The Nicktoon Thread

[Drtooth]

I was a bit concerned about the cast being replaced, since Craig Bartlett was always into the idea of kids being played by kids. I'm for that too, sure. But I can't picture anyone but Francesca Smith doing Helga, Justin Shenkarow doing Harold, etc. I'm fine some of the others being recast (Arnold and Eugene both went through different actors multiple times, so this is nothing new). But there are those specific few characters that I can't see anyone else playing.

Girls' voices don't tend to change as much as boys do. That's why they've had the same Anais voice actress on Gumball when they had to change both Gumball and Darwin. I could totally see the original Helga voice actor coming back and not sounding to different. Personally, I'd love to hear Eugene voiced by an adult Ben Diskin, even though he wouldn't sound remotely the same. Probably like Numbah 2, but that would actually be funnier. I'm glad that Dan Castellaneta is still in the picture, since there were mumblings of the newest Simpsons renegotiation had an exclusivity clause (which is why Harry Shearer almost left). After all, I'd like to think he's part of the cast because Craig is related by marriage to Matt Groening, much like early Hey Arnold strips were printed in Simpsons Magazine. Anyone remember that? One issue even had what the pilot episode of Hey Arnold was condensed into a single Sunday length strip. Only with "Hello my Ragtime Gal" instead of the James Brown soundalike.

While I have to admit, Hey Arnold isn't my top favorite of the classic Nicktoons, it's certainly one of them. Sure, I'm more about Ren and Stimpy and Rocko, even the misunderstood and awesome "AHHHH! Real Monsters," but I think Hey Arnold is their strongest slice of life show, even more so than Doug. And I love Doug.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Has anyone else been following the Nick Animation podcast? This week they interviewed Tom Kenny:

In week's past they've also interviewed CH Greenblatt, Billy West, Arlene Klasky, the creators of The Last Airbender/Korra and several others. The interviews are very informative and have really helped inspire me creatively and reinvigorate my passion for animation.

 

[D'Snowth]

OMG, I cannot believe that Rocko, of all Nicktoons, is getting a movie reboot now too! I am totally psyched for this, but I can't understand it either: Rocko was not only my favorite Nicktoon, but one of my favorite shows as a kid, period. But everybody hated Rocko back then: none of the other kids in school watched it, they all said it was "dumb," or "too gross," or thought it had ugly characters, or whatever. Like Cow and Chicken, same story, everybody else hated it too for the same reasons: dumb, gross, ugly characters.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

OMG, I cannot believe that Rocko, of all Nicktoons, is getting a movie reboot now too! I am totally psyched for this, but I can't understand it either: Rocko was not only my favorite Nicktoon, but one of my favorite shows as a kid, period. But everybody hated Rocko back then: none of the other kids in school watched it, they all said it was "dumb," or "too gross," or thought it had ugly characters, or whatever.

I guess it's possible kids just didn't quite understand it back than. In a lot of ways the show was often an adult show pretending to be a kid's show. There was a lot of humor and scenarios that might completely go over kids' head that an adult might find funny and relate to. Plus, this type of cartoon was still a pretty new idea. The show was pretty ahead of it's time.

As for Cow and Chicken, I haven't really watched it too much because I wasn't allowed to when I was younger. Perhaps i'll watch it sometime soon.

But yeah, Rocko is one of my favorite shows and i'm super excited. I think if any Nictoons deserved specials it's Rocko's Modern Life and Hey Arnold.

 

[Drtooth]

I guess it's possible kids just didn't quite understand it back than. In a lot of ways the show was often an adult show pretending to be a kid's show. There was a lot of humor and scenarios that might completely go over kids' head that an adult might find funny and relate to. Plus, this type of cartoon was still a pretty new idea. The show was pretty ahead of it's time.

I got crap for Ren and Stimpy in High School, when the show was clearly intended for drunken college kids. It's that obnoxious thing about kids waning to be adults but ignoring stuff that's actually adult and made exclusively for teenagers to grow out of once they turn 18. Yet, Beavis and Butt-head was considered acceptable, but only because the tweens and teens didn't get that it's supposed to be satire of pathetic loser teenagers that think they're cooler than they are.

Then again, there were some circles where Rocko just came off as a disappointing Ren and Stimpy knockoff, for those who actually followed animation and knew all too well what happened to John K. Of course, that's well before Rocko caught on, and frankly... Rocko is the superior show overall. Ren and Stimpy started out strong, but once the creator was fired and they ran out of content he produced just before then, the show got increasingly harder to watch and decidedly less funny. Rocko had a decent enough first season, but didn't get full blown Rocko-esque until a little later, getting stronger as it went on, not peaking at the beginning.

That said, I don't know if a movie could be pulled off, considering the level of quick paced humor. Certainly Spongebob managed to get 2 films out of it and they both worked. I just hope if this happens, they get back all the writers from the original series as possible, especially Swampy and Povenmire. Maybe have them write some musical sequences like they did with "Zanzabar."

 

[Mo Frackle]

By the time I started watching Nick - several months before SpongeBob debuted, IIRC - the Ren and Stimpy reruns were pretty much gone from the network, and the Rocko reruns were fading away, so I didn't get the opportunity to really experience either show until much later on.

I did get some flack for watching SpongeBob, though. And this was during SB's early 'golden' years...

Well, with both a HA! movie and a Rocko movie on the way, looks like it's time to binge watch both shows again in preparation for the big days. After I finish binge watching 74 other shows, that is...

Anyone heard any updates on that all star Nicktoon flick? It always felt to me like one of those projects that will never make it past pre-pre-pre-pre-production stages.

 

[D'Snowth]

I did get some flack for watching SpongeBob, though. And this was during SB's early 'golden' years...

See, with me, it was just the opposite: I was a preteen at the time, so watching cartoons meant you were suddenly "immature," but somehow, SpongeBob was the only exception, and if you didn't like SpongeBob, you were pretty much a social outcast. But gah, SpongeBob is so stupid and dampens brain cells, I couldn't stand it! It didn't help that by that time, SpongeBob was pretty much taking over the world.

 

[Drtooth]

By the time I started watching Nick - several months before SpongeBob debuted, IIRC - the Ren and Stimpy reruns were pretty much gone from the network, and the Rocko reruns were fading away, so I didn't get the opportunity to really experience either show until much later on.

Ren and Stimpy was treated like the red headed stepchild of the network once Rugrats' second wind hit. It pretty much disappeared from the network entirely mid to late 90's. Rugrats, we all seem to forget, had the same level of being constantly rerun into the ground as much as Spongebob is today.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Rugrats, we all seem to forget, had the same level of being constantly rerun into the ground as much as Spongebob is today.

Although i'd argue, the difference is, Nick still used to show most of their cartoons more often even if only for one day of the week. Nick barely even does that now.

 

[Drtooth]

Nick somehow really doesn't care about their other cartoons, though I'm Happy Loud House and Alvin and the Chipmunks managed to be successful enough to be seen daily. Not even cash cow TMNT gets that pleasure on the main network. Though I blame it also on their insistence to shove bad live action programming down the audience's throats.

But that was the reason why I really disliked Rugrats for the longest time, even though I didn't have cable and it really didn't affect me. Seems also that Angry Beavers wasn't given much thought when it was in production, but they trot it out as part of their original Nicktoons line up (which I'm not complaining about). I agree that the problem since the early 00's, they've been almost sabotaging their own line up outside of Spongebob and the constant rotation of kid-coms.