User blog:William Rane/Creators Should Change Their Target Audience

I just finished watching all 18 episodes of this wonderful show. I'm hooked, and can't wait for more. I do have one qualm, however.

Why are they selling this to kids? The story-line possibilities are amazing, and deserve a darker, more truthful, more adult treatment. The idea that "cartoons" are supposed to be kids' programming is a notion that should have died out decades ago. Animation allows the telling of fantastic stories without the need of huge budgets, and a reliance on finding an actor that'd be willing to don a cape and tights and actually put the time and effort into training for the role [there's only one Christian Bale]. Outside of that, live action just doesn't have the capabilites to do a convincing job of bringing the more over-the-top comic ideas to life. Sure, Marvel's doing a fine job on their side, but those are big-budget movies that come out once a year. We want a series, and animation is the best and easiest way to tell these stories.

But, honestly, take a poll of the people actually watching the show. What audience out there actually knows these characters? Who's writing wiki pages, and blog posts, and researching continuity? It's certainly not a bunch of nine to fourteen-year-old kids. It's guys and girls in their mid- to late-twenties. It's people that are old enough to remember the comics. It's people who know the comics dealt with some pretty heavy-hitting material. It's people who know the second Robin, Jason Todd, was beaten nearly to death with a crowbar by the Joker, then blown up for good measure. These characters live in a universe where beings like Apocolypse and Doomsday exist, and that's what the real audience wants to see.

We want to see that comicbook world brought to moving life on the screen.

Don't get me wrong, I love the show. I just don't want to see its creators bog themselves down thinking they need to keep it "kid-friendly." That whole idea is worthy of another rant, but I'll not get into it now.

The point is this; wake up, people. Who's spending the money on going to see superhero movies? Who's standing in line for hours to get the good seats opening night? What age bracket is actually funding your show?

Case in point; I went to see the new TMNT movie (which was fun, but dissapointing) with my wife. We were worried that we'd be the only ones there without kids (we're both still in our twenties and waiting), but I had a hunch we needn't worry about "fitting in." As we looked around the theater, we noticed that just about everyone there was our age or near enough. And, we left dissapointed because they'd taken a great franchise from our youth and dumbed it down for today's generation of kids.

I doubt the creators will read this blog entry on a fan-based wiki, but, if this message gets out even a little, maybe they'll eventually hear it.

'''The work is good. It could be better. Take off the kid gloves, and pay attention to your actual audience. We're 18-30, and we've been waiting.'''