Past Tense - Overcoming Your Dark Past Part I


[An earlier version of this PT was originally posted on July 24th, 2014 on JoBlo's "DVD, Blu-Ray & Home Theater Discussion" forum.]

Good or Evil, it's a choice we all have to make; what do we want to be? For Al Simmons his decision will effect the entire world in "Todd McFarlane's Spawn"...



"Todd McFarlane's Spawn: 10th Anniversary Signature Edition" was released on home video on July 24th, 2007.

It streeted against "The Crow: Stairway To Heaven - The Complete Series", "The Secrets Of Isis: The Complete Series", "Tales From The Crypt: The Complete Sixth Season" and "Cashback".

The release originally came in a steelbook case (above) holding four discs. Came with two inserts. 1) Card stock backing; side A is the DVD release info, side B is disc content. 2) Advertisement for MacFarlane Toys and Spawn dot com. The ad was inside the case.

There was no regular DVD case release.

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One exclusive from Best Buy; twenty-six page mini-comic book; reproduction of issue one (origin story). The comic came shrink wrapped on the case's rear, under the card stock backing. The set sold for $27.99; eight copies per store.

No problem getting mine on street, but I do have an issue - I'll get into that in a few.

There was a pair of titles I wanted, got both, but was a chore. The other is the above mentioned "The Crow: Stairway To Heaven" (that brief period when TV Guide was in the DVD business). I was able to locate at Circuit City with assistance; had ONE copy (all discs were mint). Damn lucky to have mine.

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Footnotes.

Man, this is something I need to mention; not the only one - same complaint, echoed by many others...

The nubs!

Four nubs holding the discs inside the steelbook. Each is so tight - hard to remove the discs. If you're not taking care, will crack. Dead serious, they are lodged in. Few times in my DVD collecting have I ran into this woe - this title ranks number one. I've hurt my fingers trying to pry them out.

Before I forget, the series presented here is the uncut episodes. *nods*

My exposure was from videos; a friend of mine had cable and taped a few episodes off HBO. I liked what I saw and ended up buying the laser disc.



LD was released on September 2nd, 1997 from HBO Video for $49.98. I paid less from Ken Crane's Laser Disc (Long Beach, CA), an extinct shop. Two disc set (gatefold jacket; three sides all in CLV) is season one (uncut), compiled; came with a chromium art print. Extras included storyboards, the trailer for the live action "Spawn" (1997), interview with Todd MacFarlane and running commentary by MacFarlane.

Commentary did NOT carry over to the DVD and is exclusive to the dead format. I no longer have this LD. I sold mine years earlier. Kinda sorry I did now.

In the interview, MacFarlane talked about putting season two on laser disc as well, didn't happened.

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Tangent.

Lets talk about other animated shows, I need filler. *cough*

Man, this is something that has become largely forgotten - the web animated series, "WhirlGirl".



C'mon, how can this NOT be out on home video? I'm looking at you Showtime, release it already.

For newbies... the year is 2077, the location, Los Angeles.

Official synopsis...

Kia Cross, a twentysomething infodrone/girl-next-door, strives to find love and happiness in a future city under siege by a ruthless tech-tyrant. As head of the all-powerful ZoneWerks corporation, Ty Harden reigns supreme over the world's vast computer network - controlling all that is seen and heard, known and learned.

When Harden unleashes a devastating new weapon against the underground resistance group FreeVox, Kia's only hope of saving her friends and way of life is to confront the repressed memories of her notorious cyberpirate mom and don the identity of a whirling, pleather-clad superheroine.
This began as a web comic in early 1997. In July 1998 it became a Flash animated show. It was bought by Showtime and debuted in 1999. These weekly (Friday) webisodes were done in serial format (each ended with a cliffhanger) and ran for roughly five minutes long; some seventy-six webisodes (official number is fuzzy) were produced until 2001. This does not include over a hundred episode comics before Showtime. All of these shows could fit on a three disc DVD set with room to spare (including all the web comics, DVD-ROM) for some extras.



In 2000 there was suppose to be an action figure of Ms. Cross; released by ReSaurus toys - was to have been an exclusive to Spencer Gifts. But as far as I can tell, that never happened. Too bad, I would've liked one. Before you ask, do not know how much or how tall. It had limited action; three points of articulation.

WhirlGirl to me represents the internet generation and she's fighting for creativity and freedom in this new world.
- Creator, David B. Williams

An odd thing; you have this image in your mind of what the voice actor looks like; doing the research for the topic I got to see what Jen Sprague appears, the voice of Whirlgirl/Kia. Ahhhhhh... Pass.

Mo Mellady who voiced Erin Esurance looked as I expected, a bohemian kind of woman. I'm still bummed that Esurance dropped the character from their marketing. And that Erin didn't have a life of her own.



There were a series of popular TV commercials for Geico featuring Cavemen, "so easy, a caveman could do it" auto insurance in 2004. This promotion was so successful (twenty-one television ads) that it got its own TV show on ABC in 2007. WTF?

There is only so much you can do. The series lasted thirteen half hour episodes. *shakes head*



Erin should've gotten her own show. I'm guessing it would've cost far less to produce than the live action sitcom; keep it animated, same software - just flesh it out to 30 minutes. There was a large horizon of tales to tell. And besides, she already had a list of villains to play with. Man, that was such a missed opportunity.

She had style and class; understand she'll pay to dance.
- Ratt

We did get a taste of what it could be. Among the spots was an internet exclusive short, Miss Esurance on a mission at a villain convention in a castle. That was very sway.

The character was retired in June of 2010 for banal TV spots that continue to this day. She had her own Halloween costume (unauthorized) back in 2008. Five piece set; black catsuit, pink wig, hot pink belt, gloves and two hot pink accessories. $59.95. Boots and attitude not included.

And there were many cosplayers too with homemade homages for conventions and Halloween parties.

Unofficially - her ads were discontinued because corporate discovered how popular Erin was in the artist forum, DeviantArt - the artists there put Miss Esurance various adult and pornographic situations... so easy, even a caveman can do her.



There was a fan made action figure by a DeviantArt artist with the monicker "Advancesculptor" in 2009. Well more like a figurine, no action. There were a couple of other fan made figs, such as from SomaKun (also from DeviantArt). But Advancesculptor's work looks much better.

Discovery; Advancesculptor made available his creation as a model kit; ten inches tall made of resin in four parts. Still for sale for $50.00 plus shipping from Bad Faerie Productions. Would be nice to have, but I do not have the skills to build. Yeah, that's a bubble butt.

Anyhow, should be a DVD with all the TV ads (slightly over thirty during her three year run) and that short along with interviews with the people involved, single disc. Would totally buy that. Plus some bonus features, not many.



Gonna moan some more. Another bad idea was axing Carly Foulkes from T-Mobile's marketing, the unnamed girl dressed in pink. That campaign lasted from Fall 2010 to Spring 2013. She was still popular, what the hell?

The same reason for both firings; the company was rebranding themselves.

Whatever. It was a bad move. She was eye catching, sold her product well. Guys liked Foulkes and women wanted to be her - a win win.