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Disturbing Cartooons

Curious Ident said:
Jolly Jack said:
Ah, Curious, we meet again!

I'm fairly sure I remember that cartoon as well - I think it was French, and featured some kind of war between these stormtrooper type guys (with weird penis-y heads) and some good robots or something. Am I right in thinking the bad guys had a kind of red light where their eyes should be, like the Cylons off of Battlestar Galactica?

These robots were trying to help the princess get somewhere, or something, and she may even have had a cutesy dog (?) sidekick.

IIRC it was on over the summer holidays one year, and never reached any conclusion that I saw - maybe missed it by going back to school?
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Yes! That's the one! Creepy. Very creepy. And there were good robots. I think.

Anybody else remember it~?
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Yes. I'm not certain now whether they were delineated as good and bad, but I remember distinctly that there seemed to be two factions, both being strange phallic-helmeted stormtroper/cylon types, but one side were black, the other white.
I had no idea what was going on, plot-wise, though.
 
Me neither. All I know is it disturbed the hell out of me!

And the music! No It's mucking with me head even thinking of it.

That little stormtrooper guy screaming about being the leader! I'm pretty sure there was some Big Brother style being deciding who was going to be ruler and continueously showing disapproval for the little guy's failures...

I can see him toadying even now.

What the hell was it called?
 
No I don't think that's it. Although it does look very odd in it's own right.

the animation I was talking about definitely had very white non detailed back-grounds.
 
Once again, I found myself discussing this last night with a few friends I hadn't seen for a while.*

*This has now become a rather disturbing obsession...

Anyhow, after mentioning most of the comments above, one of them said "Yeah! I remember that!" this looked promising, "That disembodied voice screaming at the little robot leader guy, that he was 'the lowest of the low'!"

Yes, I had forgotten that.

This got things moving, and others chipped in. We remembered this girl crash landing on a planet, with her dog, where two warring robot factions fought each other.

"But, what was it called?"

And then, as if by magic, a guy standing at the bar gave us the answer...

"Robostory," he said, "It was called Robostory".

"Yes! That's it!"

"Bloody dark that," he continued, "I didn't like it".

And so I have an answer.

I've also been doing a bit of digging. I'll post my results as soon as I get a chance.
 
Here, is what little in the way of pics I have been able to find:

robostory.jpg


The second from right pic is of that freaky-ass Evil Leader Robot. Observe the shape of his helmet. Very Phallic-Shaped and almost certainly Star Wars inspired...

The series was indeed French, and so trying to find a lot on itis quite difficult. But I have acquired this badly translated info:



Robostory


Original name Robostory
Origin France
House of production Belokapi
Year of production 1985
A number of episodes 52 X 13 min.
Author Bernard Kessler, Francis Lax, Michel Pillyser
Realization Michel Pillyser
Executif producer Nicole Pichon
Animation Michel Altermatt
Musics Domenica Laurent
Gén. VF interpreté by Marie-Pierre
Arrival in France Nov. 23. 1985 (Canal+ - Cabou Cadin)
Repeat broadcasts TF1


Synopsis:
The small Bilberry, accompanied by its Loupti dog, is found on green planet, after its vessel was echoué. It is collected by Robors, of nice robots. But attention, quarrelsome Rotors wants to conquer planet...
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This ringing bells for anybody else?
 
Curious, you seem to have discovered a freaky 80's cartoon that completely passed me by. How did that happen? I thought I'd seen them all.
 
To me, there is no other cartoon that strikes fear into my heart worse than Little Clowns of Happy Town. It was made in the wake of 80's cartoons tied in to merchandise, so Little Clowns was the "solution" - something that was so inoffensive as to have no worth whatsoever... It featured clown children telling positive "jokes" and little else.

http://www.anchorbay.co.uk/perl/search.pl?CO=abd6021
 
Continuing from where I left off, more info found...

Questions and Answers on Robostory (1987 French Robot Cartoon)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi all you folks!

I know there have been a few posts about Robostory in the past, it was a cartoon that had lingered in everyone's mind though most people had forgotten what it was called. For those of you who don't know Robostory, it was a dark, sinister cartoon about a cute orange haired girl. She crash lands on a green, alien planet. It was also REALLY AWESOME!

For a cartoon back in 1987 that was intended for kids (I think it was, being only about 6 when I saw it) being dark and depressing was a fairly new innovation (anyone know any dark depressing kids shows that predates this??)

The inhabitants of this planet are two robot factions; there were the "Robos" (who were good) and the "Wrigglers" (bad). The wrigglers were most notable for their helmets; they looked a lot like the helmet Darth Vader wore except instead of two eyes, there was a red line (like a post box). I also believe someone said the wrigglers had guns that popped out of their bodies (does anyone dispute this!?)

Oh by the way, the purpose of this thread is to ask if people can remember anything else about the cartoon that I've missed out, so I'm gonna say everything I can remember about it, and if anyone can fill in the gaps that would be really good!

