Cartoons and animation thread.

[Da Robot]

I just wanted ask does anyone here still watch cartoons and such?

I admit that I still do, even getting up early in the mornings to watch them (if there's anything good on), but this is at my parents house, so I can get away with it, I wouldn't do it anywhere else.

I still find it annoying that most peoples assumptions about TV animation seems to keep falling under the animation age ghetto. It's also annoying that the networks like Nick, CN and Disney still need to get animation more support and not give up on it so easily. (though it has been getting slightly better over the past few years).


So does anyone feel the same?



Pic slightly related.

(EDIT: For those wondering where the awesome shot of Homer comes from, it from a NeoGaf thread named "ITT: We post screens that showcase the visual charisma lost by modern Simpsons" It also has lovely Simpson gifs.

[Shrikeswind]

No, I do not watch cartoons, but the reason is more out of incapacity than lack of desire. See, what happened was that, after that transition to digital (which has reasoning that STILL confuses the fuck out of me,) I lost TV since we never routed cable to my room and the other option was buy another box, which was not happening because, if I'm not mistaken, that would mean we would have to pay two cable bills. No one asked me, but my dad thought the evil gnome bitch had (he should have known better, she never spoke to me.) Fast forward to today, a week after Dad and I moved out. My room doesn't have a cable jack, so we have to get one hooked up. We will be doing this, no questions there, but until then, cartoons will be unwatchable.

Similarly with most TV, unfortunately. It's a shame, because that means TV in the living room, which is REALLY limited for obvious reasons.

AND YES TO THAT PICTURE.

[TV Eye]

I...love...cartoons.

Except I'm one of those guys whose sense of humor evolved over a certain period of time (the 90's) when cartoons weren't afraid of saying "I say we eat the beaver!" or "Oh, my beloved ice-cream bar. How I love to lick your creamy center."

Nowadays, cartoons are way too childish for me (Chowder and Flapjack make me puke), so I stick with Boondocks and Venture Bros. But I still watch Invader Zim, Ren & Stimpy, Catdog, and Rocko's Modern Life (mainly through torrents).

[Shrikeswind]

Totally backin' ya there, Teev. It's all so pussy these days. And I have to say, some try. Flapjack, for example. It wants to be a good cartoon, it really WANTS to. It's got that old-school Catdog / Rocko / Ren & Stimpy look to it, and it's got a basic character formula like an old-school cartoon, and hell, it even has that air of "WHAT IS THAT REALLY!?" that you get with old-school cartoons (For example, Knuckles' syrup-drinking? Bullshit, that's rum.) But you watch it and you're like "Joke's gonna come NOW. NOW. ...NOW." You can get a good read on where the age of the cartoon began to fall with Spongebob Squarepants. He cropped up just a touch too late for the day of Zim, Catdog, and Rocko, but he had some charm at the time. It was different, not in being edgy (Zim, Catdog, and Rocko had that settled,) but for being stoner-spawn. There was an edge, but it was pretty dulled. It was mostly so you could smoke something and think "This shit is genius," or so you could plop your kid down in front of it. Then it took a nosedive after a while. This is the point I call "Rehab," where you can't sit in front of it with a joint and think it genius anymore. Around this time, good shows were dying, crap was being spat at us (and yes, I mean spat, as if they were shitting out their mouths and were projectile vomiters.) Eventually, with the movie, they missed their target, hitting the fan instead. After the Spongebob Movie, EVERYTHING started sucking. I give props to Chowder and Flapjack, they tried to get us back to the glory days, but like I said, where are the good jokes?

[Fryguy64]

Aside from "Adult cartoons", Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, South Park, etc... I don't really watch cartoons now. I sorta trailed off with the fall of the Genndy Tartakovsky days.

I don't even know what cartoons are on these days. I hear Ben 10 is mighty popular. What I've seen of it, all I can say is yaaaawn!

[The Qu]

Teev, you might want to check out Adventure Time with Jake and Finn. It's a very odd cartoon with a twisted sense of humor. The amount of crap that has gotten past the radar could fill up an entire sewer.

[8bitretroshit]

Yup, kind of an animation dork here.

But I pretty much stopped watching cartoons on TV when Dutch CN switched to digital television only, which we still don't have, like 6 years ago. Not that it matters as 95% is uninteresting anyway. Luckily there's still awesome stuff to find via youtube, like Adventure Time or Flapjack (Flapjack's awesome, fuck the haters).

