Mike’s Top 10 Animated Series and Films

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Sword of Omens,

give me sight beyond sight. I see a new episode

of ToonCast coming this week. Beyond good, beyond

evil, beyond your wildest imagination. Hello

and welcome to another episode of ToonCast here

on the GeekCast Radio Network. I'm, of course,

TF Joe and Mike. This is episode 292. We are

on our way to 300 episodes. It's only taken us

14 to 15 years to do so. I am here with Steve

Megatron, and he is going to be taking me through

my personal top 10 tunes list, which can either

be animated series or animated films. These are

favorites. This list changes all the time, so

it could change tomorrow, it could change next

week. This is not a definitive quote -unquote

of all time list. These are just the top ten

that I picked out to discuss for my own Top Ten

Tunes episode, so I am going to hand it over

to Mr. Megatron, and we are going to start with...

the next the first number so take it away sir

so mike we're going to discover what your top

10 tunes are so let's start off with your number

10 previously on x -men number 10 i i i put this

list together on a whim folks i put this together

like five minutes before we recorded this And

I didn't want to place this at number 10, but

it's the only place it could go for now. I don't

believe what I'm hearing. But I do absolutely

love the show. I think it's great. It's amazing.

It basically got me. It was one of the two, three

shows in the 90s that got me into comic book

reading, and that is X -Men, the animated series.

Oh, interesting choice. Yes, normally it would

be higher. So all you people screaming at your

iDevices or your Androids or whatever. I go.

I want to go. Out of the way, gumbo. I would

have normally put this higher, but there are

things that are coming up in this top 10 that

are just slightly a little bit more, just a little

bit more. And the reason why I love X -Men 92

is because, like I said, it introduced me to

comics through the cartoon. You had great storylines.

Basically, this was the comics coming to life

as an animated show. And at least through the

first four seasons, the animation, for the most

part, was amazing. You have wonderful voice actors,

as in the late, great Norm Spencer, who voiced

Cyclops. You have, I forget who did Jean Grey

off the top of my head. You have Cal Dodd as

Wolverine. You have Lenore Zahn as Rogue. Lenore

Zahn, man, she's amazing. I hope we can get an

interview with her. But Rogue in this series,

she screams a lot. I forgot how much. Oh no,

she, yeah, a lot. Like it's at least three screams

per episode, depending or more, depending on

what's happening to her. But, but yeah, no, I

just, like I said, this introduced me to two

comics and to the stories of the X -Men and introduced

me to the characters as this was happening. I

found the, I believe it was NES, it was a Nintendo

Entertainment System, Spider -Man and the X -Men

video game. It might have been on other systems,

I forget off the top of my head. I found that,

and I found the X -Men... You're supposed to

know everything, Beast. What makes us like we

are, anyway? Gamma rays, pollution, ozone depletion,

television, progress, lousy luck. The X -Men

trading cards. and I always loved and I always

wanted to, I need to find them again, but I always

had the blue team card and the gold team card

as my two favorite, favorite cards from, from

that, that X -Men animated series card set. The

show is just great. It, it tells stories that

are not necessarily for kids, but it gets, it's

like in the eighties, which I will talk about

a little bit later. you obviously had something

happen throughout a He -Man story or a G .I.

Joe story or a Mask story or whatever. And then

at the end, they would have the PSAs and things

like that. With this show, it was like learning

on the fly kind of thing. And it's just like

Kevin Conroy, which I will talk about way later,

just like Kevin Conroy is the ultimate voice

of Batman. Cal Dodd as Wolverine, like... There's

so many great – and I love Steve Blue as Wolverine.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely do. But Cal

Dodd as the original 92 Wolverine. He has so

many great lines. You know, calling everybody

Bub. Bub. Yeah. What are you talking about, Bub?

Yeah. The one line I remember is I believe it's

in the first two -parter, Night of the Sentinels,

and he's like, I go where I want to go. And it's

just so cool and so great. So yeah, X -Men 92.

Normally it would be higher, but there are other

things to discuss. Yes, to discuss on this list.

Okay, that's not a bad choice there. So let's

hear your number nine. Oh, yes, of course. Here

we are. You mean man will find one of those someday?

If man were meant to fly, he'd have been born

with wings. I am about to prove otherwise, Archimedes,

if you care to watch. Here she goes. Oh, no,

no, no, no. Man will fly all right. Just like

a rock. It would have worked if it weren't for

this infernal beard. First of all, if you don't

mind, I'll make the rules. Rules indeed. Why,

she only wants rules so she can break them. I'll

take care of you later, feather brain. Rule one,

no mineral or vegetable. Only animal. Rule two,

no make -believe things like pink dragons and

stuff. Now, rule three, no disappearing. Rule

four, no cheating. All right, all right. Now

pace off ten. You were really great, Merlin,

but you could have been killed. It was worth

it, lad, if you learned something from it. Number

nine was hard. It was difficult because I wanted

to find a mix of animated films and shows. So

number nine is going to be an animated film,

but I will say I did cheat. on this list because

I did put for two of the entries the show and

the subsequent film that went along with the

show. Because, you know, I'm a clown apparently.

