Japanese Influence on American Children's Television: Transforming Saturday Morning [1st ed.] 978-3-030-17415-6;978-3-030-17416-3

Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television examines the gradual, yet dramatic, transformation of Saturday morn

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Japanese Influence on American Children's Television: Transforming Saturday Morning [1st ed.]
 978-3-030-17415-6;978-3-030-17416-3

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii
Introductions (Gina O’Melia)....Pages 1-30
Saturday Morning Conquered: How It Occurred (Gina O’Melia)....Pages 31-57
Foundation: What Were the Rules of Saturday Morning Before the Japanese Imports? (Gina O’Melia)....Pages 59-77
The Emergence of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Gina O’Melia)....Pages 79-114
Pokémon: “Gotta Catch All the Success” (Gina O’Melia)....Pages 115-146
Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Conquering King of Saturday Morning (Gina O’Melia)....Pages 147-175
The Final Years of Saturday Morning (Gina O’Melia)....Pages 177-196
Aftermath, Legacies, and Conclusions (Gina O’Melia)....Pages 197-214
Back Matter ....Pages 215-244

Citation preview

Japanese Influence on American Children's Television Transforming Saturday Morning Gina O’Melia

Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television

Gina O’Melia

Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television Transforming Saturday Morning

Dr. Gina O’Melia Division of Social Sciences Hudson County Community College Jersey City, NJ, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-17415-6 ISBN 978-3-030-17416-3  (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: © Alex Linch shutterstock.com This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

To Frank and Catherine

Preface

Let me tell you a story. I had just received my Master’s degree in Global Affairs, and as I continued my graduate studies toward a Ph.D., I was also beginning my first fledgling steps in the world of academia. I was hired to teach world civilization to mostly Freshmen right out of high school and older students in their forties and fifties returning to school. I stood between both groups in age as a Generation Y/Older Millennial. In one class, we discussed Napoleon and one of the older students asked if he was really a “short maniac like in the cartoons.” I explained that his short stature and his less than favorable representation were due to propaganda against him and history being written by the victors. I thought nothing about the reference the student brought up. I had grown up watching Looney Tunes and other cartoons that made sport of Napoleon. I thought nothing of it until a younger student asked, “What cartoons is Napoleon in?” Later on in the semester, we spoke about Pearl Harbor and how the American propaganda that emerged was one part about protecting the purity of democracy and one part righteous anger. One of the younger students then asked, “So, America pretty much Super Saiyaned?” I agreed with their assessment and thought nothing about the reference. After all, I had spent my adolescence watching Dragonball Z. Then, I looked at the older students and realized that they had no idea what “Super Saiyan” meant. Just like how I had to explain mini-maniacal

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cartoon Napoleon to the younger students weeks early, there I was having to explain Super Saiyans to the older students, bridging the cultural gap between the two groups. I mostly forgot about the two events until I was idly going through the channels a few weeks later and stumbled across Saturday Morning. Curious, I hit the grid function on my remote to see what was actually on Saturday Morning anymore. I’ll be honest; it had been over a decade since I had last watched Saturday Morning cartoons. I had stopped sometime around 2000, deciding I preferred to stay up late watching television and sleeping in on the weekend. Yet, even with that, I had some assumptions about what would be on Saturday Morning. What I found was not a single American program. Not one. It was one hundred percent anime when I turned on that television. Not a single program I could find during the Saturday Morning block was produced in the United States and it was mostly Yu-Gi-Oh! The program I actually recognized from my own youth was Dragonball Z in the form of Dragonball Z Kai. I realized then, looking at a schedule that was mostly Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragonball Z Kai, and Sonic X, that I now understood my two sets of students’ states of confusion. I also had something to research. The book you’re holding now (or reading on a screen) is the product of almost seven years of that research. Trying to understand the transformation of Saturday Morning took me to libraries to find books with the television schedules and eventually to microfilms of newspapers and TV Guides when there were no books that had the schedules for much of the period I wanted to look at. All of this was then further confirmed with news and magazine articles to make sure that the schedules I found were not simply temporary ones. It was an ever-changing project, too, as Saturday Morning shifted, changed, and in 2014 ended with a whimper. The news articles covering that fateful Saturday were enlightening on how this whole evolution of Saturday Morning had somehow occurred without much notice. Articles lamented the end of an era and the disappearance of an institution, but many of the articles didn’t seem to acknowledge the last twenty years of its broadcast history. I read articles that made little or no mention of all the Japanese programs that aired on Saturday Morning and rose to dominate it in those last two decades of its existence. It was confirmation to me that this topic—this cultural shift that occurred within Saturday Morning over the course of twenty years—was in utmost need of attention. After all, Saturday Morning was

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part of many Americans’ childhoods and the fact that it changed so dramatically is very important. I could see the generation gap it had caused in my own students. This project also caused me to watch hundreds of hours of children’s programs. That was an experience in itself. Some of the series I watched, I remembered watching in my youth. However, I was now watching them as an adult and with a critical eye toward what ideas they were presenting and how they were presenting them. There were plenty of shows that I had not remembered correctly. I found that my own memory had smoothed out many of the ideological assumptions that were now outdated and had forgotten about scenes, characters, and even reoccurring gags that were entirely problematic to modern sensibilities. I also had to make some practical decisions when it came to how I approached and presented the analysis of the Japanese programs. Since this book is about the transformation of Saturday Morning in the United States, I focused on how the Japanese programs were presented on Saturday Morning—meaning, the edited dubs of the shows. While in many cases, the anime dubs on Saturday Morning were not entirely reflective of the original Japanese series, this was how American children initial interacted with them and what was actually shown on Saturday Morning. I also chose to use the dub names and terms within this book to be consistent with this. I know this will bother many anime purists in the audience. To these readers, I would like to say, I understand. Watching some of the dubs, while trying to forget what I knew from the original Japanese, in order to view it with a critical, impartial eye was another interesting experience to say the least. However, by watching (and in many cases, re-watching), both the American and non-American programs that composed the landscape of Saturday Morning through the various periods this book covers, I couldn’t help but notice the shift in how these programs presented concepts to their young audience. Especially toward the later years of Saturday Morning, I couldn’t ignore how dominate tropes and conventions borrowed from Japanese popular culture were in American programs. I also can’t help but now see those same conventions begin to slip into films and television series meant for audiences of my age and younger—those who had grown up during this transition or in its aftermath, having accepted these tropes and conventions as common and not something new or exotic.

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Preface

What arises out of the transformation of Saturday Morning, its impact, and legacies is a less homogenous American popular culture than normally assumed and a cultural divide between American generations regarding what their popular culture is based on. Bringing this to light was the goal of this book. Hopefully, I succeeded. Jersey City, USA

Gina O’Melia

Acknowledgements

I would first like to thank my family and friends. While they might not have always understood what I was doing, I always knew they were supporting me in it. In addition, I would like to acknowledge Shaun Vigil and Glenn Ramirez for their support and guidance in helping me take this book from proposal to completion. I would also like to acknowledge Brian Ferguson, who continued to be an encouragement to me in this project, even after I stopped being his student, and Susan Carruthers, David Greenberg and Fabienne Darling-Wolf, who provided me their guidance in the early development of this project when I was a graduate student. Lastly, I would like to thank Elizabeth, Jude, and Anthony, for their intangible support.

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Contents

1 Introductions 1 Complementary Subversion 3 What Was Saturday Morning? 1960–1986 8 Mighty Orbots and Japanese Cartoons on American Television Before the Transition 18 The History of the Japanese-American Media Exchange 21 What Makes a Program Japanese and What Is Course for the Rest of the Book? 26 2 Saturday Morning Conquered: How It Occurred 31 The Nature of Saturday Morning Immediately Before the Japanese Imports of the 1990s 31 A Closer Look at Saturday Morning Content in the Late 1980s/Early 1990s Reset Period 33 A Slow Beginning: The FOX/WB Rivalry 37 Stage Two—Both Channels Would Use Anime as a Battlefield 44 Stage Three—No Turning Back, FOX/WB Rivalry and 4Kids Entertainment’s Involvement 48 Outside the FOX/WB Rivalry—How the Other Networks Assisted in the Japanese Conquest 52

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3 Foundation: What Were the Rules of Saturday Morning Before the Japanese Imports? 59 Looney Tunes 60 Garfield and Friends 67 The Real Ghostbusters 70 Saved by the Bell 74 Commonalities Between the Four 76 4 The Emergence of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 79 Pause: What About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)? 94 Big Bad Beetleborgs 97 Superman: The Animated Series (Superman TAS) 103 Pause: What About Batman: The Animated Series? 112 Final Thoughts About This Period of Saturday Morning 114 5 Pokémon: “Gotta Catch All the Success” 115 Digimon 125 Jackie Chan Adventures 132 Final Thoughts About This Period of Saturday Morning 146 6 Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Conquering King of Saturday Morning 147 Dragonball Z Kai 156 Teen Titans 167 Final Thoughts About This Period of Saturday Morning 174 7 The Final Years of Saturday Morning 177 Tai Chi Chasers 178 Justice League Unlimited 183 The Spectacular Spider-Man 187 Iron Man: Armored Adventures 192 Final Thoughts About This Period of Saturday Morning 195 8 Aftermath, Legacies, and Conclusions 197 Toonami: Collaborator and Possible Successor 198 Complexity in Children’s Media and the Benefit of Saturday Morning’s Gradual Introduction 203

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The Further Legacy of Saturday Morning and Japanese Influence on Comedic Cartoons 208 Final Thoughts 210 Glossary 215 Bibliography 221 Index 241

Abbreviations

Batman TAS DBZ Kai MMPR Superman TAS

Batman: The Animated Series Dragonball Z Kai Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Superman: The Animated Series

Note Japanese names have been written per the Western conventions of given name first, followed by family name.

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CHAPTER 1

Introductions

Imagine you are watching television with a child around the age of ten— maybe your own child or a niece/nephew—but you have given this child control over the remote. Unsurprisingly, they switch on Cartoon Network. Perhaps the program is Steven Universe, Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, Ben 10, We Bare Bears or Teen Titans Go, any of them are possibilities on Cartoon Network in 2019. You watch as the main character finds themselves in some sort of conflict and in their anger, they are suddenly surrounded in light as they scream into the sky, their hair goes up in golden spikes, and they are filled with power to defeat their foe. It matters little which show the child chose; all of them have used this scene.1 Later in the evening, Dragonball Super comes on, clearly a dubbed Japanese anime with new, crisp animation, and you see its main character does the exact same thing. The child likely knew that the action was a display of extreme righteous anger leading to unbeatable power by sheer repetition, even if they had never watched a single episode of Dragonball Z or Super or knew the term “Super Saiyan.” The cartoons themselves do not always mention the source material. More often than not, the character just goes through the motions of the transformation, similar to how in older

1 iiAFX, “‘Dragon Ball Z’ References in Film and Television,” YouTube, 4:52, 17 September 2017, accessed 1 September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= zI5j9PtxvGA.

© The Author(s) 2019 G. O’Melia, Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3_1

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cartoons a character’s face might turn bright red and steam come out from their ears. It is assumed that the child watching would have the cultural capital to understand the visual shorthand from having the imagery reinforced again and again within American popular culture. The difference is that the latter is from classic American cartoons and the former originates from Japanese anime. A dramatic shift occurred beginning in 1993 with the debut of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that integrated Japanese popular media and its conventions in American culture in a way that is unprecedented. Saturday Morning acted as a vehicle to gradually integrate, transition, mainstream, and normalize Japanese programming and its conventions in American culture. The influence of Saturday Morning as a vehicle of American acculturation should not be overlooked. Since the 1960s, Saturday Morning provided American children hours of shared stories, characters, and conventions that not only united them with their peers, but connected them to generations that came before and after them. Yet, in the 1990s, there was a transition that saw the conventions that governed the protagonists, the antagonists, the female characters, the use of violence, tone, and even the general format of these series gradually conform to Japanese norms in American productions. This transition also led to a displacement of American programming that previously aired for decades and the normalization of Japanese content that took the place of these older cultural touchstones. These Japanese programs—especially the phenomena of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi–Oh!—gradually transformed the Saturday Morning landscape in less than a decade into something that would have been considered alien and unconceivable previously and maintained that change for years until Saturday Morning ceased to air on broadcast television in 2014. By reflecting already present aspects, touchstones, and conventions airing on Saturday Morning, each successive phenomenon built upon the foundation laid down by the preceding series until the aspects, touchstones, and conventions they reflected were no longer something that were originally from American culture, but from Japanese popular culture. Each of these successes aired at an opportune time on Saturday Morning to achieve their popularity, and in their wake, the programming changed to reflect them. In this way, it was not a novelty like Godzilla or merely a niche product, but something that was able to keep a grasp on American children’s media for almost half of Saturday Morning’s entire airing history.

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Saturday Morning ended in 2014, but its influence still lingers in these few short years that follow its disappearance. To this day, Yu-Gi-Oh! continues to trend on Netflix, Detective Pikachu is both a video game and a Hollywood film, and an iteration of the Power Rangers franchise continues to air on Nickelodeon. Japanese styling and narrative structure continue to act as a siren song to American viewers as commercials advertising The Dragon Prince make sure to mention that it is from the writer of Avatar: The Last Airbender as a major selling point.2

Complementary Subversion American children’s media being transformed by Japanese conventions, traditional American cartoons being displaced, and new foreign touchstones being integrated into the cultural memory of the younger generations are all the result of a chapter in both globalization and media studies that both subverts and compliments expectations. In regards to American cultural imperialism theories, the entire episode feels counterintuitive. Benjamin Barber noted in his “Near Death of Democracy”: Shrek and Spiderman still go where the First Cavalry Division no longer dares tread. And where the Sixth Fleet no longer can intimidate with its guided missiles, MTV, Starbucks, Google and Coca-Cola win friends and influence people with their global brands and savvy video based cultural marketing.3

In some places this sort of cultural imperialism is alive and well, transforming the native culture into a far more Americanized form. Understandably, other nations have great concerns about the power and influence American popular media may have on their cultures and traditions if imported without limitations. For example, Canada, which is already so geographically and culturally close to the United States, has regulations in place by the Canadian Radio-Television and

2 Netflix, “The Dragon Prince | Teaser [HD] | Netflix,” YouTube, 0:57, 21 July 2018, accessed 1 September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HWcff0YEPM. 3 Benjamin R. Barber, “The Near-Death of Democracy,” World Policy Journal, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Winter 2008/2009): 150.

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Telecommunications Commission that sixty percent of aired television content and half of prime-time programming must be Canadian.4 France and other nations have similar laws to attempt to prevent what Barber implies, and Manfred Steger explicitly warns is an “increasingly homogenized global culture underwritten by an Anglo-American value system”.5 Attention, care, and regulation are put in place to avoid an over-consumption of “American culture” that causes communities abroad to begin to lose their personal, group, and class identities—which are often manifested and reinforced by shared religious customs, collective stories, and indigenous iconography—in favor of what is “cool.”6 Herbert Schiller takes these concepts a step further and presents particular tactics American media companies, especially Hollywood but also television studios, utilize in order to reinforce a homogenized American ideal to both the domestic and international markets beyond marketing their content as “cool.” He states that American media companies are “not averse to engaging in tactical maneuvers that could prove disarming to unwary challengers.”7 Schiller asserts that these companies will use tokenism—introducing a storyline or character—that reflects a minority group or foreign identity to bring in audience members outside of the assumed homogeneous Americanized majority. In conceding in this nominal way to diverse groups within the United States or the foreign culture outside of it, the company hopes to both eventually silence and assimilate these groups, allowing them to continue to present programs that offer a homogeneous worldview for maximum profit and influence.8 Yet, there is a sense of ironic dissonance when one looks at the transformation of Saturday Morning and the transition within American children’s media as a whole. Steger and Barber warn that the over-consumption of America media by foreign cultures could cause cultural displacement. Schiller states that by presenting this media with some sort of token element that allows it to resonate with the non-majority audience, 4 “Protecting Canadian Culture and Identity,” Manitoba, accessed 1 July 2018, https:// www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/foundation_gr6/blms/6-4-1f.pdf. 5 Manfred B. Steger, Globalisms: The Great Ideological Struggle of the Twenty-First Century, 3rd edition (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009), 40. 6 Ibid. 7 Herbert I. Schiller, Mass Communications and the American Empire, 2nd edition (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), 201. 8 Ibid.

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American media companies are able to dominate foreign markets. The irony is this is what I propose occurred unintentionally in reverse, that elements in the imports in the 1990s resonated enough with the dominant culture that these programs were accepted and that they grew to dominate the American market, displacing domestic and traditional programs. This outcome also adds unexpected nuance to cases of American cultural imperialism. After all, it is assumed that this imperialism will manifest a homogenized Americanize cultural identity, but American popular culture is far less homogenized than normally assumed due to this transformation. This concept of possible American imperialism masking actual American domestic cultural change due to foreign imports is not new. Jeffrey S. Miller, in Something Completely Different, begins his observation on British media’s popularity and influence on American popular culture in the 1980s and 1990s by first addressing the same counterintuitive narrative—that it is out of the norm to ascribe to the United States any status other than “imperialist exporter.”9 Much like me, Miller recognizes that scholarship often focuses on how the United States affects other nations, while the inverse occurring is missed. He also notes that The British presence on American cable television speaks to many of the same issues as its earlier presence on broadcast television. For services working in a new (for television) twenty-four hour programming day, imported shows were a cheap way to fill time and build up ad revenues. British programs, coming from a familiar linguistic and cultural base, were the most likely candidates to fill that role; their reputation for “quality” superior to that of American series allowed several cable channels to structure their images around their quality.10

This was not the case with Japanese imports and their rise to popularity, at least not entirely. For decades Americans were trained to view Japanese imports as of inferior quality from as early as Godzilla (1954) with its action sequences consisting of a man in a rubber suit crushing models. This did not change with the initial importation of Japanese anime with

9 Jeffrey S. Miller, Something Completely Different (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), 7. 10 Ibid., 172.

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its clearly inexpensive animation and mouth flaps that did not match the presented vocal track. Even with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ debut, it was not hailed as being superior in quality to American series. Further, if any country was likely to be able to influence and become accepted in the United States, it would be Great Britain. Joseph Straubhaar in his work World Television highlights the fact that “most audiences seem to prefer television programs that are as close to them as possible in language, ethnic appearance, dress, style, humor, historical reference, and shared topical knowledge.”11 Anne Cooper-Chen likewise highlights in her work Games in the Global Village that “the most popular networks rely heavily on native productions. Dallas and Dynasty drew minuscule audiences [abroad…,] American programming that is culturally alien and inappropriate for local conditions will not do well anywhere when a quality local choice is available.”12 Straubhaar does make a caveat in his observation that foreign programs, songs, and other cultural properties have been accepted when they are enjoyed and consumed as foreign novelties and avenues for new thoughts to be explored.13 This is generally how Japanese content was consumed in the United States. Susan Napier in her 2001 work Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke asserts that adult American fans of anime consumed it because it was something outside the norm. The fans explained, “It’s outside the mainstream,” “it’s exotic, different, not American,” “its contrast to Western animation” and the “fact that it’s fundamentally different than U.S. animation.”14 However, while those adult anime fans in 2001 may have consumed anime as a means of engaging new thoughts and media that were outside what they had been exposed to, it is difficult to claim that anime was outside the mainstream for children in 2001. Japanese content had been consistently the highest rated programming on Saturday Morning for years at that point and the schedule was becoming dominated by it. Something cannot be a novelty and outside the mainstream when it is the standard measurement of the mainstream.

11 Joseph

D. Straubhaar, World Television (Los Angeles: Sage, 2007), 26. Cooper-Chen, Games in the Global Village (Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Press, 1994), 59. 13 Straubhaar, 27. 14 Susan J. Napier, Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), 249. 12 Anne

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Anne Allison in Millennial Monsters proposes that Japanese content benefited from being “cool” to American children,15 but more than that For the American youth, it is not so much Japan itself as a compelling culture, power or place that is signified despite the fact that is precisely what the Japanese government tries to capitalize on in all the rhetoric and attention currently given to Japan’s new “soft power” in the globalization of J-pop. Rather, “Japan” operates more as a signifier for a particular brand and blend of fantasy – where goods inspire an imaginary space at once foreign and familiar.16

In this way, the Japanese content was a brand that was not simply “cool,” but it was also foreign and familiar. This familiarity allowed the foreign aspects to be smoothed over in the minds of the audience so the program could be accepted and be “cool,” eventually becoming something preferred. This familiarity, I believe, is the key to the transformative wave that worked through Saturday Morning and created a break in the traditions in children’s media. When Mighty Morphin Power Rangers debuted in 1993, it benefited from airing at a time when programs like The Real Ghostbusters and Saved by the Bell had just recently departed from the Saturday Morning lineup, but their popularity was not yet forgotten. By resonating with popular American programs in some of its conventions, it allowed the more foreign conventions and its clearly foreign visual style to feel less so and be accepted in a way that was unprecedented with earlier imports. A similar method of acceptance occurred with the Pokémon anime; it did not seem entirely foreign but reflected conventions introduced both in the ascent of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and in more traditional American cartoons. By the time Yu-Gi-Oh! debuted in 2001, it did not need to reflect American conventions to appear familiar. Instead, it reflected conventions from these previous two successes that were already rooted in the popular culture. Marwan Kraidy in his book Hybridity or the Cultural Logic of Globalization mentions how this sort of method of acceptance and how the theory of Hybridity often coincide. “Hybridity entails that traces

15 Anne 16 Anne

Allison, Millennial Monsters (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 11. Allison, Millennial Monsters (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 277.

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of other cultures exist in every culture, thus offering foreign media and marketers transcultural wedges for forging affective links between their commodities and local communities.”17 However, in this case, the wedges that acted as effective links were simply elements already present on Saturday Morning, first domestic conventions and then later foreign ones. Once the Japanese conventions were the “wedges” being built upon, they were no longer striking or exotic on Saturday Morning. In this way, Jan Nederveen Pieterse notes that “what is strikingly hybrid in one setting may not be noticeable in another. The significance of hybridity extends only as far as the region of the boundaries that is transgresses.”18 Straubhaar explains the process of hybridization in a similar manner, stating, “existing local forces mix with new global ones, producing neither global homogenization nor authentic local culture, but a complex new hybrid with multiple layers of culture, where older, traditional forms may persist alongside new ones.”19 All of this is important to keep in mind, but some key questions also need to be briefly answered before this transition that began in the 1990s can be addressed and fully understood. After all, without knowing what the previous status quo was, the change within the American relationship with Japanese media might not be as striking or noticeable. What exactly was Saturday Morning? How was Japanese media consumed before 1993? How was media exchanged between the two countries beforehand? With these answered, the transformation will be much clearer and more dramatic.

What Was Saturday Morning? 1960–1986 Saturday Morning began its first steps in becoming an American cultural institution in the fall of 1960. Its primary purpose was profit driven, but this should not be surprising as American television, in general, is profit driven. With the exception of publically supported programming like PBS, American television is dependent on generated revenue from the

17 Marwan M. Kraidy, Hybridity or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005), 148. 18 Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Globalization & Culture, 2nd edition (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009), 116. 19 Straubhaar, 6.

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sale of advertising within programs or some sort of sponsorship arrangement. The idea of a company sponsoring the production of a program as an act of advertisement predated television, occurring on radio broadcasts. The term “soap opera” comes from sort of arrangement where soap companies would sponsor a drama that targeted the female demographic in hopes that it would encourage these same women to buy their soap. This was the initial idea behind Saturday Morning, only it targeted children as the key demographic. Before Saturday Morning, American children had no definite time where they could be assured there would be programming meant principally for them. Cartoons were often aired between programs or as part of segments of content aimed at either families or even at older audiences. This made it difficult for companies with child-specific products to know where to buy advertising time to reach their target demographic. Further complicating issues, the three major networks at the time—ABC, CBS, and NBC—allowed their local affiliates in different regions across the country to have a considerable amount of freedom when it came to airing local content outside of the prime-time evening hours in order to show programs such as regional sports and news. Saturday Morning was set aside as a time to specifically air programming for children that was broadcast nationally across the major networks that gave these child-specific companies a place to advertise their products with a better likelihood that children were watching and paying attention, unlike when children’s programming was mixed with more adult content in the evening. However, this national broadcast of children’s programs also acted as a means of acculturating American youth from coast to coast. Due to Saturday Morning being the only guaranteed time where the content was especially their own, generations of American children tuned in and as a consequence consumed the same programming despite their race, class, regional location, ethnicity, or immigration status. It provided these children with common cultural touchstones, stories, tropes, language, and ideological underpinnings that drove the programs. Saturday Morning also acted as means uniting not just children with their agepeers across the country but it also uniting generations of Americans together. Even in the first years of Saturday Morning, programs aired that older Americans watched in the past and as the decades continued, Americans shared the experience of watching many of these same cartoons, with the same conventions and ideological assumptions. Until 1993, many programs managed to remain on the air since the earliest

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years of Saturday Morning and even as the schedule shifted with the times, certain conventions emerged that were reflected in new debuts. It is this fact that makes the transition that began in 1993 so dramatic. For decades, Saturday Morning had been an institution that was backed by American corporate sponsorship and acculturated children with shared cultural capital that united generations. In the first season of Saturday Morning in the fall of 1960, ABC, CBS, and NBC presented children’s programming to different degrees. ABC only offered a single program nationally amidst local programming, Lunch with Soupy Sales. CBS had a more robust offering with Captain Kangaroo, Magic Land of Allakazam, Mighty Mouse Playhouse, and Sky King. NBC had the most extensive children’s schedule that season, offering an hour more than CBS, with The Shari Lewis Show, King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, Fury, The Lone Ranger, True Story, Detective’s Diary, and Watch Mr. Wizard. This initial season of Saturday Morning was a very mixed schedule where some programs were reruns from prime-time series meant for older audiences like The Lone Ranger, Sky King, and Detective’s Diary, but were still considered acceptable viewing for an audience with an average age of ten. The rest of the schedule were mostly live-action programs designed expressly for children like Captain Kangaroo and The Shari Lewis Show, meant to both entertain and instill good morals in their young viewers. Of this initial broadcast schedule, only two programs were animated: Mighty Mouse Playhouse and King Leonardo and His Short Subjects. Mighty Mouse Playhouse and King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, despite being only a small part of the Saturday Morning schedule initially, would set the tone for Saturday Morning for decades. Mighty Mouse Playhouse was focused on the character of Mighty Mouse, a small, unassuming mouse who is actually a superhero with the powers of flight and super strength. The episodes themselves are humorous, built upon the visual spectacle of the absurdity of a mouse being powerful and saving the day from miscreants.20 King Leonardo and His Short Subjects are very short cartoons, five airing in a half-hour period, about a talking lion, Leonardo, who is king of a fictional African nation, and his rivalry with

20 Public domain movies, “Mighty Mouse: Wolf! Wolf!,” public domain movies, accessed 1 July 2018, http://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/mighty-mouse-wolf-wolf.

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Biggie Rat, who tries to usurp him.21 Both programs are light-hearted in tone and focused on intelligent animal characters. They also established the two main genres that would become popular for much of Saturday Morning’s history: superhero programs and comedic skit cartoons. In the fall of 1962, the Saturday Morning schedule began to distill its identity. All three channels—ABC, CBS, and NBC—aired between two and a half hours to four hours of children’s programming this season. It would also be this season where Looney Tunes would join the schedule, eventually becoming the longest running comedic skit cartoon aired on Saturday Morning, as well as see the debut of The Ruff & Reddy Show on NBC from Hanna-Barbera Productions. This was not the only program Hanna-Barbera Productions provided the schedule, however, as they also provided Top Cat to ABC. Still, while Saturday Morning would eventually be known for cartoons, in this early season, the only cartoons shown were The Ruff & Reddy Show, Top Cat, Looney Tunes under the title The Bugs Bunny Show, Might Mouse Playhouse, and King Leonardo and His Short Subjects. Further, The Ruff & Reddy Show was the only cartoon made for Saturday Morning.22 All the other animated programs had previously aired either in prime time or were made as shorts for theatrical releases that were both inexpensive to acquire and deemed “kid-friendly.” The Ruff & Reddy Show would be the first of many Hanna-Barbera programs made for Saturday Morning and contribute to the timeslot’s particular animated identity. Hanna-Barbera Productions developed a limited animation style that dramatically reduced the cost of animation, making its production far more profitably viable than it had been in the past. Live-action programs dominated the first few years of Saturday Morning because it was dramatically less expensive to film than to animate a cartoon of equal length, even though it limited what sort of content could be presented. None of the three networks were willing to air a program that would be prohibitively expensive, even if it was highly rated. If the program was not profitable, it would not make sense for the network. Additionally, Hanna-Barbera Productions would also help

21 TV.com, “King Leonardo & His Short Subjects,” TV.com, accessed 1 July 2018, http://www.tv.com/shows/king-leonardo-his-short-subjects. 22 Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, “Joseph Barbera on Creating The Ruff & Reddy Show,” Television Academy Interviews video, 6:00, accessed 1 July 2018, https:// interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/joseph-barbera.

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normalize what would become the traditional format for animation on Saturday Morning, consisting of three seven-minute shorts within a half-hour period by producing series with that structure in mind. This differed with how the format had been previously used, simply airing as many shorts as could fit in a half-hour period like with Looney Tunes. Creating a greater availability of animated content and standardizing its presentation further established Saturday Morning’s identity, as well as shaping American children’s programming.23 In the fall of 1966, The New Adventures of Superman (1966), produced by Filmation, debuted and the controversy it caused would further shape the nature of Saturday Morning. The series was produced for children and blended elements from the radio show as well as elements from the comic books, like the use of Superman’s classic villains such as Lex Luthor. It was also inexpensively made, often reusing animation, which made it differ from the previous Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 1940s that used rotoscoping techniques for its animation and was roughly four times more expensive than other cartoons at the time.24 The New Adventures of Superman (1966) proved popular on Saturday Morning and more superhero cartoons arrived on the schedule the following year, such as Spider-Man (1967), Fantastic Four (1967), and The Superman/Aquaman House of Adventure (1967), as well as original superhero content from Hanna-Barbera Productions like Space Ghost and Dino Boy (1966), Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor (1967), and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio (1967). However, because of The New Adventures of Superman’s (1966) depiction of relatively realistic violence, it was canceled due to parental protests and the activism by the coalition, Action For Children’s Television.25 Following the cancelation, regulations were put in place that lasted throughout the 1970s that would limit realistic violence in children’s cartoons. These regulations were instrumental toward the creation of the general norms of Saturday Morning in two ways. First, it reinforced that Saturday Morning was a time dedicated to children’s programs and while this programming was to be entertaining, the programs

23 Leonard

Maltin, Of Mice and Magic (New York: Plume, 1987), 343–345. 120. 25 TV.com, “The New Adventures of Superman,” TV.com, accessed 1 July 2018, http:// www.tv.com/shows/the-new-adventures-of-superman/. 24 Ibid.,

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should also be morally acceptable to the upbringing of good, young Americans, something especially important during the Cold War. Action for Children’s Television would observe Saturday Morning for years to come with this agenda in mind. Second, this also shaped what sort of protagonist Saturday Morning would present as a proper role model for young children to emulate. Comedic skit cartoons like Looney Tunes and those from Hanna-Barbera Productions already portrayed their ideal protagonist as a cunning and skillful male who eschewed direct violence as the actions of a brute, and if the protagonist was human, he was also usually white. This sort of protagonist was also already present in the large amount of Westerns that aired on Saturday Morning in the 1960s. One would think a Western, with its inherent gun play, would seem more violent than a man throwing a punch, but often the shooting done by the protagonist cowboy were trick shots showing skill and cunning to use the weapon as a means to capture their adversary. This sort of cunning male was allowed under these new regulations and would become Saturday Morning’s ideal protagonist until the transition. Alongside this surge of superhero programs in 1966–1967, HannaBarbara Productions would provide six of the total thirteen hours of content presented between the three networks. The rest of the schedule involved programs that had been previously aired such as Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, The New Casper Cartoon Show, and the animated version of The Lone Ranger, or based on novels such as, Journey to the Center of the Earth. The only notable omission to the schedule was Mighty Mouse Playhouse that finally disappeared after airing since the very first season. The schedule also included the King Kong Show that debuted in 1966. It is important to mention because it is the first American Saturday Morning program that was outsourced to Japan for animation and production. It was principally developed by Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc., the same company responsible for the claymation version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), but Toei Animation was responsible for the actual animation. The series would follow the cues of The Ruff & Reddy Show with three segments, the first and last being about King Kong, while the middle was about a character called Tom of T.H.U.M.B., a spy, which was another popular trend for cartoons in this particular season.26

26 SciFi Japan, “KING KONG Cartoon Series Guide,” SciFi Japan, accessed 1 July 2018, http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2008/12/20/king-kong-cartoon-series-guide/.

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The plot of the King Kong segments had little to do with the original 1933 film and was incredibly similar to the plot of Dino Boy in the Lost Valley, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, where a caveman saves a young boy and then protects him in their adventures.27 This formula was itself a variant of the plot of Hanna-Barbera’s The Adventures of Jonny Quest (1964), where the titular character, Jonny Quest, and his friend would get into trouble, only to be saved by his scientist father and the family bodyguard.28 In the King Kong Show (1966), King Kong befriends a young boy and each episode proceeds to revolve around him protecting the child from dinosaurs, robots, or the villain of the week. In this end, it was incredibly formulaic for the period and would air until the 1968/1969 season.29 Saturday Morning in the 1970s continued to develop its now established identity of being a time dedicated to children’s entertainment by trying to grow its audience even further. The 1960s primarily targeted young white boys with its large amount of superhero programs, Westerns, and wacky comedic cartoons. This boys’ demographic was always the most coveted demographic, similar to how male-oriented films are considered “mainstream” by Hollywood, while female-oriented films are considered niche, risky, or “chick flicks.” However, in the 1970s, Saturday Morning began to court children outside of this primary demographic. This would transform the schedule for the next two decades as networks attempted to create blocks of programming that would intrigue and keep as many children as possible on their channel for the entire morning. Perhaps this trend toward greater inclusion was partly inspired by the Civil Rights and Women’s Rights Movements of the 1960s and 1970s, since programs such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1970) and Josie and the Pussy Cats (1970) aired targeting the female audience, and the Harlem Globetrotters and Fat Albert and the Cosby Gang aired presenting people of color as protagonists. However, these shows were very particular in their structures. Harlem Globetrotters and Fat Albert and the Cosby Gang both

27 Jonny Quest—The Complete First Season, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, 1964–1965. DVD. 28 Space Ghost and Dino Boy: The Complete Series, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, 1966–1968. DVD. 29 SciFi Japan, “KING KONG Cartoon Series Guide.”

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had predominately African-American casts, with Harlem Globetrotters being the first predominately African-American cartoon on Saturday Morning.30 Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1970) and Josie and the Pussy Cats (1970) had predominately female casts, with male characters acting as secondary figures or villains. Due to these points of difference, all four programs may have seemed niche to the established Saturday Morning audience and, with the exception of Fat Albert and the Cosby Gang, were canceled after a couple of seasons. In the fall of 1979, a Spider-Woman cartoon debuted but did not even make it into the spring 1980 lineup. The networks were willing to see if more inclusive content would be profitable, but like all programming on Saturday Morning, if it proved unprofitable it would be canceled, sometimes before even airing a single year. Besides this dip into the pool of inclusion and wider market reach, the 1970s were also shaped by the further rise of Hanna-Barbera Productions. At any given time within the decade, Hanna-Barbera Productions produced half of the content for all three networks. The rest of the schedule would be divided almost equally between Filmation, another production company, and a variety of smaller groups. HannaBarbera Productions’ dominance continued to create a unified feel to Saturday Morning. Simply comparing just the Super Friends (1973), Josie and the Pussy Cats (1970), Hong Kong Phooey (1974), The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971), and The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour (1976), they all have a similar feel due to being produced by HannaBarbera Productions, despite the programs being different genres and being on different channels. Hanna-Barbara Productions generally only had four narrative structures: programs that would somehow include a musical sequence like Josie and the Pussy Cats, a superhero program like Super Friends, programs where a villain’s scheme would be discovered and undone by the heroes like Scooby-Doo, or an adventure program involving a family headed by a scientist father with a precocious child, like Jonny Quest. Even Harlem Globetrotters used the structure where the villain of the episode’s scheme would be foiled by the characters—the difference was it would be foiled with basketball unlike on Scooby-Doo.

30 Pamela Thomas (listed as Sista ToFunky), “Harlem Globetrotters Cartoon,” Museum of Uncut Funk, 7 December 2011, accessed 1 July 2018, http://museumofuncutfunk. com/2011/12/07/harlem-globetrotters-cartoon.

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This use of stock Hanna-Barbera plots even occurred with Godzilla (1978). Hanna-Barbera Productions produced twenty-six episodes of Godzilla (1978), but it can be debated how much the series had anything to do with the films. While it is true that the monster Godzilla greatly lightened in tone from his origin as a menace that destroyed Tokyo to becoming more of an anti-hero, the Hanna-Barbera version took that further and had Godzilla protect a family when he was summoned that was headed by a scientist father, who had a precocious son. Ironically, by using the plot of Jonny Quest, Hanna-Barbera Productions also used the plot of the King Kong Show (1966), linking the two great monsters together. What is most particular about this connection is while the King Kong Show (1966) was outsourced to Japan for animation despite being a famous American cultural property, Godzilla (1978) was produced entirely by an American company, despite being a famous Japanese cultural property.31 As the 1970s came to a close, the 1980s would continue to add to the identity of Saturday Morning. The 1980s are often considered the “Golden Age of Saturday Morning,” most notably for the rise of programs like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) and Transformers (1984). The plots of these series are less important than what the shows themselves were—programs financed by toy companies to act as half-hour commercials. These programs were produced for the express purpose of selling the toys associated with them. At first, this does not seem overly problematic considering that Saturday Morning was partly made to advertise to children and Saturday Morning programs were often sponsored at first by a company for the purpose of advertising within the program. However, when a company like General Mills sponsored a cartoon, the cartoon was not about their newest cereal. That detail made these new programs different than previous advertising methods. This new method of advertisement also began to break HannaBarbera Productions’ domination of Saturday Morning as Hasbro and Mattel made the programs purposely inexpensive for the networks to acquire and then often sweetened the business arrangement for the

31 Godzilla: The Original Animated Series, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Toho Ltd, 1978–1979. Hulu.

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network by purchasing advertising within the program’s timeslot. They also sought to air both on Saturday Morning and on weekdays with willing affiliates because the cartoon itself was an advertisement for their actual product.32 This occurred because of the deregulation of children’s programming under Reagan that was initially proposed in 1980 and then finalized in 1984.33 However, the success of these shows and the deregulation would be short-lived. Both of these successful programs and others that followed the same formula would disappear from Saturday Morning by the fall of 1986 due to parental backlash and protest. Just like in the 1960s with The New Adventures of Superman (1966), Action for Children’s Television fought for a return of regulations so children would not be left with only glorified commercials as their most readily available form of entertainment.34 Regulations would return to networks with the Children’s Television Act of 1990 which, among other things, banned the advertisement of toys or other products related to the program within its air time. Due to this backlash, Saturday Morning would almost entirely reset in 1986, focusing its efforts in presenting a schedule that would be attractive to the largest audience of children like in the 1970s. Most of the programs that aired after this reset were either programs that had aired beforehand or had managed to continue to air alongside the glorified commercials. The rest of the reset schedule was composed of programs based on established American intellectual properties. Likewise, this period would return to the previous norms and conventions that had characterized Saturday Morning from its beginning (see Chapters 2 and 3 for a greater exploration of this period).

32 Thor Jensen, “Year of the Robot, Part 1: How Go-Bots, Transformers, Voltron, and Mighty Orbots Conquered the World,” SyFYWire, 17 December 2014, accessed 1 July 2018,  http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/year-robot-part-1-how-go-bots-transformersvoltron-and-mighty-orbots-conquered-world. 33 Mary Story and Simone French, “Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US,” The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Vol. 1, No. 1 (10 February 2004): Table 6. 34 Ernest Holsendolph, “Are Children No Longer in the Programming Picture?” The New York Times, 25 July 1982, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.nytimes. com/1982/07/25/arts/are-children-no-longer-in-the-programming-picture.html.

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Mighty Orbots and Japanese Cartoons on American Television Before the Transition With this brief history of Saturday Morning from 1960 to 1986, a clear picture emerges of Saturday Morning being focused on American culture, leaning heavily on deeply rooted American imagery, and using American intellectual properties to introduce and reinforce common ideas, stories, and conventions to young audiences for successive generations. Very little non-American content aired on Saturday Morning at all, with the exception of some British content from the BBC, especially in the 1970s at the height of the “British Invasion” when American culture was obsessed with all things British. Yet, this should not be overly surprisingly when one remembers the point Miller made about how British content was considered of higher quality and is also very cultural accessible to American audiences.35 Within the schedule of Saturday Morning before the 1990s, scholars like Steger, Barber, and Schiller would likely not be surprised that American cultural dominance was still present, even when the program either focused on a Japanese property or was partly produced in Japan. Japanese properties like Godzilla were co-opted, presented with American formulas and conventions by American companies like Hanna-Barbara Productions, while Japanese studios were used for cost management like with the King Kong Show (1966). This brings the series Mighty Orbots into greater focus as it acted as both of these methods simultaneously. The series aired on Saturday Morning briefly in the fall of 1984, and some may consider it the first anime to air on the schedule with its boxy, multi-colored robots reminiscent of Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984). However, that status could be debated. The series itself was a joint production with the Japanese company, TMS Entertainment, which was responsible for the directing, animating, character designs, and production, while the scripts and music were created by staff in the United States. The series’ target audience was American and it would air in the United States before it eventually aired in Japan after its American cancelation.36

35 Miller,

172. “Year of the Robot, Part 1: How Go-Bots, Transformers, Voltron, and Mighty Orbots Conquered the World.” 36 Jensen,

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Mighty Orbots was also not overly unique on American television at the time of its debut, as Transformers (1984) aired only nine days later. Yet, it was more than just their close broadcast debuts that link the two cartoons together. Both series were about intelligent, humanoid robots produced to sell Japanese robot toys that the American companies of Mattel and Hasbro, respectively, had licensed for distribution. Both were made effectively as commercials for these toys. While Mattel worked in conjunction with Warner Brothers and TMS Entertainment for Mighty Orbots’ production to help reduce cost, Hasbro worked with Marvel and Sunbow Productions, with some animation outsourced to both Japan and South Korea, depending on the season, for Transformers (1984). While Mighty Orbots debuted immediately on Saturday Morning, Transformers (1984) debuted initially during the weekday hours with an introductory mini-series. However, it would not take long for new episodes to reach the Saturday Morning schedule. Hasbro attempted to make their commercialized cartoons more attractive to networks and thus, more available to their intended audience, by making lucrative offers. If the station acquired and aired Transformers (1984), Hasbro would buy advertising during it for their G.I. Joe toy line and vice versa for their G.I. Joe: Real American Hero (1985) cartoon, allowing the station to obtain inexpensive content as well as guaranteed advertising revenue on both programs. However, this business tactic did not push Mighty Orbots off the air, becoming a footnote in Saturday Morning history. Instead, Mighty Orbots disappeared from the mainstream American cultural consciousness after thirteen episodes because Mattel backed out due to a lawsuit brought by Tonka, another producer of toy robots. Meanwhile, Transformers (1984) became one of the pillars of the “Golden Age” of Saturday Morning, that in truth only lasted a handful of years.37 Deregulation may have assisted Mighty Orbots in briefly finding a place on the Saturday Morning schedule in the 1980s, but it was not the only Japanese production brought to the United States for the sake of toy driven profit. Due to the decade’s deregulation, the idea of acquiring the rights to a series and the rights to license any of its connected toys in the United States became a viable business option. This would do away with the cost of producing the animation and allow for a

37 Ibid.

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greater possibility of profit, even if the series was not immensely popular or aired in a prime timeslot. This would bring Robotech (1985), which merged three different, unrelated series of Japanese anime together in order to meet the syndication episode requirements at the time, along with Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984) to American shores. Both series were used as a means to sell the toys associated with them with little care about presenting a true representation of the original source material. Voltron’s American edits proved so extensive that World Events Productions, who purchased the rights, hired Toei Animation, the original production company, to produce a new first episode that would establish the changes the edits produced.38 Even before this, Japanese anime that aired in the United States generally did so as a means for independent stations and local affiliates to inexpensively fill their broadcast schedules. This was the reason programs like Astro Boy (1963), Gigantor (1963), Speed Racer (1967), and Battle of the Planets (1978) appeared in syndication on American airwaves, as well as less influential programs like, Teknoman (1995). Even though Hanna-Barbera Production’s limited animation style dramatically reduced the cost of cartoons, some companies sought to meet the needs of these stations by purchasing the rights to already animated Japanese series, dubbing them into English, and editing them for American sensibilities, sometimes by creating an entirely new story in the process. These programs, already produced to be cost-effective for the Japanese audience, when presented to Americans often looked odd and “cheap” due to the dubbing process, such as how fast dialogue seemed in Speed Racer or how scenes were edited. However, this was unimportant because the purpose was to fill airtime. This would produce some cult favorites and niche interest, but not mainstream popularity. The lack of a uniformed schedule across the country as well as how these series were often aired during times that were considered “dead timeslots” such as late at night, very early in the morning, and on Sundays, would even cause series that would later prove incredibly successful on Cartoon Network like Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon to languish in obscurity for a time.39

38 Ibid. 39 Brigid Alverson, “20 Years Ago, Dragon Ball Z Came to America to Stay,” CBR.com, 18 September 2016, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.cbr.com/20-years-ago-dragonball-z-came-to-america-to-stay/.

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The History of the Japanese-American Media Exchange However, it is too simplistic to suggest that the cultural exchange between the United States and Japan was limited to American companies purchasing Japanese series for syndication purposes and toy distribution. Throughout the twentieth century, both countries looked to the other as a source for not only novelties to consume, but also for inspiration and techniques to adapt for their own domestic uses. This modern media exchange between the two countries could be considered to begin with two quintessentially American cultural properties that both proved particularly influential to Japan during the Occupation and Post-Occupation Period: Disney Films and King Kong (1933). By 1952, Disney released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland. Osamu Tezuka, the creator of the first modern manga Tetsuwan Atom, made a point to journey from his home in Osaka and stay in Tokyo in order to view these Disney films repeatedly. He saw the film Bambi over a hundred times and saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarves over fifty times.40 Tezuka would also publish his own comic versions of Bambi and Pinocchio, though without Disney’s initial consent.41 Tezuka was first introduced to Disney’s art style and cartoons when he was in second grade at an animation festival and from that young age was fascinated with how Disney presented its characters. He stated, “Once I became devoted to Disney, I set out to copy and master that stuffed-animal style, eventually ending up with how I now draw.”42 The work of Disney inspired and formed Tezuka’s art style, which would later shape the style of anime in general. These Disney films, in particular, also revealed to Tezuka and others in Japan, that animation could be used for full-length films and longer stories dealing with significant themes beyond what could be contained

40 Yasue Kuwahara, “Japanese Culture and Popular Consciousness: Disney’s The Lion King vs Tezuka’s Jungle Emperor,” The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Summer 1997): 44. 41 Ian Condry, The Soul of Anime (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), 101–102. 42 Ryan Holmberg, “Tezuka Osamu and American Comics,” The Comics Journal, 16 July 2012, accessed 1 July 2018, http://www.tcj.com/tezuka-osamu-and-american-comics/.

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in a ten-minute short, as had been the animation norm in both countries before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, in the early years of the 1950s, these Disney films were far beyond the production capabilities of Japan to mimic; the sheer expense of animating a film produced in the same style was prohibitive. While Disney films may have demonstrated to the Japanese that film, and later television, could be viable means for extended storytelling, animation would not be the first choice to explore the deep-seated issues still haunting the Japanese psyche from the end of the war. Instead, in 1954, the Japanese turned to what would come to be known as tokusatsu, a method that involves men in rubber suits, model building, and other practical effects, to create Gojira, or in its American release, Godzilla. Ever since Eiji Tsuburaya, the special effects director for the film, had seen King Kong (1933), he had dreamed of making a giant monster movie. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka ultimately fulfilled Tsuburaya’s wish with production of Gojira, but the film was no simple monster movie. Gojira was a metaphor for the horrors of World War II. The monster only came out at night, much like how the American firebombings occurred. The monster also had a distinctive roar that did not sound like a roar of an animal but more like a siren. It used “atomic breath” as a weapon to destroy the cities of Japan, and it was created by experimenting with hydrogen weapons. It was a monster that was almost entirely immune to any weapon the Japanese Special Protection Force used against it, yet it also rampaged seemingly for self-preservation.43 Gojira was a film that subtly touched upon many wartime issues for the Japanese, disguising them within the guise of a giant monster. When the Japanese audience initially viewed the film it received a mix reception because of this use of metaphor. Just two years prior to its release, the Japanese were allowed access to photographs of the devastation of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the first time. Before August 1952, access was restricted and discussion of nuclear war in general was censored by the Occupation Forces.44 The film debuted just months after the Lucky Dragon incident where a Japanese crew was contaminated by nuclear fallout from an American Hydrogen Bomb test.

43 Allison, 44 John

43–44. W. Dower, Embracing Defeat (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000), 415.

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The metaphor of Godzilla helped kindle anti-nuclear war activism and protests within Japan. The metaphor and seriousness of Godzilla was acutely understood by its original audience.45 When the film was brought to the United States, to adapt it for the American audience it was edited and the actor Raymond Burr was introduced as a reporter to guide the audience through the action. Unsurprisingly, it was directly compared to the film King Kong (1933), but with the exception of both films containing a giant monster and both plots occurring due to humanity’s hubris, there are actually few similarities. King Kong was a natural beast that was subdued and brought into the civilized world in an act of human arrogance. In the end, it caused little destruction and was killed by the conventional military.46 Godzilla was created as an unexpected result of hydrogen weapons tests, destroyed everything it touched, and could only be killed by a weapon that was considered even worse than the monster itself.47 Yet, Godzilla (1954) proved popular in the United States. For much of the rest of the 1950s, mutated or nuclear monster films filled American cinemas but none of them invoked the nuance that was in Godzilla. Instead, they used an even more simplified version of King Kong’s plot and provided the audience a visual spectacular of a destructive monster being defeated by the military in a final battle—a comforting tale for an audience concerned about nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The fad would begin to dissipate by the end of the decade. At the same time in the late 1950s, the United States would export Hanna-Barbera cartoons to Japan. These cartoons, unlike Disney films, used a style of animation that could be easily reproduced. The HannaBarbera animation style was the missing key to allow Japanese production houses the means to cheaply produce what would become known as anime. Similar to how Americans rolled over the popularity of Godzilla (1954) into unrelated monster films, Japanese anime almost immediately 45 Michael Shaller, “Godzilla, Present and Past,” The New York Times, 16 May 1998, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/16/opinion/godzilla-present-and-past.html. 46 King Kong, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (uncredited), performed by Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot, RKO Radio Pictures, 1933. Film. 47 Godzilla, King of Monsters, directed by Ishirou Honda, performed by Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, and Akira Takarada, Toho Film Co. Ltd., 1954. Film.

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diverged from every aspect of Hanna-Barbera cartoons. “Japanese TV anime is often compared to a complicated novel,”48 and that is not a comparison often given to content produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. One of the first of these complicated anime was Tetsuwan Atom (1963), or Astro Boy in its eventual American release, based on the manga that was started by Osamu Tezuka in 1952. Tetsuwan Atom is one the most famous and influential works in Japanese popular culture, with its titular character known in Japan in the same way that the character Mickey Mouse is known in the United States. Tetsuwan Atom is heavily inspired by Tezuka’s many viewings of Disney films as it is about a robot that is created and longs to please his father/maker and be his real son.49 However, unlike Pinocchio, his wish is never granted and eventually he is dismissed by his father for not being a biological child. Also, unlike Pinocchio, the robot is not brought to life by magic but programmed by science and fueled by a nuclear reactor that acts as his heart. In the 1960s, it was one of the earliest Japanese anime, with simple animation and an art style that was inspired by Disney’s, but also with complex narratives involving what it truly meant to be human, being abandoned but having to endure, and having great power and responsibility but simply wanting to be a child. Anime would follow the format provided by Tetsuwan Atom through various genres; the programs would generally have a consecutive plot and often be narratively and emotionally complicated. What is particularly important in this broad exchange is that in each wave of cultural flow, the receiving culture did not pivot to reflect the other culture or displace their own domestic cultural products with what they received. Instead, the imports were enjoyed as a novelty and sometimes used as tools and inspiration to create something that was thoroughly and distinctly domestic. This is how the relationship acted in both these broader trends and within more specific examples. For instance, Tetsuwan Atom is part of a particular and intriguing string

48 Tsutomu Kanayama and Tomoko Kanayama, “Japan,” in Global Entertainment Media: Content, Audiences, Issues, edited by Anne Cooper-Chen (Mahwah and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Inc., 2005), 153. 49 Frederik L. Schodt, “Introduction,” in Astro Boy Volume 1 (Comic by Osamu Tezuka) (Milwaukie: Dark Horse Manga, 2002), 3.

