Evolution

He's right, you know. Kids movies now are much smarter than they were back then. But I'm going to add something to this. A lot of people will respond that the shows of yesteryear were damn good, and a few of them were, but I submit to you that the reason other shows, like, say, Transformers, were augmented a great deal by our own imaginations.

I think this is part of why the generation that grew up on these shows now makes such good shows themselves. Presented with really bare-bones stories--say, the Super Mario game plotlines, or the sort of characterization that could fit easily on the side of a toy package, kids filled in the blanks. Either with those toys or just in our own minds, the really basic threads could be woven into really complex stories, sometimes much more impressive than anything a TV writer would come up with. Except now those kids ARE TV writers, and the memory of that rich created world influences what they write themselves.

But yeah, it also serves as a reminder--never assume that there's no story there just because you don't see a story. If somebody loves something that you don't see anything in, don't forget that they might be adding to it. Kids are more complex than you think.

Alsok yes, I still have to start watching some of these. Anybody know where I can see Steven Universe?