The "Golden Age" of Animation

MoeDantes

The period from the 30s (I think) to the birth of television. The period from which classics like Looney Tunes, Merry Melodies and Tom and Jerry hail. ... Personally, I don't understand the love for it. I mean okay, I can see how it gets respect from animators who admire the amount of work that must've went into making these ten-minute short subjects look absolutely beautiful and animating them so well. But really, that's about all it has going for it. In all honesty, I've never understood why the earliest generations of various artistic mediums get dubbed "the Golden Age." Gaming had a Golden Age as well--from its roots until the Crash of 1983. You know, the period before we had Final Fantasy, Super Mario Bros, Metal Gear, Hydlide or pretty much anything worth giving a shit about, and every game was some barely playable one-note thing with barely any variety to keep it entertaining and often without a real point. Cartoons, when you think about it, were often in the same boat--so many Golden Age shorts are just a series of purportedly "funny" antics that go on until the film picks an arbitrary place to end. Honestly, about the only Golden Age short series that I thought were all that worthwhile were Superman and Popeye, the latter only for having one of the better adaptations of the stories of Sinbad, Ali Baba and Aladdin. Other than that, the "Golden Age" was the period before we had Rocky and Bullwinkle, He-Man, G.I. Joe, Scooby Doo, the good version of Batman and... basically any cartoon where you can actually get caught up in events and care about what's happening on the screen, beyond simply whatever humor value you get out of furry animals acting like retards. So how is it the "Golden Age" again?

RedEyedAbyss

"Scooby Doo"

"basically any cartoon where you can actually get caught up in events and care about what's happening on the screen, beyond simply whatever humor value you get out of furry animals acting like retards"

...

Malkavian

Animation has certainly evolved since then but there's stil la lot of important things that from technical and even artistic positions were important.

Also, What's Opera Doc is still one of the best pieces of comedic animation out there.

^Yeah, he totally should have said Yogi Bear.

Myrmidon

Okay

MoeDantes

@Abyss_Worm - While Scooby Doo did rely heavily on comedy, it also told stories and kept you interested with the mystery of the day. Admit it, you used to always try to guess who the man in the mask was gonna be, didn't you?

Vivi

The best cartoons were in the 90's, man.

RedEyedAbyss

To be honest, I got bored after a few episodes. To each their own.

^^^^Yes, What's Opera Doc was awesome, if only because it led to successors like the opera episode in Hey Arnold!

Malkavian

I didn't, because even at a young age I realized the answer would have been pulled out of thin air at the end. The only Scooby series I can think of that genuinely relied on laying out clues for you to guess was A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. Even the new Mysteries Inc. (The best in the series so far in my opinion) doesn't do that.

^^herewego.jpg.

Vivi

The only 80's cartoon I've watched that I've ever liked is Jem. All the others like He-Man and stuff? I just don't like them.

The 90's gave us the good shit.

RedEyedAbyss

Still, Beast Wars happened because of Transformers.

Vivi

I'm not saying they were bad concepts, or were bad cartoons. I just don't like any of them. Well, there were quite a few bad ones.

Malkavian

The 90s did have Darkwing Duck and Ducktales.

MillerCross

It's the Golden Age because it brought to the forefront so many new animation techniques and, most importantly, innovative writing. For it's time, of course, but few shorts are as meta as ChDuck Amuck and well, there's the whole "What's Opera Doc?" deal.

MoeDantes

Ironically I'm working on a topic about 90s cartoons... give me time...

Yeah Scooby wasn't always logical, but it was still fun to guess, and usually there was some sort of sense to it (as much sense as you can have in a show where Shaggy can fly by flapping trash can lids, at any rate).

(BTW Malk, Ducktales started in the late 80s)

Vivi

Is it a complaining thread on the 90s? Or a gushing thread?

Malkavian

So did Nirvana, but they're still associated with the nineties movement.

Era isn't important though. What's important is that it was a badass show.

Seriously, it's great. if it were made these days they'd try to shove in all these Indiana Jones and Da Vinci code references.

MoeDantes

edit: nevermind.

And Vivi its gonna be half in half.

nohaynicklibre

>From the 30's to the birth of television.

But televison appeared in 1926

MoeDantes

Okay, then it must not have caught on/became mass-marketable until the 50s or so, which is when animation went from theatrical shorts to being produced for television.