Christmas 2014

Hope you-all have a safe, happy Christmas this year =)

Mike Pearse - Pop Idiots

As this year's X Factor draws to a close, I think it only fitting to mark the occasion with a rather aptly-named Mike Pearse classic - back when Simon Cowell first introduced its "predecessor", Pop Idol, from the early 00's. Love it or hate it, it must have inspired Mike either way to draw what I consider to be one of my personal favourites of his.

In fact, I adore massive character team-ups within the same "world", but Mike's handling for the Beano characters has always been superb. Just imagine an animated series featuring the entire residents of Beanotown than just Dennis the Menace alone...!

This story was first published in Beano Issue No.3250 from October 2004 - a year after Pop Idol was "relaunched" as the X Factor...

Happy Halloween 2014

What with there being pre-school shows based around skeletons or adorable 'Little Ghosts', something similar along the lines of this might not seem too out of the ordinary... ;)

Hope everyone has had a safe and fun Halloween!

Witch's Lair

Background practice. A rough idea of what a Witch's ought to look like - with all the comforts of home =P

Animal Drivers

Once again, the internet continues to inspire me. In this case, it takes one picture of a rabbit in a "carrot car" to come up with these =)

Dinosaurs in Animation

There are many things in animation that remain popular with kids today - giant robots, super heroes or the old classic slapstick. But Dinosaurs have always been one of the tops. Whatever the age, whatever the gender, many kids will, in some point of their lives, become fascinated with these long-extinct creatures.

Some may ask; "why?" It's no mystery, really. Kids love things that are different, out of the ordinary. Vast, colossal skeletons displayed in many museums across the world. They're fantastic without being fantasy. We only know about dinosaurs from decades of research and assumptions - what they ate, where they roamed, how they died. But most of all, they're big and scary, which most kids think is "epic".

And it is from the encyclopaedic research and various discoveries that feeds the imaginations for film-makers and writers the world over. Palaeontologist Bob Bakker described dinosaurs as "nature's special effects" - which fits the theme of this blog very nicely given how many books and kid's shows all focus on the same prehistoric theme.

"Hello, Gertie!"

I feel that it all started with a true "prehistoric" piece. 100 years ago, way, way back in 1914, animator Winsor McCay changed the face of animation by bringing to life Gertie the Dinosaur.  Renowned for his "Little Nemo" comic strip, McCay also performed vaudeville acts - and this short, which he worked on in his own spare time, was not only the earliest animated feature to star a dinosaur, but also the earliest form of "interactive" animation, too. The original performance had McCay himself standing on a stage and "interacting" with Gertie as the animated feature was played out - he timed everything just about perfectly. It consists of 10,000 hand-drawn images and took 6 months. True dedication!

Since then, Dinosaurs have remained as popular as ever, especially for the animation genre. When movies like Godzilla and Land of the Lost were first released, the very earliest versions were created entirely with stop-motion animation, which - while some may think dated - was part of the spark that's helped to inspire thousands ever since. In Godzilla's case, it's finding ways of adapting the same story but with new and effective technology, as this year's theatrical release has proven.

As well as this, many animation studios never miss a chance to parody such movies, or use the prehistoric setting, for further storytelling / comedy potential. Thus, we've seen such characters as Daffy Duck, Popeye, Dexter's Laboratory, the Pink Panther, Huckleberry Hound, etc encountering dinosaurs in one shape or another.

The Flintstone's own pet Snorkasaurus, 'Dino', starred in a handful of solo shorts as part of Cartoon Network's "What a Cartoon!" series in the '90s.

Before going on to design the characters of The Flintstones for Hanna-Barbera, Ed Benedict provided uncredited layout designs for Tex Avery's 1955 short "The First Bad Man" for MGM, which saw the story of Texas set one million years ago. And like many prehistoric cartoons, it was one of many which saw cave-people and dinosaurs (or maybe the odd mammoth) living side-by-side...which many a Paleontologist will tell you that it is historically inaccurate. 

But then again, it is still a cartoon, so...back on topic.

Steven Spielberg, without any doubt, is one of the biggest dinosaur heads in Hollywood - you need only look at the number of movies he's produced and directed throughout his career. Time and again, he's become the benchmark for all things dinosaur, showcasing impressive animatronics and animation over the years.
Many fans will always remember him for his multi-million franchise Jurassic Park, which followed one of (many) themes of bringing the dinosaurs back from the dead and into the "modern" world. 

But another movie he was also involved in was We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story. Based on the children's book of the same name, this early '90's animated feature is partly told from the perspective of Rex the Tyrannosaurs (voiced by John Goodman), who tells of how he and a few other 'saurs were given super intelligence by an alien scientist - whose purpose is to show children across the world real dinosaurs. But the dinosaurs themselves have to try and avoid becoming part of the "Eccentric Circus" manned by the sinister Professor Screweyes...

That said, another animated movie that has always stood out is The Land Before Time (1988). Co-produced along with George Lucas, this is what many consider to be Don Bluth's magnum opus. It focused on the story of five young dinosaurs, separated from their families after an earthquake destroyed their home, and embarking together on a dangerous journey to the Great Valley, a land spared from devastation - along the way, they are followed by the savage Tyrannosaurus Rex while facing many perils of the evolving Earth...

As with many of his films, Bluth did not shy away from displaying death and intense scenes whilst also telling a heartfelt story - in particular, the death of Littlefoot the Apatosaurus' mother after being attacked by the Tyrannosaurus. But here, Spielberg and Lucas realised that there were scenes that were too dark for children - many of which were cut and destroyed, according to various sources.

Nevertheless, the movie was a critical and financial success. So much so that in keeping with its popularity, a sequel was developed in 1994...then 11 more followed...and then a TV Series in 2007. As with most sequels, these were created without Don Bluth's supervision and, as one might well expect, all of which were far more light-hearted and "child-friendly", with none of the dramatic storytelling that the first movie had to offer.

Mind you, it's thanks to the success of Land Before Time that several other shows were created in its wake to keep with the "fad" while it was still fresh.

One that definitely comes to mind is Dink the Little Dinosaur (1989). Produced by Ruby-Spears production (Fangface, Alvin and the Chipmunks), it almost mirrors Land Before Time in terms of its similar-looking cast - Dink being an Apatosaurus like Littlefoot, Flapper a Pteranodon like the nervous Petrie - and their home known as the 'Green Meadow' may seem a little like the 'Great Valley' to some.

However, there are still plenty of differences here that set the two apart. Apart from a choice of various dinosaur characters / species, the youngsters were guided by Crusty, an elderly turtle (or Proganochelys) as they learn the usual life-lessons about friendship, etc. In addition, they also educated viewers with "Factasaurus" segments, which often focused on a particular dinosaur per episode.

In fact, when done right, dinosaurs can offer a lot of educational factor. Denver the Last Dinosaur followed the adventures of an unusually intelligent dinosaur, hatched in "modern day" (for 1990) California and befriended by a gang of teenagers. Many remember this series for teaching viewers eye-opening lessons about conservation, ecology, and friendship - and of course, dinosaurs on the side.

Sometimes, they're also handy in the pre-school market - showing youngsters that not all dinosaurs have to be scary. Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs started out as a popular series of books, written and drawn by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds, which told the stories of 5-year-old Harry and his toy dinosaurs. In time, these paved the way for an animated series in 2006, co-produced by Collingwood & Co (formerly Collingwood O'Hare), where thanks to his imagination, Harry's dinosaurs became real as he would jump into his little bucket and visit Dino Land. And through these adventures, Harry returns to the real world a little bit wiser about a particular subject or lesson he is anxious to learn about.

Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train (2009) combines two popular interests for kids: dinosaurs and locomotives. Created by Craig Bartlett (of Hey Arnold! fame), the series followed Buddy, a young Tyrannosaurus Rex adopted by a family of Pteranodons. Whenever Buddy has a question about his prehistoric world, he and his friends travel on the Dinosaur Train to find the answer. As well as visiting volcanoes, jungles and oceans, it can also pass through the magical Time Tunnel, visiting other time periods of the Mesozoic Era - Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. It should be noted that this is one of the few shows produced by Jim Henson that has been created in CGI than with puppets.

Although it should be important to note that Jim Henson created another series about Dinosaurs earlier than that, back in the mid-90's. In a similar lifestyle echoing the Flintstones, this once-popular comedy series focused on a family of dinosaurs living in "modern day" Pangaea - set in 60,000,003 BC. A lot of new animatronic technology was developed to set the dinosaurs as far apart from their predecessors, the Muppets, as possible - which was met with very pleasing results. 

