Geocities has hosted Animation - American and Japanese for what feels like centuries, and I've gotten some e-mail and comments from my visitors. I love hearing from all of you, and by all means keep those letters coming. For the benefit of some of our newer guests, here are some of my Previously Asked Questions. Hope you enjoy!
Why can't I access your site all the time?
Geocities restricts my bandwidth. You can read the ugly details here. In a nutshell, despite the fact that my website contains plenty of Geocities advertising, Geocities doesn't like it when people access my site often. Or something like that. When will this policy get changed? I think it's more likely that Jennifer Lopez will be named Earth's next Green Lantern.
Do your reviews refer to the VHS or DVD versions of the films?
When I originally created this site, VHS was the only way to go. Obviously, this is no longer the case. I realise that a lot of what I've written about isn't always equally available on DVD, but I don't want to delete old reviews. Although nowadays I review films as they appear on DVD, I limit my reviews to the films themselves, and not to the peripheral goodies (a.k.a. "extras") that DVD distributors include with new releases. I have no idea if the extras we've gotten used to will be included in future editions of the DVDs. I should also note that the state of animated film's availability on DVD parallels that of the early days of VHS. There are lots of poor-quality 3rd Generation "budget" DVDs out there of public domain short subjects, so buyer beware.
I can't seem to find what I am looking for. What should I do?
I recently installed a free web-based search engine. You can find the link to the search engine on each of the main pages of this website. I'll also add this link to every new review and essay I post. From time to time I'll also add this link to older pages on my site, starting with the essays and higher-traffic pages.
The search engine is free, but also contains advertising, so don't be shocked to find links to commercial sites.
What happened to your old Guestbook???
Geocities changed the guestbook procedure, so I archived the old Guestbook and put this new one in place. I'll find some way of letting you see the old Guestbook entries though.
How do you choose which films to review? I don't see my favorite film/ Don Bluth's latest release/ the letterboxed version of Speed Racer vs. Godzilla (made up title)
I tend to post reviews for films that I can put in some historical context, and which are pretty good for one reason or another. I'm not an industry insider, so this isn't the place to go for breaking news obviously! :) My initial criterion for reviewing is the film's availablity in North America, where I believe most of my readers live. If the film hasn't been released on video or hasn't been broadcast on cable for the past 20 years or so, don't count on a review appearing anytime soon.
If you'd like, you can post a review of the film yourself. Just e-mail me for details.
Do you work for a professional animation studio?
No. If I did, I couldn't be objective about any films that I see.
What qualifications do you have to be a critic?
I have a B.A. in Communications and published reviews of plays in my college paper. Like many other people with such a degree, I also made a couple of student films and took courses in film theory. I also took some college level art courses. Unlike most other people like me, I also have graduate degrees in Developmental Psychology so I know something about what children think and feel. I studied criticism before I started this page, and I've been writing reviews at this webpage for over 3 years. I think I'm as qualified as the average newspaper reviewer to write about animation, perhaps moreso due to my degree of specialization. The average professional film reviewer sees -and writes about- literally hundreds of feature length films per year and has little time to immerse himself in the minutiae of a genre like animation.
Can you tell me if Astro Boy on the Planet Mongo (made up title) is available on video in my area and how much it costs?
Offhand, I don't know the prices of every video and DVD on sale in North America. You bet bet is to go to www.amazon.com and use their search engine. This will tell you the list price of the video if it is available, along with Amazon's price if you wish to order from them. As an aside, please buy videos from your local merchants wherever possible. I realise that not all of you have a Blockbusters within walking distance. But unless you patronize your local businesses, they aren't going to stay in business when you need them. Of course, if you can get a better deal elsewhere, go with that.
Why doesn't your page use any frames or cool JAVA tricks?
This is one of the oldest still-active animation pages on the Web. When I created this webpage in 1997, the Internet wasn't quite the instant entertainment medium it is today. I wanted to create a webpage that was vaguely scholarly, very informative, and stressed content over flash animation and JAVA applets. I'm not saying that you can't have a quality, content-heavy page using more modern techniques. On the other hand, when I originally created this Web Site, I didn't use those tools and I don't see the point in incorporating them now.
Why don't you review TV series?
