NEW TRANSFORMERS MOVIE THEME SONG!

Transformers Soundtrack

With the Transformers movie just around the corner I thought it would be fun to post a bunch of the various verisions of the theme song the I have found.

The Transformers theme song is one of the most recognizable cartoon themes. If you ask a random person on the street most likely they would be able to sing a line or two.

The other day I was picking up some kids from their school and one kid saw the Autobots pin I wear on my jacket. He asked me if I liked the show. I said yes and then he asked me if I knew the song. I said I did and I started singing. "Transformers! Robots in disguise!"

"That's not how it goes!" he shouted at me! "It goes, Transformers ENERGON! Robots in Disguise!" I felt so old.

Here are three versions of the theme song from the three seasons of the generation one show.

Transformers - Season One

Transformers - Season Two

Transformers - Season Three

If you are a fan of Transformers: the Movie you should know this one. It is by 80's metal band Lion and it was recorded for the film.

Transformers - Lion

This one is a cover of the Lion version of the theme by a band called Black Lab. www.myspace.com/blacklabband

Transformers - Black Lab UPDATE: I got in trouble for posting this mp3 so I have taken it down. You can hear it on their myspace page if you want to hear it.

All the fans were wondering if a new recording of the theme would be made for the new film. Fans were overjoyed when this song was leaked onto the net a few months ago. But their smiles turned to frowns when they heard the new verision by Deceptibot.

Transformers - Deceptibot

It was later revealed that this song was a big joke and now the real theme has been revealed and it by a band called Mute Math. Check out their site: www.myspace.com/mutemath

Transformers - Mute Math

I like this version by Mute Math and am excited to hear it in the movie! Can't wait until July 7!

THURSDAY THEME SONG: THE ADVENTURES OF THE LITTLE PRINCE

The Little Prince

The final installment for "Narrative Theme" month is Japanese show based on a french book.

The Adventures of the Little Prince

In July of 1978, Hoshi no Ojisama Puchi Puransu was released in Japan. The series, which means Prince of the Stars: Petit Prince, contained 39 episodes may of which were directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Yasuhiko not only directed but was also the character designer. He then went on to be the influential character designer for Mobile Suit Gundam.

The series was re-cut and dubbed into English and brought to a North American audience in 1982. Only 26 of the 39 episodes were dubbed.

The story, which is loosely based on the 1943 book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, follows the adventures of a young boy who lives on a tiny planet called B6-12. He lives alone on that planet so every episode he rides a comet to Earth, his favourite planet and meets the local people.

The show was a hit with small children and became quite dear to children of the eighties. Do you remember this theme song?

THURSDAY THEME SONG: FLASH GORDON

Week four of "Narrative Themes" month brings us one of the greatest sci-fi series of the seventies:

Flash Gordon and Dale Arden.

Flash Gordon

What was the ultra-huge sci-fi movie blockbuster that came out in 1977? You got it! Star Wars re-wrote the way space and sci-fi movies were made, so it is no surprise if you watch the old Filmation Flash Gordon series from 1979 and see a lot of Star Wars influence.

Originally as a comic strip from the 30s, the animated adventures of Flash Gordon follow the edge-of-your-seat adventures storylines that leave you on a cliffhanger at the end of every episode.

This serial style of storytelling was not new to the comic strips but it was something that was not usually done in a children's cartoon. Enticing viewers to return everyday to see what happened next worked well for the show as it ran its sixteen episode premiere season but did not bring in the ratings that the network wanted.

Princess Aura

Two years later, NBC ordered a second season but insisted that each episode was to be self-contained. In fact, NBC wanted two eleven-minute stories per episode! They wanted a show that was geared to a younger audience in the hopes to get stronger ratings than in season one.

An addition to the show was a small baby dragon called Gremlin that was added as the pet/sidekick/comic releif that every show in the seventies and eighties seemed the need to have. Gremlin stole the spotlight in many of the episodes only to be hated more and more by the fans.

To fans of the show, this second season was a disgrace. The fun and adventure of the first season had disappeared and what remained was a pile of garbage. The show was cancelled after eight episodes.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: CHALLENGE OF THE SUPER FRIENDS

In 1973, Hanna-Barbera launched the very first animated series based on the superhero team the Justice League of America!

