What A Cartoon! - The August 2021 Schedule

Summer is in its final, hottest weeks once again, and we've got plenty of podcasts to help keep you cool as you try to escape the remorseless rays of the blazing sun. This August, join us as we go back 20 years in time to explore the roots of an Adult Swim classic, discuss some cartoon-adjacent puppet pals at their height of their international fame, and finally, bring our Summer of the Disney Renaissance to a close with the studio's biggest hit of the '90s. And don't forget, $5 and up patrons will get to hear the Talking Futurama podcast about "That's Lobstertainment" on the second Monday of this month!

If you're not a subscriber, signing up at the $5 level will get you each episode a week ahead of time and ad-free, along with our collection of exclusive miniseries (like the recent TalKing of the Hill Season 2 Part 1) which includes over 100 episodes!

Here's what's on the schedule for August:

The Muppet Show - "The Stars of Star Wars" [Patreon: 8/2/21 - Free Feed: 8/9/21]

What's a Muppet, you might ask? Well... it's not quite a mop, and not quite a puppet, but man do they ever make good subject material for What A Cartoon. Thanks to the generous support of Talking Simpsons Network patron Phil, for the first week of August, we'll be looking into The Muppet Show: Jim Henson's five-season, star-studded celebration of all things showbusiness. And with some Star Wars folks as guests, the episode we're examining is a real collection of people and things who didn't know they'd one day be owned by Disney. And we know this isn't technically a cartoon, but we make the rules, dammit!

You can currently watch The Muppet Show on Disney+.

Sealab 2021 - "Bizarro" [Patreon: 8/16/21 - Free Feed: 8/23/21]

Unfortunately, time passes far too quickly, and we're currently staring down the 20th anniversary of Adult Swim's original launch. So, of course, the programming block's upcoming birthday makes for the perfect time to discuss Sealab 2021—as does the fact that we've finally reached the once-distant year of 2021. And we'll be covering one of the most popular episodes of the series; specifically, the one that influenced only the coolest college kids to scream "BIZARRO!" at each other across stinky dorm rooms in the early '00s. (We all coped with national tragedies in our own ways.)

You can currently watch Sealab 2021 on HBO Max.

An Extended Free Preview of What A Cartoon Movie for The Lion King [Patreon: 8/30/21 - Free Feed: 9/6/21]

You voted for it, so we're closing out our Summer of the Disney Renaissance with our long-awaited podcast about The Lion King. Once viewed internally as the "lesser" movie next to Pocahantas, this 1994 animated classic toppled the box office and set a high bar for financial success that Disney couldn't leap until Frozen debuted 20 years later. We'll cover the riveting history of the best movie to ever star Jonathan Taylor Thomas—and we're sure there'll be plenty of fun stories to tell about What A Cartoon Movie superstar, Jeffrey Katzenberg.

And remember: $5 patrons and folks on the free feed will hear an extended preview of the podcast, but if you want the whole thing (and access to all other episodes of What A Cartoon Movie) you'll have to bump your subscription up to the $10 level.

As expected, The Lion King is available to stream on Disney+.

As usual, we've got an extremely varied collection of cartoons this month, and though TalKing of the Hill Season 2 Part 1 has come to an end, you'll still have monthly Talking Futuramas to tide you over until our next miniseries in the fall of 2021. And who knows—we may have some surprises before then. Hang in there, and look forward to another month of great podcasts!