I know we’ve seen dark-type storylines in shows such as Batman: TAS. However, with ThunderCats coming back at a time when animated kids shows are being viewed as just that, do you think that darker storylines in animated shows are coming back?
I would hope so. Thought i don’t think so.
Seems like everyone nowadays dont think kid can handle this stuff. Parents being overprotective.
Comparatively the two series are quite different in tone. But the new show though darker is pretty standard anime fare.
They were produced in two different eras. The original show was produced by the American animation company Rankin Bass even though the animation was farmed out to Japanese studios. Part of the idea when they created the show right from the get go was to make it an overly moral show with a strict moral code. Each episode has a PSA cleverly inserted into it. A licensed psychiatrist had to sign off on every script.
That being said one of the most compellingly heroic things about the Tcats was their moral code aka the Code of Thundera: truth, justice, honor, loyalty. It defined what kind of heroes they were going to be. Far removed from our own realities here on Earth. Tcats always seemed to treat their enemies with a modicum of compassion. Even as they were busy whopping their asses each and every episode.
I honestly think those morals were the best part about the 80’s. Yeah it was corny, but a kid back then knew to eat right, exercise, play fair, don’t play with downed electrical wires, etc., etc. Now, kids dont do anything except play video games all day and sit on the couch. I like the darker tone to cartoons, but it will always be missing something the 80’s had. Maybe its nostalgia, maybe its purity, heck I don’t really know what it was, but I loved it.
Personally I hope to god they are. The era of crap garbage shows like Chowder and Adventure Time needs to end! I will not have kids in a world where that ****'s the top ranking cartoons, I just won’t!
I kinda like Adventure time. I was turned off by it at first from the art style, but it’s kinda fun. Silly as heck, but fun.
I caught that show by mistake, at first I tought it was wierd but after a couple of mins it was funny as hell haha It is silly but funny. How the hell they come w/ that stuff? pretty random stuff but funny.
“Remember kids, if you have to shoot a crackhead before he knifes you, always put two in the chest and one in the head.”
“Knowing is half the battle”
I think the Avatar series did an excellent job of exploring the darker stuff and still leaving it innocent enough for little kids. Take Aang’s vow against killing vs. the reality of what he might have to do when he took on the fire lord. I think they did a great job in that series exploring the moral dilemmas in a war zone.
I miss the family feel.
At the end of the day you never doubted the Tcats were a family.
You know? It was the little things like Lion-O and Snarf losing their tempers and yelling at each other. Tygra or Patho covering for either Lion-o or the thunderkittens. Tygra managing to silence a snarling Pathro with a Are-you-done glare. Cheetara teasing Tygra about laying off the pie. It was the little things at times.
Personally, I prefer the newer, somewhat darker Thundercats. I always felt in the OS that having to force some kind of moral into the episode, much less having a psychologist put his stamp of approval on it, really limited the potential of that show and the kinds of stories they could tell. I never liked those PSA’s they did back in those ‘80s cartoon shows. It always felt disingenuous at best and ham-fisted and preachy at worst. And the whole thing was really just a sop for the parents’ watchdog groups like ACT (Action for Chidren’s Television. Look them up.) to throw off accusations that they were trying to sell toys to kids and just being mindlessly violent by putting on a veneer of social responsibility. But in truth it wasn’t fooling anyone.
In order to understand why most '80s cartoon kids shows did this, it’s also important to understand the history of children’s television programming in general. Back in the '60s, you had Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, the Herculoids as well as early animes like Speed Racer and Marine Boy. These were all straight-up action-adventure shows that didn’t really pull any punches or feel the need to have some sort of moral at the end. It was pretty basic stuff: good defeated evil and that’s all that there was to it.
But then in 1968, things changed: you had the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. Plus you had stuff like the L.A. riots going on and the Vietnam war unfolding on the nightly news. So the reaction from the TV networks under mounting criticism was to substantially dial-back on the violence. That’s why in the '70s you saw more comedy-oriented shows like Scooby-Doo and action-oriented shows were nearly nonexistent. I remember Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series) saying it was really tough writing for superheroes in those days when they weren’t even allowed to make a fist. And it reached its logical conclusion in the '80s with tacked-on PSA’s at the end of every episode.
There were a few shows, however, that resisted this trend. Carl Macek, the producer of Robotech, said in a DVD commentary:
“In most cartoons of the period, they would deal with fantastic situations and then at the end they would have a 30 second public service announcement where the hero of the cartoon would teach a child to look both ways before crossing the street in order to maintain a certain social responsibility. Completely different in Robotech’s case because we felt that the social responsibility was built into the storytelling. What was neat about that was we could deal with complex themes; themes of pressure under fire, combat, the nature of courage, the nature of war, the nature of love, all strong human emotions and had the storytelling provide the moral attitude for the characters. Not some tacked-on 30 second public service announcement.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I find it really jarring when a barbarian, a felinoid warrior-king, or an elite group of soldiers suddenly stop what they’re doing just to remind kids to brush their teeth or play nice or not put mustard on the cat. I’m probably dating myself, but when I was growing up, there were shows like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Captain Kangaroo that did a fine job of educating kids on morals and values, and did it in such a way that it seemed natural and appropriate. Fortunately, I’ve heard lately that both those shows are poised to make a comeback. Preachy lessons about etiquette and good behavior shouldn’t belong in a dramatic action series. So I’m glad that, by and large, the new Thundercats is steering clear of it.
Nice analysis Lord Slithor. Agree wholeheartedly. That’s what makes the new series so exciting. The sky is the limit and there is the potential to get some really great stories out of it. All with an endearing cast of characters that seems very promising.
The Petalars episode has already demonstrated that. No corny PSAs just deep and meaningful themes.