It truly baffles me why western cartoons seem to angle away from having giant robots or giant spaceships with space battles and how the galactic epic is almost completely ignored nowadays by cartoons.
Granted, shows like Steven Universe, Infinity Train, Reddit and Morty all have science fiction elements, but generally use science fiction for it's tropes and scenery like marvel movies do, and never to tell an actual story about alien life, robots, differentiation among different peoples and reconciliation of similarities. Even basic concepts such as war, peace, and conflict seem to be very disjointed or outright missing in many cases, like there's zero drive to actually tell a story with real stakes involved.
Granted, mecha and sci-fi are having a very hard time in Japan too at the moment, with shows like EVA only being successful for it's phycological horror and philosophical themes and not the giant robots, but even still, mecha and sci-fi as a genre at least has an audience in Japan, whereas it's outright ignored in the states.
Is there an underlying reason for this? Do people just not like the idea of traditional science fiction in a western animated format?
Why is it that true science fiction is so taboo with western cartoons?
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>dogshit thread
>pandering with Reddit and Morty
kys.
Transformers.
Spaceships are for faggots
Ben 10 (yea yeah, I'm waiting on the Hal Poster)
Is this Voltron?
>Ben 10
>Faggot kid on earth who does faggot kid stuff on faggot earth
Man fuck off.
Shit sux
>>Faggot kid
Right, so already he's got the anime formula down to a T.
"Traditional sci-fi" (from the 20th century) is basically all like allegorical tales, or something with a moral about theoretical ethics. Like Isaac Asimov or Mary Shelley. Or Star Trek. Something like Astro Boy is very, very unambiguous and forthcoming about the fact that it's real traditional sci-fi, about morals and imaginary tales, and not basically just a superhero series. Rick and Morty (a transformed version of Doctor Who) is honestly a LOT closer to traditional sci-fi than something like Evangelion, which is about fighting a monster each week with a robot. I think people watch Star Wars and Transformers as a kid and think that's what sci-fi is all about. It really isn't. But the best sci-fi animated show ever is Japanese and based on a Western comic, so I think that's quite a nice harmony.
pic related was great but I don't blame anyone for never having seen it since it came on some literal who channel. As for your post i'd say real scifi just isn't that popular in general people prefer either fantasy fusion stuff like SW or they just make it live-action since it tends to have more serious tone which don't fit westerners kid friendly stereotype of animation.
user you hit me with the nostalgia stick so hard I’m considering pressing charges.
OP here I loved this, I'm gonna watch the whole series now. I had no idea this existed.
A shame the series didn't get another season. That and Exo Squad.
sci-fi animations require many detailed objects. do you think amerimutts couldve made them? they are too lazy to animate such detailed worlds
now its more impossible than ever, since amerimutts dont have any decent 2D animation studio and every mutt cartoon is woke garbage
Even anime doesn't really do traditional sci fi anymore. You occasionally get something or a mecha series that involves space somehow but the only really big one right now is some subpar Yamato 2199 sequels.
form the view of "diversity", now theres a bunch of mecha/sci-fi mangas. definitely much more than in the 80s/90s. you just dont know it since the west only translates mainstream stuff.
also the modern anime just tends to follow otaku trends to sell blue rays to them. this started in the 00s
>had lots of siblings so waking up early was only time i got control of the TV
>learned lots of cool stuff aired in early timeslots
>loved Roughnecks, kids at school disregarded me saying it was great
>two years later it was re-run at 8am and everyone at school talked about how great it was.
I was very salty. Same thing happened with Pokemon.
Fun fact: same studio as ReBoot and Beast Wars
it was so cool. they could barely manage it on their budget and the uncanny looking 3d but god it was cool
Shadow Rider was great, I still don't fucking know what was the green stuff they harvested from the bone planet.
It's been a while since I've seen it, but wasn't it lichen?
