Pizza Cats Review Newsletter

[Blackcat]

Episodes? Awesome!

Well, I am still searching for a good host for my site-_-

[Daisensei]

I'm glad to see Tsuneko's high quality video files will be available soon. If you deleted some files, my server can store all 52 episodes.

[Mechadon]

I'm definitely a cause for a lot of the problems on this site.  I'm too...I guess "agitatable".  I keep speaking out when things bother me on the forum, and it ends up causing little wars.  Not to say that I'm the only one, but I always realize my mistakes too little too late.

I still love this show, and that's why I'm trying my hardest to complete my projects.  I love the artwork people contribute, I love the stories, I love the memories of eating potato soup one afternoon while watching If You Knew Sushi Like I Knew Sushi back when I didn't get all of the jokes, and then going online searching for "samuripizzacats.com" and finding nothing.

~The Mask

You and me both, bro.

[Crow]

I'm definitely a cause for a lot of the problems on this site.  I'm too...I guess "agitatable".  I keep speaking out when things bother me on the forum, and it ends up causing little wars.  Not to say that I'm the only one, but I always realize my mistakes too little too late.

I still love this show, and that's why I'm trying my hardest to complete my projects.  I love the artwork people contribute, I love the stories, I love the memories of eating potato soup one afternoon while watching If You Knew Sushi Like I Knew Sushi back when I didn't get all of the jokes, and then going online searching for "samuripizzacats.com" and finding nothing.

~The Mask

Everyone knows I'm rotting this place from the inside out.

Always have, always will, ever since I came up with this forum's name.

On topic: I've always read and enjoyed the letters and perhaps we're not giving enough grats to Violet for her work and effort she puts into everything. I know it's not much, Bunny Princess, but you rock the BurkeWorld's world for sure! Please continue on being strong and giving us spammers something to read once a month. 

~Ror

[Gabya]

It's very hard for me to keep going sometimes.  I have a lot of other things to do in my life, I don't have a lot of time for writing or working on my web page or other projects that I want to work on.  This month I had the flu which is why this issue is later than normal.  But Pizza Cats is something I'm passionate about, not something I'm willing to just give up on.
There may be people here who care more about how fancy their sig is than about SPC, and spend more time in the "Longest Thread" than in "General SPC Discussion", and I don't care if those people stay or go.  I didn't create EE, its not mine.  If it was, those people would be gone already.  But there's still plenty here who are here for the right reasons and that's who I do this stuff for.

I'm probably one of the people who contribute the least, and im ashamed of that.
I've been thinking for a while to start some new rounds of "They Said What?" using the rules that kyo set up a long time ago. but right now i dont have any time. maybe in the future.
i'm sorry if im one of the people you see as annoying, ill try to be better. after all, this is a forum about my favorite show.
Thank you for the newsletters, and thanks for putting up with us.

[formallykat]

I've been thinking for a while to start some new rounds of "They Said What?" using the rules that kyo set up a long time ago. but right now i dont have any time. maybe in the future.

A new 'they said what' thread would be awesome  Loving the newsletters! SPC rules and always will!

[Helios]

Damn...that's a great shame to hear that COLD is now on indefinate hiatus. But considering how difficult it is to keep a comic going on schedule, it's not all that surprising. And Ohma  has left big shoes to fill...

[blind2d]

Very true. Heh, you might say that 'Cold' has been left out in the cold! ...i'm sorry.

[Blackcat]

Well, since the guy didnt own most of the characters, is amazing he did more than 100 pages...

Anyway, life goes on, who knows? Maybe one of those so called SPC fan made videogames will be finished someday, people are againg writing SPC fanfics, and a few are good. Plus I bet we will have a new audiodrama someday.

Yes, I am ver positive today...

