Like most Disney Afternoon shows, particularly the early ones, it was crippled and mutilated by executive interference. Gadget was the only thing I liked, and they spent large portions of the series completely ignoring her personality.

The other characters were alright -- keeping in mind that they were exploiting two stock characters the company had rights to. Monterary wsa just based on the popularity of Australian characters at the time. Zipper was the one I really didn't like. Many of the secondary characters who appeared in only one story were losers too.

But all things considered, the show was not at all bad. All the Disney Afternoon cartoons wer pretty decent, really. Of all of them, I guess Gummi Bears was the one I liked least -- its indecent to base stories on cheap sugar confections.

But that's the thing. Gadget is the only character who survived the creative process. If I recall correctly Monterey and Zipper are at least close to their original forms, but Tad Stones was pretty much told 'throw them all out, put in Chip and Dale, but you can keep the girl because we need a token female character'. Executive meddling was brutal in those years. I had the very lucky chance to be on a mailing list with him and (Greg Weissman I think his name was?) for awhile during that era. Honest, they got instructions like 'this is too funny'. I think I'd have killed myself.

Being too funny? In a cartoon? Suddenly, I'm reminded of an episode of "DuckTales", in which Ma Beagle and two of her sons commandeer a set of giant construction robots. In one scene, one of her sons goofs around, causing Ma Beagle to scold him. "What do you think this is? A cartoon show?"

Being too funny. They were nice enough to give us an original script from Bonkers. Some shows fared better than others (Bonkers wasn't one of them) but they were all butchered. Disney Afternoon's writers were really good, but anything they produced got a hatchet job before it went on the air.

I am deeply relieved a character as iconic and fascinating as Gadget got on the air at all.

Bonkers? Ugh. There's one I had successfully put out of my memory until now. It wasn't that it was all bad, but enough of it wasn't good. It's the only cartoon I know that switched premises in mid-season.

And that's why the script was so eye-opening. You wouldn't RECOGNIZE the cartoon if it was actually clever, which it would have been.

I see... in an alternate universe we might have had a Rescue Rangers without the two clowns... Now that might have been more interesting, I agree. How much can you do with Curly, Larry and Moe, minus Curly, which is about all that Chip and Dale amount to?

I do love how you draw Gadget - the pinup image you did of her a bit back is one of the best ever done IMO. Something that really squicks me are comics in which you have anthropomorphic people still carrying on the whole predator/prey thing wholesale on each other -- Kevin&Kell being a primary example, but there are a number more. Ugh.

It was somewhat amusing in Kevin&Kell, but the problem with any approach is that it gets old fast. It's hard to be original. Most people don't even try -- they just imitate what they like.

Excellent art, Taral. Gadget is too cute when she's on the run.

Go go Gadget!

Run, li'l Gadget, RUN! The Executives are after you!

Damn, I think I just scared myself...

I think they got her. Her head, along with the other Rescue Rangers, is mounted on a playing card sized plague in the Eisner Memorial Executive Washroom. That's why the show iksn't on the air.

I'd suggest just torrenting the show, because Disney doesn't deserve to make any money off the DVD sets. The transfer is so bad the chipmunks look bright red at times. And in the second set, the box touts the number of episodes plus "five bonus episodes". Guess what; the five 'bonus' episodes are counted in the original total. That's damn close to fraud, I think. Plus they left out about sixteen episodes entirely, with no plans to put out a third set (the Foxglove one was among them). Disney shows nothing but callous contempt for consumers, because they know they can coast on name-recognition alone forever. I try not to give them money whenever possible.

Let's not even get into the 'widescreen' Robin Hood DVD, made by chopping off slices of the top and bottom of the original film!!!

I bought the DVDs for season 1 at WalMart for $14.95 -- if it hadn't been that cheap, I had no plans to buy them at all. While I liked RR well enough, it was't in my personal 10% that I felt I *must* own. But at $14.95 I felt I couldn't pass it up. After all... I have season 1 of Gilligan's Island, too.

I've noticed that Disney started a number of DVD series that they don't appear to have ever finished. I would have like more Darkwing Duck, for instance.

Although not Disney, I was royally pissed off that seasons 1 and 2 of The Tick leave out some episodes, for unknown reasons. (Not even the Wiki article knows why.)

I think its a damn good thing that Shakesphere's plays were owned by Time/Warner or Turner, or we would have lost half of them because they weren't profitable enough to publish.

One more reason I love the internet: fans of stuff are no longer dependent on bigass companies, waiting on them to see if they'll decide to allow us to buy what we want from them.

Now, if one of us owns something, we can ALL own it. :)

That's a two edged sword though... everyone owns my art too, leaving me dependent in my declining years on social assistence...

The solution is to be the kind of entity people feel good about giving their money to. I have incredible loyalty to reprolabels.com (a site that makes stickers for Transformers) because they excel amazingly in craftsmanship and customer service. Sure, some people will always tale info-sharing to a selfish extreme, but most people will want to reward skill and friendliness.

Speaking of that, if I ever wanted to commission you, are you open for that kind of thing? What're your rates?

So... I should become a sleezy, mawkish TV evangelist, and beg for money so I can build a vacation spot in the South of France for tired mininisters and CEOs of my church...

I'd rather be broke.

I am sometimes willing go do commissions, though at this point I'm all but retired. At this particular moment, though, I'm back logged.

>So... I should become a sleezy, mawkish TV evangelist, and beg for money so I can build a vacation spot in the South of France for tired mininisters and CEOs of my church...

Actually, just the opposite. I'm far more loyal to people/companies that quietly go about making good products that work well, and who listen to customer feedback.

>I am sometimes willing go do commissions, though at this point I'm all but retired. At this particular moment, though, I'm back logged.

I've thought about asking you for a Gadget or a Hepzibah for quite some time, but have never come up with an idea good enough to be worthy enough for your legendary pen. (And no, that's not just flattery; I'm serious!)

A Gadget or Hepzibah I could deal with. For the most part, the characters are simple, and I'm familiar with their construction. I do have a desire to do a Gadget piece, sometime, where she's working on her own robot/clone/assistant, Gimmick.

But I should really finish up one or two things on my plate before starting on anything new.

Also... well, I'll go into that later.

Yay for Gimmick! I must admit, I'd love to see a pic of her coming to a truce with her creator via the power of love. AKA hot organic-on-mechanoid lesbian mousie doppelganger action. ;)

Excellent job, man! :D