A Conan the Barbarian animated series is now in active development for Prime Video, with Genndy Tartakovsky as executive producer and showrunner, produced by Cartoon Network Studios and anchored on Robert E.
I just want a good escapist show at this point. I don't want Conan talking it up the butt or describing his pronouns or being cucked by some lesbian. Just Conan killing everything (gay) and banging hot broads; that'd be just fine.
That cartoon was phenomenal. It may have only been "Conan adjacent" as far as the characters and stories, but for a kids fantasy adventure cartoon, with an ongoing and connected plot, it was mind-blowing.
Only the sadly cancelled Pirates of Dark Water exceeded it in scope and quality for that type of cartoon. You have to go back to the also cancelled Dungeons and Dragons cartoon to find anything else like it, but that was a bit cornier to be honest, great, but corny.
Conan, by the way, WAS completed in an epic and satisfying way.
I loved it as a kid, got DVD copies as an adult, and shared them with my kids. My eldest daughter watched them over and over like other kids watched Spongebob then, or Bluey now.
Respectfully, you probably weren't the target audience. And respectfully, how dare you once more!
I understand, it's certainly not an adult program despite name dropping one of the must adult literary figures ever.
However, taken for what it was, a kids swords and sorcery cartoon, I'm hard pressed to name something better, even decades later. Again, Pirates of Dark Water had it beaten cold, but it was abandoned mid-series, so I can't give it any crown.
I would argue, compare it first to He-Man. He-Man was objectively bad. It had fun moments, almost everyone loves Skeletor, and the toys, my goodness, if you were a young boy in the 80s, those toys were legendary. But the show itself was crap, a 21 minute toy commercial with 8 minutes of network ads and a 1 minute PSA.
Then, compare it to modern slop: Kevin Smith He-Man, Nu She-Ra, and Thundercats Ho. It aged like fine wine by comparison.
Animated Conan had a hero on a quest to save his family. He had a character arc starting out as a big dumb, angry barbarian bent on revenge who came more and more to rely on, trust, and lead a group of other adventurers with their own stories and motivations to ultimately achieve his goal, and theirs.
It was heroic, earnest, fun, and intriguing as episodes pushed an overall plot, slowly, but noticably, at a time when almost everything else was reset to status quo at the end of every 30 minute block and there were no stakes that mattered because nothing ever changed.
I'll grant it wasn't really Conan, but it did make some nice use of Conan and Conan adjacent tropes. And it was released at a time when pretty much all cartoons were considered children's programming, so I doubt they could have portrayed it any darker than they did.
CONAN fans will be in for a treat with both the Schwarzenegger and Tartakovsky versions in the works. Both could use John Milius and Roy Thomas in the writing rooms. And Barry Windsor-Smith as a storyboardist/production designer. It's too bad Ron Cobb, Frank Frazetta and John Buscema are no longer with us. Roy Thomas as a main writer even moreso than Milius as he understood the pulp-fantasy adventure aspect of the character much more than Milius was too bogged down in the mythic, quasi‑historical warrior‑philosopher aspect. Milius has written so much classic dialogue though he should still be brought in! Perhaps Oliver Stone as well. Why reinvent the wheel when you already have writers who "get" the character already?
I’m already going to say, this will be better than that Conan animated show that came out in 1992, from Sunbow.
I just want a good escapist show at this point. I don't want Conan talking it up the butt or describing his pronouns or being cucked by some lesbian. Just Conan killing everything (gay) and banging hot broads; that'd be just fine.
How dare you, sir?!
That cartoon was phenomenal. It may have only been "Conan adjacent" as far as the characters and stories, but for a kids fantasy adventure cartoon, with an ongoing and connected plot, it was mind-blowing.
Only the sadly cancelled Pirates of Dark Water exceeded it in scope and quality for that type of cartoon. You have to go back to the also cancelled Dungeons and Dragons cartoon to find anything else like it, but that was a bit cornier to be honest, great, but corny.
Conan, by the way, WAS completed in an epic and satisfying way.
I loved it as a kid, got DVD copies as an adult, and shared them with my kids. My eldest daughter watched them over and over like other kids watched Spongebob then, or Bluey now.
Respectfully, you probably weren't the target audience. And respectfully, how dare you once more!
I just thought, Conan shouldn’t be dumb down for kids.
I understand, it's certainly not an adult program despite name dropping one of the must adult literary figures ever.
However, taken for what it was, a kids swords and sorcery cartoon, I'm hard pressed to name something better, even decades later. Again, Pirates of Dark Water had it beaten cold, but it was abandoned mid-series, so I can't give it any crown.
I would argue, compare it first to He-Man. He-Man was objectively bad. It had fun moments, almost everyone loves Skeletor, and the toys, my goodness, if you were a young boy in the 80s, those toys were legendary. But the show itself was crap, a 21 minute toy commercial with 8 minutes of network ads and a 1 minute PSA.
Then, compare it to modern slop: Kevin Smith He-Man, Nu She-Ra, and Thundercats Ho. It aged like fine wine by comparison.
Animated Conan had a hero on a quest to save his family. He had a character arc starting out as a big dumb, angry barbarian bent on revenge who came more and more to rely on, trust, and lead a group of other adventurers with their own stories and motivations to ultimately achieve his goal, and theirs.
It was heroic, earnest, fun, and intriguing as episodes pushed an overall plot, slowly, but noticably, at a time when almost everything else was reset to status quo at the end of every 30 minute block and there were no stakes that mattered because nothing ever changed.
I'll grant it wasn't really Conan, but it did make some nice use of Conan and Conan adjacent tropes. And it was released at a time when pretty much all cartoons were considered children's programming, so I doubt they could have portrayed it any darker than they did.
CONAN fans will be in for a treat with both the Schwarzenegger and Tartakovsky versions in the works. Both could use John Milius and Roy Thomas in the writing rooms. And Barry Windsor-Smith as a storyboardist/production designer. It's too bad Ron Cobb, Frank Frazetta and John Buscema are no longer with us. Roy Thomas as a main writer even moreso than Milius as he understood the pulp-fantasy adventure aspect of the character much more than Milius was too bogged down in the mythic, quasi‑historical warrior‑philosopher aspect. Milius has written so much classic dialogue though he should still be brought in! Perhaps Oliver Stone as well. Why reinvent the wheel when you already have writers who "get" the character already?
I have more faith in this then in King Conan. And yet: Amazon...