What A Cartoon!

Our artist friend Maddie is back, and this time she's taking us on a journey to the late '90s with Hey Arnold! This classic Nicktoon was more emotional and empathetic than most kids shows, and it has a surprisingly long history (with several interesting connections to The Simpsons). Learn all about it, as well as our personal histories with spelling bees and city pigeons in this week's podcast! Su...

Chosen by premium Patreon supporter Nick, we're doing the 1979 classic Gundam series, and we're again joined by Gundam expert/ USG Editor-In-Chief/our good friend Kat Bailey ! We dig deep into Mobile Suit Gundam, series mastermind Yoshiyuki Tomino, the show's shaky launch to merchandisable success, and so much more. Plus we chat about one of the greatest anime betrayals of all-time and cover a piv...

Thanks to the generous contributions of Patron David Whittington, we're finally taking a look at Archer, FX's surprising spy hit that's quickly coming up on its tenth birthday. The folks who brought you Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo basically took everything that made those shows great and turned them up to 11, while adding more sex, drugs, violence, and H. Jon Benjamin. And for this podcast, we'll...

Chosen by our special guest (and premium Patreon supporter) Mick Circo, this week's podcast is all done in the name of the moon! We dig into the history of one of the most influential animated series ever, Sailor Moon. We talk about how it was made and how it was localized multiple times into North America. Then we chat about this specific episode as The Hell Tree arc begins. Listen now or else we...

Bob and Henry recorded perhaps their longest podcast ever to Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons as they spend nearly THREE HOURS discussing the iconic animated film Akira. Patreon subscribers who pledge $10 or more can hear it right now, and if you'd like a taste of it, here's a good chunk about the film's release in the United States and how it changed the culture forever. If you'd like to hear more, co...

This week's podcast subject was chosen by premium Patreon supporter ShyRanger, and it's a comic book adaptation too many overlooked when it was new. Bob and Henry take a deep dive into Batmania as we look at the retro postmodern vibes of Batman: The Brave And The Bold. Not only will we discuss the outrageous writing, animation, and voice acting, we also explore the comic book roots that the show b...

Aw yea-yeah! It's time for the ultimate slacker animation, Regular Show, to get its due on What A Cartoon! And we have two special guests, Regular Show storyboarders Toby Jones and Owen Dennis to talk about the third episode in the Baby Ducks Trilogy. Toby and Owen will tell us how they joined Regular Show, what it was like day to day, and how their tribute to anime grew into a double-length speci...

Oooooh weeeee! We've covered Adult Swim shows in the past, so it only makes sense that we'd cover its biggest hit yet in this first year of the What A Cartoon! podcast. Thanks to a request from patron Justin Allen, we're finally taking a look at Rick and Morty: the subversive Cartoon Network creation that combines the vulgar absurdity of Justin Roiland with the dark brilliance of Dan Harmon. Thoug...

This December on What A Cartoon! we've already covered Christmas and Hanukkah, so now it's time to appease all of our listeners who believe in nothing . And there's no better way to do that than by exploring Clone High's non-denominational celebration, Snowflake Day! Special guest and resident Canadian Nina Matsumoto joins us for a look into the very first project from current Kings of Hollywood P...

Did you know that $10+ subscribers at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons get a monthly exclusive podcast where Bob and Henry discuss a different animated film each month?!?!?! And did you know that the December film was the Studio Ghibli classic Kiki's Delivery Service????? Here's a special preview of our newest Patreon exclusive, and if you'd like to hear the whole thing just become a $10 or more member...

This week we're joined again by Matt Jay (from Cartoons 101 and cohost of the new podcast [the deep end] ) and he's here to help us shine a salute to the American race this holiday season! Yes, it's time for the best Seth MacFarlane show, American Dad!, as we deconstruct the weird absurdity of this unexpectedly great follow up to Family Guy! And for this special time of the year, we're discussing...

We are gargoyles! And this week we're joined by comics pro and Gargoyles lover Kory Bing to discuss one of the most versatile and progressive shows Disney Afternoon ever saw. We'll go deep into how Goliath and his clan came to be, the shows amazing cast and animators, if there's any future for the show and so much more. Plus we dive into a watershed episode for the series, the Shakespearean tribut...

