Things in animation that haven't aged well

[Rhaynebow]

Pucca the show in general. Whereas the Kanker Sisters were clearly bad guys there to punish the Edds and Johnny Bravo always got his just desserts, we were supposed to like…ACTIVELY find the antics of a little girl sexually harassing a boy to be adorable.

Also, Xiaolin Showdown. Imagine trying to tell someone in 2022 that you watched a show starring multiracial kids voiced by white voice actors and one of them was an Asian kid with a completely yellow face who misuses slang and the reboot introduced another yellow-faced Asian boy named PINGPONG. Even though the creator themself is Asian, that still seems like a premise that would elicit a knee jerk response.


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[ShadowBlinky]

Adjunct girlfriends that look nearly identical if not just like the main male stars. Back then there was no big fuss about this (being a "toon thing") but these days a good number may see it as unoriginal (and possibly even strange).

 

[Dantheman]

Adjunct girlfriends that look nearly identical if not just like the main male stars. Back then there was no big fuss about this (being a "toon thing") but these days a good number may see it as unoriginal (and possibly even strange).

Kinda like how Milhouse's parent's looking like adult versions of him?

No wonder they deconstructed that by having them get divorced.

 

[Red Arrow]

Pucca the show in general. Whereas the Kanker Sisters were clearly bad guys there to punish the Edds and Johnny Bravo always got his just desserts, we were supposed to like…ACTIVELY find the antics of a little girl sexually harassing a boy to be adorable.

I only recently discovered that the intro is dubbed into English. I always assumed it was Korean.

 

[Dantheman]

I've been watching the Garfield and Friends Pluto TV Channel, and once in a while there will be a joke that, if made in a cartoon today, would go over like a lead ballloon, like a line from "Dream Date", where Jon Arbuckle goes on a TV dating show, and a computer "selects" a date for him, and Garfield says, "I bet she'll weigh 300 pounds and have bolts in her neck".

That's kinda funny, but no way is it going to pass muster in this day and age. Still love Garfield and Friends though, great meta bits and fourth-wall breaking gags

 

[JoeMabbon]

In one episode of Dexter's Lab, the voice password to enter the lab was simply "Star Wars." Back in the mid-90s Star Wars was a very influential and popular blockbuster film trilogy. Not the giant, all-encompassing, never-ending multimedia behemoth it is today.

 

[Dantheman]

Wss watching Garfield and Friends, and came upon another line that wouldn't fly in today's age: When Garfield is searching for a missing baby he and Odie accidently brought home from the grocery store, he sees another baby that looks just like it in a yard, and the baby's mother comes out with a broom to attack Garfield with it, and Garfield says, "Hey lady, you should be riding that thing, not using it!"

 

[90'sKid]

In one episode of Dexter's Lab, the voice password to enter the lab was simply "Star Wars." Back in the mid-90s Star Wars was a very influential and popular blockbuster film trilogy. Not the giant, all-encompassing, never-ending multimedia behemoth it is today.

It's funny to look back and remember when Star Wars was THE geeky thing. You wanted to show a character was a nerd? Have them like Star Wars.

I kinda miss when SW wasn't so mainstream. Kinda made it feel more special was it was just a niche franchise.

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[Zorak Masaki]

The gag used mostly in old Looney Tunes where a character says "Now I've seen everything" and pulls out a gun and shoots themselves. Come to think of it, I havent seen a character point a gun at their own head, even if they dont act on it, in any recent cartoon. This is definitely a good thing.

 

[5YearsOnEastCoast]

It's funny to look back and remember when Star Wars was THE geeky thing. You wanted to show a character was a nerd? Have them like Star Wars.

I kinda miss when SW wasn't so mainstream. Kinda made it feel more special was it was just a niche franchise.

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Since when was Star Wars a niche franchise? Original Triology movies were the highest grossing movies when they were released.

 

[Dantheman]

Since when was Star Wars a niche franchise? Original Triology movies were the highest grossing movies when they were released.

Well, as someone who lived through the '80s and '90s, Star Wars was big, but the toys and the whole merchandising factory that came along with it pretty much came to a halt 2-3 years after the release of Return of the Jedi. Star Wars moved on to being a series of movies on TV and video. Then in the early '90s, niche stuff like Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy and Dark Horse Comic's Dark Empire comics came out, which both kind of continued the story after Jedi in their own ways. Then you had new toys coming out on shelves, George Lucas talking about making new movies, and it kinda snowballed from there.

 

[90'sKid]

Since when was Star Wars a niche franchise? Original Triology movies were the highest grossing movies when they were released.

Back before the Prequels came out Star Was was just sorta seen as a 'nerdy' thing. You have to remember there was no films during the 80's and early 90's, with the only SW media being books and a couple cartoons (Droids and Ewoks).

Heck even after the Prequels came out most people probably wouldn't openly admit to liking Star Wars unless they were comfortable with being seen as 'nerdy'. Even nerd culture in general was kinda marginalized until realitivy recently.

Look at how often nerds were the butt of jokes back in the 90's and 00's. It was pretty rare to see nerd culture depicted in any sorta positive light. Nerds were either the wimpy glasses kid or the obese manchild obsessed with comics or video games.

