Western Animation That's Still Relevant, Dammit!

The old method of putting classic characters from retro cartoons and adapting for modern audiences is a very polarizing move to say the least. For this thread, which examples do you feel have handled the transition well and which just make you cringe?

Warner Bros and Hanna Barbera seem to be the most (in)famous for this, while known for a lot their attempts at contemporary revival shows (Yo Yogi, The Looney Tunes Show) even some of their original cartoons underwent the transition as they went along (eg. the number of times Fred Flintstone clashed with a hip guest star).

edited 12th May '13 5:16:15 PM by Psi001

Action cartoons seem to do better: Thundercats, periodic revivals of Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the many animated DC shows.

Call me a luddite, but I can't stand references to internet culture, Igadgets and social network websites

^ That's largely because they're still trying to "force" it, by and large. I think that's a by-product of the remnants of the Animation Age Ghetto, but also that even the more adult-oriented western shows try so hard to be topical all the time.

It works better when there's more casual integration of 21st-century things, like, for instance, how Mordecai and Rigby used social networking to invite people to their party in Party Pete.

edited 12th May '13 9:03:17 PM by Ogodei

It's odd how some cartoons cling to the past, though. Note that they still use video tapes on Regular Show, and in Adventure Time too.

I kind of feel like some things in Adventure Time are supposed to be a parody of this. Like maybe the random weird slang they use and the way they speak in general is supposed to parody the awkward way shows sometimes write in characters saying exaggerated slang, but this time with stuff that's weird and makes no sense anyway.

edited 12th May '13 10:43:27 PM by KnownUnknown

As for Regular Show, it’s kind of established that Mordecai and Rigby cling to yesterday’s technology because they can’t afford anything better. Boy, can I relate to that!

I dunno, half the time it seems like it's because they can't afford it, and the other half of the time it seems like it's just because Mordecai is a huge hipster.

Of course, I'm not sure how you'd explain it for other characters in the show, but hey.

J.G is a hipster too

While I don't think we could ever recreate the classics, I love that there's still shout outs galore to some of the best of the best.

Also, I read the thread title in Jake Morgendorffer's voice. It just serves as a reminder that I need to finish my Daria binge.

I always liked that House of Mouse episode where Donald tries learning how to use a computer, and they made a brutal parody on loading times. Make out of that what you want.

I feel like the 80's nostalgia infused into Regular Show stems from how J. G. Quintel is himself a kid from the 80's and is incredibly nostalgic. He voices one of the main characters.

Why are action shows more adaptable and altered to the modern audiences better than comedies? Is it easier? If so, why is adapting comedies harder? Does humor evolve over time?

There are exceptions. The Muppets, while not animated, are comedy by nature and the 2011 film was a huge hit. Then you have the 2011 show Thundercats, which succeeded in altering the storyline to make more sense and make everything Darker and Edgier while still being family friendly, but also kept the campiness of the 80's show too. I think it has to do with how well the creators of the shows are familiar with what they're adapting, and how much of a fan they are.

edited 14th May '13 11:33:32 AM by kyun

Didnt Thundercats 2011 get cancelled?

Humor tends to be a lot more topical and era specific. It's possible to get a brand of humor that stands through time, but it's even easier to limit that to the same rehashes and catchphrases over and over if you can't tweak it.

This is why some retro cartoon revivals tend to be frowned upon. They're either awkward attempts at giving the franchise a modern edge or just recycle the best bits of the originals over and over.

edited 14th May '13 6:52:55 PM by Psi001

And that's exactly why The Looney Tunes Show is hardly like The Looney Tunes; because what was funny during the time of The Looney Tunes is no longer funny, and in order to stay funny, you need to stay relevant.

I don't think that the things that made the classics truly enjoyable has changed any. The old cartoons ran on slapstick, sight gags, and cultural references, and were mostly about making mundane concepts (like the basic predator-prey relationship) into something silly and unique.

Regular Show, again, is a good example of how to modernize it, except that they just lampshade the cartoon logic (and the logic is equally strange to the people in-universe), but at its core you have two everymen taking on every day tasks that lead to completely bizarre places, with cultural nods interspersed in a lot of cases.

Formula's the same, the execution just needs to be a bit different.

You're right on the nose with that.

Classic LT comedy is still as funny as ever, it's just it's a lot more difficult to portray in today's asfixiantly politically correct and hypocritical entertainment world.

Not to mention that, in it's most iconic form at least, the shorts tended to be formulaic, and most of the plots and dynamics had already been used to their full potential and run out of steam before the original series had even finished. It doesn't help that the writers tend to be simplistic in their resarch, and only refer to all of the handful of award winning shorts when trying to make something conventional (no matter how many times they remake "Rabbit Fire" or "Duck Dodgers", they're not going to improve on the original).

edited 16th May '13 7:07:48 AM by Psi001

I dunno, I find Duck Dodgers to be the best of the Looney Tunes "revival" attempts.

The series Duck Dodgers was more diverse and was blended with a lot of modern humor, which similar to other instances like The Looney Tunes Show, goes in and out and is of required taste. Most of Daffy's actual revival shorts have either been rehashes of the first short or Rabbit Fire however.

I say the horse show and Mystery Incorporated are the best reboots ever made, since they use the potential better than any other show reboot.

Better than the actual show ReBoot?

The most recent season of Beavis and Butthead was such a good revival, it felt like it was up to par, if not exceeded the quality of the earlier episodes. It's basically a fact.

YMMV.