Most animated TV series are syndicated. They may or may not be available in your area. I'm sure there are some series that you can see that I can't and vice versa. The best example would be Sailor Moon, a staple of YTV which for over a year couldn't be widely seen outside Canada. In the States, ol' Moonie gets bounced from the USA Network to various Fox affiliates and now to the Cartoon Network, all with wildly varying timeslots and schedules. I wouldn't want to review a series if it weren't likely for you to see it. Besides, even network animated series have a very short shelf life. They last a season or two, then vanish, leaving us with vague memories of The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat or The Tick with perhaps a videotaped episode or two as evidence that we didn't dream the whole thing. :) It's not very helpful for you to read a review of a series that no longer exists.
Hey, my audience is small enough as it is! I don't want to end up talking to myself about series only I know about! :D I don't want to frustrate anyone by giving in-depth reviews to long dead series like Cadilacs and Dinosaurs or the animated version of ALF.
The exception? When a series becomes widely available on videotape! This means that Sailor Moon, Bullwinkle, Batman Adventures, and other series suddenly become fair game. Series on video are available at Kmart, Blockbuster and other video outlets. You've got a good shot at renting or even buying these.
Besides, most animated series - by almost anyone's reasonable definition - are horrible beyond belief. They aren't funny if they are comedies. They aren't suspenseful if they're supposed to be, and the draftsmanship is often dreadful. You mean people actually went to animation school to do these things?
Aw, come on. Can't you find anything nice to say about Monster Ranchers or Digimon?
Um . . . well, the colours are real pretty, and they employ lots of animators, probably boosting the animators' self esteem. They also keep Jerry Springer off the air for a couple hours a day. That's about it.
What's the funniest thing that ever happened to you as a result of this website?
Being called a Communist because I gave Ang Lee's Hulk a positive review.
Really?
Yes, really. Do you think I am making this stuff up? Someone running a right-wing blog literally called me a Communist. In 2003, for crying out loud. Now, if this was 1973 I could understand why someone would get outraged over the label. But in 2003 I'm left shrugging and wondering, "Why?"
May I interview you for my high school/college/local newspaper?
Time permitting, the answer is "Yes." I like answering questions about animation via e-mail. However, please don't ask me unless you're actually going to interview me. In the past, I've had a couple interview requests which seemed to be figments of the reviewer's minds. On the other hand, I've had some very pleasant review experiences.
Do you have a favorite animated film?
That's hard to say, since I like many animated films and have a pretty wide variety of tastes. That said, I don't have a favorite American animated feature, although if hard-pressed I'd choose Pinocchio. My favorite Japanese feature is Mononoke Hime and my favorite stop-motion animated film is The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.. These aren't perfect movies, but I keep returning to them.
Are animated movies your favorite movies?
Surprisingly, no. While I'm likely to watch a movie solely because it is animated, most of my favorite films are live-action movies from the 1930s and 1940s.
What non-animated films do you enjoy or recommend?
In no particular order I love some of the work of the following directors: Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Woody Allen, Jackie Chan, Buster Keaton, Sergio Leone, Charlie Chaplin, John Huston, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Frank Oz, and John Ford.
Do you have a favorite animation webpage?
See my Links page. I won't put an animation page on there if I don't think it's worth your time to click on it.
I'm discouraged and want to give up my animation webpage. Should I remove all my HTML and abandon what's left?
Before you abandon your webpage, ask yourself why you created it in the first place. Most times, people who abandon their pages either didn't have a very clear concept to begin with, or they thought that the webpage would be a shortcut to success. Your reasons are your own, and if you don't want to continue your online project, that's your business.
However, please don't yank down all your pages and leave behind a disturbing, quasi-suicidal note telling us that since you can't maintain your page anymore you are destroying it. I've seen an awful lot of this. It annoys those of us who found your website on a search engine, pay for our internet access, and have wasted time at your site. We resent being "punished" because someone in your past didn't think your page was worthwhile. If you must, just leave a line saying that there will be no further updates.
What is rotoscoping? Is it simply realistic animation?
Rotoscoping is a patented process invented by and first used by the Fleischers. It's a modified light box that allows one frame of a live action movie to be projected at a time, so that the film can be traced. The results vary in realism as well as quality. The Fleischers used rotoscoping to verify some of the trickier animation in Koko the Clown, and Disney became infamous for using rotoscoping starting in the late 1930s. Ralph Bakshi is probably the best known animator associated with the technique. In such films as Fire and Ice and Lord of the Rings, practically everything you see is rotoscoped. Given that such literal rotoscoping is essentially glorified tracing, the technique is often controversial.