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of back and forth influence between Japan and the United States that often goes unnoticed but is greatly influential to both countries’ popular media. As was previously stated, Tetsuwan Atom was inspired by Pinocchio but translated through the lens of post-war Japanese culture. A key feature of the titular character, Atom, is the square door on his chest that houses his nuclear heart. In the United States in May 1959, writer Robert Bernstein decided to make a conscious departure from what had previously been written for the Superman villain dubbed “Metallo,” creating a new origin for the character entirely. John Corben was now a shady reporter, but after a near-fatal accident, his body was recovered by Professor Vale. Professor Vale conducted an experiment on him that transferred his brain into a cybernetic body that was fueled by a uranium heart, much like how Atom was powered by his own nuclear heart.50 From the establishment of the John Corben origin, artists have consistently depicted Metallo with a square door on his chest similar to Atom/ Astro’s visual depiction. However, this could be considered a coincidence. In an age of possible nuclear war, powering a person with a nuclear heart would not be impossible for multiple individuals to independently conceive and a square door to reveal the heart is easy to draw. Besides the connection between the nuclear powered hearts, the square chest door, and the entrenched theme of “what is human?” Atom and John Corben are entirely different. Atom appears as a child, was created not born, and is a hero. John Corben is the opposite, being depicted as an adult man, who was born but then transformed into a machine, and is a criminal. Then in Japan in 1963, Kazumasa Hirai began writing the manga, 8 Man. The story of 8 Man revolves around the character of Detective Hachiro Azuma, who is nearly killed by criminals. If not for the experiment of Professor Tani, he would have died, but instead was transferred into a cybernetic body.51 It is not just that Detective Hachiro Azuma is saved from death by becoming a cyborg that is reminiscent of the

50 Robert Bernstein (w), Unknown Illustrator (p). “The Menace of Metallo!,” Silver Age Classics: Action Comics #252 (1992), DC Comics [Amazon Kindle Edition]. 51 8thManDVD.com Cartoon Channel, “Tobor the 8th Man EP 01: How, I, 8th Man Came to be (1965) [Remastered & Restored],” YouTube video, 23:29, 24 November 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iB2ZLvdF7U.

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John Corben/Metallo origin, but the fact that the scientist is named Professor Tani. Tani in Japanese means valley or vale. 8 Man would become a predecessor series to cyborg anime in Japan, including the influential Kamen Rider (1971).52 Thus, 8 Man assists in beginning a whole genre of anime, while being tied to a reoccurring character from Action Comics, who was possibly inspired by Tetsuwan Atom. This particular chain of influence can be concluded with a mention of Robocop. Many influences have been claimed for the film Robocop (1987), but it would be difficult to dismiss the theory that it was at influenced by 8 Man. It is the story of Officer Alex Murphy, who would have been brutally killed if not returned to some sense of life by the experiments of scientists at Omni Consumer Products to create a cybernetic body around him. As Robocop, much like 8 Man, he rejoins the police force with this new identity to assist in keeping order with his new cybernetic enhancements.53

What Makes a Program Japanese and What Is Course for the Rest of the Book? It is common, even today, for animation to be sent overseas to be more cost-effective, so simply being produced and animated in Japan or South Korea is not enough to render a program not an American production. There is a spectrum of national influence and sometimes it is incredibly intuitive to identify where a program rests on that spectrum. For example, Hanna-Barbera Production’s Godzilla (1978) features the most famous Japanese cultural product of all time, yet no one looking at the cartoon would especially debate its national and cultural origin. This is also the case with the live-action Hollywood film, Godzilla (1998). Even though a Japanese property was the subject, both the property and the narrative were thoroughly Americanized. The Japanese even reject the monster in Godzilla (1998) as being their Gojira at all, calling it “Zilla” instead.54

52 Thomas Zoth, “10 Most Iconic Anime Heroes,” Mania Beyond Entertainment, 12 January 2010, accessed 1 July 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20131017063118/ http://www.mania.com/10-iconic-anime-heroes_article_119883.html. 53 Robocop, directed by Paul Verhoeven, performed by Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, and Dan O’Herlihy, Orion Pictures, 1987. Film. 54 Godzilla: Final Wars, directed by Ryuuhei Kitamura, performed by Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, and Don Frye, Toho Pictures, 2004. Film.

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What about Mighty Orbots? I asserted earlier it could be debated if it should be considered the first anime on Saturday Morning. I claim that because while Mighty Orbots has a visual aesthetic similar to anime and focuses on large robotic figures that were generally uncommon in American media until the 1980s, the creative force behind the program was American scriptwriters. The series was also made with the American audience in mind. Mighty Orbots is more influenced by Japanese culture than how the King Kong Show (1966) was due to its choice of subject matter, but it seems more accurate to describe it as a hybrid show than a Japanese anime like Beast King GoLion (1981). In Beast King GoLion every aspect of the program—script, animation, music, direction, voice acting—was handled by Japanese staff and the series was developed for the Japanese audience. Then what about Voltron? Voltron was based on Beast King GoLion, but heavily adapted, not just with English voice acting, but with a new script, a new story, and even a new first episode. Voltron and Beast King GoLion are different series, even though they share animation. In this way, the spectrum becomes clear: a program like Looney Tunes is more American than one like the King Kong Show because some Japanese style choices can be seen in its animation. King Kong Show is more American than Mighty Orbots because while both may have been outsourced to Japan for cost management, Mighty Orbots uses more Japanese elements like the large robotic humanoids. Mighty Orbots would then be more American than Voltron because while both were animated in Japan and were about large robotic humanoids, Mighty Orbots was originally made for the American audience while Voltron was heavily adapted from a series meant for the Japanese audience. In this way, Voltron is more American than Beast King GoLion because it was adapted for the American audience. This is important because for the majority of Saturday Morning, most programs would linger around the level of the King Kong Show or HannaBarbera Production’s Godzilla. When Mighty Morphin Power Rangers debuted it would be similar to that of Voltron, highly adapted for the American audience, but still clearly based on a Japanese property originally intended for the Japanese audience, making it the most Japanese influenced program that had aired on Saturday Morning by that point. Pokémon would push that further, with its Americanization of names, but generally remaining faithful to the source material. Yu-Gi-Oh! would not even bother to Americanize the most important names in the series, leaving them distinctly Japanese. For the most part, the main adaptations done to Yu-Gi-Oh! were its English voice acting and the removal of more mature content.

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For the rest of this book, Japanese media influence on Saturday Morning and on children’s media will be demonstrated through the phenomenal successes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Pokémon, and YuGi-Oh! Each of these three created trends around their ascent that was similar to the superhero boom of the 1960s around The New Adventures of Superman (1966) when very similar shows aired in order to compete and compliment it. The same occurred for all three. Despite each series’ progressively more Japanese aesthetic, the Saturday Morning networks both imported Japanese programs of the same genres and sought domestic productions that would resemble what they hoped audiences found particularly compelling about each phenomenon. However, unlike with The New Adventures of Superman (1966) that may have encouraged more American cartoons based on American intellectual properties that reinforced American cultural norms and traditions, the schedule continued to reinforce and expand the influence of Japanese artistic and narrative conventions, normalizing them through the legitimacy of Saturday Morning in a way syndication never could. In order to demonstrate the gradual transition of integration and normalization of Japanese content on Saturday Morning five groups of popular and representational programs were chosen to be analyzed and compared, especially through the conventions involving their protagonists, antagonists, use of violence, tone, female characters, and general structure. Chapter 3 analyzes The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show/ Looney Tunes, Garfield & Friends, The Real Ghostbusters, and Saved by the Bell. These four were selected because they were the most popular and long-lasting series in the post-1986 reset period. This group also provides a foundational understanding of what Saturday Morning’s conventions consisted of before the influx of Japanese content after 1993. Chapters 4–6 each focus on one of the three Japanese phenomena, along with a Japanese import that reflects it either in genre or theme and a popular American production that likewise reflects it, often by adopting conventions that the phenomenon introduced or reinforced on the Saturday Morning schedule. These chapters chronologically follow the transition from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Pokémon to Yu-Gi-Oh!, demonstrating how each series acted as a foundation for the next to build its success. In Chapter 4, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is analyzed alongside its Japanese peer, Big Bad Beetleborgs,

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a series of the same genre, and Superman: The Animated Series (1996), a popular, quintessential American cultural property that integrated some of the new conventions. In Chapter 5, this is repeated with Pokémon and its Japanese peer, Digimon, and Jackie Chan Adventures. These two series were chosen due to Digimon being popular and of the same genre and Jackie Chan Adventures’ own popularity at the time, yet further reflecting foreign conventions. In Chapter 6, Dragonball Z Kai and Teen Titans were chosen because they share similar themes with Yu-Gi-Oh! and both even reference the same Japanese intellectual properties. In Chapter 7, a final group is analyzed that consists of a South Korean program called Tai Chi Chasers and the American programs Justice League Unlimited (2004), Spectacular Spider-Man (2008), and Iron Man: Armored Adventures (2008). These four programs were selected to demonstrate how different Saturday Morning became in its final years when American and South Korean programs could be aired side by side without either looking out of place because both conformed to the narrative conventions established by the anime that still dominated the schedule. Anne Cooper-Chen notes that “within a nation’s culture, TV content is one of the most accessible aspects—aside from its cuisine.”55 Furthermore, Entertainment should not be seen merely as trivial or neutral, with the functional objectives of providing diversion and escapism from the harsh realities of existence… but as a potent force in the inculcation and dissemination of values.56

55 Anne Cooper-Chen, “The World of Television,” in Global Entertainment Media: Content, Audiences, Issues, edited by Anne Cooper-Chen (Mahwah and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Inc., 2005), 8. 56 Paul Ansah, “Mass Communication and Cultural Identity: Dilemmas and Prospects for Developing Nations.” Paper presented to the 16th Conference, International Association for Mass Communication Research, Barcelona, 1988, 26; Cooper-Chen, Games in the Global Village, 53.

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Even though Saturday Morning was governed by ratings and profit, the stories and characters presented on it demonstrated certain ideological values and assumptions, and their portrayal on the schedule’s national stage gave them legitimacy and reinforced them as proper for American children from coast to coast. This reinforcement was furthered when the same stories and narrative conventions, along with their associated values and assumptions, were presented to successive generations of Americans. Yet, from 1993 onward those stories and conventions began to fall away and be quietly and gradually replaced with new Japanese ones. It is a generational and cultural break that is often overlooked. But how did this happen? Chapter 2 is an overview that explores that very question, before the discussion moves on to a greater in-depth analysis.

CHAPTER 2

Saturday Morning Conquered: How It Occurred

The Nature of Saturday Morning Immediately Before the Japanese Imports of the 1990s The dominance and eventual conquering of Saturday Morning in the United States was unpredictable because even the inclusion of Japanese intellectual and cultural properties on the Saturday Morning schedule was uncommon, with notable exceptions such as Godzilla. As was mentioned in greater detail in Chapter 1, for decades Saturday Morning acted as the main block of time dedicated to American children’s media. While there were children’s programs aired during the weekdays, it was not as uniform across the country as the Saturday Morning schedule. Local network affiliates throughout the United States had the same liberty to use afterschool hours and Sundays for news, sports, or any other local programming as they did for children’s programs. Saturday Morning, on the other hand, had been set aside for children’s programs since the 1960s and advertisers presumed they would have an excited, young audience to watch their advertisements for toys, games, and other products between their shows. In short, there was money involved in Saturday Morning, so if a program was not popular, it would not remain long on the networks’ schedules. Unpopular shows would be purged and replaced with something else in hopes that the new offering would receive ratings of seven or

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above on the Nielsen scale, which was the range for shows considered “successful” in the 1990s.1 Programs disappeared from the Saturday Morning schedules often without fanfare throughout its history. These programs would normally disappear around December or around the summer months, times which are still considered breakpoints in American television seasons. However, it was not uncommon for schedules to be shuffled a few weeks after fall premieres to give popular shows better or longer timeslots and unpopular shows unfavorable slots, if they were not replaced entirely. By the early 1990s, the four major broadcast networks at the time— ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX—all presented programming on Saturday Morning that was meant for American children of both genders from the ages of six to around the early teens, but was especially targeting the boys’ demographic. Boys’ content was considered more “mainstream” and acceptable for both genders. However, that is not to say that girls’ programs were not shown, but they were often mixed into the television lineup, in order to encourage the largest audience of children to watch a specific channel. This attempt to create a schedule that was attractive to the largest audience of children also fostered a repetition of specific cartoons that had managed to remain on Saturday Morning, such as Looney Tunes under its different titles, and certain narrative tropes and conventions providing each generation of Americans with a similar foundation in popular culture. Due to this, it is surprising that Japanese content was accepted and integrated at all in the 1990s. Japanese content did not have the benefit British programing from the BBC did, of presenting similar cultural, ethnic, and linguistic content, and even then British programming was more of a fad, than an ordinary offering on Saturday Morning schedules. However, Japanese content did not conquer Saturday Morning overnight. There was a slow, two-decade-long transition from purely American content to Japanese content for American youth. In this transition, Japanese content was injected into the mainstream American viewing schedule at just the right time

1 Beth Hannan, “TV Show Is High on Camp and Low on Special Effects, but Kids Love Feisty Heroes The Mighty Nielsen Power Rangers,” The Baltimore Sun, 29 December 1993, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-12-291993363111-story.html.

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in cultural history to latch onto popular currents and become popular itself. The American children viewing it did not latch onto it because it was from Japan. As mentioned by Anne Allison, its origin was not especially important to the young audience at first.2 Instead, in keeping with Kraidy’s theory on hybridity in culture, it was because these Japanese products were able to resonate with what was already popular within the culture. Once one Japanese program was accepted, its more foreign tropes were also accepted and could be used to make the next Japanese import feel less foreign to the audience.3 It was this ability to resonate with American media that let this revolution of Japanese content take hold and made this whole occurrence different than any other time Japanese content had been imported for consumption.

A Closer Look at Saturday Morning Content in the Late 1980s/Early 1990s Reset Period4 In the late 1980s, the same Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts that had aired decades earlier were still being presented to American youth under the name The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. Along with these shorts were programs such as Muppet Babies and Flintstone Kids, childaged spin-offs of other popular existing American intellectual properties, The Muppet Show and The Flintstones, respectively. In regards to Flintstones Kids, it was actually a spin-off of a spin-off, as The Flintstones was a thinly veiled animated version of the sitcom, The Honeymooners.5 This sort of repetition of either the original programs or variants of the same program helped reinforce both American cultural values and narrative assumptions across generations. Alongside these generational arching programs, there were three other varieties presented in this era of

2 Anne

Allison, Millennial Monsters (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 277. M. Kraidy, Hybridity or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005), 148. 4 In addition to the references at the end of this chapter, information about the actual schedule lineups for the different years were taken from TV Guide issues and newspaper TV schedule grids, with further confirmation and collaboration from online magazine and news articles. 5 Michael Klossner, Prehistoric Humans in Film and Television: 581 Dramas, Comedies and Documentaries, 1905–2004 (Jefferson: McFarland, 2006), 62. 3 Marwan

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Saturday Morning: spin-offs of recent films/television programs, programs meant to present a moral lesson to children, and commercial programs based on a toy line. Even during this reset period, programs based on toy lines remained, though they were less excessive in their marketing than at the height of the phenomenon years earlier and conformed more to the conventions and norms previously established by Saturday Morning’s history. Between these four varieties, the networks presented many of the facets of American popular culture that a child was to internalize to be a proper American over a course of four hours. Moreover, the programs themselves had unique characteristics that made them more uniform in presentation beyond these categories. First, there was focus on animal characters. Likely because these programs were directed to children, there was a point to include animal characters—either as anthropomorphic characters such as in the classic The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show or as a talking animal sidekick such as in as Dino in The Flintstone Kids. Secondly, the majority of programs attempted to build to a joke or a comedy beat by the end of the episode or short. The point of the cartoon—or in some cases a live-action series like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse—was to be comedic and end happily. Even programs such as The Real Ghostbusters that involved a team seeking out and fighting unruly ghosts kept these two rules in mind for most of their episodes. Programs that did not keep these two rules in mind did not last long on Saturday Morning in this reset period. Wildfire is a good example of a program that attempted to buck this trend and have a slightly more serious plot, only to disappear from networks after a year. Programs in this period also tended to adopt the traditional format utilized by Looney Tunes of three short cartoons that were seven-minute-long per half-hour episode. This format was not a definite requirement for success like the first two characteristics, but it was the norm. Even programs that began with deviations from it like The Real Ghostbusters that had twenty-one-minute episodes at first eventually conformed to it. By its later seasons, it presented its content in this traditional seven-minute format. Programs were also episodic in nature for the most part. One episode had little do with the episode preceding it and no harm would be done to the program’s coherence if the episodes were shuffled and played out of order for reruns. Before the 1990s, programs that deviated from these norms that had been established from the earliest years of Saturday Morning would find themselves canceled or eventually reworked to conform to them.

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With all these characteristics, there was one final trait that codified the offerings presented to American children on Saturday Morning— they all offered American culture for consumption. In the fall of 1986/ spring of 1987 Saturday Morning broadcast season, there was very little non-American programming presented. There was one program that aired during this season that was produced jointly with the Japanese company TMS Entertainment named Galaxy High School, but it did not have any particularly overt Japanese influence, culturally or visually. Instead, this program, like many other programs in the 1980s and even today, was outsourced to an Asian company for cost management, but remained an American intellectual and cultural property. TMS Entertainment on its own website describes it as “originally broadcasted on the CBS Television Network in the U.S. and developed by Chris Columbus, the renowned director of the hit feature films ‘Home Alone,’ and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’.”6 In this way, it was similar to the production of the King Kong Show (1966) years earlier (see Chapter 1). The only non-American intellectual property that aired during the 1986/1987 broadcast year was The Smurfs (1981), based on a Belgian comic written by Pierre Culliford, and even this was jointly produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions.7 In fact, in the late 1980s, there was only one obvious Japanese intellectual property presented on Saturday Morning—Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater. Yet, even though Hello Kitty is definitely a Japanese intellectual property, the program was again a joint production with American producers and conformed to all the ordinary norms and characteristics of content on Saturday Morning. It was a program presented in a modified eleven-minute instead of seven-minute short traditional format, populated by anthropomorphic animals, and the characters acted out western fairy tales and Hollywood films.8 In this way, the Hello Kitty property was not only used as a foreign novelty but also used to present the audience American ideals and cultural tales. 6 TMS Entertainment, LTD, “Galaxy High School,” TMS Entertainment, LTD, 2008, accessed 4 April 2018, http://www.tms-e.co.jp/english/search/introduction. php?pdt_no=200. 7 Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, “Joseph Barbera on Creating The Ruff & Reddy Show,” Television Academy Interviews video, 6:00, accessed 1 July 2018, https:// interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/joseph-barbera. 8 Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater, produced by DiC Enterprises, MGM/UA Television, and Sanrio Company, 1997. Hulu.

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Ironically perhaps, two American programs had to debut to set the stage for the Japanese revolution: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) and Saved by the Bell. On the surface, these two programs seem contrary to each other, but as will be demonstrated, it seems very likely that without both of them the course of Saturday Morning would have been different. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) partially owes it popularity to The Real Ghostbusters. The Real Ghostbusters (which will be further analyzed in Chapter 3) at its beginning was a program about four male scientists/ghost hunters who subdued the forces of the supernatural with the assistance of their secretary, Janine, and their ghost sidekick, Slimer. The comedy of the series was initially built within the dialogue between the characters and the absurdity of their circumstances. The plot did not simply build to a gag, allowing it to have a more dramatic and serious feel than the other cartoons around it without breaking too many other conventions. In this way, it bent and stretched many of the accepted conventions of Saturday Morning while maintaining its popularity. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) would build upon many of these more unique elements and CBS heavily promoted the series on its fall 1990 Saturday Morning lineup.9 At this same time, The Real Ghostbusters had been reworked to be a series of seven-minute shorts focused on the character of Slimer that built to a gag for its plots. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thus offered a more violent cartoon that was no longer found on Saturday Morning but had proven previously popular. However, it also included some other Saturday Morning conventions. Unlike The Real Ghostbusters, the Turtles were anthropomorphic animals so there was no need for an animal sidekick. Further, their enemy was a human, creating a dynamic reminiscent of Bugs Bunny versus Elmer Fudd, where no matter how well Elmer Fudd planned for Bugs, he always failed. Shredder, the human antagonist, always failed against the Turtles, despite being depicted as possessing a genius intellect. Saved by the Bell, at the surface, has nothing to do with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Saved by the Bell (which will be further analyzed in Chapter 3) is a drama about six teenagers as they progress through high school but is focused on the character of Zack as the blond All-American troublemaker with a heart of gold—likely inspired by the American staple

9 Kenneth R. Clark, “Weekly War,” Chicago Tribune, 13 April 1990, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-04-13-9001310160-story.html.

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of Dennis the Menace. However, Saved by the Bell was a rarity on Saturday Morning at its debut as it was live-action but not overtly “zany” such as Pee Wee’s Playhouse, educational like Beakman’s World or a sports program such as WWF Wrestling, all contemporaries of it. In the year it debuted, it was one of two live-action programs presented to audiences—the other being a game show, Animal Crack-Ups. In contrast to the other programs, it was a high school sitcom played out in a realistic world and contained elements such as romance that was often entirely absent in cartoons. Since most programs were animated, most involved animal characters, and since most series tried to prevent the alienation of the coveted boys’ demographic, romances were rare on Saturday Morning. However, it would be impossible to present a realistic high school without them. Saved by the Bell proved popular enough with the entire audience to not only produce a spin-off, Saved by the Bell: The New Class, when the original characters graduated from high school but also a sequel series about the characters in college to continue the story for the audience.

A Slow Beginning: The FOX/WB Rivalry Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR) debuted in fall 1993 on FOX when CBS was still airing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) and NBC was airing Saved by the Bell: The New Class. The original Saved by Bell had left Saturday Morning to give its place to its spin-off. Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters left the schedule just two years earlier. MMPR is a program about a group of high school teenagers who are given mystical powers to fight the forces of evil and debuted at exactly the right time for success as it drew upon the successes of these other popular programs. It acted as a combination of Saved by the Bell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Real Ghostbusters. It is one part high school drama, complete with a high school romance between two of the Power Rangers. Instead of The Max diner in Saved by the Bell, the Power Rangers hang out at the Angel Grove Juice Bar. It is one part Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Power Rangers dress in brightly colored costumes in order to allow the audience to tell them apart and use martial arts in order to solve their problems against the forces of evil like how the Turtles are depicted. Additionally, much like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, MMPR use the incompetency of the antagonist characters to provide the comic relief, which allows the plot itself to take a more serious and, at times, darker tone. Lastly, it is one part The Real Ghostbusters.

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In almost every episode, a large monster appears and the Power Rangers have to dispatch it—they never overtly kill the monster despite using a sword; instead, the monster disappears in a series of lights that can be reminiscent of the Ghostbusters capturing ghosts. However, there was more to MMPR’s popularity beyond it being similar to other successful programs. Anne Allison in her book Millennial Monsters, comments about the Power Rangers that The same qualities that would later make Mighty Morphin Power Rangers so popular around the world – namely, its myth of transformation (henshin) that, while fantastic in the form given in the screen, realizes a universal kid feeling of being able to morph into an upgraded version of self.10

The Japanese elements of MMPR—namely the concept of henshin and transforming into more powerful, masked versions of the characters— touch on a universal child fantasy of being able to instantaneously no longer be dependent, but powerful. This would make the foreign visual of the sentai aspect of the series—the transformation into a team of masked fighters—more palatable to the American audience. Yet, the success of MMPR was not simply built on this transformation fantasy, but on how the program was presented as a whole. MMPR was able to resonate with a wide audience and evoke a response across the entire spectrum of viewers in a way other series could not. A small child could watch it for the large animal robots that came together and transformed into a robot man. A young boy could watch it not just for the large robots but also for the martial arts fights. A teenager could watch it for these reasons but also for the high school drama. A girl could watch it for any of these reasons, the romance plot or even simply because there were two female characters on the program that were treated as equal and as powerful as the male characters. Due to MMPR’s ability to resonate with a large and diverse section of the young American audience, toy versions of the robotic Zords became the hard to find gift in the holiday seasons, an official fan club was formed to capitalize on the audience’s desire to further connect with the program, and the actors even went on tour as the Power Rangers for live events.11 10 Allison,

43. Luckerson, “The Power Rangers Turn 20 and Morph Back into Relevance,” Time, 28 August 2013, accessed 12 April 2016, http://business.time.com/2013/08/28/ the-power-rangers-turn-20-and-morph-back-into-relevance. 11 Victor

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The initial and startling response to MMPR was similar to what a new, popular band might receive—only that the fans were a wide spectrum of children from across the United States. The response was unprecedented for a television series created from a composite of Japanese footage. This Japanese footage could have proven detrimental if it had made MMPR too foreign or inaccessible to the American audience. However, the original Japanese Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger (1992) was carefully adapted. By removing the sequences with the Japanese actors and replacing them with a multi-ethnic American cast, the editors not only allowed the audience to see themselves better reflected in the program but also removed the storyline that was tied to the Japanese actors. A new story was constructed for the series when the Power Rangers were out of their costumes, but when they were transformed, the foreign elements could not be hidden or obscured. Their transformation into a costumed battle squad and doing battle in large robotic vehicles was inherently foreign. The fact that MMPR was not rejected for these foreign elements is a testament to the skillful blending of the other elements in order to make it not only acceptable to Americans but also popular. After all, MMPR was not the first sentai series that the United States imported, but none had its success. Years before MMPR reached the American shores, the anime classic Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972) was imported twice and made into two different programs: Battle of the Planets (1978) and G-Force (1986), yet neither achieved even close to the popularity of MMPR. Neither were aired on Saturday Morning and G-Force did not even air all its episodes in its initial run on American television.12 With MMPR, American audiences were willing to ignore how inexpensive some of the Japanese scenes clearly were and internalize some of the foreign elements. Yet, when MMPR debuted on FOX its foreign elements and Japanese origin were not the only aspects that made it stand out. While it was the only Japanese program presented, it was also the only live-action program FOX aired that season on Saturday Morning. It debuted alongside many series that referenced and still used the traditional format such as Tom & Jerry Kids (1990), Tiny Toon Adventures, and Taz-Mania. Eek! The Cat

12 “G-Force: Guardians of Space,” TV Guide, Unknown, accessed 12 April 2018, https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/g-force-guardians-of-space/201564/.

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did not strictly use the seven-minute format but would alternate between having full twenty-one-minute episodes or having two shorts instead of three. Within either format, Eek! The Cat was not especially different than the other three animated series. The program MMPR resembled the most in its original debut line up was the cartoon X-Men (1992), but only in the sense that it had a serious tone and violent fight sequences, as it was a compilation of comic book stories from the book of the same name. MMPR would have fit in better in NBC’s lineup that year, which was heavily populated with live-action high school dramas and no cartoons at all, but it would still have stood out due to its martial arts and fantastical violence. However, as will be explored in greater depth in Chapter 4, MMPR was able to resonate with the young American audience despite its foreign elements because it contained familiar elements such as those found in The Real Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), and Saved by the Bell. In this way, its acceptance would likely not be surprising to Straubhaar or Cooper-Chen, who both noted that audiences are more likely to accept foreign media if it resembles their own culture. MMPR’s success encouraged FOX to surround it with similar content in order to attempt to harness its popularity and keep the audience watching the entire FOX lineup. By fall 1995, FOX had filled almost three-fourths of its Saturday Morning lineup with action-based superhero content. The action-based aspect was the part of MMPR that FOX could most easily replicate and compose its schedule around. NBC was already airing almost entirely high school, live-action dramas and had previous seasons of momentum with such content. To compete head to head with NBC with the same assortment of programming would not have been wise as it would have possibly alienated FOX’s established audience and put all the pressure of success on MMPR, which was still an unexplainable phenomenon. FOX also attempted to understand and replicate MMPR’s success by importing another Japanese-based product, Masked Rider, but it did not achieve nearly the same popularity. Masked Rider, similar to MMPR, was a composite program with Japanese transformation battle sequences and new American footage for when the hero was out of costume. Masked Rider was based upon the popular Japanese intellectual property of Kamen Rider, but Kamen Rider’s popularity abroad did little to help Masked Rider achieve the same level of success in the United States. It did not seem that MMPR’s Japanese origin was the key for its success.

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It also did not seem that it was its focus on the concept of henshin that drew American audiences as Masked Rider also used the henshin and tokusatsu conventions and failed to produce the same result. Yet, the Japanese origin of MMPR would be an aspect that FOX and WB would continue to draw upon to find new successes. WB entered the Saturday Morning field in fall 1995, the same year that FOX had dedicated the majority of its schedule to superhero programs to try to accompany MMPR more suitably. This, however, left an audience that may have enjoyed the more traditional American cartoons out of luck, which WB hoped to cater to with its own debut on the Saturday Morning schedule. In a classic example of supply and demand, the new network sought to answer a demand for more traditional cartoons that FOX created when it neglected the audience that may have wanted them instead of superhero content. WB’s entire debut line up of Animaniacs, The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, Pinky & the Brain, Freakazoid! and Earthworm Jim were all of similar, traditional make. The first three series had overt references to traditional cartoons like Looney Tunes, and the latter two continued with the idea of comedy-based, zany slapstick violence. Considering that FOX had once aired Animaniacs, WB put itself in direct rivalry with FOX by attempting to take part of its audience. The following season of fall 1996, both WB and FOX tried to gain a greater audience share by continuing to attempt to deconstruct the popularity of MMPR. WB attempted this by adding three new programs to its lineup—all of which touched upon three different aspects of MMPR. The first of these three programs was Superman: The Animated Series, which mirrors the superhero aspect of MMPR. The second was Road Rovers, a program about a team of anthropomorphic dogs that mimicked the sentai elements along with the inclusion of a female combatant on the team. The last was a program called Waynehead, which dealt with school-based drama. On the other hand, FOX chose to gamble with a new sentai composite program and actually replaced the Power Rangers franchise with a new program, Big Bad Beetleborgs. Big Bad Beetleborgs was produced in the same way that MMPR and Masked Rider were—Japanese footage was used for the battle sequences and new American footage was produced for the rest of the plot. Saban Entertainment, the producer of both Big Bad Beetleborgs and MMPR, blended the Japanese footage with another trend that had grown popular that year—horror elements. Big Bad Beetleborgs was thus one part sentai and one part Halloween monster drama.

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Unlike MMPR, which had an organic blend of popular elements and debuted at the correct time to benefit from them, Big Bad Beetleborgs seemed cynically constructed to have horror elements that reflected popular programs such as Goosebumps, Bone Chillers, and the Crypt Keeper franchise. Unlike the true horror-based shows, Big Bad Beetleborgs did not present these elements to be frightening, but light-hearted and goofy, such as using childish version of classic monsters. While initially popular with the audience, Saban Entertainment ran out of usable footage when the next Japanese series in the franchise, B-Robo Kabutack, did not blend visually and chose to not create the battle footage themselves. When FOX reintroduced the Power Rangers franchise to replace Big Bad Beetleborgs, the schedule was almost equally divided between horror-based “scary story” series and superhero action-based series. By spring 1998, almost two-thirds of FOX’s Saturday Morning schedule was dedicated to some sort of supernatural, horror-based programming. MMPR could be included in this amount as the first villain in the series was a witch and its successive villains possessed other supernatural powers. WB, in contrast, almost evenly divided its schedule between cartoons with a classic “toon” composition and superhero series in its attempt to compete against FOX with its horror/hero schedule. WB would keep this schedule composition until spring 1999 when it introduced Pokémon. Pokémon was already a success in Japan and it had proven itself popular in the United States with WB local affiliates that aired it on the weekdays before it appeared on Saturday Morning. However, Pokémon’s success in the United States was not likely based on its success in Japan, but because it organically fit with the programming around it and what had come before it. Pokémon is a very straightforward program about a boy, Ash, and his quest to become the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world by winning tournaments with his friend and Pokémon companion, Pikachu, while capturing other Pokémon on his journey. When it debuted on Saturday Morning, it debuted alongside The Big Cartoonie Show—which was a compilation of classic toon-based programming like Looney Tunes and Tiny Toon Adventures—and the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. Moreover, since WB’s debut on Saturday Morning it had presented itself as a home for more classically styled cartoons. It may seem strange due to

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the scholarship that exists about Pokémon’s very Japanese messages and tropes, but Pokémon also carries very classic American narrative elements that allowed it to feel familiar at its debut, while also catching the viewer’s eye with its unique foreign qualities. Pokémon has two reoccurring major themes: animal characters and slapstick violence, both of which are central elements in traditional American cartoons. While the Pokémon themselves do not use English words to communicate, they emote and are clearly intelligent. In regards to the use of slapstick violence, Ash routinely has Pikachu dispatch the reoccurring teenage human villains known as Team Rocket by launching them into the sky and over the horizon without any true harm coming to them. Intelligent animal characters using slapstick comedy to defeat incompetent human antagonists is a narrative structure that had been presented to American youth for decades. Furthering this familiarity, Pokémon and MMPR share two narrative similarities. The first is that neither Ash, the protagonist of Pokémon, nor the Power Rangers do anything to especially earn their powers. Before the start of the series, they are all ordinary children/teenagers who gain their powers by lucky circumstances. The second is that both Ash and the Power Rangers summon animal monsters to fight their battles. The Power Rangers’ animal monsters are large robotic animals known as Zords, but they summon them with a word. This is not especially different than Ash using his Pokémon against other Pokémon in battles, except that the Pokémon are intelligent creatures. Narratively, it is relatively the same only different in scale due to the size difference between the Zords and the Pokémon. In all of this, Pokémon was a familiar product for American audiences to watch on WB but also contained new and exotic elements to keep the audience intrigued. It was also a series that was approachable by both genders without turning either one off with its careful balance between battles and cute monsters and having both male and female characters in competent roles. All of these helped disguise the darker messages within the narrative such as how Ash and Pikachu’s friendship is based on Pikachu’s servitude to him, which is not an uncommon narrative device in some Japanese anime but quite uncommon in American cartoons.

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Stage Two—Both Channels Would Use Anime as a Battlefield The fact that Pokémon contained foreign messages and themes well beyond what had been presented by the Power Rangers franchise did not appear to be a concern to the networks because in response in fall 1999, FOX attempted to claim this new phenomenon for itself by importing two series of the same Servant-Monster genre from Japan, namely Digimon and Monster Rancher. In addition to Power Rangers, FOX dedicated half of its total Saturday schedule to Digimon and Monster Rancher. WB’s schedule remained relatively the same in fall 1999 as the spring prior, with only the addition of one new program, Detention, an American series that focuses on grade school drama and humor. The premiers of Digimon and Monster Rancher were FOX’s response to Pokémon’s popularity, especially with the first Pokémon film’s debut in theaters in November 1999. The very profitable film was darker than the television series, going as far as teasing the viewing audience with the death of the main protagonist, Ash, until Pikachu’s tears resurrected him—a symbol of their deep friendship restoring Ash to life.13 In spring 2000, FOX attempted to further respond to WB’s popularity coup by not only airing a new installment of the Power Ranger franchise and continuing to air Monster Rancher and Digimon, but it also imported a new Japanese anime, Flint the Time Detective. The series of Dungeons & Dragons (1983) also returned to the air after many years’ absence and aired with the American series of NASCAR Racers and the American-Canadian joint production, Beast Machines: Transformers. Each of these new cartoons used consecutive storytelling, complicated characterization, and integrated female roles, all conventions more present in Japanese children’s storytelling at the time than American storytelling. The emergence of such a dedicated block of programming was unprecedented. Use of consecutive storytelling was directly contradictory to the norm of programming being episodic in nature. Moreover, integrated female roles ran counter to earlier cartoons that rarely had female characters of importance, unless the cartoon was

13 Pokémon: The First Movie—Mewtwo Strikes Back [English Title], directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Michael Haigney, performed by Veronica Taylor, Rachael Lillis, and Eric Stuart, Shogakukan Production and 4 Kids Entertainment, 1999. Film.

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meant especially for girls. MMPR had spearheaded more equal, more competent, and less stereotypical female representation in “mainstream” children’s programming at the beginning of the 1990s, and as the decade of Girl Power gave way to the new millennium, this trend and its acceptance was closely observed. While WB lagged behind FOX when it came to programming that was consecutive at the time of Pokémon’s initial success, it was comparable to the amount of content it aired that contained female characters of importance. In this same season, WB made two major broadcast decisions that would change the landscape of Saturday Morning in the United States forever. The first of these was choosing not to air The Big Cartoonie Show or The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. From this point on, WB would no longer air any series that could be described as a “traditional American cartoon” that had been commonplace for decades. This period would also signal an end for the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts entirely on network television, as ABC ceased to air The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show at the end of the spring 2000 season. The second decision was the introduction of the series of Cardcaptors and Jackie Chan Adventures. Cardcaptors was the American title for the Japanese series Cardcaptor Sakura produced by the Japanese production company CLAMP. In Japan, Cardcaptor Sakura was considered a shoujo anime, a term that translates to “Young girl.” It targets the young female audience with its main protagonist being the titular character, a girl named Sakura. WB likely chose to import Cardcaptors because the plot itself resembled Pokémon. While in Pokémon Ash battles different Pokémon in order to capture them all, Sakura has to capture magical cards after battling the monster depicted on them. The fact that the series had a strong central female character may also have made the series attractive to WB. In the series, Sakura is fighting the magical battles, instead of being saved from them or being passive in the conflict. However, WB appeared hesitant about a female protagonist and how she would be received because the first several episodes of the series were omitted in the United States. This was done in order to refocus the series around Sakura’s male rival, having his introduction episode be the first episode of the American series. WB seemed to have wanted to take advantage of the trend of the greater inclusion of female characters, along with introducing a series that had similar plot to Pokémon by importing Cardcaptor Sakura. On the other hand, it also seemed reluctant to risk Cardcaptor Sakura being aired as it was originally structured,

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possibly with the worry that a female protagonist would be too much and be rejected by the young male audience as being a show meant only for girls. Yet WB’s editing weakened characterization by having so many episodes omitted, making it unpopular with everyone.14 Unsurprisingly, it aired only for one season in the United States in its initial run on Saturday Morning. Jackie Chan Adventures was jointly produced by the United States and Hong Kong in an anime style, complete with consecutive storylines, complicated villains, and consequential violence. For all purposes, it is one of the first series to mimic Japanese animation and narrative styling in order to produce a program that could be mistaken for a Japanese anime. Due to Jackie Chan’s popularity at the time, public knowledge about him, and the joint production with a Hong Kong studio, the series was liberal with including Asian and Chinese elements into the series without need or concern about localizing them as was often the case for true Japanese imports previously. The series also contained a smart, competent female character in the main cast named Jade. Jade as a female character broke many of older female conventions, but when the series is placed side by side with the edits that occurred in the presentation of Cardcaptor Sakura the fact that Jade is a prepubescent girl makes her appear as a safe choice for inclusion. If WB was concerned about driving away their young male audience, Jade being so young would reassure this demographic that even though she had a strong and consistent role in the series, that the series would not be dedicated to romance. With Jade’s short cropped hair and masculine clothing, the audience would also be assured she was not a “girly-girl” character so they could feel comfortable rooting for her without being possibly teased by other young boys. Yet, Cardcaptors’ failure may have been necessary for Japanese content to conquer Saturday Morning completely because in its wake, YuGi-Oh! ascended. An in-depth analysis of Yu-Gi-Oh! will be conducted in Chapter 6, but in short, the program is about a boy who is able to transform into an older version of himself and battles against rivals and villains with the aid of card-based monsters he has at his disposal.

14 Patrick Drazen, Anime Explosion!: The What? Why? and Wow! of Japanese Animation, Revised and Updated Edition (Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2014) [Google eBook], 290.

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Due to the popularity of MMPR, Pokémon, and the many programs that had been imported in order to emulate them, American audiences had become accustomed to how Japanese anime looked and how the narrative structures felt. Jackie Chan Adventures’ debut on Saturday Morning reinforced anime narrative and character conventions with the young American audience within an American-produced program. Further, since Yu-Gi-Oh! had a male protagonist, the American localization editors felt less need to edit the program as much to suit American sensibilities as they had done with Cardcaptor Sakura/Cardcaptors. In comparing Cardcaptors and Yu-Gi-Oh!, it is possible Yu-Gi-Oh! was chosen to be imported not simply because it was a good combination of elements from other popular shows without being derivative, but the two series’ central premises were the same only with different gendered protagonists. Both series focus on a kind-hearted protagonist who battles mystical forces with the power of monsters summoned by cards, only Cardcaptor Sakura has a female protagonist and Yu-Gi-Oh! has a male one. The editing of Cardcaptors had done little to make it popular or to win over the American audience. While editing and localization did occur with Yu-Gi-Oh!, it was to a much lesser extent. The series was left with its foreign elements, visuals of Japanese writing, Japanese names, serious tone, and threats of character death intact. In previous decades, Yu-Gi-Oh!’s use of Japanese script in background signs and foreign references would have been entirely edited out and its visual design would have marked it as a foreign program that could have easily been considered inexpensive like Battle of the Planet and Speed Racer and easily forgotten like G-Force. Yet, the American audience had slowly become more accustomed to “non-American” elements in their entertainment, making pure Americanization less necessary and these foreign elements and some of the Japanese background script remained. While Yu-Gi-Oh! is not an overt or intentional combination of the MMPR and the Pokémon franchises, its key elements are reminiscent of both series. It is possible that without MMPR and Pokémon, with all their popularity heralding in Yu-Gi-Oh!, it would not have been accepted at all. After all, Yu-Gi-Oh! would not have blended in with programming aired during the late 1980s/early 1990s. Even if it had been aired in fall 1990 on CBS, it would have not been complementary to any of the programs—even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), despite its use of violence and Japanese terminology. It is not merely its foreign art style and the continued use of Japanese names that would have made

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Yu-Gi-Oh! not blend in with its hypothetical 1990s American cartoon neighbors but because it does not hide its serious, at times, tragic tone. MMPR introduced Saturday Morning audiences to tragedy and the hero-protagonists failing, and this was reinforced by the series that followed as comedic skit cartoons fell out of favor. Yu-Gi-Oh! benefitted from this groundwork already laid for it.

Stage Three—No Turning Back, FOX/WB Rivalry and 4Kids Entertainment’s Involvement Yu-Gi-Oh!’s narrative structure and tone would eventually become the norm for the series that WB would air, but the program, Cubix Robots for Everyone demonstrates another piece of the rivalry between WB and FOX that facilitated Japanese domination of Saturday Morning. Cubix Robots for Everyone was likely chosen by WB to debut in 2001 as a means to strike at FOX, since FOX was dominated by robot-focused programming at the time. However, the actual plot of Cubix Robots for Everyone or the conventions it uses are not what further clarifies the rivalry. What is most important about this program was that its American viewing rights, along with Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, and other anime series, were licensed by a company named 4Kids. Both FOX and WB attempted to negotiate an exclusive contract with 4Kids to air their intellectual properties. An exclusive contract with 4Kids would mean having a monopoly on airing successes like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon. In 2002, FOX outmaneuvered WB and entered into contract with 4Kids, allowing them to air Cubix Robots for Everyone instead of WB, along with some other 4Kids properties.15 Yet, despite having a contract with 4Kids, it was not immediately exclusive. At first, Cubix Robots for Everyone was the only anime that migrated from WB to FOX. WB was allowed to continue to air Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon. Due to this lack of exclusivity, in fall 2003 both channels had access to 4Kids’ programming, and it became the majority of both networks’ Saturday Morning schedules. With both networks licensing the majority of their schedules from 4Kids, it also made

15 Paula Bernstein, “4Kids buys 4 Hours from Fox Kids,” Variety, 18 January 2002, accessed 27 February 2015, http://variety.com/2002/tv/news/4kids-buys-4hours-from-fox-kids-1117858752.

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the majority of their programming either Japanese in origin or Japanese in visual style, much like how Saturday Morning gained a unified tone and look when Hanna-Barbera Productions provided the majority of content decades earlier. It was not until fall 2006 that WB lost access to its 4Kids’ programming and Yu-Gi-Oh! finally migrated to FOX, leaving WB with a decision of what programs should comprise their Saturday Morning schedule. It was a major crossroads for both the future of traditional American cartoons and Japanese influence over what was presented to particularly the boys’ demographic. This would be the first season in years that WB would dedicate none of its Saturday Morning schedule to Japanese programming. Yet, even though WB owned the licenses and rights to much of their own Warner Brothers’ library, they chose instead to use the names of their intellectual properties but not the classic cartoons. In this crossroads season, WB’s schedule consisted of nearly two-thirds of cartoons based on previous series, but out of these only Tom and Jerry Tales (2006) retained both the tone and visuals of their original counterparts. The series Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! (2006) departed from the original format of the characters of Shaggy and Scooby-Doo being joined by their companions to solve one episode mysteries. Instead, it was a series that focused on the titular characters attempting to navigate and solve the complications that came with Shaggy coming into an inheritance. The Batman (2004) and Legion of Superheroes (2006) used superhero intellectual properties with a number of previous animated versions that had relatively standardized the characters’ appearances. However, these series departed from those norms and depicted them in styles influenced by Japanese anime—The Batman’s art was supervised by the same artist who drew Jackie Chan Adventures.16 WB felt the need to redevelop and reinvent their intellectual properties in order to attempt to ensure that they remained relevant. Loonatics Unleashed (2005) was the truest demonstration of this and the seeming admission from WB that they believed the American audience would not accept the classic Looney Tunes’ shorts as generations before them, but would demand a program that was more foreign influenced. Loonatics

16 IMDb, “Jeff Matsuda,” IMDb, Unknown, accessed 1 February 2017, http://www. nytimes.com/2005/06/06/arts/television/06loon.html?_r=0.

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Unleashed was a reimagining of the classic Looney Tunes characters, no longer as autonomous protagonists of their own seven-minute shorts mostly set either on a farm or in the wilderness but united in a sentai team, protecting the world in the post-apocalypse. This reimagining was an absolute departure from its original source material.17 Intriguingly, even with capturing the 4Kids contract and successfully obtaining the rights to air Yu-Gi-Oh! away from WB, FOX did not immediately overwhelm its schedule with Japanese content, nor would they. In 2006, FOX’s Saturday Morning schedule was only a little more than one-third Japanese/Asian but this included programs like G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, a Japanese/American co-production based on the quintessential American intellectual property G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. The fact that this was based on such a quintessential American intellectual property makes examining it significant. Instead of seeking out an American production company, Hasbro, G.I. Joe’s parent company, gave the license to the Japanese studio, Gonzo, to animate and 4Kids Productions to produce and distribute. The fact that a Japanese company animated it is not shocking. After all, Galaxy High School was animated and produced by a Japanese company in the late 1980s. However, in contrast to Galaxy High School, Gonzo was not given the task to develop this program simply for cost management, but it was chosen to give G.I. Joe an anime makeover. While there were Americans involved in the creative consulting, scripts were written by both American and Japanese writers, the characters were designed to look like anime characters, and the story structure was made to resemble an anime. This particular collaboration sought to make an American intellectual property reflect Japanese visual and narrative ascetics. Thus, even though FOX was not overwhelming their schedule with Japanese content, FOX was presenting the young American viewing audience narrative tropes and Japanese ideas inside the seemingly Trojan Horse of a G.I. Joe cartoon. Both WB and FOX aired programs that were using Japanese trappings in order to present traditional and known American intellectual properties, a shocking reversal from how American cartoons had once Americanized Japanese intellectual properties for public consumption.

17 George Gene Gustines, “It’s 2772. Who Loves Ya, Tech E. Coyote?” New York Times, 6 June 2005, accessed 27 February 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/arts/ television/06loon.html?_r=0.

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From 2007 to 2012, the amount of Japanese content presented to young American audiences would steadily increase, eventually displacing all American-produced programming dedicated to this audience—even the American series developed to look foreign. 2008 began this era of transition and was another crossroads year for the rivalry between FOX and CW, the new call letters for WB after the creation of a joint venture between the CBS Corporation and Warner Brothers’ Entertainment.18 In this year, both networks’ schedules began to mirror each other. Both networks aired the series Chaotic, a Western produced program that visually looked Japanese and had a plot similar to Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the 2003 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Further, Yu-Gi-Oh! returned to CW. This occurred due to difficulties in the arrangement between FOX and 4Kids. Ultimately, FOX decided to terminate its contract with 4Kids and cease to air children’s programming at all.19 Thus, 2008 would be the last year that FOX would broadcast entertainment intended for children, and the exclusivity of the 4Kids licensing contract eased for this year of transition. The following year would be another moment of choice for CW. Unlike in 2006 where it had to worry about a competitor seeking the same boys’ demographic, CW would have no network competition for it. In this way, it could have chosen to broadcast any sort of programming to target young males. It could have chosen to air only Americanproduced content such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 or 2003) or the vast number of superhero programs it had licensed in the last two decades, from Batman: The Animated Series to Superman: The Animated Series, to Static Shock, Batman Beyond or Justice League Unlimited. While many of these series have some Japanese influence in them, they are all American-produced programs based on American intellectual properties. The licensing agreement/partnership with 4Kids would not have conflicted with this course of action as 4Kids also produced and licensed American productions such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003).

18 Bloomberg, “Company Overview of the CW Network, LLC,” Bloomberg, accessed 27 February 2015, https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot. asp?privcapId=32854971. 19 New York Times, “Fox Ends Saturday-Morning Cartoons,” New York Times, 24 November 2008, accessed 27 February 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/ business/media/25kidstv.html?_r=0.

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Instead, CW chose to offer a progressively more Japanese Saturday Morning schedule. In the pivotal year of 2009, CW offered a Saturday Morning schedule with Japanese imports comprising more than half and the majority of its American content contained overt Japanese influences, such as TMNT: Back to the Sewers (2008) and Chaotic.

Outside the FOX/WB Rivalry—How the Other Networks Assisted in the Japanese Conquest In 2011, no American-produced children’s entertainment aired at all. I do not mean that no American-produced children’s entertainment was aired by CW, but that none of the networks that had initially been part of Saturday Morning would air American-produced content for the Saturday Morning age bracket in fall 2011 at all. A second part of the rivalry between FOX and WB/CW is what the other networks, CBS, NBC and ABC, did while it occurred. These three networks had all been part of Saturday Morning from the beginning, predating FOX and WB’s inclusion into it. CBS and NBC both took similar courses. NBC, the network home for Saved by the Bell, continued to air content for a mixed teenage audience until 2002, when it began a transition to eventually airing educational cartoons, such as Veggie Tales and The Magic School Bus, for the youngest demographic. CBS did much the same. By 2000, it aired content on its network aimed at young children such as Blues Clues’ and Dora the Explorer and afterward never returned to airing content that would be considered Saturday Morning cartoons. It is a radical transformation when one realizes that a quarter of a century earlier, CBS attempted to keep a broad viewing audience of all ages watching by offering diverse programming such as Muppet Babies, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Teen Wolf, Popeye and Son, and Galaxy High School all in the same Saturday Morning block. ABC also transitioned through a series of identities while FOX and WB struggled against each other before withdrawing from Saturday Morning completely. However, while NBC and CBS transitioned away from their early 1990s content to broadcasting for young children and WB and FOX sought the boys’ demographic, ABC chose to target the girls’ demographic until 2011. The transition from ABC attempting to capture a mixed audience to focusing on the girls’ demographic began

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slowly in fall 1997. Prior to this shift, ABC broadcasted a mix of programming combining darker superhero content such as Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles and Street Sharks along with lighter fare such as Brand Spanking New! Doug and DuckTales and classic cartoons like The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988) and The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. In 1997, ABC decided to cease to broadcast the more action-oriented, superhero fare that targeted boys and composed its schedule around lighter, everyday school dramas like Brand Spanking New! Doug, Disney film spin-offs like 101 Dalmatians: The Series and Jungle Cubs, and the classic cartoons previously on their schedule—all which were perceived to be more entertaining to a female demographic than superhero cartoons and anime. ABC also chose to introduce a program that had a female protagonist with the series Pepper Ann in order to further capture this demographic that was ignored in the struggle between FOX and WB. This transition to targeting the female demographic continued with a further transition into live-action content aimed at girls. By fall 2000, the majority of ABC’s content either had a female protagonist or a major female presence in its ensemble cast, and their strategy proved to have merit as their series The Weekenders beat Pokémon in April 2000, ending Pokémon’s fifty-four-week streak at number one in the ratings.20 In fall 2001, ABC added two live-action programs with the introduction of Lizzie McGuire and surprisingly, MMPR. Disney/ABC had struck a deal with Saban to distribute the phenomenon that may very well have started the struggle between WB and FOX years earlier.21 Yet, while FOX and WB had sought to fill its schedule with other superhero content, anime, or programs that mimicked MMPR’s construction of sentai footage mixed with new American content, ABC simply chose to air more live-action “tween” school dramas. It seems plausible that MMPR was acquired for four reasons. The first is that ABC had an agenda to

20 Michael Schneider, “The Weekenders’ Defeats ‘Pokemon’,” Variety, 5 May 2000, accessed 27 February 2015, http://variety.com/2000/tv/news/the-weekendersdefeats-pokemon-1117781251. 21 Cynthia Littleton, “Saban Re-acquires Rights to ‘Rangers’,” Variety, 12 May 2010, accessed 27 February 2015, http://variety.com/2010/film/news/saban-re-acquiresrights-to-rangers-1118019212.