Where was I? Oh yeah, I've been informed that the Wriggler's leader was simply called "White Wriggler". He was pretty hopeless, and I believe the comic relief character. WW would follow instructions (poorly!) given to him by a disembodied voice known as "Revered Reverence". (That was so cool, that would have to have been the pinnacle of Robostory's lofty peak) Whenever WW stuffed up, Reverence would remind him that he was the "Lowest of the Low" (I get that quite frequently too) and turn him BLACK.

There have been a few people on forums who have referred to WW as "Robot Moron" (was this a genuine name used in the cartoon?) Someone also said that the Wrigglers became progressively stupider the higher the rank they got. Can anyone who has viewed the toon back that up?

I think Swindanny, who posted on this site said that there were robots higher than the WW. I personally dont remember any, but it probably would have made the cartoon more interesting if there had been.
My mind may be playing tricks, but I seem to remember that WW had a second in command, a red wriggler, and on one special occassion Reverence got so pissed with WW that he turned him black, and the RW became white instead!

Oh, you Australians who think I am talking about W.W. from "My Secret Valley" know that I AM NOT. You are CONFUSED.

As for the Robos, well I didn't think they were so cool. They just looked after the girl and her dog (names!?) and periodically fought the Wrigglers. I also believe they were helping the girl rebuild her damaged space ship (although someone said it was a train, please explain!?)

There was an old pink robot (I am informed he was called just that, he may or may not have been the leader) a warrior robot who was green I think, and I'm sure there was a robot who printed out newspapers from his stomach! No, I swear there was.
I also think there was a robot who formed a close friendship with the girl, and his name was "Pasha".

Well, that's all I can remember about it. There are a few snatches of episodes that I can remember, but this post is long enough, I think, and you all want to go to bed don't you?

It was such a monumental introduction! Does anyone know the name of the robot in this intro who wears the black cape and has black V's down his visor?

If any of you can give me more information about this truly memorable cartoon I'd really appreciate it. Also, I've started a comic which will be up on the web soon, and I must confess I "borrowed" here and there from Robostory, but it's not that noticeable. My email is [email protected] so send send send!

OK gotta go. Cant wait to see how many people respond to this!

-A J Preece
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An awful lot more people who also remember it posted on this forum:

http://forum.bcdb.com/gforum.cgi?po...=forum_view_collapsed;page=last;guest=1551714

Please tell me others remember this series?
 
Morph!!!!! Argh!
Trap Door! Eek - Dont worry bert its 'im upstairs! :twisted:
 
I was never scared by Scooby Doo, but there was one episode with a monster called the Phantom Shadow. It was basically a sinister black caped thing, and it scared the living arse off me.

Also I remember an episode ot Top Cat (stay with me, this is going somewhere). In it, Officer Dibble was one day away from breaking the record of consecutive days on the beat without time off. He had a picture of the record holder (who he idolised) on his bedroom wall.
Anyway, he got ill, and was lying in bed, resigned to the fact that he was now not going to break this record. Then (while Dibble was delerious) the picture came to life, and started him admonishing him - "are you gonna let a little thing like a cold stop you from breaking my record?" etc. The sight of that picture coming to life was the most pant-filling thing I'd ever seen.
 
Curious Ident, you are not alone, that is exactly the thing I remember. You didn't dream it after all. Well done for finding all that out by the way - Good Job! :D

I remember being very amused by it as a kid, despite it being scary weird, because the French animators had seen fit to draw an arsehole on the dog which you could clearly see when it wagged it's tail. Up till then, cartoon characters didn't have correct anatomies - how does Mickey Mouse take a dump?

Does anyone remember another cartoon called "The Ascent Of Man" or something very similar? It was on in the summer hols when I was a kid, maybe early eighties, and was a sort of history programme, each episode explaining things about how civilisation progressed from cavemen up to the present. Had a bloke called the Sage on it who had a big white beard instead of clothes, and was always getting two other idiot characters out of scrapes.

Not scary, but a bit weird and possibly european in origin?
 
So, like he was naked apart from clothing made out of his beard?

Well that sounds Weird as hell already...
 
I can remember watching an animation on ITV during the '80's, I think called something along the lines of *European Folk Tales* narrated by this guy.

The most disturbing episode I found was one about demons or goblins stealing or leading children astray. They would then keep them captive and make them cry so that they could drink their tears. In my minds eye I can see the animation now but can't for the life of me think what the story or the programme was actually called. It would be on at lunchtime just before I had to walk back to junior school.

Also The Moomins (the fuzzy felt animation not the Japanese version). I loved the books and the animation but the Hattifatteners freaked the life out of me. I would cringe when I saw them on the TV.
 
