ExoSquad: Memorable Quotation of the Day

Episode 1x11 - The First Step

Thrax: "We succeed or fail, for the glory of Phaeton?"
Glycon: "Phaeton is our leader, unfortunately."
Thrax: "Unfortunately."
Glycon: "But that's not our concern, we're soldiers. I've ordered a counterattack with all remaining forces to retake the main base. The attack will draw in the Terran e-frames, then you must lead an attack on the ExoCruisers."
Thrax: "Yes, Sir."
Glycon: "Thrax, we have one scout ship left. If the attack fails you must take as many of our people as you can and escape to Venus."
Thrax: "What about you?"
Glycon: "I will lead the counterattack."
Thrax: "You are sacrificing yourself for nothing."
Glycon: "Has it not occurred to you that we are all sacrificing ourselves for nothing? It has become Phaeton's war, not ours."

Sharos: "What are Glycon's orders?"
Thrax: "Do you never grow tired of it, Sharos? The fighting?"
Sharos: "It is what we were bred for."
Thrax: "And when the war is over? What will we do then?"
Sharos: "For us, the war will never be over."

ExoSquad: Memorable Quotation of the Day

Episode 1x13 - Defying Olympus

JT Marsh: "Goodbye... and thanks."
ExoFrame: "Farewell, Operator JT Marsh."
JT Marsh: "What...? It talked to me. I wasn't plugged in but... it talked to me."
Marsala: "Humans are great creators Lieutenant, though often unaware of the consequences of their gift."

Marsala: "It is finished, JT. We have miscalculated. We have only minutes until Olympus Mons is destroyed. We have won the battle, but for us the war is over. It is a little thing we lose, compared with the stars."

ExoSquad: Memorable Quotation of the Day

Episode 1x4 - Blitzkrieg

"Since its conception, the Neosapien race has lived under the oppressive rule of a homo sapien regime. Forced to work and serve as slave labor, only to benefit Terran objectives. Today marks the beginning of a new and enlightened era and the history of your kind comes to an end. The future now belongs to Neosapiens. You as the representatives of the Terran Homeworlds must accept this reality. Your unconditional surrender to us, to me, is now a fact.
History will record the inevitability of your decision. Any form of human resistance will be met with immediate extermination. The tables have turned and now you, Terrans, will serve the Neosapien Commonwealth. And I, Phaeton, am now your leader. I now hereby declare this assembly dissolved, as your services are no longer required." -Phaeton

ExoSquad: Memorable Quotation of the Day

Episode 1x12 - Betrayal

"Been through? Been through?! You Terrans have never seen your brood mates sold, beaten, mistreated, treated as cattle and worse. Created as slaves, but with a will to be free. Forced to work, to suffer, to die in horrible conditions for Terran greed. Denied even the right to speak up against such tyranny. This is what I've been through. Speak not to me of loyalty. I am a Neo sapien. Created by Terrans, feared by Terrans, abused by Terrans, but no more! My place is with Phaeton, and yours is in extinction." -Marsala

ExoSquad: Analyzing Season 2

Now, I just want to talk about Season 2 for a bit. If you watch it, you'll obviously notice that it isn't quite as good as Season 1. Season 1 was what hooked me into the show, and you can easily tell why... it's incredibly well written and plotted for all 13 episodes and the animation was quite good for that time. There's not a stinker in the group, they're all really enjoyable.

For season 2, the show was gaining popularity and they decided on a much more ambitious 39 episode run. This was triple the number of the original season and probably placed a great deal more pressure on the writers. Like I said, some of the episodes are quite good and the equal of those from the first season, but you can see that a lot of them were just filler and that they were trying to stretch the whole war out to accommodate this larger run. The entry of the Neo-Warriors and the later Neo-Lords can be seen as the point where they may have started to jump the shark, as well as the appearance of the kid-friendly Exo-Scouts. The Neo-Warriors and Neo-Lords were a pretty extreme example of Villain Decay, as they were introduced as invincible new soldiers for Phaeton, only to be mowed down by the Jump Troopers by the end of the season.

The part of the show that took the biggest hit in quality by far was the animation. You really get a sense by watching that they probably contracted out a lot more Korean animation studios to handle the increased workload and that many of these studios were probably far shabbier then the few used for the first season. There are some extreme differences in animation style and the consistency between episodes suffers greatly. For example, you might see a shuttle change designs from one episode to the next. In another, Maggie Weston's Exo-Frame will have an open cockpit requiring her to wear a helmet, when every other episode has shown her cockpit to be enclosed. This sort of thing does get noticeable, but if you've fallen in love with the show from the first season like me, this decline in animation quality will be tolerated just because you're eager for more episodes of ExoSquad.

