Someone?
-
home0006 — 12 years ago(March 17, 2014 01:57 PM)
As others have said every era has had it's share of great cartoon shows and bad cartoon shows, much like TV in general. To me G1, GI Joe, M.A.S.K., Voltron, and The Real Ghostbusters were standouts from the 80s. At the time I loved He-Man but it doesn't stand up as well over time as those others do, though the reboot of He-Man that came out a few years ago isn't bad. The 90s X-Men, up until the train wreck of a final season, is the best cartoon show I've ever seen. Spider-Man that came out at that same time was also great, though I preferred the animation style of X-Men better.
However I agree with you about today's crop of shows. I'm watching the Avengers show on Disney XD and the previews for other shows that are on that network just look terrible. I tried watching Spongebob one time and just found that to be miserable, and can't understand the hype. -
mk1974 — 11 years ago(July 28, 2014 04:18 PM)
There's a phenomenon that happens whenever one looks back on the past. There were tons of forgettable cartoons in the 80s, and as such, we forget them. We mostly remember the things that left an impression on us. However, when we look at what is around today, we give more equal weight to the bad ones and good ones because we're in the thick of it.
That said, cartoons are very different now. There are superhero cartoons, some of which are very well made. However, there's also an increased sensitivity about violence in kids' shows that has certainly affected the way it is depicted in them.
But the animation is far better now than it was then, and there are a whole lot more cartoons made to appeal specifically to adults (which was very rare/underground before the Simpsons).
What I find funny is that the makers of the original Transformers didn't seem to realize the effect they were having. They approached the show like it was a toy commercial, and that's all it really was to them. I don't think they realize how deeply it resonated with some of the kids, for whatever reasons. That's why they made the mistake of rather nonchalantly killing off popular characters, which spelled the end for the show, really. They created a mythology, seemingly almost by accident, that many of us loved, but they didn't see it for what it was. It was always just a way to sell toys for them. -
d_myerss — 11 years ago(July 29, 2014 05:09 AM)
Very good post.
I do wonder though, would G1 be as well remembered by us if it weren't for what the movie did?
I know it killed off a lot of beloved characters but there were so many to choose from, new robots being introduced as new waves of toys came through, could fans not have adapted to Ultra Magnus, Rodimus, Scourge, Cyclonus and the bunch the same way they did to Blaster, Red Alert, Smokescreen, Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet, Blitzwing and Astrotrain?
Maybe by season 3, a lot of the earlier fans had moved on to something else and season 3 wasn't a good jump on point for other kids.
The thing that always stands out to me among the terrible episodes and the gem episodes is The Movie. The shock value alone made that movie awesome and I still watch it fairly regularly to this day. It's what made Transformers stick with me more so than any other cartoon.
I think if the movie hadn't been as brutal and thus impactful as it was, I likely wouldn't still be a fan of the cartoon the way I am. -
mk1974 — 11 years ago(July 29, 2014 06:02 AM)
I think agree with that. I distinctly remember at the time (I was 11 when the movie came out) feeling like the movie wasn't pandering to me as a kid. We always used to make fun of things like, in GI Joe, having people miraculously eject from planes and parachute to safety. Way to teach kids that no one ever dies in war.
But I think they made a mistake in killing off Optimus Prime. Maybe if they had replaced him with a leader that had his command and charisma, it might have worked better. But Rodimus didn't have the gravitas that Optimus did. They didn't make a guy who could really live up to the legacy of Optimus Prime. It was never clear, beyond just being a sort of "chosen one," why Hot Rod was worthy of the Matrix. It wasn't clear when it happened, and it wasn't clear on the show after it. Rodimus wasn't nearly the leader that Optimus was.
Also, Optimus was basically an anchor for a lot of kids. He was the solid core of the show, and killing him off was a bit like killing off a family member. Younger kids can't make the distinction quite as easily between reality and fantasy, and many of the younger kids got really, really upset about his death, which might have led to their parents not letting them watch the show anymore.
I do think a lot of kids moved on. I know that I turned 12 in the fall after the movie's release. Seventh grade and hormones basically brought about changes in my interests, and fighting robots started to seem a little less interesting than the girls in my class. The show probably did need to move on and change, but the way they went about it might have been a bit too sudden and traumatizing for the younger kids they wanted to keep. -
d_myerss — 11 years ago(July 29, 2014 07:42 AM)
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Luckily for me I actually saw the movie first. The movie was released on my Dad's birthday the year I was born!
But I immediately begged my parents to buy me tons of VHS so that I could see what happened before and after. So I wasn't traumatised by the movie that someone like yourself or a little younger likely would have been.
Of course once I sat through enough of S1 and S2 as a youngster I could totally appreciate what happened in the movie and still find it quite emotional now.
I really liked Rodimus but yeah, he could never live up to Optimus. That's kind of what I liked about him and S3 in general. Though it was barely there, there was a little more character development than the previous seasons, particularly in Rodimus' insecurities and Galvatron's madness.
But I hear what you're saying, for those kids who experienced S1,S2, the movie and S3 all in order, I can see why Rodimus was such a let down by comparison. -
SydneyIz — 11 years ago(August 06, 2014 01:11 AM)
OP, you suffer from nostalgia, as every decade created some nightmarish cartoons. I looked through old Saturday Morning TV logs. About 65%-75% of the shows were garbage, unwatchable, or forgettable. The horrifying truth I found among the 25%-35% specials were the transcendental shows; the franchises; and those unique shows, most people forgot about or did not watch in the first place. Oddly enough, the 25%-35% shows had alot future and up-coming talent behind the scenes in many films and TV shows. Animators/Animation companies, writers, voice actors/actresses, show creators, and series composers.
