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Today was Spyro Community Day. And tomorrow marks 25 years since the original release of Spyro the Dragon, as well as nearly 5 years since the release of Spyro Reignited. To celebrate the occasion, I spent this past week replaying Spyro Reignited. Since I’m a lifelong Spyro fan, and many other people on here are as well, I thought this would be a great time to talk about the iconic purple dragon’s series of video games.

I’m going to do something different with this review. Not only will I review and discuss Spyro Reignited along with the original PS1 games, I’ll be examining the history of the Spyro series and what has made it so enduring. Buckle up, because this is going to be a long ride!

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Spyro has a rather odd and complicated history with the franchise going through several developers/publishers and reinventing itself multiple times to keep up with the ever-shifting landscape of the video game industry.

And where else to start but the one that started it all, Spyro the Dragon?

It all began with Insomniac Games after they released their very first game Disruptor on December 1996. While this FPS game didn’t sell very well, it was received well enough by critics to encourage Insomniac to take another stab at game development. They conceived a game about a dragon which was initially inspired by the film Dragonheart and slated to be dark and gritty.

However, Mark Cerny, the game’s producer, suggested that the game instead be whimsical and cartoony so it could have more broad appeal and so the Playstation could add more children’s games in its library to better compete with the Nintendo 64.

And so Spyro the Dragon was published exclusively to the Sony Playstation by Sony Computer Entertainment on September 9, 1998. The game received critical acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and banger soundtrack by Stewart Copeland. Spyro would join the likes of Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Crash Bandicoot as one of gaming’s most iconic and beloved mascots and a staple of the platformer genre.

Spyro was certainly a staple in my family household. My parents, my brother, my extended family and I all loved Spyro. I always loved the music of the first game; it’s what first got me into video game music. I also always liked Spyro’s design, though that may just have been because Spyro is purple, which is my favorite color.

Incidentally, when Spyro’s character designer Charles Zembillas worked on him, he first wanted to make the character green, which makes sense since that’s a common color to give to a dragon. But when the developers became concerned that Spyro would blend in with grass and be hard to see, he was changed to be purple instead. I think that was for the best since it makes Spyro more distinct.

Anyway, the gameplay is still fun, utilizing wide 3D space with Spyro’s gliding mechanic and giving the game a semi-open world feel. Sure, Spyro games are usually pretty easy overall; I can clear this game 100% in just a few hours. But there’s nothing like the feeling of gliding across wide open spaces, torching enemies with your fire breath, and charging across the fields. The graphics, while dated, still have plenty of personality and charm. The sound design similarly adds to the game’s enjoyably quirky world and is further enhanced by voice acting from Carlos Alazraqui (whose role as the main character would be replaced with voice-acting legend Tom Kenny in the next 2 games), Clancy Brown, Michael Gough, Jamie Alcraft, and Michael Connor.

Due to my sentimental feelings for this game and the fact that it is a genuinely great game, I give Spyro the Dragon a 9 out of 10.

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Following the initial success of Spyro the Dragon, Insomniac Games wasted no time on developing the sequel, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, released on November 2, 1999. The game expanded on the original with mechanics and characters that were initially planned to be in the first game but were omitted for lack of time.

This is widely considered the best of the original trilogy, though I personally still prefer the 1st game and even have a soft spot for the 3rd game (which I’ll get to in a moment). Nevertheless, I do appreciate how Ripto’s Rage set out to expand on the original; I particularly like that Spyro can actually swim now and that the follow-up games have proper boss levels (the lack of these was admittedly one of the first game’s weak points).

I give Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage an 8 out of 10.

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Rounding off the original trilogy, we have Spyro: Year of the Dragon, released on October 10, 2000. Year of the Dragon refines the mechanics introduced in the 2nd game while regaining some of the spirit of the 1st game.

And this time around, Spyro has some friends to help him on his adventure. The game implements levels where you play as Sheila, an easy-going kangaroo who can make massive bounds; Sgt. Byrd, a little bird with a lot of firepower; Bentley, a loquacious yeti whose sophisticated lexicon belies his gargantuan strength; and Agent 9, an unhinged space monkey with an itchy trigger finger. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, and they offer a nice little break from Spyro himself. Even Sparx gets in on the action.

Overall, Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a satisfying platformer. But be prepared for a lot of backtracking.

I give Spyro: Year of the Dragon an 8.5 out of 10.

Unfortunately, this was where Spyro’s glory days seemed to come to an end as this was the last Spyro game Insomniac Games ever developed.

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At the time Spyro: Year of the Dragon released, the 5th generation of video game consoles (e.g. Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation) was coming to an end, and the 6th generation (e.g. Nintendo GameCube, Playstation 2) was about to get started.

Insomniac Games felt that they explored all of Spyro’s potential and couldn’t really do anything more with the character or franchise. So they and Sony sold off their collective rights to Spyro (though Universal still held the license to it as they did from the very beginning) and moved on to bigger and better things.

In fact, during the first half of 2000 as Insomniac Games was finishing up Spyro: Year of the Dragon, they were busy working on a new game project designed to take massive advantage of the Playstation 2’s potential.

That project would become Ratchet and Clank, which would become not only Insomniac’s flagship franchise but also one of Sony’s most popular, lucrative, and enduring Playstation exclusive IPs, still going strong after over 20 years. It’s also one of my other favorite video game series and one I should probably do a review for sometime.

Back to Spyro, though, his future would become uncertain after his initial trilogy ended. While Spyro never fell off as hard as, say, Sonic the Hedgehog did, there was a palpable sense during the early 2000s that developers didn’t really know what to do with Spyro as the edgy platformers and collect-a-thons that dominated the ‘90s began falling out of style during the new millennium.

At first, things seemed OK as Digital Eclipse and Universal Interactive released Spyro: Season of Ice and Spyro 2: Season of Flame onto the Game Boy Advance on November 7, 2001 and September 25, 2002 respectively. They weren’t perfect games by any means, but as a kid with undiscerning taste who just liked Spyro in general back then, I thought they were pretty fun. And it felt really cool at the time to play Spyro games on portable game consoles (a feeling I would relive years later when I downloaded the original PS1 Spyro game onto my PSP).

I give Spyro: Season of Ice a 7 out of 10, and I give Spyro 2: Season of Flame a 7.5 out of 10.

