warrior displaced to the distant future by the evil shape-shifting wizard Aku. The world has become a bleak place under the rule of Aku, segregated into fantastic tribes and ruled by Aku's evil robot warlords. Jack travels this foreign landscape in search of a time portal that can return him to his home time so he can "undo the future that is Aku!". Samurai Jack is currently shown around the world on the following networks: Cartoon Network in US, Australia, Hong Kong, Latin America (dubbed into Spanish) and Japan (dubbed into Japanese). YTV in Canada Toonami in UK A total of 52 episodes have been ordered by Cartoon Network. On DVD you can still get the opening Movie (first 3 episodes), and from 4th May 2004, the first 13 episodes will be released in a "Season One" box set. (All releases in Region 1(US/Canada) only) There was a live action movie rumoured to be "in the works" but news of this has dried up, and we don't know its current status. The reason I came all this way to review this episode is because it struck a certain feeling. I searched just for this episode, buying seasons 1-3 And it happened to be on the one season I did not buy, Season 4. Now I know and I can't wait to get it!! hide show I honestly haven't seen this episode since 2004, and I can't remember too much of it, but I remember it striking a certain feeling only I can attribute too. I am an artist and musician myself and the way this episode was put together had a great impact. Truely exceptional!! I mean, every episode of Jack is great, every one of them. I wasn't too into the whole Scottsman thing, he just got in the way of the whole idea. Having Jack interacting with all those characters is something else. I especially like Spring, that is the one thing I remember about episode 49, spring, the colors used and the woman was...hot, LOL. Samurai Jack takes place in a world where science and technology have developed far beyond what is available our current time, and in some ways resembles magic on its own.[citation needed] However, despite scientific advances, the future is decidedly dystopian—for example, in one episode the mafia profits greatly from the sale of simple water. Aliens, bounty hunters, and robots are plentiful, and always ready for a fight. The leader of this world is Aku. While the setting is distinctly futuristic and technological, several instances of mythology and supernatural events do occur. Mythologies, like Valhalla, and even supernatural forces, such as demonic enemies, make regular appearances, yet do not seem to stand out amongst the technologically advanced inhabitants. Aku himself is obviously supernatural, as is Jack's sword. Stories take place in a variety of locations. Ranging from beautiful wilderness to futuristic or even dystopian cities, there is often a stark contrast made between the industrial world and the natural world. Regardless of the setting, the simple, minimalistic art style employed resembles ukiyo-e paintings. The artwork of the show is equally impressive albeit a bit kiddy oriented. That essentially leads to one of Genndy's strongest trademarks and principles: simplistic designs tend to have greater impact compared to realistic models (of 2D and 3D) by conveying constant exaggeration, ridiculous laws of physic and common sense and doses of good slapstick humor while maintaining its 'logical sense' without losing direction. The show's crystal clear colors and tones also manage to reflect the overall mood of a particular environment, whether you can feel the serenity of ancient Japan or the unknown danger of the dark and barren wasteland. If it weren't for Genndy, cartoons cannot evolve into newer forms. If Gene Deitch gave birth to 'limited animation' via Gerald McBoing Boing, we all could say that, in my opinion, Genndy Tartakovsky gave birth to 'cinematic limited cartoons' or simply, 'Cinematic Toons'. I know these terms don't sound right to some people but through Samurai Jack, he has created something that proves to be revolutionary since the era of the Renaissance (Batman, DuckTales and Tiny Toons). Since then, Genndy Tartakovsky is now regarded as one of my most favorite 'heroes' of our time!

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Samurai Jack (Picture 1)
One. Cartoon, images, widescreen, wallpaper, gallery, Cartoon Network, Genndy Tartakovsky, animated, movie, funny, picture, photo.
