A few days ago, I found out that a fair amount of time in the live-action Michael Bay Transformers movie coming out next year would be dedicated to human characters, played by Shia LaBeouf and Jon Voight among others. While the director alone was enough to get my hopes lowered, finding this out dashed almost all my interest in seeing this upon release. Kiddy Sidekick Syndrome has claimed another victim in American cinema.
KSS is a common disease in Japan. Symptons include the following: An adaptation or new iteration of an established franchise, be it a TV revamp or an anime series based on a video game; a completely new child character, often announced out of the blue following initial press releases or with no announcements at all; and said child character proceeding to fuck things up by having plodding subplots, needless focus, and a tendency to get in the way of things and attempt to make the viewer forget what the show is based upon.
Famous franchises such as Sonic, Kirby, Viewtiful Joe and Gundam have fallen prey to this baffling disease, and Transformers was once afflicted previously with Armada. The cause of KSS is still unknown, as no people seem to want these kids to exist, and they tend to turn viewers off. Some theorize that executives and writers may be the root of the disease, and hopefully these can be sterilized in the near future. Until then, look for more signs of KSS in future shows and avoid them.
If anyone reading this cares, Wario Ware Tooned 4 has been finished for a while and can be viewed here:
Part 1
Part 2
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Things that need to change in animation
American theatrical features need to stop being so formulaic. In the 1990s, everyone made musicals just because Disney did it well. These days, everybody makes CG silly animal-populated movies full of fart jokes because Pixar made some.
Maybe the kids like these now, but these movies will prove to be very forgettable and never get so much as a nostalgic mention from them when they're older. They offer very little outside of what is hip and flashy at the moment, and rely more on endless promotional tie-ins than good writing for high box-office. The sad thing is that this is unlikely to change, as this is pretty much the way Hollywood has always worked.
American TV animation needs to have less corporate intrusion. People who know little about the art are responsible for what gets made and what gets passed on, and the amount of stuff that will never see the public's eyes is countless compared to what tripe does get put on. Executives are terrified of shows that dare people to actually think to understand a joke, or have a well-done action scene that they're too scared to spend the money for a new surround sound system on. It is purely business to them, as opposed to a creative field.
The Japanese industry has these same problems and then some. A lot of disturbingly perverted jokes get on the air, and I don't just mean the normal big-breast stuff- there's a lot of bizarre loli stuff going on over there. Apparently these are too big a part of the crazy Japanese culture to go away completely, but the amount of shows that revolve completely around it is mind-boggling, not to mention embarrassing to those who enjoy anime but hate fanservice.
Also, no country should ever try and emulate an anime style in their show if it's made outside of Japan. There's just nothing good that can come from that.
Maybe the kids like these now, but these movies will prove to be very forgettable and never get so much as a nostalgic mention from them when they're older. They offer very little outside of what is hip and flashy at the moment, and rely more on endless promotional tie-ins than good writing for high box-office. The sad thing is that this is unlikely to change, as this is pretty much the way Hollywood has always worked.
American TV animation needs to have less corporate intrusion. People who know little about the art are responsible for what gets made and what gets passed on, and the amount of stuff that will never see the public's eyes is countless compared to what tripe does get put on. Executives are terrified of shows that dare people to actually think to understand a joke, or have a well-done action scene that they're too scared to spend the money for a new surround sound system on. It is purely business to them, as opposed to a creative field.
The Japanese industry has these same problems and then some. A lot of disturbingly perverted jokes get on the air, and I don't just mean the normal big-breast stuff- there's a lot of bizarre loli stuff going on over there. Apparently these are too big a part of the crazy Japanese culture to go away completely, but the amount of shows that revolve completely around it is mind-boggling, not to mention embarrassing to those who enjoy anime but hate fanservice.
Also, no country should ever try and emulate an anime style in their show if it's made outside of Japan. There's just nothing good that can come from that.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
On Family Guy 2.0 and sucking
Family Guy sucks. Or rather, Family Guy 2.0 does.
See, the show, as of its miraculous fourth-season-and-beyond renewal, is not the same beast it once was. Wether it be the new writers, the amount of time the veteran writers have been working on other stuff, or the reasons I will list below, it has changed for the worse. It is still technically Family Guy, but it's a new version. A 2.0. And as many will say, an upgrade does not always mean better performance.
Family Guy has always had a high amount of non-sequitor cutaways and flashbacks. Anyone who denies that is mixed up. But that doesn't excuse 2.0for absolutely skyrocketing their rate of appearance. Not only that, but they have leaned less toward being funny and clever and more towards being straightforward nostalgic bits for children of the 80s. And when I say straightforward, I am being literal- many of the pop-culture references play themselves completely straight with no joke other than the fact that so-and-so is randomly appearing. I never thought I'd say this, but Robot Chicken is coming up with more clever nostalgia-based jokes than Family Guy now. And that is not a good thing.
Hey, look, it's Evil Monkey! He's funny, right? Well, not after whoring him out so that he now appears in every other episode instead of every 10-15 or so. Not only that, but 2.0 has inexplicably decided to ressurect one-joke characters who never made additional appearances before and beat them into the ground. Herbert the pedophile. Greased-up Deaf Guy. The vaudeville players. And so on. And this is in exchange for Joe and Cleveland's sons vanishing without a trace. Smooth move.
When the writers run out of stock characters and references to use for jokes, they do the cheapest thing they can think of: drag a scene out endlessly with endless "Ummmmm....."s and "......Huh....."s. These scenes are not just torture; they're insulting.