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fill its schedule with “tween” content, and while MMPR is set in a high school, none of the high school storylines were especially adult in theme beyond the understanding of a preteen. Secondly, as will be explained in greater depth in Chapter 4, MMPR was one of the first series on Saturday Morning not explicitly meant for girls that portrayed female characters with equality to their male counterparts and did not make their gender the purpose of their characterization. To include it would make sense as it would be just as welcoming to girls on ABC as it had been on FOX. Additionally, it remained a program a young boy could watch without possibly being teased by his school friends and perhaps lead him to linger on the channel to enjoy the other programs. Finally, due to its popularity and connection to FOX and WB’s rivalry, acquiring and broadcasting it would further demonstrate that while ABC was aiming primarily at a different audience, ratings were still key and ABC was still competition.22 In fall 2006, ABC developed a schedule that it continued to broadcast without alteration until 2011, which stands in stark juxtaposition to the other network channels. FOX and WB/CW were wildly changing their schedules during these seasons, increasing the amount of Japanese anime being broadcast on them until finally FOX disappeared from the struggle and WB/CW devoted itself fully to Japanese content. Of this 2006–2011 ABC Saturday Morning schedule, only a third of the programs shown were animated and they dealt with either high school dramas or tongue-in-cheek explorations of childhood problems. Less than one-fifth of the schedule was Japanese, which consisted of MMPR— notably, the only program that had a plot oriented around action and fighting. All of this is in sharp contrast to the amount of scheduling devoted to Japanese content on FOX and WB/CW at the same time, but is also understandable. Since ABC was focusing on live-action content about middle school and high school for a tween audience, importing a live-action high school drama from Japan would be counter-productive. Not only would the dubbing not synch properly with the movement of the actors’ mouths, but in few places in the United States would

22 Julia Boorstin and Alynda Wheat, “Disney’s ‘Tween Machine How the Disney Channel Became Must-See TV—and the Company’s Unlikely Cash Cow,” Fortune, 29 September 2003, accessed 27 February 2015, http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/ fortune/fortune_archive/2003/09/29/349896/index.htm.

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a majority Asian high school be representative. Further, the expectations of the Japanese and American high school settings are different enough that the American audience would not be able to easily relate. Moreover, no live-actions series from Japan have ever proven as successful as the Power Ranger franchise; all other copycat programming such as Big Bad Beetleborgs and Masked Rider were not nearly as successful and not supported in the long term by the networks. Since the only viable option for additional Japanese content would have been importing an anime, which would not blend in with the rest of their programming, ABC simply chose against it. The fall/spring season of 2010/2011 would be the pivotal moment for Saturday Morning entertainment. NBC was entirely dedicated to young children’s programming and was no longer broadcasting for the traditional Saturday Morning audience of older children and young teens. CBS was just about to transition to do the same, having most of its content aimed at young children but having a couple programs that had once aired on ABC such as Sabrina’s Secret Life, an animated American series about a teenage witch in school. FOX had ceased to broadcast any children’s entertainment at all. Thus, ABC and CW were alone in broadcasting for the traditional Saturday Morning audience, and it was a moment of absolute polarization. ABC was entirely aimed at the girls’ demographic, and CW was entirely aimed at the boys’ demographic. More intriguing, the two networks were also polarized between the countries of origin of their content. ABC ceased airing MMPR on Saturday Morning, leaving their entire schedule Americanproduced, while CW aired a schedule that was entirely Japanese. In fact, CW’s schedule consisted of four franchises alone: half of their schedule was either Yu-Gi-Oh! or a sequel series, and the rest was dedicated to Sonic X, Dragonball Z Kai, and Dinosaur King. The following season, CW would become a little more diverse in their offerings, but still rested more than a third of their schedule onto the popularity and viewing strength of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. In contrast, ABC would cease to broadcast programming aimed at the traditional Saturday Morning audience, targeting instead older teens and young adults with programming such as Everyday Health and Food for Thought with Claire Thomas. With this departure, CW remained the only channel offering any entertainment programming for American children between the ages of six and fifteen, and all were foreign imports.

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It would not be until fall 2012 when any American content would return to Saturday Morning. CW created a Saturday Morning block called “Vortexx” and it was slightly reminiscent of earlier Saturday Morning schedules. While the majority of the programming remained Japanese and Yu-Gi-Oh! continued to hold a place of importance, Rescue Heroes, a program produced by Fisher Price, was meant for young children, WWE Saturday Morning Slam was a live-action professional wrestling program, and Iron Man: Armored Adventures and Justice League Unlimited were both American-produced superhero programs. Neither of these latter two superhero series were newly produced—Iron Man: Armored Adventures had been initially released in 2009, not long after the live-action film, and Justice League Unlimited in 2004—but both were new to Saturday Morning. MMPR would also return later this season with new episodes for the first time since ABC had obtained the license.23 However, by 2014 the only American programming that remained on Saturday Morning’s Vortexx block would be superhero programs that followed the new normative character and narrative conventions established by Japanese content. The year 2014 would also be the final year for Saturday Morning as an institution in the United States. CW chose to follow ABC’s model and use the Saturday Morning hours to target older teens with more educational content and leave children’s entertainment to cable stations and streaming services. The very last episode of programming aired for American children on Saturday Morning was an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. Thus, Japanese programming conquered Saturday Morning not in an all-out aggressive assault purposely displacing American programs, but slowly, simply becoming the content that most fit the strategies of television networks. Japanese content was not simply immediately accepted, and not all series that aired on Saturday Morning succeeded in capturing the hearts and minds of American audiences. The series that were most successful were the ones that touched upon tropes and narrative styles that were already in place in American series and added to them. MMPR introduced some Japanese narrative tropes, conventions and

23 C21Media, “Saban Builds CW Kids’ Block,” C21Media, 7 March 2012, accessed 27 February 2015, http://www.c21media.net/saban-builds-cw-block.

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themes, while still being composed partly of conventions familiar within Saturday Morning. Pokémon continued with this transition, being composed of both traditional and foreign conventions. It was only with the ascent of Yu-Gi-Oh! that entirely Japanese tropes and narrative styles were being built upon, having already been in place and integrated by the previous success stories. This progression of narrative styles and series made it impossible to simply go back to what had been popular in the 1980s or early 1990s before the success of MMPR. Once a child is accustomed to a plot: “Will the main protagonist save his grandfather’s soul?” or “After the main protagonist’s mother is murdered by an alien terrorist, what will he do?” it is difficult to return to the classic Looney Tunes’ short “Rabbit Season/Duck Season,” no matter how entertaining it was for generations earlier. Yet, it is one thing to understand how Japanese programming conquered Saturday Morning, but it is equally important to understand what made it impossible for programming to return to this traditional American fare. What changes occurred that made WB feel the need to produce Loonatics Unleashed and not something more in-line with the classic version of Looney Tunes? What elements did Japanese series have that its American counterparts lacked that made it necessary to attempt to make American anime?

CHAPTER 3

Foundation: What Were the Rules of Saturday Morning Before the Japanese Imports?

Saturday Morning from 1986–1993 was a period of transition, even beyond the eventual debut of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR). In 1990, the Children’s Television Act was passed, restoring regulations to children’s programming on network channels and formally ending the free-for-all for advertisers and toy companies that began in 1980. However, even before 1990, the cynical presentation of cartoons as glorified commercials was already being countered by parental backlash and even anger from the targeted young audience when their favorite characters were removed and replaced to bring in new characters for new toy lines. By 1986, a general reset began on Saturday Morning as networks returned to scheduling strategies from the 1970s, with two main exceptions. The first of these is that cartoons did not entirely stop being vehicles for toy sales. There were cartoons that continued to air on the merit of these sales, but these cartoons were less excessive than in the heyday of the “Golden Age of Saturday Morning,” with shows such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983). The second was that HannaBarbera Productions never returned to the dominance they enjoyed in the 1970s. The more problematic commercial cartoons, as well HannaBarbera Productions and even anime were aired in syndication by local/ regional affiliates on the weekdays and Sundays without access to the Saturday Morning national audience, but also with far less regulation, in order to fill the affiliates’ schedules, per the affiliates’ whims. This would create some cult classics, but limited any of these categories from influencing the Saturday Morning schedule more than they already had. © The Author(s) 2019 G. O’Melia, Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3_3

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Instead, Saturday Morning returned to a set of rules and conventions that had been codified in its first two decades and unified the schedule despite subject, intellectual property, or genre. It is these rules within the programs that immediately preceded the debut of MMPR that need to be examined to create a foundation on which its success would be built upon and then begin to tear down. These programs in particular are: Looney Tunes, Garfield and Friends, The Real Ghostbusters, and Saved by the Bell, all popular and lasting examples of their particular genres in this reset period.

Looney Tunes1 Looney Tunes, under any of its various names—Merrie Melodies, Bugs Bunny & Tweety Bird Show, etc., was an American institution for decades. Bugs Bunny encouraged World War II soldiers to fight and for decades afterward the entire cast entertained both American adults and children, combining American popular culture with classical music to bind the population together. Adults were confirmed in their culture and children were acculturated with the same conventions, characters, and songs their parents were when they were children. More so, it gave a consistent baseline for culture and values to both native-born and immigrant children to unify them into an American population with a common set of stories to draw upon in their collective memory. It is most apt to use Looney Tunes to begin to tease out the conventions that acted as the foundations of Saturday Morning cartoons because it aided in forging them. After all, Looney Tunes aired in some capacity on Saturday Morning since 1962, almost from its very beginning. Looney Tunes in all its shorts—the individual cartoons starring one character, or sometimes more of the ensemble cast—follows the “traditional format.” This format features a series of seven-minute cartoons— either three in a half-hour timeslot or six in an hour timeslot. These shorts are entirely episodic—meaning that nothing that happens in one would have any effect on the following one. No amount of injury would

1 The generalizations in this discussion about Looney Tunes and throughout this book come from not just growing up with these shorts, but from a critical viewing of them from a series of marathons on the retro premium channel, Boomerang. While not every short was aired, especially those used as World War II propaganda and those that are more explicitly racist/problematic, I was able to watch a large number of the shorts to act as the foundation for my summaries and generalizations.

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follow the characters and no lessons would be learned, allowing for the same gags to be used repeatedly over the one thousand shorts produced in the original run of the franchise. Each short is comedic, using these reoccurring gags to entertain the audience. There were no particular rules to which short would be aired; they seemed to have been randomly selected for televised broadcasts. The only rule in regard to broadcast order was generally one character’s short would not be immediately followed by another starring the same character. The exception to this was if the half hour wrapped with its end song but then another halfhour episode began. However, when a one-hour episode was broadcast, generally one character’s short would not be followed immediately by a second one. This random selection of shorts was not something particular to the traditional format, but to Looney Tunes. Other cartoons, like The Huckleberry Hound Show, followed the traditional format but had explicit rules on which shorts would be aired.2 Beyond this traditional format, Looney Tunes helped normalize particular conventions that would influence and be reflected in other cartoons for decades and acculturate its viewers with particular lessons in acceptability. The first of these are the proper traits of a protagonist. Looney Tunes paints a very clear portrait of what a respectable, proper protagonist resembles. He is virtuous and confident without being arrogant. He does not seek out trouble but if trouble finds him, he will face it head on, meeting it with his cunning and not brute strength or weapons. When a protagonist does not follow this mold on Looney Tunes, he is not depicted as respectable and his plans often end in failure and humiliation. There are two things that should be clear in my description of the ideal protagonist as portrayed by Looney Tunes. The first is the protagonist is male. Within the original thousand plus shorts, there are no female protagonists and only two notable reoccurring female characters— Granny from the Sylvester and Tweety shorts and the female cat that is painted like a skunk in the Pepe Le Pew shorts. The second is that this description perfectly fits the character of Bugs Bunny. Within the ideal portrait painted by the showrunners through the decades, Bugs Bunny is held up as its paragon example. He is portrayed to young boys as how they should aspire to act and to young girls as how men should behave.

2 Project Gutenberg, “The Huckleberry Hound Show,” Project Guttenberg SelfPublishing Press, Unknown Publication Date, accessed 17 March 2016, http://www. gutenberg.us/articles/The_Huckleberry_Hound_Show.

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Other “good aligned” protagonists fall short of this paragon level in varying degrees. Tweety Bird of the Sylvester and Tweety shorts comes the closest to Bugs Bunny in terms of character. He does not seek out trouble. He uses his wits to defend himself and normally humiliates his foe, Sylvester, at the end of each short. However, he is dependent on Granny and often begins his shorts in the security of his cage and not out in the wild on his own like Bugs. Porky Pig is generally depicted on his own in his shorts and doing adult activities like driving a car or going on vacation. However, he is weak-willed and lacks confidence. He is too good-natured and allows other characters to use him as a doormat—which is usually the gag his shorts are based around. Road Runner is depicted as independent and confident in his shorts with Wile E. Coyote, but he is also mute. He lacks the ability to truly interact with the wider world, even if he wished to leave the wilderness. Lastly, while Daffy Duck is rarely depicted as villainous (unless he is acting as a rival to Bugs), he fails to be a “proper” protagonist on every level of the ideal. He is arrogant, greedy, cowardly and the cause of his own problems. He acts as an inverse image to Bugs to better reinforce the ideal by acting as a negative example. This is further demonstrated if one compares their shorts. For the sake of a concrete comparison, I will compare the Bugs Bunny short “Bewitched Bunny” and the Daffy Duck short “You Were Never Duckier.” The plot and structure of “Bewitched Bunny” are deeply rooted in Western and American popular culture, using the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel as the inciting action for the cartoon. Unlike in the original fairy tale, the children are simply skipping school for the sake of a whimsical adventure and find themselves deceived through their naivety by a green-skinned witch. Being an adult, Bugs Bunny sees the children’s peril and being a respectable protagonist, decides to intervene to rescue the innocent children. Dressing as a truant officer, he approaches the witch’s house and provides a chance for the children to escape. However, this imperils him with the witch. Bugs never directly attacks her, choosing instead to evade her and let her violence boomerang back on her, such as when she runs into a wall. The plot resolves by Bugs finding a magic potion in an emergency box and throwing it at the witch. It transforms her into a shapely, female bunny and both Bugs and the transformed witch forget their previous animosity to seemingly go out on a date.3 3 “Bewitched Bunny,” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (24 July 1954; Atlanta, GA, 21 January 2014).

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In contrast, in “You Were Never Duckier,” Daffy’s call to action is not nearly as vitreous as defending innocent children from being eaten by a witch. Instead, he is personally insulted when he finds out that there are two contests occurring—one for best duck and one for best rooster. For Daffy, the issue is that the Best Duck would only receive a prize of five dollars, while the Best Rooster would receive a prize of five thousand dollars. Instead of trying to win the prize he actually qualifies for, Daffy chooses to attempt to defraud the contest by crafting a rooster costume. The costume is terrible and comical in appearance, composed of a glove on his head and a suction cup to secure a rooster tail feather. However, it is convincing enough to a trick a naïve, young chicken-hawk, who wants to impress his father by bringing home a chicken. In their interactions, Daffy mistakenly comes to the conclusion that the youth’s father is actually the judge of the contest and goes home with the young chicken-hawk to attempt to bribe the “judge.” It is only in the chicken-hawks’ home that Daffy discovers that they have nothing to do with the contest and that they want to eat him, believing he is a rooster. Daffy barely escapes with his life, only to later remember the contest. Instead of being thankful for being alive or learning a lesson about his greed, he races back in his rooster costume. When he arrives, he finds both chicken-hawks in disguises much like his own. The father wins Best Rooster, the son wins Best Duck, and Daffy receives nothing for his troubles.4 In both of these shorts, the formula for a respectable protagonist is demonstrated both positively and negatively. Bugs does not seek out trouble, but because of his virtue he must intervene. He then uses his wits to escape the danger and emerges victorious. Daffy seeks out trouble due to his greed, proves to be a coward in the face of the chicken-hawks, and ends the short humiliated for his efforts. The young chicken-hawk wins Best Duck. Clearly, if Daffy had entered the contest and been content with the five dollar prize he would have won it due to being an actual duck. Beyond the conventions for the protagonist, these shorts also demonstrate the convention involving the proper use of violence that is perpetuated throughout the Looney Tunes shorts. Brutish or aggressive use

4 “You Were Never Duckier,” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (7 August 1948; Atlanta, GA, 21 January 2014).

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of violence is worthy of ridicule. It is not an immediately obvious lesson when one thinks about Looney Tunes because the violence is ubiquitous and slapstick in nature. However, the slapstick characteristic of this cartoon violence only helps to reinforce that overt, aggressive violence is not proper to respectable individuals. The joke within the slapstick violence is that violence is only respectable in self-defense or when necessary. If the witch had not been aggressive, no violence would have befallen her. It is because she chases Bugs that she finds herself crashing into walls or furniture. This carries through with all of the Bugs Bunny’s shorts. When Bugs turns the dim-witted human hunter, Elmer Fudd’s, gun against him—often by stretching it so it would shoot him by surprise or tying it into knots so it would explode in his face—those things would not have happened if Elmer Fudd had not tried to hunt Bugs. When any antagonist attempts to assault Bugs, he turns that aggression back, either through cunning or evasion. Bugs Bunny does not begin the fight, but he ends the fight, and the audience is left laughing at the humiliated aggressor. This idea is repeated in both the Sylvester and Tweety shorts and the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner shorts. If Sylvester, the cat, did not try to attack and eat Tweety Bird, he would suffer no harm. Tweety turns his aggression against him. This is the same with Wile E. Coyote. If he was not hunting Road Runner, his violent schemes and weapons would not end up hurting him when they backfire due to mechanical defect or through Road Runner’s actual evasion. The characters of Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote further demonstrate that violence must be necessary to be acceptable. It is not just that they are the aggressor in their shorts that make their actions worthy of ridicule and thus, destined to fail, but also because they are unnecessary. While Sylvester may be a cat and so a natural predator to a bird, like Tweety, he is also normally a housecat. They are both generally cared for by Granny. He is then, clearly, not hunting and trying to eat Tweety out of hunger or a need for survival but out of malice. At first, one might think Wile E. Coyote is hunting Road Runner out of need for food and survival since they are depicted as living out in the wilderness, but this not especially true. Wile E. Coyote regularly purchases equipment from ACME Labs to attempt to kill Road Runner. This demonstrates he has access to money. He could buy food, but he uses his resources to try to hunt Road Runner unnecessarily. Only necessary violence done for defense is respectable. Unnecessary, aggressive violence is depicted as something that should be shunned and ridiculed.

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“Bewitched Bunny” and “You Were Never Duckier” also bring to light another convention that is ubiquitous in its absence—female characters. Female characters have very particular roles in the universe established by the original thousand plus shorts. Within these two particular shorts, the only actual female characters present are Gretel and the witch. Gretel should probably not even be counted as she is only there because she is part of the fairy tale. Both Hansel and Gretel are plot devices and are quickly removed from the short when they have served their purpose to the plot. The witch is actually the only female character of importance between these shorts and that fact is striking. She is an ugly, green-skinned, malicious witch—a combination of all the witch motifs in Western popular culture from fairy tales to the film, The Wizard of Oz (1939). What is shocking with modern sensibilities in mind is that this is the least problematic part of the short. When she is struck with the potion and becomes an attractive, female bunny, and thus, an appropriate mate for Bugs, all her malice, power, and agency disappear from her. Despite the fact just seconds earlier she tried to kill him and had been humiliated by him, she puts all of it aside to act coy and shy to be attractive to him. Bugs puts all their previous animosity aside as well, but seems to understand that young viewers may be confused by his actions. He then looks directly to the viewer, breaking the fourth wall, and explains that all women are witches on the inside, so he is willing to date her now that she is an attractive, docile female bunny.5 It is a stunning summary of the nature of women from the mouth of the universe’s paragon protagonist, Bugs Bunny. While this particular short was made in the 1950s, it continued to air for decades and thus, watched by multiple generations of Americans as they were acculturated. Moreover, nothing in the other shorts deviates or refutes the underlying assumptions presented, namely that women are inherently unable to be equal to men and are valued when they are appropriate, attractive, and docile mates. As no female character is portrayed as a protagonist, no female character is portrayed as having narrative equality with the male characters. In “You Were Never Duckier,” there are no female characters at all. The only female image in the entire short is the glimpse of a centerfold of a hen in a dirty magazine Daffy uses to distract a rooster to steal his tail feather. Even though there is a young chicken-hawk in the short, no mother is depicted, simply him and his father. 5 “Bewitched

Bunny.”

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Of the two reoccurring female characters in the Looney Tunes universe, the cat that is chased by Pepe Le Pew and Granny from the Tweety Bird shorts, the cat falls perfectly into this first depiction of a female character. She is mute, despite Pepe Le Pew, the skunk, being able to speak. She does not even have a consistent name throughout the shorts, often going nameless. There is some acceptance for the name “Penelope Pussycat” that has emerged due to merchandising needs, but in the shorts’ canon itself, she does not even warrant a definite name. Her defining features are that she is apparently attractive and ends up painted to appear like a skunk. Her defining role is being chased by the amorous Pepe Le Pew, who is infatuated with this beautiful, mute, female “skunk.” Her purpose is to be considered a romantic partner for him and her feelings on the matter are not a concern. She spends all the shorts being clear that she wants nothing to do with him. The gag of the shorts is not that Pepe does not understand she is rejecting him, but that he cannot tell that she is not a skunk and so, not a suitable mate. Granny is the only reoccurring female character that is not a romantic partner, but she is still a supportive character in a very traditional female role. She is a caretaker to both Sylvester and Tweety. Like an actual grandmother, she provides for them and tries to keep them out of trouble. While she is given an actual name, it is almost never used outside the single short where it was first established.6 Instead, she is referred to as “Granny,” a title demonstrating her role in the short. She acts as Tweety and Sylvester’s grandmother (though sometimes just Tweety’s when Sylvester is depicted as a street cat). With both of these reoccurring characters and depictions of episode-specific, plot necessary female characters, Looney Tunes paints a portrait of how an ideal woman should be just it does with the ideal man. She should be quiet, attractive, docile, and supportive of her husband or supportive, nurturing, and protective of her children.

6 “Hare Trimmed,” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (20 June 1953; Atlanta, GA, 21 January 2014).

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Garfield and Friends7 These conventions and how they are portrayed remain consistent in Garfield and Friends. Garfield and Friends follows the same traditional format as in Looney Tunes, with three short cartoons in a halfhour timeslot. Unlike Looney Tunes, there were rules governing what cartoons would air on broadcast television. The first and third shorts always portray the titular character, Garfield—an orange, gluttonous, selfish housecat. Alongside Garfield, his central supporting cast includes Odie, a yellow dog, and his owner, Jon. Garfield is semi-anthropomorphized—standing on his hind legs like a human and speaking to the audience, though it is unclear whether the human characters can understand or hear him at times. Odie is normally depicted as an ordinary dog, without any human characteristics. The middle short is called “US Acres” and revolves around a cast of anthropomorphized farm animals. The Garfield shorts, unless they are based on a gimmick like retelling “The Raven,” by Edgar Allen Poe,8 focus on Garfield and his relationship with Jon and Odie. As the protagonist, Garfield resembles the mold provided by Daffy Duck. His cartoons generally follow two plots: Either he has an elaborate scheme in order to improve his life in his own estimation that ultimately backfires on him—often by forcing him to regret his choices—or his efforts are focused on maintaining the status quo. For the latter plots, he will go as far as attempting to sabotage Jon’s personal life or mailing the visiting kitten, Nermal, to Abu Dabi. In all of this, he is depicted as arrogant, lazy, and cruel when he can get away with it. However, he also has a deep love for Jon and Odie when he reflects on the life he shares with them and a conscience that is easily prodded in regard to them. These two redeeming traits would probably force his character to grow and mature into a proper, respectable protagonist but due to the episodic nature of the show, no lesson he learns carries over to the next short.

7 The generalizations about Garfield and Friends are based on the entirety of its series that consists of seven seasons. 8 Garfield & Friends, “Ode to Odie,” Netflix, 6:35, 1 October 1988.

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“US Acres” is more overt in its moral lessons, often explicitly stating the value of proper behavior and friendship to the young viewing audience. There is also no true protagonist in the US Acres shorts, but they often focus on Orsen, a good-natured pig and the group’s leader/ organizer, Roy, a rude, self-centered rooster, Wade, a cowardly duck, or Booker, a precocious, overly outgoing chick. None of these characters or the other characters in the ensemble are depicted as role models. Orsen, while he may be the leader on the farm, is too nice and is often taken advantage of for it. Roy and Wade, with their respective arrogance and cowardice, are also not to be imitated. Booker does not listen to advice from his elders, trusting instead in his own over-estimated abilities and usually becomes imperiled for it. The rest of the cast follows suit. Bo, a male sheep, is too laid back and lacks motivation. His sister, Lanolin, is overly brash and forceful. Sheldon, another male chick, refuses to grow up, going as far as not entirely hatching from his shell. Like in the Garfield shorts and in the vein of negative examples, the plots of the shorts revolve around the central flaw of one of the characters, while the rest of the cast rallies to teach that character a lesson. In both the Garfield and US Acres shorts, violence is viewed comically and, much like in Looney Tunes, it is slapstick in nature with no real effect during or after the cartoon. However, due to almost all the reoccurring characters being flawed in some manner, the violence is always depicted as negative, unlike in Looney Tunes, where violence in self-defense is acceptable. Instead, since both Garfield and US Acres have regular casts of characters, the interpersonal relationships between them can be used to reinforce lessons about the value of tolerance and cooperation. Violence is then portrayed as diametrically opposed to these ideals. Due to this, the violence itself is often less extreme than on Looney Tunes where weapons like guns are regularly used. Shoving, slapping, and name-calling are more frequent, because the relationship between the characters must be mended by the end of the short. This is shown concretely in the US Acres’ short “Banana Nose,” where Roy the Rooster is repeatedly called a “Banana Nose” due to his large beak by the other farm animals in revenge for him calling them names and being a general bully. When Roy decides to leave the farm because of his hurt feelings, Orsen explicitly tells the other

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animals that they should not have lowered themselves down to Roy’s bullying level because that is why Roy left. They then go after him to repair the harm.9 In terms of female characters, Garfield and Friends is only a little more progressive than Looney Tunes by having four reoccurring female characters instead of two. However, three of the four characters— Arlene, Penelope, and Dr. Liz—do not establish anything new that was not explored with the female characters in Looney Tunes. Arlene and Penelope are effectively the same character within the cartoon as they are both feline love interests for Garfield. Penelope replaces Arlene in the later seasons of the show.10 Dr. Liz is a human veterinarian and due to this, has dual roles of caring for Garfield and Odie while also being a potential love interest for Jon. In these ways, these characters do not have narrative purpose outside of the male characters and could be removed from the cartoon without real difficulty. Lanolin is the fourth female character and differs from the other three. She is in the ensemble cast of US Acres and is the sister of Bo the Sheep. Unlike Arlene, Penelope, and Dr. Liz, Lanolin is not depicted as a love interest for a male character or some sort of caregiver. Instead, Lanolin is depicted as rude, brash, and aggressive. Due to this, the other characters often stay away from her, unwilling to put up with her unpleasant personality. Despite being a regular character of the ensemble, she often has no more than a cameo. In some shorts, she does not even appear. This is striking as she is not altogether different than Garfield in temperament, who is equally composed of character flaws that should keep characters from wanting to be around him. However, Garfield is considered lovable despite these qualities, while these similar qualities ostracized Lanolin. It further provides implicit confirmation to the young audience on how a proper woman should be and how some behaviors are unacceptable for them—especially being aggressive.

9 Garfield

& Friends, “Banana Nose,” Netflix, 6:17, 1 October 1988. & Friends, “The Perils of Penelope,” Netflix, 7:30, 31 October 1992.

10 Garfield

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The Real Ghostbusters11 These same conventions continue in The Real Ghostbusters. Similar to Looney Tunes and Garfield and Friends, The Real Ghostbusters is connected to an existing intellectual property. It is a spinoff of the comedic film, Ghostbusters (1984) that targeted adult audiences but was enjoyable for children. Unlike Looney Tunes and Garfield and Friends, it focuses predominately on human characters for the first half of the series. In this first half, the plot revolves around the four male characters, Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore, going through New York City hunting and capturing unruly ghosts with the aid of fantastical technology. They are aided by their secretary, Janine Melnitz, and accompanied by a “ghost character” from the film, Slimer. The character of Slimer does not look human in appearance, but appears as a floating, green slime monster and acts more like a very intelligent, vocal dog than something comparable to a human character. This has to be made explicit because in the second half of the series, the program focuses on Slimer and not the human Ghostbusters. This shift in focus also shifts the format of the program from twenty-one-minute long episodes with one story to the traditional format. In both parts of the series, the role of protagonist continues to obey the rules as expressed by Looney Tunes and Garfield and Friends. However, this fact might be obscured initially because the first half of the series deviates from the norms of the traditional format through its time length and not being built around a gag while still being comedic in nature. Despite its deviation from the traditional format, it continued with the norms involving protagonists. Of the four male characters, the narrative focus and the role of protagonist do not rest on Ray because he is too good-natured and lacks confidence, much like Porky and Orsen the Pig. It also does not rest on Egon, who is overly intellectual and could be considered a “nerd.” Instead, it rests on Peter, who is also the main character in the film. Peter is not a paragon protagonist, but someone who could become one if he learned to be less self-centered. He is a diamond in the rough as he often takes advantage of his friends and tries

11 The generalizations about The Real Ghostbusters and Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters are based on the entirety of its series that consists of seven seasons.

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to take the easy way out, even by means of deception. However, he is also depicted as being able to be virtuous and true when necessary. If the show was not episodic, he would likely grow into a proper protagonist. Even in the first half of the series with its twenty-one-minute episodes, the convention of cartoons being episodic remained. Generally, the episodes can be watched in any order. There is a very loose continuity, often by mentioning the names of ghosts from the film or major events in the series. When the series switches focus from the humans to Slimer, the series becomes entirely episodic. Slimer, as the protagonist, still conforms to the dictates established by Looney Tunes, but continues to do so in the negative. Slimer tries to be cunning, virtuous and to not cause problems but because of his incompetency, he fails to do any of these things. The comedy of the shorts then revolves around how Slimer manages to solve the problems his incompetency failed to prevent, usually accompanied by slapstick violence. While the program follows the rules expressed by Looney Tunes and Garfield and Friends to the letter in regard to the protagonist, it addresses the issues of violence differently in both parts. In the second half of the series with Slimer, the violence is slapstick and has no consequences, much like in Looney Tunes, because for the most part, the violence is committed to a ghost by a ghost. This violence can be explained with the similar explanation that violence is the recourse of a brute and used by someone not clever enough to have other avenues. Generally, an antagonist ghost would begin the violence and Slimer, due to his incompetence, is not clever or witty enough to reflect this violence back upon them. These shorts tend to be silly and lack much substance. The first half of the series differs and within it, violence is dealt with more critically. The human Ghostbusters are the administrators of violence. The Ghostbusters use specialized guns that shoot lasers that restrain unruly ghosts and imprison them in traps. Unlike Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, or the other more respectable protagonists on Looney Tunes, they do not let the violence of the unruly ghosts boomerang back nor do they generally rely on cunning to solve the problem. Instead, they rely on weapons, albeit, nonlethal ones. It is possible that the realistic setting of New York City and the fact that the main characters were humans encouraged this, but it is striking in comparison. However, even with the Ghostbusters using direct violence, this violence still follows some of the previous convention rules. The Ghostbusters still only act in self-defense or in defense of New York City.

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If the ghosts had not been unruly, the Ghostbusters would not respond with force. This is demonstrated by the fact that they keep Slimer as a companion. It is the actions of the unruly ghosts that cause them to respond with “busting.” Secondly, their violence does not produce injury. Despite using laser guns called “proton packs” in the series, the rays do not harm the ghosts, but simply restrain them. The ghosts are not killed or destroyed but imprisoned. In this way, the Ghostbusters maintain the image of the virtuous protagonist whose violence is only reactive and does not exceed to the level of malicious cruelty. It is only used when necessary and with appropriate force. The Real Ghostbusters can also be divided into two parts in regard to its treatment of female characters, or in this case its only important female character—the secretary. Janine Melnitz. Janine is part of the regular cast and appears in most of the episodes of the first half of the series, giving the series a greater female presence than Looney Tunes or Garfield and Friends, despite technically having less female characters. At first, Janine is depicted in line with her character in the film. She is fiery and her own woman, not deferring to the Ghostbusters, despite being their secretary and employed by them. In this way, she is depicted as strong, independent, and having personhood outside of them. However, traits often given to female characters in other mainstream cartoons were also given to her that were not present in the film. Notably, she was given a good report with Slimer. Slimer is more or less a talking dog, but Janine having a report with him harkens back to fairy tales of princesses being able to speak to woodland creatures. While Slimer is often an annoyance to the Ghostbusters, Slimer is sometimes helpful to Janine. In one episode, “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster,” Slimer even risks being imprisoned himself to save her from other ghosts by activating one of the Ghostbusters’ traps.12 In this same episode, the fact that Janine is not equal to the male Ghostbusters and that violence is not the role of women are both addressed. In the beginning of the episode, it is revealed that Janine’s apartment is infested with prankster ghosts but the Ghostbusters would not help her because they had greater priorities. She takes some of their equipment to try to do it herself but fails spectacularly. Not only

12 “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster,” The Real Ghostbusters. DVD. Written by Michael Reaves (29 September 1987; Pueblo, CO: Time Life Entertainment, 29 September 2009).

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does she fail but she needs to be assisted by Slimer, whose defining trait is incompetence. This is actually juxtaposed by a montage of the Ghostbusters casually handling much more dangerous ghosts than the ones that are stymying Janine. Later in the episode, the Ghostbusters are captured by a very powerful and malicious ghost, Proteus. Janine puts on their uniform and their equipment to try to rescue them, despite being shown as lacking any skill in regard to ghostbusting. This is an exceptionally brave act, but her assault is portrayed as a fluke. She fires wildly and breaks some of the mirrors in the room where the Ghostbusters are being held. In the resulting light, Proteus is somehow banished. She succeeds in saving them not due to acquiring skills or being shown to be equal. At the end of the episode, it is decided by all of them that she should not “ghostbust” in the future and that the Ghostbusters will make sure her apartment remains ghost free.13 Yet, even with this episode making it clear that Janine was not the Ghostbusters’ equal, she was still depicted as independent, strong, and professionally respected by them. These traits were changed by editorial mandate to make her character more greatly comply with the conventions involving female characters. J. Michael Straczynski, one the writers of the program explained: the network got consultants involved who wanted to “help” the show, and their idea of helping, for instance, was that they said, “Well, Janine has these sharp glasses and kids are frightened by sharp objects, so we want to make them round.” They said that Janine, who was the secretary – and you’ll recall from the movie that Janine’s character was feisty and her own person – needs to be the mother of the group, so make her more feminine and take away those aspects of her personality that make her not a mother.14

A reoccurring female character like Janine was rare in this period outside of “niche” programs targeting only girls, but African-American characters were just as rare outside of cartoons that either had a majority 13 Ibid. 14 Kenneth Plume, “Interview with J. Michael Straczynski (Part 2 of 4),” IGN, 6 September 2000, accessed 4 February 2015, http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/09/ 06/interview-with-j-michael-straczynski-part-2-of-4.

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African-American cast like Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids or were overtly educational like Captain Planet. With this, the character of Winston needs to be examined. Winston was likely included because he was in the film, but his role in the cartoon eventually transitioned to him being “the black help.” Winston was Othered, often using slang like “jive turkey” and other phrases that may have sounded dated even when it initially aired. Further, while the characters of the Ghostbusters were simplified by editorial mandate, his character was made subservient. Once again, Straczynski revealed that the writing staff were told, “Give each of them identifiable roles, so that Peter is the con-man, Egon is the brains, Ray is the builder, and they said, ‘Make Winston the driver.’ Winston being the black guy.”15 While the other male characters were given roles based on intellectual aptitude, Winston was given a supportive, subservient role of “driver.” This act further clarifies who could be a proper protagonist— not only did the protagonist have to be male, but he had to be a white male in a mainstream cartoon.

Saved by the Bell16 All of this was further reinforced in Saved by the Bell. At first, Saved by the Bell seems to be an outlier on Saturday Morning. Despite its popularity, it was not animated, but portrays actual actors in a high school environment. Due to this, there are no talking animal characters and little slapstick violence. It also does not follow the traditional format and even deals with romantic storylines. In the very first episode, Zack, the protagonist, attempts to trick an older girl into believing that he is in a higher grade to maintain a lie he told her at summer camp. While the other three programs had some romantic subplots in some episodes, there is a regular focus on it in Saved by the Bell because of its high school setting. Yet, even with these differences, Saved by the Bell, uses the conventions already presented by the other three programs. Saved by the Bell

15 Ibid. 16 The generalizations about Saved by the Bell are based on the entirety of its series that consists of four seasons. It does not include Saved by the Bell: The College Years. Even though Saved by the Bell: The College Years continues the story, it did not air on Saturday Morning, and so was not used as basis for this analysis.

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follows the idea of what an ideal protagonist is to the letter as established by the norms of Saturday Morning. Zack is a white male that does not rely on “book learning” or brute strength, but on his cunning and wits. While he is not depicted in the beginning as a paragon protagonist, he is depicted as being on a journey to mature into a proper man. When he uses his wits for deception like in the first episode, it normally backfires on him and either his teachers or his friends correct him. Zack is made to apologize and learn from his mistakes. In this way, there is some sense of continuity in the series, but it is also a loose one. The season premiere and the season finale cannot be juggled, but the other episodes within the season can generally be viewed in any order without confusion. Each season acts as a year in high school, so the seasons cannot be shifted in order. It is within this fluid framework that Zack is allowed to slowly mature—but not mature enough to keep him entirely out of trouble to ensure more episodes. Zack is the protagonist of the series without debate. Saved by the Bell is his story of maturity and his coming of age tale. However, there are two other male characters in the main cast that further bring into focus the traits of a protagonist. AC Slater is depicted as a jock, quick to use his brute strength and is a bit of a chauvinist, despite being later portrayed as being very solid and faithful in romantic relationships. Slater is also set up in the narrative initially as a rival to Zack until their animosity is resolved and they become friends. Screech is depicted as Zack’s sidekick from the beginning. In contrast to Slater’s independence and confidence, Screech defers to Zack, even when it does not benefit him. He is also a stereotypical nerd—smart but physically and socially awkward. All three act as archetypal male characters but Zack’s archetype is that of the protagonist. He is the ideal of what a boy should strive toward and that is reinforced by him eventually being in a relationship with Kelly—the female character depicted as the all-American girl, popular, kind, and the head cheerleader. How these archetypes interact within the series help address how violence is viewed within the universe. Saved by the Bell does not have much overt violence due to its realistic setting and live-action nature, but even with that, the lessons about violence are still reinforced with AC Slater. His strength and physique are not as important or as valued as Zack’s wits, charisma, and leadership. Saved by the Bell also reinforces the conventions about female characters, but in a more subtle way than in the cartoons that have been examined. The series has three female characters that are part of the main cast

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and appear in most episodes. As mentioned, Kelly is the popular, pretty, unconceited all-American girl. She does well in school and is willing to help others. Jessie is almost a caricature of a feminist. She is brash and quick to argue about gender equality. Due to her aggressive personality and uncompromising demeanor, she is depicted as a less appealing choice as a partner, despite being physically attractive. The final female character is Lisa, who is an African-American girl that is overly interested in fashion and gossip—things teenage girls stereotypically value as important. All three are friends with Zack in some manner and the whole ensemble develops a protective friendship with each other. However, even when this happens, Zack remains the leader of the group and the character of importance that all the other characters revolve around in some manner. While Kelly, Jessie, and Lisa are not maternal to the male characters, two-thirds of the cast end up romantically involved. Zack and Kelly become a couple as does AC Slater and Jessie. Only Lisa and Screech do not become a couple, despite Screech’s attempts to ask her out on a number of occasions. It is uncertain whether this pairing failed to materialize due to the assumptions around “nerd characters” in the late 1980s/ early 1990s—that they do not “get the girl”—or if it was the interracial nature of the couple or both. Regardless, the obvious pairing off continues to reinforce the norm that the role of women is to be supportive and as romantic partners, if possible.

Commonalities Between the Four Despite Looney Tunes, Garfield and Friends, The Real Ghostbusters, and Saved by the Bell being different genres of programming, there is a great deal of commonality between the conventions they present. All four of them hold male characters as their main protagonists. When these four shows are arranged in this order, they also act as a spectrum of how female characters were depicted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The gamut ran from the absolute extreme of no female characters to an inclusion of female characters but in traditional feminine roles. The main exception to this rule is Jessie from Saved by the Bell but her characterization was to be a vocal and often abrasive feminist and Lanolin of Garfield and Friends, who was also abrasive and prone to fits of anger. All four of these programs are episodic in nature to varying degrees. Looney Tunes and Garfield and Friends are absolutely episodic, while The Real Ghostbusters and Saved by the Bell have loose continuities throughout their series.

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With the exception of Saved by the Bell due to it being live action, the three other programs all give major focus to some sort of talking animal. Even before The Real Ghostbusters became Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters in the second half of the series and thus, made Slimer the main protagonist, Slimer was still a major narrative focus. He is in almost every episode and befriends Janine. All four programs discourage direct violence, depicting it as the tactic of a brute and not the proper tactic of a protagonist unless in self-defense and with appropriate force. It is better for one to use their cunning to win the battle than their brawn. All four programs resolve their plots happily. Even with some darker “special” episodes of Saved by the Bell such as the one featuring the abuse of caffeine pills,17 episodes still resolve with everything being corrected. Good triumphs over evil, and it always works out for the main characters in the end. Due to this, when an antagonist character is present in any of the plots, they are often depicted as comical. In the rare instances where this is not the case, such as in the Real Ghostbusters’ episode with Proteus, the conflict still resolves in the heroes’ favor. It is these very conventions that MMPR would begin to tear down in the American cultural consciousness with its debut, despite these conventions being seemingly engrained so deeply in American popular cultural that they act as a unifying force across the most popular, long-standing Saturday Morning programs in the late 1980s/early 1990s and had been present as the norm on the schedule by at least the early 1970s.

17 Saved

by the Bell, “Jessie’s Song,” Netflix, 22:00, 3 November 1990.

CHAPTER 4

The Emergence of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR) debuted on Saturday Morning on August 28, 1993, and at face value should have been, at best, a fad. Instead, it was the first installment of a franchise that continues to be produced and aired in the United States to the present, some twenty-five years later. MMPR is a composite program, combining footage from the Japanese program Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger, part of the Super Sentai franchise, and footage filmed with American actors. The American footage is used for any scene where the characters are not in their costumes or when their Ranger helmets are off, while the Japanese footage is utilized for battle sequences and often for scenes with the villains.1

1 The generalizations about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are based on the seasons that fall under the name “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” as well as the seasons named “Power Rangers Zeo” and “Power Rangers Turbo.” For the most part, the focus is on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes because they are the most iconic and the ones that created the phenomenon. When the franchise continued with Power Rangers in Space, that season acted as a transitional period for the franchise where all new characters and plot elements were introduced. While Power Rangers in Space continued to use many of the conventions introduced by Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and exists in the same narrative universe, the initial dynamics of the series changed and the story of the original team of Power Rangers concluded.

© The Author(s) 2019 G. O’Melia, Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3_4

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Haim Saban purchased the rights to Zyuranger and shopped the concept around before a deal was eventually agreed on to air this composite show by Fox Kids with extreme hesitation.2 This deal was a gamble for Fox Kids and local affiliates and advertisers asked them to scrap the show, fearing outcry against it.3 This was a credible fear. MMPR could have easily been rejected by the young American audience for appearing too foreign. The footage from Zyuranger was a blend of the sentai, mecha, kaiju, and tokusatsu Japanese genres which were all either uncommon to American audiences and/ or distinctly Japanese. A sentai series is a series where the main protagonists are a group of heroes, often five but that is not a definite rule, who transform into costumed, usually powered, forms in order to fight their villainous foes. At the time, the most prominent sentai series aired in the United States was Battle of the Planets (1978), an adaptation of the Japanese Science Ninja Team Gatchaman that aired in syndication in some regional markets, but not on Saturday Morning. A mecha series is a series where the central focus is the piloting of large and often humanoid robots in combat. The most prominent of these in the United States at the time was Robotech that had aired erratically in syndication on the weekdays and Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984) that aired mostly on Sundays. The kaiju genre was one Americans were most familiar with as it was a genre created in Japan by the movie, Godzilla, and involves large monsters. Tokusatsu series and movies were also familiar to Americans through Godzilla as they revolve around inexpensive special effects methods such as putting a person in a rubber suit or other costumes and utilizing miniatures to portray the destruction of cities by larger than life characters. All of these genres were notably Japanese, as few American cartoons or television programs utilized them. The closest Saturday Morning cartoon to any of these genres was Transformers (1984) but only in the sense that the main characters were large robots that could be reminiscent of a mecha series. However, the main characters in Transformers (1984) were autonomous robots that were not piloted by humans, breaking the 2 Meg James, “He believed in ‘Power Rangers’ when nobody else did, and it turned him into a billionaire,” Los Angles Times, 19 March 2017, accessed 31 August 2018, https:// www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-haim-saban-power-rangers-20170319story.html. 3 Ibid.

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central conceit of a mecha show. Further, MMPR was not just one of these Japanese genres, but a combination of all them. Most notably, its mecha element, the Megazord, shared the same color scheme and general appearance to Voltron. With all these elements on display in just the opening sequence, MMPR should not have been accepted with open arms by the young American audience while appearing so distinctly foreign according to scholars like Straubhaar and Cooper-Chen, except as a novelty. However, what the young American audience experienced was more than simply these foreign elements. The initial plot of MMPR is the story of a group of teenagers chosen by an alien named Zordon to battle against an alien witch named Rita Repulsa. They would later fight a monstrous humanoid who usurps and then marries Rita, named Lord Zedd. This group of teenagers uses the powers Zordon bestows on them to become the Power Rangers and protect their hometown of Angel Grove from these villains, defeating a new monster at the end of almost every episode. When not fighting the forces of evil, the Power Rangers live their normal lives as high school students and hang out together at the Angel Grove Juice Bar. This summary of the central plot of MMPR is not especially different than a combination of The Real Ghostbusters and Saved by the Bell. After all, The Real Ghostbusters’ plot, at its core, is a group of scientists develop technology to capture ghosts and then hunt ghosts every episode to protect their New York City home. Meanwhile, Saved by the Bell is a series following the lives of Zack and his friends as they journey through high school and hang out together at The Max diner. In these ways, the general plot of MMPR was not uncommon to American audiences when it initially debuted on Saturday Morning. The general action of MMPR is comparable to The Real Ghostbusters. In The Real Ghostbusters, the titular Ghostbusters do not use actual guns but gun-like weapons that shoot beams of light at usually comical, unruly ghosts and instead of killing them or even injuring them, capture their targets, and imprison them. It should be particularly highlighted that despite The Real Ghostbusters’ title, the general plots in the first half of the series revolve mostly around the interaction of the four Ghostbusters and their secretary. The actual “ghostbusting” is more of a narrative vehicle to give the characters an action besides conversation. Even when the ghost plots are more dangerous than usual, such as in “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster,” the narrative reason for the ghostbusting is to facilitate

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the character interactions between the four ghostbusters and Janine.4 The series was marketed as an action-adventure cartoon, but for the most part, the action was a secondary spectacle meant to ensure that the audience left happy by watching the protagonists win a flashy fight since the show did not build to a joke like other cartoons. That is not overly different from MMPR. The Power Rangers would normally fight Rita Repulsa’s forces in two ways—either hand to hand against her Putty Patrol, human-sized putty-shaped monsters, or in the Megazord, the large robot they piloted as a team, against the enlarged monster of the day. In either case, the Power Rangers were never shown killing the enemy. With the Putty Patrol, they would fight them until the Putties simply disappeared. With the enlarged monster, while the Megazord used a sword and would be shown slashing the monster, there was no blood or visible injury. Instead, the monster would disappear in a beam of light or a fireworks explosion. As in The Real Ghostbusters, this final fight between a huge monster and a huge robot was the expected spectacle for the audience, a treat that was somehow tied into the initial plot of the episode. Likewise, the general teenage plots of MMPR were not overly different than Saved by the Bell. Saved by the Bell was aimed at a slightly older audience than MMPR and concentrated more on the high school experience, but it also did not have to devote half its time to sentai mecha action. However, like Saved by the Bell, MMPR has teenage plots about studying for exams, dealing with bullies, and about high school romances; the latter being something incredibly rare on Saturday Morning in general. Both shows also relied on archetypical roles to convey to the audience quickly the core of each of the characters, and even as the characters develop, they never deviate from their archetypical roles. In Saved by the Bell, the central cast is composed of four basic character archetypes of the troublemaker with a heart of gold protagonist, a brutish rival, a nerdy sidekick/best friend, and the ideal girlfriend/love interest in the characters of Zack, AC Slater, Screech, and Kelly, respectively. Along with these, the cast includes two more less basic, but still common, archetypes with the additions of Jessie, a militant feminist, and Lisa, a girl focused on fashion and gossip. Throughout the series, none of the characters deviate from these roles, though AC Slater and Jessie both soften in their abrasiveness when they become a couple. 4 “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster,” The Real Ghostbusters. DVD. Written by Michael Reaves (29 September 1987; Pueblo, CO: Time Life Entertainment, 29 September 2009).

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MMPR does not use the exact same composition of archetypes to compose its central cast, but it did use ones that would be familiar to the audience with depicting Jason as a virtuous warrior; Zack, the AfricanAmerican of the group, as a fun-loving, loyal friend, always ready to help; Kimberly, the more traditionally feminine of the two women on the team, as a valley girl with interests in shopping and fashion, but more idealized as she is not dull or vain; and Trini, the other woman and the AsianAmerican on the team, as peaceful and meditative, but perfectly capable of defending herself. Tommy, the transfer student, very much resembles Jason’s traits, but is depicted as more of a loner and initially not as integrated into the group. Billy, the nerd, is the only character with the barest of character flaws, as like other nerds on Saturday Morning, he is clumsy and allows others to take advantage of him. Unlike Screech, who is taken advantage by Zack, Billy’s friends do not and they also try to prevent others from doing so. However, even though the archetypes differ to some degree between MMPR and Saved by the Bell, both series’ cast of characters do not deviate from these roles throughout the series. Beyond just this blending of elements, MMPR was not entirely misplaced on the Saturday Morning schedule because it also conformed to many of its general norms. Like many programs, MMPR has an animal focus with the robotic vehicles known as “Zords.” While these Zords would combine into the Megazord, they are individually a robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Mastodon, a Sabre-toothed Tiger, a Triceratops, a Pterodactyl, and eventually a Dragon. MMPR is also generally episodic, as was the norm at the time on Saturday Morning, with only a loose continuity. There was certain “milestone” episodes that changed the series such as the introduction of the Green Ranger, but episodes between milestone episodes could easily be shuffled without causing narrative incoherence. With all of these traits, while it did appear distinct from other content on Saturday Morning at the time, and always would due to its unique style as a composite program, it fit in better than a show like Robotech or Speed Racer. None of this would be overly surprising to a scholar like Marwan Kraidy. These similarities to other conventional Saturday Morning content helped to blend and obscure the elements of MMPR that did not conform to these norms, even beyond the foreign appearance of the footage taken from Zyuranger. The elements that reflected conventional domestic programs acted as a wedge to make the series feel

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more familiar to the American audience.5 However, it was also within these similarities that many of the divergences from the conventions that governed Saturday Morning existed. Much like with the concept of the Uncanny Valley, where a computer-generated human face looks real, but something is not quite right, MMPR’s conformity to the conventions was not quite right in many respects. The presentation of the ideal protagonist is an immediate and definite divergence in MMPR with the characters of Jason and later Tommy. Both characters only conform to the general norms for the protagonist at the time by being presented to the audience as white males. However, the male protagonist was normally cunning, using his wits for both banter and self-defense. Even in The Real Ghostbusters where the Ghostbusters use direct violence to capture ghosts, Peter, with his sarcasm and wit, is depicted as leader of the team and main character of the first half of the series. Neither Jason nor Tommy are witty characters, and they do not use banter or cunning to solve their problems. Instead, both generally use violence in the form of martial arts. In fact, both characters are introduced to the audience immediately as martial artists, and neither character limits their fighting ability to simply self-defense. On more than one occasion, Jason and Tommy use martial arts displays to frighten the bullies, Bulk and Skull, even though they prove no physical threat to them. Tommy does so in his first meeting with both bullies to drive them away from annoying Kimberly, who they are also not physically threatening.6 Unlike what would occur in traditional cartoons, neither waits for the bullies to throw the first punch and then reverse the violence in a comical fashion. Instead, both Jason and Tommy often resort immediately to either threats of violence or actual, direct violence to impose their will. In a program like Looney Tunes, they would be considered unjustified brutes, and likely the villains of the short. Even in Saved by the Bell, a closer analog, AC Slater is narratively inferior to Zack because of his reliance on physical strength rather than cunning. Yet, Jason and Tommy are not treated as brutes in the narrative, nor are they given the classic traits of a brute. While they both rely on physical power to end conflicts, they are not demanding, loud or arrogant like a brutish

5 Marwan M. Kraidy, Hybridity or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005), 148. 6 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 1,” Netflix, 19:00, 5 October 1993.

