Western Animation - Discuss American, Canadian, and European cartoons here (or just bitch about wokeshit, I guess)

ToroidalBoat said:
Ever see Dexter's Lab around the year 2000? Show was alright, with pretty funny moments (like "omelette du fromage"). Then sometime around the early '00s, there was a sudden change in the background art to make it flat and ugly. Characters' voices changed a little. Also the plots became unfunny and a chore to get through. Like that very first of the new episodes was about some robots from the lab who went on a long journey to find freedom or something like that. Not long after the new changes, I stopped watching it.
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The same thing sort of happened with the OG Powerpuff Girls.
 
ToroidalBoat said:
What is it with Western animation studios thinking it is a great idea to change what viewers are used to, to an almost different show?

:thinking:
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It was the early 2000s, animation went through a transition period of going from hand drawn to digital. Even shows that maintained staff would make the jump.

Otherwise, they are just shows that ran their course but were too valuable to axe - high viewership or merchandise sales. Sadly most shows were episodic, so it isn’t like there could be a natural progression into new storylines and characterizations. I think this detail really set the best of long running series apart.

The DCAU technically ran for a decade, but kept heightening the scope for more stories. Even smaller scale series like King of The Hill had minor progressions to buck the status quo and keep things interesting.
 
Basic Blond Boy said:
It was the early 2000s, animation went through a transition period of going from hand drawn to digital. Even shows that maintained staff would make the jump.

Otherwise, they are just shows that ran their course but were too valuable to axe - high viewership or merchandise sales. Sadly most shows were episodic, so it isn’t like there could be a natural progression into new storylines and characterizations. I think this detail really set the best of long running series apart.

The DCAU technically ran for a decade, but kept heightening the scope for more stories. Even smaller scale series like King of The Hill had minor progressions to buck the status quo and keep things interesting.
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I also remember that 6teen, even though it's sort of technically an episodic show, also had some progression and storylines to it, and actually had an ending, not counting the Election one-off special of course.

That thought also probably was part of why Total Drama kept some of the original characters in later seasons, and only added a full roster of new ones in Season 4. (Revenge of the Island, as Season 3 in World Tour added only 2 new contestants)
 
Basic Blond Boy said:
It was the early 2000s, animation went through a transition period of going from hand drawn to digital.
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Doug was an early example of a show changing direction. Early '90s Doug was one show, and Di$ney Doug starting in 1996 was an almost different one. Before digital went huge.
 
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ToroidalBoat said:
Doug was an early example of a show changing direction. Early '90s Doug was one show, and Di$ney Doug starting in 1996 was an almost different one. And this was before '00s.
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Being fair, that is an extremely unique case given it switched ownership, so who knows what the behind the scenes changes or restrictions were put in place. Apparently the staff really hated the change in environment from Nick to Disney and they lost some big names due to payment disputes.

Answering it though, it still follows the second part. For whatever reason Disney saw Doug as worthwhile to keep running as it would expand the ABC block. Doug’s creator decided to make many of the changes, likely due to the switch and different conditions presented, with Disney just hoping to capitalize on Nick’s former success.


Thiletonomics said:
I also remember that 6teen, even though it's sort of technically an episodic show, also had some progression and storylines to it, and actually had an ending, not counting the Election one-off special of course.
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It is often understated, but Nickelodeon was really great at this in the 00s. Fairly Odd Parents, Jimmy Neutron and Danny Phantom were extremely ahead of the game in being episodic comedies that would have progression and reoccurring elements that would reference previous episodes.
 
ToroidalBoat said:
How did the ratings go after the change?
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Not super familiar with Doug TBH, was kind of just browsing Reddit, but looking it up this article may answer your question. Looks like it was a massive success. As for the changes, the article highlighted how Disney basically removed all unsavory elements from Doug to cleanse it for the new block.

Was sort of spitballing based on the thread I’ll attach below, but yeah, it seems like there was a mass culture shift between studios, explaining what happened.

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/08/119240/doug-cartoon-disney-channel-review?callback=in&error=server_error&error_description=timeout exceeded
The new Doug was so successful that Disney went on to make a Doug movie in 1999 and sold tons of Doug-related merchandise. Right before the movie's release, The Los Angeles Timesestimated that the Doug franchise could be worth as much as $100 million for Disney.
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Basic Blond Boy said:
Not super familiar with Doug TBH, was kind of just browsing Reddit, but looking it up this article may answer your question. Looks like it was a massive success. As for the changes, the article highlighted how Disney basically removed all unsavory elements from Doug to cleanse it for the new block.

