ANIMATION REVIVALS: 'Now they've RUINED THE FLINTSTONES! and OTHERS!'

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I was going to start a thread just talking about the recent Flintstones revival on Boomerang Streaming, but I figured that since the powers that be have been bringing back and ruining old cartoons at a record pace and there's nothing to indicate they're going to stop, I thought it would just be easier to give reactions to all of it in one convenient thread.

Of course, my Thundercats thread is still available for that particular show as I know it has a large, devoted fanbase.

Anyway, back to the Flintstones relaunch. The latest iteration of this venerable franchise is called "Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs," and it features Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm with the parents in more of a cameo role -- at least in the first episode.

P & BB seem to be pre-teens in this version. It's hard to tell because the art style is the dreaded "Cal Arts" style (just using that term as a catch-all pejorative) that everyone uses. And yes, the dialogue is insipid millennial banter to complete the picture.

I found this clip on YouTube. It's not the full episode, so you really can't follow the story, but you can get the gist of what they're doing.

So, what are your thoughts on this and the whole trend of taking old cartoons and changing them so completely in both look and tone?

[Immortal Weapon]

The animation and art direction is trash. It looks awful. I'm all for an update of the Flintstones but man, this revival has no budget.

[Vakanai]

Part of me can't help but wonder, why revive a show if you don't want it to be like the old show?

[Jokerz79]

I need a Winston to calm my nerves after seeing that

[AndrewCrossett]

Some of the 100,000,000 streaming services out there need to start failing. Then there will be less desperation for content.

I'm hoping that with Netflix, HBO and others having a lot of success with original shows, the entertainment industry might start to wean itself off the recent orgy of reboots and remakes.

[jetengine]

Would yoy prefer Seth Mcfarlane to work on it like he's threatened too ?

[Jokerz79]

Would yoy prefer Seth Mcfarlane to work on it like he's threatened too ?

If Orville which is his Star Trek is a sign of the care he'll give to a property he loves than most definitely.

[Gray Lensman]

The animation and art direction is trash. It looks awful. I'm all for an update of the Flintstones but man, this revival has no budget.

90% of American animation seems to revel in the poor art quality - Outside of DC animation, I'm trying to remember when the last thing that had any polish to the animation was.

[Sacred Knight]

I don't get the fascination with this style of animation. I mean I have no particular problem with it as a style, but why in the hell does it seem to be the ONLY style as of late?

[jetengine]

I don't get the fascination with this style of animation. I mean I have no particular problem with it as a style, but why in the hell does it seem to be the ONLY style as of late?

Because its cheap and useful. Animation is expensive and unlike LA Adult shows (because remember in the west animation is stuck in its own ghetto) you have to sell a ton of merch to warrant effort put into the animation.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Oh, so you thought I was kidding, didn't you?

Oh, so you thought they were done trashing the past, didn't you?

Oh, so you thought they couldn't possibly ruin another classic cartoon, didn't you?

Well, get a load of what they did to Popeye.

[jetengine]

You have this thing about ignoring context CML.

So the Popeye one you put up ? I saw it when it first came out and saw the ensuing backlash followed by the Companies response.

1. This is on YouTube and as you can see is made on a shoestring budget, its not intended for television.

2. They explicitly stated this is aimed at young children, they know theirs no point in making a adult aimed show since theres 50 odd years worth of stuff on DVD etc but not as easily accessible legally as it was when you could just turn on the TV.

3. They want to grow the fanbase so start from a young age, since kids find B&W boring they make it bright and coloyrful, due to modern representation laws they cut out Popeyes smoking and deaged the characters.

Essentially you turned on an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (a child friendly show with bright colours intended to get kids interested in the brand) then complained its not like a classic Merry Melodies episode.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

You have this thing about ignoring context CML.

So the Popeye one you put up ? I saw it when it first came out and saw the ensuing backlash followed by the Companies response.

1. This is on YouTube and as you can see is made on a shoestring budget, its not intended for television.

2. They explicitly stated this is aimed at young children, they know theirs no point in making a adult aimed show since theres 50 odd years worth of stuff on DVD etc but not as easily accessible legally as it was when you could just turn on the TV.

3. They want to grow the fanbase so start from a young age, since kids find B&W boring they make it bright and coloyrful, due to modern representation laws they cut out Popeyes smoking and deaged the characters.

Essentially you turned on an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (a child friendly show with bright colours intended to get kids interested in the brand) then complained its not like a classic Merry Melodies episode.

I understand what you're saying, but...

1. We were all kids once, and we watched the original Flintstones, Popeye, Thundercats, He-Man, etc. and yes, they were aimed at kids, but they weren't stupid and charmless.

2. The old stuff had budget issues, too -- maybe even moreso since before the 80s, things were mostly animated in America where labor costs are higher -- but they still put some effort into things. For example, Hanna-Barbera hired the Looney Tunes writers like Michael Maltese to write their 60s shorts of Huckleberry, Yogi, Quick Draw, etc. and yes, the animation was very limited, but the character designs by Ed Benedict had style and charm, and the dialogue by the LT writers was witty.

3. The new Popeye cartoon series sampled above was initially called "Brand New Popeye." It must have been after audience backlash that they renamed it "Popeye for Kids," but that channel also has the 60s & 80s TV Popeye that definitely had major budget issues and had to conform to TV censorship standards and parent watchdog groups.

The difference is that even back then they didn't feel the need to so drastically idiotize things (but, yes, their limitations show). These new cartoon shorts seem aimed at a barely verbal preschool audience. I don't see how this can create new Popeye fans. If anything, once kids watching it grow past the age of 4, they will have a false idea of what Popeye is and never want to look back at the character again--any more than I could be made to care about the Cookie Monster or Oscar the Grouch. Stuff like this could actually HURT the future of the character.

4. Also note that there is no dialogue in the cartoons at all. Part of what made Popeye unique, beyond being a human cartoon character rather than an anthropomorphic animal, is all the under-the-breath dialogue by Jack Mercer and Mae Questel.

If you want to grow a new audience for Popeye, you have to keep as much of the original as you can. You can get rid of the smoking and the violence, which is what the 1978-1987 Saturday Morning version did, and still do something a little more imaganitive than what "Popeye for Kids" does.

[Gaastra]

Yeah the gumball animation is getting old. Remember when cartoons had their own look? Not everything needs to be teen titans go/ steven universe in looks. Did we really need a gumball style scooby-doo show?

It would be all right if the show is still true to it's ip. The new care bears show has the gumball look but they still act like the old versions. Thundercats is a insult to the old version.

Ducktales reboot is a ok show. Not as good as the comics but fine. Yet the three caballeros show they killed to make it AFTER they did a full season blows it away. Better animation and fun story plus they used daisy's nieces april, may, and june from the carl barks comics! I want more of it!



I don't mind the gumball animation on shows like gumball and lets be heroes. But shows like ben 10 and scooby need their own artstyle. I missed when cartoons did their own style and didn't all look the same.

[Gaastra]

By the way here is the new woody woodpecker shorts.