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Post by Cutie Tabootie on Nov 10, 2014 17:50:19 GMT -5
Just put various reasons why you love the show here  nothing much
The reasons why I love ChalkZone are: * The animation is gorgeous for a '00s Nicktoon. I noticed that around this era, the animation in the Nicktoons weren't as fluid as they were in the '90s. Most shows either went with CGI, adobe flash (and most of their flash efforts are hideous), or went with more limited animation (it was kind of evoked in OddParents though- the show was going for a '60s look). And then the slice-of-life based shows like As Told by Ginger or All Grown Up! had okay animation, but nothing to write home about (since they were more dialogue/story heavy than animation heavy). ChalkZone looked great. It was really fluid. I think out of every studio, Wang Film Productions did the best job (Galaxy Digimation was pretty fluid, but they were also really off-model. Rough Draft looked pretty good as well, but they only did two episodes. Eh, guess they were too busy with the SpongeBob and Powerpuff Girls movies)
* It wasn't overly-sadistic like a lot of 2000s animated shows (and onward). The main three never tried to bring each other down and it was overall pretty sweet. Not saying that I hate all "sadist shows", but they've just become too increasingly common. And in shows aimed for young kids, it's not always the best (hello current episodes of SpongeBob Squarepants).
* The main trio are adorable. Shame that we never got any merchandise of them save for the Wendy's promotion (and even then, only Snap got a really nice action figure- which was pretty high-quality for a fast food premium, especially Wendy's as they're insanely cheap with kids' meals prizes). Actually...if ChalkZone caught on, I don't think we'd ever be able to walk into Walmart or any other store without seeing Snap all over the place.
* The background music that plays in ChalkZone itself is awesome. So late '80s-early '90s electronic. |
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Post by Bluedramon on Nov 10, 2014 20:57:55 GMT -5
Not sure if I agree that "sadistic shows are more common now". I think it's been relatively the same. I watch a number of shows and a lot of them aren't sadistic. I would think the opposite is true, and that shows have gotten tamer in general, but that's just me.
As for animation, not sure if I can agree with you there, either. I've seen a number of modern cartoons, and the animation is fine. I don't notice any decrease in quality. I notice changes of style, but that isn't the same as quality going down.
As for why I like ChalkZone, I think one of the biggest reasons is because it's an art show, a story about drawings coming to life. I also find the characters to be pretty adorable, and I like seeing them interact with one another. I also like seeing all the different worlds and types of zoners they come up with. In a world where drawings are reality, there are infinite possibilities of designs.
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Post by Cutie Tabootie on Nov 10, 2014 23:21:14 GMT -5
As for animation, not sure if I can agree with you there, either. I've seen a number of modern cartoons, and the animation is fine. I don't notice any decrease in quality. I notice changes of style, but that isn't the same as quality going down. I was mainly talking about just Nick. Around the 2000s, I noticed that the animation in most shows weren't as fluid.
As Told by Ginger and All Grown Up! looked okay, but again, nothing to write home about. As slice of life shows, the shows are driven more by the dialogue and not the animation.
The Fairly OddParents, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Danny Phantom, and The Mighty B! relied on the "limited animation" technique made popular by Hanna-Barbera. Cartoon Network got the ball rolling on that one for that whole "retro" feel and Nick seemed to follow (along with Disney). Considering that Butch Hartman (FOP, DP) and Rob Renzetti (MLaaTR) came off of H-B right before it became Cartoon Network Studios, it's kind of given.
Invader Zim looked gorgeous in terms of animation. Possibly THE best animation I've seen in any Nicktoon.
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Tak and the Power of Juju, Back at the Barnyard, The Penguins of Madagascar, and Fanboy and Chum Chum all went the CGI route, as it was really starting to get popular.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is a more unique case, as it was more anime influenced as opposed to regular western animation influenced like the rest of the Nicktoons. The animation was nice and the art looked great.
