When you search through the memories of those born in the seventies and eighties of the last century, you find them filled with classic anime that aired four decades ago and gained great popularity at the time after being dubbed into Arabic and other languages, such as “Treasure Island,” “Remi, the Homeless Boy,” “Lady Oscar,” and others. These works are expected to be shown soon on the “Shahid” platform, owned by MBC channels, after being visually and audio restored. This raises the question: what is the value of broadcasting these old shows after all these years?
Khaldoun Qaddoura, Head of Communications and Marketing at QToon for Production and Distribution, the company in charge of restoring these works, answers this by explaining to Asharq Al-Awsat that passion and love for old cartoons were the main motivation behind the project. He adds, “Many features of the good old days have started to fade away, and we want to bring a bit of that era back, even if through these cartoon series, because they carry meaningful content, whereas much of today’s children’s content contains hidden messages that may not suit many parents.”
But can these works attract the new generation, which is completely different from its predecessors? Qaddoura says, “We are targeting the whole family, including the older generation who are now parents. They can watch the same cartoon series they watched in their childhood, together with their children.” He points out that most modern anime is commercially driven, released in multiple seasons with stories that get repeated every time, unlike the classics which carried unique and diverse stories, many of them inspired by international novels.