From the Newsarama interview with Voice Actoress Grey Delisle
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=157863

GD: Yes! I’m doing this new GI Joe thing. It’s just a pilot right now. From what I understand they will launch it on the internet and see what happens.

NRAMA: So who are you voicing for that one?

GD: I’m doing Scarlet and another one.


So, a new Joe toon.
Is anyone excited?

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Sic vis pacem, para bellum
--
The core of the GI Joe fantasy is loyalty. The fantasy isn't about shooting at Cobra,
the fantasy is about 'If I get left behind, Snake Eyes will come and get me.'
-Larry Hama, CHUD Interview

Meh, I can’t say I’m excited about this. Nothing wrong with a new cartoon coming out, but I don’t know that they’ll be able to wow me. It will be a reboot, and probably in a style I don’t like. If it’s anything like sigma 6, forget it.
I’ve always loved cartoons, but fact is, I don’t watch any anymore because they just haven’t appealed to me. Either they’re too kiddy (plot and/or characters), the animation is in a style I dislike or it feels like the same ol stuff. I’m simply not the target audience for these kinds of cartoons.

Who knows, maybe it will be good. I will give it a shot, but I'm not holding my breath.

Potentially, a new GI Joe cartoon would be exciting indeed. I hope its done ala DDP's GI Joe Reloaded or GI Joe America's Elite without time, talent & budget wasted on silly comedic episodes like the type Marvel actually approved of during the 1980s (i.e.: 20 Questions, Cobrathon, The Spy Who Rooked Me, Cobra Claws Are Coming to Town, The Phantom Brigade, et al ,ring any bells?)
Ms. Delisle, btw, voiced Daphne Blake in What's New , Scoobhy Doo & The Wasp in Ultimate Avengers I & IIK> She'd be great to replace BJ Ward as Scarlett. Maybe this time Peter Cullen can be either Hawk or Joe Colton (No offense to fans of the late Ed Gilbert, but given the way Mr. Cullen voiced Optimus Prime & Cmdr . Hawkins of Voltron, he'd be a natural for Hawk or Colton-a voice with authority). Maybe Bill Ratner will be back as Flint. As for Lady J-assuming the cartoons will nit take the comics as canon-they didn't in the 1980s, if LJ's gonna be back , Sara Lahti would be perfect as the new Lady J. And why not Marc Worden (Iron Man of Ultimate Avengers) as Lt. Falcon & Mark Hamill as Cobra Commander? And Hunter McKenzie Austin as Cover Girl?
Let's hope that the new cartoon takes GI Joe more seriously this time.

_________________
"In war, there can be no sustitute for victory."
-General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
"Speak your mind. After all, it's a free country."
-Captain America
"Risk is our business."
-Captain James T. Kirk

Same here. I'll go one further and say I hate the cartoony-squarish style of Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack, and the like. I hope this new Joe toon isn't done in that style, in CGI, or in an overly anime style (like Sigma 6).
It's difficult to find well-drawn cartoons anymore, like they were in the 80's (the likes of Joe, TF, MASK, Inhumanoids, Centurions, etc.).

I was very excited when I heard there will be an Indiana Jones cartoon--until I found out it would be drawn in the Clone Wars square-like style

On that note, may I direct you to yesterday's Shortpacked?
(with no offense intended! )

http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080618.html

_________________
Sic vis pacem, para bellum
--
The core of the GI Joe fantasy is loyalty. The fantasy isn't about shooting at Cobra,
the fantasy is about 'If I get left behind, Snake Eyes will come and get me.'
-Larry Hama, CHUD Interview

Hey, at least Bugs didn't have a square head

As much as I like anime and manga, I think it would be cool if a Joe cartoon would try to develop something uniquely American. Making an anime à la Sigma6 is a recipe for a certain success, but GI Joe needs something to get its head above the other toons.

Joe is quintessentially American in spite of all the Brussels HQ/International team Hollywood will dump on us. It needs a uniquely American animation.

Mind you, this hardly exists anymore, but if Joe were to reinvent it, I'm confident it would be successful.

Will they do it? I wouldn't bet my mortgage on it...

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䷾ scryptic
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"The only way to bear the snakes is to become one." - Cobra Commander, Cobra Reborn

I couldn't agree more Rockhammer.

But the thought of it does get me excited. But I'm in that camp that if they do it and it looks like a traditional cartoon, which apparently has for the most part gone the way of the Dodo, then I'm on board. If it looks anything like the majority of the crap that comes on Saturday mornings these days, count me out. I guess all the good artists out there these days draw comic books, cause they ain't drawing Saturday morning cartoons, that's for sure.

Here's an idea:

Make it look very much like the original but with better writing. Something like the Avenger's movies that just came out. That art looked much more traditional, at least by my standards which I will admit are out of date. But if they want to pull an old schooler like myself they will stay 93 Million miles away from Sigma 6.

While I agree that I was less then impressed with the character designs of the Genny Tartakovsky Clone Wars cartoons, the writing and action were excellent, I actually liked them more then the Lucas Prequels.
(I also prefer John "Bender" DiMaggio as the voice of General Grievous.) The same with Transformers Animated and Spectacular Spidere-Man; not big on the artistic style, (I miss the Marvel Studios touch of the previous series.) but again the writing, direction and voice acting work well enough that I can overlook it.

