Another RP editorial from a RP fan

[Rover_Wow]

Aaron Harris has this to say about the sudden lack of RP fans:


Anyone else tired of Rocket Power getting the shaft like I am? I'm sick of seeing these other toons getting their 'new shows and spinoffs' while RP is to be totally forgotten. At one time, it was THE show on Nickelodeon? Where have those days gone? Pretty much down the toilet, so to speak.

And now, the Cooltoons Store is another example of its waning popularity. As of December 1st, the store, which is a product of Klasky-Csupo, which owns Rocket Power, is closing...forever.

And quite frankly, I am FRUSTRATED with the lack of support I am getting with my petition (http://www.geocities.com/bullrose5/saverocketpower.html). Are there any decent fans out there? I'd like to know a few of them, namely at least 100. My only guess is that there are probably that many fans of the show TOTAL in the entire United States. It is sad and it is pathetic to see such a show just disappear into nowhere, like that.

It is even more sad and pathetic that the voice of Tito, Ray Bumatai, who passed away about a month ago, doesn't have an episode in his honor. Just one more episode, this time, in Ray's memory! That's all I am asking for as a fan. If you think that there should be an episode in his honor, then EMAIL KLASKY-CSUPO, AND TELL THEM HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT IT! All I am asking for is a certain sense of closure to the show, and the way it ended was absolutely dissatisfying.

Quite frankly, there are people that say they are 'fans' of the show That's true. Until the direction of the show goes south, then they just abandon it. I can name a few: Ashley, Chris, Brittani, Nick, etc. Know what they all had in common? They had good Rocket Power sites going, claiming that they were 'fans' of the show. Especially Chris, who was just faking us out the last couple of years with his 'I love Rocket Power' act. When I see a true Rocket Power fan out there, I'll believe it. Right now, I feel like there are very few out there that are true fans like ME! I want the show to continue. That's why I created the site. How the hell else do you think I've been running this site for...3 1/2 YEARS?! THREE AND A HALF YEARS! I've put my heart and soul into this thing. And what fan support do I get?! VERY LITTLE!!!!

I don't do this site for anyone that claims to be a fan. I do it FOR MYSELF! I do it BECAUSE I LIKE THE SHOW. I will like this show until the day I die, which may be very, very long. I will still like it 30 years from now, because it is the best show on Planet Earth. And if you don't agree with me, you all can just kiss my ass.

Comment on it.

For the record, I'm also writing a "Save Klasky Csupo (http://members.tripod.com/~Rover_Wow/savekc.htm)" campaign myself. Check that out too.

[Dakkoth]

I think trying to save a show is a wonderful idea, but from experience with the "Save Farscape" campaign and political campaigning, the only place a petition works or is taken seriously is infact in a political campaign.

Trying to save a TV show with a petition rarely works because the petition has little if any chance of making it to a corporate board room. This goes double for internet petition drives. I can't think of any instance (and maybe I'm wrong) where an internet petition drive was ever taken seriously.

In corporate decision making, the execs are going to look at money coming in. Where it comes to TV shows, that money coming in is from the sales of advertising spots during a particular show, and toy sales. This is what they take seriously, and not the cries of a small group of fans.

The Save Farscape campaing made news with rallies, letter writing, product support and so on. Bonnie Hammer, an exec at the Sci-Fi channel, made the comment that women don't watch Sci-Fi. She's a woman, she should know, right? That wasn't the case when the millions (and millions) of lady Scapers started to flood Sci-Fi with bras. The effort was called Brascape and was one of the contributing factors in getting Sci-Fi to work with the creators of Farscape to produce and air Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, which was an attempt to bring some closure to the series.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if you are going to launch a campaing to save a show, the petitions are nice, but I simply don't believe that they alone are enogh.

[judyindisguise]

I think trying to save a show is a wonderful idea, but from experience with the "Save Farscape" campaign and political campaigning, the only place a petition works or is taken seriously is infact in a political campaign.

