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

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  (#1) The Powerpuff Girls (2016)

  In 2016, Cartoon Network brought back its 1998 mega-hit, The Powerpuff Girls, for a brand new TV series. While The Powerpuff Girls had been revived for specials, such as its 10th anniversary special “The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!” the 2016 series was a new TV run by an entirely new crew.

  Shockingly, the original voice actors for Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, were replaced by new and younger actors, while the remaining characters stayed mostly the same. Original series creator, Craig McCracken, had no involvement with the new series, but made it clear that Cartoon Network had contacted him about possibly working on the revival, but had to turn it down due being contracted by Disney at the time.

  The 2016 series faced further criticism when fan-favorite character Ms. Bellum was written out of the new series for her suggestive appearance. Many fans felt the removal of Ms. Bellum went against the feminist message of the series, as it was basically punishing her for her looks, while making the cast more male-dominated. The episode, "Horn, Sweet Horn,” was also criticized for falsely marketing itself as a trans-positive episode, while the actual episode unintentionally included several transphobic gags. However, what ultimately hurt the reputation of the new 2016 series was its unbelievably bad animation filled with inconsistencies and errors.
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  (#2) Speed Racer: The Next Generation

  • Kurt Csolak, Carter Jackson, Sahra Mellesse

  As the name suggests, Speed Racer: The Next Generation was a 2008 animated series that followed the next generations of racers inspired by the original Speed Racer. Speed Racer Jr., or “Speed” for short, is the second son of Speed Racer. He enlists in a racing academy to become more like his dad, who left him in an orphanage before mysteriously disappearing from the world.

  Peter Fernandez, the original American voice actor for Speed Racer, appeared on the new series until his passing in 2010. Only two seasons of The Next Generation were made before its cancelation in 2013.
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  (#3) The New Adventures of He-Man

  • Garry Chalk, Scott McNeil, Michael Donovan, Venus Terzo, Mark Hildreth, Doug Parker, Campbell Lane, Don Brown, Alvin Sanders, Ted Cole

  The New Adventures of He-Man was a new 1990 animated series based on the Masters of the Universe toy line. The new series was intended to be a continuation of the original 1983 cartoon, but the dramatic shift in tone contributed to a sense of discontinuity between the two shows.

  In The New Adventures of He-Man, He-Man is summoned to the futuristic planet of Primus to help them fight off the evil Mutants of Denebria. Making matters worse, Skeletor follows He-Man and aligns himself with the evil Mutants. The futuristic tone for the show was chosen because Hasbro wanted to move He-Man away from his barbarian portrayal and focus more on the sci-fi elements of the franchise. Unfortunately, The New Adventures of He-Man and its toy line didn’t sell as well as Hasbro had hoped. Some of toys from The New Adventures of He-Man were repurposed as toys for the 1993 Demolition Man movie.
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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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  (#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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  (#6) Voltron: The Third Dimension

  • Tim Curry, Brad Garrett, Clancy Brown, Billy West, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tress MacNeille, Michael Bell, B. J. Ward, Neil Ross

  Years before DreamWorks Animation successfully rebooted Voltron for Netflix, Netter Digital and Splash Entertainment tried their hand at revitalizing the 1984 series. The new CGI series was set five years after the original Voltron series and followed the story of the Voltron Force reassembling to take on Prince Lotor, who escaped his imprisonment in deep space.

  Despite some high-profile action being involved in the series, such as Tim Curry voicing Prince Lotor, Voltron: The Third Dimension was commonly criticized for its bad CG animation. Only 26 episodes were made. While the series was previously available to purchase digitally, Voltron: The Third Dimension has been removed from iTunes and Google Play.
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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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  (#8) Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"

  • John Kricfalusi, Eric Bauza, Cheryl Chase

  In an effort to compete with Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block, the former Spike TV network (now called the Paramount Network) launched its own adult-animation block that was spearheaded by an edgy revival of Ren & Stimpy. Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon took the former Nicktoon stars and threw them into 22-minute episodes filled with extreme aggression, crude humor, and overall vulgarity.

