The Plight of the Cartoon Industry

[robinoz]

It better than ok, it was great.

yeah, they really did a number on Titan AE!

too bad most animation today is just recycled stuff (lion king 1 1/2), and when a truly unique show struts its stuff it gets cancelled!
take Samurai Jack for instance... great show, bad cancellation

[SteC]

One of Don Bluth's best films... 

It better than ok, it was great.

yeah, they really did a number on Titan AE!

too bad most animation today is just recycled stuff (lion king 1 1/2), and when a truly unique show struts its stuff it gets cancelled!
take Samurai Jack for instance... great show, bad cancellation

Recording your fav shows on video or DVD is a definate must-do, before that very unexpected cancellation.

[NPC]

The goods ones are the first to get cancelled, while the bad ones hang around forever and haunt you with their reruns.

...Kinda like people in real life. 

It's sad, isn't it? The stuff you love never lasts.



...Unless it's on Youtube! W00T!

[Andy]

Yeah. It seems that the modern animation studios and companies are not doing well financially because the quality of cartoons are slipping. I mean, Yu-Gi-Oh was pretty much a "great" animated show that I like watching and it was the only thing that kept me waking up on Saturdays. But lately, I haven't been waking up early enough to watch Saturday mornings recently. Maybe this week and I'll catch the line-ups to all the networks to see what they have.

I'll tell you guys what each network has and rate each show in terms of quality, showmanship, and goodness ratings. I'm sure there's at least ONE good show out there that is favorable to watch. I gotta keep getting myself a TV Guide or something that shows what catoon shows are on.

BTW. Whatever happened to Don Bluth?

Oh. And I did heard that Disney is thinking of going back to doing only 2d animation and let Pixar just 3d. I think that because of the way people personified Chicklen Little, they think that Meet the Robinsons will get the same reaction. A few liked it and the majority thought that it would've been better, or a few thought it stunk. So, it's understandable.

And it would a really sad day if/when our children or our children's children didn't know who Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse was? Let's just hope that the animation companies can bounce back really soon. Because I can tell that many of the children don't even care about cartoons anymore. I think that's why there are no longer weekday morning and afternoon lineups on TV because the cartoon shows are slipping. There's gotta be a way to get the cartoon lineups back on the air everyday instead of on extra cable channels and Saturday mornings.

[littlebadwolf]

There were a lot of general cartoons that I really liked during the 90's, like Tartakovsky's stuff and a few of the Disney cartoons, but lately, it seems like I'm too out of touch with them durn' young'uns to watch TV animation anymore, and the only stuff I still get is adult-targeted animation like Futurama, American Dad, and the like.  I did think Kim Possible had some promise, but then they canceled it.

You know who they should bring back?  Popeye.  Except they'd probably have to make him too PC for it to be true to the source material.

[Blackcat]

There were a lot of general cartoons that I really liked during the 90's, like Tartakovsky's stuff and a few of the Disney cartoons, but lately, it seems like I'm too out of touch with them durn' young'uns to watch TV animation anymore, and the only stuff I still get is adult-targeted animation like Futurama, American Dad, and the like.  I did think Kim Possible had some promise, but then they canceled it.

You know who they should bring back?  Popeye.  Except they'd probably have to make him too PC for it to be true to the source material.

Nope, it ended. A show only really gets canceled when there is no real ending. I don’t want to spoil anything but all the plots got resolved and Kim ended with her true love. After that, there wasn’t much to be done in the show.

2d animation is also a laborious process.  Compare it with 3d animation.  In 3d, you make the model, start a frame with it in this position, set another frame with the model in a different position and the computer makes the frames inbetween all by itself.  With 2d, you have to do all the frames seperately.

However, there's this guy that's making a 2d animation program that accomplishes the same task as 3d animation.  It's called Synfig, but its still in development.

2D animation is faster and allows many things to be made without going out of the budget. Take the Jimmy vs Timmy example, Jimmy Neutron doesn’t have much changes, while in  the fairy odd parents they just can go anywhere with no problem. That’s why most 3D shows tend to be very simple…

And about 2D without many drawings, take Pucca funny love for example, they made a TV show, is 2D and is awesome.

[robinoz]

2D animation is faster and allows many things to be made without going out of the budget. Take the Jimmy vs Timmy example, Jimmy Neutron doesn?t have much changes, while in  the fairy odd parents they just can go anywhere with no problem. That?s why most 3D shows tend to be very simple?

And about 2D without many drawings, take Pucca funny love for example, they made a TV show, is 2D and is awesome.

thing about the budget, many animation companies don't have large budgets and run out of money.  Take Evangelion for example, the last 2 eps were so weird because they ran out of money.  The fans wanted the real ending, so Gainax got some more money and finished Eva with the movie.  Another show called Berzerk (I think thats the spelling) ran out of money after ep 25, so it never ended.  it hit the climax and just left the viewers hanging.  Another anime (don't know the name, i think it was another Gainax one...) ran out of money in the middle of a season, so one of the episodes uses puppets on popsicle sticks.