Yet by George, I think you are onto something. Cartoons are actually much more heavily regulated now E/I standards and the prevalence of parent groups'. More hands-on approach by networks with conglomerates owning most of the channels. With heavy instances on techno and minimalist animation, some cartoons do have a pedestrian look to them. -
syafiqjabar — 11 years ago(September 19, 2014 12:14 AM)
Pretty ironic posting this in the Transformers board, a cartoon where the writers admitted that they ignore plot in favor of action, infamous for bad animation, lack of continuity, and characters appearing or disappearing not because of the story but because Hasbro wanted to advertise new toys or get rid of characters whose toys are outdated.
-
SydneyIz — 11 years ago(September 24, 2014 02:52 PM)
Pretty ironic posting this in the Transformers board, a cartoon where the writers admitted that they ignore plot in favor of action, infamous for bad animation, lack of continuity, and characters appearing or disappearing not because of the story but because Hasbro wanted to advertise new toys or get rid of characters whose toys are outdated.
Yes, but don't you think find it that such a disinterested cartoon still looks far more competent and engaging than most action-oriented children cartoons/child-oriented shows in general. Moreover, even the worst G1 episodes, are more intelligently written than any Transformers film directed by Michael Bay. -
syafiqjabar — 11 years ago(January 06, 2015 07:38 PM)
Many cartoons that came in the 1990s and onwards managed to be toy commercials AND have good writing and animation. This included Beast Wars who managed to be a match for shows like Batman The Animated Series and Gargoyles.
-
TwoThousandOneMark — 11 years ago(March 17, 2015 04:04 PM)
I did a full G1 rewatch last year, its IQ is certainly no greater than what seems to be around these days.
Nearly every single character is 'single trait', add action, & a bit of exposition & voila, there's only so much that can fit into 22min eps run times.
That was one of the aspects I'd overlooked & forgotten from being a kid. G1 S2 was just a slew of standalone episodes. That alone isn't very impressive, regarding this IQ subject. It would've been great had they been willing to dole out a few more mini arcs, rather than a few here & there (My fav being the Stunticons/Aerialbots origin 2 parter). At least give us & the show greater sense of development & continuity, as reward & payoff for watching entire seasons.
S3 managed to accept that much better, alas by that time the magic was dwindling. Also, for me at least, I was growing out of the show & moving into NES lols. (I appreciated S3 much better with my adult sense, without a sense of childish letdown)
As mentioned, the movie certainly upped the ante & even with so many deaths for toy turnover, it paid off our devotion to the show & characters leading in.
If that movie hadn't happened, or how it did, we probably might not even be still discussing G1 here in the 21st century like this lols.
It's like New Coke. Coca Cola rebounded & hasn't been #2 since. Transformers The Movie was kinda like that. We hated how it marginalized all our main favs for the sake of new toys, & yet all the deaths have amplified how much we really were into G1. -
residentevil6901 — 9 years ago(October 19, 2016 10:48 PM)
You're right on the money. I think today's stuff is completely lame / dumb. I think cartoons have been dumb since the very end of the 90's / first of the 2000's. My kids were born in 99 and 2000 so they started watching stuff in 2001 to 2002 and I got to say some of that stuff then was so bad I'd actually laughed out loud at it.
I know that Transformers G1 today is kind of cheesy but man I tell you what the cheese of the 80s is so much cooler then today's cheesy stuff. I think that Transformers is the best cartoon of all time. Followed by Voltron, Thundercats, G.I. Joe, Silverhawks, Robotech, He-Man, Battle of the Planets & Robotix. Gobots was kind of cool but lame in comparison to Transformers. I never got into TMNT since it was kind of past when I was watching cartoons but I know that people put that on their favorite list of 80s TV shows. I've also heard that M.A.S.K., Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors, Sabre Rider & The Star Sheriffs, The Galaxy Rangers, BraveStarr & Mighty Orbots are cool but I've only seen a few episodes and not enough to form an opinion about them.
I think cartoons in the 90s still remained pretty cool and were a lot like the 80s cartoons until the end of the 90s like I said. -
ryto_69 — 9 years ago(October 28, 2016 01:47 PM)
You're not wrong, today's cartoons seem to focus on demonstrating childish teenage personalities, fashion, behaviour influencing type stuff whereas the 80s cartoons and specifically Transformers just showed us great stories and characters and presented them in a way which we could emulate when we played with our toys.. obviously to get us to want to buy the toys though.
-
TutuAnimationPrincess — 5 years ago(November 16, 2020 10:56 PM)
I know this topic is ancient, but I can't resist. It was just the OP's impression. While there are some 80s gems, this wasn't one of them. It's not even enjoyable on an ironic level like He-Man. Boring uninteresting 80s trash, every decade since has had multiple shows light years better than this.
If life is getting you down and you feel hope is lost, then please come dance with me! -
preachcaleb — 5 years ago(November 17, 2020 08:06 PM)
Gotta disagree there. This is still my favorite 80s action cartoon. The voices are great, in particular Soundwave, Astrotrain, Megatron, and Optimus Prime. There's fan action and one of the catchiest theme songs of the 80s.
And the concept alone is brilliant. Toys that turn into cars and robots. It's like two in one.
So many stories, so little time.
