Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
Now we move onto a Disney show, presenting 00s sensation Kim Possible.
Kim Possible is about a crime fighting teenage girl who is perfect at literally anything while her partner Ron Stoppable can't do anything. A typical episode would feature a colorful villain, usually Dr Drakken, (a rejected character design from Doug) coming up with an evil plan to take over the world only for it to be thwarted by Kim and Ron along with the assistance of computer genius Wade and naked mole rat Rufus; there's also a sub plot dealing with school, home or relationship problems come final season.
Now if you grew up in the 90s, you were led to believe that cheerleaders are evil, because of obsessions with vanity or just being an alpha bitch, where as the loveable loser remains a loser and will either become bully bait or overcome the problem in the weirdest way possible but Kim Possible sets out to make things different by giving Kim flaws and making Ron not only more capable but achieving something even anime characters can't do, which is leave the friend zone and come out as the boyfriend, this wouldn't be achieved again until Danny Phantom; and if you can come up with anime examples of leaving the friend zone, then I counter by saying "Leaving the Friend Zone without cheating" or the "gift of super horny powers" in some cases.
That's the main beauty of the show, it takes what you think is a bad idea and turns it around into something good, even the villains are more complex than you think, especially with henchwoman Shego who lampshades every mistake Dr Drakken makes but still can't take it upon herself to leave his side, which she also lampshades.
This doesn't even use the "hide your secret" trope as it's obvious to the world that she is a secret agent cheerleader, as she can simply call favors from random characters which explains why she can get places so easily.
Disney just seems to make the most positive of female role models without much effort and Kim Possible is another one to add to the collection on a TV cartoon level, joining other strong female role models such as Gadget Hackwrench, Rebecca Cunningham, Ashley Spinelli and Mabel Pines.
Equally Ron Stoppable is a very positive male role model for the socially awkward, which there are very few and difficult to name.
Overall you can't get much better than Kim Possible, proving that the 00s did manage to produce some great cartoons.
There is an uncomfortable trend at the moment in the animation industry simply referred to as the remake or the rehash in other cases, this is taking a popular cartoon from eons ago and remaking it for a new audience but some of these so called remakes aren't really up to scratch and here are a few examples in what doesn't work.
The movies are terrible at this especially when each of these rehashes use CGI combined with live action; this is true with Yogi Bear, Alvin & the Chipmunks and the Smurfs, all of which are icons in their respective countries but as movies shown in this style it really doesn't work; and now that Disney want to try it, guess which franchise they're going to attempt this with.
Yep Rescue Rangers, a show which has no right to be involved in this type of animation to begin with considering there is only one prominent human character in the cartoon.
Warner Bros are really guilty of this, their recent rehashes of Scooby Doo & Looney Tunes does little to keep it's audience, in fact their problems are more to do with messing with the formula. Scooby Doo tried to go all contemporary by attaching an origin story and a complex plot to the simple chase villains dressed up as ghosts, Scooby Doo never had any problems adapting with the times providing it kept formula but has a hard time outside of that. In the case of Looney Tunes and probably Tom & Jerry as well, they suffer from being politically incorrect for modern audiences, the jokes and gags that were acceptable in the 40s & 50s are not so acceptable now so modernizing wasn't kind to them, in fact some say that the likes of Bugs and Daffy are too domesticated to be funny anymore.
Strangely enough classic American cartoons are also involved in rehashes with the likes of Rocky & Bullwinkle along with the very recent Mr Peabody & Sherman. Both of which are ancient by today's standards but makers insist on bringing it into CGI and making a film about it.
More recently we also have the likes of Pac-Man and Sonic coming back in CGI series and both sound like a desperate bid to regain fans when both franchises are practically dead in today's market. Even Powerpuff Girls are getting the same treatment as they return in their own CGI series but the makers insist the formula is still the same.
Remakes aren't all bad, Thundercats was actually good, if not better than the original, it is possible to remake things without ruining it. Other shows such as Ninja Turtles and Biker Mice from Mars both managed to survive being remade and improved as well.
So yeah, in most cases remakes and rehashes aren't exactly good for the industry, the idea of fixing something which isn't broke isn't always the best course of action to try and revive a long forgotten franchise. Only a small minority seem to succeed in this regard but as time moves on and nostalgia seems to only get more popular by the second, it's only a matter of time before I end up re-watching my whole childhood in CGI.
I’ve not done this feature for a while, mainly because research for these either take a long time or there isn’t enough material for a full feature, today we review all the small legends that won’t be making full features but should be spoken about.
Toy Story Legends
Concept designs for CGI cowboy Woody originally depict him as being selfish and a complete jerkass, it never made it beyond that.
In another legend before the actual Toy Story 3 came out, the original storyline would’ve been Buzz Lightyear being recalled by the company that made him and the other toys retrieving him from the factory.
Japan Did It First
Staying with Pixar, they can’t take credit for first ever use of CGI, that honor goes to Japanese anime classic Golgo 13: the Professional dated 1983 before Pixar released its first ever short films.
Johnny Bravo & The Twin Towers
An infamous still shot in a Johnny Bravo cartoon aired five months before 9/11 depicts a movie poster with the words “Coming Soon” written above a skyscraper on fire.
