CATDOLL: Due to too many negative reviews, "New Calabash Brothers" was suspended at the request of the copyright holder

Since the domestic animation "New Calabash Brothers" was launched, the topic surrounding it has never stopped. Now that the animation of "New Calabash Brothers" has suddenly stopped broadcasting, it has once again been pushed to the forefront. The first season was originally planned to be updated with 52 episodes, but it was suddenly stopped at episode 26 after a week of broadcast. Is it because it was criticized and badly reviewed after the broadcast? The official Weibo of iQiyi Animation stated that this time it was stopped at the request of the copyright holder, and the next 26 episodes will be resumed in September. Last night, the reporter of Xinbao also received a reply from the relevant person in charge of the iQiyi website that the so-called suspension is actually an adjustment of the broadcast scheduling method.

I can’t help but say it. The number of clicks and complaints are both growing

After the launch of "New Calabash Brothers", it created a miracle of click volume because of its strong IP effect. On iQiyi, the 26 episodes of "New Calabash Brothers" have received 360 million clicks. At the same time, it has also been criticized a lot, with a poor score of 3.6 on Douban, which is far behind the old version with a score of 8.7. Although "New Calabash Brothers" is labeled as "Calabash Brothers", its painting style, narrative methods, and character personalities are completely different from the old version, causing netizens to complain.

The sheer length of 260 episodes in five seasons has surprised many people, considering that the old version only had 13 episodes. The new version is currently 11 minutes per episode, and without the opening and ending credits, there is actually not much content, and the plot is dragged out and the pace is slow.

Although the new version of the storyline continues the ending of the old version, it has actually deviated from the original and is full of Korean drama routines. The series begins with the resurrection of the grandfather and pangolin from the old version (the new version does not call it pangolin, but Zhenshanjia, the descendant of pangolin), and adds the golden eagle as the boss of the evil forces, and releases the snake spirit and scorpion spirit under the gourd mountain. The main characters of the gourd brothers appear in batches, and only the seventh and fourth brothers appear after waiting for ten episodes. The story of the seventh brother losing his memory and then recovering his memory takes four episodes.

The paper-cutting style character images with Chinese characteristics are no longer in the new version. The Calabash Brothers have changed from dark-skinned, indomitable little men to cute babies with exaggerated eyeliner, beauty contact lenses, filters, and ten-level skin smoothing. Many viewers complained that they were "big-headed sons wearing headgear". The grandfather who was originally taciturn in the old version became a chatterbox after being resurrected, as if possessed by "Tang Monk" and became a powerful land god. The scorpion spirit and the snake spirit also returned to the stage after injecting "hyaluronic acid" and became the comedy in the play.

The old version of "Calabash Brothers" was praised for being suitable for all ages, and in the eyes of many viewers, the seemingly simple and naive story actually contains a metaphor about faith, redemption and sacrifice. However, "New Calabash Brothers" was ridiculed as a joint production of "Pleasant Goat" and "Big Head Son", without any connotation and nutrition, and only suitable for school-age children. Indeed, judging from the age revealed in the barrage, most of the viewers who gave good reviews to this cartoon were born in the 1990s and 2000s. After the news of the suspension came out, many people asked for the resumption of the broadcast. The director of "New Calabash Brothers" also said that the new version "returned 30 years later, and it still takes more care of the viewing habits of today's children."

Entertainment journalists: Don't use sentimentality as a "fig leaf"

As the concept of IP continues to spread, many childhood cartoons have been "resurrected" again, and "New Calabash Brothers" is just one of the classics remade by Shanghai Animation Film Studio. For example, "Black Cat Sheriff" launched a movie version last year after a 31-year absence, but it ended in a dismal way. A large number of post-80s audiences who went to the theater for nostalgia shouted that the new image and new plot "ruined their childhood", and the box office of the movie with a production cost of 40 million was only 63.3 million. In addition, many classic animation IPs under Shanghai Animation Film Studio, such as "Shuke and Beta", "Avanti", and "Big Ear Tutu", will also be reinstalled and ready to go. "New Calabash Brothers", which has already launched a drama version, will also shoot a live-action movie, launch a stage play and a book, and the mobile game copyright has also been officially launched.

In fact, audiences have long been accustomed to remakes of classics, and are willing to pay for the so-called "nostalgia". But many of today's "nostalgia" is rarely pure and is becoming more and more rampant. More producers just use "collective nostalgia" as a marketing gimmick and bargaining chip, as a "fig leaf" to cover up the flaws in the content. Just like when "So Young" became popular, a group of cheesy youth films that played the nostalgia card emerged in the film and television industry, making people nauseous at first sight; just like every few years, the classic works written by Jin Yong and Gu Long are almost all remade, but every one of them cannot escape the complaints of "destroying the classics".

The graphics of the new Calabash Brothers have completely lost their previous Chinese characteristics. The remake and rebroadcast of "Calabash Brothers" actually followed the trend of "sentimental consumption", but it was all just a rehash of old routines. Not only did it fail to make those born in the 70s and 80s regain their childhood memories and accept it, but it also made them feel disgusted.

However, "New Calabash Brothers" is not without merit. For example, it has devoted a lot of time to portraying each Calabash Brothers, making each Calabash Brothers' personality more distinct. If "New Calabash Brothers" had not been under the banner of "nostalgia" but had started from scratch, it might not have been criticized as a sieve as it is now.

It can be seen from this that although the power of "emotional consumption" is great, if you talk about emotions casually without solid content, you will eventually shoot yourself in the foot.