Writers Get Animated

Chris and Mackenzie brush up on their Shakespeare! Art thou ready for this? Writers Get Animated looks at how Gargoyles and The Simpsons play with the works of the Bard! How do the works of Shakespeare find their way into cartoons? Is Bottom from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” a precursor to BoJack Horseman? How much trouble can one wish-granting fairy cause? How powerful is the theme to Ghostbusters? Links About Shakespeare http://bit.ly/2cHWbhz About the episode “The Mirror” http://bit.ly/2cHXihc About Gargoyles http://bit.ly/2cHVAMP About “A Midsummer Night’s Dream http://bit.ly/2cHWVmu More about Gargoyles http://movies.disney.com/gargoyles Buy Gargoyles on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Gargoyles-Season-Two-Vol-1/dp/B000ATQYVA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1473940972&sr=8-4&keywords=Gargoyles Histeria’s Shakespeare http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9pyNbtwImQ Gnomeo and Juliet https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gnomeo-and-juliet/ Listen to Gnomeo and Juliet (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) by Various Artists on @AppleMusic https://itun.es/us/Ss-2y A list of Shakespeare’s Plays http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/plays.php The Complete Works of Shakespeare http://shakespeare.mit.edu About Public Domain https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_and_Superman Gargoyles: “Deadly Force”/“Enter Macbeth from A.V. Club http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/gargoyles-deadly-forceenter-macbeth-207993 Tales from the Public Domain from The Simpsons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Public_Domain About Hamlet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet About Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116477/ Family Guy Star Wars Trilogy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh_It_Up,_Fuzzball:_The_Family_Guy_Trilogy Alas, poor Yorick http://nfs.sparknotes.com/hamlet/page_288.html About Once Upon a Time http://abc.tv/2cHWTv4

Chris and Mackenzie travel back to the early 90’s to unearth one of their favorite forgotten gems of Animation Past: The Critic! Jay Sherman is a movie critic who only seems to review bad movies. Are we living in his dystopian Hollywood future? What does a cartoon from the 90’s have to do with the 2016 Presidential election? Why do we love characters voiced by Jon Lovitz so much? Links About The Critic http://bit.ly/2cFY0c5 The Critic on IMDB http://imdb.to/2cH0MRw About the episode “Miserable” http://avc.lu/2cH14aI About Jon Lovitz http://bit.ly/2cFYC1r Jon Lovitz as the Master Thespian on SNL http://bit.ly/2chd8OX Jon Lovitz as Tommy Flanagan (Pathological Liar) on SNL http://bit.ly/2chdeGg About Al Jean http://bit.ly/2cFXTgM About Mike Reiss http://bit.ly/2cFYRd0 “Penguins Can’t Fly!!” http://bit.ly/2chdTri Jay Sherman on The Simpsons http://bit.ly/2cFYQpk The Critic Theme http://bit.ly/2chcC3s Buy The Critic on DVD http://amzn.to/2cH1DBn Ten Frighteningly Prophetic Parodies from ‘The Critic’ http://uproxx.it/2csWF9u About “30 Rock” http://bit.ly/2cFY7EJ About “BoJack Horseman” http://bit.ly/2cheadW

Grab your shamisen and paper as Chris and Mackenzie enter the world of Kubo and the Two Strings and see what unfolds! (It’s an origami joke!) How did they make Kubo? What’s going on with eyes in this film? What can Kubo control with music? How bad is Mackenzie’s Regina Spektor impression? How emotionally scarred is Chris’ almost 4-year-old son by the witches? Links Explore Laika! http://bit.ly/2bO1x8o Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast Interview with Travis Knight http://apple.co/2bGri8C ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ Director Travis Knight: “That love of fantasy was something that was bestowed upon me at an early age” http://bit.ly/2bXwkmr Crafting the Epic World of Kubo: A Conversation with Laika’s Animation Supervisor Brad Schiff http://bit.ly/2bNodE7 Laika Chief Travis Knight Reveals Future Plans at Studio http://bit.ly/2cuC6N0 http://on.mtv.com/2bI7JQA LAIKA Founder and CEO Travis Knight makes his directorial debut with Kubo and the Two Strings http://bit.ly/2bO1z07 Kubo and the Two Strings Inside Laika’s Stop Motion Epic http://rol.st/2bGpelR Take A Tour Inside The Laika Exhibition Currently In Los Angeles (Photo Gallery) http://bit.ly/2bXwwC1 About the Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai http://bit.ly/2cdtgyA Explore the Realm of ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ With Interactive Map and Listen to the Full Score http://bit.ly/2bO10n0 Listen to While My Guitar Gently Weeps by Regina Spektor on Apple Music http://bit.ly/2cuBKpM About The Bicycle Thief http://bit.ly/2bGqrVm ''Pirates'': Why Davy Jones looks so amazing http://bit.ly/2cdrKwB ‘Anomalisa’ Featurette: Explore the Handmade World of Charlie Kaufman’s Latest http://bit.ly/2c5k6ab