But trouble started brewing for the franchise with Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. Developed by Equinoxe Digital Entertainment and Check Six Studios rather than Insomniac, it was published by Universal Interactive on the Playstation 2 on November 5, 2002 and the Nintendo GameCube 2 weeks later. Unfortunately, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly had a very troubled production which resulted in the game being short, unoriginal, and riddled with bugs and glitches. I never played it, but after reading bad things about it, I actively avoided it.

Interestingly, the production team behind this game initially conceived a new vision of Spyro for the PS2 era, one that was darker, more adult, and with a steampunk aesthetic. If you know anything about Spyro’s history, you might consider this some epic foreshadowing.

Another Game Boy Advance entry by Digital Eclispe, Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs, was released on October 28, 2003. I didn’t play that game either, so I can’t comment on it one way or the other.

2004 saw 3 rather middling entires to the Spyro franchise published by Vivendi Universal.

• The first one was Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy, developed by Vicarious Visions and released on Game Boy Advance on June 2, 2004. This was actually part of a crossover between Spyro and Crash Bandicoot, another popular Playstation mascot who was let go by developer Naughty Dog who went on to greener pastures. Amounting to nothing more than a series of mini-games, Spyro Orange and Crash Purple were intended to prop up a pair of iconic platformer mascots despite them being years beyond their prime at that point (because let’s face it, a Crash/Spyro crossover really should’ve happened on the Playstation around 1999 or so when they were at the peak of their popularity). Instead, it was an anemic affair that was quickly forgotten. While I didn’t ask for much as a kid at the time, I do remember being a bit underwhelmed by this game.

I give Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy a 4.5 out of 10.

• The second entry of 2004 from Vivendi Universal was Spyro: A Hero’s Tail, developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software and released on GameCube, Playstation 2, and Xbox on November 2, 2004. I didn’t play this game, but I do remember seeing my brother play this game a little, and I wasn’t impressed with what I saw. It seemed more “little-kiddish” (for lack of a better term) than the other Spyro games. So I avoided it.

• The third entry was the mobile phone game Spyro: Ripto’s Quest, developed by KAOLink and released on November 12, 2004. I didn’t even have a mobile phone until my late teens in 2011, so I never played this.

Vivendi Universal and developer Amaze Entertainment tried something different with Spyro: Shadow Legacy, released for the Nintendo DS on October 18, 2005 and is something of a sequel to A Hero’s Tail. This time, Spyro was made into an RPG. It was interesting in concept, but many critics considered it mediocre in execution.

Little did we know that this would be the last time we would see classic Spyro for a very long time. Because Vivendi Games would soon take the series in an entirely new direction….

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During the late 2000s, Vivendi Games completely rebooted the series with The Legend of Spyro, starting with A New Beginning released on October 10, 2006 for Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, GameCube, Xbox, Playstation 2, and mobile, all while the 6th generation of video game consoles was winding down.

Eschewing the slightly edgy Saturday morning cartoon world of the original Spyro games in favor of a darker young adult fantasy world, The Legend of Spyro focused much more on action and combat and had much more linear level designs than its predecessors.

The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning received lukewarm reviews from critics at the time of its release. Indeed, Sierra Entertainment producer Michael Graham stated that there were originally no plans for a trilogy. But evidently, the game must have sold well enough that The Legend of Spyro was indeed expanded into a full trilogy with The Eternal Night (released on October 2007 for Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, and mobile) and Dawn of the Dragon (released during fall 2008 for Nintendo DS, Wii, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360).

I can’t find any specific reasons for why Vivendi rebooted Spyro like this, but I have a couple of theories. One theory is that they may have been prompted by the rise in popularity of mature action games like Devil May Cry and God of War and decided to update Spyro accordingly. After all, Spyro was desperately stale at the time, and rebranding the series as a more kid-friendly God of War is not the worst idea I can think of.

I also think the popularity of young adult fantasy at the time like Harry Potter had something to do with this decision, as well as the fact that gaming in general was in sort of a weird moody teenager phase during the late 2000s with the rise of the seventh generation of video game consoles (e.g. Xbox 360, Playstation 3). This was the time when almost every video game had to be dark and gloomy and preferably photorealistic. The Legend of Spyro was at least 2 of those 3, so it fit in just fine.

But whatever the reasons, The Legend of Spyro was an interesting new take on the series. Not perfect, but interesting nonetheless.

While I didn’t play A New Beginning, I did play The Eternal Night and Dawn of the Dragon. While the gameplay and tone took some getting used to, I have to admit that I did warm up to these games. The gameplay, though repetitive at times, can still be fun and satisfying. The soundtrack is great; I honestly consider that one of the trilogy’s greatest strengths. The trilogy also had an impressive voice cast to prop up its more epic tone, including (but not limited to) Elijah Wood, Gary Oldman, Kevin Michael Richardson, and even the likes of Martin Jarvis and Mark Hamill. And there is something magical about being able to fly freely in Dawn of the Dragon.

I’d probably rate the Legend of Spyro games as a whole a 7.5 out of 10.

And I’m not the only one who has a soft spot for these games, especially not here on DeviantArt. The Legend of Spyro has received a substantial and dedicated fanbase over the years, and honestly, I can kind of see why. In addition to its gameplay and soundtrack, the Legend trilogy’s story and characters do seem to have struck a chord with certain age demographics. In particular, Cynder, a reformed antagonist who becomes Spyro’s companion, has become a fan favorite in the Spyro community even beyond the Legend trilogy. There was even a movie planned based on the Legend trilogy. But alas, it was never meant to be.

Because by the time Dawn of the Dragon released, Vivendi Universal had been swallowed up by Activision. And Activision had…different plans for Spyro.

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Since Spyro no longer seemed to work as a cutesy platformer series nor as a dark and gloomy action series, Activision wanted to take the series in a different direction yet again. So they approached developer Toys for Bob who completely went for broke with the most radical new idea for the franchise yet. They had ideas for integrating technology with toys and games, and they decided Spyro would be the perfect subject to test this new idea on.

The result of this was Skylanders, released on October 2011 for Windows, OS X, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360.

I’ll admit, I never got into Skylanders partially because I thought Spyro’s redesign for that game series was butt-ugly. In fact, it didn’t take long for Spyro to be sidelined in this new series that was initially meant to prop him back up in the public eye. They weren’t even really Spyro games anymore; they ended up being completely their own thing.

