From The Archives: Is Cartoon Network Christophobic?

(originally published July 21, 2010)

Don't you just love it when fan blogs get all political and/or religious on you?

In November of 1999 Cartoon Network premiered a little show called ...

The show was the brainchild of then Dexter's Laboratory Art Director Craig McCracken (who has since gone on to create another little gem called Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends) Craig based his pitch off a short film he created in art school that he loving christened The Whoop@$$ Girls! Said student film is posted below.

Of course there was no way the Network was going to air a show with that title, so the term 'Powerpuff' was dreamed up at the last second to take it's place. However, according to an interview the now defunct Cartoon Network Fridays: The Fan Site conducted with Mr. McCracken that wasn't the only change the Network asked him to make.

Anyone remember this guy?

What you see pictured above is the PPG's second worst nemesis. A creature so wicked, so evil, so horribly vile that even the mere utterance of his name strikes fear into the hearts of men! This is my friends, is the fiend that the citizens of Townsville could only refer to as ... HIM!

Are you ready for another shock? Originally this character was supposed to be the Devil! Yeah, I know, the designers certainly did a good job of hiding that influence, didn't they?

The Network vetoed that concept on the grounds that they weren't going to allow any religious references into their shows. Okay, fair enough, but I have to wonder. If there aren't going to mention religion then how the heck did this get made?

In case you don't have seven minutes to spare, the cartoon above was a pilot episode for a show that never got the green light. Swaroop as it was called, followed the life of a young Indian boy named (what else?) Swaroop and his family living in New Jersey and his attempts to save a cow from becoming his neighbor's barbecue. It's not hilarious, but it's not bad either though I'm sure it's a kick if you're on the animal rights bandwagon. Still, Swaroop clearly depicts several customs straight out of Hinduism, which are far more religion specific than a general reference to the Devil.

Another interesting thing (and I actually hate to bring this up because I love this show) comes from Samurai Jack. Apparently both the pilot (Episode I) and Samurai Versus Ninja (Episode XL) depict our hero ...

In a Buddhist Temple ...

Now before anyone gets their panties in a wad, let me clarify my position. I have no problem whatsoever with Samurai Jack appearing in a Buddhist temple. I can't say that about Swaroop on the grounds that I really wanted sacred cow to get messily devoured.

My problem is that, or rather would be, that CN feels, or at the very least felt at one time, that one religion was not suitable for their program, but others were. I say, at one time, because a number of shows currently featured on CN do mention Christianity. You want to know what the catch is, though? THEY ALL TEAR IT DOWN!

Seriously, turn on Family Guy, The Venture Brothers, Moral Oral, and you know what you'll find? A seething pot of Christophobia!

If they were biased against religion in the first place, that would be a different matter. It would be fair. But to exclude a single religion and then allow it admittance on the grounds that it can only be run down is nothing short of discrimination.

See, the Powerpuff Girls and the renaming of Him are not the real subject of this piece. They only provide perspective for a growing problem on what was once a haven of geekdom for animation fans (again I saw 'once' because the moment they started airing live action content, yeah, things kind of went down hill after that).

I'm speechless with contempt! Who's responsible for this? Who created this network in the ... oh yeah.

... so that's why they didn't want to have Ted Turn, er, I mean the devil as a bad guy. Silly me.

From The Archives: Cartoons That Could Have Been

(originally posted on August 14, 2010)

Here are three pilots I found on youtube.com for cartoon series that were never developed further. All of them are interesting, more so than any number of current animated programs currently littering Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.

Give 'em a look!


CONSTANT PAYNE

This pilot was never aired because a scene near the end was said to be similar to the events of 911. Pity too. It looks like it had potential.

PLASTIC MAN

A pilot for the DC Comics character that was co-developed by Tom Kenny, the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, of all people!

UPDATE:  Since this article was first published, Cartoon Network has commissioned a series of one minute animated shorts based on this pilot to air as part of their Saturday morning DC Nation block.  This hardly qualifies as the full fledged series originally imagined, but it is nice to know the idea has lived on in some form or another.


BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER


This last one is only a promo and not a complete pilot but it's still interesting.

From The Archives: Sym-Bionic Titan Must Not Fail!

(originally posted on March 28, 2011)

Few animators have ever had both the acclaim and the vision of Genndy Tartakovsky. He created Dexter's Laboratory and served as the Executive Producer on The Powerpuff Girls where his talent and energy proved to be nearly inexhaustible.