Catscratch was one of the last traditionally animated shows for a few years. It looked pretty good animation-wise, but not as fluid as IZ or CZ. It's also been at least eight years since I've seen this show so I'll have to look at it again (because from the little bits and pieces I saw; it was good)
The X's and El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera relied on Adobe flash, which was really starting to rise during the decade (KaBlam! was the first Nicktoon to use it all the way back in '96, but not in full as it was an anthology series). I never liked the animation of Nick's flash shows...they looked lazy (then again, the only flash shows to me that look(ed) really good are/were Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mickey Mouse (2013), and Wander Over Yonder, all from CN/Disney/the Hub). But I think the animation medium as a whole is relying too much on flash nowadays...look at what they've done to Arthur!
As for the 2010s, most of what they're airing now (not counting the shows that have since been canceled; though the only one that was traditionally animated was T.U.F.F. Puppy) is either CGI or flash, with the exceptions of Sanjay and Craig and the still-running SpongeBob and FOP (as opposed to Cartoon Network, where most of their original shows currently airing are traditionally animated, and Disney Channel/Disney XD, where their original animated shows right now are a mix of traditional animation and flash- though the flash looks fluid and bouncy instead of cheap)
That being said, I think ChalkZone was one of the last Nickelodeon cartoons that was really fluid.
(Then again I'm also a nerd with no life who watches too much animation and pays too much attention to detail and thus this is the reason why I don't have a date)
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Post by Bluedramon on Nov 11, 2014 13:14:34 GMT -5
I forgot to mention this before, so I'm adding this real quick.
What one person thinks is good animation may not apply with another. It's all subjective and based on opinion. I'm pretty lax with animation in general, so it's pretty hard for me to label something as 'bad animation' or 'decaying animation'. So I admit I get confused when someone calls something a 'bad animation' if, when I watch it, the animation isn't half bad. I don't do much compare or contrasting, trying to figure out which show/movie has the 'best animation'.
Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't any conditions where I do prefer a style of animation over another. Like with ChalkZone. I know some people prefer the first season's animation style, but I personally feel the fourth season overall was better. The colors felt more dynamic, the characters felt more lively, ChalkZone had a more 'child coloring book come to life' look and texture to it, making it look even more distinct from the Real World, etc. Snap looked much more like a chalk drawing here than he did in previous seasons. I also prefer RUdy and Penny's outfits, especially Rudy. In the first season, it felt more like his clothes were painted on. In the fourth season, with those sleeves, he felt more 'fleshed out' drawing-wise, more dimensional. About the only thing I didn't like from the fourth season was the redesign of the Chalk Mine, at least how it was in Reggie The Red. This is one instance where I say the earlier seasons did it better.
Though I still like the earlier seasons and I'm not in anyway saying the animation is bad. I just have a preference for season 4's style.
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racingwolf
Seasoned
Ever so often I twiddle my thumbs to the beat of the swaying sea sponges.
Posts: 107
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Post by racingwolf on Nov 18, 2014 0:09:33 GMT -5
I also prefer RUdy and Penny's outfits, especially Rudy. In the first season, it felt more like his clothes were painted on. In the fourth season, with those sleeves, he felt more 'fleshed out' drawing-wise, more dimensional. Yeah, I like how they did that with the clothes too. Though I love the style of his old clothes as well, the new ones looked much more like, well, clothes! I also think more merchandise would have been awesome (like an official Snap plushie). I certainly would not have minded if there was Snap merchandise everywhere. XD I'd have a huge collection of it. I think the two things I like most about ChalkZone were: 1. The other world/adventure aspect of it. I loved the concept of a world where drawings come to life, a world that had different rules from the real world and so many crazy awesome places to explore. I also liked all the stuff they came up with about things from the real world that could threaten ChalkZone's inhabitants, and the things that could happen if someone from either world got into the opposite one when they weren't supposed to. The creativity put into it all is awesome. 2. The three main characters and their friendships. Like Cutie said, I liked how they didn't try to bring each other down. They had disagreements and got on each other's nerves occasionally, like anyone would, but they always got over it quickly and the show really showed that they cared about each other and had a lot of fun together. I think that was really nice to see. |
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Post by Bluedramon on Nov 18, 2014 0:16:03 GMT -5
A Snap plushie would have been awesome!
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nothing much