Jolly Jack said:
Does anyone remember another cartoon called "The Ascent Of Man" or something very similar? It was on in the summer hols when I was a kid, maybe early eighties, and was a sort of history programme, each episode explaining things about how civilisation progressed from cavemen up to the present. Had a bloke called the Sage on it who had a big white beard instead of clothes, and was always getting two other idiot characters out of scrapes.

Not scary, but a bit weird and possibly european in origin?
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i really enjoyed that series specially the theme tune (toccatta and fugue in d minor by bach)

i think its from spain orginaly
 
Jolly Jack, the cartoon with the bearded bloke was called Once Upon A Time... Man and was European (French?). It seemed to run for ten years, and included an apocalypse at the end, reputedly (if anyone watched it that far? I didn't). Used to be on Sunday mornings where I lived.
 
A quick Google search comes up with not much except people asking, "Do you remember the cartoon with the guy with the long white beard?". Looks like it was French - if Ulysses 31 can come out on DVD, why not this, I ask you?
 
Yes, that was the same kind of situation I walked into trying to find Robostory.

There were a hell of a lot of European cartoon series during the 80s which seemed to have disappeared for ever. It seems the French in particular were not as determined to keep record of these as we were in England, or Japan and the USA for that matter.

Shame.
 
I loved that cartoon too...we used to be shown videos of it whenever the teacher got bored of real history.
 
That's the one! :D Knew I hadn't imagined it!

Did anyone ever see the end? The rumour of the apocalyptic finale sounds a bit disturbing, to say the least, but I can't remember ever seeing anything later than the Renaissance.

Although I seem to remember seeing everything up till then about three times :confused:

And I agree with Quixote about the Hattifatteners on the Moomins. Scared the hell out of me - I think it was that creepy moaning, grumbling sound they made. Oh, and the fact that they seemed to be mindlessly intent on destroying everything in their path.

But why did they look like electric sausages?!
 
A quick Google led me to someone on the Reminiscethis message board who claims there were other series: Once upon a time.....Life, about the human body, and ......Space, about um, space.

Anybody ever seen these two? New to me.
 
Actually the Human Body one does ring a bell....

Hmmm.
 
I can't remember if I've already asked this, but does anyone remember a cartoon possibly set in Austria with a set of magical, anthropomorphoid musical instruments getting into various adventures and simultaneously teaching children about the joys of classical music? I remember a stubborn tuba and a flying piano.
 
Jolly Jack said:
A quick Google led me to someone on the Reminiscethis message board who claims there were other series: Once upon a time.....Life, about the human body, and ......Space, about um, space.

Anybody ever seen these two? New to me.
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Actually the human body cartoon was the one that sprung to my mind when the character *Sage* (beardy guy) was mentioned.

I'm think it showed you things such as what red and white blood cells get up to in the body, a bit like an educational with less SFX, more dodgy animation *Inner Space* with the characters inside a human body. At least that is how I think I remember it- I was always usually outside during the summer holidays, rain or shine. I'm sure there was also a part-work that used the same character, about Biology aimed for the kiddie market.
 
James H said:
I can't remember if I've already asked this, but does anyone remember a cartoon possibly set in Austria with a set of magical, anthropomorphoid musical instruments getting into various adventures and simultaneously teaching children about the joys of classical music? I remember a stubborn tuba and a flying piano.
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I remember Dudley Moore being the voice of Oscar (the piano)
 
Quixote said:
Jolly Jack said:
A quick Google led me to someone on the Reminiscethis message board who claims there were other series: Once upon a time.....Life, about the human body, and ......Space, about um, space.

Anybody ever seen these two? New to me.
Click to expand...

Actually the human body cartoon was the one that sprung to my mind when the character *Sage* (beardy guy) was mentioned.

I'm think it showed you things such as what red and white blood cells get up to in the body, a bit like an educational with less SFX, more dodgy animation *Inner Space* with the characters inside a human body. At least that is how I think I remember it- I was always usually outside during the summer holidays, rain or shine. I'm sure there was also a part-work that used the same character, about Biology aimed for the kiddie market.
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Yes I remember THAT one.

Wasn't it on early in the morning on Channel 4?
 
The Once upon a time ....Life and .....Space used to be on about 5.30- 6 AM on Saturday mornings in the early 90's. I used to watch them before I started my paper round. I'm sure they used the same characters (boy, girl, Mr Natural lookalike) for both of them to be watchable education toons.

And whilst I can't remember being scared of any particular series, there was an episode of Dungeons and Dragons where the Ranger was turned into a Skeleton warrior that freaked me out. I bought it on DVD, watched it and you don't see anything. In my mind, the most frightening thing on telly. In reality, it's the ear cutting scene from Resevior Dogs. You don't see much at all.

Also, does anyone remember an episode of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors where everyone was being turned into crystal and they were only saved by Jayce touching a stone that turned everyone back? I'm sure I remember watching it but I've never seen the episode since and none of my mates can remember that happening in any of them. It certainly messed with my head as a young'un.
 
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