I'll have to give it a shot, then. CN, Nick, & Disney Channel basically lost me after their original "golden era" shows wrapped up. There are a few other decent ones on the current menu, but nothing I find as outstanding. All three largely animation-based networks have adopted this same drawing style of which I am simply not a fan. I call it "Adventure Time style," and it's fine for one or a few, but now almost literally every cartoon is drawn this way. Extremely doodley-looking, blobby characters with little detail and floppy limbs...faces and arms/legs slapped onto random pieces of food or other objects--BAM! Character! I dunno. I suppose I just prefer at least slightly more realistic designs that let me take it more seriously. Not to mention it feels as though all animation students have become the same person. xD
I've seen episodes of so many, and a lot of it really does seem to struggle too much for the sort of random hilarity that makes Spongebob such a wild success (I consider that to be the last truly great Nick show, along with Fairly Oddparents & Jimmy Neutron. The movie-based ones such as Back at the Barnyard & Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness are all right.) It's trying too hard to "appeal to the modern teen" or whatever, with very bizarre or out-there concepts that nonetheless fall a bit flat for me, and just make me go, "Huh? Why?" *shrug* But everything comes back around again eventually...!
Although the "Bare Bears" ad I've had to watch a few dozen times to earn credits for one of my games does not do a good job of convincing me to watch it, the few positive reviews it's gotten may...
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retro4
9 years ago
I call it "Adventure Time style," and it's fine for one or a few, but now almost literally every cartoon is drawn this way.
It's not just how it's drawn, it's also has feel of Adventure Time as well. Other cartoons like "Bravest Warriors" and "Steven Universe" get pass because creators were writers and animators of AT. I'm not sure about "We Bare Bears" I think the creator or one of the producers may have worked on Adventure Time as well which explains the similar look and feel of the show. I recently seen couple episodes and I like what I saw. It was nothing ground breaking but it wasn't mediocre either. I think it's some of better cartoons that is worth washing even if it has some flaws, but I completely understand why some would be turned off by it. I have to admit one of the things that bothered me while watching it was that it had "been there done that vibe".
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PopSixSquish
9 years ago
It makes sense that folks who worked on AT would go on to influence other series, since it was so successful. There just seems to be so little diversity in current TV animation, and I might be okay with that if I liked the "trending" style more than I do. xD But every time I see a spot for a "new series" (and groan), it looks very similar...and often a lot crasser than something like AT. I rarely appreciate cartoons that are just gross for the sake of being gross. But anyway, what you described sounds pretty much like what I expect of this...I shall see in an hour and a half.
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FairlyAnonymous
9 years ago
Not to say "you're wrong" but have you actually watched all of Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and Adventure Time? They are all story driven shows which is something big for the TV animation industry (in America, at least). In the past, you were either a serious story-driven show, or you were a comedy show. Adventure Time made it popular to combine both elements. Have a lot of rich story, also have a lot of comedy. Then we got Gravity falls which is more heavily focused on story and fast-pacing. Finally comes Steven Universe which focuses much more on the emotional aspect of the story, with some mild comedy.
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PopSixSquish
9 years ago
Admittedly, no. I've caught a few episodes of AT & SU, but have no idea when GF is on. To be perfectly honest, what makes me want to see more of them isn't so much what I've seen as all of the praise heaped upon them, especially by people whose tastes and opinions are otherwise fairly similar to mine.
Again, the character design and animation styles are automatic turn-offs for me--not that that can't be overcome with great characterization and story.
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FairlyAnonymous
9 years ago
Steven Universe has VERY BEAUTIFUL background art. I won't lie that a lot of shows are basing their design off of Adventure Time, but there are some pretty unique differences. If you can't find them on the aire, you could watch them online.
I won't say that the shows don't have problems:
Adventure Time's first two seasons don't have much plot (there is a reason for that) so it takes awhile to get through it.
Steven Universe has some mediocre writing at times and Steven can be annoying at first
And Gravity Falls has a lot of emotional scenes that are quickly written and are filled with too much dialogue.
But overall, I would say Adventure Time and Steven Universe are Cartoon Network's best shows in... well... ever. Cartoon Network always did just straight up comedy, but now it has comedy and story. You can tell they are trying a lot harder now than they were in... 2005-2009.
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PopSixSquish
9 years ago
Are they on YouTube or another site?
Thanks for the recommendations. I've seen the most of AT so far, but would be interested in seeing more of all three. They could grow on me, if they're as good as people say.
It looked to me as though CN, Nick, & the Disney Channel all decided to start copying Adventure Time's visual and comic style. It's good to hear that CN, at least, is on an upswing with those two. I just miss their original set of shows, although thankfully many of them are on Boomerang sometimes. If I were in charge of that channel's scheduling (and I'd love to be), it'd be more varied classics and less more-recently-canceled stuff.
Wish I had caught Gravity Falls even once, since I've heard such great things about it.
My favorite cartoons currently being made are actually on Discovery Family (formerly The Hub)--not even one of the "Big Three."
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