Pantheon: How One Mistake Killed an Ahead of Its Time, animated series.

[thisithis]

This show was ahead of its time coming out when Invincible, and Arcane started on both Netflix and Amazon. This show looked as if it was going to follow as a certain sickness I will not name ravaged through the world. (I think you know what I was talking about.) But suffered the same problems as Scavengers Reign on HBO/Max or the reruns of Exosquad on Peacock. No one cared, If you want the best adult animated shows, go to Netflix or Amazon, even Disney+ is still having problems with their more mature animated shows. And of course, NBC/Universal is still marketing Exosquad for kids on Peacock, but that show will be leaving at the end of January to become yet another forgotten, animated show like Pantheon will soon be as well. There are a ton of old and new anime shows that will never see a physical DVD or Blu-Ray release for a variety of BS reasons. Pantheon and Exosquad, but Exosquad has been on that list before. It's just going back to that list again. The first American animated show with Japanese influence is constantly treated like garbage Exosquad and Pantheon are destined to follow because of one mistake, and that being Pantheon was shown on AMC+. With Netflix and Amazon dominating the adult animated shows, and AMC+ or AMC having none, it was clear who lost before it started. But you can watch season 2 if you live in Australia or New Zealand. Just one missed step after another. I liked Pantheon but putting it on AMC+ was a mistake that killed this show before it could become anything.

 

[Mejo]

I’ve never even HEARD of this show, which shows how poorly AMC+ advertised this.

 

[thisithis]

I’ve never even HEARD of this show, which shows how poorly AMC+ advertised this.

The worst part was this was also the last role of William Hurt before he sadly passed away. And AMC just swept it under the rug pretending they never even made the show.

 

[aegisrawks]

I’ve never even HEARD of this show, which shows how poorly AMC+ advertised this.

Same, this really passed me by entirely.

 

[PicardMan]

I do think the fact that it was a drama cartoon (not action or comedy) was another obstacle in its way. Adult action is starting to slowly gain acceptance with the mainstream, but drama seems to be struggling based on how this series Scavengers Reign, Unraveled and the rest of this genre has done.

 

[Yojimbo]

It was a perfect storm of issues, imo. It was probably a hard sell with it being a contemporary semi-sci-fi cautionary tale. In 5 years, would it still ring true or be dated? They took some big leaps too quickly in season 2 that should have been saved for a season 3. Season 2 soured me on the show. And AMC at the time was trying to extend its reach into new markets, failed, and tried to pull back too late which led to season 2 never releasing properly.

 

[thisithis]

Same, this really passed me by entirely.

And if you really want to hold on to your lunch don't go to YouTube and look up "Pantheon Brain Uploading Scene".

 

[LinusFan303]

I think the hardest thing is that it was on AMC Plus, I am happy we have small indie media and protect that at all costs, but AMC Plus isn't a big spot and the people who do subscribe probably weren't going for what this show was. Then there might have been people interested but not willing to get AMC Plus, just for one show.

I do think the fact that it was a drama cartoon (not action or comedy) was another obstacle in its way. Adult action is starting to slowly gain acceptance with the mainstream, but drama seems to be struggling based on how this series Scavengers Reign, Unraveled and the rest of this genre has done.

Kind of a shame, I enjoyed that it was straight drama, but also could do what wouldn't work with live-action or at least be as interesting looking. Like I wouldn't have watched this show in live-action form.

 

[JoeMabbon]

The first American animated show with Japanese influence

I don't think Pantheon was the first American animated show with Japanese influences. Feels like there were some others.

 

[thisithis]

I don't think Pantheon was the first American animated show with Japanese influences. Feels like there were some others.

I agree, that honor went to the 1993 Exosquad.

 

[zakawer2]

The one and only Neil deGrasse Tyson actually voiced a character in the Pantheon animated series, and yet the show still never got anywhere!

