It has been brought to my attention that this series is going to be remade or at least the creator is thinking about it.
From the interviews I've read online, there's a lot that can go wrong with a remake of a show like the Raccoons but there are ways that it can go right, so this tribute list will examine the Do's and Don't's of remakes for this show and examples of others that got it right or wrong.
Don't Rely on CGI as a First Choice
The most popular cartoons at the moment don't actually use it and even returning franchises like Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry have managed to avoid it but shows like Garfield have a hard time grabbing an audience when that went to CGI because it lacks the slapstick that the original show had, only a non dialogue cartoon like Wil.E Coyote & Road Runner can pull this off successfully.
Do Keep the Formula that Made the Original Famous
It's not difficult to keep formulas for cartoons, heck if Scooby Doo can keep going with their formula then what's to say other cartoons can't. The Raccoons wouldn't work without the insert songs or it's main theme.
Don't Rely too much on Modern Technology
If you remade something that today hasn't aged well then you probably should leave it alone, Jem and the Holograms made the fatal mistake of jumping on the social media bandwagon to plug their live action reboot movie, which has turned a cheesy yet charming 80s cartoon into another horrific Nickelodeon style live action tween movie.
Do Pick a Vocal Cast that can Bring back the Characters Properly
A sad reality about cartoons is that while they live as long as they're remembered, their voice actors won't, they are still human and will have to depart this world eventually; a sad truth particularly with Raccoons is most of their main voice cast have passed away. To better explain what I mean. Mickey Mouse has had 10 Voice Actors since his creation and no one has ever questioned the quality of his voice, so voice acting isn't an issue.
Don't Dramatically Change Character Designs or Change their Gender just Because Some Network Told you so
My biggest complaint about the remake of Thunderbirds and what I'm reading about the Danger Mouse remake as well is the dramatic change in certain characters. When you make a character for any TV show it should remain in that form for it's existence. Art Direction for characters is subjective and reasonable but turning a character who was previously male into female like Lieutenant Green in Captain Scarlet or changing an iconic looking character into something unrecognizable like turning Yogi Bear into an early 90s teenager is not right.
Do Fix the bits that were Broken with the Original
Fans are easily narked off about changes to their precious cartoons but there are some things that everyone will agree with. Try telling me these ideas were bad?
Thundercats Remake: Snarf doesn't talk.
Modern Scooby Doo: Scrappy Doo doesn't exist in Canon.
My Little Pony: It's not Generation 3.
Small examples but you can see my point.
Don't Let a New Character Take the Lead
Optimus Prime should always lead the Transformers not Bumblebee. Scooby Doo is called Scooby Doo not the lets watch an awkward relationship between Fred and Daphne Show. Tom & Jerry is about a cat and mouse fighting each other, not a supporting player to a character that no one cares about. You can see where I'm going with this, no more needs to be said.
Do Pay Tributes to the Original Source Material
You'll be doing yourself and your original fans so many favors that you'll quickly forget that it's a remake.
Don't Insult the Fans of the Original by Creating a New Product from the Old
Jem and the Holograms example again, there's nothing in that live action film that has anything whatsoever to do with the original, it shouldn't even be allowed the tagline Holograms. Micheal Bay Ninja Turtles and All Female Ghostbusters springs to mind as well.
Do Keep the Iconic Theme Songs, if you can't, Make a New Iconic Theme Song
Fans will always identify a cartoon by it's iconic theme and keeping the theme song is essential for that, if it cannot be done due to copyright or some rubbish like that, then make something that does the same job.
and finally
Don't Ever, Ever Remake Anything that Hasn't had enough Spotlight to Justify a Return
The Kickstarter trend is notorious for this in bringing back something that hasn't seen the light of day for years and then some clever sod decides it should come back and actually remakes it which I guess is the story surrounding the Rainbow Brite reboot. I'm not sure how much in demand the Raccoons is in it's native Canada, I imagine a certain Canadian I know can answer that for me but for other examples like Rainbow Brite and Jem and the Holograms, there are so few people wanting those shows back that in actually doing it you've pretty much tripped before you've started. It's also not a good idea to remake something that hasn't been relevant for 20 years, five years is the longest any cartoon should wait for a reboot, it's still relevant and will be more accepted as some of the fans are still around and you have more options to tweak it. Wait too long and your stuck with a current Generation who'll spend more time asking their parents why they are so interested in their cartoons or why your so angry at something your kid clearly enjoys, or my favorite one, telling off your kid for liking a new version of a cartoon you enjoyed. Yes that really happens.