Was sort of spitballing based on the thread I’ll attach below, but yeah, it seems like there was a mass culture shift between studios, explaining what happened.

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/08/119240/doug-cartoon-disney-channel-review?callback=in&error=server_error&error_description=timeout exceeded
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I can tell you from experience as someone who was there in those days that any popularity the Disney Doug had was leftover from kids/fans who were just glad to see more Doug. Especially when you're barley sentient as a child and don't know how companies, intellectual property, or copyright works. Doug was Doug. You recognized him in nickelodeon, then saw he had a movie and tons of happy meal toys and you just wanted it, and disney knew this, they've always known this.

It was all astroturrfed and artificial inflated hype, That's it ever was.


I don't mean to sound like a doomer saying that, but it's late as of this writing. Guess you can chalk it up to some existential revelation in the early hours of the morning after being awake so long.
 
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ToroidalBoat said:
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who thinks The Fairly OddParents "jumped the shark" when they introduced Poof.
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Am I going in retarded, or was there a talking dog character at one point?
dog. baby, girl? was the the order of dumb shit they added before they settled for a black girl to save the series?
 
FrogMinutes said:
was there a talking dog character at one point?
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I dunno, I stopped watching not long after Poof was introduced. I also think Rugrats jumped when Dil was in.

And speaking of Rugrats, there was this seemingly endless series of episodes where some pop star cameo'd in.
 
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ToroidalBoat said:
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who thinks The Fairly OddParents "jumped the shark" when they introduced Poof.
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Unpopular opinion, I actually like Poof. I never thought he was a bad addition, and I like how Timmy had to take up a big brother role with him.

New Wish makes me feel vindicated as now everyone loves Poof/Peri.

ToroidalBoat said:
I also think Rugrats jumped when Dil was in.
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Funny, Dil also went from hated to favorite with the sequel series, All Grown Up.

FrogMinutes said:
dog. baby, girl? was the the order of dumb shit they added before they settled for a black girl to save the series?
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The later seasons broke all rules and had Timmy share his god parents with a new girl named Chloe, who didn’t even need them. The also added the dog Sparky. I think it is funny that New Wish kept Poof, but completely ignores the other two.
 
Basic Blond Boy said:
Unpopular opinion, I actually like Poof. I never thought he was a bad addition, and I like how Timmy had to take up a big brother role with him.
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To me it changed the show and made it feel overdone. And they added some other character and a magical dog? Sounds very overdone then.

Funny, Dil also went from hated to favorite with the sequel series, All Grown Up.
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I tried to watch some of All Grown Up, but I didn't really like it that much. I guess I liked Rugrats best back when it was just the original main cast in the original show.
 
ToroidalBoat said:
To me it changed the show and made it feel overdone. And they added some other character and a magical dog? Sounds very overdone then
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Yeah, Sparky the fairy dog was annoying from the start, and hated enough to where he was quietly removed not long after iirc.
Chloe was definitely the final nail in the coffin though. I tried to tough out a few episodes with her but she was just too obnoxious. I vaguely remember one episode where she wished for fish to beat up some fishermen because she’s also a pwecious animal rights activist, repeatedly screeched about how hilarious her fish puns were, and at the time I’d never wanted to strangle a fictional child more.
 
Did you want an Americanised version of the Twits? Made by Netflix? Tough shit because you're getting one.

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Inspired by is doing some heavy lifting there. It's not utterly awful and it is nice seeing Johnny Vegas getting work but my word is it very current year. They had to stretch a lot to make this thing last an hour and a half and it absolutely was not worth it.
 
Trollblade69 said:
The Adventure Time threads continue to be 90% incel posting by volume. It's sapping my will to watch anime.
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I checked out on that series when it stopped being random adventures of a boy chasing puppy love with different swords and his magic dog and started getting into goofy cosmic lore shit, relationship drama and big overarching plotlines about ancient eldritch deities causing the interdimensional apocalypse.

Characters like The Lich kinda lose their cool factor when they aren't super out of place with the rest of the shows vibe anymore. Taking a silly show with a kiddy aesthetic and tone shifting it into taking itself seriously half the time just doesn't do it for me.

Apparently the finale was all over the place and the two main woman characters lez out for some reason despite only ever dating dudes, so I feel like I jumped ship at the right time before the general fanbase got infested with Peter Pans.
fartsnstuf said:
Frankie gives off MTF Tranny sex offender vibes

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Bruh that's just Susie from Deltarune if she was human 🥀
 
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