Poll: Is it just me, or were cartoons better when I was a kid?
- Thread starter Blindswordmaster
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No, it turns out your standards for entertainment were WAY lower as a child. I used to think GI Joe was AWESOME and when I saw it a few years back I found that I was apparently some sort of idiot when I was 6.
If you go back to the likes of Duck Tales, Dexter's Lab, and Animaniacs in the late 1980s and the 1990s, then yeah, they were better.
If you go back LONGER, to the likes of Transformers, G.I. Joe, and He-Man, then you can make a pretty good case that today's cartoons, while not great, are generally better. There's a lot of people that love these, but where you can go back to Animaniacs and Duck Tales and appreciate them all the MORE for the life lessons and adult ideas that you didn't necessarily understand when you were a kid, you can't say there's the same level of content in this bunch of cartoons, which amounted to mindless and repetitious action.
If you go back EVEN LONGER, to the original Loony Tunes and Disney shorts from the 1950s and earlier, then you can make the case that older cartoons were better.
I'd say it's a cyclical thing and not a linear path of degradation. That and, well, every age tends to be a bit of a mixed bag.
If you go back LONGER, to the likes of Transformers, G.I. Joe, and He-Man, then you can make a pretty good case that today's cartoons, while not great, are generally better. There's a lot of people that love these, but where you can go back to Animaniacs and Duck Tales and appreciate them all the MORE for the life lessons and adult ideas that you didn't necessarily understand when you were a kid, you can't say there's the same level of content in this bunch of cartoons, which amounted to mindless and repetitious action.
If you go back EVEN LONGER, to the original Loony Tunes and Disney shorts from the 1950s and earlier, then you can make the case that older cartoons were better.
I'd say it's a cyclical thing and not a linear path of degradation. That and, well, every age tends to be a bit of a mixed bag.
I have 3 things to say to this.
1. I like Flapjack D=
2 Relieved to see im not the only one that wants to murder children after watching chowder
3 Watch Ugly Americans on Comedy Central. That will make you feel better..(is he being sarcastic) YOU WILL NEVER KNOW
4. Im sorry I said 3 but this has to come out. Whoever that dude is that is on CN reality TV needs to go play in traffic.
1. I like Flapjack D=
2 Relieved to see im not the only one that wants to murder children after watching chowder
3 Watch Ugly Americans on Comedy Central. That will make you feel better..(is he being sarcastic) YOU WILL NEVER KNOW
4. Im sorry I said 3 but this has to come out. Whoever that dude is that is on CN reality TV needs to go play in traffic.
It depends if you mean the animation was better or the story. Older cartoons were produced by movie studios so while their dated they are of a much higher quality of animation. It wasn't till the 1960's that cartoon's became a mostly TV based media. TV cartoon's have much lower budgets but it allowed them to experiment with the story concept. Cartoon's today have better concepts, even if its a terriblely written show it's still proabley a step up in concept then the old slap stick cartoon's of the 40's. However Today's cartoon animation quality continues to cheapen, with the advent of flash we don't even have to draw much more than the key frames of animations.
Also to consider, in the 40's Only a few cartoons would be made a year per studio (there we're like 3 major studios) but all of them would be really high quality. Today there are dozens of cartoons pumping out hundreds of episodes every year so the result. More variety but high chance of cartoon's being crap.
every decade has it's good cartoon's in the 40's and 50's you had Looney Toons, Tom and Jerry, and Silly Symphonies in the 60's you had johnny quest and few other decent hana barbara cartoons, the 80's saw alot of high concept action cartoons like transformers, G.I. Joe, Thunder Cats, ect, as well as the first of the high quality anime's hitting american shores. The 90's was the start of the anime crazy proper and you saw big name studios getting into TV animation with cartoon's. Warner Bros had Tiny Toon's, Animaniacs, Batman. Disney did a slew of cartoon's like gummi Bears, Duck Tales, and Gargoyles.
2000 saw the introduction of flash which allowed cartoon's to be made quickly and cheaply but still have smooth animation (though they tend to look flat.) It also saw a rise in adult animation (largely through cartoon network's adult swim) it's also the decade that 3D became a big deal.
