 |
Just like so many other people out there, I adored several
animated shows back when I was a kid (and still do). I was born in 1985, so I
was lucky enough to grow up with iconic shows like X-Men The Animated Series,
Batman The Animated Series, the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show, The
Real Ghostbusters, Spider-Man The Animated Series, and several others. These animated
adventures brought me so much joy and made me fall in love with these
franchises. They encouraged me to go watch the Batman and Ninja Turtles
live-action movies, and eventually, they motivated me to start reading the
comics. I was hooked at an early age. Now, whenever I hear any of the classic theme
songs or see a picture of these older shows, I feel nothing but pure happiness –
these shows gave me so many good memories. I’m 32 years-old and proud to say
that my ringtone is the classic and epic X-Men theme song. It’s totally playing
in your head now, isn’t it? It’s so catchy.
 |
| You can also hear this GIF, right? |
Many of these franchises have become
more and more popular over the years, which means there’s a frequent need to
reinvent them to create a whole new generation of fans. These new incarnations
usually have updated character designs, different animation, and a new approach
to familiar storylines. After all, giving people more of the same wouldn’t be
very creative, would it? Sometimes, these new takes will immediately win you
over and the show is amazing, like The Spectacular Spider-Man. Sometimes, the
changes can be off-putting at first, but once you give the show a fair shot,
you can see that it’s actually a pretty terrific series – Beware the Batman immediately
comes to mind. But sometimes, a show makes significant changes that simply aren’t
for you – it’s not “your” version of the franchise anymore. And if a new show isn’t
for you, the healthy reaction is to shrug and hope that there’s an audience
out there that falls in love with the franchise, just like you did when you
were a kid. After all, you can always enjoy the older shows all over again
since there are plenty of Blu-ray/DVD collections available, and even many of the
classic games are more accessible. But that’s not how a lot of people react.
Not at all.
 |
| Thanks again, mom! |
The only thing that should truly matter is whether the people behind these new shows are legitimately passionate about them and not creating them just to make a quick buck. Maybe the new TMNT show will win me over, maybe it won’t. But if the show gives kids the same amount of joy that I experienced as a child and turns them into lifelong TMNT fans, then I’d say that’s a pretty awesome accomplishment, even if I’m not a fan of it.
 |
| The 2012 show is so underrated. |
Follow me on Twitter for site updates.
I'm of the opposite mentality. I think there are plenty of old cartoons that can be rebooted and given a much more serious spin with an overarching story. It tends to be with shows that were nothing but glorified toylines. I heard great things about that Thundercats reboot and Voltron (while it's become a huge disappointment) was pretty cool for the first few seasons. Outside of comedic cartoons like Ed, Edd and Eddy or Courage the Cowardly Dog, anything that was filled with action could get a decent reboot. I'd love to see Danny Phantom or El Tigre get serious reboots. As for crappier comedic reboots, eh I ignore them.
ReplyDeleteSorry if I wasn't clear, but I wasn't attempting to say that franchises can't be handled in a more "serious" way that also appeals to kids. I think the 2012 TMNT series is a great example of this. That show had some great drama and a surprising amount of horror elements.
DeleteThis article ruined my childhood.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I agree. This was a major issue when the new Star Trek: Discovery was announced and promotion photos revealed major changes in design aesthetics and... gender and race of the main character. It was incredibly depressing that people who claimed to be fans would treat the franchise in such a way when the goal was to breathe life back into the franchise and take it off of life support.
Also, your mom is awesome for making that costume.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThere were only two cartoons that didn't appeal to me personally: Batman Beyond and Beware The Batman. That doesn't mean they weren't good cartoons. I grew up on the '60's Spider-Man and marvel Super-Heroes cartoons and the '70's Star Trek and Gilligan's Island 'toons...
ReplyDeleteWish people would read this before attacking every new incarnation of a show they watched as kid and refuses to see it take new shape.
ReplyDeleteI should add that I do think some new incarnation can be crap with bad quality and sometimes just created to milk something well known for money and in that case it is deserving of hate.
I agree in a sense. Most of the time this is absolutely true and many people are overreacting to a problem that really doesn't exist, but I would like to point to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes as an example where the outrage makes sense. EMH was canceled mid-plot line even though it had great ratings and great stories for the much worse Avengers Assemble. The writers told the fans that Avengers Assemble would be similar to EMH and carry on those stories, but that simply proved to be false. In this example, I think fans were right to be mad, but in most cases I agree, fans overreact.
ReplyDeleteTo some degree I agree, but I do have to somewhat agree with Saint (not the part with the new Voltron beimg dissapointing, still love that show), in that I do wamt some shows to improve in its concept instead of just being a lazy way to take advantage of a popular franchise and to milk it. Is not exactly ruining my childhood, but it is them showing they do not care about a franchise I love. That at least is why I think people said that.
ReplyDeleteGranted if the original show only appeal to kids, and the new one does the same thing, it is dissapointing, but expected. If it was a show that used to appeal to everyone amd now dumb it down just for kids, screw them (looking at you TT Go amd Ben 10).
You are right, the X-Men thene did play in my head as I was reading that. Actually Batman TAS is my ringtone currently.
ReplyDeleteOn topic, you're absolutely right. I think this particularly applies for cartoons where they are specifically targeted to a new younger audience.