So number nine is the Disney classic The Sword

in the Stone. I love this movie. This was the

movie. This and the John Steinbeck King Arthur

and His Noble Knights were the two things in

my youth, my youth and my teenage years, that

introduced me to the Arthurian legend. And Sword

in the Stone is just pure fun. And I forgot how

long those openings and closings were for these

films, because the openings and closings for

most classic Disney films is just somebody singing

a song. Oh, yeah, pretty much, and some of the

newer ones even. Yeah, yeah. But Sword in the

Stone, I mean, you know, you got Merlin, you

got Archimedes, you got Arthur, Wart, as Hector

calls him, and he's basically this kid that essentially

gets bullied by his step -bigger, older step

-brother. He's a squire, so squires are basically

like pledges in Van Wilder or something. Ooh,

that's right. We've got to do the 20th anniversary

of that over at the studio. Anyway, bad thought,

bad thought. And he meets Merlin, and Merlin

shows him all these things and does all this

magic stuff. It's a very... It's not innocent,

but it also is a very innocent telling of the

story. It's not bloodshed, guts, and gore. You

always hear about how the original story of Snow

White is much darker than the Disney movie kind

of thing. This is kind of the same thing. They're

showing you the legend, but they're showing it

to you in a way that... is fun. Like, Merlin

starts using magic on the dishes and the broom

and the mop to clean up. Like, yes, please, can

I have some Merlin magic so I can have, you know,

press the digitolium. That's all I can remember.

I was going to say Bibbidi -Bobbidi -Boo, but

that's a different movie. Oh, yeah, totally different

movie. Yeah, but he does all this magic stuff

and he says all these things and does all these

rhymes and it's just fun. It's one of my favorite

original Disney movies, actually. Absolutely.

So what's your number eight? Number eight. Oh,

I should say there are three cheats, and this

is a cheat. It was He -Man who was... He -Man?

Always He -Man. Your failure cost me Christ,

though. So number eight. And I know everyone's

going to be screaming at me that it's not higher.

He -Man and the Masters of the Universe 83, Filmation,

and the 2002 reboot. 83, I was three years old,

didn't know much about He -Man by 84, 85. I was

into Transformers. and Voltron and all that,

and I found He -Man somewhere late 84, early

85. Basically, by the time I was five, five and

a half in 85, when I was actually able to fully

understand some things, I was watching He -Man

and the Masters of the Universe, and it was awesome,

and it was great, and I had all the toys. And

literally, I had almost every... I don't know

how I had almost everything, but I had Castle

Grayskull, I had He -Man Skeletor, I had Snake

Mountain. The only thing I never got was the

Palace of Eternia, which is fine. It's not that

great. Well, I never had any of the bases for

He -Man. I had all the figures, though. Right,

yeah. I mean, I remember taking the toys to school,

but the cartoon itself? Now... Optimus Solo and

I have spent the last decade or so reviewing

all of the Masters of the Universe cartoons.

We still need to review some of the Netflix stuff.

We've done Revelations so far, but we still need

to do the Netflix She -Ra and the CGI series

and all that. But we've reviewed all 130 episodes

of the original show. And looking back on it,

there are great episodes, but there are also

bad episodes. But that's just the way the 80s

were. But as a kid in the 80s, man, I was glued

to my TV any time. My favorite scene as a kid

was the transformation scenes. Every time. Well,

it's fun when he grabs the sword. I have the

power. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. And even

as a kid and as an adult, there is an episode

in the filmmation series. that is called The

Problem with Power. And for some reason, which

I don't quite remember off the top of my head,

he has to let the power return. So you see this

reverse transformation where the power goes back

to Greyskull, and just like when Optimus Prime

died, I cried. Because that was just... He eventually

gets it back, obviously, and... blah, blah, blah.

It's kind of like a Duke Coleman situation, but

you know, it is what it is. It's like, Oh my

God, you are returning your power. Why are you

like, what? And like I said, we've covered it

over on powers of gray skull series, a tales

of Eternia. I don't remember all of the plot

points of the problem with power. I just remember

there's a scene in the middle of the show or

whatever, where he's like, let the power return.

And it all drains out of him. And he just turns

back into. Pink shirt and purple pants wearing

Prince Adam. Now the 2002 series, why I love

that, and this is going to be just a little bit

quicker on this so we can move on, but I never

caught, I caught it once or twice when it was

airing, but I never, I never, I was 2002, I was

22 years old. I wasn't out of cartoons. I wasn't

out of like the geeky stuff, but I was. Trying

to live life and trying to go to college and

trying to do this. It wasn't on my radar. But

I caught a couple episodes here and there and

I liked what I saw. I love the beginning three

-parter. I love that they pulled out that origin

story stuff. And the fact that Keldor is Randor's

brother. That's actually a really nice twist

that they kind of kept after that. Yep. Because

it kind of gives more reason of why he so desperately

hates. He -Man. Yes. Yeah. The fact that he's

his uncle, you know. I wish that series got to

go on to do its third season because I believe

in the third. They only got 39 episodes and then

Kashi Network or whomever canceled them. So.

Yeah. So really, really quick. I wish they had

gotten that third season because they were going

to bring in the Horde and it was going to be

awesome. But yeah. They're supposed to do that

in the new Netflix series. Yeah, they're supposed

to, but I don't trust Kevin Smith. Well, they

hinted at it in the last one, and I think even

in the CGI series. Well, the CGI series, I don't

want to turn this into a He -Man show, but I

love that because to me that is the modern day

version for kids of our ages that we were back

then. Initially? Initially, I didn't like it,

but the more I watched it, the more it grew on

me. Yeah, absolutely. And what is your number

seven? Power of web shooters! Get real sticky!