Much of the series deprived its humour from Earl Sinclair as he tries to juggle family life with work - in particular Baby Sinclair, known for such catchphrases as "Not The Momma!" However, this being a family prime-time show, it also covered various other topical matters such as civil rights, body image, drug abuse and environmentalism. In fact, the finale of the series gave an ironic if bitter-sweet twist which saw the Dinosaurs accidentally causing their own extinction by creating the Ice Age...

Moreover than not, Dinosaurs have mainly been used as a source for action and drama - and especially for the BBC, a chance to showcase their own documentary with incredible CGI animation as shown in the ever-popular Walking With Dinosaurs.

In fact, Disney's lesser-known movie Dinosaur (2000) was one of the studio's first breaks into CGI animation - in that the characters were rendered on computer whilst the locations were filmed in grassy locals such as Canaima National Park in Venezuela. Sadly, despite being a box office success, the animation couldn't make up for the storyline, which reviewers claimed was "generic and dull", and slightly hampered by the fact that the characters began talking after the stunning opening shot (a similar issue which was the major downfall to the feature-length adaptation of Walking with Dinosaurs). And as with The Black Cauldron, Disney have quietly shunted this into the background...

Another popular aspect has been combining dinosaurs with technology - in particular, robots. More often than not they're played mostly for action or drama, case in point with the Dinobots in the Transformers universe, or the Dino-Riders created by Carla and Gerry Cornway.

However, you can thank Bill Kopp for breaking the mould with his Dino/Robot series, which played more for laughs than tension. The Terrible Thunderlizards were a segment that aired as part of the Eek!Stravaganza series (season 2 of what many remember as Eek! The Cat), and which focused on a trio of dino mercenaries sent to destroy two primitive cavemen - after realising that if the human race were to populate it would spell the end of dinosaur supremacy. Thankfully, the Thunderlizards' plans of eliminating the two "mankinds" usually resulted in failure - then again, the cavemen themselves were totally unaware that they were being hunted down...

In similar vein, Steve Cole has also been doing quite nicely with his series of Astrosaurs books - which in a nutshell is about dinosaurs in space...

The Power Rangers have also used dinosaurs. Based on the popular Super Sentai series from Japan, the first series of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers took from the series dino-based series, Zyuranger. Although only half the prehistoric spirits were based on actual dinosaurs - Tyrannosaurus, Pteradactyl and Triceratops - whilst the others were prehistoric beasts such as a Mastadon, Sabertoothed Tiger and a mythical Dragon beast! Some say that Saban struck at the right time with the release of Jurassic Park the same year, which had placed dinosaurs at an all time high in terms of popularity.

In 2004, the new owners of Power Rangers (Disney) were given the opportunity to explore the fun of dinosaurs again when they adapted Abarenger to become the 12th series, Power Rangers Dino Thunder. Abarenger was set in a world where earth had split into two universes - with our world known as Another Earth and the other inhabited by dinosaurs called Dino Earth. Whilst it had the dark undertones of an average Sentai season, the dinosaurs in the series spoke and interacted with the humans characters, which added to the comedy element.

None of this was carried over to the American adaptation, which was markedly different - focusing upon the return of Power Rangers legend, Tommy Oliver, who had become a PHD in palaeontology and taken up a position at Reefside High as a Science teacher, where he finds himself returning to his superhero roots and donning the spandex again, this time as acting as both a mentor and a team player into the bargain - instead of Rita Repulsa and her minions, who just wanted to conquer the earth, he and his young team mates were facing off against the evil Mesagog, the Mr Hyde creation of an experiment gone wrong by the scientist, Anton Mercer, Tommy's former employer when doing his PHD work.

In 2015 and 2016, Saban Brands will be returning to the Dino theme with Power Rangers Dino Charge in 2015 and Dino Super Charge in 2016, based on the 2013 Kyoruger Sentai series, which has proven to be phenomenally popular in Japan and looks set to be equally as 'powerful' when it launches as a Power Ranger series. A 'brave' move on the part of Saban Brands!

Rex's little "cameo" in Pixar's 'Monsters, Inc'...

But of course, as Gertie once proved 100 years ago, Dinosaurs can still be used for comedy value. They played a major part in the third instalment of Ice Age with the "Dawn of the Dinosaurs", the Rugrats had their own "Godzilla" in the form of Reptar, the Super Mario Bros nearly always had Yoshi along for the ride and Rex has become the most loveable tyrannosaurus in the Toy Story franchise.

I remember a good number of dinosaur-related shows from Children's BBC as a youngster, a few which included a number of imports overseas. Some shows would try to relate to their audience by showcasing the main characters as children - like Dilly the Dinosaur, who was always getting into trouble and, when frustrated, would let loose his "ultra-special, 150-mile-per-hour super-scream". Or there were the Dino Babies, who would use their imaginations to retell a particular story, from the usual Fairy Tales to literature classics like Peter Pan.

Other Dinosaur-themed shows would often focus on bizarre yet fun storytelling. Like FilmFair / Cookie Jar Group's lesser-seem Moschops, narrated by the very enthusiastic Bernard Cribbens. Or Hairy Jeremy by Pierre Scarella, which was originally a French production translated especially for the BBC among other shows during the 90's. And who could forget the ever-hungry Australian-imported Greedysaurs Gang?

Perhaps now to balance out the television shows, Dinosaurs can also be found in many a book or comic strip. A few I would recommend is Dick King-Smith's Dinosaur Trouble - a charming story about how Pterodactyls and Apatosauruses used to disdain one another until the new-borns from each family worked out a way for them all to become friends. In doing so, both families were able to protect one another from the terrible Tyrannosaurs known as "Hack the Ripper"...

Then there is the ever-popular B.C, created by the late Johnny Hart and which continues today by members of the Hart family - with its absurd look on life and current events through cave people and various prehistoric animals. 

Or if you're especially lucky, if you happen to collect Beano comics, you might just find the lesser-spotted Dean's Dino, one of John Geering's final contributions for the popular British Comic before his passing in 1999, which told of the mad adventures between a boy and his dinosaur

An even rarer find would be Saurheads - originally pitched as a newspaper comic strip, artist J. J. Barney and writer Cary Bates are hoping to develop it for animation instead. Although as this idea has been circulating the interwebs for goodness-how-long, it's anyone's guess whether it'll be picked up or not.

So as you can see, Dinosaurs are pretty versatile when handled right. They're so popular in media and in print, that trying to name every single one here would be a task in itself.

But just like Vampires or Dragons or McBusted, they won't be going away any time soon - whether they're used as a sub-plot, the main storyline or acting as supporting characters. In fact, Pixar have another original movie in the works under the title "The Good Dinosaur"...which is currently undergoing major redevelopment on last hearing.

Tina as seen in 'The Amazing World of Gumball'

So long as dinos continue to inspire and grab people's attention - and so long as there are kids who will love 'em - then so much the better!

DINOSAUR PLAYLIST!

Hospital Illustrator

Hospital Images created in Illustrator. Again, toying around with design ideas / styles.

Bookmark Designs

 

Currently toying around with possible merch / design ideas...

A Bit Of Variety

These days, many animated shows have episodes that play out between 11 minutes to a full half-hour, if anything to fill the required time slot for American broadcasting. Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but there was a time when episodes were no longer than 6 to 7 minutes, just as the original theatrical shorts that were played before the feature-length picture are (and still do, thank goodness).
Of course, it really depends on the type of shows that need a longer time format to tell a full beginning, middle and end, which is understandable. But what I really miss these days is seeing the classic "variety" format.

Just a handful of Bill and Joe's television stars...

To put it simply, a "variety" show is a TV Series with more than one segment, each featuring different sets of characters - Hanna-Barbera and Jay Ward established this format for their made-for-TV shows, which introduced the world to Quick Draw McGraw and Rocky and Bullwinkle among others.

These "varieties" continued as far as mid 2000 with various other channels having a go - Disney Channel (Raw Toonage), Fox Kids (Toonsylvania), Cartoon Network (Dexter's Laboratory) among others. But as time went on, the three-to-five variety format slowly dwindled away to two (Cow and Chicken, Grim and Evil, Pink Panther and Pals), until for whatever reason the other segment would quietly fade away after the first season.

Based on viewing rates, it would depend on which segment / characters proved to be the more popular. And in most cases, along with a lot of luck, some of the more popular characters would be given their own spin-offs. Case in point with Shaun the Sheep, Pinky and the Brain or even Yogi Bear.

    Animani...Totally insane-y!

One of the most recognisable "variety" series has been Animaniacs. Here, Tom Ruegger and his team experimented with and developed a huge selection of characters, each with their own settings yet based with the same "universe". In fact, one episode that remains a personal favourite is the "Animaniacs Stew", which saw the cast-members deliberately "mixed-up".

Even Cosgrove Hall Films got in on the act, bringing to life Vampires, Pirates and Aliens, based on the series of books by Colin Hawkins and Jacqui Hawkins. As the title suggests, it follows three different sets of characters from the seven seas to outer space to the usual "spooky castle" setting.

What I'm trying to say is that these sort of shows are worth watching because there is no "main character" to follow, there aren't any ongoing storylines that interconnect with one another like some soap opera, and we're allowed to jump from various worlds with - if lucky - potential crossovers from one or more segments.

But what's more important is that there is no risk of exhausting certain characters for further seasons down the line. At least with a variety show, the writers and storyboarders aren't shackled to a set local and wind up either repeating themselves or "jumping the shark".

Then again, there have been rare occasions when a creative writing team can still make the most of a limited cast - whether it's 11 minutes of Ed, Edd n Eddy or 5 minutes of Oggy and the Cockroaches, both shows which have managed a sizeable number of episodes between them. But I still stand my belief that a few additional characters and "worlds" would really add some new flavours to television for kids.

In fact, what prompted me to write this blog post came about after reading an interview from Vice President of Warner Bros, Jay Bastian, on the latest Tom and Jerry Show (2014). The show itself isn't too bad, but what rather irked me was this section in terms of "changing things up";

"…we’re also doing something with this show where we’ve got four rotating scenarios. There’s one what we call it the “classic” scenario, where they’re in a house, and they have reoccurring owners…Then we’ve got one where Jerry is a mouse in a lab, where there’s a professor always trying to come up with new inventions whether giving one another super powers or the ability to fly…The same with another scenario where we’ve got Tom is the cat of two witches, and Tom has access to spell books and magic wands that he and Jerry can get into all new trouble with. Then the fourth scenario is cat and mouse detectives, where they’re essentially working together, which they did in a lot of classic shorts to try and solve a mystery…"

And there lies the issue. Four different scenarios, three of which could have gone to entirely different characters, and instead they stuck with the T&J cast. Wasted potential, in my honest opinion. This was why I liked Tom and Jerry Kids for a time because there were different characters to watch, new settings and tales to explore. There wasn't just one cast for two eleven-minute episodes - heck, T&J Kids even gave secondary characters a few lead roles for a change. That, my friends, is how you "mix things up" for better watching, because in some cases watching the same characters for a prolonged amount of time can get quite boring.


...and confidentially, Warner Bros, you already have a cat-and-mouse detective duo. Look through your Hanna-Barbera Library and you may find Snooper and Blabber somewhere.


If ever I'm given the chance to pitch a show one day, I intend to give the old variety format another shot for possible redemption - pretty much how 3D Glasses for Cinematic viewing have made a quiet return to the theatres. The demand might not be as high as it once was, with today's generation turning to action heroes (Ben 10) or overly-weird concepts (Uncle Grandpa), but all I ask is for one cartoon show that offers three or more individual segments to swap between. It'll keep your audience interested and give the production team a lot more to work with.

After all, "Variety is the spice of life."

Revivals - The Why and the How

You know, it's pretty amazing how many TV Shows are being revived nowadays, a vast quantity being animated shows of yesteryear. Whether as a new series entirely or, if the producers are daring enough, a feature-length adventure to enhance a new generation.

However, the vast amount of characters past being dug up these days is staggeringly high, many of these being British or American properties. And every time the same old questions and belly-aching are brought up also;

"Will it be exactly like the old series?"
"Will INSERT NAME / COMPANY be involved?"
"Ahh, not another one! It'll be lame! It'll suck!"
"Does nobody have any original ideas anymore?!"

To be honest, so many classic shows are being revived nowadays that there really is no point for me alone to argue or whine online just like everybody else. There are some revivals that, if it gets my attention, I may watch and draw my own conclusions. But for any others, I'll chose not to watch and pretend that they never happened. And for that, I am happier.
So why do particular studios choose to adapt / revive a children's book or cartoon character? And why do long-time fans sometimes have a good moan of it?

For a long, long time, I've been trying to figure this out. And while it's not perfect, I believe that my theories may be part of the answer.

