Animated TV shows that should've been

[AdrenalineRush1996]

IIRC, wasn't it a casualty of the immediate post-9/11 media landscape? I agree that it could've been an awesome action cartoon for Nick. I wish there would be more cartoons with a dieselpunk-ish aesthetic...

There's another reason. According to Micah Wright, network execs including future network president Cyma Zarghami didn't like the premise along with those reports that Nickelodeon was against Wright's attempts to unionise writers from the show.

 

[Frank Coufal]

Escape from Jurassic Park: Being a big fan of Jurassic Park myself, particularly the first movie, it would've been such an awesome and truly adventurous show to watch. After learning about the concept art and the plot for the planned series, I think it would've been a game-changer for not only television animation, but for prime-time animation, too.

Top Cat reboot series: Apparently Warner Bros. had plans to reboot Top Cat for Kids' WB sometime in the 2000s, but the formation of The CW put an end to those plans. Since I like and admire Top Cat, and given how WB doesn't do much with Top Cat nowadays just because the character and show are more popular in Latin America, I think they probably would have done a great job.

Untitled Gremlins animated series from the early 1990s: Even though there's the upcoming Gremlins prequel animated TV series coming to WarnerMedia's upcoming streaming service, WB and Amblin had plans to make an animated series based on Gremlins in the early 1990s. Even though there was already a pilot made, the planned series was scrapped after Gremlins 2 lost money and got a bad reception. I probably wouldn't have been born had it gotten past the pilot stage, but I think it would have really been something terrific.

The proposed revival of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, called The Secret Adventures of Bullwinkle that Tad Stones and Michael Peraza, Jr. were developing at Disney in the late-1980s before finding out that Disney didn't hold actual rights to the original show; they only had home video rights at the time.

 

[Fone Bone]

Untitled Gremlins animated series from the early 1990s: Even though there's the upcoming Gremlins prequel animated TV series coming to WarnerMedia's upcoming streaming service, WB and Amblin had plans to make an animated series based on Gremlins in the early 1990s. Even though there was already a pilot made, the planned series was scrapped after Gremlins 2 lost money and got a bad reception. I probably wouldn't have been born had it gotten past the pilot stage, but I think it would have really been something terrific.

Gremlins 2 definitely lost money but I don't think it got a bad reception at all. Most critics agreed it was far superior to the original. And it was.

The proposed revival of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, called The Secret Adventures of Bullwinkle that Tad Stones and Michael Peraza, Jr. were developing at Disney in the late-1980s before finding out that Disney didn't hold actual rights to the original show; they only had home video rights at the time.

Never heard of this but I would have loved to have seen it.

 

[Vuxovich]

I would like to know if the Mighty No. 9 animated show is still in development.

 

[ShadowBlinky]

I would like to know if the Mighty No. 9 animated show is still in development.

After the game/kickstarter disaster? Not bloody likely.

 

[Checkerboard]

Thundercats/Silverhawks/Tigersharks crossover.

Pryde of X-Men.

Then some WAC pilots.

And then some shows with only a couple episodes.

 

[Vuxovich]

Thundercats/Silverhawks/Tigersharks crossover.

Why that would-be-so-great crossover never came to fruition?

 

[Checkerboard]

Probably money. With each show there was less episodes, less merchandise, less promotion and lower mainstream penetration. The only thing we ever got was a poster back then and a hint in the Thundercats reboot. It's a shame though. ThunderForce looked cool.

 

[Light Lucario]

There was one Oh Yeah cartoon pilot called Planet Kate that really sticks out to me. I've vaguely remembered it for years, but I didn't remember the name until I looked it up a few moments ago. It has a cool premise, really unique visuals/character designs, Kate herself seemed like a potentially good lead character and it has a nice setup for an on-going storyline. It is a real shame that it wasn't picked up for a full series. I definitely think it had a lot of potential.

Although, after rewatching the pilot for the first time in ages, I can kind of see why it might not have been picked up by Nickelodeon. It might have been a bit too ahead of its time with being a serialized series. There were cartoons with ongoing storylines at the time of course, but most of the shows Nick had were slice of life and/or comedy shows. It might have been a bit too different from the usual kind of shows that they made around that time. I still wish that they had turned it into a series.

 

[Vuxovich]

Probably money. With each show there was less episodes, less merchandise, less promotion and lower mainstream penetration. The only thing we ever got was a poster back then and a hint in the Thundercats reboot. It's a shame though. ThunderForce looked cool.

I think the reasons why the ThunderCats reboot didn't get more are...

1. Since the TC reboot's style of animation looks too much like Avatar: The Last Airbender, somebody was so busy with The Legend of Korra.
2. As far as I know, the production of the TC reboot happened around the time of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The disaster affected the anime/manga/video industry in some capacity.
3. The Japanese anime industry had drastically changed at the time, to the point that most of the anime are now dubbed in Texas instead of Los Angeles, New York City and Canada.