  While original series creator John Kricfalusi - who was famously fired by Nickelodeon for constantly missing deadlines - returned for the new adult series, many of original talents that made kid-friendly Ren & Stimpy a phenomenon, such as voice actor Billy West and creative director Bob Camp, were not present for the new show. Only three of the six-episode series of Adult Party Cartoon were ready for air on Spike in 2003; the rest premiered later on DVD after the adult animation block was canceled.
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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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  (#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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  (#11) George of the Jungle

  George of the Jungle is the 2007 reboot of the 1967 classic. Staying true to the original, the 2007 reboot revolves around the silly adventures of its dimwitted Tarzan-ish hero, George, and his fellow animal and human companions. In addition to new characters, such as the native jungle girl Magnolia, the George of the Jungle reboot was flash animated by Canadian animation studio Studio B Productions. Even though the original production only lasted for one season, the George of the Jungle reboot was generally considered to be innocuous, but fun.

  However, the reboot surprisingly came back to life with a second season in 2016, eight years after its original run on Teletoon and Cartoon Network. Even stranger, the second season made some significant changes to the characters and style of humor. Ursula Scott, who was originally portrayed as a tomboyish jungle researcher and a woman of color, had her name changed to Magnolia, while the original Magnolia had her name changed to Ursula. Ursula also had her personality changed from a valley girl living in the jungle to a destructive cave woman. What sticks out the most in the second season of George of the Jungle is the increased focus on gross-out and lower quality of animation done by an entirely new studio. Also, there’s a talking tooth.

  As of now, there’s no plans for a Season 3.
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  (#12) Sonic Underground

  • Maurice LaMarche, Garry Chalk, Gail Webster

  During the '90s, DIC Entertainment produced three animated series based on the popular Sonic the Hedgehog video games. The first two series, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic SatAM), are the ones best remembered by fans from that era. The last one, Sonic Underground, is the black sheep of the Sonic cartoon trio.

  Much like the previous Sonic cartoons, the world of Sonic Underground was completely separate from anything that came before. In this series, Sonic had two siblings, Manic and Sonia, and were searching for their royal mother, who was on the run from the evil Dr. Robotnik.

  Sonic Underground is commonly criticized for its poor stories and atrocious animation. In fact, the only thing that has withstood the test of time from Sonic Underground is its meme-level bad animation.
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  (#13) Beast Wars: Transformers

  • Scott McNeil, Garry Chalk, Ian James Corlett

  Beast Machines: Transformers was a CG-animated TV series by Mainframe Entertainment that ran on Fox Kids from 1999 to 2000. Even though the show was sold as a sequel to the 1996 CG-animated series, Beast Wars: Transformers, Beast Machines was considered to be its own standalone series.

  Every episode had Optimus Primal and the other Maximals working together to take down Megatron, who had mysteriously taken over Cybertron, their home planet. Separating this series from its predecessor, Beast Machines gave its heroes new techno-organic bodies. One reason why Beast Machines failed to take off with the Transformers fandom was that Hasbro and former Mainframe boss, Dan DiDio, told the writers not to familiarize themselves with old episodes, as they didn’t want Beast Machines to be continuity heavy like Beast Wars. Ironically, Beast Machines ended up being more continuity-driven with its own world.
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  (#14) Spider-Man Unlimited

  • Rino Romano, Kathleen Barr, Paul Dobson

  Following up on the 1994 Spider-Man animated series, Spider-Man Unlimited was a 1999 cartoon that took the wall-crawler into a futuristic parallel world of Earth. The original pitch for Spider-Man Unlimited was to do a low-budget adaptation of the first 26 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man comics.

  However, according to the show’s story writer, Will Meugniot, Saban Entertainment was prohibited from using the original source material and the Spider-Man costume itself, due to the movie deal Marvel Comics made with Sony. This is why Spider-Man Unlimited transformed Peter Parker into a resistance fighter for an alternative world filled with animal/human hybrids, while wearing a high-tech costume made by Mr. Fantastic. Even though the show performed okay in the ratings, the breakout popularity of Pokémon and Digimon pushed Spider-Man Unlimited out of the limelight. The series lasted for 13 episodes, concluding on a cliff-hanger.
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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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