Crossposted to rec.arts.animation. Follow-ups sent there, too, to
have mercy on the poor otaku who may stumble onto this series out of
curiousity. Topicality or no, some things are better left
undiscussed :-)
Annnnnnnyway...
Galen wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:03:53 -0700 (PDT), 8-Bit Star
>
gmail.com> wrote:
>>>On Jul 10, 5:13 pm, Galen
nekomimicon.net> wrote:>>> Liberty's Kids: The Complete Series DVD Box Set (D)
>>
>>
>>Is this that PBS show?
Yes, it is "that PBS show", which has also aired in syndication
outside of PBS. It may still be airing in off-PBS syndication now,
but surely you don't want me to check.
On PBS the series without commercial interruption. Breaks set aside
for commercials were replaced by 90-second, Flash-animated vignettes
and interactive "games", intended for the young audience members.
> Is this as politically correct nonsense as it sounds?
I won't go there, but it *IS* about politics, after all: 18th century
politics.
>>Just a question, why is this worth noting on an anime newsgroup?
>>I really want to know, by the way. I'm not asking that just to be
>>a smartass.
> I had never heard of it.
Good answer :-)
And yes, I am being a smartass...
> There is no description in the listing.
> I was already copying over WinX Club (which has been discussed here),
> and didn't want to take 10 minutes reading wikipedia when I figured
> someone else might actually have seen it and have an opinion on it.
You don't want to know my opinion on Liberty's Kids. I will volunteer
that:
...the celebrity stunt casting was uniformly awful. Ben Stiller as
Thomas Jefferson! And who cares that Walter Cronkite played Benjamin
Franklin? Aside from the phoned-in performance, the visual disconnect
between this geeky, lumpy intellectual and the stentorian voice never
seemed right.
... the Hong Ying animation (South Korea, Taiwan, or neither?)
reeked. HONG YING MUST DIE!!!
...the attempts and dramatic storytelling were horrifically flat.
...the slapstick humor was terrible
Having said that, I noted two decent episodes:
Jay Abramowitz (from Full House), wrote a script about the Saratoga
raid by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys. It was light, and
conventially entertaining.
Marc Scott Zircee (Phantom 2040, Centurions) and I believe his wife,
wrote a script about Thomas Paine's publishing of Common Sense.
Despite the slapstick asides, the script featured an ornery, saucy,
firebrand of a Paine performance, making his interchanges with the
series' regulars were far above the series' average.
The IDEA behind Liberty's Kids was sound, even exciting: Two high-
school-aged journalists cover the U.S. prior around the time of the
Revolutionary War. The boy was a partisan rebel, opposed to the
English Crown. The girl was an English loyalist, who would come
around over the course of the series. (Hear that, PC-police? Man is
right, woman is wrong! God Bless PBS!! )
> And when I noted it, I included an [OT] tag.
Yeah. Thanks. And rec.arts.animation thanks you, too.
> -Galen
Terrence Briggs, noting the only thing worse than DiC-shyte, is PBS-
friendly DiC-shyte :-P
Peace to you...
