The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

[Nixon]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

I was so upset when they killed prime. I think I was 6 or 7 when my folks took us to the theater to see it. That seriously made me depressed for a while. I'd just sit there with my optimus prime figure and mourn.

[Valkysas]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

yep. hasbro = asshole

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

I loved the Batman cartoon because of it's darkness. Aside from the episodes with the Joker (though even then, you could see how he was one of the most dangerous villians, if not THE), the show was hardly ever a happy-go-lucky cartoon. IMO the series ended when they started airing new episodes created by the same people who created the Superman cartoon (when Robin became Nightwing and was replaced by a young Robin). It just didn't seem the same.

And doesn't Optimus Prime die in every Transformers series? I know he was killed once or twice in the Armada series. When it happened for the first time, it was cool and shocking at the same time. I never would've expected them to kill off the leader of the Autobots. It was kinda disappointing when they brought him back to life. And it got kinda confusing when the story focused on that planet-sized Transformer (Unicron?). I liked the story involving Starscream though; he was my favorite character in the Armada series.

[Valkysas]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

it sure seems like he does. in the original Generation One series, he died once in the movie, and then when he was brought back, he sacrificed himself later on in the japanese only headmasters series.

in beast wars, Optimus Primal, who is a descendant of the original prime, dies once, and then he dies in the sequel series beast machines.

armada, he dies at around episode 34 or so, only to come back for no reason 3 episodes later. he never died in the energon series, he had some shut-downs and near deaths, but thats it.

there are numerous japanese TF leaders (all transformer leaders are renamed Optimus Prime when their series come to america, despite none of them being that character) that never died though.

all in all, counting comics, movies, TV series... the US has seen Optimus Prime die around 12 times.

[John Mora]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

It seems to be his unique talent.

[DK]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

IMO the series ended when they started airing new episodes created by the same people who created the Superman cartoon (when Robin became Nightwing and was replaced by a young Robin). It just didn't seem the same.

I don't see why everyone thinks a different creative team took over when the show moved to the WB. It was the exact same creative team sans one writer. They moved to Tim Drake then cause he had been the present Robin in the comics since before the cartoon first started.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

The new artists didn't help. I mean, why is the night sky red instead of blue? Why does the Joker have black eyes and a triangle face? Why does Catwoman, when in costume, have blue skin? And speaking of whom, I thought Catwoman went legit. I only saw four episodes that I can remember with her out of the old series (the 2-part episode where she's introduced, one episode when her cat is lost, and one episode when Batman posed as Killer Croc), but after the 2-part episode I'm certain she went legit. And yet in the new series (Gotham Knights, isn't it?), in one episode she asked for Batman's help because she STOLE from the wrong people. I didn't mind so much the Robin/Nightwing deal; that was perhaps one of my favorite episodes from the new series. There's also Mr. Freeze. I was under the impression during the original series that after Freeze's introductory episode, he was a semi-good guy. And the ending to the Subzero movie (liked it) seemed to be the end of his cold-heartedness. And yet here he is, in the third episode of the new series, even more cold-hearted than he used to be. Now I know the explanation for this; his true love wound up marrying someone else and he went into a rage. It just seemed unnecessary for it to happen like that though. That was the only time in the new series that I saw him, so I'm not sure if he turned back to semi-good or even good between then and his only appearance in Batman Beyond.

If anybody has seen any episodes in the old series that shows why some of these things are done in the new series, by all means tell me what I'm missing.

[Valkysas]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

batman the animated series was definately best before the move. the change that irritated me most is the addition of white to the male character's eyes. strange, huh?

[The_Real_Crunk]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

They messed up everybodys eyes, and some peoples faces.

[Nixon]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

The new artists didn't help. I mean, why is the night sky red instead of blue? Why does the Joker have black eyes and a triangle face? Why does Catwoman, when in costume, have blue skin?

Oddly enough, I have an old issue of "wild cartoon kingdom" (now waaaay out of print) that has an interview with some of the creators/writers/etc (Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, I think). I seem to recall that those "new" designs were actually the old preliminary designs done by Bruce Timm. I remember seeing them showcased there when the first B:TAS was airing. I'm pretty sure they went back to those designs later on. I could be wrong on this, because I haven't read that issue in years.

[DK]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

I've got a book written by timm and dini about the series (It's called "Batman: Animated") and they pretty much did it to make animation easier and cause Bruce Timm liked how sleek and streamlined his superman characters appeared so he followed suit for the new episodes of Batman.

All the villians were slimed down and simplified with fewer colors, almost Glen Murakami did most of the redisigns as well (he's the teen titans guy). So yeah...the creative team was a little different, but it's not like the original creators weren't for the idea.

(They also changed a lot of characters for movie appearances, like Penguin and Catwoman.)

Besides....who DIDN'T love the new scarecrow design?

I don't know if they were the designs Timm wanted to go with at first (though I know that's definatly the case with The Penguin and Catwoman). But he was very happy with the results on most characters, especially poison Ivy since he thought the old design was horribly animated.

[Funk]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

Heh, if you search Yahoo for "Soleil Moon Frye" you get text ads for "Soleil Moon Frye on DVD" and "Cheap Breast Reductions in Argentina" at the bottom of the search results.

[Magus]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

?!!??!?!? Breasts.

Batman: Gotham Knights definitely has some problems (Mr. Freeze's character arc tops the list) but it's also got some brilliant episodes (Holiday Knights, Growing Pains, Legends of the Dark Knight). And as great/classic as the original designs are (Bruce Wayne in the brown suit) I love Bruce Timm's streamlined versions. That man's a master of superhero simplicity. Definitely a big inspiration.

[Funk]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

Soleil Moon Frye was a DD cup before she got her breasts reduced to a C cup. NOW WHAT DID SHE GO AND DO THAT FOR?!

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: The episode w/ Punky Brewster in the cave...

How do you KNOW that?!