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TheMisterManGuy

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  1. TheMisterManGuy
    For those who don't know, Nickelodeon has 2 sister networks, Nick Jr. aimed at preschoolers, and TeenNick, aimed at teenagers. But what's interesting about these networks is the lengthy history behind them. Once upon a time, they began as one partnership between two companies, promising to educate and make learning cool for kids.
     
    Way back in 1995, Nickelodeon began blueprints for a teacher friendly network that hoped to make education fun and interesting amoung a young audience. Something like Discovery Channel or The Learning Channel, but geared more towards Nick's demographics. The problem? Nick would have to acquire 90% of it's programing to avoid canabilism with the Nick Jr. block. Acquiring that much programing for a 24-hour channel would cost a lot of time and money.
     
    Arround the same time, shortly after Cro was canceled, Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the production company behind Sesame Street, tried launching their own kids' network with a simillar purpose called.... and I'm not kidding here, "Kid City". Wow, real creative guys. Unfortunatley, it never got off the ground, and was scrapped shortly afterwards. CTW knew they didn't have the man power, rescourses, or brand recognition to operate a TV network on their own, so they decided to turn to someone with experience. And what better company to turn to, than the 1st kids network itself.
     
    In 1998, CTW teamed up with Nickelodeon to create a brand new channel that filled both companies goals. Between the two they pulled their resources, and the final product, was Noggin. Touted as a "Squirm as you learn kids thinking channel" Noggin was created to be an educational network that made learning cool for children. It also featured a creator driven website in which viewers could create and submit various content to the website that may show up on air. It would feature programing from both Nick and CTW including, Sesame Street, Cro, 3-2-1 Connect, The Electric Company, Ghost Writer, Doug, Nick News, and various Nick Jr. reruns. The network would also produce it's own original content, but that wouldn't happen until at least a year after launch. To run the network, Thomas Ascheim was appointed as general manager.
     
    Noggin offically launched on Febuary 2nd, 1999 @ 6:00am starting with the very first episode of Sesame Street. The channel ran 24-hours, and was commercial-free, though originaly, CTW wanted it to be ad-supported. At launch, Noggin was avalible in 1.5-2 million homes, not viewers, homes that simply recieved the channel as part of their cable package. Initally, the network simply aired reruns of already created content by both it's parent companies, and off-network acquisitions like Bill-Nye the Science Guy. In 2000, a year after it's launch, CTW changed it's name to Sesame Workshop, to reflect it's most well known property. That same year, Noggin premired it's first batch of original series, including (But not limited to) A Walk In Your Shoes, a reality show where kids with two different backgrounds and interests, switch places with each other. Sponk, a bizzare mix of sharades and Who's Line is it Anyway?. And The Phred on Your Head show, a talk show hosted by the channel's mascott, Phred featuring the aforementioned creator driven content from Noggin's website. The channel looked to have a bright future ahead of it. However, this wouldn't last long.
     
    In 2001, Noggin announce plans to more agressively court the older quarter of it's target audience, the 12-14 year olds. Tomassi Lindman, VP of the channel's programing and production department said "We're looking for programing exclusively for our older 12-14 year old kids. It's where our library is the weakest, and it's where we feel there is the largest potential growth." That came into play soon enough, because in 2002, 3 years after launch, the channel announced a new format. It will now be split into 2 different dayparts, Noggin itself would be repurposed into a preschool network, and would feature exclusively preschool programing, meanwhile, afternoon and evenings would be home to a new network, The N. Whereas Noggin would target preschoolers, The N would be marketed to adolecents, the demographic with large amounts of free time and larger amounts of disposable income. The reason for this change was because Noggin's prime-time ratings which consisted of nostalgic reruns for adults, were much lower than expected. Both blocks would run 12 hours a day, and alternate between evening and night. They would operate seperately, with different websites and ratings reports, but would still be under one roof. This is similar to how Cartoon Network and Adult Swim operate, in which they are each distinct networks with their own operations, but still operate under one management unbrella. The split officially occured on, Ironically enough, April 1st, 2002, and no, it was not a joke. The channel still remained commercial free, and was still co-owned by Sesame Workshop. That is until a few months later, when Sesame Workshop sold it's 50% interest in the channel to Nickelodeon, taking it's programing library with them. This move gave Nickelodeon full control of both Noggin and The N.
     