PS: And I wont bug people with the SPC interactive fanfic anymore, I am writing a "kitties on space thing" that somehow resembles SPC

[Violet]

SPC Ownership
SPC fan "ANE" did some top notch research into the ownership of SPC.  (Details http://www.edoropolis.org/forums/index.php?topic=2509.0 ) The main obstacle to getting SPC on DVD is that it's not really clear to most people who owns it.  Tatsunoko Studios in Japan is the original owner, and they still own KNT.  Some Japanese fans have hopes that the 20th anniversary of KNT next year will prompt a Japanese DVD release, but that's all rumor at this point.  Saban leased the rights to the animation for 10 years, with a right to extend for another 10 years.  The first 10 years expired, and it seems the contract was extended for a second 10 years by Fox Family in 2000 since the French DVDs were released after the first 10 years.  Back in the 90s, Saban was the clear owner of the rights to the English and other non-Japanese versions of SPC and they did release some VHS tapes (one in the US/Canada and 2 in England).  But Mr. Saban decided to cash in and sell everything.  Fox ended up with Saban's shows.  But then they went under and that's where the trail became unclear.  ABC Family Worldwide (Owned by Disney) got the old Fox Family shows.

In any case, the second 10 year extension will expire next year.  This will force some action.  If ABC Family lets the contract expire, someone else might get the rights to SPC.  If they renew, they'll need to do something with the show to make it worth while. 
But for the meantime, ABC/Disney is holding SPC. Threaux recently came across a good way to let them know us SPC fans would like a DVD release.  They have a "request a title" page.  You can ask about shows you want to see released on DVD and they will notify you when it becomes available.  http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/moviefinder/request/requestvideo.html
If a bunch of people start requesting SPC, this might get their attention.

Expresso's 3D Cats
Well known SPC fan artist Expresso has been working on some very impressive 3-D Pizza Cats art.  You can see some samples on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHnVu-nWw7E  Speedy Running
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odGxlqMZt6Y  Speedy's Cat's Eye Slash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSX5a_SAdYU  Work in Progress Vi model
Expresso is multi-talented, and you can see some of his fine (but not SPC related) paintings at his web page http://www.shardonline.com/

Pizza Cats at Furaffinity
Furaffinity is a mostly "furry" art site similar to Deviant Art.  (Furaffinity actually allows all types of art, but with a name like that it's naturally mostly furry).  There has been SPC fan art there since it went online, but unless you knew where to look, finding any was a matter of luck since there was no "search" function.  "FA" now has this, making finding SPC art much easier.  Pages from the old "SPC Cold" comic dominate the search results, but along with that you'll find some familiar and unfamiliar SPC art, ranging from "Great" to "Gah!".
http://www.furaffinity.net/search/  FA membership is free, but you don't need an account to use the search.

Looking for KNT Episodes?
Here's a handy list of KNT episodes available for download
http://hsbsitez.com/files-collection-downloads/1252/Kyattou+Ninden+Teyandee
There's also a list for Eto Rangers
http://hsbsitez.com/files-collection-downloads/414/12+Senshi+Bakuretsu+Eto+Ranger

This Month's Pic
Pururun with her flute by Japanese artist Iikoku.

-Violet

[KageReneko]

20th anniversary... Creepy...

I hope tatsunoko release the Teyandee DVD's... this series still being so underestimated...

[Not a ninja]

Hey Vi, like many others I'd just like to say a hearty "thank you!" for all your hard work

[ANE]

Hey Vi, like many others I'd just like to say a hearty "thank you!" for all your hard work

Same here. These newsletters are always full of new info, such as there being two UK VHS releases. Speaking of one of tapes, I have found something about it; I'm just waiting on a response...

Back to Fox Kids, Saban and the rest: I am trying to pull together some kind of timeline/history of all the various companies and who bought what. It's already too large for a post here, but I'll get a summary together for a post in Off-Topic.

There is a very good book called Disney War by James B. Stewart, which covers Disney buying Fox Kids, but mostly covers things to do with Michael Eisner's time there.

[Blackcat]

Wow.... 20 years...

[Violet]