I also spend lotta money buying animated movies and Complete DVD collections of old cartoons. I think about 1/3rd of my DVD colelction is animation now . Still waiting for a Tex Avery Compleat DVD release which I think is still VHS only right now...

Also I'm downloading that Avatar cartoon series RIGHT NOW. You people were all excited about it before and I keep reading online here and there how it's a great show.... so yeah. Lotso people seem to dig Venture Bros. too so I guess I gotta check and see what that's all about too.

[Da Robot]

Well, I'm pleased to say I'm happy to see people respond to this thread.



@ Shrikeswind

Spongebob came out in 1999, while Zim was released in 2001.

Gotta admit Spongebob really has been going downhill, (some SB merchindise quite literally downhill) I wish the bloody show would end already, part of the reason its so poplour is that Nick gives it more screen time than other shows.

Down here in NZ for some odd reason, one of the basic TV networks has been contiuously showing SB at 4:00 afternoon for like 5 years straight, (and it's the only cartoon shown as well) none of the kids growing up now are to get the awesome vairation in that I had back in the 90's. Unless their parents pay for NZ cable equvlient down here and get access to Nick, CN and Disney channels.

Aug 7, 2010 3:46:36 GMT -5 Fryguy64 said:

Aside from "Adult cartoons", Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, South Park, etc... I don't really watch cartoons now. I sorta trailed off with the fall of the Genndy Tartakovsky days.

I don't even know what cartoons are on these days. I hear Ben 10 is mighty popular. What I've seen of it, all I can say is yaaaawn!

Ironically enough Genndy Tartakovsky is actually making a new series Sym-Bionic Titan (Picture link!)

Cartoon Network has milked the crap out of Ben 10, so much so that it has two spin off franchises. While the first spinoff went out of it's way to retcon events from the original series.

Aug 7, 2010 4:22:12 GMT -5 8bitretroshit said:

Yup, kind of an animation dork here.

Also I'm downloading that Avatar cartoon series RIGHT NOW. You people were all excited about it before and I keep reading online here and there how it's a great show.... so yeah. Lotso people seem to dig Venture Bros. too so I guess I gotta check and see what that's all about too.

Good to see another person here picking up on Avatar:TLA. Even better news is that it's getting a spin off series next year.

If anyone else here wants to "see A:TLA episodes" try going here . . .

[kirbychu]

I'm a huge animation geek. I've been animating as a hobby since I was 5, and I'm now working towards doing my masters at uni.

I hate most of the animation on TV these days, though. It's all reused cycles and Flash tweens. Blech. I grew up with the likes of DuckTales and Tiny Toons, and they've been my biggest influences, along with the first two Earthworm Jim games, Pixar's movies and pretty much everything in Walt Disney Animation Studios' filmography.

Also, Studio Ghibli. Though I'm not big into anime as a rule, their movies tend to be gorgeous. I've enjoyed a lot of the crazy visual stylings of the newer Pokémon episodes, too.

[TV Eye]

Aug 7, 2010 5:39:14 GMT -5 Da Robot said:

Gotta admit Spongebob really has been going downhill, (some SB merchindise quite literally downhill) I wish the bloody show would end already, part of the reason its so poplour is that Nick gives it more screen time than other shows.

I totally agree with you. The show used to be smart (as smart as a premise with a talking sponge could be). The writing was top-notch and the jokes were hilarious. Then when Stephen Hillenburg left (right after the movie) it went totally downhill.

Also, I might add that I love the Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Lab (Stinkin' hunk of Grape Ape!). And who could ignore Disney, Ghibli, and Pixar.

[Boo Destroyer]

I'm a huge animation afficionado here.

I liked them mainly from the 80's and early-to-mid-90's, when they were certainly at their prime.

Nowadays we're getting a lot of lazily animated shows that look like they've badly ripped off the Dexter's Lab art style.

[Arcadenik]

Oh, boy... I used to watch almost over a hundred different American cartoons regularly in my childhood and early adulthood that I don't know if I could possibly list them all. But now I don't watch as many cartoons as I used to. Maybe that's why the older adults say cartoons are for children? Maybe I am still a kid at heart if I am still watching cartoons.

[8bitretroshit]

80's cartoons are hella cheesy, but they have the best (even cheesier) intro tunes. MAAASKED CRUUUUSAAADERS WORKING OVERTIME FIGHTING CRIME

And yes, old CN shows like Dexter and Powerpuff's the reason me and everybody else is missing CN around here. Luckily there's torrents. I had a bunch of complete series until I accidently formatted my external drive. Oops!