But clearly, Skylanders was pretty popular because it got several expansions and sequels throughout the 2010s as well as a Netflix series and a comic book series. They also led the charge for the “toys-to-life” trend that was common in the video game industry during the 2010s, spawning imitators like LEGO Dimensions, Disney Infinity, and the amiibos from Nintendo.

Sadly, those of us craving a true Spyro game would have to keep waiting. Spyro, along with his fellow former mascot Crash Bandicoot, didn’t even appear in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale despite how important they were to Playstation’s history. It seemed like the Spyro franchise was pretty much over.

But little did we know that Toys for Bob were about to deliver the greatest gift that any Spyro fan could ask for.

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In 2014, former Sony Computer Entertainment chairman Andrew House sensed that the time was ripe for bringing Spyro back to public consciousness, with Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price and Vicarious Visions thinking the same thing. After all, ‘90s nostalgia has been big for the past decade or so. It only made sense to bring back a beloved gaming mascot for ‘90s kids to relive their childhoods while introducing him to a new generation of young gamers who aren’t interested in 25-year-old gaming hardware.

There were rumors for years about bringing Spyro back. But in April 2018, the rumors were confirmed. Spyro Reignited was officially announced at E3 2018 and released on November 13, 2018 for Playstation 4 and Xbox One (it was later released onto Windows and the Nintendo Switch on September 3, 2019). Being a Spyro purist and Playstation fan, I naturally got the PS4 version to truly make the experience feel like old times.

I could not tell you just how excited I was when Spyro Reignited was announced. It felt like seeing an old friend again. And when I finally got to play it shortly after its release, it did not disappoint.

I love the designs for the dragons in Spyro Reignited. In the original game, the dragons were mostly recolors of a few templates. But in the Reignited version, every single one of them has a distinct design and personality while matching the themes of their homelands.

• The Artisan dragons are mostly refined sophisticates who live in peaceful meadows, each one specializing in a specific craft. There are painter dragons, sculptor dragons, a scribe dragon, a baker dragon, a barista dragon, the list goes on.

• The Peace Keeper dragons look rugged and fierce, as you would expect from desert-dwelling warrior dragons. Several of them wield weapons and armor now, and one dragon in particular, Boris from Dry Canyon, makes me think of Texas with his bull horns and rattlesnake tail.

• The Magic Crafter dragons are ornately decorated and, as the name implies, their designs now indicate their specialties in magic and alchemy as well as keeping secrets, seeing that they hide themselves away in the mountains.

• The Beast Maker dragons have more tribalistic designs befitting their homes in the swamps and jungles. My favorites of these dragons are Zeke from Misty Bog whose design perfectly fits a swamp dragon, evoking the appearance of a softshell turtle, and Jed from Tree Tops for his colorful shamanistic design which suits his jungle environment.

• The Dream Weaver dragons mostly implement moons and stars in their designs since they of course specialize in dreams. The 2 dragons in Jacques have more weird and surreal designs that you might expect to see in, say, Alice in Wonderland or something.

The new versions of the levels’ music are OK. I know there was a conscious effort here to recreate the originals, and I do like a few of them. But it’s hard to beat the original compositions by Stewart Copeland (though that may be just my nostalgia talking). Fortunately, unlike Crash Bandicoot’s N-Sane Trilogy, Spyro Reignited gives you the option to play the original music.

And of course, since this was released in 2018, there were a couple of changes made to better fit the current sociopolitical climate. The enemies’ machine guns in Twilight Harbor were replaced with goo guns. I suppose that would be a better fit for a cartoonish fantasy game aimed at kids, though it does lose a bit of the original’s edge. You can be the judge on that. There is also a character in Ripto’s Rage renamed from Bombo to Bob the Gatekeeper to avoid racial stereotypes.

But overall, Spyro Reignited is a wonderful remake of the first 3 Spyro games, faithfully recreating the games from the ground up and recapturing their spirit while adding a new and unique flair that meshes well with Spyro’s original cartoony tone and appeals to a new generation of kids. In other words, exactly what a remake SHOULD do. It also gave me the opportunity to play through Ripto’s Rage and Year of the Dragon for the first time. I love Spyro Reignited so much that it’s one of the few games on my PS4 that I have platinum trophies for (the others being the Horizon games and Gravity Rush Remastered).

I give Spyro Reignited a 9 out of 10.

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So, what’s next for Spyro?

Unlike Crash Bandicoot, who has received 4 new games since the N-Sane trilogy, Spyro hasn’t seen any real action since Reignited aside from a guest appearance in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (along with Gnasty Gnorc and Hunter). There have been rumors that Toys for Bob may be working on a new Spyro game, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Still, whatever happens next with Spyro, I will most certainly be interested.

Spyro has a unique standing among video game mascots. While he was never regarded as being quite on the same level as, say, Mario or Crash Bandicoot, he also never quite fell from grace like Sonic the Hedgehog did. Spyro’s story shows how the games and their title character have connected with new generations of young gamers over the years and how the series managed to rebound after years of struggles and stagnation.

And Spyro continues to resonate with gamers young and old even today. Whether you like classic Spyro, Legend of Spyro, Skylanders Spyro, or Reignited Spyro (or any combination thereof), Spyro continues to be one of gaming’s most iconic franchises with its simple but fun gameplay, its worlds full of personality, its awesome soundtrack, and its likable main character, even after 25 years. Whether you grew up with the Playstation 1 or the Playstation 4, there’s bound to be something for you to like about everyone’s favorite little purple dragon.

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Thank you very much for reading my Spyro review and celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of my favorite childhood video games with me. I hope you all have a great day!

No sheep were harmed during the writing of this review. A few Gnorcs, but no sheep.

I just watched the new season premiere of Futurama on Hulu today. So far, it’s every bit as funny and imaginative as the earlier seasons of the show, even after being off the air for a decade and the voice cast getting older. I thought the previous series finale was the perfect way to end the show. But Futurama clearly has not missed a beat after all of this time.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. For those of you unfamiliar with this cult sci-fi animated classic, let me give you a brief explanation.

Futurama introduces us to Philip J. Fry, a 20-something-year-old guy in New York City with no real future. He works a dead-end job as a pizza delivery boy, his girlfriend dumped him, he’s not too bright, and he’s really into sci-fi, comic books, and video games. On the fateful night of New Year’s Eve 1999, Fry is seemingly pranked into delivering a pizza to a cryogenics chamber for one “I.C. Wiener”. As Fry laments his pathetic life, he accidentally falls into a cryogenic chamber and is frozen for the next 1000 years.

