Canon and Continuity in cartoons

With shows like Steven Universe and Gravity Falls becoming such massive successes, I wonder if cartoons nowadays will focus on continuity? Shows like these are easily accessible thanks to the internet as there are streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix as well as other 'legal' services. With shows like these becoming accessible and with fans following the story, I wonder if shows in the future will focus more on continuity? Do shows need a continuity?

Cartoons only need continuity if they plan on having any kind of narrative.

Sonic Boom is a rare example of a series that highlights some continuity, but is not necessarily needed to be enjoined. Regular Show was like this as well, during the first two seasons I think, but soon became more continuity-focussed when C.J. returned. I honestly say a cartoon doesn't need one unless it's for a specific reason.

I do not mind not having any continuity however I can understand that there are those that do. The internet makes things easier for everyone to keep track of the lore though.

You know, I hear people say "continuity is easier to follow because of the Internet and Netflix"... Rocky And Bullwinkle had long, serialized storylines and nobody complained about it being hard to follow.

Continuity can be found in even shows with standalone episodes; consider how when Rockos Modern Life married off Filburt and let him have kids, quite a few subsequent episodes featured his marriage and family. Someone who watched them out of order would probably wonder "Why is he suddenly married and with kids?"... This is why showing something in order is needed.

It felt that way to me of course. Still, it does make it easier to keep catch up as I do not want to get lost in a story.

Now, I'm all about storytelling (God knows we could use more Western fare capable of doing so - as it's good for developing minds, especially those of the target audience (which, of course, is kids.).), as long as...

A) It's done well enough to keep you interest and has an effective beginning, middle, and end. There is such a thing as bad storytelling, after all.

B) It's in shows where it makes sense to do that (I wouldn't go looking for this in stuff like Looney Tunes, for example. And definitely not something like Uncle Grandpa, neither.).

This is just me being vague and open-ended about all of this, however.

edited 29th Jul '15 7:31:25 AM by Shokew

You forget that Rocky and Bullwinkle was aired in a time when there were like 5 TV channels, so it was either watch that or watch the creepy clown on channel 2.

And it managed to last for five years and have a long, healthy afterlife in syndication.

You know what completely non-serious show had an ongoing plot of sorts? The Brothers Grunt

At least today we have programmers who generally make an effort to broadcast a show in order. When I was very young, watching Rocky and Bullwinkle or Underdog (another one that frequently had continuing stories) reruns, they would more often than not run them out of order.

While I don't think any show should become a slave to continuity, developing a continuity can be a joy to an audience. It's nice to realize that the makers of a show are actually paying attention to it (which has not always been the case). Still, it depends upon the show in question, Continuity would just slow down some things.

Well just because some people miss an episode or two of a series and get confused, doesn't mean its the show fault nor should you punish the faithful watchers of the program either.

Let's look at it another way: someone likes Spider-Man and wants to start reading the comics. Wat do.

I'm surprised that with serialized stuff, there are apparently no "previously on" segments to clue people in on what's been happening these days.

Most serialized shows have that. The continuity issue comes in when shows are episodic but build up a plot regardless.

Well, the thing is, it has to be episodic enough that the continuity won't impact your enjoyment.

Take the example of Rockos Modern Life mentioned above. It's episodic but it has some continuity - you'd be confused if you saw an episode with Filburt married first and then single second. But that's something you can brush off because it generally doesn't impact the episode at hand.

Now, if it gets more complicated... That's where you need to start explaining.

edited 11th Aug '15 3:54:50 PM by Aldo930

Pretty much that.

That is a good point.

Continuity is not a problem when you're only doing about 3 seasons when you have No Continuity.

If your show goes on longer, then you need some small amount of continuity to keep things fresh. Like in The Simpsons, characters die and change. Maude is still dead, Edna is gone, Lisa is still a vegetarian, Lisa is still Buddhist, they mention Maggie shooting Mr. Burns, and Nedna lasted until Edna's death.