Show #163: Family Dog (1987/1993)

The Brad Bird bombardment continues as we check the pedigree of animated short and TV spinoff Family Dog!

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After a lot of hard graft in the 80s Brad Bird finally broke through and landed a life-changing job working on The Simpsons. Everybody wanted something from television's new golden boy, such that even his past projects were dusted off and ill-advisedly moulded into unwieldy forms with little to no input from their original creator! But does Family Dog the series deserve it's place in the boneyard of prime-time cartoon pretenders? Careers are catalogued, points are missed and yet more pondering is done on our podcast prospects!

THE SHORT VERSION

Good dog

Bad dog

That pencil test for The Spirit really is somethin'.

Show #128: The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)

Originally slated for a now aborted theme but it's always a good time to have Anthony Askew on to talk about The Adventures of Tintin!

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Herge's roving reporter Tintin had been adapted for animation and the big screen many a time before receiving the blockbuster treatment courtesy of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Away go the fanciful comic doodles and in come high resolution motion capture models of terrifying unrealism. What doesn't get left behind is the pulp adventure spirit of the original stories, delivering energetic action set pieces at a steady pace without derailing the plot, coming strangely full circle seeing as the director of Indiana Jones is at the helm of a film about one of its key inspirations. Give them a couple of years and we may even get those planned sequels!

THE SHORT VERSION

Amazing likenesses

Heroic sea captains

Improbable action