Angela Anaconda’s Promising Premiere For A Redeeming Revival?

Do you remember that weird television show about a brown haired girl with grey skin fantasising about getting far-fetched revenge on her blonde haired nemesis [35]? I certainly do. Angela Anaconda was a cartoon with a strangely unique art style created by Joanna Ferrone and Sue Rose that ran for three seasons from 1999 to 2001 [1] [3]. It was originally a skit on KaBlam! a time before that with many noticeable differences [24] [29] [30]. Despite its rare and unique techniques of animating with photographs of people [17] [35], its animation and art style received a lot of backlash for looking “ugly” and the characters were considered to be not that likeable [33] [38] [39]. Nevertheless, it has received its own fanbase and everyone is entitled to their own opinions [8]. I am fairly neutral to the show as I remember watching and tolerating it as a child, but I understand why many considered it to be heavily flawed as a young adult. But what if there ought to be a sudden reimagining of the show for early 2020 after some fans of the original show celebrated its 20^th anniversary towards the end of the 2010s [8]?

Where it all started. [24]

What?! A reboot?! [39]

Despite the negative reception Angela Anaconda has received throughout the years, a woman named Alexandra Bender who is determined to reboot it seems like a talented person who has the right hands for it under agreement with the creator and original crew [9] [11] [15]. As a fellow cosplayer, I admire how she sometimes cosplays as Angela as she appears to be quite a big fan of the show [8] [10] [41] [42]. In addition to this, there are some examples of her respectfully and rationally disagreeing with those who have negatively reviewed the original show and maintaining a wonderfully respected reputation whilst doing it [7] [18] [19]. This is a sign of Bender having the potential to at least figure out what could make a reimagining of Angela Anaconda provide some smaller changes for the better, despite her love for the original show [8]. With the ability to balance maintaining what made her admire the original show with understanding what smaller aspects of the show could have been more tolerable to many critics [18] [19], some noticeable improvements featured in the revival would be worth the determination she has felt for quite some time [11] [16].

Alexandra Bender in her Angela Anaconda cosplay outfit with an Angela Anaconda doll. [8]

Potential for a reboot of Angela’s life was teased on Bender’s channel in late 2019 [9] [11]. One change I find to be quite strangely refreshing is the fact that Angela’s skin tone has been changed from light grey to peach [16]. This must be just to give the old animation style that involves using photographs from the original show a fresh new look that would seem more convincing for new audiences. I think I can trust Bender’s creative direction as she has some experience with developing her own intellectual property with some colleagues, Katharina the Supervillain [12]. As for the full new introduction we now get to see, the first thing I had noticed is the lack of nasally vocals. It is too bad that Sue Rose has not returned to reprise her role as Angela Anaconda for a rebooted series as there is no voice acting present in the reimagined introduction, but at least the instrumental of the theme song is still around. Since Bender seems to be so passionate about this potential reboot, I think she should be the new voice for Angela as she has cosplayed as her a few times and once sang the theme song beautifully [10].

Here is a preview of how a new Angela Anaconda will be animated. [16]

And here’s an Angela with the voice of an angel. [10]

Aside from the new vibrant skin tone for the characters, let us start the comparisons between the old designs and new designs, including the KaBlam! designs with the main character [13] [29] [30]. The new peach-skinned Angela is still wearing the white T-shirt and orange dress the original grey-skinned Angela wore throughout the three seasons of her show from 1999 to 2001 [1]. I can say that those designs are better than her appearance from the KaBlam! shorts that had a taller head, along with lighter and cruder hair [24]. I supposed Bender wanted the main starlet to maintain the attire that made her more iconic, compared to the stripped jumped and black patterned skirt she wore in her KaBlam! days. I like how the limbs of the new Angela look thicker and more realistic, along with how the greenness of her eyes slightly stands out more [13]. It is quite refreshing to witness such an upstaged design of a character from a more obscure nostalgic cartoon. I can say that this is pretty much like doing a “Draw This Again” meme on DeviantArt to compare on old drawing from a few years ago to an improved redo of it [6].

I put Angela’s old design next to her new one. I can also see that the same photographs of young model faces are used for the redesigns to save time for animating. [13]

Angela’s design from KaBlam! was less convincing with cruder hair and a taller head. [30]

Dare I compare the designs of Ninny Poo? I say the navy blue beret she wore in the original show suited her strong interest in French culture better than the light pink bow she wore in the KaBlam! shorts [5] [29] [30]. Her black pleated skirt and sophisticated blouse also suit her fondness of being a French-culture loving equivalent of a weeaboo better than her classy pink dress in the KaBlam! shorts [21] [29] [30]. Apart from how Nanette Minor’s attire is pretty much the same as her attire from the original show except for her beret being a dark shade of purple smaller and her hair is lighter, Angela’s fantasy shown in the reimagined introduction serves her right for throwing a tomato at her face for no other reason than just to be a nuisance [15]. Nanette also now consists of the more realistic anatomy and more human-like skin that her nemesis has received. However, just because a character’s new design is better than the old one, does not mean that she will magically become all sweet and innocent for new audiences. All that glitters is not gold, including the white piano Nanette is standing on in the rival’s return [15].

