Ain't nothin' but a Thundercat Ho
You know, I frequently hear people my age (roundabout 30) speak wistfully of the TV cartoons we grew up with, and complain how all of today's cartoons are shit in comparison.
Now, I grew up with He-Man and Thundercats and Voltron and all that. I spent many school days watching the classic Disney Afternoon -- Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, etc. I'm familiar with the cartoons from those 'golden days', even obscure ones like Spartakus and the Land Beneath the Sea.
And you know what? A lot of them don't age well. If you pull away the mist of nostalgia, some of them go from "OMG BEST SHOW EVAR" to "uh ... was there a cel shortage? And a plot shortage?" This is especially apparent if you show the cartoons to someone who didn't grow up with them -- like when I showed He-Man to alienghic. She gave me some very strange looks afterward. Don't get me wrong, most of the Disney Afternoon shows hold up decently. But they still have the marks of lazy writing and budget animation.
So, when I hear someone talk about how they don't make cartoons anywhere near as good as they used to ... I always suspect I'm hearing someone who hasn't actually watched any cartoons recently that weren't on Adult Swim. There is so much good stuff out there. Ben 10, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Totally Spies, Avatar: The Last Airbender ... hell, even the Pokemon cartoons are surprisingly entertaining (Team Rocket 4-evah!). I think the quality of writing on a lot of them is pretty damn good, especially when compared to the picturebook simplicity of He-Man. And there's been huge leaps in the kind of animation quality you can get on a budget.
And surprisingly, these days shows exist for reasons other than to get kids to beg their parents to buy them toys. The toy tie-ins are secondary, instead of obviously being the primary reason the show exists.
It makes me frustrated to hear people my age so vocally dismissing the current batch of cartoons without even giving them a chance. It's like they don't remember adults dismissing our shows back in the day. I don't get it.
Now, I grew up with He-Man and Thundercats and Voltron and all that. I spent many school days watching the classic Disney Afternoon -- Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, etc. I'm familiar with the cartoons from those 'golden days', even obscure ones like Spartakus and the Land Beneath the Sea.
And you know what? A lot of them don't age well. If you pull away the mist of nostalgia, some of them go from "OMG BEST SHOW EVAR" to "uh ... was there a cel shortage? And a plot shortage?" This is especially apparent if you show the cartoons to someone who didn't grow up with them -- like when I showed He-Man to alienghic. She gave me some very strange looks afterward. Don't get me wrong, most of the Disney Afternoon shows hold up decently. But they still have the marks of lazy writing and budget animation.
So, when I hear someone talk about how they don't make cartoons anywhere near as good as they used to ... I always suspect I'm hearing someone who hasn't actually watched any cartoons recently that weren't on Adult Swim. There is so much good stuff out there. Ben 10, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Totally Spies, Avatar: The Last Airbender ... hell, even the Pokemon cartoons are surprisingly entertaining (Team Rocket 4-evah!). I think the quality of writing on a lot of them is pretty damn good, especially when compared to the picturebook simplicity of He-Man. And there's been huge leaps in the kind of animation quality you can get on a budget.
And surprisingly, these days shows exist for reasons other than to get kids to beg their parents to buy them toys. The toy tie-ins are secondary, instead of obviously being the primary reason the show exists.
It makes me frustrated to hear people my age so vocally dismissing the current batch of cartoons without even giving them a chance. It's like they don't remember adults dismissing our shows back in the day. I don't get it.