Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Crashbox shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Crashbox offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Crashbox at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Crashbox? Wrong! If the Crashbox is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Crashbox then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Crashbox? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Crashbox and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Crashbox wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Crashbox then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Crashbox site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Crashbox, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Crashbox, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
{{Infobox Television| show_name = Crashbox| image =| caption =| format = Educational| camera = Single Camera| picture_format =| audio_format =| runtime = 25 minutes| creator = Cuppa Coffee Animation| developer = Planet Grande| executive_producer = Eamon Harrington| starring =| narrated =| opentheme =| endtheme =| country = | language = English language| network =
HBO Family| last_aired = [2001 [digital television cable television television channel in the United States. Since 1999, it aims to teach grade-school children everything they should know - including history, math, vocabulary, and even problem-solving skills. It is rated TV-Y7 for some crude humor (only on certain games).
The show takes place in a game machine where green game cartridges (which are sculpted out of clay) are created and loaded by rusty, working robots who will eventually have a lunch break or other things but only on some episodes. Each half-hour episode consists of at least seven 2-to-3-minute educational games that are randomly chosen.
Creation Team
Crashbox is created by Planet Grande Pictures, and is animated by Cuppa Coffee Studio, headed by Adam Shaheen. Planet Grande Pictures gave Cuppa Coffee Studios a time frame to complete 13 hours of programming in 7 months time.Eichhorn, P: "Cuppa Coffee brews up a special blend of animation",
Take One Magazine, Summer, 1999, No. 24
Games
NOTE: This 3-D series has a list of the following games that are animated and educational:
- Captain Bones: The skeleton pirate, Captain Bones, uses his bones to make puzzles to save him "from going stark ravin' mad." Many puzzles consist of incorrect math problems that need to be solved (e.g. 1 + 1 = 3 changes to 1 + 1 = 2 by moving one bone on the 3) or puzzles that need to be arranged to make another image (e.g. 5 squares need to be changed to 4 squares).
- Dirty Pictures: Similar to Haunted House Party, the viewer must figure out who the most well-known person is by watching parts of a picture dusted off by a dust maid and reading the museum keeper's cue cards.
- Distraction News: In this recurring game of staying focused, Dora Smarmy, the cardboard anchorperson, tells the news of a particular topic while nonsensical distractions run amuck onscreen. After talking about the topic, she asks the viewers five questions about the topic.
- Ear We Are: In this game, the viewers need to listen to sounds and figure out what thing or place two different human ears are thinking about.
- Eddie Bull: At the Walla-Walla Washington Zoo, Eddie Bull, a (?), is swallowed whole by an unseen animal and gives the viewers clues (trivial facts about an animal) to have them figure out what animal swallowed him alive. After he tells the viewer what the animal is, he manages to come out alive in the end.
- Haunted House Party: At a haunted house party, a famous person is the special guest whose silhouette is seen through windows. The viewers have to listen to the person's historical facts and figure out who he/she is.
- Lens McCracken: In order to figure out what happened in crime scene, Lens shows the viewers three different things that are zoomed in very closely and has them figure out what those things are.
- Like Totally Paige and Sage: In one minute, the viewers must find ten differences between two panels. Both panels have the same background, but both girls have the differences in their own panels.
- Mug Shots: Verity, a New Yorkish detective, gets four suspects pinned down and allows the viewers to spot which three are guilty by listening to their lies. The suspect who says something truthful and trivial is innocent.
- Poop or Scoop: A sideshow caller, whose arms and cane are only seen, shows four different animals and a fact that relates to each one. If one fact is true, viewers would choose "SCOOP." If false, they choose "POOP."
- Psycho Math: Prof. Rocket, the host with a crazy persona, lets viewers solve answers by showing pictures that represent a particular number (e.g. Number of letters of the alphabet = 26, Number of days in a week = 7). Three pictures are placed in the first three boxes with a question mark in the fourth box (e.g. # x # - # = ?). Addition, subtractions, multiplication, and division signs are used randomly.
- Radio Scramble: At KBOX, "Jumpin' Johnny Jumble", an anthropomorphic mic and radio host, plays tunes to let the viewers figure out what words the jumbled letters really make. The music will always relate to the unscrambled word (for example, if the original, unscrambled word was "mouse", the tune might be about how a "soume" kept squeaking). The beginning and end always show off an example of mixing the word "jumble" (e.g. meljub).
- Revolting Slob: In every episode, an offscreen female narrator teaches the viewers three new vocabulary words based on the Revolting Slob's behaviors and actions. Multiple choices are given before the correct word is revealed. In the end, one word from the third multiple choice section has to do with the Revolting Slob exploding into nothingness, and the narrator closes the episode with "No slobs were harmed in the filming of this show."