Atleast we all agree that Pixar, Disney and Ghibli generally make some of the best animated movies out there. I have a hard time picking a favorite movie from all three of 'em.

[Shrikeswind]

@ Shrikeswind

Spongebob came out in 1999, while Zim was released in 2001.

Gotta admit Spongebob really has been going downhill, (some SB merchindise quite literally downhill) I wish the bloody show would end already, part of the reason its so poplour is that Nick gives it more screen time than other shows.

Down here in NZ for some odd reason, one of the basic TV networks has been contiuously showing SB at 4:00 afternoon for like 5 years straight, (and it's the only cartoon shown as well) none of the kids growing up now are to get the awesome vairation in that I had back in the 90's. Unless their parents pay for NZ cable equvlient down here and get access to Nick, CN and Disney channels.

You know what I mean, though. Yeah, Squareass is older than Zim, but I'm talking in terms of the greats. Hell, I never got the chance to SEE Zim for the fact that they cancelled it so fast (on TV, of course.) Spongebob and Zim were at the end of the road there, but while Zim didn't change and thus was cancelled, Spongebob did, and as a toon fan, I must say the little Poriferan sold his spongy soul to the devil.

And before anyone thinks I was knocking Flapjack, I really wasn't, just wanna get that out there. As I said, bless it for trying, but it just isn't the same.

Camp Lazlo. Who saw it?

[Deleted]

I sorta-kinda watch cartoons. Not out of any abject loathing/crippling social fears, but more out of indifference; modern animation mostly doesn't catch my interest. I like Futurama/Family Guy/Boondocks/South Park/Metalocalypse, but not enough to actively pursue them; I mostly watch them when I'm at somebody else's house and they happen to have the TV on. But to be fair I have a whole CD binder dedicated to animated DVDs, from Avatar to Batman: the Animated Series (before Bruce Timm was forced to draw every character like they had sticks up their asses and make the villains look bland and stupid), to Beast Wars and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Mostly early/mid nineties stuff, you know? But I don't mind more recent animation. Avatar, like I mentioned before; Danny Phantom was magnificent, and Nickelodeon screwed the pooch when they canned it in favor of Fairly Odd Parents (which can fuck off); and, like you guys've said, Studio Ghibli and Pixar are ballin'. (I'd go off on another "this is why I don't like contemporary Disney" thing, but you guys all know that story.)

And yeah, there's no matching the innuendos cartoons of the day could slip in. Animaniacs was fucking brilliant - I still crack up hearing Wacko say "I'll blow th' wad!" in the beginning of Wacko's Capitals. Nowadays it's mostly sight gags (though not always slapstick) and people ripping off Spumco's "super-serious and super-ugly" face schtick. The last cartoon that I remember getting away with shit like that was Invader Zim...but, as much as I loved the show back in my Hot Topic days, I can't bring myself to watch it anymore. That brings me to my next ranty thing:

Aug 7, 2010 3:47:53 GMT -5 The Qu said:

Teev, you might want to check out Adventure Time with Jake and Finn. It's a very odd cartoon with a twisted sense of humor. The amount of crap that has gotten past the radar could fill up an entire sewer.

I honestly can't stand Adventure Time, for the same reason I don't watch Zim anymore: they're both very condescending to their viewer. If it's one thing that cheeses me off about any sort of media (not just animation), it's when the writers/creators treat their audience like idiots. Jhonen Vasquez is terrible like that - even in his non-Zim projects (JTHM, Squee, etc.), he's always got that degrading sense of humor. I'll give Adventure Time credit where it's due, though: it's the best condescending form of media I've ever seen, but that really doesn't say much.

I've got friends who say "oh, that's just the show's/Jhonen Vasquez' humor," to which I always respond, "well, it's not very funny." Natch.

Other cartoons I don't care for are the ones that look like they were made in Flash, Frisky Dingo in particular. The style is just really off-putting and the animation itself isn't very, well, animate. Everybody moves like popsicle-stick puppets. Venture Brothers really grosses me out (the nail in the coffin was the episode where they went into space and Doctor Venture pissed in his space suit - unnecessary, kthx, not watching anymore), and anime is balls-deep in sagas like Bleach, Naruto and Sgt. Frog. We haven't had a good "Cowboy Bebop" or "Gurren Lagann" in far too long.

TL;DR: mostly me bitching, yada yada, shut up TEi.