Conspiracy theorists believe it to be a deadly premonition but I think it’s only a coincidence; a movie called “Towering Inferno” about a skyscraper on fire is often referenced in American cartoons, sitcoms and comedies, also I don’t give the creator that much credit, after all saying that a cartoon about a dumb blonde strongman who speaks like Elvis predicted a major terrorist attack is like saying a Breakfast Cereal predicted the Rapture.
Creator’s Rights Win
During the production of Sci-Fi Cartoon Oban Star Racers, executives & promoters pushed the creator to create a male protagonist instead of using a female one. The creator was not impressed and not only did he keep his original design, he even created his own company to make sure no one interfered. This became an in-house joke with original pilot Rick Thunderbolt being replaced by Molly very early on and being written out of the show completely.
Batman Can Sing
WB Kids have some funny ways of advertising it’s shows, a promotional shot for Pokemon involved Batman singing the Jigglypuff Lullaby Song, made even funnier as he tries to maintain his serious face throughout, seriously check it out.
Story of Little Black Sambo & Mr Popo
As racist as Mr Popo looks, his design actually has an origin from a late 19th Century Children’s book called Little Black Sambo. It’s a strange story about a South Indian child who gives up his colorful clothes to tigers to avoid being eaten, the tigers argued & chased each other until they ended up as pools of butter, which Sambo’s mother decides to use to make pancakes, yes it’s that bizarre. Sambo’s design is of a black child with huge red lips similar to the way Mr Popo is designed, so Popo isn’t racist he’s paying homage to a storybook character & Little Black Sambo is ridiculously popular in Japan, plus he gets bonus points for at least trying to look Indian. Also worth noting is the Pokemon Jynx who also pays homage but unconfirmed by its creators.
Subaru Makes an Anime
I’ve got one more Urban Legend to give but this one does need a post all to its self, and yes I am referring to the car company Subaru.
A long time ago I did a list on both the best & worst modern cartoons, since then four new entries have appeared and one entry from the last list that's had a rethink, so to save me on extensive editing I shall list these five entries here.
Rethink Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Season 2's Skrull Invasion took over the story and became difficult to follow when most of the heroes became disguised Skrulls. The plot was too over complicated when all that was needed was a villain bad enough to be a threat but not too over complex that trying to follow his/her plan gives me chronic headaches.
Worst Monsuno
What the hell is this show about? Monsuno is a Japanese/American hybrid series like Transformers & like that show is also a promotion heavy toy series. I'm afraid like Redakai, it has the same problem. You don't give a ridiculous name and silly mystic back story to a TOY!!! In fact to quote a certain Cowboy doll.
"YOU ARE A TOY!!!!!" "YOU ARE A CHILD'S PLAYTHING!!!"
Huntik: Secrets & Seekers
At least this show doesn't make it obvious that it was made from a Children's Card Game, but doesn't stop it being utter crap, another mystic show which tries too hard. A sad problem with today's cartoons is that any attempt to copy the Yu-Gi-Oh formula, has resulted in a lot of shows like this one; being completely redundant in content. It doesn't help that I was born in the advertisement heavy cartoons of the 80s & grew up with the still toy heavy but "were trying to give you good messages" 90s so I'm not affected by this anymore.
Gormiti Nature Unleashed
I gave Gormiti a free ride because it wasn't bad enough to warrant a worst mark but only charming enough to just miss the best list, then they made this.
Quite possible the worst CGI show ever made, how the bloody hell does a modern show mess up CGI! Reboot is better than this, CGI Ripoffs of popular films are better than this, heck even amateurs on Youtube are better than this. Italy you are now the worst country for cartoons.
You can't make CGI and you can't make decent cartoons.
Best Gravity Falls
Disney have done their homework, they realize it's a waste of time trying to compete on the big screen with 2D animation but can't always make CGI last on the small screen without a well known name promoting it, so that's why small screen Disney Cartoons are still 2D. They also know that Phineas & Ferb are nearing their end so lets see what's popular.
"Hey Cartoon Network are doing well with surreal shows, why not do that?"
"That's a great idea lets hire a former employee who worked with JG Quintel"
After a hiccup with Fish Hooks we have Gravity Falls, a show that combines surreal mysteries without looking like they're ripping off Regular Show and plenty of good writing to last a few seasons.
It also makes a change for the female lead not to be the nagging voice of "I told you so" and finally being a crazy free spirit.
So not much has changed but at least Disney is still doing what it does best.
Lilo & Stitch is about an alien experiment who crash lands in Hawaii where he befriends a young girl named Lilo, it spawned into a series where both characters try and reform other experiments who go out of control, but few know that they also did an anime series as well, this is the story of Stitch!
Disney collaborated with Madhouse in 2008 to produce an anime version of Lilo & Stitch but instead of using the same character and same location, we move to Okinawa and this time we have a girl named Yuna, who looks like a rejected digi-destined.
To differentiate from the original series, the Stitch series doesn't use alien experiments instead using Japanese Yokai for character of the week episodes and very standard child cartoon friendly storylines for the other episodes. We even have a pink colored girlfriend for Stitch as well, however it doesn't take long to revert to the original formula of the former cartoon in later seasons & episodes.
So overall if you enjoyed Lilo & Stitch then you'll still find just as much enjoyment in this anime version.
Now to answer a question: Why is this in Cartoon Vault when it is an Anime?
This might surprise you but this is actually a sequel to the cartoon, as in Season 3 a grown-up Lilo visits Stitch in Okinawa. Under those circumstances it's hard to judge it as an anime when it's part of the show's canon.
