In Defense of R-Rated Movie Characters Having Their Own Children’s Cartoons Read more at Film School Rejects: http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/r-rated-movie-cartoon-spinoffs.php#ixzz4644Knsvt

On this day in 1986, the animated children’s program Rambo: The Force of Freedom made its debut with the initial installment of a five-episode miniseries.
It was the first cartoon for children based on an R-rated movie and as a result was the subject of controversy months before it even arrived on the air (see this New York Times article from December 1985). Other seemingly inappropriate spinoffs would follow, adapted from such violent films as RoboCop, The Toxic Avenger, and Highlander.
For the past 30 years, I’ve thought this a strange decision by Hollywood. But it made sense for the 1980s, when R-rated movies were easily seen by kids and nobody thought the wiser (save for those critical voices represented in the NYT piece). Even more films of the sort, including Commando, had action figure tie-ins. It was the inverse of today, when parents complain about characters from children’s cartoons, such as Deadpool and Batman, winding up with R-rated or at least dark PG-13 movies not suited for kids.
There’s actually nothing wrong with it, though. No more than kids seeing their parents kissing but not being in the room when the couple is making love. No more than babies being introduced to Disney characters before they’re allowed screen time with those characters’ shows and movies. Children’s programs and R-rated movies can have the same characters and premises without having the same kind of content. Never mind that the Rambo animated series is still probably too violent for a lot of kids.

As a father, I realized something about cartoons, recently that I’d never thought about: they’re filled with characters and creatures that should be too scary or inappropriate for them. Even those rated as acceptable for toddlers. Dinosaurs appear in everything. Pirates are almost as popular. If you show the same kids live-action dinosaurs, they’ll be frightened, and if they saw the reality of pirates (and vikings, army men, heck even police officers and firefighters) they’d be quite disturbed. It’s all in how they’re portrayed.
This isn’t like my issue with inconsistent ratings for movie franchises. Cartoons like Rambo: The Force of Freedom is somewhat innocently introducing kids to ideas and characters they may revisit in other forms as they grow up. That’s why, on the anniversary of that controversial series, I’m calling for Hollywood to get back to spinning animated children’s programs off from their most successful R-rated properties. To help them out, I’ve picked six iconic film figures who would make great cartoon characters.