Chris and Mackenzie jump after a zebra and plummet down the waterfall into the world of Leo the Lion on Netflix! Having lost his mother in a zebra-hunting-waterfall accident, Leo the Lion has to face his fears and find the Heart of the Jungle. And that’s just the first two minutes! What is in the Heart of the Jungle? Are there better vegetarian movies on Netflix? How do the English subtitles help save a film? How can we fix this movie? How does a chameleon work? What makes something universally bad?

Links

• The Nightmare World of Leo the Lion, Netflix’s Worst Movie http://slct.al/2bjeSDT

Grab a flock of birds (seagulls?) and travel with Writers Get Animated to Asteroid B-612 as Chris and Mackenzie explore the world of Netflix’s “The Little Prince!” How do you adapt a story into a film? Where is our wall-sized life plan? Can a kid’s movie be meant for adults? How many eight year olds get to stay home alone? How is the plot of “The Little Prince” film like a boa constrictor?

Links

• The Little Prince Review http://bit.ly/2bpyVoU

Chris and Mackenzie get real about their emotions. How do storytellers manipulate our emotions? How does a story operate on our feels? Get ready to let loose as they unpack the emotional baggage of Adventure Time’s “I Remember You” and Futurama’s “The Luck of the Fryrish.” What is the “Perception Shift?” When is a good time for an Apocalypse? How much information do you have to have about the world to make someone feel sad?

Links

• About Futurama: Luck of the Fryrish http://bit.ly/2b1LSm6

We’re back with Season 2 of Writers Get Animated! Chris and Mackenzie do their best to not go full “Fanboy” as they discuss Mark Hamill as the Joker. What makes the Joker the best villain? What makes Mark Hamill’s performance so great? Does Batman truly smell? And if so, how badly? What makes the Joker sad? How can we make our own cardboard cutout audience of citizens of Gotham?

Links

• Batman the Animated Series on Amazon Prime http://amzn.to/2axCtD3

You’ve heard the old adage: “Steal from the best?” What about stealing from YOURSELF?! Chris and Mackenzie power through some serious Disney déjà vu and glitches in The Matrix as they review episodes of DuckTales and TaleSpin that share the same plot! Is it a formula for a better DuckTales episode or does TaleSpin do it better? How many punchlines does “Joke-Bot 38” have? Do Duckburg and Cape Suzette share the same newspaper? How many astronomical events happen on single, specific days? Can you really use a snow plow to get rid of clouds? If Scrooge wanted to save money, why would he have meetings on Saturday mornings? How creepy can a character’s actions be and still be sympathetic? What do the citizens of Thembria listen to on the radio? What do robotic gargoyles have to do with it?

Links

• Get DuckTales “Allowance Day” on iTunes http://apple.co/29EJUof

With the release of Finding Dory and the announcement of Wreck-It Ralph 2, we decide to look at the direct to video sequels from Disney’s past: Cinderella III: A Twist in Time and Lion King II: Simba’s Pride. How do you portray animal “romance” in a way that's not awkward? Does Everyone, in fact, Need an Elton John Song? How did Simba “mark” the path for his daughter? Why doesn’t Cinderella’s Prince have a name? What other things can the magic words “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” do? How many women in the kingdom have a size 4 shoe? Can there ever be enough Aladdin?

Links

• About Cinderella III: http://bit.ly/29urnyu

Chris and Mackenzie navigate the complicated world of "Adult Animation," focusing on the turning point of the 70's and 80's when animation drew a line in the sand between stuff for kids and stuff for adults. What is it that classifies something as "Adult Animation?" Is it themes? The content? Who is "Adult Animation" for anyway? Adults? Kids that sneak into the movies? What kind of awkward, food-based metaphors can we make to explain this?

Links

• About Fritz the Cat the film: http://bit.ly/299kDs4_(film)