With many shows getting reboots, revivals, sequels, and cartoons, this has got to be hands down the most confusing one out of the entire list. The Cw plans on making a live-action reboot of the Powerpuff Girls. Long story short, the series focuses on aging the girls up to their early to mid-twenties.
They're reportedly now retired and disillusioned from having lost their childhoods to the work of superheroes but may have to put it aside to reunite and once again protect the world from evil. And as I heard the news, this was even a thing. I have only two questions; why does this exist, and how did anyone in their right minds think this overused joke was a good idea? So for both young and old fans, I'm going to mindlessly rant about how this is a terrible idea from top to bottom.
Note
For those of you who don't know about the Powerpuff girls, I'll make a quick summary of why the original works and why this reboot is a bad idea. But I need to clarify that I'm not some old man who thinks that the shows back in my day were the "best." A reboot is not an inherently bad idea because writing all reboots off would also be writing off TMNT 2012, Transformers Prime, Carmen Sandiego 2019, Thundercats 2011, etc., which I all love.
Anyways with that out of the way, I can't think of any better way to explain the concept of the girls than by reciting the theme song. Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen. To create the perfect little girls. But Professor Utonium accidentally. Added extra ingredients to the concoction--Chemical X.Thus, The Powerpuff Girls were born. Using their ultra-super powers. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. They have dedicated their lives to fighting crime. And the forces of evil.
Effectively the biggest appeal Ppg had to the audience was its charming and iconic characters, timeless setting, quick-witted comedy, and the main joke of the series; that being that these small six-year-olds all have power comparable to a demigod as they beat up grown-ass men in these over the top and brutal fight scenes. And as history has already shown in the past, mess with this formula, and I'm sorry, but you don't get the Powerpuff girls, and this is a proven fact.
The Problem with Live Action adaptation
First things first is an obvious but somehow still recurring problem in our modern-day. That being said, I can look no further than Disney live-action remakes. The problem with this idea and those remakes is that it misses the entire beauty of animation. Animation is a medium of infinite possibility, and when it is does right, it says and exemplifies so much emotion without having to tell us about it. Turning all of that into live action limits people from trying to capture something fantastical in a more costly fashion.
Making things more realistic also makes it less magical, which makes it more forgettable as it's telling the same story, with most of the differences being either minute or inefficient. Animation isn't for kids, so we shouldn't treat it as such (looking at your avatar). Or we can go the opposite direction and try so hard to capture the source that the realism takes us out of it or is unfaithful to said source.
Live-action adaptations can work depending on the cartoon since something like Death Note is just easier to bring to life than, say, DragonballZ. That being said, Power Puff Girls is impossible to bring into live-action, and I'll explain that in my second section.
The CW
All of the articles I see are saying that this new reboot is a change because of 2 things. One the Arrowverse and 2 this reboot has already been described as similar to Riverdale since it's another light hearted property that got a darker adaptation into tv. And I have to say that these two arguments are not reassuring in the least bit like someone who's watched almost all of the Arrowverse and some of Riverdale.
For one, the Arrowverse is loosely based on DC comics which, despite all of their nonsense, still live in a relatively normal world that operates on realistic principles for the most part. If you're bad, you're bad, and you're good, and vice versa. But as I said before, Ppg as a cartoon and show doesn't abide by those rules, but I will explain after my next point.
As for Riverdale, whether you like it or not is up to you, but I find it to have a fundamental problem with the show. The entire point of Archie comics was these cute little stories with no real weight behind them. But because that isn't dramatic enough, the CW decided to make the series so unrealistically dark that I can't take these characters seriously anymore.
Season 4, ep 19, has a trailer about how these 17 to 18-year-old minors are planning on murdering someone and saying that they all have experience with dead bodies before this. That's when I lose all sense of empathy for anyone nvolved.
I'm saying all of this because all of these concepts and arguments completely misunderstand why the Powerpuff Girls was so successful, to begin with, despite how simple it is. This show takes place in a world where said girls on the daily have to knowingly and self awarding "save the day" from an intelligent ape that talks in the third person, a brat with more money than most nations, the literal devil, and kaiju monsters that all end up causing millions in property damage without any long term issues.
The definition of episodic storytelling in this weird world is completely bonkers. PPG is a silly ass cartoon that just can't be put into a realistic setting or be made darker without it not being PPG. The girls love crimefighting, the town loves them, and if they ever gave it up, Townsville would be a pile of ashes in 3 days tops. That's a fact that just can't be ignored, and making young adults makes this decision even more baffling.
Like, how the hell is a real mojo Jojo supposed to look appealing? Finally, the CW has this annoying habit for many of its critics that I partially agree with. The CW prides itself on drawing out drama for as long as possible through convenience because, for some reason, people think that's the best way to draw people into a show.
Every episode needs to have a cliffhanger. Every trailer needs to show this shocking or edgy thing to have a rising action without the important climax. I'm not saying Ppg can't be a serialized story because that would forget most reboots, but I don't trust the CW into handling a story like that. This brings me to my last point.
Burnout
Unlike other franchises, I don't think that PPG needs to be told again, and history has proven me right consistently. Spiderman and Batman will always have a new show because what they stand for will always resonate with every generation of every age, but PPG wasn't this profound. It was fun entertainment that taught kids basic morals that don't need an update. The show was vastly successful and still very good, but the series suffered seasonal rot with the creator throwing in the towel himself.
Since then, we seem to regress further with every new installment. Besides specials, we have ppg Z, which was alright, and the reboot, which in my opinion, is the worst reboot of the 2010s. Because unlike Teen Titans go, this reboot tried to promote more developed lessons about empowerment while completely falling on its face every time while forgoing the action part of this action-comedy. They got rid of Ms. Bellum for her curvy figure in the same season where they show off these 6-year-old girls twerking happily.
The same show won an Emmy on an episode where a side character tongue lashes the girl for saving her life after she tried ending it numerous times, knowing what could've happened if things went wrong. And this isn't being "some anti SJW" or anything. I am fully aware that the OG PPG explored toxic masculinity and feminism themes in many episodes. However, the writing there was smarter since it tackled the lesson with nuisance while still fitting the show.
And given the CW's track record of expressing socio-political issues but rarely writing them in a way satisfying to the narrative or exploring them three-dimensionally like other tv networks, I don't trust them to handle the commentary this new show could have. Combined with the reboot ending with a whimper after years of critics ripping it apart, I don't have any faith that this reboot will last more than one season and get forgotten.
Epilogue
I hope you enjoyed my long rant, but I just had to get this out. 2020's been a hard year for me, and I just wanted a vent. Once again, I don't hate the concept of reboots or the idea of a serialized or more serious PPG, but I think for once we should leave well enough alone and focus on new things.