As Fry awakens, he finds himself in New York (now New New York) in the year 3000, a world where humans coexist with aliens and robots and where scientific and technological wonders abound. There, Fry meets Leela, a no-nonsense cyclops woman who serves as Fry’s love interest, and Bender, a sociopathic robot who runs on alcohol. They are hired on to work for Planet Express, a delivery company that happens to be owned by the senile mad scientist Professor Hubert Farnsworth (who also happens to be Fry’s distant great grandnephew). Also working at Planet Express are ditzy Martian intern Amy Wong, weird and incompetent alien doctor Dr. John Zoidberg, Jamaican bureaucrat Hermes Conrad who viciously hates Zoidberg, and Scruffy the janitor. Together, they have all kinds of crazy sci-fi adventures throughout the galaxy and beyond.

Futurama has had an interesting production history. It was conceived by Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who is an ardent fan of science fiction. Fox wanted Groening to create a new animated show for the network after the massive success of The Simpsons, and he happily obliged, enlisting the help of writer David X. Cohen to develop the world and characters. But Fox didn’t approve of the new show’s themes and tried to take matters in their own hands. Fortunately, Groening put his foot down and insisted that he be given the same independence for Futurama that he was for The Simpsons.

Thus, Futurama was born.

The show originally ran on Fox from March 28, 1999 before being cancelled on August 10, 2003 due to low viewership (though it enjoyed high home video sales from its fanbase). Shortly after its cancellation on Fox, Cartoon Network acquired the syndication rights to Futurama, along with another recently cancelled Fox cartoon Family Guy, and aired reruns of both shows on its late-night adult animation block [adult swim].

Futurama would later leave [adult swim] in late 2007 and appeared on Comedy Central with a new season of sorts throughout 2008 and 2009, which were really just 4 direct-to-video movies each divided into 4 parts. The revival of Futurama proper came about on Comedy Central on June 24, 2010 and ended on September 25, 2013 with about as perfect an ending as one could ask for from a show like Futurama.

Until now, that is.

I have vague memories of seeing “The Problem with Popplers” when it aired on Fox on May 7, 2000. But it was just a few years later in 2003 that I was properly introduced to Futurama when my brother and I would watch [adult swim] on our basement TV after Cartoon Network. After all, we were a couple of pre-teen boys at the time doing what all pre-teen kids do at some point: getting a thrill out of watching adult shows with content they know they’re not supposed to be watching.

Anyway, I have fond memories of watching and enjoying shows like Futurama, Family Guy, and the other shows my brother and I watched on [adult swim]. But my brother and I didn’t get all of the jokes on those shows since we were still too young and didn’t have enough life experience yet to understand all of them.

I stopped watching cartoons altogether for nearly a decade after I became a teenager in 2006 until I took interest in them again in 2015. During that time, the Futurama revival came and went without me ever realizing it even happened.

Finally, in 2017, I started rewatching the shows I watched on [adult swim] as a 10-year-old. While Family Guy didn’t hold up as well for my taste, I not only fell in love with Futurama all over again 14 years later, I now hold it up as one of my all-time favorite TV shows, animated or otherwise.

Futurama shares the same sharp wit and satirical humor as The Simpsons, along with clever, hilarious dialogue that is every bit as quotable as its predecessor. While it’s not a household name like The Simpsons, few other shows make me laugh out loud the way Futurama does.

As I mentioned earlier, Matt Groening is an avid sci-fi fan, and it really shows in Futurama. The entire show functions as a love letter to the science fiction genre and its fans, while also poking fun at the sillier aspects of the genre. It runs the gamut of science fiction: aliens, robots, mutants, futuristic technology, space travel, time travel, evil mega-corporations, mad science, you name it. Futurama manages to reference and parody many different sci-fi characters, worlds, and stories while also developing a vast and lived-in sci-fi universe of its very own.

There is no shortage of funny characters in Futurama. Bender is a fan favorite; he is easily one of the best characters and tends to steal the show half the time. But there are so many hilarious character moments such as Fry’s stupidity, Farnsworth’s insanity, and the crustaceous Dr. Zoidberg’s weirdness. That’s not even counting all the great side characters; you are bound to find at least one character you like, whether it’s buffoonish captain Zapp Brannigan, newscasting duo Morbo and Linda, Lrrr, ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8, the list goes on.

There is something for everyone in Futurama. The show has a layered sense of humor that can appeal to pretty much anyone. The average viewer can enjoy the wacky sci-fi plots, sex jokes, and Bender’s antics. The nerdier viewers are treated to references to sci-fi books, movies, and TV shows. There’s also social commentary to be made, and jokes about math, science, history, politics, literature, animation, and more. In fact, the makers of Futurama drop math jokes in the background for calculus and trigonometry enthusiasts to pick up on. They even invented an entire theorem to work out a mind-swap storyline for the episode “The Prisoner of Benda”. The writers of Futurama held a combined total of 3 Ph.D.s, 7 master’s degrees, and more than 50 years of education at Harvard University. One of the show’s writers, Patric Verrone, stated “We were the most overqualified cartoon writers in history.”

Forget The Big Bang Theory! Futurama was the nerdiest comedy on television!

But for all of its hilarious comedy, Futurama was always surprisingly deft at telling highly emotional stories (such as the infamous “Jurassic Bark” and the fantastic Season 10 finale “Meanwhile...”) as well as philosophical tales that are just as intelligent and thought-provoking as the science fiction stories the show lampoons (such as “Godfellas” and my personal favorite episode “The Late Philip J. Fry”, one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen on television).

While I was sad that Futurama seemed to be over, I was able to rest easy knowing that it at least seemed to end on a high note, unlike The Simpsons, which dipped in quality decades ago and has no end in sight. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy The Simpsons. I understand what a revolutionary show it once was (at least in the 1990s), and I appreciate what a trailblazer it was for adult animation and the impact it had on American culture as a whole.

But Futurama always felt more personal to me. It was the show I discovered and watched first. It appeals to my love of science, sci-fi, and nerdy things in general. And the stories & characters are more memorable to me.