Saban's SPC Comics
A lot of people didn't even know that Saban released English language SPC comics.  These were part of the "Saban Powerhouse" books, which like everything else Saban did is totally focused on "Power Rangers" with other series just thrown in haphazardly.  The books don't have dates or issue numbers on the cover.  There are only 2 issues of interest to SPC fans, (that I know of) and they are "Powerhouse: Into the Fire" and "Powerhouse: Simple Simon Says" in case you want to try and hunt them down in your local comic shop or on eBay.  Of the 2 SPC comics, one is quite good, and one is quite bad.  Lets talk about the bad one first.  It's in the "Into the Fire" issue.  Hidden in the back of the book behind the usual Power Rangers tripe is a 15 page Pizza Cats comic.  Something that would normally make SPC fans rejoice, if it wasn't done so horribly.  I'm not saying the artists, Penciler Rusty Haller, and Inker Steve George, are bad.  Rusty Haller has drawn many other comics professionally and quite well, but the writers, (Clay and Susan Griffith) probably never even watched the show.  Well, they probably watched one after someone at Saban told them to write a SPC comic.  And the colorist (Graphic Colorworks) should just be ashamed.  The comic is called "Too Much Golf in the Kingdom" which is already a bad start, since Little Tokyo doesn't have a king, it has an emperor (and I am talking SPC here, not KNT).  "Too Much Golf in the Empire", "Too Much Golf in the City" or "Too Much Golf in Little Tokyo" titles that even the lamest fan fic writer who actually watched SPC could come up with would all have been better choices.  In the story, Big Cheese gets Emperor Fred hooked on miniature golf so much the Fred resigns as emperor to become a mini-golf pro.  I'm not going to go into detail about the story, instead I'll be posting the whole thing soon, but here are some of the parts that show that the writers really don't know SPC. 
Fred talks normally.
Vi is the one who calls the Pizza Cats, all Big Al does in the book is make shocked faces.
Speedy is the one who answers the phone, Fran must be on vacation since she never appears.
The Cats are running the shop in their armor rather than their work uniforms. (This is probably the artist's fault actually)
Speedy already has his sword out on one page, then on the next page he's not even wearing it, then he says he has "no time" for his Ginzu and uses a golf putter to fight the giant robot.
And the art, as I said, these aren't bad artists, but they didn't know what they were drawing, made all the worse by colorists who just weren't paying attention.  Most infamous is a panel with Polly colored as Guido.
In the "Simple Simon Says" issue we find the good SPC comic, called "Extra! Extra!".  Written by Robert L. Washington III, who obviously did actually watch the show and appears to be a professional comic writer (he did some work for DC Comics).  Rusty Haller who penciled the "Too Much Golf" comic also did this one, but since the previous comic he had gotten much better at drawing SPC, plus having a new inker, Phyllis Novin, and a new colorist, Imbue Studios, probably helped too.  This comic is written very much like the Americanized TV show, and the new writer, Mr. Washington, knows his stuff.  For example, in the story, the Big Cheese reasons that if Mom Mutt and Junior aren't around to make jokes, the Pizza Parlor wouldn't be able to successfully use their cannon, since the 2 always go together.  This story is 14 pages long and involves a Big Cheese plot to give everyone ice cream headaches.  Once again, I won't go into details, but I will scan and upload this comic as well, since Saban Inc. is gone and the books are long out of print. 
While researching this I managed to locate artist Rusty Haller online and ask him about the comics.  Rusty is a professional comic artist and has worked on a wide variety of books.  He explained that although he is a fan of the show, when he was given the "Too Much Golf" story to draw, he wasn't given any reference material, and a deadline that didn't allow him much time to work.  He had to try to learn to draw the characters by pausing his SPC tapes.  This explains the crude style in the first comic.  By the time he drew "Extra! Extra!" he had more practice and more time to work, which is why the art was so much better. (To the point that I didn't realize the same artist penciled both comics until I started researching this article.)  Rusty also told me there was a third SPC comic called "Princess Pizza Cat" in which Vi forces her "help" upon the cats by joining their team.  I think Saban Powerhouse comics ended before this comic was printed, but I can't say I've looked at every issue, so there is some slim possibility it was printed and we just don't know about it.  I'm sure it would be as good or probably even better than "Extra! Extra!", so let's hope this lost comic turns up someday.
 
This Month's Pic
Otama by Pixiv artist Arruteko
 
Just one article this issue, but it was kind of big.  I'll upload the comics soon, Edoropolis FTP isn't working right now.
-Violet

[Violet]

FTP is working, here are the comics http://www.edoropolis.org/violet/library/sph/

[Mechadon]

The mapomatic is totally rofl.

Princess Vi's walk-in closet 

... and Lousey Tippers.   

It's stuff like this that pushes me to continue writing my story.

[KageReneko]

Excellent review Vi!! I always felt curious about these comics and I never through to actually read them... Again I debt so much to you... 

I specially loved the old lady hitting Speedy's head...

[sjonnoh]

so... these were made by saban studio, or at least by americans??

[Violet]

so... these were made by saban studio, or at least by americans??

Correct