MovieChat Forums > Sym-Bionic Titan (2010) Discussion > My reasons why SBT was cancelled

My reasons why SBT was cancelled

posted 13 years ago by LinaanGourry2099
12 replies | jump to latest

Hey all,

After hearing about SBT being cancelled (and after I let the red tunnel vision of rage wear off) I have a couple of thoughts to why the show was removed after one season.

Reason 1 - Cost. The animation/CGI for the series was absolutely gorgeous and clear cut. However, such animation costs a fortune to produce with the amount of manpower and resources to put it together. And the most interesting thing is that sometimes such animation wasn't even in the fight scenes! One particular event was a scene in the episode "Disenfranchised" where the soldier "babyface" was tailing Newton. You will see interesting scenes where the background has interesting shadowings and effects, none of which is necessary, but it heightens the mood and situation.

Reason 2 - A cardinal rule was broken. In almost all american animation, and pretty much every cartoon network produced show, there lies the cardinal rule: A human, no matter how justified, can be allowed to kill another human. The hero can kill any matter of robot, cyborg, alien, or monster, but when he kills another human, it snaps kids back to reality, that this is no longer a "cartoon". This is why Samurai Jack always sliced through robots with his sword instead of killing living beings.

Reason 3 - It was aimed at the wrong demographic. This show should have been put on Adult Swim from the beginning instead of cartoon network. Although SBT isn't as raunchy or adult as the rest of their block, its' stories are meant to be appreciated by people of 16-17 onwards. Younger than that, some of the story is lost or misconstrued. A great indicator of this was the episode "I am Octus" where Octus tries to understand who or what he is. It was a classic tale of AI sentience that I don't think kids under that age would truly understand.

These are my thoughts, what do you all think?

[–] mlaughlin22 13 years ago

People died all the time in the old Jonny Quest Cartoon.

[–] lolptik 13 years ago

That they did in JQ, Thundercats, etc. I remember a time in the 90's... when censorship was rampant. We're pulling back away from that finally. Seeing that seep into CN shows was nice. Thank the gods.

inveniam viam aut faciam

[–] DawgX 13 years ago

We American kids just HAAAAAVE to be sheltered from mature subject matter. The episode "I Am Octus" was pure genius in fact I realized that it might have been too "complicated" for the average American kid to interpret. I mean the episode was Octus questioning his own identity, alot of people go through that yet if I cartoon character shows any kind of real life turmoil, confusion or angst, its considered "inappropriate".

Its all *beep* This show should stll be own the goddamn air in my opinion. Screw Cartoonnetwork. I havent watched CN since the last episode of SBT aired.

[–] RaddishAM 13 years ago

Adult Swim would've been a great home in theory. Unfortunately, AS decided a long time ago that they don't care about any demographics outside of McFarlane fans and stoned fratboys. They still air a few anime but that's not their priority anymore.

[–] kralvarez1987 13 years ago

wait- its over? I always these shows when they're over! Oh well, at least the disappointment is minimal.

I AM MELON LORD!

[–] mloston07 13 years ago

Well that just proves there's no more intellectual properties with cartoons anymore. Sigh. Phineas and Ferb is all that we have left...

Captain America
Avenge.

[–] NoelleLaBelle 13 years ago

Reason 2 - A cardinal rule was broken. In almost all american animation, and pretty much every cartoon network produced show, there lies the cardinal rule: A human, no matter how justified, can be allowed to kill another human. The hero can kill any matter of robot, cyborg, alien, or monster, but when he kills another human, it snaps kids back to reality, that this is no longer a "cartoon". This is why Samurai Jack always sliced through robots with his sword instead of killing living beings.

I get what you're saying, but then they show hero movies that have death, or the new Thundercats which from the start hasn't held back the subject of death (hell, episode four dealt heavily with the idea of our time in the world).

Sadly, what I've heard, which if it's true is one of the single dumbest reasons I've ever heard of a cartoon being canceled was that they felt it couldn't be marketed to the kids.

When it's a show about fighting aliens. With a giant robot. That also wields a giant MFS.

"If you should need me, tap this staff three times on a wall."
"Magic?"
"No, it's just loud."

[–] bhydryr 11 years ago

I have to disagree with Reason 2, a lot of the newer cartoons have started to put in things like this. It's certainly difficult to do tastefully, but look at Avatar: LoK.
They implied pretty strongly that the bad guy was blown up by his own brother, I mean you basically see it happen.
And CN went ahead and ordered 3 new books of LoK.

Edit: And in the original Avatar: TLA, I can remember more than one person dying. (Jet, Admiral Zhao)
Second Edit: On the subject of people being killed in Avatar: TLA, let's not forget the entire Air nation was obliterated by the fire nation (including Monk Gyatso, whom they showed a skeleton of at some point), and the old Fire Lord Azulon was confirmed to have been murdered by Zuko's mother and/or father.

[–] zeldasho 11 years ago

I thought the official reason seemed pretty truthful. Lack of merchandise. Even show's like Generator Rex and such have tons of toys and games, this show never got anything.

I'm really hoping the Adult Swim run brings more hype for the show and a possible reason to renew it. The cancellation of this one nearly made me stop watching Cartoon Network.

[–] greggman 10 years ago

I'm a HUGE fan of Samurai Jack and so I looked forward to SBT but after 6 episodes i gave up. SBT has an okay premise but overall it's way more childish and way more preachy than previous series by Genndy. Each episode has a clear "lesson" that's so blatantly telegraphed it might as well be a Sesame Street song.

Other than General Modula all the voice acting is sub-par. I'm guessing they were trying not to copy other "transform" series but they couldn't sound more bored when they become the Symbionic Titan.

So for me, the reason is was cancelled is because it just wasn't that great. The childish lessons turn off many over 16 and the sub par stories just don't put it at the level of the crew's previous efforts.

[–] JOshISPoser 9 years ago

i can believe the marketing reason. if it was too violent, i think something would have been said about that.

i watched this show the past two days and i loved it. it really had a huge emotional rollercoaster and i'm hugely disappointed with the cliffhanger endings.

Maybe some sort of kickstarter is needed for this thing to get another season?

The one thing i didn't like is the animation style, but that's easily overlooked. Maybe i mean look...i loved the action and stuff, just not how it's drawn with the thick black lines and stuff but i wouldn't change it though if it came back.

[–] babuandbabu 8 years ago

Good shows always get cancelled.

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