Bad Premises, Excellent Execution

[the Amanda]

Many cartoons have excellent premises, but the execution falls short for a variety of reasons (money, lazy writing, wrong demographic, annoying characters...). However, some cartoons are exactly the opposite. They have a premise that sounds completely terrible, but the cartoon turns out to be good anyway. What are some of the cartoons that you hated the premise initially but ended up loving the cartoon?

I think, for me, the king of these is Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Even though I loved Space Ghost's random humor, the idea of fast food fighting crime seemed too bizarre to hang a whole series on. However, I tuned in anyway because of its connection to SGC2C. It turns out that the crimefighting doesn't really happen (after the first few eps), the fast food characters are hilarious, and the whole show is sheer genius :D

Another cartoon I was skeptical about was Earthworm Jim. It's based on a video game (often a very bad sign) and featured a talking worm in a robot suit. However, its wacky goodness quickly grew on me.

Any more? :)

[shogunthethird]

Shadow Raiders/ War planets, the toyline was utter garbage but the show is one of Mainframe's holy trinity of great shows (the others being Beast Wars and ReBoot)


Mighty Max, another show based on a crappy toyline but the writing and acting was beyond stellar, how can you go wrong with Rob Paulsen, Richard Moll, Tony Jay and Tim Curry?

[tucsoncoyote]

Song Lyrics:

Dave, the Bar-barian!
Huge, not a wimp!
His sisters Fang and Candy,
are a princess and a chimp..(NOT A MONKEY!)

Well let's just say the premise of this series was a bad idea, come on a barbarian who can knit, who can cook, clean a castle, do birdcalls, do oregami, write bad poetry, sing horrible songs, and just is afraid about everything? Perhaps the worst idea the folks at the Walt Disney came up with right? Wrong..

Seems for some reason this show has enough humor, and just barely enough (Properly executed Humor) that this show really isn't a bad show, in fact a lot of people (including I hate to say it, myself) like this show...after all, that Chuckles is one evil silly piggy..(I'm the Master of Evil! THE MASTER of EVIL! and I have a cute Tail too) You could say that it grows on you.. like a magic beanstalk.

Nuff said,

:coyote:

[Scythemantis]

Shadow Raiders/ War planets, the toyline was utter garbage but the show is one of Mainframe's holy trinity of great shows (the others being Beast Wars and ReBoot)

Mighty Max, another show based on a crappy toyline but the writing and acting was beyond stellar, how can you go wrong with Rob Paulsen, Richard Moll, Tony Jay and Tim Curry?

I thought the toy lines were great, actually. War planets was an interesting concept and mighty max's toys were just completely flat-out awesome. Where else could you possibly find a zombie head that opens up into a playset with a brain-monster and a giant maggot?

[HellCat]

Put me in as another who loved both the toys and show of Mighty Max.

G Gundam. Imagawa was handed a poor brief- make a show where Gundams fight each other in a tournament. Thank God he was a fan and added the Devil Gundam plot as well as making the main cast more then just stereotype fighter characters.

[Mystic Shadow]

Duel Masters, but I'm not sure if that counts.

[Xfox]

I think Totally Spies fits into this mold. The premise sounds like the most grating animated experience- Valley girl speak mixed with girl power posturing. But it's actually a pretty good show and they keep the aforementioned traits to a minimum.

[Westlander]

Well let's just say the premise of this series was a bad idea, come on a barbarian who can knit, who can cook, clean a castle, do birdcalls, do oregami, write bad poetry, sing horrible songs, and just is afraid about everything? Perhaps the worst idea the folks at the Walt Disney came up with right? Wrong..OMFG, it's so stupid it'd surely work as a humor cartoon!

I think Totally Spies fits into this mold. The premise sounds like the most grating animated experience- Valley girl speak mixed with girl power posturing. But it's actually a pretty good show and they keep the aforementioned traits to a minimum.Well, like...Totally yes! Some villains were over the top, but damn, this is really funny parody of 70's b-movies about spies (like "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." series).