    By 2003, the change was clear. The new Noggin, featuring hosts Moose A. Moose, and Zee the bird, aired programing from Nickelodeon, foreign aquisitions, and original programing. Meanwhile The N..... aired programing from Nickelodeon, foreign aquisitions, and original programing. Oh yeah, and butchered reruns of Daria. But perhaps The N's most famous series, was Degrassi. This Canadian Teen Soap Opera would become the network's highest rated series for many years and it still continues to this day. It also helped paved way for other simillar shows on the network like the ground-breaking and critically acclaimed, South of Nowhere. Although, Sesame Workshop no longer owned Noggin at this point, they still produced content for the network such as the Sesame Street spin-off, Play With Me Sesame.
     
    In 2004, Nickelodeon announced that The N, would become an ad-supported network. While Noggin would remain commercial-free, Nick hoped to attract advertisers for the ever lucrative 12-24 year old market to the nightime network for teens. The N also ran a programing block featuring the then latest programing from Nick's TEENick block, the same was true vice-versa, as the TEENick block also ran an hour of programing from The N. That same year, The N premired it's first original animated series, and one of the most overlooked cartoons of the 2000s, O'Grady. This bizzare teen cartoon from the crew behind Home Movies stared 4 teenagers putting up with "The Weirdness" that inhabits the enpynomus setting of O' Grady. It's a witty and hillarious show to check out if you love Home Movies.
     
    In 2007, Nickelodeon announced plans to split Noggin and The N into seperate 24 hour channels. Noggin would remain in it's position, except they would expand to a 24 hour schedule for the first time since 2002. Meanwhile, The N would inherit the channel slot of Nick GaS, who, at this point, was just running reruns of the same 5 shows on an automated loop, and would also expand to 24 hours. To fill in the extra time, The N began airing reruns of That 70's Show and Saved by the Bell. This took effect on December 31, 2007. However, Dish Network refused to give up Nick GaS, and continued to air Noggin and The N as timeshare networks, until April 23, 2009, when Nick GaS was replaced with a west coast feed of Cartoon Network/Adult Swim. They began carrying Noggin and The N as seperate channels later that year.
     
    In 2009, as part of Nick's universal rebrand efforts which involved all 5 of their networks adopting the same new logo, Nick announced that Noggin and The N would be rebranded as Nick Jr. and TeenNick. The programing blocks of the same names were phased out on Nickelodeon itself shortly after the announcement. The change took effect on September 28.
     
    It seemed that Noggin was now officially dead, but it wasn't. At their 2015 upfront earlier this year, Nick announced that Noggin would be relaunched as a subscription based education service for preschoolers, avalibe on various mobile devices and still featuring the same logo and hosts.
     
    Noggin was an interesting experiment. A kind of "makes kids smarter" channel not only backed by a big player in children's edutainment, but also the #1 kids network at the time certainly had potential, but in the end, it was meerly an oddity, and yet another in a long list of cable channels that abandoned their original purpose in order to persue a more marketable demographic (MTV, TLC, History, Syfy, G4, etc.). If they took a different approach to primetime and overnight programing, maybe it could've panned out a bit better.
     
    With that, join me next time when we take a look at the original TV 4 Gamers, G4.
  2. TheMisterManGuy
    Before Nickelodeon started pandering to the lowest common denominator of fart-obsessed 6 year olds. The network actually made an attempt at Action-oriented Super Hero shows. Rob Renzetti's My Life as a Teenage Robot and Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom. They're great shows with a lot going for them, but at first glance, they seem completely different. One is about a Robot fighting crime while also trying to fit in as a Teen, the other is a bout a half-ghost kid fighting ghosts. But in my view at least, these two actually have a lot more in common than they don't. So I'll compare various aspects of these two as well as which I feel does better in those categories.
     
    Protagonists: Both Phantom and Teen-Robo revolve around kids with dual responsibilities, Saving the world, and being teenagers. Jenny Wakeman (XJ9) and Danny Fenton actually have quite a bit in common. Let's start with Jenny. Not much is known about Jenny's background, but here's what I can make out from the little info I managed to find. Jenny was originally a human similar to Astro boy or Mega Man (Hey, Rock might as well have been a human). She loved cute things and flowers. One day, though, she was killed by one of the cluster robots. Rather than sit there and morn forever, Her mother Dr. Noreen Wakeman decided to make a new Jenny, one who had the power to save the world. 8 prototypes later, XJ9 is born. However, she had to be locked in her room and kept secret, due to Noreen's sketchy reputation, only to come out when it's time to fight. Because her lack of contact with human civilization, Jenny desired to fit in with normal teenagers, going as far as to fill her room with teenage trends. After meeting Brad Carmbuckle and his younger brother Tuck, Nora realizes she was being extreme, and decides to give Jenny some breathing room, eventually enrolling her in Tremorton High.
     