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character is often depicted. Instead, Jason is shown to be in control of his temper and his strength, and Tommy is presented as humble and submissive to Kimberly after he joins the group formally. Their noble character is where both Jason and Tommy obtain their justification as protagonists. While neither uses the same means as ideal protagonists per the general norms of Saturday Morning, they seek the same goals of justice, equality, tolerance, and peace. Yet, in a more conventional show of the time, it would not be a character like Jason or Tommy who would lead the team. Instead, a character like MMPR’s Zack, the fun-loving character, would be the greater focus, though his race would likely be changed to white if he was the main protagonist. Jason and Tommy act as a microcosm to the macrocosm of the Power Rangers as a whole. The Power Rangers, as a team, also do not resort to witty banter or cunning schemes to defeat their enemies. They are quick to resort to violence and their solution to almost every problem in the series is the use of martial arts, unless giant robots are required. This stands in sharp contrast with other action-oriented contemporaries like The Real Ghostbusters. Even when provoked, the Ghostbusters use their elaborate equipment to restrain and nonlethally capture the unruly, though usually comical, ghosts. The violence is both obscured and subdued. However, the Power Rangers’ violence is not an absolute deviation that has never occurred on Saturday Morning before. Programs like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) were both popular programs that used direct, immediate violence instead of purely self-defense or violence hidden under fantastical elements. Still, there is grittiness to the violence in MMPR that is often overlooked due to its bright colors and campy special effects that differ considerably with the direct violence in these other programs. The Power Rangers are generally not having fun in the battles, and the stakes are always high. There is desperation in the fights. While the spectacle of the fight is meant to be fun for the audience and the monsters are usually absurdly comical in design, the Power Rangers are not privy to the amusement. This subtle grittiness and desperation to the fights is accented by the fact that good does not always triumph in MMPR. The “good guys” were normally protected by plot armor on Saturday Morning. Sometimes, especially in very tense episodes, they could be threatened like how the Ghostbusters were by a particularly dangerous ghost in “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster,” but the audience also enjoyed

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the implied promise that the characters would be safe by the end.7 In Looney Tunes’ shorts like “You Were Never Duckier,” where Daffy Duck finds himself trying to escape a chicken-hawk father and son determined to eat him, Daffy ends up at one point bound and hung upside down as the father sharpens an axe to butcher him for dinner.8 This scene is not portrayed as scary, however, but humorous because there is no doubt that Daffy will be fine. The most famous and notable short where one of the “good guys” lose in Looney Tunes is the operatic homage “What’s Opera, Doc?” In this short, Elmer Fudd seemingly manages to kill Bugs Bunny, but in the end regrets it. Even here, Bugs Bunny opens his eyes and tells the young audience, “Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?” to reassure them that he is actually fine and this is a special event.9 Again, not only is Elmer Fudd’s victory played as a joke, it is also depicted as extraordinary. The victory of good over evil is not nearly as certain on MMPR. There are two particular, concrete examples of how within the series evil has far greater power and is a far greater threat than was the norm within the confines of Saturday Morning at the time. The first of these is in the five-episode story titled “Green with Evil.” This multi-part story is one of the first milestone episodes of the series where not only the episodes composing it could not be shuffled without narrative incoherence, but the series is distinctly changed. This change is brought about by the introduction of Tommy, the Green Ranger. His introduction presents the possibility that not only could good be corrupted, but that a corrupted foe was far more dangerous than an enemy that simply relished in evil. In the first episode of the miniseries, Tommy is introduced in a martial arts exposition at the Angel Grove Juice Bar, in a friendly but competitive, match with Jason. The scene quickly informs the young audience of two particular facts. The first is that Tommy is an equal fighter to Jason. They fight to a draw and gain each other’s respect in the process. The second is that Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, has an immediate crush on Tommy. I will return to Kimberly and Tommy’s interaction more in-depth later,

7 “Janine

Melnitz, Ghostbuster.” Were Never Duckier,” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (7 August 1948; Atlanta: GA, 21 January 2014). 9 “What’s Opera, Doc?” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (6 July 1957; Atlanta: GA, 31 January 2014). 8 “You

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but what is important right now is that this crush drives her to want to include him in the group. This would be followed by Tommy chasing away Bulk and Skull from bothering Kimberly in the same manner Jason would—through a martial arts display to intimidate them. It is in this moment of mutual attraction that Kimberly invites him to hang out, which he accepts. However, he does not make it to the meeting. Rita Repulsa also watched the match between Jason and Tommy. After a secondary test of having Tommy fight some of her Putty Patrol soldiers, she kidnaps him, corrupts him, and turns him into her Green Ranger.10 Corrupted Tommy is presented to the audience as different and superior to the other Power Rangers. His transformation sequence differs from the others. While they hold up their special “morphin coin” in a “morpher” that looks like a belt buckle and shout the name of their Zord to transform, he simply closes his hand over his coin to do so.11 His costume is more impressive as it has golden shoulder armor that none of the other Power Rangers possess. His weapons are also different than the other Rangers. He possesses a named sword—the Sword of Darkness.12 The Green Ranger is presented visually superior to the other Power Rangers and for the rest of the miniseries proceeds to best them in each encounter. He breaks into their secret Command Center and disables the robot assistant, Alpha 5, and banishes their alien mentor, Zordon.13 He bests all the Power Rangers in hand-to-hand combat. Rita Repulsa enlarges him like one of the normal episode monsters, and he fights against the Power Rangers and the Megazord with his own flesh and blood and wins. The Power Rangers are forced to watch as their individual Zords are seemingly destroyed in a lava pit.14 The Green Ranger is then given his own Zord, the Dragonzord, that emerges from the sea at the sound of his flute and destroys a warehouse district in a clear homage to Godzilla before doing his bidding. Even with his own Zord, he differs

10 Mighty

Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 1.”

11 Ibid. 12 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 2,” Netflix, 19:00, 6 October 1993. 13 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 1.” 14 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 4,” Netflix, 19:00, 8 October 1993.

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from the other Rangers as they all go inside their Zords to pilot them.15 It should not be understated how dramatic the competency of evil is in this chain of events compared to what was the norm for the forces of evil on Saturday Morning. Evil was normally ridiculed, incompetent, and quickly dispatched by the end of the episode for a feel-good victory. If the overarching villain was not defeated, he was at least left to lament the heroes thwarting him. The Power Rangers, in contrast, consistently fail with great costs each time. However, the Power Rangers retained the narrative protection of being the heroes, at least in this miniseries. By the final episode, Tommy is able to break his mind control, the Megazord is restored, Alpha 5 and Zordon recover from their individual plights, and the Power Rangers add a sixth member to their team.16 The Power Rangers managed to escape “Green with Evil” with no more than stretching the conventions of Saturday Morning. While evil was shown to be more powerful and threatening than normal, everything still worked out for the heroes in the end. If anything, they benefited from the momentary struggle by gaining Tommy and the Dragonzord as allies. This would not be the case eighteen episodes later, in a two-part episode called, “The Green Candle.” In it, it is revealed that Rita Repulsa made Tommy touch magical wax while under her thrall and if the candle burned out, he would lose his powers as the Green Ranger forever. Jason heroically volunteers to enter the evil realm of Rita Repulsa in order to try to capture the candle and save his friend’s powers, but finds that he has to defeat the monster known as Goldar. The only way for Jason to enter the realm and be able to leave it is for the other Rangers to hold up and secure dimensional gateposts, making the entire team, except for Tommy, unable to fight any monster Rita Repulsa launches.17 When Rita Repulsa promptly launches a monster at Angel Grove to distract the Power Rangers from their quest, Tommy battles it alone with his Dragonzord, but the battle quickly turns against him. Zack is forced to retrieve Jason and their argument is short-lived but poignant.

15 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 5,” Netflix, 19:00, 9 October 1993. 16 Ibid. 17 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green Candle, Part 2,” Netflix, 19:00, 18 November 1993.

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Jason : If I don’t get the candle in time, he’ll lose his powers! Zack : If we don’t get to him in time, he’ll lose his life. Goldar : Which will you choose, Red Ranger?18

Tommy loses his powers at the conclusion of the episode. In a departure from nearly anything that had been shown on Saturday Morning beforehand, evil triumphs over the forces of good. In the episodes that follow “The Green Candle,” the audience is reminded of the loss through both Tommy’s absence and through the Red Ranger wearing his shoulder armor and wielding his dragon dagger/flute. While Tommy would appear and use the Green Ranger powers in some episodes that follow, these plots depict using the limited amount of power left in his power coin as an act of desperation by the team and with each of these few uses, the initial defeat in “The Green Candle” is brought to mind again. The audience was made to remember that defeat and the permanent effect it caused. The Green Ranger did not just recover at the end of the episode, and there was no reset in the next episode where the events of “The Green Candle” did not occur. The young audience was left to experience that loss and endure the Green Ranger’s defeat and the Power Ranger’s failure. Further, the audience was left to realize that Tommy only losing his powers was the best victory the heroes were able to manage within the story. Jason had to make a choice on Tommy’s behalf, to save his powers or save his life. In an ordinary Saturday Morning show, Jason would have likely been able to regain Tommy’s powers at the last moment, strengthening Tommy in his own battle so both of them were victorious. This would be the closest to character death the Saturday Morning audience would be allowed to experience at the time, but even without Tommy actually dying the invulnerability of the Power Rangers was forever removed from them. This was a clear, definitive example of them failing and evil triumphing. Their victory and their safety could no longer be taken for granted. There needs be some clarification on this point, however. While this moment was a transitionary moment on Saturday Morning, it was absolutely not the first time tragedy existed in American children’s media. Actual character death occurred in Disney films for decades before this. The children who watched these episodes

18 Ibid.

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would likely have been shown Bambi and less than a year later, The Lion King would debut and these same children would experience the death of Mufasa. Older teenagers at the time may have seen Transformers: The Movie in 1986 and remembered the death of Optimus Prime. “Kids were crying in the theatres,” Dille [a story consultant for the film] recalls. “We heard about people leaving the movie. We were getting a lot of nasty notes about it. There was some kid who locked himself in his bedroom for two weeks.”19

However, the depowering of the Green Ranger differed from these actual characters deaths for four distinct reasons beyond the fact that Tommy did not actually die. The first is that Bambi, The Lion King, and even Transformers: The Movie, which was tied into a Saturday Morning property, were all movies. Expectations of what will occur in a movie and what will occur within a Saturday Morning series differ considerably. This can be seen in any Disney television series based on one of their popular films. They are less violent, less tragic, and more lighthearted. The second reason is these deaths occurred outside of Saturday Morning. If a parent in 1986 heard beforehand about the death of Optimus Prime in the film, they could prevent their child from seeing it. There was no warning for the depowering of the Green Ranger. The Power Rangers simply failed with no special fanfare beyond the episode being a two-parter. The series simply continued onward. The third reason is related to the second. What had made the death of Optimus Prime particularly troubling was the cynical nature of the choice. “We didn’t know that he [Optimus Prime] was an icon,” Dille says, still seemingly baffled by the response. “It was a toy show. We just thought we were killing off the old product line to replace it with new products.”20

Transformers: The Movie was developed and produced for the express purpose of creating an excuse to debut a new toy line. This was not the case with the Green Ranger. While Sabin Entertainment may have 19 Ryan Lambie, “Transformers: The Movie and The Great Toy Massacre of 1986,” Den of Geek!, 18 December 2018, accessed 19 December 2018, http://www. denofgeek.com/us/movies/transformers/256185/transformers-the-movie-andthe-great-toy-massacre-of-1986. 20 Ibid.

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produced this episode because in Zyuranger the Green Ranger dies, the episode The Green Candle uses very little footage from the Japanese episode “Burai Shisu” where the Japanese Green Ranger dies in his brother’s arms. In the episode, the Green Candle burns out as he assists the other Power Rangers and his life burns out with it.21 Previously, it was established in Zyuranger that his life was tied to the Green Candle and whenever he was conscious the candle would burn. The Green Ranger spent most of the series managing his time by hibernating when he did not need to intervene. Sabin Entertainment’s adaptation was not driven on a new toy line as the Dragonzord continued to appear on the show and the Green Ranger also continued to sporadically appear so it was not a lack of footage. Instead, Sabin Entertainment chose to have this narrative action occur without warning and without a drive for profit. The final reason this differed was because it was accepted by the audience. “The Green Candle” initially aired on the weekday block due to MMPR airing on both the weekdays and Saturday Morning. Children experienced that loss, experienced the reoccurring reminder of the Power Rangers’ failure, and continued on with the series. The audience may have been surprised, but they did not reject the show. MMPR continued to be popular on Saturday Morning. It did not act as a jumping off point for the audience like the death of Optimus Prime in the Transformers’ franchise. “The Green Candle” also highlights another divergence between MMPR and other programming on Saturday Morning—its use of female characters. At the end of second part, the defeat is softened by the final scene of Tommy and Kimberly becoming an official couple. The concept of “getting the girl” was a common one at the time, and even on Saturday Morning, it was not entirely absent. Many of Zack’s plotlines on Saved by the Bell involved trying to date a girl and eventually to win over Kelly, his counterpart as the “All American Girl” to his status as the male protagonist of the show. Even in Looney Tunes, the convention of a hero “winning” a female character through his heroics or his virtues was utilized. For example, in the short “Bewitched Bunny,” the short ends with Bugs Bunny going on a date after overcoming the witch antagonist by transfiguring her into a female rabbit.22 The central gag of the Pepe 21 “Burai Shisu,” Super Sentai Zyuranger. DVD. Written by Noboru Sugimura (11 December 1992; City, St: Shout! Factory, 17 February 2015). 22 “Bewitched Bunny,” Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. Boomerang (24 July 1954; Atlanta: GA, 21 January 2014).

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Le Pew shorts was that Pepe Le Pew could never “win over” the painted cat he fancied to be his mate no matter how he tried to woo her or how hard he chased her. Relationships on Saturday Morning, when portrayed, were often rewards for narrative victory for the central male protagonist. Yet, Tommy enters into a relationship with Kimberly when he is defeated and brought low. Kimberly approaches him and consoles him in the final moments of the episode to reassure him that he is not cast aside from his friends just because of what happened to him. What is especially unique about this situation is that Kimberly makes the offer. MMPR has two female characters in its main cast, Kimberly and Trini, and of the two of them, Kimberly is the more traditional for Saturday Morning conventions. She dresses all in pink; she is depicted as being interested in gymnastics and speaks like a Valley Girl. However, she does not exist to be a girlfriend character or a narrative reward. Instead, she is depicted as the pursuer in her relationship with Tommy. In Tommy’s introduction, Kimberly is immediately smitten with him and when he scares off Bulk and Skull later on at school, she uses it as an opportunity to invite him out. When he does not show up, she approaches him about it. Their relationship only becomes official at the end of “The Green Candle” when she again searches for him. At each point in the relationship narrative, Kimberly takes the initiative. She is not passive or the target; she has agency and is on the hunt. She is in the role traditionally afforded to male characters. This is a dramatic shift and MMPR makes no qualifications about it. Kimberly is not depicted as “hyper feminist” as Jessie is in Saved by the Bell nor is Tommy depicted as anything less than masculine. Her pursuit is simply presented as ordinary. This sort of a more progressive depiction of the female characters as simply ordinary truly makes MMPR shine when compared with its contemporaries. It is not merely that Kimberly pursues Tommy, but both Kimberly and Trini are depicted as entirely equal to the male Power Rangers without any qualifications. They are equal fighters to the rest of the team. This is in sharp contrast to episodes like “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster” where the entire point of the episode is that Janine is not equal to the Ghostbusters but manages to defeat Proteus through a fluke.23 In fact, there are no special episodes in MMPR that are centered on the fact that Kimberly and Trini are female characters at all. There is no need. Their gender, at no point, acts as a defining character trait. 23 The

Real Ghostbusters, “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster.”

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Trini’s character goes one step further with this and creates a new archetypical role for female characters on Saturday Morning. Kimberly is depicted as overtly feminine with interests in feminine sports, fashion, wearing pink, and even in her Power Ranger guise has a skirt. Trini is depicted as being a pure martial artist, wearing gender-neutral yellow, and in her costume wears pants like the male characters. While her costume as a Power Ranger lacks a skirt because in the original Japanese the Yellow Ranger is male, that does not change the power of the visual for the American audience. Before MMPR it was customary for female characters in mainstream children’s programs on Saturday Morning to be in pink, have overt feminine traits like long eyelashes or both. In contrast, Trini was depicted as being the tougher of the two female characters and would create what would later be dubbed “The Power Rangers Ratio” that would eventually be found in other children’s programs. If a cast has five characters, two of them would be female and one of the female characters would be more traditionally feminine while the other would be less so. All of these divergences—the difference of how the male protagonists act, the less light-hearted nature of the program, the consequential violence, the vulnerability of the heroes, and the radical depictions of female characters—on top of the overtly foreign visuals and genres should have made MMPR an unpopular show. However, because it conformed enough to conventions already on Saturday Morning by being comparable to The Real Ghostbusters and Saved by the Bell, by being relatively episodic, and by having animal and other cutesy elements like Alpha 5, it was able to blend in with its American peers. MMPR presented the American audience with stories and characters they had not seen before and desired, within a structure that was ultimately familiar. It proved popular with all audiences. The incredibly young, older boys, older girls, and even younger teens could all find something in the program they enjoyed and this led to fans clubs, the actors touring the country in live shows, and a movie in 1995 that used footage created solely for it and not adapted from Zyuranger.24

24 Peter Suderman, “Why Power Rangers Is a One-of-a-Kind TV Franchise,” Vox, 29 March 2017, accessed 19 December 2018, https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/29/ 15039986/power-rangers-tv-series-movie.

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MMPR’s success was something both FOX and WB wanted to replicate, but what exactly made the show so successful was not entirely understood. No Japanese product had proven to be as popular to the young American audience as MMPR. In order to attempt to replicate the success, two main trends emerged. The first was to replicate the composite formula, epitomized by Big Bad Beetleborgs. The second was to lean into the superhero genre, the closest domestic genre to the narrative MMPR presented, and offer Superman: The Animated Series to the Saturday Morning audience.

Pause: What About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)? This is a very reasonable question. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) was an incredibly popular cartoon in the late 1980s and spawned three movies from that initial popularity. Yet, I barely mentioned them in the entire discussion about MMPR. Why? It is not that I disagree that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) acted as an effective herald to the MMPR. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ success may have even allowed MMPR to reach American television (see Chapter 2). With this very tangible connection between the two programs, it is important to address what narrative conventions are present in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and which are present in MMPR. While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ success may have aided MMPR’ in is ascent, the former did not lay the foundations for the narrative shift found within the latter. Both focus on martial arts being the answer to the problems of the protagonists. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles uses a combination of violence. In some battles, the Turtles will allow the Foot Clan Ninja to crash into each other or let the villains’ schemes implode around them, but they also use direct, targeted violence to solve their problems. Again, this is a shift in Saturday Morning conventions and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles predates MMPR in making it available to the audience. Both also differentiate its protagonists by bright colors. The Turtles wear different color masks and armbands while the Power Rangers wear different color costumes when transformed and favor these colors even in their civilian identities. This color differentiation occurs in both programs for the same reason—to allow the viewer to more easily identify the characters. In structure—at least in their first seasons—some of their narrative elements vaguely mirror each other. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

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Splinter—the Turtles teacher and a mutated man-rat—has an interconnected backstory and feud with their enemy, Shredder. Splinter opposes Shredder’s evil plots with the use of the Ninja Turtles. In MMPR, Zordon has an interconnected backstory and feud with their enemy, Rita Repulsa. Zordon opposes Rita’s evil plots with the use of the Power Rangers. Yet, there are more differences than similarities between the two programs once one moves away from the outer veneer of the shows. Outside of these surface comparisons, the programs differ greatly. The first major difference is that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles maintains the convention that Saturday Morning programs are supposed to be fun and lighthearted. Even in episodes that have greater tension, everything is brightly colored and the characters themselves make jokes about the situations and their opponents. Also, a real sense of danger is never implied. In one early episode, Shredder tricks an inventor into mass producing a device known as a “Mouser” in order to kill Splinter. However, even though hundreds of these robot Mousers eventually find Splinter, the visual that is depicted is an anthropomorphic rat that stands no higher than a woman’s shoulder and a woman holding a rolling pin to oppose them.25 It is a comedy beat. Perhaps it would be a desperate moment if the expectation was not that Turtles would reach them in time. The Turtles also have the luck and invulnerability narratives bestow on child characters in the 1980s and the Turtles—despite being called teenagers—act and are depicted as children. They are child-sized, have bedtimes, and stories are read to them to help them fall asleep.26 The complexity of the villain characters—Shredder and Krang—only adds to this childish fun. Shredder and Krang, being unable to cooperate with each other in their common goal against the Turtles, render them incompetent and make their defeat at the hands of these child-like Ninja Turtles more humorous for the viewer. The Power Rangers, in contrast, are always depicted as paragons of their respective martial art disciplines and interests, and yet things do not always work out for them. This makes their losses more surprising and dramatic beyond the fact it is out of convention for the heroes to have lasting defeats. 25 “A

Thing About Rats,” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. DVD. Written by David Wise and Patti Howeth (30 December 1987; New York, NY: Lions Gate, 20 April 2004). 26 “Hot-Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X,” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. DVD. Written by David Wise and Patti Howeth (31 December 1987; New York, NY: Lions Gate, 20 April 2004).

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Moreover, the character April in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles does not break any conventions for female characters like Trini and Kimberly. April follows the conventions accepted for female characters without any significant deviation from them. She faints when she first sees the Turtles, despite them being drawn to be adorable and cartoony in order not frighten any young viewer.27 In the first four episodes of the series, April is further depicted in a number of conventional ways. She chooses a rolling pin, a kitchen implement as a weapon to defend herself instead if any number of other possible weapons in her furnished apartment. When investigating a case, she is immediately kidnapped and in need of rescue. April is not even depicted as especially competent at being a reporter— her profession. She is almost fired from her job. In all these things, she needs the Turtles to help her. She is helpless without them. The only task she is depicted as being absolutely competent at is mothering the childlike Turtles. None of these depictions break away from the standard conventions of a female character and certainly pale in comparison with the character of Trini. Finally, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could even be said to be a callback to earlier conventions in regard to cartoon characters as a whole. Unlike The Real Ghostbusters, the protagonists of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are anthropomorphic animals, not human beings. The main villain is a human who hunts the Turtles and always fails, despite his intelligence and cunning. This dynamic of anthropomorphic animals versus humans has been a standard dynamic in cartoons as early as Looney Tunes. As groundbreaking and unique as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may have been in regard to the use of violence and complexity of villain characters, everything else holds true to previous conventions. These two unique elements may have easily been due to being adapted from a violent, mature comic book. Thus, even though Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles heralded MMPR’s popularity and FOX likely made every effort to package MMPR to attract the Turtles’ audience, especially those children who may have been beginning to outgrow the cartoon, the former did not substantially influence the content of the latter.

27 “Turtle Tracks,” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. DVD. Written by David Wise and Patti Howeth (28 December 1987; New York, NY: Lions Gate, 20 April 2004).

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Big Bad Beetleborgs28 Big Bad Beetleborgs aired on FOX and was produced by Sabin Entertainment. Like MMPR, it is a composite program using footage from the series, Juukou B-Fighter and later B-Fighter Kabuto, for action sequences and the villains, while the civilian scenes were filmed with American actors. Big Bad Beetleborgs, like MMPR, is a sentai, featuring characters transforming into costumed fighters. Unlike MMPR, Big Bad Beetleborgs is aimed at a slightly younger audience and its central cast are three preteens. The series also eventually gains a stricter continuity than MMPR, and by the end of the first season, there would be narrative incoherence if the episodes were shuffled. Further, the plot of the series is more complex than MMPR in concept. Drew, Jo, his younger sister, and Roland, their African-American friend, are dared by a duo of rich bullies to spend the night in a haunted house. Once inside, they find themselves accosted by a mummy and a Frankenstein’s Monster before discovering a haunted organ that had a specter by the name of Flabber trapped inside of it, who grants them one wish. Believing all these events to be a dream, they wish to become Beetleborgs from their favorite comic book of the same name. The wish is granted by Flabber, but the magic he uses to give them their heroic powers and armor from the comic brings to life all the comic’s villains as well. The series then revolves around the three young heroes using their new powers to try to defeat the villains their own wish unleashed onto their small suburban town when they are not helping their monster friends, who live in the haunted house. With all of this, the general world of Big Bad Beetleborgs is more complicated than MMPR’s, with its a good alien, evil witch, and how the Power Rangers are chosen to fight against her for the defense of the world. The main children are both the cause of their powers and the cause of the evil by means of their singular wish. However, even with this added complexity within the central conceit of the show, there can be no debate in the similarities between the two programs as it was produced/adapted by the same company and is also a composite program. Instead, how it deviates from what was established by MMPR and how it conforms more closely to the general conventions of Saturday Morning are more intriguing to explore.

28 The generalizations about Big Bad Beetleborgs are based on the entirety of its series that consists of two seasons, under the names Big Bad Beetleborgs and Beetleborgs Metallix.

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While MMPR depicted not just Jason, but the entire team, as more serious, honor-driven, self-sacrificing individuals that resort to force to solve their problems, Big Bad Beetleborgs returns to the convention of precocious, fun-loving and, at times, mischievous protagonists. All three children are depicted as being ready to use their powers to play harmless pranks on those who insult or bully them. This is explicitly done at the end of the episode “Beetle Rock, Part 2.” At the very end of the episode and after the Beetleborgs had come to accept that they have powers both in their transformed and civilian forms, Drew uses his telekinetic abilities to drop a bucket of water on the two rich bullies who had dared them to go into the haunted house in the first episode. Unlike in MMPR where Bulk and Skull use their size or number to try to be intimidating, these rich bullies are not actively bullying Drew, Jo, or Ronald. Instead, Drew seeks to humiliate them out of revenge and neither his sister nor his friend discourages him. When he asks “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he is met simply with the reply, “Go for it.”29 This is not overly inappropriate for characters their age. While the same action done by an older teenager could be interpreted as petty or mean-spirited, for a child between ten and twelve who suddenly has telekinesis it does not seem out of place. It does not even seem out of place on Saturday Morning. After all, it would be perfectly in character for Bugs Bunny to do the same if he could and then turn to the screen, asking the audience, “Ain’t I a stinker?” Nevertheless, this switch from the honor that is held up as an ideal for protagonists by MMPR back to traditional idealized cunning and lighthearted wit is striking. This can be further seen in how the two groups obtain their powers. In MMPR, the initial five Rangers are chosen because Zordon feels they are worthy of the honor and responsibility. While he tells Alpha 5 to find “teenagers with attitude,” that “attitude” seems to actually mean “teenagers ready to sacrifice without being rewarded and to accept responsibilities that could cost them their lives.” In the first episode, Zordon gives them three rules to follow: “First never use your power for personal gain. Never escalate the battle unless Rita forces you. Keep your identity secret.”30 Yet the Rangers agree because of their deep sense of honor and responsibility. Jason makes this

29 Big

Bad Beetleborgs, “Beetle Rock, Part 2,” Netflix, 22:00, 7 September 1996. Morphin Power Rangers, “Day of the Dumpster,” Netflix, 19:00, 28 August

30 Mighty

1993.

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sentiment clear when the other teenagers have a moment of doubt if they should or if they are even capable of what Zordon is asking them to do. His appeal is “He chose us.”31 The Beetleborgs obtain their powers through their own bravery and cunning. The three of them enter the haunted house, despite their own fears and when they release Flabber, he does not tell them they have been chosen to become heroes. Instead, the three huddle together to decide what wish they should ask from Flabber and Jo convinces her brother and her friend to wish for something that they could not gain by any amount of exertion or money—to become Beetleborgs. Even after their first battle, this sense of obligation is not present like it is with the Power Rangers. After this initial battle, when the three return to the haunted house the following conversation occurs: Jo : Well, I’m just glad this all over with. Flabber : Sorry to burst your bubble *actually bursts a bubble as he says it* But it wasn’t… I mean, it’s not. Until we can get Vexor and his cronies back into the comic book nothing and nobody is safe. You’re just gonna have to keep on being Beetleborgs. Roland : We can handle it. Jo : Yes. So cool. Drew : I hate to say this but I think it’s time for us to get going. *knocks into a lamp but catches it with his mind* How’d that happen? Flabber : Beats me. Looks like you have a little left over power. Drew : I have brain power. Jo : Aw man. You always get all the luck. *kicks a chair with great force* I have super strength! Roland : *super speeds to catch the chair*: I’ll get it. Did you see that? I have supersonic speed. Flabber : I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t mean it. Drew : Don’t worry, Flabber. This was a good booboo. Flabber : A good booboo? … Yeah. It is. Flab out. Jo : No one is going to believe this. Flabber : Oh no, little buddies. You can’t tell anyone about this! Mum’s the word. Lock and key. Promise? Roland : Okay. We promise. Jo : Yeah. I promise. Drew : C’mon guys. We gotta go.32 31 Ibid. 32 Big

Bad Beetleborgs, “Beetle Rock, Part 2,” Netflix, 22:00, 7 September 1996.

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The only obligation the Beetleborgs have is to keep their powers secret, and this is more to protect the secrecy of the haunted house and its inhabitants than anything else. Even Flabber saying they would need to continue to fight against Vexor is met with childish delight. Drew, Jo, and Ronald think it will be fun to fight their favorite comic book villains with the powers of their favorite comic book heroes. This light-heartedness of the protagonists and how they view their powers and mission also makes the violence in the series more lighthearted as a result. The Beetleborgs do not normally react to the actions of the villains as dangerous or troubling, and the villains themselves are presented as jokes. In the very first episode when the villains are released from the comic book, they strike the town in a way that is particularly different than assaults in MMPR. While there is a large amount of property damage on MMPR, especially in battles with Megazord versus an enlarged monster, humans outside of the Power Rangers are rarely directly menaced. Yet, one of the first actions taken by the villains in Big Bad Beetleborgs is to strike the main street of the town, firing laser blasts, and sending civilians running for their lives. This should have a far greater visceral feel to both the audience and the characters, but the Beetleborgs themselves respond without the same sense of urgency than the Rangers would. They respond as if it is a game, and this lack of urgency from the protagonists makes the attacks seem less dangerous as a result. Additionally, the trio of regular villains—Jara, Noxic, and Typhus—are introduced as incompetent as they are unable to pose any difficulty to the Beetleborgs despite the three children just receiving their powers. It is impossible to take the trio seriously as a threat when visually they are being opposed by three children who are delighted in the prospect of regularly fighting them. If the child-protagonists are not frightened or even concerned by them, why should the young audience be? This is in sharp contrast to MMPR where Goldar is shown to toy with Jason in the physical altercation in “The Green Candle” and how hyper-competent Green Ranger is when mind controlled by Rita Repulsa. While Rita Repulsa is depicted as over-the-top and goofy at times, the narrative teaches the audience to not to consider these traits as weakness. The Rangers are not safe; in contrast, the Beetleborgs retain their traditional protagonist luck and invulnerability. Even when the Beetleborgs lose their powers briefly to justify a change in their costumes due to using footage from the second series, B-Fighter Kabuto, it is not handled with the same direness or tragedy

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as with the depowering of the Green Ranger. When the Beetleborgs find that their powers are useless against the new villain, Nukus, and he destroys their armor, the child-heroes are not disheartened in the face of the situation like the Rangers are when Tommy’s powers fade. Instead, they treat it as an inconvenience, something on a list of problems they need to solve. It is also not depicted as a life or death struggle as in “The Green Candle.” On more than one occasion, they face off with Nukus without their powers and there is no threat of character death. In one scene in particular, Nukus lifts Jo up, only to place her safely down on the ground, and then proceeds to ignore her.33 Further, neither the Beetleborgs nor the audience have to endure the loss very long. The children have the original artist of the comic draw them new and more powerful abilities.34 For the second time, they are portrayed as obtaining powers through cunning wit and in doing so, stymie the plan of the villain in keeping with the traditional protagonist conventions. Considering this, it is unsurprising that the violence of the series continued to have fewer consequences and is even depicted as slapstick as the program chose to devote more time and plots to the residents of the Haunted House as the series progresses. It is further unsurprising that the series went in this direction. At the time of Big Bad Beetleborgs’ debut, series with horror elements were in vogue with the animated Tales from the Crypt and Goosebumps both being popular on Saturday Morning. Mums, a Mummy, Frankenbeans, a Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Fangula and Wolfgang Smith, a werewolf-like creature, as well as Flabber, a phantasm that was a clear homage to Genie from Disney’s Aladdin allowed Sabin Entertainment to inject more humor and slapstick violence into the series than could be found in MMPR. When the children first enter the Haunted House, there is an elaborate chase sequence reminiscent of chase sequences from Scooby Doo Where Are You of the Scooby Gang being chased by the person in the monster mask. This is generally the formula any time someone enters the Haunted House—a goofy, humorous chase sequence. Flabber is especially utilized for joke delivery as he often goes on pop culture tangents like Disney’s Genie and manifests visual gags to accompany them. Taking all of this

33 Beetleborgs 34 Beetleborgs

Metallix, “Crush of the Crustaceans,” Netflix, 22:00, 8 September 1997. Metallix, “Metallix Rising,” Netflix, 22:00, 9 September 1997.

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as a whole—the protagonists being children who rely on their wits to fight battles they find fun, alongside their goofy Haunted House friends against incompetent villains—strips the series of the seriousness and danger that dwells just below the brightly colored surface of MMPR and makes Big Bad Beetleborgs far more conforming to Saturday Morning’s conventions than one would expect with its use of sentai footage and its foreign appearance. All of this would seem to point to an attempt to co-opt the sentai genre and begin the process of Americanizing composite shows that have inherent Japanese roots, returning the medium to the status quo as much as possible. With the exception of the actual sentai footage, almost none of the more foreign conventions were kept in Big Bad Beetleborgs. Instead, more traditional ones were folded into the composite program, as scholars promoting the dominance of American media and media companies would expect. Schiller even wrote about this sort of co-opting just a few years prior to Big Bad Beetleborgs’ debut.35 One of the conventions that Big Bad Beetleborgs did not revert back to was the one in regard to female characters. While they soften the sense of equality Jo has with Ronald and Drew in comparison with Kimberly and Trini with the other male Rangers, this sense of slight inequality is more because of her age and relation than her gender. She is younger than both of them and is Drew’s younger sister. However, she is not depicted as any less of a fighter or any less brave than the two boys, nor do Drew and Ronald have to save her or compensate for any particularly stereotypical feminine fears. Instead, it is Jo that suggests that they become Beetleborgs. This indicates three very distinct facts about her. The first is she must read the same comics as her brother and her friend. In the mid-1990s that might not have been a commonly assumed activity for a girl to partake in. Even today, it is often assumed that women do not read comics books, even with an increase in the acceptability of “nerd culture.” The second is she must not be squeamish of bugs, as is often depicted as a stereotypical fear of girls, if she not only likes a comic called “Big Bad Beetleborgs” but also suggests wishing to become a hero with a bug motif. The third is that she must be respected by both Ronald and Drew. They listen to her and agree. They validate her suggestion and

35 Herbert I. Schiller, Mass Communications and the American Empire, 2nd edition (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), 201.

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do not try to twist the conversation so it seems like they came up with it or disregard it because she is a “little girl.” The fact that she accompanies Ronald and Drew into the Haunted House also confirms this implication. In a more traditional Saturday Morning program, Drew and Ronald would have likely tried to ditch her or only take her along reluctantly, afraid that she would be a liability on the dare. Instead, she is with them and it is on her lips that the suggestion of becoming Beetleborgs is placed. Sabin Entertainment could have had any of the three make the suggestion, but chose to have it be Jo, leaning, at least, into the convention of greater female integration that is highly visible in MMPR. Even with some of its reversions, or maybe even because of these reversions to the traditional conventions of the time, Big Bad Beetleborgs proved popular on Saturday Morning and on FOX’s weekday block, even doing better in the ratings than the Power Rangers franchise when they were aired together.36 However, this conformity with the traditional Saturday Morning conventions may have denied it the lasting legacy of MMPR or its contemporaries, such as Superman: The Animated Series.

Superman: The Animated Series (Superman TAS)37 Superman TAS was a direct contemporary with Big Bad Beetleborgs and direct competition to it as it was aired by WB. Superman, being one of the most adapted characters across American media, was not a stranger to either cartoons or Saturday Morning. From as far back as the 1940s Max Fleischer cartoons, Superman was a familiar figure to American children in animated form and was regularly held up as the symbol of truth, justice, and the American way. It was likely the backlash against the violence in The New Adventures of Superman (1966) that encouraged both witty protagonists who reject direct violence and nonconsequential, slapstick violence. Yet, it was Superman TAS that chose to adopt a number of the conventions reinforced by MMPR. While this version of Superman

36 Shamus Kelley, “American Tokusatsu Shows: Big Bad Beetleborgs,” Den of Geek!, 14 August 2014, accessed 19 December 2018, https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/ beetleborgs/237232/american-tokusatsu-shows-big-bad-beetleborgs. 37 The generalizations about Superman: The Animated Series are based on the entirety of its series that consists of four seasons.

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did not change his backstory from being a survivor of a destroyed planet who came to Earth as a refugee and then was adopted by kind-hearted farmers, it uses this familiar character to deviate from almost all the traditional conventions in plain sight. The first of these is that Superman in Superman TAS is far more comparable to Jason and the other Power Rangers than the traditional male protagonist. This version of Superman is not a humorous character ready to banter with a villain like he is in the previous iteration of him on Super Friends (1973). Clark Kent is depicted as a good-hearted man, who due to his powers becomes Superman out of a sense of responsibility and obligation, and he is not depicted as especially cunning. His sense of duty and his sense of restraint are made immediately clear in his interactions with Lois Lane and Lex Luthor in the multi-part pilot of the series. When Metropolis first notices Superman, the whole city is interested and concerned about who he is and what he may want. The Daily Planet—the local newspaper—is determined to publish a story answering exactly these two questions. Superman decides to use this as an opportunity to explain himself, finding Lois Lane and carrying her and her car to a secluded location. He explains that he is the last son of the destroyed planet, Krypton, but Lois Lane is dubious about his explanation; Superman : You don’t believe me. Lois Lane : It’s a little much. Superman : Fair enough. All I ask is that you tell the truth about me. Lois Lane : And that is? Superman : I’m not here to scare anyone. In fact, I’ve always tried to help people whenever possible. Lois Lane : You sound too good to be true. What’s your secret? Superman : What do you mean? Lois Lane : Well, you don’t go around in blue tights and a cape all the time, do ya? What do you do in your off hours? Superman : I think that’s a question for another time.38

Superman makes it clear to Lois that all he wants is to help and for people not to be afraid of him. He does not seek fame or reward for his actions and he is protective of his secret identity, even when he could use

38 Superman: The Animated Series, “The Last Son of Krypton, Part 3,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 6 September 1996.

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it for his own personal advantage. Lois opens herself up to be asked out on a date with her final question and even though the audience knows Clark would be receptive to dating Lois, he does not use his identity as Superman to do so. This stands in contrast to how Superman is depicted in the Christopher Reeves’ films where he takes Lois Lane flying as a romantic gesture.39 Superman might as well be following the rules that Zordon gives to the Rangers in this scene. He continues to follow Zordon’s rules in his interaction with Lex Luthor. This second dialogue occurs during the falling action of the episode and when it has become clear that despite the character of John Corben being revealed as a terrorist and a robber of an expensive military vehicle seemingly lifted from a mecha anime, Lex Luthor is the true villain behind it all. Superman appears outside Luthor’s high rise office window in silent, cross-armed condemnation but Luthor does not repent or cower. Instead, he chooses to first jest and then attempts to coerce Superman to join him. Lex Luthor : I’m afraid we already have a window washer. Superman : … Lex Luthor : The silent treatment, eh? Well, I don’t know what you think you heard out there but I know what you can prove and it’s nothing. Superman : … Lex Luthor : You see, uh, Super-Man, I own Metropolis. My technology built it, my will keeps it going and two-thirds of its people work for me, whether they know it or not. Even you have to admit, it’s a model of efficiency. And yet, I’ve often thought, why limit myself to one city? A being with your abilities could be very useful to me on a—shall we say—global scale? Why don’t you float on in and we’ll discuss it. Superman : … Lex Luthor : Say something! *throws a robot model at Superman* Superman : *catches and crushes the model*: I’ll be watching you, Luthor. *flies away* Lex Luthor : Wait! I’m not finished with you!40

39 Superman, directed by Richard Donner, performed by Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, and Margot Kidder, Warner Bros, 1978. Film. 40 Superman: The Animated Series, “The Last Son of Krypton, Part 3.”

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Superman could crush Luthor. He crushes the model to make that fact explicitly clear, but then purposely does not. Instead, he warns Luthor that he will be watching him. Despite Luthor’s wealth and technology, he is still an ordinary human being. It would not be a use of proportional force to crush him. Superman also knows that it would not be an act of justice. In this scene, Superman demonstrates that he has control over himself and respects the rule of law. Luthor is not an alien invader that needs to be punched back into space or a mad robot that needs to be deactivated, but a human criminal and the law of the United States dictates that once there is evidence to prove his wrongdoing, he can be arrested and face a trial in a court of law and not a trial by combat with Superman. Throughout the series, Superman chooses to use proportional force toward his enemies and routinely lets Luthor remain free to act again, not because he cannot snatch him from his tower, but because he cannot assure Luthor will legally be kept behind bars if he did. Now it can be argued that this is not Superman TAS leaning into the formula MMPR used with its protagonists, but a simply the showrunners drawing on different iterations of Superman. While Superman is a goofy character in Super Friends (1973), often speaking about overt morals for the benefit of the young audience and making light of the schemes of the Legion of Doom, Superman from the 1940s was a man of action and few jokes. However, it is telling that in the wake of MMPR’s popularity, it is a serious, honorable Superman that is chosen for the new cartoon. Superman TAS also chose to depict Superman as more vulnerable than he had been previously depicted, stripped of his protagonist invulnerability and protagonist luck of things always working out for him. He is surrounded by villains who are portrayed as dangerous and is not always able to save the day. Luthor and Darkseid are the main villains of the series as a whole, and while Darkseid was not especially wellknown outside of comic books at this point, Luthor was. Luthor had been depicted in Super Friends (1973) as a mad scientist that used overly complicated plans and was always defeated by the end of the episode by Superman’s overwhelming strength and righteousness. In Super Friends, there is no implication that he will actually succeed, just the promise that he will always escape. In the Christopher Reeves’ films, Luthor is adapted for more realistic setting and for the needs of the plot into a ruthless capitalist. However, he is also portrayed as a joke. He is foppish and has incompetent help. Both of these were well-known depictions of Luthor and in keeping with Saturday Morning conventions.

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Luthor in Superman TAS resembles neither. While he is a ruthless capitalist, he is depicted as a threat to Superman with his intelligence, his wealth, his influence, and his disdain. While Superman could crush him physically at any time, Luthor knows Superman will not due to him legally being an innocent man. This dynamic creates a tension between the two characters that is more complicated than is normally found on Saturday Morning. Even in MMPR this sort of complicated hero-villain relationship does not exist. Yet, it is a relationship that can only exist when a villain is taken seriously and the hero is narratively vulnerable. Otherwise, it would be rendered as the hero toying with a delusional foe. It is with Darkseid that Superman is portrayed as most vulnerable within the series. As a character, Darkseid is the tyrannical king of a planet known as Apokolips. He is portrayed as an unassailable and undefeatable conqueror, and for the entirety of season two, the tension builds to him coming to Earth. He finally does in the season finale called “Apokolips… Now!” and entirely overwhelms Superman.41 Superman cannot defeat Darkseid. He is depicted as battered and broken, only continuing to futilely oppose Darkseid through strength of spirit. Darkseid is only forced back by outside intervention in the form of political pressure by agents from a planet called “New Genesis.” The New Genesis agent declares to Darkseid that his continued presence on Earth would be considered an act of war against New Genesis. It is the use of diplomacy, not aggression, that defeats Darkseid and forces his withdraw. Superman was entirely helpless in the struggle to save the world, and Darkseid makes this clear to Superman by casually killing a police officer named Detective Turpin as he departs. Superman is forced to watch, unable to save him. All he can do is mourn. This is a dramatic shift from how Superman had been depicted in the past and a sharp break from traditional Saturday Morning conventions of the protagonist being insulated from actual danger and failure. However, the young audience had become accustomed to the idea of their heroes not always being safe and not always succeeding since MMPR. Yet, Superman is not just depicted as being unable to defeat a major villain in order to protect someone. He is also depicted as being forced to actively choose not to save everyone. This is demonstrated in his interactions with John Corben, also known as Metallo, and Mercy Graves, Luthor’s personal assistant and chauffeur.

41 Superman: The Animated Series, “Apokolips…Now! Part 2,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 14 February 1998.

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Superman’s interaction with John Corben evolves, or perhaps devolves, with each time they meet. They first meet in the pilot episodes of the series. In these, Corben is simply a mercenary thief, secretly in the employ of Luthor to steal a mechanized armor called the Lex-Skell 5000 from a LexCorp demonstration in a scheme to increase profits. Corben later kidnaps Lois Lane, who manages to track him down through her investigation. In this confrontation, Superman battles Corben, who pilots the Lex-Skell armor, and hands him over to the police when he is subdued.42 The next time Corben is seen is in the episode, “Way of All Flesh.” This time Corben is in prison, but has contracted a terminal illness. Luthor orchestrates Corben’s escape from prison and tricks him into having his brain put into an unfeeling cyborg body that is powered by a kryptonite heart. This eventually drives Corben insane and easily manipulated into believing Superman is the cause of his suffering. In the final battle, Superman struggles terribly against Corben, now calling himself “Metallo,” due to being shot with kryptonite blasts, until Corben falls into the ocean and sinks the bottom due to not being buoyant.43 Superman is not depicted as trying to rescue him. Metallo may have gone insane due to the trauma of his cybernetic transformation, but that would make him a victim. In the older Super Friends (1973) cartoon, Superman would likely have saved him from sinking to the bottom of the ocean and then maybe showed him a way out of his despair. Instead, the last image of the episode is Metallo walking alone along the bottom of the ocean. In the next season, the audience is greeted with Metallo again having emerged from the bottom of the ocean and is entirely amnesic from how long the journey took. He is now depicted truly as a victim. When his memories return, he battles against Superman and the battle concludes with him being trapped in cooled lava, repeating to himself “I am Metallo” so he will not forget who he is this time, though clearly having already forgotten his humanity. Superman, again, leaves him to his fate.44

42 Superman:

The Animated Series, “The Last Son of Krypton, Part 3.” The Animated Series, “The Way of All Flesh” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 19 October 1996. 44 Superman: The Animated Series, “Action Figures,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 20 September 1997. 43 Superman:

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Why Superman chooses to abandon Metallo and not attempt to save him in either of these two episodes is uncertain and up for debate. Perhaps Superman was concerned for his own safety considering Metallo’s misguided desire for revenge against him and his ability to shoot kryptonite lasers. If so, then this Superman is not nearly as brave as previous versions of the character and fails to be act as an ideal protagonist according to the traditional conventions that esteem bravery and eschew cowardice of any type. Perhaps Superman felt there was no way to help him. Superman would not have been able to reach into the sea in “Way of All Flesh” and fly him to safety due to Metallo having his kryptonite heart exposed. Eventually, Superman gains a lead suit he could use to protect himself from kryptonite radiation, but he did not have it yet for this episode and even if he did, it was not immediately available. Metallo would still have sunk to the bottom of the ocean and it is uncertain whether Superman would have been able to find him as he began to walk across the bottom. When he is trapped in the lava, perhaps Superman was unaware that Metallo was so tragically trapped. Even with this line of reasoning, the young audience is presented with a Superman that is either unable to save a person horribly victimized or a Superman who chooses not to save him. It can be debated whether Superman cannot or will not save Metallo, but Superman definitely lacks the ability to save Mercy Graves despite all his power. This point is made clear in the episode “Ghost in the Machine.” In the episode, Superman and Mercy have to work together to discover the truth behind Luthor’s disappearance and then rescue the villainous capitalist from the clutches of Brainiac, a sentient alien computer from Krypton, that kidnapped him and forced him to build him a body. During the episode, Superman asks Mercy why she chooses to work for Luthor. She explains, “He took me in. Made me what I am.”45 As the battle against Brainiac concludes, Luthor and Mercy try to escape but she becomes trapped under falling debris. Luthor turns, sees her, and can save her, but chooses to leave her to her fate. Instead, Superman frees her. The episode then ends with Superman watching as Mercy is ordered by Luthor to open the door of the limousine for him. Mercy looks up at Superman

45 Superman: The Animated Series, “Ghost in the Machine,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 29 September 1997.

