movies/tv Girls' cartoons suck: Princess Gwenivere and the Jewel Riders.

[IlikeBoris 13]

I watched this when I was a little past the age demographic.  Pretty much I was trying to comb the world's lore out of the parts I didn't like, not realizing it was "DragonRiders of Pern for little girls."  Warning: some parts have potential, some parts are decent for a doll cartoon, some parts look like an executive kept screaming "make it girlier" after its level hit eleven, and there are some parts are pure WTF.

 

The parts that are pure WTF are connected to random magical effects.  Sheep that suddenly look like punk rockers or the comedic relief turning into elvis impersonators.  That, and there are random technological and modern elements in a fantasy, instead of balancing for more non-fantasy elements.  Some parts looks like the scriptwriters were getting drunk and didn't go back to re-write the particularly blacked-out sections.

 

I have a thing against puns, but I'm seeing a lot of just lazy scripwriting.  I think the show could be edited down and fan-dubbed to make it less painful.  The girly-fashion-pink girl wouldn't be so annoying if they weren't using her clothing obsession to pad for time.

 

Some parts that need to be examined:

 

There is a team of girls and a team of boys.  It looks like when they work together, it's because they need that many people.  The boys are lesser because they're secondary characters, not because they are boys.  Episode 6 does have the boys captured, but it seems like they only needed the girls to save them because the boys were surprised while the girls were warned.  Otherwise they look like equals except for gender-identity personality and way of approaching problems.  I hope that further study doesn't reveal emasculation or a stupid case of distress from either team.

 

I don't think there is much shipping-bait, or at least they seem as romantically interested as eleven-year olds.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Not all girl cartoons suck. But, this one clearly needs a lot of work. It feels like almost everything is forced. 

[Kay Dreamer 884]

It was originally planned as an adaptation of The Dragonriders Of Pern?

 

WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST DO THAT?

 

/breathes (Ihavebeenwaitingforapernadaptationsinceforever.)

 

But eugh... Atrocities like that are the reason why I avoided American 'girls' programming like the plague as a kid and stuck to Australian or BBC cartoons and the occasional US non-gendered show like Rugrats. My 'girly' shows consisted of Cardcaptors and Sailor Moon, because at least 90's Japan knew how to write good little-girl targeted TV.

 

And Madeline. Gosh, Madeline was such a good show.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

 

 

And Madeline. Gosh, Madeline was such a good show.

 

Yes! Madeline. That was one of the greatest shows of the decade.  

[Antiyonder 1,152]

One post in the YouTube videos thread brought this up and my search for an appropriate thread worked well:

I am going to comment on the subject in general past my first point:

1. I think however fumbled the main subplot will be, the bulk of the season has been good or great.

2. It's like I said on occasions her and other forums I frequent.  It just seems like romance due to primarily being associated for girls is expected to be perfect or at least background fodder if not gone entirely.  Action scenes, humor and such can be fumbled as well, but it's more permissible for writers and crew to fumble up, and as such I think romance would work out well more often for those who don't get it right the first time.

3. And yeah, as far as 80s animation goes for example outside stuff from Canada or Japan, the good stuff is few and far between.

The Real Ghostbusters (First 65 episodes), Gummi Bears, DuckTales and The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin.  Maybe Garfield & Friends albeit most of it was in the 90s.

But yeah, people who speak as if they go for quality give that stamp towards Classic He-Man, Classic G.I.Joe, Classic Transformers, Captain N The Game Master and so on.  Fun, but good is iffy.

Girl programs or just shows starring girls should still aim for quality, but stating that one will watch them if they are good just feels disingenuous.  Like one doesn't let their biases compromise their critical nature when they actually do.