Unpopular Opinions You Hold About Animation

[gunswordfist]

Regarding Dr, Insomniac's post about "If you don't like it don't watch it" not being a valid response, I say it depends on what one's particular reasoning for disliking it. If you've given a show a fair shake for weeks/months on end and it still isn't to your liking, then it's best for you to simply cut your loses, stop watching it and move on. In those instances, "Don't watch it of you don't like it" is pretty much the only thing that you can say. For example, I've watched several episodes of Phineas & Ferb and the show never improved in my eyes. I get that the show is popular, but P&F just never pulled me in for whatever reason, so I just stopped watching the show altogether.

If your watching a remake and your reason for not liking the remake is simply that it's not the original, then you likely just have a bias towards the remake coming into it.

The new The Thing remake can kindly burn in Hell.

[Avaitor]

See, worst lists do exist.

Seriously, to me, it seems like that aside from Avengers: EMH being added in as a token recent show, this list goes entirely for name recognition and nostalgia beyond actual quality. I don't think any comic fan would consider the original TMNT superior to the 2K3 version, Super Friends superior to Justice League, or the 60's Spider-Man as the definitive take of the character.

It lacks actual ambition and omes off as tacky, IMO.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Tetrisdork linked this. And that is why I no longer follow him.

[Avaitor]

Watch me make a better top 10 comic book adaptations list than this.

10- Batman Beyond
9- The Tick
8- Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
7- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2K3)
6- Superman: The Animated Series
5- DuckTales
4- Justice League (including Unlimited)
3- Batman: The Brave & the Bold
2- Batman: The Animated Series
1- The Spectacular Spider-Man

Not counting manga or comic strips. Comments?

[Spark Of Spirit]

I don't think anyone can legitimately claim we didn't put any effort into our list. I mean most lists have the original TMNT and Transformers on it. Did we? No. Why would we? They are not all that great.

Edit: EXAMPLE-

While one could make the case subsequent animated adaptations were better (2008's Spectacular Spider-Man was a particular critical favorite), 1967-70's Spider-Man remains too culturally iconic not to be counted about the best comic book animated series ever.

That is a terrible reason to list something. "It's not all that good, but more people saw it so it should place here."

Regarding Dr, Insomniac's post about "If you don't like it don't watch it" not being a valid response, I say it depends on what one's particular reasoning for disliking it. If you've given a show a fair shake for weeks/months on end and it still isn't to your liking, then it's best for you to simply cut your loses, stop watching it and move on. In those instances, "Don't watch it of you don't like it" is pretty much the only thing that you can say. For example, I've watched several episodes of Phineas & Ferb and the show never improved in my eyes. I get that the show is popular, but P&F just never pulled me in for whatever reason, so I just stopped watching the show altogether.

If your watching a remake and your reason for not liking the remake is simply that it's not the original, then you likely just have a bias towards the remake coming into it.

The new The Thing remake can kindly burn in Hell.

I'd just like to add that this movie is not good.

[Dr. Insomniac]

You know, I'm slowly coming over to the belief that new media naturally improves on old media. And by technicality, the average student animation project has better production, better awareness of its surroundings, and better utilization of art tropes than a Tex Avery or Looney Tunes short. Yet, people will pride the latter because they came first. You have those proclaiming that the art of animation peaked before they were born, instead of being logically sound and understanding that as technology and society progress, so does the ability to create art.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You know, I'm slowly coming over to the belief that new media naturally improves on old media. And by technicality, the average student animation project has better production, better awareness of its surroundings, and better utilization of art tropes than a Tex Avery or Looney Tunes short. Yet, people will pride the latter because they came first. You have those proclaiming that the art of animation peaked before they were born, instead of being logically sound and understanding that as technology and society progress, so does the ability to create art.

When it comes to mediums of entertainment, improvement is mostly a subjective term. To me, new media usually tends to change and adapt to the standards of of whatever cultural environment that it is being created in, as culture and the people who embody that culture themselves are constantly changing along with the times. That is to say, people's interests change, from changes in technology to changes in current events. Humor changes, since humor is usually based on common nuances or ironies tied in with commonly understood concepts to a specific culture at any given time. The same pretty much goes for other forms of entertainment besides just comedy. That is to say that what people found funny or exciting or scary a few decades ago may not seem that way to someone living in the current day and age or someone coming from a different cultural background who is unfamiliar with our culture's common knowledge. In another scenario, if you took a film or cartoon or a book from our day and age, traveled back in time a hundred years ago and showed it to any number of people of that time, what we find good about such works most likely wouldn't translate to them based on the different culture and set of entertainment standards of that time.

