Posted by Tannhaeuser
on 2/25/2009, 10:57 pm, in reply to "Question about hypothetical series"
Message modified by user Tannhaeuser 2/26/2009, 12:10 am
Okay, first off, are we assuming these are the same kids from the 1980’s? If so, they wouldn’t be in their twenties “if the kids grew up in real time with us fans” — they would be in their forties and late thirties. If these are the same kids, but as if they had been made for a contemporary cartoon, I myself would prefer to see them at the same ages that they were in the original series; I don’t see why the particular group of fans who are in their twenties now should be more catered to than any other generation. Now, as to the ratings, I personally would loathe an R-rated series, because they were never R-rated type characters in the first place, nor were they ever the kind of low-class kids who strewed their conversations with “d—ns” or “s—ts” (I will defend this opinion with fire and sword); it would not be “realistic” to depict them that way, but mere pandering to a regrettably adolescent idea of what “adult” means. I strongly deprecate the idea that an adult-oriented series is one adorned with obscenity, profanity, gratuitous violence, and mindless sex. An adult show should deal with ideas, not body parts.
That Dungeons & Dragons in its original form could deal with serious subjects is proven, I think, by episodes like “The Dragons’ Graveyard,” in which (despite the existence of the network censors) the question of whether one can use the enemy’s methods without becoming like him is very well handled. Who needs potty-mouth when he actually has something to say?
On the other hand, yes, there was far too much childishness, particularly early on in the series. (Cloud Bears, anyone? Da Giant Wid Da Brooklyn Accent?) I am not sorry that cartoons now are not, as in the Eighties, quite so badgered by educational “experts” who worried that the idea of COBRA agents being blown up would incurably scar little Billy’s and Susie’s psyches. (Jonny Quest never worried about that; Race Bannon blew away commies and Arab nationalists with the most impenetrable sang-froid. What’s a corpse or two among friends?) One hopes never again to see Filmation-style morals tacked onto the end of cartoons (“In this episode, Skeletor showed that you should never leave a campfire burning unattended…”). For myself, a level of sex and violence of, say, Batman: The Animated Series — or perhaps even a little higher — would seem about right.
On the OTHER other hand, though, I would hate, loathe, despise, and abominate anything imitating the Nipponese scale of brutality and copulation. I say, leave that to the barbarians who have no sense of characterization, plotting, or style to disguise the complete lack of anything of interest in their loathsome anime. Western animation has always risen above that, even from the days of Gertie the Dinosaur, and I hope it shall never sink to that dehumanized level.
Tann 
Adoptable Plushies at The Ink & Paint Plush Adoptable Plush site
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