It's nice to wonder about what would've happened if they'd been a bit more prudent and gone for a smaller episode run for season two. The quality of the writing and animation may have gone up to match that of season one. However, the possibility exists that the show would've still been canceled at the end of season two, in which case we would be left hanging without the conclusion of the entire war. Given that this was a kid's cartoon that managed to deal with war, slavery, prejudice, betrayal, honor, and duty... the fact that it accrued 52 episodes is pretty damn impressive. Ultimately, the show ended with a wholly satisfying end to the Second Neo-Sapien War, and that's much more then you can say for another scifi show, Space Above and Beyond.

ExoSquad: Memorable Quotation of the Day

Episode 1x4 - Blitzkrieg

"The birth of the Neosapien order is a thing of beauty. It would be unthinkable to not witness the most important event in history...the moment the Neosapiens seize their destiny. The reign of the old humanity ends this day. We, the stepchildren of mankind, are now its rulers. Think, Typhonus, what the rule of the Neosapiens means. Justice, at last. Logic, at last. Order, at last. Our laws will prevail. What glories the Homeworlds will see, governed by our even hand!" - Phaeton

ExoSquad Season 2 Highlights

Even though Season 2 suffers from a bit of a sophomore slump after the incredibly well paced Season 1, there are still some outstanding episodes that I love.

2x11 The First Step: A somewhat new take on the old fighter ace duel. Thrax gets the best lines out of all the Neo Sapiens, besides Phaeton.

2x17 Under the Skin: This episode was just heartbreaking. They take an obscure extra from the first season who was KIA and actually make us care about her. It really changes how we look at that photo JT always keeps in his cockpit.

2x31 The Price of Courage: The Battle of the Bulge of ExoSquad, as far as I can tell. Shiva goes from being a villainous enemy general to an actual warrior who goes down fighting even though he knows it's futile. Downer of an ending.

2x34 One Small Step: The episode where someone dies.

2x38 Abandon Hope: The penultimate episode of Season 2, but pretty much the finale as far as I'm concerned, because it completely wraps up the Neo Sapien War. The last shot really sums it all up.

As a kid I missed the episode of Under the Skin and always just sorta assumed that photo JT had was of his wife or girlfriend. But after watching that episode, it's just so much more meaningful whenever you see it on his windshield. If it had been just a photo of his wife, it would've been completely ordinary and a throwaway detail. But him choosing to remind himself of the loss of Alice Noretti, someone he didn't even know all that well... just tells you what kind of a man he is.

ExoSquad + Space Above and Beyond = Happy Day for Me!

eJust received the first season of ExoSquad on DVD and boy oh boy, this brings back so many fond memories. The show really holds up well, except for a few slight elements.

The greatest sci-fi war epic of all time, in saturday morning cartoon format. ExoSquad was not a funny series of hijinks and misunderstandings. Nor a treasure trove of pop culture references randomly inserted throughout. It was simply a dramatic and at times brutal account of the Second Neo Sapien War. For a saturday morning cartoon, this show took risks. Characters you'd grown to know and love could and would die. Entire populations were brought to starvation and slavery in concentration camps. And the most frightening aspect of all... mankind had pretty much brought this on itself. We were responsible for creating our own conquerors, the genetically engineered Neo Sapiens. Slaves who were now our slavemasters.

The show basically took World War II and transported it into the 22nd century, with sci-fi exoskeletons known as Exo-Frames. Basically, all the cool aspects of Starship Troopers, but with a much more relatable conflict. Instead of just blowing away anonymous bugs, we were fighting our own bitter creations, who were politically ruled by a megalomaniacal tyrant named Phaeton. I'll never forget the first season episode "The Brood" in which the ExoFleet, returning to Earth to liberate it from the occupying Neo Sapiens, ended up being overwhelmed by two Neo Sapien fleets. The flagship Resolute going down in flames as its lifeboats shot out and were blown apart by hostile fire is probably one of the most traumatic images of my childhood. Sure, I'd seen the Reliant get blown apart by the Enterprise in "Wrath of Khan" before then, but that was a ship full of escaped criminals and villains. They were trash. Seeing the Resolute, flagship of the entire Exofleet, the pride and joy of Admiral Winfield, slowly get ripped apart by laser fire and then explode with the traitorous Captain Marcus aboard invoked a curious mixture of horror, despair, and wonderment.

Now that I've grown up, I actually find that I can appreciate the series more, which is rarely the case with these saturday morning cartoons. But it's only now in my adult life that I find myself recognizing the subtle touches of the writers, like the state of the Neo Sapien people in the first few episodes resembling the state of Germany before World War 2. Or the problem of human collaborators working with the Neo Sapien occupation, just like the Vichy regime of France.

Here's a quote that I've found especially memorable. Only a mere taste of the excellence embued in this animated masterpiece.

