Loonatics Revamped (Again)

Ecco · Post by **Ecco** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:10 am

Lets see, what is the body count of things I loved from my childhood that have been horribly screwed up one way or another?

Power Rangers: I thought the first season of this show was prtty cool, as was the first movie. Then it just started to get really lame, which may have had something to do with the fact that parents complained about the "horrendous" levels of violence in the first season, and it just got watered down to point of being almost unwatchable to me.

Sonic: Well, I thought Sonic Adventure was great, Sonic Adventure 2 was even better, and I even enjoyed Sonic Heroes, although I felt it didn't quite live up to the Adventure series. Now we've got this new Shadow game, and Shadow carrying a gun just seems so...wrong and out of place. Kind of like what has been said for Sonic, it just doesn't seem to suit Shadow's style to be packing heat. Sure, the game could end up fun, but still...

Godzilla: Oh dear, what happened here? I've been a fan of Godzilla as far back as I can remember stuff, so it was only natural that when the big-budget American remake was coming about, I would be excited. The previews only helped add to my excitment. On opening weekend, I walked into the theater totally pumped. 138 minutes later, I walked out feeling robbed. Everything that made the old movies so fun to watch was just tossed out the window in this souless remake. One would think that the directors said, "Hey, you know all those old Godzilla movies and the reasons that they became so popular? Well, we're going to do the exact opposite!" The sad truth is that this is EXACTLY what went one in the back, because Devlin and Emmerick thought that all the old movies were stupid and that they could easily do better (if you watch the featurette on the DVD, Devlin actually has the cojones to say that this is the movie TOHO would have made if they had the special FX technology of the '90's back in 1954). Godzilla running from the military and getting killed by a dozen missles? That's just not right. And to add insult to the injury, every major scene is taken from other, better movies. Among them are The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, King Kong, King Kong 1976 (it wasn't enough for them to just rip off the original classic, they had to go and rip-off that classic's own crappy remake), Star Wars, Aliens, and of course, Jurassic Park and The Lost World. I could go on and on about this movie, but you're probably sick of reading this paragraph. At least TOHO managed to redeem Godzilla with 1999's Godzilla 2000: Millenium (well, at least the film's original Japanese version, though the American theatrical verison was still better than Devlin and Emmerick's film in spite of the ultra cheezy dubbing script which destroys the seriousness of the original film), and the rest of the third series films. Lets just say I can't wait to see Godzilla give the smack down to the American "Godzilla" in Godzilla: Final Wars.

Batman: The first Tim Burton film was great, Batman Returns was almost as great, Batman Forever was a huge step down but was still watchable since it didn't do things way over the top. And then Batman and Robin came along. This was a movie where nearly every line was just an unfunny pun and had horribly over the top action sequences that didn't even attempt to adhere to the laws of physics. The actors were so obviously suspended by wires sometimes that they might as well have not covered them up in the completed film. And lets not forget the very lame Bat-credit card joke, the telescope that falls 900 feet and explodes in a ball of flame, and the scene were Batman punches a goon through a tray which, I kid you not, is accompanies by a blare of horns [!!] straight out of the old '60's TV show (they might as well have had the word BAM!!! overlay the sequence). I'd say the movie reduced Batman to the level of the old TV show and the feature film that accopanied it, but that would be an insult to all of those involved in that show. This is because the show was actually entertaining and funny, and didn't make any attempt to take itself seriously, not to mention you could tell that a fair amount of effort went into it. But Batman and Robin was neither funny nor entertaining. Thankfully, it looks like Batman Begins will be able to redeem the franchise.

And now we have the Looney Toons, which are getting more and more screwed up every minute. Man, I shudder to think what is next with all of these "modernizations" of classic characters and franchises. At least I can take comfort in the fact that I still have Ecco the Dolphin, Earthworm Jim (never played the 3-D game, so the legacy of the first two games and the wonderful but short lived animated series contiues for me), and Mario (whether you love or hate Sunshine, it still manages to stay true to the spirit of Mario) are still intact. Lets hope it stays this way.