This childrens' show went through many changes before airing, the most significant is
changing the name to Super Friends. In the height of the Vietnam War, HB thought it would be too jingoistic so a new 'friendlier' name was given.

There has never been a more epic battle

Challenge of the Super Friends was the third Super Friends series that ran during the 1978-1979 television series. The hour-long episodes were made up of two half-hour segments. The first segment stories were similar to the previous season, The All-New Super Friends Hour, which featured Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna.

The second segment stories were called The Super Friends vs. The Legion of Doom which saw a handful of villains teaming up to take over the world and take down the Super Friends.

l-r Apache Chief, Black Vulcan and Samurai

Twelve villains were hand picked by Lex Luthor to join the Legion of Doom.

The roster included Solomon Grundy, Sinestro, Black Manta, Cheetah, Giganta, the Scarecrow, Toyman, the Riddler, Bizarro, Brainiac, Captain Cold and Gorilla Grodd.

The heroes that battled the Legion of Doom were Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman.

The Wonder Twins were cut from the roster in the half of the show for some reason.

Three new characters were created to join the Super Friends in order to add a
bit of cultural diversity to what would be an entirely white cast of characters. Their names are Black Vulcan, Apache Chief and Samurai and I'll let you guess which ethnic group each of them represent. While Hanna-Barbera's intentions were good at the time, they now seem quite stereotyped.

The theme to the Legion of Doom segment was written by John Beal and narrated by William Woodson.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: REBOOT

This month is "Narrative Theme Song" month. These theme songs feature a voice, usually the main character, explaining the plot overtop some cool music. This week's theme song is the first every computer animated television series.

The season one cast:
Bob, Frisket, Enzo and Dot

ReBoot

ReBoot is a historical cartoon. In an age where almost everything you see on tv is computer animated it is hard to believe the first completely CG series was only thirteen years ago. That's right, in 1994 the Canadian computer animation company known as Mainframe Entertainment debuted its first television series.

Bob is the guardian of his city, Mainframe, which happens to be the inside of a computer. Along with his friends, Bob must defend Mainframe from the evil viruses, Megabyte and Hexidecimal. To make matters worse, Bob must also enter "games" that the "User" plays. If the User wins it destroys a good portion of the city.

The show was a fun adventure show that gained a good following. While it is fun for the kids, the real fan base was in the college crowd. Everyone and everything is named after a computer term and all the games parody actual games so the references that go right over the kids heads smack the college age right in the forehead.

Enzo and AndreAIa all grown up
from season three.

Every episode in the first two seasons is self-contained. However toward the end of the second season the series took a much darker turn and ended on a cliffhanger. The show then got shelved so that Mainframe could concentrate on their new show, Beast Wars: Transformers.

Fans of the show pushed for a third season and after a year hiatus, ReBoot returned with a great storyline and impressive graphics due to the advance in the studio's graphics department.

Fans were thrilled. There third season was more than any of them could have hoped for. The third season concluded with a fantastic series finale but many questions still remained causing everyone to wonder if a fourth season would ever be made.

Three years later, a fourth season, in the form of two tv movies, were released and the fans were once again happy.

This theme song is narrated by ReBoot's main character, Bob.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: JOHNNY BRAVO

Week two of "Here's Johnny!" and I've got a good one for you! This will be the last week for Thursday Theme Songs this month because I will be going away for a few weeks (to get married!). I will resume the Thursdays when i return in May!

But now...on with the post:

Who wouldn't want a piece of this?

Johnny Bravo

Johnny Bravo is a show about picking up chicks. Johnny is a totally ripped, Elvis influenced, ego-maniac who will try just about anything to get a girlfriend. Unfortunately, he usually messes up and gets clobbered by whatever girl he's trying to impress.

The Cartoon Network show ran four seasons and 65 episodes between 1997 and 2003. While the absurd and slapstick humour is some of the appeal, the real reason for watching the show is to see which guest star will make a cameo!

Donny Osmond is a regular guest star
on the show.

