Speed Racer: The Next Generation
 

Now airing on Nicktoons! And since I don't have the channel I had to get the pilot movie the other way (well it IS on DVD...or will be....or whatever).

Anyways. This is set 40 years after the original (which aired 40 years ago...so...yeah).

Sprittle is now in his mid 40's and headmaster of the Racer Academy. An academy where young folk from around the world train to become the best racers in the world.

Speed has long since dissapeared for whatever reasons. His son X Racer (yes...that's his name) is currently the best student at the academy (he's even been in the Daytona 500! ).

Well in comes an orphan simply known as Speed. Turns out said orphan is the long lost son of Speed Racer.

I was impressed with the pilot. Pretty good.

ChimChim is now a hyper active robot always getting into mischief (he talks like R2D2). The villian of the show is a super rich guy who is also the major donator for the school.

The track at the school is kinda like the danger room in that it has a virtual reality set up so that each race is different (instead of going to the actual locations).

Other characters are:

Conor: Speed Jr's mechanic since he sucks at driving. He's very hyper and a MAJOR Speed Racer fan (he's got all the action figures). He built Chim Chim.

Lucy: The other part of Speed jr's team. She's a major work-a-holic

Annalise: A racer cuz well her daddy is the rich villian. She's a biatch and X's GF.

Jared and Jessie: Identical twins. They're X and Annalise's goons/sidekicks. Both are voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas!

Zile: Said rich vilian

Stan: He's kinda like Hun if Hun didn't have any brains....

Zile also has spies that resemble ninjas.....

And there's 2 Professors:

Prof Winn is I guess the token Asian on the show. She's got a wheelchair very similar to Prof Xavier's.

Prof. Aniskov: While Winn is a nice professor, Aniskov isn't....not liked much by the students.

The interesting thing is not once is X and Speed jr's mother mentioned...nor why Speed dissapeared in the first place.

http://www.lionsgate.com/speedracer/

Hmmm... he mentioned working on this at a convention I went to in March. I can remember him talking about what a thrill it was to meet Peter Fernandez (AKA, the dude that did the translation of the original series, and the voice of Speed).

Peter's in the show as well. he's the middle aged Spritle.... or so I've heard.

Yep... the original VA of Speed is now the VA of his brother. *lol*

Fernandez has a cameo in the live action film.

I was really excited about this when it was announced, but lost all interest the second I saw what the animation was like.

So does it hold up well, visually, or is it as two-dimensional and choppy looking as Kappa Mikey?

I might give it a shot if there's nothing else on. Still, I can't help but imagine what this might have been like had they sprung for more expensive animation.

I also watched this last night (from the DVD, which I found that very afternoon -- another early find for me).

It's a pretty good show. With the start-off going well (introducing the characters, etc.).

The animation is kinda CGI-ish but in a good way.

Heh. the original Speed Racer... now THAT was Choppy.

Seriously. it's too bad we're not getting any uncut Mach Go Go DVD's here. The only Japanese disk available in the US that has Speed in it is Time Bokan (which I bought recently), in which Speed has a brief non-speaking cameo.

But I like how the names are American sounding. They're not going out of their way to make an American product look Japanese, like the original source material. And the classic Speed Racer cartoons had all the names Americanize, too. So that's a nice little tribute.

I saw an episode on YouTube and it's already one of the worst cartoons I've ever seen. It seriously looks and sounds like it was made in Flash over the course of a single afternoon. I can only hope someone got fired for this.

^ Okaaay... one viewing and you hate it. Whatever.

Like said, I think it's pretty good.

Yeah. I hate reactions like that. If I thought that all the time of Justice Leauge, then I wouldnt have gotten the second season or JLU, both of which were distinct improvments.

Actually, his other brother. Fernandez also played Racer X in the original, which, in case you didn't know (lol)



Actually, spoilers have a statute of limitations of ten years in my book, so let's say this: he's played all three of the Racer brothers at one point or another.

I liked the pilot of this series. It's well-done and much better than that other Speed Racer series that popped up on Nicktoons a few years back. It was done by Animation Collective, who did the totally hilarious Kappa Mikey. It also features two voice actors from TMNT2K3, Michael Sinterniklaas and David Zen Mansley.

I don't know if we're talking about the same thing here, but this is what I saw. Is this honestly something worth defending?

Gee.. thanks for thinking we're 'clueless' (or whatever you're meaning by that first part). But yes, that is the new Speed Racer Series I was meaning.

Alright, now stop fighting!

(Hehe. That's right. Sneak in at the end and act like the winner.)

Anyway, yeah, this looks really awful. I enjoyed the show when I was a kid, but it's not the same as a few other shows where I can enjoy it as an adult, too.

...after looking at the official site, I think I died a little on the inside... :cry:

Seriously, what the hell is with the art style? And the designs for that matter? I really don't know what it is, but something doesn't seem right. I think it's the eyes and possibly how they have constructed all of the characters faces in general. I mean...would it be too hard to try and actually make something new in terms of style instead of...well, leaching off the generic art style that seems to be all the range today. I won't say anything about the story or animation just yet, since I haven't seen these designs in action...but man...