So you probably have some clear understanding of why the Raccoons reboot doesn't work and why certain other shows do or don't work.
OVA is a strange system, you are essentially putting a lot of effort into a creation that may not get a full series by the end of it. There have been shows that have been criminally dropped that deserved more while there are others that you just look at and say "Yeah that really sucked" but you also get the unexplainable like today's review Jungle De Ikou.
Natsumi Rokudo is a normal student until she receives a gift from her father when he returned from New Guinea. This statue that she receives is the prison of the demon Ongo; to combat the possibility of evil, a tribal man named Ahem bestows a necklace and a creepy dance that allows Natsumi to transform into the fertility goddess Mii which is described perfectly by another character as the "sleaziest transformation I've ever seen" and they are hundred percent correct as Mii's form is incredibly well endowed and very skimpy.
Now there are two ways of reviewing this series.
1. The comedy at least pokes fun at itself and knows how ridiculous the plot is and how absurd Natsumi's form is.
Or 2. This is incredibly uncomfortable to watch.
I review this under the number 1 slot because it is just a comedy, it does poke fun at itself and at the very least it knows how bad it is. Now it's nothing new for anime to change a young girl into an adult as it was common practice to do that in old shoujo shows but at least their transformations featured as little discomfort as possible for the person transforming, when Natsumi goes through with the sequence she looks as though she's going through puberty and that's why I can see the point of view of the number 2 argument.
Dub is okay, nothing special.
Final Verdict: While it's obvious that it's supposed to be a comedy and an ecchi anime, you may not laugh that much nor would you think that breasts that size really suit the ecchiness of current shows. It's nothing more than a budget DVD release so at the very least it's cheap.
Now the last list featured cartoons adapted from movies but the video game version is a little bit lacking, with it's many adaptions of Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario to take into account, in short it wouldn't be a very good list as there have never been ten good video game adaption cartoons and because this show would always be number one it's Earthworm Jim.
Earthworm Jim was originally a 90s Video Game created by the talented Doug TenNapel about an Earthworm who acquires a power suit that allows him to function with human dexterity and high levels of strength, together with sidekick Peter Puppy who can go monster form when hurt or startled and Princess What's-Her-Name the rebellious sister of enemy Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed Slug-for-a-Butt, promptly kick ass everyday to stop evil, in the name of the Great Worm Spirit.
Along with the Queen, there are plenty of enemies to fill the series with Psy-Crow the Bounty Hunter, Professor Monkey-for-a-Head, Evil the Cat and Bob the Killer Goldfish among others, it's one of those shows that doesn't take itself too seriously, it's like Animaniacs and Freakazoid with it's humor, which suits the voice work of Dan Castellaneta, that's right, Homer Simpson is Earthworm Jim and that became the perfect ingredient to make a brilliant yet horribly underrated show that needs more love in an era obsessed with kickstarters.
So if asked what is the best video game cartoon then show them Earthworm Jim and guaranteed they will agree with you.
I've been meaning to do this list for a while as we look at the Top 10 Best Cartoons adapted from films.
10. Godzilla
The most famous monster to ever grace Tokyo has had a few adaptions over the years including some silly ones in the 1970s up to the cartoon based on the 90s American movie of Godzilla which many admit was actually better than the film itself.
9. Men in Black
Remaining faithful to the source material doesn't work for everyone but works wonders with Men in Black that relies on a certain style to maintain it's ice cool exterior.
8. Ace Ventura
The first of three Jim Carrey films on this list, Ace Ventura was probably the weakest of the lot. The idea works in context but without Jim Carrey in the shoes or being real, it loses some charm, it's still pretty good though.
7. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Another idea that works animated and they managed to get hold of the original cast for season 1, pity season 2 didn't follow the same rules. Out of all the ones listed on this top ten, this is the one I want to see return to the small screen.
6. Star Wars Clone Wars the Genndy Tartakovsky Version
A Star Wars adaption told through the artistic direction of Samurai Jack's creator Genndy Tartakovsky works wonders for a franchise who at this point was trying to win back an unsettled audience from the Attack of the Clones film. To remind you of Genndy's style, he lets the action do the talking and keeps dialogue to a bare minimum, there you go improved franchise so why get rid of him CARTOON NETWORK!!!!!????????
5. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
You wouldn't think this was possible but it actually works animated, an angry scientist makes Killer Tomatoes and you've got yourself Splatoon before it was cool.
4. Beetlejuice
While it kind of switches Beetlejuice's position from Antagonist to friend of human girl Lydia, it stays faithful to it's style and surreal horror humor that so makes the film such an 80s classic. While very much toned down to obviously suit the audience, there were enough talented writers to avoid making this bad.
3. Dumb & Dumber
The fact is Jim Carrey was on to something when he created all these characters, they pretty much act cartoonish so it makes sense to animate them, Dumb & Dumber didn't last long compared to the other two but makes the duo much more likeable than their live action film versions.
2. The Mask
Now the Mask is even more cartoonish and with his slapstick being a cross between the Genie and Animaniacs you have comedy gold and one of the most underrated cartoons of the 90s. Jim Carrey make more of these guys please.
1. The Real Ghostbusters
But for the memories, staying true to your characters, having good voice acting and being insanely awesome, the Ghostbusters win this list outright as it's pretty much the only one on this list to be picture perfect with it's adaption.
Note: So I bet you're wondering what the best Video Game adaption into cartoons is? There's only one Video Game cartoon that rules them all and has never had a bad word said against it, and you'll have to wait til tomorrow to find out.
Now we review an anime the same age as me give or take a few months, in fact the timing of this review is perfect seeing as today is this Anime's 29th Anniversary, this is Project A-Ko
A-Ko is a normal high school student with freakish strength who starts life at a new school with her annoying friend C-Ko, although normal doesn't seem to exist when B-Ko wants to take C-Ko away from A-Ko so the two end up fighting each other in fight scenes that get sillier and bigger as the film goes on, meanwhile an alien race are chasing after C-Ko as well because C-Ko is a princess from their world so A-Ko and B-Ko go and save her.
This anime is the earliest example of a parody series, many years before Excel Saga made it popular, if you're feeling like digging up on old anime then I'll help you by naming some of the references in this movie.
The initial setting of the show being a site of a former colony drop style massacre, a common tactic used in Gundam.
The Antagonist leading the alien race looks like Captain Harlock.
The Sci-Fi space battles resemble scenes as well as the aircraft from Macross.
Miss Ayumi the teacher looks exactly like Magical Girl Creamy Mami.
Mari the Muscular School Girl is a direct parody of Fist of the North Star.
And finally there are hints from the movie's ending that A-Ko is the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman, and remember this is before the internet and before the term shipping was invented.
The show is quite well made despite having origins in hentai, the music soundtrack is pretty damn good for the time period and while I agree that a number of characters are annoying and the plot makes very little sense, it still has a charm to it and could probably still be significant in this day and age should it ever receive a remake.
But I must address the elephant in the room and that's of course it's age and what it's actually parodying. Unless you're from my Generation or older the references would be lost on you. I'm not saying a younger person wouldn't understand it, I'm saying that the stuff it parodies doesn't really exist anymore; you could argue that many of the anime of today still owe some thanks to a lot of the shows parodied in this movie, heck Project A-Ko could be thanked for inspiring Excel Saga, but you know when something has passed it's time when you have to explain to someone what the references are and you don't get the same enjoyment from it because of that.
Dub is fairly basic but not too bad and a remastered movie is not difficult to find.
Final Verdict: A fun little film from a bygone age that's unfortunately lost on today's anime fans.
