Post by Lord Cyber on Feb 22, 2004 0:03:10 GMT -5
Fresh message board...run by open-minded intellectuals...this feels like a good place to post some thoughts...
Let me start with some background information:
I'm 26, fresh out of my 2nd college, and working as a software developer...as such, I work 45 to 50 hours a week.
Given the age and work hours, you should be slightly impressed that I actually manage to wake up for Saturday morning cartoons...
Well, only two cartoons anymore: Shaman King and Astro Boy...and Astro Boy just died...
The good news is I get to sleep in a little longer. The bad news is I worry that I won't be able to see the beautiful masterpiece that was the remake of Astro Boy.
While we can still smell the blood on the wall from the butchering of Escaflowne on Fox only 3 years ago, Kids WB never learned that you should only edit as much as you need to. (I'm not exactly sure who the companies were behind the Kids WB dub of Astro Boy, so I'll collectively refer to them as...dum dum dum...Kids WB)
For marketing and accounting depts:
Kids WB purchased 26 episodes of the new Astro Boy series...only 5 made it to air. That's a heck of a loss to take especially after you figure in all the time and money they spent making edits, doing new voice overs (there's a completely different english dub cast on the Astro Boy Japanese website) and any and all promotional items (website, commercials, etc...).
For those that hate dubs:
Some of you might think Shaman King was done bad...but at least it wasn't done Astro Boy bad, thus cancelling the show 5 episodes in. It's my experience in the past decade that any series that gets cancelled in the middle of it's run on TV, NEVER shows up for purchase as recorded media...the show is considered a flop and obviously no one would want to buy the entire thing on video, right? (Escaflowne being a major exception to this rule having followed the reverse route)
"So what happened?"
It all came down to dubbing and editing of dialogue and plot.
"Did the animation quality help cancel it?"
Another comparison I like to make with Astro Boy and Shaman King is the animation and art quality.
Yeah, Shaman King has it's own art style that owes to the manga. In such, there isn't that much attention to detail because there doesn't need to be. Backgrounds as well are very limited. There's a very limited number of colors used in the pallette for characters as well...I'm totally assuming this is on purpose seeing as how certain characters are associated with a certain primary color scheme.
Astro Boy on the other hand had layers and layers of animations in the background, as well as highly detailed foreground characters. There was always something moving back there...clouds, flying cars...the way electricity arcs around circuitry...what got me the most was when they animated a glass of water falling on a desk...it wasn't even the main focus, it was just a little detail they added for realism.
In this respect, Astro Boy completely wipes out Shaman King for sheer mastery and quality of animation and artwork.
And yet it was still not enough to keep the show from being cancelled by a bad edit / story re-write.
"So about that dubbing?"
The voice actors were great...I had no problem listening to favorites from Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star...they are truly professionals at their craft.
The best word I can use for the storyline however is "neutered".
The series contradicted itself within the first 3 episodes on a number of occasions...dialogue between Astro and his nemesis, Atlas, just didn't make any sense...hell, Atlas didn't make any sense...Astro is the first android with free will and Atlas, an android with free will, has been around for 8 years already...and growing up no less...an android that can grow up, that's kinda cool...and not right...
Extra dialogue was added in when characters mouths weren't moving...I thought I was good at catching stuff like that, but my fiance was right there beside me commenting on it.
Facial expressions didn't match what was being said...yeah, you've probably seen it before...let me tell you, it happened alot here.
Episodes were cut as well, let me tell you, it's fun to follow a series when they drop episodes...maybe there's some Sakura fans out there that started on the series Card Captors before watching the series Card Captor Sakura...they can sympathize with me.
So where does this lead us? I'm not sure...I hope someone lost money, and someone in-power learned a lesson, and all I can say is, "Alas poor Astro. I knew him well Horatio..."
LC
Let me start with some background information:
I'm 26, fresh out of my 2nd college, and working as a software developer...as such, I work 45 to 50 hours a week.
Given the age and work hours, you should be slightly impressed that I actually manage to wake up for Saturday morning cartoons...
Well, only two cartoons anymore: Shaman King and Astro Boy...and Astro Boy just died...
The good news is I get to sleep in a little longer. The bad news is I worry that I won't be able to see the beautiful masterpiece that was the remake of Astro Boy.
While we can still smell the blood on the wall from the butchering of Escaflowne on Fox only 3 years ago, Kids WB never learned that you should only edit as much as you need to. (I'm not exactly sure who the companies were behind the Kids WB dub of Astro Boy, so I'll collectively refer to them as...dum dum dum...Kids WB)
For marketing and accounting depts:
Kids WB purchased 26 episodes of the new Astro Boy series...only 5 made it to air. That's a heck of a loss to take especially after you figure in all the time and money they spent making edits, doing new voice overs (there's a completely different english dub cast on the Astro Boy Japanese website) and any and all promotional items (website, commercials, etc...).
For those that hate dubs:
Some of you might think Shaman King was done bad...but at least it wasn't done Astro Boy bad, thus cancelling the show 5 episodes in. It's my experience in the past decade that any series that gets cancelled in the middle of it's run on TV, NEVER shows up for purchase as recorded media...the show is considered a flop and obviously no one would want to buy the entire thing on video, right? (Escaflowne being a major exception to this rule having followed the reverse route)
"So what happened?"
It all came down to dubbing and editing of dialogue and plot.
"Did the animation quality help cancel it?"
Another comparison I like to make with Astro Boy and Shaman King is the animation and art quality.
Yeah, Shaman King has it's own art style that owes to the manga. In such, there isn't that much attention to detail because there doesn't need to be. Backgrounds as well are very limited. There's a very limited number of colors used in the pallette for characters as well...I'm totally assuming this is on purpose seeing as how certain characters are associated with a certain primary color scheme.
Astro Boy on the other hand had layers and layers of animations in the background, as well as highly detailed foreground characters. There was always something moving back there...clouds, flying cars...the way electricity arcs around circuitry...what got me the most was when they animated a glass of water falling on a desk...it wasn't even the main focus, it was just a little detail they added for realism.
In this respect, Astro Boy completely wipes out Shaman King for sheer mastery and quality of animation and artwork.
And yet it was still not enough to keep the show from being cancelled by a bad edit / story re-write.
"So about that dubbing?"
The voice actors were great...I had no problem listening to favorites from Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star...they are truly professionals at their craft.
The best word I can use for the storyline however is "neutered".
The series contradicted itself within the first 3 episodes on a number of occasions...dialogue between Astro and his nemesis, Atlas, just didn't make any sense...hell, Atlas didn't make any sense...Astro is the first android with free will and Atlas, an android with free will, has been around for 8 years already...and growing up no less...an android that can grow up, that's kinda cool...and not right...
Extra dialogue was added in when characters mouths weren't moving...I thought I was good at catching stuff like that, but my fiance was right there beside me commenting on it.
Facial expressions didn't match what was being said...yeah, you've probably seen it before...let me tell you, it happened alot here.
Episodes were cut as well, let me tell you, it's fun to follow a series when they drop episodes...maybe there's some Sakura fans out there that started on the series Card Captors before watching the series Card Captor Sakura...they can sympathize with me.
So where does this lead us? I'm not sure...I hope someone lost money, and someone in-power learned a lesson, and all I can say is, "Alas poor Astro. I knew him well Horatio..."
LC
