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Post by Ryan on Mar 7, 2007 16:39:26 GMT
I've seen about two episodes of Underground Ernie and I really have to say, I sincerely dislike it.
For a start, I generally dislike CGI Animation anyway, but the way they use it here is just awful. In most animated stuff, whenever a personified locomotive character is present, it always appears to be slightly wobbly and limp when they travel. The design of the Underground Ernie characters is just downright freaky too, their big faces and snake-like bodies (which in turn is relative to their actions) is a real turn-off to watch for me.
That and in comparison to Thomas, it's just like any other kid's show. It has no real charm (to me at least), it's too modern and flash. The CGI adds to that element and my general dislike.
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Post by Culdee Fell on Mar 15, 2007 19:36:51 GMT
I personally like it. There is a lot of humour in the episodes, and focus on human characters instead of trains. It's not a rip-off of Thomas, and I do enjoy it. Having said that, I prefer Thomas to Underground Ernie, but UE isn't far behind. If you pick a fairly poor episode of Thomas such as "Thomas Tries His Best" and a good episode of Underground Ernie such as the episode with the competition for the holiday vouchers, I would prefer the Ernie episode. That's just my opinion of course.
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Mar 18, 2007 13:32:05 GMT
I hate Underground Ernie.It rips off Thomas the Tank Engine. It doesn't. Believe me, it doesn't, although it is rather suspicious that the plots are similar. Well, you could argue that Wind in the Willows ripped off Beatrix Potter, or Fireman Sam ripped off Postman Pat. Or, as I've said elsewhere, that the Railway Series ripped off any one of the numerous talking train stories written from the 1850s to the 1940s. I never see anyone round here saying, "Hey, have you noticed the similarities between 'Edward and Gordon' and The Little Engine That Could? Man, that Rev. W. Awdry was such a plagiarist."
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Post by Caesar ("Fat Hatt") on Apr 1, 2007 5:50:39 GMT
What...the...hell...?
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Post by Vortexior on Apr 1, 2007 23:58:50 GMT
Well, you could argue that Wind in the Willows ripped off Beatrix Potter, or Fireman Sam ripped off Postman Pat. Or, as I've said elsewhere, that the Railway Series ripped off any one of the numerous talking train stories written from the 1850s to the 1940s. I never see anyone round here saying, "Hey, have you noticed the similarities between 'Edward and Gordon' and The Little Engine That Could? Man, that Rev. W. Awdry was such a plagiarist." There's a difference there, my dear fellow. The Rev. took the idea of talking trains and made it into a series of books (rather than just a one-shot story) that many people did (and will) grow up with for years to come. His books included many epic stories based on real railway events (the diesel "invasion" for example), and plenty of character developement over the years. Underground Ernie to me is just a poorly built trainwreck of a TV show, with badly done CGI, dialogue that is of Tweenies standard, and (as someone said before) it appears the only research into trains the creators did consisted of watching about five minutes of Thomas, looking at real subway trains for about five seconds and then saying "Ah screw it. Let's just design some mutant caterpillas and call it a day."
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Post by exveefan on Apr 2, 2007 8:01:24 GMT
I've only seen one episode, and it looks kinda ok. At least story was a little better then some of the Thomas Episodes I've seen. As well as some points in the dialog, no 'confusion and delay' for example.
While most say that it's not as good a Thomas, I do say it's better then the other british train show the Diddlys. I don't think anyone want's to be reminded about that TV series.
CGI, I'll admit that it could be done better. But when you think about it. They are trying to create about 26 episodes that go for about 12mins each. Animation take a long time to do and complete, especially when you have to do multiple episodes.
There is also the previous hours of work required for making the models, texturing, rigging everything in the show. Trains, People, buildings, plants, animals, stationary, you name it, they had to build it from cubes and other geometric shapes.
I'm sure some have forgot, but these were probably quickly made after the London Bombings. And this is an attempt to make kids be less scared of traveling on the Underground.
Also to, remember that some of the past Thomas cast are helping out with this show. So there will be some similarities with trying to keep the trains to look appealing to kids.
Anyway I think I've said enough for a poorly made argement. But I've got to get back to my own 3D animation work.
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Apr 2, 2007 21:58:57 GMT
Perhaps I should explain my argument in a more coherent fashion. My point is not to defend Underground Ernie, it has its faults and is no more immune from criticism than anything else.
Rather, my point is that a lot of the criticism directed at this show is that it's supposedly a rip-off of Thomas because it features talking trains. That's an incredibly unfair argument, because the anthropomorphic train dates from long before Rev. W. Awdry was even born. And much as the Thomas universe bears very little resemblance to that of The Little Engine That Could beyond both including talking trains, so the same can be said of Underground Ernie as compared to Thomas.
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Post by Vortexior on Apr 2, 2007 22:31:08 GMT
Perhaps I should explain my argument in a more coherent fashion. My point is not to defend Underground Ernie, it has its faults and is no more immune from criticism than anything else. Rather, my point is that a lot of the criticism directed at this show is that it's supposedly a rip-off of Thomas because it features talking trains. That's an incredibly unfair argument, because the anthropomorphic train dates from long before Rev. W. Awdry was even born. And much as the Thomas universe bears very little resemblance to that of The Little Engine That Could beyond both including talking trains, so the same can be said of Underground Ernie as compared to Thomas. I never said anything about the ideas being the same though, only that the plots were suspiciously similar, like the twin trouble episode.
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Post by adamdowds on Apr 5, 2007 17:35:17 GMT
When I saw an article about it in a Saturday TV Magazine last year, I must say I was interested. But I didn't realise that I missed it. I MIGHT buy the DVD's. I understand there's a new one out now. I'll try YouTube for clips.
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