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Post by jason on Sept 11, 2021 9:46:49 GMT -5
We've done one for live-action, might as well go to the opposite end of the spectrum (unless someone wants to do one for radio shows lol).
Fleischer/Famous Studios Superman Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends Ducktales Batman: The Animated Series X-Men: TAS The Maxx Duckman Superman: TAS Batman Beyond X-Men Evolution Teen Titans (NOT Teen Titans Go, though I did like the theatrical film of that one) Justice League/Unlimited Spectacular Spider-Man Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes Young Justice Justice League Action What If?
If we're adding in comic strips: The Peanuts specials (those voices are still what I hear when I read old strips) Garfield and Friends Heathcliff (though I prefer the Catillac Cats segments to be fair, but since those characters were made part of the strip recently,,) Dilbert
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Post by badwolf on Sept 11, 2021 10:00:59 GMT -5
Justice League: The New Frontier Akira Ghost in the Shell (a great deal of anime really... too much to list)
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 11, 2021 10:02:15 GMT -5
SPIDER-MAN (1967) This had aguably the best animation ever done for Saturday mornings in that entire era, and unquestionably, the best MUSIC. Seasons 2-3, done by an entirely-different studio, was a strange hybrid of the older and newer animation and music, and was just one WEIRD show.
FANTASTIC FOUR (1967) To this day, when I read an FF comic, it's the voices from this I still hear when I read the dialogue (Gerald Mohr as Reed Richards, Paul Frees as Ben Grimm, Harvey Korman as Dr. Doom).
FLASH GORDON: THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL (1979) This feature film (distributed in Europe) was Filmation's attempt to get out of the "Saturday morning ghetto". It is directly responsible for the 1980 live-action film existing at all.
ASTRO BOY
8TH MAN Still my all-time favorite cartoon show from Japan.
BATMAN (1992) This was so good, I could not see any point at all to the later versions with different designs, voices, etc...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2021 10:24:31 GMT -5
Since best is so subjective (what standard or rubric are we using? if it's not all the same rubric for every one and every adaptation, then the comparisons are irrelevant because they aren't really comparing anything to each other) so I will go with personal favorites that I have seen (there's a lot I haven't, particularly the anime adaptations.
My top 10 in no particular order-
Fleischer Superman Batman: TAS The original Duck Tales series Filmation's Flash Gordon The Peanuts specials X-Men the Animated Series ('92) The Asterix animated movies Heavy Metal Hellboy Animated Persepolis Animated
-M
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Post by Graphic Autist on Sept 11, 2021 12:17:58 GMT -5
60s Spider-Man was a favorite of mine as a kid in the 70s and 80s. Also the Super Friends, but that is pretty unwatchable as an adult (still like Spidey though.)
Batman TAS was really good.
I loved Justice League and Justice League unlimited.
Fleischer Suoerman is beautiful to watch.
DC has done a pretty good job with their animated movies for the most part.
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Post by badwolf on Sept 11, 2021 14:18:58 GMT -5
It's hard for me to think of the 60s Spider-Man as a Saturday morning cartoon, since I always saw it after school (in the 70s.)
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Post by dbutler69 on Sept 11, 2021 14:34:45 GMT -5
It's hard for me to think of the 60s Spider-Man as a Saturday morning cartoon, since I always saw it after school (in the 70s.) Me too. Actually, I also have a tough time thinking of Scooby Doo as a Saturday morning cartoon for the same reason. Sure, there was still some Saturday morning Scooby when I was growing up, but the real Scooby Doo (the first 3 seasons) was after school for me.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Sept 11, 2021 18:31:19 GMT -5
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the greatest representation of comic book characters outside of actual comics.
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 11, 2021 18:44:24 GMT -5
I haven't seen all of it, but there's 3 different levels to this...
1 - the feature film, which they were unable to get distributed ANYWHERE in the US because of the narrow-mindedness of "cartoons are FOR KIDS and ONLY for kids" b.s., which was shown in theatres in Europe, and finally turned up on US TV 3 years after-the-fact (that's when I taped it)
2 - the Saturday morning "serial", which was an expanded version of the feature, BUT, with a lot of the "racier" stuff surgically removed to protect "the kiddies"
3 - season 2 of the Saturday show, "kiddie-fied" down so as to make it unwatchable, so typical of the US TV networks.
