by the fans for the fans

Most of the popular 80's series have some degree of name recognition, having a major motion picture in recent years definitely helps.
I think Transformers has probably been the most well known and successful of the 80's animated series over the last two and half decades. Even its failures have helped spawn other products and lines to keep it alive and in peoples minds. I think power rangers probably represents the most successful children's live action from that period. It regularly has a new incarnation with the toy and product lines to accompany, and lots of tv commercials. Whether the incarnation if popular or a bomb, it still keeps power rangers on shelves and keeps the franchise moving along by setting up the next variation.

Out of all the 80's animated series I think Voltron is probably the most iconic, the five colored lions that merge into Voltron. At one time Rick and his VF-1 were probably pretty iconic as well and easily recognized as either Robotech or Macross Saga but I doubt they are now days.
I didn't watch every episode of Voltron because of the repetitive episode format others have mentioned, much like the one used by power rangers.
IIRC, I started watching Voltron first then came across Countdown early one Sat morning. I just knew I had to see more of Robotech, there was something different about it.
Visually, I think the five lions and Voltron are more memorable but Robotech was more enjoyable and had a greater impact on me.

While you don't see much about He-Man or She-Ra now days, they have been pretty visible at times over the last twenty something years. There is a new motion picture in development limbo, it was at Warner Bros until they dumped it two years ago in favor of their own DC line. The classic action figures on Mattycollector.com sell out pretty quick, some within a couple of hours. Anyone know how many of each they produce?
Ghostbusters probably has the best name recognition of those mentioned. GB3 has been in development limbo for like ten years. It got new life a year and half ago when the game became an instant hit, unfortunately Bill Murray is stalling production. If he ever gets on board with the production, they have GB3 & 4 plus a potential spinoff with the new younger Ghostbusters planned.

It will definitely be interesting to see how well the revived 80's series will do, which will flourish, which will just hang on, or which will bomb. And which one will be the best known a year from now.

One of the largest pootential problems with any new series airing, is the airing schedule itself.

One example is the new Young Justice series airing on Cartoon Network. The last new episode aired on March 11th. That was only the ninth episode. Here we are on Monday April 25th and stil no new episodes have aired. This has lead many people to wonder if has been cancelled.

Example 2 - Batman Brave and the Bold had 2 breaks of 3-4 months each.

Example 3 - Multiple reruns of Star Wars the Clone Wars.

These situations can quickly kiil fan following for a series. Especially one that has an over-arching plot. You get hopes up but then you run into "Dragonball Z" syndrome where they constantly play the reviously aired episodes prior to the new ones....that just gets old.

Voltron, Thundercats, and the new TMNT all face this potential problem.

You just read my mind Richardmvela. I really don't understand the way Cartoon Network sets up it programming. Just when you think a show is canceled it starts up again, often without warning. I thought Batman The Brave and the Bold was done with season 2 and then I read on the DC blog that season 3 just started. Cartoon Network is its shows' own worse enemy.

Yup, they realy are their own worst enemy. Their ratings have suffered for several years now due to poor decisions. Their highest rated block was moved so much and eventualy eliminated.

People blamed it on low ratings but it actually had stable ratings until they started playing non anime titles on the block and then moved it all over the place.

Then CN also wastes money on a channel like Boomerang. Nothing against older shows (After all I am a Robotech fan) but services like Netflix and Hulu would be a much less expensive alternative then running a channel that many providers keep in obscure or highest tier packaging. Some do not even carry it(Depending on region).

Things like that make me concerned over new shows like T-Cats,while Nicktoons tends to be a little better they still have their issues too and they have Voltron and TMNT comming out this year.

Voltron is more well known than Robotech, but Robotech is a much better series to me.

Transformers, GI Joe and TMNT are probably the most famous of the male targeted series. To a lesser extent Thundercats and He-Man.

This is just based on what was popular when I was younger. Some of this was early 90's so by then some of the shows mentioned were off the air.

Richardmvela wrote:

Yup, they realy are their own worst enemy. Their ratings have suffered for several years now due to poor decisions. Their highest rated block was moved so much and eventualy eliminated.

People blamed it on low ratings but it actually had stable ratings until they started playing non anime titles on the block and then moved it all over the place.

Then CN also wastes money on a channel like Boomerang. Nothing against older shows (After all I am a Robotech fan) but services like Netflix and Hulu would be a much less expensive alternative then running a channel that many providers keep in obscure or highest tier packaging. Some do not even carry it(Depending on region).

Things like that make me concerned over new shows like T-Cats,while Nicktoons tends to be a little better they still have their issues too and they have Voltron and TMNT comming out this year.

Hopefully, they'll have a ton of episodes ready to air (which could explain the premiere being pushed back) so that they can go longer than 2 months straight of new episodes.

Best thing to do in animated production is to coincide the season finales with the time frame that episodes run out to get that 6 months/whatever time frame between to finish up the subsequent batch.

Example - Star Wars :The Clone Wars usually premiers ~ October. Ends ~ March/April. This gives May-September or Mid October to get ready for the next round/season.

I believe May is sweeps so we should see new episodes for the series that haven't announced they are between seasons or on an announced hiatus.
For example, Batman is supposed to be a new episode this weekend.

It is aggravating though how CN has these periods of inactivity with no new episodes then suddenly shows one without much warning. Especially when they sometimes pull Young Justice and Batman completely off the air. Btw, I believe I read YJ is returning in June with new episodes. It can actually be very confusing since many networks don't follow any kind of season schedule like the primary networks did years ago. May-July seems to be the start of the summer season on many networks this year.

Yeah I hate how the switching on and off kills potentially good series..

Back to Robotech vs Voltron

I wonder if someone at W.E.P. doesn't know the difference between Robotech and Macross!


www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=18882518...69685&type=1&theater

Richardmvela wrote:

I wonder if someone at W.E.P. doesn't know the difference between Robotech and Macross!


www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=18882518...69685&type=1&theater

Someone needs to show them this handy reminder: