general media Rebooting old shows.

[CastletonSnob 3,079]

Rebooting old cartoons/shows is very popular these days, cashing in on people's nostalgia. Even this very forum is about a reboot of an old cartoon.

 

I see it as a double-edged sword. On one hand, you have a built-in audience of people's nostalgia, and a chance to bring an IP to a new generation. On the other, people who grew up with the show/cartoon often complain about how different the reboot is from the original.

 

What do you think? Is it good, or should they focus on making new ideas?

[Mothra 736]

It depends on if it's done well. Say what you want about the previous generations of MLP, most people will say gen 4 took the concept of ponies and made it amazing, on the other hand, there are shows that have been rebooted (some countless times) and don't get it right at all and should've just stayed as the original. Personally, Im all for reboots. It can't be anything good if you don't try, right? Sure it could suck too, but I wonder how many people here, on this forum right now would've thought- "a My little pony reboot? Yeah, like I'm gonna watch something like that"

 

I dunno, just food for thought

[IronM17 5,434]

My biggest problems with the reboots of old cartoons is, that 90% of them are made in an ugly CGI style. I mean cartoons like Maya the Bee or the smurfs was really nice in the old traditional animations. But this new CGI cartoons are definitely nothing for me.

 

Otherwise, I don't have a problem when they reboot old cartoons if they make it good (like MLP with good stories, new ideas and good animation). A lot of new cartoons are so fast and chaotic and that's also not so mine.

[green 331]

It depends. If its a really old and popular show, like Transformers, nostalgia may play a big role. Some will prefer g1, while others will prefer the modern versions like Prime.

So it may be tricky to reimagine a show to appeal to old and new viewers alike. (Lets see how you do Charlie Brown :okiedokielokie: )

[Shanks 10,816]

It depends, there are some results that are quite good MLP is clearly an example of what a reboot should be in that it respects the old yet irons out a few flaws and gives a fresh new take on it. And you even have rare cases like the 2011 Thundercats which are even better than the original, but you also have crappy ones.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

Rebooting a show can be a very fragile process. You need to make sure you have all the pieces to make it work because you can easily destroy the franchise if you do it wrong. First there's the people who will work on the reboot. Since this is a reboot, so the original creator will most likely either be dead or retired, you have to get the right people or the next best thing. And I think the next best thing is someone who grew up with the original show. They will most likely know the show and characters the best. Lauren Faust grew up with the original My Little Pony in the 80s and used her own stories to create Friendship is Magic as an example of this.

 

Next thing is the animation. Most reboots I see tend to use a different style of animation to differentiate itself from the original. This can work in the shows favor as long as the animation works and looks well. That upcoming Peanuts movie well in CG, actually looks decent because the CG resembles the style of the comic strips. On the other hand, you get something like Those Smurfs movies which has extremely ugly CG. Or there's the animation for Teen Titans Go, which looks like a cheap Newgrounds animation.

 

Then there's the writing and how it holds up to the original show. It can work either ways. Either it's well written enough to fit what the franchise is known for like FIM or it just veers off in a terrible direction like with the Alvin and the Chipmunks or Smurfs movies. Getting down characters can also be tricky. Changing a character's personality is not always a bad thing. Just look at all of the portrayals of Batman. Heck, look at how Rainbow Dash was portrayed in G3 MLP. You can either do something different  to make the character better or just change something about the character that didn't need to be fixed.

 

So all in all, be careful with reboots.

[MLPFanatic34 3,235]

It depends if it's done well and what shows are rebooted.

[PoisonClaw 8,166]

Reboots can be done well (this forum is a testament to that fact), but there are so many ways to do it wrong and only a few ways to do it right. For starters, you can't alienate your original fanbase but you also have to make it new and fresh enough that it draws in new viewers. Take Teen Titans Go as an example.

 

Teen Titans Go was clearly made for a younger audience in mind, but in doing so it drove away it's main initial viewers in record time and talked down enough to its intended audience that even they didn't like it. It's so bad, that there is literally an entire episode where Control Freak spends several minutes taking a sledgehammer to the fourth wall and explaining in great detail how much Go sucks, how much no one likes it, that it's on the way to being cancelled and how pathetic the titans are compared to their former while at the same time praising the original for how good it was, ending with him showing the entire series to the Go Titans and making them realize how pathetic they are in comparison. 

