are we ready for an animated series where the characters age? (1 Viewer)

[Walter C]

I can remember watching one of the Flintstones TV movie that came out in the early 90's, and found it odd that Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are grown up, but their parents still look the same and haven't aged at all. Even more odd, Wilma's mother and Dino are still alive, and Fred still works for Mr. Slate.

I also remember Quack Pack, where the nephews were teenagers, but Donald and Daisy Duck still look the same, as if they have not aged at all.

 

[Anthony Hom]

A "Reality animation show". Now that's a fresh idea. The problem is, unlike it's live action counterparts, it doesn't really save any money and in the world of corporate own TV networks, that a key component.
At least they have shown in many Simpsons episodes, stories in the past and the future, so they are trying.

 

[TonyD]

there was a pebbles and bam bam sat cartoon with them as grown ups or older teens

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

Originally I thought the characters would age. Bobby went from junior high to high school but stopped early on.

 

[Chris Roberts]

I think its great if you're doing an overall story where its planned to end at a certain point. You can have the characters start out young and grow up as the show goes on (some anime does this kind of thing). Stuff like The Simpsons where its episodic in nature means the characters don't really need to age.
An animated Truman Show where you see someone's whole life being played out could be interesting. Probably wouldn't pull in the ratings though.

 

[MarkHastings]

I'm sure in real life sitcoms, the writers would LOVE to keep their characters at the same age. Obviously you can't do that (especially with children). You have to keep changing your writing style and show actually feels like it's aging along with the characters. For a lot of shows, that's not always a positive thing. Most people (who tune in week to week) like conformity.

But if an animated show were to take it on, one logistical nightmare would be, since animation can take a long time to produce, it would probably be even more difficult to keep control of the progression and when the episodes are finished, etc. - Since the writers & animators work on several episodes at once, that would get even more difficult to control.

Of course you have South Park who put the boys in the next grade, but all they really did was change the teacher and not the appearance of the boys. They never really even mentioned an age change.

They did the same on the Simpsons when they aged Homer several years. They also aged Apu's children by many years. But of course, just like with King of the Hill, major changes are easier to do than smaller/incremental ones.

Although if you were to age the Simpsons 1 year each season, Bart and Lisa would be out of the house and the writing would take a different approach. As much as the show is stale, I prefer when cartoons stay the same.

But also, isn't that true with anything else that doesn't have a real "physical" person to equate the character to? Like Santa Claus. He doesn't need to be aged every year because his image is a symbol of what the character is all about. As opposed to (for example) My Name is Earl, where Jason Lee IS Earl. As Jason ages, so does Earl. That's because as Jason changes, so does the character.

Bart Simpson doesn't have a real person behind his image, thus his "soul identity" is defined by the way (and age) he was initially drawn.

People would have a harder time accepting cartoon characters that age because a new image (of what the character is all about) would need to be generated. This is why Matell initially discouraged any representation of Barbie's voice.

Or do they still not have her speak (I know there are videos, but obviously have never watched them to know).

 

[IanDP]

KOTH is probably the only show to even attempt that. It made for some great "puberty" jokes and themes.
However, they had to change voice actors when Joseph got older. Originally Brittany Murphy did the voice of young Joseph, then they brought in Breckin Meyer for older Joseph.