I raked the opening over the coals myself. All it does is tell you that Conan is awesome without really telling you why. (Outside of that long run-on sentence that sets up the series plot.)
The series itself wasn't half bad, especially if you look at CBS's follow-up series, Conan and the Young Warriors. That was painful and I'm not even a Conan fan.
Jordan: Not at all. The reference was no other cartoon would trash their own villain so badly in the opening, I recut the Transformers opening as a reference to what it would look like if another show had done it.
Kinda funny, even though people call him a Serpentor rip off. I like Wrath Amon and hate Serpentor. Although Ram Amon was definately a superior villain when he appeared later.
First of all, I loved some of the jokes, especially the Michael Bay gag and the pyramid joke. You point out a great many of my biggest problems with the pilot, especially the sword quandary and and the condescending attitude towards "death." Considering plenty of people accuse He-Man of being a Conan ripoff, it's somewhat hilarious that CtA takes a few cues from He-Man (particularly that draw-forth-lightning bit).
But... Dude, you really should've done a bit more research into Conan.
For one thing, the series is only tangentially based on the films - basically, they just took the special sword and the quest for vengeance against the sorcerer who robbed Conan of his family (an idea that started with the film). Everything else can be traced back to before the films, some elements back to the original stories by Robert E. Howard - the first of which was "The Phoenix on the Sword," written in 1932. Before even Conan the Barbarian came out, there was about 50 year's worth of material in books and comics that the series draws from, many of which have their own conflicting continuity. Conan the Adventurer was just another "elseworlds" version of Conan.
For instance, Zula was based on a character with the same name from the Marvel comics, first appearing in 1978. Epemitreus was a character from the very first Conan story, "The Phoenix on the Sword": the Phoenix was his symbol, though thankfully no irritating talking birds were to be seen. Wrath-Amon may have fulfilled the role of Thulsa Doom in terms of plot, but character-wise he shares more in common with Thoth-Amon - who, again, appeared in the first Conan story, along with the Ring of Set, though thankfully not the horrible sidekick. Some of the episodes are (very loosely) based on stories written in the 1930s.
Ironically, some of the things you cite - the D&D adventure group setup, the snake fixation in He-Man and GI Joe, the mysterious sage from a Zelda game - are all themselves derivative of the original Conan stories. The original tales were some of the foundations of the modern fantasy genre, predating even The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. So if something seems overly familiar, it might well have been present in the original tales themselves, and Conan can't exactly rip itself off, can it?
Again, I enjoyed the review, but a mention of Robert E. Howard wouldn't have gone amiss, especially since the literature was at least as R-rated as the resulting film.
100 000 slaves and 20 years to build a pyramid? That would mean you have to place a three tones brick once every 9 seconds. Seriously check it...those are the stastics given for the great pyramid
By Krom, it rips off so much...
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I raked the opening over the coals myself. All it does is tell you that Conan is awesome without really telling you why. (Outside of that long run-on sentence that sets up the series plot.)
The series itself wasn't half bad, especially if you look at CBS's follow-up series, Conan and the Young Warriors. That was painful and I'm not even a Conan fan.
woot a new episode is out
love the yu-gi-oh 5D's reffernce
are you saying that transformers g1 is a bad carton?
Jordan: Not at all. The reference was no other cartoon would trash their own villain so badly in the opening, I recut the Transformers opening as a reference to what it would look like if another show had done it.
Best one yet! Keep em coming.
do you have a twitter account?
Kinda funny, even though people call him a Serpentor rip off. I like Wrath Amon and hate Serpentor. Although Ram Amon was definately a superior villain when he appeared later.
Best Ending EVAR
First of all, I loved some of the jokes, especially the Michael Bay gag and the pyramid joke. You point out a great many of my biggest problems with the pilot, especially the sword quandary and and the condescending attitude towards "death." Considering plenty of people accuse He-Man of being a Conan ripoff, it's somewhat hilarious that CtA takes a few cues from He-Man (particularly that draw-forth-lightning bit).
But... Dude, you really should've done a bit more research into Conan.
For one thing, the series is only tangentially based on the films - basically, they just took the special sword and the quest for vengeance against the sorcerer who robbed Conan of his family (an idea that started with the film). Everything else can be traced back to before the films, some elements back to the original stories by Robert E. Howard - the first of which was "The Phoenix on the Sword," written in 1932. Before even Conan the Barbarian came out, there was about 50 year's worth of material in books and comics that the series draws from, many of which have their own conflicting continuity. Conan the Adventurer was just another "elseworlds" version of Conan.
For instance, Zula was based on a character with the same name from the Marvel comics, first appearing in 1978. Epemitreus was a character from the very first Conan story, "The Phoenix on the Sword": the Phoenix was his symbol, though thankfully no irritating talking birds were to be seen. Wrath-Amon may have fulfilled the role of Thulsa Doom in terms of plot, but character-wise he shares more in common with Thoth-Amon - who, again, appeared in the first Conan story, along with the Ring of Set, though thankfully not the horrible sidekick. Some of the episodes are (very loosely) based on stories written in the 1930s.
Ironically, some of the things you cite - the D&D adventure group setup, the snake fixation in He-Man and GI Joe, the mysterious sage from a Zelda game - are all themselves derivative of the original Conan stories. The original tales were some of the foundations of the modern fantasy genre, predating even The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. So if something seems overly familiar, it might well have been present in the original tales themselves, and Conan can't exactly rip itself off, can it?
Again, I enjoyed the review, but a mention of Robert E. Howard wouldn't have gone amiss, especially since the literature was at least as R-rated as the resulting film.
dear god the robocop animated series was awful!!!
what about robocop animated
100 000 slaves and 20 years to build a pyramid?
That would mean you have to place a three tones brick once every 9 seconds.
Seriously check it...those are the stastics given for the great pyramid
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