A Special Presentation, or Alf Will Not Be Seen Tonight

In theory, we were supposed to talk about the Rube Goldberg-penned 1930 film "Soup to Nuts," but we got distracted and instead went through the entire history of the Ruben Award. The important takeaway is that, for a podcast ostensibly dedicated to comic strips, we know remarkably little about comic strips. Mike gets really made about Rhymes with Orange in this episode.

Betty Boop is in the public domain. Well, sort of. The original Betty Boop, where she's a dog, is in the public domain. To commemorate this momentous day, we look at three incarnations of the Boopster: her original appearance in"Dizzy Dishes," her appearance with Little Jimmy in "Betty Boop and Little Jimmy," and the Bill Melendez special "The Romance of Betty Boop."

In 1984, Weird Al Yankovic teamed up with Scooby Doo to host a special preview of all the cool upcoming cartoons that kids could see on ABC Saturday mornings that season. For a long time, it seemed like no one had taped that special and it was doomed to be forever lost media. Well, someone finally uploaded it to the Internet, so now we can finally see... Saturday Morning Preview Park!

In 1984, Weird Al Yankovic teamed up with Scooby Doo to host a special preview of all the cool upcoming cartoons that kids could see on ABC Saturday mornings that season. For a long time, it seemed like no one had taped that special and it was doomed to be forever lost media. Well, someone finally uploaded it to the Internet, so now we can finally see... Saturday Morning Preview Park!

In 1984, Weird Al Yankovic teamed up with Scooby Doo to host a special preview of all the cool upcoming cartoons that kids could see on ABC Saturday mornings that season. For a long time, it seemed like no one had taped that special and it was doomed to be forever lost media. Well, someone finally uploaded it to the Internet, so now we can finally see... Saturday Morning Preview Park!

Mike and Ethan have got the crew together again! Rocketshark, Fattyatomicmutant and Glumdrop are all here to save Christmas! Sometimes you just want Christmas to STAY. SAVED., you know? I feel like the maid! That's why we're getting together to watch Christmas episodes with the highly specific theme of "Santa is real and the heroes meet him in person", featuring Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Men In Black: The Series, Jackie Chan Adventures, Super Duper Sumos, The Tick, and Pac-Man!

It's the holiday season, so it's Rankin Bass time! Rankin Bass made SO MANY holiday specials that were all sort of stealth Christmas specials. They still hold up, especially Jack Frost -- which is fun and also has everyone's favorite asshole Kubla Kraus the Cossack King!

A comet is threatening Moominland in this animated adaptation of the beloved Moomin comics by Finnish cartoonist Tove Marika Jansson. Moomin and his pals go to an observatory to get some info about a comet that's going to kill them all. Meanwhile, a philosopher takes up residence in the Moomin household. It's all very cute.

That's right, we're going to tell you about Homestuck and YOU'RE GONNA LISTEN. Mike seems to have stepped out for cigarettes and we hope to see him again soon, but until then, Tom from Flash In The Pan and “Jernacious” Jerna Van Vooren have returned to tell us all about the incredible and slightly baffling Homestuck pilot from the visionaries who brought you Hotel Of A Hell! Find out just how traumatic it can be for a kid to be home alone and how much that explains about Generation X.

See more of Tom at:

Flash in the Pan’s website and

Flash in the Pan’s Patreon

See more of Jerna at:

Jerna’s itchio and

Jerna’s BlueSky

And read Ethan’s book “Joy Traveler” for free here:

Joy Traveler at Bogleech.com

This week, we look at the forgotten 1994 action flick The Shadow and find a surprisingly fun little romp, studded with absolute stars like Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, Tim Curry, a young Ian McKellen, John Ione, Sab Shimono, Koop, Neelix, Bob the guardian angel, Willie Tanner, and so many more! Thrills! Chills! Spills! They're all here! We like it!