Marvel's Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

[shivkala]

This "intended audience" stuff sounds more like an excuse for a crappy show to me. Spectacular Spider-Man was completely kid-friendly and a great show. Same goes for Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. (Season 2 went downhill though, in my opinion.) I quite enjoy shows that are made for kids to enjoy. Not so much shows that are made for only kids to enjoy.

(Not meant as an insult for anyone who likes Ultimate Spidey etc.)

I actually prefer the insane childishness of Superhero Squad to the middling childishness of this current crop.

Agreed, on both parts. You can have shows that appeal to young kids, but are also intelligently written. And then, you can have the stuff they are pumping out now.

That isn't to say that they all have to be grimdark/serious. I personally love shows like Super Hero Squad and Teen Titans Go!. Both of them are far from serious, but they do a good job of being a mix of insane and funny. Both have jokes that are clearly aimed at older audiences (for example, Teen Titans Go! has referenced Webster and Small Wonder, but they appeal to younger ones as well.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Earth's Mightiest heroes was made by Marvel.

Avenger's Assemble is being made by Disney who now owns Marvel.

Surely that explains the change in tone?

 

[Tosk]

Nick's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is another example of a great show, written for kids to enjoy but with a mind to keeping older fans entertained. I dig the zaniness of the situations and character reactions, but also the near-constant references to '70s and '80s movies and TV shows.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

^^^
But that's a conscious decision.

The powers that be don't want jokes for old people for whatever reasons their "studies" claim. Hulk isn't one of those shows written for kids but able to be enjoyed by adults. It's purely written for kids. And they're allowed that! Just like they're ALLOWED to write a show towards any gender or demographic they want to, and the people outside that just have to learn to change the channel.

Ninja Turtles is made for an older crowd. Hulk is not. Just because it has the heroes we love as the main characters doesn't mean we're owed anything. This strange sense of entitlement is really selfish. It's not made for us. If we don't like it, we move onto something that IS made for us. Growing up, Rainbow Brite was made for my sister and not me. It didn't make me angry. It gave me one less show to watch. Is it simply that it has Marvel in the title that we need it to be for us as well?

It's just the way it is. It's not like we can't say they're not capable either. Look at Dini's resume.

It's just what they were ordered to do.

 

[Saga]

I actually prefer the insane childishness of Superhero Squad to the middling childishness of this current crop.

Superhero Squad Show was great in that kids could enjoy it but there were lots of references for adults and hard core comic fans.

 

[Tosk]

Hulk isn't one of those shows written for kids but able to be enjoyed by adults. [...] And they're allowed that! Just like they're ALLOWED to write a show towards any gender or demographic they want to, and the people outside that just have to learn to change the channel.

Yeah thanks, I know. That's why I don't watch it.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I was just trying to elaborate on what I've read and heard that the perceived dumbing down of the humour and scripts from our perspective wasn't an excuse (your word) for the quality but the reason for it. That it was intentional and not backpeddling by the producers after the fact.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Who buys Agent of S.M.A.S.H action figures and vehicle accessories?

http://marveltoynews.com/hulk-agents-smash-figures-toys-released-photos/

The cartoon Hulks are given brightly coloured clumsy accessories like power gloves and massive laser guns, that a Hulk would not need or use. It's so the kids that just bought the toy can see that his hulk has all the cool shit on the tv that they have, and when new cool shit on the tv rears up, that kid is going to scream and scream and scream (I always thought Verruca Salt was insanely hot when we were age appropriate for each other.) until they get the new expansion pack with the flying surfboards.

Seriously, I heard the "The Batman" cartoon was cancelled because the toy line wouldn't sell.

Younger kids buy more toys.

Make the toon for younger kids.

The more toys you sell the longer you are allowed to keep making cartoons.

Oh, and doesn't Elisa look great with a slightly emerald hue?

 

[Chris3123]

It's definitely the weakest of the three Marvel toons.

Oh, definitely. I had been watching all three since they began, but a couple months ago I just couldn't bring myself to care about keeping up with the Hulk show. If it wasn't a Marvel show based on a popular character I wouldn't have lasted this long. That's pretty unfortunate considering how relatively very little of the Hulk corner of the Marvel universe has ever been seen onscreen. One thing I do give the show credit for is bringing a number of characters to screen who have very rarely, if ever, appeared on screen before.

One thing that has always been bothering me about Hulk in that shared universe is how he appears to reside with both the Avengers in New York and with the Agents of SMASH in New Mexico at the same time. I don't recall any explanation ever given, and I could never find one online anywhere. I suppose he could just be splitting his time between the two teams, but the shows don't really make that clear.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Is it possible that there is more than one Hulk?

Banner was physically paired off from the Hulk in the early 80s.

Something similar happened after Doom did brain surgery on Hulk a couple years ago?

Time Travel?

Oh!? Is it a robot? There used to be a cosmic Hulk Robot that would show up and confuse people now and then. The Thing actually figured out that he wasn't fighting the real Hulk because after Half an hour, "the Hulk" wasn't getting any stronger.

http://marvel.com/universe/Hulk_(Cosmos_Automation)??