Its another week where I’m struggling to find something to review. Granted, there are a whole bunch of new shows and movies on Netflix I could watch for a review, but I’m too busy playing the new Rise of Iron DLC for Destiny. So this week, I’m spewing out another last minute article, this time, I’m actually excited about it. If you’ve read a majority of my articles you’ll know how much I enjoy animation. Whether its computer generated, traditional 2d, or stop motion, I like to give animated shows and movies my full attention. While being a cartoon loving 20 something-year-old is kind of weird, I'm not alone. Thanks to the success of both Adventure Time, and Regular Show, it's not so weird to enjoy cartoon shows while being an adult. However, while I just praised these two shows for making cartoons cool again, they are the subject of this week’s criticism.
Everyone knows these two Cartoon Network powerhouses. Adventure Time created by Pendalton Ward, and Regular Show created by J. G. Quintel, have become so huge that they earned a spot in pop culture history. The shows premiered in 2009 and 2010 respectively, and their particular brands of weird earned Cartoon Network millions of viewers (as well as lucrative merchandising rights). It was around 2013 where the height of the Adventure Time/Regular reached their peaks in popularity. Adventure Time especially started becoming available merchandise for just about everything, while Regular show became the quintessential high school and college stoner favorite.
I for one have followed both shows since the beginning, and while I can say that there was a time where it seemed like the shows would go on forever, I can say that it is at the time where both shows are in their declines. Adventure Time reached a height popularity when they introduced overarching storylines that felt deep and relatable. However, in what I can only assume is an attempt from the writers to keep the show running, Adventure Time lost its sense of story progression. Even when something happens in the show, it doesn’t affect the characters for very long or have any real consequence. Things that feel bold and important, are just small, insignificant events. The show also had its own weird originality about that made it interesting. Candy princesses, magic dogs, and musical vampires seemed so new and original. Now that originality has become dry and predictable.
As with adventure time’s folly, the same can be said about Regular Show. Regular Show’s intelligence relied on relatable stories that appealed to an older audience while introducing its own brand of abnormal and goofy comedy to hook the attention of younger viewers. However, the progression of the show has become dry and predictable as well. Stories that started out with two friends setting up chairs and ending with fighting demon head have become… well not “that”. I’ve recently caught up to the new season, which is entirely in space. You know the writers are grasping at straws when they throw the entire show into space. The show has become all about being abnormal. There is nothing relatable about it anymore. Before it was about a couple of slackers hanging out and doing things friends do. Now it’s just two dudes in space with their boss. It really doesn’t work.
While both Adventure Time and Regular Show have both earned their placed amongst the cartoon giants, it seems they are looking down the barrel of cancelation pretty soon. The shows are losing their sense of quality and originality. While there might be a couple gems in the upcoming season(s), the series as a whole have both fallen pretty far from the thrones they used to rule from. Thankfully, for Cartoon Network, they still have Rick and Morty as well as Steven Universe to keep us animation snob interested.
