[Aptorian]

Much in the same vein of the Movie and Comic Book thread, this is a thread for discussing anything cartoon or animated.

Personally I enjoy lying in bed watching morning cartoons when I have a hangover. It's mildly amusing and for the most part, not very brain taxing.

Lately I've been watching "Avatar - The Last Airbender" on my laptop. It's surprisingly well written and well animated.

I could actually see the story idea made into a hollywood movie series ala Harry Potter.

I've also been catching up on the new "The Spectacular Spider-man" series. I was once quite the marvel fan and this series is remarkably good. It manages to mix the old old spiderman stories from Steve Ditko and Stan Lees time with a modern approach.

All the old villans are there but made over to seem less stupid. Aunt May is less of a sweet old lady and more of a stern mother. And all the old jokes are back.

I love it.

[caladanbrood]

I watch Adult Swim occasionally. Does that count?

[Aptorian]

Don't know what that is, enlighten me.

[caladanbrood]

It's an umbrella under which lots of cartoons are shown, such as:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Metalocalypse
Robot Chicken
Harvey Birdman
Sealab 2021
etc.

[Macros]

modern cartoons jsut aren't up to par imo, they've all gone down the pokemon (anime?) route of animation.
Give me classic Tom and Jerry anyday.
and southpark, gotta love the southpark

[Aptorian]

Oh yeah, because South Park isn't at all modern day inexpensive cartoon production.

It's funny but it's also a pretty simple example.

[caladanbrood]

Also enjoy Drawn Together on the rare occasions I see it.

[Aptorian]

Yeah I loved that show. Especially the gay elf Xander. He was freaking hilarious.

I remember that episode where he was attempting to kill himself but he had 99 lives... so it was going to take a while

[Macros]

Aptorian;293892 said:

Oh yeah, because South Park isn't at all modern day inexpensive cartoon production.

It's funny but it's also a pretty simple example.

its always been like that, they did it as a project together at uni or something silly. It never meant to be expensively or well animated like el simpsons, I mean the rash of god-awful pointless cartoon that seem to cover the tv today.
The powerpuff girls, samurai jack, pokemon, digimon, insertwordhereEmon.
They do my head in, what happened to decent funny stuff like Tand J, I still put on the old videos sometimes, and laugh, I don't think I've eer enjoyed (not once) the mind dump that is the modern day time cartoon.

[Illuyankas]

I have to agree with you there somewhat, Macros, especially since- wait.

Quote

samurai jack

I AM GOING TO CRUSH YOU LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN CRUSHED BEFORE, OR EVER WILL BE CRUSHED IN THE FUTURE, BECAUSE YOU WILL BE TOO CRUSHED TO EVER BE CRUSHED AGAIN

[Coco with marshmallows]

true. Samurai Jack is awesome.

just released on DVD in the uk - Mysterious cities of Gold.

Now THAT was a series worth watching when i was a kid - flying golden condor FTW

[Aptorian]

Yeah I loved it. It was a great 80s series. I've mentioned this in another thread, but even as a little kid, I was very doubtfull of the possibility of a bird made out of solid gold being able to fly. It seemed... improbable

[Tiste Simeon]

Lets see: Futurama, Metalocalypse, Robot Chicken, Family Guy, and American Dad.

"Benders Big Score" Arrived today.

[Kurt Montandon]

The late 80s/early 90s seem to be kind of a Silver Age for cartoons. Stuff like the Disney Afternoon, that Batman cartoon that was so gritty and awesome, Ren & Stimpy, the first few seasons of Beavis & Butthead (it kind of fell off after a while) ...

The early 80s were even better for kids, what with G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron ... and then I look at the crap today and wonder - how can kids imagine themselves taking part in this stuff? Because a great part of the appeal of those 80s cartoons was that you could buy the toys and play out some action, or you and your friends could pretend to be characters in the show while out on the playground during recess or in the backyard after school, and so on.

Cartoons today can't even possibly begin to have that same appeal. The stuff aimed at kids seems to be a race to how poorly drawn and written it can be, and the stuff aimed at adults is, well, for adults. Neither are particularly escapist - the former especially seems to be aimed at keeping kids from ever having to use their own imaginations, and just relying on the TV.

[caladanbrood]

Tiste Simeon;294050 said:

American Dad

American Dad is probably my favourite mainstream cartoon. Although I only ever watched the first two series... I should try to catch up some time.

[Dunsparrow]

Dang, I was hoping that this thread would be more about good animation, more so than shows that are animated! I guess I'm probably the only animation student here

Anyways, I love Family Guy, the Simpsons, and American Dad as much as the next guy, but what about movies? No Miyazaki lovers? Pixar mebbe? I KNOW some of you like some of the old disney movies, whether you're willing to admit it or not

[Dag]

Dunsparrow;294187 said:

No Miyazaki lovers?

Here. *raises hand*

I like his style and his choice of topics. Still, I cannot really use the word "brilliant" for his whole opus. "Nausicaä", "Mononoke hime" or "Sen to Chihiro" are little gems indeed, but most of his other works, although well done, do not really stand out in the general anime context (e.g. "Totoro": it is cute, it is nice, but not much more, although my 6-year-old nephew might disagree with me... ).

And, sorry to say this, but "Howl's Moving Castle" was the worst book adaptation I've seen in years.

[caladanbrood]

Dunsparrow;294187 said:

Dang, I was hoping that this thread would be more about good animation, more so than shows that are animated! I guess I'm probably the only animation student here

Anyways, I love Family Guy, the Simpsons, and American Dad as much as the next guy, but what about movies? No Miyazaki lovers? Pixar mebbe? I KNOW some of you like some of the old disney movies, whether you're willing to admit it or not

I enjoyed Spirited Away, does that count?

As for Pixar, I enjoy most of them on first watch, but less so later... they all end a bit too nicely, because they're marketed as kids' films, I guess.

[Aptorian]

I like Family Guy but American Dad doesn't appeal to me. It's just unfunny. The characters seem strange for the sake of being strange. A gay Alien, a nazi goldfish, geeky son, etc... The only one I find slightly funny is the director because he's basically just an evil Jean Luck Picard.

[Flawed]

Cocoreturns;293955 said:

just released on DVD in the uk - Mysterious cities of Gold.

Now THAT was a series worth watching when i was a kid - flying golden condor FTW

I used to go on about this cartoon constantly. Im 31 and i was still going on about it a couple of years ago. I could never find anything anywhere on it and was driving my other half mad.

So she went on some all compassing world search of truth to find info on it all for me. Then one day presented me with a pack of Dvd's with nothing written on them.

I was like "whats this?"

Turned out it was the entire series of Cities of gold with all the documentary bits on there. Some bloke in Turkey had recorded it when he was younger and put it all together on a dvd for himself. She somehow found him on the internet and he sent her over a copy.

Well chuffed.

Emotional memories aside.

Does anyone remember " The Tick? " now there was a funny cartoon.

" SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON! "