I'm really starting to hate this century.

People won't stop complaining about the art style. As soon as some mentions how the art on Spectacular Spider-Man is, they get yelled at to kingdom come. Am I missing something? Both are good stories regardless of the animation.

I'm really sad you live in a box where this would come across as CGI in a "good" way. This is actually terrible.

Like...a heaping pile of ****.

Animation is still a big part of it. It can have the best stories in the world, but if the animation sucked, it wouldn't be worth watching. It's on TV for a reason. If it just wanted to tell good stories, it would be a book.

Quoted for truth.

Animation is what makes cartoons...well, cartoons. Cartoons are made of three parts: design, story, and animation. For Speed Racer: The Next Generation, we have not so good designs, and the animation is something to be desired. At this point the story just doesn't matter. If it doesn't look good, people won't want to watch it.

Compare this to Avatar and you'll see what I mean.



No idea why I'm thinking of Avatar, but it's a prime example of an excellent cartoon in those three areas. It has great designs (within believable proportions, which is what I think this Speed Racer is lacking), interesting stories for both adults and children, and the animation is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Now look at Speed Racer.



Only after searching for this has my distaste for the show set. The animation is very amaturish, jerky, and many actions have been reused over and over, while the designs are just something that seems to have jumped out of one of my old sketch books when I used to draw Yugi-oh eyes.

Personally, I think that this thing would probably only work as a book. A comic is pushing it a bit, but that could work as well. But animation? It just seems too rough and unrefined for that.

... /animation rant

But then of course, you ould have the best animation in the world, but if you get a crappy storyline behind it, it can suck worse.

BTW, this would actually be the 4rth Speed Racer incarnation.... there was a series in Japan in 1997: a new Mach Go Go Go...

Or maybe coming on 5th (possibly 6th, depending how you go by things).

That I know of -- have the Classic, New Adventures, Speed Racer X, the recent Webisodes stuff, and now Next Generation.
The video you posted isn't available anymore, so not sure if that's the original version of Speed Racer X or not (so that's why I put the note of "possibly 6").

But the fact remains that my point was not even completely read. Yes, the animation isn't exactly the best. But I'm willing to bet every one of you watches at least one cartoon that has worse animation.

And I'm not even rebutting Avatar. I just hate that show so much, I'd end up pissing off people with a tirade.

Oh yeah, most likely would (get POed folks, etc.). As Avatar is a great show. I'll leave it at that, though (and not get into any of that tirade stuff).

That's just outlandish. You're basically accusing everyone of hypocrisy. I can't even think of a show that has worse animation.

Transformers Animated.....

I'm going to have to agree with this. Optimus Prime with a Leno chin is abysmal.

Yes I am.

Oh har-har...

Transformers Animated has good animation. A bit better than SR:NG.

I don't even like Transformers Animated but its animation is dimensions above this. Even if you don't like the style, technically both shows aren't comparable at all.

There's a difference between "animation" and "character design". I really wish people wouldn't confuse the two.

The animation in Transformers Animated, provided by Mook and the Answer Studio, is really quite good. Very fluid with excellent comic timing and dynamic action sequences.

The character design ("Leno chins") is a matter of personal taste.

W'ever. It still makes my eyes bleed trying to watch it.

Judging from that statement, you must have ghostwritten this book:

http://cavemanconclusion.com/wp-cont...7/10/corky.jpg

Agreed. These two shows are just on different levels. Speed Racer looks like some kid got high and thought it would be great to revamp Speed Racer with Flash MX. Seriously, in that video I put up before, I could point out at least three sections that could have easily been motion tweened in Flash. Not to mention how jerky all the movements are. The team on Transformers has given the show fluid action scenes at least.

Heh, yeah. That's probably the worst kind of cartoon you can find. Although you have to admit, some of the stuff is just plain hilerious. Example: a friend of mine found an anime on YouTube that was billiantly animated...but it was about a rock star in space who thought he could bring about universal peace with the power of rock and roll.

Dammit! They must've just pulled it down.

Try This one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=f5S1HpkXYP4


Listen... I'm telling you this as a fan of classic 1960's animation... Rocky and Bullwinkle and Roger Ramjet hod some of the worst animation you could ever see. Bullwinkle's Mexican studio animation wasn't even perfected until Total TV came out with Underdog. The first episodes were so bad, in fact, they had to reshoot entire scenes. One episode, they said, "The Hell with it" and just used their supposedly more expensive Hollywood for one segment.

As for Roger Ramjet, the characters barely moved. Other than their mouths, that is. It was a US animated production, I'm told.

But these shows are so wonderfully written, and wonderfully acted that the animation is merely an after thought. Hell, even South park started out with minimal animation before they went digital.

Now compare that to Disney's Treasure Planet. All the beautiful animation in the world couldn't save it.

Though, the whole point is to get great animation and great story in one place together. Unfortunately, you don't see too much of that anyway. Heck, I stopped giving a crap about how cartoons looked when they all moved to Korea and did digital crap that looked unremarkable. Though, Toon City is pretty damn good. Especially their animation for Curious George the animated series. best limited TV animation I've seen in a while.