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Ill-conceived cartoons

Started by AndyC, February 22, 2005, 11:00:07 AM

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AndyC

The Bugs Bunny thread brought this to mind. How many examples can we name, of cartoons that were just bad ideas. These might be ones that seemed like a good idea, but were ruined by TV execs trying to apply a winning formula (for example, every show needing its own "Scooby"), or introducing incompatible ideas meant to ratchet up the potential for wacky adventures (Fonzie as a time traveller, for example), or turning a popular movie, live-action show or game into Saturday morning fare, or putting classic characters into new situations.

We've come up with a few examples already, such as ABCs attempt to produce cartoons of its most popular sitcoms - Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy. Even as kids, we knew that these were not true to the shows, and just seemed ridiculous, even for what they were. And Godzilla, which was good, even with the addition of a crew of human adventurers (so good, the idea was used again in the 90s), but could have done without Godzookie, an idea that baffles me to this day.

Other examples? Which ones really drove you nuts?

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Menard

Do you remember the live action Saturday morning GHOSTBUSTERS from the 70's (preceeded the movie by several years)? It had three characters named Spencer, Tracy , and Kong, one of which was a gorilla, interestingly enough named Tracy. It starred Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch. Well, they could not leave well enough alone and an animated version was made which featured characters with the same names but much younger. The animated version was truly a snorefest. I believe that it was because of this series that the cartoon based on the movie used the title THE REAL GHOST BUSTERS since GHOSTBUSTERS was already taken.


AndyC

I thought The Real Ghostbusters was used so that the characters could differ from Bill Murray et al. There was, for example, an episode where the characters went to see the movie that was based on them.

I remember the other Ghostbusters cartoon, just barely. It didn't air much around here. It seemed really weird. I recall they used a lot of supernatural stuff in their ghostbusting, and didn't they have some kind of haunted old car with a face?

Just remembered another live-action show turned into a dumb cartoon - Gilligan's Planet. The professor's best efforts can't get them to Hawaii, but a mistake can land them on another habitable world. The mistake began with building a bamboo rocket ship(!) when a raft would have sufficed. WTF?



Post Edited (02-22-05 10:40)
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Jamtoy

The Ghostbusters Live action show is mentioned here.

<http://www.70slivekidvid.com/>

Not cartoons, but some were good.  I liked "Jason of Star Command" and "Space Academy."



Post Edited (02-22-05 10:46)
Seven years on MacGyver and you cannot figure this out? We got belt buckles, shoe laces, and a piece of gum. Build a nuclear reactor for crying out loud.  You used to be MacGyver, MacGadget, MacGimmick, and now you are now 'Mr. MacUseless'.

BeyondTheGrave

Speaking of Ghostbusters, I remember in the late 90's they had a remake of the old cartoon the Real Ghostbusters. They had a whole new team that were considered "losers". Their was the goth/punk girl, the "urban"spanish guy, and  "nerdy" black guy in a wheelchair. They were led by a ageing Egon. It only lasted season I think. I tired to give a chance, because I am a big Ghostbusters fan,only saw a couple episodes (Thanks to its jumping time slot that went from different times in the morning). But from what I saw It sucked.

Another "bad" cartoon was adding "Scappy" to the Scooby Doo. Man I found him annoying.

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Menard

Out of those series, ARK II was my favorite. I did like GHOSTBUSTERS for the camp value and ISIS for the Joanna Cameron value. I also got a kick out of DR. SHRINKER. Even though they don't properly fall into the Saturday morning live action category, the Hudson Brothers were among my favorites.


Menard

I had understood that it was due to a title conflict, being that the title was already copyrighted for television, but the use of the title to distinguish the cartoon from the movie makes sense too. I actually enjoyed THE REAL GHOST BUSTERS (I get confused about which one is GHOSTBUSTERS or GHOST BUSTERS) as it was definitely, in my opinion, a better follow-up to the movie than was the second movie.


Menard

Anybody remember the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS cartoon? Anybody want to foget the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS cartoon? Also, how about the cartoon based on the WWF wrestlers in the eighties? Was that pointless or what? Does anybody remember what it was called (I don't)?


Menard

Scrappy-Doo almost single-handedly killed the franchise. What was the name of the other Scooby relative they brought along around the same time? I believe it was his uncle or something like that.


Master Blaster

Yeah, I remember D&D. That was one of my favs. I always wanted that big badass bad guy with the horned helmet to punt the hell out of that little barbarian kid bastard. I still hate that little punk.

odinn7

Anyone remember the Planet of the Apes cartoon from the 70's? It didn't last very long but I did watch it (I was a huge PotA fan) while it was on. They drove around in trucks and it really wasn't like the movies too much. I also recall the art being fairly poor.

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AndyC

Menard wrote:
> as it was definitely, in my opinion, a better follow-up to the
> movie than was the second movie.

You can say that again. Although, I always thought one of the reasons Ghostbusters II sucked so much was because of the popularity of the cartoon. It was geared more toward kids, and lacked a lot of the more clever humour of the original. Ghostbusters II was, in a lot of ways, more like the cartoon, except that the cartoon was better.

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AndyC

Hulk Hogan's Rock & Wrestling. Man, what they did to the WWF characters in that show was beyond belief. I still remember them repairing an alien's flying saucer with one of Captain Lou's rubber bands.

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daveblackeye15

I've only heard the opening music but the t.v. cartoon "Chuck Norris Karate Komandos" doesn't sound very good.

Now it's time to sing the nation anthem IN AMERICA!!!

Bandit Keith from Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series (episode 12)

SaintMort

I don't mind the 2nd one that much it's still one of the better sequal out there in my opinion like Wayne's World 2 it's stupid but it still entertains enough that you can watch it.

I actually liked the cartoon Extreme Ghostbusters that came out maybe 7 years ago. It was a really interesting continuation