Its like they sucked the soul out of it.

[stvd]

i was never a fan of top cat anyway,found it more annoying than entertaining.

Same here, never regarded it as a classic.
With the exception of Tom & Jerry & Scooby Doo, most of their stuff was crap.

[Antiriad2097]

It's a children's cartoon for heaven's sake. Why some adults get annoyed by this sort of thing I don't know.

OK, a little exercise for you:

Think of a program you really, really (really) like. Got one? Good. Remember it giving you happy memories, and giving you a warm feeling inside? Great stuff. Now, imagine some movie exec taking said program, and making it into a really shoddy looking film, that *looks* like the program you remember, but has no substance to it, essentially killing said memories and p!ssing on the name of the program.

SImple - I would try to avoid watching the new version.

In the instances I have ended up viewing new versions of programmes I enjoyed as a child I didn't let it "kill" those cherished memories. For those who are weak enough to let a modern-day remake of a children's cartoon show "kill" their happy memories of the original then perhaps they need to get a grip and grow a pair!

DC, I think you're missing (at least some of) the point here.

Its the disappointment of knowing the franchise could be so much better than it is, so current children will never experience the joy we did. It would be nice if modern remakes of cartoons and movies could be shared with the grandkids without knowing they're pale imitations of original ideas.

We could just return to those old shows instead, but in many cases the animation quality or presentation isn't suited to a modern audience. They've dated. The remakes could address this and make them comparable to the best modern shows but this isn't happening.

Its not about 'killing' old memories, its just a little sad that I can't have new ones. Defining something as 'for kids' on this forum of all places is a little narrow minded. Adults can derive some pleasure from kids tv, even if its just nostalgia.

[gman72]

I agree with your point that they should just show the original programs but its still grown men moaning about cartoons at the end of the day.
I got put off what i'm sure are really good games i.e. the Kingdom Hearts series because I really didnt want my GF to see me playing games with Disney characters in. That's a failing with my own personality rather than anything else.

[Liamh1982]

i was never a fan of top cat anyway,found it more annoying than entertaining.

Same here, never regarded it as a classic.
With the exception of Tom & Jerry & Scooby Doo, most of their stuff was crap.

Scooby-Doo was crap too - same old tired routine every episode, knocked out as cheap as possible.

It's like they'd built up so much goodwill with the sheer genius of the 40s/50s Tom & Jerry they thought "we'll never top that, let's not even try". Not until hooking up with Cartoon Network in the 90s did they get some small semblance of their mojo back.

[JazzFunk]

Didn't they stop making Top Cat in the 60s/early 70s or summat? Even watching it in the 80s, as a kid, it seemed well-old. And I wasn't a fan, Tex Avery shorts were (and still are) where it's at.

It's not like they're p!ssing on a legacy, it was just a throwaway kiddie cartoon, wasn't it? I doubt they'd resurrect it looking exactly the same as it did, just to appeal to grown men in their thirties and forties - 'tis for the kiddiewinks!

[crusto]

Wasnt there another 'cat' type cartoon doing the rounds at the time, really similar. 'Boss Cat' or something, or is my warped mind playing tricks on me?

Anyway, Batfink is where its at, and Dangermouse.

[IronMaidenRule]

Anyone messes with Stop The Pigeon and I will leave a turd in there Coffe Cup

[resident paul]

Wasnt there another 'cat' type cartoon doing the rounds at the time, really similar. 'Boss Cat' or something, or is my warped mind playing tricks on me?

Anyway, Batfink is where its at, and Dangermouse.

I remember that 'Boss Cat' was the american wording for 'Top Cat' & it showed in the cartoon visually either the beginning or the end?
It was based on Sgt Biko & his men on 'The Phil Silvers Show!'

[Liamh1982]

^ Actually they re-named it over here - something to do with a brand of cat food.

[psj3809]

I think people are going a bit OTT about it. Whats Top Cat ? 50 years old ? Kids nowadays watch non stop CGI stuff at the cinemas, if Top Cat came out as a traditionally made cartoon at the cinema it 'might' be a huge flop. It seems theyve tried to please everyone, a bit of 'old skool' cartoon animation on CGI, think its a decent idea.

Problem is we're thinking of Top Cat as 'ours', its 50 years on from the original, they have to try a revamp as the original probably wouldnt be popular with kids (just their parents).

At the end of the day wait to see how it does at the box office. Theyre trying to reach to a new audience, its not the late 30 somethings, if the kids love it then its a success. A handful of old blokes trying to re-live their childhood isnt the audience theyre really aiming for.

[Antiriad2097]

Is Top Cat suitable material for child viewing now?

Its a tale of a gang constantly trying to outdo the law with illegal schemes.

[Mayhem]

^ Actually they re-named it over here - something to do with a brand of cat food.

Yeah, it was the name of a brand of cat food here at the time, so the title card was altered to "Boss Cat". Nothing else was changed though.

[DPrinny]

Is Top Cat suitable material for child viewing now?

Its a tale of a gang constantly trying to outdo the law with illegal schemes.

Compared to what "kids tv" is now?
Its mostly c**p
Even the recent Looney Toons cartoons where not as good.
Still if they must stretch them from about five minutes to twenty

[joefish]

The style change is nothing much to note. The original backgrounds were crude sketches; crude CGI isn't too far off. If you want radically different take a look at Gumball - an insane mix of cell-drawn and fully shaded 3D CGI characters on photographic backgrounds, but it still works.

I think the worst thing about it is that in the US you could grab a handful of people off the street of a certain age and find a better Phil Silvers impersonator than the one they've picked for this movie. I never liked Top Cat much either, and I really don't care if the story is an intricate web of trickery or just as dull as the original cartoon, but what this is is blatantly bone-idle casting.

As has been mentioned before, Scooby Doo did well by getting the key voices spot-on. If you take any of these old cartoons and actually watch them back-to-back instead of once-a-week you realise how dry and formulaic they were - plus you spot a huge amount of sequence re-use, particularly in action-orientated animation. So to get a watchable feature-length script out of any of them (without taking the lazy option of a re-boot story) is doing well.

As for modern kids' TV, there's some good stuff in there amongst all the crap, even though most of it's just there to sell toys, just like we had - but with the addition of plugging on-line subscription gaming, not just over-priced homo-erotic plastic muscle-man dolls. Clone Wars is OK, but look at the aforementioned Gumball for school/family comedy or Johnny Test and Hero 108 for formula-action.

All the stuff based around collectible card games is getting pretty tired, though shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Fortunately that spate of crude CGI, like the Captain Scarlet and Dan Dare series with flat backgrounds and obvious limits of three CGI objects per scene, or obvious and distracting flat-shading of 3D scenes like Dragon Booster has been and gone, and now the cell-shaded CGI looks more like traditional key-framed 2D animation. Just with fewer 'tweening sweatshops.

[Treguard]

At least it doesn't look as rubbish as that Yogi Bear film with Justin Timberlake...