It's because Western Culture for so long as been indoctrinated with a denial of aliens, with a belief of us being seriously alone
A lot of sci fi is free of aliens. The genre isn't dependent on xenos. The simple matter is we've eventer the cynical part of the cycle were nobody wants to dream about the could bes and the vast wonder and romantic angle of space. They wanted grounded realism.
Funnily enough, I was thinking about Green Lantern TAS.
Modern culture looks inward because they no longer seek to discover greater truths about our world, but about itself, namely, the pursuit of happiness and meaning. Godless materialism left a void that nothing has filled, as most people cannot access philosophy, so they just want a gratified, numb instant that lasts forever. Peace of mind and careless mirth are the end goal of life for all in these generations, not grand, heroic deeds and discoveries, they exhalt the victim, the damaged and broken, the dysfunctional and sick, because overcoming society and being comfortable within your own skin so you can finally just exist is seen as a bigger struggle than any real oddysey.
>They wanted grounded realism.
And as a result they've enabled creative fascism
It's just tragic isn't it. Fiction, science or otherwise, used to be a portal into worlds and concepts far greater than any of us. The endless ocean of the universe that we once looked to for inspiration and hope has become nothing by a dated bygone relic in the modern eyes of people who can't see beyond even their own selves let alone their entire world. Concepts of courage and sacrifice were once idolized and meant to drive is to better not just ourselves but our very potential as a species now are seen as unrelatable and thus unenjoyable to people who need to be the very center of the cosmos. Were once we took awe in the smallness of our world in the vast universe we know can no longer even comprehend things that don't directly relate or benefit us personally. We no longer seek heroes, we seek justification for own existence through unearned worship and handouts.
There was this cartoon when I was a kid, XO Squad, fucking crazy. The main plot being about a interplanetary war between humans and the slave race they created. It was honestly pretty deep for a kids show. But it lasted like 2 seasons maybe. Animation on series or movie basis is just too expensive and time consuming to take chances or to slowly build a following. It's got to hit fast. And that for any subject matter isn't easy. Lot's of cartoons fail all the time you know. But Sci-fi, and I don't give a fuck what they say about nerd culture growing and all this bullshit roughly the same number and type of people that have always been into complex sci-fi or higher concept stories stays about the same. And that is why people whose main purpose is to make as much profit as possible aren't going to invest in it.
I wasn't hurt by watching Star Wars go down in flames but watching Star Trek go the way of angry violent action shlock honestly hurts me. TNG wasn't always the perfect show, there were a lot of bad episodes, even outside S1, but it felt like there was at least a bit of a heart there. An attempt to make a thoughtful science fiction series that faced our heroes with interesting, and perhaps more importantly, engaging moral dilemma that tested our senses of duty and morality. Now everything is just a rush through binge watch nightmare. I want to go back to a slower, more quiet and introspective episodic approach to television. Were one week we might question if our responsibilities outweigh our sense of right and wrong and others just showing us our crew and cast in more mundane adventures that allowed their personalities to have room to grow and breath.
Prodigy.
Not to sound dismissive of Kate Mulgrew, because while Voyager had issues casting generally wasn't one of them, I just can't see that as anything more than desperate stunt casting. And perhaps my own growing bitterness for the handling of the rest of the franchise is preventing me from finding something I might actually enjoy out of it, I just don't trust anyone in charge of Trek now to want to invest as I'm certain it's only a matter of time before it goes to shit.
bruh it's ten episodes and i'm outright telling you it's good
There's this weird delineation in the West:
- Games are made for and made by autistic turbonerds
- Comics/Cartoons are made for/by shipping/fanfic writing tumblrites
- Live action is made for/by normies, and people who think of themselves as 'cultured'
While in Japan everything blends together
>giant robots
I'd say that Western cartoons are overly invested in science fiction. So many shows have giant robots, aliens, space, other dimensions, super advanced technology, etc. All I see are people complaining about there not being something that we're almost drowning in. Comedy, drama, lore infested, episodic, whatever you want.