 

Second, you can't just rehash the original with a new coat of paint, it has to be its own entity. You can still pay homage to and take inspiration form the original, but their must be something undeniably new. Because if it does end up being a near 1:1 translation, the general reaction will be "Well, why don't I just watch the original then?"

 

Third, it has to have the same heart as the original. Taking something in a darker direction can be fine, but if in doing so it spits in the face of the original then there'll be more than few fans out for blood. Another example of this  is the recently announced reboot for...well... Reboot called Reboot: The Guardian Code.

 

I don't want to judge something before it has even begun, but Guardian Code has all the makings to suck badly. While it would be neat seeing this show brought back with current-gen CGI, Reboot was very much like Tron in that it took place inside a computer, and the programs spoke of god-like entities known as "Users" that manipulated the net from outside. In The Guardian Code, these same characters will finally get the chance to meet said users when a group of kids are beamed into the system to become Guardians, interacting with the original characters as well as new enemies like a renewed Megabyte. Considering the original ended on a massive cliffhanger, it could also finally give some form of conclusion. 

 

Or not. We have mixing live-action with CGI, redesigns of iconic characters which could be good or bad, and taking away the mystery of the users. I'm not holding my breath here.

[cmarston1 5,960]

While I don't want there to be like a bazillon and more reboots along since I would like at least of a little bit of variety (unlike how franchises like Scooby Doo will never leave)

there are some reboots that I rather like.

Besides counting MLP FIM I like Transformers Prime, Thundercats 2011, TMNT 2012, the new Mickey Mouse shorts, and Littlest Pet Shop 2012.

So some can be bad, mediocre, or unnecessary, there are at least some good reboots to come out in the media.

[Moonlight 7,288]

Depends if they're done well.

 

I actually really like MLP FIM, TMNT 2012, and Littlest Pet Shop. You're always going to have people complaining about reboots but it doesn't really bother me. I wouldn't mind new ideas and maybe do a reboot every now and again and not so commonly. 

[DND 2,355]

All for consideration of reboots. I think they should always be taken as a possibility. Whether or not it's done well is an after result and subjective in accordance to the populace who view them. Like how shows generally work, It's either a hit or a miss. 

[J. Brony 313]

What about all of the reboots that come by way of live-action movies?  We've seen Transformers, GI Joe and Jem & the Holograms make the jump already.  

 

I've heard rumors about a new He-Man & the Masters of the Universe movie being made and I painfully recall the live-action movie they made back in the day.  Hopefully it'll get the same treatment as the Transformers franchise and benefit from some CGI and decent writing.  And also not suck.   

[Megas 27,860]

Live-action reboots/adaptations can burn in the pits of Hell

 

For the most part, there's nothing ideally wrong with making reboots, restarting a beloved series/franchise for a new generation to enjoy and all. But it's also something you have to be careful about, some reboots can be good(as mentioned, FiM, Littlest Pet Shop, TMNT 2012), some can be good but have some jarring issues(such as a 2D show having a 3D reboot) and may prove to be divisive among fans. And then there are reboots that are so bad you'll want to get a lobotomy once it's all over

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,933]

I am perfectly fine with reboots as long as they 1. Respect what the original show did and 2. Not just rehash the original show, creating its own identity, but still holding true to what made the original good. That is a difficult line to stay on but FiM shows how to do that pretty much perfectly. 

[Overlord0909 479]

Reboots can go either way, it all depends on the production crew, the storyline from before, and everything else that I didn't specify, fall under the production crew.

Sometimes, there's reboots to shows that were never finished. Those are well justified, and usually have the most heart in them. For example, MLaaTR is being rebooted, and I feel like it won't be that bad from what I've seen the animators do so far... But of course, they still ask for more volunteers.

 

All in all, reboots are fine to me. If they suck, someone else can always make a new one themselves.