Samurai Jack is an American animated television series created by animator Genndy Tartakovsky that aired on both Cartoon Network and Toonami from 2001 to 2004. It is noted for its highly detailed, outline-free, masking-based animation, as well as for its cinematic style and pacing. It was the first Cartoon Network original series aside from those who comprised the Cartoon Cartoons lineup at the time. It is shown on its sister network Boomerang. The plots of individual episodes range from dark and epic to light-hearted and comic, but typically follow "Jack", a time-displaced samurai warrior, in his singular quest to find a method of traveling back in time. Many of the battle scenes in the series are reminiscent of samurai films, and since Jack's robotic enemies "bleed" oil or electricity and monsters and aliens bleed slime or goo, the series is able to exhibit the action of these films while avoiding censorship for violence. Samurai Jack is no longer available to be viewed by American residents via the Toonami Jetstream website. Production on the show was halted in 2004, but it was never officially ended. In return, Tartakovsky has announced plans to direct a theatrical film, but whether or not it will resolve the series has yet to be announced. The feature film was reported to be in pre-production as of 2009. Samurai Jack was created by Genndy Tartakovsky for the Cartoon Network. As a follow-up to his successful series Dexter's Laboratory, Tartakovsky intended to create a series "that is cinematic in scope and that incorporates action, humor and intricate artistry". Samurai Jack began airing on August 10, 2001 and ran for four seasons. Cartoon Network ordered fifty-two episodes of Samurai Jack, which were aired as four seasons as a prime time member of the Cartoon Cartoon block of programming. Despite its Emmy nominations and wins the show was taken off the air before the fourth season could complete its initial run.[citation needed] The unaired episodes were later shown as a Toonami special, on Toonami Jetstream (on Cartoon Network.com), and in re-runs. While airing, the series spawned a comic book and several video game tie-ins. The show made a reappearance on Cartoon Network's adult swim, based on results from a successful user poll, noted in bumps during programming on February 22, 2008. The first episode of the series was broadcast during the network's Toonami block on March 29, 2008, and continued airing the episodes in order each week until the programming block went completely off the air on September 20, 2008.[citation needed] Samurai Jack began airing in August 2009 on Boomerang at 11:00 P.M (in place of Justice League Unlimited) until June 2011 but returned in September of that same year. There had been plans for a Samurai Jack feature film in 2002 with New Line Cinema, but this project was cancelled after the lackluster performance of The Powerpuff Girls Movie.[3] In an interview, Tartakovsky confirmed that "Jack will come back" and that "we will finish the story, and there will be an animated film." In 2007, the then newly formed production company Frederator Films announced in Variety that one of their first projects will be a feature film adaptation of Samurai Jack, written and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. As of September 2009, the film was said to be in the writing stage of pre-production, co-produced by J. J. Abrams Bad Robot Productions alongside Fred Seibert of Frederator Films and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish Samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil is law! Now the fool seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku! This quotation begins each episode of Samurai Jack, which tells the story of a young prince (Jack) from Feudal Japan whose father's empire was destroyed by the demon Aku. As a child, the prince escapes destruction and travels the world training his mind and his body for years until he reaches adulthood, becoming a legendary samurai. After taking his father's magic katana, he challenges Aku to a duel and defeats the demon. However, before the prince can deal the killing blow, Aku creates a time portal and sends his opponent into the distant future, anticipating that he would be able to amass sufficient power to deal with the Samurai later. The protagonist arrives in a dystopian, futuristic Earth ruled by Aku and filled with his robot minions and a large number of alien immigrant races of various appearances. The first people he encounters in the future call him "Jack" as a form of slang, which he adopts as his name (his true given name is never mentioned in the series). Standard episodes follow Jack's search for a way to travel back to his own time, where he hopes to stop Aku before these events come to pass. The cartoon depicts Jack's quest to find a time portal, while constantly facing obstacles set by Aku in a classic battle of Good versus Evil. Typically each time Jack believes he has reached the end of his quest, something causes him to dramatically miss his chance.[citation needed] In one attempt Jack locates a stable portal to the past, but the guardian of the portal defeats him after a long but noticeably mismatched battle. The guardian is about to crush him when the portal starts to flicker and glow, apparently giving the guardian a message; the guardian has a giant pterodactyl take the unconscious Jack away. After Jack leaves, the guardian states that it is not yet time for him to return to the past, and an image of what is implied to be an older Jack is then seen in the portal; indicating that Jack is predestined to succeed, but it will take many years for him to do so.

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Toucan Sam (Picture 4) Four. Cartoon, images, gallery, wallpaper, widescreen, Froot Loops breakfast cereal, animated, movie, bird, funny, picture, photo.
Follow Your Nose is Toucan Sam's famous line to get viewers to try a taste of Kellogg's Fruit Loops. In 1964 Kellogg's introduced their multi flavored. Fruit Loops cereal and a colorful character named Toucan Sam to tell the world how great the taste of Fruit Loops really are. Toucan is a blue toucan with a striped beak who has this magical ability to sniff out with his nose all the delicious flavors in Fruit Loops. Of course after he does find the Fruit Loops, Toucan Sam is always willing to share the "fruits" of his labors. Each stripe on Toucan's beak represents one of the original flavors of the pieces in the Fruit Loops cereal, (red = strawberry, yellow = lemon, orange = orange). As a fruit connoisseur, Toucan Sam knows that Kellogg’s Fruit Loops are the best fruit flavors in the world. Toucan Sam also has three nephews who sometimes appear in commercials with him. Toucan Sam's nephews worship their Uncle and think that everything he does is cool. Now, the cereal pieces are O-shaped, and come in banana, blueberry, lemon, marshmallow, orange, and strawberry (artificial) flavors. Other varieties of the cereal sold by Kellogg's include Froot Loops 1/3 Less Sugar, and Marshmallow Froot Loops. Becky, thank you for following your nose to The Straight Dope. Our expertise here does, in fact, stretch into the realm of breakfast cereals. Perhaps I should add: Back in 1963, a new cereal was introduced called "Kellogg's® Froot Loops®." On the box, right from the start, was a colorful tropical bird with a very large beak wearing a towering hat of fruit. His name, of course, was and always will be Toucan Sam(TM). Over the years his looks have changed: his nose started out large, it got trimmed, then it got fuller again. His plumage started out grey, blue and white, and now he's all blue. He's also lost the hat. But he's been the spokescharacter for Froot Loops all along, occasionally even inviting his diapered nieces and nephews onto commercials, and onto the package once in 1964 (as you may have guessed, toucans don't wear diapers when they're small, but this is the world of breakfast cereals, where anything goes). The spokescharacter for the cereal isn't the only thing that's remained constant since the introduction of Froot Loops in 1963. The flavor has as well. And that's singular. According to Kellogg's, all of those delectable loops are flavored the same. Although I'll take the company's word on this, you've inspired me, and I plan on conducting a taste test very soon.

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Toucan Sam (Picture 3) Three. Cartoon, images, gallery, wallpaper, widescreen, Froot Loops breakfast cereal, animated, movie, bird, funny, picture, photo.
This is the famous statement that Toucan Sam shouts out as he searches for the fruit-filled cereal he loves, Kellogg’s Froot Loops. Since 1963, Toucan Sam has been the advertising mascot for Kellogg’s Froot Loops Cereal. Interestingly, in the original commercials, Toucan Sam spoke the strange language of Pig Latin, and the phrase “OOT-fray OOPS-lay” can be seen on vintage Froot Loops articles. Early on in Toucan Sam’s career, he began to speak English with the British accent we are familiar with today. Some people believe that Toucan Sam is a cartoon version of the Keel-billed Toucan. (Wikipedia.com) This funny bird has a very colorful beak, and fruit is a mainstay of its diet. This seems to fit the traits of Toucan Sam, for he has stripes of color on his beak and the ability to smell fruit from far away. Originally, Toucan Sam had a long beak with two large pink stripes, a yellow stripe, and a small black tip. He also had grey, blue and white feathers, and wore a towering hat of fruit on his head. Nowadays, Toucan Sam has blue plumage with a white belly. His fruit hat has completely disappeared, and he also has a shorter beak with a longer black tip and smaller colored stripes. The red, yellow and orange beak stripes represent the original colors of the breakfast cereal. Over the years more colored loops have been added to the cereal such as green, purple, blue, and most recently gold. There is a debate about whether each loop tastes the same, or if they have different flavors. In the television commercials, Toucan Sam is always searching for his favorite fruit-flavored cereal. His fruit-sensing nose seeks out the flavors of Froot Loops Cereal and he can find a concealed box full of Froot Loops easily. In recent years, the story lines have become more complicated, and other characters have been added. In 1994 Toucan Sam was given three baby toucan nephews, Puey, Susey, and Louis to watch over. The nephews help Sam to defeat enemies such as Dr. Peacock and the Nasty Alien Froot Monster. Presently, Toucan Sam and his nephews are involved in a quest to find the fruity treasure of Blackbeak, a pirate. Children can help with the adventure by going to Toucan Sam’s website. There is even a game kids can play for free on www.toucansam.com. For collectors of Kellogg’s characters, our website has a nice selection of Toucan Sam vinyl figures, bobble head dolls, and metal signs. Check it out for more Kellogg’s collectibles and merchandise and create your own adventures with Toucan Sam and the other Kellogg’s characters!

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Toucan Sam (Picture 2) Two. Cartoon, images, gallery, wallpaper, widescreen, Froot Loops breakfast cereal, animated, movie, bird, funny, picture, photo.
A trademark dispute has been resolved amicably between the Kellogg Co. of Battle Creek and the Maya Archaeology Initiative of the San Francisco area over the use of a toucan bird. The toucan, a colorful tropical bird with bright markings and a large bill, is used both as a symbol of the MAI and as a character known as Toucan Sam to promote Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal. Kellogg’s attorneys had asked the organization to cease using the toucan, saying the MAI’s logo was too close to its own Toucan Sam. But after discussions, Kellogg’s dropped the request. Kellogg and MAI released a joint statement today saying that Kellogg is making a $100,000 contribution to help launch one of the MAI’s priority projects to improve the lives of the Maya people in Central America. “Kellogg’s important contribution to the Maya Archaeology Initiative will help us achieve our goal of building a Maya Cultural Center in Peten (Guatemala), the cradle of Maya history, so children, families and visitors can learn about the Maya and their rich heritage,” said MAI President Dr. Francisco Estrada-Belli. “We are grateful to Kellogg for joining us in these efforts.” “We are pleased to support the MAI in its mission to protect and extend the rich history and culture of Mayan people,” said Tim Knowlton, vice president of corporate social responsibility at Kellogg. “The Cultural Center promises to be a source of inspiration, pride and learning throughout the region.” Kellogg will also be featuring major Mayan accomplishments and a link to MAI’s website on Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal boxes next year. A series of commercials for Froot Loops followed the adventures of Toucan Sam and his nephews finding a treasure map and following it to a treasure that once belonged to a toucan pirate, Blackbeak (the name is a pun on Blackbeard). In each exploit, they reach a new destination that holds a new variety of Froot Loops, the most recent being "Golden Bars" (in reality, just 3 Yellow Froot Loops stuck in a line) They encountered him and three other pirates later on. However, the pirates were beaten by a laser Sam made out of the loops and Blackbeak was helpless. Blackbeak looks very similar to Toucan Sam. Villain #5 is the Greedy Froot Pharaoh in Egypt. A bandage was loose. A niece stomped on that and beat him. Villain #6 is the Selfish Froot Master in Japan. This karate koi ate some loops thrown by Sam and was trapped by 2 nephews in a fish bowl. Sam set off to Mexico to get some Froot Loops. But he had to get through the Greedy Witch Doctor first. The Witch doctor was tickled and fell off his temple. He let go of his magic sprinkles on the way down and Sam used those to top the Froot Loops, creating Froot Loops with Sprinkles. Toucan Sam's age is not known. Currently, the Toucan Sam campaign is produced at Pepper Films Inc. (www.pepperfilmsinc.com) by director, Jean Perramon. Toucan Sam is currently voiced by Maurice LaMarche.

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Toucan Sam (Picture 1) One. Cartoon, images, gallery, wallpaper, widescreen, Froot Loops breakfast cereal, animated, movie, bird, funny, picture, photo.
