Worst Decade For Animation?

[RichDante]

What do you feel was the worst time for animated movies?

The 70s. The worst slump Disney had was in the 70's. The Aristocrats and the Rescuers were bleh forgettable flicks, Robin Hood has it's fans but was one of those movies they did on a budget thus them reusing animation from other movies, and then there was Winnie the Pooh which was comprised of 3 shorts, two of which were made in the 60's not 70's. Honestly again Disney was way worse in that decade as they still had no idea how to handle their films after the tragic loss of Walt Disney. So yeah the only real interesting and unique animation of the 70's were just outright weird and trippy fare like the Raggedy Ann and Andy movie or Fritz The Cat. And honestly even if these films were interesting none of them were really terribly successful and are at best even at the time were more cult hits.

So yeah 1970's are by far the worst decade for animation for having so little quality animation worth talking.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

As I said in your other thread, I grew up in the 1970s so I experienced the shows first hand.

I disagreed with you about 1970s sitcoms, but as far as animation, I think the 1970s was probably the worst. At least the 1950s still had good theatrical shorts and features.

Television animation in the 1970s was hampered by the fact that the budgets were tiny and the reality that the networks programmed Saturday morning because they HAD to create x number of hours of kids' programming per week as part of their license agreement. So, they used Saturday (and Sunday) as a dumping ground. There were also restrictions on cartoon violence thanks to parents' groups, so even Looney Tunes got censored for TV exhibition. So, even the cartoons that we did get were unimaginative and carefully constructed not to offend the parents.

That's really what Saturday morning was all about: keep the kids quiet and the parents unoffended.

Still, I do have fond memories of many of the cartoons, and I like them today because they're part of my childhood. Not so much Scooby-Doo, which even as a kid, was a chore for me to get through, but Superfriends and other superhero-type shows like Shazam/Isis, Space Sentinels, etc.

They can't compare to what came later in the 80s in beyond when the daily syndicated cartoon market exploded and animation was farmed out overseas--cheaper labor allowed for better animation while still keeping the budget low, but I still have a nostalgic fondness for my 1970s favorites.

[AndrewCrossett]

The 1970's was my childhood, so some of my favorite animation memories come from then... but in terms of the objective quality of the animation, it wasn't very good. After theatrical shorts died out in the late 60's, everything shifted over to made-for-TV animation made on the cheap. Animated features were almost MIA during the decade... Disney only put out 4 of them (Aristocats, Robin Hood, Winnie the Pooh and The Rescuers... plus the partially animated Pete's Dragon). Outside of that there was Watership Down, Charlotte's Web, some anime and Ralph Bakshi.

Things started getting better in the 80's with Don Bluth, Shinsha, and then the Disney Renaissance.

[Jokerz79]

Once upon a time I would had said the seventies but going by tv While few bright spots like Young Justice and Voltron, and Rick and Morty I'd say overall right now this decade.

[Personamanx]

In terms of film the '70s don't have a lot going for them. There's always good stuff if you're willing to look, but I don't think a lot from that period has aged terribly well. Even the better films are often praised for experimentation more so than quality of final product.

Television animation progressives in quality fairly consistently. You get the experimentation out of the way in feature/independent film production, and what works/can be replicated in a studio environment is usually picked up fairly quickly. It's always a mixture of crap with gold, but the crap gets forgotten more quickly, and the gold gets shinier as time goes on.

[Vakanai]

Once upon a time I would had said the seventies but going by tv While few bright spots like Young Justice and Voltron, and Rick and Morty I'd say overall right now this decade.

Gotta agree with this. But then a lot of that might just be because of how little I care for the current art style or aesthetic or whatever you want to call it. The weird, round, whatever the fudge you call it that's so popular today. Starting I think with Adventure Time, going through Gravity Falls, Stephen Universe, that one I forgot the name of with Star Butterfly, and on. Okay, it's not all the exact same style, but it's all part of the same design feel or whatever, the same source. Whatever the objective quality is of the rest of the show on the animation and plotting end, that kind of design sense is something I'm more than tired of and would love to see go or get used a lot less.

Not so much Scooby-Doo, which even as a kid, was a chore for me to get through,

Sacrilege!

[ChrisIII]

I would argue that the late 70s were pretty good for alternative animation outside of the mainstream-it started to see the rise of higher quality Japanese animation (Miyazaki/Ghibli, and a more serious take on Space operas with the works of Matsumuto, Tomino etc) and independent stuff (Baskhi).

[jetengine]

Gotta agree with this. But then a lot of that might just be because of how little I care for the current art style or aesthetic or whatever you want to call it. The weird, round, whatever the fudge you call it that's so popular today. Starting I think with Adventure Time, going through Gravity Falls, Stephen Universe, that one I forgot the name of with Star Butterfly, and on. Okay, it's not all the exact same style, but it's all part of the same design feel or whatever, the same source. Whatever the objective quality is of the rest of the show on the animation and plotting end, that kind of design sense is something I'm more than tired of and would love to see go or get used a lot less.



Sacrilege!

Thin line animation is the style.