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Season Two Poor Budget Killed Phantom 2040 (Thoughts On Series)

posted 14 years ago by symptom816
4 replies | jump to latest

Wow! I just watched the entire series of this show and it was excellent! I remember Phantom 2040 came out when I was ten (I'm twenty six now) and I never got to watch the latter half of the final season for some reason. This was a very well written show up until the last few episodes. They did not dumb anything down for children and I'm surprised that the story was so complex now that I'm an adult. Sadly though, you can tell from the decline in animation quality and the inconsistency in the plot towards the last few episodes that they must have run out of time and money to fully flesh the various plot lines out.

I'm willing to wager that Ron Pearlman's leaving was what made the writers decide to make Graft take a back seat character wise and turn him into a generic goon in the second season (notice how character development just stops for Graft a few episodes into season two and that he barely has any speaking parts towards the end of the series). Or it could have been pressure from the network to make the show more kid friendly that made Pearlman leave as you can tell that the episodes are more action oriented and not as complex in the last half of season two. Either way, Graft was such an awesome rogue (not exactly a villain in my opinion) in the first season. The episode where he takes an exhausted Sparks in his arms and says, "This isn't a war for children," was so touching. What they did with Graft in the second season completely destroyed one of the most interesting cartoon characters I've ever seen.

I guessed right very early on that Max Sr. and the 23rd Phantom were friends, but it seems that earlier episodes implied Max Sr. looked to profit from he and his friend's (The Phantom) work and later betrayed him. I don't think they were able to fully explain exactly what occurred due to the budgetary reasons I stated. If you notice too, they cut many cast members out of the series with no explanation. Again, I am positive that this was a result of a smaller budget which is apparent from the last half of season two. Cairo dying really sucked hard too. That should never have happened.

At least it ended on a happy note.

You know, this was probably the last cartoon I'll have ever watched and I'm glad that it was Phantom 2040.

Any thoughts about the budget speculation I have and the plot holes?

[–] MRlambfries 13 years ago

Yeah, Graft became very one-sided when Pearlman left. Such a shame he was my second favorite character. As for the cause, who knows.
I suggest seeing The Maxx if you haven't.

[–] The-Phantom-2040 13 years ago

According to the only good wiki in existence (http://www.schapter.org/wiki/Phantom_2040_%28TV_series%29, Max Senior was actually a rather philanthropic man, and I believe you can see that in the last few episodes, when Kit learned more about his own father.

Besides that, I would agree regarding Graft. I didn't mind the new voice actor per se, but I thought the accompanying shift in storytelling was a rather poor choice. If memory serves, there was some behind-the-scenes sort of flustering about, where it was thought the show might not have been "accessible" enough for children.

If you liked the cartoon, you might want to pick up the video game. (http://www.schapter.org/wiki/Phantom_2040_%28video_game%29) It was simply fantastic, especially for the time. It holds up even now quite well, I think anyway. On the other hand, as you can see by my user name, I'm slightly biased. ;)

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Sometimes You Plant Seeds For Trees You Never Sit Under

[–] c-schliwa56 13 years ago

I agree the games plot outline was pretty good and intelleigent for a 90s game... Gameplay wise its one of the best side scroller action shooters I have ever played...........

[–] OrinAGN 12 years ago

you said:

"Wow! I just watched the entire series of this show and it was excellent!"

I'd like to know how you watched it.
Do you own it? Where'd you watch it, buy it, download it?
'Cause I love this show, and it's not available on DVD. And I'd love to own it.