- Riddle-Snake: After the Riddle-Snake plays a tune which brings up a riddle, viewers are given time to figure out the riddle before the guy who never opens his eyes reveals the answer.
- Sketch Pad: On his sketch pad, the beatnik draws pictures that tell a story and omits a picture so the viewers try figure out what really happened before the final picture of the story.
- Ten Seconds: A fun fast-paced game where viewers must figure out what the answer is to a picture of certain words within ten seconds. (2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd = Ten Seconds. Hence, the title).
- Think Tank: Captain Bob, a Jamaican submarine driver, is stuck in a large fish tank. Before all the water in the tank goes down the drain and the sub reaches the ground, the viewers need to figure out what three given things have in common. Each episode consists of two rounds.
- Word Shake: In this game similar to Mad Gab, a French chef takes two to three words together and forms them into another word that sounds like the two to three words said together.
Voice cast
- Carlos Alazraqui - Additional Haunted House Party Guests
- Maggie Baird - Verity
- Veena Bidasha - Riddlesnake Raj
- S. Scott Bullock - Captain Bones, Lens McCracken
- Greg Eagles - Captain Bob, Sketch Pad
- Arif S. Kinchen - Professor Rocket
- Peter Lurie - Jumpin' Johnny Jumble
- Dawn Maxey - Valley Girl Voice in Like Totally Paige and Sage
- Edie McClurg - Female Polite Voice in Revolting Slob
- Michael McShane - The Revolting Slob
- Ritchie Montgomery - Eddie Bull
- Alan Schlaifer - Ten Seconds Announcer, Butler in Haunted House Party, Left Ear
- Jerry Stiller - Host
- John Watkin - Horrid One, Right Ear, Word Shake Chef
- Mari Weiss - Dora Smarmy
- Danny Wells - Poop or Scoop Announcer
Trivia
- The robots that run the game machine have electrical items like spark plugs attached to them.
- On Radio Scramble, Jumpin' Johnny Jumble has the same theme as the robots that run the show.
- Every time there is a Game Systems Overload, a janitor like robot fixes the machine, then eats a donut.
- In the second season of Crashbox, the Game Systems Overload is replaced with a short vignette in the Crashbox Cafeteria or the Crashbox Boiler Room.
- Mug Shots uses live-action clips.
External links
- Crashbox at HBO Family
- Crashbox at TV.com
- Crashbox and Cuppa Coffee article in TAKE ONE
-
References
{{Infobox Television| show_name = Crashbox| image =| caption =| format = Educational| camera = Single Camera| picture_format =| audio_format =| runtime = 25 minutes| creator = Cuppa Coffee Animation| developer = Planet Grande| executive_producer = Eamon Harrington| starring =| narrated =| opentheme =| endtheme =| country = | language = English language| network = HBO Family| last_aired = [2001 [digital television cable television television channel in the United States. Since 1999, it aims to teach grade-school children everything they should know - including history, math, vocabulary, and even problem-solving skills. It is rated TV-Y7 for some crude humor (only on certain games).
The show takes place in a game machine where green game cartridges (which are sculpted out of clay) are created and loaded by rusty, working robots who will eventually have a lunch break or other things but only on some episodes. Each half-hour episode consists of at least seven 2-to-3-minute educational games that are randomly chosen.
Creation Team
Crashbox is created by Planet Grande Pictures, and is animated by
Cuppa Coffee Studio, headed by
Adam Shaheen. Planet Grande Pictures gave Cuppa Coffee Studios a time frame to complete 13 hours of programming in 7 months time.Eichhorn, P: "Cuppa Coffee brews up a special blend of animation",
Take One Magazine, Summer, 1999, No. 24
Games
NOTE: This 3-D series has a list of the following games that are animated and educational:
- Captain Bones: The skeleton pirate, Captain Bones, uses his bones to make puzzles to save him "from going stark ravin' mad." Many puzzles consist of incorrect math problems that need to be solved (e.g. 1 + 1 = 3 changes to 1 + 1 = 2 by moving one bone on the 3) or puzzles that need to be arranged to make another image (e.g. 5 squares need to be changed to 4 squares).
- Dirty Pictures: Similar to Haunted House Party, the viewer must figure out who the most well-known person is by watching parts of a picture dusted off by a dust maid and reading the museum keeper's cue cards.
- Distraction News: In this recurring game of staying focused, Dora Smarmy, the cardboard anchorperson, tells the news of a particular topic while nonsensical distractions run amuck onscreen. After talking about the topic, she asks the viewers five questions about the topic.
- Ear We Are: In this game, the viewers need to listen to sounds and figure out what thing or place two different human ears are thinking about.
