A fairly long time ago (maybe around '97-98?) MTV had a show by the name of Cartoon Sushi. I get the feeling no one much cared for it, and it generally seems to’ve gathered the reputation of being a pale reflection of the earlier Liquid Television. I don’t think I was ever even aware of LTV during its run; I certainly never watched it and so can’t compare.
No matter whether the show’s rep is deserved or not, it -did- have a handful of pretty solid shorts on it. Pariah the Red Man was one; it showed a man dragging a talking ball and chain. The ball and chain quipped at him relentlessly, until he finally found a glass of water, which he reached for… and tipped over. After a sigh, he started to trudge on again; the camera panned out to show that he was stuck on a moebius strip.
UltraCity 6060 was another gem. There were several ‘episodes’ that showed during Cartoon Sushi’s run. Two that I remember were parodies of anime, involving a loss of the lip syncing budget and the teenage kids of typical anime heroes. A third, “Jackson Planet” was, uh, something else entirely–a sort of mix of satire at the Jacksons and more anime parody. It lives on to this day in my vocabulary with the phrase: “Naked time!”
Does anyone know if either a) there might be some hope of the Cartoon Sushi eps being released in their entirety, or b) there could be some way to get my paws on Pariah and Ultracity, at least?