Toucan Sam is the cartoon mascot for Froot Loops breakfast cereal. The character has been featured in advertising since the 1960s. He exhibits the ability to smell out Froot Loops from great distances and invariably locates a concealed bowl of the cereal while intoning, "Follow my nose! It always knows!" Sometimes followed by "The flavor of fruit! Wherever it grows!" Toucan Sam became the mascot for Froot Loops cereal in 1963. The cartoon character was created by Manuel R. Vega and originally voiced by Mel Blanc, using an ordinary American accent. Blanc's original commercials were noted for their use of Pig Latin (referring to the cereal as OOT-fray OOPS-lay). The ad agency later decided to switch to the English accent more commonly associated with the character. They then employed Paul Frees to do what is, in effect, an imitation of Ronald Colman. In the most recent cartoon advertisements for Froot Loops, Toucan Sam's voice is now performed by voice actor Maurice LaMarche after Paul Frees's death. Animation of the commercials were created by several animation companies including Thumbnail Spots, this impacted the character growth among the years. Although his beak originally had two pink stripes, during the 1970s it became a tradition that each stripe on his beak represented one of the flavors of the pieces in the cereal: (red = cherry, yellow = lemon, orange = orange). The additions of new colors have made this color scheme no longer accurate. There are now eight colors of this cereal. The first new color was green, which was introduced in 1991, then purple in 1994, blue in 1996, pink in 2002, and gold in 2006. The colors, perhaps, represent different flavors present in the cereal, but each color has the same flavor. The Maya Archaeology Initiative (MAI) is a project of the World Free Press Institute (WPFI). On June 2010, WFPI submitted a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the MAI's logo, a side view of a toucan with a Mayan temple in the background, both encircled by yellow/green light. It was published on 15 March 2011. Kellogg's (owner of the Toucan Sam logo) objected on the grounds that the two logos are too similar. That caused a long argument, which ended on 15 November 2011 with an announcement that Kelloggs and the MAI are forming a charitable partnertship. Since 1994, Toucan Sam has been joined onscreen by Puey, Susey, and Louis. The nephews are voiced by two notable voice over artists: Frank Welker and Jim Cummings. In recent commercials, Toucan Sam's 2 nephews and niece have joined him in opposition to many practical Froot Loop-loving enemies through a series of integrated commercials (each of them as well appropriately advertise the cereal itself). In recent recordings, Mike Leboff will be voicing yet another one of Sam's foes. The first of these enemies were Dr. Peacock, a peacock modeled after a stereotypical mad scientist who stole Toucan Sam's color with a giant laser called a color ray, thus rendering him black and white. Toucan Sam and his nephews find Dr. Peacock's lair and use the color ray to return his colors, and add Rainbow Loops to the cereal as voted by kids everywhere. Another enemy, an alien called the Nasty Alien Froot Monster, lands on Earth in search of the ultimate fruit taste of Froot Loops. He captures Toucan Sam, but thanks to online voting, Toucan Sam's nephews gave the Froot Monster what he wanted, allowing Toucan Sam to escape. The Froot Monster, however, wanted more and stole Toucan Sam's cereal box. When Toucan Sam and his nephews found him, the Froot Monster devoured the entire box, and turned from bad to good by changing from green to yellow and creating Alien Berry Froot Loops, which he shared with everyone. Then after, the smell of Froot Loops travels through the mirror to the land of Froot Scents, where the Froot Queen owns all fruity aromas. When she smells the Froot Loops, she declares it the best fruit scent and orders her guards (humans with fruit for heads) to capture the Froot Loops. The guards successfully steal the Fruit Loops and break the mirror in the process. Toucan Sam and his nephews fix the mirror, and Toucan Sam follows them inside, commenting on the land's wonderful and strange fruit, and takes back the Froot Loops from the Froot Queen. The Froot Queen orders her guards to capture Toucan Sam, but the confusion allows Toucan Sam to take some of the land's fruit, where kids decided through online voting that the new loop should be Cherry-Cherry. Toucan Sam then escaped and added the Cherry-Cherry to the cereal. He even gave the new Froot Loops to the Froot Queen, whom after taking a bite, turned into a pretty good queen and rewarded her guards with Cherry-Cherry loops.

