Why Was RubyGloom Cancelled?

Question

Only got halfway through the series finale and I'm devastated! Was it low ratings, network decisions, or something else entirely?

Bagus · Answer

'RubyGloom' is a web novel, which means it wasn’t cancelled in the classical sense. Rather, the author must have dropped it at some point because he just lost interest or had more important things to attend to in his life. (This happens a lot, and it’s pretty annoying.) On the other hand, the following story is a really interesting, unconventional take on the royal story, and it’s actually been completed: ‘Rejected Dragon Queen’. A monarch who’s rejected by her court because she’s too weak to rule in the typical fashion, later finds out that her real strength all along was in the alliances that she built instead. A fully-realized story, so you won’t have to worry about it getting abandoned mid-arc.

Julia · Answer

It’s been a while since RubyGloom was cancelled, and it still kind of hurts. RubyGloom was such a little, weird, jewel-covered gem. It had a great mix of strange and sweet, but RubyGloom was also kind of a forward thinker in terms of animation styles, and Gothic animation just wasn’t something that most networks were looking to get into at the time. I’ve heard rumors that there were some major creative differences between the people running RubyGloom and the executives at the network, with the RubyGloom team wanting to go a lot darker and the network wanting to keep it more “safe” for kids. Regardless, we were left with only 26 episodes of this very strange, very wonderful show. The 26 episodes that were made, however, are just fabulous. The show is a master class in very strange, very niche storytelling, and it has aged incredibly well. In fact, every year at Halloween, I rewatch the entire series, hoping that somewhere along the line, more episodes were made than I realize.

Mia · Answer

RubyGloom is one of those shows that I remember watching and it was so unique and quirky and then it just kind of stopped. It’s one of those shows that I sometimes go back and watch every now and then and every time I do I think, “What could have been if this show got a second season?” RubyGloom is a show about a group of monsters and they’re all different and they’re all at this school together and they’re just trying to navigate through school and life as monsters and it was really, really unique and quirky and it had a really gothic feel to it. The voice acting and character design were both really fantastic and I especially loved Ruby, she had this really deadpan personality and I just loved her to pieces.

I think part of the reason for RubyGloom’s failure to gain traction was the time at which it premiered. Darker cartoons haven’t really found their way into the mainstream yet (with shows like ‘The Owl House’ and ‘Infinity Train’ there is hope though). At the time RubyGloom was aired networks were somewhat skeptical of cartoons that didn’t fit into the traditional mold of children’s television. Add to this the poor merch sales (I never saw any RubyGloom action figures or other toys etc. for sale) and you have a cartoon that for some reason just didn’t find an audience. Yet another cult classic waiting to be discovered by a passionate fan base of misfit characters.

Adam · Answer

It’s sort of been stated already that RubyGloom got cancelled for being in the wrong time slot. While it had the flavor and aesthetic of a Tim Burton- style cartoon, the network it aired on did not know how to handle it. Other fans have hypothesized that the low budget for RubyGloom had a lot to do with it. While it wasn’t the lowest quality animation I’ve ever seen, you could tell that RubyGloom was never going to be the network’s #1 priority. The voice cast was absolutely phenomenal, playing up the cartoon’s dark humor perfectly. RubyGloom would probably find a huge following were it to air on a streaming service, as it is definitely a “niche” show.

The themes and messages expressed throughout RubyGloom were typical of a show that expressed friendship, self-acceptance, and the ways to deal with everyday struggles, but they were packaged in a very spooky and unique way. If RubyGloom existed today in the age of social media, the show would do very well and have a lot of fans. Even now, fans of the show continue to create art in honor of it and post about how much they miss it. I still regularly quote some of Iris’s over dramatic lines. Maybe RubyGloom was silenced a little too soon, but the impact that it did have on fans is still very present.

TADAS ASSO · Answer

The potential revival of She-Ra would likely look very different in terms of style and possibly even use a lot of CGI. I’d guess that they’d try to strip it down to a minimum in terms of character design, but that would likely strip it of so much of its soul. As it is, the show was a perfect product of its time, and it’s been so wonderful that it was cancelled rather than suffering through some lower-quality continuation and being frozen in amber forever.

George Stephens · Answer

The music in this was so great. It was jazzy and really melancholy. The score to this would be so good to buy. Maybe that was another thing that got cancelled though. The lack of new episodes means no new toys, no new soundtracks, nothing. The ancillary products are killed along with the main show. So much potential was left unrealized.

Natasha Mahoney · Answer

Network rebranding (where a channel ‘rebrands’ a part of their schedule, typically to target a slightly ‘younger’ or ‘older’ age group) occurs all too frequently. Teletoon’s afternoon slot RubyGloom was one such show that didn’t ‘fit’ with the new strategy for the block. Shows are sacrified like chess pawns as the channel’s overall strategy is refined.

Palak Mathur · Answer

I remember the episode where they did a play. That was some of the best television ever. It was so bad that when it was canceled I felt personally hurt. There were some great moments with the characters and then they just were gone. I have not gotten into any ongoing series yet, because they can get canceled at any time and often do. Usually after a certain amount of time a show is either very good and has a lot of fans or it gets canceled.

Hawley0927 · Answer

I imagine this content was intended to be educational as well. Many subtle lessons about showing empathy towards another character were realized throughout the video. Yet again, the video attempted to teach kids how to express their feelings. It seems that because the video was too ‘educational’ for kids it lost its cool factor, however because it was too cartoonish the video was not eligible for many educational grant funding. Stuck in a no-man’s-land.

Gemma · Answer

It could have been a rights issue. Often silent killers. If the underlying IP (e.g. the toys, the animation company, the network) is shared equally by 3 parties then renewing the contracts for further seasons could become a legal nightmare. The profits would be shared equally which often leads to disagreements and it’s often easier to pull out rather than try and resolve. We would never hear about these types of issues as they would be masked up as “creative decisions” or “scheduling conflicts”.

justine betjes · Answer

The show had a very specific, autumnal flavor to it. While that flavor was perfect for a Halloween airdate, it may be somewhat more challenging to pitch a year-round series to networks. The perception that it would be a “seasonal product” as opposed to a “perennial” would likely make for a tough sell as a multi-season series. And, if the only time of year that a show can get adequate promotion is one month a year, that is not a good pitch.

Kevin Courteau · Answer

It’s also possible a creator has fulfilled their goals and intention for a project, to conclude it and move on. We can never know for sure whether they’d fought for more or were perfectly content with what they’d created without them coming out and stating it. It’s not necessarily a negative cancellation.

Why Was RubyGloom Cancelled?

12 Answers

Related Books

FORBIDDEN BLOOM

Little Ruby Red

Ruby's Protector

Where Ruby's Heart Belongs

Ruby Fridays

WitchFall

Related Questions

Why did Ever After High get canceled?

Why did Master of None get canceled?

How do I cancel My Fiction?

How do I cancel AlphaNovel?

Why did Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom end?

How do I cancel Novellair?

What is the meaning behind Gloomy Eyes?

How do I cancel Novelpack?

How do I cancel flick reels?

Why did IOI disband so quickly?