That said, Futurama’s themes have always been a double-edged sword; while they drew in a passionate fanbase, they also led to the show being cancelled time and time again. The reason why The Simpsons has been able to last for nearly 35 years regardless of its quality nowadays is because it appeals to a broad audience and the vast majority of its episodes are self-contained and easily accessible. Futurama on the other hand relies much more on continuity and was always a more niche show that caters more specifically to nerdy sci-fi lovers and science enthusiasts (in other words, people like me).

Put another way, particularly for those of you Gen Z kids who might be reading this, Futurama was kind of like Rick and Morty before Rick and Morty. After all, Rick and Morty’s style of humor, storytelling, and sci-fi world-building was clearly inspired by Futurama. And it may be no coincidence that after Futurama was cancelled again in September 2013, Rick and Morty came along a few months later in December 2013 to fill the “adult sci-fi comedy adventure cartoon” niche that Futurama left behind, and on the same network that gave Futurama a new lease in life (in fact, [adult swim] has recently started airing Futurama reruns again). Of course, Rick and Morty would end up becoming far more mainstream and popular than Futurama ever was for reasons that are not entirely clear to me, but that’s a story for another time. I’ll probably talk about that later in a Rick and Morty review.

But now Futurama has returned once more to reclaim its crown with its new season premiere on Hulu. There was some concern at first that John DiMaggio would not reprise his role as Bender because he would only do so if he and his fellow voice actors got a raise on their salaries. But he didn’t want to disappoint the fans, and so he came back regardless. While it’s unfortunate DiMaggio didn’t get his pay raise, he still earned plenty of respect from his colleagues and Futurama fans for making a stand against the man, so to speak. And I’m glad he did return as Bender; it just wouldn’t be the same without him.

In a delightful pastiche of its own streaming platform, the new season premiere of Futurama tackles the topic of TV binging and the merits of bringing back a beloved TV show cancelled years ago with its usual brand of social commentary and character writing, which are just as hilarious and enjoyable as they’ve always been. I have a minor issue with the characters’ voice acting being slightly distracting this time around, but that’s just an unavoidable consequence of the voice cast getting older (similar to the new seasons of Beavis and Butt-head on Paramount+).

I was a little too young for Futurama’s original run on Fox, and I missed out on its years at Comedy Central. But I’m just in time now to experience its new run on Hulu. I’m definitely here for it.

I imagine that right-wingers will inevitably start complaining that the new Futurama season is “woke”. After all, what do they think is NOT “woke”? Apparently, they didn’t get the memo that Futurama was always an openly liberal show. Not only is the show’s creator Matt Groening and his signature show The Simpsons liberal, Futurama took a lot of cues from Star Trek, which has always been an outspoken left-wing IP since its inception in the 1960s. Futurama was always pro-science and environmentalist. It criticized corporations and made fun of religion. And it took swipes at Richard Nixon every chance it got, back when he used to be known as the most corrupt president in American history and the worst thing to come from the Republican Party (at least until 2016, when a certain spray-tanned narcissist came along who I just know Futurama will rip into at some point).

But like I said, even a decade after it was cancelled again, Futurama still retains the humor, cleverness, and charm it always had. Brimming with hilarious characters and dialogue, pushing the limits on imaginative science fiction, and having both a heart and a brain, Futurama will always be one of the best cartoons of all time and one of my absolute favorite TV shows.

And if you don’t like that, then you can bite my shiny metal ass!

I give Futurama a 9.5 out of 10.

When there’s trouble, you know to call!

TEEN TITANS!

On this day 20 years ago, a new action cartoon based on one of DC Comics’ popular superhero teams premiered on Cartoon Network. Utilizing an art style that can be best described as anime meets Bruce Timm, the show featured Robin, Batman’s former sidekick who is now the no-nonsense leader of his own team of heroes as follows:

• Cyborg, an all-around cool guy who is half-human, half-machine, has a lot of technological knowhow, and fights with hi-tech weaponry and enhanced robotic strength

• Starfire, an alien princess who helps her friends both in battle with her powers of flight, super-strength, durability, and starbolts as well as out of battle with her kindness and loyalty, though she doesn’t know the first thing about Earth and has a lot of weird alien quirks

• Beast Boy, a goofy funster with the power to transform into any animal and make people groan with his dumb jokes

• Raven, a gothic introvert and sorceress with mastery over dark magic and issues with her demon father Trigon

The show ran on Cartoon Network from July 19, 2003 to September 25, 2006 with the TV movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo as the series finale. During that time, the Titans had many adventures; some of them were goofy romps while others were serious character dramas. Of particular note were the show’s overarching story arcs. Robin dealing with the mysterious villain Slade. Beast Boy’s doomed relationship with Terra. Cyborg tracking down the notorious Hive Academy leader Brother Blood. Raven being forced to summon Trigon and cause the end of the world. The Titans gathering recruits to fight the Brotherhood of Evil.

At the time of its release, Teen Titans was criticized by hardcore DC fans for being too juvenile. But today, it is renowned as one of DC’s best animated shows and one of the most beloved cartoon series from Cartoon Network. Teen Titans would garner a massive fan following, myself included.

I had recently turned 10 years old when Teen Titans first premiered on Cartoon Network in 2003, which made me a perfect fit for this show’s demographic at the time. I still have fond memories of me and my brother hurrying to our basement TV each Saturday night to catch the newest episode.

I recently bought the Teen Titans Complete Collection on DVD to treat myself for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. And despite the fact that I’m 30 years old now, I still really enjoy this show.

There have been several DC animated shows before and after Teen Titans, many of which are great in their own right. But I think there are 2 factors in particular that made Teen Titans so special.

One is the Teen Titans themselves and the incredibly likable bonds they have with each other. They all have distinct and unique personalities that allow them to work really well off one another. They have a strong camaraderie which not only lets them fight as a cohesive team but also form a genuine friendship with each other to the point that they’re almost like a family.

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that Starfire was always my favorite. She’s objectively one of the best members of the team with her myriad of powers. She’s very sweet and lovable, almost like a Disney Princess from another planet and with superpowers. I always loved aliens and outer space. I’ve often felt like a weird outsider the way Starfire does with how socially awkward I am. And I had a big crush on Starfire as a kid. She was the original inspiration for Krya, the main character of my webcomic Princess of Psykron.