So this would be higher, but we have other things

that aren't necessarily... I don't... The cartoons

I love, I don't necessarily have certain... I

mean, each one of them is important, but... they're

all, it's kind of like all cartoons matter kind

of thing. But this one is again, another one

that got me into comics in the nineties. And

that is the John Semper, Jr. Spider -Man, the

animated series from 1994. I was 14 years old,

and between Mary Jane and Black Cat and Jennifer

Hale as the voice, even though we didn't know

it back then at the time, Jennifer Hale is the

voice of Black Cat. I wanted her to be my future

wife. All right, I'm pretty sure all the redheads

in my animated series as a kid are why I... Yep,

married a redhead. Yep. Yep. But Spider -Man

94, great stories, like, again, just like X -Men

92, like, essentially ripped off the comic book

page and come to life in animation. And as of

this recording, some website or some store or

something actually printed out, they're sold

out as far as I know, because I saw John Semper

Jr. post about this. They actually made the Peter

Parker polo shirt, the green and blue and white

shirt that he wears. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. And

it's got like a little Spider -Man head emblem

on like the left breast pocket. But I think they're

sold out. But this show, man, say what you will

about the animation of this show in all of its

seasons. Say what you will about and even I complain

about some of the transitions like they tried

to do 2D meets 3D because there were a couple

of shots where Spidey was web swinging through

the city and it would be like this weird 3D thing.

But I love this show. I love these stories. I

love the voice actors, all of them, every single

one of them. And Stan Lee cameos. Yep, at the

very... Stan and Joan, both of them cameo, because

Joan is the voice of Madam Web. And this show,

man. So much crossover, though. Spider -Man 94

has... I forget which... I know he's in it, but

I forget which character he is. Has Ephraim Zimbliss

Jr. as a voice. And it has... the Joker, Mark

Hamill, as the Hobgoblin. Yep. At 14 years old,

it was blowing my mind. I'm like, wait a minute,

aren't you supposed to have clown makeup on?

You know? Yeah, this show, man, and the stories

that they gave Peter, and the way that they did

stories, the way that John wrote the stories

or had people write the stories, and it was just

so, like the Six Forgotten Warriors? That was

an awesome multi -part episode about World War

II and old heroes meeting new heroes and things

like that. And even when they did that, essentially,

because it wasn't done in either of the other

older, the 81 Spider -Man series or the 67 animated

series, this series started the Spider -Verse.

Because at the very end, you have the spider

wars, you have the clone saga thing as the last

two episodes. And I love how throughout all of

it, Joan Lee is the voice of Madam Web. Madam

Web, the character, she was teaching him lessons

throughout all five seasons of the show that

led up to the finale and all of that. Basically

lifted on a cliffhanger, you know. Who is that

exotic lady? Oh, her? She's my ride. It's been

great meeting you. Take care of yourself. You

too, Spider -Man. Farewell and good luck. Wow,

I wonder how I'm supposed to get down from here.

I suppose I could wait for the Fantastic Four

to drop by and give me a lift. That Stan Lee,

he's quite a guy. I think he's truly special.

Well, Madam Web, where to now? Face front, true

believer. We are going to find the real Mary

Jane Watson. And then they ended the series,

didn't they? Yep, that was it. That sucks. Yep,

that absolutely does. Before we move on, I do

have to say that I have currently, the only one

I'm missing is, I think, Doc Ock. But I have

The Glow in the Dark. Hobgoblin Funko Pop. I

have the Madam Web. I have the Spider -Man. And

I have the Black Cat. And I'm trying to remember,

did they do a Green Goblin yet? I don't remember,

but I know they did Doc Ock, and I still need

to get him. But yeah, I love Spider -Man the

Animated Series. I don't care. It's just like

Transformers Generation 1. Most of the time I

overlook the flaws and I don't care because I

just love the voices and the animation. Same

thing with Spider -Man. Oh, and before we move

on, I have to say this because this is so cool.

The Spider -Man animated series theme is done

by Joe Perry, guitarist from Aerosmith. Now,

interesting fun fact here, folks. Most of the

guys from Aerosmith are from Massachusetts. I

am originally from Massachusetts. Joe Perry took

his dry cleaning to my mom's boyfriend's dry

cleaners. That's cool. Yeah, it was Plaza Cleaners

in Marshfield, Massachusetts. And oh, God, I

wish I could have met the guy because at six,

seven, eight years old in the 80s, that would

have been so awesome. So what is your number

six? Another cheat, just because technically

it's, actually I've got two cheats in a row for

six and five, because technically they are one

whole series, even though some people say, oh

no, they're really not. But it's, it probably

could have been higher, but I have things that

are, you're going to call blasphemy on this,

but it is Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Aw,

do you need a hug? So let's cut through the signal

noise, shall we? Comedy meets tragedy. I know,

I know. I know. But I have other things that,

like, I could have technically switched six and

five. This could have been at number five. But

I still love both of these series. Beast Wars,

you had so many various different things going

on. You had all the character growth. Cheetor.

Outside of Hot Rod slash Rodimus Prime, Cheetor

is my number one favorite hero Autobot. That

isn't, you know, an Autobot leader kind of thing,

but basically he is that. He's essentially the

Nightwing, Robin Nightwing of the show. I love

his evolution from Beast Wars to Beast Machines.

I love the early CGI in Beast Wars. I think it's

great. The best part of Beast Wars is when they

got the Transmetal 2 stuff. That's awesome. That's

fun. I mean, dinosaur Megatron on roller skates.

You can't get more cool than that. Well, that's

Transmetal, but yeah. That's what I'm saying.

Transmetal. Yeah. What is that thing? Eventually

you have Transmetal. Well, Transmetal with Rat

Trap and Cheetor. Cheetor gets jets. How do you

work these things? Ian James Corlett. Oh, my

God. Love that guy. Gary Chalk, David Kaye. We've

talked to all three of them. Venus Terzo. I would

love for us to be able to talk to her. I have

to find a way to get to talk to her because not

only is she Black Arachnia from Beast Wars, she's

the voice of Princess Lana from Captain N, the

Game Master. Oh, nice. Between Black Cat in Spider

-Man and Princess Lana in Captain... Huge crushes.

Huge crushes in the 90s on those characters.

What I love about Beast Machines is it's such

a story -driven, there is no real filler to it.

There are some filler moments in it, but there's

no specific, you don't have all this serious

connected episodes and then do a low road or

something like that. There's all this connection,

and Cheetor's evolution, man, oh my god. Hey,

look at me. I'm a cheetah. No, no, I'm Cheetor.

Interesting. Interesting? Optimus, the word is

spot on smooth. It's a crime. Hey, I wonder what

these gizmos are for. I think it's time to shred

some bread. What do you say we give these new

bods a test drive? I am transformed. From the

time he began in Beast Wars to the time that

ends in Beast Machines with, let's take these

bods for a test drive. Oh, God. And the animation

in both of them. But Beast Machines, it just

upped the ante. And you got Megatron. It's like

seven different things in that show. He was a

head. He was a drone. Well, he was the dragon,

you know, in the bank. Then the head. Then he

became like some weird amalgamations of different

drones that he had. Plus, then he becomes the

diagnostic drone and then finally becomes optimal.

Yep. Such a missed opportunity with every optimal

toy that comes out. We need a Megatron face.

Yes, yes, they do. I would strictly change my

optimal just to be Megatron. Yep. Just because.

Absolutely. Absolutely. So what's your number

five? I once thought I could protect the world

by myself, but I was wrong. Working together,

we saved the planet. And I believe that if we

stayed together as a team, we would be a force

that could truly work for the ideals of peace

and justice. What? Like a bunch of super friends?

More like a Justice League. Do you have any idea

how corny that sounds? But maybe the big guy's

got a point. With all of us behind it, it just

might work. Count me in. Me too. And me. My mother

may not approve, but I find man's world to be

intriguing. I'll gladly join. What about you,

Batman? I'm not really a people person. But when

you need help, and you will, call me. Number

five is Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

Yes, they are all one show, folks. Even though

they split up the series, they are technically

one whole piece of the DC animated universe.

The next, between this entry, number four and

number three, it's going to be really tough because

we have to talk about Kevin Conroy. And him being

the voice of Batman. And in Justice League and

Justice League Unlimited, I feel like he really

got to break out with that voice. As far as them

just letting... Like, he still did the dark and

brooding thing, but he opened... Like, again,

this is a whole continuity. This is a whole thing,

starting with BTS, going through all the other

shows and whatever else. So by the time we get

to JL, JLU, you know, he has this mix of darkness

and humor, and it's just so, like, the beginning

in the Secret Origin three -parter, he's flying

in the Batwing, which doesn't really, it's one

of the more modern designs. I don't like it that

much, but he's flying in the Batwing, and Superman

flies by him and goes the other way. He turns

around and whips his head. Where is he going?

And the sort of hinted -at relationship between

him and Wonder Woman, I thought that was great.

Don't you ever wish you were down there? I'm

down there all I need to be. Yes, but it's just

a job to you. I'm talking about going down there

and having some fun. Maybe with someone special.

No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into

your brooding time. One. Dating within the team

always leads to disaster. Two, you're a princess

from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich

kid with issues. Lots of issues. And three, if

my enemies knew I had someone special, they wouldn't

rest until they'd gotten to me through her. Next.

The fact that we see him sing. I've talked about

this recently on podcasts where it's like I tell

everybody if they haven't seen it or if they

don't know. In this little piggy, Cersei is like,

I want something from you that once it's gone,

it can never be gotten back. And it's so into

your soul that no one knows about this. And then

all of a sudden you hit the stage with the light

and he's basically glowing in that light. Am

I blue? Am I blue? Ain't these tears in my eyes

telling you am I blue? Oh my God. But yeah, the

rest of the characters, I love John Stewart,

Green Lantern, Phil Lamar, George Newbern, Superman,

Susan Eisenberg, Wonder Woman, Clancy Brown continues

on as Lex Luthor, obviously Corey Burton as Brainiac.

And they were just great stories. They weren't

stories that made me want to go check out the

DC Comics stuff, but they were stories that made

me feel like the comics were on the screen kind

of thing. I can totally relate. I loved those

shows just because it was continuations of all

the others. Yep, absolutely. So what is your

number four? Why'd you do it like that? God.

Number four is, and this isn't really a cheat,

I just said etc. at the end of this, but Batman

the Animated Series. And it's two adventures

and new adventures and all that. What? You should

be Sidewalk Stroganoff! I changed the menu. This

show, man, just defined 12 -year -olds in 1992.

Ms. Gordon, I hear that you've discovered our

little secret. Yes, I admit it. I am Batman.

If you were 12 years old in 1992 and you got

to watch this show and your parents were allowing

you to watch this show because actually, it's

funny, my stepmother punished me for what, like,

why is that show so violent? Why can't, you shouldn't

be watching that. Go do your homework. So I never

really, I found the show later. and things i

didn't get to go see mask of the phantasm in

theaters but i did see it in a group home on

a vhs tape which was really cool yeah i i saw

it in theater and i got the vhs very cool i i

just there's so many things and we've said this

before over on legends of the dark knight we've

said an unaltered geek we've probably said it

on geek cast radio episodes there are just so

many great things about this show so many great

episodes And just like Kevin Conroy, may he rest

in peace, just like he is the definitive voice

of Batman, Lauren Lester is the definitive voice

of Dick Grayson Robbins slash Nightwing. I loved

Lauren's voice as that character. And there were

so many cool different episodes with all of the

villains, from the Joker to the Riddler to Mr.

Freeze, hello, Heart of Ice, Emmy -winning Heart

of Ice. You know, it's just so friggin' cool.

Love BTAS Adventures and New Adventures. New

Adventures was cool because you had New Adventures

of Batman and New Adventures of Superman, and

then they basically combined to be the new Batman

-Superman Adventures. And it was fun. My favorite

episode, one of my favorite episodes from that

is Nighttime, where... Bruce gets basically taken

over by Brainiac and Tim has to figure out what's

going on and he has to go to Superman. Oh, that

was pretty funny. Yes, because Superman basically

– it's basically – I assume and I wish – oh,

God. I got to find a way to get in contact with

George Newbern because I need to ask him this

sadly now that Kevin is gone. I want to think

that in that episode, Bruce, Tim had them. Kevin

Conroy, George Newbern had them sitting next

to each other because as Superman, George Newbern

talks in his Superman voice. And then, you know,

he switches to talking like Batman, but it's

Kevin. Okay. So, and then, you know, Tim Drake,

Robin asks him, that's, that's so weird and cool.

How'd you do that? And in the Batman voice, he

says, so how'd you do Batman's voice? Precise

muscle control. Plus, I have a pretty good ear.

Don't do that again. It was just such a cool

episode. And then obviously the two other big

ones for me are Over the Edge, which is the Scarecrow

episode where Barbara supposedly is killed and

they go on this alternate dream sequence thing.

And then Old Wounds. Old Wounds is a love letter

to Nightwing. It really, really is. It's so cool.

I never put on that costume again. And you still

haven't forgiven him? Why should I? He'll never

change. Must be one of the wallets they stole.

Whose is it? I don't believe it. I think this

is yours, Connor. Oh, thanks. But you almost

gave me a heart attack. I thought you were the

Batman. No. I ran up against him once. It was

a real eye -opener. Forced me to get my life

together. Now I've got this great job. Even Mr.

Wayne knows me. Terrific guy. Never too busy

to stop and ask how my boy's doing. Mr. Wayne

is a good man. Guess Batman had a change of heart.

Who'd have thought he had one? Speak of the devil.

You coming? I guess it's about time. And what

is your number three? Again, cheating, because

I have to. Batman Beyond. And Batman Beyond Return

of the Joker, because how can you leave that

off this list? The voice kept calling me Bruce

in my mind. That's not what I call myself. What

do you call yourself? Oh, yeah, I suppose you

would. But that's my name now. Tell that to my

subconscious. You see now why some of the earlier

ones couldn't be some of the more lower ones,

because hello. Teenage Batman, okay. Spider -Man,

you're going to make references. That's fine,

whatever. But I love the idea of old man Bruce,

old man Kevin Conroy, and a young upstart Eric

Matthews slash Will Friedle as the voice of Terry

McGinnis slash Batman, Batman Beyond. Favorite

episodes from this, the Shriek episode where...

They think I'm crazy. We'll talk about it back

home. We're not going anywhere until I figure

out where the voices are coming from. But the

orderlies could come in at any second. Check

the light fixture. There might be a speaker hidden

in it. You can't be serious. Check it! See? Nothing.

Then the sound's got to be coming from the walls.

Strip them. I can't strip the... Wait a minute.

What are you doing? Ow! Big bandage for such

a small wound. It's a two -way radio. Guy named

Shreve makes them. He's the one who knocked down

the police station. He probably bribed a nurse

to put that thing in the bandage. Still think

I'm crazy? It never occurred to me. Miss me,

boy? He wasn't the only one. Looks like the radio

signal's coming from that factory by the hospital.

And from there, I've got a feeling it's going

to lead to Powers. Doesn't take a detective to

figure that one out. Yeah, the source is definitely

in here somewhere. Not somewhere. Right behind

you. You don't have to do this, Shreve. But I

do. And the name's Shriek now. I'll show you

why. Batman Beyond was such a cool, fun show.

And they did something different with this. This

is 1999, so this is before Justice League and

Justice League Unlimited. But they had techno

and synth music and those cues, man. They have

a mix between that and the classic. If you listen

to... What's the track name? Not Family Reunions.

What the hell's the damn track name? I don't

remember off the top of my head. But anyway,

they have this thing where Christopher Carter

mixes in the techno stuff with the traditional

Shirley Walker type score, and it's just so good.

The legacy continues. That's what it is. Yep.

Farewells. Farewells and legacy. I'm looking

at my Batman Beyond song lists on Spotify, so

I know what I'm talking about here. So, yeah.

Very, very cool. Very, very awesome. Absolutely

love. And Return of the Joker, man. Like, oh,

my God. That movie. We love that movie. You even

made your own Joker custom based off that movie.

I did. I did. Yeah, you did. I still have it.

I assume you would. I mean, why wouldn't you?

But, man. And the cool thing for me with that

movie has nothing to do, nothing to do whatsoever

with the DC animated universe. It's just a good

movie. No, no, it is. Absolutely. But the, like

in that, I wasn't, was I up on it in 99? I wasn't,

I don't know. A little bit later, a couple years

later, I found the Thin Man movies, the old William

Powell and Myrna Loy Thin Man movies. In Return

of the Joker, you have Dean Stockwell, who most

people will know as Sam from Quantum Leap. You

have him as old Tim Drake. And he originally,

at least the very first role that I've ever seen

him in, was in Song of the Thin Man. He played

Nick and Nora Charles' son, Nick and Nora Charles.

In the Thin Man movies, Nick is the detective,

Nora is his wife, all that stuff. And he plays

their son. And I was like, oh my god, you have

an adult Nicky Jr. from the Thin Man. You have

Dean frickin' Stockwell as old man Drake. And

it's just so cool. And that... A horrifying transformation.

And Bruce, I'm sure you've got your monkey boy

wired somehow. That's just peachy, because I

want you to see every minute of this. It's a

killer. never get tired of that drake you're

the joker that flabby oaf doesn't even realize

i'm using him as a timeshare beneath this puckish

exterior lies the mind of a genius when the when

the chip gets electrified when terry reaches

up and ha ha and you know puts the puts the buzzer

to joker's neck and You see the various facial

ticks and things, and oh, God. And, of course,

you have the famous thing with this movie between

being PG and R, because the made -for -TV version

basically has Joker slip on some water, grab

an electric switch, and electrocute himself.

Offscreen. Yep. And all of the blood that's all

over the place is changed to purple. Yep. And

in the uncut version and the cool version, you

basically have, like I said, Terry coming up

and shocking the crap out of him and doing it

that way. I love the animation. I love the music.

Batman Beyond is so cool for me. It's between

that, TAS, and JLU, and even Superman as well.

Anything to do with Kevin Conroy Batman, and

it just sucks that he's gone. Yep. Sad but true.

Yeah, it really, really sucks. Thank you, Mr.

Conroy, for everything you did in your life.

That's what made the Arkham game so bearable.

Ha ha ha! Well, I mean, you're probably right.

I've seen people play those, and I love hearing

him do those and all that. At some point, you

and I, or I don't know if it's going to be other

people, but I have. For you, I'm going to screencap

the Finding Batman, so DC Pride 2022. Kevin Conroy

wrote a story called Finding Batman, and it's

basically his life story leading up to the point

of him getting the role and all that. So yeah,

we're going to talk about that in another podcast

at some point, most likely in 2023. But yeah,

Batman Beyond show and Return of the Joker. I

said to somebody the other day that with Kevin's

passing, Like, obviously it means so much to

all of us, but it probably means even more to

the people that he got to work with, or the people

that worked with him, or the people that hired

him to do jobs, and Bruce Timm. Bruce Timm and

Kevin Conroy have one of the best moments in

the entire DCAU. And it's in Rebirth Part 1 or

Part 2, I forget which part it's in, but... Who

do you think you're talking to, old man? We're

the Jokers! Sure you are. That's a once -in -a

-lifetime moment. And Bruce Timm, as far as I

know from interviews that I've heard him on and

seen him in, he just got, oh, yeah, we needed

a voice for the lead Joker, and I kind of did

it, and it was just kind of my own voice and

whatever. But now you have a moment in time where

you had an exchange with Kevin Conroy, the goddamn

Batman, telling him that you're the Joker's...

Sure. As a fan of it, as someone who absolutely

loves it, as someone who grew up on it, it's

just so chilling now just watching that. I just

absolutely love it. And the music is amazing.

Listening to the music in this show and the film,

so great. Christopher Carter, amazing. What is

your number two? Titan AE. This is a Don Bluth

film. Released June 16th, 2000. I find that hilarious

because June 16th of 1995 was Batman Forever.

But Titan AE, I love this movie. I love the music

in this movie. I love the animation. I love the

voice acting. I love the story. Do you see anything?

It was really small, like a cocoon or something.

No, no, nothing like that. No. I do see something.

It's got my buddy. Not my buddy. I don't know

him personally. I kind of wish I did. But it's

got Matt Damon, Massachusetts, all the way, and

all that. It's got Bill Pullman. It's got Drew

Barrymore. It's got... John Leguizamo. It's got

friggin' Luigi. It's got, and I'm doing this

from memory, folks. I'm not even looking at anything

besides my top list here. Let's not do that again.

Hold it. Look there. Akima, turn around. Turn

around! Have you ever seen anything like it?

Once. Gene Garofalo as one of the characters,

and Nathan... Oh, God. Not Philly in the other

one. Nathan Lane as one of the characters, and

it's got Tom Loke as one of the alien characters.

He was pretty popular in the 90s, though. Well,

yeah, obviously. He was in Ace Ventura. He was

in Blank Check. Yeah. Love. We got two years.

We're recording this in 2022. 2024 is the 30th

anniversary of Blank Check. Plans. Anyway, Titan

AE. Basically, an alien race comes down and basically

destroys the Earth. I know that's technically

what was going to be done in Independence Day,

but this is way better. I love Independence Day,

don't get me wrong, but this is, in animation,

this is, the animation that they used in this

movie, the Don Bluth animation, oh my god. That

ice crystal scene, where they're like trying

to find the ship, they're trying to find, oh

god, they're hiding out, and oh god, so good,

so good. But yeah, I love. Like, I remember exactly

where I was when I saw the trailer on a TV in

a video store for this movie. And the stupidest

thing is, and I think it's in the end credits,

but the stupidest thing is in the year 2000,

this was, was Human Clay 99? Yeah, it was. Creed

had just released their album Human Clay in 1999

with the song Higher on it. They used hire in

the trailer. It's not in the movie at all. I

don't even think it's in the end credits, but

it's not on the soundtrack. It was basically

like, yep, we're just going to use it for the

trailer to get you hooked. Well, they got me

hooked because I loved Creed at the time. And

I still love Creed. I listen to more Nickelback

now than I do Creed, but it is what it is. That

was one of the big things in the very late 90s,

early 2000s. It was like, pick your band, either

or, Creed or Nickelback or both. And sometimes

it was both, and sometimes it was one or the

other. But Titan AE, again, amazing animation.

The story is basically, it's traditional storytelling,

but it's a cool story because you're facing this

basically unfeeling, unknowing, you know, dredge

race of basically energy beings. And Matt Damon's

character, Drew, Drew bear, Drew bear. Talk about

another crush for a character. Uh, Akima, she

got purple hair. Okay. I'm sold. And at that

time in 2000, I was listening to WAF, uh, in

Boston, Massachusetts and mistress Carrie, who

has purple hair. was the 3 to 7 p .m. DJ on the

radio. So, yeah, Titan AE, absolutely love it.

