my animation era

Paper-cut animation originated from the ancient art of paper-cutting.

The art of paper-cutting that everyone has come into contact with the most should be the "window grilles" decorations pasted on windows by the people.

The person who first brought the craft of paper-cutting into the field of animation production has no way to study it.The only history that can be traced back is that paper-cut animation originally had an artistic expression style borrowed from traditional "shadow puppetry".

"Pig Bajie Eats Watermelon" is the first paper-cut animation that Gu Miao has seen. I can't tell the exact date, but it is a very old cartoon anyway.

And "Calabash Brothers" is the first or only paper-cut animation that impressed many people, and it has also been praised by countless people as one of the highest achievements of paper-cut animation.

Even "one" can be removed.

After all, the number of paper-cut animations is very rare, and "Calabash Brothers" has reached a level that other works can hardly match in terms of popularity and influence.

How famous is it?
There is no actual data, but it can be summed up in one sentence, that is, this animation has influenced at least three generations of people in Huaguo in the original world!
This evaluation is not an exaggeration at all.

"Calabash Brothers" is like "Black Cat Sheriff" to the Huaguo animation industry. It is a great work with huge social influence, which has been seen and inspired by several generations.

It is not appropriate to compare animations like this with other animations.

It may be difficult for the previous generations, but starting from the generation born in the 80s, who dares to say that they have never seen Cucurbit animations and comics?
hardly!

100% may not exist, but 90% of people have seen it when they were young, which is already an exaggeration.

It is even bolder to say that even those who have not seen it have heard of the animation "Calabash Brothers"/"Calabash Baby".

Who dares to compare with this popularity?

Gu Miao never thought that one day she would be able to witness the birth of a work like "Calabash Brothers" with her own eyes, and even have the false title of a producer in the title of this work.

Simply cool!

But the excitement was the excitement, and Gu Miao, who had regained her senses, also understood that Wanbao's version of "Calabash Brothers" was destined not to be as brilliant as the original version.

It's mostly a matter of time...

In that era when there were few black and white TV sets, animation works were rare. Only under such a background could "Calabash Brothers" achieve incomparably brilliant achievements.

But it's different now.

Not to mention black and white TV sets, even color TV sets are old antiques that have been eliminated for an unknown number of years.

There are also many excellent animations nowadays, and the entertainment methods for children are varied. Even if "Calabash Brothers" maintains the standard of the original version, it is impossible to reproduce the achievements of the original version.

Moreover, according to Gu Miao's observation, Wanbao's version of "Calabash Brothers" is also very different from the original version.

Mainly the way it is made.

The times are advancing so fast that even the ancient paper-cut animation has to follow the pace of the times and innovate and iterate the production process.

It can’t be said that one generation is better than the other. At least with the blessing of new technology, the painting style of Wanbao’s version of “Calabash Brothers” doesn’t look so retro, so it doesn’t have the taste of the original version.

But the plot is still the same.

The same gourd mountain, the same two scorpion and snake spirits, the same old grandfather and pangolin, planted gourd seeds, grew gourd vines, produced seven colorful gourds, and turned into seven gourd brothers, each with supernatural powers to suppress the scorpion and snake spirits.

How about this plot...

Gu Miao couldn't comment on anything, because any traverser would probably be able to recite it backwards and forwards.

This is a plot engraved into the DNA, if this can be remembered correctly, then Gu Miao would be ashamed to say that she is a Chinese.

Don't talk about the plot.

Even in the animation, Gu Miao remembered the abilities of the seven gourd babies clearly.

The eldest baby has infinite supernatural powers but is brave and foolhardy, and the second baby has clairvoyant eyes and ears, but it is a pity that she was killed by a goblin.

The three babies have copper heads and iron arms, the four babies spit water and fire, the sixth babies come and go without a trace, and the seven babies hold a gourd that can absorb everything...

The abilities of these seven gourd babies were the ones Gu Miao admired extremely when she was a child.Especially Qiwa's baby gourd, he was so envious when he was a child.

It's just that when I was a child, my thoughts were different from when I grew up.

The baby gourd that I envied when I was a child, now Gu Miao thinks it's just like that, or Liu Wa's invisibility technique is practical, if he has this, wouldn't he be invincible?
"anyway……"

Speaking of the plot, Gu Miao seemed to have thought of something, and couldn't help asking Liang Xiaodong, "Is the ending a tragedy?"

"tragedy?"

Liang Xiaodong was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head in denial: "How could it be a tragedy? That's the theme of the animation. Scorpion spirits and snake spirits will definitely be suppressed in the end."

"I know they will be suppressed, but what about Brother Calabash? What happened to them?"

Of course Gu Miao knows the truth that evil does not overpower good, but he still has a grudge against the ending of the original version of Calabash Brothers, and believes that punishing evil should not be at the cost of the disappearance of Calabash Brothers.

It's just a snake spirit and a scorpion spirit. As for taking the lives of the seven gourd brothers and turning them into colorful stones to suppress them?
Why can't it be changed.

Let the seven brothers understand the true meaning of unity, defeat the scorpion spirit and the snake spirit, and stay by the grandfather's side ever since?

"You mean, you want to keep the Calabash brothers? Let them continue to star in the sequel?" Liang Xiaodong tentatively asked.

"Correct!"

Gu Miao nodded.

"Calabash Brothers" is a great animation, he definitely admits this, and the ending is also pretty good.

But he was really unhappy, he just felt that the scorpion spirit and the snake spirit were not worth making the gourd brothers disappear, and the animations of more than a dozen episodes were not enough to watch.

Definitely could make it longer!
The story of "Calabash Brothers" should not stop at Calabash Mountain. It's a pity that these seven calabash babies with different abilities disappeared after only appearing in a dozen episodes.

On the seven-color lotus, the seven brothers turned into colorful stones to suppress the scorpion spirit and the snake spirit. This ending was silent to him when he was a child.

The legend of the Calabash Brothers begins at Calabash Mountain and ends at Calabash Mountain. The animation seems to be very long, but it is actually only a dozen episodes.

How can this episode be enough?

In Gu Miao's eyes, it would be a pity for an animation like "Calabash Brothers" to end after only a dozen episodes.

Wouldn't it be good to do fifty or sixty episodes and tell a few more stories about the gourd brothers slaying demons and killing demons, not to mention hundreds of episodes?
Moreover, the ending of the original version is not easy to produce a sequel. After all, the gourd brothers have turned into colorful stones to suppress the goblins, so how can they come out and walk in the world?

"It's too short."

Gu Miao felt that the ending needed to be changed, to let the Calabash Brothers continue to walk in the world, and to reserve enough space for the sequel.

The scorpion spirit and the snake spirit are at best elite monsters, how can they trap the gourd brothers for a lifetime?
The gourd baby is not dead, but the ending is no different from death. This is something that I felt very sad when I was young...