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once Luthor is inside and she is out of Luthor’s line of sight, only to then become resigned and somber as she enters the vehicle herself. Superman accepts her resigned choice, before flying off in the opposite direction.46 In a very subtle bit of storytelling, the young audience is told two very important and interconnected facts about both characters. The first is that Mercy, despite the mistreatment and total disregard she endures under Luthor’s employ, chooses not to be saved from her predicament. If she wished, she could have asked to be removed from her situation and Superman would have acted, either in that final moment of the episode or when Superman saved her when Luthor left her to die. Instead, Superman is only allowed to save her physically, not completely. The second is that Superman respects Mercy’s decision and agency, even if he disagrees with it. In a more traditional cartoon, a hero with the ability to whisk a character like Mercy away from such emotional abuse would do so and the female character would be happy about it. That does not happen here. “Ghost in the Machine” does not just act as a further shift of the role of the male protagonist and the shift in the convention of everything always working out for him within Superman TAS, but it also acts as a concrete example for how the series leaned far closer to the conventions MMPR used in regard to female characters than traditional ones. Mercy Graves is depicted as entirely competent in the role of combatant in the episode. Mercy is depicted as equally capable as Superman in fighting the spider robots Brainiac sends to attack them, despite being an ordinary human in the cartoon. She is also armed appropriately with a laser gun and knows how to properly use the weapon. In the final assault with Brainiac, it is Mercy, not Superman, that comes up with the plan to defeat the alien supercomputer and guides Superman on how to use the Sky Sentry Missile System to shoot him. At no point in the course of these events does Superman question her competency in fighting or knowledge, nor is he surprised by it. The only question Superman has for her is why does she serve Luthor. Her competency in battle is not depicted a fluke as was the case with Janine in The Real Ghostbusters. “Ghost in the Machine” and “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster” can be directly compared against each other as both episodes focus on the respective series’ under-appreciated secretarial characters. Both Mercy

46 Ibid.

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and Janine are shown to be taken for granted, albeit Mercy is taken for granted by a villain and Janine is taken for granted by the heroes. Both episodes center on the idea of the secretarial character pushing outside of her comfort zone to save her employer. In Mercy’s case, she has to push aside her misgivings about Superman to join forces with him to rescue Luthor from Brainiac. In Janine’s case, she has to suit up as a Ghostbuster in order to rescue the male Ghostbusters from Proteus. Finally, both episodes end with both secretarial characters returning to their status quo. However, with Janine, her episode is rooted in showing that she is inferior in ability to the male Ghostbusters, that her victory is a fluke, and that it is good that she returns to her status quo, reinforcing the traditional conventions for female characters within Saturday Morning.47 With Mercy, her episode is rooted in showing she has the ability to be a competent hero beside Superman, that Superman’s victory against Brainiac was guided by her, and that her returning to her status quo as an assistant to Luthor is a mistake, rejecting the traditional female character conventions in the process. This is not simply how the series treats Mercy. It bestows the competency that Trini and Kimberly wield in MMPR on a large number of female characters within the series. I chose to focus on Mercy because of her connection with Luthor and the fact that her depiction in this cartoon proved influential enough that she was introduced into the comics in 1999s mega-cross over No Man’s Land.48 When DC Comics put Mercy into the comics, this competency in such a masculine role of fighting was highlighted further and they gave her super strength so she could be a physical threat against Superman. Mercy was influential and popular enough for there to be desire for her to be expanded into wider media, most recently in the TV series Supergirl in the 2018/2019 season.49

47 The

Real Ghostbusters, “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster.” Robert Gale and Devin Grayson, Batman: No Man’s Land, Vol. 1 (New York: DC Comics, 2011). 49 Genevieve Van Voorhis, “Who Is Mercy Graves on ‘Supergirl’? The Comic Book Character Is Finally Getting the Story She Deserves,” Bustle, 14 October 2018, accessed 19 December 2018, https://www.bustle.com/p/who-is-mercy-graves-on-supergirl-thecomic-book-character-is-finally-getting-the-story-she-deserves-12208163. 48 Michael

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Superman TAS, despite being based on such an American figure, leaned heavily into the conventions that had become popular through MMPR. It favored the conventions for both male protagonists and female characters from MMPR as well as the convention of consequential violence over the traditional humorous slapstick violence. As a whole, Superman TAS was not humorous like its previous iterations or traditional Saturday Morning cartoons. Instead, it was filled with moral dilemmas and heroic failures. This was emphasized by its loose continuity in the first season that grew ever stricter as seasons went on until the season three finale. In season four, the series became almost entirely episodic in nature, possibly to act as a narrative relief for the audience from the drama of the first three seasons.

Pause: What About Batman: The Animated Series? Superman TAS surprisingly stands in partial contrast to Batman: The Animated Series (Batman TAS), despite Batman TAS preceding it and paving the way for its development. Airing in 1992–1995, before and after MMPR’s debut, the eighty-five episodes of Batman TAS were as influential to the Batman mythos as they were conventional to the expectations of Saturday Morning. The series is generally episodic, with only a loose continuity, similar to The Real Ghostbusters. While the titular character of Batman does use direct violence, it is expressly done as self-defense or in defense of Gotham City and his prowess in combat is the direct result of his intelligence and training. The convention that both Batman TAS and MMPR both seemed to embrace and further is the greater involvement of female characters. However, they do so differently. Three major reoccurring female characters—Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman—are depicted as nuanced characters, with for greater character depth and motivation than traditional female characters of the time, but are also still treated as deviants in these roles. All three are criminals and two of them—Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn—are explicitly stated to be insane. Further, even with their eventual nuance, their introductions are very traditional and tied to male figures. Poison Ivy is introduced as an evil seductress,50

50 Batman: The Animated Series, “Pretty Poison,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 14 September 1992.

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Harley Quinn is introduced as the Joker’s girlfriend,51 and Catwoman is presented as a possible love interest for Batman.52 In their earlier episodes, they are isolated to these episodes and were often the only female characters with dialogue in them. It was not until later episodes of the series that their presence begins to feel more integrated and where the female characters seemingly begin to lives outside of Batman or in Harley Quinn’s case, the Joker. The character of Batgirl only appears in six episodes of the series, and while not an insane criminal, she is also depicted as acting outside of the norm as she is treated like an outsider by Batman when they interact.53 She is also only in costume for three of these episodes. This is contrast to Robin who is taken under his mentor’s wing and is more of a persistent presence in the series. She is also caught within a paternal dynamic between her biological father, Commissioner Gordon, and her mentorfather, Batman. This differs greatly with MMPR, where the female characters are in the main cast of heroes, are depicted as equal to the male characters, and have no paternal and few romantic ties to any of them. What is most striking in comparison with Superman TAS is that Batman is never met with crushing failure in these eighty-five episodes. This is most notable in the animated series decision to entirely remove the inclusion of the character of Jason Todd, whose comic death is one of Batman’s greatest failures, from its canon.54 Outside of Batman’s backstory, tragedy and despair belong to the villains, which is far more in keeping with traditional cartoons than with Superman TAS and MMPR. While Batman TAS may have been a herald to Superman TAS, Superman TAS did not follow completely in its conventions’ footsteps.

51 Batman: The Animated Series, “Joker’s Favor,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 11 September 1992. 52 Batman: The Animated Series, “The Cat and the Claw, Part 1 & 2,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 5 September 1992/12 September 1992. 53 Batman: The Animated Series, “Shadow of the Bat, Part 1 & 2,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 13 September 1993/14 September 1992. 54 Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo, Batman: A Death in the Family (New York: DC Comics, 1991).

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Final Thoughts About This Period of Saturday Morning Whether the Saturday Morning audience would have been as accepting of Superman being so vulnerable in this series if they had not already endured how vulnerable the Power Rangers were seasons prior is uncertain. What is more certain is that Superman TAS with these conventions did not seem out of place on Saturday Morning by 1996 as it would have in 1990 before MMPR. In MMPR’s wake, trends began to emerge on Saturday Morning, even beyond the presence of Big Bad Beetleborgs and Superman: TAS. Big Bad Beetleborgs was not FOX’s lone attempt at airing another sentai composite program; the series Masked Rider also aired but was not nearly as popular. FOX also filled its schedule with superhero programs. When MMPR debuted in 1993, only thirty-three percent of FOX’s schedule could be considered a superhero program— X-Men and MMPR. However, in 1994, this amount increased to fifty percent and in 1995, it increased again to seventy-one percent. It would be in 1995 that WB would gain a presence on Saturday Morning, and initially resist this trend by airing almost entirely traditional toon-based series. The only program that could be considered a superhero program in WB’s debut season would be Earthworm Jim, but even this program had more in common with the toon genre than the action-adventure superhero one. Yet, in the following year, it was WB that aired Superman TAS and began a similar trend of increasing the amount of superhero programs on its own schedule. This particular trend is not especially surprising, however. An upswing of superhero programs is a trend that occurred on Saturday Morning before, but what was peculiar about this time was that it centered around MMPR. Still, if it had remained simply an upswing in superhero content on Saturday Morning, it perhaps would have given more credence to Herbert Schiller’s theory that American media will co-opt what is outside the status quo in order to transform or integrate it into conformity; in this case, MMPR’s popularity leading to it being surrounded by “complimentary” American superhero properties. However, this is not where Japanese influence on Saturday Morning ended. This is simply where it began to take hold.

CHAPTER 5

Pokémon: “Gotta Catch All the Success”

Pokémon debuted on Saturday Morning on WB in 1999 and by then there was already a subtle shift away from the traditional conventions of Saturday Morning, but not entirely. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’s (MMPR) influence could be seen in the fact that two different seasons of the franchise were playing in the same FOX Saturday Morning block and in the large influx of superhero shows that not only resembled Superman: The Animated Series (Superman TAS) in its use of the newer conventions, but were produced within the same continuity that would eventually be called the “DC Animated Universe (DCAU).” The New Batman/Superman Adventures and Batman Beyond were both parts of the DCAU airing on WB. Spider-Man (1994) aired on FOX, along with a new Godzilla (1998) cartoon. All these cartoons drew upon the conventions introduced by MMPR of having consequential violence, less mischievous and more serious male protagonists, treating their female characters with greater narrative equality, and less safety being afforded to their heroes. Each did so to a different degree, but all the shows developed after MMPR made sure to touch upon these new ­conventions. Yet, when Pokémon debuted there were still plenty of programs that followed the traditional conventions. The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show was still on Saturday Morning, along with The Big Cartoonie Show (which would show shorts from Animaniacs, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Pinky and the Brain, Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, and Tiny Toon Adventures), Histeria!, and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries on its own. © The Author(s) 2019 G. O’Melia, Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3_5

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It is in this environment that was partially composed of more traditional cartoons and those that were influenced by MMPR’s success that Pokémon entered Saturday Morning. It should be noted that Pokémon had already proven successful on WB’s weekday block in the ratings and was included on Saturday Morning to draw high ratings there as well, which it did as the number one show on Saturday Morning for fifty-four consecutive weeks.1 What likely led Pokémon to not only its initial success but also its lasting popularity was the fact that it was a blend of the old, the new, and the strange to present a program that was familiar and unique at the same time. The story of Pokémon is not complicated, even in comparison with the simple plot of MMPR. It is the story of Ash Ketchum, a young boy, who dreams of being the world’s greatest Pokémon trainer. In order to accomplish his goal, he leaves home on an adventure to travel the world to capture and train Pokémon. In the first season, he makes friends with two characters named Misty and Brock. Together with these friends and his favorite Pokémon, Pikachu, he helps both the Pokémon and humans he finds in need, enters Pokémon tournaments, and avoids or opposes the machinations of the organization known as Team Rocket that tries to steal powerful Pokémon.2 On the surface, Pokémon appears far more conventional and almost “retro” in comparison with MMPR and the superhero action-adventure programs that rose up in its wake, drawing all the way back even to Looney Tunes. This is striking because many scholars who critically examine Pokémon are often caught by how foreign it is, and they are correct. Anne Allison mentions the foreignness within the juxtaposition of friendship and servitude that exist in the central conceits of Pokémon.3 It is very difficult to ignore elements like this. However, on its immediate surface, the series 1 Michael Schneider, “The Weekenders’ Defeats ‘Pokemon’,” Variety, 5 May 2000, accessed 27 February 2015, http://variety.com/2000/tv/news/the-weekendersdefeats-pokemon-1117781251. 2 The generalizations about Pokémon are based on the first five seasons, given the season names of “Indigo League,” “Adventures on the Orange Islands,” “The Johto Journeys,” “Johto League Champions,” and “Master Quest.” After “Master Quest,” Misty and Brock part ways from Ash. The series retains its initial feel, but this does change the dynamic of the series. These seasons are also focused on because these were the seasons aired on Saturday Morning at the height of Pokémon’s popularity. 3 Anne Allison, Millennial Monsters (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 227–233.

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does not present as especially foreign. For the most part, Pokémon is an episodic show, perfect for syndication, and also perfect to be aired on Saturday Morning. With the exception of tournament episodes that generally cannot be shuffled around without narrative incoherence, the episodes can be shown in any particular order within a given season without difficulty. Outside of these tournaments, Pokémon’s loose continuity is composed of many standalone episodes based on Ash, Misty, and Brock’s adventures. Watching these episodes out of order is only particularly affected by milestone episodes such as when one of the trainers gains a new Pokémon or one of the Pokémon evolves into a new, more powerful form. The consequential violence of MMPR and those shows adopting its conventions, along with the ramifications of it such as the lack of narrative safety for the protagonists, the lack of things always going the heroes’ way, and the subtle danger built within the universe, are also generally absent from Pokémon. While there are episodes where Pokémon are injured and the trainers react with concern, it is usually met by the appearance of a nurse with pink hair named “Nurse Joy” caring for the Pokémon until it is well. The nurse is always named “Nurse Joy” and she always has pink hair, even if her skin color or height is different. It is eventually explained in a later season that all the Nurse Joys are related.4 Within the franchise itself, especially in the first phenomenally successful season, the human characters are generally not menaced in a way that the audience would feel concerned for their safety like in MMPR or Superman TAS. Their safety is far similar to the safety afforded to Bugs Bunny when he is hunted by Elmer Fudd. While there is a hunter aiming a gun at Bugs, the audience knows there is no concern. Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd do not just reflect the safety afforded to Ash and his friends, but reflects one of the two main formulas within the series. Team Rocket, generally consisting of the characters Jessie, James, and Meowth, constantly try and fail to steal Ash’s Pikachu. The Team Rocket Trio are just as competent at their task as Elmer Fudd and create plans that could have been lifted from Wile E. Coyote cartoons as he attempts to capture Road Runner. They are prone to elaborate schemes, impractical machines, and outlandish costumes to try to outwit, 4 Pokémon: Diamond & Pearl, “Drifloon on the Wind!,” Netflix, 22:00, 15 September 2007.

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overpower, and deceive Ash and capture Pikachu. These plots generally resolve with Team Rocket being exposed and Ash telling Pikachu to use his lightning attacks to launch the trio into the sky and over the horizon with them saying, “Team Rocket blasts off again!” to end on the gag. They are never permanently or overly injured in the attack or in their fall, even though normal humans should die from such a height. It is a reoccurring slapstick formula that cumulates in the gag of them being blasted off into the sky. The episodes that focus on this formula may as well be a Looney Tunes’ short with its central dynamic of incompetent, goofy humans trying to capture and then are thwarted by an intelligent animal character. The main differences are only that Pikachu is normally directed by Ash and that Pikachu strikes them with a direct, violent action. Yet, the violence proves toothless as Team Rocket always returns no worse for wear. The other plot, besides the Pokémon tournaments, focuses on Ash and his friends helping Pokémon or people in need that they stumble across. This difficulty can be anything from the person’s own Pokémon having gone missing to employment difficulties. The nature of the difficulty varies and is almost unimportant compared to the fact that it can be solved by the use of a Pokémon in some way. For example, in one episode a married couple has a problem where they cannot recreate a photo of them standing in front of a field of flower-like Pokémon. It is solved by Ash’s friend, Brock, evolving a Pokémon he happens to have into the same flower-like Pokémon and having it call out for a multitude of similar Pokémon that appear from beyond the hills.5 Regardless of the problem, it can always be solved by using Pokémon and often can be solved by using the Pokémon Ash and his friends have on hand. In both types of episodes, the series is light-hearted and the second plot type also sometimes resolves with a gag. All of this portrays a series that would have looked perfectly familiar to the young Saturday Morning audience. Unlike with MMPR, where its plot and general conceits were similar to other domestic programs, but it visually looked out of place with its sentai footage and live-action cast surrounded by traditional, animated fare, Pokémon did not have that visual hurdle to climb. Pokémon also did not have to worry about being considered overly violent like MMPR because its own slapstick violence 5 Pokémon: Johto League Champions, “Moving Pictures,” Netflix, 22:00, 26 January 2002.

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was something expected in Saturday Morning cartoons. Yet, by so closely following traditional conventions like having a strong focus on animal characters, being mostly episodic, having mostly slapstick violence, and being a humorous, light-hearted show with a generally good-natured male protagonist, the foreign conventions it did use and introduced were more obscured and more easily consumed by the young audience. Pokémon did nothing to challenge the emerging convention of greater equality and integration of female characters in mainstream cartoons targeting the boy’ demographic. While much can be said about Nurse Joy acting within the traditional idea of a caretaking female nurse to heal an injured Pokémon and the gag of all the Nurse Joys looking alike, Misty and Jessie from Team Rocket are far more important and central to the plot. Neither Misty nor Jessie is shown to be any less capable than their male counterparts. Misty is shown to be equal to Brock and Jessie is shown to be equal, if not superior, to James. In neither case are their genders the core facet of their characters, nor are their characters based on stereotypical roles. The most Misty is affected by female stereotypes is by her Pokémon choices by favoring cuter Pokémon and disliking bug Pokémon. This is made overtly clear in one early episode where Ash and Misty are in the woods and she is surrounded by bug Pokémon. She is depicted as afraid of them, while Ash is delighted to have so many Pokémon around to capture. Misty tries to explain to Ash that everyone has things they do not like and that she is simply disgusted by bugs, carrots, and peppers. This is probably the most gender stereotypical episode in the initial season, but even in it, Misty is not depicted as passive. She even strikes one of the bug Pokémon with a mallet to get it away from her. It should be noted that this is also an instance of slapstick violence as the only thing hurt is the bug Pokémon’s feelings, despite being struck with the mallet.6 Jessie of Team Rocket has no such feminine qualms when it comes to her Pokémon choices as her preferred Pokémon resembles a large snake. The leadership of the Team Rocket Trio shifts between Meowth, a talking cat-like Pokémon and notably the only Pokémon who can intelligibly speak, and Jessie. James, despite being the human male of the trio, is never depicted as the leader, but always deferring to Jessie or Meowth. However, James is also depicted as very effeminate and sometimes even

6 Pokémon:

Indigo League, “Pokémon Emergency,” Netflix, 22:00, 9 September 1998.

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made to cross-dress, doing so at least eleven times.7 Due to James not being depicted as an especially masculine character, his deference to Jessie would likely not have been overly surprising initially. Yet, like with Misty, no emphasize is particularly placed on Jessie’s gender when it comes to her equality or competency. Additionally, neither Misty nor Jessie was created to be “girlfriend characters” where their defining narrative purpose is to be the girlfriend for any of the male characters in the series. Perhaps, it is less surprising that Misty is not a girlfriend character for Ash considering their ages, but it is more striking with Jessie and James. In a later season, the series makes it explicit that the duo are not romantically linked, but even if they were it would be hard to consider Jessie being created to be James’ girlfriend due to their particular dynamic in the narrative.8 If one did consider them a couple, due to Jessie being more dominant and more hot-tempered than the docile, submissive James, James would likely be considered her boyfriend and not the reverse of Jessie being created to be his girlfriend. It may seem a minor bit of semantics but in reality, what character is a supporting character and who they are supporting are important considerations in the ordering of narrative roles. This is an especially important distinction as female characters were traditionally another character’s supporting cast and not the reverse, reflecting the social norm of a woman’s being supportive of her husband. Further, neither Misty nor Jessie is even especially sexualized in any particular way or act as maternal characters. Misty acts as a support to Ash, but no different than Brock. They are not there to be “girl characters,” but “simply characters that are female” in keeping with how MMPR used female characters rather than in more traditional fare. Pokémon also maintained the use of a male protagonist that is more comparable to Jason and Tommy than to the traditional quick-witted protagonist, but Pokémon adds to it, introducing a new convention to the audience. Ash is depicted as relatively good-natured and kindhearted, always ready to help a person or Pokémon in need. In contrast, he is never depicted as especially cunning or clever. He does not 7 Nick Duffy, “12 Times That Cross-Dressing Team Rocket Stole the Show on Pokemon,” Pink News, 24 August 2016, accessed 12 September 2016, https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/08/24/12-times-that-cross-dressing-team-rocket-stole-the-show-onpokemon/. 8 Pokémon: Advanced Generation, “Abandon Ship!,” Netflix, 19:00, 15 May 2004.

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win Pokémon battles with strategy, often going into the matches with the wrong Pokémon type according to the internal rules of the narrative universe. He relies on his optimism and Pikachu’s unusual strength and not any sort of mental prowess as an earlier protagonist would. All of this is in line with MMPR. The Power Rangers often seem to be supported by their sheer optimism against seemingly impossible odds because their strategy is, with few exceptions, to summon the Megazord. However, Ash is also depicted as “being born under a lucky star.” Simply due to the fact that Ash and Pikachu are of this protagonist archetype, they are particularly special due to no effort of their own. They are chosen for greatness and rules that may govern other characters do not pertain to them. At first, this may seem to be another call back to earlier conventions as protagonists often had safety due to their narrative role and as well “protagonist luck” for something beneficial to happen, either by happenstance or by the villain’s general incompetency, to save them. However, “being born under a lucky star” is a common archetype in anime and goes back further in Asian literature to the influential Chinese classic Journey to the West. The character of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is simply unnaturally strong with no real explanation of why he is uniquely so powerful. He simply is. He is able to defeat foes that no one should be able to defeat and even characters within the over fifteen hundred page epic feel his strength is tantamount to cheating. Yet, in Journey to the West, Sun Wukong is not the actual protagonist. He simply became the most popular character from it in Asian popular culture, often becoming the main character in both direct adaptations and stories loosely based on the classic.9 The fact that Ash is of this archetype explains his relationship with the narrative world. In the very first episode of the series and then throughout its entirety, Ash seeks to be the greatest Pokémon trainer with an arrogance that would be rebuked in traditional American cartoons. For example, in more than one short from “US Acres,” Roy the Rooster is taken to task by his friends for claiming to be the best. Through this, the audience is instructed that to remain humble, while still being ambitious, is the ideal behavior. Ash is not corrected for his arrogance by his friends in this regard and is often proven correct in his assertions. The entire 9 James Trapp, “Is the Monkey King the World’s Most Popular Superhero?” British Council, 3 February 2016, accessed 12 September 2018, https://www.britishcouncil.org/ voices-magazine/monkey-king-worlds-most-popular-superhero.

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supporting cast defers to this fact. Misty and Brock accompany him and support him, despite the fact his quest is to be proven superior to them. That does not seem to bother them. Team Rocket vindicates his status by devoting so much time to capturing his Pikachu. Ash is not depicted as training harder or differently than Misty or Brock. His success is not narratively earned, but often provided to him. While the idea that things will work out for the protagonist is not unusual, the fact that things work out for Ash and that he does not use clever wit or preparation is in sharp contrast to the characters of Bugs Bunny, the Ghostbusters, Zack from Saved by the Bell, and even the Power Rangers. He is simply better. Within Ash is some sort of potential to be the greatest of all Pokémon trainers and all he has to do is muddle through events to achieve it. Pikachu is also born under a lucky star in a similar vein. While he is never depicted as wanting to be the greatest, he is depicted as the greatest of his species and can often fight off any other Pokémon despite size or power. Additionally, he is rarely depicted as inside a pokeball like other Pokémon. While normal Pokémon once captured by a Pokémon trainer spend their time inside pokeballs, only to be allowed out when it is time for battle or their powers are needed to do something for their trainers, Pikachu is carried on Ash’s shoulder like pet. He is allowed this privilege simply by demanding it. Pikachu refuses to go inside the pokeball when Ash initially insists upon it, a response that seemingly has not occurred to other Pokémon.10 Pikachu is born superior to other Pokémon just as Ash is born superior to other trainers through no effort of his own. The fact that Ash and Pikachu are both born under lucky stars makes it unnecessary for them to wish to grow or evolve into greater forms. This is explicitly true in regard to Pikachu. Within the world of Pokémon, Pokémon have the ability to evolve into generally bigger and always more powerful forms. This transformation either occurs due to experience or from exposure to magical stones, depending on the Pokémon. It is almost always depicted as desirable as it makes the Pokémon more capable. However, it also tends to change the Pokémon’s personality. This is most notable in the evolution of Charmander to Charmeleon to

10 Pokémon: Indigo League, “Pokémon—I Choose You,” Netflix, 19:00, 8 September 1998.

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Charizard. At each step of the evolution, the once friendly Charmander grew more distant and more rebellious with Ash. Pokémon speak a language that other Pokémon can understand, composed solely of parts of their species’ name. When they evolve, they gain a new name and speak in this new name. All of this could be taken as a metaphor for life with children maturing into teenagers and then adults. Pikachu forgoes his own evolution. When Ash gives him the choice in the matter, Pikachu knocks the Thunder Stone that would have evolved him into a Raichu out of his hand and demonstrates he does not need to by defeating a Raichu himself.11 Pikachu shows he can and will continue to become stronger in his current form. Likewise, Ash will do the same, not evolving and not seeking to become mature, but remaining in an idealized child state. In the series, the adults are not examples to emulate for the children within the universe or in the audience. They are entirely at the service of the child-trainers. It introduces a unique dynamic onto Saturday Morning where the child-protagonist has no drive, motivation or even example to strive toward when he eventually grows up, but instead lives in an eternal childhood that is depicted as acceptable since he is already “better.” I say this is a unique dynamic because generally before the ascent of Pokémon, there were two courses cartoons would take: Either the protagonists were adult-coded characters like in Looney Tunes, The Real Ghostbusters, Superman TAS and even MMPR, since the Power Rangers began in their late teens and then some of them continued to be on the show many years afterward or the protagonists were coded as children, but then surrounded by characters that would guide them to eventual maturity like teachers, parents, mentors, etc., like in Big Bad Beetleborgs and older cartoons like The Adventures of Jonny Quest (1964) or even Mighty Max (1993). The status of being a child was normally depicted as one that was not ideal and that a child should seek to mature into an adult, gaining the necessary knowledge and experience needed along the way. Pokémon does not have this message. The message it has is that Ash will be able to accomplish his dream of becoming the greatest Pokémon trainer, surpassing every other trainer, adult or child, without needing to grow up, just as Pikachu does not need to evolve into Raichu.

11 Pokémon: Indigo League, “Electric Shock Showdown,” Netflix, 19:00, 25 September 1998.

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In all these ways, Pokémon acted as a more perfect combination of present conventions on Saturday Morning than MMPR did at its debut, while obscuring the new ones it introduced far more subtly. MMPR could not fully obscure the sentai footage it took from Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger, but Pokémon’s use of being born under a lucky star and the idealization of childhood could be confused for the series simply using a combination of the protagonist convention that depends on power instead of cunning from MMPR with the more traditional protagonist luck from older cartoons. Pokémon used the traditional conventions of having a loose, almost episodic continuity with slapstick, nonconsequential violence with intelligent animal characters to present a program seemingly not overly different than anything being shown on The Big Cartoonie Show. Even with more emotional episodes like Charmander’s origin where he is abandoned by his original and cruel trainer, the series as a whole still holds to the light-hearted nature of more traditional Saturday Morning fare. Even in that episode with all its emotional weight, the tension is broken by the cruel trainer being set on fire by Charmander but him simply being depicted covered in black soot with no actual injury.12 It also reflected the convention from MMPR of portraying female characters as equal to their male counterparts without qualifications and without the need of special episodes for them to try to rise above any particular inadequacies. As with the rise of MMPR, both WB and FOX tried to capitalize on the success of Pokémon, but again there was not a clear understanding of why Pokémon had become such a phenomenal success. Thus, as with MMPR, the same two methods were employed by these networks: import programming of the same genre, as will be explored through Digimon, or present a domestic alternative that utilizes some of these new popular conventions, as will be explored thorough Jackie Chan Adventures.

12 Pokémon: Indigo League, “Charmander—The Stray Pokémon,” Netflix, 19:00, 22 September 1998.

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Digimon13 Just as MMPR’s success brought about the creation of more hybrid programs composed of sentai and tokusatsu footage spliced together with new American scenes, more “servant-monster” genre programs were imported into the United States to resemble Pokémon. One of these was Digimon aired by FOX to act as competition to Pokémon on WB. Pokémon and Digimon were not the only “servant-monster” programs to air on Saturday Morning as Monster Rancher was also aired by FOX to be competition to Pokémon. What makes the “servant-monster” genre different than the hybrid sentai programs that appeared after MMPR was that while Pokémon was created before Digimon and Monster Rancher, its popularity did not directly cause these other programs to be created as was the case with Big Bad Beetleborgs and Masked Rider. Programs in the servant-monster genre were generally originally based on video games of differing play styles that involved monsters being used in combat. It is the adaptation of the various source material that created a genre of shows that had this concept of servant-monsters, acting as the key unifying feature connecting Pokémon and Digimon visually and narratively. Both programs have a central conceit that human characters can gain the services of intelligent animal-like monsters and then use them in battle. Both programs also have the concept that these monsters can evolve into larger, more powerful forms to be more capable combatants. In Pokémon, this transformation—called “evolving”—is permanent, but in Digimon, to “Digi-volve” was a temporary transformation, more akin to the Power Ranger’s “morphing.” Further, despite being the same genre of program, Digimon differs with Pokémon greatly in plot and in how the characters interact with each other. The main narrative of Digimon revolves around Tai and his friends, also known as the “DigiDestined,” opposing and subduing the forces of evil in the Digital World as had been accomplished by a previous set of destined children in a prior age. The DigiDestined are pulled into the Digital World that exists parallel to Earth and through a

13 The

generalizations about Digimon are based on the entirety of what is now known as Digimon: Digital Monsters (Season 1). This season was followed by a second season that narratively took place three years later and could be considered a sequel series that also aired on Saturday Morning. This second season/sequel series shares many of the same conventions as the original, but proved darker and had a different antagonist and plotline.

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spiritual link their servant-monsters are drawn to them when they arrive. Through the power of friendship and interdependency, these children and their hero-Digimon are able to oppose both an evil Digimon named Devimon, who is overtly based on the appearance of the Devil, and then the true source of sadness and pain in the Digital World, Apocalymon. Immediately, one can see that Digimon is a radically different program narratively than Pokémon, even though visually it looks incredibly similar due to the use of these servant-monsters. Unlike Pokémon, Digimon has a very strict continuity. Episodes are interconnected and cannot be shuffled without causing absolute narrative incoherence. While Pokémon offers many slice of life episodes showing individual moments of the longer journey, Digimon’s narrative presents a story that continues to unfurl with each episode. Digimon is also much less light-hearted than Pokémon. Much more like MMPR, it has a veneer of bright colors and fun monsters, but just below the surface is the weight of responsibility and danger. The DigiDestined are very quickly obliged with their destiny, which is nothing short of saving the entire Digital World. While Ash goes off on his adventure to pursue his dream to capture a complete set of Pokémon and become the greatest Pokémon trainer, the DigiDestined do not have agency in their choice and even gaining their Digimon is not a fun activity as it is with Ash. The DigiDestined’s Digimon seek them out when they enter the Digital World, sensing their presence and long to fulfill their own life’s purpose in serving them. Some of these Digimon even jump into the arms of the confused children to try to convince them to allow them to serve them. One Digimon chases one of the frightened children to try to become accepted as both a servant and a friend.14 The Digimon understand that it is only in their service to the DigiDestined that they will be able to improve and Digi-volve. This is a radically different relationship than in Pokémon where the Pokémon are caught by trainers and have some ability to reject a trainer if they prove to be abusive or neglectful.15 Digimon continues with the use of the convention of its protagonists being born under a lucky star, but is both more overt by calling the children the “DigiDestined” (in Japanese, they are called the “Chosen Children”), and also more inclusive, by expanding the status to the

14 Digimon, 15 Pokémon:

“And so It Begins…,” Hulu, 22:00, 14 August 1999. Indigo League, “Charmander—The Stray Pokémon.”

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entire ensemble cast. While Tai is depicted as the leader and could be considered the de facto protagonist, the entire cast of the DigiDestined acts more as a unit. Due to this, Digimon relies on character archetypes to convey to the audience what types of characters are being portrayed. Many of these archetypes were introduced by MMPR—Tai fills the role of the leader, Matt the rival, Joe the nerd, Sora the tough girl, and Mimi the girly-girl. The two remaining archetypes would be less familiar but not overly foreign to the American audience: Izzy as a savvy computer/ technology character and T.K. as the Child Amongst Children character, the heart of the group. These roles would define every action of the characters in Digimon and no one deviates from them. The DigiDestined, as a whole, act as the main protagonist and as a group reflect the traits that were rapidly becoming the norm on Saturday Morning for protagonists in popular programs. None of the children are depicted as overly clever or cunning as would be the case in traditional programs. The quick wit and humor of a character like Bugs Bunny is nowhere to be found within the DigiDestined and like Ash, they rely on the strength of their servant-monsters rather than on happenstance or cunning for defense. It should not be surprising that since the DigiDestined act as more of a single protagonist that Digimon also presents their female characters as equal to their male counterparts as per MMPR and Pokémon. Digimon reflects MMPR more as it uses the Power Ranger Ratio for its two female characters of Sora and Mimi. Sora continues to reinforce the still relatively new convention of the “tough girl” within Saturday Morning content from the very first episode of the series. When the children are transported to the Digital World, they are understandably confused and some of the characters are scared, but not Sora. When the Digimon first approach the children and lunge at them, some of the male characters are startled, but not Sora. This is the case even though one of the Digimon initially appears like a talking, disembodied head.16 When placed side by side with Pokémon, it stands in sharp contrast to Misty, who is also depicted as equal to her male counterparts, but startles at the sight of bug Pokémon that are depicted to be entirely adorable.17

16 Digimon, 17 Pokémon:

“And so It Begins…” Indigo League, “Pokémon Emergency.”

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Sora’s gender is never used to define her. The only true mention of it is when Tai is introducing the entire cast for the sake of the audience and declares “She’s okay for a girl,” which is how a ten-year-old boy would likely express his respect for a girl.18 Digimon also utilizes the convention of idealized children popularized by Pokémon and expands it further. The DigiDestined are not just born under a lucky star, but their status as children is directly correlated to their ability to defeat Apocalymon. Digimon makes explicit use of the Japanese convention of childlike innocence as being both a source of strength and a weapon against the forces of evil. Near the end of the series, the DigiDestined fight against Apocalymon and find themselves seemingly defeated. Relying solely on the strength of their Digimon finally fails them. It is in this time of doubt and despair that the children remember all that they experienced on the way and the traits that helped them arrive at this point: courage, friendship, love, knowledge, sincerity, reliability, and hope.19 Their innocence allows them to weaponize these good qualities and empower their Digimon. They realize that their true power was inside of them the whole time, and it is a power that Apocalymon can neither resist nor take from them. The DigiDestined’s Japanese name of “Chosen Children” highlights the necessity of being “childlike” in order to access this innocence. Innocence is thus, something that children possess, something incredibly powerful, and something exceptionally valuable but it fades with the passage of time as one grows into an adult. The adults of the Earth—including the DigiDestined’s parents—cannot accomplish what their children undertake because they are inherently incapable of it due to being adults. The DigiDestined themselves would not be able to fight Apocalymon if they were adults due to this childlike innocence fading from them due to maturing. This innocence and it being treated as a power brings greater context to why the status of being a child is idealized. It can be interpreted that Ash and Pikachu are also bearers of childlike innocence and that is the root of their power. This can be especially asserted in regard to Pikachu, who explicitly rejects evolving into Raichu—or in another way, maturing into an older, bigger form.20 While normally maturing

18 Digimon,

“And so It Begins…”

19 Ibid. 20 Pokémon:

Indigo League, “Electric Shock Showdown.”

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and growing up is a means of gaining power, for Pikachu, he is more powerful by forgoing it. This concept is implied in Pokémon, but is unambiguous in Digimon. It should also be noted that an “innocent child” being considered not only powerful, but the most powerful and only person who can stand up against the forces of evil was not a common convention on Saturday Morning or even in American children’s media in general in the 1990s. In not just American media, but in American common logic, an “innocent child” is someone to be protected and kept away from the forces of evil. Innocence is considered something that is easily lost due to experiencing pain or injustice and it is the role of an adult to keep such things away from a child for as long as possible. An innocent child in an American plot normally acts either as a liability, a distraction, or as the call to action for the hero. The innocent child is not the hero themselves. This is explicitly shown in the Disney films, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty. In both films, the plot centers on characters trying to protect the innocent princess, but her innocence, manifested as naiveté, makes her less able to resist the evil witch and she falls asleep. A prince must defeat the witch and restore the princess to life. Within this new convention, Snow White or Aurora would not only have been able to dispel the witch themselves through their innocence and purity, but they would have been the only characters able to do so. This focus on the necessity of the DigiDestined being innocent children is made even more striking when the power of evil is juxtaposed with it. Unlike with Pokémon, where for the most part, the violence is slapstick in nature and any injuries that occur are often healed after a few minutes, Digimon has grim, consequential violence and villains are depicted as incredibly dangerous. There is no presumption that the DigiDestined are safe as death quickly becomes a constant threat. In one particular episode, Leomon, who is introduced as the paragon of good Digimon, allows himself to be overcome and possessed by Devimon and turned into his slave solely to allow the DigiDestined to escape Devimon’s grasp for a short while. The scene ends with Leomon screaming in the distance as Tai mourns for him, fully knowing that this sacrifice has been made on their behalf.21 Devimon’s evil actions provide scale to the even greater power and ability of Apocalymon, Apocalymon

21 Digimon,

“Evil Shows His Face,” Hulu, 22:00, 22 September 1999.

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states he is the accumulation of all the grief, loneliness, sorrow, and death in the Digital World; he is a primordial being of all negative emotions that allows good ones to exist. When he states he seeks to conquer both the Digital and Real World so all can know his misery, both the DigiDestined and the young audience are made to believe this is a plausible threat as lesser evils have already been proven to have the power to succeed. Yet the nature of evil is more nuanced in Digimon than it is with traditional American conventions and even with MMPR. While MMPR introduced the Green Ranger as a villain, the character of Tommy was initially introduced as someone who was good; Rita Repulsa corrupted him. In more traditional cartoons, villainous characters are evil generally for evil’s sake. There is no explanation for their cruel desires, nor is any sympathy given to them. Even within Superman TAS, the major villains such as Luthor and Darkseid are not depicted to generate any sort of sympathy or understanding toward them. There are no justifications made for their villainy. Sympathy is only offered for lesser antagonists like Metallo and Mercy, who are also presented as victims at the hands of a greater evil. While Metallo is never justified for his attacks on Superman, he is depicted as one worthy of pity due to his suffering. One would expect Apocalymon to be presented much like Darkseid since he is a primordial being of negative emotions. Instead, he is presented as a figure to be pitied. Apocalymon explains to the DigiDestined why he is attempting to flood both the Digital and Real World with misery: Do you think it’s fair that I should live with all this agony? Why do you get to laugh when I am forced to cry? Why do you get to taste the best that life has to offer while all I do is choke on its leftovers? Answer me this, why do all of you get the pizza, while I get the crust?22

The original Japanese speech lacks the reference to pizza, but while the localizers may have taken some liberties by using the reference to lessen the tension, the speech Apocalymon gives on Saturday Morning still makes a persuasive argument. Is it fair for a being to live in agony through no fault of their own? This question is being asked not just to the DigiDestined but also to the young Saturday Morning audience. 22 Digimon,

“Now Apocalymon,” Hulu, 22:00, 24 June 2000.

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The answer is of course, no, but that is exactly Apacalymon’s predicament. Suddenly, the concept of the heroes punching their way through a villain and enjoying their victory at the end no longer seems appropriate. This is confirmed by the DigiDestined. They pity him. It is unfair and they recognize that, but Apacalymon’s tragedy does not justify his attempt to fill two worlds with utter misery. They oppose him because they have to protect both worlds, not out of sense of enjoyment like in Big Bad Beetleborgs or even out of disdain for evil like in Superman TAS and MMPR.23 The localizers for Digimon also felt comfortable enough with the acceptance of Japanese content on Saturday Morning to leave some of the overt Japanese elements in the series that would have normally been removed to obscure its origin in previous years. In every episode when the Digimon Digi-volve into their more powerful battle forms, Japanese katakana script appears on the screen. If localizers had been overly concerned whether the young American audience would accept the program when it had obvious foreign language elements, they could have edited it out. Other edits were made in the series such as editing out nudity and graphic violence for the sensibilities of the young viewers, but this clear foreign marker was allowed to remain. The localizers also did not change the children’s names, but instead offer Anglicized nicknames for them. In some cases, the Anglicized names are barely Anglicized at all as is the case with the main protagonist Tai and his actual given name of Taichi. “Tai” is not a name commonly used in English. Other characters are given more standard nicknames such as “Matt” for the character Ishida Yamato, but their actual names are written on the screen for the American audience to read and know. This stands in contrast to MMPR, Big Bad Beetleborgs, and Pokémon that all used Anglicized names. However, it can be argued that Pokémon did not remove the Japanese names to “Americanize” the program as occurred with Battle of the Planets (1978) and earlier anime dubs, but rather to simply translate the puns. For example, Misty’s name in Japanese is Kasumi, which can mean “mist.” Jessie and James were called Musashi and Kojirou, two famous rival samurai of the seventeenth century. American children in the late 1990s were likely not going to understand that reference so it was changed into a reference of the famous outlaw, Jesse James.

23 Ibid.

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Digimon proved successful for FOX on Saturday Morning, even beating Pokémon in February 2001, by 0.1 ratings in head-to-head competition.24 This success was likely initially due to the familiarity of being from the same servant-monster genre as Pokémon. This is in keeping with Allison’s idea that American children did not especially care about the origin of the anime, but the substance of it.25 While she had theorized about anime as a whole acting as a brand, in this stage of the transition— this moment of blending and coexisting—the brand the children were consuming was this servant-monster genre. The young audience already accepted the genre as something they enjoyed, which was very advantageous to Digimon as it was far less conforming to traditional conventions than its Saturday Morning predecessor. While it has intelligent animal characters, it is not light-hearted, it is not episodic, it does not have slapstick comedy, and without Pokémon it would have appeared out of place with programs like The Big Cartoonie Show. It furthered the conventions of being born under a lucky star from Pokémon and the concept of greater female integration and competency from MMPR, as well as that of consequential violence. Yet it also helped to explicitly introduce ideas of weaponized innocence that had generally only been implied previously, as well as continuing to normalize not only the presence of the Japanese anime art style, but also the visual shorthand and cues for the Saturday Morning audience.

Jackie Chan Adventures26 Jackie Chan Adventures continued with this process of normalizing these styles, cues, and conventions. Unlike Pokémon or Digimon that were anime, Jackie Chan Adventures was a US/Hong Kong joint production that used similar conventions, art styles, and visual shorthand. While Digimon was similar to Pokémon due to being the same genre, Jackie Chan Adventures’ similarities came from the fact that it could be described as a combination of Pokémon and MMPR. The plot focuses 24 Anime News Network, “Fox Kids Wins Broadcast Ratings,” Anime News Network, 19 February 2001, accessed 12 September 2016, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ news/2001-02-19/fox-kids-wins-broadcast-ratings. 25 Allison, 277. 26 The generalizations about Jackie Chan Adventures are based on the entirety of its series that consists of five seasons.

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on the central conflict between a character named Jackie Chan, related to the actor in name only within the narrative of the program, who is both an archeologist and a master martial artist, his Americanized niece from Hong Kong, Jade, and his zany uncle opposing a group named the Dark Hand. The Dark Hand seek to gather twelve magical talismans based on the Chinese Zodiac under the direction of their leader, Valmont. Valmont is in league with a dragon demon named, Shendu, who seeks the talismans to free him from being imprisoned in a statue, so he can then destroy Asia. In exchange for retrieving the talismans, Shendu promises Valmont the lost treasure of Ching Xi Hung, alleged to be worth ten thousand times more than anything he spends in pursuit of the talismans.27 This plot is far more complicated than traditional American cartoons and much like Digimon had an ongoing continuity across all of its seasons. This ongoing continuity, as opposed to the more traditional episodic structure, allows the characters to grow and change, while also allowing lasting effects to occur in the fictional world. The finer details of the plot, at times, obscure the comparison, but at its most basic level the series is based on a protagonist who uses his strength, rather than his wits, to excel in a journey he must undertake alongside his male and female companions, to gather a finite amount of animal-based objects. His quest also forces him to oppose the forces of a formerly imprisoned evil bent on revenge mostly using his martial arts skills. However, it is not only in this broad structural outline where the Jackie Chan Adventures resembles Pokémon and MMPR. As a protagonist, the character of Jackie Chan is born under a lucky star. Despite being an archeologist, he is not depicted as either cunning or intelligent. Cunning and intellect are unanimously ascribed to the character of Jade by the other characters in the series. Jackie Chan is not depicted as making use of any extensive preparations, even though he is tasked to gather magical talismans and is in conflict with both a criminal organization and a demon. All of Jackie’s successes in the program are ascribed to his physical skills as a supreme martial artist, to the assistance bestowed on him by his companions, or blind luck. His martial arts abilities are also never explained within the narrative. It is left unclear whether Jackie Chan should be acknowledged as a master martial artist and archeologist within the universe, an uncommon combination, 27 Jackie Chan Adventures, “Shell Game,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 14 October 2000.

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or whether this is like in MMPR, where all the Power Rangers are just skilled in some form of martial arts, even Billy, the archetypical nerd of the group. Jackie’s battle prowess is taken even further than this, however. Within the series, there is a secret military organization named, “Section 13” that assists Jackie at times against the Dark Hand and in gathering the talismans. That sentence should be ludicrous that a wellfunded secret military organization should be assisting an archeologist, who happens to stumble into the plot. He is not a trained military officer and his resources come from his archeological profession. Section 13 should be far more capable of handling the Dark Hand and securing the talismans, but they are not depicted as such. Instead, Jackie is depicted as the “chosen one” and the only person capable of opposing Shendu and saving Asia from the demon’s revenge. In the season one finale, Shendu is released from his statue prison and empowered with the powers of the twelve talismans. Section 13 is there to witness the battle, weapons readied to begin an assault, but the battle is left to Jackie to fight with a magical enchantment on his fists. On multiple occasions, Section 13 seeks to intervene, but on each occasion they are stopped by Uncle with the explanation, “Magic must fight magic.”28 There is no explanation offered about why that magic must only be wielded by Jackie Chan and that the enchantment on his fists could not have been placed on Section 13’s bazookas. Instead, it is heavily implied that Jackie Chan is the only one who can properly defeat Shendu because he is the chosen one, born under the lucky star. While it is not uncommon, even in more traditional American entertainment for both children and adults, for some contrivance to exist for the main character to be the one who has to defeat the antagonist of the story, this is more striking than normal and serves as a fitting exhibition of the prowess assigned to Jackie Chan’s abilities in comparison with others. Jackie Chan is accompanied by a male and female companion on his journey, similar to the cast dynamic to the first seasons of Pokémon. In Pokémon, Misty serves to help Ash out of difficult circumstances, to keep him honest when he is trying to evade his obligations, and to offer suggestions when a problem requires some manner of cunning to determine

28 Jackie Chan Adventures, “Day of the Dragon,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 17 March 2001.

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how best to apply the various powers of the Pokémon at their disposal. This is established in the very first episode of Pokémon after Ash falls into a lake as he tries to evade a wild Pokémon chasing him. She fishes him out of the lake and then when he steals her bicycle and wrecks it, she demands he repay her.29 This highlights how their dynamic would continue for much the first season, even as Misty begins to defer to Ash within the structure of the narrative. Jade acts similarly. Jade, due to her cunning, often develops plans that Jackie would not come up with on his own to bypass an enemy or gain one of the talismans. If a new gadget needs to be understood, the task is left to Jade, even though she is Jackie’s prepubescent niece and he is a trained archeologist. Uncle acts similarly to the role of Brock. Brock in Pokémon often acts as the character that tells Ash facts about the fictional world. For example, in the episode “The Stray Pokémon,” it is Brock who explains to Ash that the fire on Charmander’s tail must remain lit as they hustle to save the neglected Pokémon.30 Uncle occupies the same narrative function, being the one that explains the talismans and other mystical aspects of the universe, such as Chi magic, to the benefit of Jackie and the audience. Thus, this group of three characters, a male protagonist born under a lucky star, alongside his cunning female companion, and his knowledgeable male companion travel together in order to find all twelve talismans based on the Chinese Zodiac. The talismans are engraved with depictions of zodiac animals and imbue the wielder with various, assigned powers. This contrasts with Pokémon as the Pokémon themselves are intelligent animals that physically fight on their own. It is, however, comparable to MMPR that use their “morphers” or “morphing coins” that are engraved with their animal to change into their sentai forms. While the Power Rangers do not always have the powers of the animal explicitly, they do gain powers by utilizing these mystical coins in order to fight their enemies with enhanced martial arts. It is especially within conflicts that Jackie Chan Adventures draws upon similar conventions to Pokémon and MMPR. Initially, the series begins with conflicts that are more reminiscent with Pokémon and then as it develops, it grows closer to MMPR. At first, the conflict is between the Enforcers of the Dark Hand and the Chans, but narratively the

29 Pokémon: 30 Pokémon:

Indigo League, “Pokémon—I Choose You.” Indigo League, “Charmander—The Stray Pokémon.”

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Enforcers are comparable with Team Rocket. Team Rocket of Pokémon are generally incompetent in their role as minor antagonists. The trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth are not considered threats within the narrative of Pokémon and as the series progresses, Ash and his friends begin to even feel sorry for them, despite being the harassed party. Their presence in the episode often serves as a comedy beat or a tension break. The Enforcers of the Dark Hand under Valmont generally consist of the characters Finn, Ratso, Chow, and Tohru. Besides the character of Tohru, the trio of Finn, Ratso, and Chow are all depicted as comedy characters in both their interactions with Jackie and their appearance. The character of Ratso, in particular, is drawn to look like Frankenstein’s Monster with greenish-gray skin, a wide, sluggish face, and an ill-fitting suit. However, Finn and Chow are also drawn in exaggerated, non-threatening manners. Much like how Ash eventually begins to toy with Team Rocket, not taking their harassment seriously, Jackie does the same, even letting the Dark Hand trio go after they began an assault on him without giving any sort of chase.31 The Dark Hand trio poses no threat to the Chans, just like how Team Rocket poses no threat to Ash. For much of the series, the physical altercations are depicted as very slapstick in nature. Whether fighting against the Shadowkhan, a group of shadow ninja, narratively similar to MMPR’s Putty Patrol, or against Finn, Ratso and Chow, Jackie is never shown to be at risk of real injury. When he falls or crashes into a wall or something falls on him, he often makes a joke for the sake of the audience. In this way, the series uses the same slapstick, nonconsequential violence convention that aided in connecting Pokémon with more traditional American cartoons. However, this also acts as a veneer to the actual danger in the season one finale that connects Jackie Chan Adventures to the conventions utilized by MMPR. The bright colors and the fights with the nameless, plentiful Shadowkhan warriors allow the main characters to have an exciting fight, a visual treat for the young audience to consume that is relatively low in narrative stakes. While the Power Rangers often took the Putty Patrol seriously, the audience knew that the Power Rangers would not be overwhelmed by them. Even Tommy in his debut, before receiving any of his powers was beset by the Putty Patrol, and dispatched them

31 Jackie Chan Adventures, “The Power Within,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 15 September 2000.

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without even a scratch.32 Yet, there should have been no reason to use a narrative device like the Shadowkhan in Jackie Chan Adventures since the same visual treats of quick and flashy victories by the heroes could already by delivered by Finn, Ratso, and Chow. Instead, Jackie Chan Adventures uses them to establish the magic and resources that Shendu possesses and foreshadow his danger. The Shadowkhan are what he could offer encased in a statue; when he is freed his threat against Asia becomes real. Jackie Chan Adventures confirms the danger Shendu poses when he is freed by having the Chans be prepared to kill him. This is a striking decision considering the general slapstick nature of the violence in the series and the generally lenient attitude Jackie has with the Dark Hand. This decision, however, keeps with conventions furthered by MMPR, Digimon, and Superman TAS, but also with conventions in older cartoons that established that when violence is used, it must be proportional to the threat, creating a nexus point for the portrayal of violence. Yet, there is a caveat with its application in Jackie Chan Adventures as the killing blow is not done by Jackie, but by Jade. Jade uses all of her intelligence to realize that once she steals the talisman that provides Shendu immortality from him, she could also kill him with the same talisman.33 The series puts the killing blow in the hands of the little girl. However, the narrative also makes clear that this was not the right choice. While “magic must fight magic” as Uncle made clear to Section 13, clearly the right form of magic was not to use the villain’s powers against him. Uncle further clarifies that Uncle: You destroyed the demon! Yin and Yang! Now the world is out of balance! Nobody told you to destroy the demon! Jackie: Jade did it. Jade: Hmmph… Uncle: Now there is a void for a new, stronger evil to fill!34

The series does not clarify what the goal of the battle was if Jade killing Shendu put the world at risk due to lack of cosmic balance. Uncle never 32 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 1,” Netflix, 19:00, 5 October 1993. 33 Jackie Chan Adventures, “Day of the Dragon.” 34 Ibid.

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explains, despite being the one who assisted Jackie to prepare for the battle in the first place. In this one event—in this single battle—the series entirely turns away from the traditional conventions of turning an antagonist’s violence against them, of the hero being assured a happy ending, and that the power of evil must be dispelled by good. This final point further connects Jackie Chan Adventures with the conventions that were promoted by MMPR and then reinforced by later series like Superman TAS and Digimon. In older cartoons, the nature of evil is simple and twofold: It is to be overcome by good and that evil lacks any depth or motivation. The phrase “cartoon villainy” exists for this very reason that traditional villains are evil for the sake of evil, but are also comical in that villainy, so it is desirable that heroes overcome them. Shendu, a demon dragon, does little to counter the idea of this “cartoon villainy” as he is a demon that seeks revenge for his imprisonment. Yet, Shendu’s defeat in the season one finale also demonstrates that evil cannot be defeated and that a villain may very well have a purpose in the grand cosmic scheme. This is a shocking conclusion for a Saturday Morning cartoon to offer. When He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983), Transformers (1984), The Real Ghostbusters (1986) or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) presented Skeletor, the Decepticons, the ghosts that haunted New York City or Shredder, Krang and the Foot Clan, respectively, there was little intellectual talk about the value and place of these villains in the universe. Instead, they were presented as villains normally were in American children’s media—a force the heroes were to oppose and defeat. Even in Superman TAS, a show that began to be influenced by these Japanese conventions, in an episode where Superman visits Apokolips, a planet of craven depravity ruled by Darkseid, when the people choose not to be liberated, it is not depicted as part of valuable cosmic balance. It is depicted as tragically pointless.35 On the other hand, Jackie Chan Adventure does show that evil on the individual level can be conquered and that this is a favorable outcome. This is especially established in the redemption arc of the character, Tohru. Tohru was also an Enforcer, but unlike Finn, Ratso, and Chow, he is not treated as comically as his peers. Instead, he is depicted as an intimidating figure and a trained sumo wrestler. He is also a simple

35 Superman:

The Animated Series, “Legacy, Part 2,” Netflix, 22:00, 12 February 2000.

