I'll never forget watching Cyberchase on weeknight evenings growing up...I would sing the theme song along and would figure out the math problems as they presented themselves along with Matt, Inez, and Jackie...and I confess that Hacker was my first cartoon crush! XDThe older episodes have so much originality, and I love the character design, and now looking back at it I can appreciate how the math and puzzles were cleverly integrated into the show without making it preachy and boring.
To sum up, It was my first "obsession" and I'm glad they still have the old website up, complete with some of the older episodes...in fact, sometimes I'll log onto pbskids.org just to replay some of the old flash games the have up there or watch a clip or two.
BUT.
Like all of my favorite TV shows from the past, Cyberchase's golden age had to come to an end. And though, unlike Arthur, I'm 99% sure they're still using the same voice actors, the story lines are garbage and the animation is appalling. I understand PBS is entirely audience-funded, but can't they possibly do better than cheap flash animation? It looks so cheap and plastic, all the characters look like little rubber cut-outs being stretched and bopped around the screen. :( in addition, they seem to be be focussing more on other topics than math, or at least on some of the episodes. Just today my little cousins and I watched a newer episode centering around recycling and reducing waste (oddly enough, the villain didn't even have a real villainous role in this episode...I don't even know what Hacker was supposed to be doing.) That's a great message, but hey. Aren't there already fifty nine episodes of other PBS shows about recycling? Yes! So why is Cyberchase worried about that? I don't know. They should go back to saving the universe from actual villains with actual dastardly plots.
All in all, this show gets 10/10 stars...but only the original seasons. The flash animated crap gets 4/10 stars.
To sum up, It was my first "obsession" and I'm glad they still have the old website up, complete with some of the older episodes...in fact, sometimes I'll log onto pbskids.org just to replay some of the old flash games the have up there or watch a clip or two.
BUT.
Like all of my favorite TV shows from the past, Cyberchase's golden age had to come to an end. And though, unlike Arthur, I'm 99% sure they're still using the same voice actors, the story lines are garbage and the animation is appalling. I understand PBS is entirely audience-funded, but can't they possibly do better than cheap flash animation? It looks so cheap and plastic, all the characters look like little rubber cut-outs being stretched and bopped around the screen. :( in addition, they seem to be be focussing more on other topics than math, or at least on some of the episodes. Just today my little cousins and I watched a newer episode centering around recycling and reducing waste (oddly enough, the villain didn't even have a real villainous role in this episode...I don't even know what Hacker was supposed to be doing.) That's a great message, but hey. Aren't there already fifty nine episodes of other PBS shows about recycling? Yes! So why is Cyberchase worried about that? I don't know. They should go back to saving the universe from actual villains with actual dastardly plots.
All in all, this show gets 10/10 stars...but only the original seasons. The flash animated crap gets 4/10 stars.