Everyone from cartoon characters like Scooby-Doo and the Gang, the Flintstones and Huckleberry Hound to real life stars like Mark Hamill, Adam West, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Don Knotts, Dr. Phil, Jessica Biel, Alec Baldwin, Luke Perry, Farrah Fawcett, Dionne Warwick, Mick Jagger, Richard Simmons, Mr. T, Shaquille O'Neal, Seth Green, and Donny Osmond, who was a regular guest star. The guest stars were perfectly charactered with the actors providing the voices to their cartoon counterpart.

The series was created by Van Partible, who did a bulk of the writing and animating. Butch Hartman, creator of Fairly Odd Parents, and Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, joined Partible to make the show hilarious.

There was supposed to be a live action Johnny Bravo movie starring the Rock but for some reason it was shelved.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: JONNY QUEST

This month will only contain two Thursday Theme Songs because I will be out of town on a vacation/honeymoon for the last two weeks of April. So I have two theme songs for you and if there is ever another month with only two Thursdays I will post another two on this theme: "Here's Johnny!"

Are we there yet?

Jonny Quest

Jonny Quest, the story of an eleven-year-old boy who tags along on his scientist father's dangerous explorations, is a fan favourite of kids young and old. The action and stories are exciting, the drawings and animation are fun to watch and the characters are fun to be around.

When Hanna-Barbera first developed the show, they wanted an action-adventure show based on the popular radio program Jack Armstrong. But licensing fell through and the show was reworked into Jonny Quest.

One of the first things you will notice about this show, especially comparing it to other Hanna-Barbera shows like Scooby-Doo, Flintstones or even Super Friends, is that the artists have pulled out all the stops.

How is Dr. Quest gonna get outta this one?

Hanna-Barbera shows had a small budget because they were a small time animation company. They didn't have the revenue that Disney or Warner Bros did so they had to find creative way to make their show good but cheap. A lot of the time the animation suffered because it would be to expensive to make a character get up out of a chair or change direction while running on screen.

But HB knew that Jonny Quest needed to have better quality animation and artwork in order to tell the stories the wanted. The result was bold and dynamic characters and backgrounds and animation that was still limited but way more fun to watch.

The show was cancelled after one season even though ratings were high. The show was just too expensive for Hanna-Barbera to keep in production.

This theme song is by Hoyt Curtin who did most of Hanna-Barbera's music in the sixties and seventies.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: SEALAB 2021

This is the last week for our "Underwater Adventures" theme on Thursday Theme Song. Today's show is one of [adult swim]'s finest work:

Standard dress code on Sealab

Sealab 2021

Way back in 1972, Hanna-Barbera produced Sealab 2020, a show that teaches kids about being environmentally friendly, particularly to the sea. The show was dumb and boring and canceled after thirteen episodes.

Fast forward to 1995: Adam Reed and Matt Thompson stumble upon an old episode of Sealab 2020 and decide to add their own dialogue making it funny. Thus, Sealab 2021 was born. The series ran 52 ten to twelve minute episodes on Cartoon Network's [adult swim] from 2000-2005.

Taking place one year after the events of Sealab 2020 the crew has gone a bit crazy living underwater for so long and now they just spend their time goofing off and acting stupid. And boy is it funny.

Sealab group photo

Sealab 2021 uses recycled animation and backgrounds from the original show and adds in new animation when necessary. The animation quality is very limited and quite bad but the writing is funny and makes the animation tolerable.

The show has a huge cult following, many of which say the show 'jumped the shark' when Captain Murphy voice actor Harry Goz died in 2003. Captain Murphy's character was written out of the show saying he went to fight in the Great Spice Wars. The series went on for a while after but it was never the same and was eventually canceled.

The theme song for the show is by a group called Calamine.