I never thought I'd be analyzing Family Gut's plots, but there is no longer any effort put into them. The last new episode that I will watch for now went like this:
- Peter starts publishing erotica with funding from Lois's dad, who gets sued and loses all his money due to the books.
- Without any mention of the erotica, things turn into a sketch show of sorts as Peter and Carter go through various wacky (And very, very drawn-out) sketches to earn money.
- In the last 40 seconds of the show, Lois's mom, who married Ted Turner, walks in and says she earned half his money from divorcing him. The end.
Also, at 3 random points, there are scenes of Stewie doing Olympic training. There is no setup for this, and no real resolution. It's there, once again, just to pad time- they had the material but didn't bother writing an episode to fit it in.
So in the end, Family Guy is now just a vehicle. A vehicle for worn-out characters and catchphrases, old cartoon references for those who don't know better to laugh at, and characters who show off little of their old personalities. But Seth MacFarlane and company could hardly care. They get paid, so what difference does it make? God forbid they try and make something worth watching.
See, the show, as of its miraculous fourth-season-and-beyond renewal, is not the same beast it once was. Wether it be the new writers, the amount of time the veteran writers have been working on other stuff, or the reasons I will list below, it has changed for the worse. It is still technically Family Guy, but it's a new version. A 2.0. And as many will say, an upgrade does not always mean better performance.
Family Guy has always had a high amount of non-sequitor cutaways and flashbacks. Anyone who denies that is mixed up. But that doesn't excuse 2.0for absolutely skyrocketing their rate of appearance. Not only that, but they have leaned less toward being funny and clever and more towards being straightforward nostalgic bits for children of the 80s. And when I say straightforward, I am being literal- many of the pop-culture references play themselves completely straight with no joke other than the fact that so-and-so is randomly appearing. I never thought I'd say this, but Robot Chicken is coming up with more clever nostalgia-based jokes than Family Guy now. And that is not a good thing.
Hey, look, it's Evil Monkey! He's funny, right? Well, not after whoring him out so that he now appears in every other episode instead of every 10-15 or so. Not only that, but 2.0 has inexplicably decided to ressurect one-joke characters who never made additional appearances before and beat them into the ground. Herbert the pedophile. Greased-up Deaf Guy. The vaudeville players. And so on. And this is in exchange for Joe and Cleveland's sons vanishing without a trace. Smooth move.When the writers run out of stock characters and references to use for jokes, they do the cheapest thing they can think of: drag a scene out endlessly with endless "Ummmmm....."s and "......Huh....."s. These scenes are not just torture; they're insulting.
I never thought I'd be analyzing Family Gut's plots, but there is no longer any effort put into them. The last new episode that I will watch for now went like this:
- Peter starts publishing erotica with funding from Lois's dad, who gets sued and loses all his money due to the books.
- Without any mention of the erotica, things turn into a sketch show of sorts as Peter and Carter go through various wacky (And very, very drawn-out) sketches to earn money.
- In the last 40 seconds of the show, Lois's mom, who married Ted Turner, walks in and says she earned half his money from divorcing him. The end.
Also, at 3 random points, there are scenes of Stewie doing Olympic training. There is no setup for this, and no real resolution. It's there, once again, just to pad time- they had the material but didn't bother writing an episode to fit it in.
So in the end, Family Guy is now just a vehicle. A vehicle for worn-out characters and catchphrases, old cartoon references for those who don't know better to laugh at, and characters who show off little of their old personalities. But Seth MacFarlane and company could hardly care. They get paid, so what difference does it make? God forbid they try and make something worth watching.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Something to think about and someone to remember
A funny thing happened today while I was in the supermarket parking lot. A haggard but friendly-looking man approached me near my car, and explained that he was just laid off from his job and was scrambling to get $115 to pay his rent, and was looking for donations. Because I'm a horribly compassionate person when it comes to this kind of story, and because I had just bought Kingdom Hearts 2 the day before (Great game, by the way) and had no must-buy-right-away items, I pulled out $10 and wished him luck.
Now, this man could have very easily been a liar and a con. He also could have easily planned to grab my wallet when I pulled it out. He didn't do the latter, and I'll never be able to disprove the latter. And yet I did what I felt was right because of both the situation and my conscience. If there was so much as the chance that I was really helping someone in need, I hopefully did the right thing. What would you do?
On a much, much, sadder note, tomorrow is going to be a very tough day. Sometime before 10 AM, Nellie, our beloved golden retriever of almost 10 years, will be put to sleep to end her sad battle with cancer. This is a sorrowful and tough experience, no doubt, but I am at least looking on the positive aspects, such as the fact that Nellie has lived a long and happy life, given and recieved much love, and is promised that the last thing she sees will be me holding her and telling her how much I love her.
1996-2006
Now, this man could have very easily been a liar and a con. He also could have easily planned to grab my wallet when I pulled it out. He didn't do the latter, and I'll never be able to disprove the latter. And yet I did what I felt was right because of both the situation and my conscience. If there was so much as the chance that I was really helping someone in need, I hopefully did the right thing. What would you do?
On a much, much, sadder note, tomorrow is going to be a very tough day. Sometime before 10 AM, Nellie, our beloved golden retriever of almost 10 years, will be put to sleep to end her sad battle with cancer. This is a sorrowful and tough experience, no doubt, but I am at least looking on the positive aspects, such as the fact that Nellie has lived a long and happy life, given and recieved much love, and is promised that the last thing she sees will be me holding her and telling her how much I love her.
1996-2006
Sunday, March 26, 2006
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