Random Cartoon Reboots That Didn't Live Up To Originals (15 items)

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  (#15) ThunderCats

  • Emmanuelle Chriqui, Clancy Brown, Michael McKean, Kevin Michael Richardson, Pamela Adlon, Dee Bradley Baker, Will Friedle, Robin Atkin Downes, Corey Burton, Satomi Kōrogi, Matthew Mercer, Eamon Pirruccello, Madeleine Hall

  Hoping to capture the success Nickelodeon had with its Ghibli-esque action show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, WB Animation and Cartoon Network rebooted the 1985 ThunderCats into an epic anime-inspired series. Animated by Japanese animation studio Studio 4°C, the 2011 reboot of ThunderCats followed a teenaged Lion-O and his fellow Thunderians as they search for the Book of Omens to defeat the evil Mumm-Ra, who conquered the kingdom of Thundera.

  When the series premiered in late July of 2011, the ThunderCats reboot opened to great reviews and great ratings to go with it. However, ratings began to slide as the series progressed. Loss of interest and poor toy sales ultimately led to the cancelation of ThunderCats. Following the cancelation, the staff behind the 2011 reboot of ThunderCats went on to share details about future storylines they had planned for the series.
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  (#5) Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain

  • Ben Stein, Nancy Cartwright, Rob Paulsen, Cree Summer, Maurice LaMarche

  Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain was the controversial 1998 retooling of Pinky and the Brain, which shoehorned Elmyra from Tiny Toon Adventures into the Animaniacs spin-off. The retooling happened because executives at Warner Bros. wanted a more sitcom approach to the series; making it "more like The Simpsons." This followed earlier demands for a new main character to the show, which Pinky and the Brain mocked with an episode called “Pinky & The Brain... and Larry.”

  Retooling Pinky and the Brain was met with resistance from the producers; so much so that writer/producer Peter Hastings left Warner Bros. for Disney over the decision. Before leaving Pinky and the Brain, Hastings lampooned the whole situation in the meta episode "You'll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town Again," where Pinky and Brain leave their show over dumb executive meddling.

  Even in the finished product, the staff of Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain expressed their dissatisfaction of the show’s new direction through its new theme lyrics: "So Pinky and the Brain, Share a new domain, it's what the network wants, why bother to complain?"

  Only six of the 13 episodes aired; the rest were used as segments for The Cat&Birdy Warneroonie PinkyBrainy Big Cartoonie Show.
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  (#10) Loonatics Unleashed

  • Charlie Schlatter, Jason Marsden, Jessica DiCicco

  Loonatics Unleashed was a controversial reboot of the beloved Looney Tunes characters of the 1930s. While Warner Bros. had successfully rebooted Looney Tunes in the past, such as Tiny Toon Adventures, Loonatics Unleashed was scrutinized for its darker, action-oriented approach to the comedic series.

  The series took place in a post-apocalyptic world where a meteor strike has given six teenaged descendants of the Looney Tunes superhuman powers, for which they use to fight for good. All the characters were coated in black and given cool-sounding names, like the Bugs Bunny surrogate character being named Ace Bunny.

  Loonatics Unleashed was panned by critics and TV audiences alike for using the Looney Tunes characters to create a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip-off. Warner Bros. considers Loonatics Unleashed to be an embarrassment and, just like Space Jam, is often mocked by other WB cartoons.
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  (#9) G.I. Joe Extreme

  • Jim Byrnes, Garry Chalk, Blu Mankuma, Richard Newman, Matt Hill, Michael Dobson, Campbell Lane, Elizabeth Carol Savenkoff

  Feeding off the EXTREME energy of the 1990s, G.I. Joe Extreme was a new line of military-themed toys that followed the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line. Just like the previous series, G.I. Joe Extreme received an animated series that took place in the “near future of 2006.” In the new series, the Joes fought against a new global terrorist organization called S.K.A.R, led by the evil Iron Klaw. The visual design of G.I. Joe Extreme was reminiscent of the bold comic book style of Todd McFarlane. G.I. Joe Extreme didn’t succeed like its predecessor, resulting in the cancelation of its second wave of toys and animated series.
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  (#4) Ben 10: Omniverse

  • Yuri Lowenthal, Bumper Robinson, Eric Bauza

  Ben 10: Omniverse was the fourth animated series in the Ben 10 franchise for Cartoon Network. Omniverse was continuing the teenage adventures of Ben Tennyson from the previous shows., but also tried to take the series back to its adolescent roots by alternating to an 11-year-old Ben. In addition to a new art style and new alien transformations, Omniverse gave Ben a new partner in the form of a by-the-book alien rookie named Rook Blonko.

  While Omniverse tried to take things back to the simpler days of the original series, it often came at the cost of the new continuity established by Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, and the fans those series brought in. Omniverse broke up Ben with his longtime girlfriend, Julie Yamamoto, in favor of reuniting him with Kai Green, a girl he had a crush on but only loved him as a pet in his alien werewolf form.

  During its 2012 to 2014 run, Omniverse gradually moved from prime time to early morning slots.
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  (#7) ReBoot: The Guardian Code

  ReBoot: The Guardian Code is, well, a reboot of the 1994 CG-animated series, Reboot, by Mainframe Entertainment. A big difference between the new 2018 show and the original is that The Guardian Code was a live-action/animated hybrid that followed a group of teenagers who have been recruited to save the world through cyberspace.

  The premise of The Guardian Code was very similar to the French animated series Code Lyoko and its 2012 sequel series Code Lyoko: Evolution, which was also a live-action/animated hybrid. Thomas Romain, a co-creator of Code Lyoko, even called out The Guardian Code for its eerie similarities to his series on Twitter. The closest tie-in The Guardian Code had to the 1994 ReBoot was a few cameos of the original animated cast and its villain Megabyte. Even though the live-action angle was the only way the staff could sell a new ReBoot series to TV, it wasn’t enough to retain an audience for The Guardian Code.

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