Back into the deep freeze

[altivo]

Let's just say today wasn't a lot better than Friday was. I don't need this kind of stress.

So I didn't do anything useful tonight. Just sat and watched The Legend of Bravestarr, which I'd never seen before. It was released in 1987 and appears to be mostly traditional hand painted animation. Real art for the win. Cheesy plot, typical Saturday television stuff, but some good characters just the same and I have to agree with everyone who thinks 30-30 is really a cool idea.

Gary's at class yet again, won't be back for another hour and a half. I probably won't be able to stay awake so long.

Comments

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've seen the feature movie, but I used to like the series. It's been a while on that one!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I had only seen excerpts of the TV series before. Never knew about the show at all (no surprise) until Chris Sawyer mentioned it a couple of years ago. It's pretty shallow plotwise, but I still like the characters.

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Well, it's Filmation, so that explains the lack of plot and abundance of cheesiness :) It's terribly campy, but I still like it anyway.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I remember talking about it with someone, too, I can't remember if it was you or not.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We talked about it after I made this icon.

[hgryphon.livejournal.com]

You never watched Bravestarr? That was one of the first shows I've ever seen with a Native American hero who didn't talk of wigwams and fire waters.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nope, never watched it. I haven't really watched any television (as opposed to movies on DVD or VHS) since the 60s. The only exception to that is most of Star Trek TNG when it was in reruns and came on every day while I was cooking dinner.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

That looks like a good series. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The plot is pretty shallow and trite. The characters are unusual though, and presented in different ways. And the art is pretty original, more comic book style than standard television junk. A lot more detail than you usually get, and the animation is more careful.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Seemingly it's worth it for the anthro horse alone.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, from my POV anyway. :)

I'm pretty sure 30-30 is the only equine character I've ever encountered who could switch between quad and biped at will. Even though he's some kind of cyborg, he's pretty cool.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Yes. Definitely worth watching... 30-30 is so handsome and cute :)

Yes, he is an equestroid, but it doesn't matter. :)

I have watched the whole series and the feature film, and the series does refer back to the feature film occasionally. ^^

And despite of the series recycling some old animation material, it is a good series. There is some shooting but injuries are rarely serious. During the whole series, only one person dies. But there is a good reason why. Every episode teaches a small piece of wisdom. Even if they sound cheesy, they are all true.

*daydreams of 30-30*

Oh, my... *grabs the nearest horse to hug* I need some horsie hugs right now...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, there does seem to be an excessive amount of "blowing stuff up" as opposed to genuine character interaction. That's typical of Saturday cartoons though, and one of the reasons I don't bother with them as a rule.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

It is very good. Me likey a lot. ;)

[calydor.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting to point you to this, but you should check out the original The Land Before Time from ... 1988, I think it was. Don Bluth was the lead designer, and his style is quite evident in the movie.

Forget about the gazillion sequels, though. They're good for a laugh, but very, how to put it ... American.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I know I've seen that years ago. Might even have it on VHS. I usually like Don Bluth's stuff, but I seem to recall being disappointed in that one. I'll check and see if it's still here.

[thedeere.livejournal.com]

Yeah it was your avatar that sent me into Bravestarr land, I snagged a cheap copy of it off Ebay once I found out the show existed. :) What a lost classic... After bringing it to a party some awesome friends of mine got me the episode collection for Christmas, hehehe!

What gets me about it is the strong colors and the profoundness of it all. I mean sure, Bravestarr himself is a cookie-cutter "good-guy" with all the nasty tendancies of 80's law enforcement, but the other characters are pretty cool. Even that horrible deputy, with the future-hindsight that he's actually "Cow" of cow and chicken. You can catch some fairly filthy things he says under cover of innocence, just like in C&C sometimes, hehe! "He sneaked up and got me from my bee-hind!" >:)

Anyhow thanks for introducing me to it, however indirectly, it was a treat!

And what can ya say about 30-30... Other than "I want one!!". He's got the most engaging personality of any of 'em, despite being a mechanical horse. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I want one. Actually, goldenstallion is like 30-30 when we RP, except he has wings and knows how to use them. XD

I could do without the cookie cutter villains though.

[thedeere.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I never considered how 30-30 could fit into RP. Hmm. >:)

As for the villains, at least Tex looks cool. But WTF is up with that THING he rides on! That's so awful even the animators couldn't make it work.

A real tragedy of Bravestarr is how horrid the toys were. I checked on Ebay to see if there's a plastic version of 30-30. There IS. But it looks like somebody described him over the phone to the toy folks, saying "Yeah make a silvery crabby-looking robot horse."... That's the extent of the resemblance. No "big hair", no antenna, and hideously deformed. The plastic Bravestarr's even worse, in terms of hideous deformity, plus they made him a white guy.

As far as the series goes, my favorite is one called simply "Rampage". 30 washing his hair for the win!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Washing his hair? *snicker*

I guess I'll have to see if I can get the whole series. My mate dare not complain. He had to have the whole Thunderbirds series...

[thedeere.livejournal.com]

Well if you're gonna get some, I'll rattle off my favorite ones. :)

Bravestarr 1 Tunnel of Terror (30 panic's awesomely)
Bravestarr 33 Rampage (30 goes looking for missing Bravestarr)
Bravestarr 34 The Haunted Shield (worth it for general oddity)
Bravestarr 35 Fallen Idol (a villian with an actual deadly weapon!)
Bravestarr 36 Nomad Is An Island (dom chick with whip steals 30!!)
Bravestarr 39 Handlebar And Rampage (cool mechanical bull)
Bravestarr 41 Trouble Wears A Badge (I wish they'd have put spinner-tassles on his badges)
Bravestarr 42 Bravestarr And The Three Suns (You can store them underground?!)
Bravestarr 53 The Bounty Hunter (Man that dude's so bad he's cool)
Bravestarr 63 The Blockade (Air in outer space!)
Bravestarr 64 Thirty-Thirty Goes Camping (30 stuck with the boyscouts)

That's the "best of" for 30-30 fans such as myself, with a few oddities thrown in. :) Let me know what ya think!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll keep this list in mind. I think all the episodes are available on DVD now. Maybe the library system has some...

[thedeere.livejournal.com]

Yeah when ya watch "Rampage", note that Bravestarr tells 30 that the perfume and ribbons are in the top drawer. And they ARE.

[cetasdolphin.livejournal.com]

with all this talk about Bravestarr, Lobowolf mentioned it was done by Filmation but he didn't say that it was their third series behind HeMan and SheRa from the 80s. This is partly why the animation is so crisp and the plot lines are so cheesy. It is also good to note that Filmation went out of business in 1989 and you have L'oreal to blame for that, according to the Wiki they were making a spinoff series to Bravestarr when they were shuttered.

As to the series itself I admit I liked 30-30 as well but liked the fact that their frontier town could transform itself into a frontier fort if need be (granted they were equipped with laser turrets and such).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, HeMan and SheRa just seemed silly to me. The etiology of television animated series is an area about which I admit to knowing nothing, so thanks for the elaboration.