Trying to save a TV show with a petition rarely works because the petition has little if any chance of making it to a corporate board room. This goes double for internet petition drives. I can't think of any instance (and maybe I'm wrong) where an internet petition drive was ever taken seriously.

In corporate decision making, the execs are going to look at money coming in. Where it comes to TV shows, that money coming in is from the sales of advertising spots during a particular show, and toy sales. This is what they take seriously, and not the cries of a small group of fans.

The Save Farscape campaing made news with rallies, letter writing, product support and so on. Bonnie Hammer, an exec at the Sci-Fi channel, made the comment that women don't watch Sci-Fi. She's a woman, she should know, right? That wasn't the case when the millions (and millions) of lady Scapers started to flood Sci-Fi with bras. The effort was called Brascape and was one of the contributing factors in getting Sci-Fi to work with the creators of Farscape to produce and air Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, which was an attempt to bring some closure to the series.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if you are going to launch a campaing to save a show, the petitions are nice, but I simply don't believe that they alone are enogh.
I have to go along with this. All network execs care about is ratings, and then, merchandising. BUT snail mail is sometimes effective - if there are enough letters mailed AND the show in question has experienced a ratings drop. If I were (god help me) to ever try to organize any kind of fan campaign about any show, I would do these things:

1. Set up a website. It's the best way to communicate with fans all over the world (duh).

2. Ask that any fan of the show visiting the website to write and mail a polite letter to the show's network expressing support or dissatisfaction about the program in question.

3. ASK IF ANY FAN MEMBER OF THE SITE IS AT PRESENT A NIELSEN FAMILY. Which means that the Nielsen Ratings Company has approached said fan member and asked if it could hook up one of its meter boxes to the fan's TV so Nielsen can monitor what shows the fan watches. I had a very good friend who became a "Nielsen family". Nielsen hooked up a meter box to her TV and gave her a TV-viewing diary to fill out and paid her, like, a dollar or something. She told me she made sure to watch all the "good" shows that week. "As opposed to what you usually watch?" I replied. Ha ha ha. ANYWAY - if by some stroke of luck or act of God enough fans of a given show were tapped to be counted by Nielsen AND they were organized enough to either watch or NOT watch the show in question then they could bring the networks to their knees!!!! Or at least affect a show's rating a mite. That might make the suits at the networks pay some attention.

4. PUBLICITY. Every time a news organization on the air or on the net did a story about the show in question, I would make sure that I and the fan members on my site e-mailed or snail-mailed our praise/objections regarding the show in question. Again, POLITE letters should be sent. Sooner or later the news organizations would get the idea that the show they're writing about has an active fan base and that fan base is happy/angry, and given that there's bound to be a slow news day now and then, those news organizations would probably write about it. And the network execs would undoubtedly read it. Now there's an old saying "All publicity is good publicity" but in fact corporate suit-type guys really really hate bad publicity. Unhappy fans are bad publicity. So it never hurts to write letters. I think that's the point I've been making...

5. Eventually give up, close down the site and get on with your life. ;)

[Frank]

Klasky-Csupo store closing down?!? That's terrible!:crying:

[Jave]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Rocket Power is good and popular enough to pull a Family Guy.

[Tash]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Rocket Power is good and popular enough to pull a Family Guy. You know that guy who always says what everyone is thinking but doesn't want to say? That's you.

[ixiah]

Like the ancient hawaians used to say; life ain't fair, lil' cuz.

Fandom can't be compared to a relationship or a religeon. If a show keeps its fans happy, they'll support it. If it pisses them off they'll get angry and probably even abandone it.

Reruns are bound to get new fans anyway. And the best thing a fan can do about a canceled show is to keep its memmory alive through fansites, fanfics, fanart etc...

RP's fanbase isn't that big (either that or very very apathetic) so petitions would just be a waste of energy, IMO.

[Jave]

You know that guy who always says what everyone is thinking but doesn't want to say? That's you.Thank you for finally giving me an excuse to bring back my old signature.