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man, sincerely loyal to Valmont and the Enforcers. He serves Valmont without question, until he is forced to fight Shendu alone, despite having no chance in the battle. Suffering injury, which further demonstrates the villainy and threat of Shendu, he chooses to aid the Chans, providing them with information and turning himself into Section 13.36 He is portrayed as coming to his senses and acting with honor, offering himself to the authorities under the assumption that he would suffer punishment for his criminal activity. In this act of redemption, he is offered a second chance and in later seasons aids the Chans, switching his loyalty and devotion to Jackie and especially, Jade. This continues the complexity that was beginning to be afforded to antagonists on Saturday Morning. While MMPR presented a redemption story with the introduction of the Green Ranger, Jackie Chan Adventures took this idea further. Tommy was presented as a good person, comparable to Jason, before he was corrupted and became the Green Ranger under the control of Rita Repula. His redemption was a return to who he truly was.37 This is not the story depicted with Tohru. He was loyal to the Dark Hand on his own volition. It presents a story where a lesser villain turns good not because he suddenly finds himself more moral, but because he seeks truer friendship. It is the power of friendship that both causes Tohru’s initial antagonism and Tohru’s eventual redemption. This is also an extension of what was portrayed on Superman TAS with Mercy Graves. The tragedy of Mercy is that her defining character trait is her loyalty to Lex Luthor and due to this refuses her redemption. Unlike Mercy, Tohru’s absolute loyalty is subject to his employer being loyal to him in return, allowing for his redemption. Redemption stories like these were rare in traditional American cartoons and children’s media, but not uncommon in Japanese children’s media. The very influential boys’ anime franchise Dragonball and the influential girls’ franchise Sailor Moon both contain similar stories of antagonist redemption due to the power of friendship/love and they are far from being alone in use of this plot point (see Chapter 6). This is more common in Japanese media than in traditional American cartoons due to the stories being more complex in structure and continuous in plot, allowing changes to occur in the villains.

36 Jackie

Chan Adventures. “Day of the Dragon.” Morphin Power Rangers, “Green with Evil, Part 5,” Netflix, 19:00, 9 October

37 Mighty

1993.

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The redemption of a lesser villain is not the only divergence from the traditional conventions of how antagonists and evil are depicted by Jackie Chan Adventures. Jackie Chan Adventures also uses the Japanese convention that I will call the “lieutenant villain.” A lieutenant villain is a common convention in Japanese anime and has existed within anime for decades. A lieutenant villain appears as a secondary, lesser antagonist with a separate motivation and agenda for opposing the protagonist than the primary villain of the series or story arc. They are often part of the primary villain’s hierarchy, but they do not necessary have to be. However, when they are in the primary villain’s hierarchy they are often near the top of it, or at least a person that the protagonist believes has some sort of authority. When a hierarchical lieutenant villain’s separate motivation puts them in opposition with the primary villain, this may lead to the lieutenant villain gaining some sort of redemption arc into at least antihero status if they are popular enough in the series. This can be seen as far back as Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) with the character of Char Anzable, one of the most influential anime characters ever. He is initially presented as the masked ace pilot within the antagonist force of Zeon, but eventually betrays the ruling Zabi family in revenge.38 This is a character convention that can only exist within continuous storytelling as episodic series generally would not accommodate the complexity of the character dynamic or the eventual break in the relationship with the primary villain, if they are interconnected, due to the narrative reset at the end of each episode. Jackie Chan Adventures uses this convention with Valmont. Valmont is not simply loyal to Shendu. He is not depicted as a zealous, cultist follower of the dragon demon, but an opportunist. He serves Shendu and puts the Enforcers and the resources of the Dark Hand at his deposal not out of any particular loyalty, but out of his own separate motivation of desiring a vast sum of wealth. There is a distinct implication that if there was another being offering Valmont a greater reward, he would abandon Shendu to his statue prison without a second thought. Shendu’s freedom, revenge, and plans are outside of Valmont’s actual concerns and it is only his own motivations that bind the two together in the first season. The most notable, comparable character in more traditional American cartoons would be Starscream from Transformers (1984). Starscream 38 “Dasshutsu,” Mobile Suit Gundam Part 2. DVD. Written by Hiroyuki Hoshiyama (26 January 1980; Tokyo, Japan: Sunrise Inc., 1 December 2015).

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is actually a lieutenant to Megatron, the leader of the antagonist Decepticons. However, this is different in function as Starscream opposes Megatron because he wants to lead the Decepticons himself. His motivations are not separate from Megatron’s; he still wants to go to war with the Autobots for the same reasons Megatron does. His agenda is entirely the same; he simply wants to lead. This also differs because unlike what is the norm for a proper lieutenant villain, he is never depicted as an actual threat to Megatron’s rule. Starscream’s evident treachery is not unknown to Megatron. Megatron simply routinely cowers the other robotic being into compliance and continues on. Starscream’s desire to lead is used for comedic effect.39 A lieutenant villain’s treachery, on the other hand, is a major plot shift with serious narrative consequences. Jackie Chan Adventures is also overt in their reference to the Japanese convention of the lieutenant villain as they even use a Japanese visual cue to mark Valmont as separate. From Malachite from Sailor Moon to Sesshomaru from Inuyasha to Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh!, in Japanese media, a character with white hair is an overarching trope that exists in stories for both genders. Even Char Anzable can be placed in this visual trope as he is initially depicted with a white helmet. This use of white hair is not meant to indicate the character is older in age like it would in traditional American content, but mark the character—usually male— as separate from other characters, powerful and potentially dangerous if morally or emotionally swayed to one side or the other. Valmont is all these things in Jackie Chan Adventures. Yet, this may not have been entirely foreign to young American viewers, even if they did not watch anime, as the convention was narratively implied, though imperfectly, on MMPR with the introduction of the White Ranger. Zordan and Alpha 5 develop the powers of the White Ranger in secret and his powers, notably his talking sword, Saba, differs from all the other Power Rangers. His costume is also visually different due to the inclusion of armor.40 They are then given to Tommy to replace his lost Green Ranger powers, who in his debut was shown to be dangerous. While the White Ranger was unlikely to be actually dangerous to the other Power Rangers, nor was he narratively separate from them as Tommy became the leader of the 39 Transformers, produced by Sunbow Productions, Marvel Productions, and Hasbro, 1984–1987. Amazon Instant Video. 40 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, “White Light, Part 1 & 2,” Netflix, 38:00, 17 October 1994/18 October 1994.

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team, all of this did make him visually separate and portray him as more powerful. This is not the only Japanese color hair code that Jackie Chan Adventures utilizes as it also uses blue hair is to mark Jade as the most intelligent character in the series. Her role in the series is to be the cunning character who solves mental puzzles and she is also drawn with blue streaks in her hair. This blue coding is commonplace within Japanese media. For example, Ami from Sailor Moon and Bulma from Dragonball are both depicted with blue hair and both share the same role of the most intelligent character in the franchise to whom the other characters defer without question when it comes to intellectual matters. The use of blue hair in traditional American children’s media is even less present than the use of white hair. While white hair may be used for age, blue hair is almost nonexistent in American cartoons before the beginning of this transition, with the notable exception of The Simpsons. In The Simpsons, Marge Simpson, Chief Wiggum, and Milhouse all have blue hair. It does not seem to have any narrative meaning and was chosen, along with their yellow skin, simply to be a shocking counterpoint to the early primitive art style.41 However, as with the white hair code, a child who never watched any anime except perhaps Pokémon and Digimon may have understood this convention from MMPR. In the initial group of Power Rangers, Billy is the nerd character and thus, the most intelligent character that the others defer to for intellectual and technological issues. He is also the Blue Ranger. While his hair is not blue on MMPR, he is normally dressed in blue clothing to remind the young audience which Power Ranger he is. This is as perfect an application of the visual trope in a live-action program as is realistically possible without dying a person’s hair. This usage of Japanese hair coding for two characters that are in almost every episode makes the series far more comparable visually to anime than to domestic productions. Jackie Chan Adventures uses an anime-inspired art style in general, beyond these conventions, with characters animated with large, expressive eyes like those in Pokémon and Digimon. This is in addition to the use of Chinese words within the

41 John Ortved, The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009), 51–52.

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series, most notably in the use of Chi Magic that is expressed with full Chinese phrases. Due to Jackie Chan’s popularity in the early 2000s, the series’ showrunners may have felt very comfortable making the program appear foreign without fear of rejection. The audience would not be surprised that there were foreign elements in a show based on Jackie Chan. However, the show having its protagonist based on and named after Jackie Chan adds to how much the series differed from other domestic productions—its protagonist is nonwhite. All three of the central characters, Jackie, Jade, and Uncle, are all coded as Asian of Chinese descent, and even though Jackie is not voiced by his namesake, they are all voiced by Asian-American voice actors.42 This is striking as the majority of protagonists on Saturday Morning up until this point were either explicitly white male characters like Zack from Saved by the Bell or cartoon characters that could be coded as white based on audience’s assumptions. This includes Pokémon. Due to the anime art style, nothing about Ash would have indicated to a young American viewer that he was not a young white boy with dark hair and the surname “Ketchum.” Jackie and his family being central characters of color is a notable point of difference between Jackie Chan Adventures and many other domestic productions. Where Jackie Chan Adventures does not push the established conventions of Saturday Morning at the time of its debut and its initial run was in its conventions for female characters. On the surface, it may appear to continue to push them by not simply demonstrating that Jade is equal to her male counterparts, but actually making her the most cunning character in the cast. The series even allows her to have the killing blow on Shendu in the season one finale, not through some sort of fluke or contrivance but by purposeful action. However, while it does seem to progress the convention in these ways, it also regresses in its utilization of female characters at the same time. Part of the uniqueness of MMPR’s depiction of its female characters as being as competent as their male counterparts without being strictly a mother or girlfriend is that nothing within the narrative prevented the showrunners from using Trini and Kimberly in these more traditional roles. They simply did not. Even when Kimberly does enter a relationship, the narrative almost portrays Tommy as being created as a character to be her boyfriend and not the 42 IMDb, “Jackie Chan Adventures: Full Cast & Crew,” IMDb, Unknown, accessed 12 September 2018, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259141/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_ st_sm.

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reverse. With Jade, she is Jackie’s prepubescent niece. She cannot be a mother figure to Jackie; he is her uncle and should be the one nurturing her. She cannot be a romantic figure for him at all. Jade cannot be a romantic figure for any character in the series; she is a child. The narrative itself prevents Jade from being used in more traditional female conventions. While Jackie Chan Adventures does deviate from the traditional idea that a young girl would be frightened of bugs, violence, or other stereotypical things, this also seems less impressive when one considers that for much the series Jade is the only reoccurring female character. This depiction of a world devoid of female characters harkens back to traditional cartoons where the default character is male and characters are generally only female when there is a reason for their inclusion. Jade’s reason was likely to have a female presence in the main trio of central characters, much like the ratio from Big Bad Beetleborgs, complete with her being related to Jackie and younger than him as Jo was with her brother. However, there are no regular female characters in all of Section 13 or in the Dark Hand. For much the series, the only female presence is a young girl with a masculine haircut and dressed in gender neutral clothes. The only other major reoccurring female human character in the series is the character, Viper, but even this should be critically considered because she appears in “Enter the Viper,” episode four of the first season and then disappears until six episodes into the second season with the episode “The J-Team.” She disappears again after this for another eight episodes. Her presence is reoccurring, but it is certainly not persistent. It can also be debated whether she moves beyond the conventions set out for female characters at all. As an adult character who is unrelated to Jackie, she can be placed in romantic storylines and/or be depicted as a mother figure and is utilized as both. In her introduction episode, she is shown to flirt with Jackie and Jade initially hopes to be like Viper when she grows up.43 In later episodes when she reappears, she has a warm motherly or older sister relationship with Jade. The series introduces an adult female character and she is placed into the roles of romantic interest for the protagonist and being an inspiration to a child. It is doubly

43 Jackie Chan Adventures, “Enter the Viper,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 30 September 2000.

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striking when the world is entirely divorced from other female characters besides her and a young girl. There are occasional character episodes that include one-shot female characters such as Tohru’s mother, but this only continues to further the more traditional conventions. In this way, Jackie Chan Adventures blends the traditional conventions involving female characters with the emerging ones in a progressively conservative manner. Combining the traditional and emerging conventions was something Jackie Chan Adventures did as a whole, even more than Superman TAS. While Superman TAS used the emerging conventions, it was a series that was still clearly an American production, rooted in American mythos and intellectual properties; it was a synthesis of these emerging Japanese conventions and what was successful from Batman: The Animated Series. In contrast, Jackie Chan Adventures presents itself as “American anime” with its visual style—both in its animation and in the visual shorthand cues—as well as using a structure that has consecutive storytelling, a protagonist that is a nonwhite male, lacking in cunning but born under a lucky story, and dangerous, complex villains. Jackie Chan Adventures is also filled with slapstick violence, a light-hearted tone, and a conservative use of female characters. While it combines elements from Pokémon and MMPR, it reached beyond them to both anime conventions that had not aired on Saturday Morning and to traditional American cartoons that were beginning to fall out of favor with the viewing audience. If this was an attempt to co-opt the conventions as Schiller would propose or present a program to reassert American cultural dominance like other scholars concerned about American cultural imperialism would suggest, it would be an odd attempt. One cannot attempt to maintain the status quo by presenting something so outside of it. With the exception of the more conservative use of female characters, none of the traditional elements it presented conveyed any particular social lessons. The substantive plot elements are the ones that use the newer, foreign conventions. Jackie Chan Adventures airing side by side with Pokémon presented a moment on Saturday Morning where an American produced program appeared more like an anime and an anime appeared more like an American cartoon. In this moment of transition, observations from those like Straubhaar and Cooper-Chen come into striking focus. The children of this period were enjoying these American and Japanese programs as both something that reflected their cultural expectations and as novelties simultaneously.

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Final Thoughts About This Period of Saturday Morning This period of time from the ascent of Pokémon and the rise of the programs that would benefit from its popularity like Digimon, Jackie Chan Adventures, and others was a particularly interesting moment of transition on Saturday Morning. MMPR’s visual styling became something unique to MMPR. While Big Bad Beetleborgs had been popular on Saturday Morning, by the time Pokémon emerged, the tokusatsu live-action style of MMPR only existed within its franchise. The other tokusatsu sentai series faded away. The young American audience consumed its conventions, but was not hungry for more of its particular genre outside of the Power Rangers franchise itself. Pokémon brought about a normalization of anime, despite anime having been on syndicated television for years on weekdays, Sundays, and cable channels, demonstrating that anime could be a mainstream success. This period also marked a sense of growing pains in the narrative storytelling on Saturday Morning and a tension between the utilization of traditional conventions with the emerging conventions that were almost entirely contrary to them, especially those involving slapstick violence, the presentation of female characters, the traits of the male protagonist, and the interaction between the hero and his antagonist. Pokémon just happened to rest in the middle without any particular agenda to do so, as it was initially made for Japanese consumption. Jackie Chan Adventures’ general construction portrays an attempt to integrate conflicting conventions, and its popularity with its key demographic proves it was successful at it in its time. However, when how the series is constructed is critically examined the tension and flux of the period can easily be seen. In the end, it was not Jackie Chan Adventures that would lead the way through the transition begun by Pokémon. Instead, it would be the conventions furthered by Digimon that would prove more influential when Yu-Gi-Oh! emerged.

CHAPTER 6

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Conquering King of Saturday Morning

When Yu-Gi-Oh! first aired on Saturday Morning by WB in fall 2001, it would usher in a time of further transition and great purging within the Saturday Morning schedule. When it aired, there was already a major shift occurring as the major networks began the process of polarizing their content. NBC was broadcasting live-action content for an audience older than the Saturday Morning demographic, and CBS was broadcasting content for an audience far younger than the Saturday Morning demographic. ABC was still involved in broadcasting Saturday Morning content, but began to shift to targeting the female demographic. This left the male demographic to FOX and WB, with both presenting schedules that were focused on action-adventure or horror with a combination of Japanese and American productions. By 2001, it was not uncommon to see Japanese animation on American television on Saturday Morning. There were weekends where FOX showed four-hour marathons of Digimon for their entire Saturday Morning block. American children were accustomed to anime’s general appearance and criticisms that it was “cheap” or “not as good” were absent, unlike when shows like Speed Racer initially aired in the United States. It is in this environment that Yu-Gi-Oh! entered the Saturday Morning schedule with its clearly foreign sounding name and overt Japanese animation style, but also being both narratively and conventional familiar to the young American audience.

© The Author(s) 2019 G. O’Melia, Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3_6

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Yu-Gi-Oh!’s plot has a strict continuous continuity and has a twofold story. First, it is a story of a group of friends who play a card name, called Duel Monsters, that has mystical Egyptian elements tied to it. As they play the game against other opponents, they use new monster cards and develop new techniques within their card combos in order to become the best players in the world; second, it is a larger, more dangerous story that involves great magical forces, the endangerment of souls, the possibility of loss of life, and the group of friends joining together in order to oppose villains who seek to use magical might for their own nefarious and yet sympathetically motivated purposes. In both, the character of Yugi, a good-natured and innocent boy, gains the power to transform into an adult form referred to as “Yami,” who is the reincarnation of an amnesic Egyptian Pharaoh. He gains this ability by coming into contact with one of the pieces of Millennium Puzzle; mystical relics that help their owners play Duel Monsters. Yami is able to force the transformation in order to assist Yugi in playing, which is also how much of the conflict in the series is handled in lieu of physical fighting. In exchange, Yugi assists Yami in recovering his memories, which acts as vehicle for the audience to learn more about the Egyptian lore and elements of the mystical card game.1 Even before delving into how Yu-Gi-Oh! compares with traditional Saturday Morning programs in how it handled conventions involving its protagonists, its use of violence, its use of antagonists, its use of female characters, and its general structure, it is obvious the series’ central conceits heavily reflects a combination of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR) and Pokémon. Instead of battling with captured intelligent animals like in Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! introduces a card game with monster cards that do battle to settle disputes. Yet, like Pokémon with its ongoing plot of Team Rocket trying to kidnap Pikachu, there are rare, powerful cards and plots about stealing them. Further, instead of being given a “morpher coin” by an alien in order to transform into a form that will improve his battle ability like in MMPR, Yugi finds a Millennium Puzzle piece, causing him to be possessed by Yami. Yugi seeks to become the best card player in the world, in order to stop the nefarious plans of a man named Pegasus. Yu-Gi-Oh! uniquely benefited 1 The generalizations about Yu-Gi-Oh! are based on the entirety of its series that consists of five seasons. Due to the progressive complexity in the narrative plot, the first season, commonly referred to as the “Duelist Kingdom” season, is particularly focused on to avoid confusion.

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in its debut on Saturday Morning as it did not have to conform to many traditional American conventions in order to appear familiar to the young American audience due to how similar the program was as a combination of MMPR and Pokémon, both programs acting as its wedges within the culture as theorized by Kraidy.2 In regard to Yu-Gi-Oh!’s protagonist, Yugi is born under a lucky star, further reflecting Pokémon’s conventions. Likewise, Yugi is not depicted as especially cunning or overly intelligent, similar to Pokémon’s Ash, Digimon’s Tai, Jackie Chan Adventure’s Jackie, and even Jason or Tommy from MMPR. Instead, he is depicted as an innocent, upright, and good-natured boy. The fact that Yugi is not cunning or overly intelligent, but relies on being born under the lucky star is especially evident in Yu-Gi-Oh! as Duel Monsters is said to require strategy and skill. Yugi wins his duels in one of two ways, either through transforming into Yami or through the strength and purity of his heart. It is the strength of his innocence, his commitment to his friends, and his luck in being possessed by Yami that sees him through the series and by no other means. One could assume that a program where all the conflict is settled by “card duels” would not utilize conventions of consequential violence, the possibility of death, and general danger, even with the cards manifesting monsters. If the monsters are battling each other and if they are manifestations from the cards, it could be assumed the series would have no elements of actual danger to the characters. However, Yu-GiOh! makes it immediately clear that this is not the case. The first episode focuses on how a rival character, Seto Kaiba, plans to destroy a rare card so it can never be used against him.3 Seto Kaiba duels Yugi’s grandfather and after his victory, destroys the Blue Eyes White Dragon card that his grandfather possessed. This act sends Yugi’s grandfather to the hospital, in need of an oxygen mask to breathe. Accepting his grandfather’s plea to avenge him, Yugi takes his grandfather’s deck and duels Kaiba himself. After Yugi’s victory over Kaiba, he is noticed by powerful man through his hired employees who inform him of duel victories. In the second episode, Yugi is sent a videotape by this man, Maximillion Pegasus, creator of the Duel Monsters card game in the narrative universe.4 2 Marwan M. Kraidy, Hybridity or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005), 148. 3 Yu-Gi-Oh!, “The Heart of the Cards,” Hulu, 22:00, 29 September 2001. 4 Yu-Gi-Oh!, “The Gaunlet Is Thrown,” Hulu, 22:00, 6 October 2001.

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This videotape is a means to make Yugi duel him in a magical demi-plane in order to test him. The battle ends without either person being defeated due to the fifteen-minute time limit, but Pegasus admits that if Yugi/Yami had one more minute, then he would have lost. He then insists that they will duel again. Yugi refuses, but Pegasus makes it clear that he does not have a choice. Yugi: I’m done with your games Pegasus: You presume I’m giving you a choice in the matter, but I’m not. I too possess one of the seven Millennium Items - the powerful Millennium Eye. Yugi: A Millennium Eye? Pegasus: That’s right, Yugi-boy. And now I’ll show you the true extent of its magic. *magic erupts from his special eye and goes through the TV screen, encasing Yugi’s grandfather in light and dragging an image of him out of his body into the screen* You see, I have found that given the proper incentive, anyone can be made to play my game. Trapped Grandpa: *appears on the TV screen*: Yugi! Yugi: *detransforms and hugs the TV screen*: Grandpa? Pegasus: Yes. We will duel again, Yugi. How else will you reclaim your grandfather’s soul?5

This is where the second episode ends. The child protagonist is caught in a struggle against a powerful villain who not only possesses a magical artifact but knows how to use its abilities to steal Yugi’s grandfather’s soul. There has been no mention of Yugi’s parents at this point so the audience is left with a story where the young protagonist has to either defeat a dangerous villain, who likely has more powers than he presented in their one duel, or allow the soul of his lone caregiver remains trapped forever. The tone of Yu-Gi-Oh! shifts so quickly into a serious drama from what could have been another fun, light servant-monster genre program. The series continues with this shockingly serious tone all the way to the very end of the series. The first season even culminates by teasing that Yugi is killed in another card duel with Pegasus. In this fateful match, he transforms into Yami, but Yami states that he can feel Yugi rendered half dead inside of him and that he resolves to win this duel for the innocent boy. He is kept alive by his friends weaponizing their

5 Ibid.

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friendship and channeling it as they hold hands and remember moments of their time with Yugi to strengthen both him and Yami in the duel.6 With all of this—from capturing Yugi’s grandfather’s soul to coercing Yugi to not only duel him but go on a season-long adventure to gain the right to do so to finally almost killing Yugi—one might believe that Pegasus would be depicted as some sort of monster, perhaps a sympathetic one like Apocalymon in Digimon but at least some manifestation of evil. Instead, it is revealed immediately after Yugi manages to defeat Pegasus that all of his nefarious schemes and abject cruelty were motivated by the pain of losing his wife, Cecelia, shortly after their wedding.7 The reveal does not justify his actions, but it does bring an explanation and a depth that would not be afforded to a traditional American villain. Pegasus was so callous with the feelings of others and found it so easy to rip loved ones away from them because he experienced a deep emptiness in his own soul due to his own wife being ripped away from him by death. However, while Pegasus is cruel, he is also depicted as an honorable man, keeping his word and releasing Yugi’s grandfather’s soul and his other hostages after his defeat. He is also willing to give Yugi prize money for winning the duel, despite the fact that Yugi had not demanded it, in order to help one of Yugi’s friends, Joey, save his sister’s eyesight from an illness that needed treatment. In this way, it is clear that Pegasus is not motivated by any actual attraction to evil, but by an emotional burden that is hampering what could be a good man. This is a far cry from the traditional American villain who does evil for evil’s sake and even contrasts with more influenced American villains such as Valmont from Jackie Chan Adventures, which aired side by side with Yu-Gi-Oh! on Saturday Morning, Yu-Gi-Oh! also uses the convention of the lieutenant villain with the rival character of Seto Kaiba. Unlike Valmont, Kaiba is not a lieutenant villain within Pegasus’ hierarchy, but acts as both a secondary antagonist and a foreshadowing of Pegasus. His antagonism is set up immediately in the first episode when he duels Yugi’s grandfather and destroys his Blue Eyes White Dragon card that sends the older man to the hospital. The first season also uses Kaiba to foreshadow aspects of Pegasus. Both characters are depicted as leaders of successful, wealthy 6 Yu-Gi-Oh!, “Yugi vs. Pegasus: Match of the Millennium, Part 5,” Hulu, 22:00, 5 October 2002. 7 Ibid.

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organizations—KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions, the makers of Duel Monsters within the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, respectively. Both characters use these companies’ resources to further their gaming passions—Kaiba in using his resources to make sure he has the best advantages in his own determination and Pegasus in using his resources to force people to enter his tournament so he can try to gain all the Millennium Puzzle pieces. Finally, the greatest foreshadowing of Pegasus by Kaiba occurs after he is defeated by Yugi. Like Pegasus, after his defeat, the audience discovers a sympathetic side to him with the introduction of his brother, Mokuba. In contrast to how callous Kaiba treats others, he loves his brother and when he is kidnapped by Pegasus, he is dedicated to saving him.8 His callousness toward everyone outside of Mokuba is explained as a hardening of his heart due to the cruel treatment from his adoptive father.9 Yu-Gi-Oh! may have crossed new ground with how its antagonists were depicted but it remained consistent with its depictions of female character as per Pokémon and Digimon. Yugi’s central group of friends in the series is Joey, Tristan, and Téa. Téa’s role in the series and her interactions with Yugi are similar to Misty’s in Pokémon. She is less brash to Yugi than Misty is to Ash, but Yugi is a humbler and politer character. However, like Misty, she supports Yugi in his quest to free his grandfather’s soul and enter Pegasus’ tournament. She defers to Yugi on the journey, but no differently than the other male characters. Yugi has the most to lose in this endeavor and is also the one possessed by Yami. Unlike with Pokémon, where Misty and Brock defer to Ash because the convention of him being born under a lucky star has given him the ability to surpass their skills without any diegetic justification, Yugi’s friends can look at the Millennium Puzzle piece and watch him become Yami as an explicit reason why he surpasses them. Téa is also not depicted as a narrative reward to be won by any of the male characters within the Saturday Morning schedule, nor is her competency in Duel Monsters ever surprising due to her gender. The series goes out of its way to demonstrate that she is a better duelist than Joey, but chooses to allow him to advance in the tournament in order to possibly win the promised prize money so he can save his sister’s eyesight.10 She is not depicted as doing this because

8 Yu-Gi-Oh!,

“Champion vs. Creator, Part I,” Hulu, 22:00, 18 May 2002. “Isolated in Cyber Space, Part 2,” Hulu, 22:00, 8 November 2003. 10 Yu-Gi-Oh!, “The Dueling Monkey, Part 1,” Hulu, 22:00, 15 December 2001. 9 Yu-Gi-Oh!,

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of her gender or out of being a maternal character. Instead, her friendship with Joey and Yugi is greater than prize money to her. The value each person of the central cast places on friendship is a major theme of the series. While Digimon also uses the power of friendship as the vehicle for the DigiDestined to weaponize their innocence, repower their Digimon, and stop Apocalymon, the DigiDestined also had to learn and understand the strength of their friendship in a moment of despair. In Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yugi is depicted as always understanding that his strength lies in his friendship with Tristan, Joey, and Téa. The four friends make a friendship pact in the first episode to strengthen Yugi and let him know that they are always there for him, and that knowledge keeps Yugi alive when Pegasus almost kills him. Remembering this pact acts as the catalyst for Tristan, Téa, and Joey to send their love and friendship to Yugi and Yami, not as moral support, but as a concrete means of strengthening them and countering Pegasus’ telepathy.11 Throughout the series, Yugi uses his friends’ support to guide him through his duels, almost as much as he relies on Yami. In reality, the depth and power of Yugi’s friendship are why Yami assists him at all.12 Yami is moved by his innocence; Yugi’s loyalty and love for his friends is the most visible manifestation of it. Despite these conventions that made Yu-Gi-Oh! feel familiar to the Saturday Morning audience, it was in every aspect a very foreign program. The conventions it utilized with its protagonist, its antagonists, its female characters, its danger and violence, and even in its use of innocence and friendship as weapons are all conventions that were influenced and adopted in the ascent of MMPR and Pokémon. This convention of the power of friendship is especially startling when compared with how friendship is depicted in Garfield and Friends. The central, reoccurring theme to the US Acres’ shorts is friendship, as well as many of the plots of the Garfield shorts, but in both friendship is depicted as a burden. When Roy the Rooster leaves the farm in US Acres because the other farm animals call him “Banana Nose” to turn his bullying ways against

11 Yu-Gi-Oh!, “Yugi vs. Pegasus: Match of the Millennium, Part 5,” Hulu, 22:00, 5 October 2002. 12 Yu-Gi-Oh!, “Aftermath,” Hulu, 22:00, 5 October 2002.

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him, the other farm animals are happy he leaves at first. It is only when they are shamed by Orson the Pig that they realize they were wrong in their actions and search for Roy. Their friendship with Roy is not something valued until it is gone and is depicted as a struggle when they possess it.13 It is the same with Garfield and Odie. Garfield only values the yellow dog when he believes Odie is gone forever. When Odie is around, Garfield views him as an annoyance. If this was the plot of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Seto Kaiba would be the main character because such an attitude runs counter to every aspect of Yugi’s personality. Unsurprisingly, yet perhaps a little ironically, Jackie Chan Adventures likely further assisted Yu-Gi-Oh! in appearing less foreign than it would have if Jackie Chan Adventures had not aired alongside it. By the time of Yu-Gi-Oh!’s debut, the young American audience had become relatively accustomed to the anime art style, so Yu-Gi-Oh!’s character designs with its very large, emotionally reflective eyes and unrealistic hair—­especially in regards to Yugi and Yami’s multi-toned triangular shaped hair— would not have been as off-putting as it would have been ten years prior. However, even with the influx of the art style onto Saturday Morning, Yu-Gi-Oh!’s use of the white hair code for both Pegasus and another character named, Bakura, would have been strange to a viewer if they did not watch anime outside of Saturday Morning if Jackie Chan Adventures had not included it (see Chapter 5). Jackie Chan Adventures also acquainted viewers with a large amount of foreign words and names such as Chi magic, the lost treasure of Qin Shi Huang, and even Tohru’s character name. Jackie Chan’s surname is also a nonwhite name, further helping the inclusion of such names on Saturday Morning. With earlier anime imports, the characters’ Japanese names were localized. For example, when Gatchaman was imported to the United States as Battle of the Planets (1978) and G-Force: Guardians of Space (1984) the names were, respectively, changed from: Ken to Mark and Ace Goodhart, Joe to Jason and Dirk Daring, Jun to Princess and Agatha June, Jinpei to Keyop and Pee Wee, Ryu to Tiny Harper

13 Garfield

& Friends, “Banana Nose,” Netflix, 6:17, 1 October 1988.

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and Woot Owl, and Dr. Kozaburo Nambu to Chief Anderson and Dr. Brighthead. With some of these names such as Ken, Joe, and Jun, there should have been no need to change them to anything as they were already names used by white Americans, but were changed anyway, Even with Pokémon and Digimon, there was a continued effort to Anglicize names to some degree. In Pokémon, the names were changed, and in Digimon, the Japanese names were introduced but Anglicized nicknames were then mostly used for the characters going forward. However, with Yu-Gi-Oh!, the localizers approached the issue differently. Out of the main cast, their full names are presented as Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, Téa Gardner, Tristan Taylor, and eventually Ryo Bakura, the Kaiba brothers, Seto and Mokuba, and Maximillion Pegasus. Out of these characters, the only ones who had their names Anglicized were Yugi’s supporting cast of friends. Yugi kept his original Japanese name, as did his rival characters, Seto Kaiba and Ryo Bakura. Maximillion Pegasus’ name was changed, but it was changed from Pegasus J. Crawford. In this way, the characters whose names were said the most and who had the greatest narrative importance kept their Japanese names. Additionally, even the title of Yu-Gi-Oh! was not changed, despite the fact that without translation, it would not make sense to the American audience. A young viewer might see the main character’s name in it with “Oh!” at the end, but its meaning of “Game King” would be lost to them. This is different than Pokémon and Digimon, which were also clearly non-English words, but directly referred to the creatures within the series. Pokémon, itself, is actually an abbreviation of the Japanese title, Pocket Monster. This is a striking change in anime adaptation and a demonstration that the young American audience was not put off by the inclusion of foreign names or even titles. With Yu-Gi-Oh!’s ascent to popularity, eventually becoming the cornerstone of WB/CW’s schedule, Saturday Morning aired a program that did not resonate or utilize almost any convention from traditional programming. It was a series that used foreign visual and narrative conventions that would have been entirely out of place in 1991. Even alongside Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) and even Batman: The Animated Series (1992), it would have appeared peculiar and would likely have been considered too foreign, too dark, and too violent for young American audiences. Yet, in 2001 it did not appear overly foreign in comparison with other series airing at the time and then dominated Saturday Morning for another thirteen years.

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Dragonball Z Kai14 Dragonball Z Kai (DBZ Kai) would join Yu-Gi-Oh! on Saturday Morning in 2010, only a year after its debut in Japan in April 2009.15 However, CW was not taking a massive gamble on a new program with airing DBZ Kai. The series is a remastered, abridged version of Dragonball Z, an incredibly popular series that had aired on Cartoon Network in 1999. DBZ Kai also proved popular when it was aired by Nicktoons just months before it debuted on Saturday Morning.16 In this way, CW chose an already well-received program that could compliment Yu-Gi-Oh!, which still acted as its schedule cornerstone nine years after its debut. At DBZ Kai’s debut on Saturday Morning, the entirety of the schedule was more polarized than at Yu-Gi-Oh!’s due to FOX no longer airing any Saturday Morning programming at all (see Chapter 2). For a child between the ages of six and fifteen, ABC and CW were their only options with ABC airing programming mostly targeting girls and CW targeting boys. Further, by the 2010/2011 season, only four programs regularly aired on CW’s schedule: Sonic X, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, a sequel series, and DBZ Kai. DBZ Kai would remain on Saturday Morning until September 27, 2014, the final Saturday. Even without it being a safe choice for CW to air by being an adaptation of an already popular program, DBZ Kai complimented Yu-Gi-Oh! while also being distinctly its own series. DBZ Kai reflected Yu-Gi-Oh! is not just using a very overt anime style, but also in its conventions involving its portrayal of its protagonist, its antagonists, its use of violence, and its use of friendship, Yet, DBZ Kai also reflected older, traditional 14 The generalizations about Dragonball Z Kai are based on the first four seasons called, “Saiayn Saga,” “Frieza Saga,” “Androids Saga,” and “Cell Saga.” The series has another three seasons, collectively called Dragonball Z Kai: The Final Chapters, finishing the story of Dragonball Z, but they did not air on Saturday Morning and only aired in Japan three years after the final episode of the “Cell Saga” season. 15 Anime News Network, “Japan’s Remastered DBZ to Be Called Dragon Ball Kai,” Anime News Network, 19 February 2009, accessed 27 February 2015, https:// www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-02-19/japan-remastered-dbz-to-becalled-dragon-ball-kai. 16 Anime News Network, “Top-Ranked Nickelodeon Announces Its 2010–11 Season Programming Slate at Annual Upfront Presentation,” Anime News Network, 11 March 2011, accessed 27 February 2015, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2010-03-11/top-ranked-nickelodeon-announces-its-2010-11-season-programmingslate-at-annual-upfront-presentation.

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American cartoons in having an adult protagonist and how its female characters are presented. It should be noted that this is partly because DBZ Kai also reflected older anime as it is the remastered, abridged version of a program that began airing on Japanese television in 1986. However, that fact does not negate how “retro” DBZ Kai appears alongside other programs in 2010 in some respects. At its heart, DBZ Kai is based around the character of Son Goku, who is a simple man, who desires three things in life: a full stomach, his loved ones to be safe, and to be able to train to become stronger. Married and with a young son at the start of the series, he had already saved the world more than once without seeking any sort of fame or reward. Then one day, his brother appears, who he never knew, and tells him he is actually an alien from a destroyed world, the last of four survivors. From this point onward, every conflict of the series is built upon the previous antagonist, unfolding into an ever larger story with ever greater stakes. Even in this basic summary, it is clear that Goku is similar to Yugi. While Goku is uncharacteristically a full-grown adult, his childlike innocence is still a central aspect to his character. Despite the dangers and threats the various villains in the series pose, he looks forward to the challenge, seeking to improve and become stronger through the struggle. However, the character would not simply feel familiar to the audience through his similarities to Yugi, but also to Superman. Superman is also a survivor of a destroyed alien planet, who uses his immense strength to protect his new home world. Yet, there is a key difference between the two. While both fight against villains who normal people would not be able to subdue, Superman is actively seeking them out, patrolling the city of Metropolis like a police officer. Goku does not. The battles come to him and he fights against the villain either because they are personally targeting him like his brother, Raditz, or he has to help because his friends are involved, like in his battle with Frieza. In this way, if Superman is a police officer, Goku is a firefighter. When he is directed to the emergency, he will handle it, but he will not seek it out within the scope of DBZ Kai. His desire to be stronger is not a desire to be able to help more people like it would be with Superman, but a self-interested desire to be stronger for the sake improvement alone. Much like Yugi, Goku is another protagonist who is born under a lucky star, however, to the original Japanese audience this would not have been surprising as his name is the Japanized version of Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, one of the oldest examples of this archetype.

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Like the classical Monkey King, Goku frequently is demonstrated as being able to do things that astonish other characters.17 Raditz explains that Goku was born as a “second class warrior” and because of his “weak power level” was shipped off their home planet to destroy all the life on Earth as an infant.18 The implication that remains unspoken is if he had died, it would have been no loss to his people because he was deemed to be of inferior birth. When Raditz is defeated and dying, he warns Goku that Vegeta and Nappa would come to Earth and boasted that they were more powerful than him. With a single year of training, Goku defeats Nappa easily19 and manages, with assistance, to defeat Vegeta.20 It should have been impossible according to Raditz for him to improve so greatly, but he did. With every villain in the series, Goku and the audience are told that he is too weak to defeat them, but he does so anyway. Unlike Yugi, Ash, and other protagonists of this type, the audience does see Goku train. His status bestows on him great potential, but he does train and suffers to unlock it. However, he is never portrayed as training or suffering more than any other character, yet his progress always outstrips all of his companions. For example, when he trains to fight Vegeta and Nappa, the young American audience watches him chase after a monkey and try to hit a large bug-like creature with a mallet.21 Meanwhile, the other characters—often called the “Z-Soldiers,” collectively by fans—are portrayed as doing more serious and more traditional martial arts training. In the extreme, his young son is shown being brutally trained in full contact sparring matches by an adult character named Piccolo, who is the tallest character in the main cast and is considered Goku’s physical equal at the start of the series.22 Yet, Nappa easily defeats everyone who opposes him, except Goku. 17 Shen Yun Performing Arts, “Journey to the West,” Shen Yun Performing Arts, Unknown, accessed 27 February 2018, http://www.shenyunperformingarts.org/learn/ article/read/item/y3sCsCFkRu4/journey-to-the-west-classic-chinese-literarature.html. 18 Dragonball Z Kai, “The Enemy Is Goku’s Brother?! The Secret of the Mighty Saiyan Warriors!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 24 May 2010. 19 Dragonball Z Kai, “The Power of Kaio-Ken! Goku vs. Vegeta!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 8 June 2010. 20 Dragonball Z Kai, “Defeat the Invincible Vegeta! Work a Miracle, Gohan!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 14 June 2010. 21 Dragonball Z Kai, “The Battle with Ten-Times Gravity! Goku’s Race Against the Clock!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 27 May 2010. 22 Dragonball Z Kai, “The End of Snake Way! King Kai’s Bizarre Test!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 26 May 2010.

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Another similarity between Goku and Yugi consists of them both utilizing the Japanese convention of henshin in order to become more powerful. In the case of Yugi, his henshin transformation takes him from the innocent child persona of Yugi into an adult battle form with an entirely different set of emotions, knowledge, and experiences as Yami. Yugi still exists as a separate being in this form, distinct from Yami. They are not the same person, but share the same body. In DBZ Kai, Goku gains the ability to transform into a battle form where his normally black hair is swept up and turns gold, his eyes turn green, and he is imbued with great power during his struggle with the second major antagonist, the warlord Frieza. The series gives two main criteria for this “Super Saiyan” form; the first is the person must be pushed to immense anger and the second is the person must be pure of heart.23 If a young American viewer only watched Saturday Morning programming, either because they did not have cable or simply did not go out of their way to watch anime, that child might possibly believe that YuGi-Oh! had influenced DBZ Kai in this transformation, especially with the general shape Goku’s transformed hair in comparison with Yugi’s, the gold coloring that is also present in Yugi’s hair, and the fact that it is a mixture of purity and anger. However, it is likely to be the inverse as Goku initially became a Super Saiyan in Japanese media in 1991.24 This is five years before the original manga for Yu-Gi-Oh! was published and seven years before the first anime series. In this way, it is not surprising that DBZ Kai and Yu-Gi-Oh! acted as good schedule neighbors on Saturday Morning when they were likely both influenced by the older series, Dragonball Z. Unlike with Yu-Gi-Oh! where any henshin forms are tied to connections to Millennium Puzzle pieces, the major antagonists of DBZ Kai all have their own inherent henshin forms, but never use them again after being defeated by Goku. Narratively, these villainous henshin transformations act as a way to increase both the duration and tension in the battles by allowing the major antagonists, Vegeta, Frieza, and Cell, to transform and suddenly increase in power and in the threat they pose. Unsurprisingly, DBZ Kai is a series that uses both consequential violence and the risk of character death, but the violence and risk are more 23 Dragonball Z Kai, “No Victory for Android 19! Enter Super Vegeta!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 10 March 2011. 24 Akira Toriyama, “Sei ka Shi Ka,” in Dragonball (chapter 317) (Tokyo: Shueisha, 1991).

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visceral than in Yu-Gi-Oh! because it directly affects the characters through a physical fight and is not effectively mystical backlash from a card game. Also similar to Yu-Gi-Oh!, DBZ Kai sets the tone for its violence very early, within the first three episodes. In these initial three episodes, the audience is introduced to Goku and his friends, who are having a reunion, and Goku’s young son, Gohan. The audience is also introduced to the characters of Piccolo, who is stated to be a character Goku defeated years earlier and still wishes to fight him one more time in order to kill him, and Raditz, Goku’s long-lost brother. Raditz as a character acts merely as a plot device with two particular narrative purposes. The first is to explain to the audience Goku’s origin and the destruction of their home world. The second is to create a scale to judge upcoming threats as he heralds the first major antagonist of the series, Vegeta. Very similar to the first two episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Raditz kidnaps Gohan and tries to force his brother, who he calls his Saiyan name of “Kakarott,” to become a true Saiyan and join him by killing one hundred people or risk Gohan’s death. Goku joins forces with Piccolo to defeat Raditz, like how Yugi eventually joins forces with Kaiba to oppose Pegasus. Raditz is only defeated by Goku restraining him while Piccolo uses a technique that shoots a corkscrew energy blast through both of them that he had initially planned to use against Goku. This kills both Goku and Raditz. In Yu-Gi-Oh!, only Yugi’s grandfather’s soul is stolen. In DBZ Kai, the main character is killed and technically half of an endangered race of people is wiped out.25 However, the series also reveals that Goku’s death would not be permanent as he could be brought back by having a wish granted by the titular Dragonballs since that wish had never been granted before. This fact is important because it foreshadows the concept that if a character had been resurrected by the Dragonballs, the second death would be permanent. If Goku died fighting Vegeta, he would die permanently. This ability to reset deaths gives DBZ Kai a narrative tool to both threaten the deaths of characters and to bring them back. This also seems to free the narrative to be quicker to kill characters in emotional ways, allowing events to eventually work out for Goku and for him to be victorious, but

25 Dragonball Z Kai, “A Life or Death Battle! Goku and Piccolo’s Desperate Attack!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 25 May 2010.

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also for him to suffer brutal losses. In the battle with Vegeta and Nappa, the characters of Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu all oppose the two Saiyans warriors, and out of them Nappa directly or indirectly kills Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Tien, and Piccolo, in that order. Yamcha is killed when a summoned monster called a Saibaman, jumps on his back and explodes after he believes he had won the fight.26 Chiaotzu dies by mimicking that Saibaman, clinging onto Nappa’s back and hoping that causing himself to explode would kill Nappa to protect an injured Tien.27 Tien dies by using a technique that proves fatal to him trying to avenge Chiaotzu.28 Finally, Piccolo is killed by trying to protect Gohan, dying in the boy’s arms.29 This death, in particular, is emotionally painful as Piccolo gains redemption only in his death and the audience learns that he felt bitterly alone and persecuted until Gohan showed him consideration and friendship, but all of the deaths are depicted as tragic losses. These are made worse as the series reminds the audience that these deaths should be permanent as the Dragonballs are tied to Piccolo and with his death, they disappear.30 These are simply the deaths in the first major arc. In the second major arc with the warlord Frieza, Frieza kills Krillin in front of Goku.31 Thus, out of the initial seven fighters in the series, five are killed, six if one wants to include Goku. However, the other five deaths are depicted as irrevocable at the time. Both the viewing audience and the characters within the narrative are left to feel the consequences of the deaths and work under the assumption that they are truly dead until the series later reveals a new way to revive them. In this way, DBZ Kai goes beyond the conventions presented by Yu-Gi-Oh! in regard to powerful, dangerous antagonists and the lack of character safety. While in Yu-GiOh! the threat of character death and failure are ever-present, DBZ Kai 26 Dragonball Z Kai, “Yamcha’s Struggle! The Terrible Saibamen!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 1 June 2010. 27 Dragonball Z Kai, “Sit Tight, Chiaotzu! Tien’s Screaming Tri-Beam!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 2 June 2010. 28 Ibid. 29 Dragonball Z Kai, “Farewell, Piccolo! Goku’s Furious Counterattack!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 7 June 2010. 30 Ibid. 31 Dragonball Z Kai, “Awaken, Legendary Warrior! Goku the Super Saiyan!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 27 November 2010.

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does not hesitate to have a villain kill characters, even Goku, before they are finally defeated. DBZ Kai also uses the convention of antagonist redemption, which is prominent in Yu-Gi-Oh! but is relatively rare in traditional American cartoons before the transition. In Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kaiba and Pegasus are both presented as sympathetic characters after they are defeated by Yugi. In DBZ Kai, redemption is offered to antagonists only after they have been defeated and killed. This convention is demonstrated with Piccolo, who begins the series wishing to kill Goku and then finds redemption in Gohan’s arms after saving the child from certain death.32 However, DBZ Kai never shows Piccolo as a villain. The audience is merely told he is. Piccolo says he developed his “Special Bean Cannon” technique to kill Goku, but he is also ready to put such feelings aside temporarily for the greater good of the world.33 This quick redemption arc for Piccolo may have been constructed to be foreshadowing for the longer redemption arc for Vegeta. Vegeta is introduced as the first major antagonist of the series, but ends the series as one of the central characters in the main cast, fighting alongside Goku. Initially, he is arrogant, proud, and cruel, even killing his own partner, Nappa, when he begs Vegeta for help due to being paralyzed by Goku’s attack.34 Through the killing of Nappa, both Goku and the viewing audience learn that the concepts of compassion, mercy, and weakness are intolerable to Vegeta. Even though killing Nappa reduced the number of Saiyan survivors to exactly two known Saiyans— him and Goku—it is also clear that he would rather be the lone survivor of the Saiyan race than allow any Saiyan to be something that could be considered “pathetic” or “weak.” If this were a traditional American cartoon, that would likely be where his characterization ended, being entirely built upon cruelty and self-delusional arrogance. Yet, after he is defeated on Earth, Goku and Vegeta meet again on an alien planet known as Namek. It is there that both the audience and Goku learn that Vegeta exists in a coerced servitude to the warlord Frieza, who is responsible for the destruction of their planet and the near-complete genocide of the Saiyan race. Vegeta begrudgingly served

32 Dragonball

Z Kai, “Farewell, Piccolo! Goku’s Furious Counterattack!” Z Kai, “A Life or Death Battle! Goku and Piccolo’s Desperate Attack!” 34 Dragonball Z Kai, “The Power of Kaio-Ken! Goku vs. Vegeta!” 33 Dragonball

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Frieza, alongside Nappa and Raditz, since he was a boy. The audience learns his entire motivation is based around becoming the fabled Super Saiyan and thus, becoming powerful enough to defeat Frieza once and for all. In the end, he dies by Frieza’s hand, just as his father was murdered—shot through the heart. The killing is so callous that Goku pauses in mid-battle to bury him and his death strengthens Goku’s resolve to defeat Frieza.35 When Goku begins to falter, he sees a vision of Vegeta, pleading with him: The blood in your veins, that perfect instinct for battle, there’s no denying what you are. Reach down deep. Feel the pain of those of us who fell. Your brethren were all decimated. Your home world lost. Does it not enrage you to stand before the man responsible for driving us to extinction? My father, your father, both gone. Dead. Killed by him. Lord Frieza. You are the last of our kind, Kakarott. Everything we were survives now in only you. He won’t rest until every trace of that has vanished because he’s haunted every day and night by a single, overriding fear, that the legendary Super Saiyan will rise up from the ashes and obliterate him. I dreamt, I yearned to be the one to avenge us, yet he battered and broke me just as he did the others. You cannot know the torment I died in. Unless you’re the one to finish this. We’ll be lost, lost forever to the memory of time.36

It is very difficult to not have sympathy for a character with such a speech. In the visuals, he transforms into a boy to convey how long he lived under the yoke of slavery. It does not forgive Vegeta’s previous actions, but it does bring them into context and gives them far greater justification than Yu-Gi-Oh! provides for Pegasus. While Pegasus mourns the death of his wife, he steals the souls of innocent people in order to force their loved ones to duel so he can try to claim their Millennium Puzzle pieces. Within DBZ Kai, Vegeta’s callous nature is brought about by a life of persecution, slavery, and being a child soldier for his persecutor. This is more the backstory of a tragic figure than a heartless, traditional villain, and Goku makes this fact clear to the viewing audience by taking a moment, even with Frieza in front of him, to bury Vegeta.

35 Dragonball Z Kai, “Defeat Frieza, Goku! The Tears of the Proud Saiyan Prince!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 4 November 2010. 36 Dragonball Z Kai, “Kaio-Ken Times Twenty! An All-Or-Nothing Kamehame-Ha!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 17 November 2010.