First off, let's look at the argument reg; original ideas in Hollywood. People complain that there is not enough originality in movies or television (scriptwriting clichés aside) and when a different concept with wholly new characters does pop up, they still complain and remain suspicious even before they've seen one trailer or draw up speculations from a lone piece of concept art.

Most of the time, those who do complain of new shows usually repeat similar arguments;

"Why can't cartoons be more like Tex Avery or Chuck Jones?"
"The style of this show reminds me of Ren and Stimpy…"
"Why can't they do more shows like THIS or THAT?"

The fact is, as is the way of human nature, many of us despise change when we're comfortable with how things currently stand - whether seeing new characters take over or watching old friends going through "different phases".

This leads into my Second point - why many prefer older content than new. Some studies show that Nostalgia plays an important part in our lives. Remembering happier times helps to "increase self-esteem, strengthen social bonds and to imbue life with meaning".

This is how events like Comic Con come into play, to allow other nostalgic fans to share their memories with one another. So depending what year you may have been born in, you will remember specific shows from that particular time of your childhood, what you loved about them and how you wouldn't want to see them in any other shape or form.

Others learn the phrase "respecting the past to make the future". This, drawing key elements from particular shows for their own creations. It could be a type of visual style or how a writer structures a plot or joke. Craig McCracken's newest hit for Disney, Wander Over Yonder, draws a lot of elements from the original Looney Tunes in terms of look, feel and storytelling, whilst also embracing the technology readily available to make something amazing and new.

And now the Third reason - why revivals actually happen.

Many companies realise that Nostalgia is, above all else, a goldmine for profit. It's all down to the longevity and popularity of particular characters that makes the world cry out for "more, more, more!"

When one company buys up another that contains nostalgic characters or properties, they're more than free to do what they want with them. Putting the original shows to DVD is one thing…but it's well aware to one and all that if "new" shows were added, it would mean more merchandise to sell, drawing in a whole new audience.

Such is the case when Dreamworks bought up Classic Media a few years back, whose library contains many UK and US properties of old, and how Star Wars was bought out by Disney - both have already made use of their newly-acquired franchises since.

But "with great power comes great responsibility". And sadly, not all revivals work out exactly as we would like. In many cases, as often enough, the wrong decisions are made where some people try too hard to make them more "contemporary" for today's audience - yes, even changing up to CGI animation - or they just go for a full-out "re-imagining", for better or worse.

"George of the Jungle" (2007) and "The Mr. Men Show" (2008) are some examples where too many changes don't always work out. Both shows received radical revamps in art styles while the scriptwriters tried to "reinvent" them to a new audience by nearly abandoning the original source material with (they assume) the type of humour the current viewing audience might like. Farts, snot, etcetera.
However, in case of the Mr. Men Show, at least Renegade Animation tried to make amends in Season 2 with subtle changes relating to feedback from Season 1 - such as bringing Mr. Pernickety much closer to his original persona, Mr. Fussy.

Then of course there are various properties that are more famous for their quantity than their quality - franchises that have been continuing for decades and which try to adapt or "reinvent" themselves to keep up with the times. Some have hit a few rough patches yet manage to improve themselves with time and patience...and proper understanding behind the scenes.

These didn't quite turn out well...

Warner Bros, though, is a different story. Their main long-running properties to date have been Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry, Batman and the Looney Tunes - and many of their attempts to keep each franchise fresh with numerous reboots and direct-to-DVD movies have been a very mixed bag. Most companies would allow five to ten years to try reviving a particular franchise - but these days, it's usually shortened from three to five years! Again, more "new" episodes mean more DVDs mean more money...


…but I'm beginning to ramble, so let's get back on topic.


The point is revivals are happening left, right and sideways, and older fans will always be drawn either out of curiosity or pure joy to see an old friend. And at the same time, many will still remain sceptical and will cover up any optimism by moaning.
So yes, there will be a new Danger Mouse series, with the merest possibility that certain characters MAY receive a sex change, and there will be a new Powerpuff Girls show without Craig McCracken involved. And no amount of angry mobbing will stop either from happening.

...unless by chance, some proposed revivals are canned, shelved or quietly fall by the wayside.

But is there a way to handle all this? How can fans accept the reality that revivals of their favourite childhood shows won't be exactly as they remember them?