But the other Titans are really enjoyable to watch as well. I always loved animals, so I often enjoyed seeing the different animals Beast Boy would turn into, including dinosaurs (which I’m also a huge fan of). His interactions with Cyborg were hilarious, which was probably why the two were paired together a lot.

And I’ve had moments where I could strongly connect to Raven, including the episode “Spellbound” where she didn’t want to be a creepy loner. As someone who’s quite introverted, I can really relate to that.

The other big factor Teen Titans had going for it was the way it juggled action, comedy, and drama. The action scenes of course are great as is typical of a DC action cartoon, combining the superhero action of something like the Batman or Superman cartoons with anime-style shots and stylization.

Teen Titans also had a lot of great comedy, which took many forms. Beast Boy’s overall goofiness, Starfire’s naïveté and alien weirdness, Raven’s deadpan sarcasm, Cyborg’s wisecracks, the hilarious facial expressions all of the Titans make at some point, the oddball situations they sometimes find themselves in. Maybe the humor can get a little too goofy sometimes with its anime stylings, but it’s a kid’s show. You can give it some leeway.

But that doesn’t mean that Teen Titans isn’t capable of real serious drama. Quite the opposite, in fact. Every one of the Titans has their own insecurities and hang-ups.

• Robin tries his best to be a good leader and a capable superhero in his own right since leaving Batman’s side.

• Starfire has to deal with being an outsider on a world she doesn’t understand, having a domineering older sister, and having other aliens looking down on her kind as racially inferior.

• Cyborg struggles between his human half and his robot half, sometimes fearing that he will completely lose his humanity and become a cold, soulless machine.

• Beast Boy feels that he’s not taken seriously due to his immaturity and the belief that he’s the weak link in both the Teen Titans and his original team, the Doom Patrol, which prompts him to try and prove his worth.

• Raven grapples with her inner darkness and makes a conscious effort to control her powers and do good, despite her inherently dark nature and the fact that she was conceived as an antichrist figure destined to bring about the apocalypse.

And then there are villains like Slade and Brother Blood who truly test the Titans and push them to the brink. But again, since this is a kid’s show, you know the heroes are going to win and come out OK.

With its likable character dynamics, its distinct art style, and its deft balance of action, humor, and drama, Teen Titans was truly one of a kind.

It’s a damn shame then that Teen Titans has been overshadowed in public consciousness by its successor Teen Titans Go!, which only exists to troll fans of the original show and put kids who don’t know any better into a mindless stupor. It’s clearly working because it’s been running on Cartoon Network constantly for a decade now, and it’s STILL going! It even managed to get a theatrical movie whereas the original never did. What’s up with that?! I would’ve loved to see a Teen Titans movie hit the theaters as a kid. I don’t think the concept of Teen Titans Go! is that bad per se; I just wish it wasn’t the Teen Titans. Maybe a show like this would work if it starred the Inferior Five or something. As it is, I just pretend Teen Titans Go! doesn’t exist and avoid watching it.

Back on topic, Teen Titans has made a lasting impression on 2000s kids everywhere for all of the right reasons, and no amount of trolling from the likes of Teen Titans Go! will change that, at least not for me. Maybe it can get a bit juvenile sometimes, but once again, it’s a kid’s cartoon about teenage superheroes. That comes with the territory.

But you know what? I still have a soft spot for Teen Titans. I’ll always cherish my childhood memories with this show. It gave me so much in terms of fun, imagination, storytelling, and artistic inspiration. It was the starting point of my passion project Princess of Psykron. Even now, 20 years after its release, I think Teen Titans is still a great show for kids. And I hope it’ll continue to entertain and inspire for years to come.

I give Teen Titans a 8.5 out of 10.

1, 2, 3, 4, GO!

TEEN TITANS!

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done one of these. But now that summer has started and over 20 years have passed since this movie premiered in theaters, let’s talk about Lilo and Stitch!

The 2000s were not great for Disney. As the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s was winding down, fairy tale musicals fell out of style, and theatrical hand-drawn animation was being phased out in favor of 3D computer-generated animation (particularly from Pixar, who were at their peak in the 2000s), Disney found themselves in a tight spot. Throughout the 2000s, Disney tried getting more experimental with their animated movies in terms of story and style. While none of them lived up to the best of the Disney Renaissance, several of them have garnered a cult following, namely The Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo and Stitch, and Treasure Planet. I think Brother Bear did OK as well, Home on the Range not so much. And the less said about Chicken Little, the better. Meet the Robinsons and Bolt came and went with relatively little fanfare before Disney ended the 2000s with The Princess and the Frog, a noble but unfortunately failed attempt to revive 2D animation in theaters. By then, Disney finally got the hang of 3D animation and seemed to regain their footing for a while in the 2010s starting with Tangled. Of course, they’ve been faltering again since the late 2010s, but that’s a story for another time.

By the end of the 2000s, it was clear that hand-drawn animated movies were no longer drawing large audiences for reasons we can only speculate, and the 2000s are seen as something of a “dark age” for Disney animated movies. It didn’t help that the much-reviled Disney sequels were in full swing at the time, only for them to later be usurped by the far worse live-action remakes.

But for what it’s worth, I actually like a few of Disney’s 2000s movies. After all, I grew up during the 2000s and saw many of these in theaters as a kid. Among them is, hands down, my favorite Disney movie from this time period, as well as one of my favorite Disney movies in general: Lilo and Stitch, released in 2002.

I first saw Lilo and Stitch when it premiered in theaters just a couple of weeks before my 9th birthday. I fondly remember those trailers from the 2000s where Stitch was crashing other Disney movies. Who could forget the time Stitch took Simba’s place on Pride Rock? Or the time Stitch picked up Jasmine in his flying hot rod? Those were the first hints that Lilo and Stitch was not going to be your typical Disney movie. That’s probably at least part of the reason why my brother and I loved this movie to pieces as kids. And we’re not alone on that.

Lilo and Stitch has garnered a massive fan following and merchandising empire since its premiere on a scale almost on par with the Disney Renaissance movies, certainly more so than most of the other 2000s Disney movies, it seems.

But what makes Lilo and Stitch so uniquely special? Let’s find out.