Mean girl in 2000 alert! [5]

Mean girl in 2020 alert! [15]

Let us also compare the new designs of the other characters that feature peach skin in the new theme song video to their old designs from the original cartoon, as well as the quality of the animation [15]. Gina Lash, Angela’s intelligent best friend has received the most drastic and more modern change [8] [9] [35]. Her new design looks more vibrant with dark curly hair and a more eye-catching top with flowers printed on it, along with jeans and brighter glasses [8] [15]. Johnny Abatti now wears a red T-shirt in the reimagined intro [9] [15], compared to the shirts he wore in the KaBlam! shorts and the original show [6] [29] [30]. Gordy Rhineheart’s new attire is also brighter and more eye-catching [2] [8] [38]. The more realistic anatomy also applies to all of the other characters. The animation looks slightly more fluid in the reimagined introduction, compared to the animation in the original show [8] [15] [35]. The characters move more gracefully and have far more convincing expressions than the ones in the KaBlam! shorts, which enhances the appeal of the updated character designs [15] [29] [30]. Improved animation and an upstaged art style are some signs of a new interpretation of an intellectual property that is willing to be an improvement.

Welcome to the 2020s, Angela’s friends! [9]

Amazzon, Amazzon! Rebooting me! She’s our hero, golly gee! [38]

Let us look into some other aspects before expressing some thoughts on how the writing for a potential reboot could also be refreshed. The background for the stage with blue curtains provides clearer materials than increase the realism of the new art style. As for the audio, during Angela’s revenge fantasy as a strong gust of wind blowing away her foes, there could have been some wind sound effects, along with some feminine screaming [15]. Additionally, there could have been appropriate sounds for the lamp on Angela’s piano and the rope wheel for holding up the new logo [15]. Apart from those missed opportunities, I am not too sure about the use of smartphones in a reboot of a cartoon from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Hopefully a fully established new series of Angela Anaconda will not rely too heavily on meme culture and 2010s trends at times [20], which is one of the reasons why the 2016 reboot of The Powerpuff Girls has been negatively received by many fans of the original show [31] [32] [40]. Nevertheless, that design of Gina Lash’s phone is stunning [9] [15]. Apart from those differences, the new writing ought to be familiar yet consistently revised.

A comparison between the two backgrounds. [15] [35]

Since Nanette was always meant to be the antagonist of the series [5], she would need to do something quite deplorable before being involved in any of Angela’s surreal fantasies in a reboot of the original show. The way she callously hurled a tomato at her target in the new introduction is a prime example [15]. That way we can see them being justified and not negatively affecting Angela’s character, thus maintaining the audience’s belief in her being the at least better person. It always works for when Angelica Pickles gets karma in many episodes of Rugrats, right [34]? Revenge fantasies against an antagonist is the main highlight of the original show [39], but I think if a reboot ought to truly happen, the new fantasies should hopefully not be too unsettling as that one fantasy Angela had in the original show went a little too far by mildly expressing cannibalism [33], thus undesirably affecting her character development. Not only should there be at least interesting premises and funny lines in each episode of a reboot but also surreal revenge fantasies that do not become sadistic [8] [33]. After all, it is supposed to be a reimagining of Angela Anaconda, not Happy Tree Friends or Mortal Kombat [23] [28] [37].

FATALITY!!! [15]

There is one more thing I would like to discuss about the potential revival of Angela Anaconda and that is no other than the changes to the logo [9] [14] [15]. The new logo looks sharper and lacks the pattern the original logo consisted of. There is also a trial layer behind each letter and red ovals over six of them, apart from the circle over the “o” and the triangles over the capital “A”s. These choices help the logo stand out well and slighter easier to read. I like how the logo has not changed so drastically, which can help the reboot receive more recognition for simply being a recreation of the original show, even though some properties still maintain their recognition after much more drastic changes to their logos [25] [26] [27]. The clear appearance of the new Angela Anaconda logo can not only further prove that the re-establishment of Angela Anaconda is ought to be a refreshing reboot but also be beneficial for plenty of dyslexic viewers. 

The new and more readable logo for the reimagined title sequence. [9]

Overall, a reimagining of the Angela Anaconda title sequence is quite an interesting introduction to cartoons in the 2020s [9] [15]. The team behind it has been a great job at making it true to the original while providing some alternations to make it fresh for new audiences. Even though a full reboot of the series has not been fully established yet and might be only uploaded online once it is, it is impressive how a huge fan of the original show are her creative team can potentially balance both sides of the spectrum; those who loved it and those who loathed it. There is a right way to re-establish a series and there is a wrong way to re-establish a series [22] [36] [40]. Could the new and seemingly improved Angela Anaconda be done in the right way? If so, we will see how much the intellectual property has progressed since the days of her being featured on KaBlam! [29] [30]. Furthermore, the critics who dissed the old Angela Anaconda might imagine it being pwnd by the new Angela Anaconda in some revenge fantasies.

Take a bow, everyone! [15]

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