The Festival of Lights is upon us, and we're celebrating it with, Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and the rest. This week we're joined by Matthew Jay of Cartoons 101  to talk about Rugrats and what it did for Nickelodeon, as well as it being a trailblazer for Jewish representation in American animation! So your hosts this week learn all about how the series came together, the underrated career of Paul G...

Make the homies say ho, it's time for another podcast about an Adult Swim classic. And we're joined by Matthew Jay of Cartoons 101 ! Yes, it's Aqua Teen Hunger Force and the very first episode featuring the series' best villains, The Mooninites! We go into the show's Space Ghost roots as well as the ATHF's long history which includes a movie and fake bomb reports! So listen and enjoy, because we'r...

SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the biggest cartoons EVER, so it's about time we cover it on What A Cartoon! And, thanks to patron Phillip Jacobi, we're looking at one of the very early episodes that helped build towards the eventual period of SpongeBob Mania. Listen in as Matthew Jay of Cartoons 101 joins us to discuss the history and the creator of Nickelodeon's long-running mega-hit, and apprec...

In case you missed the news, there's a new perk for $10+ patrons of What A Cartoon and Talking Simpsons! We're doing a monthly What A Cartoon Movie! podcast where Henry and Bob cover a different animated film classic in the same style as the animated series we cover! The premiere episode is about Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and we have a little teaser of it here, where we debate if this is the b...

Alright! This week Matt Jay of Cartoons 101 joins us to discuss not only Thanksgiving but also one of Fox's most recent animated successes, Bob's Burgers! The show follows the small town adventures of a family of weirdos who love cooking up creative burgers (as well as a father obsessed with Thanksgiving), and we discuss what makes it so special. See how the folks behind Dr. Katz and Home Movies m...

Bob and Henry are indulging in some protoculture this week as we dive into one of the more dramatic episodes of Robotech (and Macross) ever! After digging into the history of Robotech and its effect on the western anime fandom, we then explore the amazing mecha action and engaging human drama of this groundbreaking animated series! Do you remember love--er, I mean, Robotech? Then listen along and...

A comic book that never should have been a comic book becomes a TV show that never should have been a TV show? That's the story of The Maxx, a slavish 13-episode animated adaptation of Sam Kieth's work by the very same name. Though the storytelling can be uneven, and many questions go unanswered, The Maxx remains an unflinching examination of some very sensitive subject matter carried by ahead-of-...

Grab your lasagna for the best Halloween cartoon of 1985 as we do our scariest What A Cartoon! podcast yet! We're joined by Matthew Jay of Cartoons 101 once more to discuss the history of Jim Davis' Garfield and how he was a rising star of animation in the 1980s. Learn how Phil Roman worked with Davis to legit scare '80s kids with ghost pirates, and listen as we explore the iconic voices and class...

Thanks to patron Alex Irish, What A Cartoon! is exploring new territory: A Disney television show from the 21st century! In case you didn't know, House of Mouse exists as the first real revival of classic Disney shorts, created more than a decade before the one that actually took. This 2001-2003 series takes a new framing device and wraps it around cartoons both new and old for a Disney love-in th...

This week we dive into the unique and incredible world of JoJo and we have a great guest to help us, Woolie from Super Best Friends ! We go into the long history of one of Japan's most popular mangas ever, and then chat about the anime adaptation, as well as what makes both so special! It's a treat for JoJo experts and noobs alike, so puff up that hair and get ready for the bizarre summer of 1999!...

Ha ha! Classic cartoon podcast... This week Bob and Henry are joined by a special Patreon supporter as we go through the Adult Swim original Harvey Birdman. The series' second episode takes hot coffee and shrink rays, turning it into comedy gold. Plus we go over Harvey's long history right ahead of the series getting a comeback special to roast our current presidential insanity! Listen along if yo...

We're back to anime this week as we tackle the mega-hit from Japan that failed to catch on in America, Case Closed. Known as Detective Conan in its home country, this long, long, long-running series about a teenage master detective trapped in a boy's body hit Adult Swim in the summer of 2004, but its mix of kiddie antics and extremely dark subject matter mostly confused an audience tuning in for t...

We hope you merry mutants are ready to get X-treme this week, because we're talking about X-Men with Matt McMuscles (check him out at Super Best Friends and his personal YouTube channel ). No superheroes in the early 1990s were more popular than the X-Men, and their 1992 animated series was a huge hit on Saturday morning as a result. How did this strange series come to be? And how well does it hol...