emasterslake

This was a show I grew up watching as a kid in the 90's. The premise is that it was filmed entirely at Disneyland with the setting of Toontown as its' main focus. The Toontown section of Disneyland was brand new at the time this show first aired so what better way to sponsor it than as a TV show. The hosts of the show are a young man and woman who do activities in Toontown or around the Disneyland park. In between the segments would be a a Disney animated short film usually related to the subject of the show. I don't know what the filming schedule was like for this show, but the film crew must of manage their schedule with the theme park's hours as most of the episodes were in the middle of the day. I work for California Adventure, and have yet to find any piece of history this show might of left behind at the park or find someone who knew about the filming of the show at the time. For many years I completely forgotten about the title of the show and always refer to it as "Mickey's Toontown" when it was simply titled as "Toontown Kids". Thanks to the internet and the "Toontown" part of the title I was able to rediscover this show and was glad it wasn't the case of the Mandela effect. Because this show only aired on the KCLA station, only California citizens knew of the show at the time. But since it only aired on local stations it meant that it had a little exposure to the world. There are very few websites that include info on the episodes. It's uncertain if the episodes exist at the KCLA's film vault or the Disney TV film vault. I want to believe that this show exists in its entirety, otherwise it may forever be lost in time. A pity cause this show is an important piece of Disney nostalgia and I hope one day I can finally relive the memories this show provided.

In the original Arthur it was about an alcoholic millionaire with a youthful spirit and knows how to make others laugh. He ends up with a hard decision to either agree to marry a woman in a prearranged marriage and keep his fortune, or don't marry the woman and have his money cut off. The entire movie was filled with clever humor, great characters, and a well written script that made it a classic from the 80's. 30 years later, they decided to remake it only to borrow the plot and throw out every thing out the window.

When it comes to remakes, they either do as well as the original, or it falls flat and is viewed as being inferior to the older version. The first minute watching it was a real intolerance and that's never a good thing if I don't enjoy the film right away. I am going to examine the changes they made to the characters, because I never felt this ashamed towards a remake in my whole life! First let's talk about Arthur in this remake, in the original he was short stature, likes to make jokes that do make you at least chuckle and is a real pleasure to have at any party if he existed in real life. The remake's Arthur is nothing compared to the one portrayed by Dudley Moore. Russell Brand does no justice to the role, he is way too tall, was never funny, and was way too obnoxious to be likable in anyone's standards. Could they not of casted a shorter actor for the part? Martin Freeman would of been a better choice, he had the right height and would of done the part of Arthur justice. Russell on the other hand made Arthur look like someone who requires medication to settle down. I know Arthur was meant to be drunk, but at least the original Arthur was at a steady level when intoxicated. This Arthur does stunts that look like they belong in a slapstick comedy. There was no advise on how Russell could of done differently for the part, he was just the wrong choice to start with. The moment he was casted, the film was already ruined.

Now to talk about Hobson, who was the most drastically changed character for this remake. In the original Hobson was a male butler, in this film Hobson is a female nanny. The sex change on the character isn't the issue, its the idea of Arthur having a nanny to take care of him. He's like about 30, so having a nanny still take care of you at that age makes Arthur look more pathetic. Hobson in the original was perfect the way he was, if the character isn't broken don't fix it! There was a great chemistry between Hobson & Arthur in the original because despite him not being keen on Arthur's behavior, he does care for him and provided good support. In this film you do see moments between Arthur and his now female nanny, but it doesn't feel right to me. It doesn't feel realistic, imagine if Bruce Wayne had a nanny instead of Alfred for a butler? Would you say that would be normal or that Bruce has personal issues? I'm sure we can all agree that having a butler is more cool than having a nanny. Even Lara Croft had a butler for crying out loud!

Now for the discussion on one more character that is wrong for this remake? Remember how Arthur fell in love with the spunky Linda Marolla in the original? Well she's no where to be found in this remake. They had the nerve to replace her with a woman who is no where as likable as Linda: Naomi Quinn. She is a typical cliché love interest found in every average chick flick. She doesn't even try to be Linda's replacement, because of how much of an opposite she is. The romance between her and Arthur was so unreal that I would have a hard time believing any woman in real life would find the remake's Arthur to be "attractive". Arthur & Linda's relationship was better in the original because that Arthur would be able to attract women compared to the remake's example.

In conclusion, this remake is disgusting and has no right to be titled Arthur at all. Cause Russell Brand made Arthur an unlovable dolt who you wish you're able to beat up in a back alley until he is bruised all over and has to eat throw a straw for one month. The director turn it into a mediocre chick flick which it isn't. If you don't understand the concept of the original then you have a box office bomb waiting to blow up. The actors weren't doing their best at all and not a single one of them looked like they were enjoying their performances. I was glad that the film receive two Razzie nominations for worst actor and remake though it would of been awesome if the film won either category. The fact the film only made 30 million at the box office is proof that the public knew it was a lost cause to begin with. I just pray that will mean there will be no remake to Arthur 2 cause I'd hate to see how they'd mess up Fairchild in a remake. If you haven't seen the original, check it out, because it worth your time as oppose to this abomination that will rot into obscurity for the greater good of mankind.

There's a ton of internet shows in this day in age cause anyone can make their own show if they have a web cam and have a good idea that will draw in an audience. This show was one of the earlier made for internet shows dating as far back as when Youtube was first established. I never heard of it until five years after it was released to the public. My earliest exposure was from watching another show called Nostalgia Critic and after his rants of this show also being about an angry reviewer I decided to give it a shot. And man I tell ya, after watching episode 1 I can't get enough of it.

The show is about an obsess gamer who owns almost every single game known to man including every single game system from the popular ones to the more obscure ones. He's only known as "The Nerd" cause he wears glasses, has a pocket protector, and a white button shirt all the needed material to make him resemble a typical nerd. The earlier episodes he was known as the Angry Nintendo Nerd, but later on the title was changed to Video Game so that way he won't receive any possible lawsuit and to not limit himself to just Nintendo.

The plot in each episode involves the Nerd reviewing games that are either hard, unusual, or just plain bad. To make playing the games more tolerable he would either make fun of the games or blurt out harsh profanity. This is one of the reasons I find this show amusing cause I can relate to the Nerd's situation cause even I have had my fair share of playing frustrating games. The earlier episodes are simple but also funny, the series picks up by the time he does his first Halloween related episodes which is when the series starts to resemble the way it does into the later episodes.

The best episodes in my opinion are the ones where the Nerd reviews the very obscure game systems, the unlicensed games, and games you wouldn't think exist. There's also occasions when he has a certain guest star involved with his reviews. Sometimes its a friend of his other times it be other celebrities whether their famous from the internet or something else. After being exposed to this series I find myself quoting the Nerd almost every time I talk about video games.

So in short, if you're a video game fan this series is a must see. Cause if you don't care much for video games, then I can't say you'll enjoy it cause 90% of the series talks about video games. You may of read some harsh comments about the show or the actor of play the Nerd. But all I can say is ignore them like I do cause this is an awesome show. Plus James Rolfe who plays the Nerd is really cool, after watching the other shows, shorts, & videos he's done on his official website. If I had to choose a personal favorite series on the internet, this is it.