The Rocketeer Cartoon (News And Discussion Thread)

SweetShop209

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http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/926167-disney-junior-announces-the-rocketeer-series-for-2019

In 2019, Disney Junior will release a cartoon called "Rocketeer", based on the Dave Stevens comic book series.

Here's the description: "Inspired by Dave Stevens’ popular comic book series, The Rocketeer follows Kit, a young girl who receives a surprise package on her birthday revealing she’s next in line to become the Rocketeer, a legendary superhero who has the ability to fly with the help of a rocket-powered jet pack. Armed with her cool new gear and secret identity, Kit is ready to take flight and save the day with her gadget-minded best friend, Tesh, and airplane mechanic uncle, Ambrose, who join her on her epic adventures."

Episodes will be composed of two 11 minute segments. The showrunner is Nicole Dubuc (Transformers Rescue Bots, My Friends Tigger And Pooh, Miles From Tomorrowland, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and Star Wars Rebels).
 

TsWade2

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I appreciate they give Rocketeer some love, but I think using it as a preschool show is not a good idea, but whatever. I can't argue or rant about it. It's their choice, not mine.
 

Ed Liu

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Um. That was unexpected. I wonder if they'll have the Bettie Page lookalike in the Disney Jr. version.

However, I love Nicole Dubuc's work on stuff like Spectacular Spider-Man and Transformers: Rescue Bots, with that latter series being a good model of how to do high-action for a pre-school audience without making it stupid (and also making it fun for adults to watch). So color me optimistic for this series.
 

Rick Jones

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I love the Rocketeer. I probably even love Dave Stevens' books more than the movie just because of how gorgeous his art was. The idea of animated Rocketeer intrigued me since the first time I saw that one Nazi sequence but I thought that this was a property no one with decision making power really cared for anymore. What intrigues me most is what it will look like. I have no doubt they can make a fun kids show but I hope it looks beautiful.

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Troy Troodon

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An animated Rocketeer series is a great idea... but probably not for preschoolers. I can see it working fine for older kids and teens, but not so much for anyone between Kindergarten and The Fourth Grade.
 

SweetShop209

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An animated Rocketeer series is a great idea... but probably not for preschoolers. I can see it working fine for older kids and teens, but not so much for anyone between Kindergarten and The Fourth Grade.
Well, The Lion Guard is a preschool show, and while softened up for the target audience, still keeps many of the darker elements of the films. Besides, the article for the Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur cartoon never excluded Disney Junior as a potential network despite having devil in the name.
 

Troy Troodon

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Well, The Lion Guard is a preschool show, and while softened up for the target audience, still keeps many of the darker elements of the films. Besides, the article for the Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur cartoon never excluded Disney Junior as a potential network despite having devil in the name.

1. The Lion Guard was a spin-off of The Lion King, which was already a kids film; where as The Rocketeer was a comic book that had nazi warfare, crime related murder, and plenty of explicit sexual undertones for teenage boys.

2. Even if they did want to market it to kids, they could market it towards older kids like between 6-12 years of age, but for the most part it would still have to be pretty mature, perhaps more or less like the DC animated shows.

3. Disney is probably not the best place to market the show.
 

SweetShop209

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1. The Lion Guard was a spin-off of The Lion King, which was already a kids film; where as The Rocketeer was a comic book that had nazi warfare, crime related murder, and plenty of explicit sexual undertones for teenage boys.

2. Even if they did want to market it to kids, they could market it towards older kids like between 6-12 years of age, but for the most part it would still have to be pretty mature, perhaps more or less like the DC animated shows.

3. Disney is probably not the best place to market the show.
I heard that there was a Rocketeer film released in the early 1990s that was softened up from the source material, though I understand if you didn't hear about it since it flopped.
 

Troy Troodon

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I heard that there was a Rocketeer film released in the early 1990s that was softened up from the source material, though I understand if you didn't hear about it since it flopped.

I heard about it. I don't mind them trying to make a vintage comic more family friendly, but there are several factors that don't work there or in this case either.
 

SweetShop209

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One thing I do find interesting is that whenever something gets adapted to a Disney Junior show, it's usually based on a film (like the aforementioned Lion Guard) or based on a children's book (like Vampirina), not a comic book.
 

Troy Troodon

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One thing I do find interesting is that whenever something gets adapted to a Disney Junior show, it's usually based on a film (like the aforementioned Lion Guard) or based on a children's book (like Vampirina), not a comic book.

That... alright I guess I can't disagree with you there.
 

Zanneck

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I don't think I can see myself watching this, but if something like Transformers: Go Bots! can get some love/respect for balancing action in what is otherwise a pre-school show and still be engaging, then I'm confident it will be a hit, with or without me there to support it.
 

