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Classic Cartoons

December 15th, 2008 by Rebecca Harper Editor

With school winding down and winter break approaching, Hulu for the Holidays brings you a distraction that should take you back to simpler times: a whole block of classic cartoons — episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, and The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

While I remember Fat Albert and Rocky and Bullwinkle well, He-Man was the show my younger brother and I watched after school every day. We knew the opener by heart — “By the power of Greyskull, I have the power!” — and tuned in to see Prince Adam pick up the Power Sword and transform into the most powerful man in the universe. No longer a cowardly prince, He-Man was able to step up to the evil Skeletor and protect Eternia with a little help from his friends Man-At-Arms, Teela, Orko (He-Man’s magical sidekick) and Battle Cat.

Watching our grab bag of episodes from the first season of He-Man, including the first, “Diamond Ray of Disappearance” (embedded here) has been a lot of fun — but don’t forget the other classics. Rocky and Bullwinkle is as zany as ever, and Fat Albert is a fun combo of education and fun delivered with Bill Cosby’s signature style.

We have more Hulu for the Holidays coming your way: new site features tomorrow and then a string of movies the rest of the week. We’re featuring a day of documentaries, a day of serious drama, and then a day full of family-friendly picks. Check back throughout the week to see the latest!

Rebecca (),
Editor

Last comment: Dec 17th 2008 4 Comments

Sesame Street: Clips Now on Hulu

October 13th, 2008 by Rebecca Harper Editor

They’ve been around long enough that most of us consider them old friends: Ernie and Bert, Big Bird and Snuffleupagus, Oscar and Grover. Striking the right chord of playtime and education, our colorful puppet pals taught us not only letters and numbers, but also to respect each other and to eat your veggies.

Now that Sesame Street is available on Hulu, you can revisit Elmo, The Count and Cookie Monster any time you want. We have 75 clips spanning the show’s history, including some of the notable guest visits: Natalie Portman, Johnny Cash, Ben Stiller, Liam Neeson and American Idol’s Ruben Studdard, among many others. They cover everything from exercise and art to asking questions and rhyming — along with counting and the alphabet, of course.

So whether you need to brush up on your ABCs or just want an excuse to sing along, now you can find your way to Sesame Street through Hulu. Here’s one of my favorites:

Have a favorite of your own? Share yours on the show’s discussion board.

Rebecca (),
Rubber Duckie’s BFF

Last comment: Oct 23rd 2008 4 Comments

Wallace & Gromit: Cracking Contraptions

August 11th, 2008 by Rebecca Harper Editor

Comedy is full of great duos: Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Cheech and Chong… In today’s Hulu Days of Summer feature, Wallace & Gromit: Cracking Contraptions, the minds at Aardman Animations put together a similar duo: A daffy inventor, Wallace, and his trusty dog, Gromit.

Gromit plays the straight man to his absent-minded owner, whose seemingly handy gadgets — a device that changes the channel (in “The Tellyscope“) and a robot that makes breakfast (in “The Autochef“), for instance — always seem to backfire. Luckily, the long-suffering dog takes it all in stride, gamely donning a sheep’s costume when Wallace has insomnia in “The Snoozatron” and taking a few hits in “The Soccamatic“.

These plasticine Brits come from the minds of the four-time Academy Award-winning team at Aardman. They had produced 12 stills of Wallace’s wacky inventions for a calendar, so they played off these contraptions to produce these 10 short, stop-animation films for their fans. We are happy to welcome Wallace and Gromit (and all their troublesome contraptions) to Hulu and hope you enjoy.

Rebecca ()

Last comment: Aug 12th 2008 2 Comments

IMAX Nature Films

July 25th, 2008 by Betina Chan-Martin Product Manager

We often receive requests for more educational programming, and today’s Hulu Days of Summer addition should deliver. We’ve put together a collection of five new-to-Hulu documentaries that span the globe. These films, from our partners at K2 Communications, offer a close look at the world around us. Originally produced for IMAX® theaters, they offer high-impact, educational and inspirational entertainment for the entire family.

First, you can prepare yourself for the upcoming Shark Week on cable television with Search for the Great Sharks. Traveling from the coast of California to remote parts of South and Western Australia, the film pursues blue sharks (found everywhere from Newfoundland to Argentina), whale sharks and the notorious great white shark.

And then there’s Africa: The Serengeti. Narrated by James Earl Jones, it tracks the Great Migration across the Serengeti plains in Tanzania and Kenya. Over two million grazing animals — including wildebeest, zebras and gazelles — make the trek each year.

If you prefer natural wonders, The Greatest Places ventures to seven spectacular spots: Greenland, Madagascar, Namib, the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Tibet, Iguazu Falls in South America, and the Amazon. If you’ve seen the latest Indiana Jones movie, the dramatic Iguazu Falls will look familiar. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is nearly four times as wide as Niagara Falls, with 275 different cascades plunging 270 feet into the gorge below.

In addition to these, there’s also Ocean Oasis, an underwater look at the Sea of Cortes in Baja California, and The Great American West, a recap of the frontier’s history through the stories and words of the real-life settlers of the Western territory.

Enjoy, (),
Rebecca

Last comment: Apr 15th 2009 8 Comments

Here comes Speed Racer

May 8th, 2008 by Robert Schildhouse Manager, Content Acquisition

As the Wachowskis’ Day-Glo take on Speed Racer hits theaters this weekend, we’re happy to welcome the original Speed Racer — along with Trixie, Spritle, Chim-Chim and Rex Racer — to the Hulu family.

One of the first successful anime series to cross over to the U.S. from Japan, Speed Racer got its start in the late 1960s and stuck around in syndication for nearly 20 years. Many of us here at Hulu caught the series when it made a comeback on MTV in the ’90s (and later on the Cartoon Network), and can’t wait to see how the Wachowskis’ version holds up to the original.

To catch up on Speed Racer’s roots, tune into any of our 13 episodes — with more on the way — to see Speed and his Mach 5 outmaneuver spies, motorcycle gangs and other bad guys with the help of his family and friends. Full of zany humor and lots of revved-up action, one of our favorites is The Race Against the Mammoth Car, a two-part episode complete with homing robots, rotary saws and $50 million in gold bars.

The two-part Race for Revenge stars a brother and sister who are out to beat Speed:

While the original Speed Racer series may not have the CGI and special effects of the Wachowski flick, the fast-paced story lines and vintage anime action can’t be beat. Still craving more Speed? Subscribe to the series to have episodes placed in your queue as they’re added to the site. Turn on queue alerts and we’ll even send an e-mail to let you know when new Speed Racer episodes have arrived in your queue.

Go Speed Racer, go!

Robert

robert.schildhouse@hulu.com

Last comment: May 21st 2008 4 Comments