So i don't think cartoon's are less enjoyable than they were when we were young. Try going back and watching thunder cats...its not easy. As an adult (and animation major) i've come across many great cartoons from each decade that i would call timeless
Also to consider, in the 40's Only a few cartoons would be made a year per studio (there we're like 3 major studios) but all of them would be really high quality. Today there are dozens of cartoons pumping out hundreds of episodes every year so the result. More variety but high chance of cartoon's being crap.
every decade has it's good cartoon's in the 40's and 50's you had Looney Toons, Tom and Jerry, and Silly Symphonies in the 60's you had johnny quest and few other decent hana barbara cartoons, the 80's saw alot of high concept action cartoons like transformers, G.I. Joe, Thunder Cats, ect, as well as the first of the high quality anime's hitting american shores. The 90's was the start of the anime crazy proper and you saw big name studios getting into TV animation with cartoon's. Warner Bros had Tiny Toon's, Animaniacs, Batman. Disney did a slew of cartoon's like gummi Bears, Duck Tales, and Gargoyles.
2000 saw the introduction of flash which allowed cartoon's to be made quickly and cheaply but still have smooth animation (though they tend to look flat.) It also saw a rise in adult animation (largely through cartoon network's adult swim) it's also the decade that 3D became a big deal.
So i don't think cartoon's are less enjoyable than they were when we were young. Try going back and watching thunder cats...its not easy. As an adult (and animation major) i've come across many great cartoons from each decade that i would call timeless
the older cartoon were so much better =/ , granted there are some neat cartoons now days but most of them are complete garbage.
courage the cowardly dog was one of my all time favorite cartoons always stayed up at night to watch it... and then have nightmares... god it was scary as f**k back when i was younger. like that one episode with the were-mole that came out of the ground and shit. shame it got canceled =(
courage the cowardly dog was one of my all time favorite cartoons always stayed up at night to watch it... and then have nightmares... god it was scary as f**k back when i was younger. like that one episode with the were-mole that came out of the ground and shit. shame it got canceled =(
0_oHazy said:
That creepy bastard gave me nightmares. Hell even now I get chills when I watch this episode.
OT: I definitely agree the shows from the 80's, 90's, and early 200's kicked so much ass. I used to loved Nickalodean and Cartoon Network. Now I can't stand to watch either channel because most of it is utter shit in my humble opinion(which I gather most of you seem to share)
Fail.drisky said:
1-- There is no such thing as western anime. Transformers, generation 1 was more 'anime' than Avatar is... and even had the anime look from its asian animators on its human characters.
2-- The term you mean is 'merkanime' which is americans going for the look and feel of SD-influenced anime. Teen titans being the most successful and typical example.
As for cartoons sucking these days:
Yes, cartoons suck when you compare all the cartoons out these days with all the cartoons that you -remember- watching every single day religiously.
This is because you only remember the good parts of those series, and you don't bother to remember the bad cartoons of that time period.
So, the question then is... if you compare nothing but the best of the best of one era, to the average of another era, is the other era gonna come out on top?
Of course.
But that doesn't change the fact that there are -great- cartoons that came out recently. Transformers Animated was -amazing- good.
According to the poll (and this is as surprising to me as McCain losing the election), cartoons were better before. What do ya know =3
I'm gonna have to stop you there .. while i agree with the disney comment, the "Japanese Pokemon-crap" isn't to blame, hell the 1st season was brilliant, after watching the 1st movie two days ago i'm still in awe about how good it is for 11 years old. However now there is only a few shows of the "Japanese Pokemon-crap" and its the current pokemon (which imo isnt that bad) and Avatar, which lets be fair is also pretty good .. what has truly ruined current generation cartoons is British & American attempts at making a new fad, it failing then repeat. Add in a mix of rules and regulations of what can be showed nowadays to "protect the children".erbkaiser said:
It was animated in Japan. It was written, and storyboards were created on American soil. One of the head writers, in fact, was Flint Dille, the grandson of the inventor of Buck Rogers.RathWolf said:
Anime is fully japanese.