Number two has to be, at least for now, like

I said, this list will fluctuate in the future,

but this is the list I came up with for this

podcast. So, what is your number one? Can anybody

guess? No guesses? All right, well. You're like,

it's Scrappy -Doo. Oh, a sneak attack, eh? I

gotta warn you, you're dealing with Scrappy -Doo.

That's more like it. I didn't even think to put

him on here. I was just trying to think of like...

Not necessarily the best ones that I love, but

I was just trying to think of like, oh, the ones

I want to talk about and the ones that I really...

No. Hello, I am the fucking great one. Don't

you know? Haven't you heard? It's been 14 years,

damn it. And use the power of the Matrix to light

our darkest horror. Transformers Generation 1,

the show, and obviously Transformers the movie.

Autobots, transform and... Now, I know the show

has animation errors and has other errors and

dead brawn showed up in a scene in season three.

And I understand all that. But overlooking all

of that, the voice acting. Hound. Right here,

Prime. Scout the area. See if you can locate

the Decepticons. Just turn me loose, Prime. I'll

sniff them out. I'm going to. I want to boot

some Decepticon right in his turbocharger. Easy,

Cliffjumper. Just find them. We'll deal with

them later. Good luck. The characters. Most of

the stories are really, really good. Yes, there

are some wacky things. Yes, there are some nonsensical

things. But Generation 1 was awesome. 98 episodes

of amazing. And, you know, I always, you know,

lately over the last couple of years, I'm like,

eh, Optimus Prime, screw him. It's Rodimus Prime

or this, that, the other thing, whatever else.

Look, anytime Peter Cullen opens his mouth as

that character, I love it and I tear up. Recently,

well, I don't know as far as when this episode

goes out, but... Recently in my own timeline,

I saw the panel that he did at one of the TF

cons that TF con did close to the end of the

year this year. And my God, he doesn't even have

to talk in the optimist voice, just hearing his

story and hearing him answer the questions. And

then he may or may not break into the voices.

It was just so cool. I loved season three of

the show because it was so different. There are

many different off -the -wall episodes in that,

but I also love the various episodes that kind

of tie into the other things. Only Human is probably

my number one favorite episode from that season.

Because you have. As everyone knows, Ultra Magnus,

Arcee, Springer, and Rodimus all turn into humans.

Because, uh, Drath. Victor Drath wants to do

this for Cobra Commander, even though he's called

Old Snake in this. And you have basically Chris

Latta as Cobra Commander in Transformers. And

seeing those bots as humans was just so cool.

Just so awesome. And then Transformers the movie,

14 years. 16, 17 years for you. Let's just round

it down to 15 years total for the two of us.

We've talked about Transformers the movie so

many goddamn times. Do I have to say anything

else? Like, it's the Transformers, the movie,

motherfucker. Like, seriously. It's a pity you

Autobots die so easily, or I might have a sense

of satisfaction now. Optimus Prime. Optimus.

I almost wish we would have got a Beast Wars

movie. Yeah, that would have been cool. I don't

know why they couldn't do it now, though. Like,

I mean, yes, I know they're coming out with Rise

of the Beasts next year. No, I know. I know.

No, I. Here we go. I understand. But, like, look

how far CGI has come to today. Maybe you could

take those, like if you want to continue off

of Beast Machines or if you just want to forget

Beast Machines and continue off the end of Beast

Wars in that CGI style. I don't see why they

couldn't. But yeah, Transformers the movie, I

quote it at least once a day. I thought you were

made of sterner stuff. I can't deal with that

now. Or... In the case of various files and other

things, open, damn it, open. Yep. Pretty much.

Pretty much. Very, very, very quotable. So that's

my list. And like I said, that list will fluctuate.

That's not the, you know, it's not the end -all

be -all, but those were the ones that I absolutely

love and the ones I absolutely wanted to talk

about on this episode of ToonCast. Makes sense.

Not a bad list. A lot of them would have been

on mine in various places. Yeah, I mean, most

of the time we kind of sort of like the same

things, but, you know, it is what it is. And

obviously you would have things higher than I

would have. Look, I wanted to put Beast Wars

and Beast Machines higher, but with his death,

man, and it's not just because of that. I am

so much, like, I am connected to Beast Wars and

Beast Machines, and I love those shows. But it's,

like, I will go back and re -watch Beast Machines,

not a lot, but more than Beast Wars. And the

other thing is, but the thing of it is, is that

I will go back and I will watch various DCAU

stuff more than Beast Wars and Beast Machines

together. So that's why they were in the order

that they were in. No, I mean, I get it. I like

Beast Wars. I watch way more than I watch anything

else. Yeah. You watch it at the plasma office,

the dentist office, the cat scan. I would watch

it at the dentist, except they kind of need your

attention. All right, Toonsters. I think we're

going to go to a quick ad break. Come back to

close the show after this. Toy cast is back.

We are talking toys once more here on the geek

cast radio networks, toy and action figure podcast.

From breaking into the display case to our toy

topic talk and the brand new Origins in Toy Collections

where we get guests to tell us their toy story

of how they got into toy collecting. ToyCast

is the only toy podcast you will ever need. Find

us on geekcastradio .com and any podcatching

client you choose to use. Now go forth, transform,

and transcend your toy collecting today while

listening to ToyCast. Exactly. Greetings, intern

nerds. It is I, Mephisto, ruler of the netherworld

and prince of all evil. I am taking this time

for my evil machinations to issue a warning to

everyone in podcast land. Avoid Married with

Comics with John and Maggie at all costs. They're

a despicably lovable pair of newlyweds who talk

about comic books and other areas of geekdom

with enthusiasm and joy that is anathema to me.

Just listen to them as they paraphrase panels.

