How the passage of time has changed 12 cartoons from our childhood

It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t have in their affective memory a cartoon that marked their childhood. Arriving running from school so you don’t miss the new episode or delaying a few minutes before leaving the house so you don’t miss the outcome of a story, who hasn’t done that?

You probably have a cartoon with a special place in your heart… But how often do you revisit that passion? Many of these drawings get new versions over time, so, theoretically, opportunities abound. But is it the same thing?

O awesome.club will show what happened to some cartoons from our childhood. Some changed very little, others even turned into a movie. And some were almost unrecognizable! Come check out with us several striking examples!

If you don’t know Pica-Pau, you probably didn’t spend much time in front of the small screens. With more than 80 years of existence, the character has as long a lifespan as the most classic superheroes. It has had several versions and updates, including a movie in the style called live action. But it wasn’t the first time this hyperactive bird had been in the movies.

In 1950, he appeared in the film Destination Moon to explain to reticent millionaires why the trip to the moon was not a… cartoon thing. Nearly 70 years later he came to life in film again, this time through computer graphics animation. Another version was released in 2018, in webseries format available on YouTube.

When he first appeared in an episode of Andy Panda, Woodpecker was half-cross-eyed, had a green tail, and even had two teeth! At that time, episodes aired before Universal’s films. In the 1950s, when it started to be shown on TV, great changes took place: its features are attenuated and its colors are inspired by the national flag, following the pattern of American superheroes. The most drastic and definitive change, however, occurs in the following decade, when the woodpecker’s aggressiveness and lack of control are transformed into agitation and cunning, characteristics that make him more serious.

“Meanwhile, in the Hall of Justice.” The phrase, followed by the pirouette stars with characteristic sound effects, is the mark of a time. In fact, there are those who believe that the fist greeting, used as an alternative to the handshake, originated in the rite of transformation of the Super Twins. The Superfriends remain together to this day, most of the time making up the Justice League, but not always forming the same team. In 2015, the animation Justice League: Gods and Monsters showed an alternate version of the heroes, with a Batman very similar to Marvel’s Morbius, a Superman who is the son of General Zod and a Wonder Woman who is the Goddess Bekka from Apokolips.

The Super Friends, or the Justice League, had its film version presented in the vision of filmmaker Zack Snyder, in 2021. Like Marvel, DC also continues to develop its characters in live action versions.

In retrospect, it is noticeable how the cartoon aimed at a more children’s audience gradually took on a more adult line, especially if we consider narratives from other media. The idea of ​​a Superman playing the role of a villain (outside of the comics) is nothing new, as has been seen in the game Injustice: Gods Among Us, also turned into animation.

Strawberry Shortcake was born from an action that aimed to promote a line of dolls, something common in the 80s. The character was created in 1977 by Muriel Fahrion, who worked as an illustrator of congratulation cards. The little doll and her friends, all based on desserts, were patented, which allowed Kenner Products to license and release the dolls in 1979. Under editor Lyn Edwards, Strawberry Shortcake and the gang got a story. So, in 1980, the first cartoon was released.

Over time, that character with cute features and similar to a rag doll was becoming more like a real girl. The theme of the drawings also changed, leaving fantasy a little aside and getting closer to real life. In the current webseries, Strawberry Shortcake is an ambitious girl who seeks to become the best baker in the world. Wildbrain, the current rights holder of the character, intends to release a 3D special that has already had images leaked on the Internet, but not everyone liked the new look. Good or not, the changes that Strawberry Shortcake underwent over time weren’t small, right?!

The 1980s were marked by successful productions that focused on the (not always friendly) interaction between robots and humans. Terminator, Blade Runner, Robocop, A Short Circuit Robot. All are successful productions, but mixing man and machine, as in Robocop, seemed to have something extra. Gadget Inspector follows this wave, but different from the movie approach. Instead of the hero’s transformation into half man and half machine being a source of suffering, it is characterized by a lot of humor. John Brown may have become a man full of surprises, but most of them end up making us laugh.

The original Gadget Inspector had only three seasons, but Matthew Broderick decided to enjoy a live-action version of the character in the late 1990s. . It had a sequel in 2003, this time with the actor French Stewart, also without critical and box office success. Currently WildBrain owns the rights to the character and version 2.0 of Inspector Gadgets, now in CGI, can be easily found on streams. Despite the visual update, the animation is very faithful to the original.

In the 1970s, Mattel was one of the giants of the toy industry, owning the rights to lines like Barbie and HotWheels. A bad decision, however, created a big problem for the company: not trusting the potential of a movie that would debut in 1977 in theaters, Mattel refused to produce toys for this new franchise, leaving the opportunity to a competitor led by one of its old ones. “employees”. The line turned down was the smash hit Star Wars, which left the company in dire straits. The answer came after a lot of research and a very original idea. Thus, He-Man, the most powerful man in the Universe, was born.

When it was created, He-Man didn’t have a movie to fuel kids’ imaginations. For the 5-year-old target audience, reading was still an obstacle, so Filmation stepped in. Mattel was only hoping for a supporting animation for the toy line, but Lou Scheimer’s team ended up creating a real phenomenon. He-Man’s business model eventually became the industry standard, which led to several adaptations of the character over the decades, including a movie.

After a futuristic version in 1990 and a reboot in 2002, He-Man now appears in two Netflix series. Masters of the Universe: Saving Eternia continues the original series, but with a more elaborate narrative, leaving aside the “case of the week” model to create a broad story that develops over the episodes. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, on the other hand, is aimed at children, making very interesting reinterpretations and adaptations of some characters and the plot. Both versions may appeal to longtime fans, but they’re far from a “rerun”.

After the resounding success of the Masters of the Universe animated series, sales of Mattel-produced dolls soared that the company ended up tripping over itself. He-Man was intended for boys in their 5th grade, but girls were putting aside Barbie dolls because of the Eternia Hero doll line. Aiming to capitalize on the interest of this audience, She-Ra was created and Filmation produced a feature film revealing the origin of Adam’s twin sister. The animation starring Princess Adora was released in sequence.

Unlike her twin, She-Ra has only had two versions to date. In the 2018 reboot, the Princess of Power encounters other princesses who are also powerful and very capable, a little different from the original where She-Ra used to center the action. It also has a theme more focused on the relationships between the characters and less Manichean, in addition to the more cartoonish traits. However, a series intends to present the version of the heroine in the skin of an actress, through Amazon. Cool, huh?!

Muppet Babies was a trip! It was born from a dream present in a sequel to the movie The Muppets Conquer New York. Focused on the imagination of babies inspired by characters from The Muppet Show, the cartoon showed a fantastic universe lived in the minds of the characters, with adventures created by a joint fantasy. Abusing humor and parodies of classic films, the participation of big Hollywood stars was not rare either.

The 2018 version of the animation makes technical updates using computer graphics. Despite minor changes to the baby cast and character traits, the animated series retains its essence, functioning more as an update to the classic version than a reboot. In addition to introducing new stories, Muppet Babies uses a leaner format, with episodes that are half the length of the original. Don’t you want to kill the longing?

Care Bears emerged as a joint venture between the greeting card company American Greetings and the toy maker Kenner in 1981. The effort to create a line of emotion-based characters even involved Muriel Fahrion, who had previously worked on the creation of Strawberry Shortcake. . In 1983 the new franchise was presented to the general public, with a series of licensed materials, such as teddy bears, picture books and a 30-minute animated special, distributed independently to several television stations. The cartoon series would emerge only after the release of other television specials, and a film that managed to beat the box office of Disney’s greatest hits.

The Care Bears have had several versions and many audiovisual products released over the years, sometimes without any…