 

[The Overlord]

This show was ahead of its time coming out when Invincible, and Arcane started on both Netflix and Amazon. This show looked as if it was going to follow as a certain sickness I will not name ravaged through the world. (I think you know what I was talking about.) But suffered the same problems as Scavengers Reign on HBO/Max or the reruns of Exosquad on Peacock. No one cared, If you want the best adult animated shows, go to Netflix or Amazon, even Disney+ is still having problems with their more mature animated shows. And of course, NBC/Universal is still marketing Exosquad for kids on Peacock, but that show will be leaving at the end of January to become yet another forgotten, animated show like Pantheon will soon be as well. There are a ton of old and new anime shows that will never see a physical DVD or Blu-Ray release for a variety of BS reasons. Pantheon and Exosquad, but Exosquad has been on that list before. It's just going back to that list again. The first American animated show with Japanese influence is constantly treated like garbage Exosquad and Pantheon are destined to follow because of one mistake, and that being Pantheon was shown on AMC+. With Netflix and Amazon dominating the adult animated shows, and AMC+ or AMC having none, it was clear who lost before it started. But you can watch season 2 if you live in Australia or New Zealand. Just one missed step after another. I liked Pantheon but putting it on AMC+ was a mistake that killed this show before it could become anything.

You say it's a mistake, but if AMC made an offer and no one else did, the creators would not be an position to turn them down.

You can argue AMC should have sold it to Netflix, but I can see why they tried to make their own streaming service when Wall Street was hyping that up for everyone.

 

[PicardMan]

You say it's a mistake, but if AMC made an offer and no one else did, the creators would not be an position to turn them down.

It is surprising that AMC decided on doing this series considering their lack of history of animation, but they do have a history with drama. Streamers are probably wary of picking up drama cartoons as America hasn't really had any history of success with this genre.

 

[Yojimbo]

It is surprising that AMC decided on doing this series considering their lack of history of animation, but they do have a history with drama. Streamers are probably wary of picking up drama cartoons as America hasn't really had any history of success with this genre.

I sorta gleaned it from either a Deadline or Animation Magazine article that it was a once-in-lifetime culmination of factors. In 2018, AMC was developing a bunch of new shows, was dipping into streaming, Craig Silverstein gave them a successful show in TURN, they just optioned the short stories Pantheon was based on as he was coming off the show's end, Silverstein somehow convinced them to try animation instead of making it a live action show, COVID happened.

 

[PicardMan]

I sorta gleaned it from either a Deadline or Animation Magazine article that it was a once-in-lifetime culmination of factors. In 2018, AMC was developing a bunch of new shows, was dipping into streaming, Craig Silverstein gave them a successful show in TURN, they just optioned the short stories Pantheon was based on as he was coming off the show's end, Silverstein somehow convinced them to try animation instead of making it a live action show, COVID happened.

Convincing AMC to try animation seems like a big miracle considering prestige drama fans tend to not be cartoon fans and the long history of drama cartoons flopping (starting with Invasion America in the 90s). At least during COVID animation would be easier to do considering social distancing. This series probably could have worked as live action with some changes like the virtual world being simplified to accommodate the budget. The idea of an AMC prestige drama in animated form was just a super niche idea as there seems to be so little overlap with cartoon fans and prestige drama fans.

 

[Yojimbo]

Convincing AMC to try animation seems like a big miracle considering prestige drama fans tend to not be cartoon fans and the long history of drama cartoons flopping (starting with Invasion America in the 90s). At least during COVID animation would be easier to do considering social distancing. This series probably could have worked as live action with some changes like the virtual world being simplified to accommodate the budget. The idea of an AMC prestige drama in animated form was just a super niche idea as there seems to be so little overlap with cartoon fans and prestige drama fans.

Yeah, it would have worked as live action. I remember there were similar sci-fi shows in that span of time like Alex Garland's Devs on FX and Greg Daniel's Upload on Prime Video.

 

[thisithis]

You say it's a mistake, but if AMC made an offer and no one else did, the creators would not be an position to turn them down.

You can argue AMC should have sold it to Netflix, but I can see why they tried to make their own streaming service when Wall Street was hyping that up for everyone Actually, AMC sold Pantheon to Amazon. But they only sold then the US rights to season one. Amazon was only able to get the rights to season Australia or New Zealand

Actually, AMC sold it off to Amazon but only season one as for season two Amazon was only able to get the rights to season two in Australia or New Zealand.