- Eddie Bull: At the Walla-Walla Washington Zoo, Eddie Bull, a (?), is swallowed whole by an unseen animal and gives the viewers clues (trivial facts about an animal) to have them figure out what animal swallowed him alive. After he tells the viewer what the animal is, he manages to come out alive in the end.
- Haunted House Party: At a haunted house party, a famous person is the special guest whose silhouette is seen through windows. The viewers have to listen to the person's historical facts and figure out who he/she is.
- Lens McCracken: In order to figure out what happened in crime scene, Lens shows the viewers three different things that are zoomed in very closely and has them figure out what those things are.
- Like Totally Paige and Sage: In one minute, the viewers must find ten differences between two panels. Both panels have the same background, but both girls have the differences in their own panels.
- Mug Shots: Verity, a New Yorkish detective, gets four suspects pinned down and allows the viewers to spot which three are guilty by listening to their lies. The suspect who says something truthful and trivial is innocent.
- Poop or Scoop: A sideshow caller, whose arms and cane are only seen, shows four different animals and a fact that relates to each one. If one fact is true, viewers would choose "SCOOP." If false, they choose "POOP."
- Psycho Math: Prof. Rocket, the host with a crazy persona, lets viewers solve answers by showing pictures that represent a particular number (e.g. Number of letters of the alphabet = 26, Number of days in a week = 7). Three pictures are placed in the first three boxes with a question mark in the fourth box (e.g. # x # - # = ?). Addition, subtractions, multiplication, and division signs are used randomly.
- Radio Scramble: At KBOX, "Jumpin' Johnny Jumble", an anthropomorphic mic and radio host, plays tunes to let the viewers figure out what words the jumbled letters really make. The music will always relate to the unscrambled word (for example, if the original, unscrambled word was "mouse", the tune might be about how a "soume" kept squeaking). The beginning and end always show off an example of mixing the word "jumble" (e.g. meljub).
- Revolting Slob: In every episode, an offscreen female narrator teaches the viewers three new vocabulary words based on the Revolting Slob's behaviors and actions. Multiple choices are given before the correct word is revealed. In the end, one word from the third multiple choice section has to do with the Revolting Slob exploding into nothingness, and the narrator closes the episode with "No slobs were harmed in the filming of this show."
- Riddle-Snake: After the Riddle-Snake plays a tune which brings up a riddle, viewers are given time to figure out the riddle before the guy who never opens his eyes reveals the answer.
- Sketch Pad: On his sketch pad, the beatnik draws pictures that tell a story and omits a picture so the viewers try figure out what really happened before the final picture of the story.
- Ten Seconds: A fun fast-paced game where viewers must figure out what the answer is to a picture of certain words within ten seconds. (2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd = Ten Seconds. Hence, the title).
- Think Tank: Captain Bob, a Jamaican submarine driver, is stuck in a large fish tank. Before all the water in the tank goes down the drain and the sub reaches the ground, the viewers need to figure out what three given things have in common. Each episode consists of two rounds.
- Word Shake: In this game similar to Mad Gab, a French chef takes two to three words together and forms them into another word that sounds like the two to three words said together.
Voice cast
- Carlos Alazraqui - Additional Haunted House Party Guests
- Maggie Baird - Verity
- Veena Bidasha - Riddlesnake Raj
- S. Scott Bullock - Captain Bones, Lens McCracken
- Greg Eagles - Captain Bob, Sketch Pad
- Arif S. Kinchen - Professor Rocket
- Peter Lurie - Jumpin' Johnny Jumble
- Dawn Maxey - Valley Girl Voice in Like Totally Paige and Sage
- Edie McClurg - Female Polite Voice in Revolting Slob
- Michael McShane - The Revolting Slob
- Ritchie Montgomery - Eddie Bull
- Alan Schlaifer - Ten Seconds Announcer, Butler in Haunted House Party, Left Ear
- Jerry Stiller - Host
- John Watkin - Horrid One, Right Ear, Word Shake Chef
- Mari Weiss - Dora Smarmy
- Danny Wells - Poop or Scoop Announcer
Trivia
- The robots that run the game machine have electrical items like spark plugs attached to them.
- On Radio Scramble, Jumpin' Johnny Jumble has the same theme as the robots that run the show.
- Every time there is a Game Systems Overload, a janitor like robot fixes the machine, then eats a donut.
- In the second season of Crashbox, the Game Systems Overload is replaced with a short vignette in the Crashbox Cafeteria or the Crashbox Boiler Room.
- Mug Shots uses live-action clips.
External links
- Crashbox at HBO Family
- Crashbox at TV.com
- Crashbox and Cuppa Coffee article in TAKE ONE
-
References