From there Mr. Tartakovsky went on to create the Emmy Award Winning series Samurai Jack and the much lauded Star Wars: The Clone Wars mini-series (arguably the only good thing to come out of George Lucas' new trilogy). And after that ... he disappeared or at least that's how it seemed. Mr. Tartakovsky actually struck a deal to create a feature animation studio which lingered but never really finished anything due to funding issues. For a time he was attached to direct to the Jim Henson fantasy film The Power of the Dark Crystal, but bowed out of that for reasons that are unknown (at least to this blogger), and while he did storyboard some of the fight scenes for Iron Man 2 his actual directorial output seemed nonexistent.
Finally it was announced that Genndy was coming home! He was returning to Cartoon Network with a brand new series that spoke of his sci-fi/comic book/anime roots. This was Sym-Bionic Titan!

A labor of love which has so far produced 20 stellar episodes that have delivered great competitive ratings which is why Cartoon Network has decided to reward one of the main men involved in its early success by ... canceling the show?

Yeah ... that was my reaction too. Nothing is confirmed, though one quote over at cartoonbrew.com did offer an interesting and somewhat disturbing suggestion for the series' abrupt end. And on the plus side a facebook page has been started to petition the network to renew the show, and this Lone Fan is solidly behind it! Now get on over there and let's put that guy from The Social Network's Frankenstein brainchild to a good geeky use for once and save that show!

SYM-BIONIC TITAN SHALL RISE FROM THE ASHES!!!

UPDATE:  Since the posting of this article a little more than a year ago, the status of the series has not changed.  Despite the efforts of fans online (of which I am one) Cartoon Network has failed to renew Sym-Bonic Titan and Mr. Tartakovsky has moved on to Sony Pictures Animation where he is currently directing an animated feature entitled Hotel Transylvannia.

You can watch the trailer for it below:

Lauren Faust Returns With A Few Of Her (Super) Best Friends

The new DC Nation animated block on Cartoon Network saw the launch of a new batch of shorts by Lauren Faust who recently breathed new life into Hasbro's My Little Pony Franchise!  The series entitled Super Best Friends Forever features the adventures and friendship of Supergirl, Wondergirl, and Batgirl!  The first short is only about a minute long and can be viewed below.

There's really not much of a story to consider here as the whole story is built around one gag (conning Wonder Girl into 'borrowing' her sister's invisible jet), so let's talk a little bit about the characters.  First, the painfully obvious.  None of them resemble their comic book counterparts.  Canon is more or less thrown to the wind, but hey, it worked for Teen Titans, right?

Riiiiiight?

This is first and foremost a Lauren Faust creation.  It's here for comedy first, not the super heroic exploits the comics are known for and you know what?  I'm okay with that.  If you tried to fit an action story into a 60 second short, you'd really have nothing more than punching and posturing.  This new comedic take works and it works well in its’ format.

Batgirl seems a bit spastic for my tastes, not at all like her normally serious self, but then I have to consider the energy Tara Strong is putting into her vocalizations and it just makes everything click.  The fact that her facial expressions are pure gold in every frame doesn't hurt matters either.

Next we look at Supergirl.  I really like her design.  She's not a stick like Batgirl or Wondergirl.  She has a broader build that's indicative of the kind of power her solar-charged Kryptonian muscles are packing.  She also has a deeper voice than the others that I really, really like.  Waaaaaay too often female voice characterizations are limited to a very few archtypes.  It's nice to hear a deep (even a bit raspy at times) yet still appealing voice coming from a female lead.  Of all the characters in this group, she seems to be the one that goes against type the most.

Finally we come to Wondergirl.  I like her.  I like the fact that she looks Greek and sounds exotic, but her personality is a little flat compared to Batgirl's exuberance and Supergirl's mischievous streak and apparent temper.  She is a bit stick-like compared to Supergirl, but she's tall and has a certain power to her movements.  Of all the characters I think she'll need the most development (or what little development one can hope to get from one minute shorts).

All in all, Ms. Faust seems to be living up to her hype.  The short was fun and entertaining and I look forward to more of the same.  For those interested, I found an interview with Lauren on youtube conducted by the kind folks at Media Geek Zone.  Enjoy!