Cartoon shows far better than their age rating suggests

Kwak

Elite Member
Sep 11, 2014
2,203
1,705
118
Country
4
Cartoons are made by smart creative adult artists - this concept shouldn't be odd.
 

Dwarvenhobble

Is on the Gin
May 26, 2020
5,912
646
118
Loved that show. The ending could have been better though. Everything kinda just ends, and that's it.
Well I think they planned it to go at least 1 more season or so and it was cut short so they had to fairly quickly do the planned conclusion as such and cut a fair bit of it out.
 

Gordon_4

The Big Engine
Legacy
Apr 3, 2020
6,045
5,345
118
Australia
The Big Hero 6 cartoon is actually a whole lot of fun for adult superhero fans to watch as well as kids who just want more Baymax.

It’s not quite up on the same level as aforementioned powerhouses like Batman TAS or Avatar but the style preserves the looks of the characters and expands upon them - though I do admit poor Wasabi gets the short end of the stick most often.


My big one though?

The Animals of Farthing Wood.

Only the old sages here are gonna know what the fuck I’m talking about, but this cartoon was a fucking epic. Simple setup: a bunch of animals (led by a fox called Fox) of both the predator and prey varieties are being pushed out by human expansion and decide to travel to White Deer Park. After taking an oath to not eat one another they head off. What follows is an odyssey of loyalty, love, bloodshed, sacrifice and tragedy. I’m serious, this shit gets practically Shakespearean and Game of Thrones-esque.

The fact that this show isn’t on DVD anywhere other than Germany (for some reason) is a fucking disgrace. Hell by pure chance one of the streaming services should have picked it up by now.


The intro, just to help shake the rust off
 

Elvis Starburst

Unprofessional Rant Artist
Legacy
Aug 9, 2011
2,732
719
118
After taking an oath to not eat one another they head off. What follows is an odyssey of loyalty, love, bloodshed, sacrifice and tragedy. I’m serious, this shit gets practically Shakespearean and Game of Thrones-esque.
That sounds great! For some reason my mind goes back to Redwall when you described Farthing Wood in that manner. Not a perfect comparison, but I got brief flashes of Redwall in my mind after watching that intro you posted.

 

Jarrito3002

Elite Member
Jun 28, 2016
564
464
68
Country
United States
That sounds great! For some reason my mind goes back to Redwall when you described Farthing Wood in that manner. Not a perfect comparison, but I got brief flashes of Redwall in my mind after watching that intro you posted.

Redwall needs another adaptation. In some way shape or form. Its really hard for me to read and finish books but Redwall series always kept in engaged and needs something anything new it deserves it.
 

Gordon_4

The Big Engine
Legacy
Apr 3, 2020
6,045
5,345
118
Australia
That sounds great! For some reason my mind goes back to Redwall when you described Farthing Wood in that manner. Not a perfect comparison, but I got brief flashes of Redwall in my mind after watching that intro you posted.

Farthing Wood lacks a lot of the anthropomorphism of properties like Redwall, but if you like one then an overlapping interest in the other seems likely :)
 

Jarrito3002

Elite Member
Jun 28, 2016
564
464
68
Country
United States
Farthing Wood lacks a lot of the anthropomorphism of properties like Redwall, but if you like one then an overlapping interest in the other seems likely :)
I have seen Farthing Woods . I loved it because look at the cuteness and then nature and it is not pretty. That is how I learned butcher birds exist. Will probably give it another watch to refresh my memory of other events.
 

Chimpzy

Simian Abomination
Legacy
Escapist +
Apr 3, 2020
12,189
8,435
118
The Animals of Farthing Wood.
I remember watching Animals of Farthing Wood as a wee one. Good pick. Made me remember another show that used to be shown back to back with it. It definitely fits the bill of this thread, tho not sure if anyone who isn't Dutch/Belgian/German will know it.

Alfred Jodocus Kwak

A Dutch/German/Japanese show from the late 80's early 90's. I saw some of it again in my early 20's and just wow, for children's entertainment it went really hard on the socio-economic, political and environmental themes. Stuff like abuse of power, fascism, racism, apartheid, whaling, pollution, poverty, childhood abuse, etc. Handled quite maturely too.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Kwak

Gordon_4

The Big Engine
Legacy
Apr 3, 2020
6,045
5,345
118
Australia

Shit, I found another forgotten gem of 90's kids shows. Now I won't go so far as to say this was a sort of prototype of Avatar's level of writing, but I wouldn't be shocked if its creative team saw a few episodes of this in their younth and thought "That's cool, but I bet I can do better". Interestingly, the show is a French production and its English dub was only shown in Oceania. And its DVD release was only in the Middle East.

Broadly speaking in 1895 a pair of children are born - a European girl and a Chinese boy - and they are the prophesied 'Twins of Destiny' whom will bring about the fall of China's Dowager Empress. Predictably instead of doing something clever, the Dowager Empress grabs with both hands her opportunity to be a Ming the Merciless level villain. One quick timeskip later and we're in France circa 1907 with a professor who adopted the twins, Julie and Jules. Unfortunately after using their powers, which requires them to hold hands, that sets of some mystic bullshit alarm and one of the most unfortunate villains in history, a Eunuch named Po Dung is the immediate antagonist (think of him as Zuko/Azula to the Empress' Ozai) who gives chase. What follows is a fairly exciting (from memory at least) chase across 19th century Europe and Asia until they reach Peking. And before anyone corrects me, it is referred to as Peking in the actual story. And since the enemy is a Dowager Empress, that precludes it from being post-Mao's Great Leap Forward, so I believe it may be period accurate.

