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Answerman - What Happened To World Masterpiece Theater And Shows Like It?

Yeah, who needs story-driven stories .

Anime fans nowadays will never know, will never FEEL the experience of watching a series that teaches you the most important values you can carry in your life.

While I can appreciate your opinion and understanding, it doesn't necessarily mean that only by watching WMT can you truly understood those stuff that you've mentioning. Plenty of other anime (including different media as well if you want to venture elsewhere) can teach anyone something important too, and some people might as well experienced things and learned through it in their life without even watching anything or used any kind of media. Sure, there's lots of young people that doesn't understand important values, even old ones too, but I don't think it is in our place to judge them. Some might not even be swayed by WMT after watching as everyone is different in their own aspects. Even shounen shows that people blamed to be repetitive and cliched can imposed their own sense of morality that can helped shape people into being the one self that they desired, or inspired someone toward reaching their goals. I don't think you should worried about anime fans not being able to learn things that they could through WMT, because other shows still existed and everyone can gain values through experiences and other type of media.

I'd love to watch some of these, but is the only alternative pretty much fansubs? I don't even see the dvds mentioned on Amazon (used).

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, like you'd figure the native country of the classic story being adapted would be able to license them easily, almost as if an obligation.

Especially since it's not like Anne is a story this country has forgotten.

Apparently English Canada did get at least one World Masterpiece show: The Bush Baby. I've never been able to confirm it myself, but assuming these aren't all the same person, it looks like the show ran on TVO and Access Alberta in the 90s. ANN's encyclopedia lists two regulars of the Montreal English VA scene as cast members. The novel's author lived in Canada, so why while it wasn't a headliner, I guess it made sense?

edit: I did some digging through the CRTC's database and found that Bush Baby was approved as Canadian content on June 14, 1993. I guess that dub actually happened.

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I've seen a fair number of WMT episodes, though not in recent years - it's always something I 'mean to go back to.' From what I've seen, I'm not convinced that Justin's wry description of them as 'European kids suffering slowly over 52 episodes' is fair; nor his assertion that 'most of the good instalments were extremely sad.' Yes, the WMTs can be very sad in places - the (in)famous case is Dog of Flanders - like the children's literature they come from. However, there's plenty of blissful happiness in nature and friendship too. A show like Anne of Green Gables is far more about happiness than sadness, IIRC,

As a British viewer, I tend to compare the WMT series to some of the more 'literary' children's cartoons by the Cosgrove Hall studio, such as its stop-motion Wind in the Willows and later projects such as Truckers (from the Terry Pratchett book) and its feature-length cartoon version of the The BFG, two decades before Spielberg's.

Tenchi wrote:

Primus wrote: It always surprised/confused me that neither of the Anne of Green Gables adaptations wound up on Canadian television. Apparently the first one even get an English dub! Didn't it air in French on Radio-Canada in the 1980s and/or 1990s?

Apparently it started airing on Radio-Canada in 1989. That only makes the lack of its broadcast in English Canada even stranger!

Before Green Gables seems to have skipped Canada entirely, though.

Angel'sArcanum wrote:

Primus wrote: It always surprised/confused me that neither of the Anne of Green Gables adaptations wound up on Canadian television. Apparently the first one even get an English dub! Yeah, my thoughts exactly, like you'd figure the native country of the classic story being adapted would be able to license them easily, almost as if an obligation.

Especially since it's not like Anne is a story this country has forgotten.

Topgunguy wrote:

Yeah, who needs story-driven stories when we can watch dust clearing and enemies stare and talk to each other and call it 'action'.

Excuse you, but there are plenty of story-driven shows. Shounen is not the only anime genre.

Topgunguy wrote:

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No respecting other's people taste when your preferable shows is no longer made? Those kind of shows you've mentioned actually had some story in them and people do liked it. You can always just rewatch or try finding those shows that you wanted instead of mocking other's interest. What's the point in agitating people that didn't do anything to you?