If you want to see an episode of the original Sealab 2020 then check out the Sealab 2021 episode called '7211' on the second season DVD set. It is an actual episode of the original show (7211 refers to the production number of the original episode) with the new voice cast dubbing in the dialogue and edited for time constrains. You will see just how boring the original show was.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: WAIT TILL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME

This week we move into the seventies to bring you one of the most unusual Hanna-Barbera shows.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

Wait Till You Father Gets Home (WTYFGH) was brought to life by Hanna-Barbera to compete in the ever-growing popularity of the 'seventies sitcom'. This show which starred Tom Bosley (two years before his role as Howard Cunningham in Happy Days) as a married father of three and the situations that they encounter due to their generation gap. The series ran from 1972 to 1974 for first-run syndication. The two seasons and 49 episodes featured guest stars like Don Knotts, Don Adams and Phyllis Diller.

This thing that stands out when watching it is the completely different style of animation than Hanna-Barbera usually produces. Even though Iwao Takamoto was the production designer, the look of the series was a drastic departure from the HB norm. This was partly because a bulk of the production was farmed out to Canawest Studios (best known for their Beatles cartoon).

I am extremely happy to hear that HB/Warner Bros has decided to release this show on DVD. The first season, 24 episodes, will be released on June 5th. This rare gem will be a delight to add to my collection.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: SPACE GHOST AND DINO-BOY

This is week three of our tribute to the legacy of Hanna-Barbera. This week we focus on the greatest Superhero ever created by Hanna-Barbera.

Space Ghost and Dino-Boy

Space Ghost was the first half of the half-hour series that ran from 1966-1968 on CBS. It followed the adventures of Space Ghost, voiced by Gary Owens (Roger Ramjet, Powered Toast-Man), as he battles villains, monsters and other abominations. Joining him on his adventures are his teenage sidekicks, Jace and Jan, and their space monkey, Blip.

The design for Space Ghost was by legendary comic-book artist, Alex Toth. Space Ghost has found its way into comicbooks many times, most recently by DC in 2004 that featured covers by Alex Ross.

Space Ghost made another appearance in the show Space Stars in 1981 but it wasn't until 1994 when Space Ghost would find success again. Cartoon Network's [adult swim] created a new series about a retired Space Ghost who has become a talk show host. Space Ghost: Coast-To-Coast reused animation from the original show and featured characters from the show such as Zorak, Moltar and Brak the Pirate. Each episode would feature a special celebrity guest. SGC2C lasted for seven seasons.

The second half of the Space Ghost and Dino-Boy was about a young boy who got trapped in prehistoric times and lived amongst the dinosaurs with his new friend Ugh the Caveman. The show was alright but paled in comparison the Space Ghost segments.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: PENELOPE PITSTOP

Not only will this week's theme song be a tribute to the Late Joe Barbera, but it will also be a tribut to Iwao Takamoto who passed away earlier this week. Iwao was a lead character designer for Hanna-Barbera and is most known for designing Scooby-Doo. But I want to share with you a character that Iwao almost didn't create.

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

When Hanna-Barbera created Wacky Races, a show about a bunch of race car drivers and a villain bent on sabotaging every race, they didn't realize that they had made a all-male cast out of the drivers. At the last second Iwao was given the task of designing Penelope Pitstop and her car, the Compact Pussycat. He completed his task in about two hours.

Penelope was known as 'the Glamour Gal of the Gas Pedal' and quickly rose to be one of the most popular characters on the show. Janet Waldo provided her southern drawl and continues to voice the character to this very day in video games and online web cartoons.

Wacky Races had two spin-offs. Dasterdly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines focused on the villain, Dick Dasterdly and his pursuit to stop a carrier pigeon from delivering its messages. The other spin-off was The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Here, Peneolpe must escape and evade the traps set out by the Hooded Claw, who is after her wealth. To save the day, Wacky Races co-stars the Ant Hill Mob Gang also joined the cast of this show to help Penelope out.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: THE FLINTSTONES

To honour the legacy of Joe Barbera who died a few weeks ago, Thursday Theme Songs for the month of January will focus on the work of Hanna-Barbera. This week we will look at one of the greatest shows in television history:

The Flintstones

The Flintstones ran for six seasons from 1960-1966 on ABC and is the first animated television show made for prime time. The sitcom gained the record for longest running animated series which wasn't broken until 1997 by The Simpsons. The stories of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their neighbours, Barney and Betty Rubble, gained huge popularity with kids and adults alike.