It's a shame that the Clone Wars CGI film is adopting the Tartakovsky style, but without him at the helm. When the trailer appeared before the Hulk (I was their on opening night with a crowd of predominantly fanboy nerds ) NO one cheered, unlike previous Star Wars trailers.



Really? I had no idea this was in the works.

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"You know, I'm a voter. Aren't you supposed to lie to me and kiss my butt?" -Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters 2

I overlooked it for Clone Wars, too. But, I still didn't like it. Don't take me wrong--I'm not critiquing (did I spell that right?) the voice acting, sound mix, script or animation (how fluidly characters move). What I dislike is the drawing style.



I saw it at the NY Comic Con. I'll probably go see the theatrical release, but I'm not very excited about it. I was less than impressed.



Well, I'm not sure anything has been officially announced (nor do I know anything is being produced), but there are a few signs (see below). I guess I should have phrased it like this instead of how I did above: "... I heard there may be an Indiana Jones cartoon--until I realized it would most likely be drawn in the Clone Wars..."

Mostly, I'm going on a gut feeling based on the character designs available at IndianaJonesShop.com.

http://shop.indianajones.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=1220258;category_id=408160;pcid1=;pcid2=

http://shop.indianajones.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=1218274;category_id=1209108;pcid1=;pcid2=

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dRDpPQEwNlo&feature=related
[/url]

I agree with the spirit of your post, SS. But it's not really a matter of having talented people drawing the cartoon on the cells, it's about the people in charge (producers and designers/developers) picking/drawing the character designs in the traditional style. The animators simply follow these designs--if they are given an 80's style cartoon character design, then that's what they'll draw.

The Sunbow cartoons (TF, Joe, Inhumanoids, etc.), for example, were all animated in Asia (although they were produced, voice acted, storyboarded, written and had their character designs/guides all done in America).

I think this formula worked much better than most used today. For instance, Sigma Six was clearly produced and written in Japan, and it shows. IMHO, while the animation (despite the style) was great, the writing was awful for the most part, as was the dialog. Anyway, I digress...

I too will give the new cartoon a chance, but after the big Sigma 6 disappointment, I'm not holding my breath.

Maybe a new GI Joe cartoon should be done ala the 1980s style in terms of animation...but why not take elements of anime into consoderation while producing it? I don't mean a rehash of Sigma Six, but let's see the new GI Joe cartoon similar in spirit & seriousness to Marvel's DVD animated features like Ultimate Avengers & Dr. Strange. Let's delete the obviously funny plot devices and characters. Let's have real character development as the series goes on, coupled with adapting elements from the Marvel comic series (i.e the Pit is underground; Hawk is GI Joe Six*, Snake Eyes & Scarlett are an item, Cobra's based i n Springfield, etc.)
Ironically, while Sigma Six really could've been better , it did get several anime elements right that GI Joe's 1980s cartoon should've used: in Sigma Six, we saw the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow relationship delved into & SE faces SS in combat-as opposed to having the fans actually believe that Spirit or, worse, much worse, Quick Kick- as seen in The Pyramids of Darkness- can take on Stormy. Ditto, the Snake Eyes' relationship to Jinx was at least acknowledged (it was flat out ignored in GI Joe The Movie) , and even Kamakura was better treated as opposed to the DDP series (where each & evbery time he shows up, we get a reminder that: a) he's an apprentice, and b) he's gonna get clobbered & SE or SS or Jinx or Scarlett's gonna intervene to save his neck.
I think Sigma Six was watered down because the US still can't get it that anime' can have serious subject matters in its shows, and GI Joe deserves a serious take- not a peurile approach-why do you think I always liked Marvel's GI Joe for the most part- or GI Joe Reloaded, or Joe Casey's run on AE?
*in military parlance, Six refers to the CO of a unit. (ie: John Clark is called Rainbow Six) As "Six" also refers checking one's back during a dogfight -check six!- and the CO usually stays behind at HQ, I think its also a play on the fact that the boss is behind the scenes as opposed to being always in the field.

_________________
"In war, there can be no sustitute for victory."
-General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
"Speak your mind. After all, it's a free country."
-Captain America
"Risk is our business."
-Captain James T. Kirk

You would be suprised how often Commanders are out in the field.

When I was Head Hunter 6 (Headquarters and Headquarters Troop), I was running around all over the place because my Troop was scattered to the four winds.

When I was Blacksheep 6 (Bravo Troop), I was about 50% of the time in my office (and meetings), and 50% out of the office visiting the Troops at their OPs (Observation Points) and CPs (Check Points).

Usually the XO is the one in the rear with the gear.

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Thanks, Phil! That's great to hear as I believe that the Six, the CO should personally go out in the field. The Israeli Defense forces believe that the generals should be in the frontlines, ans in WWII , both Douglas MacArthur & George Patton were noted for taking risks & personally being on the frontlines; I don't support the notion that commanders should remain at HQ all the time. Guess its why I used to like Hawk.

_________________
"In war, there can be no sustitute for victory."
-General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
"Speak your mind. After all, it's a free country."
-Captain America
"Risk is our business."
-Captain James T. Kirk

The important thing to remember is that commanders need to maintain situational awareness over the entire battlefield. Back in the Civil War a commander could travel a few hundred yards and see the entire battlefield. As we have come forward the battlefield has increased and the commander must get into the best vantage point to oversee the entire battlefield, but still give timely commands.

In today's contemporary operating enviornment the "battlefield" for a Battalion Commander can be huge. If he gets into a position that he loses communication with all his units then he becomes combat ineffective.

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