I tried going to one of the sites you linked to and I couldn't get through or they asked me to subscribe! What gives?
You have my sympathies. The past few years have been horrible for fan-based animation sites. First, there was a proliferation of pseudo-fan sites that were created as promotional devices for video rereleases. Next, some older sites were either abandoned or totally removed from the Net. Most recently, several outstanding archive-style sites have either removed much of their content or they have become subscription-only.
Please e-mail me with any problems you have about connecting to sites I've linked to. On the other hand, please remember that I am only responsible for my own site, not anyone else's.
Where are the short subjects?
Short subjects are like the unwanted children of Evil Stepmothers. Many of the classic shorts were black and white, and the major studios seem to believe that no one is interested in these films unless they are colorized. And many current shorts are poorly distributed and little-known outside of hard-core animation circles. Yet short subjects were the lifeblood of animation for generations and represent some of the most important work by many directors. What to do?
Well, if the shorts have been collected in a decent video package, the reviews can be stashed in my Reviews section. If not. . .I am seriously considering writing a series of essays on "my favorite shorts." (Yes I hope I can think of a better title!!!) These would include those from the Film Board of Canada, Academy Award winners, experimental shorts, as well as the "forgotten" black and white classics. I've already completed an essay about the censorship of Hollywood Cartoons.
So if you're looking for material about short subjects, look around my site. But I won't set up a special Shorts section.
Hey, where are all the pictures on this site?
Good question. Most websites are chock full of graphics. There are a few reasons I haven't gone hog-wild posting scanned pics, even though I've had a scanner for several months. First and foremost, there are many fine image archives out there already. Unless you have a burning desire to see my fan art, there's absolutely nothing I could scan that hasn't already been scanned by someone else already or reproduced in a book or magazine. Besides, the official websites are often generous with downloadable goodies and pics nowadays. If you want me to recommend an image archive, e-mail me.
The second reason has to do with pragmatics. I have a rather limited am't of disk space at Geocities and would rather use that space to post reviews and essays. Also, its no secret that Geocities is a rather slow server. Adding a lot of pictures to my pages would increase the download time and increase your frustration.
The third reason concerns the purpose of this page. Yes, I still believe that the Internet ought to be a medium for sharing knowledge. My pages can be accessed not only through Netscape and Internet Explorer but also through any web browser you like - including the text-only LYNX.
The final reason has to do with paranoia. :) I'm making light of this but I remember a few months back when an outstanding Felix the Cat site was shut down due to copyright infringement issues. Similar things have occured with sites related to Betty Boop, Disney, Warner Brothers, Marvel, and DC Comics. The major animation studios have since lightened their touch somewhat, but this could change any day, depending on if they are provoked or not. Yes, the WWW is providing *free advertising* to the major studios via fan created pages, but I also fully understand the reasoning behind the major studios' decisions, and the major studios' concern that fan pages may interfere with potential revenue is not an irrational one. I don't want to anger any of the Big Boys, and this is another reason why you won't see a tonne of scans here.
This doesn't mean you'll never see scans here. It means that any scans will be used for illustrative purposes, and are not intended to be downloaded.
How often do you update the site?
Not as often as I'd like. This is not a blog, so you should not expect a daily update. Once upon a time, I tried not to let more than three weeks go by without doing something for the site, be it simply adding a few new links or a couple new reviews. Nowadays, I've slowed down considerably. Studying my site statistics have taught me that my reviews tend to get most of their readers while they are on my index page. Once they have been tucked away on the search pages, the number of readers tends to trickle down as a rule. So, I'd rather not replace reviews until I am sure that at least 50 or so people have read them.
Where do you stand on the auteur theory for animation?
