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4 years 8 months ago
- Posts: 56
| Quote by Old_school_JJ I NEVER found Doug to be a "relatable character," and I don't find just the character of Doug to be bland and boring, I find the whole show to be bland and boring, and I can go into more detail about why I feel that way, but I'll just agree to disagree. And to be fair, when I talk about Doug, I'm counting both the Nick and Disney verison, cause again, I don't think it's really as different as people make it out to be. The main difference I see(other than voice acting) is that on the Disney verison the school bully Roger is rich for some reason, which is the only vaild criticism I can understand from fans of the original. They've also complain about how the character of Connie lost weight and Doug has one more hair in the Disney verison than the Nick...Well I guess, you have to be a fan to understand why stuff like that is upsetting...
But I guess I can give a little bit of credit to you for pointing out a fairly good point on the point about Nicktoons fame. Even though I am pretty sure Ren and Stimpy did have better ratings than Doug at one time, it could be stated that in some regrads, Doug made hold up a little better than Ren and Stimpy, at least in the minds of most fans, not excatly my own. I will admit, if I had to choose between the Nick verison or the Disney verison, I would pick the Nick verison.
Again, that's fine that you don't like the show/find it boring. I guess you have a different taste as far as cartoons and want more histrionics/hyperactive type stuff. Whatever.
But the Nickelodeon and Disney versions are entirely different stylistically. This is where I get irritated with other fans of the series who try to explain the differences between the Nickelodeon and Disney versions in terms of plot points. It's not about making Roger rich (though that was silly and a microcosm for the new direction they were taking the show - away from realism), or breaking up The Beets, or getting rid of the Honker Burger, or making Connie skinny, or any of those superficial things.
The Disney version, from the few episodes I managed to sit through, was slapstick/action-oriented, as opposed to character-driven. Take the episode where he and Skeeter cut class, for example (I watched this on Youtube a while back just to have a direct point of comparison). The majority of the episode is them running away from Mr. Bone and some goofy dog and hiding in plain view while managing not to be seen. It progressively gets more and more over-the-top ridiculous to the point where you're wondering if the show was hijacked by the writers of Inspector Gadget.
It was just pure slapstick silliness. The Disney Doug, probably in part because they changed the format from 2 11-minute stories per episode to 1 22-minute story, was full of these kinds of drawn out action scenes, with very little in the way of introspective analysis or character development. It seems like they were using them as filler. And they weren't scenes featuring the amusing cartoonish antics in Looney Tunes or whathaveyou; Doug was never about whacked out, gravity-defying animation, but the Disney version treated it as if that's what they were going for.
They just turned the show into something completely different stylistically, and it baffles me that anyone wouldn't readily see this. Whether you liked either version or not, it's like comparing classical music to rap in terms of the stylistic differences.
And yes, the voice acting was an enormous difference. You can have the best writing in the world, but if the performances aren't there, it won't matter. Thomas McHugh had no idea how to play Doug. Well, he obviously had an "idea," but it wasn't the right one. He doesn't come across as a real person in the Disney version, and when he's written as insensitive or inconsiderate, he comes across as nothing more than a selfish, entitled, obnoxious prick, even when he apologizes in the end. McHugh never got any sincerity across. He never made Doug seem sincerely well-meaning. I'm left asking myself, "why would I root for this douchebag?," and that's the last thing you want in the protagonist, unless that's what you're going for in a Sopranos/Breaking Bad type of show.
But I'm rambling at this point. The bottom line is, the Nickelodeon Doug and the Disney Doug are nothing alike, and it's not because of any of the things the average Joe cites on the internet when lamenting the development of the Disney version.
I'd go into the shift in artistic style from the atmospheric hand-drawn & painted backgrounds in the Nickelodeon series to the generic, garish, lifeless Disney ones, but that's another topic.
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