Violence level in cartoons?

[Der_Trihs]

@Revtim

Yeah, I remember as a very young child watching the episode where the moon apparantly was an egg, and hatched a big bird or something. Even as a kid I was like, “C’mon… That crappy writing, even for a Saturday morning cartoon…”

Then there was the episode where they referred to the Bermuda Rectangle. That made me wince as a kid,

[Revtim]

@Der Trihs

Then there was the episode where they referred to the Bermuda Rectangle. That made me wince as a kid,

Ha!

Hey, if you haven’t seen it already, check this out:
http://www.seanbaby.com/super.htm

[NDP]

@Ranchoth

Kinda funny you mention this now—I’ve been catching a few reruns of Gigantor on Cartoon Network. A black & white, somewhat production-value-challanged little cartoon from the mid-sixties, that none the less happened to feature quite a bit o’ onscreen death. Quite a difference from all those years of having every hint of animated “death” painted over.

But *Gigantor * was a Japanese import and, if I remember, usually ran during weekday afternoons. Even during the so-called “Violent Age” of the late 60’s, I don’t remember any adventure/superhero American cartoon made specially for Saturday morning where people actually died. (*Johnny Quest * doesn’t really count since it was produced for and originally aired during prime time.) Usually the worst that happened to somebody was they’d get knocked out or injured–but never killed.

[Der_Trihs]

@Revtim

Ha!

Hey, if you haven’t seen it already, check this out:
Seanbaby's Super Friends Page

I’ve seen it before; I should have thought to post my own link. Great stuff.

[bmoak]

It’s kind of ironic to blame Hanna-Barbera for sanitized children’s television, since Will Hanna and Joe Barbera introduced a generations of kids to senseless violence through Tom & Jerry. After switching to TV production, the lavish budgets they enjoyed at MGM dried up.

However, although they relied more on funny-animal staples like Yogi Bear and animated sitcoms like the Flintstones, Hanna-Barbera still a had a fondness for violence. Indeed their late 60s output was comprised almost entirely of sci-fi, fantasy, and superhero shows with a lot of rock-'em sock-'em action (Jonny Quest, Herculoids, Space Ghost, Fantastic Four, Mighty Mightor, Birdman, etc.)

What happened was that Saturday morning as an uniterrupted block for childrens’ programs (i.e. cartoons) was a relatively new idea at the time, and as parents took notice, advocacy groups started forming to protest the violence in childrens’ programming (and other stuff like using show characters to pitch products). The most influential of those groups was Action for Children’s Television.

The networks pretty much caved in, and told H-B and other studios that none of their action shows would be renewed (think this was in 1970). The new Saturday morning lineup was dominated by new comedies (Scooby-Doo being the most notable) and the new sanitized age, with psychologists and educational consultants vetting every scene in a cartoon began.

[Ranchoth]

@NDP

But *Gigantor * was a Japanese import and, if I remember, usually ran during weekday afternoons. Even during the so-called “Violent Age” of the late 60’s, I don’t remember any adventure/superhero American cartoon made specially for Saturday morning where people actually died.

IMHO, that’s going into “parting hairs” territory, isn’t it?

[NDP]

@Ranchoth

IMHO, that’s going into “parting hairs” territory, isn’t it?

I guess. That distinction probably doesn’t really matter when you’re six.