[DSRGirl]

I think, for me, the king of these is Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Even though I loved Space Ghost's random humor, the idea of fast food fighting crime seemed too bizarre to hang a whole series on. However, I tuned in anyway because of its connection to SGC2C. It turns out that the crimefighting doesn't really happen (after the first few eps), the fast food characters are hilarious, and the whole show is sheer genius :D
You know why the premise of crimefighting never really held? It was a gimmick. The creator's intent was to create a show where three fast food products just randomly had stuff happen to them. But that aint gonna sell to a network unless you attach some kind of story to it. So they decided to say they were detectives and say the show was about them solving mysteries. However, when the show actually was picked up for new episodes, they just ditched the crimefighting idea and had the show be about what it really is: Fast food products hanging out until stuff happens.

My personal pick would have to be Static Shock. The aspect of a teenage who was "a living fusebox" (to quote the show's actual promotion) didn't appeal to me at all. Watching the actual show though, I ended up liking it.

[tucsoncoyote]

Well, like...Totally yes! Some villains were over the top, but damn, this is really funny parody of 70's b-movies about spies (like "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." series).Actually back in the Mid and Late 60's and early 1970's you had three shows that Dealt with Spy Girls (and both of these were of course Live action)

Get Smart (With Barbara Feldon Playing Agent 99, and of course a young Stephanie Powers (who later did Hart to Hart) in a Spinoff of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) Called The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. Plus Diana Rigg (as Emma Peel) From the Avengers.

(You could say these two shows were both the Grandmothers of Both Kim Possible and Totally Spies!)

But The Spy Girl Genre theme really has been around for the last 35 to 40 years, but no "Spy Girl Genre" show really has been put into an animated form until early 2000, when Mary Kate and Ashley in Action jumped into the forefront on ABC One Saturday morning.. and here was another show that was a Bad premise but still somehow worked..

after that, Spy Girl Genre animated shows have come out in the last 4 years from both Disney and Marathon, and really I'm expecting by 2006 or 2008 this fad might pass (But now a New Genre (or rather an old one is emerging), Namely Magic Girls (This can be traced back to the Anime Sailor Moon, and other Japanese anime Magic Girl shows, but then since then you have had CardCaptors as well. but the next Generation of Magic Girls"is on the way with both W.i.t.c.h and Winx due out in late 2004 early 2005. So perhaps the spy girls might go undercover and disappear for a few years, or they might just stick around.. it's anyone's guess.

but all of these shows are pretty much based on bad ideas on paper but when you get around to it, they can an a lot of times are executed quite well

Nuff Said on the Subject,

:coyote:

[the Amanda]

You know why the premise of crimefighting never really held? It was a gimmick. The creator's intent was to create a show where three fast food products just randomly had stuff happen to them. But that aint gonna sell to a network unless you attach some kind of story to it. So they decided to say they were detectives and say the show was about them solving mysteries. However, when the show actually was picked up for new episodes, they just ditched the crimefighting idea and had the show be about what it really is: Fast food products hanging out until stuff happens.


Yes, I heard that from the commentary. I should have expected that this was the case from the start, judging by the amount of attention the talk show guests were getting in the last eps of Space Ghost...

[Jave]

Fairly Oddparents. Never thought a show about fairies could be this funny.

[GL2k2]

My list:

Mighty Max (A definite shining moment in what can be done in a cartoon. This is one series that is highly underrated and some people don't even know of it. For shame.)

Earthworm Jim (A very funny series. I can't remember too much about it, but I remember laughing when I switched it on.)

SWAT Kats (Could've been a cheesy cartoon, but it ended up something that deserved to stay on longer than it did.)

Tiny Toon Adventures (we all thought back then it was going to be silly like Muppet Babies or something. It went in a totally different direction and with Speilberg, Dini, and many others on board for that one, it was a can't lose.)

And thank you "Tucsoncoyote" for that info on spy-girl history. The only thing you missed is that pre-dated Mary Kate and Ashley was Dangergirl based on the Image comic book. But it was never released to the general public.