Look, ten gets you one hundred this show may not be as awesome as I remember it and Julie probably gets the shaft in terms of character agency/action contribution but since they're only twleve I doubt Jules was smacking down the enemies with bollocks-fu either. But I do recall it having a lot of clever ideas and a rather bleak ending for the era of television that produced it. Also the producer has what I would call one of the most boss fucking names ever: Xavier Picard.
 

McElroy

Elite Member
Legacy
Apr 3, 2013
4,573
371
88
Finland
literally cringing rn
These shows hit their target demographic more or less perfectly and the unexpected audiences are outliers.
Alfred Jodocus Kwak
Except this one. There are moments in there that give pause to every single grown up person on the planet whether they've seen it before or not.
 

meiam

Elite Member
Dec 9, 2010
3,330
1,644
118
I can't hear you!... over the lack of spongebob mention.

I think most of the DC cartoon in the 90 hold very well (teen titan, justice league, batman and batman beyond). I do wish they were a bit less episodic in nature and had more of a structure/overacing plot.

I'm watching trough avatar at the moment and season 2 is definitely better than 1, not that 1 was bad but without 2 I don't think the show would have reached it's current status. I took a long time to watching it cause my first exposure to avatar was legend of Korra, and S2 of that killed any interest I had in the franchise until someone told me it essentially had nothing to do with last airbender.
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
26,689
11,191
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
I can't hear you!... over the lack of spongebob mention.
Spongebob does fit...as longas you're talking abou Seasons 1-3 and the first movie (which was supposed and is canonically the finale to the series). Everything afterward ranged from mediocre to just bad. I heard the other movie was decent, but interests in gradually dropped after the first movie.

I think most of the DC cartoon in the 90 hold very well (teen titan, justice league, batman and batman beyond). I do wish they were a bit less episodic in nature and had more of a structure/overacing plot.
At least Justice League and Teen Titans tried having an overarching plot compared to the two Batman shows. Especially Justice League.

I'm watching trough avatar at the moment and season 2 is definitely better than 1, not that 1 was bad but without 2 I don't think the show would have reached it's current status. I took a long time to watching it cause my first exposure to avatar was legend of Korra, and S2 of that killed any interest I had in the franchise until someone told me it essentially had nothing to do with last airbender.
Legend of Korra is horribad, and only got worse after S2 for me. Korra also had the problem of setting up sbu-plot/plot points only to drop them or end anti-climatically. The original series actually has this problem in some areas as well, but nowhere near the amount Korra has. LoK is bad fanfiction made in to canon.
 

PsychicTaco115

I've Been Having These Weird Dreams Lately...
Legacy
Mar 17, 2012
5,950
14
43
Country
United States
Xavier: Renegade Angel is the best show I have ever seen. It has set a new bar that I don't think can ever be reached, feels bad man
 

meiam

Elite Member
Dec 9, 2010
3,330
1,644
118
Oh I just coincidentally watched avatar day. Kinda pointless episode honestly but nothing harmful. It does represent my biggest issue with the show, the fact that it's trying to have the whole "doomsday is right around the corner unless you can master the 4 elements!" but at the same time it want to have these little distraction episode to pad out the season, which just make Aang seems like an asshole who care more about what people think of him than about saving them. Also a bit annoying that at the end a previous avatar just shows up to clear her name but they never seem to bother showing up to help Aang. Like how about teaching him some earthbending while you're there, definitely more important than clearing your name to the village of nobody.
 

Drathnoxis

Became a mass murderer for your sake
Legacy
Sep 23, 2010
5,433
1,892
118
Just off-screen
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Well Avatar has already been mentioned so I'll say Pinky and The Brain.

Pinky and the brain is a show that I found really funny, and really creative. There are so many episodes where they just shake up the formula in a lot of fun ways like the one where Larry from the 3 stooges was inexplicably included in everything they did, or the behind the scenes episode, or where Pinky and The Brain have a clone child together.
 

Specter Von Baren

Annoying Green Gadfly
Legacy
Aug 25, 2013
5,632
2,849
118
I don't know, send help!
Country
USA
Gender
Cuttlefish
Redwall needs another adaptation. In some way shape or form. Its really hard for me to read and finish books but Redwall series always kept in engaged and needs something anything new it deserves it.
The series is one of the best I've read in regards to villains. I've never encountered another series that could make me care about the bad guys while still having them be straight up bad guys.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Jarrito3002

gorfias

Unrealistic but happy
Legacy
May 13, 2009
7,082
1,849
118
Country
USA
The Big Hero 6 cartoon is actually a whole lot of fun for adult superhero fans to watch as well as kids who just want more Baymax.

It’s not quite up on the same level as aforementioned powerhouses like Batman TAS or Avatar but the style preserves the looks of the characters and expands upon them - though I do admit poor Wasabi gets the short end of the stick most often.


My big one though?

The Animals of Farthing Wood.

Only the old sages here are gonna know what the fuck I’m talking about, but this cartoon was a fucking epic. Simple setup: a bunch of animals (led by a fox called Fox) of both the predator and prey varieties are being pushed out by human expansion and decide to travel to White Deer Park. After taking an oath to not eat one another they head off. What follows is an odyssey of loyalty, love, bloodshed, sacrifice and tragedy. I’m serious, this shit gets practically Shakespearean and Game of Thrones-esque.

The fact that this show isn’t on DVD anywhere other than Germany (for some reason) is a fucking disgrace. Hell by pure chance one of the streaming services should have picked it up by now.


The intro, just to help shake the rust off
Hope to watch the entire series at youtube...
EDIT: This may be a better source https://www.dailymotion.com/search/The Animals Of Farthing Wood/videos
 
Last edited: