Cartoon Series They Should Have Made (but didn't)

[Shirubie]

Usagi Yojimbo. The character has already been animated in TMNT a few times, he deserves his own spin-off show. The comics has been running for over 20 years, it's full of awesome stories with samurai, ninjas, swordfights and conspiracies that they could adapt into animation.

And a few of my favorite european comics would make good comedy series:

-Gaston Lagaffe: an inept office slacker driving his co-workers nuts.
-Melusine: the adventures of a young witch living in the middle ages among ghosts, vampires and insane priests trying to burn her alive.
-Garage Isidore: the wacky hijinx of a auto mechanic.
-Léonard: Super genius Leonardo da Vinci invents crazy machines with the help of his lazy disciple/guinea pig Basile.

And in the "I can always dream" category: Calvin and Hobbes

 

[stephane dumas]

-Gaston Lagaffe: an inept office slacker driving his co-workers nuts.
-Léonard: Super genius Leonardo da Vinci invents crazy machines with the help of his lazy disciple/guinea pig Basile.

For Gaston Lagaffe, I spotted a news in a French site, then Marathon studios wants to make a short animated series http://www.animation-france.fr/newsletter/19/ and Gaston not only turned his co-workers nuts (by himself or with the "help" of his friend Jules or his car and his 2 animals a cat and a bird) like Fantasio, Prunelle, Yves Lebrac but also Longtarin a cop who wants to give him a ticket and a visitor known as DeMasmaker who wants to try to sign some important contracts.

and I agree with you for Léonard, he'll be a perfect comic series for an animated series and add to the list Robin Dubois (done by Léonard creators DeGroot & Turk).

I wish to see Asterix in a cartoon series, I know it had animated movies but not a series like Tintin & Lucky Luke

For other European comic-books then I wish to see adapted in cartoon series
-Ric Hochet: a journalist working for the newspaper "La Rafale" assist the commisionner Bourdon at various mysterious cases.
-Les Casseurs (Al & Brock): comic strip who star 2 cops of the SFPD, Al Russel, a son of a millionnaire and Brock, a older cop on various cases and they get involved in numerous and hilarious car crashes
-Chick Bill: a humerous western series

 

[Shirubie]

WHAT!? A real Gaston Lagaffe cartoon? This is a dream come true! Thanks for the news Stephane, I'll keep a close eye on this. According to the article they're going to be 7 minutes shorts, it's the perfect lenght for Gaston's one page gags.

 

[Anyone00]

- No One Lives Forever: Cate Archer was a terrific character and the video games had a great blend of humor and action. Plus, you know, hot woman in catsuits with a British accent kicking people's asses. Rowr.

*Smacks self in head for forgetting that one*
On the down side if this show was made and became popular there would be a ton of Cate/Isako yuri fan-fics.

- Dungeons & Dragons/Forgotten Realms: OK, there was the cartoon from the 80's, but it was D&D in name only. A really good D&D cartoon would be cool. And no, Dragonlance doesn't count. I said "really good" after all .

Please, not Drizzt

Can I remind people that list threads are frowned on? Plain lists are boring. Lists with reasons are fun.

Well then let me elaborate.

Monkey Island -Funny pirates (or kids at an pirate themed amusement park playing make-believe) and clever writing. Get the original creators and writer and an adventure game like this could easily become a good cartoon.

Freedom Force - A loving tribute to silver age comics, (slightly) over the top powers and scenery destruction, and a cast of likable characters: what's not to love (plus most enemies are only K.O. and not killed so nothing would really be lost is this was made a kids show).

Disciples - A high magic, high fantasy setting with beautiful art direction that just happens to be really depressing.

The Tripods Series - Classic series of children's books that have been somewhat popular since they've been around since the 1960s; a faithful adaptation could work really well.

 

[Mavericker]

Sly Cooper the series-his video game antics would translate well to the small screen. Every episode he searches for a new treasure, like a furry Lupin III.

 

[Kumquat]

A vague idea

I'd like to see a cartoon about cardboard tube fighting. It could star a group of amateur cardboard tube fighters who struggle to become the best in their town and enter the 17th annual Big Cliché Cardboard Tube Tournament that gets Taken Way too Seriously. Only one of them can win, though, so one of them takes it too seriously and leaves the group until the semifinal round of the tournament. That character and the main character fight each other in the semifinal, but by the end of the round they're all friends again.