Thrax: "I used to worry how I would face the end. Would I go bravely like a soldier? But let me tell you something, Neo Mega, it's life itself that matters, not how it ends. Each moment is a precious gift, if only we have the courage to accept it. That is where our duty lies, not in taking life, but in living it."

You can find the entire series on Hulu to watch.

BTW, I also picked up the Space Above and Beyond DVD set along with this, and I've gotta tell ya... Fox can go eat a dick. It's fucking awful. No extras, and double-sided discs. Who the fuck still thinks double-sided discs are a good idea? Still a great show, but the DVD treatment is some kind of Special Olympics.

The Greatest Animated Series of All Time

Here is my list of the greatest animated series of all time. Note that since yours truly is definitely a child of the early '90s, my pop culture tastes will reflect that. This all began when I skimmed through IGN's list of the top 100 animated series of all time and found it deeply lacking. Thus, I endeavored to compile my own list, reflecting reality as I see it. Those assholes at IGN did a dreadful job with their one hundred slots. For some reason, they decided to fill it with tons of lame stuff from the 70s. Seriously, what the fuck is DangerMouse? And the Smurfs? Goddamn lunatics. Well, without further ado...

1. The Simpsons

Oh c'mon, you knew this was gonna be at the top. It's obvious. Don't deny it cause it's popular (despite the decline in quality over the years). The Simpsons defined mainstream network cartoons. Sure, I didn't immediately think of it either, but that's because when we think of cartoons, we generally think of saturday morning or afternoon fare. The Simpsons on the other hand is clearly late night adult entertainment. The great granddaddy of stuff we all take for granted now like South Park, Futurama, Adult Swim, and yes, Family Guy. Bart Simpson was the rebel without a cause for an entire generation of young people and "Eat my shorts" was enshrined in pop culture forever. While it's steadily gone down the shitter after season 9, we can always look back at those cherished reruns when Mindy was seducing Homer with room service and Bart still made prank phone calls to Moe's.

2. ExoSquad

The greatest sci-fi war epic of all time, in saturday morning cartoon format. ExoSquad was no funny series of hijinks and misunderstandings. Nor a treasure trove of pop culture references randomly inserted throughout. It was simply a dramatic and at times brutal account of the Second Neo Sapien War. For a saturday morning cartoon, this show took risks. Characters you'd grown to know and love could and would die. Entire populations were brought to starvation and slavery in concentration camps. And the most frightening aspect of all... mankind had pretty much brought this on itself. We were responsible for creating our own conquerors, the genetically engineered Neo Sapiens. Slaves who were now our slavemasters.

The show basically took World War II and transported it into the 22nd century, with sci-fi exoskeletons known as Exo-Frames. Basically, all the cool aspects of Starship Troopers, but with a much more relatable conflict. Instead of just blowing away anonymous bugs, we were fighting our own bitter creations, who were politically ruled by a megalomaniacal tyrant named Phaeton. I'll never forget the first season episode "The Brood" in which the ExoFleet, returning to Earth to liberate it from the occupying Neo Sapiens, ended up being overwhelmed by two Neo Sapien fleets. The flagship Resolute going down in flames as its lifeboats shot out and were blown apart by hostile fire is probably one of the most traumatic images of my childhood. Sure, I'd seen the Reliant get blown apart by the Enterprise in "Wrath of Khan" before then, but that was a ship full of escaped criminals and villains. They were trash. Seeing the Resolute, flagship of the entire Exofleet, the pride and joy of Admiral Winfield, slowly get ripped apart by laser fire and then explode with the traitorous Captain Marcus aboard invoked a curious mixture of horror, despair, and wonderment.

Now that I've grown up, I actually find that I can appreciate the series more, which is rarely the case with these saturday morning cartoons. But it's only now in my adult life that I find myself recognizing the subtle touches of the writers, like the state of the Neo Sapien people in the first few episodes resembling the state of Germany before World War 2. Or the problem of human collaborators working with the Neo Sapien occupation, just like the Vichy regime of France.

Here's a quote that I've found especially memorable. Only a mere taste of the excellence embued in this animated masterpiece.

Thrax: "I used to worry how I would face the end. Would I go bravely like a soldier? But let me tell you something, Neo Mega, it's life itself that matters, not how it ends. Each moment is a precious gift, if only we have the courage to accept it. That is where our duty lies, not in taking life, but in living it."

3. TaleSpin
Disney's Afternoon Block was king in my after-school entertainment schedule. Two solid hours of animation, followed by the segue into Full House. And of all the excellent animated shows on that block, none has stuck with me like TaleSpin. Sure, you might be wondering to yourself WTF Disney was thinking with this concept... taking the characters of The Jungle Book and sticking them into a prewar 1930's seaside city named Cape Suzette? Baloo the bear piloting a cargo plane? Shere Khan the tiger as some corporate mogul who scratches his wooden armrest all the time?

