US Kai Start Trend in Cartoon Resurgences?

[Super Sonic]

Don't know if this belongs more in the Kai section, but recently I just noticed in the past year since Kai premiered in the States, quite a few new versions of older cartoons have also premiered. There's been a new Transformers, new G.I. Joe, new My Little Pony. Heck, even got a new Thundercats on the way. I know it's most likely coincidental due to how production times can be, but still I thought it was an interesting coincidence starting with Kai. Any thoughts, or does anyone know if something similar happened in Japan when Kai premiered there?

[TheGreatness25]

That is interesting. However, this seems to be something that happens a lot. Old shows constantly get "refreshed." It happened with Jetsons, Flintstones, Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, several times with Transformers, Voltron, Captain Planet, etc. I just think that it's something that happens naturally and not really much to do with DBZ. But then again, I could be wrong. All I know is that the newer GI Joe and Transformers were probably in the works before Kai came to the States.

[NeoKING]

I don't think Z Kai started it, but you're right. You're not the only one who's noticed it - my friends and I have noticed that nowadays cartoons and series from ages ago are starting to make a resurgence. Heck, even Duel Masters is coming back on U.S. TV later this year, and anyone who's watched the CW11 has seen that it's basically a cartoon block of past anime(including Z-Kai, which is just.. Z) such as Sonic X, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Cubix, and some more.

[Chibi Gohan]

It's pure coincidence.

[TheGreatness25]

I personally think it's a lack of creativity and acknowledging that newer shows don't hold a candle to the good old classics. Not one show that is new interests me in the least. I always said that I pity the kids growing up with some of this garbage on TV that they get. My Batman was better than theirs. My Spider-Man was better than theirs. My Iron Man was better than theirs. My Jetsons, Flintstones, Looney Tunes, and Tom and Jerry (although none from MY generation, but they were always on TV when I was a kid) blow their silly little Cartoon Network shows out of the water. My Ed, Edd, and Eddy, Johnny Bravo, and Dexter's Laboratory were all better than anything I can find on Cartoon Network these days lol Ahh memories.

My point is that I think the companies are going back to what works and trying to recreate that old magic by resurrecting some of the classics, knowing that they would most likely be instant hits solely based on past popularity.

[jjgp1112]

I personally think it's a lack of creativity and acknowledging that newer shows don't hold a candle to the good old classics. Not one show that is new interests me in the least. I always said that I pity the kids growing up with some of this garbage on TV that they get. My Batman was better than theirs. My Spider-Man was better than theirs. My Iron Man was better than theirs. My Jetsons, Flintstones, Looney Tunes, and Tom and Jerry (although none from MY generation, but they were always on TV when I was a kid) blow their silly little Cartoon Network shows out of the water. My Ed, Edd, and Eddy, Johnny Bravo, and Dexter's Laboratory were all better than anything I can find on Cartoon Network these days lol Ahh memories.

My point is that I think the companies are going back to what works and trying to recreate that old magic by resurrecting some of the classics, knowing that they would most likely be instant hits solely based on past popularity.

I can definitely tell you that "their" Spider-Man, though short, was better than "ours" by a good bit.

[TheGreatness25]

Really? I know the 95 Spider-Man was eons better than that 3-D Spider-Man, and as for Spectacular Spider-Man, I've seen a few episodes and the story didn't seem too deep, the animation was atrocious (triangular fingernails, giant hands, round eyes, etc.). I wasn't a fan. Not that the 95 Spider-Man was a work of art, the animation had its flaws, but it was still better, in my opinion. I don't know, everyone has their own preference.

[Savage68]

Spectacular Spider-Man was easily the best Spider-Man cartoon of them all.

[TheGreatness25]

Nooo! Clearly it's a tie between the 3D one and Spider-Man Unlimited!

Anyway, that just goes to prove that it's often a good idea to resurrect old ideas. I mean Spectacular Spider-Man, The Batman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Wolverine and the X-Men are all recycles of old "shows."