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Puss in Boots (Picture 4)
Four. Puss in Boots, cartoon, images, gallery, wallpaper, widescreen, Paramount Pictures, animated, movie, cat, Funny, picture, photo.
The notorious outlaw Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), also known as the Gingerhead Man, Chupacabra, the Furry Lover and Frisky Two Times, wasn't always a legend – he had humble origins at a poor orphanage in San Ricardo. It was there that he was taken in by the kindhearted, motherly Imelda (Constance Marie) and befriended by Humpty Alexander Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), a forward-thinking, inventive dreamer with wild ideas of locating magical beans that could raise an enormous beanstalk to transport them to the castle of a giant. Awaiting them would be peril, glory, and a golden goose that lays solid gold eggs. Their childhood quest was fruitless, however, and instead they both started down a path of petty thievery – until a tragic night separated them for more than a decade. During the Festival of the Fire celebration, Puss in Boots is approached by Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), a highly skilled burglar, swordswoman, dancer and seducer, to aid in the recovery of the genuine magic beans. Her boss is Humpty Dumpty, and although Puss reluctantly agrees to join the group, he refuses to forgive the over-sized egg for the past events that split them up. The first step in their plan is to acquire the glowing green legumes from the repugnant duo Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris), which could be so dangerous they might not be able to proceed further. You'd think that Puss' clunky boots would interfere with his ability to always land on his feet, scale buildings, and engage in all sorts of swashbuckling activities, but instead they're a significant part of the visual comedy and character design that makes the film such a striking work. There are also plenty of cute cat jokes and gags that contrast Puss' ferociousness with his diminutive frame and preference for gently lapping leche with his tiny tongue (along with his signature eye-swelling, hypnotic negotiating). A particularly funny dance fight, inspired editing to mimic live action movie-making, Dumpty's hilariously awkward image and background cats with strange voices ("Ohhh Cat" by Robert Persichetti Jr. being the best) are all elements that showcase the creators' clever artistry. The laughs are mostly derived from situational comedy that makes Puss in Boots more universal than Shrek's pop-culture-heavy referential skits. The script edges in adult content too, subtly hinting at sexual innuendo, inappropriate tattoos, drugs, egg genitalia and nudity (completely inconspicuous to children), as well as darker themes of betrayal, imprisonment and death. But its overt adorableness subdues any negativity. The animation itself is of a superlative quality and the level of fast-paced action is superior to the last couple of Shrek sequels, with awe-inspiring visuals, complex stunts and truly suspenseful adventure, smartly utilizing a supporting role that never once hinted at the irritating nature of Donkey. Puss in Boots definitely deserved a film of his own and the lack of Shrek doesn't diminish the entertainment value in the least. Le Maistre Chat, ou le Chat Botté was first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in a collection of tales called Histoires ou contes du temps passé. The collection included "La Belle au bois dormant" ("The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood"), "Le petit chaperon rouge" ("Little Red Riding Hood"), "La Barbe bleue" ("Blue Beard"), "Les Fées" ("The Enchanted Ones", or "Diamonds and Toads"), "Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre" ("Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper"), "Riquet à la Houppe" ("Rickey with the Tuft"), and "Le Petit Poucet" ("Hop o' My Thumb"). The book displayed a frontispiece depicting an old woman telling tales to a group of three children beneath a placard inscribed "CONTES DE MA MERE LOYE" (Tales of Mother Goose). The book was an instant success. Le Maistre Chat first was translated into English as "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots" by Robert Samber in 1729 and published in London for J. Pote and R. Montagu with its original companion tales in Histories, or Tales of Past Times, By M. Perrault. The book was advertised in June 1729 as being "very entertaining and instructive for children". A frontispiece similar to that of the first French edition appeared in the English edition launching the Mother Goose legend in the English-speaking world.[2] Samber's translation has been described as "faithful and straightforward, conveying attractively the concision, liveliness and gently ironic tone of Perrault's prose, which itself emulated the direct approach of oral narrative in its elegant simplicity." Since that publication, the tale has been translated into various languages and published around the world.