Post by Lord Cyber on Apr 3, 2004 13:05:35 GMT -5
A small piece of me died Thursday morning when NPR verified that Disney is shutting down their 2D animation studio. They've publicly announced that they will no longer be using the 2D medium and will be jumping on the CG bandwagon.
You're probably thinking, "Who cares. Disney sucks."
You're probably not thinking about hundreds of talented artists who are now unemployed, unable to transfer their talents to a 3D medium.
You've probably forgotten about all those good Disney cartoons that came out over the years. I was a fan of Ducktales...remember the Disney Afternoon block? What about Gargoyles? Good stuff.
Now that I have your sympathy for individual shows and people instead of the glass face of a corporation they are hidden behind, I'd like to tell you what I stumbled across last night while contemplating the future of 2D animation.
mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=4Kids&article_no=1990
I compel...nay! I command you all to spend 30 minutes reading this 10 page article about 2003 in review.
I found it through 5th degree. Yeah, the pattern went like this: me -> Shaman King Uncensored -> Hollywood Mew Mew -> Some Anime News site -> AWN.
I was pulled in by reading the 4Kids blurp on the Anime News site (they're server is down right now, and I can't remember their name) about the localization of Tokyo Mew Mew to Hollywood Mew Mew.
Do not read their snippet article! Go to my above link and read the original 10 page article instead.
This bears explaining: the article took 4Kids' Kahn out of context and made him sound like a complete ass and an idiot. You need to read the full article at Animation World Network to see where he was going with what he said (even if I do disagree with what he said...it at least makes sense in context)
So why my overwinded introduction about Disney? Lucky for me the animation series division led by Blumberg (since 1984 with Wuzzles and Gummie Bears, 'til now with Kim Possible) is still alive and kicking because they were transferred over to ABC Network...thank the Lord and the article for the info.
The article is a good read for the older crowd on this message board because you get to hear from every programmer at every major animation network...it's good to hear where they want to go...what makes them tick.
For the younger crowd, it's a good read because you get to see what drives the market...apparently for the price of one locally created animation, you can purchase and dub 3 Japanese ones.
For everyone, it's interesting to finally see why 4Kids does what it does...
They're a licensing company. To them, an animation is nothing more than a 26 minute commercial to sell product. Kahn flat out states in the article that they're only interested in licensing product.
It's really a win/win situation for them. They purchase the rights, advertise it, sell licensing to game / card / toy manufacturers...and we, fans of the original series will still buy said games / cards / toys making royalties for 4Kids even though we dislike what they've done with the dub to get more people to buy said products.
This also leads to another problem: It's highly unlikely 4Kids will release a series. For the third time, they're a licensing company. If some other company approaches them for the rights to do so...it'll happen...but 4Kids themselves will only keep the 26 minute commercials rolling as long as they need to sell product and make money from it.
So please...pull up a chair, and grab a cup of tea, and discuss many of the wonderfully interesting facts this article brings.
Here it is again:
mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=4Kids&article_no=1990
The rules are simple...don't even think of posting a thread to this topic until you've read the article...and after you've read it...feel free to rant / cheer / cry / or speculate on what might become of 2004.
LC #nosmileys
You're probably thinking, "Who cares. Disney sucks."
You're probably not thinking about hundreds of talented artists who are now unemployed, unable to transfer their talents to a 3D medium.
You've probably forgotten about all those good Disney cartoons that came out over the years. I was a fan of Ducktales...remember the Disney Afternoon block? What about Gargoyles? Good stuff.
Now that I have your sympathy for individual shows and people instead of the glass face of a corporation they are hidden behind, I'd like to tell you what I stumbled across last night while contemplating the future of 2D animation.
mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=4Kids&article_no=1990
I compel...nay! I command you all to spend 30 minutes reading this 10 page article about 2003 in review.
I found it through 5th degree. Yeah, the pattern went like this: me -> Shaman King Uncensored -> Hollywood Mew Mew -> Some Anime News site -> AWN.
I was pulled in by reading the 4Kids blurp on the Anime News site (they're server is down right now, and I can't remember their name) about the localization of Tokyo Mew Mew to Hollywood Mew Mew.
Do not read their snippet article! Go to my above link and read the original 10 page article instead.
This bears explaining: the article took 4Kids' Kahn out of context and made him sound like a complete ass and an idiot. You need to read the full article at Animation World Network to see where he was going with what he said (even if I do disagree with what he said...it at least makes sense in context)
So why my overwinded introduction about Disney? Lucky for me the animation series division led by Blumberg (since 1984 with Wuzzles and Gummie Bears, 'til now with Kim Possible) is still alive and kicking because they were transferred over to ABC Network...thank the Lord and the article for the info.
The article is a good read for the older crowd on this message board because you get to hear from every programmer at every major animation network...it's good to hear where they want to go...what makes them tick.
For the younger crowd, it's a good read because you get to see what drives the market...apparently for the price of one locally created animation, you can purchase and dub 3 Japanese ones.
For everyone, it's interesting to finally see why 4Kids does what it does...
They're a licensing company. To them, an animation is nothing more than a 26 minute commercial to sell product. Kahn flat out states in the article that they're only interested in licensing product.
It's really a win/win situation for them. They purchase the rights, advertise it, sell licensing to game / card / toy manufacturers...and we, fans of the original series will still buy said games / cards / toys making royalties for 4Kids even though we dislike what they've done with the dub to get more people to buy said products.
This also leads to another problem: It's highly unlikely 4Kids will release a series. For the third time, they're a licensing company. If some other company approaches them for the rights to do so...it'll happen...but 4Kids themselves will only keep the 26 minute commercials rolling as long as they need to sell product and make money from it.
So please...pull up a chair, and grab a cup of tea, and discuss many of the wonderfully interesting facts this article brings.
Here it is again:
mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=4Kids&article_no=1990
The rules are simple...don't even think of posting a thread to this topic until you've read the article...and after you've read it...feel free to rant / cheer / cry / or speculate on what might become of 2004.
LC #nosmileys
