Gephyrophillia #231

Originally Posted on 03/24/2011 by Jeff Harris

To understand why Sym-Bionic Titan was unceremoniously cancelled by Cartoon Network, let's go back to the year 1995. But first, a detour to the grand and glorious year that was 1993.

Ah, 1993. Probably one of the greatest years in kid-vid in a generation. It was the year that gave us Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Biker Mice From Mars, Exo-Squad, Sonic the Hedgehog, Rocko's Modern Life, Mighty Max, Animaniacs, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and 2 Stupid Dogs. It also gave us NYPD Blue, Beavis and Butthead, Babylon 5, Brisco County Jr., Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Late Show with David Letterman, and The X-Files, but that's another conversation for another time.

Back in 1993, Hanna-Barbera introduced a pair of shows on the same day. One featured a cast of dogs and the other a cast of cats. 2 Stupid Dogs was a series made in the tradition of Ren and Stimpy. SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron was a series that was pretty different than what was on the scene at the time. On the surface, it's an anthromorphic Judge Dredd-like series about a pair of vigilante pilots protecting Mega Kat City from the threats of evildoers while defying the Enforcers who also patrol the skies. Visually, it was a combination of the same environment that gave us Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many imitators, including the aforementioned Biker Mice From Mars.

In its first year, SWAT Kats was the number one kids show in syndication (to you people younger than 15, I will tell you about how great syndication used to be not to mention what it actually is, at least what it's supposed to be). By the time the second season debuted, the character designs changed, becoming slightly more angular and more Japanese-animation-inspired. Now, considering this was 1994, and anime hasn't crossed over into the mainstream just yet, this was a striking change, but you know what? It worked. It was one of the greatest Hanna-Barbera productions ever, and the ratings were still strong.

In 1995, it was gone. No explanation. No third season. It disappeared from the airwaves only existing in rerun form on the then-fairly new Cartoon Network. So, how did a show that was successful in syndication completely disappear?

According to historians on the subject, Turner Broadcasting cancelled the show largely because they didn't sell any merchandising with the SWAT Kats characters. Aside from the Remco-made action figures that weren't advertised (Remco's parent company decided to focus more on educational fare and didn't advertise their non-educational toys anywhere; not to mention the fact that they didn't create a TurboKat plane, which kind of made the toyline a little less than a draw) and the SNES video game (never understood why they only catered to half the video game market by ignoring Genesis players), there was no actual merchandising for the series. With no ads for the products that existed and a poor plan for the toys that did, Turner ceased production on the series, which is a shame because the third season could have been a major draw for cable operators to pick up the struggling Cartoon Network. It would have been compared to USA's pick up of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and helped make Cartoon Network a household brand sooner rather than later.

And now we're back to 2011. Genndy Tartakovsky's Sym-Bionic Titan was a groundbreaking series that premiered in September 2010 after being teased in the spring of 2009 at Cartoon Network's upfront that largely concentrated on their ill-fated CN Real project. When it came into focus in 2010's upfronts, it was largely overshadowed by the two ill-fated live-action dramas Unnatural History and Tower Prep. When it did premiere, Sym-Bionic Titan impressed many critics, who compared it to mecha shows of the past as well as 80s teen movies. It was this combination of sci-fi action, teen angst, relatable characters, and dramatic elements that made it stick out as a one-of-a-kind animated experience. In a world where shows based on useless pieces of plastic, paper, and pixels are the norm, Sym-Bionic Titan stood out of the crowd.

And to Stewie Snyder and "Mad Man" Robbie Sorcher, that was a problem.

Blinded by Ben 10's successful run and looking forward to Generator Rex's toy run, they wanted toy deals surrounding Sym-Bionic Titan as well. However, there was a slight hitch. Mattel allegedly passed because they're currently doing Generator Rex and got burned after the lackluster sales of Secret Saturdays figures, which really suffered after Cartoon Network moved it from a strong Friday night lineup to a lackluster early Saturday morning slot to its final, unadvertised Saturday morning slot. Bandai's more concentrated on Power Rangers, which they have more ownership over, Ben 10, and the upcoming ThunderCats set. Hasbro has their own first-party franchises and the Star Wars and Marvel licenses. Playmates only has Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the brain and can't see making anything else for boys.

Though I think the biggest reason why toymakers aren't touching Sym-Bionic Titan is because Ilana is a major character and the catalyst for the entire show's existence. The whole "boys won't play with female action figures" mentality still exists. Don't believe me? Well let me ask you this: where was a Drew Saturday action figure in scale with the rest of the Secret Saturdays set? Where's Gwen in the Ben 10 sets that has been around since they were 10-year-old kids? Where's Breach and Circe in the Generator Rex set? Where's the flippy-head female Samurai Rangers figures?

You have a series with three massive robot armors, a myriad of colorful kaiju-like creatures, and one beautifully-crafted robot in the form of Titan, and you mean to tell me NOBODY'S willing to make action figures based on them? That's bullscat and you know it.

And while we're on the subject of merchandising and the lack of it determining a series fate, where's the merchandise for Adventure Time? Where's the t-shirts and figurines of Regular Show? More importantly, where's the merchandise, ANY merchandise, for Dude What Would Happen? and Destroy Build Destroy? The latter two shows has ratings much lower than that of Sym-Bionic Titan. They've aired for nearly three seasons, has zero TVQ, much loathed by Cartoon Network viewers and television critics, and has zero potential for any potential merchandising opportunities. The reruns do poorly, and there's no love for those shows at all, and yet, Dude and DWD remains on the schedule while Sym-Bionic Titan is gone? Doesn't anyone see the utter hypocrisy in that fact?

At least history will look kindly on Sym-Bionic Titan than Dude What Would Happen and Destroy Build Destroy. Titan will be said in the same breath as SWAT Kats not only because they were genre-redefining animated series, but both were cancelled by Turner for not selling enough merchandise.

I shall miss Sym-Bionic Titan. I hope all involve will shine brighter beyond the cancellation. You belong to the stars now.

Keep creating.

Jeff Harris,
Creator/Webmaster, The X Bridge.