Now it's far more common to see nerdy stuff in cartoons as 1. The internet has made nerdy interests far more mainstream, and 2. Those kids who grew up on games or Pokemon or other nerdy interests are now writers on cartoons.

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[Zanneck]

In one episode of Dexter's Lab, the voice password to enter the lab was simply "Star Wars." Back in the mid-90s Star Wars was a very influential and popular blockbuster film trilogy. Not the giant, all-encompassing, never-ending multimedia behemoth it is today.

Star Wars was actually respected much more in a real way way back when, too. Not so much anymore, today, especially under Disney's thumb! UGH.

 

[Zanneck]

Excuse the double post..... UGH.

The gag used mostly in old Looney Tunes where a character says "Now I've seen everything" and pulls out a gun and shoots themselves. Come to think of it, I havent seen a character point a gun at their own head, even if they dont act on it, in any recent cartoon. This is definitely a good thing.

FACTS & TRUTH - Depression and/or Suicide brought on by depression IS NOT FAIZING FUNNY. AT ALL. Of all the uses for guns I've seen in cartoons in general in my life - THAT is the worst of them all, now, before, and forever more.

@90'sKid - one of the major boons of the 10s when it comes to Western fare animation? Nerds/Geeks are much more respected now and not written as negative stereotypes anymore. At least most of the time/not nearly as much as the 90s or 00s. Still, I'm thankful nonetheless, knowing what a nerd/geek I still am about this medium and proud of it, to this very day.

 

[Pooky]

Back before the Prequels came out Star Was was just sorta seen as a 'nerdy' thing. You have to remember there was no films during the 80's and early 90's, with the only SW media being books and a couple cartoons (Droids and Ewoks).

Heck even after the Prequels came out most people probably wouldn't openly admit to liking Star Wars unless they were comfortable with being seen as 'nerdy'.

I would say the "Special Editions" in 1997 were the tipping point, but I agree before then it was pretty firmly in the rear view mirror. As someone born at the end of 1986 I had only faintly heard of Star Wars before 1997 and wouldn't have been able to tell you there were films called The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Jaws was bigger and loomed larger in the public consciousness than Star Wars in the early 90s, at least in my experience.

 

[90'sKid]

@Zanneck While there are trends in 10's-early 20's animation I don't like, I will say that it is good to see nerds not be the butt of jokes anymore. Look at how many cartoons had the nerdy stereotype to be picked on by the Jocks or Cool Kids.

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[Zanneck]

@Zanneck While there are trends in 10's-early 20's animation I don't like, I will say that it is good to see nerds not be the butt of jokes anymore. Look at how many cartoons had the nerdy stereotype to be picked on by the Jocks or Cool Kids.

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Too many that I can't re-watch without getting annoyed or disappointed, if not outright developing a new found hatred of any and all shows that used to do that? Yeah. Pretty much. And most of those shows are from the 90s - late 00s.
Most of the late 10s to now have shown me they know better, hence why I prefer most American fare from this current era, compared to what came before, honestly enough.

 

[90'sKid]

Too many that I can't re-watch without getting annoyed or disappointed, if not outright developing a new found hatred of any and all shows that used to do that? Yeah. Pretty much. And most of those shows are from the 90s - late 00s.
Most of the late 10s to now have shown me they know better, hence why I prefer most American fare from this current era, compared to what came before, honestly enough.

I don't hate older cartoons for that, I'm just glad we've moved past it.

I am certainly not own of those people who thinks cartoons need to be pure happiness and everyone gets along like something out of The Get-Along Gang or MLP.

If you are gonna have a character be a dick to someone, at least make sure they deserved to be dick'd to. Like a character is acting like a total buttmunch the whole episode and then finally someone calls them out for their BS.

I still would rather watch shows like Catdog or Cow and Chicken than Steven Universe. (I do not like that show)

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[Zanneck]

I don't hate older cartoons for that, I'm just glad we've moved past it.

I am certainly not own of those people who thinks cartoons need to be pure happiness and everyone gets along like something out of The Get-Along Gang or MLP.

If you are gonna have a character be a dick to someone, at least make sure they deserved to be dick'd to. Like a character is acting like a total buttmunch the whole episode and then finally someone calls them out for their BS.

I still would rather watch shows like Catdog or Cow and Chicken than Steven Universe. (I do not like that show)

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Yeah, m8. The world ain't all that nice and not everyone gets along with nor agrees with everyone else - and that's A-OK, honestly enough. If someone is being unlikable in something, however? Yeah - don't be afraid to call them out! They're asking for it, if not outright deserve that much!

 

[Low Spark of Lyman]

The gag used mostly in old Looney Tunes where a character says "Now I've seen everything" and pulls out a gun and shoots themselves. Come to think of it, I havent seen a character point a gun at their own head, even if they dont act on it, in any recent cartoon. This is definitely a good thing.

Many, if not all, of them were directed by Clampett. Just saying.

I've noticed MeTV acts inconsistently over whether to have such gags censored whenever they air those cartoons. I remember seeing "Horton Hatches the Egg" and "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" (which was more "Now he tells us", but still...) on that channel censored and uncensored. "An Itch in Time", censored; "The Sour Puss", uncensored (I think?).