Brazillian Cara · Post by **Brazillian Cara** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:50 am

How could I forget to mention the Batman animated series (the good one)?
I think the fact that this and Saint Seiya were my favorite childhood shows made me a fan of serious, deep characters (like Shadow) and series (Megaman X).

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:52 am

Batman, Tiny Toons, Animanics, Freakazoid!, the old Ninja Turtles, Samurai Pizza Cats, Swat Kats, old Disney cartoons and Nick cartoons(the latter when none of them sucked until Avator came), and plenty more, but nothing takes a place in my heart then the old Super Mario Cartoons. "Mama Luigi" = best episode ever.
~Neo

Brazillian Cara · Post by **Brazillian Cara** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:54 am

Speaking of wich, does anyone ever watched that "Captain N" show?

Kishi · Post by **Kishi** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:10 pm

Who didn't?

j-man · Post by **j-man** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:31 pm

VGJustice · Post by **VGJustice** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:43 pm

Kishi wrote:Who didn't?

Seconded

Post by **Pepperidge** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:38 pm

Neo Yi wrote:Forgive me for playing devil's advocate, but considering what 4Kids has done to many animes before Sonic X,

And after. Apparently their currently planned DVD release for One Piece will be the edited dub only.

Kishi · Post by **Kishi** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:47 pm

Obviously. Have they ever released any anime in the original Japanese?

j-man · Post by **j-man** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:01 pm

OHNOS THEYRE USING OUR LANGUAGE

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:35 pm

And after. Apparently their currently planned DVD release for One Piece will be the edited dub only.

Heh, doesn't really matter to me since the only One Piece I read is the Shonen Jump manga and even then, it's not my all-time fave thing to read (I like Shaman King, but the anime I watched was, for some reason, boring). It seems Sonic X is the only anime I've watched in the past few months, I've been watching a lot more American made cartoons (not that I think anime sucks or anything...)
~Neo

Professor Machenstein · Sun Jun 12, 2005 3:42 pm

No mention of Captain Planet? The green mullet must've scared you, huh.

Omni Hunter · Post by **Omni Hunter** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 4:04 pm

Your mullet scares me, although that Russian chick was also on my hot list back in the day. Remember the guy who was the anti of Captain Planet, that was the only cool badguy in the whole series although the yellow guy in the hawaian shirt was kind of alright.
The show was so cheesy though, it had those stupid moral monologues at the end like Magic Schoolbus so I was eventually put off it.

Brazillian Cara · Post by **Brazillian Cara** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 4:59 pm

PRESERVE YOUR WORLD, DAMMIT!! IF NO ONE DOES IT WE'RE ALL SCREWED!!

DarkPrime · Post by **DarkPrime** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 5:06 pm

Captain Planet made me want to pollute, just to piss him off.

tornadot · Post by **tornadot** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 5:16 pm

Just imagine how bad the next cartoon by TT could be...

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 5:46 pm

Captain Planet could kick your ass.

Omni Hunter · Post by **Omni Hunter** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 5:51 pm

Not as old but what about Biker Mice from Mars? I swear Vinnie's bike is a rip off from Kaneda's from Akira.

Kishi · Post by **Kishi** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:29 pm

I knew about Biker Mice from Mars but rejected it. It had too much of a Battletoads vibe.

Dash · Post by **Dash** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 9:42 pm

What was the plot for Biker Mice anyway? I don't think there was one.

Speaking of freaky anthromorphs, anyone remember Street Sharks? I don't recall much of the show but the toys were cool.

Kishi · Post by **Kishi** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 10:03 pm

See above.

Locit · Post by **Locit** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 10:54 pm

Baba O'Reily wrote:Captain Planet could kick your ass.

Captain Planet couldn't kick anyone's ass. Without the Planeteers to clean him off, anyone could just throw some trash on him and he'd wither and die.

VGJustice · Post by **VGJustice** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:07 pm

ok... so we just need a huge can of industrial waste to throw on Captain Planet, and someone with a sniper rifle to take out the Planeteers. I volunteer for the sniper rifle.

Dash · Post by **Dash** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:07 am

Ditch the sniper and cap'em with a handgun. I mean come on...

VGJustice · Post by **VGJustice** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:14 am

oh yeah, stupid me.