The story begins in outer space when a council of aliens puts mad scientist Dr. Jumba on trial for making illegal genetic experiments. Exhibit A: a weird koala-dog-looking thing with antennae, 4 arms, and back spines dubbed Experiment 626. This creature has it all: night vision, super-strength, hyper-intelligence, being practically invincible, and having a knack for causing trouble and mayhem. Sure enough, the creature breaks out before he can be detained by the authorities, causing havoc along the way, and escapes to a podunk little planet you may have heard of called Earth. The head councilwoman makes a deal with Dr. Jumba, promising to end his prison sentence if he can recapture Experiment 626 with the help of the meek Agent Pleakley.

Meanwhile, on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, a young woman named Nani is constantly between jobs and struggling to raise her eccentric little sister Lilo after the untimely death of their parents. Not only that, a social worker named Cobra Bubbles informs Nani that he will have no choice but to take Lilo to foster care if things don’t improve after 3 days. Things get even more complicated when Experiment 626 crash-lands onto Earth and gets promptly run over by a semi-truck. He regains consciousness in a dog pound and hides his more alien features to blend in. But Lilo immediately becomes attached to the creature, naming him Stitch, and insists that she and Nani adopt him and take him home.

At first, Stitch is out of control, further complicating Lilo and Nani’s already difficult situation, even as Lilo tries to teach Stitch to be a “model citizen” by using the king of rock-and-roll Elvis Presley as an example. Yeah, Elvis and his music are prevalent themes here. I don’t know why. Don’t get me wrong, I like Elvis, but it’s still very random.

But perhaps Stitch, this little machine of destruction, might find something more meaningful to his existence than being what he was initially designed to do.

Lilo and Stitch is really unlike any other Disney movie out there. For one thing, it’s not adapted from any fairy tale or children’s book. OK, technically it was; the idea came from a children’s book by Chris Sanders which he never published. But this is, for all intents and purposes, an original idea. It’s also not every day you see an animated Disney movie delve into the sci-fi genre.

This has the distinction of being one of the only animated movies (not just from Disney) to be set in Hawaii. Hawaii’s famously gorgeous tropical vistas are wonderfully rendered in watercolor for this movie. And it’s not just there for window dressing either. Lilo and Stitch really immerses itself in Hawaiian culture, which (combined with the aliens and sci-fi elements) gives it its own unique identity.

As much as the promotional material has always hyped up Stitch’s mischievous nature, Lilo and Stitch is actually a relatively calm and emotional movie, especially compared to, say, the gritty and action-packed story of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, or the fast-paced wackiness of The Emperor’s New Groove. When I was younger, I didn’t fully grasp the plight of Lilo and Nani struggling to live together without their parents, the way Lilo felt lonely due to her understanding on some level that she doesn’t fit in due to her weirdness, or Stitch’s character development as he tries to find purpose in his life beyond destroying things and causing chaos (a sentiment I thought was portrayed particularly well in the scene where Lilo, Nani, and David go surfing and play on the beach while Stitch felt left out at first). But now that I understand what this movie is really trying to convey, I appreciate it all the more.

You may have heard that Disney has a live-action remake of Lilo and Stitch in the works. It’s utterly ridiculous to me that they’re doing a remake of a movie barely over 20 years old that didn’t need to be remade (though still not as ridiculous as remaking Moana). Supposedly, Disney claims that the remake will remove “harmful Hawaiian stereotypes”. I don’t know what “harmful stereotypes” they’re talking about; it just sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me, a flimsy pretext to butcher yet another one of their animated hits for a quick and easy buck. There’s already a lot of inane drama around it with complaints about the cast’s skin colors not being dark enough and actors getting replaced for making allegedly inappropriate comments. It’s a clusterfuck. And I shudder to think what a photorealistic CGI Stitch is going to look like, especially given these remakes’ track record with CGI.

To that, I say: Meega, nala kweesta!

At least it’ll be quickly forgotten like all of Disney’s other live-action rehashes. The original Lilo and Stitch will always be an underrated classic. You wouldn’t think so from its unusual premise.

But with the way it balances quirky humor with emotional maturity, alongside its interesting setting and its themes of family togetherness and finding one’s sense of purpose and belonging, Lilo and Stitch has proven itself a beloved member of the Disney family (or ohana, if you will).

I give Lilo and Stitch an 8.5 out of 10.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of one of the biggest movies in cinematic history, an adventure 65 million years in the making (well, technically, 66 million, but who’s counting?), and one of my favorite movies of all time. I’m wearing one of my graphic T-shirts right now to commemorate this occasion, as you can see below.

Hmm…looks a little faded. No matter!

Welcome back…to Jurassic Park.

You probably know the story by now, but if you somehow got by the last 30 years without seeing this movie, let me give you a crash course.

Adapted from the 1990 bestseller science fiction novel by Michael Crichton, the story introduces us to paleontologist Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill) and paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (played by Laura Dern), who are invited to a special theme park by its CEO, John Hammond (played by Richard Attenborough, the late brother of legendary naturalist and BBC host David Attenborough).

Situated on a remote tropical island, the theme park, called Jurassic Park, is home to dinosaurs recreated with advanced DNA cloning technology. Hammond gives Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler a tour of the park and its inner workings. Accompanying them are Hammond’s grandchildren, along with the bloodsucking lawyer Donald Gennaro (played by Martin Ferraro) and the smartass chaos mathematician Ian Malcolm (played by living meme Jeff Goldblum). Unfortunately, none of them get to see any dinosaurs on the tour save for a sick Triceratops. But they soon get their chance to see the dinosaurs up close and personal. Just not in the way they hoped.

As a storm batters the island, a slimy programmer named Dennis Nedry (played by Wayne Knight) sabotages the computer systems operating the park and attempts to smuggle the park’s dinosaur embryos to a rival genetics corporation for profit. Things don’t go well for him.

Now, with the park’s operations offline, the dinosaurs are free from their enclosures and our stranded main cast are at their mercy. The scientists and the children struggle to survive with danger at every corner, particularly the mighty T. rex and the calculating Velociraptors.

All the while, the characters engage in some fairly deep philosophical insights such as the ethical concerns of re-creating extinct animals, using science and technology to play God and control nature, and how life, uh, finds a way.

Like many book-to-movie adaptations, this movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, made many substantial changes from the original Crichton novel. As someone who owns the 25th anniversary edition of the novel, I can attest to that. The novel delves much deeper into Nedry’s corporate espionage. Hammond in the novel was decidedly more ruthless and sociopathic than his whimsical movie counterpart. The grandkids’ roles are reversed. The novel is darker and more gruesome like a horror story; for instance, if I remember right, there’s a scene early on where a pack of Compsognathus kill a human baby. And the ending is far darker than the movie’s.