While a bit odd at first glance, this dynamic absolutely worked in execution. Baloo was just as lovable an oaf as Homer Simpson, while his supporting cast of Kit Cloudkicker, Wildcat, and Rebecca Cunngingham were equally as entertaining and charismatic. And the 1930s Americana setting was warm and rich with interesting embellishments. G.I. Joe might have had their ground based fortresses but who didn't want an Iron Vulture as a child? It was the ultimate airborne war vessel, IMO.

I can easily name off dozens of memorable episodes which seemed to have that same old Disney magic which made the Mouse company a household name. My favorite one is probably the episode where Baloo and his friend Louie go off in search of treasure and a date with a damsel in distress in this ancient lost city of scarabs and magical wind chimes. The whole thing was quite sinister with the gigantic scarab gates of the desert city, while the alluring female archeologist probably turned me into a furry momentarily. Kinda felt like a lost Indiana Jones movie, honestly.

But hey, that's just one episode. What about the one where the air pirates build an enormous mirror in the sea to confuse and crash airplanes? Or the one where Baloo loses his memory and befriends a guardian angel? Or the one where gangsters hijack the Spruce Moose? Or the one where Howard Huge builds an enormous airwing out of the parts of various airplanes? Or the one where Kit frees a giant whale? Or the one where Wildcat finds a lost world of dinosaurs? Or the one where Kit goes off and joins a Soviet cadre? Or the one where Baloo competes against a robot pilot, the future of aviation? Or the one where Rebecca falls in love with a ghost captain on a flying Dutchman? See what I mean? This show had tons of amazing episodes, made with care and that high Disney craftmanship. Unfortunately, we won't see the likes of that again, I reckon.

4. Batman The Animated Series
The greatest superhero animated series, bar none. Batman had been given a fair shake on the big screen with Tim Burton's two films, but this cartoon was the real deal. Sure, you have to get past all the bad guys shooting their tommy guns but never managing to hit Batman, but that's a minor issue. The storytelling of this show was basically everything good that the comics had produced, with some stuff that was actually much better, encapsulated in 30 minute chunks. The pinnacle of which was my favorite episode "Heart of Ice", a near perfect example of animated entertainment. Here we get not just the best portrayal of Mr. Freeze, but the best sort of Batman story, the best episode of the show, and the best episode of superhero animation by far. I can't think of many television episodes which have made me cry, but this is one of them. To watch it and not shed a tear, you would almost certainly have to have a literal heart of ice.

So how come this series isn't higher on my list? Well, to put it simply... I hate Bruce Timm's art style. I can't stand it. The ridiculously huge chins and broad torsos... they just really looked odd to me. Also, the art deco style I was never crazy for. You have to remember, as a child watching this... it was very strange seeing people in old 1950's cars and riding in blimps while also seeing Batman fighting androids and artificial intelligence with lasers. So, it does have some flaws in my eyes. However, it's still really really high on my list because the writing and characterization were so amazing. Mr. Freeze wasn't the only character that the show used well. Other villains like Harvey Dent, Mad Hatter, Clayface, and Poison Ivy were utilized in dark and emotionally deep stories that were arguably superior to the comic books at the time. And the show also created wholly new adversaries like Baby Doll and HARDAC who were worthy foes for the Dark Knight. Simply put, this show is really fucking good. So good in fact, that even after the release of The Dark Knight, many fans still rate this show as their favorite portrayal of the Batman in any medium. That's high praise indeed.

5. BattleTech The Animated Series
The show which introduced me to the beautiful universe of BattleTech.

6. Futurama
Brilliant sci-fi comedy molded to look like The Simpsons.

7. X-Men The Animated Series
Marvel's first 90's cartoon, and the best.

Honorable Mentions:
The Bots Master
Eek! the Cat
Rug Rats
Kim Possible
Rescue Rangers
DarkWing Duck
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Muppet Babies
Spider-Man The Animated Series
Alvin and the Chipmunks

ExoSquad DVD Release

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Joygasm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ExoSquad is now on Hulu

http://www.hulu.com/exosquad

Exosquad was a very big part of my childhood and an incredibly underrated cartoon show. Ya see, it was one of those early Saturday morning cartoons that I always got up for when I was... oh, about 10 years old.

The basic premise is a scifi setting with a Frankenstein dimension mixed with, well, World War 2. In fact, now that I think about it, it's pretty much the cartoon version of another TV show I really like, Space Above and Beyond.

Take a look if you like war stories with enjoyable characters and long story arcs over several episodes. That's one thing that keeps me from enjoying some shows like DS9 or the new BSG, I can't find any of the characters likable. That's not the same thing as being relateable BTW, I don't need to relate to a character to like him or her.