Ed Liu

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1. The Lion Guard was a spin-off of The Lion King, which was already a kids film; where as The Rocketeer was a comic book that had nazi warfare, crime related murder, and plenty of explicit sexual undertones for teenage boys.
One might argue the same about Transformers, based on the Michael Bay movies (which, for better or worse, is almost certainly the exposure to the franchise for most of the world, judging by ticket sales numbers), but there's still room for animated versions ranging from Transformers Prime (hard teen) to the recent Transformers: Robots in Disguise (the 6-12 demographic) to Transfomers: Rescue Bots (pre-schoolers).

From the description, it's also clear that they're doing an explicit handoff to move the property to modern times with entirely different characters, so all the stuff about the comic book subject matter doesn't really apply. It's one of those "re-visioning" things that modern media companies love so much. And the reality is that I doubt very many people are going to go seek out the original comics based on the TV show. It wouldn't surprise me if IDW tries to capitalize on this to do a deal with Disney for an age-appropriate tie-in, though.

Don't get me wrong: I'd much prefer for this to be a traditional action/adventure show aimed at older audiences, but I think Disney is using Marvel for that (regardless of how good or bad you think the actual cartoons are).
 

TsWade2

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Geez! Why does this have to be a Disney Junior show? I mean, I'm okay with Disney Junior now, but Rocketeer is action adventure movie for everybody. I haven't seen Rocketeer for quite a while now and I appreciate that they mentioned it, but it's suppose to be for everybody. And I thought Disney learned their lesson.
 

Mr.O

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Well, my 2D animation hopes are dashed, but I was thoroughly surprised with how much I enjoyed Rescue Bots, so who knows.
 

SweetShop209

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Well, my 2D animation hopes are dashed, but I was thoroughly surprised with how much I enjoyed Rescue Bots, so who knows.
Well, virtually every Disney Junior show since the mid-Playhouse Disney era (around 2005-2006) has been CGI, so I'm not too surprised with this being CGI.
Geez! Why does this have to be a Disney Junior show? I mean, I'm okay with Disney Junior now, but Rocketeer is action adventure movie for everybody. I haven't seen Rocketeer for quite a while now and I appreciate that they mentioned it, but it's suppose to be for everybody. And I thought Disney learned their lesson.
Well, if you know about works where Nicole Dubuc was a major crew member (story editor, producer, co-developer, etcetera), this being a Disney Junior show isn't too out of the question. She was the story editor for My Friends Tigger And Pooh (a franchise whose target demographic is already preschool children), co-developer of Transformers Rescue Bots (which has the honor of being the longest running Transformers show at 104 episodes), story editor for season 1 of Miles From Tomorrowland (and voiced Nuala even after she left), and is currently story editor for season 8 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (which is rated TV-Y like other younger skewing shows), so this series being for Disney Junior at least fits what she's known for.
 

TsWade2

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Well, virtually every Disney Junior show since the mid-Playhouse Disney era (around 2005-2006) has been CGI, so I'm not too surprised with this being CGI.

Well, if you know about works where Nicole Dubuc was a major crew member (story editor, producer, co-developer, etcetera), this being a Disney Junior show isn't too out of the question. She was the story editor for My Friends Tigger And Pooh (a franchise whose target demographic is already preschool children), co-developer of Transformers Rescue Bots (which has the honor of being the longest running Transformers show at 104 episodes), story editor for season 1 of Miles From Tomorrowland (and voiced Nuala even after she left), and is currently story editor for season 8 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (which is rated TV-Y like other younger skewing shows), so this series being for Disney Junior at least fits what she's known for.
Fine. I'll deal with it. BTW< My Friends Tigger and Pooh is worst Winnie the Pooh show ever! They replace Christopher Robin for that bland unimportant character, Darby. The Winnie the Pooh show I grew up with is Pooh movies, Welcome To Pooh Corner, and The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
 

SweetShop209

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Another crew member is attached to this series, Shannon Eric Denton. His credentials are interesting in that he's one of the few people who's both a writer and storyboard artist, but none of his writing credits are in completely storyboard driven shows. He's written one shot episodes for Justice League Action, Ben 10 (2016), Transformers Robots In Disguise, and Avengers Assemble. His storyboard credits include the 2001 Jimmy Neutron movie, Ozzy And Drix, Danny Phantom, The Secret Saturdays, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Ultimate Spiderman, and Scooby Doo And Batman: The Brave And The Bold, among others. It'll be interesting to see what he does.
 

SweetShop209

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Greg Johnson is attached to the series. He worked with Nicole Dubuc on Transformers Rescue Bots and Miles From Tomorrowland, so it's no surprise he would work with her here again. He's a big name with action show properties , with his credentials including Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command, The Mighty Ducks, X Men Evolution, Wolverine And The X Men, Marvel Aninated Features (Hulk Vs, Doctor Strange, Planet Hulk, etcetera) , and GI Joe Renegades, among many other credits.
 

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