Cartoon Night in Canada

Happy Belated Pride Month Everybody! Our apologies, we'll have more Pride-centric contact coming in the next few weeks. For the time being, here is a soft-copaganda show that probably responsible for many a bisexual awakening. A super team of bulky emergency responders who have no known jurisdiction, no oversight, and seemingly no system of checks and balances to curtail their authority. It&#3...

Once again, we make use of the incredible archival resource of Canadian animation that is the National Film Board of Canada for another cursed double bill. A stop-motion raucous bug orgy and a storybook Inuit creation song. What do they have in common? Not much. Films covered for the podcast are Martin Barry's Juke-Bar (1989) and Germaine Arnattaujuq, Neil Christopher & Louise Flaherty&#39...

We once again find ourselves drifting aimlessly through the parallel dimension known as the Delta State. A paranoid state of delusion that decides the fate for all humankind if not for a group of amnesiac twenty-something Montreal hipsters. We felt it was only right to return to a one of a kind Canadian production we will never see on television again because we just appreciate that it exists so m...

Straight off the heels of our federal election which has left a small contingency of conservative voters in Alberta hoping for a secession, we are covering a film which explores the ramifications of a province seeking sovereignty and the broader effects of the temperament of its population. In short, it leaves us all feeling like divorced alcoholics drying out at a fishing cabin with our ex-spouse...

In a trying time where PBS could be defunded and Nelvana go under, we felt it was necessary to tackle a big hitter that served as a cornerstone for the domination of educational television in the 90s. It's The Magic School Bus - an all time classic that many do not realize is technically Canadian (the best kind of Canadian). Also, some mildly depressing Canadian federal election chatter becaus...

High school can be a bit of a pain. Especially when you're a horny, pale, sarcastic teenager besieged by criminal lust and pursued by rabid squirrels. Such are the many trials and tribulations of the titular protagonist in Fred's Head - an acerbic teen comedy that balances the zany with a level-headed approach to the lifestyles of teenagers. Chris loved it. Sylvie liked it. Episode covered...

And here we find ourselves at the bottom of the barrel once more. A shoddily slapped together series by way of Montreal's Cinegroupe produced to coincide with the release of a high-profile Disney feature film. The era of the mockbuster is most certainly passed, but we will always have those VHS memories of cheap garbage like The Magical Adventures of Quasimodo. Episode covered for the podcast...

It's time to A.M.P. it up!!! Remember back in the 2000s when it felt like extreme sports was the be-all end-all of popular culture and plenty of things from the past were being retrofitted with a more edgy and radical look for the new generation? Well, one series/extended toy commercial by Mainframe Entertainment took it to such tubular heights that it practically killed the entire fad. It&#39...

Sorry for the delay! We are going to blame the tariffs because why not. We have returned to the realm of Canadian dubbed anime with a fabulous punk rock classic of growing up and heartbreak between young women who meet by happenstance. Ai Yazawa's NANA has endured in popularity since it's premiere in 2006, and part of that enduring popularity has to do with the pitch perfect dub produced b...

On this week's episode, we encounter an utterly contemptible protagonist in a little-known stop-motion co-production with Britain and Italy which left us utterly charmed. A sharp, abrasive art style for a sharp, abrasive character that we wound up watching via a scuffed cam version on YouTube. There is nothing more fittingly Rotten for ol' Ralph. Episode viewed for the podcast is Episode &...

We are back in some familiar territory - a shoddy, obscure Nelvana production (#SaveNelvana) and a radical adaptation of Greek Mythology made for children. It's Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend - contractually obligated fodder produced through a brief lucrative partnership with television network CBS. Filling out an entire Saturday morning cartoon block requires a lot of man hours and...

On this latest's trip to the National Film Board's Archive, we pay tribute to a stalwart of the NFB's Animation Department since its inception whose contributions to Canadian cinema are too varied to list out. Veteran animator, producer, and director Robert Verrall sadly passed away on January 17th, 2025 and left a cinematic legacy few can measure up to. For this occasional spotlight s...

This week, we start off with a sobering call to action regarding the uncertain future of our beloved Nelvana before awkwardly segueing into talking about one of their longest running series. Financial mismanagement and executive payoffs over at Corus Entertainment may very well lead to the shuttering of one of Canada's most prolific animation studios, and while talking about what a momentous l...

