Conan the Adventurer
I used to watch the above show when I was a kid. I’d already seen the Conan movies on TV, which were obviously censored. It wasn’t until mid-college that I bothered to read some of the original stories and see the uncensored movie. Never upset me that I grew up on the sanitized versions of what was rather adult. Yet, I recently noticed a lot of people bashing cartoons like this on-line.
The argument I saw was that taking an adult story and making it ‘kid friendly’ was an insult to the source material. Either kids should be shown the pure story or not shown it at all until they are an adult. I’ve seen this with TMNT as well since the original comics were fairly violent. It really does revolve around the level of blood and violence that people want their original stories to remain untouched. Occasionally, you see someone swearing that a story loses something if minor nudity (bare breasts) are taken out, but that doesn’t get the same traction as demanding that dark themes and violence remain even in a cartoon.
Now, I get that people don’t want to see the things they loved getting twisted, especially with it being a major business plan these days. For example, I’m not going to go anywhere near ‘Rings of Power’ because I don’t like the changes and the reasons for them being done. Felt the same about ‘The Hobbit Trilogy’, which is why I stopped after the second movie and simply read the book again. That being said, I’m fine with changes done for reasons that are well argued such as elves at Helm’s Deep and not using Tom Bombadil. Other LOTR fans, who are more into than me, hated these changes, but none of these were done to make it more ‘kid friendly’.
Getting upset about a franchise being changed at its core to appeal to another group of adults and piss off the existing fans is one thing. Doing it to get kids into a franchise is something else. I find it to be a positive and get them interested in the source material, which they can explore when they are older. I never would have bought a collection of ‘Conan’ stories if I never saw and enjoyed the cartoon. So, there is a benefit of showing kids a watered down version of a franchise that you want them to get involved in at some point. Heck, I think there was even a ‘Robocop’ and ‘Rambo’ cartoons. Definitely remember a ‘Police Academy’ cartoon and I think I had the Tackleberry figure.
Perhaps this gatekeeping against younger generations is new because we see so many older franchises being repurposed. We see fans who have genuine concerns being lumped in with the illogical haters by those behind the changes. It’s all an Internet mess where fandoms are fractured, especially when you have newer fans claiming that the franchise is no longer for ‘dinosaur fans’. With all of the tension, it’s really no wonder people will turn on cartoons from the 80’s and 90’s as well. This could result in the older generation of fans being the last one of a franchise. Then, someone will come around to revive it as something entirely different and nobody can say otherwise.
So, what do other people think of cartoons based on more adult stories? I’m sure most will want to talk about the trend of changing franchises though.
Legends of Windemere 
Wow, I never saw this cartoon! I’m only familiar with the movies I saw back in the 80s. I didn’t know people were complaining about this. Since He-Man had a series, it stands to reason that Conan would have one, though He-Man seems more for kids. Since kids are curious about what their parents read or watch, it makes sense that publishers or showrunners would find a way to make kid versions of some series so families can talk about the characters they enjoy. I don’t see this as an “insult” to the source material—more as a protective measure to safeguard kids from more adult-oriented aspects of a story. Publishers have been doing this with Greek mythology for ages!
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Conan cartoon came about a decade after He-Man I think. Never looked to see if He-Man was inspired by Conan though. I think people see the rewriting of mythology different. It’s so far removed from modern times that it’s open to interpretation. Stuff written in the last 100-200 years is more protected by fandoms.
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Problems come when you take a property that the existing author meant for a certain audience and try to force it into something to fit a different audience. I can’t imagine taking anything that Alan Moore wrote and trying to make a kid’s book out of it. But someone might have the nerve to try.
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To be fair, Alan Moore hates all of the movies and shows based off his stuff. 😁
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I guess I’m in the camp of having original programming for kids and not a recast of an adult franchise. I can’t imagine taking an adult feature and recasting it as a kids show. The nice part of some of the shows origins are in comic books which could support an argument that they started as kid’s adventures in the first place. (Batman, Superman, etc)
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It really depends on the material. Tarzan can be adjusted for kids fairly easily. With Conan, it was just a fantasy series. The issue seems to be primarily when a series has a high sex content. Violence is something that people adjust or accept even for kids. Weird.
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I agree with you, John. Why is it necessary to do it? There are plenty of kids books available. If something is meant for adults, and it’s adapted for kids, it’ll just water the story down. Keep adult books for adults and kids books for kids.
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Good points Viv.
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Then there is Scooby and Archie which have been reverse engineered for adults. I think it’s appropriate for kids to have things that are specifically for them. If it is a watered down version of something else it could work. Any adaptation can never fully respect the source material as you pointed out with Bombadil. I am more concerned that there just isn’t any originality in popular media these days. I’d rather watch the Netflix version of Ichabod Brooks than another rehashed version of a peripheral character from Marvel or something.
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With Scooby and Archie, I think that makes a little sense. The kids who loved those grow up and still want to see the characters. Some want to see them grow up too. You are right though. No originality left outside of fringe stories. Most of the big shows and movies this year were spinoffs, sequels, remakes, and reboots.
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Creators in every genre have to be aware of their audience and what is acceptable for that audience. Especially in work for kids, where parents and other adults will be casting a critical eye. In this context, it is appropriate to adjust the setting for the new audience.
I wonder how these critics would feel about, for example, a younger James Bond?
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James Bond Jr. cartoon ran for 65 episodes in 1991-1992. It was his nephew. Never saw it myself though because I was more into fantasy and magic. Don’t remember any uproar about that. Conan apparently didn’t have it either until years later when Internet forums turned up. It’s funny how prior to the Internet, adults were able to ignore these adaptations or look at them as a way to get younger generations interested in their stories.
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