Clifford the Big Red Dog (2019)

Clifford the Big Red Dog
A red flag am I right?
Genre: Comedy Slice of life Music Education Running Time: 22 minutes (2 11-minute segments) Country: United States Canada Release Date: December 6, 2019 - February 12, 2021 (Amazon Prime Video) December 7, 2019 - October 18, 2021 (PBS Kids) Network(s): Amazon Prime Video PBS Kids Distributed by: 9 Story Media Group PBS Starring: Adam Sanders Hannah Levinson Bahia Watson Julie Lemieux Jasiah Stewart Seasons: 1 Episodes: 39 (78 segments) Previous show: Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000 series) Clifford's Puppy Days

"Clifford the Big Red Dog" is an American-Canadian flash-animated children's television series which is a reboot to the book series of the same name written by Norman Bridwell, the 2000 original series created by Deborah Forte and produced by Mike Young Productions, and is the third series in the franchise after the prequel spin-off, Clifford's Puppy Days also produced by Mike Young Productions.

In addition to being a reboot, it is also a "sequel", because PBS lists it as being the third season. Because of the death of the voice actor of Clifford, John Ritter back in 2003, he is now voiced by Adam Sanders.

It was released on December 6, 2019 on Amazon Prime Video, and premiered a day later on PBS Kids. It is the first series to be produced in 16:9 widescreen. However, unlike the original TV series, the reboot has not yet aired in the UK, and it is unknown whether or not it will be dubbed for the British audiences if it ever premieres in the UK. The second part of season 1 was released on February 7, 2020. The executive producers of the show include Jennifer Oxley, best known for co-creating Peg + Cat, and Vince Commisso of 9 Story Media Group.

Why It Should Be Sent To The Big Red Dog Pound

1. Terrible grasp from the source material, and is disrespectful to the original 2000 series and the original books.
   • While it is claimed to be a sequel according to sources, it has little to no connection with the original series or the original books.
2. The writing ranges from being mediocre to downright bad.
3. Very stiff Adobe Animate animation that is a huge downgrade from the previous incarnations. Occasionally, you can find missing animation frames while watching an episode, and that is not good for any animated show since that can tell us and the audience that the animation looks very rushed, even after it came out of the production stages.
4. Everyone originating from the 2000 series was removed, Cleo, T-Bone and Mac were the absolute worst offenders. They are replaced by unnecessary new additions.
   • For example: Tucker is basically a poor person's version of Marshall from Paw Patrol.
5. The theme song, while upbeat and catchy itself, can be cringeworthy to listen to.
6. Instead of Emily Elizabeth understanding Clifford's voice, shouldn't Clifford just not reveal his voice to her, but rather to her friends as well?
7. The voice acting can be very cheesy to listen to at times.
8. Although the art style is decent, it can look off-putting and lazy at times.
   • The character designs look very uncanny, especially with Emily Elizabeth's design, and they all end up looking more like Peg + Cat rejects.
9. The songs themselves are annoying, and can get on your nerves.
10. This show basically started the downfall of the franchise.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The art style is good as it is actually faithful to the books unlike the 2000 series, which is a nice addition.
2. At least most of characters didn't suffer from flanderization, unlike most bad animated kids reboots. That itself is really rare considering that most maintaining characters from other media end up suffering from flanderization in most bad reboots with extremely butchered personalities.
   • In addition to the characters not suffering from flanderization, most of the characters, including Clifford himself and Emily Elizabeth, still remained likeable as well, expect for the new additions.
3. Occasional good episodes.

Reception

Despite the mixed ratings from critics, it received a lot of heavy backlash from Scholastic fans and Clifford fans, due to included the removal of all the previous characters, switch of format and the inclusion of the LGBT parenting, among other reasons. IMDb currently holds a score of 6.0 out of 10, based on 134 ratings and 21 user reviews.

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