Unconventional or unpopular opinions you have (re: animation)

[Red Arrow]

Here's one: I'm not sure how an aging fan outgrowing The Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network is somehow The Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network's fault. The reality is the quality control on all three networks has been remarkably stable over the decades. Yes, there is a lot of garbage. But you were watching similar garbage when you were younger, and and you were simply too young to recognize it as such at the time. That's not the fault of Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network.

I think very few people on this forum disagree with this.

A channel's likeability is more than just stable quality, though. In recent years, Cartoon Network has been narrowing its audience a lot by making cartoons that are very similar in terms of target audience. Luckily, Tom Ascheim is going to change that in 2021.

The problem with Nickelodeon is not a decline in quality but rather a decline in amount of cartoons.

 

[The Overlord]

I think very few people on this forum disagree with this.

A channel's likeability is more than just stable quality, though. In recent years, Cartoon Network has been narrowing its audience a lot by making cartoons that are very similar in terms of target audience. Luckily, Tom Ascheim is going to change that in 2021.

The problem with Nickelodeon is not a decline in quality but rather a decline in amount of cartoons.

I feel like this is another issue addressed by streaming, Nick may be making fewer cartoons, but they may make more cartoons for Paramount Plus and Cartoon Network is sending some of their better cartoons like Infinity Train directly to HBO Max.

Another unpopular opinion, sometimes you can't stop technological progress and some things like Sat morning cartoons and these cable channels will become obsolete over time.

 

[Mostezli]

I feel like this is another issue addressed by streaming, Nick may be making fewer cartoons, but they may make more cartoons for Paramount Plus and Cartoon Network is sending some of their better cartoons like Infinity Train directly to HBO Max.

In...the right ballpark. Nick is making more cartoons for Paramount Plus, but a whole lot more for their main network. Cartoon Network sent not "some of" rather all their new cartoons to HBO Max and only recently said they have plans to put out more cartoons for CN.

Luckily, Tom Ascheim is going to change that in 2021.

Very wary of Cartoon Network just now deciding to be a kid's network like everyone else. I didn't have CN during the "Real" days, but by and large those live-action shows weren't at all like what Disney & Nick became so obsessed with apart from the very notable exception of Out of Jimmy's Head. I managed to catch that one before my cable subscription expired.

 

[JMTV]

Another unpopular opinion, sometimes you can't stop technological progress and some things like Sat morning cartoons and these cable channels will become obsolete over time.

That's understandable.

 

[Zanneck]

Here's one: I'm not sure how an aging fan outgrowing The Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network is somehow The Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network's fault. The reality is the quality control on all three networks has been remarkably stable over the decades. Yes, there is a lot of garbage. But you were watching similar garbage when you were younger, and and you were simply too young to recognize it as such at the time. That's not the fault of Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network.

I'm sorry this isn't popular opinion, honestly. The world would be a better place for it if it were, now wouldn't it! I mean it - deep down, I know it would be.

 

[The Overlord]

In...the right ballpark. Nick is making more cartoons for Paramount Plus, but a whole lot more for their main network. Cartoon Network sent not "some of" rather all their new cartoons to HBO Max and only recently said they have plans to put out more cartoons for CN.

The writing is on the wall though, VHS tapes did not disappear over night, but they were phased out of the market eventually, same deal with these networks:

Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and other kids cable channels see viewership declines as streaming grows

Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and other kids cable channels see viewership declines as streaming grows

www.google.com

Kids will be more used to streaming than adults, because they haven't known anything else.

 

[Zanneck]

The writing is on the wall though, VHS tapes did not disappear over night, but they were phased out of the market eventually, same deal with these networks:

Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and other kids cable channels see viewership declines as streaming grows

Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and other kids cable channels see viewership declines as streaming grows

www.google.com

Kids will be more used to streaming than adults, because they haven't known anything else.

Its something I learned to accept a long time ago, honestly. Most of the better shows I've seen came from streaming, as it is, which doesn't help, at least IMHO.

 

[Pooky]

I do think the writing's on the wall. I think when the current generation growing up are the core buying demographic they by and large won't be interested in anything other than streaming. I think Physical Media will survive on a reduced scale as a collector/enthusiast niche, similar to vinyl today. I honestly suspect theatres might go the same way. I don't know what will happen to scheduled television.

 

[Rhaynebow]

Here’s a take that’s taken a few years for me to realize;

The Pokémon anime was leagues more entertaining during the 4Kids era. Looking back on it, the writing was witty, the voice actors were talented and hammy and the theme songs and music had more oomph to them. We can harp on the jelly-donuts and rolling hoagies all we want, but those changes were minimal compared to when 4Kids tried to take on One Piece.

4Kids Pokémon to me felt like a comedy while PokemonUSA Pokémon, while accurate, feels very bare bones.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fone Bone]

Got a great (or rather really unusual) one:

I prefer modern day Brian Griffin stories to his stuff in the first few seasons of Family Guy.