For those who don't have the issue, Thor's expression

is pretty much that of anyone who reads this

issue once you're done with it. You, you there.

Everyone's sick of this and sick of you. I am

pointing where you need to go, which is away

from here and away from this issue. And I do

love that first panel. It's pretty neat. I like

it. Batman going swoosh. Explain exposition.

I have no idea what's happening. In this one,

it looks like Superman's tearing a bridge down.

Why is he destroying a bridge? I think this is

part of his eventual reign of terror. Oh, maybe.

It's a bridge! Screw that! And comment on all

their favorite comics. Everything about this

issue is just gollywhackers. He's causing huge

amounts of property damage, which, by the way,

at least when the Fantastic Four does it, they

pay the city back. Superman's not going to pay

anybody back for this. Married with Comics, available

directly at marriedwcomics .libson .com on Apple

Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, or wherever you

get your podcasts. Or find us on Facebook or

Twitter by searching for Married with Comics

Podcast. We've got everything you need. Hi, my

name is Dr. Andrea Linamendi, clinical psychologist.

And I'm Brian Ward, nerd. And we want to invite

you to listen to our new podcast, The Arkham

Sessions. It's a podcast dedicated to the fun

and geeky analysis of Batman the Animated Series,

episode by episode. We pay tribute to the writers

and the stories of the animated series. While

also exploring the very real psychology behind

Gotham's rogues. And maybe even its heroes. All

of this and more each week on The Arkham Sessions.

Do you like retro cartoons? Then Saturday Morning

Rewind is the podcast for you. Join them each

month as they talk about classic cartoons and

interview legendary voice actors like Jim Cummings,

Corey Burton, Rob Paulson, And be prepared to

feel like a kid again. Once again, that's SaturdayMorningRewind

.com. Saturday Morning Rewind was voted best

podcast ever by its host, Tim Nydell. So it's

got to be good. Hey all, P .A. here, inviting

you to come over and check out my channel on

YouTube. It's just youtube .com slash P .A.,

P -E -A -U -G -H. We got Transformers for the

most part. We got some action figures, whatever

really strikes my fancy and looks cool and feel

like checking out. So come over here. We got

some tabletop gaming now over there. But just

a lot of fun. Thank you all for watching. I hope

everybody's having a great time. And just come

over and have some fun. YouTube .com slash PAW.

Thanks. Hello, all sentient beings. Want the

latest on everything going on in the Transformers

multiverse? Check out the Transmissions Podcast

Network. We've got weekly podcasts covering everything

from Alpha Trion to Omega Supreme. From old school

G1 all the way up to Cyberverse and beyond. And

you don't want to miss Empire of Rust, the world's

first and only Transformers live play role playing

game podcast. If you love Transformers, there's

something for everyone at transmissionspodcast

.com. Discover a world of vintage and modern

toys that's more than meets the eye with the

Triple Takeover ToyCast. Hosted by toy writers

and photographers Toybox Soapbox, Sixo and TF

Square One, this informal and chilled out series

of discussions cover everything from vintage

Transformers to Mask, Diaclone, Microman and

more, be it nostalgic or current. Whether you're

a seasoned collector or a casual robot enthusiast,

all are welcome. Triple Takeover ToyCast. We

are back here on ToonCast, and you just heard

Steve Megatron take me through my top ten toons

list. If you would like to do a top tens toon

list, you can do that. You can do ToonCast Origins.

You can do both. It doesn't matter. Just let

me know. I'm on Twitter and Facebook and all

that other stuff. But Steve Megatron, it's almost

Christmas time. As of this recording and as of

this release date, you are f - Four days away

from your wife's birthday. What in the hell have

you got going on? Well, prepping for Christmas

and for a little mini vacation. Mini vacation?

Where are you going? Michigan. Going home. That's

always good. Visit the people that I grew up

with. Yep, that's always good. It's always good

to go home every now and then. I haven't been

home in, fuck, 10 years. So this is going to

release, like I said, December 14th, folks. And

10 days ago, December 4th, 2022 marks 10 years

since I flew up to Massachusetts and brought

my mom at the time back down to Kentucky in 2012.

God, I am old. Fuck. So yeah. Wow. Just realizations

just coming out all over the podcast right now.

And yeah, like I said, if you want to come on

the show and do your own top 10 tunes list, or

if you want to answer the 30 questions about

your cartoon watching habits and origins and

all that good stuff, let us know. As always,

we want to thank you for joining us here on TuneCast.

If you'd like to get in contact with us, leave

feedback for the show. There are several ways

to do so. Visit the website geekcastradio .com

where you can. Listen to and comment on all of

our content. Send us email to feedback at geekcastradio

.com. This is where you would send the requests

to be on the origins or the top 10 tunes. Here

are all the ways you can listen to us nowadays.

Apple and Google Podcasts. Leave us reviews,

please. Spotify and any other podcasting client

you choose to use. Follow us on Twitter at gcrntunecast

and at tunecastbeyonder for the show. I am at

tf2ofmike. You can also follow at geekcastradio

for the network. What is your Twitter, sir? At

scp21. Become a fan on Facebook. Go to facebook

.com slash geekcastradionetwork. You can also

check out TuneCast All Tunes all the time over

there as well. We hope you enjoyed this episode

of TuneCast. I wish you'll join us next time.

We'll be giving you our thoughts on something.

I don't know. I have no plan yet. I have not

had time to plan. It's holiday time. I'm slowing

down. This is most likely going to be the last

episode of 2022 for ToonCast, even though I said

that back in episode 290. And then we had episode

291 last week, and now we have this. So anyway,

I am TF2 and Mike with... Steve Megatron. Thank

you for listening. Until next time. Oh, yeah.

And unleash the Toon in you. That's all, folks.