I find that more often than not, changes in any form of entertainment media are merely adapting or evolving with the times based on a constant need for change. Basically, if you keep showing someone the same kind of action or comedy or horror, eventually enough people will get tired of it and find it stale that it comes time for a change. A few talented artists or creators will find a change that sticks with most people and keep adapting their work accordingly and possibly start a trend that becomes a new standard among a certain medium of entertainment, but once that grows stale the cycle repeats and we once again see change.

Now, this isn't to say that I disagree that things can improve over time. There are some things that just flat-out suck no matter when they were made, such as a plethora of cheaply made 80's cartoons or cheesy films that just cashed in on whatever was culturally popular at the time. If you think about it, that really hasn't changed as we still have that same sort of set-up. Still, sometimes we do see a general level of improvement. In this case I feel as though animation as an art form is being taken more seriously by mass amounts of adults than it was just a couple of decades ago (at least in America). However that doesn't necessarily mean that animation in general is significantly better than any past era of animation (and once again, this same notion goes for all other mediums of entertainment). I find that in this case, animation has struck a cord with more adults than it used to for any number of reasons. That doesn't mean that there was any shortage of terrific and stand-out works in the past that could still hold up for some or many today, and it doesn't necessarily mean that all animation is better today. As always, no matter what time it is, the value of any form of art depends both on the personal opinion and tastes of the individual perceiving it, and the level of talent and creative ability for structure and design of the artist or artists behind that particular work.

At any rate, that's just my long and stupid rambling about how I view the changes in animation (and once again, any form of art or entertainment) as merely adapting with the times rather than objectively improving. Its not even really meant to be a counterpoint to Dr. Insomniac's post, its just something I decided to write after reading his post simply because I'm bored as hell but am not tired enough to go to sleep yet.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Some things are better now, some things are not.

There isn't quite a successful formula for pop culture since it's always changing, but while some things are lost- other things are gained and it always changes. Some people might prefer specific times and eras because what they make speaks to them on multiple levels that current (or other eras of pop culture) doesn't. It doesn't make them stunted or lesser, or unable to move on, it's just something that speaks to them on a level others might not understand.

That said, I'm not a big fan of current pop music, but it definitely isn't for lack of trying. It really doesn't speak to me on any level, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop searching for something that does.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You see, that's why I'm a terrible writer. Desensitized basically just conveyed in a short paragraph what took me 3 overly long paragraphs to write-out (and did a better job of it, at that). Anyways, this is just in reference to a little tidbit of conversation I had with Dr. Insomniac and Foggle over Skype about why I can't stand my own writing. I'm still half-asleep and bored. I apologize.

[Spark Of Spirit]

You see, that's why I'm a terrible writer. Desensitized basically just conveyed in a short paragraph what took me 3 overly long paragraphs to write-out (and did a better job of it, at that). Anyways, this is just in reference to a little tidbit of conversation I had with Dr. Insomniac and Foggle over Skype about why I can't stand my own writing. I'm still half-asleep and bored. I apologize.

I enjoyed reading it! I just felt like adding a bit on to it!

As for "Unpopular opinions"; I can't stand most of what HB has produced outside of a small handful of shows (you can probably guess what they are) I can't stand most of the animation and the dialogue typically grates on my nerves.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, I find very little enjoyment in HB. One of the reasons Harvey Birdman gained my affection was how it directly lambasted those shows.

[Rynnec]

You can always tell when someone's basing thier opinion on animation solely on nostalgia whenever one says that HB's output is better than today's output.

The Flinstones is a classic, but most of HB's other shows are just plain bland and boring to me.

[Avaitor]

I'm the kindest to HB, but I only really like their earliest stuff, up to maybe the mid-60's if you wanna be generous.

Although I'm not sure which select few Spark is talking about.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'll be honest, putting importance and influence aside, I never liked The Flintstones. To me it was always just as boring as most of HB's other cartoons. I think the only stuff I really enjoyed out of HB was when they were in their more experimental stage in the early to mid 90's and came out with stuff like 2 Stupid Dogs and the re-iteration of Super Secret Squirrel.

[Avaitor]

Speaking of their 90's stuff, am I the only one who doesn't think that SWAT Kats holds up? I used to like it a lot back when it was on CN, but when I watch it now, the dialogue is too 90's for my tastes and the action and animation really isn't that impressive.

It's third-tier action stuff, in an era where Batman and Gargoyles were king.