This week on the podcast, boys, we get two birds stoned at once as we tackle a fucking vanity cartoon of a classic Canadian series featuring a pack of greasy shitbirds smoking dope and doing crime. It's Trailer Park Boys and it's utterly unnecessary, pointless, Netflix animated series that may just be entirely antithetical to the spirit of the original series. Plus some Wayne Gretzky bashi...

To conclude the lucrative enterprise that was our Barbie™ theme month, we deliver a fashionably late episode on Barbie™ and the Magic of Pegasus (2005). Featuring a totally straight main villain, a magical cloud kingdom that controls the weather, figure skating and gambling addiction, and a "cunty little polar bear." It's a formulaic entry in the Barbie franchise, but nevertheless a continued show...

Happy Barbcember to all, and to all a good night! For our official Holiday special, we return where it all begin with Mainframe Entertainment's first crack at the Barbie license with the seminal, janky, and all around charming Barbie™ in the Nutcracker (2001). A rough around the edges time capsule of early 2000s CGI animation that showcases the amount of growth and skill Mainframe would progressiv...

Barbcember™ rolls on with a modern spin on the Brothers Grimm classic that sees our heroine Barbie trapped in a tower. Except...she doesn't have long hair...and there are talking dragons and mammals...and magic paintbrushes...and a territorial war between kingdoms...and Anjelica Huston. What we are driving at is this is far superior to Tangled. Film covered for the podcast is Barbie™ as Rapunzel ....

HAPPY BARBCEMBER!!! In our continued efforts to avoid talking about Christmas and the Holidays, we are programming an entire month of Mainframe produced Barbie direct-to-video films. For the first installment, we are establishing the official Bibble Baseline™ and tackling the "classic" Fairytopia - a magical adventure drawn from a sparsely populated, murky forest that has a lot to say about baseba...

In the conclusion to our 2024 Spooktober Celebration, we resurrect a classic tradition and revisit Ouija Falls for more prattling about with creepy weirdos and cryptid whatsits with Moville Mysteries . This time around, we go down on the farm for some good ol' fashioned DNA splicing with Farmer Dell and his Pig Boys. Another sardonic horror classic from one of our favourite spooky shows to cover!...

Spooktober rolls into Scarevember as we make up for our absence by bringing you a big hitter series frequently teased on previous episodes. A controversial series which endeavored to represent the teenage experience in a warts and all comedic approach that instantly ascended to instant cult status. It's 6teen - and for one incredible Halloween special, it took a few notes from horror master George...

On this fashionably late episode of our Spooktober Celebration, we're packing up and moving out to a zombie apocalypse...localized entirely in a small rural Northern Ontario municipality. Rotting Hills is a cast away from the time Nelvana Animation tried to participate in the animated anthology craze that gave us the 2000s television animation boom with it's FunPak . It's a coming-of-age comedy ab...

On this installment of the 2024 Spooktober Celebration, we look back to a forgotten cult classic with an extended, fascinating post-life based on the dedicated work of one super fan. A network special from a bygone era about the true reason of the season - partying and mob justice - we breakdown the fascinating animation and character design on display before going LONG on the attempts to turn thi...

Making good on our Spooktober promise to bring back some old favourites, we are taking another look at one of the greatest Canadian produced shows and one of the best examples of introducing the horror genre to kids - Martin Mystery. What other show for kids would attempt a parody of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining? And set it in British Columbia? Episode covered for the podcast is episode 15 "Haunt...

Break out those early-2000s haircuts and Hot Topic accessories, it is once again time for our Spooktober Celebration! And to kick it all off, we are taking a look at the scariest thing our country's television industry has ever produced - a mopey, pseudo-gothic live-action teen drama about an evil comic book...that is technically animated. In our most contentious episode to date, Sylvie and Chris...

On this week's episode, we convince you to get paranoid about your pet cat and how they might be orchestrating your imminent demise with Kid vs. Kat. A deliberate throwback to the classic adversarial Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons, we find ourselves talking about what we would call a "modern classic" from Rob Boutilier - the current name behind Apple Tv's Peanuts franchise. Episo...