Whoa! A film student question! The auteur theory claims that the work of a legitimate film director or writer contains personal consistencies and philosophy above and beyond the constraints of commercial film making. This is the theory which, once transplanted from France to the USA, allowed for the critical reappraisal (and elevation) of mainstream Hollywood directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford. Can the auteur theory be applied to animated movies too? Yes and no. On the one hand, Disney's classic films clearly bear the overwhelming stamp of Unca Walt. Tex Avery's shorts similarly possess a well-constructed insular philosophy, and Miyazaki's films often contain similar motifs and concerns. On the other hand, animation - more than any other medium - is a collective, collaborative art. Even at the height of Unca Walt's power, whole chunks of his films were indebted to the technical knowhow of his pal Ub Iwerks, and draftsmanship and storytelling quirks were secondary concerns to popular success. While I try to be aware of a given director's experience in animation, I cannot try and elevate, say, Hanna Barbera studios to the level of a Woody Allen or Charlie Chaplin.
Just how frequently are these Frequently Asked Questions asked?
Ho, ho! I think it was Bugs Bunny who said, "I like you. You're silly!" :) These questions actually turn up in the occassional e-mails I get from strangers. They pop up more often when I talk to friends when the topic turns to animation.
Do you think critics such as yourself have any influence on the animation business?
Short answer? No. I've set up shop in a happily obscure plot in the outlands of cyberspace. Only a few thousand people have read some my words and even if they all ran out and bought copies of Dragonball Z: The Movie, they'd only be having a minor effect on overall sales of the video. In fact, I doubt if even major professional critics have an appreciable influence on mainstream movies: I'm old enough to remember Siskel and Ebert's negative reviews of Friday the 13th and that series seemed to live forever. Bad reviews haven't seemed to hurt Jim Carrey's career either.
Hopefully, my words are a guide to people who are interested in renting an animation video or considering purchasing one for themselves or their children. And maybe my insights might encourage you to rent a different movie, or perhaps understand the movie you chose a little better. Ultimately, I hope that my webpage helps you to place these films in a proper historical context that makes emotional and psychological sense. Videotape has to potential to preserve film history for the masses, and our greatest cultural danger is being ignorant of our rich filmed heritage.
Where can I find some cool fansubs?
Beats me, partner. If you want legal copies of any video, go to www.amazon.com and search to see if the film is available. You want anything else? Don't look at me. I'm not running a bootlegging service.
What about MP3s and QuickTime Videos?
See the above answer. Check with your favorite search engine and you might get lucky. But I can't recommend any questionably legal sites to you.
You like Silver Age comic books, don't you?
Yes, I do. I grew up on back issues of The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, and The Justice League of America. The first comic I remember reading cover to cover was probably Superman vs. Spiderman. I like Carl Barks' comics better than the Donald Duck cartoons that inspired them. I still swear by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko's artwork and Batman is my favorite comics character of all time. Hell, I even like Betty and Veronica on a good day! :)
From time to time, someone is amazed that an anime nut like myself would read mainstream superhero comicbooks. It strikes some people as heresy! I don't see it as such. Any definition of pop artist that includes Akira Toriyama and leaves out Jack Kirby isn't one that I would subscribe to.
What webpage software do you use?
I usually write essays using Microsoft Word 97, convert them to HTML format, then go into DOS and use a text editor to delete unwanted META tags and other nonsense MS Word insists on inserting. I use Netscape Composer sometimes, too, and there have been times when I've written entire pages with WordPerfect 6.1. I don't use any other software besides those mentioned above, but this is the sort of webpage where it isn't too difficult to add additional HTML code by hand.
What exactly is Gatchaman Doom?
It's either a fun Total Conversion for use with the Doom video game or a pointless act of self-indulgence. :) Either way, I'm to blame for it. Doom Editing is my other hobby, and one that I enjoy a lot. It lets me combine my interests in gaming, music, computers and animation in one package. If you'd like to learn more, go to my very own Fragadelic Doom Page
If you could get any online wish granted, what would it be?
Assuming that modern science is unable to create a Britney Spears Fembot within my lifetime, I'd like to see more web masters use THUMBNAILS for Pete's sake! I hate surfing to a lousy index page and wait for a 350 K JPG to download. Use the ALT="" tag so we have some idea what to expect, if the picture can be described simply. Thumbnails should be less than 25K apiece, too. In a just world, there'd be a law limiting to size of each thumbnail size to a mere 1 or 2 KBs. Just because you have a cable courtesy of your dorm room doesn't mean that all of us do too.
Yes, I get cranky after seeing too many webpages in one day.
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