Many of the stories dealt with Fred and/or Barney trying to make ends meet with get-rich-quick schemes or find that it's not easy to keep their marriage together. The show even touched on issues not often seen in cartoons of that era, such as Wilma's pregnancy and Barney's infertility.

By the sixth season it was apparent that more kids than adults were watching The Flintstones and so a few new characters were added that greatly took away from the 'sitcom' feel of the show. The Gruesomes, a monster-like couple resembling the Addams Family or the Munsters, moved next door and a little green alien that only Fred could see, called that Great Gazoo, appeared to help Fred through his adventures. Many fans consider the appearance of the Great Gazoo as the moment the Flintstones jumped the shark.

Many spin-offs were made throughout the 70s and 80s including one where Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are grown up, one about baby Flintstone kids and even one where Fred and barney meet the Fantastic Four's The Thing! All of these shows failed to capture the popularity of the original show and were just marketing grabs put out by Hanna-Barbera.

The theme song to the Flintstones is probably one of the most recognizable themes in TV history.

Flintstones, meet the Flintstones
They're the modern stone-age family.

The lyrics were penned by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera and the music was written by Hanna-Barbera's music master, Hoyt Curtin.

But did you know? The 'Meet the Flintstones' theme was written for a Golden Book Record and was not used on the show until its third season! A instrumental song called 'Rise and Shine', also written by Hoyt Curtin, was the original theme and this is the one that I am sharing with you today. Enjoy!

THURSDAY THEME SONG: MEN IN BLACK

This week's animated spin-off based on a live-action movie is Men in Black: the Series which is based on the 1997 hit Men in Black which is based on the comicbook of the same name.

Produced by Adelaide Productions, makers of Jackie Chan Adventures, Ghostbusters Extreme and Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, MIB: the Series debuted on the WB! in 1997 immediately following the movie. The events of the show spin directly out of the movie's plot and focus on the movie's main characters, Jay and Kay. The series lasted a whole four seasons, from 1997 to 2001.

In the show, Jay and Kay are still partners and must defend Earth from the various invading forces set out for world annihilation. Many supporting cast and villains from the movie pop up to say hi but none of them, including the main characters, are voiced by their original counterparts. Ed O'Ross and Gregg Berger replaced Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K and Keith Diamond replaced Will Smith as Agent J.

The show had a very slick style with creative sets, aliens and character designs that follow the style of this animation company. It was a pleasure to watch and the writing, despite one or two poor episodes, was very well done. I will be picking this one up if it ever comes out on DVD.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: BEETLEJUICE

This week's television theme song is a spin-off of the 1988 Tim Burton film, Beetlejuice. The series ran four seasons and 94 episodes on ABC and FOX from September 1989 to December 1991 and was animated by Canadian company, Nelvana. Beetlejuice was an instant hit on ABC's saturday morning lineup and soon aired every weekday afternoon on FOX as well.

The series was quite different from the film. In the movie, Beetlejuice was the antagonist whereas he and Lydia are best friends. Lydia often travels to the 'Netherworld' (changed from 'afterlife') to either stop or help Beetlejuice as he scams the locals. Lydia was changed from a very depressing goth to a quirky teenager who just likes weird things.

The humour of the show was quite different from the movie too. The show really relied on wordplay and pop culture parody which made it quite popular with a college age audience.

The voice of Lydia was Alyson Court who is probably best known as Loonette the Clown on The Big, Comfy Couch.

The theme song was written by Danny Elfman who also wrote themes for Batman: the Animated Series and the Simpsons. Tim Burton served as an executive producer along with Geffen Records founder David Geffen.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: BACK TO THE FUTURE

Welcome to another installment of Thursday Theme Song! This month's theme is "Live-Action Movies With Cartoon Spin-Offs" and this week we look at a cartoon that was a continuation of the cult classic Back to the Future trilogy.

This short lived two season, 26-episode Saturday morning cartoon aired on CBS from September 1991 to September 1993. It followed the adventures of Marty McFly and Doc Brown as they visit parallel time zones. Joining the cast is Doc Brown's wife, Clara, and their children, Jules and Verne, and Marty's girlfriend, Jennifer Parker.

