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New Series, Old Time Slot at Cartoon Network: Four Cartoons Debut on Saturday Mornings, Once the Prime Time for Animated Fare

Posted on: Saturday, 14 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By David Hiltbrand, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Jan. 14--There was a time, boys and girls, when there was no Nickelodeon, no Disney Channel, none of the other half-dozen cable outlets that cater exclusively to your tender tastes.

Back in those dark ages, we had only the TV networks and a couple of local UHF outlets. Kids looked forward eagerly to Saturday mornings, that balmy oasis of children's programming.

Well, the Cartoon Network is making Saturdays special again with four new series, three of them debuting this morning.

The first offering is Robotboy (9 a.m.). Professor Moshimo has created a remarkable fighting robot. A lot of firepower in a small package. This machine longs above all to be a real boy.

So the professor sends him off to live with Tommy Turnbull, just your average kid. Tommy and the robot actually end up learning from each other -- while trying to stay out of the evil clutches of Dr. Kamikaze and other crackpot tyrants.

The obvious antecedent for Robotboy is Pinocchio, to which the cartoon pays homage in an early episode. However, within the animated universe, the premise is most similar to Lilo & Stitch, about a Hawaiian girl and the live-in alien who complicates her existence.

But because the main character in Robotboy is a battlebot, there's a lot more violence in this show. And it's drawn in the Cartoon Network's trademark ugly expressionistic style.

There's not much to like about this derivative cartoon other than its various diminutive, nefarious, eternally thwarted villains. But who wants to root for evil this early in the morning?

Stick around for Ben 10 (at 10 a.m., following the returning series The Life & Times of Juniper Lee). The title character is a feisty kid who is bombing around the country in a roomy RV with his grandfather and his despised cousin Gwen. Why does he hate her? Because she's a girl.

Ben stumbles across the Omnitrix, a galactic gadget that allows him to transform into 10 very different alien heroes. The change lasts only 10 minutes and he keeps his skateboarder personality the whole time.

The downside is that everyone wants to get his mitts on the device -- not only evil geniuses of our own species but several powerful creatures from outer space, especially Vilgax, a squidlike monster.

Ben 10 is a cool concept, attractively realized.

It's followed by Zixx (10:30 a.m., debuting Jan. 21), a Canadian show that operates on two levels, combining live action and CGI animation.

On the earthly plane where she is stranded, Zixx is an independent young woman (Barbara Mambolo) with a tiny, kibitzing creature nestled in her backpack. When she steps through a portal, the animation takes over and she assumes her true appearance as Phunkee Zee, a sleek cyborg. Her companion turns into Flanngo, her faithful reptile-canine mix.

Zixx reluctantly accepts the help of two boys, Adam (Jamie Johnston) and Griff (Alex Hood), who get their own power suits when they step through the portal. Zixx needs all the help she can get as she battles the Hargoks. On this plane, they resemble grunting monks. On the other side, they're hulking Terminators.

The show looks like a CGI version of Power Rangers, but functions like a video game as our heroes must navigate an alien maze to locate objects that will help their quest.

Zixx is thin and gimmicky, but entertaining.

The pick of this Saturday morning litter is Dragon Hunters (11 a.m.), which introduces us to a classic duo. Lian Chu is an Asian giant with a stylish topknot and a torso that just won't quit. He's serene and deadly, a Zen warrior who in his downtime enjoys needlepoint.

His companion is Gbwizdo, a garrulous and money-hungry squirt with an old-fashioned aviator helmet and goggles. Gbwizdo pilots a primitive whirlybird, which comes in handy in the fantastic world they inhabit, a planet where enormous chunks of earth float through the air like orbiting icebergs.

The men are adventurers for hire, traveling to medieval-looking towns to slay dragons in return for bags full of gold. The dragons take many forms -- from spiders to blue hedgehogs -- all of them massive, nasty and destructive.

This French-produced cartoon is enchanting, a mystical combination of Tintin, Shrek, and Harry Nilsson's The Point. And if that's not enough, it has a killer theme song written and performed by the Cure.

Go wake up Dad. He'll want to see this one.

Contact staff writer David Hiltbrand at 215-854-4552 or dhiltbrand@phillynews.com.

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Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

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