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However, DBZ Kai does not entirely forgo using antagonist conventions that are fully in keeping with traditional American fare. Frieza is never given any justification for his actions. He is portrayed as laughing while watching an entire planet explode. He is cruel for the sake of efficiency, threatening his own loyal followers with death if they fail him, and destroying entire races of people out of worry that a fabled legend may rise up to oppose him.37 Frieza’s villainy in the destruction of Saiyan home world is depicted as excessive and needless; if he had not struck the planet, the chain of events that culminated with Goku becoming a Super Saiyan in the first place would not have occurred. Similar to the traditional convention of villains being defeated by their own schemes turning against them, Frieza is undone by his own self-fulfilling prophecy. Even with Vegeta’s death and final plea, Goku does not become a Super Saiyan until Frieza cruelly and needlessly kills Krillin in front of him to emotionally punish him for perceived insolence.38 This action demonstrates another convention it shares with Yu-GiOh! and other series on Saturday Morning like Digimon—the power of friendship and the weaponization of childlike innocence. Goku cannot become a Super Saiyan through sheer force of will, nor can he do so even to grant Vegeta’s dying wish. It is not until he witnesses the death of his best friend that his friendship and purity of heart ignite an anger within him that unleashes the legendary powers of the fabled Super Saiyan. In fact, the power of friendship is how Goku defeats all his opponents in DBZ Kai as he rarely fights alone. Instead, he either physically fights in tandem, such as when Goku and Piccolo battle Raditz or he fights spiritually beside them as he does against Frieza, explicitly for the sake of Krillin and Vegeta. The series shows time and again that Goku can surpass his limits and any foe he encounters, but not without the power of friendship bringing him to these new heights. This is not unlike what is depicted in Yu-Gi-Oh! and Digimon in their final assaults where it is the power of friendship that empowers the innocent protagonists to win the final victory. What is most striking about DBZ Kai when compared with both Yu-Gi-Oh! and other influential Japanese productions that emerged on Saturday Morning and with more traditional American fare that had 37 Dragonball Z Kai, “Dodoria’s Terrifying Chase! A Truth Revealed to Vegeta!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 23 June 2010. 38 Dragonball Z Kai, “Awaken, Legendary Warrior! Goku the Super Saiyan!”

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been mostly displaced by the time of its debut is it its utilization of its female characters. DBZ Kai portrays a very complicated tangle of conventions involving its female characters that resemble both the new and the old. DBZ Kai has three major reoccurring female characters: Bulma, Goku’s longest-known friend, Chichi is Goku’s wife and Gohan’s mother, and Android 18, a lesser antagonist in the build to the third major antagonist of the series, Cell. Out of the three, within the scope of DBZ Kai, only Android 18 is portrayed as a combatant like the male characters. While nothing in the series explicitly states that a female character cannot be a powerful combatant and equal to any of the male Z-Soldiers, not a single female character is portrayed as an equal combatant, except Android 18. However, she does not appear until late in the series and is the product of a mad scientist who turned her into a living weapon. Her actual violence in the series is also very limited, as she is very quickly swayed away from being a living weapon after developing a romantic crush on Krillin,39 and then being captured and absorbed into Cell.40 The fact the narrative tells the audience that outside intervention is the root of her martial prowess, she very quickly gains romantic feelings for one of the male characters and then needs to be rescued from the major antagonist of the arc balances, if not mitigates, any progress her being a powerful martial artist proposes. It stands in stark contrast to the other programs following MMPR’s portrayal of their female characters as equal to the male characters without qualifications for their competency. Of the two female characters that are present from the beginning of the series, Chichi follows traditional conventions entirely. Her two main character traits are that she wishes Goku was a better husband and provider for the family and that she is overprotective of her son. Her entire character revolves around her roles as wife and mother. She has no outside motivation beyond the men in her life, she has no areas of interest outside of their care, and she is often depicted near their home, unless she has to go care for them in another location. Bulma, however, is more interesting in regards to female character conventions within DBZ Kai. Compared to even the weakest male character, Bulma is far weaker physically and cannot participate in any fight 39 Dragonball Z Kai, “A Sweet Face and Super Power? Android 18 vs. Vegeta!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 2 June 2011. 40 Dragonball Z Kai, “The Battle Turns for the Worst! Cell Attacks Android 18!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 4 August 2011.

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to any degree. In this way, she is entirely inferior to all the male characters. When she is near a battle, she is a liability to the Z-Soldiers and needs to protected, if not rescued. However, the characters themselves do not treat her as inferior and rarely shrug her off like the Ghostbusters do with Janine when she asks them to remove the ghosts from her apartment.41 Instead, the male characters often go to her for help because she is most intelligent character in the series and is coded as such with her blue hair. If a problem needs to be solved through intelligence or technology, she is the one the characters turn to, just like Jade is in Jackie Chan Adventures (see Chapter 5). Despite being the physically weakest of the main cast of characters, it is Bulma who acts as leader when she, Krillin, and Gohan go to Namek to see if there is a second set of Dragonballs that can be used to bring back their dead friends due to her ability to fly the spaceship and her the material resources needed for the trip.42 She is also not depicted as weak-willed or squeamish. After the battle with Vegeta, it is Bulma who gathers the bodies and places them in coffins, including the body of her first love and boyfriend, Yamcha.43 She is a character who is depicted as an intelligent, resourceful leader, who is strong-willed and steps up when necessary, despite the fact she has no ability to fight. She is a character that exists between the two conventions: She is not equal to the male characters since she is incapable of fighting any villain, but she is treated with equal respect by the male characters within the narrative due to her abilities outside of combat. While DBZ Kai shares many conventions with traditional American cartoons in its use of an older male protagonist, its limited use of female characters in the central cast, and even the use of some animal characters in the background, it presents storylines that would likely have been considered unacceptable as traditional Saturday Morning content. This is most notable in the plot involving the character, Trunks, a time traveler from a doomed future sent to the past to try to prevent his time from happening. He is the son of Bulma and Vegeta, but not some distant son, born years after the series would end, when his parents 41 “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster,” The Real Ghostbusters. DVD. Written by Michael Reaves (29 September 1987; Pueblo, CO: Time Life Entertainment, 29 September 2009). 42 Dragonball Z Kai, “The Ship Resting in Yunzabit! Time to Blast Off for Planet Namek!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 16 June 2010. 43 Dragonball Z Kai, “Dawn of a Fierce Battle! The Star of Hope Is Piccolo’s Homeland!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 15 June 2010.

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are happily married and his father is redeemed. He is born within the series and Bulma carries him as an infant in her arms when Android 18 is introduced. The series presents a story where a female character has a sexual fling with someone who still wants to kill the protagonist and conceives a child out of wedlock. The other Z-Soldiers assume the baby is Yamcha’s when they first see him and Yamcha has to deny it, though he is also clearly upset about the child’s parentage.44 While the relationship between Bulma and Vegeta happens mostly off screen, if this series had aired in 1991 on Saturday Morning, parent groups would likely have condemned it, not only for its violence but for storylines like this. Yet, by 2010, programming on Saturday Morning had shifted enough that there was no outcry and no moral peril. DBZ Kai simply blended into the Saturday Morning landscape, reflecting both Yu-Gi-Oh! and possibly even feeling nostalgic to some as it drew upon themes and conventions used by far more traditional American series, despite being a remaster of one of the most influential anime in recent memory.

Teen Titans45 Teen Titans also acted as a good neighbor to Yu-Gi-Oh! for very similar reasons as DBZ Kai. Teen Titans is an American production that draws from conventions from earlier periods of Saturday Morning, but also reflects Yu-Gi-Oh! in its visual styling, its favoring of child characters, and its use of the power of friendship. Teen Titans debuted on Saturday Morning in spring 2004, after being a success on Cartoon Network since July 2003. Much like DBZ Kai, Teen Titans was not a risky program to broadcast, as it was already a popular program with children and in 2004 was nominated for two Annie Awards for its music and story.46 When it joined Saturday Morning, there was a still a mix of American and Japanese productions, but much of the American productions were either superhero programs or anime influenced action-adventures such as Jackie Chan Adventures. Teen Titans proved to be both. 44 Dragonball Z Kai, “Undetectable Monsters! The Androids Appear!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 3 March 2011. 45 The generalizations about Teen Titans are based on the entirety of its series that consists of five seasons. 46 IMDb, “Annie Awards—2004 Awards,” IMDb, Unknown, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000032/2004/1/.

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The central plot of Teen Titans is five DC Comics’ characters named Robin, Beastboy, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire join together in a team called the Teen Titans. From their T-shaped headquarters, they live together and fight both villains who would sporadically attack and two main antagonists: a mercenary named, Slade, and a demon named, Trigon. Robin was the most well-known of the five central characters at the time, and likely even today, due to his history as Batman’s sidekick. However, in Teen Titans, he acts as leader of the team, using the skills he learned from Batman to be a hero without his mentor’s help. All the characters are depicted as young, but they are also presented without any adult supervision. Robin’s presence in the series indicates that a greater world of adult heroes exists, but the Teen Titans never seek their assistance. The problems they face are theirs alone, which unites the series to programs like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, Pokémon, and even Big Bad Beetleborgs where the fate of the world, or at least the solution to the problem, rests in the hands of children, even though adults exist. This stands in sharp contrast to earlier American cartoons where a child protagonist would at least have an adult mentor present to guide them, especially when the program was meant for young children. In an interview in 2004, Glen Murakami, the producer and character designer, stated: It was really important to me that little kids watching it could identify with characters. And I thought that the minute you start giving them secret identities then kids couldn’t project themselves onto the characters anymore. And that was important to me. I know it’s kind of important to have secret identities and stuff like that but we wanted everything to be really, really, iconic. Like, “Oh, there’s the robot guy. There’s the alien girl. There’s the witch girl. There’s the shape-changing boy.”47

What is most interesting about the development of the program was that it strove to ensure young children could identify with the series and the characters. Even though it was meant for younger American children in 2003 and 2004, they approached this task by utilizing a visual style that made it appear more like an anime than even Jackie Chan Adventures. In the same interview, Murakami states more than once that the anime 47 Nightwing, “Drawing Inspiration,” Titanstower.com, 30 June 2012, accessed 27 February 2015, http://www.titanstower.com/drawing-inspiration/.

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art style was utilized in order to make the character designs look “modern”—explicitly with the lesser villain character, Jinx.48 The series even had its theme song alternate between English lyrics and Japanese lyrics every other episode. Yet, the series went beyond just character designs and the theme song in how it resembled anime. It also used anime’s visual shorthand such an oversized sweat drops to convey dismay or embarrassment or the characters falling down with their feet in the air to convey extreme shock. These are visual cues from anime, but the program was meant for young American children. It was assumed that these children would understand these visual cues and if they had not already internalized them from elsewhere, they would adapt quickly. Instead of appearing foreign by including these visual cues, it made it further blend in with American television at the time. Teen Titans has a relatively strict continuity in the sense that there is an overarching story line and episodes that are directly involved in it cannot be shuffled, but within the same season there are one-off episodes involving unrelated villains or character focused episodes that can be shuffled without narrative incoherence. As is the case with the other programs on Saturday Morning that did not utilize the traditional episodic format, this use of a sequential continuity is adopted to produce lasting narrative effects, both for the lessons learned by the heroes and for the consequences of the violence administered by the villains. Despite this, the series has a light-hearted air about it, where there is rarely blood and the main characters are rarely gravely injured. Both the characters and the world they live in are brightly colored and the Teen Titans’ interactions with each other are often filled with humor. However, much like in MMPR, this acts as a veneer for the fact that the characters are not safe and that they are not always able to succeed in saving everyone. This is most notable in the storyline involving the character of Terra, a heroine who has the ability to control earthquakes. The Teen Titans quickly accept Terra as a fellow hero and friend. Beastboy, depicted as the youngest of the Titans and a light-hearted jokester, grows closest to Terra, even beginning to have a crush on her. It is then revealed that she is in league with Slade, a villain who has terrorized and stymied the Titans for most of the series. Slade is able to control her through mental commands and has her fight them. The battle

48 Ibid.

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is emotional for the Titans—Terra is their friend but also is in league with Slade and yet clearly being controlled. It is even more emotional for Terra, who finally overcomes the mind control through the power of the friendship she shares with the Titans. Slade is made to retreat but due to the intensity of the battle, she must stay behind to quell the aftermath of the use of her earthquake powers or the city outside will be destroyed. Robin: Terra’s power! It’s triggered a volcano! Cyborg: Big enough to take out the whole city and way too big to stop! Raven: We have to get out of here. Beastboy: Terra… *grabs her* C’mon, we gotta get out of here. Terra: *resigned, with eyes downcast*: I have to stay. Beastboy: No… Terra: I’m the only one who can stop it. Beastboy: Please, Terra! It’s too late. Terra: *pushes away the one bang that was obscuring part of her face, a visual cue of her full redemption*: It’s never too late. *Terra and Beastboy embrace. Her eyes begin to tear*: You were the best friend I ever had. Beastboy: *backs away, watching her sacrifice*.49

There is no way to save Terra and she dies a hero’s death, sacrificing herself for her friends and the civilians who never knew her. Her sacrifice is made overtly clear in the final moments of the episode when the Titans go to where she has been petrified in her sacrificial death, laying flowers at her feet and saying goodbye to their lost comrade. The final visual of the episode is a close up of the base of her grave with her name and the words “True Titan, True Friend” written on it. The plot with Terra, the final sequence of her redemption, and her sacrifice is a very emotional and dark plot for a series aimed at young children. The heroes not only fail to save her, but she must die in order to save them. Yet, the whole plot is purposefully crafted to create this emotional response to her betrayal-redemption-sacrificial death because it is not present in the original source material for the character. The character of Terra comes from the Teen Titans comic titled

49 “Aftershock, Part 2,” Teen Titans. DVD. Written by Amy Wolfram (21 August 2004; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 8 July 2008).

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“Judas Contract” from the 1980s. In it, Terra does join the Titans and betrays them to Slade—called Deathstroke. However, she has no feelings of friendship for the Titans in the original story. She is simply fooling them; her affections are for Deathstroke alone. There is no redemption for Terra; in contrast, she is upset that Deathstroke does not destroy the Titans when he has the chance. There are no sacrificial deaths the Titans cannot prevent; Robin—with some outside assistance—saves the other Titans in the normal heroic fashion. Terra is a villain who enjoys evil for evil’s sake in the original story.50 The outline of the storyline is maintained but all aspects of her character are changed to create a story about a villainous redemption and a sacrificial death. In a moment of narrative convergence on Saturday Morning, much like DBZ Kai and probably Yu-Gi-Oh!, Teen Titans alludes to being influenced by Dragonball Z. The writers of Teen Titans seemingly used Terra’s death as homage to the sacrificial death of Vegeta, after his own betrayal and surrender to an evil master in order to fight Goku one last time in the second half of the series. Just like Terra, Vegeta manages to free himself from mental domination and sacrifices himself for the sake of those he loves to attempt to save the world that is threatened by the direct result of his actions and power. Both Terra and Vegeta forfeit their lives in a pillar of glowing yellow light, shouting to the sky, and then become stone statues in death.51 There is every reason to believe the producers were making this homage because later, the character of Slade also surrenders to a dark master for the sake of power and has a symbol placed on his forehead; in the same way, a symbol was placed on Vegeta’s when he makes his own pact.52 One reference to Dragonball Z could have been considered a coincidence but when it occurs twice in a series already so heavily influenced by anime it becomes less likely. However, this use of Terra and her corruption and redemption within Teen Titans is also reminiscent of the corruption and redemption of the Green Ranger years earlier in MMPR.

50 Marv Wolfman and George Perez, The Judas Contract the New Teen Titans (New York: DC Comics, 1988). 51 “Akumu Futatabi! Ikiteita Majin Buu,” Dragonball Z. DVD. Produced by Kouzou Morishita (31 August 1994 [JP]; Flower Mound, TX: Funimation, 5 July 2011). 52 “The Prophecy,” Teen Titans. DVD. Written by Tom Pugsley and Greg Klein (4 June 2005; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 8 July 2008).

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For the most part, the use of antagonists in the series is reminiscent of MMPR with its combined use comical antagonists that are not depicted as actual threats like Bulk and Skull and major villains who are dangerous and purely evil like Lord Zedd and Rita Repula. In Teen Titans, the major villains of Slade and Trigon are depicted as true threats as can be seen within Terra’s plot, and no justifications are given for their cruel and callous actions. Neither Slade nor Trigon are offered any tragic explanation for their cruelty. Slade is simply a masked adult who is focused on the destruction of the Titans. Trigon is Raven’s father, but also a demon who intends to use her as a key to enter the mortal world on her birthday and destroy it.53 Lesser villains such as the H.I.V.E. Five, who are depicted as the same age as the Teen Titans, are afforded a reason for their villainy, such as going to a villain school, and are depicted as not entirely evil, like Jinx, who assists the Titans in fighting a greater threat in the Brotherhood of Evil.54 All of this is far more reminiscent to MMPR than either traditional American cartoons or Yu-Gi-Oh!. Where Teen Titans does share conventions with Yu-Gi-Oh! is that the Titans fight against these truly evil foes through the power of friendship, but even with this, it is more comparable to Digimon’s application of the convention. Whenever one character finds themselves in trouble, it is the deep friendship shared by the entire team that unites them together to face the problem as one. It happens when Robin has to face the mysterious person who has stolen his Red X super suit.55 It happens when Starfire has to fight against her jealous and villainous sister throughout the series. When Cyborg is transported to an alternative dimension, he is not lost forever because of his friends’ intervention.56 It is the driving force for the final plot arc as the Titans face Raven’s father in order to change her fate and the fate of the world. It is not obedience to Robin’s role as leader that binds the team together nor does their friendship empower only him, but their friendship unites and empowers them as a 53 “Birthmark,” Teen Titans. DVD. Written by David Slack (5 February 2005; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 8 July 2008). 54 “Titans Together,” Teen Titans. DVD. Written by Rob Hoegee (14 January 2006; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 8 July 2008). 55 “X,” Teen Titans. DVD. Written by David Slack (4 September 2004; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 8 July 2008). 56 “Cyborg the Barbarian,” Teen Titans. DVD. Written by Richard Elliot and Simon Racioppa (12 February 2005; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 8 July 2008).

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group and brings them their victories in a very similar way as it does in Digimon. This is not surprising that friendship and teamwork are lauded as this show initially targeted a slightly younger audience, but this is surprising compared with how friendship was depicted traditionally to young boys in the past. Whereas in the traditional cartoons, friendship acted as a means to bind the characters as a community and restrain negativity, Teen Titans follows the Japanese conventions and demonstrates friendship as the primary weapon of the team and their surest means of victory. In Teen Titans, is it a source of power that is greater than any power any individual member possesses. It is a subtle difference but an important one. Teen Titans also mirrors Digimon and MMPR in its use of the Power Ranger Ratio. Starfire and Raven can be placed into the roles of girly girl and tough girl, respectively. However, even within these roles, there are more nuances given to them than just these delineations. Starfire’s friendly and emotional personality is not equated in the series with her gender but with her alien race. Also, Starfire may be the physically strongest member of the team. Likewise, while Raven is the less traditionally feminine of the two female characters, she is not entirely removed from emotion. The series makes it clear that she holds her friends at a distance because she believes they will die when her father destroys the world and it will be her fault. Her emotional distance is to guard her own heart. Moreover, neither character is used as solely a romantic love interest for any of the male characters. Crushes are hinted at between Starfire and Robin and Beastboy and Raven but the boys’ pursuit of the girls is never made the primary purpose of these characters. In this way, the two do not just act as “female characters” but “well rounded characters that happen to be female,” a definite progression from earlier cartoons. Where the series acts as a callback to traditional conventions is in its protagonist. While the series can be considered an ensemble show with episodes highlighting each of the Titans, Robin acts as both leader and the main character in a majority of the episodes. Yet Robin does not succeed by brute force, nor is he depicted as being born under a lucky star. Like traditional male protagonists, he is a character whose strength is his intelligence, his cunning, and his preparation. Out of the five central characters, this point is made even clearer as he is the only one without superpowers, but his teammates continue to follow him and defer to his judgment in battle. He is also not depicted as being born simply

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better than his teammates like Ash, Yugi or Goku, with some hidden potential that merely needs to be unlocked by particular circumstances. Rather the audience likely knows he was Batman’s sidekick through their own cultural capital and through this, recognizes that Robin’s abilities come from hard work and studying under his mentor. If anything, he is born with less potential than his teammates due to his lack of powers, but his hard work, determination, and cunning helps him bridge the gap between them. This is in sharp contrast to protagonists born under a lucky star. Instead, it is entirely rooted in traditional American protagonist conventions. Teen Titans acted as another attempt by an American company to produce a program that would be popular with their young viewers by adopting many of the Japanese conventions that became commonplace on Saturday Morning and throughout children’s media. For five seasons, the series proved successful in this regard and it spawned a TV movie, as well as a spin-off series Teen Titans Go (2013), which gained its own Hollywood film released in the summer of 2018. It did this while appearing even more like an anime than Jackie Chan Adventures had with its theme song, its visual styling, as well as its conventions involving the use of antagonists, violence, friendship, and female characters. It is only with its protagonist where it differed from the programming aired around it and reflected a more traditional sensibility in an otherwise entirely modern and anime influenced program.

Final Thoughts About This Period of Saturday Morning However, even with Teen Titan’s critical acclaim, it would disappear from Saturday Morning to give way for more anime on the WB/CW schedule. If a parent or child from 1992, just before the debut of MMPR, was transported twenty years in the future, they would not recognize what the American institution had become. Saturday Morning had once acculturated young Americans from coast to coast, uniting children regardless of ethnic, racial, or immigration background with a common popular media culture rooted in American traditions, moral lessons, and ideological assumptions, while also striving to have the most popular programs for the children’s demographic in order to sell related toys and other products. By 2011, not a single American produced program would air for another year, yet Yu-Gi-Oh! remained a cornerstone of Saturday

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Morning as it had for over a decade. For all purposes, Yu-Gi-Oh! had become the anchor program on Saturday Morning for a child waking up to watch cartoons and may have aired on Saturday Morning for the entirety of their lives. When some American content did return in 2012, much like Teen Titans, they would be superhero programs that followed Japanese conventions.

CHAPTER 7

The Final Years of Saturday Morning

When American content reemerged on Saturday Morning after the Japanese singularity of 2011, it followed two particular caveats. The first was that it was generally superhero cartoons, the easiest domestic genre that could reflect the various fighting anime that had grown to dominate the schedule. This had been the American genre that the networks had used in conjunction with Japanese content from the beginning. The second was that it would conform to the model set by Yu-Gi-Oh! and its predecessors. The Saturday Morning schedule had become so hybridized with Japanese cultural influence, that anime’s once unique styling and narrative conventions became relative in comparison with the whole, and the assertion of scholars like Cooper-Chen and Straubhaar that audiences favor content that reflect their cultural sensibilities is brought into greater focus as American cultural sensibilities had shifted. Due to this increased hybridity of the schedule in its final years, Saturday Morning acted as a way for other foreign cartoons, in particular Tai Chi Chasers from South Korea, to appear entirely ordinary. Meanwhile, opposite to how Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR) and Pokémon first debuted and had to resonate to some degree with American content in order to blend in with their schedule neighbors, now American content had to blend in with their Japanese counterparts on Saturday Morning. This is particularly true with the programs of Justice League Unlimited (2004), The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008), and Iron Man: Armored Adventures (2012) that almost act as spectrum of conformity. © The Author(s) 2019 G. O’Melia, Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3_7

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Tai Chi Chasers1 Despite being a Korean series, nothing in Tai Chi Chasers would especially alert the majority of the American audience that the series was not originally a Japanese anime. To describe the plot and general format of Tai Chi Chasers is not especially difficult when other programs can be drawn on for comparison. The series is composed of two main plots that eventually intersect. The first of these plots revolves around the main male protagonist, Rai, who was enjoying his idyllic life with his mother, his school friends, and his talent of being good at anything he chose to pursue. This life ends however, when Luka, a Dragonoid villain, seemingly kills his mother a day before her birthday in front of him. Distraught, confused, and angry, Rai is taken from his home and planet by a group of young Tigernoids, who have been attempting to recruit as many Tigernoids they find in their travels to gather all the scattered Tai Chi symbol cards. They then travel together and attempt to become a team, searching for the lost Tai Chi symbol cards that will allow them to unlock seemingly magical powers. In this way, this first plot is very similar to Pokémon and especially Yu-Gi-Oh!, where they must travel to collect all the Tai Chi cards and then battle with the powers the cards unlock. The second plot focuses on a conflict between the Tigernoids and the Dragonoids, two races of supernatural people. The Tigernoids and the Dragonoids were once at peace, sharing the power of the Tai Chi symbols until the Dragonoids grew militaristic and wished to conquer the Tigernoids. Some characters on either side of the conflict possess great longing to see not only peace but also mutual harmony. Yet, this peace seems an impossible dream as hatred and racism have infected both sides of the conflict at its highest, bureaucratic levels. This part of the plot would have been less familiar to the young audience, but it would also give the series a point of difference to prevent it from simply appearing as a “Yu-Gi-Oh! rip-off.” Rai, the main male protagonist, is definitely born under a lucky star, reflecting other series that became popular on Saturday Morning in its use of this archetype. Considering its surface similarities with Yu-Gi-Oh! this should not be surprising, but the series does present this convention with 1 The generalizations about Tai Chi Chasers are based on the first two seasons of its series that aired on Saturday Morning. The third season was not aired on Saturday Morning due to not being officially imported.

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slight variation from the established norm. Very quickly, Rai is shown to be more proficient with wielding the Tai Chi symbols in a shorter amount of time than the other “Chasers” and eventually promoted to Co-Captain of the team due to how many times he saves their lives. However, unlike how in the Japanese anime on Saturday Morning, the universe is not constructed to defer to him. The Chasers do not defer to him like Yugi’s or Ash’s friends do in their respective quests. Even the quest is not his own. Rai accompanies the other Chasers on their quest; the idea of him having a definite special destiny connected to this quest does not appear until the final episode that was aired in the United States. This stands in contrast to Ash in Pokémon who goes out to be the “World’s Greatest Pokémon Trainer” or Yugi trying to save his grandfather’s soul or even Goku becoming more powerful and how the series shows them outpacing everyone else around them in their pursuits due to some unique potential. Even with the plot in Digimon, the DigiDestined’s destiny was the central plot of the series. In contrast, Rai does not join the Chasers to fulfill his destiny but because he has nothing else in his life. His mother was seemingly killed and they offered to take him with them. He agrees to join them in hopes of avenging his mother. Rai being born under a lucky star assists him in this decision, but does not direct it. The story accepts him into it, instead of being focused around him. Intertwined with this variation, Tai Chi Chasers continues with the convention of competent, integrated female characters. Although there are only three reoccurring female characters for the majority of the series, Sena, Jahara and Komorka, all of them are depicted as competent in their skills, sound in their reasoning, and worthy of respect. None of them are depicted as being created simply to be paired with one of the male characters, even though romances are teased at times. Sena, especially, is depicted as competent, acting as Captain of the Chasers and holding authority over even Rai until he is promoted to “Co-Captain” half way through the series. Throughout the series, she acts almost as his handler. When he loses his temper, she tells him to calm down. When he is about to make a mistake, she stops him right before he follows through with his action. She is depicted as an equal to him in standing, even though Rai is superior to everyone in his mastery of Tai Chi. In this way, his superior mastery of Tai Chi is not of supreme importance in the narrative because, while he may have mastery over Tai Chi, he does not have mastery over himself. Sena has to make sure he does not lose himself to impulsiveness or anger.

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The use of antagonists within the series proves to be more complicated than in many other Saturday Morning programs because the series is rooted in a war narrative, despite its clear resemblance with YuGi-Oh! in its use of card-based battles. While the narrative makes clear that the Dragonoids were the party at fault for the initial hostilities, the Tigernoid Counsel is not depicted as an entirely innocent party. For the entire series, Rai fights alongside the Tigernoids, using their particular Tai Chi powers, opposing the Dragonoids consistently, and even transforming into a form that has tiger stripes. All of this is put in question in the twenty-fifth episode of the series where he is handed a Dragonoid Tai Chi card by a masked figure and by using it reveals that he is half-Dragonoid.2 Simply being half-Dragonoid/half-Tigernoid causes the Counsel to arrest, imprison, and sentence him to petrification. He is declared guilty of treason via racial discrimination. Elder Pyron: You have been found guilty of espionage and have been sentenced to petrification. Rai: I told you I’m not a spy! I haven’t done anything wrong! What’s it matter if I am part Dragonoid? Is that some kind of a crime? Elder Pyron: Yes. Joining the forces of Tigernoid and Dragonoid endangers the balance of our universe. Even if you had committed no crime, you existence violates the laws of our world.3

The other Chasers disagree with this sentence and assist in his escape. For the American audience, this escape is the end of the series as the third season was never officially imported, leaving the series on a point where his friends rebuke the biased standards of their society and judge Rai based on his actions, not on his genetic makeup. The introduction of General Mishka, the second General of the Dragonoids, furthers this use of more complicated antagonistic relationships. He is introduced as a replacement for General Vicious, who is removed for his failure to defeat the Chasers. General Mishka has learned from Vicious’ departure and meets his own followers’ failures with abrupt violence and torture. Unlike other Saturday Morning

2 Tai 3 Tai

Chi Chasers, “Out of Character,” Hulu, 22:00, 28 April 2012. Chi Chasers, “Gate to Destiny,” Hulu, 22:00, 5 May 2012.

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series, both American and Japanese, where underlings accept the head villain’s violence as normal discipline, the Dragonoids recognize this is out of place and wrong. They sympathize and even express concern to each other whenever one of them faces General Mishka’s wrath, allowing these Dragonoids to be both antagonists and relatable characters for the audience. The series also subtly follows the convention of the power of childlike innocence. It is very noticeable that before the introduction of General Mishka, who is depicted as a youth, the only children are Tigernoids. All the Dragonoid warriors are depicted as adults. The entire Tigernoid Counsel are also adults. Yet, the Chasers, entrusted with the task to find the lost Tai Chi symbols and battle the Dragonoids, are all children. What is implied in Tai Chi Chasers is the notion made explicit in Digimon, that due to the purity of heart and innocence of children, they are superior to more compromised adults in a conflict against the forces of evil. Unsurprisingly, considering Rai’s motivation and the fact that it is rooted in a war narrative, Tai Chi Chasers utilizes the convention of consequential violence. It is also unsurprising because the more a series utilized the conventions of childlike innocence and power of friendship, the darker the series seemed to be on Saturday Morning. This series does not hold the hands of their younger viewers. In the very first episode, Rai’s mother is seemingly killed in an explosion due to Luka attacking her; leaving Rai orphaned a day before his mother’s birthday. He does not join the Chasers because it is the noble thing to do. He joins them because he knows if he does he will meet Luka again and he wishes for revenge. He also has nowhere to go. His mother is dead and his house is destroyed.4 Despite the fact that the series is brightly colored and the main protagonists are all children, the violence and despair of the first episode sets the tone for the series. This level of violence is even more extreme than what is depicted in Yu-Gi-Oh!. In the beginning of YuGi-Oh!, Yugi’s grandfather’s soul is stolen and Yugi sets out to retrieve it. In the beginning of Tai Chi Chasers, Rai’s mother is seemingly killed in front of him. There is no quest he can go on to bring her back to life. The best he can do is seek revenge. This darker tone continues all the way to where the series concludes for the American audience—the threat of Rai’s petrification.

4 Tai

Chi Chasers, “An Amazing Discovery,” Hulu, 22:00, 17 September 2011.

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Due to the series being Korean and not actually an anime it could act as a case study for not only Japan’s influence on American popular culture but on Korean popular culture with its choice of conventions. Tai Chi Chasers’ uses similar animation styling and visual cues as Japanese anime, including the visual cues such as the oversized sweat drops to convey dismay or embarrassment. It also makes homages to anime that the American audience were generally either lukewarm to or were entirely unfamiliar with. This is clearest in the character of General Mishka. He is depicted as a younger Char Aznable from the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, one of the most famous and recognizable anime characters in Japan, but from a series that was not particularly popular with Americans when it aired on Cartoon Network (see Chapter 8). The series also follows the visual conventions such as the character of Luka being depicted with white hair, thus being a mysterious, dangerous character that is not quite what he seems. What is most intriguing about the clear amount of Japanese influence in Tai Chi Chasers is the series uses it to construct a story that acts as a metaphor for South Korean/Japanese relations where the Tigernoids are metaphors for South Korea and the Dragonoids are metaphors for Japan. The White Tiger and the Azure Dragon are originally Chinese cardinal symbols, but used throughout China, Korea, and Japan as symbols for west and east, respectively. South Korean mythology ties the White Tiger to Korea, but even without the mythology, Korea is west of Japan, making it the Tiger. Japan is not only east of Korea but heavily tied to the imagery of the dragon. The series continues with the metaphor by making the Dragonoid the initial aggressors, just as Japan was the initial aggressor in the modern tensions between itself and Korea with its unapologetic imperialist past. Yet it is not a propaganda-based metaphor, but one that is deeply rooted in complicated reality. After all, the main protagonist Rai is both Tigernoid and Dragonoid, so in this metaphor he would be half-Korean and half-Japanese, facing racial discrimination that almost results in his death by the Tigernoids and thus, the Korean government. This is met with resistance by the other children, the innocent, pure of heart heroes of the story. In all these ways, Tai Chi Chasers blends in well with the American content that remerged, not just in the conventions it shares with them, but with the fact that it tries to use these conventions to construct a cartoon that reflects its own culture, not dissimilar to how Teen Titans did.

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Justice League Unlimited5 Justice League Unlimited likewise channeled these new conventions to present an American story to the young audience. Originally airing from 2004 to 2006 on Cartoon Network as a sequel to a series named Justice League that aired from 2001 to 2004, it was a contemporary with Teen Titans. Meant for an older audience than Teen Titans, both Justice League and Justice League Unlimited acted as a continuation of the narrative continuity begun in Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series (Superman TAS). The series follows a dual approach to continuity, where there is a strict ongoing plot in regard to the storyline involving the villains Luthor and Darkseid, the two major villain antagonists from Superman TAS, but these episodes are interrupted by episodes involving different villains, and other character-driven episodes focused on one or a group of superheroes. However, even with these one-off episodes, events and consequences carry over to the series as a whole, so while some of them can be watched out of order, there may be continuity incoherence if scrambled too much. In regard to protagonist conventions, Justice League Unlimited again follows a hybrid approach by not having a single, true protagonist. Despite the fact that Luthor and Darkseid act as major antagonists in the series, Superman is not the central protagonist and neither are the central members of the Justice League—Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Hawk Girl. Instead, the series tries to give equal importance to a larger cast of characters, using characters that would not normally be protagonists. This is especially notable in an episode like “Grudge Match,” where the villain Roulette, with the help of Luthor and his Legion of Doom, manages to mind control a number of heroines to fight in an underground fighting arena for profit. One of the heroines captured is Wonder Woman, but she is used as a threat against Huntress and Black Canary, fellow heroines on the Justice League with her, who act as the main protagonists of the episode.6 In this way, the series is able to use a collection of protagonists, alternating between characters who have trained and worked hard for their powers like Batman or Huntress, 5 The generalizations about Justice League Unlimited are based on the entirety of its series that consists of three seasons. 6 Justice League Unlimited, “Grudge Match,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 11 March 2006.

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those who are more comedic with their abilities like the Flash, and those who transform into a battle form after being chosen for his innocence like Captain Marvel. This is in contrast to the traditional conventions that would have set the protagonist as a cunning white male for each episode. It should not be surprising in a series that has an episode where a female villain is opposed by a team of heroines, that it furthers the convention of competent female characters. While each character has a different set of powers, no heroine is shown to be any less competent in their role as a superhero due to their gender, nor is there any particular episode like in Real Ghostbusters, where the central purpose of the plot is the absurdity of one of the heroines entering into combat.7 Within “Grudge Match,” there are no caveats that it is strange or unbecoming for the characters to be fighting because they are female. The episode could have been written with male characters without altering the plot conceit of them having to fight each other in an underground fighting ring. This ubiquitous inclusion of multiple female characters and the demonstration of their equality are particularly striking since in Super Friends (1973), which also featured the Justice League, the only regular adult female hero was Wonder Woman. Further, when Justice League Unlimited introduces romantic storylines, it follows the example of MMPR by having the female character often be the one pursuing the male character. When a Wonder Woman/ Batman relationship is teased, it is Wonder Woman who pursues him.8 When Huntress and Question begin their relationship, while Question is depicted as having a crush on her, it is Huntress who pursues him when she realizes he would be open to it. Huntress is explicitly put into the traditionally masculine role to initialize the relationship just as Kimberly is in MMPR. The fact that Huntress is placed in the traditional masculine role in the relationship is highlighted throughout the series, but especially comically when she calls Question on the phone:

7 “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster,” The Real Ghostbusters. DVD. Written by Michael Reaves (29 September 1987; Pueblo, CO: Time Life Entertainment, 29 September 2009). 8 Justice League Unlimited, “The Little Piggy,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 28 August 2004.

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Huntress: So, what are you wearing? Question: Blue overcoat. Fedora. Huntress: … You really stink at this. Question: Orange socks?9

It is a gag meant for slightly older audience members and made innocent for the younger ones by Question’s missing the point as he focuses on his investigation. Still, within it, the series presents Huntress as the more sexually assertive of the pair. These portrayals run counter to the traditional conventions of female character acting in supporting roles either in the guise of mother or girlfriend. In the latter case, they are traditionally often treated as an accessory and a passive reward for the male character. Instead, Justice League Unlimited leans into MMPR’s depiction of using female characters that became prevalent on Saturday Morning. In doing so, Justice League Unlimited, and its immediate predecessor Justice League, brings to question the commonly understood belief that boys would reject a show as “too girly” if it had too many female characters or focused too much on relationships. Both series spend a considerable amount of time presenting characters furthering their relationships, even going out on dates, for an animated show about superheroes. As the series follows in the same continuity as Superman TAS, the violence continues to have consequences and the characters continue to not be safe and are liable to fail. Sometimes the villains simply achieve their goals and the heroes are made to face that fact. The most dramatic of these heroic failures in the series is likely in the episode called “Clash.” In it, Captain Marvel, a character who is actually a ten-year-old boy named Billy Batson with the power to transform into an adult with superpowers by a wizard due to his pure heart, is welcomed to the Justice League by Superman, his idol. However, the two come into conflict as Superman is blinded by his distrust of Luthor, who has built a city for low-income residents for the purpose of manipulating Superman. In order to provoke Superman, Luthor designs the city’s power system to appear as a bomb with a countdown timer. Falling for the ploy, Superman refuses to listen to Captain Marvel to give the known villain the benefit of the doubt and a battle erupts between the two, demolishing the city entirely. It is only in the midst of the wreckage that Superman comes to realize there is no bomb.

9 Justice

League Unlimited, “Grudge Match.”

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However, that is not the total extent of the failure. At the end of the episode, Captain Marvel addresses the entire Justice League: Superman: Look, Captain, I wanna… Captain Marvel: No more lectures. I called this meeting, and I’m gonna have my say. Superman: But… Captain Marvel: My whole life, I’ve looked up to the League. You were my heroes. Every one of you. And you… you were more than a hero. I idolized you. I wanted to be you. Whenever I was out there facing down the bad guys, I’d think, “What would Superman do?” Now I know. I believe in fair play. I believe in taking people at their word and giving them the benefit of the doubt. Back home, I’ve come up against my share of pretty nasty bad guys, but I never had to act the way they did to win a fight. I always found another way. I… I guess I’m saying I-I like being a hero, a symbol, and that’s why I’m… quitting the Justice League. You don’t act like heroes any more. *Captain Marvel leaves.* Superman: He’s right.10

The heroes are faced with the fact that they lost their way and Superman, known for fighting for truth, justice and the American Way, has not only acted in a way unbefitting a hero, corrupted by his constant struggle against villainy, but has been condemned for it by an innocent child. The idea of Superman being condemned by another character for not being the paragon of heroism and a villain benefiting from the consequences of that failure would have been entirely out of place in a more traditional rendition like Super Friends (1973). The series also adopts, or rather continues to utilize, the convention of dangerous, powerful villains that has already been documented in Superman TAS (see Chapter 4). However, it takes its depiction of villainous antagonists a step further and allows for villains who had previously been depicted as purely evil to gain nuance in their villainy, short of outright redemption. This is most evident in the character of Lex Luthor. In Superman TAS, he was evil for the sake of profit and his own self-interest, not even bothering to turn around and help his own assistant and

10 Justice

League Unlimited, “Clash,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 11 June 2005.

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chauffeur who had come to rescue him when he casually could.11 In contrast, in the finale of Justice League Unlimited, it is not the Justice League that save the world, but Luthor. However, this is not purely an act of redemption. Luthor makes it clear to the heroes that he is fulfilling his own agenda of seeking revenge on Darkseid. Voluntarily and freely, Luthor sacrifices himself to save the world and strips Darkseid of his victory in an act of spite, and at the end of the episode, the heroes are left to decipher what Luthor did. Martian Manhunter: In many ways, Lex Luthor represents the worse mankind has to offer. Superman: But he died saving us all.12

Justice League Unlimited does not offer him some sympathetic reason for his evil, but it does show moral complexity within a morally bankrupt character that would not have been portrayed in a traditional cartoon. It was not even shown in Superman TAS a decade earlier, but reflects Yu-Gi-Oh! and its peers in the final years of Saturday Morning, casting Luthor in the role of a lieutenant villain to the greater antagonist of Darkseid (For more on “lieutenant villains,” see Chapter 6 and this chapter.)

The Spectacular Spider-Man13 The Spectacular Spider-Man also aired in the final years of Saturday Morning, although it had initially been developed in 2008 and only had twenty-six episodes due to the shifting of the rights of the Spider-Man intellectual property.14 Much like Justice League Unlimited, it is another American superhero program that adapted the conventions prevalent within children’s media at the time to present an American story for its 11 Ghost

in the Machine, Superman TAS. League, “Destroyer,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 13 May 2006. 13 The generalizations about The Spectacular Spider-Man are based on the entirety of its series that consists of two seasons. 14 Eric Goldman, “Sony No Longer Producing Spectacular Spider-Man; Studio Loses Spidey TV Rights,” IGN.com, 1 September 2009, accessed 1 July 2018, https:// www.ign.com/articles/2009/09/02/sony-no-longer-producing-spectacular-spiderman-studio-loses-spidey-tv-rights. 12 Justice

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young audience. This was not the first Spider-Man cartoon that aired on Saturday Morning. Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994) aired in the 1990s, co-produced by Sabin Entertainment, the producers of MMPR. While Spider-Man: The Animated Series incorporated the conventions of consequential violence and the heroes not always succeeding like many American action-adventure cartoons did after MMPR’s popularity, The Spectacular Spider-Man further conforms to the newer conventions. The narrative of The Spectacular Spider-Man revolves around the character of Peter Parker, who begins the series already possessing the powers of Spider-Man, having to balance being a junior in high school, living with his Aunt May, and doing battle with an ever-increasing number of villains who want to kill him. The continuity in the series is incredibly strict, where even small events in the previous episode have major effects in episodes later. This is most notable in the episode “Interaction,” where the villain Electro electrifies an experimental serum,15 causing it to mutate a scientist named Dr. Connors into a lizard-human hybrid an episode later.16 This same event is referenced in the following season as Kraven the Hunter, another villain, becomes a mutated feline-human hybrid through the same process of electrifying an experimental serum.17 The series also uses an anime-inspired art style that stands in stark contrast to earlier depictions of the characters, even in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994). At first glance, the series seems to return to the traditional convention of a cunning, humorous white male protagonist, who uses his wits and reverses the violence of his foes in order to save the day. Peter routinely cracks jokes while fighting against of his villains, creates ingenious schemes such as selling photos of Spider-Man to the local paper that he takes himself, and leaves his opponents tied up for the police to find in positions and scenarios they would not be in if not for attacking him. All of this could be in a series from the late 1980s and be aired alongside a classic Looney Tunes short or between Real Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987). In all reality, it would be difficult to have 15 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Interactions,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 8 May 2008. 16 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Natural Selection,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 15 March 2008. 17 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Destructive Testing,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 18, January 2009.

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Peter Parker/Spider-Man not be witty and not make jokes while deflecting the blows of his enemies without dramatically changing the core of his character. Despite this, the series uses this more traditional protagonist to engage in consequential violence without the benefit of character safety. Not only is Peter portrayed as being injured due to his fights, but even as he jokes throughout them, the battles are depicted as life and death. This most notably occurs in the death of the Green Goblin. Not only does the battle result in the villain’s death, but Peter is made to face the serious consequences of this battle at the Green Goblin’s funeral as he stands beside his friend, Harry, the Green Goblin’s son.18 The series also adds to this traditional protagonist depiction in two ways that conform to the more utilized newer conventions. The first of these is his youth. Peter and the rest of his central supporting cast are drawn and voiced as very young, even younger than their age as juniors in high school. Beyond the young visual appearance of all the characters, even the depiction of Spider-Man in high school is an intriguing choice for the showrunners. While it is relatively common knowledge that Spider-Man gained his powers in high school, he did not remain in high school long in the original comics. Out of the five hundred and forty-nine issues that were published at the initial debut of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Peter Parker was only depicted in high school in twenty-eight of them, less than five percent of the entirety of the character’s existence.19 Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994) depicted the character in college, which is far more in keeping with his comic portrayal.20 Even the Sami Raimi films, immediately preceding the The Spectacular Spider-Man, used an actor in his late twenties and then early thirties to depict Peter Parker, not a teenager.21 However, Peter Parker in The Spectacular Spider-Man being young is reflective of the favoring of the child status that was initially introduced with Pokémon, made explicit in Digimon, and then continued in Yu-Gi-Oh!. This stands in contrast to 18 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Final Curtain,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 18 March 2009. 19 Stan Lee (w), Steve Ditko (p), “The Molten Man!” The Amazing Spider-Man #28 (1965), Marvel Comics [Marvel Digital Comics]. 20 Spider-Man: The Animated Series, “Night of the Lizard,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 19 November 1994. 21 Spider-Man 3, directed by Sami Raimi, performed by Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Topher Grace, Columbia Pictures Corporation, 2007. Film.

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more traditional depictions and even Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994) that depicts Peter as a slightly older hero that the young audience could desire to emulate as they grew. The Spectacular Spider-Man also uses the convention of the power of friendship that often dovetails with the convention of the favored child status. Yet, the series presents the power of friendship with variation; it is not presented as a demonstration of Peter’s innocence, but still acts as source of his power. This is explicitly done in the season one finale, “Nature vs. Nurture,” where Peter mentally subdues an alien symbiote that sought to bond with him by conveying to the symbiote that the creature is unnecessary because Peter has friends. The feeling of warmth and strength from this revelation drives the symbiote away from Peter and allows him to safely capture it.22 The series also plays with this convention by portraying that Peter’s occasional lack of consideration for his friends creates his greatest foes. This is explicitly the overarching story of the first season between Peter Parker and Eddie Brock, who turns into the murderous villain, Venom, with the help of the alien symbiote. In the first episode, Eddie and Peter are childhood friends, deeply connected through the deaths of their parents, and Eddie even refers to Peter as his “bro.”23 It is Venom sarcastically calling Spider-Man “bro” that makes Peter realizes who Venom is under his dark, monstrous visage.24 Unlike in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994) where Eddie Brock is immediately depicted as an unlikable extortionist who has no connection with or love for Peter Parker, this Eddie Brock is portrayed as a good, hard-working young man, who wants only the best for Peter at first.25 It is Peter’s series of betrayals of Eddie’s trust that poisons the friendship and Eddie snaps and falls prey to the corrupting influence of the symbiote to become Venom because he blames both Spider-Man and Peter for costing him his job.26 All of this is both a twist on the power of friendship convention and a further

22 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Nature vs. Nurture.” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 14 June 2008. 23 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Survival of the Fittest,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 1 March 2008. 24 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Nature vs. Nurture.” 25 Spider-Man: The Animated Series, “Night of the Lizard.” 26 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Nature vs. Nurture.”

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reinforcement of the presentation of dangerous, but more complicated, villains. In regard to female characters, the series has three main female characters, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and Liv Allen, outside of Aunt May, who explicitly acts in the role of Peter’s guardian. All three characters are depicted as fellow students with Peter in high school, and all three are depicted as possible love interests for Peter at different points in the series. However, unlike where the entirety of their character might have revolved either around being an accessory to Peter, without much individual characterization for them, or an object of his affection for him to win, each of the three is presented with their unique agenda and agency when it comes to Peter. Gwen and Liv, the first two initially introduced, are almost presented within the Power Ranger Ratio with Liv being a cheerleader, more focused on stereotypically feminine activities like fashion, and Gwen, who while not physically tough like Trini, is depicted as hanging out with Peter and Harry as their peer from the beginning. Mary Jane is presented not especially desiring to be with any particular male character, going to the Fall Formal with Peter because it was arranged by his aunt,27 and then later going out on a date with Eddie, until she realizes Eddie only asked her to hurt Peter, who had developed a crush on her.28 According to her voice actress, Vanessa Marshal, Mary Jane’s key trait is that she is “an independent thinker, that she’s not concerned with what the people around her think, which is an uncommon trait in teenage girls. There’s a distinct confidence about her that I try to emulate.”29 This is most often accomplished by having Mary Jane act as a voice of reason for Peter. Like on Saved by the Bell, it would be unrealistic for the series about high school to not have relationships, yet the series transforms how relationship stories are normally told to young boys. This is best demonstrated in the arc with Liv Allen and her changing feelings toward Peter. At first, as a cheerleader, she is dating a member of the football team 27 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Catalysts,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 26 April 2008. 28 The Spectacular Spider-Man, “Group Therapy,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 31 May 2008. 29 Major Spoilers, “Vanessa Marshall Brings Mary Jane Watson to Life,” Major Spoilers, 25 April 2008, accessed 1 July 2018, http://majorspoilers.com/2008/04/25/ vanessa-marshall-brings-mary-jane-watson-to-life/.

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and wants nothing to do with Peter because he is a “geek,” which is stereotypical in high school stories. Peter, true to the general rubric of this sort of story, wants to date her, despite seemingly having no chance. However, as the series continues, Liv begins to recognize Peter more as a human being and someone she wants to be around, becoming more open-minded and tolerant in the process. When they finally date, this should have been a victory for Peter in a more traditional story, but instead Peter spends almost an entire season within this relationship wondering if it is what he actually wants. In the final episode, he comes to grips with his own feelings and realizes dating Liv is not what he wants, despite her being popular and attractive. Yet, even as Peter seeks to break up with her, he shows great care toward her feelings because he wants to remain friends.30 While it is impossible to know for certain, if this series had continued, it is likely that the character of Liv Allen would have continued to be an important part of the series, unlike the various female characters Zack tries to date in Saved by the Bell before he dates Kelly. Those characters existed solely to be short-term love interests for Zack and then when it was over disappeared, which was not uncommon in more traditional programs. Regardless, this is another series that brings to question the common belief that boys would reject a program with too much focus on romance as being “for girls.”

Iron Man: Armored Adventures31 While The Spectacular Spider-Man had justification for why Peter and the rest of the cast were in high school due to the source material, Iron Man: Armored Adventures simply chose to utilize the convention of favoring the child status as popularized by Pokémon and Digimon without any precedent. The protagonist, Tony Stark, has appeared in a number of series before this and is normally depicted as a brilliant adult inventor and owner of a multi-million dollar company, even having facial hair, which is relatively uncommon for good characters in American cartoons. Yet, in this series, he is sixteen years old.32 The computer-generated 30 The

Spectacular Spider-Man, “Final Curtain.” generalizations about Iron Man: Armored Adventures are based on the entirety of its series that consists of two seasons. 32 Shelly, “All Versions of Tony Stark—From Iron Man Movies & Cartoons (1866– 2017),” YouTube, 1:07, 8 June 2017, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=f9MQlFa0g0w. 31 The

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animation is anime inspired with large, expressive eyes that also makes the central cast of Tony and his friends, Rhodey and Pepper, appear younger than their stated ages. The series’ plot is centered on Tony, using a mechanized suit he built, becoming Iron Man in order to prove his assumption that Obadiah Stane orchestrated the plane crash that killed Tony’s father and allowed Stane to take over his father’s company to run per his own nefarious vision until Tony comes of age. However, the series is not as simple as this as the agendas and storylines of other antagonists overlap creating an interwoven narrative web that may very well form the most complicated series aired on Saturday Morning, and within this web, it conforms to almost every major convention that emerged due to the influence of MMPR/Pokémon/Yu-Gi-Oh!. Tony acts as a near perfect blend of the traditional convention of the male protagonist relying on his cunning and wits to oppose his adversaries with the new convention of a simpler protagonist that seeks to do good because it is the right thing to do with abilities he has done very little to acquire and by the power his friends bestow upon him. In every media, Tony is always depicted as a genius, who uses his intellect to build various mechanized suits to do battle, and in this series, he is no different. He even makes jokes, but generally self-deprecatingly, usually about how a villain or situation proves more difficult than he expected. However, while in other cartoons, one can assume that some of Tony’s genius was honed in school and through intense study, this series makes it clear it was not. Tony is simply a genius from his youth, with reoccurring assertions that he helped design half the technology in Stark Industries, despite only being sixteen when the series begins. He is simply born better. His friends are also his strength. Rhodey, his AfricanAmerican male friend, who is also technically his foster-brother after the plane accident, is always there to support him, while Pepper, his female friend, is there to keep Tony true and grounded. Both of them also act as support for Tony in battle at times with Rhodey and Pepper eventually receiving their own mechanized suits. It is his knowledge of their shared friendship that allows him to escape the virtual reality prison the villainous Controller captures him in. His deep friendship with Rhodey is even enough for Rhodey to shake off the Controller’s mind control, causing the villain mental backlash in one episode.33

33 Iron Man: Armored Adventures, “Control-Alt-Delete,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 4 April 2012.

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While the series presents a hybrid protagonist with Tony, it entirely utilizes the conventions of consequential violence, the hero being unsafe, and dangerous, nuanced villains that often coincide together. This is best expressed with the character of Obadiah Stane. Stane is a ruthless man who seeks to make profit from weapons of war. In the very first episode, the audience is presented a scene where Tony’s father is killed and Tony nearly dies in a plane crash that results in him requiring an experimental device in his heart that often needs to be recharged to remain alive. Similar to Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball Z Kai, and Tai Chi Chasers, the series is quick to present the possibility of death and goes further by giving Tony a lasting physical wound—his injured heart. For much of the series, it is assumed that Stane orchestrated the plane accident to make him Acting CEO to do as he pleases, but he was not the one responsible34 and even tried to assist immediately after the crash.35 Stane is also depicted as a man who is willing to do anything to save his daughter, but is entirely disinterested in the particulars of her life and belittles her abilities.36 He is a character that is dangerous and cruel, but far more nuanced than even Luthor from the original Superman TAS or Justice League Unlimited. Further, Stane is not the only villain in the series that is presented as a well-developed character, with some of them having agendas and vendettas entirely outside of Iron Man, such as Blizzard’s feud with Stane.37 The series would also continue with the convention of presenting the female characters as not being meant to be exclusively maternal or love interests and as equally competent to their male counterparts. Pepper appears in nearly every episode and is not excluded from entering into combat alongside Tony, though Rhodey does accompany Tony sooner.38 However, Pepper is depicted as being explicitly potentially equal to Tony in her mechanized armor as the scene of her learning how to fly

34 Iron Man: Armored Adventures, “Tales of Suspense, Part 2,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 28 November 2009. 35 Iron Man: Armored Adventures, “Best Served Cold,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 20 November 2009. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid. 38 Iron Man: Armored Adventures, “Tales of Suspense, Part 2.”