    Jenny's personality is generally kind, polite, sweet, peppy and somewhat ditzy. Being a robot trying to fit in with other teens, Jenny is pretty socially awkward. When pushed too far however, she can be testy, disrespectful, and a bit mean. Jenny's kind and trusting nature also makes her very naive, often letting antagonists like the crust cousins take advantage of her, because of this, Jenny is also kind of a doormat. Jenny has also been shown to be a bit mischievous, sometimes thinking her gadgets and weapons let her do whatever she wants without consequence, though she does learn her lesson later. Aspects of Jenny's human persona also seemed to have carried over to her robo-rebirth, as shown in the end of Killgore's debut episode where Jenny fawns over his small size, as well as having multiple stuffed animals in her room. When on Crime-fighting duty, Jenny can be brash, sarcastic, and taunting often making insults at her opponents, though this can also make her pretty careless as well. Jenny has also been shown to be a Robot's right activist of sorts, as seen in The Wonderful World of Wizzly. As the series progressed Jenny started to fit in more naturally, and gained more respect from Tremorton, though her school-mates still make fun of her occasionaly. She also gets along with her mom more as the series progresses.
     
    Now on to Danny, unlike Jenny, Danny's backstory is more pronounced. Hell, the intro even gives you the backstory. Growing up with a pair of ghost-obsessed parents, Danny was often traumatized as a child making him an awkward and somewhat shy geek. After his parents failed to get their Fenton Portal to work, Danny was dared by his best friend Sam Manson to go in it. However, he presses the on button by accident and his DNA gets infused with ectoplasmic energy, giving him all the abilities of a supernatural spirit. At first, his powers are hard to control, making him very clumsy, so much to the point of being banned from handling fragile objects in school. Overtime however, his gains more confidence in his abilities, and learns to use his powers for good.
     
    Remember when I said that Jenny and Danny had quite a bit in common, well personality is where the similarities really kick in. Danny is generaly portrayed as kind, sweet, good-natured, and socially awkward, much like Jenny. His trusting nature and desire for acceptance amoungst the popular kids can also make him naive, much like Jenny as well. Also like Jenny, Danny has similar flaws, his unique ghost powers can make him misguided at times, thinking he can do what he wants with no consequences, only to learn he was just being a shallow teenager later. Danny also has shown to be a mischievous too, often using his powers to get revenge on bullies like Dash. Though normaly kind-hearted, Danny can also be rude, rebellious, arrogant and mean when pushed too far. When hunting ghosts, Danny is Confident, sarcastic, and brash. Danny has also been shown to be a somewhat reckless like Jenny as well, part of the reason he was initially resented by Amity Park citizens (though Walker's propaganda plan wasn't helping either).
     
    There isn't much I can think of in terms of differences between the two aside from Danny being more quiet and down to earth compared to Jenny's bouncy Genki Girl tendencies, but there is one thing. Whereas Tremorton knows Jenny is a crime-fighting robot, Danny keeps his identity as Danny Phantom a secret from everyone except his friends and eventually his older sister Jazz. Now I personaly feel Jenny Wakeman and Danny Fenton are good examples of how to write teenage protagonists in cartoons (unless they're the main characters, teens in cartoons tend to be one-dimensional stereotypes, or annoying antagonists). In Jenny's case, the writers generally avoid taking the lazy route and making her an annoying valley girl. She's more like that sweet, friendly girl-next-door type, and her teenage qualites are largely subtle. While she can be a bit angsty at times, Jenny rarely comes off as annoying or unlikable, and oftentimes her reasons for being annoyed at her mom are justified (Locking her in her room initially, sometimes treating her as a tool rather than a daughter, etc.). And her naivety to human society adds a certain child-like innocence to her character which also makes her unique. What makes Danny likeable is how naturally he develops throughout the show, at first he's an awkward teen who questions his purpose, but eventually grows into a brave and heroic young man. Being teenagers, Danny and Jenny have their moments of being stubborn brats, but they eventually learn from their mistakes and correct them. As for which one is better? Well, while Jenny is generally a good natured character, her portrayal in some episodes can be a bit... inconsistent, mainly in Season 1. One episode she's a sweet and loveable robot, the next she could be whinny, and stubborn. In that case, I have to give it to Danny for being a more consistent character, but I still mainly prefer Jenny.
    Winner: Danny Phantom
     
    Supporting Cast: If there's one weak point these two shows have, its their supporting characters. They're not terrible, but they seem like your typical teenage stereotypes. In Teenage Robot's case, there's Brad, your typical best friend, and laid-back ladies man (well, he attempts at least), Tuck, his younger tag along brother who's only real purpose is to give the youngest viewers a character they can relate to (though he can still be funny). Sheldon, the geeky kid with a crush on Jenny. Britt and Tiff, your typical alpha bitches, and Nora Wakeman, who while loves her daughter, can be embarrassing or nagging at times.
     
