History Headscratchers / WesternAnimation

* Why is it that there are so many cartoons based around characters that are just normal people drawn as personified animals? Obviously it works on kids because they're still making them, but that doesn't make it bug me any less. It seems like writers can get away with the most boring stories ever as long as the characters are slightly animal shaped! Take the "Berenstein Bears" for example. They're just a normal family who learn life's lessons every week, but shaped slightly like bears. They do pretty much everything humans would do. What's the point in them being bears? They never attack a naive hiker, or even eat an intrusive porridge-eating chair-breaking bed-messing blondie. Even their name is quite human sounding! DidNotDoTheResearch, I think!

* Animation quality is more than just the equivalent of cinematography, it is also the production design, the lighting, the choreography and all the acting, all these factors rely on how well thought out and how much effort is put into the animation, but I think it’s fine for animation to feel crude of grungy if it suits the tone of the show or movie.

*** (To the guy above) 1. THAT'S EXACTLY THE POINT. You cannot draw, and supposedly, you don't practice drawing, you've never tried to draw seriously. Therefore, even if the animation is fucking ugly and eye-burning, it doesn't bug you. However, for artists (which dominate the mature audiences still into cartoons), pseudo-realistic Hanna Barbera stuff of the 80s is atrocious and a crime against animation that would rather [[DisContinuity forget about its' very existence]]. 2. Why do you even watch animated shows then if you don't give a damn about the quality of the artwork? I assure you there are tons of live action TV shows that have just as great of a "story and concept behind it". 3. John K writes his blog for people that want to learn to draw like him, and most of it is dedicated to writing about classic principles of animation, he bashes stuff whenever he wants to give an example of how you should not draw if you chose to go the classic way. 4. LooneyTunes was originally made for adults - they were shown in theatres as a short addition to the main feature. No one ever took children to theatres back then. Saying you "outgrew" LooneyTunes is like saying you grew out of eating chocolate.

**** I'm with the second poster. Yes, NostalgiaFilter can be a wicked kick, but occasionally something brilliant slid right under the radar. The Dungeons and Dragons animated series, for example, gets MUCH funnier if you've ever played a few dice and sheet RPGs with a smiling sadist of a Dungeonmaster. The Sorceress's backstory episode of He-Man was gorgeous. TheRealGhostbusters took a slightly raunchy, definitely not for kiddies movie, ran with the idea, manages a G rating, but still kept everyone in character - to the point where the second movie was a disappointment (the Statue of Liberty bit notwithstanding). GalaxyRangers could easily be called the forgotten ancestor of {{Firefly}}, and had a stable of writers from Del Rey cranking out the episodes (which is why it resembles the early StarWars ExpandedUniverse). They were also very idealistic sci-fi, and I will certainly break them (and StarTrekTheNextGeneration) out when I've had my fill of the non-stop DarkerAndEdgier CrapsackWorld of most sci-fi. With those shows I could imagine a world I'd want to make real, instead of a world I'd dread happening.

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<<|ItJustBugsMe|>>

** I agree with you. It's obvious that ThickLineAnimation is done so much because it is simply cheaper and easier to make. I'm annoyed to no end that the actually good animated shows are gone, and if you want a bit of quality, your only options is to watch old stuff or CGI, which is different form of art entirely. Even more annoying is to know that now wuth today technology we have much more means to do high quality 2D animation, yet all is done is that crappy ThickLineAnimation. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons so many animation fans moved to Anime instead. I know that's what I did.

** I agree with you. It's obvious that ThickLineAnimation is done so much because it is simply cheaper and easier to make. I'm annoyed to no end that the actually animated shows are gone, and if you want a bit of quality, your only options is to watch old stuff or CGI, which is different form of art entirely. Even more annoying is to know that now wuth today technology we have much more means to do high quality 2D animation, yet all is done is that crappy ThickLineAnimation. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons so many animation fans moved to Anime instead. I know that's what I did.

** That's the thing, CGI is replacing the 2D animation and the 2D animation IS becoming a dead medium. 2D animation nowadays that isn't a ThickLineAnimation or stylised like Anime is almost non-existing. We can't enjoy the good art of animated shows and films anymore. I believe the CGI and 2D animation are two different forms of art; you can do things with 2D animation that you can't with CGI, and vice-versa. Yet one is completely replace another so the other isn't exist anymore. Imagine photos replacing realistic drawings completely. This is how it feels. Add this to the fact that CGI and ThickLineAnimation are cheaper and easier to make, and are published massively as if they are part of a production line, and it's hard to shake the feeling that CGI is just a soulless money-make machine.

** That's the thing, CGI is replacing the 2D animation and the 2D animation IS becoming a dead medium. 2D animation nowadays that isn't a ThickLineAnimation or stylised like Anime is almost non-existing. We can't enjoy the good art of animated shows and films anymore. I believe the CGI and 2D animation are two different forms of art; you can do things with 2D animation that you can't with CGI, and vice-versa. Yet one is completely replace another so the other isn't exist anymore. Imagine photos replacing realistic drawings completely. This is how it feels. Add this to the fact that CGI and ThickLineAnimation are cheaper and easier to make, and are published massively as if they are part of production line, and it's hard to shake the feeling that CGI is just a soulless money-make machine.

** That's the thing, CGI is replacing the 2D animation and the 2D animation IS becoming a dead medium. 2D animation nowadays that isn't a ThickLineAnimation or stylised like Anime is almost non-existing. We can't enjoy the good art of animated shows and films anymore. I believe the CGI and 2D animation are two different forms of art; you can do things with 2D animation that you can't with CGI, and vice-versa. Yet one is completely replace another so the other isn't exist anymore. Imagine photos replacing realistic drawings completely. This is how it feels.Add this to the fact that CGI and ThickLineAnimation are cheaper and easier to make, and are published massively as if they are part of production line, and it's hard to shake the feeling that CGI is just a soulless money-make machine.

** That's the thing, CGI is replacing the 2D animation and the 2D animation IS becoming a dead medium. 2D animation nowadays that isn't a ThickLineAnimation or stylised like Anime is almost non-existing. We can't enjoy the good art of animated shows and films anymore. I believe the CGI and 2D animation are two different forms of art; you can do things with 2D animation that you can't with CGI, and vice-versa. Yet one is completely replace another so the other isn't exist anymore. Imagine photos replacing realistic drawings completely. This is how it feels.
Add this to the fact that CGI and ThickLineAnimation are cheaper and easier to make, and are published massively as if they are part of production line, and it's hard to shake the feeling that CGI is just a soulless money-make machine.