As I sit here at Starbucks (SBUX), I decided to just reflect back on old cartoons that I used to watch growing up. Majority of the cartoons I watched were on Saturday mornings. Most were just toy sponsored shows to push sales of their toy lines. Aquaman originally ran in 1967, before my time, but re-runs were frequent back in the day of networks.
So yes, I grew up watching Aquaman, Spiderman, and even the newer Super Friends. It's not saying a lot because most of the kids these days don't even have Saturday morning cartoons anymore. And let's just say that they are a bit spoiled when it comes to special effects and quality of cartoons to make re-runs viable anymore.
Having said that, I always frequented the local syndicated stations to watch episodes of my favorite Japanese cartoons. Robotech, Starblazers, Ultra-man, and even Godzilla were very common shows on local TV. Maybe some of you did watch Godzilla growing up, but for me it was just as good as Robotech or even Voltron.
Now some people think it's a revolutionary step for big producers to make live action films from Japanese cartoons. But isn't that Spiderman, Superman, and even Avengers are all about? They were just cartoons that translated well into big screen live action films?
When DC Comics and Warner Brothers Productions announced that they hired Director James Wan for Aquaman, it was like the biggest news for the DC universe. For me? Eh, not so much. The reason is simple, Aquaman will more than likely turn out like the Green Lantern movies. Not to mention Green Hornet which was a complete disaster in my book.
Unfortunately, DC has lacked the unity that Marvel has in the industry. They don't tie in shows very well and they don't use the same studios to make it happen. So for James Wan, he'll have to consult with say Tim Burton or maybe Christopher Nolan to conjure up something that can take the Aquaman Universe closer to Dark Knight and Superman.
If that happens, then Aquaman will have a chance. Having said that, I have a complete opposite expectation of Robotech. James Wan will have a chance to build something completely separate from the studios. I mean DC is a large universe which controls half of the comic industry.
Marvel controls the other half of American comics. But Robotech? It's Japanese. And every kid growing up in my generation knew it was Japanese. We knew the characters were Japanese but in adaptation for English. And we knew that the toy robots were Japanese toys.
In fact, we all knew that the Transformers toys were Japanese as well. There was no hiding that neither Marvel nor Hasbro really made the Transformers toys. They were sheer Japanese with English adaptations.
Now here's the irony. James Wan probably grew up watching Robotech in the Japanese story line which was translated into Chinese. If I'm right, the Chinese release of the Japanese Anime was pretty much in tact as the Japanese version.
So for him, he'll have a different view from the executives at Sony. The truth is that Robotech conveys well to the same audience as Aquaman. Both the DC Comic fans and Robotech fans crossover. Like myself, they probably grew up watching all the Saturday Morning cartoons.
And like me, they'll probably remember that Aquaman lacked any strength to make Super Friends powerful. I mean he talked to dolphins and whales. He swam in water without breathing. And he was great when the enemies were in the oceans. But other than that, much of the action for the heroes was on land.
Now in the past, water oriented shows have succeeded. I mean Pirates of the Caribbean was mostly on water, but it's also a pirate show. There was also Water World which was interesting for its time. But for the most part, people are more interested in buildings exploding and jets flying than a guy swimming in the ocean.
Robotech offers a very interesting visual. It's in space, it's in a city, and it's in the ocean. Robotech originally starts off on Earth with the alien invasion taking place over the oceans. In fact, SDF-1 of the U.N. SPACY connects to two aircraft carriers spaced folded into space by accident. The two ships conveniently become the two arms of the huge robot fortress Macross. Yes, even the mother space ship transforms into a robot.
The entire other half of the cartoon series takes place in space where jet fighters from the U.N. transforms into 50 feet robots to fight the aliens. Now the city of Macross is enclosed inside the SDF-1 as it also was zapped into space by accident. Millions die in the process, but a few citizens are saved to populate to SDF-1 space fortress.
During this time, there is unimaginable action between infiltrating aliens, spies who pose as humans, and even defectors of the alien race who want to live regular lives like humans.
The twists and turns of Robotech make it a sensational series. In fact, you can easily compare it to Twilight and Hunger Games. You can compare it to just about any of the super franchises that made Hollywood return to its glory.
Aquaman has its fan base and it definitely has a legacy in the DC Universe, but for the most part, it doesn't have the depth and strength of Robotech as a franchise. It never did.
I know because I grew up watching Aquaman and Robotech on TV as a child. I remember it vividly. And although I still adore the DC universe more so than the Marvel universe, there's just no comparison to Robotech. Robotech is huge. It has to be because Shoji Kawamori never stopped the series. It continues on in new life today on TV in Japan.
You can simply compare Robotech to Gundam. While you can compare Aquaman to the Wonder Twins. Sure there's a legacy there, but it's not really a comparison.
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