    Danny Phantom is kinda the same. Tucker Folley is a geeky black tech-kid who can't get a date. Sam is your cynical, moody goth chick, Dash and Quan are the bully jocks, Paulina is the schools' latino hottie, Jazz is the pretty, and slightly snobish know-it-all sister. And the Fentons are your typical embarrassing or naggy parents, only with a ghost fetish. See what I mean? Typical stereotypes. To be fair, these characters work well with in their stereotypes, but they're still stereotypes.
    Winner: Tie
     
    Continuity and Character Development: Unlike most Nicktoons, Teenage Robot and Danny Phantom have actual instances of continuity and character development. Starting with Danny Phantom, while there's no real story arcs like, say, Avatar. The show is one big comic book plot. Danny starts off as an awkward, unsure teen who struggles to fit in as a normal boy, As the show progressed, he becomes a responsible, brave, and loyal young man. Other characters develop too, for example Jazz starts off as a teenager trying to be an adult, but after she learns Danny's secret, she realizes Danny's growing up just fine without her, and starts becoming more useful as the show progresses.
     
    Meanwhile on Teenage Robot, while it's continuity isn't as tight as Phantom's due to having an 11 minute format, it still has its fair share too. The first couple episodes set up our premise, and starts Jenny's journey to become accepted amoung society. More characters are introduced, and several villains, and plot points, come back into play in later episodes. For example, the 3rd episode is about Jenny using an exo-skin to go to a fair amoung humans, few episodes later, the skin returns as Nora has been toying with it to be more advanced. Another good example is that the events of the Movie, Escape from Cluster Prime carry over and are referenced in Season 3.
     
    Characters develop pretty nicely too. Jenny starts off as a friendly, yet stubborn teen who just wants to fit in and be more than just a walking weapon used to save the world. By Season 3, she starts becoming more accepted as Tremorton's hero, she's more accepting of her robot nature, and though she still is occasionaly made fun of, is more accepted amoung her classmates. Jenny's best friend Brad, also starts becoming more adventurous and more useful, and Shelldon goes from just the geeky love interest, to a regular member of Jenny's circle of friends. The best piece of development came from Jenny's relationship with her Mom. At first, they loved eachother, but never really saw eye to eye, often arguing with eachother over trivial matters. Jenny wants to explore the world, and be a normal girl who just so happens to be a robot. But Wakeman saw her as just an invention, a mere tool used to solve a problem, then put away when she's done. But as the series progressed, they become more concerned for eachother, get along better, and Nora begins to accept Jenny as an actual daughter rather than a glorified swiss army knife. Seriously, compare Call Hating or Tradeshow Showdown to Turn Abouts or Puppet Bride, the difference in their relationship is Night and Day.
     
    Continuity wise, Phantom wins. But for character development, I'd give it to Teenage Robot mainly for that Relationship between Jenny and her Mom. However, Teenage Robot does lose points for having unresolved plot points, but that's mainly due to the same problem as Invader Zim (ie, abrupt cancellation).
    Winner: Danny Phantom (for Continuity) Teenage Robot (for Character Development)
     
    Comedy: Being Nicktoons, Both shows have a good amount of comedy to keep things light-hearted. Let's start with Teenage Robot, right off the bat, this show reeks of 90's Cartoon Network. From the The Hanna-Barbara sound effects, to the art-deco/Dexter's Lab hybrid visual style, everything just screams Cartoon Cartoon. This is no supprise considering the show's creator Rob Renzetti was a director for Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, and Samurai Jack. If your a fan of the old Cartoon Cartoons, you'll feel right at home with Teenage Robot's humor and style. Danny Phantom on the other hand, being a Butch Hartman creation, feels more like other Nicktoons such as Fairly OddParents. It's humor is alot closer to FOP relying on meta-jokes and references. Which one is funnier depends on which network's style of humor you like better, but I always found myself laughing more at Teenage Robot. It's jokes feel more natural compared to Danny Phantom, which at times felt forced and phoned in.
    Winner: Teenage Robot
     
    Powers and abilities: Danny and Jenny have many powers and abilities at their disposal. Being part ghost, Danny has all the powers you'd expect from a supernatural entity. Ranging from intangibility, flying, invisibility, ecto-blasts, freezing, ghostly whailing, phasing through solid objects, and of course, possession (which for some reason is called overshadowing in the show). The idea of ghost based powers is an ingenious concept, and the show puts them to great use.
     
