Great retro Japanese anime with a Western spin and cool attitude
5 January 2006
Created by a British veteran of Warner Brothers' "Teen Titans", this show is among the first to be produced from a collaboration between Japanese animators and a major American studio, in this case, Disney's Jetix Animation Group (another example is Warner Brothers/Turner Cartoon Network Toonami and Production I.G. for "IGPX").

The animation is mindful of early Rankin/Bass shows like their versions of "The Hobbitt" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". he characters are voiced by an impressive cast of talent like Clancy Brown of "Starship Troopers", Kari Wahlgren, long time V/O artist for anime, most recently Otomo's "Steamboy", Mark Hamil ("Star Wars 4, 5 & 6"), Mako (Aku of Genndy Tartakovsky's "Samurai Jack") and James Hong ("Big Trouble In Little China").

With great sight gags and one liners meant for the adults in the audience, a sound effects library lifted from Horta/Manhana's loops from the original Star Trek TV series, appearances by characters from classic anime series (such as the captain of the "Yamato", aka the "Argo" of "Starblazers" fame, as an intergalactic tour bus driver in the episode "Big Lug") and plot lines that borrow from so many movie genres, including a showdown between Chiro and the Skeleton King that sounds vaguely like the exchange between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in "The Return of the Jedi" S.R.M.T.H.G. makes for great fun for young and old. With a title more convoluted than a certain group of radioactive, adolescent reptilian martial artists, how can you go wrong?
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