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I just realized a whole bunch of cartoons are Post-Apocalyptic

post #1 of 24
7/12/10 at 11:42pm
Thread Starter 
A friend of mine mentioned to me that Pendleton Ward's 'Adventure Time' takes place in a post-apocalyptic era, which lead me to realize 'The Marvelous Misadventures of Flap-Jack' clearly takes place in a 'Water World' like universe where the polar caps have flooded the earth.

This lead me to think of other popular American television cartoons which are also oddly post-apocalyptic. I'm no expert on the '80s action stuff, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Herculoids and Thundercats post-apocalyptic? And maybe even He-Man? Sky Commanders, Visionaries, certain aspects of C.O.P.S....
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post #2 of 24
7/12/10 at 11:43pm
I have never heard of those first two shows.

Thundercats, Herculoids and He-Man take place on other worlds. Thundarr the Barbarian is specifically set on a post-apocalypse Earth.
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post #3 of 24
7/12/10 at 11:56pm
Flapjack is an awesome awesome cartoon. Puns Time is my favorite episode. I also enjoyed the song "He's a man with a little girls voice".

Pirates of Darkwater also took place in an ruined world too....
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post #4 of 24
7/13/10 at 12:01am
Thread Starter 
The first two are newer shows. Adventure Time is actually pretty good.

I confused Thundarr with Herculoids. Didn't the Thundercats come to our earth from their planet, and when they get here things are all fuckered?

I suppose I'm confusing some really dystopic other planets for earth post end of man in my mind.
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post #5 of 24
7/13/10 at 12:04am
Do you ever see much of the planet in the Jetsons? Who knows what horrible things happened below to prompt them to build everything so high the way they did.
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post #6 of 24
7/13/10 at 12:08am
Thundercats had a Superman-like scenario where they had left their dying planet, and landed on Third Earth, which may or may not be OUR Earth. There was definitely some Egyptian stuff going on with Mumm-Ra.

Since you mentioned the damned VISIONARIES, I'll counter with the other Hasbro property from the same year-- AIR RAIDERS ("The Power is in the AIR!"), which were on a world that may not have been ruined, could have been. My memories from the two or three Marvel comics I read have faded. Yeah, neither of those two properties lasted too long, did they?
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post #7 of 24
7/13/10 at 12:12am
Thread Starter 
Slightly off topic - Visionaries is actually kind of good. I was shocked.
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post #8 of 24
7/13/10 at 12:13am
Memory's hazy but I think the Pirates of Darkwater fits in there, too.

Edit: NickP beat me to it.
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post #9 of 24
7/13/10 at 12:29am
I watched one episode of Flapjack. I found the humor style kind of hilarious and the look of it very interesting, but, and I'm 100% serious, the main character's voice made me almost vomit. It actually made me nauseous. I tried watching once more and got the same sick feeling. I kind of wish someone would dub just that character's voice for me. I've never had that reaction to a sound before.
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post #10 of 24
7/13/10 at 7:33am
Back in the 80s I used to watch this show called Spiral Zone, which had a sort of post-apocalyptic zombie thing going on. There was also Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, which I believe was supposed to be set on a post-apocalyptic Earth. And of course, while it's not a cartoon, there was Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, which featured thick-accented occasional-Shwarzenegger-punching-bag Sven Ole Thorsen.
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post #11 of 24
7/13/10 at 7:59am
Gabe Powers, Herculoids was aired in...1967. Fist Of The North Star, was clearly a post-apocalyptic anime series, which aired in the 80's though. If you never saw it, FOTNS is...Awesome!
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post #12 of 24
7/13/10 at 7:59am
Bravestarr did something a little different with Earth, I don't recall the episode but it's sounds cool.

From it's Wiki page;
Quote:
One episode is set on Earth, where the city of London resembles Victorian England, including a time travelling Sherlock Holmes. This lends a steampunk flavor to the series and is a logical extension of the series' setting.
You'd find that Energy resources were a big thing too, a couple of cartoons revolved around mining for these or just the destructive capability of having control of such power.
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post #13 of 24
7/13/10 at 11:37am
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs also took place in a fture, post apoc earth, in which dinosaurs returned to life or just evolved from other reptiles again or something.
Miyazaki's Future Boy Conan is eseentially a postapoc survivor tale.
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post #14 of 24
7/13/10 at 12:39pm
To the original point, though, Gabe, I hadn't heard that Adventure Time was supposed to be post-apocalyptic. That may be the case, but the design of the world clearly owes more to fantasy tropes, some of them direct references to D&D (there was a gelatinous cube in last night's episode, titled "Dungeon").

