Gephyrophillia #229

Originally Posted on 03/23/2011 by Jeff Harris

*begin transmission*

FireBreather.

I'm beginning my commentary about this year's Cartoon Network upfronts with that title because, well, I can. Also, while Stewie Snyder was extolling the praises of Cartoon Network's past year, gloating over a live-action, poorly-received sports award show's "success," he completely ignored FireBreather, an animated movie event that was only advertised a month before it premiered and had an audience of nearly 3 million viewers compared to the minscule Hall of Games ratings which had about half the audience. But that's the way Stewie works.

He doesn't think like the rest of us, especially those that actually give a damn about animation. Something he, as the head of the Animation, Kids, and Young Adult division of Turner Broadcasting, doesn't seem to present and project. Yes, they've acknowledged the successes of their Monday night lineup, which is all-animation, but they've failed to acknowledge the lone special that did work, which was the FireBreather movie. The recent Scooby-Doo live-action film bombed while Mystery Incorporated was quite successful and a ratings winner week-to-week. The three weekly live-action productions they pitched last year, the scripted action-dramas Unnatural History and Tower Prep and the NBA-themed Run It Back, aren't back in the new season, but the surprise "hit" Hole in the Wall gets renewed along with two equally moronic shows, Dude What Would Happen and Destroy Build Destroy, the two lone survivors of the CN Real experiment that Stewie said audience would love and appreciate or else.

I am quite saddened to see Sym-Bionic Titan go away. It was an action cartoon that was well-animated, rich with actual drama and intrigue. It was mature without being vulgar and probably the smartest American action cartoon not based on a preexisting franchise we've had since Gargoyles, Greg Weisman's genre-redefining, mythology-building saga that Disney refused to put its name on for some dumb reason. Sym-Bionic Titan's sudden departure is a shame. But it does join the likes of Swat Kats and The Pirates of Dark Water in the escelon of great Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network action titles gone before their time.

Enough talk about the lack of FireBreather love and the death of Sym-Bionic Titan. What's new on Cartoon Network in the coming months?

Comedy-wise, there's Gumball, Ft. Awesome, Problem Solverz, and The Looney Tunes Show as well as the fourth incarnation of Total Drama, Revenge of the Island and new seasons of Johnny Test, The Garfield Show, Casper's Ghoul School, and the entire Monday night of laughs (Adventure Time, Regular Show, MAD, and Mystery Inc.). Next year sees How to Train Your Dragon: The Series, the first Dreamworks series NOT airing on Nickelodeon. It's action-adventure theme is perfect for a network that enjoys action-adventure cartoons. The Saturday moning lineup will be Marvel-less with Super Hero Squad likely becoming a Disney XD exclusive but will gain more toyetic properties to go along with Pokemon and Bakugan, the card-driven RedaKai and Lego's first episodic television project Ninjago.

Considering the X Bridge is dedicated to action-animation, I have to let the spotlight on the action properties shine a bit brighter than other sites. There was, more or less, three major announcements involving action-animation. ThunderCats, which is the first Warner Bros-guided animated project on television in a long time not to feature a DC-owned property (of which MAD is a part), Scooby-Doo, or Tom and Jerry, is poised to become the franchise fans know it could be and actually looks like it's going to eclipse the original in terms of quality. Here's hoping it'll reach 130 episodes as the original did, but in this environment of short-attention spans and instant success, we'll be lucky if it goes beyond 26. Second, an eagerly-anticipated crossover between Man of Action's two animated creations, Ben 10 and Generator Rex. It'll be kind of interesting to see how these two different properties in seemingly two different worlds (one filled with aliens and human-alien hybrids and the other on a planet with nanites in every living thing on the planet) will collide let alone cross over. A battle of the egos. Should be fun.

The third major announcement this action fan got a kick from was DC NATION. What is DC NATION? According to the press release, it's "a multi-platform, branded block of original programming and exclusive content based on the DC Comics library of legendary character properties, developed in partnership with Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment, harnessing the publishing, theatrical and television assets together for one powerful on-air block on Cartoon Network with exclusive online content." Green Lantern, Young Justice, The Brave and the Bold, If it's from DC Comics, it'll be found in the DC NATION and ONLY on the DC Nation. I'm curious how far they're going to take this seeming new night of action, hopefully airing that on Thursdays while the Friday Night of Action remains intact with Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Generator Rex, and Clone Wars. At first look, it seems like the answer to the question "What can DC Comics do to counteract Disney's newfound and refocused Marvel Universe in entertainment?" Utilizing the combined units of Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and DC Entertainment, DC Nation will create an environment that showcases and embraces the Original Universe in all its glory, showcasing its two newest series (Young Justice and the upcoming Green Lantern), going behind the scenes of new and current productions and comic titles, and presenting characters all over the DC Universe in new productions both on-air and online. In a world where Iron Man is on four different shows and the Marvel Movie Universe is becoming solidified in live-action and in series form, it's about time DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. did something to counteract that. And it'll launch in 2012. Just in time for the third Dark Knight movie and the rebooted Superman film franchise.

That's pretty much all that's worth mentioning about the upfronts. Seriously, I don't want to talk about that movie that seems to be rushed to a series for no real reason. I'd rather talk about the development of a second FireBreather film or a weekly series, but for some dumb reason, Cartoon Network isn't giving me that opportunity. Shame. Still, this year's upfronts were much better than last year's, which was dominated by essentially walking dead shows (not to be confused with The Walking Dead, which really broke out in its first year at Rob Sorcher's old haunting grounds, AMC). I'm actually quite optimistic about where Cartoon Network is going in the next 12 months, at least more than I did the previous 12 months.

Should be a fun season.

Keep creating.

Jeff Harris,
Creator/Webmaster, The X Bridge.