The obvious answer would be not to watch them. But there is another way...

It was round about the time when Paul Rudish's hugely popular "Mickey Mouse Shorts" first came out and, out of curiosity, I asked one of my favourite cartoonists, Andrew Dickman, his opinion on them. I think that everyone should try and pay attention to the following text. It may help you manage in the future as it's the type of advice that we often forget about;

"If my thoughts on how different takes and styles on a previously established franchise didn’t hit the nail on the head before, THIS SHOULD.
 

For years, I always thought that Disney cartoon characters were being led the wrong way, same with Looney Tunes, and Looney Tunes have always been different depending on the director and the artists working on them. So why not Mickey Mouse and etc?
 

These are great because they bring a new take on Mickey, made by different artists and styles and they WORK because they bring new personalities to the established characters that have different takes to make them WORK.
 

What we always neglect is that things do change, it’s good to have the old ideas and looks, but it’s also good to take them in different directions, and we should never forget that IT’S OKAY TO HAVE AN ALTERNATE. Because for one, we’ll always have the old stuff to look at and enjoy, but the new ideas aren’t canon either. It’s not like we’re getting a permanent staple, otherwise it’ll grow stale and slowly uninteresting. We can have Adam West Batman, Movie Batman, Cartoon Batman, Silly Crazy cartoon Batman etc etc and they are ALL their own entities. To stay with one formula makes it stale and limited. Let’s not be closed minded to our own wants and “needs”
 

So we can have classic Mickey, we can have modern Mickey and we can have silly crazy Mickey! I love it! They are their own entities, so let ‘em have it."

 
LINKS OF INTEREST (or alternative views):
Icon Reboots are freaks of nature
These revivals could lead to Zombie Takeover
Kids React To Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)

Snails of Animation!

Before Dreamworks even came up with Turbo, snails haven't really made much of an impact in the animation world with so few being pushed as lead characters. But many have featured in secondary roles - Timon and Pumbaa made friends with "Speedy" (whose mannerisms were inspired by Bing Crosby), Mr. Harrison was one of the stars of 'Creepy Crawlies', Spongebob has his pet sea snail Gary, and of course there is that one little snail hidden in every episode of Adventure Time.

However, it's still a rare treat when a series based around this particular mollusc does turn up. In fact, there have been a few such cases that I remember well;

Snailympics, a Spanish / Canadian 2001 series, was based around a group of athletic snails training for their own tiny versions of the Olympic Games. Very little of this series can be found anywhere as it only had limited airings on YTV and Nick Jr / CBBC respectively, with regular airings overseas such as Japan. But from what I have seen of the show here and there, I found it quite amusing in terms of the premise and the fun character designs of this stop-motion animated show. And as with most shows centring on sports, it also encouraged kids the values of teamwork, perseverance and the importance of exercise.

Almost around the same time at 2003 came Snailsbury Tales from Maverick Entertainment. It focused on the odd goings-on of the residents of Snailsbury, from the pompous Mayor to skateboarding teen Eric. I found this show much more memorable as, being perfectly British, it had its own bizarre sense of humour - for instance, how it would take everyone from a week to 10 days to travel to the shops and back!
And the series itself did its creators very well, topping even Bob the Builder at the time it first aired. Mercifully, several of the best episodes survive today with two "rare" DVD releases floating somewhere in cyberspace...

And then in 2011, voice-actor and scriptwriter Tim Dann created Compost Corner for CITV. Continuing the mad British-type humour for kids, it's a series of short "skits" featuring old Major and young Moss as they embark on the impossible in their little home at the corner of a garden. While it features some brief "potty" humour for today's generation (farts, etc), the stylish models by Mackinnon and Saunders and the rapid-fire scripts have made it a memorable little series.
In fact, it gained additional attention in 2013 when it gave viewers the chance to design a third character to feature in the show - you can find out the results here!

Compost Corner - 'Speed Date' from weswood on Vimeo.

There are very likely a few other snail-related characters I may have left out, but with Dreamworks pushing Turbo into the forefront with the attached-TV Series "Turbo FAST", would we see more snails putting their best foot forward? If so, then it could take a while at the pace they go...

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Toonhound recalls Snailsbury Tales

Silvery Jex - creators of Snailsbury Tales!

Compost Corner's Facebook Page!

Official page of Tim Dann, creator of Compost Corner