Christopher Lloyd appeared as Doc Brown in opening and closing segment of each episode but his animated counterpart was voiced by Dan Castenella (Homer Simpson). David Kaufman replaced Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, but Mary Steenburgen and Thomas F. Wilson reprised their roles as Clara Brown and Biff Tannen. Bill Nye the Science Guy sometimes joined Doc Brown in the live action segments to share with the viewers some neat science facts.

The show had some good character designs and the characters were true to the movie and the fact that it was animated meant that they could do many things that live action wouldn't allow. All in all, a decent cartoon.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: OZZY & DRIX

This is the last week for our "Dynamic Duos" theme. Past weeks included Sam & Max, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo and Rocky & Bullwinkle.

This week's duo is taken from the 2001 movie Osmosis Jones. Ozzy & Drix follows the adventures of Osmosis Jones (Phil LaMarr replacing Chris Rock) and Drixobensometaphedrian (Jeff Bennett replacing David Hyde Pierce) as they continue to defend the City of Hector from evil viruses and infections.

The show lasted two seasons, from 2001-2004, and featured a different style of animation than the movie. It was produced with a way cheaper budget than its movie counterpart, as most spin-offs are, and it is reflected in the outcome.

Still from Osmosis Jones


Still from Ozzy & Drix

One major criticism is that the producers of the show reused animation from the movie to cut corners. This was obvious because the style was completely different. It was mainly used during action sequences but on whole scene in the episode 'Aunti Histamine' was a complete copy. How sad.



This week's theme song is a tie-in to next month's theme: Movie Spin-Offs! See you then!

THURSDAY THEME SONG: ROCKY & BULLWINKLE

This week's theme is actually the amalgamation of two shows. Rocky and His Friends ran from 1959 to 1961 on ABC but was moved to NBC in 1961 and renamed The Bullwinkle Show due to Bullwinkle's obvious popularity at the time. The show was cancelled in 1964 but moved back to ABC until 1974 when it moved into syndication. The syndicated title of the show changed to The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show and covered the two seasons of Rocky and the three seasons of Bullwinkle.

Rocket J. Squirrel (Rocky) and Bullwinkle J. Moose live in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota. Bullwinkle is a dim-witted moose that always seems to get into trouble that send him and Rocky around the world. Whether they are trying to located a hidden mine of Upsidasium or saving the world from the Metal Moon Men, the pair always save the day thanks to Rocky's smart thinking and Bullwinkle's lucky accidents.

The two baddies, called Nogoodniks, are Boris Badanov and Natasha Fatale. From the rival town of Pottsylvania, they are always given a mission from Fearless Leader to stop the moose and squirrel from interfering with their plans.

Each episode began and ended with a five-minute R&B segments that always ended in a cliff-hanger to be resolved in the following episode. Sandwiched in between the R&B shorts were five-minute episodes of Fractured Fairy Tales, Dudley Do-Right, Aesop and Son and Peabody and Sherman's Improbable History.

This show worked on so many levels. It had the goofy characters and slap-stick humour for the kids and intelligent writing and topical humour for the adults. My favourite part of the show the amount of puns that would be crammed in each episode.

Rocky and Bullwinkle was created by Jay Ward Studios who had just met popularity with its previous show, Crusader Rabbit. Due to extremely limited funding, all the animation was farmed out to a studio in Mexico where workers worked for pennies and produced obvious results. Animation was sloppy, colours changed, mustaches would disappear and because of tight schedules many of these mistakes would never be caught until Jay Ward saw them on the air. Farming animation over-seas is common place today but it should be know that Jay Ward Studios was the first to do it.

Where the animation was lacking the show made up in writting. The writing staff prided themselves on the clever stories and jokes, many of them trying to recreated the old radio-serial style comedies.

The first three seasons of Rocky and Bullwinkle are out on DVD and I recommend watching it if you haven't yet. It is a great look back to the Golden Age of television animation.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: SHAGGY & SCOOBY-DOO

This week's Theme Song is about the ever-loving duo of Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. The cowardly couple were first seen in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! in 1969. They were part of a mystery investigative group along with their friends Fred, Daphne and Velma.