Had a buddy make me a little 3d animated short of a bear drinking beer.  he spent perhaps 5 hours on the models and animation.  Had he done 2d, it would've taken much, much longer because of all the filler frames.  3d animation does filler frames for you.

Personally, though, i prefer 2d animation.  It's just so much more expressive

[Andy]

Personally, though, i prefer 2d animation.  It's just so much more expressive

You and me both, man.

[SteC]

BTW. Whatever happened to Don Bluth?

I think he's not making any films at the moment, but he was working in the video games industry in recent years with Dragon's Lair 3D and I-Ninja. Hope he makes another animated film to top Dreamworks or something... 

Heh heh, remember when Don Bluth's films triumphed over Disney's in the 80s? But then this whole 'rennaisance' thing happened with The Little Mermaid and Aladdin and, like they say, the tables have turned in the 90s when everyone preferred Disney. 

2D is so much cooler - it's just something we grew up with, isn't it? 

[Andy]

Oh yeah. How do I remember. The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time, An American Tale, All Dogs Go To Heaven. Man, those are good times. Also, don't forget The Rescuers Down Under that was released in the 80s.

I remember when I saw my first actual movie. I was like 4 going on 5 and my mother took me and my little brother to see The Land Before Time. It was an awesome movie. I had a great time. Then, Mom took us to Pizza Hut and they had those Land Before Time puppets. Remember those? She bought two for each of us. I had Little Foot and my brother had Ducky. Those are lost right now, but I still remember. I also remember seeing The Rescuers Down Under and The Little Mermaid in theaters and had a great time there.

God, I miss the good ol' days.

[Mechadon]

Oh yeah. How do I remember. The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time, An American Tale, All Dogs Go To Heaven. Man, those are good times. Also, don't forget The Rescuers Down Under that was released in the 80s.

I remember when I saw my first actual movie. I was like 4 going on 5 and my mother took me and my little brother to see The Land Before Time. It was an awesome movie. I had a great time. Then, Mom took us to Pizza Hut and they had those Land Before Time puppets. Remember those? She bought two for each of us. I had Little Foot and my brother had Ducky. Those are lost right now, but I still remember. I also remember seeing The Rescuers Down Under and The Little Mermaid in theaters and had a great time there.

God, I miss the good ol' days.

I'm sure Land Before TIme wasn't the first movie I saw. But It was the first movie I owned on VHS.

[NPC]

I do like 2d animation more so than 3d.

[Anonymous]

interesting views about the current state of the animation industry...

i'm going to be making the 2nd ALL 3D animated series for children while i do my degree.

when the website for my studio is up i'll post the link.

Neko

[robinoz]

interesting views about the current state of the animation industry...

i'm going to be making the 2nd ALL 3D animated series for children while i do my degree.

when the website for my studio is up i'll post the link.

Neko

sweet!   i'm definitely wanting to see this...
I can see it now...
"Cartoon industry saved by Tsuneko!"

[ApacheMan2K]

funny you should mention what's happened to the cartoon industry these days. recently, i posted a journal on my deviantArt page: http://apacheman2k.deviantart.com/journal/10454869/

this journal has a link with some interesting tidbits about the evil conspiracy that is 4Krap TV.

[Blackcat]

funny you should mention what's happened to the cartoon industry these days. recently, i posted a journal on my deviantArt page: http://apacheman2k.deviantart.com/journal/10454869/

this journal has a link with some interesting tidbits about the evil conspiracy that is 4Krap TV.

For good and bad, here they air uncensored anime at 3:AM, too bad I dont know show to use my tape recorder...with direct TV thats it...

[ApacheMan2K]

you should consider yourself lucky, mostly for the fact that the integrity of anime is preserved. but, anything 4Kids touches, becomes tainted. tainted with unnecessary music substitutions, cruddily dubbed dialogue, and the originality of anime being either damaged or taken away. 'tis sad, really.

fortunately, there are much better dubbers, namely Bandai Entertainment. i think they are the ones who've ever left the music and original characters' integrities untouched.

[SteC]

I've put my comment up on your DA journal, ApacheMan, so I'll put it up here too:

I like the tone of that message. It also makes a very good point about how removing the original aspect of the music produces such mediocre action for American audiences. That's an important factor that was left out, and if 4Kids keeps this up, it will run the risk of becoming too PC for US TV viewing ( and you know I -can't stand- PCorrectness! >_<; ) Or maybe it already has... ?

[Judith_Sparrow]

For the last few years I've been boycotting 3d animation in the theatre. i wont give them my money until tghey bring back GOOD 2d animation. 

[Supersonic]

For the last few years I've been boycotting 3d animation in the theatre. i wont give them my money until tghey bring back GOOD 2d animation. 

It won't happen. The 3D gimmick is here to stay, just like it was with video games. Only 10 years later are we beginning to see a hint of 2D platformer's return.