I also think that, had the ThunderCats' reboot's second season happened, Snarf's voice actress would have been replaced since she doesn't live in Los Angeles.

How about that?

 

[Red Arrow]

I think the reasons why the ThunderCats reboot didn't get more are...

1. Since the TC reboot's style of animation looks too much like Avatar: The Last Airbender, somebody was so busy with The Legend of Korra.
2. As far as I know, the production of the TC reboot happened around the time of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The disaster affected the anime/manga/video industry in some capacity.
3. The Japanese anime industry had drastically changed at the time, to the point that most of the anime are now dubbed in Texas instead of Los Angeles, New York City and Canada.

I also think that, had the ThunderCats' reboot's second season happened, Snarf's voice actress would have been replaced since she doesn't live in Los Angeles.

How about that?

Even though the animation was done in Japan, it was still a Warner Bros cartoon. That tsunami didn't affect ThunderCats' popularity.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-A202F met Tapatalk

 

[glennbyrnes]

Mr. Ed might make a good cartoon show, don't you think?

 

[Spacething7474]

Almost anything that Random! Cartoons had: Solomon Fix, The Finster Finster Show, Teapot, 6 Monsters, Boneheads, Moobeard The Cow Pirate, the list goes on.

From the Nick Animated Shorts Program: Zombie Brothers, Harold & Herbert, Ice Station Zedonk, Broduel, Face Face, Russel & Fox’s Cruel And Unusual Detention, Someone Needs To Stop Aunt Phyllis!, and Farkels.

From Cartoon Network: Paranormal Roomates, Pillywags Mansion, AJ’s Infinite Summer, Bottom’s Butte, Ridin’ With Burgess, My Science Fiction Project, and Stockboys Of The Apocalypse.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Galactic: Kids Next Door, anyone?

 

[Vuxovich]

Galactic: Kids Next Door, anyone?

I still believe in the new KND project. But did you know that Mega Man X was almost a star of his animated show?

 

[doomrider7]

There was one Oh Yeah cartoon pilot called Planet Kate that really sticks out to me. I've vaguely remembered it for years, but I didn't remember the name until I looked it up a few moments ago. It has a cool premise, really unique visuals/character designs, Kate herself seemed like a potentially good lead character and it has a nice setup for an on-going storyline. It is a real shame that it wasn't picked up for a full series. I definitely think it had a lot of potential.

Although, after rewatching the pilot for the first time in ages, I can kind of see why it might not have been picked up by Nickelodeon. It might have been a bit too ahead of its time with being a serialized series. There were cartoons with ongoing storylines at the time of course, but most of the shows Nick had were slice of life and/or comedy shows. It might have been a bit too different from the usual kind of shows that they made around that time. I still wish that they had turned it into a series.

I remember that pilot. Series looked amazing and I was always so curious as to what happened to it and where the mystery went. Also, there was another one by Rob Renzetti that was basically X-Files, but for Fairy/Folk Tales that looked awesome. Pilot was about the Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf.

These two Nick pilots looked like they would have been great cartoons.

These Nick pilots would’ve been great too. Damn these shorts are art.

Okay, I found the pilot. It was called Space Mission: Danger!

I thought it was a CN pilot, but it actually a Nick pilot.

What the Hell Nick?!! These look freaking amazing just based on the stills!!! You passed on THESE, but still greenlit "Sanjay and Craig" and "Breadwinners"?!!

Also, when these discussions pop up, I'll never not bring up The Modiflyers. God that looked amazing.

 

[Classic Speedy]

I am still morbidly curious to see the Blues Brothers animated series.

 

[KeldeoKitty]

Here’s another Nick short that should’ve been greenlit Harpy Gee by Brianne Drouhard.
I’ve seen Drouhard a lot on Twitter. She is a graphic novel artist with an impressive background and I’m sure she would be a great cartoonist.

While I’m at it here’s more shorts I found.


Just a few more examples of potential Adventure Time/Gravity Falls esque hits Nick could’ve had with Magical Children and Dinosaur Island. The Nick animated shorts programs sure is rife of 3 minute wonders.

 

[doomrider7]

Here’s another Nick short that should’ve been greenlit Harpy Gee by Brianne Drouhard.
I’ve seen Drouhard a lot on Twitter. She is a graphic novel artist with an impressive background and I’m sure she would be a great cartoonist.

While I’m at it here’s more shorts I found.


Just a few more examples of potential Adventure Time/Gravity Falls esque hits Nick could’ve had with Magical Children and Dinosaur Island. The Nick animated shorts programs sure is rife of 3 minute wonders.

Harpy Gee is very good webcomic. Another webcomic that would be dope animated is Girl Genius.