    As for XJ9, well she's basically Inspector Gadget on crack. I can litteraly just stop right there, but I'll explain what I mean. Jenny is armed to the teeth with a near limitless array of weapons and gizmos. Much like Inspector Gadget, there's no pattern, limitation, rhyme, or reason to her powers, she has whatever tools the writers want for any given situation either for an action sequence, transportation, or a visual gag. By this logic, Jenny would be the clear winner, but I feel this also makes her a bit over-powered. Danny is a clever fighter, and has been shown to make the most out of his more limited set of abilities. He feels more balanced, and as a result, it makes it more fun to see Danny uncover a new power. So another point for Phantom.
    Winner: Danny Phantom
     
    Villains: What is a super-hero cartoon without villains? Both shows devliver a wide array of colorful bad guys. For Teenage Robot, there's a mutated mouse, a black knight, a gigantic robot, a fun size robot who thinks he's evil, two parodies of Mario & Luigi, Dr. Locus, an electricity vampire, alien bikers, and of course, The Cluster, led by a queen voiced by Eartha Kitt.
     
    Meanwhile on Danny Phantom, there's a ghost who feeds on teen angst, a ghost bounty hunter, a ghost who gets stronger when people chant her name, a determined police officer with a grudge against Danny, a ghost who controls technology. and of course, Vladd Plasmius, Danny's cunning, and menacing rival.
     
    I've only touched upon some of the creative villains both shows has to offer. As for witch is better? While I like MLAATR's villains, I still think Danny Phantom's are cooler despite the lack of species variety.
    Winner: Danny Phantom
     
    So I've covered every category these shows have in common and compared strengths, and weaknesses, similarities, and differences. As for which is the overall better show? Well, on a 5:3 score, Danny Phantom is the better show. But even with that, I still like Teenage Robot a little bit better. It's definitely a hidden gem you should check out, especially if your a fan of Powerpuff girls or Dexter's Lab. So which show did you think was better?
  3. TheMisterManGuy
    Now Licensed games typically get a bad rap in the gaming industry and for good reason, a lot of them are just... Terrible. But there is a licensed game that does have a bit going for it. The Legend of Korra for the PS3/4, Xbox 360/One, and PC. The main thing that stands out about Korra is its developer. This playable adaptation of Nickelodeon's Avatar sequel is developed by Platinum Games. If you don't know who they are, they an Osaka-based developer founded by the former members of Capcom's original Devil May Cry team.... And it shows. From Bayonetta, to Madworld, to Metal Gear Rising, to Vanquish, to The Wonderful 101. These guys know how to make a great over-the-top, and deep action game.
     
    However critics were mixed on Legend of Korra. It's reviews ranged from 8's to 4's. I think a lot of reviewers never understood the constraints Platinum had. First, its a downloadable budget title. Second, like most licensed games, Korra had a very limited development deadline, and a low budget. Because of this, Korra is arguably Platinum's weakest production. But with a developer as competent as Platinum, even its worst game is still much better than most licensed games. Given its nature, Korra is still a pretty Solid action game.
     
    The story I'm not going to bother to explain because, I've never really gotten into Korra. But I will say, the game looks rather nice for a low budget game. Its cell-shaded to match the style of the show, and I like how it has the show's actual animation for cutscenes.
     
    The gameplay, as always from Platinum is fluid, polished, and solid. Korra is a 3rd person action game that lets you control all 4 elements which you can switch between with the R1 and L1 buttons (or on Xbox RB and LB). If you played Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, you'll feel right at home with Korra's gameplay. It feels very similar only witnout Blade mode. The combat is fast and fun, and as always from Platinum there's alot of combo experimentation to try out.
     
    However, the game is far from perfect, and there are areas in which it could've benifited from a proper development cycle. Now, Platinum's games aren't known for being very long, but Korra is VERY short. In fact its almost.... too short, thus limiting its replay value quite a bit. Second, the enemies, while vary in attacks, are very limited in their appearance. And it can make the game feel a bit too repetitive even for an action game. Lastly, the Naga segments.... are terrible. You move too fast which makes it hard to see what's comming up, obstacles are all over the place, and all of you elements in these sections have VERRRRRY SLOWWWWW cool down.
     
    Overall, there's a reason I don't let reviews tell me what to like. While it's not Platinum's usual level of quality, Korra is still a decent action game and much better than what it would've been otherwise. It's worth checking out if you love the cartoon. And even if you aren't a fan of Korra like me, its still worth a look if your a fan of Platinum's work. And for $10, it makes a good popcorn brawler.
     
    Final Score: 7.5/10
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