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mirrors Tony’s own first attempts.39 Additionally, at no point does Tony or Rhodey question her abilities due to her gender, nor does the series make implications that it is odd that she is accompanying them. Her receiving a suit acts a completion of the trio, not as an anomaly. Much like with Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane, Pepper and Tony’s interactions are particularly intriguing because the audience may know that in the comics and in the movies, Pepper Potts is Tony Stark’s love interest. This is teased in the series, but their romantic teenage tension is not made explicit until the final episode when Pepper tries to express her feelings to Tony, only for him to kiss her on the cheek and wordlessly express that he feels the same way.40 Yet, in this action, it is also clear that at some point he recognized his own feelings, but did not act on them or do anything that could interrupt the friendship he had with her. Like with Huntress, Gwen, and all the way back with Kimberly in MMPR, Pepper has to initiate the possible romance.

Final Thoughts About This Period of Saturday Morning Justice League Unlimited, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Iron Man: Armored Adventures in a particular way tell the tale of the final years of Saturday Morning, as well as the story of Saturday Morning since the transition. The intellectual properties of Superman, Spider-Man, and Iron Man had been part of Saturday Morning off and on throughout its history and with each iteration revealed the ongoing progression of cultural expression. By the late 2000s, these characters returned using the conventions that had been introduced and normalized by Japanese anime and blended in with the foreign imports. These three series with their iconic American heroes emerged to tell stories that were either entirely new or expressed in new ways. They were more comparable to Tai Chi Chasers, a program imported from South Korea, than with their own 1960s/1970s counterparts. To appear differently would have made these American programs look out of place on Saturday Morning in the final decade, and especially in the final years of the American institution. 39 Iron Man: Armored Adventures, “Doomsday,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 13 November 2012. 40 Iron Man: Armored Adventures, “The Makluan Invasion Part 2: Unite!” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 3 July 2012.

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At this point, Susan Napier’s findings in 2001 from adult anime fans about how they enjoyed anime over American cartoons because of how different and complicated it was falls out of the equation.41 An adult asked that same questions in 2014 would have been hard-pressed to say that American Saturday Morning cartoons were overly different and not as complicated as anime¸ especially Iron Man: Armored Adventures. Even Anne Allison’s idea of anime acting like a particular “brand,” where it was anime’s structural difference, not its origin, that defined it in the minds of American children no longer especially reflected the situation, at least on Saturday Morning, by 2014.42 The point of difference was so minimal in many cases that the only truly notable difference was the country of origin. American programs that did not conform to these new, anime norms fell out of rotation, no longer resonating with an audience that had grown to expect something different than what their parents and grandparents had grown up watching, and Japanese programs like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, and Dragonball Z entered the American consciousness as cultural touchstones for the generations of the transition. The definition of what a Saturday Morning cartoon was had transformed and the transition that began in 1993 with MMPR was complete.

41 Susan J. Napier, Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 249. 42 Anne Allison, Millennial Monsters (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 277.

CHAPTER 8

Aftermath, Legacies, and Conclusions

October 4, 2014. It was the first weekend in fifty years that no Saturday Morning programming aired in the United States. CW, the final holdout of the networks, aired the final installment of their Vortexx block of Saturday Morning programming on September 27, 2014, concluding the five-decadelong American cultural institution with an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. The following week, Vortexx was replaced with the three hour One Magnificent Morning block that aimed to conform to all the regulations of the FCC’s Children’s Educational Television Act, namely having three hours of regularly scheduled programming that aired between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. and had the “educational and informational needs of children as a significant purpose.”1 The primary purpose of the One Magnificent Morning block was not to be must-see television for young Americans, but to comply with the government mandate in order to free the rest of the schedule for popular and profitable content. This can be seen clearly in the fact that in 2017, the block consisted of This Old House: Trade School, Brain Games: Family Edition, and Dog Whisperer with Ceasar Millan: Family Edition.2 1 Federal Communications Commission, “Children’s Educational Television,” Federal Communications Commission, 6 November 2017, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.fcc. gov/consumers/guides/childrens-educational-television. 2 TV News Desk, “The CW Announces Fall 2016 ONE MAGNIFICENT MORNING Saturday Line-Up,” Broadway World, 30 August 2016, accessed 1 July 2018,

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There are a number of factors that led to the decline of Saturday Morning that brought all the broadcasting networks to choose to use their Saturday Morning hours for different purposes besides children’s entertainment. As far back as 2003, reporters and observers noted that a decline in ratings had begun, citing a combination of the growing access to cable channels and a rise in the divorce rate in the United States.3 With greater access to cartoons throughout the week from cable and with Saturdays being essential family time for divorced parents, spending three to four hours watching cartoons in the morning became less essential to American children. Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and even YouTube made the necessity of dedicating one’s Saturday Morning to watching cartoons anachronistic. That same child could watch whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. This lack of guaranteed viewership made the timeslot less attractive to advertisers of children’s products. With the dual pillars of the Saturday Morning block eroding, it made perfect business sense for the networks to use that time to air programming that fulfilled FCC regulations. However, even with Saturday Morning gone, its influence and legacy, including the Japanese transformation of the institution, continue to affect children’s programming.

Toonami: Collaborator and Possible Successor In 2003, the same year observers began to predict the decline of Saturday Morning, the creative director of action franchising for Cartoon Network commented, “Japanese anime has entered a renaissance. […] You can see anime’s impact in all sorts of new programs being made in the States […] You can see it in the increasing detail of the storylines and the drawing and development of the characters.”4 Saturday Morning helped bring about this renaissance, giving Japanese content both the https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/The-CW-Announces-Fall-2017-OneMagnificent-Morning-Saturday-Morning-Line-Up-20170913. 3 Gerard Raiti, “The Disappearance of Saturday Morning,” Animation World Network, 30 April 2003, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.awn.com/animationworld/ disappearance-saturday-morning 4 Anthony Faiola, “We’re Playing Their Toons,” Washington Post, 6 December 2004, accessed 1 July 2018, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A384412004Dec5.html.

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platform and the credibility to be accepted in mainstream popular culture, no longer merely as a niche product. The gradual introduction of Japanese content acclimated the young viewers so the cultural transition from Looney Tunes to Yu-Gi-Oh! was smooth enough that instead of rejecting it, Yugi was competing with “Bugs Bunny and Scooby-Doo for children’s affections, not to mention for lunchboxes, covers and space on toy shelves.”5 However, while Saturday Morning may have been the means to mainstream respectability and integration, Cartoon Network and its Toonami block interacted with Saturday Morning, further encouraged the transformation, and after 2014 may very well act as its spiritual successor. The Toonami programming block debuted on Cartoon Network on Monday, March 17, 1997, to replace an afternoon block of programming that was considered ineffective. Mike Lazzo, Sean Akins, and Jason DeMarco came up with the name “Toonami” and were successful in raising the ratings, but not dramatically, by airing programs like Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984), Thundercats (1985), The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (1996), and a program called, Cartoon Roulette, that presented random episodes of the action-oriented Hanna-Barbera cartoons or the public domain Fleischer Superman cartoons. However, for over a year, the continuation of Toonami was approved weekly and the team felt constrained by what programs they had access to air. However, in 1999, everything changed. DeMarco recounts: USA Network had it [Sailor Moon], and the rights expired and whoever was programming at the time said “You guys want Sailor Moon because it’s available,” and we were like “Yeah!” Dragon Ball Z was something that Sean and I both knew we wanted. But it was Sean that pushed really hard for Dragon Ball Z. By that time Toonami was becoming a thing, so Bandai took notice and came to us and said “We’re looking to launch Gundam in the United States. We have this new Gundam show, we think it would be perfect to be the launchpad. Are you guys interested?” and we said “Hell yeah.” That’s the way it is now—it’s still a mix of opportunities that come along, or us pushing for something because we like it or fans want it.6

5 Ibid. 6 Elijah Watson, “The Oral History of Cartoon Network’s Toonami,” COMPLEX, 21 March 2017, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2017/03/ oral-history-of-toonami.

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It was with the introduction of these three programs, Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and Gundam Wing, that cemented the block’s popularity. Unlike with Saturday Morning, where the networks were generally careful to present programs that were considered safe investments, the Toonami team had the freedom to curate their block with any programming that could acquire the airing rights to that they thought were “cool” and then see if the audience did as well. DeMarco noted that they acquired Dragonball Z’s rights when Pokémon had become a cultural phenomenon. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR) and Pokémon’s popularity and the legitimacy they provided anime likely encouraged some American children to give these programs a chance. All three programs proved incredibly successful with American audiences and with these successes Americans were introduced to three different anime genres that were not represented on Saturday Morning in 1999. With Dragonball Z, American audiences were introduced to one of the most influential tournament fighting anime for boys in history, codifying many of the conventions within the genre, including those used by YuGi-Oh!. With Sailor Moon, American audiences were introduced to one of the most influential “magical girl” anime for girls in history. Finally, with Gundam Wing, they were introduced to a streamlined adaptation of the sprawling timeline of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, one of the most influential mecha anime of all time that created a sub-genre where the robots are weapons and not intelligent opponents against the forces of evil like in the original Voltron or Beast King GoLion. Toonami continued to expand to include “The Midnight Run,” a Saturday evening block where they showed five hours of generally uncut anime. It is especially with The Midnight Run where Toonami applied their agenda of curating content for the audience and seeing what was popular. This was not done in the gradual and reactive method as seen on Saturday Morning, allowing series like Tenchi Muyo! and Tenchi Universe, two harem comedies that use the same characters but have entirely different stories and continuities, to find some popularity and exposure on the schedule. Either series would have likely never found its way to Saturday Morning with the central premise of the Tenchi Franchise being a group of women vying for a teenage boy’s affection, while being aimed at the Japanese boys’ demographic. It would have seemed too risky for the networks with their preconceived notions of what young American boys were willing to watch, and airing both of them would likely have been avoided to prevent confusion. In contrast, Toonami aired an additional third version called Tenchi in Tokyo.

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Yet, for every niche success like the Tenchi franchise, Toonami also aired shows that failed and removed them from the schedule. A notable example of this is a series titled Pilot Candidate, a mecha anime, with a cast of young characters, in theory, similar to Gundam Wing in construction. The audience did not agree, finding a show about characters learning how to fly their giant robots and still not being very capable of it after thirteen episodes, along with random misogyny from one the characters. It, thus, disappeared from the schedule. These successes and failures both supported FOX and WB’s decisions to air more anime on their schedules, as there was empirical evidence of the content being popular on the weekdays and on Saturday evenings, and added to the normalizing effect already in progress with the popularity of MMPR and Pokémon. In 1999, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article describing Dragonball Z as “a sort of Pokémon meets ‘Pulp Fiction.’”7 DeMarco and the rest of the Toonami team realized that the article existing meant they were having an impact.8 While the Wall Street Journal’s description is not entirely correct as Dragonball Z is nothing like a combination of Pokémon and Pulp Fiction, if they had described Yu-Gi-Oh!, which would begin its ascent not long after the article, as “Pokémon meets Dragonball Z” that they would have been far more accurate. Toonami did not just help the normalization process of anime and possibly make Yu-Gi-Oh! even more familiar to the millions of American children who were watching Dragonball Z on Cartoon Network, but for a short time, Toonami and Kids’ WB! merged to form a weekday block of programming called “Kids’ WB Toonami” due to a business merger that moved the operational duties of WB to Turner Broadcasting. From 2001 to 2002, in affiliate regions that used Kids’ WB Toonami programming, Saturday Morning WB programs aired alongside programs form Cartoon Network’s Toonami schedule, along with shows that had initially failed like Cardcaptors. It did not last long and Toonami returned to being an exclusive brand for Cartoon Network, but for that single year, some American children who might not have had cable television or

7 Sally Beatty, “Violent Japanese Cartoon Show Draws Kids’ Eyes, Parents’ Scorn,” The Wall Street Journal, 3 December 1999, accessed 1 July 2018, https://www.wsj.com/ articles/SB944175764782972840. 8 Watson, “The Oral History of Cartoon Network’s Toonami.”

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even simply lacked Cartoon Network were exposed to other anime with the legitimizing influence of airing beside Pokémon.9 Toonami was canceled by Cartoon Network in 2009, but on April 1, 2012, for a special April’s Fools event, the block returned for one night with all its branding, including its iconic commercial bumpers with the robot host of Toonami, T.O.M., on his spaceship, the Absolution, and the computerized projection, S.A.R.A., and aired classic Midnight Run content like Dragonball Z, Gundam Wing, and Tenchi Muyo! It should be noted that it was not canceled because Cartoon Network had felt anime had run its course. In fact, this “prank” aired after a regularly scheduled episode of the anime series Bleach. Ratings had simply declined for the block as a whole, like many television shows and televised programming blocks did in 2009 and continue to do so today. However, after the “prank” Cartoon Network asked the audience that if they wanted Toonami to return to let them know on Twitter. The response was overwhelming and #BringBackToonami became a trending topic. The block returned on May 26, 2018, in its Midnight Run format on Saturday evenings.10 As of this writing, it continues to air, continuing with its original agenda of curating anime for the American audience, but now knowing that nothing aired will be entirely unknown to everyone in the audience as was the case in its earlier years. Yet, in this current form, it may be the successor to Saturday Morning in spirit. Due to its timeslot, it will not attract a large amount of advertisers, and due to its content, it probably will not spawn the next major Christmas toy or card game like MMPR, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! did, but it is an institution that may unite younger generations of Americans together. DeMarco commented that he was once told by someone, “Hey, I used to watch Toonami with my older brother and then he went away to war, and now he’s back and we watch it together with our families.”11 Saturday Morning had been an institution where siblings could bond, and parents could show their children the same content they grew up watching. While Toonami does not always show the exact same programs, the branding, the Toonamispecific characters like T.O.M., and the presentation of new anime for the viewer to try may fill in that cultural gap. We will have to wait and see. 9 Lily Oei, “Kids’ WB, Cartoon Net get closer,” Variety, 13 March 2002, accessed 1 July 2018, https://variety.com/2002/tv/news/kids-wb-cartoon-net-get-closer-1117863887/. 10 Watson, “The Oral History of Cartoon Network’s Toonami.” 11 Ibid.

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Complexity in Children’s Media and the Benefit of Saturday Morning’s Gradual Introduction Susan Napier noted in Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke, while researching the desirability of anime by teenagers that it was anime’s complexity, with its nuanced characters and consecutive storytelling that made it feel different to teenagers and young adults than traditional American fare.12 It is a finding that was also found by television executives’ researching the sudden but sustained popularity of programs like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! in 2004. Not just teenagers, but children found anime to be more complex and the characters more emotionally compelling.13 Often this is used as an explanation of the rise of anime’s popularity. However, Saturday Morning brings more nuance to this hypothesis, since while showing a single child a complicated anime like Digimon or Yu-Gi-Oh! may intrigue that particular child, it is clear the mainstreaming effect of Saturday Morning coupled by the careful presentation of series that resonated with the children at each interval was integral to this “anime renaissance” and its effects that remain with American media today. Both this necessity for cultural resonance and for gradual integration can be clearly demonstrated with Gundam Wing. In March 2000, after a single week, Gundam Wing was beating both Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon, long-standing favorites on Toonami, by a substantial margin in all age categories and was the number one program on all of Cartoon Network for the teenage age bracket.14 Gundam Wing is effectively a retelling and an adaptation of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and Char’s Counterattack, which is often considered the beginning and end of the Universal Century timeline within the Gundam fandom. The basic plot of the series is that one teenage male pilot from five different colonies is given a robotic vehicle called a Gundam to fight a guerilla war for the liberty of the colonies against the United Earth Sphere Alliance (UESA), centered on Earth. However, political intrigue also bubbles beneath the USEA’s surface as 12 Susan J. Napier, Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 249. 13 Faiola, “We’re Playing Their Toons.” 14 Anime News Network, “Gundam Wing Ratings,” Anime News Network, 15 March 2000, accessed 8 July 2018, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2000-03-15/ gundam-wing-ratings.

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Treize Khushrenada and his OZ faction, including Lucrezia Noin and Zechs Merquise, seeks control of the USEA. Zechs Merquise is secretly an exiled prince from the Sanc Kingdom, destroyed by the USEA years earlier, and acts as a member of OZ to eventually avenge his home. The teenage pilots, Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, and Chang Wufei, never actually appear together in a scene, but because all of them are Gundam pilots, they act as a five-person team opposing an evil force with the aid of large robotic vehicles, reminiscent to MMPR. Each boy has their own unique personality as well as his own unique Gundam, allowing the audience to have their favorite, while rooting for the origin narrative of the United States— freedom fighters seeking to liberate their colonies from perceived despotism. The audience also has the storyline involving the adults of OZ that they could latch onto, especially that of Zechs, which is remarkably similar to Vegeta—another prince serving in the military of the power that destroyed his kingdom, only Zech is depicted as noble, caring, and ultimately successful in his revenge.15 It is easy to see why Gundam Wing proved successful with the American audience, as it reflected shows that may have shaped the viewers’ childhood in MMPR and shows that were still immediately popular with Dragonball Z, while also touching on their national identity. Gundam Wing is by far the most influential of the Gundam franchise in North America, which is striking as it was not overly well received in Japan.16 The Japanese favored the original Mobile Suit Gundam and the story that followed it, and yet when Americans were presented the same series, they did not. Mobile Suit Gundam did not even finish its initial run on Toonami, being pulled three episodes before completion.17 It should not be surprising, however, that it was rejected. Not only did the American audience see Gundam Wing first and thus would compare the original with its inferior animation to the newer series, but also in some cases mistakenly felt the original was actually a “rip off,” where Char 15 Mobile

Suit Gundam Wing, “The Treize Assassination,” Hulu, 22:00, 15 March 2000. Black, “13 Things You Need to Know About Mobile Suit Gundam Wing,” SCREENRANT, 15 June 2016, accessed 8 July 2018, https://screenrant.com/ unknown-facts-mobile-suit-gundam-wing/. 17 Kyle Pope, “Edit List Special—Cartoon Network Interview,” Anime News Network, 4 March 2002, accessed 8 July 2018, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ edit-list/2002-03-04/cartoon-network-interview. 16 Todd

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Anzable was an imitation of Zechs and Amuro Ray a whiny, reluctant alternative to the stoic, mission-oriented Heero, and not the reverse. The series also did not especially resonate as well with the American audience. Mobile Suit Gundam’s Principality of Zeon is cast as the villains of the series, but they are the colonies fighting for independence. It is the Zabi family that ruled Zeon after murdering Char’s family, sending the prince into exile, only for him to return under a mask to join the Zeon Military to seek revenge.18 Char is the most popular character from the series in Japan, winning most popular character in the Japanese magazine Animage’s poll in 1980 and becoming a focus of the franchise after the original series.19 In the series, he eventually gains his revenge and takes over a doomed Zeon that will never be free. Thus, the side the American audience would culturally be drawn to is cast as the villains, and if they believe that this would change with Char’s revenge, they are wrong. It is not as satisfying of a narrative to American sensibilities, made bitterer by the fact that it is less fun. Gundam Wing rewards the audience with spectacle and victorious battles; all the characters gain a victory a fan can enjoy. Mobile Suit Gundam is a series meant to depict the horrors of war and how cheap life is during it, often introducing characters with names and backstories, only to kill them within the same episode. Each episode ends with the tagline, “Who will survive?” It is a series that reflects the cultural psyche of the Japanese people who had gone from a militaristic empire to a defeated, pacified nation, but it did not reflect the American psyche, nor did it draw upon any media touchstones for the audience to grasp onto besides Gundam Wing. However, the rise of Gundam Wing not only shows concretely how the same story can succeed by having greater cultural resonance and reflecting other popular media, but it also shows how those building blocks were not in place before 1994. This can be asserted because from 1993 to 1994 a series called Exosquad was produced by an American company for an American audience but referenced the same Mobile Suit Gundam story and was even presented as “American Anime.” The showrunners recognized the problems with casting the colonial figures 18 “Char and Sayla,” Mobile Suit Gundam Part 2. DVD. Written by Kenichi Matsuzaki (22 December 1979; Tokyo, Japan: Sunrise Inc., 1 December 2015). 19 Animage, “2nd Animation Grand Prix ‘First Half of 80’,” ANIMEEJU, 2008, accessed 10 July 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20101213074936/http://animage.jp/old/ gp/gp_1980.html.

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as sympathetic freedom fighters and also the narrative risk of putting a popular usurper in their midst. The narrative was shifted so that the Neosapiens, the colonial force, were initially bred for slavery, but realizing their superior physicality, cast aside their servitude, and sought to destroy the human race. The protagonists, which include a Neosapien, are depicted as inclusive, tolerant, and fighting for the prosperity of all people. They do not seek to regain power over the Neosapiens, but to simply survive and restore peace.20 In this way, the American audience could recognize themselves in the hero-protagonists, especially if a World War II analogy is made. It could be proposed that the Neosapiens are metaphors for the German Weimar Republic that turned into Nazi Germany to free itself from the economic hardships placed upon them and then considered themselves “supermen” for a short time. While the average child would likely not see all the details of the metaphor, the fact that the Neosapiens were supposed to be Nazis was not subtle as some episodes included humans in concentration camps, further cementing the Neosapiens’ villain status.21 Unsurprisingly, with this sort of dark war story, the series follows all the conventions that would eventually become commonplace in children’s media—consecutive storytelling, consequential violence, gender integrated casts, and complicated plots. Yet, while Gundam Wing took only a week to become a major success on Cartoon Network, Exosquad presented the same amount of complicated storytelling, robot battles, and was also a culturally sensitive adaptation of the same Mobile Suit Gundam source material, it struggled to gain a fan base and was ultimately canceled on a cliffhanger after a year. Some of Exosquad’s failure is likely due to issues with syndication and not having a standard timeslot throughout the country like Gundam Wing did, but it also aired right at the beginning of MMPR’s success.22 While MMPR resonated with the audience as something familiar, Exosquad was a novelty that was mostly forgotten like most novelties. Anne Allison described American’s relationship with anime as a brand that the audience recognizes and

20 ExoSquad,

“Pirate Scourge,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 18 September 1993. “Blitzkrieg,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 9 October 1993. 22 George Fergus, “ExoSquad (a Titles & Air Dates Guide),” Epguides.com & TV.com, 2009, accessed 10 July 2018, http://epguides.com/Exosquad/. 21 ExoSquad,

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understands what it consists of, but in 1994, the American audience was not looking for this brand just yet.23 This would change and a decade later in 2005, Nickelodeon would air Avatar: The Last Airbender, also hailed as “American Anime.” In 2012, Nickelodeon would air the sequel The Legend of Korra. Both series are drawn in an anime-inspired style and take up many of thematic conventions that are distinctive to anime in comparison to traditional American cartoons. Both series focus on a main protagonist—the Avatar—but surround them with strong mixed gender ensemble casts. In Avatar: The Last Airbender the Avatar is a young boy named Aang, who is found frozen in an iceberg. In The Legend of Korra, the Avatar is an older teenage girl named Korra. Both are the Avatar due to destiny, rather than earning the title, though both do have to practice to hone their skills and powers. Both series contain consecutive narratives that deviate from the main plot only to explore the lives of the ensemble cast or as a narrative break. Avatar: The Last Airbender clings more closely to the ensemble ratios introduced to American audiences with MMPR with its eventual six-person protagonist group. The Legend of Korra has a larger ensemble cast with less archetypically driven roles, but both series make each of these characters distinct. The female characters, in particular, are non-stereotypical, even in regard to the Power Ranger Ratio. They are allowed to be both “girly-girls” and “tough” without having to be absolutely divided. Both series also do not shy away from romance and crushes. Avatar: The Last Airbender portrays a realistic scenario of young Aang having a crush on Katara and feeling threatened by Zuko because he is older.24 Even more surprising than a love triangle storyline being present in a series not aimed primarily at girls is the fact that in The Legend of Korra a homosexual relationship is implied between Korra and Asami, which was confirmed by the creators.25 The strong female roles, the ability to

23 Anne Allison, Millennial Monsters (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 277. 24 Avatar: The Last Airbender, “The Ember Island Players,” Amazon Instant Video, 22:00, 18 July 2008. 25 Lily Karlin, “‘The Legend of Korra’ Creators Confirm Korra and Asami Are a Couple,” The Huffington Post, 23 December 2014, accessed 11 February 2015, http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/23/korra-asami-confirmed-couple_n_6372080.html.

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intertwine romance and combat, the consecutive plotlines, the danger experienced by the characters, and the realism overlaid on a plot that is explicitly about children with elemental powers attempting to bring harmony to the world are all elements native to Japanese anime. Yet, with the exception of the homosexuality in The Legend of Korra—still rare in American children’s media—none of those elements are especially foreign anymore. Over twenty years of gradual exposure and transition, these elements were normalized and mainstreamed into American popular media.

The Further Legacy of Saturday Morning and Japanese Influence on Comedic Cartoons Many of the influences brought about and adopted from Japanese media are more easily felt in action based cartoons. Superhero cartoons and other action-adventures are now usually made with consecutive plots, consequential violence, integrated female cast members, nuanced antagonists, and centered either around an ensemble or on a male character who finds his strength in his team. However, that does not mean that Japanese influences are not also present within comedic cartoons. While it is true that comedic cartoons began to fall out of favor around 1995– 1996 on Saturday Morning as the schedule shifted to more action-based programs for boys and more drama-based programs for girls, comedic cartoons continued to exist and are still a large percentage of Cartoon Network’s airing schedule on an ordinary day. In 2018, many of these programs aired in two hours blocks of time, likely to both facilitate mini-binging and also attempt to hook a child who may be searching for something to watch. If the child stops to watch We Bare Bears or Regular Show, they may stay on the channel if more follows. If it is only one episode, there is a greater chance of them continuing their search for content or switching to an on-demand streaming service. Comedic cartoons have changed since the days when Looney Tunes dominated network schedules. These comedic cartoons are far more absurdist in their humor and use far more non-sequiturs than the more cause and effect humor that characterized Looney Tunes shorts. They also use far more direct violence than Looney Tunes. Looney Tunes and more traditional cartoons often characterized direct violence and resorting to physical force as the recourse of a brute and a villain. This sensibility changed on Saturday Morning and carried through even to

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these comedic cartoons that act effectively as the successors to series like Looney Tunes. It should not be surprising then that these cartoons will reference the act of becoming a Super Saiyan from Dragonball Z. As was mentioned in Chapter 1, this action, lifted from the imagery of a Japanese anime, has become visual shorthand for being empowered with great strength through righteous anger and manifests as being surrounded by energy—normally yellow—and having one’s hair lift up in spikes. Yet, it is more than just the use of the visual shorthand that demonstrates a shift in these comedic cartoons, but the ubiquity of the references. The action of becoming a Super Saiyan occurs in Codename: Kids’ Next Door, Teen Titans Go, The Grim Adventures of Mindy & Mandy, and The Amazing World of Gumball. The series Johnny Bravo, Adventure Time, Fairly Odd Parents reference characters and battles within Dragonball Z. Johnny Bravo, Adventure Time, Ben 10 Omniverse, Johnny Test, Steven Universe, Codename: Kids Next Door all reference Pokémon.26 Both in Steven Universe27 and in Regular Show,28 sequences from Neon Genesis Evangelion are recreated moment for moment. In an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010), Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ranma ½, and Dragonball are all referenced together in a single scene where the five ponies are drawn as a female character from each series and recognizing who the ponies depict is the gag.29 Anime is referenced in these comedic cartoons in the same way Groucho Marx, Red Skelton, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope, and classic novels were often referenced in Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, and other traditional cartoons. The act of referencing figures and novels that had once been commonplace in American culture and repeated in animation for decades has been replaced, at least, for now, with references to anime. The transition on the Saturday Morning schedule caused a break in this previous cultural knowledge being passed to the younger generations through the cartoons that had once offered it, and the need for comedic cartoons

26 ChannelFrederator, “Every Dragon Ball Z Reference in Cartoons You NEED to See—Adventure Time + MORE (Tooned Up S5 E29),” YouTube, 9:16, 6 December 2017, accessed 1 September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Radh_ZctWk8. 27 Steven Universe, “The Test,” Hulu, 22:00, 22 January 2015. 28 Regular Show, “Men in Uniform,” Hulu, 22:00, 26 March 2015. 29 My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, “Scare Master,” Netflix, 22:00, 31 October 2015.

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to reference something in popular culture likewise had to point at what took its place.

Final Thoughts In the end, the fact that a major shift occurred in children’s media beginning in 1993 with the debut of MMPR and continuing onward, not only to the conclusion of Saturday Morning, but to children’s programs beyond it, should not be ignored. It is an intriguing chapter in the story of globalization and global media studies. The idea of the United States acting as a cultural imperialist, using its media to create a more American homogenized global community, is not a sentiment confined only to a handful of scholars, nor is cultural imperialism a concept without merit. Yet, even in cases of absolute American cultural imperialism, how much American homogenized culture is actually being exported should be debated. At each step of the transition on Saturday Morning, American children’s media became less culturally homogeneous. If it had stopped with MMPR, the tokenism that Schiller wrote about would likely have taken place and eventually contorted even the sentai genre programs into something that was strictly traditionally American.30 Some of that can be seen with Big Bad Beetleborgs and how it was far more conventionally traditional than its predecessor. The Saturday Morning schedule had not changed dramatically yet. While Superman: The Animated Series (1996) had incorporated some of the new noteworthy conventions—especially the role of competent female characters, consequential violence, and dangerous villains—the major change on Saturday Morning in this first period was an upswing of superhero programs that aired in complement to the action-adventure presented by MMPR. However, an upswing in superhero content occurred on Saturday Morning in nearly every decade beforehand. Pokémon acted as a pivot. While MMPR aired at an opportune time to allow it to blend into the Saturday Morning schedule and avoid being rejected as too foreign, too niche, or too strange by sharing similar conventions and themes with other American popular content, Pokémon debuted and leaned on both traditional conventions and the new ones in order to blend in itself. As Pieterse noted, in some circumstances, 30 Herbert I. Schiller, Mass Communications and the American Empire, 2nd Edition (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), 201.

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hybridity is not always noticed and the hybrid nature of the Saturday Morning schedule at Pokémon’s debut was subtle enough that it was able to continue to reinforce the conventions from MMPR and introduce even newer, foreign conventions to the young American audience, all while being a show that almost acted as a bridge between traditional “toon” cartoons with more action-oriented programming.31 By the time Yu-Gi-Oh! debuted, the young American audience had become accustomed to anime’s artistic style and it was no longer the marker of cheap looking, odd programming that aired at strange hours, but the “coolest,” most complicated shows on the schedule. Most importantly, anime’s artistic style and its narrative conventions were now familiar and were more common on the schedule than traditional ones. Unlike with MMPR and Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! did not need to resonate with traditional conventions in order to gain this familiarity. Instead, it did so with ones imported from Japan and this was not a passing fad on Saturday Morning, unless one can call thirteen years a fad. Following Yu-Gi-Oh!’s ascent, the programs that remained on the schedule without being canceled were programs that conformed to the norms and conventions presented by it, whether the program was Japanese, American, or from another country altogether. Within the cultural institution that had shaped young Americans for over fifty years, it was no longer that Japanese content had to be Americanized. Instead, American content had to conform to Japanese conventions. Both Straubhaar and CooperChen state that an audience will generally only accept a foreign program if it is close to the audience’s own culture. The gradual transition on the Saturday Morning schedule allowed American popular culture to shift slowly enough to not only allow anime and sentai series like MMPR to become popular, but to dominate the only time the major networks aired regularly scheduled content for American children nationwide, becoming part of these children’s culture in the process. How this will continue to unfurl in the future is uncertain. With Saturday Morning now gone and with the availability of content more defused than ever in media history, if these adopted conventions remain within American popular culture and if Japanese content continues to act as cultural touchstones remains to be seen, though it seems likely considering the Red Ranger, Pikachu, and Goku all flew over the streets of 31 Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Globalization & Culture, Second Edition (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009), 116.

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New York City in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2018.32 In 2019, Warner Brothers debuted a new Looney Tunes’ iteration titled Looney Tunes Cartoons with the objective to recapture the style and tone of the original shorts.33 However, the question is will anyone under the age of thirty watch them? This will be the sixth new version of Looney Tunes Warner Brothers has attempted to launch to revitalize the brand since 2001, and none of them have been exceptionally successful. The last one, New Looney Tunes, debuted on Cartoon Network in September 2015 and was quickly whisked away to Boomerang, a premium retro-cartoon channel.34 I wonder how much affection the younger generations have for these older characters and what cartoons the Generation X and Millennial parents show their children. In the summer of 2015, I went to the limited nine hundred theater, two-week theatrical release of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’. The film itself grossed $8.4 million, despite its limited release and not opening in all the theaters at the start but gaining them as demand grew.35 While impressive on its own, what I noticed when I went was the audience was very mixed in age. There were single adults who likely grew up with it, but also young parents with their even younger children. A number of children were dressed as the characters. The following summer was the initial release of Pokémon Go, and again, I saw players spanning from the age of seven to their late thirties strolling through the streets and parks to catch digital versions of the famous Pocket Monsters, along with families playing together, and young parents teaching their children the original “Poke-Rap” that they had learned as children that listed all the original Pokémon. I saw the same

32 Macy’s, “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade—Balloons,” Macys.com, Unknown, accessed 11 December 2018, https://www.macys.com/social/parade/lineup/balloons/. 33 Josh Weiss, “‘That’s Not All, Folks! New Looney Tunes Shorts Will Arrive Next Year,” SYFYWIRE, 11 June 2018, accessed 12 July 2018, http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/ thats-not-all-folks-new-looney-tunes-shorts-will-arrive-next-year. 34 Everything Explained Today, “New Looney Tunes Explained,” Everything Explained Today, Unknown, accessed 12 July 2018, http://everything.explained.today/ New_Looney_Tunes/#Ref-8. 35 Anita Busch, “‘Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F’ Heads to Home Video After a $8.4M Final Gross—Update,” Deadline Hollywood, 20 August 2015, accessed 12 July 2016, https://deadline.com/2015/08/dragon-ball-z-resurrection-f-anime-domesticbox-office-indie-record-1201496048/.

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mix in the audience for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (2017) when that was released in American theaters. Parents have clearly passed these stories and series along to their children. It will be interesting to see how Looney Tunes Cartoons (2019) fares wherever it streams/broadcasts in the same year that Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Detective Pikachu, and Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us are all released in American theaters. It may be an uphill battle for Looney Tunes and other traditional properties that were displaced in the Saturday Morning transition to regain that same level of cultural integration they once had. I say this because when I went to see Teen Titans Go! To The Movies (2018), the theater was filled almost entirely with young parents and their children. It did not look like there was a single person in the theater over thirty-five, and it also seemed that the scriptwriters and producers of the film anticipated this. The animated film was bookended with sequences where the five Teen Titans used their weaponized friendship to oppose villains that were either the size of a building per the kaiju genre or piloting large robots per the mecha genre. Despite being produced by Warner Brothers, with the knowledge that this new Looney Tunes series was in production, when the Teen Titans go to the Warner Brothers’ studio lot in the film, there is no mention of the iconic characters as a reference for the parents in the audience. Instead, one of the jokes for the parents is about Animaniacs (1993), a popular “toon” contemporary to MMPR, and while not directly influenced by it, shared at least the convention of greater female character integration in its central cast.36 The film then ended with a teaser scene for a revival of the original Teen Titans cartoon.37 The eighty-eight-minute-long film was developed to resonate and be popular with the children, while also being accessible to the parents, and the film that was developed was a blend of genres and conventions that emerged from the transition of Saturday Morning and references from the transition’s earliest years.

36 TimeWarner, “First-Ever ‘STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS ANIMANIACS’ Feature-Length Spectacular Unveiled,” TimeWarner, 26 October 1999, accessed 12 August 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20070929100130/http://www.timewarner. com/corp/newsroom/pr/0%2C20812%2C667512%2C00.html. 37 Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. Directed by Aaron Horvath & Peter Rida Michail. Performed by Greg Cipes, Scott Menville, and Khary Payton. United States: Warner Bros. Animation 2018. Film.

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In the end, considering the current state of affairs in American children’s media, this new Looney Tunes series, with its “classic” style of referential and slapstick humor, will likely have to mirror the many absurdist cartoons that are currently aired by Cartoon Network, including Teen Titans Go!. This means to become relevant again to Millennial, Generation Z, and Alpha Generation audiences, and this series might have to reference Japanese characters and conventions. This would another chapter in the surprising legacy of Saturday Morning.

Glossary

Anime [derived from a shortening of the English word “animation”]:    A term denoting animated Japanese productions. Unlike with “cartoons” in the United States, anime is not necessarily limited to children’s media, but runs the spectrum from animated programs meant for the very young to programs that are sexually explicit, clearly meant for an adult audience. Many anime are adapted from manga. (See Manga.) Born Under a Lucky Star [informal term]:  A protagonist trope in Japanese media derived from the Chinese literary classic, Journey to the West. To be born under a lucky star means that a protagonist is gifted with potential and skill that other characters do not possess and cannot achieve no matter their effort. This sort of protagonist is simply born superior. Supporting characters and even the narrative world often defer to this protagonist’s superior status. This sort of protagonist can be found in Japanese media meant for either gender, though it is especially common in shounen. Childlike Innocence [informal term]:   A protagonist trope in Japanese media, often coinciding with being born under a lucky star, where the protagonist’s strength is their innocence. This innocence can either serve to empower them against the villain of the narrative or act as an actual offensive weapon.

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216  Glossary

Harem anime:   A genre of anime where a protagonist is surrounded by characters of the opposite sex and at least two of these characters are vying for their affections. Harem anime that are comedic are often called “Harem Comedies.” These programs are not limited to a particular gender. When the protagonist is male, it is normally targeting the male demographic and the reverse if the protagonist is female. Henshin [lit. change body]:   A trope in Japanese media where a character is able to transform into a new, and often more powerful form. It is an overarching trope that exists in various genres, meant for various age-groups and genders. This transformation can be into a costumed form, an older form, a monstrous form, or some variant. Kaiju [lit. monster]:  Generally used to describe not simply any monster, but a large monster like Godzilla. The Kaiju genre’s key characteristic is large monster battles. The monster may be the antagonist force, the hero-protagonist, or an ally of either. Gojira/Godzilla (1954) is likely the most famous and most influential example of this genre. Lieutenant Villain [informal term]:   A trope in Japanese media where the narrative contains a secondary antagonist who has a separate motivation than the primary antagonist of the story. A Lieutenant Villain may belong in the primary antagonist’s hierarchy or exist entirely removed from any relationship with the primary antagonist. When the narrative contains a Hierarchical Lieutenant Villain, there is often a subplot where Lieutenant Villain revolts against the primary antagonist and possibly becomes an ally to the protagonist or an antihero in the process. When the Lieutenant Villain is entirely separate, they may act as an additional threat to the hero-protagonists, a possible future ally if swayed to the hero-protagonists’ cause, or both. Manga [lit. unrestrained painting]:   A term denoting Japanese comics. Unlike with “comic books” in the United States, manga is not necessarily targeting primarily young boys, but runs the spectrum from being for the very young to being sexually explicit, clearly meant for an adult audience. Also, unlike with American comic books with their focus on superheroes, there is a large variety of subject matter, from daily slice of life stories, romances, fantasy, science fiction, crime dramas, horror, etc. Manga is presumed to be read by both genders in Japan and has mainstream genres targeting both. Mecha [derived from a shortening of the English word “mechanical”]:   A genre in Japanese media with a key characteristic of often oversized vehicles as the primarily means of conflict resolution. While

Glossary

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Mecha can use planes, the vehicles are normally some sort of “suit” in the shape of a large robotic humanoid. Within Mecha, there are two sub-genres: Super Robot and Real Robot Mecha. In Super Robot Mecha, the large robotic humanoid is sentient such as in Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger, where the robotic vehicles can speak, despite being piloted by the hero-protagonists. In Real Robot Mecha, the vehicles are non-sentient weapons of war. The Real Robot sub-genre is often credited to coming into existence due to Mobile Suit Gundam (1979). Power of Friendship [informal term]:  A trope in Japanese media where the power of a person or group’s friendship can be weaponized to defeat villains, empower heroes, or even fight off mind control. It often coincides with childlike innocence and being born under a lucky star, but it does not need to, as redeemed villains, Lieutenant Villains, and even supporting characters can use the power of friendship for success. Power Ranger Ratio [informal term]:   Derived from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it a convention where if the central cast of characters has at least five characters, two will be female. One of these female characters will be more traditionally feminine, where the other will be less so (the “girly-girl” and the “tough girl”). This cast ratio was uncommon in American children’s media before Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The previous norm was to have a token female character or no female characters at all in the central cast, unless the program was targeting girls. Protagonist Luck [informal term]:  A traditional American protagonist trope where the protagonist of a narrative can succeed by sheer happenstance because they are the protagonist. This can result in the villain simply falling to their deaths, a sudden character freeing the protagonist from capture, or any other deus ex machina that gives the protagonist their success. This is often a foundational concept for the traditional convention of the protagonist always being safe and always achieving a happy ending. Sentai [lit. squadron]:   A genre in Japanese media with a key characteristic of the hero-protagonists being a team of costumed heroes. This genre often uses the henshin trope, allowing the heroes to become more powerful or skilled in their costumed forms. A Sentai program can be live action like Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin Power Rangers or animated like Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972).

218  Glossary

Servant-Monster [informal term]:  A genre in Japanese media with a key characteristic of conflict being resolved by the use of monsters that act in service to the human characters. While the most famous servant-monster program in the West is likely Pokémon, this is a genre that can be used in media targeting either gender. This genre can be divided into the sub-genres of external servant-monsters, where the monster characters exist outside of the human characters and enter into service to them, and summoned servant-monsters, where the monster characters are summoned by the human characters through some form of magic and do not have independent lives outside of the summoning. Shoujo [lit. Little Woman]:  A term in Japanese media that denotes the product is targeting girls as its key demographic. This differs from Josei media that targets older teenage girls and adult women. Shoujo is an overarching genre involving who the key demographic is and not the particular narrative genre of the product. Shounen [lit. Little Year]:   A term in Japanese media that denotes the product is targeting young boys as its key demographic. This differs from Seinen media that targets older teenage boys and adult men. Shounen is an overarching genre involving who the key demographic is and not the particular narrative genre of the product. Tokusatsu [lit. Special Effects]:  A genre in Japanese media with a key characteristic of practical special effects. Tokusatsu programs are live action, and their practical effects can include masked superhero costumes, men in rubber monster suits to act as monsters, the use of model building to portray the destruction of a city, and sparklers to portray injury. Tokusatsu is an overarching genre involving how it is produced, rather than its content or target audience. The early films of the Godzilla franchise may be the most famous example of this genre in the West, followed by Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Tournament Fighter:  A genre in Japanese media where the narrative’s conflict is resolved primarily by successive battles against antagonists of increasing strength/abilities. Sometimes there is a diegetic tournament within the story that the characters compete in, but this is not necessary if the function of a tournament is used. Tournament Fighters are more often in Shounen media than any other, but nothing precludes Shoujo media from being a Tournament Fighter. Traditional Format [informal term]:   Standardized by Hanna-Barbera Productions, it was the regular format for American cartoons from the

Glossary

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1960s until the transition in the 1990s. This format’s key characteristics are three seven-minute “shorts” in a half-hour episode that were episodic and comedic in nature, and would often focus on a cunning male protagonist that eschewed direct violence, unless the program expressly targeted girls. The most famous example of the Traditional Format is likely Looney Tunes.

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Index

A Action For Children’s Television, 12, 13, 17 Allison, Anne, 7, 33, 38, 116, 132, 196, 206, 207 B Battle of the Planets, 20, 80, 131 Gatchaman, 154 G-Force, 39, 47, 154 Born under a lucky star, 121, 122, 124, 126, 128, 132, 133, 135, 149, 152, 157, 173, 174, 178, 179 Brute, 13, 61, 71, 75, 77, 84, 173, 208 C Cartoon Network, 1, 20, 156, 167, 182, 183, 198, 199, 206, 208, 212, 214 Toonami, 199–204

Children’s Television Act, 17, 59 Composite program/show, 40, 41, 79, 80, 83, 97, 102, 114 Cooper-Chen, Anne, 6, 29, 40, 81, 145, 177, 211 Cultural imperialism, 3, 5, 145, 210 Cunning, 13, 61, 64, 71, 75, 77, 84, 85, 96, 98, 99, 101, 104, 120, 124, 127, 133–135, 142, 143, 145, 149, 173, 174, 184, 188, 193 D Digimon, 29, 44, 124–133, 137, 138, 142, 146, 147, 149, 151–153, 155, 164, 168, 172, 173, 179, 181, 189, 192, 203 Dragonball Z Bulma, 142, 165–167 Dragonball Z Kai, 29, 55, 156, 158–167, 194 Goku, 157–165, 171, 174, 179, 211

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 G. O’Melia, Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17416-3

241

242  Index Super Saiyan, 1, 159, 163, 164, 209 Vegeta, 158–164, 166, 167, 171, 204 F Female character, 2, 28, 38, 43–46, 54, 61, 65, 66, 69, 72, 73, 75, 76, 91–93, 96, 102, 110–113, 115, 119, 120, 124, 127, 143–146, 148, 152, 153, 157, 165–167, 173, 174, 179, 184, 185, 191, 192, 194, 207, 209, 210, 213 G Godzilla Godzilla (1954), 5, 23 Godzilla (1978), 16, 26 Godzilla (1998), 26, 115 Gojira, 22, 26 Zilla, 26 Gundam Char Aznable, 140, 141, 182, 205 Gundam Wing, 200–206 Mobile Suit Gundam, 140, 182, 200, 203–206 H Hair, 1, 46, 117, 142, 143, 154, 159, 192, 209 blue, 142, 166 white, 141, 142, 154, 182 Hanna-Barbera Productions, 11–16, 24, 35, 49, 59 Jonny Quest, 14–16, 123 limited animation, 11, 20 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, 16, 59, 85, 138

I Innocence, 128, 129, 132, 149, 153, 157, 164, 181, 184, 190 J Jackie Chan Adventures Jackie, 46, 133, 136, 137, 139, 143, 144, 149, 154 Jade, 46, 133, 135, 137, 139, 142–144, 166 Valmont, 133, 136, 139–141, 151 Journey to the West, 121, 157 Monkey King, 121, 158 Son Wukong, 121 K King Kong, 13, 14, 23 King Kong (1933), 21–23 King Kong Show (1966), 13, 14, 16, 18, 27, 35 Kraidy, Marwan, 7, 8, 33, 83, 84, 149 L Lieutenant Villain, 140, 141, 151, 187 Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny, 36, 60–62, 64, 65, 71, 86, 91, 98, 117, 122, 127, 199 The Bugs Bunny Show, 11 The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, 28, 33, 34, 45, 53, 115 Elmer Fudd, 36, 64, 86, 117 Wile E. Coyote, 62, 64, 117 M Mecha, 80–82, 105, 200, 201, 213 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers(MMPR)

Index

Billy, 83, 134, 142, 185 Jason, 83–85, 98, 100, 113, 139, 149 Kimberly, 83–87, 91, 92, 111, 143, 184, 195 Power Ranger Ratio, 127, 173, 191, 207 Tommy, 83–89, 91, 92, 101, 130, 136, 141, 143, 149 Trini, 83, 92, 111, 143, 191 Zyuranger, 39, 79, 80, 83, 91, 93, 124 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR) Billy, 83 Jason, 83–85, 98, 100, 113 Kimberly, 83–87, 91, 92, 111 Tommy, 83–89, 91, 92, 101 Trini, 83, 92, 111 Zyuranger, 79, 80, 83, 91, 93 Mighty Orbots, 18, 19, 27 N Napier, Susan, 6, 196, 203 P Pokémon Ash, 42–45, 116–123, 126, 134– 136, 143, 149, 152, 179 James, 117, 119, 131, 136 Jessie, 119, 131, 136 Misty, 116, 117, 119, 127, 134, 135, 152 Pikachu, 42–44, 116, 117, 122, 123, 129, 148 Team Rocket, 43, 116–119, 122, 136, 148 power of friendship, 153, 164, 167, 172, 181, 190

  243

R The Real Ghostbusters, 7, 28, 34, 36, 37, 40, 60, 70, 72, 76, 77, 81, 82, 84, 85, 93, 96, 110, 112, 123, 138 Janine Melnitz, 70, 72, 81, 82, 85, 86, 92, 110, 166, 184 Slimer, 36, 37, 70, 72, 77 Regulations, 3, 4, 12, 13, 17, 59, 197, 198 Robotech, 20, 80, 83 S Saved By the Bell AC Slater, 75, 76, 82, 84 Screech, 75, 76, 82, 83 Zack, 36, 74–76, 81–85, 88, 91, 122, 143 Schiller, Herbert, 4, 18, 102, 114, 145, 210 Sentai, 38, 39, 41, 50, 53, 80, 82, 97, 102, 114, 118, 124, 125, 135, 210, 211 Servant-monster, 44, 125–127, 132, 150 Straubhaar, Joseph, 6, 8, 40, 81, 145, 177, 211 Superman Fleischer Superman, 12, 199 John Corben, 25, 105, 107, 108 Lex Luthor, 12, 104–110, 130, 183, 185, 186, 194 Mercy Graves, 107, 109, 110, 139 Metallo, 25, 107–109, 130 Superman: The Animated Series (TAS), 29, 41, 51, 94, 103–110, 112–115, 117, 123, 130, 131, 137–139, 145, 183, 185–187, 194, 210

244  Index The New Adventures of Superman, 12, 17, 28, 103 T Tetsuwan Atom, 21, 24–26 Astroboy, 24 Atom, 25 Tezuka, Osamu, 21, 24 TMS Entertainment, 18, 19, 35 Tokusatsu, 22, 41, 80, 125, 146 Traditional traditional convention, 103, 104, 109, 111, 115, 119, 124, 132, 138, 140, 145, 146, 164, 165, 173, 184, 185, 188, 193, 210, 211 traditional format, 12, 34, 35, 39, 60, 61, 67, 70, 74

Transformers, 16, 19, 80, 90, 91, 138, 140, 141 V Voltron Beast King GoLion, 27, 200 Voltron: Defender of the Universe, 18, 20, 80, 199 Y Yu-Gi-Oh!, 2, 3, 7, 27–29, 46–51, 55–57, 141, 146–149, 151–156, 159–164, 167, 168, 171, 172, 174, 175, 177, 178, 180, 181, 187, 189, 193, 194, 196, 197, 199–203, 211 Yugi, 148–155, 157–160, 162, 174, 179, 181, 199