Early Installment Weirdness in Western Animations

Speaking of SpongeBob, in the earliest episodes he was much more of an "awkward but earnest geek" type of character (the trope page sums it up as "earnest everyman"), and he didn't have the really immature naivete and optimism we know him for until a few episodes in. And in "Help Wanted" and "Tea at the Treedome", SpongeBob and Patrick, while still not the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree, seem more like friends you'd actually find in real life, supporting each other and exchanging advice.

edited 27th Apr '13 9:51:43 AM by Robotnik

Spongebob also seemed to be a reasonably smart average person who clearly at least had more common sense than Patrick. Now they're barely different sometimes

There actually seemed points Patrick was more observant than Spongebob at times (eg. when he suggests maybe Squidward doesn't want them around, which the latter quickly rebuffs).

Their characters seemed to have more intricate flaws than just being destructively stupid early on. Spongebob was merely eccentric while Patrick more sort of a tactless Lazy Bum.

Squidward also seemed to be more prone to Rant Inducing Slight snit fits as a result of their toned down personas. Sometimes just seeing the sight of them was enough for him to want rid of them.

The Sonic Sat Am pilot "Heads Or Tails" utilized prototype designs and concepts, overall feeling a lot more like the early Archie comics (which similarly used undeveloped material from the show). It also used Buzz Bombers from the games as well as some background music from Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog. (Oddly, similar to The Simpsons the pilot actually aired last out of the first season).

While the rest of the first season was more fully developed, it did utilize a less definitive setup character wise, likely due to having a larger amount of writers on board than Season Two. Rotor and Bunnie had larger roles, Antoine was a more nuanced This Loser Is You than a late Daffy Duck-esque Straw Loser, while Sonic and Sally interchanged between being fairly tactful and serious minded action heroes to being Not So Different egotistical brats.

edited 27th Apr '13 6:28:15 AM by Psi001

I liked that scenario better. Gave the rest of the characters time to shine, Antoine wasn't completely useless, and Sally felt more like a character. And then Ben Hurst happened, and we got useless-ass dragon, Antoine reached a new low in stereotyping, Bunnie and Rotor disappeared, and Sally turned into a chilling premonition of how Sue-ified she'd become in the comics.

On that note, a few early episodes of The Super Mario Bros Super Show had a Running Gag of Luigi making occasional Spoonerisms (my favorite being "Crama's here in Koopalot?"), that got dropped pretty quickly.

Ed Eddn Eddy seemed less over-the-top and more down-to-earth early on, which I liked. The episode where Eddy managed to build a giant heating system to stop the other kids from knowing that fall was over...I think that was a Jumping the Shark moment for me, actually.

I think the plus of earlier episodes in many shows is that a lot of the time the writers are experimenting with different things to see how they work with the character and story, especially if there is more than one writer. Sometimes it just leads to mass Characterization Marches On, while in others it leads to all the facets making a more fuller character, compared to later on where they have a distinct amount of traits and are usually simplified to a developed formula. This could be the pivot in many cases of Flanderization.

Looney Tunes was similar. See all the different roles and personas Bugs, Daffy and Porky took on in the mid to late forties before their 'definitive' ones were made by Chuck Jones. They seemed so versatile.

Ed Edd N Eddy also seemed less of a Sadist Show early on (even if there was still a fair amount of schadenfreude). Eddy was less of a sociopath, the slapstick was less brutal and the Eds actually got the last laugh an odd occasion (eg. "Sir Ed-a-Lot", "A Glass Of Warm Ed").

edited 27th Apr '13 9:56:48 AM by Psi001

Oddly enough, I like the more over-the-top EEnE episodes the best, actually. Compared to some later episodes, the first few episodes just seem kind of dull to me. Plus, the animation improved considerably as the show went on.

I agree.

Adventure Time was a lot less surreal in its first couple of seasons, before becoming something of a WAT Series in Season 3. Also, They stopped putting the logo in the episodes after S1.

I still need to start watching that show. I got a DVD of Season 1, but haven't even taken the wrapping off it yet. All I've seen is the pilot, commercials, and a little bit of some episode that was showing on a TV in a video store I was in a few months ago.

Video stores still exist?

I'm calling it that because "DVD store" just sounds awkward.

But yes, they do exist. They're mostly hobbyist stores now, just like comic shops, but they still exist. Collectors of the strange and ephemeral that has never had a rerelease in the digital age need to find it somewhere.

Tom and Jerry were originally known as Jasper and Jinx (Jinks?), which is why in some VERY early shorts you'll here the maid yelling "Jaa-aaasper" at the top of her lungs when she saw Jerry...uh, Jinx. This was confusing to me as a kid because the early shorts were packaged with the later ones, and were not differently labelled in any way. I ended up asking myself "Doesn't she know his name's Tom?" I imagine they originally were identified in title cards or somesuch, but if so those title cards didn't survive the shorts being packaged for TV.

