I swear, I'll do Miraculous Ladybug but first, I saw the episodes of the new Powerpuff Girls reboot. Also, watch the video to get a better idea of what I'm about to talk about here. With that said, Cartoon Network. WHAT THE FUCKING HELL HAVE YOU DONE.
(Here's a little note for you guys. This is not me being a purist. I am judging the reboots mentioned in this rant on its own. I will bring in comparisons but it's not out of nostalgia. So read the whole damn thing before commenting shit. Harsh, I know and I'm sorry, BUT SERIOUSLY. USE YOUR COMMON SENSE.)
First you already messed up Teen Titans with the horrendous animation style, toilet humor, and just the overall messed up morals that is present in Teen Titans Go!. Now you mess up one of my all time favorite shows.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Not.
I was actually going to give the reboot a chance, even after I saw the previews. Like, the preview of Blossom getting ready for school because she was late, only to find out that it was Saturday was great! It has Blossom's personality from the original as being a very studious person.
But then I saw a clip of the Girls twerking. With a panda. And Bubbles was using outdated memes for jokes. The Girls themselves were basically caricatures of their original counterparts and so OCC it was like I was reading a bad fanfic. The animation was way too cluttered with cute stuff instead of being a blend of violent and cute. Character designs were awful. The distinct drawing style to differentiate the girls and the citizens of Townsville was completely gone. All of the blood that was in the show is removed. The action scenes were bland. And worst of all, they removed Ms. Bellum because apparently she was too offensive for a kids show.
So....let me get this straight. You can have three kindergartners twerking but Ms. Bellum, the secretary who kept Townsville together while working under an incompetent but likable mayor, was removed for being offensive?! They removed a character because her cartoon hourglass figure was degrading?!
That was honestly the last straw for me. SHE WAS ONE OF THE SMARTEST CHARACTERS IN THE GODDAMN SHOW WHAT THE HELL
WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME CARTOON NETWORK
Why couldn't you have done something like Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated or the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot?!
Why can't you focus on Steven Universe, Adventure Time (which I'm slowly starting to appreciate) and The Amazing World of Gumball?!
I miss the animation of the original PPG. Like the video said, the original had excellent framing and was very storyboard based. Everything was drawn first, scripted through storyboards and then animated, which was a normal process for many cartoons in the early 1990's and 2000's. The reboot's animation is digital, and as many have noted, is trying to adopt a "Adventure Time" drawing style, which suit for shows like Steven Universe and Gravity Falls, but doesn't blend well with the PPG reboot's overall supposed superhero theme. In addition, the original show, along with Steven Universe, Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender and even the 2012 TMNT reboot, have a very heavy Japanese influence, both in terms of story, themes, and animation.
Now, here's where the TMNT reboot, Steven Universe and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated work and the PPG and Teen Titans reboots fail.
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated works because it's working in a overarching plot over a normally episodic franchise, as well as expanding on character development for characters we already knew. (What's New Scooby-Doo? is another personal favorite, don't get me wrong.) Btw, I honestly don't get why some people hate this reboot. It's a decent addition to the franchise. I personally liked the darker tone that it took. Professor Pericles was a nice addition as one of the main villains.
The 2012 TMNT reboot works because one, having part of the original cast from the 1980's cartoon helps. One of many examples: Rob Paulsen, who voiced Raphael in the original cartoon, voices Donatello in the reboot. Second, it's being fairly faithful to the original source. It's using the plotline of the two clans (which was apparently the original one). There's homages here and there (Watch "Transdimensonal Turtles" for a good source of proof) but it's not obscure enough to the point where new fans can't follow along and the Turtles, Splinter, April, ect. are all growing as characters as the series progresses.
Steven Universe works because one, it is its own show. There is a heavy influence of magical girl anime, and one could even argue that it's like Madoka Magica, in the sense of the plot growing darker and deeper than what we had originally seen during the pilot. The show does have an Adventure Time style animation with some of the expressions and such but honestly, what do you expect when you know that Rebecca Sugar used to work on AT?
So, what similarities do you see in these completely different shows?
The answer is simple: The three that I mentioned here are bringing something new to things we already know and love. They took the risk of changing something while staying true to the original source and because of that, they are able to stand on their own and not use the originals as crutches. What the PPG and Teen Titans reboots are doing is the exact opposite. They rely primarily on nostalgia.
Another thing: Steven Universe has heart. So does the Scooby-Doo reboot and the TMNT reboot. There is a sense of effort and passion thrown into these shows, which makes it all the more enjoyable. The video mentions this as well, and that's the main problem with the PPG reboot and TTG. Well, at least with PPG, there seems to be some sort of effort to work with what they have. But they still don't have the heart and passion of what made them great to begin with. The original PPG had a lot of humor and heartwarming moments to balance out the violence and action in the show.
Jeremy Jahns (check out his YouTube channel, it's awesome) once said something in his Batman and Robin review that is becoming increasingly relevant and apparent: "The toys are not a byproduct of the movie, the movie is a byproduct of the toys. That's movie production fail 101! You never do that!"
The reason why I bring that quote up? Well, it's the same case with the PPG reboot. If any of you actually watched the video (you don't have to, but it will give you an overall perspective of this rant), he mentions that the toys and merchandise was made months before the show went into production. In addition, there was a gimmick of people "Powerpuff-ing" themselves in order to promote the reboot. I honestly never did it and thought it was dumb (and my expectations for the show wasn't that high to begin with) but its a perfect example of how a show is a byproduct of a promo and toys.
Well, those are my overall thoughts on the PPG reboot. It's not the worst thing ever tbh and I may have exaggerated some of my points (removing Ms. Bellum still pisses me off), but as a reboot, its still better than Teen Titans Go!. But I still wouldn't recommend watching it.
I heard that they were going to do a Samurai Jack reboot. Sad to say that I still need to watch the original series but for the love of god, I hope they don't mess it up. It's going to be on Adult Swim though so that might lower the censors a bit.
So what are your thoughts on the reboots? Do you think they are really that needed? Comment below and let me know! :D