I'm reminded of what I read the original intention of the Filmation STAR TREK cartoons was, before the project was shelved completely... then, revived a few years later, shockingly MUCH closer to the live-action show, and in some cases, with better writing than the original 3rd season had. Younger viewers complain about the really cheap animation, failing to take into account when the show was made, and how it was genuinely the BEST damned cartoon on Saturday mornings in 1973. (That's how bad things got during that era of massive censorship of "kiddie" shows.)
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 11, 2021 18:48:23 GMT -5
It's hard for me to think of the 60s Spider-Man as a Saturday morning cartoon, since I always saw it after school (in the 70s.) I'm pretty sure when it was first-run, Saturdays at 10 AM, it was up against Filmation's ARCHIE show. 2 very different views of "teenager" life.
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 11, 2021 18:51:16 GMT -5
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the greatest representation of comic book characters outside of actual comics. Saw that in a theatre when it came out. One of those RARE occasions when a TV show was spun off into a feature film where the feature film was WORTH seeing.
It cracked me up it was in the theatre at the same time as TOMBSTONE. That was some month for Dana Delany.
I'm considering getting the box set; I wonder if the 2 features are included, or have to be bought separately (as with the Adam West series) ? I guess I'll find out before long.
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Post by Duragizer on Sept 11, 2021 20:53:05 GMT -5
Batman: The Animated Series. But not The New Batman Adventures; I cannot stress that enough. Ignoring the mostly terrible redesigns, TNBA undid Harley & Freeze's character development from the prior series and turned Batman himself into a complete a-hole.
Fleischer/Famous Studios Superman. Most likely the best adaptation of the character ever, 'cause it hews closely to the comics of the time, without any of the Silver/Bronze Age baggage I dislike. In some regards, it's an improvement on the source material (flight instead of leaping; Clark & Lois' characterization). Shame the social commentary and Luthor/Ultra-Humanite are absent, though.
Garfield and Friends. It's better than the strip that spawned it. Better than most official Garfield tie-ins, actually.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 11, 2021 21:06:12 GMT -5
Garfield and Friends. It's better than the strip that spawned it. Better than most official Garfield tie-ins, actually. It would be almost impossible for it to not be better.
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Post by commond on Sept 11, 2021 21:28:28 GMT -5
The Rose of Versailles Revolutionary Girl Utena Urusei Yatsura Maison Ikkoku Touch Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl Ace o Nerae! Kimagure Orange Road Ashita no Joe
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 11, 2021 23:20:02 GMT -5
There was another thread covering this topic, but I will add what I posted there:
WB's DCAU...with exceptions. From Batman: The Animated Series all the way to Justice League Unlimited (and Static Shock), that universe was DC animation at its finest, with scripting that placed most movie superhero plots to shame. It was a modified comic come to life. Note: This DCAU list does not include Batman Beyond, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go, Young Justice, The Batman (2004) or Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Spider-Man (1981). The second animated version of Spider-Man took cues from the Lee/Romita newspaper strip, where the plots did not dip back into early comic history drama, and focused on Parker as an adult and Doctor Doom becoming a main Spider-Man antagonist.
The Marvel Super-Heroes (1966). The most faithful, direct adaptation of Marvel comics to this day. True to its advertising, it was like the comics were leaping out of the TV screen.
The Adventures of Batman (1968). Filmation's first Batman cartoon, and its best by far. Contrary to some opinions, this was not an adaptation of the 1966 live action series at all, particularly where character designs were concerned, with the main heroes and villains clearly based on the comics of the period. Unlike Batman and Robinseen in the most of Hanna-Barbera's Super Friends series, the Filmation Batman of '68 had most of his adventures at night--a choice to set a mood (which the live action series skipped a little over midway through its first season) to compliment the level of action and violence that would not have played in a world of sunny skies.
Flash Gordon (1979). Filmation's adaptation was the greatest of the franchise's history--no other film or TV series could come so close to capturing Alex Raymond's creation. I shudder to think how a Hanna-Barbera version would have turned out.
Spider-Man (1967). Grantray-Lawrence followed The Marvel Super-Heroes with this adaptation of mixed results. The Bakshi-directed season was vastly superior to the one most think of when recalling this series; in the "Bakshi season" the stories ranged from the character's origin, to many a strange merging of fantasy and crime stories, but quickly jumped to the Lee/Romita era with episodes introducing the Kingpin and Captain Stacy. The series might have earned a higher standing (beyond nostalgia) if Bakshi's approach had been the standard for the entire series.
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