What do Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams have in common, aside from resoundingly resonant bodies of work (Buffy, Angel, Firefly for Whedon, Alias and Lost for Abrams) and the love of a grateful geek nation? Get the scoop, after the jump.
They’re each responsible for an epileptiliciously fake Japanese TV commercial. Here’s Whedon’s Fruity Oaty Bar spot, which appeared in Serenity (it was the ad that triggered River Tam’s killing machineiness):
And click here to check out the spot for Slusho, a fake soft drink which features heavily in the Abrams-verse, and which may or may not have anything to do with the upcoming Cloverfield.
But which crazy, headache-inducing spot is better? While I’m a sucker for octopuses crawling from decolletages, I’m gonna give the nod to Slusho. Total lunacy, complete with a giant moose barking orders to a Japanese wage slave.What about you? Which would you rather see when you close your eyes?
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I’m going with Slusho too. Fruity Oaty Bar had a catchier tune, but Slusho was more visibly appealing in it’s insanity.
Fruity Oaty Bar I just kept waiting for one of the Power Puff Girls to show up.
Uhh, hello, they both get their respective azzes kicked by Matt Groening’s “Mr. SParkle”, which came out years beforehand but actually looks like a real Japanese tv commercial.
Check out the ad by following the link below.
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/20638/detail/
I’ll go for Slusho only beacause it dosen’t seem to trigger homicial outbursts in those that watch it unlike the Fruity Oaty Bar spot.
Stupid quicktime 3. I can’t see the Slusho comercial!!
I’m gonna say Fruity Oaty Bar. It’s cuter and darn catchy!
JOSS WHEDON ROCK!!!! JJ ABRAM IS A JOSS WANNABE…..
!!!VIVE LA JOSS!!!!!
Why is Whedon’s ad a fake Japanese commercial? Shouldn’t it be a fake Chinese commercial? In the Firefly universe the Alliance is supposed to be the result of the United States’ and China’s governments merging together. Those are Chinese characters in the ad, not Japanese.
Anyway, I say Fruity Oaty Bar, Mr. Sparkle, and then Slusho. If I have to see any of that when I close my eyes I want to at least hear catchy music. Mr. Sparkle would have been first if it had been shorter since it had bad Japanese to English translations (which are always fun). The guy in Slusho was trying to hard to fit into the insanity instead of simply being insane.
WHEDON’S is the better one. The other one was just….what?
To Snarf- Did you watch Serenity? The Fruity Oaty Bar commmercial made River go crazy and attack an entire bar full of people.
To EP Sato- Joss Whedon says that the Mr. Sparkle spot on the Simpsons greatly influenced the Fruity Oaty Bar commercial. So Whedon’s commercial could be considered a homage to a spoof of a real Japanese commercial.
In my own opionin, I am such a Joss Whedon fan I have to agree with the majourity and say, FRUITY OATY BAR! Whedon managed to create intersting, compelling plot lines that had satisfying conclusions. JJ Abrams still hasn’t explained the polar bears.
As for Cloverfield, Snakes on a Plane took away all my trust for movies so heavivly hyped on the internet.
Kelsey, read Snarf’s comment again – that’s exactly what he/she was saying.
Anyway notice you see the “monster” at the end of the clip. Slow it down,there it is!
Fruity Oaty Bar all the way. I’m still singing it.
Whedon blows him away. The JJ commercial is lame and if it has anyhing to do with the movie it will suck. Whedon’s has a great tune and is a plot point in the movie. no contest
Joss whedon’s Fruity Oaty Bar, no contest. Oh, and yeah, it’s Chinese!!
Fruity Oaty Bar is the best ring tone ever. I’ve been using it for a couple of years.
Forgot to mention this, but the Fruity Oatie Bar (and Whedon’s explanation of why the ad looks so surreal) are the easter egg on the Serenity DVD.
Kelsey is right, BTW. Whedon will frequently borrow an idea from another creator, but will then run with it like no one’s ever dreamed.
I give Groening credit for coming up with the idea first, but Whedon gets credit for making Japanese commercials even more fun than they already are.
Nah, Fruity Oaty Bars is a better commercial. Better animation, catchier song, much shorter, only less annoying by a fracture. Besides, I think that the oaty bars would be healthier.
@Kelsey
To be fair to JJ (even thoughI love Joss more) they have actually explained the polar bear.
Dharma was doing research on animals, including polar bears. They escaped when Dharma collapsed.
The cages that Kate and Sawyer are kept in at the start of the 3rd Season are the old polar bear cages.
I go with Slush-O. It’s a nice little callback to JJ’s show Alias, when Vaughn offered one to Sydney in the second or third episode of the first season. So for nostalgia’s sake, I back JJ.
I hate to have to be the fanboy here, but the Firefly/Serenity ‘verse’ is an amalgam of U.S. and Chinese culture, so the Oaty Bar commercial isn’t likely to be Japanese.
I agree with EP Sato. Slusho is the better of these two, but Mr. Sparkle rules them all.
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