most tv sucks these days, but there are some shining examples of good writing, acting, camera work, etc... we call those Deadwood and Arrested Development. Family Guy sucks ass, though...
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - On the heels of a $102 million opening weekend for "Iron Man," Marvel Animation is powering up the "Marvel Super Hero Squad."
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The Marvel Entertainment division said it is producing 26 half-hour episodes of a new "super stylized" animated series aimed at 6- to 8-year-olds. It will feature such well-known heroes as Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, Fantastic Four and Captain America; all occupy a caricatured Super Hero City and are thrust into humorous adventures as they thwart the villainous plans of Doctor Doom, Magneto, Loki, the Abomination and others.
Marvel is in discussions with networks for the distribution of "Squad," expected to be available for broadcast in 2009. The company already has two new series -- "Wolverine and the X-Men" and "Iron Man: Armored Adventures" -- set to debut early next year on Nicktoons.
"This initiative is part of an overall strategy to create new brands and maximize exposure for the characters in the Marvel universe by keeping them fresh and relevant for a new audience and to provide a consistent presence in the marketplace," Marvel Entertainment president of animation Eric Rollman said.
When asked why they didn't just make comic books for kids in that age bracket, Rollman laughed his ass off. "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard! Kids don't want to read comics! Hell, they don't even know how to read! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to re-attach my ass."
This show should be good. It really should be. The animation is clean, the character designs great, the voice acting above average. But I couldn't enjoy it. I tried, and I couldn't.
In making the show more (supposedly) appealing to younger kids, silliness like Dr Doom having a teddy bear is tossed in. And the characters act like kids. Which would be perfectly fine... only, the violence is at least as prevalent as in any previous, non-toddler Marvel cartoon. The show should be cute. But it's not especially cute when the cuddly characters wind up in full-on action sequences. I've nothing against violence in cartoons, and think the outcry against it is bullshit, but I couldn't help but wonder, if the violence content is going to be this high, making the show not really appropriate for smaller kids, why not just make a good Avengers cartoon?
It's not as bad as Teen Titans. But, in a way, it's worse. Teen Titans, at least, if you bothered watching the beginning of an episode, you wanted to watch the whole thing to see how badly fucked up it was. Superhero Squad is more likely to put you to sleep.
*--For behavior unbecoming anyone, perpetrated in real time over an extended--AH, FUCK IT! MORE MALIBU, BITCHES!!
I caught about 10 minutes of this. It was definately strange. Loki and some other guy were stealing the hero's powers. When the hero lost his power, he became really skinny. So the Hulk gets zapped and shrinks. they go to a camera view from behind Hulk looking between his legs. His shorts fall down to his ankles and someone says "Err, Hulk, you're going to make us lose our G rating." And at the end, Dr. Doom gains control of the situation by givng Loki mini-pizza rolls.
The animation was fine, but it was a weird story line and the heros acted like kids.
I saw a couple of episodes- I enjoy the character selection but overall the concept is really baffling, I have no clue what the target audience is supposed to be either