Hear me out: Yes, current Brian Griffin is a thousand times more contemptible and one of the worst characters on television. But so is Peter Griffin. And at the end of any given Peter Griffin episode Peter is forgiven by his family with a half-hearted apology he doesn't mean, and a promise to change that he will break in one week. I always take Peter's claims of not knowing any better about his hurtful and destructive behaviors as fundamentally dishonest. Peter is very verbose and able to recognize clearly when people are mistreating HIM. His actions are done with deliberate malice, not accidental ignorance. Every week his family lets him off the hook for his sociopathy is another week my blood pressure is raised.

But Brian? For some reason, nobody ever makes excuses for Brian's behavior. Better yet, at the end of every episode he is roundly punished for him sins, often in gruesome, painful, (and cathartic for the audience) ways. We are not asked to forgive Brian because his actions are treated as unforgivable. I very much enjoy watching the character get punished for how much he sucks than I do Peter being let off the hook for the same types of behavior.

Plus, I don't know if this will register, but Brian is the show's resident liberal. It is also a good idea to check myself and look to Brian for good examples of what NOT to do there. The arguments NOT to make and the ways I could potentially fail the people on my side. Brian is a perfect cautionary tale character on every level.

 

[SpaceCowboy]

Here’s a take that’s taken a few years for me to realize;

The Pokémon anime was leagues more entertaining during the 4Kids era. Looking back on it, the writing was witty, the voice actors were talented and hammy and the theme songs and music had more oomph to them. We can harp on the jelly-donuts and rolling hoagies all we want, but those changes were minimal compared to when 4Kids tried to take on One Piece.

4Kids Pokémon to me felt like a comedy while PokemonUSA Pokémon, while accurate, feels very bare bones.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A lot of modern anime dubs can't take as many liberties with the source material as back when 4Kids was dubbing the show. The Japanese side often has more of a hand over the production of dubs nowadays and thus the translation can be affected.
While maintaining accuracy, humor can be difficult to preserve because the two languages and cultures are so far apart. 4Kids got around this by rewriting jokes that wouldn't make sense in a literal translation.

Edit: clarity added in last paragraph.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

For me, the best character from Family Guy was Mayor Adam West as there will never be another character like him.

 

[The Overlord]

I think Canadian animation was far more experimental in the past but really hasn't been the last decade or so. The 80s had darker movies like Rock and Rule and Heavy Metal. In the 90s and 2000s, Teletoon worked with French companies to create shows like Delta State and Blake and Mortimer, that were aimed at older kids and teens, with the villains killing people on screen (I do not think those shows aired in the US, Delta State is on Nelevana's Youtube channel nowadays) or worked with PBS to create the Redwall animated series which was a fairly good adaption of some of the books, even 6Teen and Total Drama were attempts to appeal to teens over young kids. However, I do not think you see the same risks being taken in Canadian animation today. I can't think of any modern Canadian animation that takes the same risks.

 

[JMTV]

I wished Lauren Faust would've stayed in Friendship is Magic instead of leaving (after season 2) because her original concept for FiM was so fascinating.

If only Hasbro gives her creative freedom...

 

[The Overlord]

Not every villain needs to be redeemed, with some villains it makes sense, and their redemption makes sense, but some villains are either irredeemably evil or they are so committed to their mission/world view, that they will not change.

 

[khuddle]

For me, the best character from Family Guy was Mayor Adam West as there will never be another character like him.

Personally, I always got a kick out of Herbert (and how McFarlane could get away with a character like that!)

 

[The Overlord]

The Grundel from Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters is one of the most creepy and repulsive villains to appear in a kid's animated series and he is still vile when viewed by adult eyes.

Edit: Boogieman is still pretty creepy 30 plus years later, but the Grundel is still as unsettling now as he was in the 80s and 90s. Though Crainiac, Corpuscle, and Gristle from the Extreme Ghostbusters still hold up, that episode is like a Sat morning version of Hellraiser.

 

[Pooky]

Sponge Out of Water is my favourite of the SpongeBob movies. I don't know if I'd say it's *better* than the first movie per say, but as someone who was well into their teens when the first movie came out, it's closer to what I wanted when I went to see that movie; a goofy lark through SpongeBob's world with a lot of creative silliness. I enjoy how it ignores so many rules of what an animated kids movie, or any movie for that matter, "should" be.

I also enjoyed Sponge On the Run more than most people it seems, although I agree that the Kamp Koral teasers get to be a bit much.

 

[Dantheman]

I don't see what the big deal with Candle Jack is. A spooky guy, who, when you say his name, takes you aw

 

[JMTV]

Can we live in a perfect world that Family networks on cable TV can be just as popular as Kids networks?

I'd really like that.