Nevertheless, Spielberg managed to adapt the novel into a fun summer blockbuster experience, which paid off in spades.

Jurassic Park was a game changer in more ways than one. For one thing, the visual effects were phenomenal, employing a revolutionary blend of practical effects (courtesy of Stan Winston’s work in puppets and animatronics) and early CGI. This was one of the first major blockbuster films to really take advantage of CGI effects. Remarkably, these effects still hold up remarkably well to this day 30 years after its release. Granted, it’s easier to distinguish the CGI effects from the practical effects since major movie studios almost exclusively use it now and we’ve all gotten so used to it (the early scene with the Brachiosaurus and the action scenes with the T. rex come to mind). But the movie never feels hollow or artificial like the Jurassic World movies do, or a lot of modern summer blockbuster movies nowadays for that matter.

The music and sound design is also fantastic. The soundtrack was written by legendary film composer John Williams, who also famously composed the soundtracks for Jaws, Superman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and too many other films to count. The score reflects the movie’s sense of adventure and wonder, perfect for a movie about dinosaurs. The sound design is also as iconic as it was 30 years ago, being made by remixing and combining modern animal sounds. The Brachiosaurus’s call for instance was made by combining whale sounds with slowed-down donkey sounds. The famous T. rex roar was made by combining and remixing the sounds of tigers, crocodiles, and a baby elephant. The Velociraptor’s shrieks and screeches were made with the sounds of dolphins and mating turtles if you can believe it.

Of course, paleontologists are now certain that dinosaurs didn’t have the vocal capacity for loud bombastic roars. Any sounds they did make would have been more subdued and subtle and closer to sounds made by crocodiles and birds. Nevertheless, the sounds in Jurassic Park are still iconic and fairly believable.

The writing and characters are still enjoyable. We still quote this movie’s dialogue, we still make memes from it. Granted, since Jurassic Park is a work of hard science fiction, it places more emphasis on its speculative ideas than on its characters. But for what they are, the characters are engaging enough.

The other major influence Jurassic Park had on our culture was how it changed the public perception of dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs were first discovered and officially recognized in the early 19th century when Richard Owen discovered fossilized bones from Megalosaurus and coined the very word “dinosaur”, which means “terrible lizard” in Greek. They’ve gone on to inspire the public’s imagination, but people did have a certain image of them. In the past, dinosaurs were thought to have been sluggish, lumbering brutes, little more than oversized lizards doomed to extinction due to their own stupidity and violent ways. This has been reflected in movies throughout most of the 20th century, from Brutal Fight (1914) to King Kong (1933) to Fantasia (1940) and beyond.

Jurassic Park changed that. It introduced dinosaurs with mostly scientifically accurate postures, it portrayed dinosaurs as capable of being fast and intelligent due to their being endothermic (or warm-blooded) instead of ectothermic (or cold-blooded), and it made the connection between dinosaurs and birds. While these were known by paleontologists since the 1960s in a period of renewed academic interest in dinosaurs known as The Dinosaur Renaissance, Jurassic Park helped bring these theories and discoveries to the mainstream.

That said, science marches on and new discoveries are always being made in the field of paleontology. So what was considered accurate in Jurassic Park becomes outdated as the years go by. Even so, Jurassic Park did take a lot of creative liberties, to say the least, which even paleontologists at the time found questionable.

First things first: I hate to break it to you, but Dilophosaurus did not have neck frills, they didn’t spit poison, and they were substantially larger than they were portrayed in the movie. Velociraptors were about 3 feet tall and coated in feathers (to get a more accurate idea of what they would’ve been like, check out the beautifully designed Velociraptors* in Prehistoric Planet). They weren’t even intended to be Velociraptors in the first place; they were actually meant to be another species of dromaeosaur called Deinonychus, even though they were still the wrong size.

And then there’s the scene where the T. rex is right in front of Dr. Grant and the children, yet she doesn’t know they’re there because she can only hunt animals that move. That doesn’t check out, no matter how you slice it. Analysis of T. rex’s brain structure reveals that they not only had powerful binocular vision, they also had excellent senses of smell and hearing, compounded with a bite force of 13,000 PSI (the most powerful of any land animal). On top of that, T. rex is thought by some scientists to have been a particularly intelligent species of dinosaur, possibly comparable to a baboon. T. rex was one of the most powerful and sophisticated predators in our planet’s entire history. Realistically, Dr. Grant and Lex would’ve met the same fate as the lawyer. The only thing going for our heroes is that T. rex couldn’t run as fast as the one in the movie.

Nevertheless, Jurassic Park reignited people’s passion for dinosaurs in a big way. Lots of young people decided to become paleontologists because of Jurassic Park. And I was the right age to be influenced by Jurassic Park’s legacy.

Jurassic Park premiered on June 11, 1993. I was born on July 6 that year, almost a whole month after the movie premiered. By then, dinosaur mania had swept the nation. It was one of the few things I remember about the 1990s growing up, and it would have a profound influence on me growing up. I became incredibly fascinated with dinosaurs and paleontology, which I think also helped led to me being interested in science, nature, and animals. I read dinosaur books and watched dinosaur shows. My favorite childhood toy was a dinosaur, who I still have to this day. Check him out below.

Not too bad after 25 years or so. Yeah, other kids could keep their dolls and teddy bears. This was my best friend when I was a kid.

Looking back on Jurassic Park, while it’s not perfect, it’s very easy to see why this movie is still so beloved and influential. Yeah, the dinosaurs’ designs are a little outdated, but for the most part, they still hold up well. Add to that amazing visual effects that have stood the test of time, a fantastic soundtrack, quotable dialogue, fun characters, great action, and some intelligent food for thought, and you have a bonafide sci-fi classic that will continue to thrill audiences and inspire future artists, filmmakers, and scientists for years to come.

I give Jurassic Park a 9 out of 10.

Oh, and you may not have heard this on the news, but my pet T. rex is missing. Here’s some information below.

It shouldn’t be hard to find. Just follow the path of death and destruction. Thank you!

All kidding aside, thanks for reading. Until next time. Goodbye.

*And yes, I know that the “Velociraptors” in Prehistoric Planet are technically not Velociraptors, but my point earlier still stands.