When Cartoons That SHOULD Have Been Good Go Bad

C.O.P.S.

I don't know if anyone remembers this show. Late-80's, Saturday morning sci-fi, action-figure tie-in show, etc.

It had some cool ideas (the police are the superheroes!), but the biggest handicap was the fact that it was a Saturday morning 'toon, and it had no interest (or even ability really) to be a cop show or anything resembling a cool police procedural, and instead floundered as a watered-down GIJoe knockoff.
 
What HAVE you been watching? O.o

Anyway...

American Dragon Jake Long: I really liked the concept for this show, but, unfortunately, it ened up a fairly cookie-cutter teenaged superhero show. Sad, really, considering they had a whole plethora of interesting mythology they could have played around with.
 
Danny Phantom comes to mind. Concept was pretty cool, except it was ruined right from the beginning (it started off as an obnoxious children's comedy, then started to actually try and take itself seriously, especially with that Danny/Sam angle).
Hartman's other show as well, FOP, has a great, versatile concept. A boy with fairies who can grant him any wish? That has a TON of potential for crazy storylines. Instead, we get grating voice acting, characters constantly screaming nonsense (because screaming the punchline makes it funny), as well as this constantly repeated formula.
Timmy's life sucks in this aspect (he's not wanted enough, he has to deal with a spoiled dog). "I wish my life were this way!". Then, by the end of the episode "I've learned my lesson! Unwish the wish!". Usually, there's some conflict to where the fairies either lose their wands, can't unwish the wish because it's against De Rules, etc, to keep the episode going longer.
 
1. World of Quest. The character design, the animation and the voices - especially Prince Nestor's - were great. But the writing completely sunk it. I used to tune in every week hoping it would get better, but it didn't. Major bummer.

2. FOP. I've covered that on a number of occasions. Main problem: Cosmo. Need I say more? Didn't think so.

I can't really think of any others, because frankly, I've learned not to expect too much from new toons. Most of them try to imitate Spongebob or FOP, and unfortunately, they don't imitate the good parts. :sad:
 
Spongebob itself has gotten pretty lackluster too, as I believe you also pointed out on a few occassions. The writers seem to have run out of humor (also, Tom Kenny's Spongebob voice has gotten unbearably high. :ack: )
 
Futurama was awesome as a half-hour series, but it absolutely DOES NOT work in 90-minute DVD movie format. The writing and comedy suffered as a result. David X. Cohen wants to do a Futurama movie for theaters, but if the DVD movies are any indication, I think this is a terrible idea.
 
Da Boom Crew: The idea of kids getting sucked into a world like their video game and going on heroic/crazy adventures sounded like a good idea. What happened? It was weighed down with irritating hip-hop slang, the characters were forgettable (especially the kids), and the plot just dragged.

The Proud Family: I liked this show when it first came out, but Oscar was more of a punching bag, and Penny became more of a whiner.
 
I agree about being disappointed with the straight-to-DVD Futurama movies. I had so many high hopes for the show's revival. The first was OK, I assumed they were a little rusty and could only get better. I was wrong.
 
I definitely agree with that. It had some good episodes here and there and the idea was nice, but Oscar became too much of a punching bag, as you mentioned, for my taste. Most of the time, he didn't even deserve all of that abuse.

As with Penny, I noticed a similar flaw in her character to Timmy's character in FOP. There would be some episodes where she'd learn her lesson, such as how she needs her parents instead of being totally independent, but then she would learn them all over again. That same lesson was a part of the movie. Plus, she became just less likable to me during the later part of the series.
 
Into the Wild Green Yonder currently has a 2-star rating on Amazon, with a single review that claims it is the worst of the four movies, and makes BBS "look like Blade Runner."

It's almost as if Matt Groening is turning into George Lucas.
 
Well, if the situation involves a different medium being translated into an animated movie or a show, and I see the first medium before the animated one, then I am almost always dissapointed.This is, I think, one of the more common experiences. I'd have to say that, recently, The World of Quest, cut me pretty deep.
 
Johnny Test is one of the main ones for me. The first opening did got me hocked. And I did thought something really decent was going to be shown. I did laugh at somewhat smerks at some of the jokes...Like the very first episode.
Later, I realized, this series really have nothing to back-up with its jokes. I do get the humor its trying to pull, but the show doesn't know how to set it right. I can find so many mistakes and floss the series has:

-The pacing is just terrible. There's no pause time, no relax moment. Yeah, I get its 20 minutes long, and you show 2 shorts in this time limit. But thats no reason to rush things. Many shows that has those “showing 2 shorts in 20 mins” have much better pacing than that!

-It seems the events and plots the series have are just in random, there's no really set-up or reason why. Its like, “I'm walking out side....AND A MONSTER DESTROYING THE CITY AND I NEED TO SAVE IT BY DEFINING THE BEAST BY...eating pie.".

Really? I get it if's a cartoon, but please put some real effort into the plot.


-And one of the biggest problem I have with the series its jokes. The series can't make a decent joke. But wait, YELLING JOKES AND RE-STATING WHAT JUST HAPPEN IS FUNNY!! RIGHT!? I MUST BE FUNNY! IT HAS TO BE FUNNY!
No, its not funny, its sad and annoying that the series needs to add those things for humor. The series just hiding its shame.

Look, I get it, its a kid show. And, if I don't like it, I shouldn't be watching it, Which I don't. But try to keep this in mind, I just saw the first episode of it. I did gave it another chance, but no. I realized I shouldn't be watching this show nor should I care.

(And, that show is one the first shows I ever gotten mad of. Which its rare!)
 
SpongeBob SquarePants. I remember way back in 1999, thinking something along the lines of "Well, I like everything else Nickelodeon has thrown at me (except Ren & Stimpy), and this looks like it's gonna be totally random and funny like most of their other shows." I watched a couple episodes, didn't laugh once, thought all the characters were stupid, and said "forget it." I even tried to get into it again after seeing how popular it was, both before and after the movie. Didn't help. (I will give the show credit, though, whenever it hangs a lampshade on the way the writers play fast and loose with underwater physics.)

I just can't find one likeable character except Sandy Cheeks, and the fact that nearly everyone else is dumber than a box of rocks and/or incredibly cranky doesn't help either. I hate the "too dumb to live" type characters in general, and I certainly don't like having nearly the entire cast being that way (also a major reason why I hate The Simpsons so much).
 
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