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Your Future Nostalgia. Today. | ||
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| March 21, 2010 |
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Interview by Philip N. Zeman, Editor-in-Chief Part 4: Other Questions, Current Animation, and Chocolate Cake
The final part of our interview deals a little bit with Bob's stint
at Filmation in the 80's, his take on the state of animation today,
random thoughts, and chocolate cake. Philip N. Zeman: Today, kids have a variety of choices for cartoons. We have weekday cartoons on various channels, Saturday morning cartoons on some networks, Nickelodeon has cartoons, and several networks consisting of nothing but cartoons. Has this helped the industry by providing more opportunities, or has it watered down the industry by providing too many choices? Bob Forward: Both. At first it was considered a huge boon. There were going to be all these channels! They'd need tons of new product! Business was booming! People were making cartoons left and right! Salaries went up as talented artists were in big demand! Executives moved in to get some of the big cartoon pie! But what no one realized at the time was that the audience itself didn't get bigger. Kids grew up and were replaced by other kids. Those kids were fresh and recycled cartoons were just as entertaining to them as new ones. With so many channels to chose from the audience got segmented -- the same number of kids were watching but fewer were watching any one show in particular. Since advertisers pay based on the number of viewers per episode, it soon reached a point where advertising alone could not pay for the cost of a show, even with re-runs. At the same time, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us drove all the mom-and-pop toy stores out of business. With their new clout, they forced new deals with the toy companies, resulting in toy companies making much less profit. So a toy deal isn't even enough to fund a show any more. Now the struggle is on to find new ways of doing business. Artist salaries are dropping and production is moving either overseas or into realms like Flash that are faster and simpler. Since much of the older audience is being lured away by video games, many productions are focusing on the younger audiences. As a result, the shows get tamer and are even less interesting to older kids. I think the current trend is a mistake, but it is a cycle that has to be gone through. Phil: What are the biggest differences as a writer today than it was during your stint at Filmation? BF: At Filmation we used typewriters. We had six weeks to write a script. We had five staff writers, two secretaries, and a head writer to handle a 13-episode series. These days it would be me, my laptop, and a couple of freelancers. And if we get even one week on a script we consider it luxurious.
Phil:
Recently, I was shown the following pictures apparently drawn by you.
The first is refered to as "No, Not a Gun": BF: Hahaha! I'd forgotten those. Funny, but after twenty years I look at those cartoons and my first thought is "Man, what a jerkI was back then!" At the same time, I still feel those frustrations -- I just understand them better now. Experience lends a sort of tired wisdom. If it shoots like a gun and destroys things like a gun and sounds like a gun but does not look like a gun -- then you can have all the fun of cartoon gunplay and still get it past the censors. Hypocritical, but you take what you can get. And the Filmation ID cards were just part of the new insurance security regulations. After a few weeks no one even bothered to carry them any more. But to get the insurance they had to be issued. I really shouldn't have been such a snot about it, but the chance to parody the "American Express" ads was too much to pass up. Phil: You've collaborated with Simon Furman on several occasions. Any upcoming projects where your paths will cross again and you'll combine talents?? BF: Oh, I expect so. Simon's good and he's fast and he comes up with cool ideas. Plus he's eight hours ahead, which can make all the difference in a time-crunch situatuion. Phil: With your work on "X-Men: Evolution", how did you deal with the pressure of presenting characters that were familiar to many people and yet were done in new and (sometimes drastically) different ways? Was there any pressure that you felt? BF: Only a ton. Like I said at the time, short of doing a show based on a major religion there is nothing so scary as doing a show where you are meddling in the Marvel Universe. Phil: What is your opinion of the state of animation today? A rather open-ended question, I admit, but just give us whatever thoughts you have, whether it deals with remakes, importing Japanese shows, toy licensing, or whatever you wish. BF: I think I sort of answered it above. But in summation, the industry is going through a major change, but I think it'll ultimately be beneficial. The potential presented by new technology and production methods is tremendously exciting. It'll happen. We just have to make it profitable. :) Phil: What current projects are on your plate right now? BF: Can't talk about 'em. Not only are there non-disclosure agreements, but it is also bad luck. :-) Phil: What current cartoons do you find yourself watching, if any? What about live-action TV? BF: "Jackie Chan Adventures," "X-Men Evolution," and "Kim Possible." And of course, "Simpsons." Don't watch much live-action, though I seem to end up seeing "Drew Carey" a lot. The room with the decent TV in it has been taken over by my older son. This happens to parents. Phil: When you're not writing or directing (or blowing toys up), what do you enjoy doing the most? BF: Reading. I read a couple hours a night. Phil: Let's end with some word association. I'll mention a word or phrase, and you respond with the first thing that pops in your mind:
Phil:
Beast Wars
Phil:
Beast Machines
Phil:
Reality TV
Phil:
Transformers fans
Phil:
BotCon
Phil:
Dinobot
Phil:
Heroism
Phil:
Chicago-style Pizza
Phil:
BS&P
Phil:
Simon Furman
Phil:
Boy Bands
Phil:
Ben Yee
Phil:
Hooks
Phil:
He-Man
Phil:
Larry DiTillio
Phil:
Chocolate cake
Phil:
Big explosions
Phil: After countless interviews and several BotCon appearances, what is the one question you wish people would ask? BF: Mostly, I wish that they'd get a chance to meet a few of the behind-the-scenes artists and animators who deserve a lot more attention than they get. It'd be cool if one Botcon someone like Walter Hsieh or Bea could show up with a workstation and show how they'd have Megatron giving a smug self-satisfied chuckle or something. They were incredibly fast and it was fun to watch. Phil: Perhaps you could explain to our readers who Walter Hsieh and Bea are. BF: They were a couple of the animators on my crew, and they were really good. I had other good animators too, but Walter and Bea were the most fun to watch. Phil: And finally, what is the one thing that you want people to know about you? BF: Just that I'm grateful to everyone who helped make shows like "Beast Wars" happen. From the toy designers to the marketing people to the fans who watched and supported the show, it couldn't have happened without them all. Yeah! Big ups ta mah peeps in the ATT hood! Peace out! <grin> 1: Agent 12 | 2: Skyjammers | 3: Past Projects and the Resurgence | 4: Other Questions ASM would like to again thank Bob Forward for taking the time to answer our questions. For more information about "Agent 12", check out http://www.detonationfilms.com. For more information about "Skyjammers", head to http://www.skyjammers.tv. For more information about Bob Forward, you can view his official site at http://www.bobforward.com.
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