Show #113: Fire and Ice

We brave the savage, frozen wastes of a new year on a trip to the boilerplate fantasy realm of Fire and Ice!

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We said we'd give old Ralph Bakshi another spin of the wheel after our last encounter but we're finding maybe fantasy may not be his forte. In spite of an impressive assemblage of talent including Frank Frazetta, an artist who defined the look of these kind of stories, Fire and Ice never really adds up to the sum of its parts. It really serves as more of a template left unfilled, which is all the more maddening when one wonders what could have been produced had that creative energy been fully utilised.

THE SHORT VERSION

Untapped potential

Caveman Batman

BUTTS

Show #61: Baywatch Orcs

Bound in the darkness no more it's time to shed a little light on Ralph Bakshi's Lord Of The Rings!

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We live in an era of privilege where JRR Tolkien's fantasy saga has received the blockbuster film treatment so it may be a tad unfair to compare it against this 1978 effort from Ralph Bakshi of Fritz The Cat and Fire & Ice fame. That aside numerous problems exist in the way it handles its narrative and that's before we get to the visuals which certainly don't hold up with age. An ambitious effort for its time but which ultimately leaves you wanting.

THE SHORT VERSION

Seamless visuals (and is that John Belushi on the left?)

MC Saru The Man exits the stage

GO BALROGS!