[Dr. Dave]

Well, if you want to save a show, petitions aren't much good. Letters are more effective (not form letters, by the way). Just my 2 cents worth.


Unfortunately, you're a little late, since Nick stopped production on all K-C shows (except All Grown Up) back in 2002 or 2003 (I can never remember which).

[Rover_Wow]

Unfortunately, you're a little late, since Nick stopped production on all K-C shows (except All Grown Up) back in 2002 or 2003 (I can never remember which).

I know K-C's been down on their production lately. That is why I started my Save K-C (http://members.tripod.com/~Rover_Wow/savekc.htm) campaign, so as to try to convince Nick that there is some life left in their franchises (hey, Rugrats came back from cancellation, and that was K-C!).

[Frank]

Well, if you want to save a show, petitions aren't much good. Letters are more effective (not form letters, by the way). Just my 2 cents worth.


Unfortunately, you're a little late, since Nick stopped production on all K-C shows (except All Grown Up) back in 2002 or 2003 (I can never remember which).
I believe Rugrats ended production in late 2002. Rocket Power, Thornberrys, and Ginger ended in mid 2003 (although production on the Thornberrys appeared to have ended earlier). BTW, why was Ginger cancelled and why did the use the original ending instead of the alternate ending?

[Jave]

BTW, why was Ginger cancelled and why did the use the original ending instead of the alternate ending?Because that's how the creator wanted to end the show. That's also why the show isn't returning, Emily Kapnek wanted the show to end there.

[Fan of Sponge]

I don't think Nick would be interested and K-C in restarting Rocket Power. There are some things in this world that are lost causes. Both teams have gone their separate ways and Nick has found other shows that can fill and achieve ratings that are even greater. Plus I don't see Nick releasing any DVDs for the show at this time being. There isn't a huge demand like Zim or Family Guy had which had a stronger, unified, and a larger fan base.

[Frank]

Because that's how the creator wanted to end the show. That's also why the show isn't returning, Emily Kapnek wanted the show to end there.
I know that's what the creator's decision was. But wasn't against Nick rules for a show to have a closed ending? How did Nick allow that scene into the Wedding Frame?

[Jave]

But wasn't against Nick rules for a show to have a closed ending?What rule? There's no such rule.

[ixiah]

I know that's what the creator's decision was. But wasn't against Nick rules for a show to have a closed ending? How did Nick allow that scene into the Wedding Frame?

It wasn't a closed ending.

1) Louis and Dave got married.
2) Ginger has a new Dad.
3) They moved into a new house.
4) The griplings are now poor.

And... Well thats all I could remember. Its a typical KC setup for a new begining.

Yeah it turned out to be a book reading by an older ginger in the end but... Somehow you could bypass that easily.

[Frank]

What rule? There's no such rule.
Well there may be no such rule but don't Nickelodeon Execs usually don't want a series to have a closed ending,. They usually want an open ending just in case they restart the series again.

[Yash]

Rocket Power isn't coming back.

Sorry, I just had to say it. While I think campaigning for it is a good idea (and a more sensible approach than, say, an online petition), Nick and Klasky-Csupo are pretty much done with each other. The only remaining thread between them is All Grown Up and even then it's just a time bomb.

And as far as Ginger goes, the creator wanted it to end there. Respect her decision.

[Jave]

Well there may be no such rule but don't Nickelodeon Execs usually don't want a series to have a closed ending,. They usually want an open ending just in case they restart the series again.Yeah, just like every other network.

I hate closed endings because they take away the speculation factor from the viewer, a good ending should give some degree of closure but still leave the audience wondering. This is why the ending of Digimon 02 sucked, TOO MUCH closure.

I honestly prefer the way Nick's Doug handled it. The first half shows Doug and his friends spending their last day at Elementary school together, the second half shows Doug going on a trip that shows his relationship with his family. Pretty appropiatte for a final episode.