>- Games are made for and made by autistic turbonerds
I'd argue that stopped being the case ages ago. Games have gotten as normie centric as live action tv or worse yet, people who are fishing for game awards.
We've been getting Star Wars cartoons consistently for several years.
Yes, well the ultimate caveat is, of course, that they need to be you know, GOOD!
>i live 24/7 in a basement the post
He means big pointless anime fights, not literal giant robots.
Does it being a comedy series keep it out of the conversation? Are you only looking for super serious space epics? Because it might be healthy to look for more than just one thing.
What's that? You want something for a younger audience? I think I got something for you.
Good thing I posted Korra.
>Does it being a comedy
That's kind of hard and ultimately depends on the nature of the comedy. I don't think anyone is exclusively looking for the grimderpness of space but rather just something sincere in it's approach to the genre. Even Star Trek proper had lots of moments of levity so we're not against comedy so much as eye rolling smug self awareness that constantly takes the piss out of it's own world, characters and setting.
How far back can I go? Are we talking about stuff that recently came out or is looking back a bit allowed? Because there's even more stuff that's been out for a long, long time.
Well if you open your mind then you can find whatever you're looking for. I'm sure there are plenty of shows being made right now that'd fill this thread out because the great thing about the streaming wars is that a shit ton of animated shows are being made now.
>176 KB JPGHow far back can I go?
Well I think the whole point of the complaint is that in the more recent years specifically. You go back far enough and there's enough classic sci fi to last you ages so it's not really a matter of finding something from a decade or so ago but rather a general bemoaning of current trends.
It's a weird complaint and asking for something specific in science fiction and only recent examples. And even worse to use it to attack all of western animation like they're missing out on a fresh genre. I do know of more shows but their quality and reputation on here isn't as good. My point is that OP's an asshole that made a shit thread that falls apart when someone actually comes in to prove them wrong.
I don't think you even actually understood the complaint.
See
>It truly baffles me why western cartoons seem to angle away from having giant robots or giant spaceships with space battles and how the galactic epic is almost completely ignored nowadays by cartoons.
>Is there an underlying reason for this? Do people just not like the idea of traditional science fiction in a western animated format?
It's pretty obvious what OP is complaining about. They want this specific thing, they want more of it now, and they wonder why they don't have it.
And OP is full of shit. All that stuff is being made. Still. Not a lot but that specific stuff? Yeah, it's out there. The west didn't shy away from it. It just has a lot of other stuff. I won't speak about the quality for some of them.
It was a question aimed at the changing interests and markets. He wasn't asking for you to start spitting out shit he was capable of finding on his own from over a decade ago is completely moot. Especially when said shit wasn't very good to start with. And even if it weren't showing one or two examples is just an aberration not the norm.
But it never changed. Giant robots and big space battles have never dominated the west but there have always been shows with them. And they're still being made now. There's probably even more being made now than ever.
I mean Factorio and its ilk are still going strong so probably the autists are still present in force.
>But the best sci-fi animated show ever is Japanese and based on a Western comic,
Which one?
You posted Halo.
>Granted, mecha and sci-fi are having a very hard time in Japan too at the moment, with shows like EVA only being successful for it's phycological horror and philosophical themes and not the giant robots, but even still, mecha and sci-fi as a genre at least has an audience in Japan, whereas it's outright ignored in the states.
They don't. Nip kids see mecha as something "for old people" and it's pretty much a dead genre. EVA is from fucking 1995 and its current audience consists almost exclusively of people over 30.
I think the current crop of Western TV writers just don't get what makes this stuff cool. And it's more than just having a cool ship battle or some exciting robot fights. Just look at the current Trek shows. None quiet get it.
Thankfully, they're not touching my Japanese franchises sci-fi franchise.
Can anyone answer this?
The first one that comes to mind is the pretty okay anime version of Valerian and Laureline. But, I wouldn't call that the best anime ever.