Obscure Trivia Department: "Tom and Jerry" refers to drink that is a combination of a hot toddy and eggnog, which is itself named for two characters, Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorne, from the 19th century play Life in London. There had been a previous cartoon series called "Tom and Jerry", featuring two dudes in the Mutt and Jeff mold, from the very early '30's. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Yeah, I read about a video store that still exists, I believe in Hollywood, CA (owned and operated by a man and his wife who used to be, respectively, a writer and an animator for Hanna-Barbera) that claims to have a copy of every movie or film ever released on video tape (I don't remember if that just means "released in the West" or "released anywhere;" probably just the West, but I don't know). They don't sell, either, they're a rental establishment, and they've had some pretty well known directors come in to get copies of their own works that studios won't re-release.

edited 27th Apr '13 8:13:52 PM by Robbery

She only refered to him as Jasper in the very first short "Puss Gets The Boot", from the second short "The Midnight Snack" Tom's name is established along with Ms Two Shoe's trademark bellow of "THOMAS!!!".

Allegedly most of the original prints of the series were destroyed in a fire in MGM, leaving only reprints with updated title cards. Rare reels of the originals do exist however.

http://ramapithblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/tho-mas-come-up-and-see-some-rarities.html

edited 27th Apr '13 8:20:36 PM by Psi001

I actually learned about that Tom/Jasper thing when I was a little kid. Oddly, I learned it by staying up late and watching some show on Cartoon Network that showed old cartoons while giving some historical and pop cultural context behind them between the shorts. For example, I remember another thing they pointed out was that "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" from Popeye was a reference to a popular movie at the time (or maybe it was the other way around...I don't quite remember).

I wish I could remember what show that was. It was a pretty cool show, and it's a shame there isn't something else like that on TV, at least not right now.

I think my local area even still has a couple of video rental stores, not that I use them. Though the nearby Blockbuster went kaput, hmm... maybe two or three years ago, and I played the world's smallest violin for them.

Re: Binky as a bully on Arthur, yeah, true that he was conceived as a bully. But even in the first season we saw the beginnings of his de-bullying. So fifteen years later, it's just amusing to see George still being scared of him. I mean, of course, it's George, but you wanna ask him, haven't you been paying attention? Just call Binky out— you should know it's not like Binky is actually going to do anything to you.

Sounds like Toonheads, a show I loved dearly and miss terribly. CN also had a few similarly structured programs, The Bob Clampett Show, the Tex Avery Show, and Popeye (which they put on criminally late at night). I think I remember them starting up a Chuck Jones show, too, but it was just before they cancelled the whole lot of them. Toonheads had three seasons, but ran for quite a long time on CN.

Yes, Toonheads, that was it exactly! Loved that show

Family Video is still a very big rental chain in the Midwest. I've even seen news articles saying things to the effect of "While other video stores are closing, Family Video is going strong".

Reminds me of how Harold and Stinky turned out in Hey Arnold, which did have a lot of Early Installment Weirdness.

Multiple characters were undeveloped or still in the background. Arnold was more a spotlighted character prone to neurotics and Imagine Spots rather than a secondary paragon of virtues. The animation, similar to The Simpsons, was also more crude and surreal and a few voices were different (either due to actor changes or Vocal Evolution).

edited 28th Apr '13 10:10:13 AM by Psi001

SWAT Kats, despite only lasting 24 episodes, i felt had some real hits in early episodes, especially the weird angles, zooming, and darker portrayal of Megakat City shown in "The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice."

While the second season undoubtedly had better animation quality, a bit of that spirit seemed to disappear.

Teen Titans also felt better, with a little more personality, and that one random scene in the "Forces of Nature" (or whatever it was called, the one with Thunder and Lightning and its random Shinto themes) where Starfire had iris-less eyes (like her comic book counterpart) that i felt looked much better on her.

Funnily, i like the distinctly "early Klasky & Csupo" look of early Rugrats episodes, but NOT how it looked in early Simpsons episodes, but then i've been of the opinion that seasons 3-13 were the height of Simpsons-dom.

Can films count? Cause I got a few worth noting.

1. The Land Before Time had NO songs or moral lessons, and was darker(Both figuratively and literally). The animation was also the signature Don Bluth style, though it was made more lighter and less shady in the sequels. Some of the characters had different voice actors in the sequels. Personal opinion: Everything after V was almost unwatchable.

2. Shrek It was actually a bit lighter and softer in the beginning. Humor style was less musical and parody.

And Regular Show, which had different voice actors for the pilot.

I'd say those movies are less Early-Installment Weirdness and more Sequelitis.

Not Shrek.

Certainly was the case in the third movie.

edited 28th Apr '13 2:10:34 PM by 0dd1

So I'm the only one that liked the third movie? As usual?