[the Amanda]

Right on about Tiny Toons. I expected it to be something more like Muppet Babies or worse "baby" shows (Baby Looney Tunes *shudder* ), instead it was surprisingly smart and funny.

[tucsoncoyote]

My list:
SWAT Kats (Could've been a cheesy cartoon, but it ended up something that deserved to stay on longer than it did.)
Agreed there GL2k2,... This one definitely was the "cat's Meow" when it came to mixing fighter jets, techno weaponry and some rather nice somewhat competent villains, and some cute anthromorpic female characters. (cats as people, a novel concept!)

Edited Note: (In fact I'm still thinking, if I can find the schematics for the turboKat, (The Jet) of building it for a flight sim. Hey a Very Short Take-Off and Landing, variable geometry wing, harrier style jump jet fighter/bomber with mach 2 capabilites and enough armament and missiles to stop most small armies in their tracks!.. Me Likey!:D )



And thank you "Tucsoncoyote" for that info on spy-girl history. The only thing you missed is that pre-dated Mary Kate and Ashley was Dangergirl based on the Image comic book. But it was never released to the general public.
Not a Problem there GL2k2 , and Yes you are correct as well with Image's Dangergirl (Sadly this series was supposed to come out in comic book form, whether Image comics was trying to find some animation company to produce an animated series for television is beyond even my knowledge..(Hey it could have worked!)

:coyote:

[tucsoncoyote]

Right on about Tiny Toons. I expected it to be something more like Muppet Babies or worse "baby" shows (Baby Looney Tunes *shudder* ), instead it was surprisingly smart and funny.
Yep and it poked fun at other things too.. Like Killing Barney (The Dinosaur) with an Anvil, (YAY Wakko, Yakko and Dot!) but yet at times could be downright educational for the kids as well!..

(Spielberg had the Right idea on this one.. he should do more!)

:coyote:

[shogunthethird]

animated show-wise, Spielberg is a genius, I mean TT, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Histeria (which despite my hatred for most educational cartoons any show with the sheer balls to do a vomitorium sketch and say "damn" on saturday morning deserves respect)

Swat Kats: the radical squadron (how can it be a squadron with only one jet) lame name, kick-arse show, (and was it me or was Dark Kat the same guy who voiced the Pirate lord Bloth from Dark Water?)

as for spy girls, I'd have loved to have seen a Danger Girl comic, especially if they could've found a way to animate in Jason Scott Campbell's distinctive art style (Helloooooo secret agent nurse!)

[the Amanda]

Yep and it poked fun at other things too.. Like Killing Barney (The Dinosaur) with an Anvil, (YAY Wakko, Yakko and Dot!) but yet at times could be downright educational for the kids as well!..

(Spielberg had the Right idea on this one.. he should do more!)

:coyote:
Well, actually, that was Animaniacs, not Tiny Toons. But Tiny Toons paved the way for Animaniacs' style of humor, which is another reason to love TTA. :D

[Lonestarr]

Off the top of my head: Clone High.

This sounded so stupid when I heard about it (clones of historical figures in high school), and to my surprise, it turned out to be so gaspingly hilarious. What I wouldn't give for a DVD release.

[Peter Paltridge]

Kim Possible sounded terrible, but it was actually really good.

[Tobias]

Jem I mean, come on, a girl rock band with a lead singer harboring a secret identity, all to push a girl's doll line? Sounds kind of lame on paper, but the writing and execution were top notch. And the songs are really catchy.

Mighty Max I wasn't expecting much when it premiered, but I really liked the show, and was surprised it got a second season. Too bad it ended too soon.

Family Guy Before it premiered, everyone (inclduding me) said 'Oh, no, not another attempt to cash in on the Simpson's success'. Turns out FG's one of greatest animated series I've ever seen.

Pound Puppies What could have been a very sickly, sugary sweet cartoon ala Baby Looney Tunes that would only appeal to pre-schoolers turned out to be a very great cartoon, with tons of sight gags, film and t.v. jabs, and fun characters. Well, the first season at least. The 2nd year kind of rolled downhill.