[Super Sonic]

I believe he's referring to Spectacular, as it had some good stuff, and Spidey could punch people. He could in the 60s one with the theme we all know too, but yeah. And you know how guys have been saying Kai's been done better by Funimation than Z was, I've been hearing the new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show is an example of a new version done right, expecially since it has something the original didn't have. A male fanbase who are not ashamed to admit they love it.

Though personally I think this is the best new cartoon on tv now. (Latest intro does have Cap, Hawkeye and Black Panther in the pose at the end, but couldn't find version with it).

[Rocketman]

My Iron Man was better than theirs.

While I haven't seen the new Iron Man (and both are terrible because Tony can't be a hard drinking womanizer), I really, really doubt that crappy 90s one is superior.

It had a bitchin' theme (and it's a scientific fact that hammering metal is badass), but the show itself...egh.

[Cipher]

Not that the 95 Spider-Man was a work of art, the animation had its flaws, but it was still better, in my opinion.

This can be hard to grasp for anime fans, because they move so little that design and animation might as well be one in the same, but animation is not character design. If you don't like the style, that's your prerogative. But that series had objectively beautiful animation.

[Kid Buu]

1994 Spiderman for life! I have the old Spiderman series from 1967 on DVD and I still prefer the 1994 version.

[Fox666]

I don't think that the new Spiderman or Batman are bad shows, they sure are great and you can be proud that they exist. It's just that you can't compete with Spiderman 1994 series or the Batman from 1992. They are considered one of the best animated series ever to exist.

After the "Golden" age of animation, we have the "Dark" age, which began around 1950 and and ended at 1980. In the middle of it the animations hit the peak of the low animation budget. Think of The Superfriends, who sees it will think that the resources to create a good animation don't exist at the time, which is not true, they simply had a budget so low that their animation was composed of copy & paste figures.

The corporate idea behind all was that kids would watch anything you give them, because their brains are too small to notice the difference. Because of nostalgia, a lot of people will even have good memories from some terrible shows.

After that we have the "Renaissance" age. At this time animated shows began to be dealt as something that could have a high budget, and Disney released some very good animations. Also some very creativity shows were created. Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life and Zim Invader. Cartoon Network also had some interesting shows.

Today some people might notice a decrease in quality. This is the "Millennium" age, which the pendulum turned back to the Dark Age. Which new technologies, instead of animation, they use 3D of Flash softwares to generate series. (Of course Pixar doesn't follow this, and makes outstanding 3D animation.)

I would say the biggest problem now is that companies and parents today underestimate the children intelligence. There isn't much to say to this, it's just that you can't give a good story out of a show (think of 1994 Spiderman).

[Cipher]

I would say the biggest problem now is that companies and parents today underestimate the children intelligence. There isn't much to say to this, it's just that you can't give a good story out of a show (think of 1994 Spiderman).

There have been plenty of recent kids' action series that didn't doubt their audiences intelligence. Avatar, TMNT, Spectacular Spiderman, and several other shows have crafted stories better than a good lot of '90s shows. And the animation in those three in particular ranges from decent to amazing. You've got nostalgia goggles on.

[Fox666]

It's not like there aren't any series like that, it's just what the inclination is.

And I should say, Avatar is a very specific case, since it's basically an American produced "anime". And if you are gonna use the anime style of story telling, you certainly won't aim for something simplistic.

[MetaMoss]

I think Kai was in the middle of it, and it wasn't the cause. The thing is companies don't want to spend more money coming up with new ideas, so they just reboot stuff. They also hope to bring back old fans so that they can get even more cash (adults have more money).

Oh and on a side note, I agree with you on Avengers, Super Sonic. My dad likes to watch it a lot and he tells me about the 1960's Avengers comics he read as a kid.

[jjgp1112]

I've also heard that the 4Kids TMNT blew the 80s TMNT out of the water.

[Cipher]

I've also heard that the 4Kids TMNT blew the 80s TMNT out of the water.

The 4Kids TMNT is easily one of the best comic-based cartoons of all time. Not quite on the level of the DCAU in quality, but damn close.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Noting a new Transformers series as a sign of rebirth of the old is not exactly the best barometer. There's been a variety of new and different Transformers television series for the past 26 years...