While Fred was the leader, Daphne was the damsel in distress and Velma was the brains, Shaggy and Scooby were the comic relief. They never wanted to go in the spooky house or look for the creepy monster and Scooby-Doo would always need to be bribed with a Scooby Snack or two.

Scooby-Doo went through many incarnations over the years but the look of the characters and the show always stayed the same. Every series had the same format: The gang would be minding their own business, they would meet a character that would explain the plot of the episode and present a mystery of the gang to solve. The gang would meet a monster and Shaggy and Scooby-Doo would get scared. The monster would be revealed to be the character that the gang met at the beginning of the episode! It wasn't until September of 2006 when Shaggy and Scooby went through a dramatic change.

This week's theme is the tenth show starring Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! which debuted on Cartoon Network in September. It follows the adventures of Shaggy who just inherited a gazillion dollars. He and Scooby live in a mansion, have a transforming Mystery Machine and Scooby now has Scooby Snacks that allow him to transform too! The rest of the gang is gone and the show has a more action/adventure feel.

The thing that has Scooby fans in an uproar is the new designs. Shaggy and Scooby got a complete overhaul for this show and fans say it isn't for the better. The style was changed to fit in with other CN shows like Danny Phantom and Johnny Test.

You be the judge. What do you think of these new designs? The clip below contains the theme song plus the first half of the premiere episode so you can get a feel for the new show. Enjoy!

THURSDAY THEME SONG: SAM & MAX

Today is Thursday and you know what that means! THURSDAY THEME SONG! This being the first Thursday in October brings us a brand new monthly theme. This month: "Dynamic Duos"

Now, instead of showing the most popular duos (ie. Batman & Robin) I will be presenting some lesser known couples who starred in their very own cartoon series. This week:

Sam & Max

Based on the 80s comicbook of the same name, Sam & Max (also know as The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police) was a short lived series about a dog and a rabbit that fight crime. The series was produced by Canadian company Nelvana and had a total of 22 10-minute episodes and 2 20-minute episodes to make a total of 13 episodes, or one season. Sam & Max was shown on Fox and won a Gemini award for "Best Animated Series" and then Fox, in their usual pattern, cancelled the show.

Sam is a six-foot, anthropomorphic dog. He is level-headed and a great detective and his trench coat always has what is needed to solve the crime in its pocket.

Max is a three-foot "hyperkinetic rabbity thing" who is impusive and a little crazy. The two live in New York but travel the world, and beyond, to solve mysteries and bring criminals to justice.

The character designs are simple and fun to look at which leaves a lot of room for creative animation. Nelvana did a great job keeping the original feel of the comicbook even so far as to create very comicbook-like backgrounds.

The most enjoyable part of the show is the ongoing banter that is shared between the two. The dialogue is just as fast paced as an episode of the Gilmore Girls but the delivery is so much better.

A few of the episodes were released on VHS but are no longer in print and there are no plans for a DVD release. Most of the episodes are on youtube so I would recommend checking them out. Let me know what you think!

THURSDAY THEME SONG: MISSION HILL

Mission Hill is the story of another animated series that wasn't given the proper treatment. The WB put this show on hiatus after only two episodes due to 'poor ratings'! They later put the show back on the air but then cancelled it after six more episodes. Mission Hill has gone on to reach a cult status with the DVD sales and the repeat showing of all thirteen episodes on Canada's Teletoon.

Set in the city of Mission Hill, the show stars Andy French, a twenty-four year old who moves to the big city to become a cartoonist but is instead stuck in a dead end job as a clerk at a mattress store. Andy likes to party and live life without responsibility. He lives in an apartment with two other roommates.

Andy's life changes when his little brother, Kevin, moves in to complete his senior year at the local high school. Kevin is a straight A student who doesn't know or approve of Andy's slacker lifestyle. In each episode, Kevin learns something about loosening up and Andy learns a little something about responsibility. Oh yeah, and the show is hilarious too.

The theme song is provided by Cake who rerecorded a faster, instrumental version of Italian Leather Sofa.