The other shows you mentioned, though, are not post-apocalyptic. I think most of them were explained as straight-up sci-fi, but as for Flapjack, it's clearly fantasy-historical. Again, last night's episode revealed something about its world. We learned that Stormalong Harbor was founded as the "farthest port" or some such thing, so it does seem to take place in a world where there is a mainland somewhere. Various islands are also featured in some episodes.

As for Flapjack's voice, I didn't like it at first, but now I love it. If it makes you want to vomit, MatthewH, the show probably isn't for you, because I think you need to find Flapjack to be an endearing character to enjoy the show.
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post #15 of 24
7/13/10 at 12:55pm
You know what's a great post-apocalyptic cartoon?
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post #16 of 24
7/13/10 at 1:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli View Post
You know what's a great post-apocalyptic cartoon?
Thats more of a Dystopian cartoon if you ask me. Matti boy.
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post #17 of 24
7/13/10 at 2:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ryoken View Post
Thats more of a Dystopian cartoon if you ask me. Matti boy.
No way, dude. They clearly show earth being decimated many times over.
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post #18 of 24
7/13/10 at 2:28pm
C.O.P.S was set in a future time....where they were fighting crime.

Now Biker Mice from Mars, that was set in a Post-Apocalptic Earth. And Exo Squad? That goes without saying.
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post #19 of 24
7/13/10 at 2:43pm
I'm ashamed to know this, but even though HE-MAN takes place on Eternia, Prince Adam's Mom is an astronaut from Earth. So, He-Man is actually half Earthling.

Thundercats hints at taking place on Earth, but it's not stated until the Wildstorm comic (which isn't show canon granted).

This thread makes me wish for a HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN animated series.
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post #20 of 24
7/13/10 at 3:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli View Post
No way, dude. They clearly show earth being decimated many times over.
Well, yeah....guess that rebuilding aside, that counts.
Also, theres Los Angeles. that one does count.
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post #21 of 24
7/15/10 at 11:03am
Doug obviously took place in a nuclear wasteland.
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post #22 of 24
7/15/10 at 1:46pm
The Big O, most definitely.

From Wiki:

Quote:
Forty years prior to the events of the series, disaster struck. The world was turned into a vast desert wasteland and the survivors were left without memories. The story takes place in Paradigm City, a corporate police state run by the Paradigm Corporation. The town is recognized for its geodesic domes, giant structures that house the richer citizens and segregate the poor.
Though the ending of the show leaves anything up for grabs as far as wtf is going on...
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post #23 of 24
7/15/10 at 2:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewH. View Post
I watched one episode of Flapjack. I found the humor style kind of hilarious and the look of it very interesting, but, and I'm 100% serious, the main character's voice made me almost vomit. It actually made me nauseous. I tried watching once more and got the same sick feeling. I kind of wish someone would dub just that character's voice for me. I've never had that reaction to a sound before.
I think the show's creator does that particular voice. And yes, it does induce convulsions at long range.

It's like Kate Bush's video for Experiment Four...."a sound that could kill at a distance."
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post #24 of 24
7/15/10 at 9:09pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Hill View Post
To the original point, though, Gabe, I hadn't heard that Adventure Time was supposed to be post-apocalyptic. That may be the case, but the design of the world clearly owes more to fantasy tropes, some of them direct references to D&D (there was a gelatinous cube in last night's episode, titled "Dungeon").

The other shows you mentioned, though, are not post-apocalyptic. I think most of them were explained as straight-up sci-fi, but as for Flapjack, it's clearly fantasy-historical. Again, last night's episode revealed something about its world. We learned that Stormalong Harbor was founded as the "farthest port" or some such thing, so it does seem to take place in a world where there is a mainland somewhere. Various islands are also featured in some episodes.
Sorry, I'm not keeping an eye on my own thread. The creator of Adventure Time actually stated in an interview that it was Post-Apocalypse. So far as Flapjack is concerned, I'm clearly drawing conclusions based on imagery, not on any specific cannon. I still think the general lack of land is pretty post-global warming. There are islands, but we never really see a 'mainland'.
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