Ménage Á Pop is a three times a week intimate discussion between two people and a piece of pop culture.
Nothing soothed the six hour stress of a middle school education like the latch-key promise of afternoon cartoons. Seated there in the private screening room of a converted basement we could loose ourselves in the animated antics of Gummi bears, Cadillac cats, and Hell-spawned Cow Skull demons. Yup …Hell-spawned Cow Skull demons. Looking back on it, children’s cartoons contained some pretty effed up s@%!. And on today’ s episode, pop culture critic and podcaster Sara Century evokes some of this darkness with 1981’s “The Fantastic Adventures Of Unico.” So switch off that Beverly Hills Teen rerun and tune instead to what Sara has to say about this.
You can follow today’s guest SARA CENTURY on TWITTER @saracentury and on INSTAGRAM @sarcentury. You can also listen to her podcast BITCHES ON COMICS and read selections for her pop culture journalism at www.saracentury.com .
POP NOTES
Unico debuted in the Japanese manga Ririka in 1976. He was designed by renowned artist Osamu Tezuka, creator of such classics as Astro Boy and Kimba The White Lion.
While Osamu Tezuka was filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s initial choice for art director on 2001: A Space Odyssey, the collaboration never materialized due to scheduling conflicts (see this copy of KUBRICK’S LETTER TO TEZUKA from the KUBRICKBLOGJP on Tumbler) . .
The character of Unico made his first jump into animation with a 1979 episode for a proposed pilot entitled “Unico: Black Cloud and White Feather.”
While an ongoing series never materialized, Unico has appeared in two full lengths feature films, “The Fantastic Adventures Of Unico” and “Unico in the Island of Magic.” .
Most recently, Unico was featured in 2001’s “Saving Our Fragile Earth” an animated short exclusively produced for screening in Kyoto Japan’s Tezuka Osamu Animation theate.
For the American dub, Unico was performed by voice actress actress Barbara Goodson, best known as the voice of Rita Repulsa in multiple iterations of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise.
For a recent(ish) interpretation, read FORGOTTEN GEMS OF ANIMATION: THE FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF UNICO from the ROTOSCOPERS animation website.
Tune back Wednesday when Sara scares the letter “s” with a few symbols after it out of Tim with 1988’s HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II.
This episode of MÉNAGE Á POP was recorded by CAST, an online audio platform that lets you create and record a multi-guest podcast straight from your web-browser. It was then mastered by AUPHONIC, a web-based post-production service. Check out both sights for trial and subscription information.
MUSIC FEATURED IN TODAY’S EPISODE:
“Three Ways To Do That” (opening theme) composed and performed Madeline Prior.” All rights reserved with Not A Holograms podcasts.
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Follow Tim Blevins on TWITTER @subcultist and on INSTAGRAM @subcultist.
Try to understand the present while living in the past with Tim’s weekly podcast 20TH CENTURY POP! at www.nahpods.com/20popcast
For questions, queries or, by random chance, press contact Tim Blevins at subcultist@gmail.com.