Among their opponents would be someone who dresses and acts like a samurai, someone who wears an eye patch but manages to see just fine anyway, and someone who speaks in trochaic tetrameter. I think the poet's name should be Percy. Maybe the samurai could also be an Amezaiku* artist.

I'm not sure how popular it would be, but it's #3 on my list of TV shows to make if I get the chance.

*Amezaiku is the Japanese art of making sculptures out of taffy.

 

[AlgeaX]

One idea that I've often fantasised about is another Star Trek animated series. The Star Trek franchise is in desperate need of some reinvention and an animated series might be just the thing to breath some new life back into it.

One big advantage of an animated Trek, would be eliminating the need for a special effects budget. We could actually have some cool looking aliens instead of guys with crabs glued to their foreheads. Of course there are a lot a of ways something like this can turn out crap so I've drawn up a couple of guidelines.

1. First and foremost a good Star Trek show needs the best damn writers it can get. We need story telling on par with JLU or Spectacular Spider-Man.

2. Secondly we need a new perspective, part of what killed post-DS9 trek for me was the fact that most of the franchise's old guard were creatively burned out and just kept resorting to the same cliches that had been worn out in TNG. We need new people with a new vision, people who can show us the Star Trek universe in a way we've never seen before.

3. We need to drop all the overused cliches that were used as crutches by previous writers, i.e. techno-babble, malfunctioning holodecks ect.

4. There should be some point to the show, some kind of overarching story arc or theme instead of the usual alien of the week shenanigans. Something along the lines of DS9's Dominion War. Not necessarily another war mind you, but something to give the show more direction then aimlessly wondering about the galaxy.

In short, the new show should be as different from the TNG era shows in style and tone as TNG was from the original series.

 

[Elven Moon]

Considering how incredibly popular The Babysitters Club was in the 80s and early 90s, I'm surprised a cartoon wasn't made. Sure there was that series of videos, and the movie in 1995, but nothing in the way of animation.

 

[Mavericker]

I was going to suggest Flash Gordon but I recall seeing an old Flash Gordon cartoon somewhere.

The Fat Boys and the Beastie Boys would have been ideal Saturday Morning fodder.

A-Team the Animated Series would have worked.

Tron the Animated Series would have been epic.

Mr. Bean the animated series-his antics would work in a cartoon.

Quantum Leap would work as an animated cartoon-they would just tone it down for kids and make it so kids can relate to it.

 

[Tobias]

I was going to suggest Flash Gordon but I recall seeing an old Flash Gordon cartoon somewhere.

Flash has had at least 2 series, including a late 90's revival where he was *hip* teenager.

A-Team the Animated Series would have worked.

Not judging by what we got with Mr. T: TAS.

Mr. Bean the animated series-his antics would work in a cartoon.

Bean already had an animated series around the start of the new millenium, which is now available on DVD. It just never got wide promotion in the States because it aired on PBS of all places when it finally aired over here.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280277/

 

[Mavericker]

Flash has had at least 2 series, including a late 90's revival where he was *hip* teenager.



Not judging by what we got with Mr. T: TAS.



Bean already had an animated series around the start of the new millenium, which is now available on DVD. It just never got wide promotion in the States because it aired on PBS of all places when it finally aired over here.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280277/

Wallace and Gromit-the series.

 

[AlgeaX]

Quantum Leap would work as an animated cartoon-they would just tone it down for kids and make it so kids can relate to it.

Quantum Leap was boring as hell. The only way the show would work as an animated series is if Sam was able to bounce across all of human history. It always bothered how he seemed to be confined to a couple of decades instead of leaping into ancient Rome or the French revolution.

And yes I know there was a techno-babble explanation about him only being able to show up in time periods where he's already alive. It would still have to be dumped for an animated series.

 

[Mavericker]

Quantum Leap was boring as hell. The only way the show would work as an animated series is if Sam was able to bounce across all of human history. It always bothered how he seemed to be confined to a couple of decades instead of leaping into ancient Rome or the French revolution.

And yes I know there was a techno-babble explanation about him only being able to show up in time periods where he's already alive. It would still have to be dumped for an animated series.

Name one time-travelling series that you think is interesting, and could work as a cartoon.

 

[AlgeaX]

Name one time-travelling series that you think is interesting, and could work as a cartoon.

Doctor Who? But since it already has fantastic live action show, so we don't really need an animated one.

The Gargoyles Timedancer spin-off would be great, but we're most like to get that in comic form then anything else.

You know, it just occurs to me that there haven't been that many show where time travel is part of the central premises. At least not many I really liked.

 

[Mavericker]

Doctor Who? But since it already has fantastic live action show, so we don't really need an animated one.

The Gargoyles Timedancer spin-off would be great, but we're most like to get that in comic form then anything else.

You know, it just occurs to me that there haven't been that many show where time travel is part of the central premises. At least not many I really liked.

Did they ever do a Karate Kid series? That would have been an ideal series for kids.

The Warriors could have worked as a cartoon series, but they would have to clean it up for TV.

Hourman the series-a series based on the DC comics superhero. He's a plain-clothes superhero who gets presented with some new obstacle in every episode.

Green Lantern should of had his own cartoon series.

I think at one time they were going to make a series based on Latka from Taxi.

 

[The Weed Of Cri]

I'd like to see a cartoon based on the pulp hero Doc Savage. Except for a couple of short-lived comic book series, the character is mostly forgotten by everyone except pulp fiction fans. There was one live-action movie in the 1970's and rumors of a new movie (at one time, Arnold Schwarzeneggar was rumored to be playing Doc) that never seems to reach fruition.

I think Doc Savage would actually work better as a cartoon than as a live action film, because Doc and his five assistants are a real freakshow of odd physical types and over-the-top characterizations. For instance, Doc's aide Monk Mayfair has arms that are longer than his legs and Renny Renwick has hands that are four time the size of a normal man's hands. Try finding actors who fit those descriptions, but animating them would be no great challenge.

 

[Mavericker]

I'd like to see a cartoon based on the pulp hero Doc Savage. Except for a couple of short-lived comic book series, the character is mostly forgotten by everyone except pulp fiction fans. There was one live-action movie in the 1970's and rumors of a new movie (at one time, Arnold Schwarzeneggar was rumored to be playing Doc) that never seems to reach fruition.

I think Doc Savage would actually work better as a cartoon than as a live action film, because Doc and his five assistants are a real freakshow of odd physical types and over-the-top characterizations. For instance, Doc's aide Monk Mayfair has arms that are longer than his legs and Renny Renwick has hands that are four time the size of a normal man's hands. Try finding actors who fit those descriptions, but animating them would be no great challenge.

Rocketeer would work as a series-it's set during WWII and it would be refreshing to see a series about a plain-clothes superhero.

 

[Silverstar]

Did they ever do a Karate Kid series? That would have been an ideal series for kids.

Yes, they did. It ran on NBC in 1990, and it tanked.

One reason for its' extremely short life was because many people objected to the characters-most notably Mr. Miyagi-for being offensive Asian stereotypes.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Name one time-travelling series that you think is interesting, and could work as a cartoon.

Doctor Who! I know there's aleady the Infinite Quest shorts, and some random online ones, like the animated version of Shada, but a whole series would be great too.

Did they ever do a Karate Kid series? That would have been an ideal series for kids.

The Warriors could have worked as a cartoon series, but they would have to clean it up for TV.

Hourman the series-a series based on the DC comics superhero. He's a plain-clothes superhero who gets presented with some new obstacle in every episode.

Green Lantern should of had his own cartoon series.

I think at one time they were going to make a series based on Latka from Taxi.

Uh, Hourman? That's really random. I think it's about sixty years too late for that, too. I doubt it would do too well at all.

 

[Mavericker]

Doctor Who! I know there's aleady the Infinite Quest shorts, and some random online ones, like the animated version of Shada, but a whole series would be great too.

Uh, Hourman? That's really random. I think it's about sixty years too late for that, too. I doubt it would do too well at all.

No-they talked about it at the DC Comics Message Boards.

City of Heroes/City of Villains and Freedom Force would make fun shows.

Command and Conquer the animated series-that would be epic. It's like a futuristic G.I. Joe.